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Recent Reviews
The Sedum Shadows
Thinking Away / Anatomy of a Shadow - 7"
'Thinking Away' was the third release on Merv Buchanan's tiny Trend label, mostly known to the outside world for having issued Bent Wind's mega-rare Sussex LP. The group were fronted by a very young Ray Parker, whose organ grooves dominate both sides of the single. Rounding out the quartet were guitarist Ken Lavallete, bassist Bill Briggs and drummer Ian Waddell, all from the eastern fringes of Toronto's Scarborough area.
"I w...more
Bob Boyer
Look What You’ve Done for Me / We Got the Power - 7"
Bobby Boyer may be the farthest thing from a household name these days, and this obscure single is probably of interest to soul completists only. But he was once one-half of a pioneering rap duo known as, with slight variations, Bobby & Demo. Together with his fellow Detroit-area transplant Demo Cates, the pair released a string of 12-inch singles at the tail end of 1980 that are among the first rap records ever to come out of this country.
Boyer was actually born in Windsor....more
Khora
Gestures of Perception
Sifting through Matthew Ramolo's words is an almost Sisyphean task, such is the density of his description of his work. On Gestures of Perception, his latest double LP and complementary book release as Khora, his musical incarnation for the last 15+ years, he has this to say:
"This album, comprising a double record and attendant book, presented itself to my consciousness as a cascade of contents and peregrinations around magical and alchemical processes which could ins...more
Only a Visitor
Decay
Some eight years and three albums into their career, Vancouver's Only a Visitor made the jump from DIY-land to that city's long-running indie label, Mint Records. The five-piece was formed in 2015 by classically trained - but, adds Mint, "DIY-nurtured" - keyboardist Robyn Jacob, who wisely surrounded herself with a talented crew of backing singers Emma Postl and Celina Kurz, along with bassist Jeff Gammon and drummer Kevin Romain.
They were dubbed "Bjork's light-footed nymph ...more
The Wesleys
The Wesleys
The Wesleys half-flippantly dub their music "a li'l bit of this, a li'l bit of that". Which is revealing if you assume that 'this' refers to the manic drum-heavy indie singles of that C-86 eighties scene and 'that' checks off the rough-hewn pop of New Zealand's Flying Nun label. Add a bit of millennial NYC punk a la the Strokes and you've got a pretty good handle on the Wesleys' take on garage pop.
The group - guitarists William D'Amours and Henry Girard, bassist Quentin Chisolm...more
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