When Coldplay first appeared ten years ago sporting distinctly collegiate guitar tones and singing about the color yellow, every reasonable assumption was that Britain had won the global race to break a modestly intentioned, heart-on-its-sleeve (and hence...
Anyone who assumed (and rightly so) that, after five albums (plus one more live offering) and thirteen years of pushing themselves beyond conventionally observed limits of human endurance (the road stories of band members continuing to play after sustaining serious...
For the last twenty-nine years, Negativland has successfully weathered lawsuits, scrutiny both political and personal, hatred, envy and adulation as well as inciting anger, unease and revulsion in every corner of the musical landscape with which they’ve come into...
Montreal’s own Land of Talk announced not too long ago that a new album was in the works and I’ve been counting down the days till the newest addition to the Saddle Creek roster was going to drop that bomb on the indie world. The release date for Some Are...
Funny thing about Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young – the member that joined last has been singularly responsible for keeping the other three from going broke. Since the group’s hippy-dippy heyday in the early 70s, Neil Young has kept a constant release...
For some bands, comparisons to other groups that came before them are unavoidable. For members of the press, it just can’t be helped; in order to describe to other people what a band sounds like in print without the benefit of allowing readers to also hear what...
For some bands, comparisons to other groups that came before them are unavoidable. For members of the press, it just can’t be helped; in order to describe to other people what a band sounds like in print without the benefit of allowing readers to also hear what...
It has often been said that the best art tends to be borne of frustrating or generally inclement conditions. The nature of creation—whether forced or not—can often be mentally taxing (just ask Van Gogh or Hemmingway) and it isn’t uncommon for an...
Whether you know it or not, Montreal’s A-Trak is a part of your life. Not because he won the DMCs World DJ Championship in 1997 at the age of 15. Not because was the first DJ to win all three major DJ competition titles—DMC, ITF and Vestax. Not because he...
Bowie in Berlin is an in-depth examination of the making of David Bowie's Low and Heroes albums. It contains a wealth of detail about the recording sessions, which will make it a treasure for any serious Bowie fan. But it goes far beyond who played what to explore...