Month: November 2018

Shad A Short Story About a War Secret City Records Shad is a long-time underground Canadian hip hop icon, and also hosted The Q on the CBC following the deposing of the previous host for being a pig.  He also hosted the brilliant eight-part documentary series, Hip Hop Evolution, which originally aired on HBO Canada, though it’s now streaming on Netflix globally.  Evolution was a 2016 Peabody Award winner.  In short, Shad is a heavy duty dude.  He is also one of the most versatile rappers I’ve ever heard, he can drop any kind of rhyme on time.  And he’s smooth.  Shit, if there was any justice in this world, Shad would be selling a billion albums a year and Kanye would be a nobody. Working with a veritable who’s who of Canadian hip hop, including the nearly ubiquitous DJ Kaytranada, Shad attacks our world, but, in working with a variety of people from across the country (he’s from London, ON, but is Toronto-based), he also explores some of the regionalisms of our country.  A Short Story About a War is a concept album, about a war no less.  Shad argues he is holding a mirror up to society as a whole, making us look at ourselves and issues such as migration and immigration, the environment, greed and politics, and the human spirit.  If nothing else, Shad is optimistic, usually.  Across the album,...

Dead Can Dance Dionysus Pias It seems as if Dead Can Dance have been doing this forever.  They actually kind of have.  Originally formed in Melbourne, Australia in 1981, Lisa Gerrard and Brendan Perry decamped for London the following year.  They did break up in 1998, though they reformed for a one-off in 2005 and for good in 2011.  Dionysus is their ninth long-player and first since 2012.  Gerrard and Perry gained fame with mesmerizing soundscapes of African, Celtic, Middle Eastern, and Asian sounds over top dance beats.  Never music for the crazed nights at the clubs, they were the pre-party, at home with friends before going out, or they were the music you put on at 4am when you got in.  As we’ve all aged, those nights have ended, of course, and now, well, I find myself coming back to Dionysus at all hours of the day.  It’s not exactly chill music, but it’s not exactly rave music. Dionysus finds our ageing veterans in fine form.  Dioynsus is the culmination of two long years of researching and recording and is centred on the Greek god of both fertility and wine & pleasure.  Dionysus was a complicated god, as all the Greeks gods were, I suppose.  His role as the god of fertility meant that he was central to the harvest and his role as the god of wine and pleasure means he was...