Reviews

MIXTAPE REVIEW: Ludacris - 1.21 Gigawatts: Back To The First Time

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By Jordan Darville (CHARTattack) November 18, 2011 2:11 pm
Ludacris is starting to realize he’s not one of the greats. His albums will always go gold, but will his last three show up on anyone’s top 50 list? Is he even close to being one of history’s ten best MCs? As the title of his first ever mixtape hints, Back to the Future: 1.21 Gigawatts is an attempt to return to the sharp humor and gleeful...
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AraabMUZIK brings his sample-heavy solo set to Toronto

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By Jordan Darville (CHARTattack) November 7, 2011 2:23 pm
Innovative hip-hop producer araabMUZIK stopped through Toronto last week for a solo performance at The Hoxton, and CHART contributor Jordan Darville was there. He wrote about it, too!AraabMUZIK is back on tour, and with all the rubber MPC pads he goes through, it might be enough to get the US out of their recession. Unless he buys them from China...
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Live Review

Vetiver — The Errant Charm

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By Chris Burland (CHARTattack) July 21, 2011 3:31 pm
If ever there was a perfect soundtrack for a road trip through the dusty back roads of middle America, it's the latest disc from San Francisco's Vetiver. The Errant Charm exists in that folk-tinged pop milieu out of which American singer/songwriters like Josh Rouse and Tommy Keene have carved careers. But Paul Westerberg is ultimately the biggest...
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Vetiver's The Errant Charm

The Felice Brothers — Celebration, Florida

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By Chris Burland (CHARTattack) July 14, 2011 2:21 pm
Like Harry Crews' Celebration novel, there's an unsettling element that runs through this recent Felice Brothers release (which seems to have been named after Celebration, Fla., a town created entirely by Disney). Crews' 16th novel is set in a Florida trailer park where folks go to die, but instead, the park's one-handed supervisor's life is...
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The Felice Brothers' Celebration, Florida

Amon Tobin — ISAM

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By Chris Burland (CHARTattack) June 30, 2011 2:58 pm
Over the decade and a half Brazilian DJ/Turntable-master Amon Tobin has been manipulating sound in a way that equally stimulates both the brain and the booty. Tobin has always been on the cutting edge of technology, beginning with a trio of highly-acclaimed discs from the late-'90s (Bricolage, Permutation and Supermodified) that relied heavily on...
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Amon Tobin's ISAM

Vieux Farka Toure — The Secret

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By Chris Burland (CHARTattack) June 30, 2011 11:48 am
Malian musician Vieux Farka Toure continues to carve out a path that both honours his late father Ali Farka Toure — the legendary musician who brought this nation's music scene to the world stage — and effectively builds on his musical vision. Both traditional Malian and contemporary western instruments are used throughout The Secret, giving the...
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Vieux Farka Toure's The Secret

The Wooden Birds — Two Matchsticks

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By Chris Burland (CHARTattack) June 15, 2011 2:51 pm
The Wooden Birds, led by former American Analog Set member Andrew Kenny, turn up the positive vibe slightly with Two Matchsticks. Granted, that wasn't hard considering last album Magnolia was a dour record about things like murder and under-age sex.There's really little concern for drumming on both LPs. Sure there's actual "drumming," but it...
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The Wooden Birds' Two Matchsticks

City And Colour — Little Hell

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By Kate Harper (CHARTattack) June 13, 2011 3:29 pm
City And Colour fans who were used to Dallas Green's (relatively speaking) stripped down, minimalistic brand of emotionally-heavy indie folk tunes will likely be surprised by Little Hell, his third solo release. But the great thing about the album is it could likely bring those who've looked at City And Colour with hesitation over to Green's side...
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City And Colour's Little Hell

Raphael Saadiq — Stone Rollin'

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By Aaron Brophy (CHARTattack) June 10, 2011 2:26 pm
Old soul rock 'n' roll is in full-on revival these days, what with Cee Lo Green's lady killing and Sharon Jones' learning the hard way and such. The unlikely three-makes-a-trend final leg to this tripod would appear to be Raphael Saadiq with his latest album, Stone Rollin'. The fact that Saadiq had a record like this in him apparently isn't...
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Raphael Saadiq's Stone Rollin'

The Jolly Boys Featuring Albert Minott — Great Expectation

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By Chris Burland (CHARTattack) June 10, 2011 2:07 pm
The Jolly Boys made a small splash back in the late-'80s with Pop 'N Mento and Sunshine N' Water. "Mento," their signature sound, is essentially a stripped down version of calypso, and was a precursor to more rock-oriented Jamaican music styles of bluebeat, ska and reggae.The band have been together in one form or another since the mid-'50s. They...
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The Jolly Boys' Great Expectation

