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Recent Reviews
Chris Bottomley
Somebody Help Me Now (download track)
Chris Bottomley hasn't exactly tossed out a lot of red meat for his fans of late. The erstwhile Tulpa and Brainfudge bassist has issued just two download singles in the past three years: 2022's breezy, orchestral 'Summer' and 'Pull It Together', its more topical jazz-reggae follow-up. Both tracks were juicy enough cuts of soulful songwriting, offering plenty for us to chew on. But after many listens, it was st...more
The Dale Jacobs Group
Live at Puccini's
Live at Puccini's looks like the sort of disc one could easily pass over while digging through the crates, its cheesy cover suggesting the worst of 1970s dinner jazz. But it's actually quite sought after, and prices of late have been creeping up, most likely for the appearance of electronics pioneer Ralph Dyck.
Dyck, who passed away in 2003 at the relatively young age of 71, once supplied the radio theme for Radio-Canada's coverage of the 1976 Montreal Olympics. But t...more
Nick Storring
Mirante
Mirante, Toronto-based multi-instrumentalist and composer Nick Storring's ninth studio LP, continues his knack for layering unprocessed electric and acoustic instruments into fascinating - and at times challenging - soundscapes. Storring's records are impossible to pigeonhole. They have thus far run the gamut from his earlier days as part of the experimental cello duo the Knot to more percussive explorations like 2021's Newfoundout to the glistening piano textures of his collab ...more
Fludd
...On!
"Only in Canada can you play Maple Leaf Gardens, get two encores, and go home on the bus."
That quote, often attributed to others but actually by Fludd's bass player Greg Godovitz, says quite a lot about the fledgling Canadian music biz back in the seventies, a time when you could have huge hits north of the 49th yet be virtually unknown elsewhere in the world.
Fludd certainly had their share of success, charting an impressive eleven singles in Canada between...more
The Crew-Cuts
Sh-Boom / I Spoke Too Soon - 7"
The Crew-Cuts owe their success in part to an obscure legal decision in a California court in 1950.
Supreme Records, a short-lived label based in Los Angeles, had issued a record, 'A Little Bird Told Me' by Paula Watson, that was a sizeable chart success in 1948. That same year, Evelyn Knight released a nearly identical version for the Decca label that topped the Billboard pop chart for seven weeks. Supreme sued Decca claiming that their arrangement of the song, which...more
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