Favourite Fifty of 2024
Featuring Ombiigizi, Janette King, Mustafa, Indian Giver, Cindy Lee, Little Kid, and more
2024 sure was full of things to sing about. Rest assured, your favourite team of Canadian music writers and ravers have been listening. Once again, the contributors of DOMINIONATED rallied to bring you another unranked round-up of our favourite fifty releases from this year (with release dates between November 1, 2023, to December 31, 2024). As always, we’ve done our best to represent a range of musical artists, both familiar favourites and newly discovered. We hope something here perks your ear, taps those toes, or otherwise eases the moment.
On behalf of the DOMINIONATED team, thank you for your continued engagement with our work. Your support is vital in helping us ensure we can continue celebrating underrepresented voices (and instrumentalists) in the geopolitical area of Turtle Island referred to as “Canada.” Your donation helps cover our operational costs, compensate our passionate writers, and maintain the DOMINIONATED platform we know and love as Canada’s best Canadian-only music site.
We hope this list inspires you to continue celebrating artists and exercising your role — whether buying albums, going to shows, sharing reviews, or tuning into our radio — in maintaining a sustainable ecosystem for our collective growth.
Aistis, Clay
Clay is a testament to Aistis’s skill in making the ordinary feel extraordinary. Through metaphor and excellent storytelling, listeners are treated to moral conundrums, heartbreak, and falling in love all within one album. There is a lot of range in emotion and content within Clay, but Aistis’s signature sound and skills are found on each and every song. • Alyssa Gelata
Listen/Buy: Apple Music • Spotify • Tidal • YouTube Music
Quinton Barnes, Have Mercy On Me
With experimental production and vocals delivered in varying degrees of softness, Quinton Barnes‘ Have Mercy on Me is the work of an unboxed rap artist embracing all they’ve been given in tandem with what they want. The 32 minutes of observations, manifestations, and dedications are playful and dark, with a touch of the absurd, and an overarching sense of celebration. The album really settles into itself around “Home Run” with vibey backing vocals and a dynamic beat. Barnes comments on suicidality, substance use, heartbreak, and hope, revealing the holes in the system that rewards antics over effort. After promising to “extend myself the grace you never gave me” through a seamless transition from “Same Old Things” to “Glory”, Barnes breaks out the organ to close the album with the title track. After listening, I learned this album was made in just three weeks, which indicates a sense of direction in creative decision making, and a growing confidence in Barnes’ journey, which is no surprise considering Barnes has approached every work daring and honest, leaving 2024 with the promise of yet another album in January. • Tia Julien
Listen/Buy: Apple Music • Bandcamp • Spotify • YouTube Music
Basque, Pain Without Hope of Healing
Pain Without Hope of Healing is one of the most cathartic albums of the year. Basque confronts grief, mental health, hope, and the meaning of power with poetic and vulnerable lyrics over intricate arrangements that take nods from post-hardcore, math rock, emo, noise, punk, and traditional skramz. Every element that the Kitchener-based quartet includes is deliberate and heightens the raw emotion of the tracks from the heavy yet brightly delicate intro to “Nausea” which explodes into glorious chaos; to the expressive noise on “Stillness” and “Worry About Everything”; to the incredibly poignant Pig sample and group vocals on “Funeral For A Mouse”. Pain Without Hope of Healing is a testament to the power of steering into the eye of the storm, facing your emotions, and releasing them on your own terms. • Em Moore
Listen/Buy: Apple Music • Bandcamp • Spotify • Youtube Music
Caribou, Honey
Honey is a vibrant, accessible record that grabs your attention right away. With chippy AI-generated female vocals, warbly bass, and straightforward drum patterns, the album leans heavily into EDM and house influences, prioritizing danceability over the more experimental elements of Caribou’s previous work. While I do miss the sound of his real voice, the synth-led walls of sound are still captivating. It’s the kind of music you sometimes need—perfect for moments when you don’t want to think, and just want something immediate, vibrant, and easy to sink into. • Weadee Mombo
Listen/Buy: Apple Music • Bandcamp • Spotify • Tidal • YouTube Music
Jennifer Castle, Camelot
On the follow-up to 2020’s lowkey but immensely rewarding Monarch Season, Jennifer Castle wanders further sonically than ever before. Camelot choogles like Creedence (“Full Moon In Leo”, “Lucky #8”), sighs like Nirvana covering the Meat Puppets unplugged live in New York (“Trust”) and further mines what can only be called that classic Castlemusic sound (“Earth Song “, “Some Friends”). The lyrics, evocative as ever, find Castle searching and wondering. Is she just pissing in the winding? Who should she trust? What’s that song? What percentage is she spirit? What percentage machine? What rhymes with orange? God is invoked. Camelot asks many questions, but there is a sense that in time, these songs might just have some answers hidden in them as well. • Mackenzie Cameron
