Michael Rancic
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co-founder @newfeelingcoop
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Articles by Michael Rancic
Let Them Play Synths
In the summer of 1967, inventor and physicist Hugh Le Caine addressed a group of students in Montreal on the topic of “Science in Music.” Le Caine was visiting the 1967 International and Universal Exposition, otherwise known as Expo 67. As a guest speaker, he presented on behalf of the National Research Council (NRC) where he worked, a government agency charged with research and development in science and technology.
Penny for Your Bots
Illustration by Stephane Defago Penny for Your Bots Last year, New Brunswick community radio station CKRO-FM inadvertently aired a song that was almost entirely created by artificial intelligence. The song, “Je m’offre à toi,” credited to the fully fabricated artist “Océanne Chamberland,” is canned folk-pop to its core.
Step Into Little Stone Crow's World
Blink and you’ll miss Sunset Valley, a small community located in New Brunswick’s Westfield Parish, about a half-hour drive inland from Saint John. But on Dives Underwater, Mi'kmaw rapper and producer Little Stone Crow (aka Jan Martin) transforms it into a gleaming metropolitan city, complete with its own NBA team. By reimagining the area, Martin makes it a late-capitalist speculative stand-in for all places they love and question, holding tenderness and critique often in the same rhyme.
Don't Start Another Substack
When we started New Feeling in 2020, it came out of wanting to respond to the structural issues we were facing as journalists at the time: namely the dwindling employment and work opportunities mixed with an abundance of incredible music in the country to write about— more than anyone really thought would be available considering how quickly the world ground to a halt.
21st Century Co-op Ecologies
Cooperatives have always been more than a business model, they’re an experiment in how we might live, work, and create differently together. From early credit unions and newswires to listener-owned radio, the cooperative movement in so-called Canada has long offered material alternatives to top-down control and profit-first logics.
COVID Is (Still) A Working Class Issue
By: Michael Rancic | Art by: Michael Rancic “I’ve been singing every day since I was about five years old, but in June [2024], I hit a period of time where I went nine months without singing at all.” Sky Cameron holds back tears as they recall the weight of the grief they’ve felt as a musician now dealing with long COVID.
Quietly Brutal: Learning to Listen with Sarah Davachi
By: Michael Rancic | Image by: Sean McCann “We were now in that enchanted calm which they say lurks at the heart of every commotion” – Herman Melville, Moby Dick “January felt like five years,” laughs Canadian electroacoustic composer Sarah Davachi with a sigh. The Los Angeles resident’s home was close to the Eaton fire, which raged for 24 days at the beginning of 2025 before finally being contained, thanks to the efforts of firefighters and a welcome spout of rain.
ISSUE 19: FANDOM
Tabassum Siddiqui featuring Tom Beedham, Sarah Chodos, Leslie Ken Chu, Michael Rancic and Laura Stanley Karen K Ho featuring Tom Beedham, Sarah Chodos, Michael Rancic and Daniel G. Wilson This is a new section that will be in each issue moving forward, highlighting the collaborative work we’re co-publishing with The Grind in Toronto. The Grind is Toronto’s free progressive politics & culture print mag and we’re happy to partner with them. Daniel G.
YOUTH: Editor's Note
By: Michael Rancic | Art by: Tom Beedham It hardly seems like a generalization to say that the experiences we have with music in our early years inform so much of who we are and become, what we value, and how we interact with music later in life.
How one academic turned a fascination with how universities function into a successful career — University Affairs
Universities are such uniquely complex institutions that it’s no wonder that many students who walk through their doors turn the focus of their studies and scholarship onto the academy itself. For Glen A. Jones, the pursuit of disentangling those complexities and understanding universities’ myriad moving parts has motivated his career for the past 30 years, making him one of the country’s – and the world’s – foremost scholars on the topic of higher education in Canada.
Editor's Note - Issue 15: Reviews
By: Michael Rancic | Art by: Michael Rancic If you’ve been following us for some time, this theme might feel a little like déjà vu. Ten issues ago, in November 2021, we published “Reviews.” As a theme, it was born out of pragmatism— we had just relaunched and resumed our publishing activities, having just opened up subscriptions to the public two months prior.
