Kids are going back to school, leaves are just beginning to turn and all those sweaters and scarves in you closet are quietly whispering your name. Whether you feel energized or demoralized by the onset of autumn, there's no way to stop it's cooling wave — you've simply gotta ride it out.
September's New Faves are here to facilitate that ride, providing the gentle folk, rhythmic pop, grinding digi-punk and hardcore maelstroms you need as winter creeps in on the distant horizon. From Vancouver and Ottawa to Montreal and Nova Scotia, this month's crew brings the goods from every corner of Canada.
Keep reading to meet Exclaim!'s latest New Faves, and head over to our Spotify playlist to hear them alongside our previous homegrown favourites.
Goldie Boutilier
Sydney, NS
For fans of: Kacey Musgraves, Dolly Parton, Orville Peck
Raised on a healthy diet of Tammy Wynette and Dolly Parton, Goldie Boutilier makes music that's a melancholic, glamorous melange of old-school country sounds and new-school insight. This year's The Actress EP — following 2022's Cowboy Gangster Politician and 2023's Emerald Year — is all about power, finding Boutilier fighting for control in love, life and career. She's set to head on tour this fall, bringing her delicate, slow-boil intensity out on the open road.
Kaelen Bell
Nolan Fae
Vancouver, BC
For fans of: Big Thief, Conor Oberst, Phoebe Bridgers
The four tracks on Nolan Fae's debut EP, Scene After Scene, showcase vulnerable and rueful lyrics laid over soothing layers of acoustic and electric guitars. Recorded at Helm Studios in Vancouver, BC, the production is wonderfully atmospheric and moody. Fae's ability to create a scene and illuminate their emotional state through the disposition of these songs is palpable.
Francis Baptiste
Maeesha b
Ottawa, ON
For fans of: Tems, Burna Boy
At only 17, Ottawa's Maeesha B has tapped into a surprisingly mature vein of burbling pop music, shot through with a quiet self-assuredness and knowing playfulness. "Juice," her latest single, is perhaps her strongest proof of concept, riding a sturdy beat but managing to flirt with feather-light energy.
Kaelen Bell
lnlyboi
Toronto, ON
For fans of: Kevin Abstract, Earl Sweatshirt, Allan Kingdom
Emerging from within the overcrowded Toronto hiphop scene with the heartfelt, pop-infused stylings of boy band superstar Kevin Abstract, lnlyboi's debut EP from earlier this year, lnly origins, is vulnerable — the artist writes about social pressures, heartbreak, aspirations of artistic success and wealth, and the brutal state of the world all in four short singles. One EP, four songs, one music video and a self-titled community-driven music PR brand; the rapper has big plans for 2024, and he's only just getting started.
Sarah Jessica Rintjema
PISS
Vancouver, BC
For fans of: GEL, the HIRS Collective, Perfect Pussy
It's been a PISS summer in Vancouver. The hardcore outfit has rapidly established itself as a must-see with a slew of recent shows including a DULF fundraiser and Music Waste Festival. More than any other local hardcore band today, PISS place crucial emphasis on words, those of both singer and poet-at-heart Taylor Zantingh's and, through audio samples, feminist activist Andrea Dworkin's (ever committed to accessibility, the quartet also includes captions in its videos). Over corrosive noise and riffs that clench, wrench and tear like the jaws of life, Zantingh unpacks her experiences with body image issues and codependency as she shouts, growls and shrieks in protest against enculturated ideas about female sexuality and the subjugation of women. As she whispers, then later snarls, on "time loop at hot slit," "Some words are bigger than bodies / I never learned how to get them out of my mouth." But with iron determination, PISS are putting in the work, learning skills and habits that can nourish anyone. Pay attention and follow along.
Leslie Ken Chu
RIPPPER
Montreal, QC
For fans of: Grimes, Fever Ray, MYTHS
On a pair of 2021 singles, Quinne Rodgers, Mia Morrigan and Dorian Greenwood's RIPPPER took names, cast spells and sharpened knives. Chaotically enchanted by everything from witchcraft and faerie lore to anti-capitalist protest and knocking back benzos in the shadow of climate crisis, on HEXXUS PRAXIS (arriving September 20) the trio's reconvened, beckoning listeners into pulsing blacklight Boschian landscapes with fragmented helium chants, gremlin recitations of Keats and a visit from the ghost of Hamlet.
Tom Beedham
Teleportoise
Guelph, Ontario
For fans of: Mastodon, the Ocean, the Atlas Moth
Teleportoise has been a stronghold in the Ontario heavy music scene for quite some time. Too progressive to be considered a sludge metal band and yet too heavy to be considered a progressive metal band, Teleportoise operates securely between these two worlds. Their most recent EP, Solar, is a reflection on the moods, environments and emotions that occur over the course of a day with the promise of tomorrow. Be sure to keep an eye out for live dates.
Mark Tremblay
Érika Zarya
Quebec, QC
For fans of: Adele, SZA, Jorja Smith
Quebec City mainstay Érika Zarya has been honing her craft and developing her brand of alternative R&B for a minute, and she's getting ready to take her burgeoning career to the next level. After back to back shows at the Civilization Museum and FME festival, she opened for French Superstar GIMS in front of a packed Agora de Québec. With the release of her upcoming EP Transit, she's setting the stage for an album that she'll be developing in Paris during her stay at the Résidence des Récollets. Zarya is definitely one to follow as she comes into her own musically and professionally — she's fueling the momentum behind Quebec's R&B revival.
Antoine-Samuel Mauffette Alavo
Listen to tracks from these and other New Faves on our Spotify playlist: