Those familiar with the huge family that is Broken Social Scene will recognize the awfully talented Lisa Lobsinger, the Calgary native who leads RSR. Her voice reminds me of a younger Feist, but also of Isobel Campbell. Anyhow, the girl can really sing. As for the rest of the band, none of them are well-known in the canadian music scene, but they still sound hella good. They remind me of The Most Serene Republic, since they incorporate electronic sounds and ska beats into their game. It’s a lot more mellow than BSS though, and also carefully produced.

Fans of the Arts & Crafts label will immediatly love this side-project, for which a follow-up isn’t scheduled yet. I like how they seem to pay more attention to the layers of their sound than most bands nowadays. Anyways, it’s not a very complicated record, then again, indie pop doesn’t have to be complicated to be enjoyable… it still requires a lot of talent to pull it off, hats off to Reverie Sound Revue for that!

Key tracks: all of them, it’s the kind of album you listen to in its entirety.

P.S.: More reviews are coming soon, this one was kinda just to get back on track… thank you for reading!!

Reverie Sound Revue

Thanks for reading,

Louis.

First off, let’s make something clear: Pearl Jam never really were grunge. I would put them in the same category as the Smashing Pumpkins, as part of the alternative movement of the 90′s. Since alternative is a fairly broad genre, it’s obvious PJ don’t sound like the SP at all.

However, they happened to be from Seattle, formed by ex-Mother Love Bone/Green River members and they shared the stage with authentic grunge acts such as Nirvana, Alice in Chains and Soundgarden. I wouldn’t object if someone said they had some grunge in their veins…

In December 1994, Vitalogy is released. The album sells 877,000 copies in less than a week, becoming the second-fastest-selling CD in history, behind its older brother Vs.. Critics are unanimous: the album is a masterpiece. But for a lot of fans, the transition from angst-filled songs and distorted guitars to a more experimental sound is disappointing.

Personnally, I think that every band needs to change its sound once in a while, or else it inevitably leads to implosion. In Pearl Jam’s case, they pretty much were on edge. Tensions within the band made collaborating almost impossible, Mike McCready’s struggle with drugs and the battle with Ticketmaster didn’t help either. Songs were recorded in a rush and endless delays reported the album’s release by almost a year.

Opening an album with a song about death sounds like a risky thing to do. Yet, “Last Exit” is a terrific song. Its catchy chorus and the use of 5/4 for the verses already demonstrates the experimental side of the album. Grammy Award-winning “Spin the Black Circle” follows immediatly with what might be the band’s most aggressive song to this date. (“I don’t think this means anything.”,Vedder said in his acceptance speech) ”Not For You” clearly sets the listener down for a ride with its loud, straightforward “fuck off” to the media, hence the line “If you hate something, don’t you do it too”.

Now those 3 songs are damn great, but they don’t even compare to the brilliance of “Tremor Christ”, “Pry, To”, “Aye Davanita” or “Satan’s Bed”. What makes this album so charming are the short fillers that link the more accessible tracks together. There is something mysterious, yet genius and innovative about these tracks that I can’t really explain. It’s simply music for the brain. It’s as simple as that. There are no riffs, patterns or choruses. Just pure, bloody eargasmic creativity.

The packaging is also remarkable, and I think it perfectly reflects the sound of the album. It is based on a book that Eddie found at a garage sale, entitled Vitalogy, or the “study of life”. The booklet is full of outdated notes about well-being and life reflections, and rather odd stuff like an X-ray of Vedder’s teeth and a copy of a petition against Pro-Life killings of abortionists.

The smart Tom Waits-like “Bugs” finds the band to be at the apex of their imagination, along with the weird, weird, weird “Hey Foxymophandlemama, That’s Me”. The band becomes unrecognizable for novices, and it takes an open mind to really be able to appreciate the more unconventionnal tracks.

Still, a few tracks are very accessible and will please to more mainstream audiences. Beautiful ballads like “Immortality” and “Nothingman” will give you shivers, especially if you listen to the first with Kurt Cobain in mind…

“Better Man” reached the top of the Billboard and spent eight weeks at number one. According to Vedder, “it’s dedicated to the bastard that married my Momma.” That’s another strong point of this album: the lyrics are deep and very personal. You can clearly feel that the band members were going through a rough time and needed to evacuate via their music.

