By far the worst I’ve ever witnessed in Toronto, you can taste the wildfire smoke in the air. But hey more Data centres, more mega tonne munition drops, burn more oil, hell let’s just set fire to as many oil tankers as we can.

Absolutely insane framing for a Round of 16 exit. Guess who isn’t mentioned?

Tara Clerkin Trio, self titled. Really great debut. Genre bending fun, with great clarinet playing and electronic loops. What? And I Know He Will are the standouts but this just plays better as a full album. #5debutalbums2026

Cooks and Jango, Serialized Practice Number one. Really enjoyed this. If I have room for an electronic album this maybe it. It’s alittle more traditional electronic then there more recent hip hop albums. #5debutalbums2026

The Cool Greenhouse, self titled. Fun, a little repetitive, but I think it’s spoken wordy vibe is a little more accessible then Dry Cleaning. The Sticks and Smile, Love are the standouts. #5debutalbums2026

Heartworms, Gluten For Punishment, the production really stands out this, with some great tracks like Jacked and Mad Catch. #5debutalbums2026

Los Retros, Looking Back. Fun debut with hazy nostalgic arrangements and simple love driven pop lyrics. Amtrak and Deep Seated the two openers are the standouts #5debutalbums2026

Florry, Big Fall. This is ok, there great stuff like the name sake and Jane, but dude’s voice is super muppety and makes listening to a whole album a bit of chore. #5debutalbums2026

Dust, Evil Joy. Good debut, just a little sleepy, but there some nice tracks on here Where The Good Ones Go and Pure Joy. #5debutalbums2026

Delivery’s debut Forever Giving Handshakes. Super fun punkish indy rock. Some really great guitar and bass tones throughout. Picture This Baader Mienhof are the standouts but lots to like. #5debutablums2026

The Sweet Enoughs, Marshmallow. An interesting debut, A digital exotica album. Nice background music. Dream Puppy and Mysterious River Snake are the stand outs. #5debutalbums2026

Wasted Youth Club, Consequences. This has got some good energy, but it tends to get a little monotonous for a 14 track album. #5debutalbums2026

Wednesday, I Was Trying To Describe You To Someone, I have never really connected with Wednesday, it always a bit too 90’s B sides. But Karly Hartzman has some great vocal tracks on this when it isn’t fighting the guitar. Billboard is the stand out. #5debutalbums2026

Worries and Other Plants, Dreams and Nightmares. Good debut, Dreams is the big stand out. The pace and delivery is almost feels like ambient rock to the point of some arrangements being lost. Funeral has a nice feature vocal from Femi Luna. #5debutalbums2026

Nilsson Sings Newman, 1970. There’s some great songs in this Cowboy, Living Without You and Vine Street. #nowlistening/playing

So glad this came out today! Any Young Mechanic, The Modern Shoe is Running the Foot. Could be a recency bias contender. Sam Wilson has some really endearing vocal choices throughout the album. It’s all great but Snug Barber, My House Divides are the stand outs. #5debutalbums2026

Rae Luna’s Like I’ll Die Tomorrow. Good debut with some good features. It can be a bit mono-tempo. Standouts are Want Someone and Yesterdays Mistake. #5debutalbums2026

Jev. The Colour Grey, he has a great cadence and some fun beats. The album is self isn’t super solid. But Where’s the Confetti and Black Samurai are great tracks. #5debutalbums2026

Courting, Guitar Music. A decent debut with nice tracks like Tennis and Pda and Loaded. They do I good job of meshing in some electronic sounds/ atmospheres into guitar driven Indy rock. #5debutalbums2026

Dallas Ugly, Watch Me Learn. Lovely Debut. Great vocals/ Harmonies all around but Libby Weitnauer is particularly good on the title track. The playing is also pretty wonderful. #5debutalbums2026

Opus Kink, ‘Till the Stream Runs Dry. This is Rick debut, great guitar riffs, good energy and delivery. #5debutalbums2026

Horse Girl, Versions of Modern Performance. Another contender, Anti-Glory and Live and Ski are the standouts. #5debutalbums2026

Being Dead, When Horses Would Run. Hovering in contention, this is a fun artsy Indy pop. Invented writing and weirdly nostalgic folky harmony’s and vocals. Come on and Last Living Buffalo are the Standouts. #5debutalbums2026

Magic AL, Good Grief. This could be contender for me, first 3 tracks are excellent. It’s poppy Indy pop, but good song craft. Loose Lips and 6 Am also worth a listen. #5debutalbums2026

Deslondes member Riley Downing solo, Start it Over. It’s got good swampy vocals and great alt-country arrangements. The name sake and I’m Right There With You are the standouts. #5debutalbums2026

John Roseboro, Human Nature. I really like John, such a great guitar player and vocalist. His work Mei Semones is particularly great. La Nuit Des Temps is the standout. #5debutalbums2026

Ryan Davis and the Roadhouse Band, Dancing on the Edge. They really push the accessibility, with a consistent desire to make every thing a long play. But they are great songs, and Ryan is such a great story teller. Junk Drawer Heart and Free From the Guillotines are the standouts. #5debutalbums2026

Steve McMicken and THE EVER-EXPANDING, solid debut for the Dr Dog front man. The veteran savvy just drips off of every track of this 8 piece ensemble. Reconcile is the big stand out but it’s a great listen. #5debutalbums2026

Lime Garden, One More Thing. Not a particularly solid debut, Love Song is a really great track and worth a listen. But there is so much going for this Indy pop out fit, great writing, arranging, vocals and you hear that in their sophomore album released this year. #5debutalbums2026