'Bring Them Down' Will Bring You Down — in the Best Way
Some people go to the movies to be whisked away by romance, others for laughter, many for an adrenaline rush. Me though, I like having my
Rachel Ho•Sep 13, 2024
music reviews Archive
WE ARE WINTER’S BLUE AND RADIANT CHILDREN Make the Good Themselves on 'NO MORE APOCALYPSE FATHER'
"I never know how I feel on an overcast day when the sun is still bright despite the grayness and the light is very flat"
Tom Beedham•Sep 13, 2024The Dare Wants You to Free Your Ass on 'What's Wrong with New York?'
It's a great time in the nostalgia cycle for anyone who spent their formative horny years in skinny jeans. Sure, "indie sleaze" has
Sydney Brasil•Sep 13, 2024Sarah Davachi Embraces the Divide on 'The Head as Form’d in the Crier’s Choir'
Composer Sarah Davachi's The Head as Form'd in the Crier's Choir is the latest entry in an already remarkable body of modern classical work
Tom Piekarski•Sep 13, 2024The Revolution Is Ready for Prime Time on Snotty Nose Rez Kids' 'RED FUTURE'
Although their cheeky group name perhaps suggests something of a defiant, slacker attitude, Kitamaat rappers Darren "Young D" Metz
Alan Ranta•Sep 13, 2024Nilüfer Yanya Is Caught in a Thrilling Stasis on 'My Method Actor'
Conceptualizing the arch of a songwriter's artistic development can feel like an act of senseless problematization. Unlike judgments of
Tom Piekarski•Sep 13, 2024Flora Rose Transcends the Moment on "Falling Through the Drops of Time"
French indie pop singer-songwriter Flora Rose has been on my radar since I heard "You've Been on My Mind," one of the singles from her great
Megan LaPierre•Sep 12, 2024Chastity's Self-Titled Album Is Both Battle Scar and Open Wound
It's a new era for Chastity, and it starts off — quite literally — with a bang. A single, blown out tom hit is all the warning you're given
Penelope Stevens•Sep 12, 2024Porches' 'Shirt' Is a Freewheeling, Feral Portrait of Suburban America
On the darkly exhilarating sixth studio album from Porches, Aaron Maine is staring at the big sky, ditching school, climbing fences and
Amanda Thacker •Sep 12, 2024Spoon Pushed Through the Pain in Ottawa
Spoon's sustained relevance over the past 28 years was undeniable during their first-ever appearance in Ottawa. Selling out the
Daniel Sylvester•Sep 12, 2024Colin Stetson Finds New Peaks on 'The love it took to leave you'
With each new release, the superlative praise for Colin Stetson's work and abilities cements his position as a singular voice in
Eric Hill•Sep 12, 2024On 'Verbathim,' Nehmasis Is a Clear-Eyed Truth Teller
'Verbathim,' The debut album from Palestinian-Canadian artist Nemahsis (a.k.a. Nemah Hasan) marks the arrival of an impressive new voice
Vijai Kumar Singh•Sep 12, 2024'Transformers One' Is Actually Good?!
