The Coast
The Coast

By Rob Bolton

This six-song EP is an impressive step for Toronto’s the Coast. Following up on their 2004 debut EP Take a Walk Outside, this quartet prove they’ve got some skills in the studio. The guitar melodies have a distinctly British sound that soars as high as anything Coldplay can do, and Ben Spurr’s vocals have a fragile quality with a hint of falsetto that marries itself nicely to the band’s overall sound. Their production is tight, and given that the rhythm section is made up of brothers, it’s not surprising that they are in sync and bang-on. Growing up listening to bands like U2 or the Verve has proved to be an excellent spark for these guys, and the big, spacious guitar pop sound they deliver pays homage to that, but comes across as truly their own. The closing track “Harbour Lights” is a grand and beautiful way to leave the listener wanting more. The Coast are yet another example of the increasingly talented and seemingly unstoppable Canadian indie music scene. (Independent)

The Flaming Lips - At War With the Mystics
With the world unraveling bit by bit, the Flaming Lips needed to make a record as fascinatingly outspoken as this. Like musical Martians observing us with great concern, they convey all the frustration and optimism they can muster on At War With the Mystics. Wayne Coyne’s writing is abstract but the ...Read More
Editors - The Back Room
Like several bands of the past 26 years, Editors cull the vernal, yet dyspeptic, pastures of Joy Division, but have a more eager willingness towards popular song structures — translating into popular success, at least in the UK. Upon the release of their first single, “Munich,” in January of 2005, t ...Read More
Hard-Fi - Stars of CCTV
England has never been short on acts who can stir up a frenzied dance floor with a great pop song, but how often are these songs delivering anything more than just a trivial message of love, sex or getting drunk? That’s where Hard-Fi come in. From Staines, London (yes, the working class home of one ...Read More
Mates of State - Bring It Back
Mates of State’s last release, the All Day EP, proved to be a pivotal one in their career. It was the moment when everything really came together and made their first truly memorable record. Prior to that, they have always been defined by two facts. Firstly, that they were a band consisting of a cou ...Read More
Rogers Sisters - The Invisible Deck
The Rogers Sisters create danceable, post-punk inspired songs that expand and contract in lo-fi dynamics and occasionally borrow from garage rock aesthetics. This Brooklyn-based trio’s Too Pure debut recalls the same urgency and enticing approach as their New York noise peers but still manages to cr ...Read More
They Shoot Horses Don’t They? - Boo Hoo Hoo Boo
This debut full-length from Vancouver’s They Shoot Horses Don’t They? has caged the frenetic, jittery, shimmering energy and impulsiveness. With haphazard horns, shout outs from a Casio keyboard, and skittering guitars and drums, the band are able to create a varying sound with each song, so that ea ...Read More
Veneer
Aereogramme - Seclusion
Aereogramme - Seclusion
Alex Lukashevsky - Connexions
Antlerand - Branches
Appleseed Cast - Peregrine
Astrid Swan - Poverina
Barzin - My Life in Rooms
The Beautiful Mistake / Ettison Clio - The Beautiful Mistake / Ettison Clio
Bel Riose - Moving Targets
Blanket Music - The Love/Love Translation
The Boy Least Likely To - Best Party Ever
Brandston - Hello, Control.
BurnsoutBright - Save Yourself a Lifetime
Buzzcocks - Flat-Pack Philosophy
Cardigans - Super Extra Gravity
Casiotone for the Painfully Alone - Etiquette
Catfish Haven - Please Come Back
Clor - Clor
Concretes - In Colour
Cranebuilders - Sometimes You Hear Through Someone Else
Creeping Nobodies - Half-Saboteur
Crystal Skulls - Outgoing Behaviour
Dead Girls Ruin Everything - What a Perfect Ending
Diane Cluck - Macy’s Day Bird / Black with Green Leaves
Dislocation Dance - Music Music Music / Slip That Disc / Midnight Shift + Singles
The D'Urbervilles - D’Urbervilles
Eames Era - Double Dutche
Ever We Fall - We Are But Human
Ever We Fall - We Are But Human
Fightstar - They Liked You Better When You Were Dead
Fold - This Too Shall Pass
General Miggs - Broken Hoof EP
Girls Under Glass - Equilibrium
Goldspot - Tally of the Yes Men
Gossip - Standing in the Way of Control
Graham Coxon - Love Travels at Illegal Speeds
Grey - Asleep at the Wheel
Hanalei - Parts and Accessories
Holy Fire - In the Name of the World
Howe Gelb - Arizona Amp and Alternator / ’Sno Angel like You
I Love You But I’ve Chosen Darkness - Fear Is On Our Side
Jon Auer - Songs from the Year of Our Demise
Junius - Blood is Bright
Kind of Like Spitting - One Hundred Dollar Room
Layiterslayit - Seduction and Destruction
Lollipop People - We Need a New F-Word
Malajube - Trompe~L’Oeil
Maybe Smith - Second Best Death
Mika Bomb - Hellcats
Mogwai - Mr. Beast
Mono - You Are There
Navy - The New Blue
Pansy Division - The Essential Pansy Division
Paper Moon - Broken Hearts Break Faster Every Day
Pettit Project - 6 Week Summer Vacation in Hell
Pink Martini - Sympathique
Placebo - Meds
Porest - Tourrorists!
Psychic Ills - Dins
Psychic Paramount - Live 2002: The Franco-Italian Tour
Quasi - When the Going Gets Dark
Quinzy - Please Baby Please Baby Baby Baby Please
Rammstein - Rosenrot
Red Krayola - Introduction
Revolver Modele - Discotheque Crypt
Robocop Kraus - They Think They Are the Robocop Kraus
Rumble in Rhodos - Own Me Like the City
Rumble in Rhodos - Own Me Like the City
Say Anything - …Is a Real Boy
Schulz - What Apology
Scroll - Swan Soliloquy of a Deehrelict
So They Say - Antidote for Irony
Souls She Said - As Templar Nites
Sparks - Hello Young Lovers
Spermbirds - Something to Prove / Nothing is Easy
Sum 41 - Go Chuck Yourself
Television Personalities - My Dark Places
Trapdoor Fucking Exit - Crooked Life/Straight World
Trespassers William - Having
Tunnel of Love - Tunnel of Love
Various Artists - New York Noise Vol. 2
Various Artists - Monsieur Gainsbourg Revisited
Various Artists - Rock for Relief
We Be the Echo - Stanislaw Stories
Wes McDonald - 1:50 in the Furnace
Witch - Witch
Xrayok - Like Life
Get It, the long-delayed debut from Toronto, ON mixtape veterans Empire, is a blast from the past, in the best possible way. In a hip-hop landscape increasingly dominated by ringtone music, Empire come through with an album full of hard-charging beats and menacing, hot-spitting, cipher-bred lyri... Full Review
"For people to trust you and believe you, they have to see you a little bit. I'm not afraid to expose myself in that way," says Sara Quin, of sibling duo Tegan and Sara. The petite brunette has just led me into the heart of the east Vancouver jam space where she and her identical twin Tegan are rehearsing for upcoming tours. The room we're in is expansive, chilly and draped in darkness aside from a single strip of light in the middle of the room; she drags a sofa under the wimpy illumination and offers it to me, taking a straight-backed chair opposite for herself. "If we were a genre film," she continues, "we'd be a documentary."... Read More
Check out the hottest new releases in Canada this week, including: 50 Cent Before I Self-Destruct, Boris Japanese Heavy Rock Hits #2 7", Kid Sister Ultraviolet, Norah Jones The Fall, Stereophonics Keep Calm and Carry On... Read More
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