Author: Ben Boddez

This is the archive.php template

9 | Begonia – Powder Blue

Author:
Categories: Best OfMusic
Tags:
last updated: December 15, 2023

This haunting dream-pop record takes us along the ride of experiencing fleeting love before you come to your senses. You know it’s going to end, but you get “Married by Elvis” anyway. Begonia’spowerful timbre aptly expresses the angst of self-discovery and choosing yourself over everything, including stifling religion and bittersweet love. Life may not be […]

8 | Devours – Homecoming Queen

Author:
Categories: Best OfMusic
Tags:
last updated: December 15, 2023

Devours is first and foremost a storytelling project. With their four albums, darkwave pop eccentric Jeff Cancade has been perfecting the art of recounting stories both whimsically real and poetically funny over an electronic backdrop. Their latest dials up their pop sensibilities to take a look at the person behind the extravagant character, tackling personal […]

7 | Harrison – Birds, Bees, the Flowers and the Trees

Author:
Categories: Best OfMusic
Tags:
last updated: December 15, 2023

A primarily instrumental collection of sun-warbled soul jazz, delivered with crisp early morning clarity. There’s a particular kind of warmness to Harrison’s note-rich chord phrasings and electric piano tone that, while not scientifically proven, may well dose you with enough Vitamin D to last a lifetime.

6 | Shane Ghostkeeper – Songs For My People

Author:
Categories: Best OfMusic
Tags:
last updated: December 15, 2023

Cowboy and western culture in Alberta has been whitewashed since its inception, ignoring the vital contributions that countless BIPOC and Indigenous people have offered since the first settlers ambled westward across the prairies. Shane Ghostkeeper works within this reclaimed territory, bringing his own upbringing growing up in Northern Alberta Métis communities to bear on traditional […]

5 | TEKE::TEKE – Hagata

Author:
Categories: Best OfMusic
Tags:
last updated: December 15, 2023

While still riding an effervescent wave of ‘60s-era Japanese surf music, Hagata finds Montreal septet TEKE::TEKE working well beyond the band-galvanizing influence of Takeshi Terauchi. On their sophomore full-length, they likewise incorporate psych-stoney hypnotism, cross-cultural yé-yé experimentation, distortion pedal-exploding punk-outs, and morning dew flautistry. Heady waters, but they hit it all with the greatest of […]

4 | La Sécurité – Stay Safe!

Author:
Categories: Best OfMusic
Tags:
last updated: December 15, 2023

Boldly melding art-punk and new wave, the Montreal collective’s electrifying debut set their local music scene ablaze with its magnetic sound. This dynamic quintet, featuring musicians from esteemed local acts like Choses Sauvages and Laurence-Anne, showcases abundant musical prowess. Their album delves into the realms of self-actualization, feminism, and the bonds of friendship. La Sécurité […]

3 | Ryan Bourne – Plant City

Author:
Categories: Best OfMusic
Tags:
last updated: December 15, 2023

This is the best album to come out of Calgary in years. Ryan Bourne has long been known in art pop circles for keeping rarefied, experimental company (Chad VanGaalen, Ghostkeeper, Lab Coast), but as he steps out front into the fractaled, scattered limelight of his own stage, Plant City is the kind of psych-folk fever […]

2 | Zoon – Bekka Ma’iingan

Author:
Categories: Best OfMusic
Tags:
last updated: December 15, 2023

Daniel Monkman, who performs under the moniker Zoon, has been steadily releasing different facets of their ‘moccasin gaze’ sound since their debut, Bleached Wavves, in 2020. But this highly-anticipated full-length follow-up somehow feels more orchestral, vulnerable, and open. These songs are powerful, dealing with the fear of loss—of the self, language, and Zoon’s Indigenous identity—but […]

The Apples in Stereo frontman Robert Schneider Looks Back on His Legacy

Author:
Categories: Film/TVInterviewsMusic
Tags: , , , ,
last updated: September 25, 2023

The Best Things We Saw At Rifflandia 2023

Author:
Categories: Live ReviewsMusic
Tags: ,
last updated: September 26, 2023