Even if it was expected it came as a shock when it happens. Jay Frank's death was not that expected even though he had suffered badly for the last year of cancer. Or yes, you sometimes know the outcome, we are all going to die. Just this went very fast. And it always happens to the wrong people. It’s always the nice, really friendly people that are going away.

I meet Jay by accident, like so many of my people in my network. I was on CMJ invited by Robert Singerman, another friendly and awesome guy. I had You Say France & I Whistle there playing live. I was in a real networking mode and took as many meetings as possible. And in the last hour, before I had to go to the gig and help the band, I made the decision to also visit the exhibition in the basement.

“Good evening” screams a familiar gravelly voice, “We are Motorhead; and, we play rock n’ roll!”. The voice, of course, is the legendary Lemmy, who begins to bark out vocals to an adoring crowd. It was a common way for Motorhead to open a concert before Lemmy’s death in 2015. However, this is not a DVD of a legendary concert; this is Motorhead the casino game.

It is surely one of the strangest phenomena in the area of iGaming that a whole genre of casino games has been built up around classic rock and metal bands. These are officially licensed games, merchandise if you will, with as much production value as you would see for something on a games console: Real footage, music snippets and images, all spliced in with spins and bonus games to create blockbuster casino games.

Line Up is a Who’s Who of Metal

It’s said Reuben Bullock has a genre all his own, alt altfolk. He’s announced a new full-length album full of it entitled un | love, out October 25 on Arts & Crafts. With that, the band released the first single “faultline” and the video, directed by Brock Mitchell, debuted last week. Reuben and the Dark shares the new track “rising” – the melancholic but uplifting overture to un | love, with Reuben’s lonesome voice buoyed by exultant melodies.

Reuben explains how “rising” sets the course for the new album:

Cashbox has been following the remarkable career of Danny Blueberry and we were impressed with the new release of a live recording of the song, “Contact High”.

“This song is about while watching a good friend struggle with addiction and not being able to help,” Blueberry says. “The audio was recorded at Cafe Shaika in Montreal in 2018 and was part of the first Bugs United performance - I am singing with Raquel Hoekman, with Allison Von der Land on mandolin and Elias Morkos on percussion.”

The poignant lyrics will hit home for anyone who has ever struggled with addiction or has had to watch a loved one fight the battle:

Toronto-area alt. rockers Reay have released their newest single and video, “Halo” — the latest off their noteworthy and one-to-watch debut LP, Butterfly Tongue Revisited.

"This has been a project of perseverance," frontman Sean Murray understates. "It's been in the works for close to 15 years.”

The veteran singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer has devoted a vast portion of his life to the all-consuming pursuit of a distant, seemingly unreachable goal: The completion of his magnum opus, a long-gestating labour of love whose arrival also heralds the birth of his new alternative indie-rock project Reay (pronounced Ray, after his grandmother's maiden name).

“Right from the beginning, I knew these songs were special,” he continues. “And since then, I have put so much time and effort and sweat into finishing them. It's been weighing on my shoulders for so long. There have been so many times I wanted to give up, but my soul would never have rested. I could never have gone to my grave without putting out these songs. It would have been the biggest regret of my life.

There’s something about ‘The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald’ that makes it an essential Fall song as well as a crucial Halloween one.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKJNBxDCMIs

Multi-Award Winning & JUNO Award Nominated Toronto Tabla Ensemble just dropped a new single “Dream Symposium.” It’s a large deal for the group as it features next gen players of the TTE carrying on the tradition of the table drum forming the core of a musically compelling drum-centric ensemble.

Watch "Dream Symposium" via YouTube Here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzmX5_6beOk

In Jaime, Alabama Shakes’ Brittany Howard has a contender for album of the year. Howard’s most recent offering, 13th Century Metal, “as "a roller-coaster of a spoken-word rant that's part self-help exhortation, part sermon. View Howard performing the song live with her touring band in this Danny Clinch-directed video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7YtOa7jD_c

Howard, who performed on "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" on September 26, has extended her North American headline tour into November. Every online ticket purchased for the U.S. fall headline dates will include a CD of the new album, Jaime.

