SOUND BITES

Given the small smattering of posts here over the last twelve months, one could be forgiven for assuming that I've stopped listening to music; admittedly, I've listened to less of late, but I still harbour a deep love of my rock n' roll, certainly still enough to have formed opinions on what my picks for the year's best are. That said, there are likely a handful of records that deserved their due but I never got around to. As my listening habits slowly transform (I've been using way more Spotify and way less of my CDs this year), I hope that I develop a way to consume more of the good stuff going forward. Whether that results in more or less content on the blog, right now I can't say. The plan is to reevaluate what this all means in the new year but, for now, let's focus on the year that was. 2019 was a year of pleasant surprises, expected awesomeness and thrilling discoveries (there were a few bitter disappointments too, but that's not what I'...

You know how I know I'm shit at maintaining this blog? Last year's Year in Rock posts are, at the time of this post, still on the front page. I feel shame. I also know there's a ton of missed reviews this year (at my count, 25 I had planned on), and I wish I could promise I'd get better at that, but around this time last year I promised a lot more local content and, well... shame. I'll address that shame soon enough, but for now there's the small matter of year-end business to attend to. As in previous years, I will award my Album of the Year in the coming days; today is about recognizing the song that, more than any other, had me coming back for more in 2019. However, considering the absolutely horrendous job I've done around here this year, what kind of guy would I be if I didn't at least give you a quick recap? Think of it as "previously on..." but with music. So, let's review, yes? Do me a favour and click "play" on the ...

Many, many moons ago, I had a weird idea pop into my head; how hilarious would it be to sum something up not with a long winded review, but something short and directly to the point? At the time, I didn't act upon the idea of the Haiku Review, but I wish I had; of course, someone else acted upon their idea and beat me to the title "pioneer of haiku as a form of critical thinking". Such wasted chances I could have gotten more hits If only I'd haiku'd. Anyway, I have published haiku reviews before; when Arcade Fire released their super-pretentious double album Reflektor back in 2013, I went about the business of reviewing it not on this site like a normal person would, but with haiku on my old personal Twitter account. I did a few, but my favourite was: The first half was great What happened on the second? Think I fell asleep. You get the idea. So, with that spirit in mind alongside the knowledge that I've been really, really terrible at keeping up m...

Of all the rock bands to achieve widespread mainstream success this decade, you'd be hard pressed to find one as simultaneously radio friendly and weird as Cage the Elephant. They've been able to cover all sorts of sonic ground in the decade since Ain't No Rest for the Wicked smashed, and they've done it by hiding hit singles inside albums where they've fearlessly followed their muse. The title track of their fifth album acknowledges this in a way, as Matt Shultz sings about his anxiety over "play(ing) this part" and struggling with his thoughts about the true cost of success, summed up at the end of the chorus, "at least you're on the radio". Indeed, throughout Social Cues , there is a tug of war between commercial acceptance and the freedom to experiment. Much of the album resides in a dark retro vision not too different from the territory Arctic Monkeys traveled to on their breakthrough AM , although Cage the Elephant deals less in r...

One of the most endearing, enjoyable moments on PUP's excellent 2016 album The Dream is Over was the fiery single If This Tour Doesn't Kill You I Will ; over a rollicking, jagged musical backdrop, Stefan Babcock despaired about his bandmates and the tensions that come from spending long hours in a cramped space with sweaty dudes on tour. It was as funny as it was biting, and its dramatization of trivial problems helped establish PUP as one of the most exciting young bands of the decade. On Morbid Stuff , the focus shifts to the internal, addressing Babcock's mental health and the pitfalls of growing older in these harsh modern times. Musically, the band is maturing as well, drifting away from the punkier tendencies of their previous releases in favour of ragged indie flair, though they do prove by times that they're still willing to throw down, such as on the incendiary Full Blown Meltdown . However, even the most melodic moments on Morbid Stuff are plenty ener...

Over the course of their first six albums, Wintersleep have risen from earnest Maritime upstarts to become one of Canada's most dependable bands and somewhat of a revered export, earning a growing following in the U.S. and Europe. That they've done so without surrendering their identity or steering their core sound into the mainstream is a minor miracle in these modern times where bands are encouraged to bend to the will of taste makers and corporate interests. Their seventh record firmly upholds their status as one of the nation's most exploratory and consistent bands; In the Land of finds them not only stretching their sound toward experimental new territory, but also taking the time to reflect on their roots. Forest Fire , for example, lilts along a pleasant piano-led melody while employing multi-tracked vocals and lush harmonies, making for one of the band's most beautiful songs. The Lighthouse , meanwhile, is both a lyrical and musical throwback to some of Wi...

