Toronto’s massive Canadian Music Week festival has wrapped up for another year. If you took in all it had to offer, you’re likely still catching up on your sleep. With 35 venues and over 600 artists, choices for how to spend an evening were almost endless. Our Part II of Canadian Music Week is a photographic revisiting of some of […]

Spring has been a long time coming, so we’re all due for some excitement to shake away the Winter woes. With that in mind, consider taking in Canadian Music Week. CMW is a festival intent on entertaining, educating, and featuring music, comedy, and film, and along with both trade/award shows and a conference. Now in its 36th year, the week-long festival […]

Music can be about much more than pleasing tunes and engaging lyrics. Canadian singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Steve Benjamins brings a touch of introspection to his single “Manhood”, exploring what it takes to be masculine at a time when male behaviour is coming under a critical spotlight. We’re delighted to premiere the single and Benjamin’s video here today. Sometimes less is […]

Fancy a bit of hip-hop influenced electro gorgeousness? Meet Bousada, a producer and singer/songwriter who creates everything himself in a little room in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. He gets out of the little room occasionally too, performing live with a loop machine, blurring the line between DJ and performer by playing, singing, and sequencing on the spot. Shake is Bousada’s […]

A bomb scare didn’t stop Mauno making an appearance in London’s Islington. I’m glad they braved the cordons. So I continue my tour of small venues in London. This time it was The Islington Pub, which, as you may have guessed, is another pre-war, red-brick pub with a trendy bar and a small music venue off to one side. The […]

We picked out Bobby Uzóma’s forthcoming EP as one of 2017’s most anticipated records back at the start of the year. Then we waited and still are waiting. The EP is still a work in progress, and we completely understand that good things take time. In the meantime, we’re delighted that Bobby has decided to reward our patience with a […]

The Canadian-Ukrainian duo Ummagma have been releasing some really amazing  music over the last few years. We’ve covered them a few different times for multiple different releases. The duo of Shauna McLarnon and Alexander Kretov create dreamy music which draws influence from dreampop and shoegaze. On November 13, Ummagma released their latest EP, Frequency on Raphalite Records. Frequency is easy […]

Canadian-born and Nashville-based country singer-songwriter Lindi Ortega played to an almost sold-out crowd at the NAC Fourth Stage. The evening began with Toronto artist Sam Cash. The roots-rocker, whose style resembles that of Elvis Costello and Joel Plaskett and two artists he admires, played songs from his debut album, 2011’s Teenage Hunger  and his most recent album, 2013’s Stand Together, Fall Together. For those […]

Canadian-born, Nashville-based singer and songwriter Lindi Ortega is back with a fourth album called Faded Gloryville. Since its release in August 2015, the  artist known for her authentic country voice and red cowboy boots has been touring the country sharing stories of love, loss and faded dreams. Ortega was recently awarded Roots Artist of the Year at the 2015 Canadian Country Music Awards, her second win […]

  When we first heard A. Dyjecinski‘s “I’m the Woods”, we were perplexed. The song is simple, stripped down, and minimalistic. It’s raw and gritty. Yet, we were drew in by the power and vulnerability of Dyjecinski’s voice and the haunting sound made by the slight twinging of the guitars and the quiet drumming. It was a song that we […]

The CBC Searchlight competition has begun! Public voting is open and It’s time to chose your 10 favorite entries from each region. Here are the first 5 randomly chosen entries from Ottawa to get you started. Come back tomorrow for the next set! Public voting begins Monday, March 30, 2015 at 12:01 am ET until Monday, April 13, 2015 at […]

Late in 2014, transcontinental band The Ryan O’Reilly Band, who are named after the band’s frontman, released a new EP, Northern Lights, and it’s being released for North American audiences. Combining folk, rock, and blues, the band makes mid-tempo, contemplative music. The lead single and title track, for example, is a romantic ballad while “The One” takes more of a […]

It’s really incredible to look at the state of shoegaze within the last year. Seeing bands like the reunited Slowdive headlining festivals all around the world, and an incredible revival of the genre as a whole have positioned this year to be one of the best for the genre. Ear to Ear Records, a new Welsh-Canadian label, have put together […]

Raw Sugar Cafe Hosts Kris and Dee with special guest Megan Hamilton on Saturday, September 20 at 8pm at Raw Sugar Cafe (692 Somerset Street West). Admission is $10 at the door.   Kris and Dee Kris and Dee are Kingston, Ontario folk-pop duo Kris Abbott (The Pursuit of Happiness) and Dee McNeil (The Strap-Ons) Intimate. With a contemporary take on a […]