Alan Ranta

Jun 13, 2024 | popmatters.com | Alan Ranta

Eureka! I have found an ancient relic from the distant future! Sent back through a wormhole by mad synth scientist Will Gregory, this so-called Heat Ray is a weapon of unknowable power. To most earth dwellers of the present day, Will Gregory is best known as the half of the English electronic duo Goldfrapp, who isn’t Alison Goldfrapp.

Dec 4, 2023 | popmatters.com | Alan Ranta

Though its motivations have shifted through time and space, library music was always meant to live on in some form or another. The quasi-ersatz genre was created to be taken, used, and folded into a second life. It was not available in stores near anyone, yet it was all around everyone, ubiquitous in cinema, radio, and advertising for decades, and still is in different ways.

Oct 25, 2023 | exclaim.ca | Alan Ranta

Published Oct 25, 20238It's been a long and winding road to God Games. Alison Mosshart and Jamie Hince's pared-down blues-rock was forged in the peppermint wake of the White Stripes, cashing in on the growing taste for bluesy duos rocking that knew how to icky thump. Keep on Your Mean Side, the pair's 2003 debut as the Kills, capitalized on the moment and sent the duo into the upper ranks of their blues-blasted brethren.

Oct 19, 2023 | exclaim.ca | Alan Ranta

Published Oct 19, 20238This isn't so much an entrance as an ascension. The first album by Montreal-born, Toronto-based singer-songwriter Briannah Donolo under her Rêve moniker boasts levels of unflinching provocativeness, raw emotion, fierce sexiness, vocal flex and admirable spunk to rival the likes of our brightest-burning pop divas. If the planets align, Saturn Return should help launch Rêve into the orbit of household names and generational talents — she's a star going supernova.

Sep 26, 2023 | exclaim.ca | Alan Ranta

Published Sep 26, 20238At their best, Animal Collective deconstruct pop forms and ecstatically regurgitate them in inspired spurts, alive with ideas that resist notions of cohesion or logic. Their sound is always in flux, a wash of distortion, effects, processes and homage like a cassette tape of Beach Boys obscurities that was left in the sun too long.