Listen/Buy: Apple Music • Bandcamp • Spotify • YouTube Music
Clothesline From Hell, Soon We’ll All Be Smoking
Clothesline From Hell, the Toronto-based project from songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Adam LaFramboise, delivers a crunchy trip-hop experience on his new EP, Soon We’ll All Be Smoking. Fusing acoustic guitar with programmed drums and samples, the album has a laid-back, lowkey vibe that still holds your attention. My favourite track is “You Don’t Know”. The beats are smooth, creating a chill atmosphere that’s enjoyable to listen to without being overwhelming. • Weadee Mombo
Listen/Buy: Apple Music • Bandcamp • Spotify • YouTube Music
Corridor, Mimi
Known for their infectious psychedelic indie rock, Corridor shifts gears on Mimi, embracing a softer, more cinematic tone. In many ways, it feels like a more sophisticated and mature follow-up to their 2019 release, Junior. While their jangly roots remain, the album reflects the changes they’ve experienced in their lives since then. Sung entirely in French, Mimi is deeply enjoyable even if you don’t speak the language. It became a comforting companion for me throughout the year. • Weadee Mombo
Listen/Buy: Apple Music • Bandcamp • Spotify • Tidal • YouTube Music
Crack Cloud, Red Mile
Red Mile is an album so assured in its sound and messages. The Calgary punk ensemble have crafted their most surprisingly lush and melodic record to date – but don’t let this fool you into thinking they are not as cutting and sharp as ever. With the example of “The Medium”, a highly tuneful takedown of the commercialization of punk rock, Crack Cloud wrap their lyrics and arrangements in tight layers of meta self-referential irony, writing about writing, and yet there is a deep earnestness palpable across the record. Red Mile does not try to solve the big questions of our time, but are having a hell of a time trying to reckon with them. • Matt Hertendy
Listen/Buy: Apple Music • Bandcamp • Spotify • Tidal • YouTube Music
Ducks Ltd., Harm’s Way
On Harm’s Way Ducks Ltd. continue to expand their sound as they incorporate elements from power pop, krautrock, country, and post-punk into their jangly indie pop with outstanding guitar work, a mix of both programmed and real drums, and memorable keys. The sonic brightness of the nine tracks is infused with feelings of anxiety and unease as the band explores the struggles that come with living within a society that feels like it is constantly on the verge of collapse including dealing with environmental destruction, the monotony of daily life under capitalism (which can sometimes be broken up by going to a rave on the fittingly named “On Our Way to the Rave”), and losing touch with former friends. Harm’s Way is an expertly composed album and shows the Toronto duo really coming into their own. • Em Moore
Listen/Buy: Apple Music • Bandcamp • Spotify • YouTube Music
Michael Cloud Duguay, Succeeder
Michael Cloud Duguay’s Succeeder is a heartfelt journey through themes of home and personal growth. Recorded in his hometown of Peterborough, the album features rich collaborations and captures the essence of Duguay’s return to his roots. From the folky warmth of “A Very Fine Start” to the experimental brilliance of “Wonderwar Pts. I & II,” Succeeder is a testament to Duguay’s sincerity and musical evolution and a remarkable record that celebrates following your heart and instincts. • Jim Di Gioia
Listen/Buy: Apple Music • Bandcamp • Spotify
André Ethier, Cold Spaghetti
André Ethier’s last few (highly rated) albums have been bare bones affairs, mostly just Ethier’s voice, acoustic guitar, and a drum machine. On Cold Spaghetti, Ethier enlisted some of his jazzier labelmates to bring this batch of songs to life and the result is a record that is both weirder and catchier than anything in his post-Deadly Snakes solo career. The wider sonic palette lends emotional heft and groove to songs like “B.C.E.”, the year’s most stirring and beautiful track about bird shit (dance remix when?). The way the instrumentation reacts and responds to Ethier’s words on “Be Careful With this Heart of Mind” never fails to give me shivers. An endlessly replayable album. • Mackenzie Cameron
Listen/Buy: Apple Music • Bandcamp • Spotify • YouTube Music
Vishtèn, Expansion
From PEI and the Magdalen Islands, Vishtèn are an Acadian tradfolk trio with roots in the East Coast and a universal message of love. Their album Expansion is the first of the Connexions project and a collaborative tribute to late founding member, Pastelle LeBlanc. Expansion is a freshly energized take on tradition, blending bright guitars with rising voices, dancing fiddle, and accordion. • Tia Julien