Foals' fifth album (or, rather, the first half of it) could have been a brash attempt at mainstream acceptance, a dulling of edges resulting from the unexpected success of 2015 single Mountain At My Gates and a bid at wider appeal. Credit is due because not only is their follow up a two-part album, it's a record that finds them continuing to evolve and explore rather than mining for gold. Their balance between stadium-shaking rock and dark, dance-able pop remains intact here, and is best felt in lead single Exits and (especially) current single In Degrees (with honourable mention to the percussive and hypnotic Cafe D'Athens ). They're no mere chart-seeking missiles, however, and the layers underneath these songs allow as much experimentation and off-kilter harmony as Foals wish to provide, the end results being songs that offer surface level satisfaction as well as deeper sonic roots for more attentive listening. Elsewhere, Foals don't hold back on energy an...

At this point, a quarter century into their career and with a dozen studio albums of original material under their belts, it's kind of shocking that anybody still gives a shit about Weezer. Their best days are long behind them at this point, and they've spent the better part of the last fifteen years or so alternating between underwhelming artistic detours and outright awful attempts at relevance. Before the release of this, their sixth self-titled record, Weezer earned their biggest hit in years in the form of a faithful cover of Toto's Africa , as spurred on by a tweet and the eventual endgame for which became a full album of covers that was surprise released mere weeks before dropping "the black album. That "the teal album", a meme-worthy but painfully on-the-nose collection of covers garnered more attention than their new album of original songs says a lot about Weezer's current status; the majority of fans would rather hear them play cheesy song...

Only a decade removed from their debut, Rival Sons' sixth album isn't a grand departure from what came before; still purveyors of fuzzed-out, Zeppelinesque rock as filtered through modern times, it's not like they've earned a reputation as rock chameleons. However, with the recent rock revival wrought by the thunderous (and just a little preposterous) success of Greta Van Fleet, if there was ever a time for a band like Rival Sons to take advantage it's now. They've more or less seized their opportunity on Feral Roots , though not at the expense of their own growth; there are new and excellent examples of the immediacy they can bring to their songs, as evidenced by the opening trio of songs on this album; Do Your Worst , Sugar On the Bone and Back in the Woods are all no-muss no-fuss, thick and groovy rock and roll songs, aimed right between your ears and effective in their potency. However, as the album progresses things get much more interesting. The aco...

About four years removed from their promising second record, FIDLAR's third starts off in head-scratching fashion. Get Off My Rock features slide guitar, a thumping beat and chest-beating rap verses alongside samples that call to mind Beastie Boys and Beck. It's amusing, but also a defiantly performed deflection of expectations; put simply, for a band on the rise to use something so strange as their album opener takes serious balls. Thankfully, the rest of Almost Free isn't so confrontational and stubbornly strange. Can't You See finds FIDLAR opting for groove and coming up with perhaps their most enduring single to date. Elsewhere, there are allusions to the maturity that time has offered the band through recounting of their darkest days. Throughout, there are references to past addictions and the struggles to overcome them, all filtered through the filter of high energy music that buries the sadness and anxiety under upbeat, good time music. There's also a...

Like Rage Against the Machine reincarnated for the SJW generation, Fever 333 marries radio ready modern rock with commentaries on social issues and addresses the issues while offering banging beats and big choruses. Spearheaded by one of the most energetic and passionate front people in today's musical climate (Jason Aalon Butler, formerly of letlive), Fever 333 delivers manifestos in the form of hard charging modern rock vignettes, and their debut LP builds on the promise of their 2018 EP Made an America , though Strength in Numb333rs may have been better served as an album had it been bolstered by a couple of the previous EP's highlights; still, the album's nine songs and three interludes pack a lot of heat over 41 minutes. Singles Burn It and One Of Us are plenty enjoyable on the surface while offering galvanizing messages of inclusion and rallying cries to action for anyone choosing to dig a little deeper. Throughout there are several explosive moments, but th...

As we near the completion of another year, it's only natural to look ahead to what's to come; alongside resolutions and reflections, we find reasons to be excited for the future as the calendar changes and time begins anew. What this means for me, of course, is that it's time to get hyped for all of the new music we could be getting. Whereas in years previous, I would mark the start of a new year with my "What Are the Chances?" posts, and attach arbitrary percentages to what I felt was possible, this year I've decided to ditch the format and just talk about my personal hype levels concerning certain bands getting new material in our ear holes in 2019. So, I divided this article into four levels of hype: mild, moderate, high and extreme. I think that's pretty self explanatory, so let's just go ahead and get hyped! MILDLY HYPED: ANTHRAX Whether or not it comes out in 2019 is anyone's guess, but Anthrax is due to begin work on the follow-up t...