Poster boys for Canadian government- sponsored pop festivals, self- appointed torch bearers for traditional Newfoundland music, worshiped by Canadian beer sponges from coast to coast, and cute as plaid, Great Big Sea are so unoffensive and edgeless it makes me want to puke. Don't let their "I'm a working class fishmonger" posturing fool you-- these guys are a pop band who'd screw your underage sister if only they were given the chance. Just look at their faces on the cover, and you'll know what they're really after.

Perhaps one shouldn't be so cruel. So their slickoid production values steal some of the natural warmth of the mandolins and the fiddles. Their singer belts like so many slightly accented, mouth- breathing grunge chanteurs. Great Big Sea even does its own sub-folk cover of REM's "It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)". So what if this type of music is best heard in a kitchen with a bunch of old drunk men playing with abandon, as opposed to this finely gelled youngster. Every one is happy, every one is gay. La la fucking la.

-Samir Khan