Category Archives: FEATURES

These are big old articles, or other what have you, that are deemed worthy of featuring. Mostly there are album or concert reviews, or lists of my favourite albums from one year or another. Some of them are lists that are somewhat actively maintained like my list of artists that I’ve seen live - check the ‘last updated’ to see if they’re up to date at all.

Idlewild - Warnings/Promises

My first review for the silhouette this year.. I whipped it up while waiting for the internet to arrive last afternoon without actually getting the CD out of the shrinkwrap. That’s how hardcore I am.
Idlewild – Warnings/Promises
Oh, copy control. Thanks to you this CD might “encounter playback problems” on my CD player. […]

upcoming shows

Holy good goddamn.
There are a lot of shows (that is, concerts) coming up that I really want to see.
Yes.
Some I want to see more than others.
Some I already have tickets to.
Italicized shows have been attended. (Parenthesized shows mean I probably won’t go, but are noteworthy). Starred shows I have tickets to.
Here’s a brief rundown:
Sep 12: […]

Poorfolk (s/t)

The first track on Poorfolk’s self titled debut made one thing
painfully apparent: naming a CD after another genre and adding some
swishy guitars isn’t always enough to distinguish an album from that
burgeoning heap of mostly uniform, pleasantly mediocre indie bands,
especially when Jonathan Pearce’s voice sounds exactly like half the
lead vocalists already going. But unfortunately for […]

My Favourite Albums

This is what we would call my favourite albums of all time. Anything on this list is quite worth buying.
It’s quite possible I forgot some things, and any ranking is interchangeable with most things up to 10 or 15 spots away, because ranking things is silly. But for some reason we love to do […]

My Favourite Artists

This is a list of my favourite artists and DJs and what have you. It’s not ‘the best’ just my personal favourites. I update it periodically, so it’s usually fairly accurate, though it’s obviously hard to be totally accurate about a list like this. It also tries to be temporally all-encompassing ; […]

Keren Ann - Not Going Anywhere

After just 2 or 3 listens Keren Ann Zeidel’s English debut had
snuggled up against my subconscious. The songs all sounded familiar
and I already delighted in each one while anticipating the next.
Keren’s style is light, easygoing and very difficult to dislike. Her
gentle voice caresses your ears as the dreamy but catchy melodies
float over sparkling […]

Beneath Augusta: You Gotta Come Down Sometime

When listening to Beneath Augusta’s debut, it’s easy to think of Muse with the bombast knob cranked down, combined with a bit of the laudable aimlessness of Elbow-or, more appropriately, to the sound of Bends-era Radiohead B-sides. In fact track nine sounds absurdly similar to “the Trickster,” and while that’s not bad in itself, it […]

Jens Lekman: WHEN I SAID I WANTED TO BE YOUR DOG

It’s easy to think this album is a little silly, or even stupid. On first listen, I was noted to raise my eyebrow in confusion and disbelief when I heard the striking couplet “Did you take tram #7 to heaven? / Did you eat your banana from 7/11?”
Eventually, my incredulity was eroded away by the […]

Clann Zu - Black Coats and Bandages

Despite Clann Zú being being credited with writing all the music here
as a band, moreso than other groups, the driving force seems to be the
singer and lyricist, Declan DeBarra. He wears his ragged heart
unabashedly on his sleeve, and his distinctive voice is at the centre
of every song: at times plaintive, shrieking, delicate, or intense.
The […]

The Organ and Controller.Controller pics

The Organ, Controller.Controller Live at The Underground in Hamilton - October 22, 2004
The Organ

Controller.Controller