J. Francis

J. Francis is a freelance music critic that sprouted like an unsightly growth from the suburbs of the Greater Toronto Area and eventually ended up in Kingston, Ontario. He is a man of deliriously firm, contradictory convictions, with a life-long dream of dismantling high-art/low-art hierarchies. He loves pop music with a passion that many find unsettling and is often mistaken as being somehow ironic or insincere (nothing could be further from the truth). His favourite album is Meat Loaf's Bat Out Of Hell. He knows that you think that's ridiculous. Regardless, he hopes you have a good day.

Web Site: http://www.musicvice.com


Sean Nicholas Savage at The Comfort Zone, NXNE 2013 – Gig Review

June 16, 2013
Sean Nicholas Savage - Other Life

Who: Sean Nicholas Savage Where: The Comfort Zone When: Thursday, June 13, 2013 In One Word: Naked People seem to have a hard time knowing exactly how to react to Sean Nicholas Savage. A common knee-jerk reaction is to take his bug-eyed son-of-John-Waters appearance and extremely uncool musical fixation on adult-contemporary...
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Mozart’s Sister at The Rivoli, NXNE 2013 – Gig Review

June 13, 2013
Mozart’s Sister at The Rivoli, NXNE 2013 – Gig Review

Who: Mozart’s Sister Where: The Rivoli When: Wednesday, June 12, 2013 In One Word: Ecstatic Pop music is finally cool. I am grateful for this. It’s a change in cultural attitude that’s been coming for some time now, but after about a decade of the bogus hierarchical divisions between genre and...
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NXNE 2013 Recommendations

June 12, 2013
The National

NORTH BY NORTHEAST music festival in Toronto is. Here are some recommendations of some cool shows to catch at NXNE 2013. Broken Pencil and NXNE Present Sex and Death: A Night of Readings and Music at Creatures Creating, 822 Dundas St W, Wednesday, June 12 On Wednesday June 12th Broken Pencil,...
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Album Review: Camera Obscura – Desire Lines

June 10, 2013
Camera Obscura - Desire Lines

Title: Desire Lines Artist: Camera Obscura Label: 4AD Release Date: June 3rd, 2013 In One Word:  Croon Some artists are really great at and/or obsessed with doing one thing extremely well. Rather than building the kind of career-arc full of shape-shifting peaks and valleys that lends itself well to an imposed...
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Album Review: Deerhunter – Monomania

May 17, 2013
Deerhunter - Monomania

Title: Monomania Artist: Deerhunter Label: 4AD Release Date: May 7, 2013 In one word™: Flourescent “Punk. It manifests itself in many ways, and for him it was just there like a neon strobe light. And now it’s not there anymore. I need punk rock. It’s the medicine for me, but it’s...
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Raekwon and Ghostface Killah at Yonge-Dundas Square, Toronto – Gig Review and Photos – NXNE

July 7, 2012
Raekwon and Ghostface Killah at Yonge-Dundas Square, Toronto, NXNE 2012 - photo Matthe Bowles, Music Vice

The Gig: Raekwon & Ghostface Killah, with Action Bronson, Killer Mike Where: Yonge-Dundas Square, Toronto, Canada When: June 17, 2012 In One Word: Beautiful Because the idea of NXNE as an “indie” festival is fairly entrenched, throughout the course of the week it can become difficult to remember that there is...
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Album Review: Azealia Banks – 1991 EP

June 26, 2012
Azealia Banks - 1991 EP

Title: 1991 EP Artist: Azealia Banks Label: Interscope/Polydor/Universal Music Canada Released: 12 June 2012 In One Word: Underwhelming “I’mma ruin you, cunt.” When you first hear “212”, that’s the line that jumps out. In the song’s whole three-and-a-half minutes, it’s almost the only thing that your brain can wholly process while...
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BADBADNOTGOOD at The Hoxton, Toronto – Gig review and photos – NXNE

June 24, 2012
BADBADNOTGOOD at the Hoxton, Toronto, NXNE 2012 - photo Matthew Bowles, Music Vice

The Gig: BADBADNOTGOOD Where: The Hoxton, Toronto, Canada When: 14 June 2012 In One Word: Based BADBADNOTGOOD are, basically, a perfect band. The Toronto jazz-hop trio’s greatest asset – besides their obviously astronomical talent – is an unassailable cool that only comes to those who seriously have their shit together on...
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The Men at Wrongbar, Toronto – Gig review – NXNE

June 18, 2012
The Men at Wrongbar, Toronto, NXNE 2012 - photo by Matthew Bowles, Music Vice

The Gig: The Men Where: Wrong Bar, Toronto, Canada When: 15 June 2012 In One Word: Blistering The Men are a rock and roll band, plain and simple. They are four ugly, hairy dudes who wear t-shirts and play guitars very loudly, and they are very, very good at what they...
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Mac DeMarco and Porcelain Raft at The Drake Hotel Underground – Gig Review – NXNE

June 15, 2012
Mac DeMarco at The Drake Underground, Toronto, NXNE 2012 - photo Matthew Bowles

The Gig: Mac DeMarco & Porcelain Raft Where: The Drake Hotel, Toronto, Canada When: 13 June 2012 In One Word: Revealing Going by the recordings released under his name, MacDeMarco comes off like a bit of a shady character; he speaks the language of a rock n’ roll traditionalist,...
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