Parallel World by Cadence Weapon
A mainstay of the Canadian hip hop scene, Cadence Weapon combines socially conscious lyrics about gentrification, police brutality, income inequality, and municipal budget cuts with chopped-up, dissonant electronic beats. The album mostly works and is only sparingly corny. Probably never get nominated for a Juno/But that ain’t changing the way I live, he raps on “Hard to Find,” in one of the most Canadian lyrics imaginable. You did get nominated for a Polaris, though, and in my opinion, that’s better! Don’t worry about it!
Highlights: “Africville’s Revenge,” “Skyline,” Backxwash’s feature on “Ghost” (she “goes so hard,” etc.!!)
Lowlight: “SENNA.” The song’s backing track is decent enough, but c’mon. We get it. You are like the famed auto racer Ayrton Senna, in that you are “riding around town” and “pouring champagne.” You don’t need to say it a thousand times. I just hope you are not also killed in an automobile accident.
3.25 stars out of 5.
Phoenix by Charlotte Cardin
I’m sorry, but can we get a moratorium on artistic uses of the phoenix as a metaphor for perseverance and renewal? Surely there’s another mythological creature we can use. “I’m a Loch Ness monster / I’m reclusive and live in a pond.” Something like that. I don’t know! I’m not a songwriter. You people write this shit! I just don’t need to hear about the fucking phoenix again.
The album was fine, I guess. Poppy, light, insubstantial. The sort of thing I can listen to once, go “OK, that was alright,” and then never revisit. Because there are millions of this exact album out there.
2.5 stars out of 5.
Well, that’s all the Polaris albums I listened to today. I went in to the office & I’m too much of a socially-avoidant dipshit to ask anyone for the Wi-Fi password, so I couldn’t use Apple Music. Good night.
ruminations of a sad oaf. 