La Route Du Rock 2014 Reviewed
For the 24th edition of La Route Du Rock, Jazz Monroe ponders festival culture and the death of reality, before getting a lick of sense.»
Articles
whatisthewhat has written the following articles:
All That Life Can Affjord: Slottsfjell 2014 Reviewed
At a scenic music festival in Norway's oldest city, Jazz Monroe scours the talent-packed lineup and thinks about death.»
Live Report: The Libertines @ Hyde Park (05/07/14)
As The Libertines reunite, Jazz Monroe tries to rekindle young love.»
Five Reasons to Go to La Route Du Rock 2014
There are probably more than five reasons to attend La Route Du Rock 2014, but here are the ones that matter.»
Ought - More Than Any Other Day
There’s a humour, brutality and directness to More Than Any Other Day which elevate Ought to spokespersons for a countercultural, anti-dream pop movement in post-Arbutus Montreal. But more than stubborn renegades they’re actually arch humanists with a soft shining centre.»
Two Wings - A Wake
The questing Scottish group’s relentlessly baffling, sometimes brilliant second album.»
Dead Rider - Chills on Glass
A fractal and thrilling, almost melodramatically discordant album.»
European Spirit: Tallinn Music Week 2014 Reviewed
Jazz Monroe takes to the Baltic's biggest showcase festival, featuring a talk with Pussy Riot.»
The Men - Tomorrow's Hits
Whether crafting the hits of today, tomorrow or yesterday, The Men occupy a space all their own.»
DiS Does Singles 20.1.14: Neneh Cherry, Perfect Pussy, Ninetails
This week's DiS Does Singles features new songs from Neneh Cherry, Perfect Pussy, Ninetails and more.»
Warpaint - Warpaint
Warpaint leans hard on atmosphere and collapses, elegantly.»
DiS Does Singles 13.1.14: Sun Kil Moon, The Men, Wild Beasts
This week's DiS Does Singles features new songs from Sun Kil Moon, The Men, Wild Beasts, Owls and more.»
“It’s really difficult not to do a little dance” - DiS Meets Lucinda Chua of Felix
The singer sits wearing deep black shades on a moulded chair in a Toronto restaurant while polishing off a tray of sushi. Between apologies for talking through mouthfuls, the Nottingham native waxes lyrical about her decorated career as a cellist (notably»
Kiran Leonard - Bowler Hat Soup
Kiran Leonard makes manic, rippingly good music.»
Younghusband - Dromes
Dromes feels like a record that didn’t want to get made. And that’s what makes it interesting.»
Isolation in Lynchville: Emerging Music Festival 2013 Reviewed
Held in Rouyn-Noranda, QC, four-day festival FME is a new music event of massive scope.»
Arctic Monkeys - AM
Following the justifiable success of Suck It and See, the Arctic Monkeys of AM are going to make us grumble sceptically whether we want to or not.»
Threescore and Ten... Fighting Over The Mountain Goats' All Hail West Texas
A DiS party line?! These are the voices of two fervently passive-aggresive fanatics, shouting into the abyss to their hearts’ content, celebrating the reissue of The Mountain Goats’ cult LP, All Hail West Texas.»
Johnny Borrell - Borrell 1
The most revealing and complete self-portrait in pop musical memory, a kind of grand, Truman Show-esque character study that uses one man’s wildest fantasy as a springboard to expose the psychological absurdity of the rock’n’roll myth.»
Speedy Ortiz - Major Arcana
Despite the glum facade, Speedy Ortiz are way too euphoric and glorious to suffer for their artfulness. »
Waxahatchee - Cerulean Salt
A spokesperson for wearied souls, Waxahatchee leaves the rest of us intrigued but far from in love.»
All Hail the Culturati... Fighting Over Radiohead's Hail to the Thief
A DiS party line?! These are the voices of two fervently passive-aggresive fanatics, shouting into the abyss to their hearts’ content, celebrating the 10th anniversary of Radiohead’s divisive sixth LP, Hail to the Thief.»
Arts & Crafts: Field Trip 2013 - The DiS Review
I moved to Toronto early in 2012. Never have I seen the city so seductive and colourful and contaminantly proud as at Field Trip 2013.»
These New Puritans - Field of Reeds
These New Puritans strive to expose folly in the pursuit of human-made perfection and yet so nearly attain it.»
Baptist Generals - Jackleg Devotional to the Heart
In a genre stacked with pathological mediocrity, Jackleg Devotional to the Heart is a relatively sure-footed success.»
The Critic Sleeps Alone Tonight... Fighting Over The Postal Service's Give Up
A DiS party line?! These are the voices of two fervently passive-aggresive fanatics, shouting into the abyss to their hearts’ content, examining Sub Pop’s 10th anniversary reissue of The Postal Service’s landmark debut, Give Up.»
Savages - Silence Yourself
Amply weighted for a debut, Silence Yourself comprises a balance of really excellent stuff and the simply very good.»
Sean Nicholas Savage - Other Life
Without remotely discrediting Sean Nicholas Savage’s frequently magical catalogue, you suspect and hope that better yet remains to come.»
Born Ruffians - Birthmarks
Birthmarks is probably the most impressive Born Ruffians record to date, but it’s a shame they travelled so far without straying far from the middle of the road.»
Various - Arts & Crafts 2003-2013
Whereas some would hesitate before signing over their band to a commune of high school pals like Arts & Crafts, the couple of dozen friends making up the Broken Social Scene circle gave the pledge without second thought.»