Staff Picks

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  Exclaim!'s Staff Picks: Bratboy Deliver Rock 'n' Roll Mayhem with Precision on 'Bratworld'

  PUBLISHED May 8, 2023

  Guitarist Bella Bébé and bassist Megan Magdelena used to play in the backing band of proggy, poppy post-hardcore songwriter Jo Passed — and...

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  Exclaim!'s Staff Picks: corook and Olivia Barton's "if i were a fish" Finds Depth in the Twee

  PUBLISHED May 5, 2023

  Even if you're not a TikTok user, you probably already can't avoid corook (a.k.a. Corinne Savage) and their (former Exclaim! Staff Pick) pa...

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  Exclaim!'s Staff Picks: PJ Harvey's "A Child's Question, August" Is Uninterested in Answers

  PUBLISHED May 5, 2023

  PJ Harvey abandoned theatrical bombast a long while ago, instead allowing her compositions to swirl and gather like smoke as she moved beyo...

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  Exclaim!'s Staff Picks: Alfa Mist Pushes Toward an Even Bolder Future on 'Variables'

  PUBLISHED May 4, 2023

  Around this time last year, I was fortunate to catch a remarkable set by Alfa Mist, who enthralled a Toronto crowd of around 100 with his t...

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  Exclaim!'s Staff Picks: Marta Złakowska's 'When It's Going Wrong' Is So Right

  PUBLISHED May 3, 2023

  Teaming up once again with trip-hop mainstay Tricky, Polish singer Marta Złakowska's debut is quick and effective. This time around, the pa...

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  Exclaim!'s Staff Picks: zensei ゼンセー Builds a Starry-Eyed Lo-Fi Dreamscape on 'destination heartbreak'

  PUBLISHED May 2, 2023

  Don't let the title fool you: ominous foreshadowing is actually used pretty sparingly on destination heartbreak, the debut full-length rele...

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  Exclaim!'s Staff Picks: Louise Burns Shows Off an 'Element' of Her Studio Wizardry

  PUBLISHED May 1, 2023

  In addition to being an ever-evolving singer-songwriter, Vancouver's Louise Burns has become an accomplished producer — and her studio wiza...

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  Exclaim!'s Staff Picks for April 17, 2023: Shygirl, Charlotte Cornfield, Navy Blue

  PUBLISHED Apr 17, 2023

  The first weekend of Coachella is done and dusted — and, the even more widely-celebrated first weekend of not spending the entirety of your...