Listen/Buy: Bandcamp • Spotify
Ghostkeeper, Cîpayak Joy
Ghostkeeper’s Cîpayak Joy is a beguiling exploration of sound and creativity. Born from improvisational sessions, the album blends trap, ambient experimentalism, R&B, and synth sounds into a diverse sonic palette. Tracks like “Astum Ota” and “Storm Chaser” are unexpected delights that highlight the band’s innovative approach and collaborative improvisations. • Jim Di Gioia
Listen/Buy: Apple Music • Bandcamp • Spotify • YouTube Music
Goddess, PINKNDARK
Goddess welcomes you into their world of urgent punk rock, sweeping attitude-laden glam rock, and danceable atmospheric electronic music on their album PINKNDARK. The Hamilton-based rockers’ energy is turned up to 11 for each of the ten tracks whether they are confronting systemic oppression on “ACAFB”, diving into lusty longing on “DOWN FOR TOO LONG”, exploring the existential side of A.I. on “CHATMODE”, or examining mental health on “YA YA”. The wonderfully crafted instrumental tracks “FAFARCEFARCE” and “/<>/error?:file%not_found%/>” add to the transportive power of the album and showcase the band’s prowess for creating beautiful chaos. Goddess welcomes you into their world of urgent punk rock, sweeping attitude-laden glam rock, and danceable atmospheric electronic music on their album PINKNDARK. The Hamilton-based rockers’ energy is turned up to 11 for each of the ten tracks whether they are confronting systemic oppression on “ACAFB”, diving into lusty longing on “DOWN FOR TOO LONG”, exploring the existential side of A.I. on “CHATMODE”, or examining mental health on “YA YA”. The wonderfully crafted instrumental tracks “FARCEFARCEFARCE” and “/<>/error?:file%not_found%/>” add to the transportive power of the album and showcase the band’s prowess for creating beautiful chaos. PINKNDARK makes me very excited to see where Goddess will take their sound next. • Em Moore
Listen/Buy: Apple Music • Spotify • Tidal • YouTube Music
Godspeed You! Black Emperor, “NO TITLE AS OF 13 FEBRUARY 2024 28,340 DEAD”
“NO TITLE AS OF 13 FEBRUARY 2024 28,340 DEAD” has the honour of being my favourite Godspeed You! Black Emperor album. And yet, the tragic inspiration behind it—the Gaza genocide and the loss of 28,340 lives—casts a sombre shadow over its brilliance. Its raw urgency and rapturous soundscape meet on common ground to make what I feel is the most accessible of Godspeed’s albums. While I admire its artistic achievement, I wish “NO TITLE AS OF 13 FEBRUARY 2024 28,340 DEAD” never had to exist, as its creation is rooted in such profound sorrow. This juxtaposition of admiration and grief makes it a poignant and unforgettable work. • Jim Di Gioia
Listen/Buy: Apple Music • Bandcamp • Spotify • Tidal • YouTube Music
Terry Green, PROVISIONAL LIVING
The raw, unbridled energy of Mississauga’s finest has been a staple of the skramz community for over a decade. It’s no surprise, however, that Terry Green has remained relatively quiet in recent years when it comes to releasing music. With their reemergence through PROVISIONAL LIVING, the band proves that still waters do indeed run deep. Once again, they’ve harnessed the intensity, tension, and frustration of life into an explosive and almost chaotic 30-minute manifesto. This relentless album delivers genre-defying hardcore that feels like a visceral cry in the face of the precariousness of modern life. • Weajue Mombo
Listen/Buy: Apple Music • Bandcamp • Spotify • YouTube Music
Guhn Twei, Capitale de l’arsenic
On their second album Capitale de l’arsenic Rouyn-Noranda-based Guhn Twei pushes their unique blend of hardcore punk, thrash, death metal, doom, grindcore, and industrial metal to new depths of heaviness with crushing breakdowns, incredible vocal delivery (especially those gutturals and squeals on “Brûler des banques”), and ferocious basslines. Their lyrics are some of the most powerful of the year as they confront the environmental and medical destruction of their city and its inhabitants brought about by carcinogenic emissions (particularly arsenic) released from the Glencore-owned Horne Foundry, tackle the corruption of those who turn a blind eye to this devastation, and examine the capitalist system that disregards the health of the many in favour of profits. Lines like, “Le cancer qui me ronge est le même que tu prônes” (“The cancer that is eating away at me is the same one you advocate”) on album opener “Corpocratie”, “T’as beau t’crisser des oeillères, y vont te tuer toé avec” (“You can put on your blinders, but they’ll kill you with them”) on the 38-second ripper “Immobiliste” and “On ne mord pas la main qui nous mène à la morgue” (“We don’t bite the hand that leads us to the morgue”) on the sweeping 13-minute epic “Omertà” (which also features a stirring original poem about staying alive by Alexandre Castonguay) drive home the heart of the matter with visceral imagery. Along with being an incredible album, Capitale de l’arsenic is also a statement of resistance and resilience. • Em Moore
Listen/Buy: Apple Music • Bandcamp • Spotify • YouTube Music
