“I carry masks, we all do. We all carry masks with us for different situations. We use them as shields and protect ourselves from the outside. I think, for the most part, we need to get rid of those masks and get down to what is real.” In Flames is undoubtedly one of Sweden’s most […]

A terrifying chorus of drones swarm like wasps over a desolate landscape. Gnawing and building and growing in strength, crushing you like the weight of ice, expanding and stretching over a fast expanse. You feel trapped until the sweet release of melancholy pulls you under — the calm after the squall. This is Side A […]

“This album is about letting go of any lingering traces of internalized homophobia inside of me and finally embracing who I am.” Vancouver avant-garde pop artist Devours has been pushing boundaries since the release of his last record Late Bloomer, when he achieved the feat of making a massive-sounding album with studio quality in his […]

Upon the first full listen of Hexed, the forthcoming record from Finland’s extreme metal outfit Children of Bodom, scheduled for a March 8 release, it’s hard to argue that this may be the band’s heaviest and most thought-out record in recent memory. Hexed feels like 2000’s Follow the Reaper meets 2009’s Blooddrunk mixed with flavours […]

Cass McCombs isn’t in pursuit. Making music and playing music is what it’s about for the veteran songwriter and his approach is refreshing. He doesn’t pretend to have the answers, responding with awareness of everything he doesn’t know. “I don’t have Spotify, I don’t use that. I don’t even really know what it is,” he […]

On “Some Mutts (Can’t Be Muzzled),” Amyl and the Sniffers cut right to the quick, declaring what could be their thesis in one gleeful, defiant snarl. Inside two-and-a-half-minutes of Raw Power-esque proto-punk boogie, you get the message: rock ‘n’ roll ain’t done with you yet. And although comparisons to the Stooges spring to mind, these […]

In an age where relationships are measured in milliseconds with swipes right and digitized hearts littering our notifications, 36?’s newest album, Milk Mountain, comes across as the soundtrack for figuring yourself out amidst all the noise and chaos. It’s a complex record, one that takes frontman-songwriter Taylor Cochrane’s precocious talent for putting together (and pulling […]

The last few years have seen an explosive wave of indie rock hit the mainstream, thanks to a select number of influential music curators crafting dreamy playlists that lead to a rapid growth of bedroom pop performers. Amongst these is NYC-based psychedelic indie group Crumb. A fusion of 2000s indie, jazz and pop, each of […]

Carl Newman is sitting on a chic couch in a vacant corner of Toronto’s Chelsea Hotel, basking in confident tranquility. He’s calm, cool, collected, and sipping on a latte as he meets with the press. The musician is mentally preparing to lead his band, The New Pornographers, on yet another tour — this time in […]

International funnyman Tom Green first started messing around with music when he was a kid, growing up in Ottawa. With a secondhand drum machine and an Akai sampler, he’d loop 70s funk, R&B, and jazz cuts on his Atari computer, making beats and rapping over them. Of course, Green was also slowly carving out a […]