Staff Picks

Ducks Ltd.'s "Train Full of Gasoline" Explodes with Countrified Jangle

Exclaim! Staff Picks

PUBLISHED Jan 4, 2024

Toronto's Ducks Ltd. aren't a country band, but there's a chug-a-lug momentum to "Train Full of Gasoline" that recalls one of those Johnny...

Exclaim! Staffers Share Their Karaoke Classics

PUBLISHED Dec 21, 2023

Here at Exclaim!, our staffers have a particularly special relationship with each other. When you put 10 to 15 music nerds in a trench coat...

HEALTH Ratchet Up the Intensity on 'RAT WARS'

Exclaim! Staff Picks

PUBLISHED Dec 7, 2023

One of Exclaim!'s Best Albums of 2023, HEALTH's RAT WARS is packed from snout to tail with brutality and vulnerability, its 12 tracks drape...

Ducks Ltd. Cure Listlessness with Jangle Pop Bliss on "Hollowed Out"

Exclaim! Staff Picks

PUBLISHED Dec 6, 2023

There's an irony to hearing Ducks Ltd. sing about feeling lifeless and empty, given how their music evokes heart-swelling emotion. On "Holl...

Thermal Are Burdened but Alive on 'Plaster Girl'

Exclaim! Staff Picks

PUBLISHED Nov 24, 2023

Thermal's music feels like a heaving chest, heavy with the weight of thick guitar fuzz, claustrophobic emotional landscapes and a racing he...

gglum Revels in Debauchery and Danger on "Easy Fun"

Exclaim! Staff Picks

PUBLISHED Nov 23, 2023

PJ Harvey's To Bring You My Love is a career-defining high watermark in a career full of them, but it didn't exactly leave a long sonic sha...

On 'Mad and Noisy,' moondoggy Strike Gold

Exclaim! Staff Picks

PUBLISHED Nov 22, 2023

After introducing themselves brilliantly on their eponymous 2021 EP, moondoggy have reaffirmed their position at the forefront of Toronto's...

Boldy James and Nicholas Craven Remain a Perfect Fit on "Brand New Chanel Kicks"

Exclaim! Staff Picks

PUBLISHED Nov 17, 2023

Toward the end of 2022, Boldy James and Nicholas Craven delivered a winning cross-border collaboration in the solemn, wintry Fair Exchange...