It's a new year! Just like that, we're living in the hyper-future. Let's hope 2025 has more good to offer the world than 2024 did (this feels unlikely, but we have nothing if we don't have hope).
We also have nothing if we don't have music, so the first New Faves of 2025 are here to help you usher in this fresh 365. From thrashing noise and sunny garage pop to political R&B and squirrely indie rock, this month's batch of up-and-coming Canadian artists have you covered for the year to come.
Keep reading to meet Exclaim!'s latest New Faves, and head over to our Spotify playlist to hear them alongside our previous homegrown favourites.
Cut Deep
Charlottetown, PEI
For fans of: Tunic, Trash Talk
PEI has been pumping out some of the best heavy music in Canada for years, and Cut Deep waste no time boosting that reputation. After bursting onto the scene last summer with a fistful of gigs into the winter, the quartet kicked off New Year's Day with the release of their Model Citizen demo. Hard-hitting yet melodic, its five-tracks, which barely crack eight minutes total, will leave listeners on the pit floor, breathless, but begging for more.
Leslie Ken Chu
Dual Nature
Edmonton, AB
For fans of: Metz, Pissed Jeans, the Jesus Lizard
Born out of Edmonton's long, cold, dark winters comes Content, the new EP from Dual Nature. The five-piece act has slowly honed their ferocious noise-rock over the past decade, zeroing in on a merciless sound steeped in corrosive, screeching guitars and unrelenting drums. Fearlessly led by the warbled, haunted yelps from frontman Dezi DeHaan, Dual Nature's apocalyptic post-punk has the raw energy that rattles bottles off of shelves or at least blows out the sound system at your favourite dive bar.
Chris Gee
Dusk Before Dawn
Ajax, ON
For fans of: Burial Etiquette, Protest the Hero, Pageninetynine
Ajax-based post-hardcore band Dusk Before Dawn kicked off 2025 with a bang by releasing their debut single "Fish Bones." The band channels their vigorous energy into every second of the track, whether through inventive arrangements highlighting their range or switching between vocalists (including a guest spot by solo artist Tyger Wint) and vocal styles; going from clean singing to harsh screams in the blink of an eye. "Fish Bones" shows a band coming into their own. With a debut record in the works, watch out for more whiplash-inducing magic from Dusk Before Dawn.
Em Moore
Nate & the Busy Boys
Fredericton, NB
For fans of: King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard, Beach Boys, Weezer
Blending elements of garage with '60s surf pop, Nate & the Busy Boys' debut full length Busy Doing Nothing turns even the most blustery winter blues into a carefree day on the beach. These young bucks from Fredericton use all their vim and vigor to channel early Beach Boys, complete with shoo-bops and reverb-drenched Strat solos, delivering an album that would be just as at home in a dusty basement record collection as it would be on your Spotify running playlist. Standout tracks include "Burger Boy," which is about exactly what you'd suspect, and "Community Radio," a well-deserved ode to the real backbone of the Canadian music scene.
Penelope Stevens
Sam-r
Toronto, ON
For fans of: J. Cole, Joey Bada$$, Lowkey.
Syrian-Lebanese hip hop artist, drummer, audio engineer and producer Sam-r is a multi-talented Toronto-based musician who prioritizes community. His most recent release, "Dystopia," is a warm but painful display of solidarity with the people of Gaza, Sudan and Congo, Sam-r's only focus throughout 2024. Keep an eye on the rising musician's Instagram to catch him performing at many upcoming benefit shows across the city.
Sarah Jessica Rintjema
Sit Still
Bowmanville, ON
For fans of: Turnover, Medium Build, Sunnsetter
Winter has turned into the haziest days of summer with January's indie-pop single "Pollen." Sit Still is the solo project of producer Ty Callan, a Bowmanville-based multi-instrumentalist with just over 100 monthly listeners – meaning you still have the chance of saying you got here "before it was cool." The calming, warm energy of "Pollen" brings some much-needed life back into your bones while vocals featuring Kingstonite Nolan Hubbard focus on the luxurious freedom of cultivating your own solitude.
Emma Schuster
The Sun Through a Telescope
Ottawa, ON
For fans of: Torche, The Great Sabatini, Zoroaster
The Sun Through a Telescope is the solo brainchild project of renowned heavy music artist Leigh Newton (GREATHUNTER, Hamn, Daquiri), hellbent on creating masterful soundscapes of heavy drone and sludge. Unlike others in this genre, however, the music is never consistently morose and dreary, instead bordering on ecstatic and ethereal. The Sun Through a Telescope is a must for anyone who longs for sludge metal greats like Torche and Zoroaster.
Mark Tremblay
Yesterday's Man
Vancouver, BC
For fans of: Vivian Girls, Black Lips, Supermoon
Married collaborators Gal Av-Gay and Alie Lynch have each played in various Vancouver bands over the past decade-plus, the former with post-punkers Dumb and the latter with indie pop projects including Supermoon, Movieland and Kidnap Kids. Inevitably linking up as Yesterday's Man, their eponymous album on Mono Tapes highlights their self-described "classic indie rock," from crunchy slacker rock to wonky dalliances to cowpunk. Best of all is the sublimely seething "Fleetwood mac," which sounds like a treasured download from an MP3 blog.
Alex Hudson
Listen to tracks from these and other New Faves on our Spotify playlist: