Kaie Kellough Sounds It Out IT’S 2016, YET I FIND MYSELF SPENDING an inordinate amount of time talking about artistic output from the ’70s and ’80s. It was in the latter decade that esteemed Montreal-based sound poet Kaie Kellough’s favourite band, Bad Brains, emerged on the scene with a[...] Read more

Featured Article Dalton Higgins Issue 124

Dálava explores the landscape of song On a summer evening, outside this art gallery-cum-coffeehouse somewhere on the Gulf Islands, silver-green alders, not yet dry and summer-drab, sway, as deer graze in a meadow beyond, and small birds sing. Inside, a young couple performs. Julia Ulehla has spurned the venue’s microphone[...] Read more

Featured Article Alexander Varty Issue 128

Carmen Vanderveken is full of surprises Quebec-born composer Carmen Vanderveken was commissioned by the Dutch annual festival Gaudeamus Muziekweek to write a piece for a quartet featuring Dutch bass clarinetist Fie Schouten.   An earlier piece sheds light on the shape and sound of the music Carmen Vanderveken is[...] Read more

Sound Notes René van Peer Issue 131

The Avian is the Message Songbirds have a secret language. This is something I did not fully appreciate until recently, when I became immersed in their world. What may be music to our ears is bird-speak—a mating call, an aural fence, or simple prattle to stay in touch. There are people who can understand bird[...] Read more

Sonic Geography Su Rynard Issue 122

What's Inside Musicworks 131 - Fall 2018 Musicworks 131 is the second issue of our 40th anniversary year, featuring artists who are active in interarts, DIY culture, collaborative composing, and more! Buy the print issue (or print + CD combo!) from our shop or start your subscription with the Fall 2018 issue.  ON THE COVER[...] Read more

Featured Article Issue 131

Jean-Sebastien Audet’s Songs of Ephemera Jean-Sebastien Audet and I drink coffee in a café on Toronto’s Queen Street West, as we try to pin down his elusive music. The man who has kindly given us his larger table is now squeezed into a corner with his laptop and is feigning interest in nondescript wall art. He perks up[...] Read more

Featured Article Chaka V. Grier Issue 131

Alex Buck’s Screaming Trees Convergence is often the magical force in the creative process that leads to an ear-catching work. Two or more seemingly disparate elements meet in the imagination of an artist who unites them into something new that resonates with both universal and personal meaning. This is the story[...] Read more

Sound Notes Jennie Punter Issue 136

Isaiah Ceccarelli “I know it may sound crazy, but I am interested in making beautiful music—music that sounds good. I’m not saying this just to be different, and it might not be in line with a lot of the reasons that people make music today, but I am actually not very involved with, or[...] Read more

Profile Nick Storring Issue 119

New Stages For New Music Intense purple LED light washes over the Thin Edge New Music Collective (ABOVE PHOTO) as they scramble to soundcheck, seeming to heighten the chaotic mood at Long Winter, Toronto’s monthly interarts festival series during the coldest season. Two different sources of electric guitar[...] Read more

Featured Article David Dacks and Peter Burton Issue 125

The Shapeshifting Sounds of Gabriel Dharmoo After experiencing Anthropologies Imaginaires, it’s hard to imagine that just a few years ago Gabriel Dharmoo, its creator and performer, was reluctant to use his spectacularly flexible voice to anything like its full extent.   In fact, he initially rebelled against[...] Read more

Sound Notes Alexander Varty Issue 125

James Goddard Makes Brave New Spaces “Recorded music these days is like an inversion of the old-time medicine show—you know, those people who would go from town to town and put on this big carnival performance to sell their medicine. Now that ticket sales have become the main income generator for musicians,[...] Read more

Sound Notes Peggy Hogan Issue 139