Photo by Celia Mendez If Quique Escamilla could summarize his musical journey in one word, it would be “grateful.” Born and raised in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas, the Juno Award–winning musician grew up with a limited idea of how far music could take him. Now based in Toronto as an established and touring […] More »

Photo by Pavel Danilyuk via Pexels I was struggling in school: distracted, restless, and falling behind. I was an undiagnosed ADHDer and autistic kid, but it was the ’80s, so my fidgeting was treated as misbehaviour rather than a learning difference. I was rescued by the unstoppable hero known as creativity. My mom, a teacher […] More »

Photo by Chris LeDrew Atlantic Canada’s music scene has always been filled with rich, diverse sounds, from sea shanties to hip hop, with artists building followings far beyond home. And for over three decades, the East Coast Music Association (ECMA), the nonprofit that runs an annual awards show and industry marketplace, has been part of […] More »

Photo by Dave Swiewicki Desiree Dorion was born to play country music. Growing up in rural Manitoba, Dorion’s love of music led her to riding her bike to the Dauphin’s Countryfest, the longest-running country music festival in Canada, as a little girl. By the time she was five, the Juno nominee and member of the […] More »

Photo by Chris Wong/iStock In 2005, I was a 15-year-old trans queerdo who had no idea who I was. Living in a sleepy suburb in Ottawa, I didn’t know any trans people and only saw them portrayed in media as caricatures of monstrosity or madness. I was depressed, anxious, and felt like I didn’t belong […] More »

In 2016, Felix Viton Ho showed up at La Vitrola on St. Laurent in Montreal, not sure what to expect. An undergraduate looking to feel involved in something, Ho had Googled “Montreal concerts” and come across the show listing. He climbed three flights of stairs and entered the dimly lit venue to find a crowd […] More »

“Sometimes people’s … personal life becomes bigger than their work,” says pop star Britney Spears at one point during Framing Britney Spears, the New York Times-produced documentary released in February 2021. Though the complaint backgrounds a montage of Spears being chased around by paparazzi in the late 2000s, it may as well have been issued […] More »

Pop singer Halsey begins her 2020 album, Manic, with a quote from Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind: “I’m just a fucked up girl who’s looking for my own peace of mind.” It’s hard to imagine Katy Perry or even Lady Gaga starting a record the same way 10 years ago, but in today’s music […] More »

We were teaching ourselves something that we didn’t know,” says Kat Estacio, co-founder of Toronto’s Pantayo, a quintet blending traditional Filipino kulintang music with Western pop and rock styles. That’s partly why it took eight years between the ensemble’s first practice in 2012 and the release of their self-titled debut earlier this year. As with […] More »

Tamara Lindeman, also known as Toronto singer-songwriter The Weather Station, doesn’t mince words when it comes to climate change. Asked whether she thinks the music industry is finally waking up to the global crisis, her answer is a swift no. “People talk about feeling guilty more,” she says. “This doesn’t mean anything is changing.” Lindeman […] More »

Dear Bjork, The year leading up to my 30th birthday almost killed me, quite literally. The stress from my living situation at the time was pushing me to the edge of my sanity. I was living in a place I didn’t want to be in because I had gotten priced out of the place I’d […] More »