All reviews by canonical

Airborne - Songs For A City Airborne - Songs For A City

You see this cover and it screams private psychedelic folk grail. Look at the naked man playing the guitar, sitting on top of the world and holding a dove. Beautiful. And that is exactly what this album is. However, it is not psychedelic folk. It does have a few CSNY moves, and even a really […]

And now live from Toronto - The Last Pogo. And now live from Toronto - The Last Pogo.

This is a 1978 Canadian punk compilation recorded live over two days at the famous Toronto venue The Horseshoe. I don’t know too much about the history of the Horshoe, I was there once last year, but clips from the bands talking seem to indicate that it was going to be closed down and that […]

B.J. Berg - The Laughing Song b/w Nobody Cares B.J. Berg - The Laughing Song b/w Nobody Cares

I’ve never been married. But I have been dumped. I don’t recall the experience being overwhelmingly hillarious. I think I just listened to some loner-folk and watched Woody Allen movies. However, this is exactly what B.J. Berg did not do. In fact, when his wife left him he recorded The Laughing Song under the name […]

Bobby Brown - Live Bobby Brown - Live

I originally bought this to trade/sell but it eventually grew on me after playing it during a late-night discussion with a special lady. Bobby Brown is a multi-instrumentalist and the ultimate in DIY. This album, whilst saying “Live” on the front, was actually recorded in his van to an audience consisting soley of his dog.
The […]

Carol Caroompas - Target Practice Carol Caroompas - Target Practice

Probably the most unique and unassuming record I purchased at the 2008 WFMU record fair. Housed in a plain sleeve with a screen printed bird and real feathers waxed-on to the cover, Carol Caroompas’ only record from 1981 is a sure winner for fans of minimal pop. Carol is/was an established L.A. visual artist who […]

Chandra - Transportation Chandra - Transportation

I have to thank Waxidermy for this album. This was sold to me after I posted a want ad on the BBS for The Dance’s Dance For Your Dinner EP. The guy who sold me the EP recommended this to me and I gladly bought it.
Chandra Oppenheim is a young female vocalist (12 years old […]

Chris Madsen - In Black and White Chris Madsen - In Black and White

Great private press from Vancouver, BC featuring one-half dark, haunted ssw moves with reverberated vocals, these songs being the best on the LP. Chris has a deep voice which must issue some sort of web as you are drawn to listen to him sing as he covers topics like nature, love and loss. The other […]

CKUA Presents: The ACME Sausage Company CKUA Presents: The ACME Sausage Company

This is a private compilation put together for a community radio station (CKUA) in Edmonton, Alberta circa 1972 in a run of 1,000. The compilation was produced by then musical enthusiast Holgar Peterson. Holgar went on to form Stonyplain Records and become a local celebrity, his label still quite active. I was a little skeptical […]

Crossroads - Get Together Crossroads - Get Together

I really try to avoid using the word ‘haunting’ when describing music. Alas, there is nothing else I can use to describe this one-tracker campfire folk record recorded in Edmonton, Alberta by some high-school kids from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. The song Poet, which features flute, guitar and piano has put me in a curious state of […]

Dogs of War - S/T Dogs of War - S/T

Dogs of War bring the Québécois electro-disco on the space-tip. With songs like ‘Spaciula’, ‘Future Jungle’, ‘Intergalactic Tactic’, ‘Love Pirate’ (?), and ‘Space Conqueror’ it’s a wonder I’m not beating arcade games and getting recruited by aliens to fight space battles everytime I listen to this. Not only are the song titles spacey, but so […]

Doreen Kostynuik - I Wish You Rainbows Doreen Kostynuik - I Wish You Rainbows

Doreen bears it all on this solo journey. While there are some standard (original) folk and bluegrass songs, the real interesting parts are on the spoken-word tracks. On these songs she opens up on a personal level which at first made me feel uncomfortable, but over time became bearable owing to the poetic nature of […]

Driven Element (Various Artists) Driven Element (Various Artists)

From around 1982 until about 1991 (dates are unclear) Marcel Dion ran a weekly Electronic/Experimental/Avant-Garde radio show on CJSR (campus/community radio station in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada) called Departures. It’s always unclear with campus/community radio how large your audience is and so it’s unknown how popular the show was. However, what is clear is that it […]

Dwayne Cannan - Spare Change Dwayne Cannan - Spare Change

The first thing that came to mind when I saw this album was downtown. Dwayne is on the cover, carrying his guitar, coming out of an age-old telephone booth with the album name below him… Spare Change. You flip to the back-cover and see song titles like The Gutter Man, Lady, The Drifter, Cocaine Katie, […]

Festival Folkmass Festival Folkmass

“Why should the devil have the best tunes?”. Apparently Martin Luther was the inspiration for the “folkmass”, which was an attempt at reforming the “mass” into the modern, folky era. From this, and further descriptions on the back, I had high hopes for this album.
Alas, I was fairly dissapointed. The majority of the album consists […]

GAEA - C'est Magnifique b/w Lunar Transmission GAEA - C’est Magnifique b/w Lunar Transmission

Balls out female synth-punk shredder. Nothing is heald back. Screaming sexy vocals and sexualised lyrics with outer space theatrics all packaged in an overbearing synth dancefloor smasher. GAEA, where are you? Please get in touch with me. Released in 1981 on Lizard Records (private). One of the most interesting records I now own.

Inheritance - S/T Inheritance - S/T

The only interesting aspect of this record, aside from its incredibly creepy cover, is that it was produced by Doug McKenzie. Strange Brew indeed! Except the Doug McKenzie that you are thinking about is a fictional character. This album is Canadian and I’ve often wondered if this Doug McKenzie was perhaps the inspiration to the […]

Instructions To Train Personnel When Speaking To Passengers Instructions To Train Personnel When Speaking To Passengers

Canada is a bilingual country and owing to the distances trains traveled, it was necessary to understand both English and French. This is an instructional record to help CN Rail staff understand the most basic, common-sense French and English phrases. I had hoped to hear something funny or awkward, but it really is just basic […]

Jeffrey Morgan - Quasar-Mach Jeffrey Morgan - Quasar-Mach

Recommended thematic avant-garde/free-jazz suite loosely based on the effects of time-travel. The album wavers between very sparse, brooding percussion based avant compositions reminiscent of the Gamelan Son of Lion LP on folkways and intense free jazz bridging on noise in parts. There is even a track that would sit well in the no-wave category. Definitely […]

Joseph Geczy - Bananas Joseph Geczy - Bananas

Joseph Geczy is a pianist, composer, arranger, and conductor who moved from Hungary to Canada in 1969. Apparently already accomplished in Hungary, he continued his work in Edmonton, Alberta releasing a number of singles and even opening some Commonwealth Games. Bananas was his first album (1979), and as the back states consists of “all Geczy […]

Kathy Fire - Songs Of Fire Kathy Fire - Songs Of Fire

This record will catch you off your guard. Put up your usual bias against radical feminist records, flex your hatred of 3rd-wave feminism, despise your own insecurity about all things political, and you will do what most people do when they see this record: laugh and put it back. Certainly when I read about this […]

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