...As The Poets Affirm

A gust of instrumental wind flutters across your brow. You slowly, methodically and hesitantly descend deeper into the fiery circles, rings of hell. Â…As the Poets Affirm, are an independent Canadian instrumental seven-piece rock ensemble... read more...
By L Pounds
May 24, 2005

1977

Glitter and sugary twang decorate the So Is The Sea EP, which demos some of the goodies to expect from 1977 on their sophomore record Seaforth (due out in 2012). Julie Kendall is the force...

Afroskull

The second release for New Orleans’ Afroskull, To Obscurity and Beyond (Skullsound records), is a beguiling listen. At its best, the virtuosity of guitarist and primary songwriter, Joe Scatassa, and the intricacy of his arrangements...

Akai

Truth be told, I’ve always loved the playoff between boy/girl singing in indie rock. Whether it’s Velocity Girl, Stars, The Dirty Projectors, or The New Pornographers – I’m usually a big fan. St. Paul MN band Akai...

Leslie Alexander

Leslie Alexander is a veteran of the Vancouver club scene and was often heard in the Arts Club Theatre and similar venues back in the 1990s. She has put out a number of albums over the...

Arc

This Toronto trios 4th recording sounds like a doormat to one of my most delicate and intense dreams. existing in a wild untamed state having returned suggestive of a wild animal savage Aidan Baker (guitars,... read more...
By L Pounds
Nov 30, 2003

Arlibido

It's kind of a shame when the highest compliment you can pay an album is, "Well you can't blame 'em for trying." Arlibido are a Nova Scotia trio who obviously spent their time in the... read more...
By Russell Gragg
Jul 30, 1999

astre

Born out of cross-country train adventures and solitary nights in a cabin in Manitoba astre’s debut EP Wood Songs marries the spirit of wandering with nesting. Self-recorded at astre (aka Kathryn Kerr’s) family cabin in...

Aunts & Uncles

The Vancouver trio’s self-titled debut EP has made a sound. Since 2009 they have opened for the independent music scene, and shared stages with the best and most diverse, musical artists in Canada West. The...

Autobahn

This album is comprised of a power trio by the names of James Hill (Piano), Jeff LaRochelle (Tenor Saxophone, Bass Clarinet), and Ian Wright (Drums). Based out of Toronto, these guys release their second album...

Autocondo

Here's a rarity in today's music age: a concept album. And it's not progressive rock. And it's actually enjoyable! Autocondo are formed of three ex-members of the venerable Canadian 80s band Pukka Orchestra, here taking...

Back Pocket

The Baketones

The Balconies

The Bare Minimum

Alexis Baro

The Album “Guilty Pleasures” is a treasured mixture of composer Alexis Baro’s compositions performed on Trumpet and Flugelhorn. The music is a finely crafted combination of Afro-Jazz, ballad style, and Beguine. Alexis Baro is a...

The Battleship Ethel

Hamilton-based trio, The Battleship, Ethel are the type of band who live by the mantra of donÂ’t rehearse, donÂ’t practice, just play, play, play. Improvisational music is a tough pill to swallow for many people.... read more...
By L Pounds
Jan 17, 2005

Joe Beck and Laura Theodore

Golden Earrings serves as a memorial to two jazz artists, one legendary and one less well known. The songs on this album all come from the songbook of the legendary jazz vocalist Peggy Lee (and...

Bent By Elephants

The Besnard Lakes

The packaging is what made me first pick up this CD and put it in the player. It looked like something I would be into. It is dark and minimal, and the focus is a... read more...
By anne sulikowski
Oct 7, 2003

Laila Biali and the Radiance Project

This is not an album I expected to hear from Laila Biali. After five good-to-great albums of vocal-based jazz, Biali has gone pop. Well, it's not exactly a pop album, but kind of a pop-jazz...

Black Suit Devil

Black Suit Devil is the alter-ego of Toronto based songwriter Andy Du Rego. The band is mostly Du Rego, with a wide variety of guest stars. The Freedom Sessions is a classic-rock album in the...

David Blake

 It is an interesting arc that a musician travels to develop his own musical identity.

Vancouver jazz guitarist David Blake has travelled that arc and has released his debut album Next Year People.

This is...

Bleachers

Blist

From Calgary, this two-piece rap group known as Blist host guest collaborators (Danny Vacon, Ricca Razor Sharp, Dragon Fli Empire and others) on vocals, beat mixing and production on full-length release, Blism....

Bog River

Hands in the Ground is the first full length record from the Winnipeg trio Bog River.

Styles range from the ho-down-foot-stomping goodness of the album's opener “This Side of the Sea”, to the dixieland drive...

Boombox Saints

 With their first debut full-length album For The Moment, The Boombox Saints have set a course for the top. These guys are the freshest hip-hop crew to come out of the west coast recently. 

Bill Bourne & The Free Radio Band

Brahja Waldman's Quartet!

