Aaron Read – Even Rats Can Feel The Sun

“Even Rats Can Feel The Sun,”Aaron Read’s newest album, balances the playful lines between soft lyrics, and sun-styled guitar rifts. Built from the place where pop meets unique, ”Even Rats Can Feel The Sun” comes together as gently as the tide washing driftwood away. The entire album feels like a late night walk on a sandy beach – relaxed, warm, yet still a little adventurous. 

Aaron Read’s music is as cautious of its listeners as it is of its self. It washes in, pulls you out, and carries to back to shore. While Read explores the limits of his electric guitar, his quirkiness is undeniable. ”Even Rats Can Feel The Sun” is an ode to the ease and beauty of summer. Wander out with Read and you are sure to be taken care of.

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Watermelon – Cassette

Watermelon - CassetteTop notch lo-fi from Vancouver’s non-stop Green Burrito Records. Watermelon get the downer party started. Their twinkling jam pop seems augmented by a handful of sleeping pills and cheap champagne. “Golden Ray Migration” is a perfect example. Put this in your ears and vibe.

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Shahman – Sounds That Look Like Us

Shahman - Sounds That Look Like UsThe title’s irony is obvious – clearly such innocuous-looking brothers such as the Johnsons merit an innocuous sounding record, right? Wrong. Shahman’s “Sounds That Look Like Us” is  crushing, devastating, and best of all, unpredictable. It’s the soundtrack to a dark, empty room: you’ll never know what lurks within until it’s too late. Take, for example, “Like An Old Friend”, which features whispered, ethereal vocals, tempered with subtle, sparse drumwork — that is, until the track explodes into fiery screams, howling guitars, and relentless noise. All in two minutes. The last words of the album — and a perfect conclusion — are “background white noise fodder for your dreams”. Close your eyes, delve in, and explore.

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We Are The City – Violent

We Are The City - ViolentWe Are The City return with their weird tincture of delicate vocals with raucous janky pop, honed like never before. Violent is a more meandering and reflective effort than the catchier releases of yore, but nevertheless, their earworm quality still presides high above the multifarious masses of canadian pop outfits, all while plowing a greater depth of expression. Violent is perhaps their most artful, perhaps their most lasting. I think its safe to get the polaris buzz started for this one. You heard it here! Put it in your ears.

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Doug Hoyer – To Be A River

“I’m no longer young, with eyes open wide,” Doug Hoyer sings on “The One For Me,” off his newest LP “To Be A River”. Doug has been called a lot of things throughout his career: storyteller, troubadour, pop purveyor. But older? Wiser? Reflective? Contemplative? … Doug?

That’s “To Be A River”. That’s Doug Hoyer after traversing the country year in and year out, after taking his tunes to the Halifax Pop Explosion, Sled Island, CMJ, and North by Northeast. That’s Doug Hoyer coming home and asking “what’s next?”

That’s Doug Hoyer, taking the wonder and awe of his previous albums and focusing it on day-to-day life. Falling in (and out of) love. Having a dead-end job. Making small talk. Yearning for one’s childhood.

And yet, Doug’s playfulness, musical invention, and ability to write hooks remains intact. The punctuated horns on “One Foot”. The triumphant strings on “Forever Now”. The galactic backbeat on “Bulgogi Pizza”. The jaunty whistle on “To Fall in Love”. That’s the beauty of “To Be A River” — this is Doug tackling the uncertainty of what’s around the bend as only Doug can.

When asked what “To Be A River” means to Doug, he simply answered “It’s our lives.” It’s the ups, the downs, the twists, the turns, the highs, the lows. It’s taking the mundane, and turning it into magic. That’s Doug Hoyer, and that’s what Doug Hoyer does best.

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The Cameron Brothers Band – Ratios

The Cameron Brothers, Scott and Braden, are well traveled. As youths they gusted about rural and urban Ontario, never settling for long. Where families are uprooted, transplanted so frequently into new soils, you find the strongest bonds. Now residents of Toronto, their album features an envious dramatis personae, consisting of some of the strongest characters in the city’s rising folk scene. Notable are vocal harmonies by Kirty and Raven Shields, and a production/musician credit to the insatiable Aaron Comeau. But the album’s strongest moments find the brothers at the forefront: Scott’s writing is strong, his vocals gruff and grounding, an anchor across prairie, shield and coastal terrain. Skip ahead to “Whiskey Winter,” or “Where the River Meets the Sea” for a few of the best moments of the album: the brothers driving, the cast piping in from the backseat.

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Hilotrons – At Least There’s Commotion

Hilotrons - At Least There's CommotionMichael John Dubue is on some other shit. This is a pop rock album that sneaks through the doggie door. This is a pop rock album run through a food processor. “Runaway Heart” is like Tom Petty at neon bowling, “Venus At Your Back Door” will put blood in your nose, “Emergency” is Fleetwood Mac scoring Twin Peaks. Writing this is as fun as this album is. Don’t sleep.

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