Former member of Vampire Weekend, Rostam Batmanglij—performing under his stage name, Rostam—headlined at La Sala Rossa on Feb. 5, touring behind his first solo album Half-Light, released last September. It was, as he proudly noted, the first-ever Rostam show in Canada. The night opened with a performance by Joy Again,[Read More…]
Tag: Indie Rock
Alvvays – Antisocialites Review
Alvvays, Toronto indie favourites, first made waves in 2014 with their self-titled debut and its breakout single “Archie, Marry Me,” a brazenly tongue-in-cheek young love song. Their newest album, Antisocialites, lacks a hit as anthemic as “Archie,” yet Alvvays’ pop sensibilities remain razor-sharp throughout. Antisocialites thrives off of apparent contradictions;[Read More…]
Album Review: Jay Som – ‘Everybody Works’
It’s hard to make an indie-rock record in 2017. With rock’s virtually non-existent commercial clout and alternative music’s critical supremacy all but sapped, the genre has been bogged down in a midlife crisis for the past few years. Those who have managed to hang around—Mitski, Car Seat Headrest—have done so[Read More…]
Pop Rhetoric: Drop the cynicism and get excited for LCD Soundsystem’s return
Remember when the reunion rumour was solely in the domain of the great fossils of rock’s mesozoic era? When the ravenous rumour mill of music journalism (read: Rolling Stone Magazine) was content to feast on reports of fabricated Zeppelin tours and that time that Pink Floyd got back together for[Read More…]
Album Review: Each Other – Aidan Knight
Despite being home to a collection of bands such as Frog Eyes, Armchair Cynics, and Hot Hot Heat, Victoria B.C. is not particularly known for its music scene. The biggest act to arise from the eccentric city is Nelly Furtado, but she’s hardly made a dent in the music scene[Read More…]
Album Review: Pagans in Vegas – Metric
Metric is a band that has yet to make a misstep in their 17 year career, and they have become known as founders of the Canadian indie-rock scene. Their latest album Pagans in Vegas, the band’s sixth overall and first in over three years, attempts[Read More…]
Album Review: Destroyer – Poison Season / Merge
Since the mid ‘90s, singer-songwriter Dan Bejar’s Destroyer project has always been flooded with comparisons to the great rock music of yore. From Leonard Cohen and David Bowie to Roxy Music, Destroyer’s constantly shifting sound always finds a way to invade a new, name check-able[Read More…]
Album Review: Beach House – Depression Cherry / Sub Pop & Bella Union
From the first notes of intro track “Levitation,”indie rock duo Beach House delivers the same silver breathy vocals and distant tambourine that exemplified their first release. Depression Cherry is soft and enveloping. It’s a good album, but less so in the context of past Beach[Read More…]
Album Review: Florence + the Machine – How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful
Much of the lead-up to How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful, the highly anticipated studio album from British indie-rock band Florence + the Machine, has included an overemphasis of the album’s stripped-back sound. No stranger to bombast, the band’s previous two albums were high on[Read More…]
Album Review: CAIRO – A History of Reasons
Toronto-based indie rock group CAIRO, after garnering significant regional attention from the release of the music video for its single “A History of Reasons,” has delivered a full-length debut album that lives up to its hype. It is by no means groundbreaking, but is still a perfectly listenable amalgamation of[Read More…]
