The Sonic Collective

Send us Fan Mail Alain here, and for February, 2021, it is my turn to pick an album for the guys to review as we mark the halfway point in our round of country music picks. If you’re a faithful Sonic Collective listener, you’re probably well aware by now that Country isn’t exactly in our wheelhouses – and that’s despite the fact that most of us live or have lived in Alberta, which is basically the...

Send us Fan Mail For February 2021, member Scott Coates picked this legendary and transformational album from Willie Nelson. This is his first album after leaving his former record label, RCA, who Willie felt was over controlling and over producing his previous albums. At 39 years old Willie stated that the freedom his new label Atlantic Records gave him to create this Shotgun Willie album, allowe...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to the Sonic Collective. On this special episode we’ll get to know a very talented musician from western Canada. From early days in the Calgary bar scene, building his name as a solo artist, to playing with two supporting players, singer-songwriter WiL has built a loyal following many musicians would love to have. In this fickle business, what’s kept him going for so many...

Send us Fan Mail Our pick for January 2021, as part of our round of country and western albums, is Shotgun Willie, the sixteenth studio album by Willie Nelson. It was released in 1973 and marks his move from RCA to Atlantic Records, as Atlantic’s first country recording artist. He had creative differences with RCA, met Atlantic Records vice-president Jerry Wexler at a party, connected, and Nelson...

Send us Fan Mail Our reviews after listening to Dolly Parton's Jolene album for the month of December. It's very rich and complex. Here are our average scores:• Recommend: 4.4• Influence: 3.6• Overall: 4Join us at thesoniccollective.com for the full review and show notes as well as access to all of our reviews and other shows. Support the show

Send us Fan Mail We chat about how we enjoyed our pick for November 2020, M83's 'Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming'. Have a listen to how the album impacted us and what our impressions were. For full show notes and review scores please visit us at thesoniccollective.com. Support the show

Send us Fan Mail The Sonic Collective has decided to pick a round of influential country music artists. Member Darren Scott explains why he chose Dolly Parton's Jolene album. As we look to explore the most influential albums, a person cannot ignore that the title track Jolene, and another little song that did ok for her and Whitney Houston, I will Always Love You, have to be two of the most i...

Send us Fan Mail On this special episode of The Sonic Collective, we chat with Sam Roberts, of the Sam Roberts band, about their October 2020 release, All of Us. He goes deep about how the songs were written and sharing it with the world in a time of COVID. But we start by going back in time, with Sam sharing what it feels like to have been recording professionally for almost two decades, being th...

Send us Fan Mail Album Selection: M83: Hurry Up, We're Dreaming by The Sonic Collective Support the show

Send us Fan Mail For our 3rd selection in this round of influential double-albums, Sonic Collective member Alain Dupuis reached back to 1984 and this first Frankie Goes to Hollywood album, Welcome to the Pleasuredome. This albums contains the 6th and 20th best selling singles in the U.K., for Relax and Two Tribes. But how did this stand up as a whole album? Can we alkl finally relax? Well, this re...

Send us Fan Mail Scientists say your musical tastes are formed by what you enjoyed in your teens. You hear a song, it resonates, and that style guides your musical tastes moving forward. There’s those monumental albums you can still remember hearing for the first time, all these years later. You likely remember where you were, the time of year, perhaps even what you were wearing, who you were with...

Send us Fan Mail We reviewed Jimi Hendrix's double-disc release, Electric Ladyland. Have a listen and find out what we thought! Support the show

Send us Fan Mail Our pick for October 2020 is Frankie Goes to Hollywood's debut album, Welcome to the Pleasuredome. Support the show

Send us Fan Mail Our first pick in a round of double album picks is Bob Dylan's Blonde on Blonde. We took the month of August 2020 to listen and think about it. Here is our discussion about the album and our review. Have a listen. Support the show

Send us Fan Mail The Sonic Collective's album pick for September, 2020. Support the show

Send us Fan Mail We decided to keep up with a theme for our picks of influential albums. Listen to why we decided to pick double albums as a concept and hear what member Darren Scott decided to pick first. Join us and listen along to the selection. Be sure to then come back and listen to our review of the selection in early September 2020. For more show notes and information be sure to visit us at...

Send us Fan Mail This 1998 solo album from former Fugees singer Lauryn Hill is known to be one of the most successful hip hop albums of all time. We took a look back at this album to determine if it did indeed stand the test of time and was worthy of the praise. For the full show notes and our individual scores please visit the podcast page on thesoniccollective.com. We hope you enjoy this review...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to the Sonic Collective, and another one of our exploratory podcast episodes. In this episode, we’ll explore musical supergroups. So what is a supergroup? Well, for us, it’s a musical performing group of three or more persons, whose members have successful solo careers, are members of other groups, or are well known in other musical professions. They come together to form...

Send us Fan Mail For the month of July 2020, we are completing our round of influential hip hop albums with Sonic Collective member Scott Gregory choosing the lone album from Lauryn Hill. The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. Listen along as to why Scott chose this selection and what you can expect as you listen along with us this month. For full show notes, other reviews and much more content please j...

Send us Fan Mail After a month of listening to this iconic and often talked about early pioneer album in the history of hip hop, rap and EDM, we came back together to discuss the history, the music and how it holds up today. There was lots of great discussion on this album and we also had lots of laughs. For the full review show notes, scoring summary and access to all our many shows, please visit...

Send us Fan Mail As we’re doing a round of rap album picks at The Sonic Collective, I gave People’s Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm one listen and decided to make it our album for May 2020.Released on April 10, 1990, it was the group’s debut album. From Queens, New York, A Tribe Called Quest formed a friendship with hip-hop act Jungle Brothers, both groups formed a collective called Na...

Send us Fan Mail For the month of June, 2020 we continue our exploration of Hip-Hop, and once again, it’s my turn to choose our album. I consulted with one of my best friends, a guy who is very attuned to Hip-Hop culture and its fascinating history, and upon his recommendation, I landed on Afrika Bambaataa’s Planet Rock: The Album. We invite you to listen to why I selected this album and listen al...

Send us Fan Mail We’ve enjoyed and discussed 70 albums since 2014 at the Sonic Collective. During that time we’ve covered quite a bit of territory. From our first pick, Fela Kuti’s Zombie, to Van Halen I, Frank Sinatra Live at the Sands, and even a round of movie soundtracks. But there’s been one common thread regardless of genre, time period, or concept, that’s run through each selection. The sea...

Send us Fan Mail So, if you’re looking to learn more about music, and rediscover amazing albums that changed the sonic landscape forever, look no further. To start our hip hop round of album reviews, Darren Scott selected this album that has been cited as an early appearance and major influence on the birth of hip hop and rap. Listen along and enjoy as we discover and discuss if this album can sta...

Send us Fan Mail For May 2020, while we all wait out COVID 19, Sonic Collective member Scott Coates has selected this first A Tribe Called Quest album for our hip hop round. Have a listen as he explains what turned him to select this album, and then be sure to come back and listen to our review. Does this album still stand up? Does it deserve the praise it has garnered? Let's find out. For mo...