Month: February 2018

From the Vaults: Manic Street Preachers Generation Terrorists Columbia There used to be this great newsstand on Bank Street in the Glebe neighbourhood of Ottawa.  In my early undergrad years, I used to go there to get the British music press, the NME and Melody Maker.  I was always disappointed that the music samplers that came with the magazines in the UK didn’t make it to Canada, but this was how I learned about British and Irish music, the music that didn’t get played on MuchMusic (Canada’s MTV), let alone the commercial alternative radio stations in Canada.  So, I knew all about...

Franz Ferdinand Always Ascending Domino Records I remember the first time I heard Franz Ferdinand.  I was in Vancouver in the spring of 2004, in a café on Denman St. in the West End, and the track ‘Michael’ was playing.  It was catch as all get out.  I investigated further, wandering across town to A&B Sound on Seymour St. (RIP), gave their début eponymous album a spin and bought it.  Since that day, they have been one of my favourite bands, I must admit.  Their last album, Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action, was somewhat of a surprise, coming a full...

Cadence Weapon Cadence Weapon Anti-/Epitaph Canadian hip hop has, to an extent, been ruined by Drake.  This isn’t Drake’s problem, he’s a singular artist, with his own vision and unique cadence.  The problem is that nearly every young Canadian hip hop artist sounds like him, both in terms of rhymes and beats.  Doesn’t matter if it’s in French, either, as in the case of Montreal’s potentially brilliant La Carabine.  It makes sense, though, Drake is the first Canadian hip hop artist to break into the stratosphere and he has become ubiquitous representing his hometown of Toronto. The other problem...