Hopefully, you’ll find something that will make your Christmas just a little merrier. And if you don’t, feel free to take some solace in the fact that there’s always next year.

Comments (1)

December 15, 2009 - 11:01 AM

Recordings

Tori Amos's Midwinter Graces is classy to the max

By Mike Usinger

Midwinter Graces (Universal Republic)

December 10, 2009 - 06:30 AM

Recordings

Top 10 albums of 2009 - Mike Usinger

By Mike Usinger

Anyone else get the feeling it was the kind of year when everyone was sitting around waiting for the next big thing, which never arrived?

Comments (5)

December 10, 2009 - 04:50 AM

Recordings

Top 10 albums of 2009

By Adrian Mack, Alexander Varty, Gregory Adams, Jenny Charlesworth, John Lucas, Lucas Aykroyd, Martin Turenne, Mike Usinger, Steve Newton, and Tony Montague

It wasn’t a particularly stellar year for music, but our critics managed to find a few things that didn’t suck.

Comments (1)

December 9, 2009 - 4:33 PM

Blog - Music

Lady Gaga bans reviewers from Vancouver shows

By Mike Usinger

As career moves goes, Lady Gaga’s latest one in Vancouver is a tad odd.

Comments (36)

December 8, 2009 - 11:01 AM

Recordings

El Perro del Mar evolves naturally into Love Is Not Pop

By Mike Usinger

Love Is Not Pop (TCG)

December 4, 2009 - 11:01 AM

Recordings

Chris Brown's Graffiti is too slight, too safe, and too slick

By Mike Usinger

Graffiti (Jive)

Comments (10)

December 3, 2009 - 06:15 AM

Music Features

Carolyn Mark found out that sharing is hard

By Mike Usinger

At the beginning of a conversation that will cover everything from vomiting etiquette for couch surfers to the economic idiocy of touring the Maritimes, Carolyn Mark makes what almost sounds like a serious confession.

December 3, 2009 - 06:10 AM

Music Features

Boxed sets hold musical delights

By Alexander Varty, John Lucas, Lucas Aykroyd, Mike Usinger, Steve Newton, and Tony Montague

What's hot this holiday season? Let our veteran reviewers be your guide to the best and brightest CD boxed sets.

December 3, 2009 - 05:45 AM

Music Features

July Flame didn't come easily to Laura Veirs

By Mike Usinger

When Laura Veirs picks up the cellphone on Thanksgiving morning in America, she has no problem coming up with a list of things she’s completely happy for.

December 1, 2009 - 11:01 AM

Recordings

Rihanna makes an atrociously rank Rated R

By Mike Usinger

Rated R (DefJam)

Comments (3)

November 26, 2009 - 06:10 AM

Music Features

Blind Pilot no longer flying blind

By Mike Usinger

Blind Pilot started out as two guys with no game plan, but has grown into a six-piece band with a vision.

November 26, 2009 - 06:00 AM

Music Features

Concerts that will get your butt off the sofa

By Mike Usinger

Even with the holidays coming up fast, there is no shortage of bands willing to brave the road, so much so that the Vancouver club scene looks like it’s going to be busier than Heather Mills in a no-holds-barred ass-kicking contest.

Comments (6)

November 19, 2009 - 06:35 AM

Music Features

Mumiy Troll's pitchman promises fun for all

By Mike Usinger

Reached at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, Ilya Lagutenko, the excitable frontman for Mumiy Troll, proves quite the pitchman. Ask him what people can expect from a Mumiy Troll gig, for example, and he’s convincingly effusive.

Comments (2)

November 19, 2009 - 06:25 AM

Music Features

Beauty and brutality mix in Moneen's new music

By Mike Usinger

Even though everything quickly crashed right into the shitter, Kenny Bridges was initially stoked about hitting the road for Moneen’s The World I Want to Leave Behind.

November 19, 2009 - 06:10 AM

Music Features

The Hidden Cameras unafraid to weed out the impatient

By Mike Usinger

Joel Gibb, the visionary behind Toronto indie-pop geniuses the Hidden Cameras is perfectly polite when he’s tracked down at a New Orleans tour stop, but there’s an underlying sense of wariness, whether real or perceived.

November 19, 2009 - 05:20 AM

Recordings

One Bullet Resolution makes an unintentionally ironic New Beginning

By Mike Usinger

New Beginning (Independent)

Comments (2)

November 12, 2009 - 11:01 AM

Recordings

Big Joe Burke packs in the Nashville clichés on Quiver

By Mike Usinger

Quiver (YVR)

Comments (3)

November 12, 2009 - 06:20 AM

Music Features

The Fiery Furnaces get back to basics

By Mike Usinger

The Fiery Furnaces can be accused of many things, including being maddeningly self-indulgent, too clever for mass consumption, and occasionally insane. One thing they most certainly are not is concise.

