Markus Sommer – True Sounds of the West (Independent)

Cowboy singing and rodeo are built on certain kinds of mutually reinforcing bullshit, both are a simulacra of labour: a copy of a copy of farm work functioning as a kind of liturgical substitution of a ritual replacement of a colonial act of geographic intervention. Markus Sommer’s True Sounds of the West, with stories of him riding broncs or shoeing horses, or a note of how he lives in Southern Alberta, I know the games he’s playing.(Exclaim!)

Steven Bowers – Elk Island Park

We will be having an exclusive online listening party with Steve this coming Sunday at 11am PT 2pm ET. More details in the comments.

Amanda Rheaume – The Skin I’m In (Indie)

If you follow singer-songwriter Amanda Rheaume on social media, unless you live under a rock and never check your feeds, you ought to know that she is very excited about the upcoming release of her fifth studio album, “The Skin I’m In.” Following the success of her 2016 “Holding Patterns” release, Amanda returned to Toronto with a strong supporting cast to record and produce her new material at the prestigious Bathouse & Union Sound Company Studios. Produced by Colin Cripps (Blue Rodeo, Crash Vegas), “The Skin I’m In” is a powerful collection of nine original songs that see this Juno nominated Indigenous artist creating some of her best and most personal work to date.(Great Dark Wonder)

Anemone – Beat My Distance (Royal Mountain Records)

It’s not often that an album begins with closure, but Beat My Distance starts in solitude, all broken up. “You’re on your own from now on,” Chloé Soldevila sighs to herself, slightly crazed keys jittering like a pre-weep giggle. The guitars spur her on as she nods to herself, as she walks out and into her own new day. But budding doubt punctures even the first song, “You didn’t love me anyway”s filling its final minute.(Exclaim!)

Avril Lavigne – Head Above Water (BMG)

Back in 2013, Avril Lavigne launched her last album with the nostalgic banger ‘Here’s To Never Growing Up’, which suggested she could be getting trapped by her ‘sk8er girl’ persona. When you sell 16m copies of your debut as a teenager, artistic development must be, well, complicated. But since 2013’s ‘Avril Lavigne’ campaign, she’s gone through divorce (her marriage to Nickelback’s Chad Kroeger ended in 2015) and a debilitating battle with Lyme Disease that left her bed-bound. So, perhaps inevitably, ‘Head Above Water’ offers a more sober and grown-up kind of pop-rock than she’s known for.(NME)

Broken Social Scene – Let’s Try The After – Vol 1 (Arts & Crafts)

Let’s Try the After – Vol. 1 is a cohesive, soothing and adventurous trip led by the vocals of Kevin Drew, Ariel Engle and Andrew Whiteman; each member steps up to lead their bandmates through a new chapter in the band’s continually evolving story. Listeners are pulled into the rich sonic world of BSS, beginning with its instrumental opener, “The Sweet Sea,” whose guitars recall those of 2010’s “World Sick.” The build-up and driving rhythms of “Remember Me Young” are familiar — pensive at times, yet relieved by Engle’s healing vocals.(Exclaim!)

Homeshake – Helium

Though many might know him from his stint as Mac DeMarco’s guitarist, Peter Sagar also creates his own music as Homeshake. Over the past seven years, he’s branched out on three albums from lo-fi indie pop to explore realms of alt-R&B and bedroom synth-pop. Sagar’s nonconformist tendencies come to a head on his fourth outing. Incorporating ambient music and electronic soul, along with thematic elements inspired by Japanese surrealist author Haruki Murakami, Helium carves out Homeshake’s very own niche.(RIFF Magazine)

Jane’s Party – Casual Island

Casual Island takes us on an audio trip, starting with a slow, melodic beat on “Wait for You,” and delivering the upbeat and appealing “Satellite.” They give us a short 30-second break with “Epilogue,” which is completely random and out of place, and then they jump right back in with the title track, which is a masterpiece. (Nexus Newspaper)

Long Range Hustle – Town (Indie)

Recorded at The Bathouse Studio outside of Kingston, the band worked with acclaimed Scottish producer and mixer, Tony Doogan (Belle & Sebastian, Wintersleep, Snow Patrol), to create the new album. “Town is a record that aims to take the cross-section on of a fictional small-town,” comments vocalist/guitarist/violinist, Paul Brogee. “It’s a product of the formative years we spent in rural Canada. We tried to create characters whose experiences blur the line between bleak and hopeful, and to score those lives with music that felt distinctly human.”(Cashbox Magazine)

N0V3L – NOVEL (Flemish Eye Records)

Perhaps theres an exercise to be made in drawing a line from N0V3L, and back in time through the names of their likely influences. Shards of iconic punk stab through this track. You can hear elements of London Calling echoing in the chamber. But also, in production there are more surprising elements; a less obvious, more nuanced appreciation for the bands at the edge of a movement.(POPBOLLOCKS)

Patient Hands – Stoic (Indie)