Category: Reviews
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Looming – Seed
It’s only upon starting to listen to Seed that one realizes a female singer fronting an emo band is such a rarity. Why is that? In many ways, it could be argued that the music is tailor-made for a female sensibility (women learn to be in better touch with their emotions and can definitely articulate them…
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The Texas Gentlemen – TX Jelly (LP)
It might not be so easy for readers to remember now, but TX Jelly – the debut LP by Texas Gentlemen – actually springs from a tradition which once favored allowing an album to build and develop organically as musicians made it in the studio. Back before punk rock and all its myriad sub- and…
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Thy Kingdom Slum – A History of Dissent *CANADIAN*
Man, “Century” by Lodown was probably one of my most-played songs back when I was on CKLN. This catchy, groovy, heavy rock number had a few listeners asking me “Dude, who the heck was that?” But despite having such a killer track, the Windsor-based outfit didn’t get much respect—they always seemed to be playing the…
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Flipper – Generic Flipper (vinyl reissue)
In music, as is the case in chemistry, the most important element is the one that ultimately provides the catalyst which sets everything else in motion. In chemistry, for example, the right combination of sulfur, charcoal and saltpeter can still remain perfectly inert but, when a spark gets added to that mix, the results are…
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Windhand / Satan’s Satyrs split
Although they offer very different takes on what you might file under doom, they’re both at the top of their game. Windhand and Satan’s Satyrs put on a great gig in Toronto while touring together last year, and now they’ve teamed up again on this 31-minute split EP. Although Windhand only gets two songs to…
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Lars Frederiksen and the Bastards – Viking LP (reissue)
If the idea that a classic album is defined as ‘one which holds personal meaning for a listener’ can be taken as factual, then I can say confidently that Lars Frederiksen and the Bastards’ sophomore album, Viking, is one of the most important albums of my life; for me, it is a personal classic. I remember, for…
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Fu Manchu – Clone of the Universe
Fu Manchu is practically the AC/DC of stoner rock, owing to their consistency and longevity. When these guys put out a new record, you pretty much know what you’re gonna get… and it’s gonna be groovy. Clone of the Universe is the 12th studio album from these long-running desert rockers, and it definitely delivers. The…
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Lars Frederiksen and the Bastards – Live and Loud!! LP
In this digital age of perfectly pressed, equalized and mastered music, something truly seems to have been lost – particularly from live albums. These days, live albums just seem too contained; because those making the recordings often know exactly how to make and produce one, a lot of the of-its-moment energy which comes together at…
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Lars Frederiksen and the Bastards – s/t LP (reissue)
Those who remember that time period when all those Southern California punk bands who broke through in the early nineties got huge (like the Offspring, Green Day, NOFX and Rancid) remember what a big deal it was when Lars Frederiksen and the Bastards released their first album in 2001. Granted, they were not the first…
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Empress – Reminiscence
I told you Elder’s got a posse! A West Coast gig from our new stoner rock saviours inspired this here Vancouver trio to start kicking out their own respective jams, which has resulted in their five-song debut EP, Reminiscence. There’s two distinct types of tunes on Reminiscence—three sub-four-minute tracks, and then a pair of eight-plus…