Exit Music
Illustration by Jade Armstrong. Also in this issue Exit Music The sound artist Joda Clément was setting up at the base of one of Toronto's Prince Edward Viaduct's many segments. Far above his head vehicles and subway cars zoomed along, but down here the focus was on him, as he got out his laptop and mixing board. The scattered crowd murmured amongst themselves, their conversations getting lost in the wild of the Don Valley.
From D&D and Pathfinder to Critical Role, cultural consultants have never been more important in the tabletop RPG industry
Late last year Wizards of the Coast drew criticism for the many racist tropes central to Dungeons & Dragons’ hadozee player character race, spawning questions about whether or not the Spelljammer line of 5E sourcebooks they were featured in had undergone any sensitivity reading or cultural consulting processes. How had no-one at any stage of publishing raised an eyebrow at the notion of “deck apes” or where that term had originated?
Interview: The Metamorphosis of Laroie
On Tragedy, Laroie’s third EP, metamorphosis and renewal are major themes, prompted by a period of intense introspection in Godon’s life. Though it’s firmly anchored in the contemporary, her music draws on R&B and electronic influences from the late 90s and early 00s, fostering a reflective state of mind with each song. But it’s clear through listening to her music and in speaking with her that Godon looks back not to dwell, but to help chart a path forward.
What the radical response to AIDS can teach us in the age of pandemics
The group that stormed the hall was led by a tall woman with blond dreadlocks on roller skates. It was 1989 at the Fifth International AIDS Conference in Montreal, and Brian Mulroney was about to become the first prime minister to address the crisis by its name. But before he could reach the stage, it was swarmed by a crowd of activists. They unfurled banners and took up the entire stage, remembered Karen Herland in an interview with the AIDS Activist History Project.
Would you congratulate me if I got a job at Spotify?
By: Michael Rancic | Meme by: Michael Rancic Watching musicians and music journalists congratulate someone who landed an editorial job at Spotify is a moment from last year that will stick with me for a long time. The announcement arrived on Twitter less than a month after artists like Santigold and Animal Collective canceled their respective tours, citing that it would be impossible for them to recoup their costs if they went ahead.
Academic Aunties provides a community of care — University Affairs
News The podcast features frank discussions on navigating academic work as a woman, a racialized scholar and a person traditionally underrepresented in higher education. BY MICHAEL RANCIC | FEB 15 2023 In the academic workplace, the burden of emotional and administrative labour often disproportionately falls on the shoulders of women and people of colour.
Are universities doing enough to address academic misconduct in research? — University Affairs
For over two years, McMaster University has been at the centre of a high-profile case of academic misconduct involving now-former academic researcher Jonathan Pruitt. Alleged to have falsified data in his research across multiple journals and studies, there have been that Dr. Pruitt has been involved in, with 11 expressions of concern and four corrections. Dr. Pruitt has since quietly resigned from his post at the university and returned to the United States to teach high school.
Tiger Balme Enter A New Era Of Fierceness
“Fierceness juxtaposed with a sense of healing and calm,” explains vocalist and harpist Anda Zeng. “In a way, that’s like the story of our group. We’ve found a lot of healing, comfort, and safety with each other; it’s given us a lot of personal freedom and joy.
Overcoming isolation, sex workers are organizing for life-saving reforms
Sex work is among the most dangerous jobs in Canada. But a movement of increasingly-organized sex workers says the dangers they face aren’t inherent to the work. It’s the stigma, myths and criminalization that have made their trade so high-risk. Jelena Vermilion, a sex worker who is the co-founder and executive director of the Sex Workers’ Action Program in Hamilton, says putting people in conflict with the law makes them more vulnerable to violence and exploitation.
New ‘disconnecting from work’ policies aren’t enough to tackle the problem of work-life balance — University Affairs
In June, universities across Ontario unveiled their new “disconnecting from work” policies in accordance with provincial legislation aimed at fostering healthier work environments. But faculty and administration alike are saying that on their own, these policies do nothing to upend the more deeply rooted issues that drive high workloads and burnout. “When you hire a faculty member, you’re hiring an uber-keener that wants to work their entire life, right?
