This album sounds like it was written at a laundromat. One of many qualities the U.S. Bombs lack is the ability to create a different sound for each of the songs on their newest release Back at the Laundromat Another is the vocals, which are so annoying they almost reach the point of being unbearable. This album has a sound not unlike the Sex Pistols--and won't be disappointing to fans of previous US Bombs releases--but Back at the Laundromat's definitely not an album to buy without listening to first.

Thursday score high marks with their second full-length album and Victory Records debut release Full Collapse. The band successfully combines emotionally-driven lyrics and sound with just enough of a hardcore influence to break out of the emo genre and put out some very original work.

Not once in the album does Thursday come out to the point of relying on the vocals to carry the songs like many other emo groups. Every one of the 12 tracks in Full Collapse is solid enough to make this album a worthwhile buy.

As half of the folk-rock duo The Indigo Girls, Amy Ray has always seemed the tense, more political member. Past Indigo Girls songs by Ray like "Touch Me Fall" and "Pushing the Needle Too Far" were seriously focussed to the point of being emotionally detached. Her solo debut, Stag, is coated in these emotional scrapes that sting with every listen.

What could possibly say "Canada's vast wild prairies" better than Vacuum Siv?

The Calgary Society of Independent Filmmakers is participating in the third annual Prairie Tales tour. This event, organized by Edmonton's Metro Cinema, is a chance for filmmakers from all over western Canada to expose their movies to new communities and benefit from the audience's feedback.

Something happened last year that hasn't happened since The Silence of the Lambs. A thriller came out that's actually thrilling. A suspense movie was made that's actually suspenseful. Les Riviéres Pourpres, or for the unilingual, The Crimson River, is what thrillers everywhere yearn to be: smart, captivating and honestly entertaining.

Like fellow Canadian and former teeny-bopper Alanis Morrissette, rapper Ricky J is going to the mall. Not to shop, not to hang but to perform for teens and mall-walkers alike.

Playing Southcentre Mall, Wed., March 28, the 23-year-old Montreal pop singer has invaded radio with the '70s bouncy single "No Means No." Still, the Montreal native is taking his mall appearances in stride.

"There's not much preparation for a mall tour," says Ricky J. "I get prepared two minutes before [the show.]"

In the classic Simon and Garfunkel song "Old Friends," Paul Simon reminisces about specific memories and a certain someone.

Today, on a Saturday morning, Ester Purves-Smith and Valerie Planche are doing the same. Sitting on a couch outside the Martha Cohen Theatre, the two actors share a wide-eyed-look just prior to rehearsal for ATP's production of Judith Thompson's Perfect Pie.

To help cut through the double-speak and dizzying spin of political discourse, the AP department sent each major political party an honest, forthcoming post-election speech to dazzle the electorate of Alberta (when you know damn well who's going to win, you can write post-election speeches well ahead of time). Though they were never used (they must have gotten lost in the mail), here they are anyway:

Ralph Klein
Progressive Conservative