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Maximum RNR - The Black and White Years (Independent)
I seriously think no rock album should last longer than 30 minutes max, nobody needs to hear a bunch of greasy “road warrior” types going “NORTNEYNORTNEYNORTNEY” for quite that long. It’s exhausting.
27 January 2012Various Artists - The Lemon Tape (Kinnta/Hobo Cult)
Every time I think I’ve plumbed the depths of this city’s wellsprings of great music, something like cassette labels Kinnta and Hobo Cult pop out, all explosions and rainbows with a whole batch of amazing.
27 January 2012Komodo - Shadow Dance (Sambal)
Shape Shifter is truly a jewel in the craft of Komodo’s (nee Matthew Burton) oeuvre. Originally known as Subluna, Burton’s established a global reputation for roof-raising live sets and enjoys a local rep for nurturing an aspect of the dubstep/bass scene since it’s inception into the Canadian east coast scene.
20 January 2012Shahman - Who Am I? 7" (Concession)
Identical twins from Ottawa, Rob and Peter Johnson wove a heavy duty tapestry on this tasty little four song 7” EP as Shahman. Occupying and interstitial space between math-y and slow paced Shellac dream-time and burned out early Mogwai post-rock, the corona of cathartic but eloquent screaming and metallic breaks in each song drive this boat over the proverbial mountain.
20 January 2012The American Devices - The American Devices (Grenadine)
This exhaustive compendium of prolific punk weirdness documents 25 years of uncompromisingly off kilter songs by The American Devices.
27 November 2011Le Chelsea Beat - Mesdames et Messieurs (Killer Diller)
Le Chelsea Beat are are welcome new band of bad-ass fuzzed out pysch rockers that slay in both official languages.
On Mesdames et Messieurs.. , this gang of crack musicians have created a pared-down half an hour plus slab of mod, psych and freakbeat influenced tunes that carry a wide range and obvious love and capacity for the genre.
17 November 2011The Speaking Tongues - The Speaking Tongues (Independent)
Earnest, hardcore and totally driving, The Speaking Tongue’s first full length carries with it all the weight and grit of the Mississippi Delta where it was recorded.
1 November 2011Natsumen - Never Wear Out Your Summer XXX!!! (Topmen_UMA)
Where does one even begin trying to offer a glimpse of the huge, planet-destroying force that is the band Natsumen. An Orchestra of joy. A free rock orgasm of sheer playing prowess and compulsive sound masses and melodic breakdown. This band hypnotizes, overwhelms and scintillates. That, added to their own self-descriptor, “Progressive HardCore JAZZ Aggressive Improvisation ROCK band.” and we’re getting close.
1 November 2011The Hook Up - Tomorrow & Today (Ricochet Sound)
A heavy duty rock n’ roll cyclone of an album, full of piss & vinegar that carries the Cramps, Stooges and MC5 genome with authority.
29 October 2011Hyacca - Hanazono (Call and Response)
From Fukuoka Japan, Hyacca are an incredibly exciting band. Their most recent effort Hanazono is a perfect high-kick of ripped rnr and driving psych-punk. There is, like many recent bands emerging from the Japanese underground, a whirlwind blend of genres at play that end up transcending the idioms into something sublime, earnest and tight as shit.
27 October 2011Evil Farm Children - Three Orange Whips 7" (Dad's Favorite)
Evil Farm Children have made a beauty of a 7” that plays well with anything Norton. Throw in a rad black & white hand-drawn sleeve and this is exactly the kind of candy that rock and rollas like me love to get wired on.
2 October 2011Awkward I - Everything On Wheels (Excelsior Recordings)
Awkward I is the moniker of a Djurre de Haan , a young songsmith from Amsterdam who’s mined a fresh new talent to emerge clutching a ream of engaging and mature tunes in his newest offering Everything On Wheels.
2 October 2011Scarlet Beast - Scarlet Beast Cassette EP (Independent)
I think my ass bones are just healing from bailing flat out in the moshpit at Scarlet Beast ‘s last show. That’s because I’m getting old, tabarnac… but I’m still moshin’ at least!
2 October 2011Jess Roze - Jess Roze (Cuchabata)
A successful and lovingly crafted package of frayed-edged pop treasures.
2 October 2011ManyMental Mistakes - Trois (ManyMental Records)
This dangerous slab of flesh-covered vinyl is a visceral, punch-packed screamer of a tour through a morphing blend of dancepunk, noise-rock and a haze of shoegaze.
