By Tyler Hodg
Angéline is the type of singer-songwriter that is impossible to not find inspiring. Her music is soulful and true, and her latest release, Back to Pike Place, is no exception. The EP compiles five beautifully-written songs (and one intro) that are all unique in their own ways. While the music may not necessarily make you want to jump up and dance, it will, however, make you want to cheer for its honesty.
The new Holly Golightly album, Slowtown Now! is a complete delight from start to finish. There’s a relaxed affability and a charming retro-ness to the songs, and Golightly’s voice is wonderful. She sings with an ease and grace, clearly enjoying the material, which ranges from girl group harmonies, to smart jazz, to throwback garage rock. It’s such a fun album and compulsively listenable.
It’s been a while since we’ve seen a Noomi Rapace movie in theaters. She co-starred in last year’s excellent The Drop with Tom Hardy, while another film with Hardy, Child 44, seemed to come and go with nary a whisper, unless you count the dreadful 24 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
By Tim Murr
Probably every town has some awesome band the rest of the world will never see. These days, thanks to the Internet it’s easier for some Oklahoma punk band to reach listeners in Japan, but back in 1980, forget it. Victims, perhaps, of the glut of metal bands from all over Europe and the UK, Acid fell through the cracks. There wasn’t a huge metal scene in their native Belgium when they formed, and little in the way of avenues out of the country. So they formed their own record label, Giant, and between 1980 and 1985, when they broke up, released three solid albums.
By Tyler Hodg
It’s incredible to think that Chartreuse is Sharkmuffin’s debut full-length album. The duo’s aggressive punk-rock sound is realized to its fullest, and amplifies the idea of the importance of a cohesive unit. In addition to the band’s music, the all-female Sharkmuffin proves rock’n’roll is not limited to the male gender.
Damn, that Grace Potter can sing. In stepping away from her band the Nocturnals to make her first solo album Midnight, Potter stretches her poppier wings, making an album that features dance beats and thumpers. The focus, though, is Grace Potter’s soulful, incredible voice.
The newest Mynabirds album, Lovers Know, has an intoxicating quality. Featuring shimmering synths, electronic drums, and reverbed guitars, there’s a hint of ‘80s electronica, as well as a shoegazey dreaminess, but there’s also a vitality that could only be borne of today. Frontwoman Laura Berhenn’s splendid vocals are by turns touching and exhilarating, and always beautifully intimate.
July 28, 2015
Toronto, ON
Imagine, if you will, the early 1990s. Back when alternative music was all the rage, indie wasn’t a sonic genre, and bidding wars were still a thing, a time before blogs grabbed the reins of underground music writing away from printed fanzines and Facebook was just a gleam in Mark Zuckerberg’s eye.
When I was nostalgic for the 1980s in the ’90s, I never thought I’d be nostalgic for the last decade of the old millennium. Yet, here we are in 2015 and Veruca Salt has reformed with the original members, released a new album called Ghost Notes, and is currently wrapping up a North American tour.
There’s an air of wanderlust to Heather Woods Broderick’s Glider. A gifted multi-instrumentalist and vocalist, Broderick has toured and recorded with Efterklang, Horse Feathers, and Sharon Van Etten’s band. On Glider, Broderick gently coaxes out her vision, one that is introspective with lovely layers of vocals.
By Tim Murr
Throughout its first season, The CW’s iZombie has managed to be more entertaining than the last three seasons of The Walking Dead, which devolved from a must-see gory character drama to boring misery porn that suffers from hideous pacing. (And yes, I haven’t missed an episode and yes, some episodes were very good.)