A decade on and Monte Cook Games is still setting the bar for innovation in tabletop RPGs
Game designers Monte Cook and Shanna Germain have a lot to celebrate this month. Their Ennie award-winning publishing company, Monte Cook Games, is coming off of yet another successful crowdfunding campaign. Old Gods of Appalachia smashed its goals — and Kickstarter’s own tabletop records — garnering more than $2 million in backer support.
Rolling Together: Indie RPG creators joining forces to change the industry for good
“TTRPG freelance writers have typically been treated incredibly poorly,” says designer, organiser and podcast host Marx Shepherd. “They’re paid very badly, often not paid, often had their work cut out at the last minute, meaning that contractually, they don't need to get paid. And then they have this body of work which they've done, but nothing to show for it.
Medicine Singers Give Traditional Indigenous Music an Experimental Twist
FEATURES Medicine Singers Give Traditional Indigenous Music an Experimental Twist By Michael Rancic · July 12, 2022 The debut album from pan-Indigenous powwow project the Medicine Singers begins with ”A Cry.” Not a sob, but a call that is both mournful and rallying as it sounds out.
Critical Role’s newest DM changes the game Original
Image: Michael Schmidt/Critical Role Many fans of Critical Role are likely familiar with Brennan Lee Mulligan’s work as game master for Dropout’s TTRPG actual play series Dimension 20. For others, the brand-new Critical Role miniseries Exandria Unlimited: Calamity will be their first time seeing Mulligan in action behind the Dungeon Master’s screen. Polygon recently sat down with the writer, world-builder, and forever-GM. The goal?
Ryerson University officially changes its name to Toronto Metropolitan University — University Affairs
News The move signals ‘a new chapter,’ after years of grassroots advocacy, consultation and committee work. BY MICHAEL RANCIC | MAY 11 2022 Following a years-long process, Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) announced its name change from Ryerson University in late April. The new name was unanimously approved by the institution’s board of governors and put into effect immediately.
Western’s Open Space Strategy makes cycling safe year-round — University Affairs
Up until recently, cycling at Western University was seen as a seasonal practice by faculty administrators, epitomized by the bike racks across campus that had become the favourite dumping grounds for snow ploughs during the frozen winter months.
Ontario Tech University explores the future of industrial robotics with a four-legged friend — University Affairs
News Mechatronics researchers will be exploring the capabilities of Boston Dynamics’ Spot robot over the next three years. BY MICHAEL RANCIC | MAR 10 2022 With plans in motion to decommission Ontario Power Generation’s (OPG) nuclear power plant in Pickering, Ont. in the coming years, making sure that process is as safe as possible is of the utmost concern for the energy corporation, its employees, and the surrounding community.
Issue 5 - Editor’s Note - NEW FEELING
Art by Michael Rancic; Peter Rock’s “Brown Leaf” courtesy of Pexels Welcome to the fifth issue of New Feeling! This one is particularly exciting for us because its release marks a new milestone: we are now 100% reader and member funded. From the beginning of this project, we didn’t want to make the same mistakes we’d seen and experienced at other outlets with regard to ownership and funding, and how those complex relationships can often take precedence over, and negatively influence, the work.
With nothing to lose, the OBGMs dialed up the danger
The Toronto trio’s Polaris-nominated sophomore album, The Ends, charts an emotional arc from rage to inspiration and recognition. The OBGMs | The Ends | Polaris Short List 2021 The OBGMs' album The Ends is shortlisted for the 2021 Polaris Music Prize. 2:01 Written by Michael Rancic. For many Canadian artists, being nominated for the Polaris Music Prize is a long shot, a career-affirming and life-altering pipe dream.
Myst Milano Makes a Bold Debut with “Shapeshyfter”
FEATURES Myst Milano Makes a Bold Debut with “Shapeshyfter” By Michael Rancic · August 25, 2021 Photography by Jorian Charlton, collage by Bandcamp Though Myst Milano’s name rings out in Toronto for their work as a MC, DJ, producer, and community organizer, when they step foot into a club, you might not recognize them at first glance. “I have kind of a neutral face, so I can change my hair or the way I dress and become something else whenever I feel like it,” they say of their chameleonic style.