Brahja Waldman and his quartet are a common sight in jazz clubs in New England and their native Quebec. Waldman, a saxophonist and the song-writer for the group, fronts a talented young group of musicians....

Andru Branch

Andru Branch, who was nominated for the 1999 Juno for Best Reggae album with What If I...

Brocade

Like You Were Here is the debut album from Calgary-based trio Brocade, who have been playing together for two years. A self identified kitsch rock band, the west coast musicians’ release draws upon a...

Bob Brough Quartet

Time Away, the latest offering from The Bob Brough Quartet is essentially a mainstream, instrumental jazz CD which showcases the talents of the entire quartet.  Bob Brough is the... read more...
By Jim Dupuis
Oct 21, 2008

Kym Brown

God her accent is so hot. This Vancouver born, London raised artist has influences from artists ranging from The Beatles to legendary Icelandic singer Björk. This poppy album starts with the track ‘Almost Happy’, which...

Bullship

“If you could be shocked by lifes petty miracles, imagine the everlasting elation of success� - written on the Bullship CD. The liner notes of this recording are shure to note that this releases is... read more...
By L Pounds
Jan 10, 2005

Candelora

Calgary's Candelora are a tight band, both on CD and outside of music. Made up of two brothers, a cousin and a freind, they have a sound similar to Maroon 5 or Coldplay. It's obvious...

catl

"Kassie Jones" introduces us to Catl.'s Soon This Will All Be Gone. A very odd intro song that almost plays like the opening scene to a movie. Another thing the intro does is it sets up...

Caught Off Guard

Calgary has a long history of great pop punk bands. You can add Caught Off Guard! to that list. The band play a brand of punk that isn't much heard today: melodic, heavy and comedic....

Cecile Monique

What is it what makes promising, young independent artists want to ape already successful styles? For every Nirvana, there were a hundred Candleboxes desperately copping their style for some stab at commercial success. Ontario's Cecile...

Ceti Alpha

With a couple of exceptions, the majority of Canadian artists gaining popularity and respect are those based in provinces east of Newfoundland. Rarely does one ever hear of a hot new band from the East...

Monica Chapman

Toronto jazz vocalist Monica Chapman has released her third CD Small World, a recording that showcases her passion for Hollywood movies and musicals.  She has carefully curated a dozen songs that have left a lasting impression on her through...

Betsy Charge

Glenn Chatten

Glenn Chatten has been playing folk music and touring since the 80s. Originally from Ontario, he moved to Vancouver a few years ago and quickly settled himself into the music scene there. Where You Need...

Children Of Celebrities

Children Of Celebrities

Children of Celebrities are the type of band you'd see playing the backyard of some hip friend's party, languidly picking their guitar and making some melodic music. The band is a light, tongue-in-cheek mix of...

China Syndrome

If China Syndrome’s first album showed potential then their second outing with Nothing’s Not Worth Knowing exudes confidence in themselves and their musical ability.

This second album venture contains more background vocals and an improvement...

Christianne

The highly under rated and delightfully charismatic Christianne has a bounty of poetic tragedy to illustrate through lyrics and comfortable healing sounds. Considering the world is over run by so many folk singers not expressing...

Annabelle Chvostek

If you’re looking for the harmonic songbird stylings of Annabelle Chvostek’searlier work with the Wailin’ Jenny’s this album is not the place to look. If you’re looking for the worldly and bold folk sounds of her early solo...

Citadel

Citadel is a post-rock band from Calgary with an almost religious feel. The band plays music on spacy, electronic organs, with vocals drifting in and out of the music like Gregorian chants. The 4-song album...

Class Action

This is a four-track EP from Calgarian ska punk outfit, Class Action. This mini-album has the pep and spunk, flash and drive and the beat, trumpet, saxophone and trombone you expect from ska music. There...

Coal

Vancouver's Coal has a sound dreamy-dark-western-goth-pop. They also have an identity in vocalist Nicole Steen, who seems to enjoy singing with a mountain of echo behind her like a rain-shadow pressing up against the Rockies.

Buckman Coe

Buckman Coe is a world traveler, muti-talented musician and singer-songwriter. He is a social activist based in Vancouver, B.C. and pursuesan ecological approach to music making as well as social activism. He is musically influenced by...

Jon Cohen Expiremental

Andrew Collins Trio

Toronto mandolin-player Andrew Collins has put his mark on Canadian folk music over the years, as a member of the bluegrass band the Foggy Hogtown Boys, and in the more traditional folk stylings of the...

Colouring Season

It's impressive when someone can bare their soul and write songs about their own traumatic events. It's even more impressive when you can break those events down to have just enough material to fit snugly... read more...
By Bryndis Ogmundson
Aug 11, 2003

Construction & Destruction

This is clearly a CD made lovingly by Colleen Collins and Dave Trenaman (aka Construction and Destruction) for no one but each other. In this progressive age of DIY music publication,...

