• Music

    Léa Boudreau – Lima​ç​on

    August 10, 2023 - By 

    empreintes DIGITALes are the finest record label in Canada specializing in electroacoustic music, acousmatics and musique concrète.  It pleased me to see that they are putting up their albums on Bandcamp, and I ended up being doubly rewarded by finding a composer who is new to me.  Léa Boudreau describes herself, rightly, as, “…(a) circuit maker, sound crafter, immersive environments builder.”  This particular album is lively and energetic for an experimental music album.  I have to say it’s a difficult one to describe, so do click on the Bandcamp link and enjoy the sounds.

  • Music

    Willos’ – From Now On

    March 21, 2023 - By 

    Willos’ are an Italian/Irish/Canadian folk band currently based in lovely Siena, Italy.  The name of the band is a play on Will o’ the Wisp, the band’s original name.  According to their bio, a French journalist that named the band “les willos”, it the name stuck. The music is bright, fresh, and it would have been brilliant to play this four days ago on St. Patrick’s Day, but it’s perfect music to brighten up our rather dour weather here locally.  For those of you who enjoy bands like The Chieftains, Craobh Rua and Planxty, you’re going to enjoy the hell out…

  • Music

    Tewksbury – Brutes

    July 6, 2022 - By 

    Douglas Tewksbury is an ambient musician out of, I believe, Canada.  I am quite impressed with the spacious and elegant nature of his music.  From his record label, HushHush’s Bandcamp site: “‘Brutes‘ serves as a follow-up Tewksbury’s debut album ‘Paths.’ Released by the boutique Dutch label Geertruida Records in June 2021, Paths signaled Tewksbury’s initial intersection of music with his full-time work as a professor and researcher. Currently teaching at Niagara University in Lewiston, New York with a specialization in the media’s role in interpreting and affecting the debate on climate change, Tewksbury’s academic work has taken him on travels…

  • Music

    Adrian Copeland – If This Were My Body

    May 1, 2022 - By 

    Sublime.  There’s no other word for it.  If you enjoy modern classical music, especially by composers like Gorecki, Ligeti or Penderecki, Canadian composer Adrian Copeland has something here which will appeal to you, with long, mournful drones, sparse instrumentation, and a rough, melancholic feel to the tracks.  Track 4, Heir to the Ember Sun, was my favorite track, as it stays within the classical realm, but adds elements and a pop structure that reminded me of the Penguin Cafe Orchestra. A fine album.  

  • Music

    William Shatner – Rocket Man

    April 1, 2022 - By 

    We’re going to have to wait until June 27th before we can actually hear a sample from this 7-inch single by the absolutely legendary actor/”singer”/raconteur and real-life astronaut William Shatner, but it’s pretty exciting to know he’s working with a prog-rock luminary like Steve Hillage covering Elton John’s Rocket Man and the metal god Ritchie Blackmore covering David Bowie’s Space Oddity as a B-side  Click here to read more about this release.

  • Music

    Diana Hayes/Andy Meyers – Deeper Into The Forest

    February 8, 2022 - By 

    Andy Meyers is the former guitarist of Toronoto art-punk legends The Scenics.  He’s gone off to do more exploratory work after moving to the Vancouver area, and this, his latest work, is a collection of soundscapes set to the poetry and vocals of fellow Canadians Diana Hayes and Susheela Dawne. From the release’s Bandcamp website: Composer/producer Andy Meyers was co-recipient of Canada Council Grants to score two CDs of spoken word with award winning poet Brian Brett. (“an often unsettling meld of orphan sounds and menacing undercurrents, and an offbeat celebration of those old staples: love, experience, sex and death.”…

  • Music

    Various Artists – Artoffact Records 2021 Sampler

    January 22, 2022 - By 

    2021 was a very solid year for electro-industrial record label Artoffact Records out of Canada.  Some of the more incredible cuts from this compilation come from The Hafler Trio & Reptilicus, Cevin Key (from Skinny Puppy), Kælan Mikla with Alcest and of course, Canada’s own Front Line Assembly-related project, Noise Unit.  A really good introduction to a pivotal record company.

  • Music

    Raphael Weinroth-Browne – Worlds Within Live

    December 19, 2021 - By 

    Raphael Weinroth-Browne is a fine cellist from Canada.  He weaves together contemporary classical music, post-rock, post-metal and even some hints of ambient.  From Raphael’s Bandcamp site: “Realizing Worlds Within in the studio was more of a process of discovery rather than one of conscious creation. Long after its release, I felt that I was still getting to know the music and understand its nature. Learning to recreate the album live was an extension of this process which has taken me full circle, back to the initial impulse from which this music took seed, much in the same way that the…

  • Music

    Yu Su – Yellow River Blue

    February 27, 2021 - By 

    Chinese-Canadian composer Yu Su produces an album that left me pleasantly surprised by.  Though I found this download under “ambient” music, it turns out that it may have more to do with the motorik music of Neu! quietly subdued by elements of dub, dance music and wee touches of Chinese traditional music buried underneath.  She has launched her own record label, bié Records, which is based in my working location, Beijing, China. As I plan to return in June, provided the government there opens the doors again, I’ll have to look the label up and see what else is coming…