Red Ribbon, “Planet X”
ALBUM OF THE DAY Red Ribbon, “Planet X” By Michael Rancic · June 17, 2021 ... Planet X Red Ribbon . / pre-order buy pre-order buy you own this wishlist in wishlist go to album go to track go to album go to track . 00:10 / 00:58 Lately, a few billionaires have been racing to expand their domains to other planets in the solar system as a response to global warming, climate change, and well, greed.
Yellowhead Institute puts Indigenous policy expertise first
News How the Indigenous-led think tank is forging its own path through community, not competition. BY MICHAEL RANCIC | MAR 30 2021 As an Indigenous-led think tank, Yellowhead Institute offers an important and overdue framework for holding both Canadian and First Nations governments accountable, by centering on Indigenous knowledge and community as it produces critical policy perspectives in a way that other think tanks simply never have before.
Finding Mr. Q | Hazlitt
One of the earliest known Canadian hip hop songs ever cut is Mr. Q’s 1979 single “Ladies Delight,” though you won’t find that in any history books. Instead, the group credited for being first in Canada on the hip hop tip in The Canadian Encyclopedia, national publications like Exclaim!, and collections like Hip Hop Around The World, An Encyclopedia is Singing Fools, an Ottawa-based duo who released the politically-charged lo-fi song “The Bum Rap” in 1982.
Cape Breton University’s new medical advisory committee confronts barriers to student health and well-being
News A group of CBU administrators and local physicians aim to improve access to health care at the provincial and municipal levels, while also improving health services on campus. BY MICHAEL RANCIC | MAR 08 2021 Cape Breton University has formed a medical advisory committee to advocate for better access to health care for students. Assembled by university president David C.
A Canadian academic podcast network is reimagining the sound of scholarship
News With three shows in development, the Amplify network aims to bring peer-reviewed podcasts to the public. BY MICHAEL RANCIC | FEB 04 2021 If it were up to Hannah McGregor, the tenure and promotion process at universities would catch up with the times. Across Canada academics are sharing their research with broader audiences in more accessible ways that challenge traditional modes of academic publishing and scholarship.
NEW FEELING
Vagina Witchcraft Vagina Witchcraft Self-Released Winnipeg, MB RIYL: Vile Creature; WAKE; Fuck The Facts I challenge anyone to find a more impassioned four minutes and twenty three seconds to be put to record this year than the introduction to Vagina Witchcraft’s debut— and that happens before even a note of music is played.
NEW FEELING
Robin Hatch Noise Self-Released Toronto, ON RIYL: Kate Bush; Austra; Kelly Moran Robin Hatch is perched atop a silver Ford Focus in a black vinyl jumpsuit and high heeled boots. It’s a commanding image, recalling a sword-wielding Neko Case from her 2009 album, Middle Cyclone.
NEW FEELING
crisis sigil small towns. Self Released Hamilton, ON RIYL: Ada Rook; Fuck The Facts; Cloud Rat From the stunning flameout of Black Dresses’ swan song, Peaceful As Hell, to slaying the guitar solos on Backxwash’s now Polaris Prize winning album God Has Nothing To Do With This Leave Him Out Of It, to the glammy pop-punk opus that is 2,020 Knives, Ada Rook has had quite the year. Clocking in at 13 minutes, the breakneck tempos and blown out riffs on crisis sigil’s small towns.
Council unanimously votes to make Toronto a Music City
NOW MagazineMusicCouncil unanimously votes to make Toronto a Music City But whether or not the city's official music strategy becomes a reality will depend on the 2017 budget City council believes better access to affordable housing, changes to noise bylaws and a new “music hub” will help Toronto’s music scene flourish.
Indweller. Living Gem.
Halocline Trance, HTRA012. By Michael Rancic Issue 137 Indweller is the new collaborative duo of Toronto-based multidisciplinary audiovisual artist and producer Ilyse Krivel (eternalrealworld) and multi-instrumentalist Colin Fisher. Living Gem, their remarkable debut, showcases their complementary approaches, while probing the very nature of collaboration.
