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Colin Moore Leaving Home 4/5 Listen To: Disease Skip It: 3 Fat Pills Longtime Montreal front man, Colin Moore comes out with his debut solo album, Leaving Home on Indica Records. Though new to the folk rock scene, Moore is no stranger to the Montreal music scene. Moore, who has played a vital part in the punk scene as Road Bones’ front man for many years switches gears with this solo folk project. Moore’s expertise shows in the quality of his debut solo album; well-crafted and musically …

HIM Screamworks: Love In Theory And Practice 4.5/5 Listen To: Like St. Valentine Skip It: Nothing HIM have always seemed to have two sides to their ‘love metal’ music. The darker, gothier sound and the poppier side. While their last album Venus Doom was definitely on the gothy side, the band’s seventh album Screamworks: Love In Theory And Practice is firmly on pop ground. It is to the point where they could start calling themselves a ‘love pop’ band. That’s not …

Story Of The Year The Constant 3.5/5 Listen To: I'm Alive Skip It: The Ghost Of You And I Recently I went back and listened to all of the Story Of The Year albums in order. They have grown so much since Page Avenue. They only keep improving with The Constant. Story Of The Year started off in the punk scene, but with The Constant they show that they are so much stronger as a rock band. The Constant is almost a continuation of their last album, The Black Swan, just a little cleaner and more mature. The …

Eels End Times 4.5/5 Listen To: The Mansions Of Los Feliz Skip It: Nothing It is natural that in the course of the sort of long, radio-shy career that Mark Oliver Everett has had some repetition will be made. He’s covered so much ground in his particular musical vision that inevitably comparisons will be made between current releases and past entries. In the beginning, his albums were unified mainly by his eerie voice and lyrical themes; musically, they faced different compass points. This time …

Take Action Tour 2010 W/ We The Kings, Mayday Parade, A Rocket To The Moon, There For Tomorrow February 2, 2010 The Phoenix Concert Theatre Loud, rowdy, sweaty, Sounds like rock ‘n roll right? Sort of. The Take Action Tour returned to Toronto with headliners We The Kings. Also on the bill for the night were Mayday Parade, A Rocket To The Moon, There For Tomorrow and Call The Cops who for unknown reasons didn’t play. The charity of the 2010 Take Action tour is Driving For Donors, which was …

Dinosaur Jr. W/ Lou Barlow Thursday January 21, 2010 The Phoenix Did Dinosaur Jr. Invent alt.rock? Not really. But did they popularize and perfect it? Definitely. After a long career of line up changes, Dinosaur Jr. returned to Toronto for the first time in three years with their original line up members who buried the hatchet to churn out some shred fest sludge. The crowd was still filtering in at 9:15 but by no means was it empty for opener Lou Barlow, also scheduled to play with Dinosaur Jr. an hour …

Tegan and Sara W/ Gentleman Reg January 20, 2010 Kool Haus I was justifiably jazzed for Tegan and Sara's Wednesday set at the Kool Haus, the second in a two-show Toronto residency following their Massey Hall performance the evening prior. Though the intimate environment of the latter would seem better fit for their trademark lite-folk sound, the apathetic, modern motif of the Kool Haus fit well with the angular pop of their latest album, Sainthood. I took my time getting to the venue, loafing about the …

Fall Out Boy Believers Never Die - Greatest Hits 5/5 Listen To: Saturday Skip It: Thnks Fr Th Mmrs Fall Out Boy's Believers Never Die may just be the eighth wonder of the world. I grew up with this band, and listening to Fall Out Boy's newly released greatest hits album was like travelling back in time to the better days when Fall Out Boy was the only band who looked like Fall Out Boy, emo boys were all the rage and 9/10 girls' screen names were PeteWentzLuvr3223. “Saturday,” arguably the …

Them Crooked Vultures Them Crooked Vultures 5/5 Listen To: Everything, but especially the epic breakdown riff in “No One Loves Me And Neither Do I” Skip It: Nothing. John Paul Jones, Led Zeppelin bassist extraordinaire, has said for years in interviews that he was the one that wrote the riffs, and Jimmy Page came up with all the angular chording and atmosphere. Raised on classic rock radio and guitar magazines, I was taught to revere Page and have for years considered J.P. Jones an …