Ira Kantor’s Vinyl Confessions: Discovering Japan

Late in 2021, revered Japanese label Nippon Columbia released a compilation album entitled TOKYO GLOW, which explores city pop, funk, and soul from Japanese artists recorded in the late...

Ira Kantor’s Vinyl Confessions: Call It ‘Misbehaviour’ (Call It What You Like)

On their sixth album in seven years, Canadian powerhouse Saga reached an artistic crossroads. After scoring major American success with their seminal Top 40, 1981 track “On the Loose,” and...

Ira Kantor’s Vinyl Confessions: Think Of Laura (“G-L-O-R-I-A!”)

Photos Courtesy of Other Half Entertainment Archive One thing our society will never tire of — be it via sports, arts, or other mediums – is Cinderella stories. One of the...

Ira Kantor’s Vinyl Confessions: It’s Monks’ Time

Photos courtesy of Eddie Shaw It goes without saying that 1966 proved to be one of the most pivotal years in the history of popular music. Sure, we would get Pet...

Ira Kantor’s Vinyl Confessions: As I Sit In My Four Cornered Room…

Fifty years ago, one of music’s greatest melting pot collectives released their masterpiece. The World Is A Ghetto by War is a seminal six-track work that told it like it...

Ira Kantor’s Vinyl Confessions: Shaking It Up Solo ~ Benjamin Orr’s ‘The Lace’

Photo Courtesy of Diane Grey Page Benjamin Orr The Lace “The reason it took me so long to do a solo project is that nobody asked me to do one before...” — Benjamin...

Ira Kantor’s Vinyl Confessions: Look At Little Sister

Photo Courtesy of Kate Taylor One of my fondest memories occurred at about 7 AM on August 9, 2014 — my 30th birthday. I was about the board a ferry with my...

Ira Kantor’s Vinyl Confessions: The Kings Are (Still!) Here

Photo Courtesy of Deborah Samuel The Kings The Kings Are Here They had the attitudes of punks and the chops to be a Canadian Beatles. The story of how I discovered The Kings...

Ira Kantor’s Vinyl Confessions: The Sweetest Victory (“No Pain!”)

“It ain’t about how hard you hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward.” – Rocky Balboa I don’t want to be a statistic. That’s...

Ira Kantor’s Vinyl Confessions: The Jon Butcher Axis – Bold As Hell

Photos courtesy of Jon Butcher When I’m not in full-blown public relations mode at my day job, I’m usually conferring with colleagues throughout the country about the bands and artists...