by Mark Teague
I wasn’t prepared for Ben Varian’s new album One Hundred Breakfasts With The Book. A preliminary listen reveals a downtempo pop album with a range of instrumentals, some pronounced dreamy elements, a nod to early 60’s jazz-pop, and soothing vocals to round out the sound. Upon subsequent listens, and with some cursory investigation, the album becomes much more than that.
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by Isabella Soares
Ryan Hockey’s debut EP Again channels everything from an indie piano ballad to space driven sound distortions that evoke a sense of escapism and a dream-like universe. It starts with the melancholic yet increasingly powerful “Again at 4 a.m.,” featuring a galactic backing track that makes the song an absolute ride right from the beginning.
Continue reading “Album Review :: Ryan Hockey :: Again”
by Myles Tiessen
As one half of the electronic-dance duo Prince Innocence, Prince Josh released his debut solo LP The Joy back in March of 2020. Darkness and desolation are intrinsic qualities of this down-tempo House album, but hidden with the moments of despair are glimpses of hope, sanity, and of course, joy.
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by Olivier LaRoche
Yawn Care is the second project released by the Winnipeg-based artist of the same name. The influence of this city is more than apparent throughout the album. It offers all the entrancing wonder that an ambient record should bring, but does so in a surprisingly concise manner.
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by Keeley Braunstein-Black
While they mix things up in the studio usually during performances, Plants and Animals is:
Warren Spicer – Singing, Guitar, Synth
Nicolas Basque – Guitar, synth, and electronics
Matthew Woodley – Drummer and singing
Woodley opens with, “Everyone calls me Woody.”
Continue reading “The Jungle :: Chatting With Woody from Plants and Animals”
by Olivia Michalczuk
Julien’s Daughter burst onto the local music scene with unfortunate timing. In the absence of playing local stages, and surely a slew of festival gigs, they took the time to release their debut album The Static That Carries Over. The album captures the effortlessness of their collaboration and the dynamism of their live performances.
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by Olivier LaRoche
Ming + Zhizhi is the most recent venture from musical collective China Club, who started out as a duo from Dallas, Texas before expanding. Their internationally-influenced sound is put on display on this short but powerful gem that is the culmination of group efforts spanning from 2015 to 2019.
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by Chris Bryson
Gulfer make an enthralling blend of math-entwined emo-punk. From the stance of 2018’s well-received Dog Bless, the Montréal band have hit a sweet spot between complexity and catharsis that they’ve continued with their new self-titled LP.
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by Osani Balkran
When Stun, an Indigenous hip-hop artist, posed the statement and question to me, “Don’t let anyone tell you how old you are, it’s never too late to chase your dreams … if you feel like you have the passion, go and chase it, if you want to be happy, well it’s there, and you have to go grab it right?” I was curious to learn more about this interesting comment.
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by Isiah Schellenberg
Los Angeles-based band Smokescreens newest album A Strange Dream captures what a catchy jangle pop record can be. Similar to Smith Westerns, Real Estate, and the Velvet Underground, the instrumentation on these songs has a very warm tone all together. All the parts blend and compliment one another from the clean jangle guitar leads to strummed acoustic guitars. With a similar sound to their last release Used to be Yesterday, this group of songs has a more refined and cleaner sound.
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