3 top Ontario releases for 2015 you need to hear

Every year, hundreds of artists and bands write, record and release new music in Ontario, so on this week's In the Key of C on CBC Radio One we decided to highlight some of our favourites from 2015. 

Host Craig Norris spoke with CBC Kitchener-Waterloo's Amanda Grant about her top music picks for the year, from melodic ballads to lo-fi punk rock numbers. 

You can hear the show live every Saturday evening at 5 p.m. ET on CBC Radio. In the Key of C can be heard across the province, except for the GTA. Hamilton listeners can hear this segment in the audio player.

Here are Amanda's top 2015 picks:

Pony Girl - Theo

Ottawa's Pony Girl released their sophomore album Foreign Life in November and it's a beautiful record.
The band pairs spacious synth riffs with melodic bass lines and gentle vocals to create truly atmospheric music. 

This song opens with close male-female vocal harmonies and a driving bass drum rhythm that makes it one of the more upbeat tracks on the record. 

The Ape-ettes - Bless This Mess

Sudbury's the Ape-ettes is best described as a surf-punk three piece. A relatively new band, the group has very little recorded material but what is available is a lot of fun.  

"Bless This Mess" is a song on the band's two-song EP released in October. It's a low-fi crunchy number that speeds by so don't blink or you'll miss it. 

The Weather Station - Shy Women

Based in Toronto, The Weather Station is a band you've likely heard of. It's the project of Tamara Lindeman, and features her nuanced song-writing and entrancing voice.

Lindeman sings with such ease, jumping octaves in a manner reminiscent of Joni Mitchell— and that's a comparison she's familiar with.

The Weather Station released its fourth album in 2015 titled Loyalty, which was recorded with the help of Afie Jurvanen, better known as Bahamas, in France.

This album, and in particular the song "Shy Women", was in high rotation for Amanda in 2015.