 Alkaline Trio
Remains
4/5
Who It’s For: Part-time Alkaline Trio fans
Sounds Like: A good mix up of the band’s previous material
Remains is apparently a combination of b-sides, rarities and live material from Alkaline Trio, probably put out to tide over fans who have been waiting while Matt Skiba does his side project thing. Any long time fans of the band have probably already heard at least a few of these songs if not more. Those of you who only know a few AT songs and want a good mix of more should definitely check this disc out though. With 22 tracks, it’s longer then the average album so you get a lot of AT from soft to heavy. Songs like “Sadie,” “Hell Yes” and “If You Had A Bad Time” will show part timers why the rest of us can’t get enough of these guys.
- Stephanie Joudrey
 Architects
Nightmares
3.5/5
Who It’s For: That kid that likes complicated-core. They usually hit the mosh pit with a calculator in hand.
Sounds Like: Scarlet, Every Time I Die, Between The Buried And Me
Could this perhaps be evidence of another NWOBHM (new wave of British heavy metal)? Like Johnny Truant, Architects is another band from England that is throwing their collective hat into the genre that is technical metal, and it’s not a bad hat that they are throwing in either.
Although not so much sounding like a nightmare, Nightmares is quite a solid listen all the way through. The slick production enhances the intense listen. Shrieking guitars litter the album, as do double kick attacks that don’t let up. The twisted time signatures and off time breakdowns will definitely get you going from convulsions to head nods with ease. The occasional programmed drums give a hint of a welcomed industrial influence a la Scarlet. Album closer “The Darkest Tomb” is one of the highlights of the album with some complex, great guitar work.
In the wake of acts like Botch, it’s good to hear that good technical metal bands can still be produced in a scene that’s getting pretty stale. Nightmares isn’t the most innovative album, but it’s a lot of fun to listen to. Count on it getting repeat listens in your future.
- Michael Kopko
 Barenaked Ladies
Barenaked Ladies Are Men
4/5
Who It’s For: Canadians
Sounds Like: Typical BNL
What can be said about the Barenaked Ladies? They are as big a part of Canadian iconography as hockey, beer and the word eh, but after releasing so many albums – and this one only six months after their eleventh release, Barenaked Ladies Are Me – will Canadians still love them?
Of course!
Though this disc is missing the much anticipated humour and jabs at our favourite celebs and television shows, it is still filled with fun melodies and music that just makes you happy. It is a typical BNL album; enjoyable and fun.
The Barenaked Ladies prove over and over again that no matter how many radio stations continue to overplay their songs we will never get sick of them.
Keep rockin’ guys! Naked Style!
- Julie Hunter
 Calla
Strength In Numbers
4.2/5
Who It’s For: Maybe people who like the last few Tool albums, but would like them a bit less ‘metal’ and a bit less ‘pretentious’ too.
Sounds Like: Echo & The Bunnymen being sort of gothic with Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. But not really
Modern life doesn’t allow much time for getting properly acquainted with an album any more. You download the singles, listen to them to death on your iPod, and then click ‘delete’. Strength In Numbers beckons you to change your attitude. Last album Collisions came out to unerring critical praise and Strength In Numbers is even better. Just when you think Calla are masters of attractive sinister indie who can sidestep conventional pop sentiments, they throw a song like “Rise” into the mix, and it shines gloriously. Calla are a band that reward time and loyalty, but in Strength In Number they have the Stankonia of their genre.
- Kid Lupin
 Comeback Kid
Broadcasting
4/5
Who It’s For: people who want a high-energy pure, unadulterated punk album
Sounds Like: Protest the Hero, Arise and Ruin, Bane
Comeback Kid are an anomaly in the Punk scene. Despite the proliferation of mediocre punk bands engaged in the genre, the Kids defy their own success and maintain a kind of punk authenticity that could easily be watered down after two prior successful albums. Yet they have taken their convictions in their own organic hardcore, driving tunes and kicked it up a notch, employing sweeping guitar licks and mosh-worthy drums with vocals that are powerful in their projection, but never overdone. There are even hints of vocal melodic interludes that provides variety without seeming forced. Standout track is by far “One Left Satisfied,” which has an awesome System of a Down reminiscent guitar line and rockin chorus.
