Band: Lovely Killbots Album: Once Smitten Shot of choice: Jack Daniels Lovely Killbots are set to release Once Smitten, a follow up to 2008’s Primrose Lane. The electro dance duo is made up of Lauralee Love (vocals, keys) and Ryan Beattie (drums, vocals), and what a killer duo they make. Lauralee’s vocals immediately grab the […]

Date of show: April 21, 2011 Welcome to the $5 Rap Show, which takes place every 5 weeks or so at Rancho Relaxo. On this evening, Toolshed headlined to celebrate their CD release for “The Lost.” Unfortunately, their CDs were tied up at the border and didn’t make it to the show. The guys made […]

Date of show: April 16, 2011 Born Ruffians packed The Opera House nicely to close out their yearlong Say It tour. Luke Lalonde fronts the band with his signature acrobatic vocals, full of unique ups and downs, but this is not to say that Lalonde doesn’t provide skilful guitar work to match his vocal talent. […]

Date of show: April 14, 2011 Unsurprisingly, Young Rival packed The Dakota Tavern – in fact, the venue was at capacity with latecomers being turned away at the door. They haven’t played in Toronto since the fall and the band has just hit the one-year anniversary of their self-titled debut album. Certainly a reason to […]

Date of show: April 9, 2011 Amos the Transparent took the stage after 12:30am and the crowd was already sweaty, with a great group right up front eager to hear the new material. Sitting down at the keys, frontman Jonathan Chandler set the crowd straight right off the bat, “We’re here to have fun. If […]

Date of show: April 9, 2011 As Baby Eagle, who may be known to most people as Steven Lambke of the Constantines, got on stage, he said, “We’re going to break with convention and start with the ‘Last Song of the Night’ and work backwards.” It was an early set, ending around 10pm, yet Baby […]

[Note: We did take a shot photo with Jeffrey Innes, but, unfortunately, it just wasn’t usable. Just use your imagination!] Date of show: April 8, 2011 Shot of choice: The answer I received was “whatever you want,” although the rye Jeffrey Innes ended up with was perhaps not his shot of choice. By the time […]

Band: Rattlesnake Choir Album: Walkin’ The Wire Toronto’s Rattlesnake Choir is set to release their sophomore album, Walkin’ The Wire, a follow up to their 2008 debut album Live Music. Rattlesnake Choir is fronted by John Borra, a veteran of the Toronto music scene (and beyond), along with guitarist Sam Ferrara, with ties to 1980s […]

Artist: Chris Velan Album: Fables for Fighters Montreal-based singer-songwriter Chris Velan is releasing his fourth full-length, Fables for Fighters. Velan’s history and path to his musical career is a unique one. After studying law and passing the bar, Velan worked on a documentary featuring Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars. Though the music does not specifically […]

Band: Papermaps Album: Papermaps Papermaps is set to release their debut album under this moniker, though you may already be familiar with the band, formerly known as EX~PO. The structure of the band is still the same, with Dean Marino fronting the band alongside Wendy Leung (keys, vocals), Todd Harrison (bass, synth) and Bobby Lee […]