Descriptors like ‘crossover’ or ‘fusion’ get thrown around like cheap Halloween candy, especially when a band draws influence from both guitar music and electronica. More often than not, the seam left by knitting these disparate genres together is uncomfortably obvious. Since their inception in the early noughties, locating the join in the Battles…
Of all the ways post-hardcore could have evolved, who could have predicted we’d eventually be talking about something called “Swancore.” The quasi-genre has spun out more significantly than I’m sure Will Swan might have guessed when he co-founded Dance Gavin Dance. At the same time, his signature guitar style is…
The best part about bands with a completely unique identity is the way they not only differentiate themselves from other groups, but from their own sound with each subsequent release. This trait applies directly to Dysrhythmia and the vast field of other projects involving Kevin Hufnagel (Gorguts, Vaura) and Colin…
After five years with the blog, there are a number of posts I still look back on fondly. My interview with Lachlan R. Dale still ranks among my all-time favorites for a number of reasons. First, and most obvious, was the ability to connect with the man behind two of…
The Load In August may have been a relatively quiet month in terms of the volume of events I attended, but there can be no doubt that the quality has been exceptionally high. Having already spoken at length about Radar festival in my last column, I only have three more…
Earlier this I discovered an exciting new face to Toronto’s prog music scene, Parliament Owls, who I connected with after seeing live and happily premiered their debut single back in May. Today they are back with their 3rd and final single “Matterhorn” and a brand new music video before the…
By now, you’ve probably seen us rant and rave about the new wave of “post-math rock”; more specifically, the trend of bands blending the traditional bouncy melodies of math rock with post-rock structures, jazz-influenced technicality, and generally progressive and experimental ideas. As I’ve outlined before, Art As Catharsis and Small…
I don’t need to remind you that 2019 has already been an exceedingly impressive year for instrumental post-rock and math rock. We’re not even fully midway, and I can easily identify a solid dozen or so albums that will be in heavy contention for my personal top 50 of the…
Covering music for the blog provides both an avenue for curation as well as a means of tracking stylistic movements in various scenes. We’ve used our platform to chronicle the evolution of dissonant death metal, the new wave of traditional heavy metal, progressive stoner/sludge/doom, and a myriad of other subgenres…
Photo by Mette Tegtmeier Olsen I know what you’re thinking and yes, this is yet another post about Town Portal. When will it stop? Probably never; we’ve been waiting for music for so long from these guys that we are still all giddy from receiving the excellent Of Violence. Out…
