Album Reviews

Guruchathram Ledchumanan and Ryan Belbin

Gorillaz Plastic Beach Parlophone Rock B+ By Guruchathram Ledchumanan When the Gorillaz won a British music award a few years ago, creator Damon Albarn said in his acceptance speech, “And they’re not even real!” What happens when a cartoon band becomes a real rock band? When Damon Albarn started Gorillaz 12 years ago with his artist buddy Jamie Hewlett (Tank...

Album Reviews

Marry Jessie Burke, Guruchathram Ledchumanan and Ryan Belbin

Lady Antebellum Need You Now Capitol Nashville Country B By Ryan Belbin Lady Antebellum is the latest in a long list of musicians coming out of Nashville trying to make country music cool again. The trio’s sophomore release is pretty much exactly what you’d expect: Catchy, feel-good hooks; sappy ballads; and rhymes that are cute, but clichéd and contrived. Need...

Hockey

Aaron Williams

Mind Chaos Capitol Pop C+ The debut release from Portland Oregon’s Hockey can be added to a fairly long list of mostly forgettable electro-pop bands from the past decade. No doubt there are some good hooks on the album Mind Chaos, but at over 45 minutes, I was often bored and sometimes annoyed at what I was hearing. Front man...

Timbaland

Sarah Bungay

Shock Value II Interscope Records Pop B- Shock Value II is the sequel to Timbaland’s 2007 album Shock Value, and, like most follow-ups, it comes up short in comparison to the first. The first single, “The Morning After,” has the familiar electro-pop sound of Nelly Furtado, but there is also a fresh twist added by a new artist, the rather...

The Dojo Workhorse

Ryan Belbin

Weapons Grade Romantic LOADMusic Indie/Acoustic A Weapons Grade Romantic, the Dojo Workhorse’s debut album, is the perfect soundtrack for a lazy Sunday afternoon spent musing in pyjamas on life and love. Dan Vacon, the creative centerpiece of Calgary rockers the Dudes, has cast off his Rock N’ Roll attire for this solo project, covering his tattoos with a t-shirt that...

Album Reviews

Sherman Downey Honey For Bees Independent Acoustic Rock A By Ryan Belbin Remember this name: Sherman Downey. The Codroy Valley native has been playing music for quite a while, but his first album, Honey For Bees, is going to turn him into a household name. With thick dreadlocks and a disarming stage presence, Downey unexpectedly puts you at ease. Honey...

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Aaron Williams

BLK JKS After Robots Secretly Canadian Alternative Rock B From South Africa, BLK JKS (Black Jacks) are starting to get some much deserved attention. They are a little bit like The Mars Volta, only not as heavy, and a little bit like TV On The Radio, but without the airtight production. Their dark sounding horn section is definitely distinctly their...

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Gerald Coleman

Rah Rah Going Steady Young Soul Records Rock C Rah Rah makes me yawn. There are some flowery melodies going on here, but they go on for far too long. Their riffs are endlessly drawn out, and are driven at the same energy level for longer than I’d enjoy to hear, like on the track, “Tentacles.” These guys are gaining...

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Julie Skinner

Robbie Williams Reality Killed The Video Star Virgin/EMI Pop C There has always been some kind of indescribable X-factor that draws me to Robbie Williams. I can even look past those Nick Lachey-esque tribal tattoos that reek of late ’90s pop star. Still, that Ewan McGregor smile and Sean Connery charm always wins me over – call it nostalgia, but...

Bet you can’t listen just Once

St. John’s folk trio reinventing Newfoundland music

Ryan Belbin

With the release of their self-titled debut album in July, four-time MusicNL award winners The Once are turning heads with their stunning harmonies and arrangements of traditional songs. Drawn together by their theatre backgrounds in 2005, lead vocalist Geraldine Hollett, Andrew Dale (vocals, bouzouki, mandolin, guitar, piano accordion, piano, tenor banjo, Hammond organ, bodhran, bass, percussion), and Phil Churchill (vocals,...

Weezer

Guruchathram Ledchumanan

Weezer Raditude DGC Records Alternative Rock A- Weezer made me wish I was an awkward über-nerd with no social skills. One of the reasons I love them is probably because I was and somehow kind of always will be. Words work better in my head than they do when I say them out loud and I can only hope that...

Sugar Ray

Guruchathram Ledchumanan

Sugar Ray Music For Cougars Atlantic Records Pop Rock C- Sugar Ray were known for knocking out catchy Orange County songs that frat boys could sing along to like “Fly” and “Every Morning” around 10 years ago. Their earlier stuff was harder and slightly more ska perhaps, but once you sell your soul for radio airplay, you just want to...

The Trews

Ryan Belbin

The Trews Acoustic – Friends & Total Strangers Bumstead Records Rock B You do not have to know any songs by the Trews to appreciate their newest record, Acoustic – Friends & Total Strangers although it might help. Drawing from their three-album repertoire, including three brand new numbers, the group, hailing from Nova Scotia, strips down familiar songs such as...

Journey with Sun Satellite in the sky

Band releases first EP and plans to record debut album

Guruchathram Ledchumanan

If you miss the way Incubus sounded when they first burst on the scene and have a soft spot for The Mars Volta, then Sun Satellite will be your new celestial band of choice. The Toronto-based group has just released a six track EP and will go into the studio on New Year’s Day to start work on their debut...

Wolfmother

Cosmic Egg

Guruchathram Ledchumanan

Wolfmother Cosmic Egg Universal Rock A- If Led Zeppellin and Pink Floyd had a child, it would be named Wolfmother. If you can believe it, Cosmic Egg is even bigger, fatter, and freakier than their debut album which came out in 2006. They sound like they arrived on Earth via a time warp from the ’70s. The standout track, Sundial...