GURR – Gurr Power This two-female band from Berlin is a lot of fun to listen to. Andreya Casablanca and Laura Lee Jenkins create a very dynamic pop punk rock where influences from Sleater-Kinney, Throwing Muses and The Breeders...
The Rich Music of KING CREOSOTE King Creosote is mainly Kenny Anderson, a 48-year-old musician born in Fife, a peninsula in eastern Scotland. He is also a member of Scottish-Canadian band The Burns Unit. Anderson is the type of musician that...
GIOVANNI GUIDI – GIANLUCA PETRELLA – Emerging Talents from Italy Almost all the albums that are stamped with the ECM label logo promise to be excellent, or at least, interesting. Each breathes quality. The music of Foligno-born pianist Giovanni Guidi fell in my ears last...
OSCAR – The Happy Londoner As soon as the song Sometimes starts and you hear Oscar's voice, you go: "OMG he sounds so much like Morrissey!" Oscar's music is much more happy and upbeat than all The Smiths or the Moz himself ever did (Be...
JOHN CALE – Sharp! It is always very impressive when you are about to see a concert from an artist that you really respect. There is this excitement, in the days before the show, that you want to tone down so you are not...
10 reasons not to miss JOHN CALE live For its 14th edition, the festival most oriented on musical discoveries, POP MONTREAL, has a great guest: Mister John Cale. In a rare visit in Montreal, the legendary musician, co-founder of the Velvet...
HOT HOT HEAT – The Final Cut It's an exciting and upbeat album that Montreal-based (but formed in Victoria in 1999) band Hot Hot Heat has delivered with this eponymous record, released just in time for summer. Each song has its own spice,...
BJÖRK – Formely Known as The Artist When Prince passed away back in May, a friend and I disagreed on his place in music history. As many others, he was putting the "genius" stamp on "The Artist" and was placing the Purple One on the same level...
TANGENTS – The Hybrid Album British electronic music producer Ollie Bown (Icarus, Not Applicable); Adrian Lim-Klumpes (Triosk, 3ofMillions) on piano, Rhodes, vibraphone and marimba; Peter Hollo (FourPlay String Quartet) on cello; and the...
Going for THE KILLS The indie rock duet comprised of American singer Alison Mosshart (that was also part of The Dead Weather, with Jack White) and British guitarist Jamie Hince strikes back. It's a strong, punch album that they...
HANNAH GEORGAS – Creative Pop is Possible Hannah Georgas is a Canadian singer-songwriter based in Vancouver, which has been noticed in the last few years with Juno nominations. Both her first two albums were long-listed for the 2010 and 2013 Polaris...
The Ultimate Playlist for Sunday at OSHEAGA 2016 At this point, it’s all about energy management. After 12 to 15 hours of concerts, mostly standing up, in two full days under the sun, you have to carefully select to which show you go so you don’t add up...
The Ultimate Playlist for Saturday at OSHEAGA 2016 Day 2. Need to manage the energy level to get through and not be too tired for Sunday! Here are my picks for the day. I went through the whole schedule at Osheaga and listened to at least a song from each...
LANA DEL REY – Lost in Melancholy Lana Del Rey is a persona. Most pop stars are. At RREVERB, we don't care what musicians do or wear outside the studio or behind the scenes. We put their record on, press play, and listen carefully. As for Lana...
The Ultimate Playlist for Friday at OSHEAGA 2016 It is always exciting to go through the whole schedule at a grand festival like Osheaga and prepare for a terrific 3-day of music. There are many bands out there, many unknowns to discover, some playing...
THE TRAGICALLY HIP – The freedom within On May 24, 2016, the world learned very sad news. The Tragically Hip announced that their lead singer and main composer Gordon Downie was hit by incurable brain cancer. The first reflex we saw everywhere on...
BRITTA PHILLIPS – When the Magic’s Gone If you are a first-time listener to Britta Phillips when putting the needle on her latest LP "Luck or Magic", you might think she's one of the many pop singers à la Lana Del Rey, who can include emotion into...
DAVID BOWIE – Who is he, really? We all know how the great late David Bowie changed music styles many times, always being ahead of the trends, keeping a cool factor throughout his career. OK, some of his 80s and 90s albums aren't memorable,...
PARQUET COURTS on Colbert Show Two nights ago, Parquet Courts performed the song "Captive of the Sun" on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Naturally, the guys had a surprise in store. Austin Brown, who both wrote and sings "Captive,"...
The 2016 POLARIS Music Prize Short List Revealed News Release from Polaris, Toronto, ON – Thursday, July 14, 2016 - The Polaris Music Prize, presented by CBC Music and produced by Blue Ant Media, announced its 2016 Short List of Canadian albums...
