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Review: Revocation deftly mix death metal and H.P. Lovecraft on The Outer Ones
A review of Revocation's new album The Outer Ones. H.P. Lovecraft is fitting source material for the Boston band, who revel in the confrontation between man and the vastness of the universe. more
Review: High On Fire are nostalgic without a wink on Electric Messiah
On their new album Electric Messiah, High On Fire feel like a heavy metal band in the purest sense without stooping to the self-conscious “old metal” revivalism of some of their contemporaries. more
Lil Wayne's comeback is scattered, but he's still got it
Album review: On Lil Wayne's long-awaited The Carter V, he shows he can still hang with contemporary rap flows and sometimes improve on them. more
Review: Marie Davidson's Working Class Woman is full of funny and furious techno
Anxiety, humour and determination go hand in hand on the Montreal electronic producer's fourth album more
Le Pigeon
Elisapie's The Ballad Of A Runaway Girl is musically and narratively stunning
Review: on her new album The Ballad Of A Runaway Girl, Salluit-born, Montreal-based singer Elisapie presents a mix of Indigenous folk covers and rich, genre-bending celebration of self. more
Justin Broadbent
Review: Metric go back to the beginning to sound new again on Art of Doubt
Album review: on Metric's seventh album Art Of Doubt, the long-running indie rock band shows familiarity doesn't have to be a curse. more
Lou Phelps is a laid-back and malleable MC on 002/LOVE ME
On Lou Phelps's new album, 002/LOVE ME, executive produced by his brother Kaytranada, the Montreal rapper is comfortable revelling within the crevices of beats rather than lording over them more
Brodie West gathers some of Toronto's best improvisers for his first Quintet album
Album review: Clips, the first album billed to the Brodie West Quintet, is a testament to the versatility that can be found in a jazz group with a ton of chemistry. more
Review: 17-year-old Toronto rapper Lil Berete impresses on his debut mixtape
Lil Berete, the current pride of Regent Park, could stand to personalize his northern trap style on his debut mixtape Icebreaker, but the potential here is vast. more
Vanessa Heins
Review: The Dirty Nil are totally committed to the power of rock on Master Volume
Dundas, Ontario trio The Dirty Nil exist more for the primal act of rock music than its culture, and their delightful, precise new album Master Volume hints at why. more
Maisie Cousins
Review: Anna Calvi uses rock 'n' roll to subvert the gender binary on Hunter
Album review: Singer/guitar shredder Anna Calvi is in a new era of openness, and it's pushed her to new heights on this third album, Hunter. more
Diemonds' third album reveres rock 'n' roll... maybe a bit too much
Album review: the eponymous album from Toronto hard rockers Diemonds acts as a defining statement for the band. more
Review: Animal Collective dive deep on Tangerine Reef
Album review: Animal Collective's aquatic-themed new project Tangerine Reef plays as the ambient soundtrack to an hour-long coral reef feature film. more
Colin Medley
Matthew “Doc” Dunn shows why he's a hidden Toronto gem on Lightbourn
Matthew "Doc" Dunn, The Cosmic Range instrumentalist and U.S. Girls collaborator reins, in his spacy and jazzy tendencies on his new album Lightbourn, while showing how expansive a folk record can be. more
Bao Ngo
Review: Mitski's Be The Cowboy is a bold exploration of loneliness
Indie singer/songwriter Mitski takes risks on her new genre-defying album Be The Cowboy and it pays off in a big way. more
Nicki Minaj's Queen fails to make full use of her talents
Album review: Nicki Minaj's Queen. Her inconsistent mix of romantic vulnerability and cartoonish boasting is starting to get old. more
Manor Of Infinite Forms sets Tomb Mold apart in Toronto's death metal scene
Toronto's Tomb Mold, fleshed out from a duo into a four-piece, take chances rhythmically and compositionally, and it pays off on their new album Manor Of Infinite Forms. more
The debut album from Toronto rap trio Prime Boys should be heard worldwide
Prime Boys' debut album Koba World is both celebratory and mournful – the Toronto trio's first music since their manager and friend Koba Prime's murder in a Queen West shooting. more
Jeremy Rodney-Hall
Review: Jazz Cartier makes his play for stardom on Fleurever
Jazz Cartier's new album Fleurever, reviewed: On his third full-length and first on a major label, the Toronto rapper is efficiently and single-mindedly focused on success – almost too focused more
The Internet are at their most fully realized on Hive Mind
The Internet's new album Hive Mind, reviewed: Back in 2011 when co-founders Syd and Matt Martians debuted the project as a skeletal funk offshoot of Odd Future, you'd never guess how far they'd come. more