Creek Road Crossing

Creek Road Crossing are a straight ahead, “no surprises here� rock and roll band who wear their classic rock heritage badges stitched to the sleeves of their grease and booze soaked t-shirts with pride. CRC... read more...
By L Pounds
Jan 17, 2005

Cri du Chat

DAGRS

Vancouver's DAGRS are a classic sounding hardcore punk band. Their Facebook page cites their influences as “short, stabby knives”, which is a pretty accurate description of what they sound like. The music is punchy, melodic...

Dali's Llama

With the modern revival of heavy psychedelic movement, with it's heavily produced and textured layers, it's easy to forget that the original movement didn't go for all the studio tricks you see today....

Dark For Dark

From the first few seconds of the first track on Dark for Dark’s Warboats it is clear that this will be an album of beautiful harmonizing and gentle melodies. Fronted by multi-instrumentalist Rebecca Zolkower Dark...

David Ellul

Independent singer-songwriter David Ellul has put a living room session to CD and the resulting tossed salad of tunes is an impressive no frills mod-folk recording that reeks of Bruce Cockburn, 3-chord Gord, Greg MacPherson... read more...
By L Pounds
Jan 10, 2005

Daywalker

Jean-Paul De Roover

Derelict

Few bands get away with releasing albums that sound almost nothing alike but still manage to stay within the broad scope of their genre. Derelict has recently released its third full length and it takes...

Neelamjit Dhillon Quartet

The Neelamjit Dhillon Quartet brings together four of Canada’s most dynamic musicians to tell the story of the ship Komagata Maru, using a fresh musical language that combines jazz and Indian classical forms.

In May...

Dirty Penny

Sometimes it?s nice just to let an album entertain you. Too often we listen to music as an exegetical practice trying to find some 'deeper meaning' hiding beneath the surface of the music. While of... read more...
By Jeff Friesen
May 5, 2007

The Donefors

From the opening track, sounding deliciously zenful, it is impossible not to fall under the spell of Janine Stoll’s mellifluous voice. How to Have Sex with Canadians is all about falling under the influence of...

Doomeastvan

True story: I’m driving in my car listening to Doomeastvan and I pull up to a stop light. It’s hot, so my windows are down, and a police car pulls up beside me. His window...

Double Fuzz

There should be a warning label on Double Fuzz’s debut self-titled album. It should caution listeners that upon hearing the contained noisy, gritty and glorious sounds, they may be inspired to take up the corresponding...

Driftglass

Driftglass have totally pegged the progressive rock vibe of the 70’s. It’s easy to draw a lot of comparisons with this band but none of them quite fit, though I will say that there are...

Drumhand

Anita Eccleston Trio

Anita Eccleston Trio

Anita Eccleston is a jazz-trained trumpet player and vocalist. She is also a dynamic artist, as the Anita Eccleston Trio EP can attest to. The three-song EP is essentially a sampler to the multi-talented Vancouver musician. Her...

The Electrobe

Oliver Sudden producer/engineer Paul Etch may be based in Montreal, but his gaze is set far beyond the world?s longest coastline. As the creative captain of Electrobe, Etch lists several mystical inspirations on the band?s... read more...
By Andrew Lee
Apr 9, 2007

Kemal Evans Band

Kemal Evans has an impressive resume, having been born into a musical family (his father one of Canada's best known hand-drummers), spending time as a child touring across Canada and learning...

Feast of Mutton

Cameron Scott Fraser

The Fugitives

Galerie Stratique

Galerie Stratique is the alter-ego of Quebec based electronic musician Charles-Emile Beullac. Reves de Beton is his fourth album to date, his first coming back in 2001. Beullac is well steeped in the ambient style...

June Garber

June Garber, a vibrant jazz vocalist from Toronto, has released her third album This I Know.  She's gathered energy from the experiences of her life so far, and infused 12 songs with it.

Garber has...

Ghost Honey

The Glorious MoonRockets

Anyone who loves buying 7” singles from unknown punk bands will be very familiar with the sound of The Glorious MoonRockets. Hailing from Ottawa, the band is heavily influenced by classic garage rock and psychedelics. They...

Golden B.C.

Gorilla Voodoo

Under The Thumb Of The Man Smiling is the debut album from angry-with-society musician and rookie producer Gorilla Voodoo. While the album has a good shot at getting a message across, it isn't very effective... read more...
By Kyle Cunjak
Jul 14, 2002

The Grass

With this, their third album in less than two years, Ottawa-via-Halifax’s The Grass offer forth their most focused collection yet.  With significantly improved production and a considerably...

Jaclyn Guillou

Jaclyn Guillou

 The Lover's Walk, is jazz vocalist Jaclyn Guillou's second album.  It transports you to a low lit, late night jazz club, softly clinking ice cubes and a bartender who's heard his share of luckless stories....

Geordie Haley