Brooklyn, NY/Toronto, ON indie pop/new wave duo The Dream Eaters return with their new album Year End Report. A collection of their singles from 2024 and 2025, framed as a tongue-in-cheek yearbook, the LP is a self-portrait of a band who thrives on bending reality, blending humour with tightly crafted indie pop, and turning the bizarre into something undeniably catchy. 

Year End Report is helmed by the gleefully outrageous lead single, “3D Printer” (Vagina Version). Equal parts electro-pop, synthwave, and surrealist humour, the song takes the band’s signature absurdism to a new high (or low, depending who you ask), imagining a future where 3D-printed vaginas are just another everyday convenience and turning that concept into a shimmering, danceable bop.

“We wrote ‘3D Printer’ in 2024 and made a social media video for it that used the lyric ‘I’m gonna 3D print your vagina with my 3D Printer,’” says Jake Zavracky (vocals/guitar/programming). “When we released it in 2025, we subbed in the word body instead of vagina. Our fans demanded the full vagina version, so here we are.”

Part tongue-in-cheek futurism, part deadpan earnestness, the track stands out within the duo’s catalogue not only for its title but for its balancing act: glossy pop production paired with a lyric no one was expecting. “It’s not a lyric you’d normally hear sung with this sort of tune,” adds Zavracky. “It’s an electro-pop synthwave song about the future, when people will be able to 3D print vaginas.”

Stylistically, the band leaned fully into the contrast. “We wanted a super pop song that would make people dance and also laugh – preferably at the same time.”

From the heart of Toronto’s indie-rock scene, Cut Flowers emerge with “Until It’s Time” – a rollicking and heartfelt meditation on impermanence, regret, and making amends. Rooted in pastoral harmonies and driven by vibrant, live-off-the-floor energy, the song blends the ache of folk storytelling with the grit of vintage rock and soul.

“It’s a song about regretting not being there for people you love when they need you,” says vocalist Kevan Byrne. “And sort of trying to make amends before we die — saying this time I’ll be there for you, and will stay there until it’s time for me to go.”

Inspired by the timeless melancholy of 60s and 70s British folk and the raw earthiness of contemporary American folk-blues artists like Jake Xerxes Fussell, “Until It’s Time” finds its own space between promise and resignation.

The song was written in an unusual tuning — a discovery that unlocked its distinctly open, ringing sound. “I read about something called a black key tuning that Curtis Mayfield used for a lot of his songs,” Byrne recalls. “I put my guitar into that tuning and right away I was struck that I had no idea how CM was getting chords and voicings out of it for songs like ‘Move On Up.’ But it was great for chiming, droning stuff in the key of G. That’s the tuning I used to write ‘Until It’s Time.’ In the end you can play the song in standard tuning with basic cowboy chords. But sometimes you have to get outside your habits to hear a tune differently.”

Adding to that texture is a stand-out melodica part by Al Okada, whose contribution became central to the song’s sonic identity. “It’s such an unexpected timbre for a track like this,” Byrne says. “The voicings Al uses are kind of dissonant and melodic at the same time — sweet and sour, which is where we like to live.”

With its folk-driven harmonies, high-energy guitars, and minimal overdubs, the band intentionally kept the recording process raw and immediate. “We wanted to preserve the high of that initial experience when the song first came together,” Byrne explains. “So we set up close to each other to reproduce the experience of a live band as much as we could.”

Toronto rock band Dead Broke return with “Hypernormal,” a blistering, clear-eyed indictment of modern life where everything is reactive, monetized, and endlessly overwhelming. Anchored by jagged guitars, volatile dynamics, and a seething, desert-rock pulse, the track captures what it feels like to live in a world of nonstop disruption: doomscrolling through microdoses of trauma while losing any sense of what’s real.

“We’re living in a minute-by-minute basis of disruption,” says lead vocalist Michael Bright. “We swipe through nonsense online while real life atrocities are happening at home and abroad, and no one feels empowered to do anything about it. We are living in a state of the Hypernormal.”

A continuation of themes the band have explored over the past decade, “Hypernormal” sharpens Dead Broke’s longstanding lens on social division, disconnection, and the slow erosion of public good. “Things haven’t gotten better – they’ve gotten worse,” Bright adds.

