The Avalanches Give Their Signature Sound a Collaborative Update on 'We Will Always Love You'

Published Dec 14, 2020

Albums by the Avalanches used to introduce themselves like dreamy street festivals — crowd chatter, hot pavement, snippets of music — arrivi...

Danny Bell & His Disappointments Bring Big Feelings to Small-City Living on 'Songs for the Town'

Published Dec 11, 2020

An accordion's magic lies in its wonky instability. Even expertly played, there remains the feeling that one miscounted note or mashed key w...

Dirty Projectors Rekindle Their Spark with '5EPs'

Published Nov 20, 2020

While Dirty Projectors have always essentially been the Dave Longstreth show, it's no secret that it was the project's female members who ca...

'Encounter' Shows Beyries' Hunger for Discovery

Published Nov 13, 2020

If you want a masterclass in building a song that simmers without stagnating, "What We Have" is a good place to start. The opening track on...

nêhiyawak's Matthew Cardinal Drifts into Astral Ambience on 'Asterisms'

Published Oct 26, 2020

For such improvisational, airy music, there's little breathing room on Matthew Cardinal's Asterisms — no long stretches of silence, no piece...

William Prince Explores the Bridge Between Indigeneity and Christianity on 'Gospel First Nation'

Published Oct 26, 2020

William Prince's Gospel First Nation is an incredibly complicated record that sounds like a summer breeze. Raised in Peguis First Nation, Pr...

The World Is Finally Ready for Beverly Glenn-Copeland, and 'Transmissions' Is the Perfect Introduction

Published Sep 29, 2020

Following years as a precious secret to a fortunate few, Beverly Glenn-Copeland has suddenly arrived. Now in his 70s, the songwriter and com...

Few Artists Are Genuinely Cool — but Roísín Murphy Proves That She's One of Them on 'Roísín Machine'

Published Sep 23, 2020

There are few artists who are genuinely cool — self-possessed and unserious, powerful and vulnerable, the kind of person you want to impress...

Marie Davidson Leaves the Dance Floor for Pop Allure on 'Renegade Breakdown'

Published Sep 22, 2020

Marie Davidson doesn't make untrue music. At its best, it feels like unbroken eye contact — her music is rarely cheerful, but it finds joy,...

Deradoorian Basks in the Darkness on 'Find the Sun'

Published Sep 17, 2020

Angel Deradoorian spent much of her career as a supporting player with Dirty Projectors, but her solo work has revealed an artist with a thr...

John Lost and the Cause's 'Casual Fitness' Is a Laid-Back Journey of the Senses

Published Aug 27, 2020

Certain records just reek of summer — hot pavement, bonfire smoke, cut grass and weed. Casual Fitness, the sophomore record from Calgary's J...

Knot Set Out to Finish What Krill Started on Their Self-Titled Debut Album

Published Aug 27, 2020

People had a lot of opinions about Krill — they were too juvenile, too cerebral, too self-aware, not self-aware enough. One thing that was d...

Angel Olsen Makes Familiar Songs Sound Entirely New on 'Whole New Mess'

Published Aug 25, 2020

Pulling threads of light from some unknown place, illuminating the darkness to reveal silhouettes of memory – this is Angel Olsen's craft. S...

With 'Mirrored Aztec,' Guided By Voices Continue to Make Great Albums Just for the Hell of It

Published Aug 17, 2020

Spotify CEO Daniel Ek recently told artists that they "can't record music once every three to four years and think that's going to be enough...

Despite Her Best Efforts, Taylor Swift's 'folklore' Is Still a Pop Album

Published Jul 27, 2020

Given her exhaustingly polarizing choke-hold on the public imagination, it can be hard to remember the whip-smart writer at the centre of th...

The Chicks Are Meaner and More Pop-Friendly Than Ever on 'Gaslighter'

Published Jul 15, 2020

The Chicks were always firebrands; truth tellers with a sharp eye for social commentary. But in the relatively quiet years since 2006's Taki...

Dehd Turn Simplicity into Transcendence on 'Flower of Devotion'

Published Jul 15, 2020

Self-sufficiency, drive, motivation – concepts soured by a world that demands you pull everything from yourself and work until you find enli...

Jessie Ware Has Fully Come into Her Own on 'What's Your Pleasure?'

Published Jun 30, 2020

The conversation surrounding Jessie Ware's luxurious What's Your Pleasure? has been a tug of war between reinvention and return to form — is...

Arca's Stunning 'KiCk i' Is a Fully Realized Vision of the Future

Published Jun 23, 2020

Alejandra Ghersi's world isn't like our own. It's a deeper and more complex place – liberated from binary notions of beauty and ugliness, of...

Savages' Jehnny Beth Finds Power in Softness on Solo Debut 'To Love Is to Live'

Published Jun 10, 2020

Those looking to fill their Savages-shaped void may be thrown for a loop by Jehnny Beth's To Love Is to Live — though it carries much of the...