Much bigger in their native Canada than in the States, mainstream rockers April Wine still made some hay south of the 49th Parallel, especially with the mushy slow dance power ballad “Just Between You And Me” back in 1981. You May Also Like: Peter Brotzmann + Heather Leigh – EarsRead More
A deeply personal record, Ron Sexsmith’s Forever Endeavour is a cutely titled examination of what happens when an extremely gifted songwriter turns things inward in an almost overpowering fashion. You May Also Like: Richard Turgeon, “Live Forever” (2020): One Track Mind Aviation Blondes – ‘Edge of Forever’ (2009): Forgotten Series
Leave it to a pair of twins from Canada to provoke listeners in such joyful fashion. With Heartthrob, a contagious chunk of pure pop bliss, Tegan and Sara Quin have taken apart the apparatus You May Also Like: Forget What You Heard About Alanis Morissette’s Flavors of Entanglement, And JustRead More
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hB7aWTFGcuI&w=420&h=315] Vancouver native and saxophonist Michael Blake came back to this Canadian city after residing in NYC for a quarter century, and brought home a wealth of ideas with him. You May Also Like: Ryan Blotnick – Kush (2016)
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wk7NPU9jF3E&w=420&h=315] Jazz performed by large orchestras make up a big, important part of the history of jazz but the kind of big bands that get me fired up the most are ones who break from convention and behave like a rowdy, small band. You May Also Like: Satoko FujiiRead More
You might be tempted to peg Simon Sullivan, a Canadian singer-songwriter and harp player, as a bluesman. And there’s plenty of that to be found here. In the end, though, that would be selling the genre-busting Groovin’ short. You May Also Like: The Young Rascals – Groovin’ (1967): On SecondRead More
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MNXe-AZ4dY&w=420&h=315] If you don’t know anything else about the Montreal-born flautist Sylvain LeRoux and his music, just two things are instructive: he has a passion for Thelonious Monk and a passion for West African music. You May Also Like: Kali Z. Fasteau, featuring Kidd Jordan – Intuit (2016) TylerRead More
Toronto-based pianist Chris Donnelly has made two records so far, and both of them are solo piano records (Solo (2009) and Metamorphosis (2011). We now finally get to hear how this inventive musician interact with other musicians with the first album by Myriad3, a trio he recently formed with fellowRead More
A wave of bracing yet sometimes static sound, Broken Harbour’s The Geometry of Shadows picks up where the heft of his previous work Gramophone Transmissions left off. You May Also Like: Tim Berne, Chris Speed, Reid Anderson + Dave King – ‘Broken Shadows’ (2021) Zakk Wylde – Book of ShadowsRead More
Guitarist Frank Marino flaunted his Jimi Hendrix fetish to extreme effects, going as far as saying the spirit of the great axeman entered his body shortly after his death in 1970, resulting in a transfer of talent and ideas. You May Also Like: Noel Redding’s Fat Mattress – Fat MattressRead More