- Kate Davis
 FYI
A Full Year Story
1.5/5
Who It’s For: People who are friends of FYI
Sounds Like: Bad rock music
I could tell right away from the look of the cover of A Full Year Story that it was going to be less than stellar. To say that the cover looked shoddy would be a compliment. It would've actually looked better if they had crudely pasted their photos onto the picture of a labyrinth as opposed to the horrible Photoshop work that they did.
The music on the EP was almost as bad as the cover. The basic sound of the EP is awful vocals on top of sub par music. From listening to the album it becomes very apparent very quickly that singer Kevin McGowan has never had any sort of vocal training. He seems to manage to hit every wrong note what he possibly could.
FYI is basically one of those bands that will open up free indie shows that your local radio station. Don't expect much of this EP, or from them, for that matter.
- Dan Bilicki
 Albert Hammond Jr.
Yours to Keep
4/5
Who It’s For: The Strokes fan that couldn’t stop complaining about First Impressions of Earth, saying it sounded too much like their earlier work.
Sounds Like: The Strokes, Rich Aucoin, or The Meligrove Band
The Strokes’ guitarist steps out from behind the shadows and tries his hand at a solo debut. One can tell this wasn’t quickly thrown together to grab some extra cash and play of the hype of his main stage act, in fact, it sounds like it took a great deal of time for Hammond to perfect these 8 entirely honest tracks. While completely veering away from the Strokes like vibe on some cuts, playing ambient and sometimes danceable little synth rock ditties (“Back to the 101,” “Bright Young Thing” ), other cuts dive right towards the jangly guitars and hunched crooning the Strokes deliver at their best (“It’s Hard to Live in the City”, “Call An Ambulance”) without ever sounding repetitive. For all those Strokes fans that claimed First Impressions of Earth didn’t have enough diversity and the Strokes had lost their charm, here are some tunes that will leave you tripping over your toes. Each track is catchy, fun, and charming, especially the opening lullaby “Cartoon Music for Superheroes” and the horn-infested jazzy outro on the last song, “It’s Hard to Live in the City.” Hammond’s intellectual, yet simplistic, lyrics never fail provoke thought, and it’s that ability to relate that proves Hammond an ambitious and strong singer/songwriter of our time.
- Sari Delmar
 Leviride
Night of the Drive-By
3/5
Who It’s For: Rock fans
Sounds Like: Pop melodies with rock guitars
I have to admit that reviewing Leviride’s newest album Night of the Drive-By is probably one of the hardest tasks I have come across. Not only is this album not in the general genre of music that I normally listen to but with its pop like melodies streaming behind flailing guitars and a front man who screams through most of his lyrics even though he has an amazing voice it just makes it hard to classify at all.
But, the album in itself is enjoyable.
With the lead singer’s Jim Cuddy-esque voice, Leviride goes on a dark journey with Night of the Drive-by through morbid song titles like: “Your Remains,” “Face For A Funeral” and “The Plague Of You,” but keeps the melodies upbeat and loud.
In the right ears this album is a keeper, unfortunately for Leviride it’s not me. Maybe next time I will have to listen to it the way Leviride intended it to be played “at maximum volume completely naked” to truly enjoy it.
- Julie Hunter
 Mother Mother
Touch Up
2/5
Who It’s For: I don’t know.
Sounds Like: Erratic whining.
On Touch Up some songs are decent and some are really annoying. “Dirty Town” the album’s opener is a really annoying song and it should have appeared late in the album as a track that you could skip over. Not something that you’re almost forced to listen to at the top of a record. That song is what kills this record because you have to open with a powerful song and it just goes down from there. The Mother Mother sound shares the erratic nature of Deerhoof but without the bright ideas, and brilliant musicianship. I was wrong; this album is for the most part annoying and boring. Vocalists Molly Guldemond and Debra-Jean Creelman’s voices are shrill and the vocal parts seem too over done complimenting boring acoustic guitars. This band sets themselves apart from the normal stream of music but it doesn’t work. It’s not believable that the sound they created flowed out naturally from this band, it sounds fake and very forced striving for something new, but it isn’t real.
