Published in the Vancouver Sun June 3, 2011 BY AMANDA ASH, VANCOUVER SUN “When I was young, it seemed that life was so wonderful. A miracle. Oh it was beautiful, magical …” The lyrics to Supertramp’s The Logical Song weren’t just words to mouth along to Thursday night. They meant something much more to the middle-aged [...]
Published in the Vancouver Sun June 1, 2011 BY AMANDA ASH, VANCOUVER SUN Anna Calvi is fearless, or so the voice on her self-titled debut suggests. The British vocalist, hailed by the BBC’s Sound of 2011 as one of the year’s most promising new artists, is an emotional tempest when it comes to her haunting [...]
Published in the Vancouver Sun May 28, 2011 BY AMANDA ASH, VANCOUVER SUN With six Juno Awards, gold and platinum records, and enough shaggy lumberjack hair to make women squeal for the past eight years, it’s safe to say the Sam Roberts Band is quickly becoming a Canadian music staple. It all started with Roberts’ [...]
Published in the Vancouver Sun on May 17, 2011. BY AMANDA ASH, VANCOUVER SUN A lot of people hate on Kid Rock, but the truth is there’s not much to hate — any more, that is. The Detroit-based singer-songwriter, rapper and country artist is a changed man. He hasn’t put the most straitlaced foot forward [...]
Published in the Vancouver Sun on May 10, 2011. BY AMANDA ASH, VANCOUVER SUN James Blunt is like the middle child in a family of radio superstars and soft-rock indie darlings: He seems to get lost in the fuss over his more defined siblings. Blunt, a British cavalry captain-turned-musician, straddles the border of Top 40 [...]
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Review and interview published in Exclaim! By Amanda Ash Take a black-and-white photograph and bring it to life — that’s what Winnipeg, MB’s Christine Fellows did with her fifth and most innovative release, Femmes de chez nous. The 13-track record and accompanying DVD, Reliquary/Reliquaire, were written during, and inspired by, Fellows’ six-month residency at Le Musée de [...]
Friday, February 18, 2011
Story published in the Vancouver Sun February 18, 2011. BY AMANDA ASH, VANCOUVER SUN Melissa Etheridge isn’t afraid to put fear in its place. Of course, we’ve known this since the early ‘90s. Ever since the raspy-voiced Kansas native rocked her way onto the charts in 1993 with her breakthrough recording Yes I Am, fans and [...]
Story published in the Vancouver Sun on February 4, 2011. BY AMANDA ASH, VANCOUVER SUN “I can’t tell you how happy I am that we weren’t squashed like a bug.” John McCrea sounds thrilled. Over the phone from a hotel room in Memphis, Tenn., the vocalist for the Sacramento-based alt-rock band Cake is taking in [...]
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Story published in the Vancouver Sun on February 1, 2011. BY AMANDA ASH, VANCOUVER SUN Louise Burns has played sidekick for pretty much her entire musical career. She’s Batman’s Robin. Maverick’s Goose. Han Solo’s Chewbacca. From the age of 11 when she co-founded the all-girl, Juno-nominated band Lillix to her present day involvement in groups [...]
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Story published in the Vancouver Sun on January 26, 2011. BY AMANDA ASH, VANCOUVER SUN Cultural boundaries don’t exist within Kiran Ahluwalia’s music. The India-born, Canadian-raised vocalist and composer holds four releases under her belt, which creatively melt sounds ranging from Portuguese fado to Celtic fiddle with her traditional Indian ghazals and Punjabi folk songs. [...]
