Articles by Alan Ranta

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  Rêve Is a Dream Come True on 'Saturn Return'

  PUBLISHED Oct 19, 2023

  This isn't so much an entrance as an ascension. The first album by Montreal-born, Toronto-based singer-songwriter Briannah Donolo under her...

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  Animal Collective Find New Life on 'Isn't It Now?'

  PUBLISHED Sep 26, 2023

  At their best, Animal Collective deconstruct pop forms and ecstatically regurgitate them in inspired spurts, alive with ideas that resist n...

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  Will Butler + Sister Squares Stake Their Claim on Their Self-Titled Record

  PUBLISHED Sep 22, 2023

  Life is a constant stream of shit, but sometimes getting beaten down can lead to a hot streak. Food, flowers, and psychedelics flourish whe...

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  Rifflandia 2023 Brought Star Power and Synergy to Victoria

  PUBLISHED Sep 19, 2023

  After last year's victorious return, the 2023 edition of Rifflandia inevitably felt more low stakes, able to breathe without the burden of...

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  A Brilliant Bass Coast 2023 Nourished the Soul

  PUBLISHED Jul 12, 2023

  Between the years of COVID delays, catastrophic 2021 floods and unfortunately timed Rogers meltdown, significant effort was required to pul...

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  W.I.T.C.H. Create a Fantastical Meeting Place on 'Zango'

  PUBLISHED May 31, 2023

  History tried to drown W.I.T.C.H., but they've resurfaced a miraculous 39 years after the release of their last album with a new offering t...

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  Olivia Jean's 'Raving Ghost' Is Decadent and Dangerous

  PUBLISHED May 2, 2023

  Born in 1990, multi-instrumentalist singer-songwriter Olivia Jean came up through the suburbs of Detroit, steeped in the music of the Gore...

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  Kid Koala Is All Fun and Games on 'Creatures of the Late Afternoon'

  PUBLISHED Apr 11, 2023

  Montreal-based turntablist Eric San, best known as Kid Koala, has been one of the most wonderfully inventive and wholesomely cathartic arti...