Best of 2016: The Garage received a lot of blues CDs this year and all of them were above standard, but ultimately had to be judged for other reasons of personality, believability, skill and versatility, etc. Take a bow Michael Kaeshammer a...
Derek Miller
The Dirty Looks
Arbor
I try to balance the good and bad in my reviews, even if I'm not into the style. I don't like saying it, but the sophomore album from Ontario's Derek Miller thoroughly sucks. It sounds like a bar band...
CD Review for Still Blue
Mr. Johnson jumped into view as a nominee for Guitarist of the Year in 2006. This Victoria-based bluesman jammed onstage after the Awards Show and left behind a couple of impressive CDs. This new one is even...
Metal Blade Records
Bison is the most hyped band in Vancouver right now. Sometimes hype can be a tough thing to deal with, but these fuckers keep coming through every time. Every show is better than the next, so every album is obviously ...
CD REVIEW
The Bicycles’ Oh No, It’s Love is not the kind of record that warrants a large, wordy review filled with pretentious journalistic nit-picking. The fact of the matter is simple: Oh No, It’s Love is filled to the rim with h...
Cracker
Sunrise in the Land of Milk and Honey
429 Records
Since the early 1990s, and most famously with 1993’s platinum selling Kerosene Hat, Cracker has been providing an interesting take on contemporary alternative country (think ...
The Japandroids are a two piece guitar wailing, drum pounding, singing machine, (do droids get angry when you call them machines?) and ‘Lullaby Death Jams’ is their recipe for a good time. It’s made up of five interestingly good track...
THE BLACK HALOS
We Are Not Alone
Acetate
God bless Billy Hopeless & the Halos. They’ve earned their entry into that category that bands like Motörhead, AC/DC, & The Ramones (the Holy Trinity of Rock) fit into – you always know wh...
Bill Johnson contributes eight originals to his Still Blue, each one a fine example of a contemporary blues song, not merely a retread of a familiar 12 bar theme, and each sung in his evocative voice. The variety of approaches, from the sne...
Redcat Records
Some say country-rock died with Gram Parsons premature passing in 1973, casual fans say it’s when the Eagles sold-out and recorded Hotel California, but almost everyone can agree that just as quickly as it came – it w...
The Beatdown
Walkin' Proud
CD - LP
Stomp Records - STMP099
The Beatdown have become masters of their craft! Their 2010 debut album saw the group carry on the work put down with One Night Band and carried into into garage rock terri...