It's forgivable to be a little cynical about Transformers in the year 2024. The franchise is seven films deep — eight if we include 1986's
Matthew Simpson •Sep 12, 2024'Speak No Evil' Is a Rare Remake That Improves on the Original
The 2024 remake of Danish film 'Speak No Evil' does a lot more than the original, and leaves audiences much more fulfilled. It's a stylized
Lindsay Clarke•Sep 11, 2024Pulp Were Consummate Stars in Toronto
Pulp should have been enormous. Monstrous, even. Okay, so they were huge, especially overseas, but here on our side of the Atlantic, they
Marko Djurdjić•Sep 11, 2024'Friendship' Made Someone at My Screening Yell "Awful Movie!" at the Director
Tim Robinson has become synonymous with his surreal Netflix series 'I Think You Should Leave,' which is maybe why 'Friendship' feels a bit
Alex Hudson•Sep 11, 2024Hinds' 'Viva Hinds' Is a Playful Reset
Summer wouldn't be the same without a little romance, and that's exactly what pulses through Hinds' lighthearted new record — Carlotta Cosia
Aly Laube•Sep 10, 2024'The Mother and the Bear' Warms a Winnipeg Winter
On a cold Winnipeg evening, a rustling behind a dumpster in an alleyway startles a young woman, Sumi (Leere Park), who slips and falls on
Rachel Ho•Sep 10, 2024'Young Werther' Puts a Fresh Toronto Twist on a Classic
Based on the 1774 novel 'The Sorrows of Young Werther' by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 'Young Werther' follows the time-honoured tradition of
Rachel Ho•Sep 10, 2024'Riff Raff' Is a TIFF Laff
'Riff Raff' is a masterwork of typecasting: there's Jennifer Coolidge as a sloppy drunk, Ed Harris as a gruff patriarch who balances caring
Alex Hudson•Sep 9, 2024'Nightbitch' Has Both Bark and Bite
Of all the human experiences, motherhood is a particularly visceral. There's childbirth, of course, but then there are the the struggles
Alex Hudson•Sep 8, 2024'Shook' Tells a Different Sort of Scarborough Story
Movies set in Scarborough tend to show the beauty of the area through its grit and the trauma that follows. While there's certainly a need
Rachel Ho•Sep 7, 2024'The Life of Chuck' Is a Self-Serious Bore
This is the way the world ends, not with a bang but with saccharine sentimentality and ponderous monologues about the meaning of life. The
Alex Hudson•Sep 7, 2024Anderson .Paak's Star Power Makes 'K-Pops' Pop
Anderson .Paak is hardly the first musician to sidestep from music to movies, but his filmography to date is extremely thin, mostly
Alex Hudson•Sep 7, 2024'Paying for It' Is a Wonderful Bit of Oversharing
The backstory alone is unlike anything else: filmmaker/musician/artist Sook-Yin Lee and cartoonist Chester Brown were in a romantic
Alex Hudson•Sep 7, 2024'Presence' Is an Unexpected Fake-Out
More often than not, Steven Soderbergh's career is spoken of as this kind of Soderbergh movie or that kind of Soderbergh movie. His
Rachel Ho•Sep 6, 2024'The Last Showgirl' Ushers In the Pamassaince
The Pamaissance is here. After 2022's 'Pam & Tommy' reappraised Pamela Anderson as a sympathetic hero, the 2023 doc 'Pamela, a love story'
Alex Hudson•Sep 6, 2024Midwife Follows a Long, Hard Road on 'No Depression in Heaven'
Marvin Heemeyer spent 18 months gathering steel for his Komatsu bulldozer. He was going to layer large metal sheets over the cab and engine
Noah Ciubotaru•Sep 6, 2024'Rose Main Reading Room' Is Peel Dream Magazine's Very Own 50 States Project
I am but a simple millennial indie fan: when I hear trilling woodwinds, I think of Sufjan Stevens. There are 50 States Project vibes all
Alex Hudson•Sep 5, 2024Daniela Andrade Rides a Fearless Momentum on "Biking"
The obsession with biking through Toronto is a strange phenomenon I've noticed since moving here. Obviously it's also just a convenient (and
Megan LaPierre•Sep 5, 2024MJ Lenderman Fights the Wind – And Wins – on the Fantastic 'Manning Fireworks'
"Birds against a heavy wind that wins in the end," mourns MJ Lenderman in the very first words of his new album 'Manning Fireworks'
Myles Tiessen•Sep 5, 2024'The Front Room' Scatelogically Squanders a Great Performance