The song’s writing process, fittingly, mirrors a shift in the band’s creative approach. What began as a demo sketched by Mike and Evan Saunders became a catalyst for a more collaborative era. “This song signaled the start of a new songwriting process and collaborative approach,” says guitarist Zack Carlan, who tracked his early ideas during the 2020 lockdown. “We started sharing our demo recording sessions, building off of them, and suddenly we had a whole batch of ripping new Dead Broke tracks.”

By 2025, Dead Broke have embraced a more tech-forward workflow – a far cry from what drummer Liam Farrell jokingly called their “1970s” method of writing all together in a room. “By April, we had five or six new songs,” Bright says. “By July we were tracking in the studio. It was an encouraging change. There’s an urgency, and it’s exciting.”

Stylistically, the band pushed for heavy, room-filling guitars while preserving clarity and punch. “The dynamic shifts make this song unique,” Carlan explains. “The distorted, compressed, megaphone-esque sections split the airy, melodic verses from the heavy hitting choruses. The end feels like bashing your head against the wall, in the best way possible!”

skatchewan-born singer-songwriter Jeffery Straker shares A Very Prairie Christmas, a 12-song recording shaped by nearly a decade of his beloved annual holiday shows. Blending nostalgic classics, intimate arrangements, and Straker’s signature piano-driven storytelling, the album captures the way Christmas memories evolve while still holding their magic.

“When I was selecting these songs, I had the benefit of having performed my annual holiday show for nine years,” Straker explains. “Listeners enjoyed my originals, but it was clear that the classic Christmas tunes were important and needed to be included. Folks have so many memories attached to those songs. If there was a thought bubble over everyone’s head in the auditorium – with a little movie-of-memories playing while we performed – each song would be different for everyone.”

After years of fans asking at the merch table whether a Christmas album existed, Straker finally set out to record one, naming the project after his long-running shows. The entire album was recorded and produced in Saskatchewan with a cast of local musicians. Sessions took place in July and August, with summer heat outside and a Christmas tree set up inside his living room-turned-studio. “It was fascinating how the songs immediately transported us into full festive mode,” he says. “These songs were all I needed to virtually hang some holly and lights around my house.”

Designed like a concert setlist, the album mixes moods and tempos, balancing moments of celebration with quiet reflection. “Christmas can be complicated,” he shares. “Part of the joy comes from taking stock of where we’ve been – both the ups and the downs. I have a lot to be grateful for, and I’ve also lost family and friends that I wish I could be with at this time of year. I hope these songs are a space where listeners can let all those feelings play out.”

The album’s focus track, “Holly Jolly Christmas,” is a long-standing audience favourite from Straker’s annual show. Written by holiday hitmaker Johnny Marks and made famous by Burl Ives, the song shines with bright, nostalgic cheer. “It’s like the flashing coloured lights on a Christmas tree,” Straker says. “I don’t think Christmas is complete without this song and its spirit-lifting powers.”

The recorded version reflects the full-band energy of his hometown holiday show, featuring a 10-piece ensemble – upright piano, drums, upright bass, mandolin, acoustic guitar, two violins, saxophone, trumpet, and two backing singers. “It’s short, sweet, and pure Christmas magic,” Straker says. “The message is simple: it’s Christmastime, so be happy and celebrate it.”

Burned-out mathematician turned indie-soul artist Jeremy Voltz returns with “Feel It All,” a deeply introspective track about the struggle to care for someone despite anger, distance, and the vulnerability that comes with connection. As the latest release from Voltz’s 2025 music campaign, the single captures the push and pull of human relationships – tender, complicated, and ultimately unbreakable.

“The song came from a rocky relationship with a friend,” Voltz shares. “I tried for almost a year to distance myself and keep safe at arm’s length. But I realized that no matter how hard I tried not to care about my friend, I couldn’t stop. My anger had dried up without me noticing, and I even tried to cling to it so I wouldn’t have to care, because caring is hard. But ultimately, care blooms in spite of our best efforts.”

Uniquely, this is the first song Voltz has ever released that he created on an Akai MPC – the legendary drum machine and sampler made famous by J Dilla and first discovered by Voltz through Dilla’s influence on D’Angelo’s music. “It’s an amazing new way to create away from my guitar,” he shares. “The track inspired the lyrics, which is usually the other way around for me. When I came up with the beat, these emotions and lyrics flowed out of me almost instantly.”

Voltz adds, “The message of the song is that you can try as much as you want to harden yourself, to not care, but care and concern grow in spite of yourself. Like a flower growing out of a crack in the sidewalk.”