Posts Tagged ‘Sloan’

TUNS – ” Mind Over Matter “

Posted: December 6, 2016 in MUSIC
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tuns

At the risk of an act of undisguised nepotism, I’ll say Chris Murphy is a crafty songwriter, and he didn’t even tell me to write that. Matt “Stills” Murphy and and Mike “Crosby” O’Neill hold up their corners of this band, Thumbs aloft.

Canadian indie rock supergroup Tuns are Chris Murphy of Sloan, Mike O’Neill of The Inbreds and Matt Murphy of Super Friendz, all three vets of the ’90s Halifax scene the band have just released a first piece of work on their self-titled debut album which came out August 26th via Royal Mountain Records. There’s a lot of talent among these three .  “We’re fans of each other’s music. Which is a cliché, but it’s amazing to hear someone you respect create something you think is magical right before your eyes. There are a lot of moments when I think, ‘It’s really exciting just to be in this room right now.’”

TUNS, who took their name from Technical University of Nova Scotia (now called Dal Tech), have just shared the official first single, a glammy, very catchy power pop stomper titled “Mind Over Matter.” To my ears, Matt Murphy is singing lead on this one.

TUNS debut S/T record out now via Royal Mountain Records.

SLOAN – ” Commonwealth “

Posted: September 10, 2016 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Sloan Commonwealth.jpg

If there were college courses for contemporary power pop, certain artists would inevitably appear on the syllabus. The Posies. Matthew Sweet. Teenage Fanclub. Weezer. Brendan Benson. And, most certainly, Sloan. To date, the Nova Scotians have released 11 albums over two decades with nary a dud in the mix.

“Commonwealth” maintains Sloan’s straight-A report card, and in a callback to a similar gambit by Gene, Paul, Ace and Peter, each band member claims a side on this double album. Fortunately, “Commonwealth” yields infinitely better results than the KISS solo albums. Ferguson and Murphy bring their usual guitar-pop goodness, dosing songs sweet as confectioner’s sugar with just the right amount of guitar squall, Pentland cranks the volume and dabbles in crunchy psychedelia, and drummer Scott closes with 18 minutes of sprawling weirdness, unwittingly creating the power-pop equivalent of Beastie Boys’ “B-Boy Bouillabaisse.” Which is to say, other than Scott’s contribution, Commonwealth sounds like a Sloan record. And really, isn’t that all you need to know