Fall 2007

The debut CD from this Hogtown quartet is full of surprises. First off, Snakehouse is an incredibly commercial album that bucks the trend of radio-friendly pop—it rocks. And rocks hard.

This is good old-fashioned, three-chord, guitar-based rock ’n’ roll supported by drumbeats that would make Kate Schellenbach (former drummer of Beastie Boys/Luscious Jackson) prick up her ears. And secondly, this is one of the few queer bands that is a band first and queer second. They’d be more at home at Lollapalooza than a Gay Pride celebration.

Now an independent, French has released one of the most interesting Canadian albums of the year, Shadows. The disc is an incredibly theatrical venture—the 11 songs that make up this CD all have a cabaret feel, employing rising and falling crescendos, concertinas and lyrics that evoke Brecht. Moody and intense, Shadows has a slightly sinister feeling that draws the listener in, demanding full and absolute attention. Songs like “Alive,” “Sincere,” “Descending and “Drowning” have titles that reflect their emotional content—a thick, rich mixture atypical of most pop music.

When she was only 12, Dobet Gnahoré assertively informed her father that she no longer wanted to attend school. Rather, she wanted to learn to sing, dance and perform by immersing herself in the vibrant pan-African community of musicians, artists, actors and dancers who frequented the renowned artist co-operative, Ki-Yi M’Bock, that her father co-founded in 1985 on the outskirts of Abidjan, the capital of Ivory Coast. Impressed by her independent stance and clear vision, her father, master percussionist Boni Gnahoré, obliged.

Evalyn Parry’s songs and spoken-word pieces prove that it’s possible to be smarter than the average bear and still be accessible and entertaining. With the release of the two-disc set Small Theatres, both sides of this eclectic artist (she also teaches a theatre program for queer youth with Toronto’s Buddies in Bad Times) are well represented. Disc 1: Songs showcases Parry, the singer/songwriter. Here, she ventures into uncharted territory, moving from her primarily autobiographical past efforts into the realm of theatre.

Large Bird Leaving is Cori Brewster’s fourth album, appearing almost 10 years after her critically acclaimed 1998 CD, Stones. In the meantime, Brewster, who became a mother along the way, has matured considerably as an artist. The 12 songs that make up Large Bird Leaving, notably “What Casanova Told Me” and “Broken Compass” have a tone reminiscent of Mary Chapin Carpenter’s gentle yet compelling storytelling.

“Who owns these memories? How is it that each of us remembers in a different way? If my way of remembering makes it to print, what does it do to theirs?”

Marusya Bociurkiw ponders these questions in the collection of stories Comfort Foods for Breakups: The Memoir of a Hungry Girl. She delicately treads through shared history with family, friends and lovers, examining the meanings of her relationships, culture, queer identity and, of course, food.

Lullabies for Little Criminals has set the publishing industry agog. The winner of the 2007 version of Canada Reads was also hosen for Barnes & Noble’s Holiday 2006 Discover Great New Writers campaign, and People magazine’s book club has elected it prime pickings.<

After disarming heavyweight literary agent Susan Golomb with an unsolicited pitch letter (unheard of!), Marisha Pessl found her debut novel—a 500-page slugger, Special Topics in Calamity Physics—the cynosure of a fevered bidding war. In the end, it fetched Pessl a sixfigure jackpot and heaps of tongue-wagging critical acclaim.