Kingo Halla, Reflections
Kingo Halla released Reflections, an intricate, lush, and dreamy EP that melts the rest of the world away for fifteen short minutes. It’s full of interesting sounds, illustrative lyrics, and subliminal instrumentals. There is a lot of emotion throughout Reflections, which I believe is the point. • Alyssa Gelata
Listen/Buy: Apple Music • Bandcamp • Spotify • Tidal • YouTube Music
Shaina Hayes, Kindergarten Heart
Kindergarten Heart by Montreal-based Shaina Hayes is teeming with understated beauty. In collaboration with co-producers Francis Ledoux and David Marchand, and a range of instrumentalists, Hayes builds a world of warmth and wonder around the bareness of her storytelling. I’m such a sucker for the stripped-back production and poetic lyricism found in the song “A Thousand Perfect Words”, which grapples with the impossibility of conveying the truth of a story with absolute accuracy: “Because a thousand perfect words could never / Set the fire alight / Send shivers like the night / Tell the story quite right”. Hayes’ voice soars and nestles within an orchestral arrangement of percussion and strings, like a little something sweet with your tea; a must hear for sentimentalists. • Tia Julien
Listen/Buy: Apple Music • Bandcamp • Spotify • Tidal • YouTube Music
Hobby, Born Again
Hobby emerged from the purposeful noise and obfuscation of previous releases with a record of total clarity. Nothing gets in the way of their perfect harmonies and simple songs made to be played loud on docks, patios, in bars and in cars. Born Again is front to back Canadian cosmic country bangers, equal parts Uncle Neil, the Sadies, The Highest Order, and sometimes Sloan. “Buck 75”, an easy contender for my favourite song of the year, makes feeling cheap sound like a million bucks. Take a hit and drift off. • Mackenzie Cameron
Listen/Buy: Apple Music • Bandcamp • Spotify • Tidal • YouTube Music
Indian Giver, Dark Legacy III
Everything about Turtle Island-based punk band Indian Giver’s debut album Dark Legacy III is hardcore punk perfection from the heavy thrash metal-infused instrumentation to the ferocious vocal delivery to the album art showing the corruption of the Catholic Church (as well as centring the profits they’ve made through the exploitation of Indigenous communities). The eight tracks zip by in twenty blistering minutes which feature some of the most powerful lyrics of the year as the band confronts predatory policing practices, shines a light on the past and present use of colonial tactics, talks about the damage inflicted on Indigenous communities by the residential school system and the church, explores the impact of technology, and searches for balance. Dark Legacy III is an essential album that cements Indian Giver as one of the most vital hardcore punk bands active today. • Em Moore
Listen/Buy: Apple Music • Bandcamp • Spotify • YouTube Music
Intervals, memory palace
The best of the best instrumental music, particularly within progressive genres, has a unique ability to tell a story, weaving narratives through its shifting tempos and dynamic arrangements. That’s exactly what Intervals‘ Memory Palace achieves. Aaron Marshall pushes the boundaries of his artistry, crafting a labyrinth in a journey of intricate compositions and technical mastery. There’s a refreshing depth to Intervals’ creativity here, with Memory Palace becoming a playground for exploration. Whether through exciting collaborations with artists like JP3O and OBLVYN or chugging up the bass lines of Jacob Umansky, the album has built a sonic web fit to linger in again and again and again. • Weajue Mombo
Listen/Buy: Apple Music • Bandcamp • Spotify • Tidal • YouTube Music
Janette King, Incantation
What makes the perfect incantation? Is it the mere calculation of verbal ingredients? The musings of thoughts manifesting into action? Or something more formless yet present? Janette King becomes the answer to the question, balancing her smooth, groovy voice through 80s funk and R&B sound. The sonic affirmation that is Incantation is often driven by synths, giving it a relaxed, late-night feel. Each track finds its pace with both the guiding force of King’s voice and drum machine-heavy tracks and her silky, effortless lyrics. King crafts a sound that’s both nostalgic and fresh. It’s the perfect soundtrack for winding down or getting lost in the rhythm. • Weajue Mombo
Listen/Buy: Apple Music • Bandcamp • Spotify • Tidal • YouTube Music
la lune, disparity
la lune’s debut EP, disparity, is short on tracks but heavy on sound and vibes. The opener, “a little life,” balances melancholy with hope, while “despondent” explores feelings of inadequacy with lush vocals and reverberating drums. The Vancouver-based quartet know their way around blending ethereal soundscapes and introspective lyrics in a way that reminds me of the bygone days when I debated the merits of Isn’t Anything over Loveless and why Slowdive was (is?) superior to Catherine Wheel. disparity is emotive, masterful, and leaves me breathless for what la lune has in store for their next musical phase. • Jim Di Gioia
