Military Genius, schoolyard, Jazz Dads, and Sarah Pagé & Patrick Graham
Military Genius - Scarred for Life
At the end of 2024, Crack Cloud’s Bryce Cloghesy delivered another solo outing under the Military Genius moniker. Veering more into R&B, Jazz, and even Dub territory, Cloghesy sheds some of the more challenging experimental elements found on his last record, Deep Web. The result is a cohesive listen from start to finish of familiar sounds but with Cloghesy’s sharp ear for eerie melodic aesthetics. It’s much more lyrically dense than his last outing as well. Themes centred around a near-death experience in 2012 and his recent journey into fatherhood showcase Cloghesy contemplating life in different ways. It’s a meditative listen that will play incredibly well on a quiet, thought-inducing day.
schoolyard - welcome to the club
I’m getting old… Regular readers will know I’ve discussed it before. It’s harder and harder to stay on top of the up and coming acts in Canada. That should be forgivable I hope… what might not be forgivable is having no clue about bands that are right in my genre wheelhouse and from my own city. Case in point, Edmonton’s schoolyard. At the end of last year, this noise-punk trio released an amazing debut album that sounds massive. Most of the record is made up of straight-ahead rock composition but the point is underlined four times, bolded, in all caps, and ending with four exclamation points. The four pillars that make up this great noise-rock record are heavy guitar squeals and distortion, crunchy baselines, and urgent drums that come together to craft the backdrop for the lead singer’s rugged hollering. It’s like METZ meets non-shitty Foo Fighters.
Jazz Dads - III
Although this Toronto trio has the word “jazz” emphasized in their genre tags on Bandcamp, the only thing they share musically with said genre is unpredictability. This debut album opens with a couple fantastic synth-punk tracks with a vocalist that boasts a fantastic soft, female-type voice. Track three sounds like it’s going to continue down this path and then things go bananas as a guttural, demonic vocal performance begins and you’re checking your device to see if it’s still the same band. A quick instrumental gives your mind time to catch up to the shift in what you’re hearing and the next two songs featuring this growl are actually really enjoyable. Just as you get acquainted with the new direction, poof! They end the record with three songs more akin to how everything started. It shouldn’t work but it does and both versions of this band are great. I’d love to learn more about them.
Sarah Pagé & Patrick Graham - Littoral States
Sometimes you just need to play something beautiful. Maybe you need to meditate, maybe you need to calm yourself down, maybe it’s something more subdued like finding some nice dinner music. Whatever the case, Montreal harpist Sarah Pagé is always a safe bet. If that name doesn’t ring a bell, it should. Pagé was a founding and longtime member of roots rockers The Barr Brothers and since that band has fizzled out, she has been crafting luscious, atmospheric experimental music. On Littoral States, Pagé has teamed up with world renowned percussionist Patrick Graham to craft an ambitious immersive listening experience. The album explores affinities beyond time, place, tradition and medium. Rooted in earthy, natural tones and sensations, Littoral States transcends time and space. The blend of Pagé’s intricate harp expertise and Graham’s knowledge in Japanese percussion transports me directly to some of the most tranquil moments of my life. It has become the soundtrack to my morning meditation.
- Jeff MacCallum