Robyn Hitchcock Shufflemania! Tiny Ghost Records Robyn Hitchcock is often dubbed as ‘the modern day Syd Barrett’. Ok, the comparisons can be made, with Hitchcock’s penchant for all things psych and left-left-field lyrics, yet [...]
Christopher Ward Spark Of Desire Warner Music Canada Back in 1978 when this album was first released, baroque pop was something of a dirty word. It was all either punk (the hardcore stuff first) or commercial versions of hard rock/heavy metal. [...]
Simple Minds Direction Of The Heart BMG Direction Of The Heart is Simple Minds’ 18th studio album. It is also their first album since 2018’s Walk Between Worlds. Jim Kerr and Charlie Burchill remain the core of the band, and they have been part [...]
Sloan Steady Murderecords/Universal Music If currently there is a band/artist that is truly keeping the flame of power pop burning, not just in Canada but around the world, it is Toronto via Halifax magicians Sloan. Steady, their latest album, [...]
Ora Cogan DYED Independent Ora Cogan’s music is very difficult to fit into one genre. This is not a criticism, quite the opposite. Over her seven albums, Cogan has touched on several styles of music. And all of her genre leaping is evident on [...]
Mal Continuous Short Feature Film Pirate! If you think the title Continuous Short Feature Film by Los Angeles musician/visual artist Mal (they) has a deeper meaning, it certainly does. Yet, it also actually refers to a continuous short, 20-min [...]
Black Lips Apocalypse Love Fire Records Musical maturity brings its own set of challenges, and avoiding the temptation to settle into a familiar sound is perhaps top of the list. Having hit their 10th studio album, The Black Lips have got over [...]
Julian Taylor Beyond The Reservoir Independent Following the release of his critically acclaimed 2020 album, The Ridge, Toronto’s Julian Taylor has returned with his latest record, Beyond The Reservoir. Produced alongside his long-time [...]
Red Hot Chili Peppers Return Of The Dream Canteen Warner Records Return Of The Dream Canteen marks the second double album from the Red Hot Chili Peppers this year. Building off the monumental success of Unlimited Love – which dropped in April – [...]
Eliza Edens We’ll Become The Flowers Independent Since Nick Drake’s enigmatic artistic figure left us too early, many other singer/songwriters, both male and female, were compared to his entirely individual musical and lyrical [...]
Brian Eno FOREVERANDEVERNOMORE Verve/UMC When Brian Eno left Roxy Music, after their second album (For Your Pleasure) in 1972, and released his debut solo album, Here Come The Warm Jets, print ads appeared in the British press ‘Eno Sings’, a [...]
Stephen Becker A Calm That Shifts NNA Tapes Sometimes, artists hit it right on the nose when they come up with an album title, but often that is not the case, particularly when debut albums are concerned. Yet, here is a debut album that does [...]
Alter Bridge Pawns & Kings Napalm Records After taking a year off which saw both Myles Kennedy and Mark Tremonti release solo records – Kennedy’s The Ides Of March and Tremonti’s Marching In Time and Mark Tremonti Sings Frank Sinatra – Alter [...]
Honey & The Bees Love Real Gone Music In 1970, when Arctic Records owner Jimmy Bishop met and heard Jean Davis, Gwen Oliver, and Cassandra Wooten, they were known as The Yum Yums. He added Nadine Felder as their new lead vocalist and The Yum [...]
Barrett Davis The Ballad Of Aesop Fin Independent Being an artist that wants to explore all the aspects of a certain genre that very often operates within strict rules and music formulas can be a tall order even for seasoned musicians, let alone [...]
Ev Bird Puff Piece Royal Mountain Records If you are an artist/musician based in Montreal, you may be tempted to retreat indoors when the winter takes its hold. One of those is take an extensive listen to your record collection, something that [...]
Lamb Of God Omens Epic Records America’s premier modern metal outfit, Lamb Of God, has returned with its latest album, Omens. The new record is the band’s first collection of new music since 2020’s self-titled release – their first with Art Cruz [...]
Various Artists Listen To The Red Rock Vast Horizons Music Inc. Gigi Love, the key artist behind this compilation, is from Utah herself, so it is no wonder that she knows exactly why she needed to organize a group of like-minded artists to [...]
Broken Bells Into The Blue AWAL Broken Bells’ third album, Into The Blue, is one of those records that make it worth the wait required to finally hear them. Coming a good eight years after its immediate predecessor, it shows all the hallmarks of [...]
Chico Romano Vol. 5 Ramp Local It seems to be a fact that artists who change their monikers once in a while have very wide musical taste and interests, and want to keep those tastes and interests distinct. Yet, very often, thy merge and seep [...]
Fucked Up Oberon Tankcrimes Toronto’s very own punk veterans Fucked up are back with Oberon, their new EP out on Tankcrimes, which is a very fitting home considering the heavier direction the band has gone on this record. Named after the king of [...]
HamsandwicH Magnify Route 109 Picking up cues in pop music is seemingly easy, you find an artist or artists, remodel, combine, and presto you’ve got your song or set of songs. For some pop that indeed does not have to be hard, if you know how to [...]
Kolb Tyrannical Vibes Ramp Local What do you do if you are a classically trained opera singer that has serious love for sophisticated pop that is a cross between Fleetwood Mac and latter-day Doobie Brothers, sprinkled with touches of Steely Dan [...]
Office Culture Big Time Things Northern Spy Trying to swim in the waters of complex, sophisticated pop that spreads into rock, jazz, and elsewhere is something quite a few artists with good musical taste will try, but not that many will succeed [...]