Listen/Buy: Apple Music • Bandcamp • Spotify • YouTube Music
Cindy Lee, Diamond Jubilee
In my initial review of Diamond Jubilee earlier in the year, I called it my favourite album of 2024, and I stand by that statement now. With the future of Cindy Lee uncertain, this epic collection of tunes may just end up being the swan song for artist Patrick Flegel’s flaxen alter ego, and if so, what a way to go. Diamond Jubilee is an impossibly perfect summation of Flegel’s bountiful output. Its blown speaker doo-wop and gauzy girl-group pop touches on the history of popular music while positing an alternate reality where Lou Reed and Jackie Shane usurped the cultural relevancy and adulation of the likes of Elvis Presley and Diana Ross. Flegel ensured that anyone curious about what all the noise was about had to go out of their way to hear Diamond Jubilee, which is appropriate for a record that went out of its way to deliver a satisfying and sumptuous listening experience. • Jim Di Gioia
Listen/Buy: Bandcamp • Tidal
Luna Li, When a Thought Grows Wings
Luna Li has transformed into a radiant, winged creature with When A Thought Grows Wings, propelling herself into a journey shaped by the increasing beauty and lightness she’s cultivated since her 2022 record, Duality. This newest album flows as a lush, kaleidoscopic dream, seamlessly weaving her ethereal yet rhythmic vocals into themes of personal growth, self-discovery, and emotional vulnerability. Released as the waning heat of summer carried late into August and September, this record births a newfound bloom. Closing your eyes is the only thing needed to walk back into this garden, with tracks like “Golden Hour” unfolding into vivid reflections of her vulnerability, healing, and the delicate tension between the two. • Weajue Mombo
Listen/Buy: Apple Music • Bandcamp • Spotify • Tidal • YouTube Music
Little Kid, A Million Easy Payments
Little Kid has an uncanny ability to world-build around existential questioning and material discontent, planting these sentiments firmly in my heart and those of listeners across the country. Spanning six releases, this truth has been cemented through melancholic yet warm instrumentation – and their seventh, A Million Easy Payments, is no exception. Here, Kenny Boothby’s weighted lyricism takes a critical lens to themes of guilt, anxiety, and the regrets accumulated over a lifetime, laced with a million small epiphanies. My emotional bank account was charged with lines like, “Poor bastard, you’d pass for my image in a mirror / I leaned in, still reeling, and whispered in my ear”, rivaling the emotional resonance found in the work of Big Thief or early Wilco. • Weajue Mombo
Listen/Buy: Apple Music • Bandcamp • Spotify • Tidal • YouTube Music
Mas Aya, Coming and Going
Under the pseudonym Mas Aya, Brandon Miguel Valdivia captures the essence of transition and flux on Coming and Going. Inspired by his experiences of parenthood, moving from Toronto to London, ON, and the pandemic, the album finds serenity amidst chaos. Tracks like “Dora” and “Windless, Waveless” showcase a blend of pastoral and frenetic energies, while “Be” features a playful hook from Valdivia’s daughter. His partner, Lido Pimienta, adds an ethereal touch to “Tú y Yo,” and “Abre Camino” encapsulating the album’s theme of balancing contrasting influences into a cohesive, emotionally resonant whole. • Jim Di Gioia
Listen/Buy: Apple Music • Bandcamp • Spotify • Tidal • YouTube Music
Math Club, Sleeping in the Sun
Somber and pensive, Sleeping in the Sun is about struggle, friendships, growing up, and all those other things that elder Gen Zs and young Millennials are contending with on a daily basis. With Math Club’s signature sound—hummable guitar riffs, mellow vocals, an overbearing moodiness—and a whole new set of songs to sing along to, this release is their most relatable yet. • Alyssa Gelata
Listen/Buy: Apple Music • Bandcamp • Spotify • Tidal • YouTube Music
Jon Mckiel, Hex
A perfect album by a relatively mysterious Canadian guitar hero? With ties to Chad VanGaalen and Alberta indie rock of yore? That some may even describe as hauntological? No, not that one! On Hex, Jon Mckiel grapples with that vague feeling of evil that permeates our world and radiates from our screens while trying to find the beauty within it. It’s the grooves on Hex that really hooked me, one of a few indie rock records from this year that are more indebted to early 90s New York hip hop as much as anything released on Sub Pop (Amen Dunes’ Death Jokes, coincidentally released on Sub Pop, and Vampire Weekend’s Only God Was Above Us respectively). While the vibes are high on the title track, “String” and “Still Life”, it’s the crushing second side, that peaks with Mckiel’s definitive version of “Concrete Sea”, that keeps me glued to Hex. • Mackenzie Cameron
Listen/Buy: Apple Music • Bandcamp • Spotify • Tidal • YouTube Music
METZ, Up on Gravity Hill