ALA.NI – Time-travelling enchantement Some of us knew it already: it is extremely difficult not to fall under the charm of the the London-based new sensation. A number who those who did were present in the packed venue after discovering her at the...
BILAL: Synthesizing Authenticity and influences For now over decade, Bilal has been prominent figure of the R&B scene, a genre that is significantly less celebrated here than among our southern neighbors. If the american artist gained so recent exposure...
VOLCAN TRIO – Pure Freedom! The supergroup formed by pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba, bassist Armando Gola and drummer Horacio “el Negro” Hernandez delivered high-voltage free jazz at Theatre Maisonneuve tonight! Hard to follow as all...
JAY-JAY JOHANSON – Same ol’ blues again A concert by Jay-Jay Johanson is always kind of the same... and it's a good thing for his fans. I saw three times live and it's pretty much the same mood every time. The Swedish crooner lingers in melancholy,...
HEYMOONSHAKER – Making our lives better Human beatbox Dave Crowe and fellow guitarist and singer Andy Balcon wanted to make our lives better at the Heineken Place tonight at the Montreal Jazz Fest, and they succeeded, based on the warm reception...
MARTIN LIZOTTE: Flying Solo with Pianolitudes Keyboardist Martin Lizotte calls himself a musical mercenary from his prolific active years which generated collaborations with the likes of likes of Jean Leloup, Daniel Bélanger, Loco Locass, Karkwa,...
JOHN JACOB MAGISTERY: How To Cast A Spell Since its relatively recent inception, Montreal-based band John Jacob Magistery has certainly been enjoying a steady impulse. A debut EP, "Narcissism Unto Loneliness" was released in 2014, collecting rave...
MISC – What is great jazz? What is great jazz? This question can have lots of different answers, depending on whom you ask it to. There are different tastes, different currents of thoughts. Some like their jazz pretty classical and keep...
LIIMA – The Merge Liima with two i's. Album title is two i's. Not sure what this means, but these ten songs are very interesting. The four-piece European band can blend electronica flavour to rock feelings (Your Heart). Liima...
Montreal Jazz Festival Opening Day – Free Shows Walkabout Montreal Jazz Fest is so big at this point, it's hard to walk around the dedicated entire neighbourhood blocked off for it. So many people, from locals to tourists, flock to listen to a variety of music from...
BIG THIEF – Stealing the show Striking guitars (on the fiery Real Love), great melodies (the lovely Masterpiece) and an efficient mix of male / female energy (on Paul) makes the debut album of Brooklyn-based band Big Thief one of the most...
RJD2 – History Repeating #Not Back in the early to mid 2000s, many musicians had great success by blending cool new beats with key loops, often from old blues or soul, to create new music. It started with hits such as History Repeating in...
The Truth About Being a Successful BEATMAKER As part of the Francofolies's industry workshops series, one particularly stood out on the subject of Beatmaking. The workshop was lead by an impressive panel including Poirier, Pierre-Luc Rioux,...
30 years of NUITS D’AFRIQUE in Montreal! News Release from the Festival - Montréal, May 25, 2016 – It’s been 30 years already! This year, Montréal’s Festival International Nuits d’Afrique is celebrating its 30th birthday – a historic...
PLANTS & ANIMALS – That Montreal Summer Feel… The Montreal trio has gained a lot of experience since their fantastic debut, "Parc Avenue", back in 2008. On top of the 4 albums and 2 EP they made together, each member of Plants & Animals became an...
13th Edition of the Montreal REGGAE Festival News Release from the Festival - Montreal, June 6, 2016 - On August 26, 27 and 28, the Montreal International Reggae Festival (MIRF) will roll out its 13th edition at the Old Port of Montreal – maintaining...
ISLANDS – Too Darn Easy Everything seems too easy for the talented musicians that form Islands. In 2016, Nicholas Thorburn, Evan and Geordie Gordon and Adam Halferty launched not one but two albums simultaneously. Both include great...
METHYL ETHEL – Perfect Balance It is tough to find the balance between catchy music and solid artistic direction. Some fall into the more pop side of things (e.g. LaRoux) while others are more on the art side (e.g. Blonde Redhead's "23"...
FILTER live – Innovative harmony of bombast and cacophony Industrial rock idols Filter returned to the Gramercy Theater in New York City Tuesday night to throttle the crowd with its unconventional synthesis of electronic, atmospheric and hard rock music. Blending...
LAURA SAUVAGE – Extraordinormal Indeed! There has been a trend in the last few years of strong-minded heavy-guitar female musicians that have gathered respect for both their playing and rock attitude. PJ Harvey, St. Vincent, and Corin Tucker and...