At Home marks local Montreal duo Clay & Alex’s debut release and, as the title suggests, is an eight-song album recorded entirely in their apartment. The opener, “Hot Shame,” leads the album off on a relatively calm, yet hopeful note, with something that sounds like a mixture of Bon Iver[Read More…]
Music
Osheaga: 10 for 10
With Osheaga firmly entrenched near the top of the list of Montreal’s summer highlights, it’s hard to believe that the festival has only been around for a decade. To commemorate the occasion, the Tribune decided to break down the 2015 lineup and highlight five prominent returning acts that blew up[Read More…]
Deep Cuts: Under the Sun
What A Buzz Artist: Olly Murs Album: Right Place Right Time Released: November 26, 2012 All about a nervous first date, “What A Buzz” boasts simple lyrics, an incredibly catchy chorus, and goofy vocals. “Got ketchup on my trousers and my cheeks are going red […] What a beautiful buzz[Read More…]
From the beat to the brain
Hans Christian Andersen said, “Where words fail, music speaks.” In a similar vein, Victor Hugo stated, “Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent.” It’s no secret that music has the power to change us, to uplift in times of joy, and[Read More…]
Peer Review: Busty and the Bass
To most graduating students, April represents the final frontier between the familiar bubble of school and the first step into whatever lies beyond. For the eight remaining members of Busty and the Bass at McGill, who will graduate this spring and join vocalist/saxophonist Nick Ferrara in the real world, the[Read More…]
Pop Rhetoric: The element of surprise
In the face of rampant piracy, record labels have struggled to convince consumers to spend money on music. More specifically, the album format—once the industry’s largest source of revenue—has become too expensive for the average listener. Consumers’ listening habits are increasingly shifting towards faster, more digestible formats like iTunes’ $0.99[Read More…]
Ludacris — Ludaversal
After going incognito from the music industry for a while, veteran rapper Ludacris has finally reemerged with a bang, with his long awaited album Ludaversal hitting the shelves on March 31. Over the past five years, Luda remained largely committed to Hollywood, appearing in The Fast and Furious franchise; yet, his return[Read More…]
Deep Cuts: Dark undertones
“Chainsaw” Artist: Ramones Album: Ramones Released: February 4, 1976 This song begins with a chainsaw. Jonny Ramone’s heavily distorted, relentless guitar keeps up that chainsaw sound throughout—power chords, power chords, and more power chords—and Joey Ramone’s doo-wop, ooooh-oh-oh vocals don’t even try to disguise the fact that the song is[Read More…]
Deep Cuts: Dark Undertones
Chainsaw Artist: Ramones Album: Ramones Released: February 4, 1976 This song begins with a chainsaw. Jonny Ramone’s heavily distorted, relentless guitar keeps up that chainsaw sound throughout—power chords, power chords, and more power chords—and Joey Ramone’s doo-wop, ooooh-oh-oh vocals don’t even try to disguise the fact that the song is[Read More…]
Redemption Songs
“Why are you bothering to do good for people who have done so much bad?” As the founder of Pros and Cons, a pilot program that gives musical mentorship to prison inmates, Hugh Christopher Brown has put a lot of thought into this question. Ultimately for him, the answer comes[Read More…]