Charismatic Motivation: September 2024

The DOMINIONATED Newsletter is a monthly(ish) round-up of music and creativity from across the country, bringing reviews and recommendations from our writers right to your inbox. Enter your email address below to subscribe now.




The actual written reviews might be mini, but these mighty fine releases are more than worthy of your time, attention, and support.

The OBGMs, Your Friends Are Not Your Friends

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The OBGMs make music that you can feel on a molecular level and that talent is on full display on their new EP Your Friends Are Not Your Friends. The time and care that went into the songs is on full display from the versatility of the riffs which go from ferociously frenetic hardcore punk to infectiously melodic rock to soaring arrangements that define categorization, to the wonderful fuzz and crunch of the distortion, and the incredibly emotive vocal delivery that showcases lead vocalist Denz’s voice perfectly as the band navigates mental health, friendship, and dealing with changes. Your Friends Are Not Your Friends is bursting with life and shows the OBGMs at the top of their game. • Em Moore

Ombiigizi, SHAME

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Since May, the collaborators of Ombiigizi have shared three singles from their upcoming album SHAME, set for release this November. In conversation with their previous album, Sewn Back Together, the album concept continues to explore healing with room for all the anger, sadness, and shame that comes with it. While complex emotions are a shared human experience, single “Laminate The Sky” references the Indigenous experience of being given a cheaply laminated status card, and the restrictions placed on Indigenous peoples’ movements. The accompanying music video, directed by Jordan Allen, symbolizes freedom and depicts scenes of the band’s interstellar travel. The members of Ombiigizi seem to share a real focus and commitment to one another, their place in the world, and the music they make. Be sure to check out their other singles “Connecting” and “Ziibi” while we wait for the album drop. • Tia Julien

The Vaniers, Painted Town EP

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Full of dancy guitar and gritty rock tones, Painted Town is a fantastic EP recently released from Toronto’s own The Vaniers. All four songs are easy to bop along to with perfectly beltable choruses, making it an easy twelve and a half minute pick-me-up. • Alyssa Gelata


Time is an illusion, and a lot of great music always flies under the radar, so we gathered some standouts from the last twelve months that deserve a little more attention.

Terry Green, PROVISIONAL LIVING

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Terry Green’s album PROVISIONAL LIVING is one of the most beautiful heavy albums of the year. The Mississauga-based post-hardcore band opens the record with “PALING”, an instrumental track with lots of distortion, feedback, and bright cymbals which creates a feeling that is both ominous and hopeful. From there they continue to set the tone as they explode into the flurry of energy that is “BLUR”, showcasing their expert use of harsh and clean tones along with their mastery of seamless tempo changes. The way they are able to build up a song, bring it back down, and build it up even more is mind-blowing especially on “SAFETY”, “FULL LIP”, “PARAMOUNT”, and “GNAWING”. “GNAWING” is one of the most dynamic tracks on the album particularly when everything except the bass cuts away during the spoken part about dreams and with each repetition of the lyrics another instrument is added, getting louder every time until the vocal delivery morphs into exceptional screams in order to be heard. The sonic landscape that Terry Green creates on this album is incredibly visual and deeply moving. It is truly exquisite and there are few albums more cathartic than PROVISIONAL LIVING. • Em Moore

MY OWN MONEY, “Disco Asbestos”

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The single art for MY OWN MONEY’s new song “Disco Asbestos” features people in brightly coloured disco outfits and gas masks dancing (somewhat ominously) on a brightly coloured floor under a mirror ball in a room filled with asbestos and needless to say, it brings the vibe of the song to life perfectly. The track sees the Toronto-based band doing what they do best – blending new wave, disco, post-punk, darkwave, electropop, synth-rock, and indie rock together to create spectacularly fun dance music. It is impossible to resist the urge to move your feet, shake your hips, and dance like the apocalypse is nigh. “Disco Asbestos” is a perfect song to kick off a dance party, although preferably in a place that isn’t riddled with asbestos. • Em Moore


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