I'm a music critic for Montreal's Hour magazine (free weekly w/ printed circulation of 150 000, www.hour.ca .). I review electronic music, hip hop, extreme metal, and everything in between.
Since 2001 I've been writing a weekly column called Lalla Land. In June 2006 I decided to start this myspace page hoping that musicians and artists that I respect would send me free vinyls in exchange for honest reviews. Let's do this.
Steve Lalla
Hour Magazine
355 Ste-Catherine O. suite 700
Montreal, QC
Canada
H3B 1A5
CD Reviews / Vinyl Reviews: recent reviews include: (rating out of a possible five stars) when underlined reviews link directly to hour.ca webpage.. when not underlined i got tired of doing all that work. just google the album name and 'hour.ca' you'll find 'em right away
Rekids Revolution (Rekids) (3.5)
Ozric Tentacles - The Yum Yum Tree (4)
Frank Riggio - Noise Thinking (Omelette Records) (4.5)
Miss Kittin & The Hacker - Two (3 stars)
Doom - Born Like This (Lex) (4)
Omar Rodriguez Lopez - Old Money (Stones Throw) (4.5)
V/A - Metalinvader EP (Aftertaste) (4)
N.A.S.A. - Spirit of Apollo (Anti-) (4.5)
Deadbeat - Roots & Wire (Wagon Repair) (4.5)
Josh Wink - When a Banana was just a Banana (Ovum) (4.5)
Animal Collective- Merriweather Post Pavillion (Domino) (5 stars)
Earth - Bees Made Honey in the Lion's Skull (Southern Lord) (4.5)
a selection of 2008 reviews:
And the Saga Continues - Making Enemies and Burning Bridges (3)
Blue Sky Black Death - Slow Burning Lights (Baby Grande) (3.5)
Lowfish Frozen & Broken (4)
Paul Kalkbrenner - Berlin Calling (BPitch) 4.5
Djab - I See the Light (.5)
Legion of Green Men - Baqontraq (4)
Lil Dap - I.A.Dap (Baby Grande) (4)
Pigeon Funk - The Largest Bird in the History of the Planet...Ever! (Musique Risquee) (4)
Komodo - Subluna (3.5)
Kamikaze Baby - Uptown Vinerise (4)
RZA- Digi Snacks (Koch) (4.5)
Origin - Antithesis (4.5)
GZA - Pro Tools (Baby Grande) (4)
Walter Becker - Circus Money (3)
V/A - Ninja Tune - You Don't Know (3)
Blue Sky Black Death - Late Night Cinema (Baby Grande) (4.5)
The Bug - London Zoo (Ninja Tune) (4.5)
Beck - Modern Guilt (4)
Chow Nasty - Super (Electrical) Recordings (Omega) (4.5)
Meshuggah - Obzen (4)
Kweku & The Movement - the Full 'Eh' Show (4)
Cab - Cab (4)
Discord of a Forgotten Sketch - Improv Session (New Romance for Kids) (4)
The Orb - The Dream (3)
V/A - Box of Dub 2 (Souljazz) (4.5)
The Tympanics - The Tympanics (3)
Lowfish - Burn the Lights (Satamile) (3.5)
Bloodfeast - Necrotorture (2.5)
Radiohead - In Rainbows (3)
Some 2007 releases:
Levon Helm - Dirt Farmer (4)
Guillaume & The Coutu-Dumonts (4.5)
John Fogerty - Revival (3)
Boys Noize - Oi Oi Oi (1.5)
The Great Sabatini - Burning Wilderness (4)
Heliocentrics - Out There (Stones Throw) (4)
Deadbeat - Journeyman's Annual (~Scape) (5)
Mark Knopfler - Kill to Get Crimson (3)
Orb - Art of Chill 4 (Platipus) (4)
Wombat - Teflon (Rebelone010) (4.5)
Jesse Voltaire - Tie Me To The Moon (Archipel)(4)
Special Ops- Phase 2: Amidst the Madness (2)
Rcola - WKDRDM (Wikkid) (3.5)
Bharath and his Rhythm Four w/ Junior Watson- Friday Night Fatty (4 stars)
Animal Collective - Strawberry Jam (4.5)
Panda Bear - Person Pitch (4.5)
Yellowknives- Acid Sunrise (4)
Sleepytime Gorilla Museum - In Glorious Times (4)