6 September 2011Andrew Vincent - Keep It That Way EP (Kelp/Saved By Vinyl)
Vincent’s Keep It That Way EP is another jewel from one of our country’s best songwriters and a must-have for fans of ballsy Canadian lit-rock.
14 July 2011Lake Of Stew - Mystical Home EP (Woodhog)
Don’t let the Rolling Stones album art reference fool you, this EP by hoe-down kings and queens of Montreal, Lake of Stew is more “down home” than 2000 light years from it.
14 July 2011Tightrope - Tightrope 7" (Big Wheel Records)
Blasting outta dank basements and crusty nooks of Montreal, Tightrope is a snappy, heavy and tight fist of fury, their self titled 7” packed with breakneck speed limblifters.
14 July 2011Crabe - 1982 (Cuchabata)
Crabe is a band that is always pushing their edge while enticing the listener through tongue-in-cheek humour that skeins the album, a welcome release valve or contrast to the almost frightening display of pure musicianship and warped edge-defining songwriting.
14 July 2011The Electric Dollhouse Groove Buggy - Cryin', Dyin' and Fourth of Julyin' (Jeffery Drag)
Cryin’, Dyin’ and Fourth of Julyin’ ‘s triumph is not only the obviously skilled musicians that crafted this bad-ass masterpiece, but in how it captures the vivid spirit of the blissfully druggy but focused ferality of rock and roll, drawing deep from the dark inheritance of that northwestern nook of Louisiana.
14 July 2011Sourvein - Black Fangs (Candlelight Records)
A brilliant, dank and essential album that achieves the pinnacle of what Sourvein has been able to give to the world: the sheer essence of heavy music, shorn of pretentious fuckery that weakens the broth like long solos or overproduction.
23 June 2011Efrim Manuel Menuk - plays "High Gospel" (Constellation)
High Gospel is really a stellar, dark and majestic album that travels at it’s own measured pace and makes no apologies to anyone in it’s singularity of vision.
21 June 2011Cannons - Cuddled By Giants EP (Independent)
Philly’s Cannons ‘ newest release Cuddled By Giants is a tumultuous slab of awesome jams that sets a slightly more accessible tone than their scrappier 2010 release Friendly Muscles .
6 April 2011Bad Uncle - Presents: The Incredible Mediocrity (aka Bone Dust Menace And The Essence Of Pigdog) - Independent
Montreal’s Bad Uncle are a rough and steamy band of miscreant gypsy-punx held together by duct tape, whisky and mad chops. While there’s a band like this in everybody’s city (right?), Bad Uncle are head and shoulders above the crowd for myriad reasons.
21 March 2011The Beatles - And God Saw That It Was Good (Independent, Cassette)
This cassette, a pretty chunk of sick right-brained rock jams, is a tasty lemon-lime work of art. These kids make a lot of deprecating and sly jokes in of and around the tunes, which have a quick-cut basement 4 track feel which is fairly consistent. They don’t take anything seriously (thank fucking god) not even The Beatles .
10 March 2011The Great Sabatini - Napoleon Sodomite 7" (Sludge Hummer)
Napoleon Sodomite is a slab of truly heavy, immediately gratifying, un-fuckwithable riffs that taps the dark roots of unpretentious ‘banger ear-candy.
3 March 2011Bandname - Breakfast (Soft City)
Hi-kicking and ass-kicking, Philly’s Bandname is a kinetic ball of fun. Their new full length, Breakfast is a rad collection of sun-drenched punk chops for the uncynical.
16 February 2011David and the Woods - The Peace Den (Cuchabata)
Uncluttered, indelicate and immediately engaging, the 10 songs on the latest release by D&TW seem planted firmly in a My Bloody Valentine plot, yet their roots and branches extend widely and magnificently.
8 February 2011Pujol - Bonedaddy 7" (Jeffery Drag)
This first piece of vinyl from fresh Nashville upstart DIY label Jeffery Drag is a really hot indication of the great things to come.
1 February 2011The Curious Mystery - We Creeling ( K Recs)
The second release by fuzzy Olympia based K recs group The Curious Mystery slides out the gate with a slow, dark majesty.
