Steve Gerrard (Editor/Photographer)
Best albums:
1. Angie McMahon – Light, Dark, Light Again
2. Ben Howard – Is It?
3. END – The Sin Of Human Frailty
4. Model/Actriz – Dogsbody
5. Grian Chatten – Chaos For The Fly
*Honourable mention: Underdark – Managed Decline
Best shows:
1. Feist @ MTelus
2. Tool @ Bell Centre
3. The Callous Daoboys @ Bar le Ritz
4. END @ Foufs
5. Alvvays @ Mtelus
*Honourable mention: Little Simz @ Mtelus
Daphne Miller (Photographer)
Albums:
Hozier – Unreal Unearth
boygenius – the record
Paramore – This Is Why
Half Moon Run – Salt
Kaytraminé – Kaytraminé
Shows:
Boygenius @ Budweiser Stage
Jungle @ Place Bell
Laufey @ Beanfield Theatre
Leith Ross and Begonia @ Hillside Festival
Richard Brunette (Writer)
Albums
1. Sleep Token – Take Me Back to Eden
2. Crosses – Goodnight, God Bless, I Love U, Delete
3. Rolling Stones- Hackney Diamonds
4. Spiritbox- The Fear of Fear
5. Van Morrison- Moving on Skiffle
Shows
1. Tool – Bell Centre
2. Electric Callboy – MTelus
3. Kiss – Bell Centre
4. Puscifer – Olympia
5. Avenged Sevenfold – Bell Centre
Randal Wark (Writer)
Best Albums
1. Nora Kelly Band – Rodeo Clown
2. La Sécurité – Stay Safe
3. Softcult – See You In The Dark
4. Depeche Mode – Memento Mori
5. Loryn Taggart – The Lost Art of Pulling Through
Best Shows – Heavily influenced by FME and smaller gigs at Lion D’Or
1. TUKAN – FME (Le Petit Theatre Basement FME)
2. Depeche Mode – Bell Centre
3. Lumière – FME
4. Billie Eilish – Osheaga
5. Little Misty – Cabaret Lion D’Or / Loryn Taggart – Cabaret Lion D’Or (Tie for 5th place)
Dominic Blewett (Photographer)
1. Mitski – The Land Is Inhospitable And So Are We
2. De Ambassade – The Fool
3. PJ Harvey – I Inside The Old Year Dying
4. Colin Stetson – When we were that what wept for the sea
5. Blonde Redhead – Sit Down For Dinner
1. Sunset Rubdown – La Salla Rossa
2. Alvvays – MTelus
3. Blonde Redhead – Le Studio TD
4. Gilla Band – Bar Le Ritz
5. Brian Jonestown Massacre – Theatre Beanfield
Ricardo D. Flores (Writer)
Paul Simon – Seven Psalms
Chick Corea Elektric Band – The Future is Now (live)
Shakti – This Moment
Raza – Kapelya
Elisapie – Inuktitut
The Cure @ Bell Centre
Michael Anestopoulos (Writer)
Top Albums
1. Space Heavy – King Krule
2. Live at Bush Hall – Black Country, New Road
3. This Is Why – Paramore
4. Salt – Half Moon Run
5. One More Time – blink-182
Top Shows
1. Blink-182 / Turnstile (May 12, Bell Center)
2. Weezer / Billy Talent / PUP (July 7, Ottawa Bluesfest)
3. Black Country, New Road (September 16, Le National)
4. Ride / The Charlatans (February 3, Corona Theatre)
5. Foo Fighters (July 10, Verdun Auditorium)
Brittany Salmaso (Writer)
1. The Paper Kites – At the Roadhouse
2. M83 – Fantasy
3. Blink 182 – One more time
4. Zach Bryan – Zach Bryan
5. Chris Brown – 11:11
1. M83 – MTelus
2. The Paper Kites – Kingston Grand Theatre
Jason Maher (Writer)
Albums
1. Conservative Military Image – Casual Violence
2. Human Garbage – Straight not giving a fuck
3. Drain – Living Proof
4. Ethereal Tomb – when the rivers dry
5. Beton Arme – Second Souffle
Shows
Drain – Club Soda
Scowl – Sala Rosa
Mindforce – Foufs
High Vis – Le Ritz
Beton Arme / Puffer – Foufs
Serena Yang (Photographer)
Albums:
1. Unreal Unearth – Hozier
2. The Good Witch – Maisie Peters
3. The Record – Boygenius
4. Different Zoo, Same Old Monkey – Out By Lucy
5. Pest – Daffo
Shows:
1. Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour at Metlife Stadium in NJ
2. Hozier at Place Bell in Laval (I cried)
3. Out By Lucy at The Rainbow in Ottawa
4. Paramore at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto
5. The 1975 at Bell Centre in MTL
