Archspire – Relentless Mutation

Archspire have also delved into more unorthodox and experimental territory on this record, with layers of mesmerizing dynamics that enhance their unique sound. The title track features progressive melodies, while the chaotic “The Mimic Well” contains jazzy guitar noodling. “Calamus Will Animate” combines an unpredictable mix of heavy staccato riffs and rapid-fire vocals with melodic ambience, which is both intriguing and gut-wrenching.(Exclaim!)

Cold Specks – Fool’s Paradise

“Fool’s Paradise” is also the first time Cold Specks’ music has incorporated the Somali language. The words in the song’s bridge are “kala garo naftaada iso laftaada,” or “understand the difference between your bones and your soul”—a phrase Hussein says she learned from her grandmother, and a sentiment entirely at home amidst Cold Specks’ brand of spare, meditative soul.(Spin)

Godspeed You! Black Emperor – Luciferian Towers

“An end to foreign invasions. An end to borders. The total dismantling of the prison-industrial complex. Healthcare, housing, food and water acknowledged as an inalienable human right. The expert fuckers who broke this world never get to speak again.” Godspeed You! Black Emperor’s demands are firm, but, you know, fucking fair.(Pitchfork)

Lights – Skin&Earth

Since the beginning, it’s been clear that Canadian electropop princess, LIGHTS, has had something special. Starting with her debut album, The Listening, she infected the listener with her incredibly upbeat, unique and airy voice. Of course, this being her debut, there was still a lot of room to grow… and grow, she did. Now, with the impending release of her fourth studio album, Skin & Earth, she takes a bold step in a new direction. A captivating story, told through the eyes of a renegade and filled with twists and turns, she decided that this release needed to be more than just the music. Thus, her first concept album was born, along with an accompanying comic book series. Partnering with DYNAMITE, she is able to bring her love of “geek culture” to life, by releasing a six-issue series, completely self-written and illustrated. The illustration part should be no surprise to her fans, as she’s always had a major hand in the artwork for her albums, in addition to her many paintings and drawings she’s always posting to her social media channels.(New-Transcendence)

METZ – Strange Peace

There is a brilliant and brutal simplicity to the music the Canadian punk band Metz makes: loud, cynical, severe, sharp around the edges. The group is composed of three members—guitarist and vocalist Alex Edkins, bassist Chris Slorach, and drummer Hayden Menzies—who seem to share the same goal: to create maximum friction between their instruments and to do so at the highest possible volume. As a result, the music has almost no concern for melody. It has more in common with the sounds of factories, of hard and dangerous work that requires large machines and hot materials. Some punk bands will give you a great tune. Metz is not one of them. Their songs resemble panic attacks, convulsions, violent spasms. In the act’s harsh asceticism, you feel a retrenchment toward punk’s original values and a way forward.(Pop Matters)

Megan Nash – Seeker

Produced with engineer Orion Paradis (Library Voices), at Soul Sound in Regina, Nash collaborated with ambient alt-rock unit Bears In Hazenmore on the albums 11 self-penned tracks and the result is brilliant. In sharp contrast to the starkness of her previous album, Seeker takes Nash’s songwriting into confident new aural territory, displaying the undeniable chemistry she forged with the group over the past year and revealing the spirit of adventure that is prevalent throughout the entire album and on tracks like “Girl VS Ocean,” “Summer,” and “Lavender & Leather”.(Vents Magazine)

The Souljazz Orchestra – Under Burning Skies

Just like the audience during their concerts, the Souljazz Orchestra can’t stand still. The Ottawa-based Afrobeat collective’s sound has flourished over their previous seven releases, and their progress continues on Under Burning Skies, which adds drum machines and vintage 1980s synthesizers to make this their most refined and infectious record to date.(Exclaim!)

Ummagma – LCD

It’s always a pleasure to feature new music from the fantastic Canadian based electronic dream-pop/shoegaze duo of Shauna McLarnon (vocals) & Alex kretov (multi-instrumentalist) aka Ummagma and I take any release from them as a sign that all is well within this burgeoning underground music scene. Never ones to shy away from challenging their musical boundaries, Ummagma continuously push the sonic bar higher and higher with every single one of their releases and this latest four track EP entitled ‘LCD’ is no different. It features three stunning remixes by two legendary musicians, the fantastic Dean Garcia (SPC ECO/Curve) and the masterful Robin Guthrie of Cocteau Twins fame, both with wide and varying musical styles but who both shine and buff, twist and reshape some of Ummgama’s finest tracks into absolutely incredible soundscapes. The EP gets its full release through both ‘Label Obscura (Cassette)’ and ‘Somewhere Cold Records (CD)’ on the 22nd September 2017 with pre-orders available right now on various formats via ummagma.bandcamp.com(Primal Music Blog)

Worst Gift – World’s Worst

What releases are you looking forward to the most? What releases did we forget? Let us know in the comments below and feel free to tell us about any upcoming album or EP releases by Canadian artists so we can add them to our calendar.