BLACK MOUNTAIN
In The Future
Jagjaguwar
When I hear Stephen McBean’s slowly-picked A-minor guitar intro for “Stormy High,” I’m almost tricked into thinking it’s a cover of “Hell’s Bells,” but then the swing-time Black...
CD Review for Still Blue
Mr. Johnson jumped into view as a nominee for Guitarist of the Year in 2006. This Victoria-based bluesman jammed onstage after the Awards Show and left behind a couple of impressive CDs. This new one is even...
A review of Everybody Left's Season One (2009 - 13) compilation album.
Fans of guitar tone have a lot to learn about Bill Johnson. His fourth album, Cold Outside should be the one that has this Vancouver Island native flying high above the radar, finally. Ripe with an abundance of select tracks, Johnson proves...
With her fifth album release on April 1 and Western Canadian tour dates throughout April, Orit Shimoni’s Bitter is the New Sweet opens up an exciting new chapter in the life of one Canada’s most brilliant and lyrically impactful vocalis...
Soprano’s Bar, Victoria’s only live karaoke joint and notorious dive bar, has closed its doors for good, going out with a bang on New Year’s Eve.
A message posted on the bar’s Facebook page on Dec. 31 served as the official annou...
Indie Rock Hall of Famers, Lowest Of The Low, celebrate new album release October 12 in Kingston with By Divine Right
Metal Blade Records
Bison is the most hyped band in Vancouver right now. Sometimes hype can be a tough thing to deal with, but these fuckers keep coming through every time. Every show is better than the next, so every album is obviously ...
Unfamiliar Records.
The scene has been hit by the sharp sounds of a new five piece: The Clips. The debut album Matterhorn is made of raw, electric energy mingling among melodies. Lyrically, the album is freeform, created strictly from wh...
Bill Johnson contributes eight originals to his Still Blue, each one a fine example of a contemporary blues song, not merely a retread of a familiar 12 bar theme, and each sung in his evocative voice. The variety of approaches, from the sne...
Martin Springett's The Gardening Club is cosmic Canadiana at its best, and his story is a CanCon prog rock version of the Searching For Sugar Man saga