The Loved Ones
Build & Burn
By Sam Sutherland

The Loved Ones may have started out as a (really, really great) Kid Dynamite/Lifetime sound-alike band but with their second full-length release, they’re cementing a sound that, while obviously owing to those titans of melodic hardcore, is very much their own. There’s as much Bouncing Souls as Bruce Springsteen on Build & Burn, a record that succeeds in bounding through its three-minute pop punk compositions with all the energy of a New Brunswick basement show and all the humour and insight of a Billy Bragg concert. “Pretty Good Year” is a powerhouse of an opener, an effortless piece of pop music that sounds as earnest as what the best American hardcore has to offer, while “I Swear” finishes things off with a gritty, pre-sell-out Against Me! verse and rousing, anthemic chorus that contains some of the record’s strongest hooks. The road between the two is just as good, if not better. (Fat Wreck)
Polar Bear Club - Sometimes Things Just Dissapear
With melodies and hooks as addictive as narcotics, meet Polar Bear Club, post-hardcore’s new favourite dealers. Just as the mid- to late ’90s emo style popularised by bands like Hot Water Music and Small Brown Bike becomes more past than present, five young men from Western New York are exploding on ...Read More
Paint It Black - New Lexicon
It would be hyperbole to tag this with a cheesy phrase like “the future of hardcore!” but, holy shit, it’s pretty much the most innovative record you’re likely to hear in 2008. Formed in 2002, following the break-up of vocalist Dan Yemin’s second insanely influential band, Kid Dynamite (the first be ...Read More
Brutal Knights - Living by Yourself
Carpenter - The Country Mile E.P.
Horrorpops - Kiss Kiss Kill Kill
Hostage Life - White Jesus
Press - The Complete Press 1984-1994
Re-Volts - Re-Volts
Various Artists - Leatherface Tribute
Phoenix / Holy Fuck - Sound Academy, Toronto, ON December 5
Saturday night is meant for hand pumping and fraternal writhing, and nothing inspires it like Parisian pop. With an armoury of feel-good songs — almost all single-worthy — and a stellar warm-up act in Holy Fuck, French six-piece Phoenix played a joyous and infectiously amiable Sound Academy show.Full Review
Misstress Barbara - Montreal, QC November 21
One of this city’s superstar DJs, Misstress Barbara specializes in big beats for the masses, and with her three-piece band Girls on a Ducati, she’s extending her house pop chops to a more traditional live setting. With a guitar and mic, as well as keys and effects, she’s a capable front-woman but he... Full Review
Crazy Heart Dir. by Scott Cooper
Crazy Heart, in which Jeff Bridges adds another career achievement notch on his belt as a down-to-his-last-drink country singer, might be more difficult to watch for musicians than for average moviegoers.

Bad Blake (Bridges), who's on the wrong side of 50, is hauling his truck ... Full Review
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