Up On Gravity Hill is an absolutely gorgeous album. From the first note of “No Reservation / Love Comes Crashing” METZ sweep you up into their swirling tempest of expansive noise, dynamic intricacies, expert use of dissonance, and powerful vocal delivery, not letting you go until the final note of “Light Your Way Home” fades away. The band’s lyrics are vulnerable and direct as they confront mortality, lament lost love and wasted time, express soul-deep longing, take aim at the inescapable insidiousness of corporate greed, and explore how our emotions affect our reality over the course of eight passionate tracks. In October, METZ announced that they would be going on indefinite hiatus and if this indeed marks the ending of the band, Up On Gravity Hill is one hell of an album to go out on. • Em Moore
Listen/Buy: Apple Music • Bandcamp • Spotify • Tidal • YouTube Music
Mustafa, Dunya
Mustafa is one of the greats of our time, offering the world a bit of its humanity back in the midst of all this loss with the release of his album aptly titled Dunya, which translates from Arabic to “the world in all its flaws.” The Toronto-based Sudanese-Canadian artist has mastered the art of turning inward, taking all that it means to be a human being and returning it to the world in the form of personal stories told with such grace and tenderness that calls our shared humanity in to listen with lyrics like: “What good is a heart that will not break?”. Mustafa’s voice holds worlds of hurt and leaves lessons of love, piercing through preoccupation to invite the listener to feel it all. The arrangements are rich with boomy bass beats, trembling synths, a persistent weight, and frantic urgency. Mustafa’s leading voice is surrounded by a chorus of voices and glimmering instruments, glimpses of dialogue that centre the individual in the collective. Dunya is a remarkable show of courage, craftsmanship, and surrender. • Tia Julien
Listen/Buy: Apple Music • Bandcamp • Spotify • Tidal • YouTube Music
Bilal Nasser, How Can We Say Nothing
How Can We Say Nothing is an emotional work of finger-picked guitar, occasional haunting vocals, and phenomenal talent. There are rich textures, interesting chords to draw the listener’s ear in tension and release. Bilal Nasser is a master of putting dynamics to work. Intentional and resolute all throughout, How Can We Say Nothing manages to tell a story through minimal words. • Alyssa Gelata
Listen/Buy: Bandcamp • Spotify • YouTube Music
The OBGMs, SORRY, IT’S OVER
SORRY, IT’S OVER is one of the most therapeutic and dynamic albums of the year. The OBGMs take a deep dive into mental health, navigate the end of a toxic relationship, scrutinize gentrification, examine the fear that comes with change, and explore what it means to be ok with some of their most vulnerable lyrics to date which are delivered perfectly by lead vocalist Denz, his voice full of powerful emotion. The band’s energy is off the charts whether they are kicking out the ferociously frenetic punk of “BUFFALO”, “GET UP”, or “LIAR”; showcasing their skill for soaring harmonies on the SATE featuring “CHANGES”, or getting experimental on the delicate and heavy closing track “HOW ARE YOU?” which features beautifully haunting strings by Mike Tompa and gorgeous guest vocals by Faiza. “HOW ARE YOU?” also ties the album together perfectly as the band poses the question directed at Denz on “WATCHER” to the listener, both in the song title and as the final line of the album. On SORRY, IT’S OVER the OBGMs push their sound to new heights with vigorous energy and an incredible amount of catharsis. • Em Moore
Listen/Buy: Apple Music • Bandcamp • Spotify • YouTube Music
Ombiigizi, Shame
Where their first collaboration, Sewn Back Together, found OMBIIGIZI’s Adam Sturgeon (Status/Non-Status) and Daniel Monkman (Zoon) focused on building back what had been stolen from the Anishinaabe artists and their ancestors, the follow-up, Shame, deconstructs and delves deeper into voicing what doesn’t get said or shared. The duo allow the unspoken and vulnerable truths about what it means to be Indigenous in 2024 space to be heard and felt through their noisy cacophony of guitar squalls, feedback, and melodic mayhem. • Jim Di Gioia
Dive Deeper:
Listen/Buy: Apple Music • Bandcamp • Spotify • Tidal • YouTube Music
Opeongo, Eventual Mt Lee
Sadly inspired by the sudden loss of songwriter Keegan Trumpour’s best friend Liam, Eventual Mt. Lee could easily be the year’s most raw album. Opeongo’s unflinching meditation on grief and loss is also an incredibly poignant reflection on the beauty the world has to offer in small moments. “Ceiling Rats” is a masterful and heartbreaking piece of songwriting. I believe Opeongo’s response to loss by way of this album has the potential to help a lot of people with their own struggles, and that is a beautiful thing. • Matt Hertendy
Listen/Buy: Apple Music • Spotify • Tidal • YouTube Music
p:ano, ba ba ba
