Hank Feat. the Hank Collective
How to Prosper in the Coming Bad Years

By Michael Barclay

It is not for us to ask why UK resident Cab Williamson quit his band and moved to Toronto, only to begin performing loopy four-track two-minute miracles with electric guitar and a gaggle of exuberant babes on heavenly amateurish backing vocals that sounds like a tribute to Beck’s Odelay as performed by We’ve Got a Fuzzbox and We’re Going to Use It (look ’em up, ’80s child!). It is not for us to ask what the hell his deadpan voice is talking about on “Whatever Happened to the Forster Appeal,” “Heswell Diesel,” or “Blonde Wives and Dead Daughter.” It is for us to thank the Hank for his second “full-length” (15 songs in under half an hour) in the past year, each copy crafted in individually stamped pages from old copies of the Saturday Evening Post. Easily the purest pop band on the Blocks Recording Club, Hank has nothing to fear in the coming bad years — these tunes will make the darkest days seem brighter. (Blocks)

The Hives - Tyrannosaurus Hives
More than anyone, the Hives seem to be aware that they constantly threaten to become novelties. Note the “Howlin’” epithet preceding front-man Pelle Almqvist’s unequivocally Swedish name. Note, too, the coordinated outfits, the theatrical self-aggrandisement (“America Loves the Hives”) and — my lord ...Read More
Mock Orange - Mind is Not Brain
There's really nothing worse, when it comes to music, than being predictable and self-plagiarising. Since their inception, Indiana quartet Mock Orange have been constantly reinventing themselves and developing their sound. They've matured from derivative emo/indie rock practitioners to inventive pun ...Read More
Sleep Station - After The War
With the gloomy, sepia-tinged war photos used for the artwork of Sleep Station’s After The War, one would guess that they are some type of war-hungry metal band with trademark demonic vocals and shredded guitars. What a pleasant surprise it is to discover that After The War is nothing of the sort. I ...Read More
A Soft Perversion - Last Hoorah!
Aalacho - Electro
Alarm - The Sound & The Fury: Live 1981 to 1991
Andi Camp / We’re From Japan - You Are The Vehicle
Annihilator - All For You
Ants - Victory Side
Architecture In Helsinki - Fingers Crossed
Blood On The Wall - Blood On The Wall
Briefs - Sex Objects
Briefs - Sex Objects
Bunny Brown - Tomorrow the World
Call And Response - Winds Take No Shape
Cheval de Frise - Cheval De Frise
Chilliwack - There And Back: Live
Comets on Fire - Blue Cathedral
Communique - Poison Arrows
Dein Schatten - Das Ewige Eis
Delays - Faded Seaside Glamour
Diplomats - Damage Baby
Dr. Feelgood - 25 Years of Dr. Feelgood
Dragons - Rock N Roll Kamikaze
Echoset - Mile Market Four
Favez - Bellefontaine Avenue
Five Blank Pages - Spaces To Occupy And Abandon
Fucking Am - Gold
Fully Down - No Fate… But What We Make For Ourselves
Future Sound of London - The Otherness
Golden Virgins - Songs of Praise
Graham Smith - Final Battle
Guttermouth - Eat Your Face
Happy Kreter - Paradigm Lost
Hawthorne Heights - The Silence of Black and White
Hawthorne Heights - The Silence of Black and White
Human Temple - Insomnia
I Am The World Trade Center - The Cover Up
In Pieces - Holy
Jake Fairley - Touch Not the Cat
Jennifer Aubry - Bubble
Kaptein Kaliber - Kaptein Kaliber
The Killers - Hot Fuss
King Cobb Steelie - Destroy All Codes
Lars Frederiksen and the Bastards - Viking
Lars Frederiksen and the Bastards - Viking
Like Young - So Serious
Los Mocosos - American Us
Low - A Lifetime of Temporary Relief
Mahi Mahi - He No Wa
Marlboro Chorus - Entangled
Mike Clark - Darker Machines
Mike Watt - The Secondman’s Middle Stand
Minibar - Fly Below the Radar
Minus The Bear - They Make Beer Commercials Like This
Necessary - This is Us
New Transit Direction - Wonderful Defense Mechanisms
New Transit Direction - Wonderful Defense Mechanisms
Nikola Sarcevic - Lock-Sport-Krock
Only Crime - To the Nines
Paco - This Is Where We Live
Paik - Satin Black
Paper Chase - God Bless Your Black Heart
Rachael Yamagata - Happenstance
Resistance - Plague the Nation
Ridley Bent - Ridley Bent
Rogue Wave - Out of the Shadow
S Prcss - Taste Like Daughter
Scribbled Out Man - All Different
Shotgun Rules - Estimated Time of Arrival
Six Parts Seven - Everywhere and Right Here
Sixth String - A Typical Dream in Color
Slow Six - Private Times in Public Places
Sometree - Moleskine
Start - Initiation
Stephen Duffy & the Lilac Time - Keep Going
Straggler - Torches, Etc.
Summer Of '92 - Bullet
Suran Song in Stag - Kitty Igloo and the Plastic Stereo
Swingin'Utters - Live In A Dive
Telescopes - Altered Perception
Tiger Army - III: Ghost Tigers Rise
Tiger Army - III: Ghost Tigers Rise
Tommy Stinson - Village Gorilla Head
Treeball - National Treasure
Various Artists - Another Year On The Streets, Vol. 3
Various Artists - The Toronto Music Mission
It's not until the chorus of "Two Lives Worth of Reckoning," the second song on Soilwork's eighth album, that listeners' ears are going to perk up. Until then it's just the band doing the razor sharp, Gothendeath-lite they helped pioneer, morph and run into the ground. But when said chorus kicks in ... Full Review
I officially declare the camera phone a scourge. At every show, there's a forest of video-enabled dorks up front, not watching nor listening, just furiously taping in the hope of catching a flub or fly down for YouTube. The addiction to capturing video of every moment of a show is, to my mind, a narcissistic impulse that degrades the magical ephemera of the live experience. I'm agin' it.... Read More
The fourth iteration of Calgary's Sled Island feels like a coming of age, with the annual event becoming a destination on the Canadian festival landscape alongside NXNE and Pop Montreal. The organizers have a knack for scoring scheduling coups (year one featured Boredoms, Cat Power and Spoon), and w... Full Review
Social Networking
• Be our friend on MySpace
• Be our fan on Facebook
Tweet us on twitter
Viewing the August 2004 Issue: Contents PageNewsClick Hear • Articles --> On the Cover  •  Front Five  •  Points  •  Comics  •  Point of View  •  Questionnaire  •  Research  •  Timeline • Music Reviews --> Recently Reviewed  •  Aggressive Tendencies  •  Beats & Rhymes  •  Frequencies  •  Groove  •  Pop Rocks  •  Wood, Wires & Whiskey  •  Concert Reviews • Motion Reviews --> Recently Reviewed  •  Dvd Reviews  •  Film Reviews  •  Music DVD Reviews • Music School --> N/A Contests • Contact --> About Us  • Advertising  • Distribution  • Getting Reviewed  • Getting Published  • Letters To The Editor  • Partnerships  • Subscriptions • Exclaim! Radio --> Aggressive Tendencies Radio  • Beats & Rhymes Radio  • Frequencies Radio  • Destination Out Radio  • Groove Radio  • No Future Radio  • Pop Rocks Radio  • Wood, Wires & Whiskey Radio Exclaim! TV • Home & Latest Issue Browse Issues