Various Artists – “How Did We Even Get Here?” (Compilation CD) [SoundCloud Album Stream]

The Skinny: Over the last 20 years, Halifax has become known for a very particular coastal music scene, churning out explosions of slick, melodic indie-pop. Yet below the sheen of the limelight, Halifax has also been home to an underbelly of angular and aggressive music that has excelled on the fringes. Bands such as The Plan, North of America, and Equation Of State carved out the gritty niche for others like Contrived, Slight Return, Attack Mode, and Radarfame – paving the way for a new generation of musicians embedded in the history of start-stop rhythms, atypical time signatures, and dissonant guitar riffs.

How Did We Even Get Here? is a compilation of bands steeped in this tradition. Whether it’s the onslaught of the mathiness provided by VKNGS, the Fugazi-esque post-punk of The Wides, the hardcore-inspired riffs of fRAME, or the post-rock soundscapes of Force Fields and Kuato, this collection of songs is a testament to the enduring dark cloud that lies beneath the silver lining in the Halifax music scene.