After nearly two decades, ba ba ba marks the unexpected yet warmly welcomed return of Canadian indie-pop group p:ano. Drawing from their early influences like Yo La Tengo, Belle & Sebastian, and Low, the album is a nostalgic ode to the indie-pop “fall records” of the late 90s. But here in 2024, the record is infused with a reflective maturity that comes from time and life experiences of then-high school friends, Nick Krgovich and Larissa Loyva. Sparked by a reunion for a compilation project, the record radiates joy and creative freedom, blending winding lyricism, and playful experimentation. The record is one of comfort; it’s an invitation for listeners to return into its tender world, proving that some bonds – and sounds – remain timeless. • Weajue Mombo
Listen/Buy: Apple Music • Bandcamp • Spotify • YouTube Music
Klô Pelgag, Abracadabra
With Abracadabra, Klô Pelgag waves her wand and reminds us why she’s one of the most captivating voices in francophone music. Easily one of my favorite French artists, her playful yet commanding vocal style enchants throughout. Released late in the year, the album feels like a spellbinding reveal, blending her experimental edge with new layers of creativity. Tracks like “Décembre” build to cinematic climaxes, while “Deux jours et deux nuits” explores anti-pop territory. Though the highs aren’t as towering as her earlier work, Abracadabra remains pure magic. • Weadee Mombo
Listen/Buy: Apple Music • Bandcamp • Spotify • Tidal • YouTube Music
Plumes, Many Moons Away
From Montreal ensemble, Plumes, Many Moons Away seamlessly blends folk-like whimsy with chamber-esque vocals, indie-rock grooves, and trap beats, making for an intriguing amalgamation of influences. Arranged by fronting singer-songwriter Veronica Charnley and collaborator Leslie Seaforth, the songs feature wandering vocal melodies and looping baselines, violas, guitars, and classical percussion that join together in an emotional dance of questioning: “Where does this tenderness come from? And what will I do with it?” • Tia Julien
Listen/Buy: Apple Music • Bandcamp • Spotify • Tidal • YouTube Music
Nick Schofield, Ambient Ensemble
Ambient Ensemble’s entrancing blend of ambient, electronic, and neoclassical music expands on Nick Schofield’s musical explorations by bringing collaborators into the mix. The result is an enveloping, rich, ethereal soundscape that takes Schofield’s core piano improvisations and opens them up in a way that feels organic, contemporary, and classic all at once. • Jim Di Gioia
Listen/Buy: Apple Music • Bandcamp • Spotify • YouTube Music
Scions, To Cry Out In The Wilderness
There is a renaissance afoot in the folds of Peterborough, Ontario, and Scions are just its latest manifestation. Featuring members of drone-hymn duo Joyful Joyful, producer and composer Michael Cloud Duguay, and the Halifax-based project New Hermitage, Scions is a cathartic and sometimes chaotic listening experience. Their debut, To Cry Out In The Wilderness, is a clarion call expressing our collective anxiety around our ecological future and the angst and agitation created as a byproduct. But far from wallowing in the wastelands, Scions’ interplay of neoclassical music, drone, jazz, and abrasive metal coalesces to create a sense of hope, wonder, and connection. • Jim Di Gioia
Listen/Buy: Bandcamp • Spotify • Tidal • YouTube Music
smush, if you were here i’d be home now
The first thing anyone will tell you about ex-pats smush (originally from Vancouver, now living in Brooklyn) will be something along the lines of smush being their favourite new band or the saviours of slowcore or that their debut release, if you were here i’d be home now, is a minor masterpiece of macerated genres de jour (namely shoegaze, noise rock, and indie-pop). And for once, the hyperbole and hype are justified. The bombastic and combustible trio of Emily Borrowman (bass and vocals), Atley King (guitar), and Jay Christie (drums) play with dynamics in a way that feels fresh and ferocious. The opening track, “if we didn’t cry,” is jaw-droppingly melodic and crunchy, and more of a template than blueprint for equally impressive tunes “lizzy mcguire,” “goodnight moon,” and “new house.” if you were here i’d be home now is more confident and exciting than any debut I’ve heard in ages and more nuanced and varied than the music descriptors used to define the band would suggest. • Jim Di Gioia
Listen/Buy: Apple Music • Bandcamp • Spotify • YouTube Music
Owen Steel, Combe
Owen Steel‘s album COMBE is a sensory overload inspired by his battle with constant noise. The album explores internal clamour through tracks like “The Battery,” which repeats a mantra about connection and disconnection, and “Your Own Imagination,” a lo-fi guitar piece. “Easy” offers a slow, intoxicating drawl, while “Chxrm Bracelet” and “I Hear Barking” delve into the impact of sound on our subconscious. The album closes with “Vow of Silence,” encapsulating the struggle between conflicting sounds. • Jim Di Gioia
Listen/Buy: Apple Music • Bandcamp • Spotify • YouTube Music
Amanda Sum, does it make me naive if i’ve never been part of something where i’ve meant more to them than they did to me?
