Gloin — All of your anger is actually shame (and I bet that makes you angry)
(Mothland)
This album is a raucous effort by the Toronto post-punks that sees the band reach new levels of noise and aggression. Blending elements of noise rock, industrial, and ’70s experimental German music, each song is a sonic assault so extreme it becomes almost meditative. Half-sung, half-chanted dystopian lyrics cut through the sound collage to create a feeling of disquiet. A powerful album that is, all at once, both exhilarating and unnerving. — Daniel G. Wilson
New Design — “Keepsake”
(Sunday Drive Records)
An energetic and emotional single that follows in the indie rock tradition of fellow Bramptonians Moneen. Polished production and a powerful vocal performance from singer Jeffery Lee create a sense of ease and joyfulness that blends perfectly with the tight, almost academic instrumental performance of the band and the complex chord progressions that underpin the entire affair. The song’s lyrics have a nostalgic bittersweetness that contrasts nicely with the cheerful soundscape the band creates. This is a band at the height of their powers showing off their formidable song-crafting. — Daniel G. Wilson
Niloo — “Nessa”
(self-released)
On the spellbinding single “Nessa,” Niloo’s dexterous voice floats through pop arrangements inspired by pre-revolution Iran. The song tells the family lore of an adventuring matriarch who, generations ago, owned a caravan service and shuttled goods on the backs of camels across southwest Iran. Niloo lives in Victoria now, but growing up brown in northern British Columbia, she felt isolated. It was empowering for her to learn she shared a bloodline with this badass woman. Though Niloo has yet to announce a release date for her new album Sour Cherry, she’ll undoubtedly channel her matriarch’s fierce spirit. — Leslie Ken Chu
Penny & the Pits — “Pool Party”
(Forward Music Group)
Penny Stevens has released five albums as a member of Fredericton weirdo punks Motherhood. Now, with Nova Scotia-based musicians Megumi Yoshida (Century Egg), Colleen Collins (Construction & Destruction), and Grace Stratton (Nightbummerz) in tow, she’s stepped out with a new project, Penny & the Pits. The band rings in summer with “Pool Party,” a spooky surf-rock single that makes good on Stevens’ promise to make music her queer and femme friends can rock out to. It’s a pact that will animate their debut album, Liquid Compactor (out June 27 via Forward Music Group). Enter Penny & the Pits’ tiny oasis and forget about the heaviness of the outside world. — Leslie Ken Chu
Ribbon Skirt — Bite Down
(Mint Records)
The physical plane is a battleground on singer/guitarist Tashiina Buswa and multi-instrumentalist Billy Riley’s debut as Ribbon Skirt (formerly known as Love Language). As settler colonial capitalism’s teeth tear at Buswa’s surroundings, it eats away too at her psychic strength. So she renders the landscape in concrete terms, skewering the continued policing of Indigenous bodies (drug tests, blood quantum laws) and counting off lost loved ones. Even as the Montreal duo’s gothic art-punk is at its haziest or Buswa’s smouldering, lip-curled delivery merges with Auto-Tune’s digital abstraction, there’s a clear desire to reconfigure the world we can touch. — Tom Beedham
Amy Millan — I Went to Find You
(Last Gang Records)
The first solo effort in 15 years from Stars’ co-vocalist, I Went to Find You (sparked through a serendipitous collaboration with musician-composer Jay McCarrol), delves into memory, aging, love, and loss — all delivered in Amy Millan’s unmistakable gossamer voice. Departing from the alt-country/folk sound that marked her early solo albums and leaning into a softer dreampop mood, Millan looks back at a life forged through music — and the key role that growing up in Toronto played in that journey. A welcome return marked by songs for nighttime reveries and wistful, yet clear-eyed, nostalgia. — Tabassum Siddiqui