22 January 2011Turbogeist - Alien Girl/Rats 7" (Big Meanie Records)
This fresh new group of misfit rockers have forged a sound entirely unique out of the sagging genres of punk, garage and metal.
18 November 2010Maxos le Gervoïde - Les Ti-Gars N'Mourront Jamais (Cuchabata)
Maxos Le Gervoïde has found in his music both means of poeticizing and channeling his storytelling but also pulling towards something wider than the little slice of province he springs from. But for the language these songs should be universal, as the themes are accessible to anyone.
14 November 2010Ape! - The Dirger (Independent)
Rising from the dank netherworld of Delaware, Ape! is an exciting new addition to the ever-expanding tree of Sabbath-genome metal. Any fan of mid-fi doom and deserty shred will love this release.
8 November 2010Theee Bat vs Atomic Suplex split 7" (Swamp Fiction)
An incredible slab of searing garage perfection that leaves you totally breathless and wanting a whole lot more!
8 November 2010Chain & The Gang - Music's Not For Everyone (K)
K Recs continues their magnificently diverse output with a slice of neo-sludge and retrodelia with this burnt offering by Chain & The Gang. Sparse, hiss-laden soul hooks here adorned by poppy and understated male/female vocals.
27 October 2010The Soupcans - The Soupcans (Cramped Spaces Cassette Registry)
Everything that you love about completely over-driven garage punk is white hot on The Soupcans first release, a cleverly packaged casette on the tiny DIY Cramped Spaces Cassette Registry label.
19 October 2010The Arboreal Quartet - The Arboreal Quartet (Independent)
Without a scrap of lyric, the songs manage to be incredibly lyrical, singing images pleasantly into the mind’s ear. The attentive listener is transported into splendid harbors of bright and comforting light and shade, to the point where the texture of the music is almost palpable to the touch.
1 October 2010Key of K - Japan/Fleas (Independent)
Key of K manages to pack some major dynamics into seemingly simple songs. A beautiful, mellifluous and dark recording that should hold most listeners happily rapt.
1 October 2010The Demon's Claws - The Defrosting of (In The Red)
The deceptively loose, rambling rawness of The Demon’s Claws ‘ music wraps everything we love about spooky psych rock and roll and sets it all on fire.
31 August 2010Dora Bleu - Earthly Bombs (Ikuisuus)
In today’s musical climate of regression and huge-fonted neon infantilism, where even the more esoteric labels are trying to put forth vapid beats to please and increasingly ADD audience you have to despair if you’re a music fan with any degree of patience and focus. Luckily the independent composer will never die, and Dora Bleu’s latest CD-R, Earthly Bombs , stands in direct opposition to the fast-food market of ipod commercial ready bands.
27 August 2010Land of Kush’s Egyptian Light Orchestra - Monogamy (Constellation)
From the opening salvo, the ubiquitous Sam Shalabi ’s ELO draws you in to a cloistered, textured world of Egyptian modality and freeform experimentation.
25 August 2010Desert Owls - Who? (Lazy At Work)
Yet another band emerges to prove that Montreal is still producing real, top notch rock n roll bands. Desert Owls explodes out the gate with this scorching collection of raw, attitude laden tunes.
18 August 2010The Gruesomes - Jack The Ripper (Fuzz Overdose)
The Gruesomes blew up on the mid-80s Canadian scene, almost single handedly rekindling the 2nd wave garage revival with their teen beat striped sweater stomp that spliced the fuzz with some ragingly caustic punk maneuvers.
16 August 2010The Polymorphines - Transistor Sistor (Get Bent)
Ottawa, Ontario’s The Polymorphines are holding down the fun tent as part of Canada’s criminally under-appreciated gonzo garage rock scene. Their first album, Transistor Sistor is an unabashedly trashy rocking ode to joy, speed and sex that blissfully shakes a greasy tambourine in the faces of the jaded.
15 August 2010Bad Cop - Harvest The Beast (ROIR)
Nashville, Tennessee band Bad Cop ’s auspicious debut on the legendary ROIR label is an inoculating shot in the arm that acts as a sort of psychic painkiller. It’s an elevating, honest and transcendent album.
31 July 2010Freelove Fenner - In The Bottle Garden (Fixture Records)
A crisp and bouncy release by this Montreal band.
31 July 2010DOOMSTAR! - Rainbow Bloodsucker EP (Independent)
One of the most genuine and exciting bands tearing shows up in the DIY scene right now.
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