This year has given audiences no shortage of messy, campy horror films with eccentric villains at their heart — from Nicolas Cage's creepy
Vanessa Sanginiti•Sep 5, 2024'Beetlejuice Beetlejuice' Is Yet Another Disappointing Legacy Sequel
Sequels and reboots and remakes, oh my! Audiences have been subjected to these kinds of films for years, but it feels more and more
Vanessa Sanginiti•Sep 5, 2024At FME, Strange Froots Made the Most of Their Time
Not all venues, or set times, are created equal. At a festival like FME, where shows are spread out among transitional venues and more
Scott Simpson•Sep 4, 2024Marie Davidson and Kaya Hoax Were Set Free at FME
Marie Davidson is one of those rare artists that's as comfortable on a mainstream label like Bonsound —for her '80s synth and psych project
Scott Simpson•Sep 4, 2024Haviah Mighty Was an Overqualified Underdog at FME
Depending on who you speak to, the place of hip-hop at the FME is somewhat contentious. Some see the proliferation of rap bookings to being
Scott Simpson•Sep 4, 2024Myriam Gendron Kept It Real and Rapturous at FME
In contrast to the previous night's performance at the Agora des Arts, which started off moderately well attended, tonight's double bill
Scott Simpson•Sep 3, 2024Erika Angell Was Obsession-Worthy at FME
"These songs are off my recent album entitled 'The Obsession with Her Voice.' You'll soon understand why."Thus began Erika Angell's
Scott Simpson•Sep 3, 2024Karkwa Bid Rouyn-Noranda a Subdued Adieu at FME
There were some light grumblings when Karkwa were announced as headliners for the 2024 edition of the Festival de musique émergente
Scott Simpson•Sep 3, 2024Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds' 'Wild God' Finds Jubilance in the Dark
By this point, there isn't much more that can be said about Nick Cave. A post-punk punk who evolved into one of music's elder
Marko Djurdjić•Aug 30, 2024Tycho's 'Infinite Health' Is Melodic Medicine
There are few guarantees in life, but a new Tycho album that doesn't disappoint is something you can always bet on. Based in San Francisco
Dylan Barnabe•Aug 29, 2024'The Crow' Is Caws for Concern
James O'Barr's graphic novel 'The Crow' isn't a dense text. Its core themes aren't so thickly packed in metaphor as to obscure their
Alisha Mughal•Aug 29, 2024Sabrina Carpenter's 'Short n' Sweet' Is a Raunchy Ray of Sunshine
Sabrina Carpenter and summertime have a lot in common: a penchant for nostalgia, brash flirtatiousness, and now, 'Short n' Sweet'
Isabel Glasgow •Aug 28, 2024Season 4 of 'Only Murders in the Building' Has Reached a Moment of Reckoning
For Only Murders in the Building's fourth season, the whimsical investigative trio return to their usual hijinx to solve the murder of Sazz
Leina Gabra•Aug 27, 2024Anciients Stick to What They Do Best on 'Beyond the Reach of the Sun'
Anciients were at the forefront of Canadian metal music after the release of their second album 'Voice of the Void'
Mark Tremblay•Aug 27, 2024Choose Your Own Adventure to Ascension with Jon Hopkins's 'RITUAL'
Jon Hopkins' music is filled with empathy and compassion, even if it often (consciously) struggles with maintaining composure
Marko Djurdjić•Aug 27, 2024Past and Present Dance Hand-in-Hand on Ghostkeeper's 'Cîpayak Joy'
Like a ghost, certain artists tend to stick around. Transformation is the name of the game in a fickle Canadian music market
Em Medland-Marchen•Aug 26, 2024Luna Li's 'When a Thought Grows Wings' Glows with Fearless Optimism
Words fail us as often as they serve us. As we filter the world through our many feelings and sensations
Alisha Mughal•Aug 23, 2024'Strange Darling' Has One of the Year's Most Subtle, Staggering Performances
JT Mollner's 'Strange Darling' understands and trusts lead Willa Fitzgerald to the point of sweaty, lip-licking ecstasy. The film lets her
Alisha Mughal•Aug 23, 2024illuminati hotties Are All Grown Up on 'POWER'
Keeping existential dread at bay has been an underlying current for illuminati hotties since day one. When it inevitably does rear
Ian Gormely•Aug 23, 2024