// Category Archive for: Music

Music Review: Danzig, Skeletons

By Tim Murr

Glenn Danzig could have ended his career at any time in the last 30 years and still left an indelible mark across pop culture. Most artists don’t get one iconic band to front, much less three! From Misfits to Samhain to Danzig, Glenn has given the world some of the best albums in punk, goth, and metal, while always staying true to his rugged individualistic vision and not giving a fuck about trends.

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Music Review: Lee Michaels, Heighty Hi

By Melissa Bratcher

Is there a more intriguing story than an enormously talented, rock and roll recluse? The kind of artist that is so gifted, with a vision and unique sound, and he (or she) just walks away? Don’t you want to know why? What did they do after they stopped being famous? Does it make that person more exciting?

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Concert Review: Fuzz at The Hoxton

By Less Lee Moore

November 18, 2015
Toronto, ON

Last night’s Fuzz show at The Hoxton was full of surreal, sweaty shenanigans.

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DVD Review: I Need A Dodge! Joe Strummer On The Run

By Tim Murr

Everything I’ve watched or read about The Clash either ends with Mick Jones getting fired or just briefly mentions The Clash 2.0, where Joe Strummer and Paul Simonon pressed on with three new members and recorded the poorly received Cut The Crap. No cuts from the album were released on any boxset/collection. No overview was written about it in the big The Clash coffee table book from 2008. Strummer basically disowned it, as did most Clash fans. And deservedly so, it’s a bad album.

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Music Review: Buck ‘Em! The Music Of Buck Owens, Volume Two (1967-1975)

By Melissa Bratcher

“Would we still be talking about Buck Owens if it weren’t for Hee Haw?” I was asked recently and have spent an inordinate amount of time mulling over the answer. The answer, of course, is maybe. Hee Haw was an amazing music delivery system, imbuing Buck’s image with a family-friendly, easily accessible shorthand: he’s that smiling guy on TV every week with his Buckaroos and the pretty girls and Grandpa Jones and Roy Clark, and he’s kind of funny with his dad jokes, and he makes some catchy tunes. You think (if you’ve spent time watching Hee Haw) about what Buck Owens looked like, which, in an pre-MTV/CMTV videos era, is pretty spectacular. You can conjure up what he looks like playing his American flag striped guitar, you know what the Buckaroos look like, you can see Don Rich smiling in your mind’s eye.

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Music Review: Fuzz, II

By Less Lee Moore

The first album from Fuzz (review) was a stoner rock delight, all guitar solos and epic jams. The latest, the succinctly titled II, is more of the same, but bigger, better, and more bodacious. Since then, member Ty Segall has released his most accomplished album yet (2014’s Manipulator) and the effects of an astonishing improvement in songcraft shows on this album. If you like epic jams or if you want some serious hooks mixed with your stoner rock, Fuzz is just what you’ve been waiting for.

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Music Review: Hulaland: The Golden Age Of Hawaiian Music

By Melissa Bratcher

I don’t know that a lovelier box set than Hulaland: The Golden Age Of Hawaiian Music has ever crossed my desk. Four discs of carefully curated tracks (105! 105 tracks of Hawaiian music! Your luau could go on for ages!), collecting a vast range of music from the 1920s to the ’70s, are housed in a gorgeous, hardbound book. The book serves as liner notes, written by James Austin, as well as a collection of memorabilia from a time when the States went tiki crazy, and reproductions of vintage sheet music covers from the Hawaiian heyday. It’s compulsively readable, showcasing notable Hawaiian musicians, a brief history of the ukulele, and all kinds of lagniappe wrapped in a candy-colored package. It’s worth the price of admission alone.

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Concert Review: Zombi at The Hard Luck Bar

By Less Lee Moore

November 7, 2015
Toronto ON

You might think that two normal-looking guys with short hair wearing jeans and T-shirts and playing music with no vocals would make for an exceedingly boring evening, but you’d be wrong. Zombi is anything but pedestrian.

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Music Review: Swamp Thing, Planet Murk

By Tyler Hodg

Goddamn, Toronto is housing some insanely talented hip-hop artists.

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Music Review: Thor, Metal Avenger

By Tim Murr

After about 40 years of head banging and pumping iron, THOR is having a kick ass 2015. With the re-release of the landmark Unchained EP and a hit documentary (review), THOR is topping the year off with a new album called Metal Avenger that’s chock full of guest stars from members of The Dead Boys, Twisted Sister, Kix, DOA, Motorhead, and Black Flag! That’s right, Henry Rollins shares mic duties with the mighty one on “Master of Revenge.”

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