Comments (1)

November 12, 2009 - 06:10 AM

Music Features

Dark clouds have finally parted for the Used

By Mike Usinger

Jeph Howard is living proof there are definite benefits to spending at least part of every day in a good old-fashioned rage.

November 12, 2009 - 05:40 AM

Pop Eye

KISS's deal with Satan still paying dividends

By Mike Usinger

Considering that KISS remains huge despite not having made a decent record since Gerald Ford was sitting in the White House, the band obviously signed a long-term deal with the devil.

Comments (44)

November 12, 2009 - 05:35 AM

Payback Time

Overlooking John Prine stinks like the musty fog that resonates at shows

By Mike Usinger

You beef in the music section’s general direction, and we reward you with a Payback Time T-shirt and two tickets to a Live Nation club show of your choice taking place in Vancouver within the next four weeks. Here’s this week’s winning whinge.

November 10, 2009 - 09:23 AM

Concert Reviews

Little Guitar Army goes on mission to search and destroy

By Mike Usinger

Last Thursday, Little Guitar Army kicked an almost demented amount of ass on what was a miserable, rain-soaked weeknight in an out-of-the-way part of East Van.

Comments (5)

November 9, 2009 - 11:01 AM

Recordings

Monsters of Folk's debut album has a little something for everyone

By Mike Usinger

Monsters of Folk (Shangri-La Music)

Comments (1)

November 5, 2009 - 12:31 PM

Blog - Music

Blink-182's Mark Hoppus loves Vancouver's Japandroids

By Mike Usinger

The Japandroids have been named the new favourite band of Mark Hoppus.

Comments (5)

November 5, 2009 - 11:01 AM

Recordings

Jemina Pearl can't keep it up on solo debut Break It Up

By Mike Usinger

Break It Up (Ecstatic Peace)

Comments (2)

November 5, 2009 - 06:05 AM

Music Features

Little Dragon's big all over, but not back in Sweden

By Mike Usinger

Yukimi Nagano readily cops to being something of an oddball back in her native country.

Comments (3)

November 5, 2009 - 06:00 AM

Music Features

Bishop Allen's book-smart indie rock has retro flair

By Mike Usinger

As one might suspect from his lyrics, Bishop Allen singer Justin Rice has spent an afternoon or two in an upper-levels English class.

November 4, 2009 - 12:48 PM

Concert Reviews

Skinny Puppy as much about theatrics as the music

By Mike Usinger

At the risk of stating the fairly obvious, Skinny Puppy’s timing was a little off for its first Vancouver concert in nearly two decades.

Comments (4)

October 29, 2009 - 8:40 PM

Blog - Music

D.O.A.'s Joe Keithley confirms Chuck Biscuits' "death" a hoax

By Mike Usinger

Former D.O.A. drummer is alive and well.

Comments (20)

October 29, 2009 - 3:07 PM

Blog - Music

Is former D.O.A. drummer Chuck Biscuits dead? Or is it a hoax?

By Mike Usinger

Rumours are currently circulating that the former D.O.A. drummer, born Charles Montgomery, died at age 44 on October 24, 2009 following a prolonged battle with throat cancer.

Comments (11)

October 29, 2009 - 06:10 AM

Music Features

Dark side holds no appeal for an optimistic Mat Kearney

By Mike Usinger

What’s funny is that even though there’s enough evidence to suggest that the Portland, Oregon–raised Mat Kearney has his share of depressing days, he comes across as anything but downbeat.

October 29, 2009 - 05:30 AM

Payback Time

Local music writers heart Steve McBean

By Mike Usinger

You invade the music section's space, and we reward you with a Payback Time T-shirt and two tickets to a Live Nation club show of your choice taking place in Vancouver within the next four weeks. Here's this week's winning whine.

Comments (1)

October 29, 2009 - 05:25 AM

Recordings

Hometown Riot belies Devilsplender's roots

By Mike Usinger

Hometown Riot (DS)

October 28, 2009 - 10:44 AM

Blog - Music | Olympics

Lineup for second-last Cultural Olympiad installment announced

By Mike Usinger

Organizers this morning unveiled the lineup for the third installment of the Cultural Olympiad festival, which launches January 22, 2010.

Comments (3)

October 28, 2009 - 10:44 AM

Blog - Music | Olympics

Lineup for second-last Cultural Olympiad installment announced

By Mike Usinger

Organizers this morning unveiled the lineup for the third installment of the Cultural Olympiad festival, which launches January 22, 2010.

Comments (3)

October 26, 2009 - 2:40 PM

Concert Reviews

Dead Man's Bones and Everybody Loves Ghosts choir borderline brilliant

By Mike Usinger

Ryan Gosling might have been the marquee attraction, but what made Dead Man’s Bones borderline brilliant at Venue was that he was anything but the star of the show.

Comments (2)

October 22, 2009 - 11:01 AM

Recordings