Raised by a photojournalist and a musician on the islands of Canada’s Pacific coast, Canadian experimental singer-songwriter Ora Cogan shaped her approach to music far from big-city scenes. Her childhood home played host to a constant stream of artists as it served as a professional recording studio. Cogan absorbed a myriad of influences growing up, from Ladino and Rumbetico to American country blues and outsider art all feeding into her glacial and cinematic yet tinglingly intimate sound. Cogan has been crafting critically acclaimed records for years, earning her festival slots throughout Europe and North America, residencies in Italy and France, and shows with Mazzy Star and Grouper. Prolific and experimental, she’s collaborated with the likes of Frazey Ford, Skeena Reece and members of Big Brave. Her latest record, Formless, out in august 2023, took form in the abyss of grief and pandemic isolation. The result is an outpouring of ruminations on awkward love, pain, internal struggles, and a fight to find ways to feel good when everything goes bad. Formless finds beauty, absurdity, humour, and unlikely joy in the bleakest of times. Cogan’s smoky, psychedelic approach to gothic country and hazy folk merges with post-punk, groove, psych rock, and traditional balladry. With a singular voice as much sensation as sound, Ora Cogan seeks out new realities within the smoke-and-mirrors labyrinth of our cruel society. Cogan and her close-knit band are supporting Formless with stateside touring as well as EU and UK dates in 2024. Her performances offer a vital antidote to the dystopian alienation of modern life, drawing overlapping audiences of folk, goth, pop, experimental, and even noise and punk fans together.

For just over a year, Dermabrasion have peddled their fleshy post-punk in and around their home town of Toronto, with a deceptively ferocious live show that has landed them supporting slots for the likes of Lydia Lunch Retrovirus, Special Interest, Pixel Grip, Nox Novacula and Front 242’s Patrick Codenys. The duo 2021 demo EP Lunate marked a return to form for members Adam Bernhardt and Kat McGouran, who started writing and performing together in 2015 with defunct Toronto punk band WLMRT. The five tracks on Lunate with a low-fi production that smacks of early Sisters of Mercy recordings offered only a haunting, shadowy outline of what the pair now bring forward with their full-length debut, Pain Behaviour. Released on Toronto-based Hand Drawn Dracula, Pain Behaviour pieces together a collection of influences reflecting the years both musicians have spent skulking around their city’s nightlife. Produced by Josh Korody (Fucked Up, Nailbiter, Breeze, Beliefs, Vallens) and mastered by Noah Mintz, Pain Behaviour completes the baleful statement Dermabrasion first uttered with Lunate. Korody’s experience with electronic music helped hone the band’s sound to a menacing edge they call “death rock and roll,” swinging equally in the directions of first wave and contemporary post-punk, industrial, NWOBHM and meathead rock.

Mac/Corlevich is an Italian duo born from the encounter between Davide Corlevich and Cristiano Mecchi, two musicians from Verona with different musical backgrounds converging into a new project. Corlevich has one foot in the world of classical guitar and constant artistic activity in this field but has always explored very different genres with bands like Anteo and Galaverna, accumulating extensive live and studio experience. Mecchi, an expressive singer and versatile drummer, has been part of many bands associated with the rock and underground scene, such asneXus,3tons,Poseydon,Supergonzo, and Oui The North, with numerous recordings and hundreds of concerts throughout Italy. A successful fusion of experiences and complementary talents. Drawing from folk, Americana, country, and grunge, Mac/Corlevich distil these sounds and blends them, embracing a sensibility free from nostalgia but infused with intensity. Rain Or Shine, their debut album out for XO La Factory on May 10th, combines those two sonic worlds in an intense and authentic journey that smells of America.