Category Archives: Reviews
When Arcade Fire’s Funeral came out in 2004, it took me several listens to appreciate it and several more to love it. I never had the same adoration for Neon Bible, but the final track on that album made my body a cage for three years as I waited for the Montreal based band’s next effort. The Suburbs has blown me away.
I immediately liked the sound of a lot of the songs, but it wasn’t until I sat in isolated contemplation with the lyrics that I fully grasped the masterpiece of this story of the suburban war. Continue reading
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3 Comments | tags: analysis, arcade fire, canadian, funeral, music review, neon bible, summary, the suburbs | posted in Reviews
It’s been a busy year for Great Big Sea. Sean McCann released his solo disc Lullabies for Bloodshot Eyes, Alan Doyle was Allan A’Dayle in the mediocre film Robin Hood, and now the band has put out its 9th studio album (not including their two compilation albums) Safe Upon the Shore. Continue reading
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Leave a comment | tags: alan doyle, bob hallett, fortune's favour, great big sea, joel plaskett, music review, newfoundland, road rage, robin hood, russell crowe, safe upon the shore, sean mccann | posted in Reviews
Hawksley Workman (the stage name of Canadian Ryan Corrigan) experiments constantly, so I’m never sure if his mood of the moment will translate into music I like. “Jealous of My Cigarette” led me to buy his next album, the enjoyable Lover/Fighter, but I didn’t care for his softer follow-up Treefull of Starling. I avoided him for half-a-decade, but, due to a lack of bands I like releasing anything new over the last few months, I decided to give him another shot. He was on the longlist for the Polaris, so I figured he must be in some sort of state of revival. Continue reading
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Leave a comment | tags: canadian, hawksley workman, jack white, meat, milk, milk tracklist, modest mouse, music, review, warhol's portrait of gretzky | posted in Reviews
We all have those friends who are the DJs—the music gurus—of our lives. Mine have committed a crime of omission: a crime of irresponsible neglect. They somehow let me live through my teens and early twenties without ever hearing Pavement. How did this happen?
Pavement was not commercially successfully enough to catch my ephemeral attention when they disbanded in 1999, just as I was developing decent taste in music. But this shoud not have kept them off the radar for the next decade. For shame music gurus. I had to discover Pavement on my own thanks to their 23 track Quarantine the Past: The Best of Pavement. Continue reading
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Leave a comment | tags: greatest hits, lo-fi, music, pavement, quarantine the past, range life, review, shady lane | posted in Reviews
Writing a positive review for an electronica (or “indietronica”) album after slandering Rogue Wave’s repetitiveness makes me feel slightly guilty…but only slightly. The nine songs on Swim develop with a precision that keeps me nodding my head and pacing my elliptical machine strides to match. I didn’t buy this album for the lyrics (and a good thing too considering that several tracks have none); I wanted ethereal funk, and it delivers.
Dan Snaith (using the stage name Caribou after all-but being sued out of using Manitoba…by an American band) won the Polaris Prize¹ in 2008 for Andorra. Continue reading
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Leave a comment | tags: caribou, dan snaith, electronica, music, review, swim, tyr's day | posted in Reviews
When Arcade Fire’s Funeral came out in 2004, it took me several listens to appreciate it and several more to love it. I never had the same adoration for Neon Bible, but the final track on that album made my body a cage for three years as I waited for the Montreal based band’s next effort. The Suburbs has blown me away.
write with lightning 