Music Reviews

CJLO x SXSW 2019: Electronic Music Recap

It has been a few months since the CJLO music directors flew down to Austin, Texas for the world renowned South-By-Southwest. As the station’s Electronic Music Director, my goal was to attend a variety of interesting shows related to electronic music; after getting a chance to gather my thoughts around the event as a whole, I've been able to identify three main themes.


1. Brostep 


Album Review: “The Mighty Seed” by This Way to the EGRESS

This Way to the EGRESS is the greatest (and most eclectic) band you’ve never heard of. Hailing from the Tri-State Area, this delightfully dark cocktail of vaudeville kitsch, folkish klezmer, and ragtime swing is comprised of five full-time members and “an ever-rotating cast of horn players,” whose unique sound caught the ear of this unassuming beginner DJ.


David Picco exposes his Heartland Country soul in “Out Of The Past”

Singer-songwriter David Picco is back with a fifth studio album, Out Of The Past. It features ten new songs that run through a roots rock stream but with a heartland country soul.


Jabbour Takes us on a Trip in Time with Saint-Bernard

Fans of Cajun, Irish fiddle and Quebec Folk will be able to find musical solace in Jabbour’s most recent studio effort. The Montréal quartet—which is currently composed of Guillaume Jabbour, Bill Collier, Bill Gossage and Carl Rufh—released Saint-Bernard on May 12, which serves as the follow-up to their 2016 debut Round The Clock.


Stella Donnelly: Beware of the Dogs

“Are you scared of me old man? Or are you scared of what I’ll do?”

​Those are the chanted lyrics on Stella Donnelly’s opening track “Old Man” on her debut album “Beware of the Dogs”. Already the listener is the exposed to the kind of ride they are in for. This is an artist that does not hold back: a rebel with a cause, potentially trained as an assassin for feminist rights. 


Album Review: Devin Townsend’s Empath

You're welcome: I have delved into the Tartarean pits of my inbox and brought back such wonders to behold. So wondrous are these wonders that even for the recounting of their wonder I can't help but say you're welcome.

Empath is emerging.

That's right, a new era of Devin Townsend succulence has dawned upon our sordid realm, and now that it is up in me, like a caring mother bird shall I regurgitate some digested scraps of it into your eager brain-maw. To think this time last year I was digging through Steve Vai's garbage, and now look at me.


Assimilation: The Laws of Power Album Review

Clench your fists and get that circle pit ready, ‘cause Assimilation are in town. Innovating within a genre traditionally lacking innovation, these British Columbia boys are on the prowl for severed heads and crushed skulls! Just kidding, these are some pretty nice dudes; their music is pretty scary, though.

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METAL MONDAY: Anesthetic by Mark Morton

The idea behind Mark Morton’s first solo album, Anesthetic, was to creat an album of songs that wouldn't fit in a Lamb of God release. In interviews, Morton has said that this album was written at a relaxed pace over a long period of time. It presents a body of work in a veritable variety of styles, though for the most part it does not stray too far from his work in the aforementioned Lamb of God.


Sharon Van Etten, Remind me Tomorrow

Indie-folk songstress Sharon Van Etten made a return to the limelight last month with the release of her fifth studio album entitled Remind Me Tomorrow(released on Jagjaguwar). This new addition to the singer-songwriter’s catalogue, though dark and edgy at the core, brings out a different side of Van Etten, with a more in-depth outlook supported by a contemporary sound that features more layers and electronic instrumentation than her earlier work.


METAL MONDAY: Between The Buried and Me's "Colors" - A Perspective After 10 Years

This article is an analysis and perspective from Phil's listening sessions over time, since the album was released in 2007; it has been hard to decipher themes and lyrics in order to understand the album and its concept as a whole. 

Between the Buried and Me has been a raging force for metal as the face of progressive metal since their very early days, but has proven to grow as a band over time. In 2007, the band released an album that revolutionized the genre all around.

Colors, the monumental metal epic, was released on September 18th, 2007. It was highly praised by critics and metalheads alike.


Album Review: "Happy Season" by PHANGS

Mentioned in BuzzFeed’s list of “18 Emerging Artists To Watch In 2018”, PHANGS has amassed a serious core group of fans despite being a fairly new independent artist. Fans, or “Pham” as they call themselves, have gone above and beyond to hype up his music. Last year, they even rallied together to organize a string of shows across America amongst themselves. This later became known as The House Tour, which consisted of acoustic shows in fans’ living rooms.


Album Review: "The Moonlight Club" by The Moonlight Club

The Moonlight Club’s most recent effort, the self-titled full-length album, is their most consistent and cohesive work to date. Recorded over a nine-day period at Breakglass Studios with David Smith (Patrick Watson, Elephant Stone, Leif Vollebekk), the album showcases the band’s authentic blend of folk-rock and 80’s new wave. With tight, impressive drum work and guitar tones that Johnny Marr would be proud of, the Moonlight Club have created a strong, diverse album that takes the listener on a journey from energetic rock to sweeping balladry. 


Top Metal Bands of 2017

 
At CJLO we realize it's always good to look forward rather than backwards, but we also realize that if we don't learn from the things we do, we are doomed to repeat them over and over. In light of these dueling facts, we want to shed light on the scope of music played at the station in 2017, so the Metal department compiled their tops of the year.
 

Album Review: "Phases" by Angel Olsen

A year after her breathtaking album My Woman, North-Carolina based singer-songwriter Angel Olsen releases her rarities album Phases. This treat gives listeners insight into how Olsen’s diverse genre palette came to be, reflecting all the different directions her musical abilities can take—from quiet lo-fi folk to sprawling psych-rock.

Phases is a multifarious album, B-sides that didn’t fit the flow of pop-oriented My Woman or the alt-rock Burn Your Fire for No Witness: raw and heartfelt demos of love and loss, and covers by artists that have influenced her musical and writing process.


REVIEW: Wolves by Rise Against

It seems like many bands seem to have a law of diminishing returns on subsequent albums. Oh... perhaps I shouldn't have lead with my direct opinion of what Rise Against has been doing as of late. Oh well, too late to edit now.

Rise Against first appeared on my radar with their third record, Sirens Sound of the Counter Culture, and then created a bonafide masterwork with The Sufferer & the Witness two years later. Since then, every album has been circling the closer to the drain of mediocrity and I am none too happy about it.


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