The genre-bending music of New York City’s chamber jazz trio 9 Horses proves that just three instruments are capable of creating anything from prog rock to folk music, with sounds both melodic and jarring. At least, it does for composer and mandolin player Joseph Brent, violinist Sara Caswell, and bassist[Read More…]
Tag: rock
Album Review: Belle and Sebastian – How To Solve Our Human Problems (Part 3)
Scottish indie darlings Belle and Sebastian have returned with a musical gift for the new year: Since December, the Glasgow six-piece band has released an EP every month, culminating with the final release of How To Solve Our Human Problems (Part 3) on Feb. 16. While the EP shares its name[Read More…]
Get to Know: The Nicotines
Davide Spinato, singer-guitarist of the indie-grunge-rock outfit The Nicotines, had a lot on his mind when we met. “Most bands are entitled,” Spinato said. “They think that because they play a show, that because they come out with something, people are automatically going to respond and show up.” Sitting upright[Read More…]
SSMU Musicians Collective rocks out at La Vitrola
It’s add-drop season, so before profs start slamming students with endless readings, the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) Musicians Collective gathered in La Vitrola on Jan. 10 to kick off the Winter semester. The Plateau/Mile End vibe was strong that night: Blundstones, Radiohead, and cheap beer were plentiful. [Read More…]
Album Review: Ty Segall – Emotional Mugger
Emotional Mugger is creative and unorthodox in a way that’s wholly unpredictable and not particularly welcoming. On “The Magazine,” rapid rhythmic clapping comes out of nowhere to overwhelm the melody, which simultaneously collapses into nothing more than record scratching and atonal vocals. The track “W.U.O.T.W.S.” goes from weird distorted murmurs[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…]
Flashback: London Calling by The Clash (1979)
London, 1979. It has been a decade of rebellious confrontation, slashed jeans, and protests against mainstream society. To sum it all up: Loud. However, this active time of musical production, pioneered by individuals who desired to create and say something, should not be confused with ‘noise.’ The raging guitar riffs[Read More…]
Album Review: Make Glad the Day – The Sylvia Platters
Unlike Bon Iver’s For Emma, Forever Ago, which arguably set the trend or working on an album in a cabin in the woods, B.C.-based The Sylvia Platters, that followed the trend, have created an album that sounds nothing like the natural serenity of a forest. By instead labeling themselves as[Read More…]
“Nobody Said It Was Easy”: Coldplay’s ‘final’ album, and the band’s legacy
Coldplay—the band you loved in the seventh grade and now want nothing to do with—released what is rumoured to be its final album this month. After 16 long years of experimenting with sounds, bouncing around on stage, and getting routinely torn apart by the international music community, the band’s latest[Read More…]
Album Review: Trading Basics – Palm
In mid-October, while promoting an upcoming anniversary show, the fantastic American blog-turned-label Exploding in Sound’s Facebook page posted a live performance under a caption heralding the quartet as “EIS, the next generation.” The post seemed apt. The Pennsylvania/New York-based band, Palm, has one foot in the ’90s-esque, oddball guitar rock[Read More…]
