Avulsions – Expanding Program

If you were to Google ‘avulsion’ you’d be greeted with three very different results – one: ‘avulsion a rapid abandonment channel and the formation of a new river channel’. Two: ‘an avulsion is an injury in which a body structure is forcibly detached from its normal point of insertion by either trauma or surgery (from the Latin avellere “to tear off”. Three: ‘a gothic post-punk three piece from Saskatoon, Canada’. As you’re perusing the fine pages of Northern Transmissions, you’ll have guessed I’m not about to write a piece about river formations or brutal surgery, although the trio’s debut LP can draw comparisons to their namesakes – sonically the group’s expansive sound is always swelling to plough new furrows and on occasion, it can be a remarkably painful experience, not as bad as having a limb ripped from your person but it’s not always a treat for the ears.(Northern Transmissions)

Caroline Says – No Fool Like An Old Fool

No Fool Like An Old Fool is the sophomore follow-up to Western Vinyl’s formal re-release last summer of Caroline Sallee’s DIY cassette debut, 50,000,000 Elvis Fans Can’t Be Wrong, which Sallee originally put together in 2014.(The Line of Best Fit)

Jann Arden – These Are The Days

Arden was 30 years old when she was signed to Universal Music Group by Allan Reid, who would go on to become president and CEO of the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. (Arden has been with the label for 26 years, and was Reid’s first contract.) She’d spent much of her 20s as a self-described “train wreck of a person,” busking in Vancouver throughout the late eighties, playing in rowdy bars, drinking too much and behaving, in her words, promiscuously. She recalls her mother eventually asking what she’d been up to. “Nothing good, Noth-ing good,” she says, shaking her head at the memory of it. “I constantly thought I was pregnant. I prayed all the time.”(The Globe and Mail)

Kristi Lane Sinclair – The Ability To Judge Distance

As modern rock continues to expand and evolve, it is artists like Kristi Lane Sinclair who are at the vanguard. The Toronto-based singer/songwriter draws equally from her Haida/Cree heritage and her love of both grunge and classical music to create a sound that challenges long-held preconceptions, while telling her own unique story.(Great Dark Wonder)

Rich Aucoin – Hold

One needs only to glance at Aucoin’s career to see this attitude permeates his life as well. His upcoming US tour will be powered by his own two legs, on bicycle. His shows are wild with confetti. And his video for “Release,” from the new Hold EP, finds him floating statue-still in the same waters a titanic great white named Hilton was gliding through. During four long takes, he kept telling himself there had been no shark attacks in Nova Scotia, to quell the fear and stay static.(The Coast)

Sango – In The Comfort Of

As a percussion-obsessed producer, globetrotting DJ and serial collaborator, Sango is both auteur and medium, asserting his own unified theory of hip-hop-inflected soul music while contouring around the talents of likeminded vocalists. In his Christian faith—understated in the occasional lyric or song title or snippet of artwork or choice of collaborator—he’s found a ballast of morality and humility, rare in the wilds of underground electronica. He’s occupied this particular milieu for almost a decade, releasing beat tapes, EPs and LPs at a steady clip, with emphasis on the rhythms of Brazil, specifically funk carioca, an energetic polyrhythmic style of club music. He’s seeking open exchange with the folks on the other side of the planet as much as the folks next door.(City Arts)

Ten Minute Detour – Common Pleasure

Time flies when you’re 93, or at least that’s what the youngsters behind Calgary’s Ten Minute Detour discovered along the way to delivering their rockin’ new album, Common Pleasure. According to the band’s lead singer, Andrew Shier, it was the irrepressible gumption of his grandmother who moved him to pen the song “Betty” in honour of her love of music and dance. (BeatRoute Magazine)