Eric Brisson (Photographer)
Albums
Beartooth – The Surface
Foo Fighters – But Here We Are
Metallica – 72 Seasons
Luke Combs – Gettin’ Old
Morgan Wallen – One Thing At A Time
Shows
Foo Fighters – Verdun Auditorium
Metallica – Olympic Stadium
Machine Gun Kelly – OLG Stage (Niagara Falls)
Yungblud – MTelus
Lewis Capaldi – Place Bell
Lauren Mosley (Photographer)
Albums
1. The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess by Chapell Roan
2. Blondshell by Blondshell
3. I Miss You Already + I Haven’t Left Yet by Del Water Gap
4. Desire, I Want to Turn Into You by Caroline Polachek
5. The Good Witch by Maisie Peters
Shows
1. The 1975 Still… at their very best at Place Bell, Montreal
2. Chapell Roan at Théâtre Fairmount, Montreal
3. Noah Kahan at Thunderbird Stadium, Vancouver
4. Boygenius at the PNE Amphitheatre, Vancouver
5. 6lack at Mtelus, Montreal
Simon Williams (Writer)
Albums
1. Youth Lagoon – Heaven Is A Junkyard
2. Genesis Owusu – Struggler
3. Temples – Exotico
4. A. Savage – Several Songs About Fire
5. Baroness – Stone
Gigs
1. The Postal Service & Death Cab For Cutie @ Cross Insurance Arena, Portland ME
2. Thrice @ Theatre Beanfield
3. Cigarettes After Sex @ Osheaga
4. We Are Scientists @ Brooklyn Made, New York NY
5. Blood Red Shoes @ l’Escogriffe
Annette Aghazarian (Writer)
Albums
Unreal Unearth – Hozier
Our Roots Run Deep -Dominique Fils Aimé
The Returner- Allison Russell
Stick Season- Noah Kahan
99 Nights- Charlotte Cardin
Shows
Hozier (Place Bell)
Dominique Fils Aimé (Theatre de Nouveau Monde)
Buddy Guy (Place des Arts)
The Warning (Le Studio TD)
Lee Fields /Hanorah (Corona Theatre)
Nicolas Cantin (Photographer)
- Lahai – Sampha
- Never Enough – Daniel Caesar
- Let’s Start Here. – Lil Yachty
- How Do You Sleep at Night? – Teezo Touchdown
- Kaytraminé – Amine & Kaytranada
Top 5 Shows:
- Daniel Caesar & Moses Sumney – Canadian Tire Center
- JID & Smino – MTELUS
- Brakence & Gabby Start – Le Studio TD
- Metro Metro Day 1: Lil Wayne, The Kid Laroi, Yeat & Destroy Lonely – Olympic Stadium
- Midwxst & Casper Sage – Le Ministère
Giosi Tortorici
Shows:
Def Leppard / Motley Crue with special guest Alice Cooper in Syracuse, NY
Albums
1. Måneskin – Rush
2. Luke Combs – Gettin’ Old
3. Niall Horan – The Show
4. Def Leppard – Drastic Symphonies
5. Dolly Parton – Rockstar
Alexander Di Staulo (Photographer)
Albums:
1. Some of it Was True – The Menzingers
2. Javelin – Sufjan Stevens
3. Hadsel – Beirut
4. GUTS – Olivia Rodrigo
5. I – Bye Parula
Shows:
1. The Menzingers – Studio TD
2. Youth Lagoon – Fairmount Theatre
3. Bye Parula – Théâtre Outremont
4. Mooch – The Purple Room
5. Plants and Animals – Festival sur le Canal
Mathieu Perrier (Writer)
Albums:
- Hot Mulligan – Why Would I Watch?
- The Beaches – Blame My Ex
- Olivia Rodgrigo – GUTS
- Waterparks – INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
- Ripe – Bright Blues
Shows: - Parkway Drive at Graspop Metal Meeting, Belgium
- Foo Fighters at Rock Am Ring, Germany
- Denzel Curry at Fuji Rock Festival, Japan
- Tenacious D at Rock Am Ring, Germany
- Slipknot at Greenfield Festival, Switzerland
Jamie Siddall – Writer
ALBUMS
The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We – Mitski
Even though this list is not in ranking order, “The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We” is definitely number one on my list this year. There are a lot of things about Mitski’s latest record that firmly caught my attention and held onto me for months. Such as the touch of twang in “Heaven”, a song which makes me feel like I should be dancing along to it in the kitchen with my lover.
