New Canadian Music: 10 Female Vocalists
It’s harder to keep up with new music than it used to be. In 2015, I made an app to add Pitchfork’s Best New Music to my Spotify account at the click of a button. I discovered a lot of music that way, but Pitchfork reviews a greater variety and number of albums than I’m willing or able to keep up with.
So, I decided to focus on Canada. Earlier this year, a friend recommended Silent Shout: “indie electronic music from Canada that skews towards the dark and gloomy.” After going through many blogrolls, the only other blog that is consistently good and exclusively Canadian is DOMINIONATED.
For podcasts, CKUT’s Underground Sounds (iTunes) has the best playlists (shared as photos on Twitter). The Polaris Music Prize Podcast (iTunes) and the prize’s annual long and short lists are other great sources of music. The Imposter (iTunes), while not exclusively about music, plays great tracks and interviews great artists. (In fact, I made a playlist of all its music on the first 34 episodes.) The Imposter is from CANADALAND, hosted by Aliya Pabani, whom you can support on Patreon.
Anyway, I received a request for a playlist of new Canadian music with female vocalists, so:
Feist — Pleasure
Via the Polaris 2017 Short List. Listen to the album.
KASHKA — Holding Steady
Via Silent Shout and DOMINIONATED. Listen to the album.
Lido Pimienta — Agua
Via The Imposter, Polaris 2017 Short List and Underground Sounds (July 17). Listen to the album.
Leanne Betasamosake Simpson — Under Your Always Light
Via The Imposter. Listen to the album. I love How to Steal a Canoe’s video.
Lisa LeBlanc — City Slickers and Country Boys
Via the Polaris 2017 Short List. Listen to the album.
Alvvays — In Undertow
Via DOMINIONATED. Listen to the album.
Bernice — St Lucia
Via Underground Sounds (March 6), The Imposter and DOMINIONATED. Listen to the album.
noita — Zone
Via Silent Shout. Listen to the album.
Fiver — Pile Your Silver
Via The Imposter, Polaris 2017 Long List and DOMINIONATED. Listen to the album.
Loon — Dance
Via Underground Sounds (March 6). Listen to the album.
Thanks to Katherine Benjamin for requesting this playlist.
