This month we were treated to two pieces that weren’t really musical theatre, nor were they strictly concerts. They were cabarets, I guess, but they were really stage-bound musical explorations of people and place by musicians who make theatre and theatre people who make music. Ryan G. Hinds’ Say Grace Sidelined for 6 months after […]
The classic RnB revival gets a boost later this month with Toronto band YUKA‘s fourth release – their first on vinyl – called From the Ancients. For Yuka, the RnB/soul sound is anything but a trend. “Everyone in the band likes that kind of music,” says guitarist James Tayor. “The sound of that music is […]
Hello again, and welcome to the second instalment of this spotlight series on some things you probably missed from last year. Today I bring you Kodak to Graph, the stage name of electronic producer Michael Maleki. Kodak to Graph – Isa [Chillhop/Trap/Ambient] My first encounter with Kodak was mere fortune. I was catching a Slow […]
Buy the Single/Name Your Price Eminently danceable and ultimately intriguing, “Road Movie Star” is the new single from VEiiLA, the Russian electronica duo. The song has a great spooky groove that swells from mild to a kind of haunting anthemic vibe at the chorus. The vocals show a good range from little girl vulnerable to […]
Hello My Entertainment World! I’m brand new here, and I’m very excited to share my passion with other music junkies. In 2015 I managed to get through over four hundred new titles, and really felt like I was hitting my goals with new music. I think a lot of people (sometimes myself included) spend December […]
One of my favourite music teachers once observed how challenging it can be to write music with a positive tone. Personally, I’ve never tried my hand at it, but I can certainly recognize that going the other way and digging into and indulging negative emotions is a potent source of inspiration. The one possible exception […]
Courtney Barnett – Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit Courtney Barnett has a way with words. Freewheeling and deadpan with a heavy Melbourne drawl, Barnett delivers some of the year’s best hooks to a backdrop of poppy, gently psyched-out rock. These eleven story songs focus on such everyday topics as insomnia […]
From the Malian countryside to Brooklyn, Amsterdam to Tokyo to Toronto and back, here are seven of the releases that stuck in my head this year – in chronological order. Tokyo Ska Paradise – Ska Me Forever (Nacional Records – February 10, 2015) 2015 marked the 25th anniversary of Tokyo Ska Paradise and they celebrated […]