Mitski’s lyrics in this album feel softer than they’ve ever been, yet her words’ delicacy don’t affect how deeply they’ll bury in your chest to stay with your heart. Because right after “Heaven’s” lovely embrace comes “I Don’t Like My Mind”, an extremely self-critical track that speaks of regrets and destructive distractions that only cause more harm and regret. My favourite part of the song is when she wails out “A whole cake, all for me” You can just hear the words emptying out her lungs, as if Mitski is doing all she can to use her voice to plead for comfort, which ultimately, the cake will only comfort her for a short moment before she vomits it back up.
This whole album is gold to me, and I could go on writing about each song and my personal interpretations, but I will wrap this up and move on. “The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We” by Mitski is a precious album with themes that Mitski perfectly executes. Themes of deep loneliness, regrets, grieving loss, and learning that to love somebody is possibly life’s biggest privilege.
the record – boygenius
“the record” is truly a work of art. An album that is the musical embodiment of the loving bond that Lucy Dacus, Phoebe Bridgers, and Julian Baker share with one another. Each of them have their strengths in songwriting, which is apparent in their solo careers, but when they come
together as boygenius all their talents fit together as one. “the record” is a beautiful display of affection between three people who are not only bandmates, but incredibly close friends.
Les petales au bout du quai – Floraison Tardive
“Les petales au bout du quai” is Floraison Tardive’s very first album, released back in May. These talented artists from Mascouche are true poets. They really amazed me when this album came out, and I still can’t stop listening to it, especially “Ailleurs”.
This Is Why – Paramore
Paramore has gone and done it again. After a long hiatus, they’ve released a brand new album this year filled with bangers. It always amazes me to see bands and artists that have been in the industry for so many years with so many great albums, still releasing great music. Paramore is no exception to this.
All of This Will End – Indigo De Souza
If there’s one thing about Indigo De Souza that will always knock my socks off, it’s her incredible voice. The power she holds in her lungs is astounding. Her lyrics are always so emotionally raw and tender, everytime I listen to any of her music I grasp onto every word, especially with her newest record “All of This Will End”.
This album has such a different aura than her last two. In the past she sang about her great fear of death and leaving things incomplete, but this year she’s shown the world that she’s embraced the unstoppable force of the reaper. She displays growth and reflection in a calm, accepting fashion.
SHOWS
March 12 2023
JID + Smino @ MTelus
I’ve been a big fan of JID and Smino since highschool, so getting to see them both in a joint tour this year was incredible. Their show never had a dull moment, and I don’t think anyone who was there would disagree with me.
March 31 2023
Cheekface @ Bar le Ritz
Cheekface’s music is so light hearted and easy to dance like an idiot to, yet their lyrics are filled with self deprecating language and fear of the world all around us. These two contradicting elements really work for them. Listening to their live set while dancing was such a fun outlet for any stress that my friends and I had.
May 28 2023
Dilly Dally @ Lee’s Palace – Toronto
I am not kidding when I say that this was the best show I have ever been to in my life. My friends and I are huge fans of Dilly Dally, and when they announced that they were breaking up this year, we were devastated. We made the drive to Toronto and caught their very last show at Lee’s Palace.
I can never listen to their music without thinking of that final show. How it felt as though they played their songs just a tad slower to soak up every moment, how much we bonded with the strangers around us, grieving the band that we know means so much to us. Dilly Dally will always be missed, respected, and loved.
June 14 2023
Tegan and Sara @ L’Olympia
This was my first time seeing Tegan and Sara, and I gotta say there is something so satisfying about singing along to all the songs that my friends and I are constantly singing at our favourite bars, in my car, and anywhere else that their stuff might play. We danced, we laughed at their charismatic jokes, and overall had a fantastic night.
August 11 2023
Hundred Footers @ Maison
Hundred Footers are a brand new band local to Montreal, and 2023 was quite a big year for them. They toured around Canada, and are currently working on recording their first album. Their show at Maison was their first in Montreal after returning from touring, and having been gone for the summer, a ton of people turned out to come see them play.
Brooke Barry, Alex Gaudio, Saz Zenetzis, and Prudence Gendron gave it their all for this one. They were silly, cracking jokes, interacting with the crowd, and their talent just filled the room. Everyone in the audience danced and sang along to their vulnerable lyrics. They moshed and thrashed to their punky-twangy rhythms. Although they’re a fresh band, Hundred Footers have already won the hearts of Montreal’s trans-lesbian community.
