Album Reviews

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  Home Front Can't Be Beaten Down on 'Games of Power'

  PUBLISHED Mar 2, 2023

  Home Front's first album feels more like a lost classic than a modern debut, a thrilling convergence of eras that spans uplifting new wave,...

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  Gayance's 'Mascarade' Is a Self-Assured Warning Shot

  PUBLISHED Mar 1, 2023

  Montreal-raised producer Gayance's debut LP, Mascarade, is an eclectic fusion of influences that appears to exist in a constant state of ev...

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  Phantom Lung's 'Abhorrent Entity' Is an Unrelenting Ride

  PUBLISHED Feb 28, 2023

  Phantom Lung harken back to a golden period of death metal/grindcore in Canadian music. Following in a similar vein to that of Ion Dissonan...

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  'Cracker Island' Makes the Case for Gorillaz Being Damon Albarn's Quintessential Project

  PUBLISHED Feb 24, 2023

  The best Gorillaz albums play out a bit like mixtapes, with leader Damon Albarn's pop-rock Blur-isms going toe-to-toe with an ever-shifting...

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  U.S. Girls Evolve Again on the Sticky and Synthetic 'Bless This Mess'

  PUBLISHED Feb 24, 2023

  On "Only Daedalus," the juicy disco romp that opens U.S. Girls' nervy, synthetic fantasia Bless This Mess, Meg Remy finds herself lost in t...

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  Gabrielle Shonk Meets Your Gaze on 'Across the Room'

  PUBLISHED Feb 23, 2023

  Across the Room, the sophomore album from Quebec City's Gabrielle Shonk, began with a question: how do you admit that you've veered off the...

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  Bria Plays with the Past on Fiery 'Cuntry Covers Vol. 2'

  PUBLISHED Feb 23, 2023

  Over the past few decades, covers records have tended towards filler; stop-gap releases that let artists signal their street cred while kee...

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  Begonia Is Skyward-Bound on 'Powder Blue'

  PUBLISHED Feb 22, 2023

  Winnipeg's Alexa Dirks, otherwise known as pop powerhouse Begonia, doesn't care what people think of her. Her quick-witted, self-reflective...