Eliza Kavtion’s Call and Response In her spellbinding live show, Montreal-based multi-instrumentalist Eliza Kavtion twists threads from documentary films, punk-rock distortion, and hip-hop innovation together with her wailing, virtuosic guitar playing. She and guitar become one: a fury of fuzzy drones, rhythmic sputters, and[...] Read more

Sound Bite Peggy Hogan Issue 137

The Quiet Waves of Silla and Rise In early 2016 Ottawa-based DJ, producer, and dancer Eric Vani, aka Rise, was hired to create music to be played at the Canadian Museum of Nature’s Nature Nocturne—a themed-evening series that Vani describes as a “rave in the middle of dinosaur skeletons.”[...] Read more

Sound Bite Chaka V. Grier Issue 134

Joshua Abrams’ Natural Information Society THERE'S AN ENGAGING CATCH-AS-CATCH-CAN LOOK to Joshua Abrams’ Natural Information Society, something that immediately conveys a certain spontaneity, yet disguises—slightly—the complexity of the music. During the band’s North American tour in May 2015, which[...] Read more

Featured Article Stuart Broomer Issue 123

What's Inside Musicworks 143? Settle into an autumnal groove with our Fall 2022 issue and direct your curious ears toward new aesthetic coordinates. ORDER YOUR PHYSICAL COPY OF MUSICWORKS 143 FROM OUR SHOP. or SUPPORT MUSICWORKS, A REGISTERED NON-PROFIT, WITH AN ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION.   ON[...] Read more

Featured Article STAFF Issue 143

Charles Stankievech FULL-TEXT AVAILABLE IN PRINT EDITION ONLY     Some time ago, a friend and I were talking outside a gallery, when suddenly we saw a bright green object sear through the night sky. Assuming it to be a stray firework, we waited for the expected explosion and crackles. We waited and[...] Read more

Featured Article Laura Paolini Issue 106

Leah Reid’s Jouer U.S. composer Leah Reid’s composition Jouer won the Marcelle Deschênes Prize in Electronic Music / Prix Marcelle Deschênes pour la musique électronique in the 2024 Musicworks Electronic Music Composition (EMC) Contest. This donor-supported annual prize awards $300 to[...] Read more

Featured Article STAFF

Manuella Blackburn’s Landline In the pantheon of sounds, the tone, whirr, and ring of the rotary phone belong in the “gone but not forgotten” gallery. If someone’s mobile phone rings à la Ma Bell—as opposed to the usual pulsating buzz, pop-tune riff, or synthesized animal sound—we[...] Read more

Sound Bite Jennie Punter Issue 133

Musicworks #128: From the Ancient to the Avant-Garde GONG PUNKS AND CULTURE BOMBS Traditional Filipino kulintang, a style of orchestral music played on a set of brass gongs, is a mesmerizing and exhilarating mixture of the ancient and the avant-garde. This authentic indigenous music has been played in the southern Philippines for centuries[...] Read more

Featured Article STAFF

Akio Suzuki This article was originally published in Spring 2013.   The applause following the introduction of Akio Suzuki at his first Toronto performance since 1984 quickly died down to reveal an echo emerging from the concert-hall seats. It was a consistent pattering—not a true[...] Read more

Featured Article Chris Kennedy Issue 115

Musicworks' Marcelle Deschênes Prize in Electronic Music / Prix Marcelle Deschênes pour la musique électronique Please share this news with your friends, collaborators, and community.     Now in its seventh year, the Marcelle Deschênes Prize in Electronic Music / Prix Marcelle Deschênes pour la musique électronique is part of the annual[...] Read more

Sound Notes STAFF

Ian William Craig’s Sonic Alchemy To many listeners, Ian William Craig’s debut LP, A Turn of Breath (Recital, 2014), seemed to materialize out of thin air—and not just because it was his first commercial release: one can hear almost spectral voices attempting to penetrate layers of electromagnetic detritus, like[...] Read more

Sound Notes Nick Storring Issue 124