- Jackson Main
 David Vandervelde
The Moonstation House Band
4.1/5
Who It’s For: Fans of Americana who are getting bored and want something a bit leftfield
Sounds Like: Graham Coxon fronting the Eagles (don’t try and imagine it, it’ll hurt)
With a bit of the Mark Bolan/early-David Bowie about his voice and musical road, it’s hard not to find David Vandervelde endearing from the first shitty chords of “Nothin’ No” right through to the spacey closing credits of “Moonlight Instrumental.” The Moonstation House Band has the same wide-eyed joy of music making, like the day you first got a guitar, that the White Stripes used to have, except more 1971. Spin.com picked Vandervelde up as their Artist of the Day, and with nary a bad song on here it’s easy to see why. It might be oh so very retro, but when it sounds as good as this how could you possibly complain?
- Kid Lupin
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 Anberlin
Cities
4.6/5
Who It’s For: People who go to Warped Tour for the new breed of bands.
Sounds Like: Senses Fail if they weren’t Taoist.
I was expecting Anberlin's follow up to Never Take Friendship Personal to be good; but I didn't expect it to be this good. It's too often that the sophomore jinx hits good bands like these and it's always a relief when it doesn't. Cities is a great album from start to finish that shows of everything that Anberlin is good at. Their tracks range from harder guitar-driven songs (“Godspeed”) to songs with hook-based choruses (“Dismantle Repair”) to slower, melodious songs (“The Unwinding Cable Car”).
Throughout the album, Anberlin also shows their religious conviction but doesn't beat us over the head with it. By using subtle undertones, they convey their theme without seeming heavy-handed; a feat in its self.
All in all, Cities lived up to its hype of being one of the most anticipated albums of 2007.
- Dan Bilicki
 Authority Zero
12:34
4/5
Who It’s For: People who like high-strung punk and ska
Sounds Like: Punk, ska, reggae mixed up into a frantic pace
Authority Zero have been around for a while now with practically no recognition from media, at least in Canada that is. Anyone who has heard of them probably heard from a friend or a band or saw them open for someone or stumbled across them accidentally. God only know why though, because they mix together so much of what we already love in the punk spectrum. In another scenario, Authority Zero could have came out sounding like a Pennywise/Bad Religion rip off band, but instead they threw their personality into every song. Each song has the potential to be a crowd favourite with sing along choruses and a little bit of fun mixed in (like their version of “Drunken Sailor”). It can get a little repetitive, but it’s worth it.
- Stephanie Joudrey
 Black Lips
Valientes Del Mundo Neuva
2/5
Who It’s For: People who plan on never seeing a Black Lips show and this is as close as they are ever going to get.
Sounds Like: The Black Lips recorded by a grade 10 AV student at my high school in 1995.
As far as live albums go Arriba Tijuana is rather stale but the Black Lips aren’t a stale band. It appears as though the recording was done from the audience live off the floor and I suppose it is supposed to emulate the raw power of the band and put you in the audience. But it doesn’t. It’s not that the songs are bad it’s just there is no incentive to buy this record. It’s the same songs from their previous records played the same way and recorded worse. If you want an authentic Black Lips sound listen to Let It Bloom or go and see their show where the band will most likely puke or piss on you. Now that’s quality entertainment.
- Jackson Main
 Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
Some Loud Thunder
1.8/5
Who It’s For: People who think Wolf Parade’s songs are far too short and poppy
Sounds Like: A Modest Mouse album being ground through the trash compactor
The biggest DIY success of the last decade, the band that didn’t need a label or distribution, have now released their second album and have managed to prove that you don’t need major label pressure or major label money to have a sophomore slump. Alec Ounsworth’s voice went from delightfully wry to downright grating (“Satan Said Dance”) while their once ingenuitive melodies have been driven into the ground by merciless repetition (“Underwater (You & Me)”). Meanwhile the title track (the most pleasant song on the album), is completely drowned in a sea of terribly cacophonous production that was almost unimaginatively done on purpose. I like music that makes me want to listen to it again, for that I will resort to their first album.
- Dan Hamilton
 Deerhoof
Friend Opportunity
4/5
Who It’s For: People who have been longing for an Ornette Colman and Melt Banana fusion project.
Sounds Like: Alien Saturday morning cartoon music.
It seems accidental that Deerhoof are now getting some mainstream recognition. Where they once were an underground noise outfit with music that was at some points totally incomprehensible they have now shifted in the past two records to something more melodic. Friend Opportunity puts forth a very juvenile attitude in terms of un-tainted happiness and experimentation in sound without fear. The instruments are little more separated than previous records and are now easier to distinguish and admire. Folding into each other the songs carry an obvious free jazz influence but at in the same breath lose the improvisation chaos and incorporate a gorgeous melody for singer Satomi Matsuzaki to work with.