Vitalogy is a totally unexpected album which represents the band’s most important release nowadays. Where their Seattle colleagues sadly failed, Pearl Jam triumphed and lived up to the expectations.

Jeff Ament during the battle against Ticketmaster

The shortlist was quite remarkable, with nominees such as Broken Social Scene, the Besnard Lakes and Caribou. Some might say that Karkwa won because it was a french album, and that the jury wanted to represent Quebec for the first time since the prize’s creation in 2005. However, no one would dare to say that after listening to Les Chemins de Verre.

With 2007′s Le Volume du Vent, Karkwa impressed the canadian alternative-rock scene with their ethereal, charming sound. The use of percussion and strings added a whole new dimension (think Radiohead’s OK Computer) to their music, which was previously heavier and hard-hitting. It is interesting to see how Karkwa progressed towards a band that plays Karkwa instead of imitating famous anglophone bands, in their own way, of course.

I am somehow surprised to see that this album won the prize when Le Volume du Vent was by far more exciting and mesmerizing. I am nonetheless delighted and I appreciate the consideration the jury members have had for so many brilliant artists. Karwa frontman Louis-Jean Cormier said that “There’s a divide between the francophone Québécois scene and the rest of the country. Both sides have to learn from the other. There’s work to be done. What’s nice about Polaris is it erases barriers.”, and I think that truer words could never be spoken.

But let’s focus on the album. What might differ on Le Volume du Vent from their previous releases is the highly political nature of their songs. And the lyrics, as opposed to the older songs, are drawn to a more international and current level (see “Les Enfants de Beyrouth”). The atmospherics created by synths and vocal harmonies are much more dreamy and soaring than everything the band has released up to now.

Also, the band seems to have mastered the art of soft-loud dynamics, which of course aren’t as radical a let’s say, Mogwai, but are still used effectively in songs like “Moi-Léger” or “Marie Tu Pleures”. While influences from Radiohead, Coldplay and Sigur Ros can’t be denied, Karkwa have finally become a fully original band with an incredible potential, just like their Montreal compatriots Malajube.

Now I don’t really know how they sound when you don’t know French, but I would suggest you still give Karkwa a listen because music of this calibre can easily get past the language barrier and make you feel the strongest emotions.

Favorite tracks: “Moi-Léger”, “L’Acouphène”, “Le Pyromane”

Karkwa winning the Polaris Music Prize

Sorry about the lack of precision there. Whiteman is a guitarist/vocalist (probably a lot more than that, but we’ll stick to the basics) for the semi-collective Broken Social Scene. As we all know, BSS has spawned dozens of smaller projects such as Stars, Do Make Say Think, Reverie Sound Revue and Years, just to name a few.

Infused with Spanish musical flavors, Apostle of Hustle’s friendly indie rock applies Whiteman’s own version of the BSS aesthetics. For example, songs like “Chances Are” and the title track could very well be the work of Kevin Drew and Co., in a much more uncluttered way.

The title track and “Cheap Like Sebastien” clearly stand out with their perfect arrangements characterized by warm, exquisite and delicately reverbed guitar detail and surprisingly catchy choruses. It’s also interesting to hear Whiteman sing alone, as opposed to with 3 or 4 musicians at the same time. “National Anthem of Nowhere” concludes in beauty with a brass section, again taking root from Whiteman’s cuban influences.

While the album kinda dies in catchiness after hitting the halfway mark, audiophiles will enjoy the brilliance of Apostle of Hustle’s genius. Wheter you like Broken Social Scene or not, you should still check this one out, or at least the title track. This is yet another gem from one of our talented canadian artists that will be forgotten, gone with the wind in years from now…

Andrew Whiteman

After a well-acclaimed sophomore effort two years later, the Sword are back with Warp Riders, their third and best album yet. According to the band and music website musicOHM, “we follow the tale of an archer by the name of Ereth, who has been cast out from his tribe on the planet Acheron. As luck would have it the planet has undergone a tidal lock, causing one half to be cast in shadow, whilst the other is burnt to a crisp by a set of unforgiving suns. With light and shade being quite a feature of the planet, it was only a matter of time before a battle between good and evil broke out – cursed metaphors. Warp Riders follows this tale to the bitter end.”

