STEVE MARRINER HEAR MY HEART CORDOVA BAY RECORDS Veteran blues musician and producer Steve Marriner proves that Canadian blues is alive and well, with the release of his new album, Hear My Heart. Well-known as a founding member of the JUNO [...]
DAN MANGAN NATURAL LIGHT ARTS & CRAFTS Dan Mangan’s new album Natural Light is really something. Touted as being a return to his folkie, singer-songwriter roots, it is a work of simple beauty. Recorded with bandmates Jason Haberman, Mike [...]
THE DREAM EATERS THE DREAM EATERS QUARTERLY REPORT: Q125 INDEPENDENT The Brooklyn and Toronto-based pop duo The Dream Eaters has released a new EP. Listeners may have become aware of this act, fronted by Elizabeth LeBaron and Jake Zavracky, [...]
SKYDIGGERS DREAMS & SECOND CHANCES SKYDIGGERS PRODUCTIONS LTD. Who knew, when we were grooving to now-classic Skydiggers tunes in the 1990s, that this roots rock band from Toronto would still be releasing relevant, vital and energized new [...]
KURT SWINGHAMMER & MAURY LAFOY (THE COCKTAIL TWINS) @ SOGROVE CONCERT SERIES, TORONTO APRIL 30, 2025 Multi-disciplinary artist Kurt Swinghammer, and collaborator Maury LaFoy, recently presented Swinghammer’s 2011 album Turpentine Wind in its [...]
JERRY LEGER LUCKY STREAK (LATENT LOUNGE – LIVE FROM THE HANGAR) LATENT RECORDINGS There is a through line that cuts across the world of roots and rock singer-songwriters. That line passes alongside the likes of Buddy Holly and Del Shannon. It [...]
STEPHEN FEARING THE EMPATHIST GING RECORDS Stephen Fearing’s latest recording, The Empathist, is simply a stunning album. Looking down through his career, audiences have watched Fearing through all his changes: as a solo troubadour, as one third [...]
LORI CULLEN @ SOGROVE CONCERT SERIES, TORONTO MARCH 1, 2025 Certain live music experiences are simply ‘special’. Nowhere is this more evident than with Lori Cullen’s recent run of shows, featuring songs from her 2024 album The Thunder And The [...]
APAULL HOMOGENY FURNACE ROOM RECORDS With the release of his latest album, the electronic music artist apaull continues his steady drop of thought provoking, dance-inspired creations. For those who are aware of apaull’s work, Homogeny will have [...]
I KNOW IT’S ONLY MISTLETOE (BUT I LIKE IT) SPILL MAGAZINE DIGS DEEP INTO SOME OF THE BEST/WORST 2024 CHRISTMAS RELEASES (PART TWO) Well, it is that time of year again, to gather friends and family and get together for Christmas, the most [...]
MENNO VERSTEEG WHY WE RUN ROYAL MOUNTAIN RECORDS Menno Versteeg has plenty to be proud of. The Hollerado co-founder and front man, who also performs and records with Anyway Gang, has previously released music under the pseudonym Mav Karlo. Why [...]
THE PSYCH FI’S CAN CON BOBO INTEGRAL When we think about psychedelic music, our thoughts typically go to the bygone era of the 1960s and bands such as early Pink Floyd, Jefferson Airplane, and Sgt. Pepper-Era Beatles. Psychedelic rock is [...]
TV ON THE RADIO DESPERATE YOUTH, BLOOD THIRSTY BABES (20th ANNIVERSARY EDITION) TOUCH AND GO RECORDS Looking back on the release of their 2004 debut album, Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes, Brooklyn art-rockers TV On The Radio commemorate [...]
JERRY LEGER AND THE SITUATION w/ LORI YATES @ HUGH’S ROOM LIVE, TORONTO NOVEMBER 7, 2024 The fans were out, and spirits were high at Toronto’s east-end acoustic/roots venue, Hugh’s Room Live, for a sold-out show featuring folk/roots [...]
MAN AT WORK A CONVERSATION WITH JERRY LEGER There’s no rest for the wicked, or so the saying goes. With this in mind, Jerry Leger has been wickedly busy of late. The past year has been an eventful one for the Toronto singer-songwriter. From the [...]
I YA TOYAH DRAMA INDEPENDENT The new album from the industrial darkwave artist I Ya Toya is the aptly-named DRAMA. The drama is truly high in this 10-song collection, co-produced by I Ya Toyah (a.k.a. Ania Tarnowska) and Walter Flakus of [...]
BOOM – A FILM ABOUT THE SONICS SCRATCH VINYL FILMS IN THEATRES SEPTEMBER 13, 2024 After a number of successful festival screenings, the producers of “BOOM: A Film About The Sonics” are releasing the film to theatres in select cities. The [...]
OLD MAN FLANAGAN’S GHOST SIMPLE LITTLE BOAT INDEPENDENT An act that is well-known for tearing it up in pubs, and at festivals and public events, the Toronto indie Celtic stalwarts Old Man Flanagan’s Ghost (OMFG) have released their third [...]
MONIQUE BARRY HAAK INDEPENDENT HAAK is the fifth album from Toronto-based singer, songwriter and keyboardist, Monique Barry. It is her first full album release since 2013’s Wake, and while it took an unexpected seven years to complete, it has [...]
LORI CULLEN THE THUNDER AND THE BAY INDEPENDENT With the release of The Thunder And The Bay, Toronto singer-songwriter Lori Cullen definitely has something to celebrate. The album is Cullen’s first full-length release since 2022’s Blood Wonder, [...]
RICHARD THOMPSON SHIP TO SHORE NEW WEST RECORDS Singer-songwriter-guitarist Richard Thompson is celebrating the release of new music with his album Ship To Shore. Thompson first made a name for himself in the 1960s as a pioneer of British [...]
DON McLEAN AMERICAN BOYS BMG/THE ORCHARD Imagine that you’re a veteran singer-songwriter in your late 70s. You have had a storied career, and you wrote one of the most iconic pop songs of the 20th century. What kind of recording do you make in [...]
INDIGO GIRLS – IT’S ONLY LIFE AFTER ALL OSCILLOSCOPE LABORATORIES MAY 7, 2024 After an official Canadian release in April 2024, Oscilloscope Laboratories celebrates the digital release of the Indigo Girls documentary, It’s Only Life [...]
EXTC – TERRY CHAMBERS AND FRIENDS @ HEINEKEN STAGE, CLASSIC BOWL, MISSISSAUGA MAY 5, 2024 Fact: the English new wave pop band XTC famously stopped making live concert appearances in 1982, and became a studio-based entity. For fans, this [...]
