Imploding the Mirage sounds distinctly like a Killers album: The upbeat, new wave-meets-modern rock style is recognizable to longtime fans of the Las Vegas band. However, it’s impossible to ignore the album references to other artists, styles, and eras. The busy instrumentalism, coarse-sounding vocals, and reinvented ‘80s synth-pop sound is remarkably[Read More…]
Tag: new music
Album Review: Gucci Mane – ‘Mr Davis’
Gucci Mane has been busy since his release from prison in May 2016. On top of his autobiography, clothing line, and marriage to Keyshia Ka’oir, Mane released five full–length musical projects in the last year and a half. The most recent of these is the[Read More…]
Album Review: ‘There Is No Love In Fluorescent Light’ – Stars
Since the release of their first album Nightsongs in 2001, Canadian indie pop band Stars has centred its songwriting around strained love. Usually holding on by a thread, though interspersed with spells of enamoured enchantment and thrill, the band’s lyrics stare out on the brink of[Read More…]
Album Review: ‘Luv is Rage 2’ – Lil Uzi Vert
Hip hop artist Lil Uzi Vert made waves earlier in 2017 with his triple-platinum single “XO Tour Llif3.” As with many artists’ debut albums following a hit single, Luv is Rage 2 strives to hit the same mark as its single with varying degrees of success. The album opens with “Two,”[Read More…]
Album Review: I See You – The xx
The xx’s 2009 self-titled debut was a watershed album for indie rock, one that effortlessly fused after-midnight R&B with pop sensibilities. Eight years later, much has changed. World-shifting indie rock records like The xx’s debut now seem few and far between. The band itself has splintered off in different directions;[Read More…]
Album Review: We Got It From Here…Thank You 4 Your Service – A Tribe Called Quest
A Tribe Called Quest (ATCQ) mean a lot of things to a lot of people. The group was formed in 1985 with original members Q-Tip, Phife Dawg, and Ali Shaheed Muhammad. Their status as a uniquely positive, innovative force in the “Golden Age” of rap[Read More…]
Future funk and retro rhythm
Toronto producer Harrison—real name Harrison Robinson—is bringing a fresh sound to clubs across Canada. Harrison’s music exudes optimism while addressing some of the subtle difficulties of the experience of youth, from relationships to clubbing. His SoundCloud bio says, “Maybe it’s not so bad.” One of his singles, “It’s Okay, I[Read More…]
Album Review: The Altar – Banks
Over the two years after the release of her first album, Goddess (2014) Jillian Banks—better known by her stage name, Banks—has climbed to success, winning awards and touring internationally with The Weeknd. The University of Southern California graduate’s academic background in psychology shines through in the themes she explores in[Read More…]
Album Review: Bon Iver – 22, A Million
Five years ago, Bon Iver released their self-titled EP to much critical acclaim. The album had stretched the boundaries of folk music, bringing an expansive tenor to a typically stripped down genre, and becoming a modern classic album in the process. Since then, Bon Iver’s[Read More…]
Album Review: The Sun’s Tirade – Isaiah Rashad
Tennessean rapper Isaiah Rashad has some destructive tendencies. They were the subject of much of his deceptively laidback flows on his eye-opening 2014 debut, Cilvia Demo. The two years since have not been easy for Rashad: An addiction to Xanax, alcoholism, and the pressures of being his label’s prospective ‘next[Read More…]
