In celebration of Priority Records’ 25th anniversary, hip-hop legend Snoop Dogg runs through his catalogue of West Coast favourites in The West Coast Blueprint. With a few well-placed interludes, Snoop guides the album along like a radio DJ, providing insight and commentary on California hip-hop’s golden age.
Arts & Entertainment
Keep up to date on local art, new albums, and everything entertainment-related.
CD REVIEW: Luke Doucet and the White Falcon – Steel City Trawler
The eighth studio album from Luke Doucet, and the second to feature The White Falcon, Steel City Trawler is an unabashed portrait of the magic in the everyday. The album’s straightforward guitar riffs and upbeat melodies, combined with Doucet’s earnest lyrics, form an enjoyable and thoughtful record.
POP RHETORIC: Outlive, Outplay, Outlast
Thailand. Guatemala. Panama. Fiji. Micronesia. The list goes on. Any television show filmed in these places is automatically cool in my books. Of course I’m talking about Survivor, the best show on television. I usually get the same reaction when I talk about the show; “You still watch that?” Or eve; “That’s still on?” Yes, Survivor is still on and I still watch it.
CD REVIEW: Chemical Brothers- Further
Released earlier this year, the Chemical Brothers’ seventh effort, Further, can start to sound like a concert album after a few plays. Unlike many of the Brothers’ earlier releases, the album captures the raw intensity and structureless flow of a live set, filled with unexpected drops, blips, and volume shifts.
CD REVIEW: Sweet Thing- Sweet Thing
With their self-titled debut, it’s easy to see that Toronto’s Sweet Thing have Top 40 ambitions. Whether or not they’ll get there remains to be seen. The album certainly contains elements that suggest they will: the punchy guitars of “Gun,” the shimmering synths of “Lazy Susan,” and the soaring vocals of “A Change of Seasons” are all perfectly pop rock enough to satisfy any fan of the genre, but they still have a long way to go.
Summer Entertainment Report Cards: CDs – Sufjan Stevens – All Delighted People EP
Dropping out of nowhere this summer, the All Delighted People mega-EP (the thing is 60 minutes long) is Sufjan Stevens’ long-awaited return to song-based material. The EP is an all-encompassing affair and serves as an both an excellent reminder of Stevens’s work to date and a crash-course for the initiated.
Summer Entertainment Report Cards: TV Shows – True Blood
Picking up immediately from the intriguing cliff-hanger of season two, season three begins with Sookie Stackhouse enlisting the help of the (very sexy) vampire Eric in order to look for Bill, who has just been abducted by a mysterious source. As the season unfolds, it turns out that it is Russell Edgington-the vampire king of Mississippi- who, along with a brigade of werewolves, has taken Bill as a prisoner.
Summer Entertainment Report Cards: Movies – Inception
It would not be presumptuous to call Inception the movie event of the year. Certainly no other film this year has generated nearly the same amount of buzz as Christopher Nolan’s most recent blockbuster. Dom Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) is an extractor, a thief who steals thoughts from the minds of his targets through their dreams.
Summer Entertainment Report Cards: CDs – Best Coast – Crazy For You
If you believe the hype (and the blogs), California’s Best Coast have made a life-changing, must-own debut record in Crazy For You. I’m not as convinced. Sure, frontwoman Bethany Cosentino and partner Bobb Bruno have crafted a warm, hazey, washed-out record with reverb-soaked vocals and some pretty killer melodies, but that can describe most noisy, pop-punk garage bands operating today.
Summer Entertainment Report Cards: TV Shows – The Real World: New Orleans
Despite wavering in popularity, The Real World is to reality TV what Columbus is to accidentally finding continents. Call it an innovator, call it an institution-either way, the franchise has produced 23 seasons, not including their latest, The Real World: New Orleans.
