CD reviews

Ab-Soul These Days… | Top Dawg Entertainment Artists in today’s musical landscape are subject to an ever-present struggle to remain relevant. Stars fade and trends will change, leaving a slew of nostalgia-inducing songs that formerly defined our times. What Los Angeles rapper Ab-Soul sets out to do on his new album is provide a time …

The Roots …And Then You Shoot Your Cousin | Def Jam There is still something to be said about consistency in music. Steadily producing quality art for more than 20 consecutive years is a feat that not many can achieve. The Roots are undoubtedly one of hip-hop’s most legendary bands and have been one of …

Kid Cudi Satellite Flight: The Journey to Mother Moon | Wicked Awesome/Republic On Feb. 25, Cleveland emcee Kid Cudi became the next musician to ride the wave of releasing albums with little or no warning when he dropped his new album with only a tweet’s notice earlier in the day. Originally intended to be an …

Dog Day Fade Out | Fundog Nancy Urich and Seth Smith, a duo from Halifax, bring a much darker atmosphere to their new album Fade Out compared to their three previous albums. There’s a Joy Divison and Sonic Youth influence to the alternative rock sound of their music. The opening track “Blackened” really sums up what this …

Crusades Perhaps You Deliver This Judgment With Greater Fear Than I Receive It | No Idea It was heartbreaking when two of Ottawa’s best local bands, sludge metal titans Buried Inside and poppy punk rockers Year Zero, bit the dust. While the city’s punk scene has moved on, so have Buried Inside guitarist and CHUO program director Emmanuel Sayer and Year Zero singer and guitarist Dave Williams, …

We like music. You like music. Let’s like music together. Arcade Fire Reflektor | Merge Records In 2004, Arcade Fire released Funeral, an album with a mix of guitar-driven rock and symphonic orchestrations that laid the groundwork for modern indie rock. By the time 2010’s The Suburbs hit the shelves, the band was topping charts and selling …

We like music. You like music. Let’s like music together.                 Shad Flying Colours | Black Box One can undertake a lot of self-reflection in three years, the timespan between TSOL, Shad’s 2011 Juno-winning album, and his latest, Flying Colours. The album is a complex take on the meaning of success and …