Understory’s Sonic Ecosystem Like many performing musicians, I considered leaving the music business in 2020. The confluence of loss of work due to the pandemic, exhaustion from years of gig-hustling, and the intensity of social, political, and environmental crises left me wanting to help directly (on good days) or hide[...] Read more

Featured Article Jennifer Thiessen Issue 140

Margaret Noble and Caitlin Smith win top marks in Musicworks' 2013 Electronic Music Composition and "Sonic Geography" Writing contests TORONTO, February 4, 2014   Musicworks is thrilled to announce the winners of its 2013 contests. San Diego interdisciplinary artist Margaret Noble’s Safer Is Better has won first place in Musicworks’ 2013 Electronic Music Composition contest, and[...] Read more

Sound Notes

Mark Molnar’s alternative trajectories Harrowingly unbridled and unpredictable, yet blatantly meticulous in their construction, Mark Molnar’s compositions frequently emerge as rugged tangles of bowed-string sonorities. Even though their gestural expressivity might suggest that they could’ve been conceived in myriad[...] Read more

Featured Article Nick Storring Issue 118

Nate Wooley’s Seven Storey Mountain Jump into an early version of Nate Wooley’s Seven Storey Mountain, and you land in dark and turbulent, almost infernal terrain. Sounds are dense and blur into one another: trumpet amplified to distortion levels; prerecorded tape of unidentifiable noises; dense, rapid drumming of[...] Read more

Featured Article Stuart Broomer Issue 118

The Spatial Sonic Designs of Juro Kim Feliz Genres can be compared to landscapes: they are places where people gawk like tourists, set up camp on Spotify playlists, and explore musical structures. Juro Kim Feliz sat down with me in November 2021 to talk about the challenges of creating in both the Filipino and the Canadian[...] Read more

Sound Bite Rachel Evangeline Chiong Issue 141

Label Profile: Redshift Records We won’t go into the details—because, frankly, we don’t understand them—but in astronomy a redshift is a way to measure an object’s placement in space, and its movement vis-à-vis the earth.   “It’s like the Doppler effect, but[...] Read more

Sound Notes Alexander Varty Issue 130

Healing Power Records Hits Toronto With a Sonic Balm The last place you’d expect to hear a comprehensive showcase of a modern experimental music community is on a dance mix. But with Heart of Toronto, a 2013 CD and download compilation, the Toronto-based label Healing Power has done just that. A compelling snapshot of North America[...] Read more

Sound Notes Jonathan Bunce Issue 118

Fresh Moves in Music Therapy One hundred and twenty kids, seated on benches and gym mats, are beaming as they beat out a pulsating rhythm on small percussion instruments. Their ecstatic expressions match that of drummer and occupational therapist Leaf Miller [ABOVE PHOTO, LEFT, working with student at Abilities First[...] Read more

Featured Article Lawrence Joseph Issue 123

Linda Bouchard's Murderous Little World FULL-TEXT AVAILABLE IN PRINT EDITION ONLY   Couple Linda Bouchard’s vision and sound with poet Anne Carson’s texts, engage the talents of a host of collaborators, including extraordinary musicians Guy Few, Joseph Petric, and Eric Vaillancourt, give it all several[...] Read more

In the Works Richard Simas Issue 114

Saw-whet Records: Prairie Experimentalists Unite For Saw-whet Records’ Ethan Bokma, putting an album together means exactly that: a new release requires not only great music and a cover design, but also blank, unassembled album jackets, glue, spray paint, and several types of adhesive tape. A prominent bass clarinetist on the Edmonton[...] Read more

Sound Notes Ian Crutchley Issue 136

Sarah Neufeld: Solo Violin, Guerrilla-Style “I COULDN'T EVEN PLAY A NOTE. If you even breathe, your breath becomes this crazy, feathery freight train of echo.”   Sarah Neufeld recalls her first visit to Devil’s Mountain with a mixture of fear and delight. The site of an abandoned array of[...] Read more

Profile Jonathan Bunce Issue 117