Various Artists Almost Famous Soundtrack (Expanded Uber Box Set) Universal Music Involving personal experience and emotions in art can be quite a tricky proposition. You either fail miserably or you come up with something that has a timeless [...]
Rene Trossman Live In Prague Hold It! Guitarist and singer Rene Trossman cut his blues teeth in the small clubs of Chicago back in the ‘80s, which he sings about this on the fine shuffle “Down At Rosa’s”, before he settled in Prague in the Czech [...]
Anthony Leclair Whisky Moon: Live From The Floor Independent After years of writing about other artists and having spent the pandemic live streaming originals and covers, Deep River, Ont.- based singer-songwriter Anthony Leclair has released his [...]
Cigar Club Day, Now Snareguy Records Toronto’s Cigar Club have been following their 2019 debut self-titled studio EP with a series of singles released throughout the first half of the year. The five singles – “Swimin’ In Gold”, “…Aliens”, “From [...]
Blacktop Mojo Blacktop Mojo Independent Next to Dirty Honey, Blacktop Mojo may very well be America’s biggest independent rock band. Returning with their fourth full length album, Blacktop Mojo follows their 2020 EP, Static. Most noteworthy, [...]
Cots Disturbing Body Boiled Records How many Canadian artists do you know that spent time as bookkeepers in Brazil? If the answer is none, then here’s one — Steph Yates, who also goes by the name of Cots, and who just came up with a [...]
The Dreamboats Back To The Start Dreamboats Records A new release from The Dreamboats is long overdue, but it is so welcome. Back To The Start is, to borrow a phrase, pure pop for now people. It is their third release and it does demonstrate [...]
Various Artists Legends Play The Beatles Cleopatra Records Since The Beatles exploded on the scene in 1964, there have been tribute albums in many different genres. Chet Atkins, Count Basie, The Hollyridge Strings and so many more have taken [...]
Sparks ANNETTE (CANNES EDITION – SELECTIONS FROM THE ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK) Milan Records Sparks have been very busy of late. In 2020 they released A Steady Drip, Drip, Drip, which was followed by a very interesting documentary [...]
John Jenkins If You Can’t Forgive, You Can’t Love Fretsore Records If You Can’t Forgive, You Can’t Love is John Jenkins seventh studio album, and he just keeps getting better and better. Building on the brilliant Growing Old – [...]
Night Ranger ATBPO Frontiers Music SRL ATBPO (which stands for And The Band Played On) is Night Ranger’s 13th studio album, and for this one, their first since 2017’s Don’t Let Up, they come out rocking hard. From the opening track to the last, [...]
George Harrison All Things Must Pass (50th Anniversary Edition) Apple/Universal All Things Must Pass was originally released in November, 1970. It was George Harrison’s third solo album, following 1968’s soundtrack, Wonderwall Music By George [...]
Steve Benjamins Volume 1 Independent Sometimes a musician comes along whose approach and delivery of their craft speaks volumes to the soul. Steve Benjamins has been one of those for me, with his music that speaks of faith, love, the beautiful [...]
Hipbone Slim And The Kneetremblers Tremblin’ Dirty Water Records Hipbone Slim’s universe collides with ours every so often. On the evidence of this 40-track double CD set, it’s probably happened around 1956, 1963, 1968, 1982 and, very [...]
mattlayn Songs I Play In The Dark Independent Over the past decade, Matthew Layne has been an important figure for the Toronto and Ontario musical community, working behind the scenes, having managed Crown Lands and The Jailbirds, and, [...]
1st Base Runner Seven Years Of Silence Universal There are two ways you can approach music in dark times like these. One is to make music as dark or even darker. The other is to do completely the opposite and come up with some light, fluffy [...]
Bleachers Take The Sadness Out Of Saturday Night RCA Everyone has that friend, maybe even been that friend – the one who gets hooked on a song and needs you to know it. Sometimes the infatuation will pass after a few days, sometimes weeks, [...]
CHILDISH GAMBINO REIMAGINES BRITTANY HOWARD’S GRAMMY®-WINNING HIT “STAY HIGH” ATO RECORDS ATO Records has released five-time GRAMMY Award winner Childish Gambino’s resonant cover of Brittany Howard’s “Stay High.” His soulful vocals, [...]
Vivien Cooper & Bro Paul Brown The Instrumental Alphabet Moonwhistle Music Author, lyricist, poet, writer and voice actress Vivien Cooper has teamed up with musician/producer Paul Brown of The Waterboys to create a very unique and original [...]
Electric Six Streets Of Gold Cleopatra Records What have we here? An entire album of covers by Electric Six? Yes, and what a treat this is. Streets of Gold is Electric Six’s 15th studio album, and their first since 2018’s brilliant Bride Of The [...]
Piroshka Love Drips And Gathers Bella Union Bob Mould now-famously excused himself in 1993 from producing London shoegaze/dream pop band Lush’s album Split because he “kept picking the wrong girl’s songs.” The novel template of Shangri-Las/ABBA [...]
Bad Buzz For A Good Time, Call… Independent Sporting a new lineup, Toronto punk rockers Bad Buzz have returned since their 2019 studio EP, Try Harder. Following a trio of singles released in the first half of this year – “Carousel”, “A [...]
David Crosby For Free BMG Sometime this August, David Crosby will turn 80. He has practically been around throughout the entire history of rock music in all its forms. That, along with working solo, working with such iconic bands as The Byrds, [...]
Dallas Burrow Dallas Burrow Independent For some, the cowboy hat Dallas Burrow is wearing on his second, self-titled album might be the only reason to skip on it. For others, it might be exactly the reason to pick it up. In both cases, they [...]
