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, [...]
The Organ, Controller.Controller Live at The Underground in Hamilton – October 22, 2004 The Organ Controller.Controller
Flogging Molly basically sound like The Pogues with a punk band and more predictibility. That is to say, rollicking Celtic tunes mostly on the traditional instruments (squeezebox, fiddle, pipes) with strong rock underpinnings in the rhythm section. The fiery spirit of Celtic music suits a marriage with punk, but I find the distorted guitars don’t [...]
Explosions in the Sky wsg Adem Live at The Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto – October 11, 2004 Adem Explosions in the Sky
In the tradition of the Bob Dylans and Leonard Cohens of yesteryear, Josh Ritter is an unashamed balladeer. His deep, enchanting voice flows over folky acoustic guitar, Hammond organ and percussion. The sound is clean, rich, and maybe you’ve heard it before. It really would be a bit silly to say he’s crossing musical borders, [...]
Last night I had the shit kicked out of me by the Arcade Fire. In the afternoon Colin and Amy came up and they, I, and Brian saw the play ‘The Love List’ which had Colin’s uncle in it (so we got 2 free tickets which made it quite worthwhile). It was very funny, light-hearted, [...]
The Arcade Fire wsg Heston Rifle, Belle Orchestre Live at The Underground in Hamilton – October 02, 2004 my camera became a bit of a community commodity this time, so only most, and not all, of the pictures were taken by my own hands Heston Rifle Belle Orchestre THE ARCADE FIRE
Clarence “Citizen Cope” Greenwood’s descriptively titled sophomore disc is an unfortunate step-down, or at least sideways, from his promising but not spectacular self-titled debut. Greenwood’s music is an interesting hybrid between downtempo, hip hop, and reggae. He croons and half raps lyrics about our troubled times, but they are too specific to carry universal import [...]
The Sadies wsg Rick White Live at Call The Office in London – September 24th, 2004 Rick White The Sadies
The Sadies like to defy easy categorization. Their sound takes on elements of bluegrass, country rock, surf, and psychedelia, but it’s not such a strange combination: all these allegedly disparate styles sound natural together. Favourite Colours is a wash of deep bass, clear-ringing picked steel and good old fashioned country twang. The melodies themselves are [...]