Robin Hunter and the Six Foot Bullies -




Robin Hunter and the Six Foot Bullies Stanley Milner Library, Edmonton AB October 9 By Fish Griwkowsky Many words have been written about former punks gone to field, now saggily fronting country or blues bands. An easier way to put it is that we all eventually get old and fat and tired, but still persist. Robin Hunter’s story arc is different, though. This new CD of his, You Just Gotta Get Used of It (released at a cozy cabaret show in an older oil boom’s library theatre), has a lot of the same vibrations he used back as lead singer of the Imagineers, flowing in a wave of music that included the smalls and SNFU. Then, as now, Hunter’s deep respect for older blues slows things down as part of the experiment, especially seen live. The faces Hunter made as he sang a slide-blues song about an invisible suit chasing him around worked on so many levels it was sick. And his angsty “A Way Out of the Irons” just gives a listener juice. Bookended by John Woroschuk’s sublime mandolin and the imposing standup bass of Thom Golub, they really are three of the best-sharpened musicians in the city. Throw in Hunter’s screwball improv stand-up banter and the openers, and it was a hell of a ticket. He asked a number of friends to join him for the “evening with” — the bear-ish roots traditionalist Andy Donnelly, the smoky and sultry Sheri-Lee Wisor, and Old Reliable’s constantly-evolving Mark Davis, who I’ve never heard sing so dangerously tender. Anachronistic down to the paintings behind the players, it all felt like a future museum’s hologram of some idealized history. What it really was, though, is proof that sometimes we can outdo even our own legends.

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds Had I known Black Mountain were going to be a last-minute addition as the support act, I would have cancelled my date with America’s Top Model. It was an oversight on my part, for sure, but with all due respect to the Polaris Music Prize nominees, the night was all about letting Nick Cave and ...Read More

Hercules & Love Affair / Lioness The Toronto debut of Hercules & Love Affair as a full band was met with more enthusiasm than the oft stuffy Big Smoke prefers to exude, but it was all for good reason: the eight-bodied disco octopus brought an unforgettable celebration of escapism for a sea of ironically garbed individuals looking t ...Read More

Canwest Cabaret Festival
Amon Amarth / Ensiferum / Belphegor / The Absence
Chad VanGaalen / Women / Boys Who Say No
Comeback Kid / Misery Signals / Bane / Shai Hulud / Outbreak / Grave Maker
Evangelicals / Glenn Nuotio
Gogol Bordello / The Secretaries
Hilotrons / Daiquiri
Jay Reatard / Brutal Knights / Chocolat
Mount Eeerie / Julie Doiron and Fred Squire / Wyrd Visions
NOFX / Dillinger Four
Ratatat
Ruby Coast/ Politique/ The Weathermakers
Sunset Rubdown


The Warm Spirit of the Mountains & the Trees People say it's very earnest. I'm not quite sure what that means," laughs Jon Janes. Whatever it means, Janes certainly knows that it connects with people. As the force behind the morphing cast of musicians known as the Mountains & the Trees, Janes is winning hearts nationwide with his delicately upbeat indie folk.... Read More


Quantic Presents Flowering Inferno - Dog with a Rope With his second release under the Flowering Inferno moniker, Will (Quantic) Holland continues to scratch his musical itch for more Jamaican-influenced, Latin dancehall fare. The record is awash with the laidback rhythms of reggae — a welcome, breezy, tropical infusion and a beautiful reminder that c... Full Review


HRDVSION When IDM-techno producer HRDVSION (aka Nathan Jonson) hit the stage at this year's Mutek Festival, he was not only opening for like-minded international contemporaries like Mouse On Mars and Nathan Fake, he was also introducing Canadian audiences to a new live set and a new means of performing it.... Read More





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