Imagine yourself in a Toronto club in the mid-80s watching a band with a funny name, the musicians battering their instruments (sometimes literally into smithereens) while the vocals vacillate between careening and hacking out of the singer’s mouth. It’s smoky, dirty, and, well, grungy in there, but you’re hooked. You make a mental note to…
Category: Music
BOOK OF THE WEEK: OH CANADA! WHAT A FEELING
A cursory glance at any top record chart will tell you that Canadians have earned their place on the global music scene. From Drake to members of Arcade Fire, musicians from the Great White North continue to inspire listeners and make a name for this vast nation. Oh Canada! What A Feeling, the musical, honours the huge…
BOOK OF THE WEEK: THE FIRST COLLECTION OF CRITICISM BY A LIVING FEMALE ROCK CRITIC BY JESSICA HOPPER
With this premiere volume, spanning from her punk fanzine roots to her landmark piece on R. Kelly’s past, The First Collection leaves no doubt why the New York Times has called Hopper’s work “influential.” Not merely a selection of two decades of Hopper’s most engaging, thoughtful and humorous writing, this book serves as a document…