Music Reviews

Joanna Newsom – Have One on Me

Rating: n/a Reviewer: Garth Paulson

That’s right, not applicable. Though I’m usually apprehensive of assigning a rating based upon my subjective impressions of an album at the best of times, I just can’t bring myself to do it for Joanna Newsom’s latest, the triple album Have One on Me, for two reasons:

Posted in Folk + Roots, Music Reviews, Rock + Pop


Jamie Cullum – The Pursuit

Rating: 4 / 5 Reviewer: Andrew Mitchell

Jamie Cullum’s greatest attribute lays in deconstructing everything from classic standards to the latest dance floor hit and adapting it to his own jazz influenced form of commercial pop. Musical genres may be mute to him but a timeless melody is not.

Posted in Jazz + Blues, Music Reviews


The Ruby Suns – Fight Softly

Rating: 3 / 5 Reviewer: Kevin Hartford

Imagine Animal Collective’s Merriweather Post Pavilion covered by Sigur Ros on a spaceship that makes frequent pit stops in the late 1980s

Posted in Music Reviews, Rock + Pop


Shout Out Louds – Work

Rating: 3 / 5 Reviewer: Nathan Atnikov

If you were going to criticize the Shout Out Louds 2007 album Our Ill Wills, your angle would be the not-so-subtle Cure influences. In fact, influence might not be a strong enough word. But the album was good enough that it didn’t matter

Posted in Music Reviews, Rock + Pop


Zeus – Say Us

Rating: 4.5 / 5 Reviewer: Greg Hutton

Say Us, the full-length debut from Zeus, is composed of elements that make for great rock and roll: it is fun without being a corny novelty, it is affecting without being pretentious, and it includes great melodic sensibilities without sacrificing edge. Each song is distinct and serves an identifiable [...]

Posted in Music Reviews, Rock + Pop


Rocky Votolato – True Devotion

Rating: 2.5 / 5 Reviewer: Kevin Hartford

Most of the songs on True Devotion are little more than Seattle folk singer Rocky Votolato’s voice over an acoustic guitar. While the stripped-down production does create a certain amount of intimacy between artist and listener, it also has the unintended side effect of showcasing how unexceptional Votolato is [...]

Posted in Folk + Roots, Music Reviews, Rock + Pop


Charlotte Gainsbourg – IRM

Rating: 4.5 / 5 Reviewer: Andrew Mitchell

Considering Charlotte Gainsbourg’s third release, IRM was conceived while she was recovering from a brain hemorrhage and developed while filming the disturbingly violent Antichrist, it’s remarkable that the album is not a complete exercise in abjectness.

Posted in Folk + Roots, Music Reviews, Rock + Pop


The Wooden Sky and Rural Alberta Advantage – 6/12, Broken City, Calgary

Reviewer: Nathan Atnikov

Taking the stage for a second straight sold-out night at Broken City in Calgary, The Wooden Sky and The Rural Alberta Advantage were as comfortable as a couple of veteran rock groups. After the crowd was properly warmed up by openers The Great Bloomers, The Wooden Sky took to the stage with [...]

Posted in Music Reviews


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