The album’s first track, “Acheron/Unearthing the Orb” unleashes sick riffs and is quite reminiscent of the two previous albums. But once you hit the first few bars of “Tres Brujas”, (translation: three witches… Macbeth? *wink wink nudge nudge*) you find yourself trapped in a time capsule bringing you back to 1969. “The Chronomancer I: Hubris” has the same vibe, multiplying the Blackmore-esque riffs and what not.

However, the party doesn’t start until you listen to “Arrows in the Dark”. Who thought a single-note riff could be one of the best of the year? The production on this record is top-quality, especially the drums, which tend to be ridiculously overproduced nowadays. While some songs hang out with ZZ Top on the edge of alternative metal (“Lawless Lands”, “Night City”), others are more progressive, like “The Chronomancer II: Nemesis”. Nevertheless, this is a gloriously epic rock record, but like, WAY epic.

The technicalities of the closing track, “(The Night the Sky Cried) Tears of Fire” are mind-boggling and very similar to Mastodon’s last release. My conclusion: the saviors of metal are here to stay, and if you’re in for an overwhelming dose of epic, raw, uncensored hipster-metal (hehe), this is definitely a must.

The Sword rocking out in Turkey!

My opinion? This already sounds better than their last effort, and even though it’s slightly overproduced to my ears, I believe this is an incredible live song and I can’t wait to hear the new album. Best of luck to Kings of Leon!!

I was completely wrong. I really regret spending 32 minutes in hell. First off, this is just noise. Now I do love noise, don’t get me wrong. My Bloody Valentine, Sonic Youth, even Nine Inch Nails has had some noise eras. But this is horrible. And I swear I tried. Tried to listen to it all more than once, tried to like it. This is nothing like the Ting Tings, and it doesn’t even sound a little bit like a dance-punk record to me. M.I.A. meets Saw. Yes, the movie. That’s what it sounds like to me. I can’t find ONE SINGLE THING that’s not annoying on this. Super abrasive high-pitched screams, atonal harmonies and some sort of constant electronic feedback or screeching hurt my ears.

Sometimes a song will start off pretty good, but be ruined by shrieking guitars or super aggressive drum samples. Because I’ll be honest, some songs really do have potential. However, they suffered from an awful (possibly voluntary?) production. What bugs me is that this isn’t suitable for the radio, it isn’t suitable for MTV, it isn’t suitable for your iPod and I can’t even imagine someone dancing to this. So what is it suitable for!!?? Someone please explain the hype to me? ‘Cause I really don’t understand.

Final consensus: listen to this album at your own risks. Risks include IQ loss, terrible headaches and an urgent need to listen to something else. I read some review saying that this album represented the joy of summer, and that it’s an album to listen to when you’re feeling blue. WRONG. I think I would kill myself if I had to listen to this while depressed. Then I would be sent to hell and this would be the soundtrack. DAMMIT!

Congratulations Sleigh Bells, you have earned a quality spot on my list of the worst albums of the year!

Sleigh Bells

This is a very innovative album, a sort of noise meets pop at a jazz concert, constantly jumping back and forth in a pleasantly abrasive way. Even after 3 complete listens, every song got me surprised at some point. Sometimes you’re just wondering what’s going on, if you should headbang or dance, or simply tap to the beat with your feet. But no matter what, this cacophonous mess is still a cohesive assortment of consistent songs, with their hooks and punches.

For those who are familiar with the math-rock or experimental genres, you are probably aware that they would fit in the “show-off” category, amongst speed metal and blues. However, on Patagonian Rats, Tera Melos pulled back from that to pursue a slightly different path, including conventional rock vocals on most tracks, and a few mellow and ambient moments, see “Trident Trail” and its sublime saxophone solo (possible connection with Slint’s “Breadcrumb Trail”???).

Along with Fang Island’s self-titled debut, Patagonian Rats is easily the funnest album I’ve listened to this year, and boy I did listen to a lot of albums this year… oh my, it seems like both bands are signed to Sargent House!! I would like to dedicate this sentence to the fantastic label that is Sargent House, you guys have super neat-o bands, Daughters, Maps & Atlases, bygones, just to name a few. Keep up with the great work!!

This is certainly a hit-or-miss, but I recommend it to anyone who wants to get into math-rock/experimental music, or to every avid math fan. This is what I call talent, a musically challenging yet cohesive and enjoyable album. An instant classic!!

Key tracks: “Skin Surf”, “Aped”, “Frozen Zoo”, “Trident Trail”

Tera Melos

Thank you very much for taking the time to read and encourage me!!