When you pay attention to this album you can tell it’s far from thrown together and has been written with care and precision even though it sounds at times like it sounds as if parts of the songs were created and recorded in 3 minutes. Every song has its own flavour from the dream sequence flight of delicate finger picking on John Dieterich’s guitar on “The Galxist” to the horn intro of “+81” to the soft and childlike broken English vocals of Matsuzaki hopping through the record adding to the music’s absurdity. “Cast Off Crown” borderlines on angry but is painted with Nintendo sounds and soft breakdowns featuring the Deitrich’s vocals. The brilliance in this album does lay in it’s originality and it’s shunning of pop norms. The musicianship and unique understanding of composition set this record apart from most pop structure and is the furthest thing from popular music today, which is a very good thing. The opposite is working in Deerhoof’s favour and in the listeners.
- Jackson Main
 Green Day
Under Review 1995-2000: The Middle Years
4/5
Who It’s For: Green Day fans who only know American Idiot
Sounds Like: The Green Day albums most people forgot
Everyone remembers either American Idiot or Dookie as the Green Day albums that made the most impact on them, but what some of us have forgotten is that in between those albums they released some discs that were just as good. Under Review showcases the band’s history from beginning to now and focuses on Insomniac, Nimrod. and Warning, the lesser mentioned albums.
With live clips and interviews with everyone from the owner of the band’s first label, one of the first people to book them and even a few sound bites from the band themselves, this DVD reminds us that Green Day were a great band before the massive success of American Idiot. It’s enough to make you remember that there was more in those middle years than the relentless airplay of “Time Of Your Life” and it’ll make you dust off those albums and discover your old favourite songs.
- Alyssa Caplin
 Norah Jones
Not Too Late
3.5/5
Who It’s For: Probably your mom
Sounds Like: Norah Jones, a little folk and a little jazz
After hearing a lot of the advanced press over this album, I was curious. Critics said Jones had lost her jazz flare. Those who had held her so high were slowly letting her fall. Well they are all overreacting. Jones still has the same vocals, which is what people who are going to rush out for this album are looking for. Her dreamy, smoky voice is what leads the disc and what pushes her ahead of all of the others trying to make it in this genre. Other than that Not Too Late gives you exactly what you expect. It’s solid for what it is. Jones should tell critics where to stick it and keep pumping out hits that make you want to dance slowly and tightly in dimly lit bars with a well-dressed man you will never see again.
- Stephanie Joudrey
 Lovehatehero
White Lies
4/5
Who It’s For: Fans of the Emo / post-hardcore genre.
Sounds Like: Most the bands in the aforementioned genres.
While listening to White Lies, you get a feeling that while Lovehatehero is a good band with some great songs and an overall good sound, they aren’t the type of band you would go to see headline a show. At this point of their career, they would be better suited for opening up for the heavy hitters of their genre or on a smaller stage at the Warped Tour. This doesn’t mean that they won’t be hitting the main stage or headlining one day; there is a definite possibility of it.
One of the few flaws of the album is that while all of the tracks are good listening, there isn’t a stand out hit. A lot of the tracks also sound quite similar to the rest of the album, but that could be chalked up to cohesiveness. Overall, Lovehatehero has made an album that’s good from start to finish and has a solid replay-ability factor; something a lot of albums like this lacks.
- Dan Bilicki
 Once Just
Destination
2.7/5
Who It’s For: People who don’t know what good ska is yet.
Sounds Like: The most pop-like ska I’ve heard.
It’s hard to knock this album because it is exactly what it is; a poppy ska album. Once Just certainly accomplished their mission if this is, in fact, what they were going for. It’s upbeat, it’s remotely fun to listen to and there isn’t very much depth or meaning within its songs. There isn’t much maturity in the album either. To sum them up, Once Just is pretty much the same as the band that all your stoner friends from high school formed and started playing shows at the local dive bar; only with a record deal.
- Dan Bilicki
 Shim
In The Veins
2.3/5
Who It’s For: People who left all the good CDs in their other car; Shim fans.
Sounds Like: Sham desert-rock; background music to a boring road trip through Alberta.