Black Lips — Arabia Mountain

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By Kate Harper (CHARTattack) June 9, 2011 4:39 pm
I already pictured the Black Lips as one of the most disgusting bands on the planet because of all their on stage antics involving various combinations of urine, vomit, nudity and, um, a chicken. They're pretty much G.G. Allin's spiritual descendents, and Arabia Mountain only solidifies that for me. Now we've got stories of eating maggot-riddled...
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Black Lips' Arabia Mountain

David Kilgour And The Heavy Eights — Left By Soft

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By Chris Burland (CHARTattack) June 9, 2011 2:52 pm
David Kilgour, The Clean's mighty guitarist, steps out on a solo project here which follows Mister Pop, that band's brilliant 2009 return. The title track features a blazing guitar reminiscent of several American mid-'80s indie bands before the Left By Soft shifts between heavy psychedelic forays and an intense, post-grunge feel. "A Break In The...
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David Kilgour And The Heavy Eights' Left By Soft

Fucked Up — David Comes To Life

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By Kate Harper (CHARTattack) June 7, 2011 4:25 pm
Fucked Up obviously aren't your typical hardcore punk band. While they may have started that way when they were releasing singles, it's been pretty clear for the last... oh, I don't know... five years or so that they've become something waaaaay beyond the "three-chords with plenty of screaming" formula the genre uses. Their 2006 Hidden World debut...
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Fucked Up's David Comes To Life

Matthew Good — Lights Of Endangered Species

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By Kate Harper (CHARTattack) June 3, 2011 3:51 pm
Matthew Good and longtime producer Warne Livesey — who's worked on every Matthew Good album, solo and with his former band, with the exceptions of Last Of The Ghetto Astronauts, Hospital Music and Vancouver — first had the idea to record this album, featuring extensive orchestral arrangements, a good 14 years ago. But then some things got in the...
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Music Review
Matthew Good's Lights Of Endangered Species

Danger Mouse & Daniele Luppi — Rome

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By Aaron Brophy (CHARTattack) June 3, 2011 10:46 am
People started to figure out there might be more to Norah Jones than mom jeans soft jazz in 2006 when Mike Patton used her on his Peeping Tom project to coo and cuss through the naughty/filthy song "Sucker." In a sort of parallel, when Jack White put down The White Stripes and started to branch out producing, partnering with others and, best of...
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Danger Mouse & Daniele Luppi's Rome

Silverstein — Rescue

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By Kate Harper (CHARTattack) June 2, 2011 3:57 pm
Screamo would have been a cash grab for major labels had they gotten in on it a good... I don't know... eight years ago when most of these bands like Silverstein and Alexisonfire were still slugging it out at YMCAs throughout the Greater Toronto Area trying to get signed. But by now screamo's gotten exceedingly tired, and it's becoming harder and...
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Silverstein's Rescue

Death Cab For Cutie — Codes And Keys

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By Kate Harper (CHARTattack) May 31, 2011 4:33 pm
It's fitting that "sleep" is the first word you'll hear when listening to Codes And Keys. 'Cause let's face it, this isn't going to be an album you'll be playing while you're barbecuing at your upcoming block party or house party, or anything else you've got planned for the next few months. While singer/guitarist Ben Gibbard's already gone on...
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Death Cab For Cutie's Codes And Keys

Glasvegas Put On A Tired-Seeming Performance

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By Kate Harper (CHARTattack) May 30, 2011 2:51 pm
Maybe it was jetlag. Maybe it was too much shopping on Queen Street. Maybe it was the fact that they were playing on a tiny stage when they're used to playing much larger venues. Maybe it was exhaustion already from being on the road. Whatever it was, something was missing from Glasvegas' set at Toronto's Lee's Palace on Sunday night. While...
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Live Review
Glasvegas

Living With Lions — Holy Shit

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By Kate Harper (CHARTattack) May 26, 2011 4:28 pm
It should be obvious by now that the controversy surrounding the artwork for Living With Lions' Holy Shit is going to overshadow the album's tunes. You can see some of the art above, and if you haven't already heard, the inner CD booklet features art depicting Jesus as a turd. (If you're unfamiliar with the outcry this generated, go here.)Unlike...
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Living With Lions' Holy Shit

Sam Roberts Band — Collider

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By Aaron Brophy (CHARTattack) May 25, 2011 4:35 pm
Advance word on Sam Roberts' fourth proper album Collider hinted he was going in a different direction. Words like "horn section" and "Afrobeat" were bandied about and a nearly-too-long three-year absence since last LP Love At The End Of The World didn't hurt in stoking the imagination either. With little to prove at this point and safely...
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Sam Roberts Band's Collider
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