Vancouver artist Amanda Sum’s poignantly titled release, does it make me naive if I’ve never been part of something where i’ve meant more to them than they did to me? is a deeply personal collection from a hopeful romantic. The EP / Suite spans 18 songs in just 16 minutes, capturing the highs and lows of romantic love through biting lyrics and witty transitions. With no shortage of theatricality, Sum blends classical and jazz influences with pop, making for a painfully entertaining stream of confessions about learning to be loved. • Tia Julien
Listen/Buy: Apple Music • Bandcamp • Spotify • Tidal • YouTube Music
Sunnsetter, Heaven Hang Over Me
No one has the skill and artistry to manifest what anxiety feels like through sound quite like Sunnsetter’s Andrew McLeod. The multi-talented artist wrote, performed, produced, mixed, and recorded Heaven Hang Over Me on their own, which isn’t unique for Sunnsetter’s M.O., but there’s something here that takes me back to my first introduction to McLeod’s work through their 2018 album, worrybody. What Heaven Hang over Me has in common with that early release is a stark vulnerability, almost embarrassingly honest and personal writing, and a commitment to making music on their terms that defies easy classification. Yeah, there are emo and shoegaze references, and McLeod has said they were aiming for something heavier in sound than last year’s album The best that I can be., but it’s clear with this latest record that Sunnsetter is operating at a level and style that is all their own. • Jim Di Gioia
Listen/Buy: Apple Music • Bandcamp • Spotify • Tidal • YouTube
Thunder Queens, Strike One
Thunder Queens more than live up to their name on their album Strike One as they deliver eleven thunderous tracks full of virtuosic drumming, shredding solos, and melodic group vocals. The London-based trio’s merging of punk, grunge, doom metal (especially on “Blood Moon”), indie, and classic rock resonates at a molecular level urging you to move along with the music. It is impossible not to bang your head, stomp your feet, or jump around when you hear songs like “Breakout”, “Fighter”, and, of course, the aptly named “Jumpin’ Around”. The band tackles the state of the world, reflects on past friendships, celebrates the joy of making music, shines a light on the fun parts of life (“Roadtrip” anyone?), and refuses to back down when things get tough with lyrics that burst with life. It goes without saying that Strike One is one of the most electric albums of the year. • Em Moore
Listen/Buy: Apple Music • Bandcamp • Spotify • Tidal • YouTube Music
Valley, Water the Flowers, Pray for a Garden
It’s a common trope of Cancon: “they’re the Canadian ____”, which almost always suggests they’re the lesser version of some mega-popular, internationally famous artist. Over their last several releases, I felt like Valley were gunning to be the Canadian the 1975. I love the 1975, and because of this (unwarranted) Cancon conundrum in my own brain, it never worked for me. But man, Valley’s latest and undoubtedly greatest is the kind of swing that major label Cancon bands rarely make and even more rarely crush. But Valley crushed it. The melodies are stronger than ever, every song is sticky and lyrically it feels like a real breakthrough – songs general enough for an old guy like me to get into and with enough lore and personal drama baked in for the die-hards. All hail Valley, new lords of Canadian pop rock, breakers of Cancon caveats. • Mackenzie Cameron
Listen/Buy: Apple Music • Spotify • Tidal • YouTube Music
Victime, En conversation avec
Victime’s second album En conversation avec is a masterclass in layered and textured sound. The band leans into their experimental side, creating mesmerizing soundscapes that are full of wonderfully weird instrumentation, delightfully off-kilter time signatures, superbly mathy moments, and ethereally powerful vocals. True to its name, it feels like you are having a conversation with the band throughout the ten tracks, especially during the sequence of the final three songs “Régicide”, “Figurine”, and “En conversation avec”. You hear about their frustration at being molded into someone else’s idea of perfection, their experiences with violence and being silenced, their desire to dismantle patriarchal systems, their triumph at reclaiming their power, and their joy of being in love. Once you start listening to Victime’s En conversation avec it is impossible to stop • Em Moore
Listen/Buy: Apple Music • Bandcamp • Spotify • Tidal • YouTube Music
Walk Me Home, What Do You Think
Walk Me Home was a new discovery for me this year, but I was instantly hooked. Gavi Kamen’s vocals sound absolutely incredible, and the instrumentation is dynamic and packed with layers of noisy, ominous textures that are endlessly engaging. Just when you think you know what to expect, they surprise you with something else. The album holds your attention from top to bottom. Though they’ve been performing many of these tracks live for some time now, the studio recordings blew me away, perfectly capturing the earnest, chaotic, and relentless energy of their live sound. Each song evolves with purpose, never feeling jarring, building an immersive atmosphere of anxiety and emotion. Standouts like “An Animal,” “Inside,” and “Annihilation” make me excited to hear what they’ll do next. • Weadee Mombo
Listen/Buy: Apple Music • Bandcamp • Spotify • Tidal • YouTube Music
Charlotte Day Wilson, Cyan Blue
Charlotte Day Wilson has been acclaimed for a long time, but Cyan Blue is the widescreen jump forward we’ve been waiting for. The ballads are heavier than ever, the bangers brighter than ever, and CDW’s voice is as powerful as ever. She has always seemed like an old soul vocally, but the music has finally caught up to that natural talent. • Mackenzie Cameron
Listen/Buy: Apple Music • Bandcamp • Spotify • Tidal
by DOMINIONATED Staff
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