Epic & Deadly Stare - A library called Calder
Epic isn’t an outsider artist. Neither is Deadly Stare. They are insider artists. Hip-Hop historians. Rap superfans. A library called Calder is a love letter to hip-hop, a love letter to Canada, and a great example of artists creating art based on their love of art.
Bells Larsen - Blurring Time
Back in May 2024, I had the pleasure to attend the Land of Talk tour show at The Aviary, where I happened to stumble into Bells Larsen as an accompanying tour act. Soft spoken and with candid demeanour, Bells took the stage with what I’ve come to know now as some of the tracks featuring in his latest album Blurring Time.
Steven Lambke and Jimmie Kilpatrick - Friendship Traces
This album feels human and vulnerable. It is bleepy and bloopy. It sounds like a record made by two people who really like each other. Two people who are setting the other up for success.
Quinton Barnes - Black Noise
Now we are given a bit of a different take on Quinton Barnes’ creativity with the release of Black Noise only a few months after CODE NOIR was released. Both conceptually and in execution, this new album is a thoughtful interrogation into noise, improv, and experimental sound composition which started out of a casual 2022 tweet that he tossed into the aether: “‘I want to work with noise/improv musicians in some capacity … not sure how yet but the idea is there’.”
Eliza Niemi - Progress Bakery
Simone Atenea Medina Polo reviews the latest record from Toronto’s Eliza Niemi: Progress Bakery is an incredible sophomore album that shows off the breadth of what Eliza Niemi can do.
SENTRIES - Gem of the West
With this record, SENTRIES steps out of the bedroom and onto the stage—but it doesn’t feel like a departure. Instead, it feels like a natural expansion: same ghost, louder haunt.
Backxwash - Only Dust Remains
The question was left hanging at the end of the former trilogy: what would a new Backxwash release look like after that set of releases? The answer that the album offers is a reconstruction of Backxwash sound prior to God Has Nothing To Do With This informed by the accomplishments of the last decade of her musical career.
Mares of Thrace - The Loss
The Loss is an exercise in catharsis, but its fury is tempered at all times by grief, by uncertainty.
Preoccupations - Ill at ease
III at ease features much of what there is to love about this band, and it might be an excellent jumping off point for new listeners who might eventually work their way back through their releases to grasp the breadth of what Preoccupations can do.
DVTR - Live aux Foufounes
Live aux Foufounes is not derivative or tired or formulaic. It’s fresh and alive and pulsating. The music still contains some of the straight-time fury of punk, with bombastic, short songs played fast and loud. But they are also played really, really well.
Jimmie Kilpatrick - Jimmie
As underscored by its title, Jimmie is the first release under the real name of Jimmie Kilpatrick, who has long performed as Shotgun Jimmie. It sees Kilpatrick incorporating experimental recording methodologies while delivering more of the ever-catchy hooks and clever, empathic lyrics he’s known for.