Month: May 2002

By Falice Chin

After winning the 1998 Mercury Music Prize for “Most Innovative Album of the Year,” this five-piece band continues to amaze the world with their latest disc, In Our Gun. With their distinctively British blend of folk, blues, electronica and rock, Gomez provides an easy-listen, with catchy tunes and smooth percussion. Props to frontman Ben Ottewell… Continue reading Gomez, In Our Gun

By Anna Chan

The majority of this album resembles what you might hear playing in the background of an episode of Dawson’s Creek. Stereo’s slow tempo and mellow soundings are sure to ease a hyper-active child or make the calm extremely drowsy.The tracks are a simple combination of an acoustic guitar and Paul Westerberg’s raspy voice. Initially repetitive,… Continue reading Paul Westerberg, Stereo

By Dave Heaton

With so many bands sitting in their repertoire, Andy and Jim C. of the Brothers Creeggan are no strangers to the music business.Sleepyhead, the fourth installment of this co-sibling side project, takes a few steps away from their traditional lively sound and begins to venture into some of the gloomier realms of life. While the… Continue reading Brothers Creegan, Sleepyhead

By Tom Makarov

Much in the vein of Linkin’ Park and Project Wyze, Trik Turner’s self-titled release seems as though it was pushed through the studio to capitalize on the popularity of nü-metal bands. Unfortunately, it came off lacklustre and empty.The dual vocals are very familiar and the lyrics are hit-and-miss in terms of their complexity. Lacking the… Continue reading Trik Turner, Self-titled

By Kirstin Morrell

From famed porn director to soulful musical philosopher, Society 1’s frontman Matt Zane is full of contradictions. His second album, Words as Carriers, is largely spoken art, touching on such dark themes as loss of innocence and the futility of existence.Understandably, sexual awakening and desires are a large part of this album, but some moments… Continue reading Matt Zane, Words as Carriers

By James Keller

Ambient, atmospheric backdrops put behind well-planned and perfectly executed melodies, peppered with ear-piercing subtle beats and mellow complementing lyrics. Add tracks with guitar-rock taking over, others with a blues feel, and you’ve only began to scratch the surface of Departure Lounge’s new record, Too Late To Die Young.Armed with an array of instruments–over 25 between… Continue reading Departure Lounge, Too Late to Die Young

By Andrew Ross

Dillinger Four seem to favour misdirection. For starters, there are seven of them, none named Dillinger. The mug shots at the back of the album identify one of them as “Lemmy Kravitz.” Lemmy’s instrument is not specified.It would seem that misdirection suits them, as evidenced by the album’s strong, bar-suitable tracks. The song titles have… Continue reading Dillinger Four, Situationist Comedy

By Kirstin Morrell

Calgary may not seem like the ideal breeding ground for a band trying to recreate the post-punk club scene. Tossing these assumptions aside, local band Mannequin Depressives’ debut CD, Trash-Eighty, is like discovering a vault of never before heard Euro synth-pop hidden for twenty years.Mannequin Depressives is presently a niche band, catering to the Calgary… Continue reading Mannequin Depression, Trash-Eighty