Here are 5 artists that are worth your time.
As always, I’ll include this month’s Spotify and Apple Music playlists at the bottom.
Hot Mud – Rehab Rock
Ottawa, Ontario
Instagram | Website | Bandcamp | YouTube
This album was recorded in a sober living house in a ‘tiny room the size of your mother’s closet’. It’s all the work of one guy who goes by “Muddy Watters” (two ‘t’s, natch). He’s a very talented musician.
It’s the best thing to come out of Ottawa in a while, anyway. The styles vary from straight ahead guitar rock to synth-ier sounds, but it’s all kind of DIY indie-rock sound.
The lyrics are honest, ironic, sarcastic, funny and surprising. There’s a lot of catharsis — the lyrics are sometimes pretty personal.
Birthday in Rehab has a sing-along chorus that sounds fully joyful, but the lyrics are hardly that.
Rose Brokenshire
Toronto, ON/Golden, BC
Instagram | Bandcamp | YouTube
According to the short profile that put me onto her music, she’s a Toronto native that’s relocated to Golden, BC, and fights wildfires for a living.
Her music is serene and low-key, kind of a mellow Feist vibe that feels like it wants to be played outside, preferably on a quiet sunny day. Her latest single is called Habit to Help:
She has quite the catalogue — her Bandcamp page has tracks dating back to 2013. There are gems throughout.
Here’s an EP from 2019 that I keep gravitating back to:
Waste Youth
Toronto, ON
Instagram | Bandcamp | YouTube
Not to be confused with the past-tense hardcore band — these guys remind me a little of Japandroids – two-piece, fierce punk rock. For some reason I love to see a punk rock drummer singing. There’s only a handful of tracks available now, but the energy is real and so is the sense of fun:
M(h)aol
Dublin, Ireland
Instagram | Bandcamp | YouTube
Hit play on the video, then we’ll talk. This band is killer.
It’s pronounced ‘male’. They’ve been around a while, but released their first full-length last year. It’s furious, vulgar and fantastic. Then they parted ways with their lead singer. Not many bands would continue after that, but this one did. They just put out a new track and it fully rips. They haven’t lost a step (zing!).
HONESTY
Leeds, England
Instagram | Website | YouTube
This crew makes moody and varied electronic music that kind of defies further categorization. They work with a bunch of guest vocalists, so their catalogue comes across more like a fantastic compilation than anything else.
New single CEASE came out last week, and it’s a good gateway drug to the rest of their work. New album comes out late next month.
Been Stellar
NYC
Instagram | Bandcamp | Website | YouTube
NYC-via-everywhere indie rock band, a bit reminiscent of early Interpol. Very NYC sound and thoughtful and layered songwriting (when’s the last time you heard ‘solipsistic’ in a rock song?). Their first full-length is coming in June. Here’s the video for the lead single:
Their debut EP is great, as is this Audiotree performance. The track that grabbed me was Manhattan Youth, the second in the set: