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Artist: Hidden Masters

Album: Of This & Other Worlds

Of This and Other Worlds, the 2013 debut of Glasgow’s Hidden Masters, would have slipped nicely into some record label’s 1971 release schedule. Something like Love’s Forever Changes crossed with the Who Sell Out, with extra doses of Odessey and Oracle vocal harmonies and the loudest Beatles and Thirteenth Floor Elevators riffs and mysticism, it is unembarrassed psychedelic retro, and it is *really good at it*. My ranking […]

Artist: Shad

Album: Flying Colours

The Kenyan-born Toronto rapper Shad’s magnificent given name is Shadrach Kabango. Surely if he’s been more aggressive and posturing in his style, someone at absolute minimum would’ve convinced him to hold onto the syllable “bang”. Shad has enough ego to survive in the rap game, yes: his 4th album Flying Colours includes its genre’s requisite wordplay bravado games (“Ooh, look at how I’m killing these tracks/ I’m a vet but not the […]