Okie Weiss and the Murder Ballads - Scotia, Peru (4)
Aiwa Remixed Vol. 1 (4)
Cinematic Orchestra - Ma Fleur (3)
Sebastian Prelar - Full Metal Jackin (4.5)
Naw- City Saturate (4.5)
Car Bomb- Centralia (4)
Chromeo - Fancy Footwork (2.5 stars)
Merka - Beserka (3.5)
DJ Icey - Disco Rodeo (3)
Amon Tobin - Foley Room (4.5)
Gotherfall - Blacksphere Architecture (2)
RZA - Afro Samurai (4)
Pheek - En Legere Suspension (3.5)
2006 releases:
Yppah - You are Beautiful at all Times (3.5)
Crunchy Black - On My Own (3)
London Sinfonietta -Warp Works & Twentieth Century Masters (4)
Hi-Tek - Hi-Teknology 2 (4 stars)
Mini - Audio Hygiene (3)
Suffocation - Suffocation (4)
Neon Tetra - Home (3)
Patrick Watson - Close to Paradise (4.5)
DJ Shadow - The Outside (3)
Beck - The Information (4.5)
DJ Shadow - The Outsider (3)
MF Grimm - American Hunger (4)
Peeping Tom (4.5)
Pertin_nce - Keeping the Neighbours up all Night (4)
RJD2 and Aceyalone - Magnificent City Instr. and Magnificent City (3.5 inst / 2.5)
Nomadic Massive - Nomad's Land (4)
Lord Jamar - The 5 % Album (3.5)
Tony Ezzy - Tony Ezzy's Greatest Hits (4)
Bronze Nazareth - The Great Migration (4)
Socalled - You Are Never Alone EP (4.5)
Paul Simon - Suprise (4)
Dim Mak - Knives of Ice (4)
Stephen Beaupre - Foe Destroyer (4)
Loka - Fire Shepherds (3.5)
DJ Bam Bam - Beats by the Pound (4.5)
Agoraphobic Nosebleed - PCP Torpedo/ANBRX (4.5)
Capital J - Digital Noize Revolution (4)
Tiga - Sexor (1.5)
Carl Cox - Second Sign (2.5)
V/A - Afterdark Montreal mixed by Jojo Flores and Nav Bhinder (2)
Bonobo - Solid Steel presents: It Came from the Sea (3)
V/A mixed by Patrick Dream and Mike Meurin - Chez Nous Montreal House Vol. 1 (3.5)
Blockhead - Downtown Science (4)
Ellen Allien & Apparat - Orchestra of Bubbles (4.5)
Coldcut - Sound Mirrors (3)
One Self - Children of Possibility (4.5)
Sergio Mendes - Timeless (1.5)
Yesterday's New Quintet - Sound Directions (2)
Neuraxis - Trilateral Progression (4.5)
V/A - Impulsive Unmixed (3)
I also write about upcoming events in the Montreal area and about notable happenings in the music industry. Artists, musicians, producers, MCs, promoters, DJs please keep me posted about what you're doing, either here or by email ([email protected]).
Here's a list of interviews I've done since 2004 (i haven't gotten around to archiving all the pre-2004 stuff. in due time).. along with the date of publication. All stories can be found online at the Hour website , most of them appear in the "Lallaland" archives, some are features. contact me if you need more info. (or google 'hour.ca', 'steve lalla' and the artist's name.. one day I'll build all the links from my page here but that'll take a while... so...)
some recent interviews include: (2006 to date, underlined names link directly to the story online)
2007
ADAM YAUCH aka MCA of the BEASTIE BOYS 09/20/2007
LUKE ENVOY 09/20/2007
DAMIAN LAZARUS 09/13/2007
FRANKIE BONES 09/06/2007
LUNA-C 08/23/2007
SLEEPYTIME GORILLA MUSEUM 08/16/2007
NICKY SIANO 08/02/2007
THE HORRORIST OLIVER CHESLER 06/14/2007
CARL CRAIG 05/31/2007
BOOKA SHADE 03/15/2007
DAN BERKSON & JAMES WHAT (POKERFLAT) 03/22/2007
DAVE the DRUMMER 04/26/2007
NATHAN BURNS & MIGHTY KAT of MICROZOO/DIZZY 05/03/2007
MOSES MAYES 03/07/2007