NEW FEELING
Basic Instinct Late Bloom Independent Vancouver, BC RIYL: HÄG; Divide and Dissolve; languid riffs Basic Instinct’s Late Bloom arrived on 4/20 like any self-respecting sludge album should. With this release the Vancouver-based duo do more than just adhere to genre standards or cliché – when the smoke clears, Late Bloom is one of the year’s best metal releases.
NEW FEELING
Untradition Dark Summer Independent Toronto, ON RIYL: Daniel Caesar; Prince’s “The Cross”; Slash laying out a guitar solo in front of a white church in the desert For anyone reading this in 2020 it’s abundantly clear why this album is called Dark Summer: Even as restrictions eased and cases of COVID-19 fell (albeit briefly) it was hard to not feel as though I was watching summer pass me by from my apartment window.
NEW FEELING
By: Michael Rancic | Photo by: Chachi Revah In a cryptic post to her Twitter account in mid-August, Montréal-based horrorcore rapper Backxwash announced that her Polaris Prize shortlisted album, God Has Nothing To Do With This Leave Him Out Of It, would be removed from streaming services and no longer be for sale in any format. “Wish I could go into more details but I can’t!” she added, following up in another tweet by comparing the situation to that of Death Grips’ 2011 album Exmilitary.
NEW FEELING
Music for Satan and the people who love him By: Michael Rancic | Mort Garson photo courtesy of Day Darmet In Deep Digs we take a look at significant albums from Canadian history, with an emphasis on music that might have been overlooked the first time around. Our inaugural feature in the series focuses on Mort Garson’s Lucifer: Black Mass, which writer Michael Rancic argues is the most Mort Garson of all Mort Garson records.
Two indie music festivals put diversity first
SHHHH VOL. 2 at Parkdale Library (1303 Queen West), Friday and Saturday (May 5-6), free IT'S COLD OUTSIDE at Owls. SHHHH VOL. 2 at Parkdale Library (1303 Queen West), Friday and Saturday (May 5-6), free IT’S COLD OUTSIDE at Owls Club (847 Dovercourt), Friday to Sunday (May 5-7), $10-$20, weekend pass $75, brownpapertickets.com after-party at Smiling Buddha (961 College), Sunday (May 7) midnight, pwyc-$10, facebook.com.
Editor’s Note - Issue 1: Renewal
When COVID-19 hit, the opportunities available to music journalists dried up quickly, but incredibly, the music kept coming. Though there was talk at first about how the music industry would pause during the pandemic, the opposite seems to be true. Even though the live music industry virtually disappeared overnight, it didn’t take long before you could spend an entire evening moving from one artist’s livestream to the next.
NEW FEELING
Wish Lash Chaos Choir Glow Code Calgary, AB RIYL: Karen Gwyer; Corinthian; Laurel Halo Kerry Maguire’s experimental electronic solo project Wish Lash returns with a stunning set of songs that breaks from the artist’s airy ambience for a hard-lined sound that is as engaging as it is unrelenting. Wish Lash’s 2018 debut, Altar of Doubt, balanced the momentum of its beats with a billowing, miasmic veil, which touched everything from its synthy textures to Maguire’s own voice.
NEW FEELING
Thanya Iyer KIND Topshelf Records Montréal, QC RIYL: Bernice; early Maylee Todd; Laura Barrett Though it might be hard to pin down Thanya Iyer’s sound — is it jazz? Is it pop? Is it folk? — there’s no mistaking that the band, named for its primary songwriter, has accomplished something truly rare with their latest album, KIND. In its expansive, expressive way, KIND addresses mental health, identity, and belonging, supported by an entire ecosystem of sounds that feed into and off of one another.
NEW FEELING
Yves Jarvis Sundry Rock Song Stock Flemish Eye Montréal, QC RIYL: Moses Sumney; Sandro Perri; Mocky Another chapter in Yves Jarvis’ colour-theory informed album series, the green Sundry Rock Song Stock, further refines the artist’s sound while artfully still nudging listeners to new places. Jarvis’ previous records Good Will Come To You (released under Un Blonde) and The Same But By Different Means were sprawling mosaics of short song snippets.
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