cootie catcher — Shy at first (The Cooked Raw Label)
Shy at first, the second album from Toronto indie pop band cootie catcher, fittingly arrived with the first blush of spring. The album’s energetic sound, which the band describes as “indietronica,” perfectly matches the mood of a city starting to slough off another dreary winter and bashfully regain its optimism. Highlighted by the coy acoustic track “Clique clique” and the bright and catchy “Friend of a friend,” Shy at first is lined with electronic bleeps and bloops while lead vocal duties are playfully volleyed between band members. It’s a deeply charming record that will transport you back to the early aughts.
— Laura Stanley
PACKS — “before i was bleeding” (self-released)
PACKS delivers a contemplative song, stripping down their usual indie rock band formation to a duo: Madeline Link on vocals, acoustic guitar and bass clarinet, and Diego Parragué on keyboards. The unpretentious production hearkens back to ’90s lo-fi slacker rock acts like Sebadoh. Link’s poetic lyrics and haunting vocals gesture further back to the tradition of emotionally-complex ’70s folk singer-songwriters like Tim Buckley and Sandy Denny. It’s a refreshingly earnest listen in our post-post-ironic era.
— Daniel G. Wilson
Eliza Niemi — Progress Bakery (Vain Mina)
Toronto-based songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Eliza Niemi has a knack for writing songs that make you laugh one minute and cry the next. On her fourth solo release Progress Bakery, fellow Toronto artists like Evan Cartwright (Jennifer Castle, Andy Shauf), Dorothea Paas (U.S. Girls, Fucked Up), and Kenny Boothby (Little Kid) join Niemi as she softly spins pop songs that are wry and full of heart and intimate details. She makes everything from an Albuquerque airport to strawberry Pocky to your local grocery store feel important because they are. There’s meaning in everything and there’s beauty everywhere.
— Laura Stanley
Various artists — Paying For It (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (Mint Records)
Sook-Yin Lee’s most recent film is an adaptation of her ex-partner Chester Brown’s graphic novel, Paying For It. In addition to directing the film, she showcases her great strength as a musician along with Dylan Gamble of Hot Garbage. The soundtrack is impressive, pulling influences from all directions. It sounds classical and spacey and whimsical and high-brow. For a film that addresses the complex world of sex work, the soundtrack is not a disappointment. Like the characters in the film, the music defies categorization.
— Sarah Chodos
Customer Service —to you, after 2000 years (Royal Mountain Records)
Emo is thriving in Halifax. It’s even earned its own nomenclature among local enthusiasts: “pier emo.” Last Valentine’s Day, foundational pier emo band Customer Service released their sophomore EP, to you, after 2000 years, marking the Maritime quartet’s Royal Mountain Records debut. Customer Service formed around friendships 20 years strong. The chemistry is undeniable in their group-chanted choruses and shining, seamless melodies. They lament the end of summer with all the drama of adolescence, when joy feels like it dies as another school year approaches. The stakes seem high, but with Customer Service, you never go through the ringer alone.
— Leslie Ken Chu
Siyahkal — Days of Smoke and Ash / رتسکاخ و دود یازور (Static Shock Records)
Siyahkal once again prove themselves as a powerful voice in the city’s punk scene. Anger is a centrepoint of the album, with the majority of the songs raging in both English and Farsi at the injustices of oppressive governments and western imperialism. On the song “Karbobalaa / -progressive D-Beat hard ”,الَبُبرک core mixes with the occasional flourishes of noise music, classic rock and Shia Muslim funeral music. It all comes together on ”,لاغشآ یایند / final song “Garbage whose ending refrain, “It’s a garbage world,” says it like it is.
— Daniel G. Wilson
Emma Goldman — “i don’t think much at all,” “this is your brain on minimum wage” (Zegema Beach Records)
Like their namesake, Vancouver screamo band Emma Goldman galvanize with anti-capitalist zeal. One minute, spoken passages echo over spacious interludes. The next, serrated guitars slice, vocals rage and drums plow through the relative calm. On April 28, the quartet reunites with Zegema Beach Records to release their upcoming album, all you are is we. Based on singles “i don’t think much at all” and “this is your brain on minimum wage,” listeners can prepare for maximum anarchy. For anyone feeling the crushing weight of the current cultural and geopolitical hellscape, Emma Goldman will ignite you, lifting you from despair.
— Leslie Ken Chu
Various artists — Shortbus (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)(Oscilloscope Laboratories)
Though the 2006 erotic zeitgeist film by John Cameron Mitchell (who also directed Hedwig and the Angry Inch) is set in New York, its soundtrack is a record of Toronto’s coming-of-age. In the aughts, the city was finally embracing sexual diversity and avant-garde arts. Two Southern Ontario gems, Toronto’s The Hidden Cameras and Guelph’s Gentleman Reg, glitter on the album. The whole soundtrack is generally whimsical and pensive, but “Beautiful” — a track written and performed by Torontonian SookYin Lee, who also stars in the film — is surprisingly aggressive. Though not all the musicians are from Toronto, the overall feeling brings to mind Toronto’s subtle paradoxes.
— Sarah Chodos
This article appeared in the 2025 April/May issue.
