Tag: Cd Review

By Sean Sullivan

Alex Pangman may be Canadian, but this is not your standard Diana Krall jazz. Pangman’s seventh studio album, Have a Little Fun, is both her second album with Montreal-based jazz label Justin Time Records and her second album after a double lung transplant in 2008. It keeps true to Pangman’s fascinatio0n of all things ’30s… Continue reading Spun: Alex Pangman

By Sean Willett

It would be an enormous understatement to say that Ghostkeeper’s newest album, Horse Chief! War Thief!, has been stuck in my head. This collection of 11 songs from the Calgary-based roots-rock band attached itself to my brain like a hungry leech to an exposed leg, and it has been feeding on my thoughts ever since.… Continue reading Spun: Ghostkeeper

By Michael Grondin


 Maybe it’s just me, but anything Radiohead-related is pure gold. AMOK, the debut album by super-group Atoms for Peace, is a collection of songs by eccentric musicians that does not disappoint. Featuring Radiohead’s Thom Yorke and Nigel Godrich, The Red Hot Chili Pepper’s bassist Flea and Joey Waronker, who has drummed for Elliott Smith… Continue reading Spun: Atoms for Peace

By Sean Willett

The second full length album from Calgarian Matt Blais, The Heartbeat, is difficult to describe. While Blais describes his own music as “cutting edge alternative blues rock,” I don’t quite think this particular collection of words does his new album justice. His sound is more akin to listening to a 15-year-old Chad Kroeger attempt to… Continue reading Spun: Matt Blais

By David Crosby

Charlottetown’s Two Hours Traffic returns with their seventh album, Foolish Blood, a lighthearted and cohesive piece that is a departure from the band’s traditional indie-pop sound. It marks a major shift in the band’s dynamic on and off the stage. Their breakthrough album Little Jabs introduced heartfelt lyrics and catchy guitar chords. Foolish Blood moves… Continue reading Spun: Two Hours Traffic

By Jaime Burnet

Calgarian indie-rock giants Tegan and Sara’s seventh studio album Heartthrob is destined to be met with cries of ‘sell outs’ by self-proclaimed ‘true fans.’ On the surface, it’s easy to see where these jaded fans are coming from. Heartthrob trades in the acoustic-rock soundscapes that defined The Con and So Jealous for a wall of… Continue reading Tegan and Sara

By Taylor McKee

The product of Syracuse University returns for its third full-length album, Beta Love, a decidedly more upbeat release than 2010’s The Orchard.
 Constantly being accused of being a Vampire Weekend cover band, Ra Ra Riot certainly step outside their comfort zone on this album — with mixed results. The album is remarkably fast-paced and rarely… Continue reading Ra Ra Riot

By Tamara Cottle

There is a new genre manifesting in Canadian music today, and A Tribe Called Red is at the helm. This DJ collective from Ottawa started out by mixing traditional powwow music with club beats at parties for urban aboriginal youth in 2008. When they combined a grass dance song with a dubstep beat, they realized… Continue reading Spun: A Tribe Called Red

By Taylor McKee

Like it or not, Taylor Swift is an inescapable part of pop-radio — you will hear her on virtually any mainstream radio station. But when one considers her pop counterparts — think Katy Perry, Ke$ha or Justin Bieber — Swift is clearly a cut above. 
 In her fourth studio album, Red, Swift continues to… Continue reading Spun: Taylor Swift

By Tomas Maturana

Some albums are meant to pump up listeners and some are meant to relax them, but it’s rare to listen to something that is both exciting and calming at the same time. While this seems to be an impossible contradiction, one only needs to listen to Erin Costelo’s We Can Get Over to understand how… Continue reading Spun: Erin Costelo