Shim think that they inhabit a niche between glam-era Marilyn Manson and Queens of The Stone Age. Sadly for them, they lack the glitz of Manson, the imagination of QOTSA, and the balls of both. In The Veins has some half-baked takes on some damn good ideas, but sounds like the band nearly wet themselves at the thought of success and never put the work in. It also thinks it’s a very clever record. Oh dear. And enough with the annoying time changes already!
- Kid Lupin
 The Smithereens
Meet The Smithereens
4/5
Who It’s For: Any real pop music fans old or new!
Anyone who knows the Smithereens know these guys are pop kings all the way from the Pop masterpiece Especially For You to their last disc God Save the Smithereens.
So it’s no surprise that they were asked to play at the annual fest for THE BEATLES, and upon playing, realized how many Beatles fans love The Smithereens.
The next step go in and record a brilliant track by track labor of love to the Beatles called Meet The Smithereens, named after the American bastard release of With the Beatles called Meet the Beatles.
One listen to this CD makes you realize these guys weren’t fooling around and even acquired the Gretsch Guitar that George Harrison used to make this great masterpiece.
Each song glistens with the same fun and pop bravado that the original did although the vocals are a little on the ‘better be a smithereens fan side.’
This CD is just fun from the first notes of “I Want To Hold Your Hand” to the final notes of “Not A Second Time,” it’s just a CD to sit back and enjoy some pop from a less tangled time in life.
-Zugha
 Stars Of Track and Field
Centuries Before Love And War
4/5
Who It’s For: Everyone
Sounds Like: Electronic inspired rock
When you listen to The Stars of Track and Field’s first album, Centuries Before Love and War, you are hit first with the catchy beats and melodies of this rock record, then catapulted into a mesmerizing spin soon after by the inventiveness of the electronic influenced undercurrent.
The use of electronics in standard rock music has not only given this album 10 intensely enjoyable tracks but it gives the listener new insight on what rock music can be and gives these three guys from Oregon a shot at being rock’s newest icons following in the footsteps of some other rock icons like Kurt Cobain or Jimmy Hendrix.
If you want something enjoyable and truly original then this is an album you do not want to miss!
- Julie Hunter
 Teddybears
Soft Machine
4/5
Who It’s For: people who are willing to implement selective listening for a dose of Teletubby-like cheer
Sounds Like: Faithless, Postal Service
On the album Soft Machine, the introduction implies something both enigmatic and spectacular. In reality, what is brought to the musical table is a combination of ridiculously cool synth tunes and somewhat aggravating vocals. At it’s best, Teddybears delivers awesomely catchy melodies and beats. They combine a disjointed bassline, sporadic guitars and a high register bell-like riff to create an very upbeat, rounded tune in “Magic Kraut,” and “Alma” succeeds in transporting the listener to an otherworldly realm with it’s space-age harmonies and varied timberal palette.
Where Teddybears fails, it is typically an epic disappointment. In “Cobrastyle,” the initial synth tune combines with a Beatles-esque distorted guitar for a welcome, individual style, yet the rasta vocals seem to be very out of place with the overall sound that it detracts from the overall flow. Many of the vocals on this album don’t succeed in accentuating the melodies, and typically create a distraction from the integration of each tune they occupy. In all, however, if you are willing to overlook or accept the infrequent rifts in the overall album coherence, then definitely take a listen to the Teddybears-with a sound as cute as the name implies.
- Kate Davis
Archived Reviews:
February 1, 2007: Daughtry, Dustin Kensrue, The Good The Bad And The Queen, The Shins and more...
January 15, 2007: Brian McKnight, Tom Waits, Youth Group and more...
December 20, 2006: Isis, Justin Nozuka and The Holiday Review Section
December 1, 2006: Brand New, Incubus, The Pixies and more...
November 15, 2006: Deftones, Lady Sovereign, Matt Mays, The Prize Fighter Inferno, Robbie Williams and more...
November 1, 2006: My Chemical Romance, The Rasmus, Sparta, The Tragically Hip and more...
October 15, 2006: Evanescence, The Killers, K-Os, Seemless and more.....
October 1, 2006: John Mayer, Helmet, Method Man, Ryan Star and more....
February 2006 - September 2006:
A-F G-M N-S T-Z
© 2007, All Rights Reserved
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