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Coleman Hell

There must be something in the water, because it seems like everyone wants a piece of Coleman Hell these days. It's been a giant 2015 for the Toronto-based, Thunder Bay-bred singer, with his banjo-fied house pop banger "2 Heads" having racked up millions of listens on Spotify and nuzzled up to other radio hits on both sides of the border.

Leon Bridges

Good friends and good food are just a couple of the blessings Texas soul artist Leon Bridges is enjoying when we catch him on a rare day off in Dallas. The last few years have been a blur for the singer-songwriter, taking him all the way from the first few strums on a guitar to jet-setting behind his recently released debut LP Coming Home.

Kyle Kinane | Comedy Central

Kyle Kinane’s newest special I Liked His Old Stuff Better features bits about burning his laundry, hitting pistachios with the back of his cell phone while driving, and the embarrassment inherent in your mother being impressed with you for actually owning plates. He would rather talk about Bigfoot than comedy, though. But, he was kind enough to discuss his perspective on it and his career, as well as the time he threw up while broadcasting on a popular cable network, with ION writer Kellen Powell.

BRONCHO | Words to the Wise

There are three bands currently listed on Wikipedia’s category page for “Indie Bands from Oklahoma”: Aqueduct, a synth-tinged indie pop foursome currently operating out of Seattle, Other Lives, a folk three-piece that is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, and Hanson, a little known pop group that had a hit or two back in the nineties.

Reggie Watts | Mad Talent

Reggie Watts is absurd. Most people who see his hybrid act (which combines improvised, one-man-show music with Monty Python-esque, Dadaist humour, and social commentary) are left wide-eyed, but also smiling. He's that afro'ed, sweater-wearing man with the 10 octave range your friend was trying to tell you about, who went on Conan, Ted Talks, and Letterman, with nothing prepared, spoke in accents, and then created an incredible-yet hilarious song in front of your very eyes.

OK Go | Cracking the Code

OK Go have grown a lot since you last saw them, probably with a distinct vision of colours and treadmills. As any good band does though, they have grown and manifested into something that is closer to their own truth, closer to the music that now resonates with their souls and their new experiences. JJ Brewis spoke with frontman Damian Kulash about growing up and moving forward, maturity of sound, and creative balls.

Owen Pallett | Crazy Times

Since his debut in 2005 with Final Fantasy, Owen Pallett's music has defied lazy journalism. It is utterly unique and only comparable to Owen Pallett, leaving music journalists everywhere struggling to find clever one-liners to summarize his unique brand of genius. Now an in-demand multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, arranger, and composer, you can no longer nail his music down to the orchestral pop cross.

Mac DeMarco | Wild Thing

One of the many fascinating things about Canadian musician, multi-instrumentalist, and renowned joker, Mac DeMarco, is the dichotomy between his crooned, swoon-worthy catalogue, and his oddly raw and rude public persona. Take, for instance, how his softly strummed songs about true love contrast with live show stories of DeMarco swinging from the rafters, finger betwixt his butt cheeks.

HAIM | The Exception

Last year saw HAIM hit the big time around the world. Inclusion in all the ubiquitous best songs of 2013 lists for “The Wire”, a lauded performance on Saturday Night Live, and everyone knowing Este’s “bass face”, is all off the back of their critically acclaimed debut album Days Are Gone. We don’t know how else to put it, these girls are big. Our music editor, Trevor Risk, meets the trio, and finds they are the refreshing exception to the rule.

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