KWEKU / KWEKU & The Movement 05/10/2007
SECRET CHIEFS 3 03/01/2007
2006
JULIAN PAIGE / WIKKID RECORDS 11/23/2006
PHEEK 11/23/2006
ADAM BEYER 10/26/2006
FRANKIE BONES 10/19/2006
DWEEZIL ZAPPA 10/19/2006
DJ SHADOW 10/12/2006
MINI 10/12/2006
ALEX SKOLNICK (TESTAMENT) 9/28/2006
RAEKWON THE CHEF (Wu Tang Clan) 9/21/2006
DJ ASSAULT 9/14/2006
MICHAEL IVINS of the FLAMING LIPS 9/1/2006
LIONDUB 8/17/2006
REID SPEED 8/10/2006
DL JONES AND LIAM THURSTON (PEER PRESSURE) 8/3/2006
CHRISTINE LAFONTAINE (ARSCENIQUE / NWAR) 7/27/2006
NATHAN BURNS of MICROZOO.CA 7/20/2006
RCOLA 7/13/2006
LAST EMPEROR 6/29/2006
GONZALES 6/29/2006
PAUL GRACE (BOOMTANG BOYS) 6/8/2006
ADRENALIN (ROUTE 66) 6/1/2006
THOMAS BRINKMANN 6/1/2006
ALAIN MONGEAU 5/25/2006
TONY EZZY 5/25/2006
TITTSWORTH 5/18/2006
RANDOMYZER 5/18/2006
MATT CANTOR (FREESTYLERS) 5/18/2006
ELLEN ALIEN
JON MOORE (COLDCUT) 5/11/2006
DJ VADIM 5/11/2006
PHATT AL (GOD MADE ME FUNKY) 4/20/2006
LENNY DEE 4/13/2006
PETER RAUHOFER 4/13/2006
GUILLAUME BOURASSA 3/23/2006
J-BASS 3/16/2006
DISCO D 3/9/2006
DEEKLINE 3/9/2006
SHY FX 3/9/2006
MINI 3/2/2006
MAUS 3/2/2006
TERRY McBRIDE (NETTWERK) 2/16/2006
SEAN KOSA 2/9/2006
STABBA 2/2/2006
PINKY 38 1/19/2006
SPACEKADET 1/19/2006
MIKE MENDELL 1/12/2006
SHANE PHILIPS 1/12/2006
2005
MOSSA 11/24/2005
DIRTY BASS 10/27/2005
JF LABERGE 11/10/2005
FLO MOUNIER (CRYPTOPSY) 11/3/2005
RCOLA 10/20/2005
BEN SHEMIE (BLINK BLINK BLINK) 10/13/2005
DANNY TENAGLIA 10/6/2005
LIONEL TACKLEBADGE & TONY EZZY 9/29/2005
BASEMENT WIGGER 9/8/2005
MIKE MENDEL 9/1/2005
BLOCKHEAD 8/25/2005
WOODHANDS 8/25/2005
"FLASHY" SIMON OUELLETTE 8/18/2005
D-ROC (YING YANG TWINS) 8/11/2005
TOBIAS VAN VEEN & FISHEAD 8/11/2005
MASTA ACE 7/28/2005
YANN FAUSSURIER aka IZOLOSCOPE aka GLIMM 7/7/2005
OLLIE TEEBA (HERBALISER) 6/23/2005
STRICTLY KEV (DJ FOOD) 6/23/2005
ROBIN MILLEY (NEURAXIS) 6/2/2005
JOHN B 6/2/2005
MONOLAKE aka ROBERT HENKE 6/2/2005
SCANNER 5/12/2005
MANA 5/5/2005
ALAIN THIBAULT 5/5/2005
OMAR RODRIGUEZ LOPEZ (THE MARS VOLTA) 5/5/2005
MIKE PATTON (FANTOMAS) 4/7/2005
ZAC JOE (CEPHALIC CARNAGE) 4/14/2005
JEAN MICHEL CAUVIN 4/21/2005
ALEX (DESPISED ICON) 3/31/2005
ANTHONY ROTHER 3/24/2005
PREACH 3/24/2005
FABIEN NOEL 3/24/2005
AMON TOBIN 3/24/2005
ROB BROWN 3/10/2005
E-SWIFT 3/10/2005
SEB (KOPS) 2/24/2005
HELL 2/17/2005
FRANK MULLEN (SUFFOCATION) 2/17/2005
LOWFISH 2/10/2005
ROBERT DE LA GAUTHIER 1/27/2005
2004
CREATOR 11/11/2004
NAW 11/4/2004
DIESELBOY 10/28/2004
SLOBODAN 10/28/2004
TIPPER 10/14/2004
JACOB FAIRLEY 9/30/2004
TINKERTOY 9/23/2004
PATRICK DSP 9/9/2004
BAD BOY BILL 9/2/2004
RICARDO CORDEIRO 9/2/2004
DR-ONE 8/26/2004
BAILEY 8/26/2004
ALEX PATERSON OF THE ORB 8/19/2004
SEBASTIAN PRELAR 7/15/2004
LEO CRUZ 6/10/2004
ENDO 5/27/2004
MARTY MCFLY 5/27/2004
NOAH PRED 5/20/2004
GRANNY ARK 5/13/2004
PHEEK 5/13/2004
WORLD PROVIDER 5/13/2004
COREY K 5/6/2004
SOUNDSHAPER 5/6/2004
DJ BAM BAM 4/29/2004
JEFF WAYE AKA WIG 4/1/2004
BEEF TERMINAL 3/25/2004
RCOLA 3/25/2004
TODD SINES 3/18/2004
PHILGOOD 3/4/2004
TIGA 3/4/2004
NIVOC 3/4/2004
Note to publishers and people who might want to hire me to write for them: I am a freelance journalist. If you want me to cover anything for you, or if you wanna hear any of my ludicrously creative future story ideas, don't hesitate to contact me.