Award-winning singer/songwriter Christina Martin has released her seventh and newest album, Wonderful Lie — including new single, “The Winner Takes It All.” 

“I haven’t split with anyone in a while, but when I sing this song it reminds me of how hard breakups can be,” Martin shares.

“It’s definitely a favourite of mine from my high school days, singing along and dancing to ABBA., before I knew anything about breaking up with someone or getting dumped.”

The release of Wonderful Lie comes amidst Martin’s extensive 49 date cross-country tour, from Newfoundland to British Columbia, with longtime lead guitarist and producer Dale Murray. Audiences will be treated to the newest music live throughout a combination of cozy house concerts via Home Routes (Chemin Chez Nous), as well as clubs, cafes and theatres.

Long known and lauded for her signature indie pop-to-rock style, Wonderful Lie sees Martin wading effortlessly into the roots rock and Americana sound pool. Among the album’s 10 songs, four stand stellar as original compositions.

Canadian alt-folk singer/songwriter Jez Bonham has opened up, sharing through song relatable revelations on depression and anxiety in his intimate, inviting new video, “Mental Health” — available now.

The single may be track #5 on the British Columbia-based artist’s 2019 debut EP, Thoughts into Sound, but its intimate insights offered have been something more like a personal soundtrack.

“I have battled with this all of my life,” Bonham shares of his struggle. “This song is an example of what my daily process would be… Beat myself down, over and over again… And then try to pick myself up just enough to do something as simple as leave the house. It can feel crippling.”

As far as debut releases go, Thoughts into Sound doesn’t arrive shy; the album serves as a raw, unfiltered autobiography, with lyrics and sound that march listeners from summertime bliss, to painful relationships, to the ear-splitting silence that is a torture-ridden mind.

The Toronto Tabla Ensemble World Music Organization (TTE) is a non-profit charitable organization founded by Artistic Director and tabla master, Ritesh Das. The TTE’s mission is to share the depth and excitement of Indian classical music, culture and history and make it accessible to all people.

When the Toronto Tabla Ensemble was founded in 1991, the tabla was rarely seen on the Canadian stage. Since then, Ritesh Das’ exciting and groundbreaking performances have brought tabla and his Ensemble to the mainstream public through numerous concert series at the Harbourfront Centre as well as collaborations with Japanese Taiko, Celtic music, Spanish Flamenco, rock and roll and more.

Since 1996 the TTE has produced three music videos and six albums, including the Juno-nominated Firedance. The Ensemble’s original music has been used in numerous films and commercials, and in 2003 the Ensemble was commissioned to create the current theme music for CBC Radio’s daily morning show, Metro Morning.

Canadian jazz music star and one of the country’s best-loved vocal coaches Micah Barnes has released his first single “THAT'S LIFE” and will be launching the full length “Vegas Breeze" album Spring of 2020.

Micah was recently featured in the new book, Bad Singer, as the vocal coach that made the author’s singing much, much better, and gave advice to the Toronto Star and BT in Vancouver on how to become a powerful singer – great advice for the older audience who just want to sing and the younger YouTube generation who are looking for success through social media.

Least favourite kinda fall is like this one. When the cold wind arrives before the colour and the old demons come too soon to torment. An entry point from Velvet Underground
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62ckXALWn1M

JUNO Award-winning songwriter Rose Cousins shares her version of Prince’s classic, “I Would Die 4 U”, recorded together with Bear’s Den and Christof van der Ven.Why you ask?

Canadian popsters Girl Pow-R are once again set to inspire the masses with another stirring and encouraging release, “This Is Us” — available now! 

Hot on the heels of this year’s early success “Never Let Go” — which debuted on the iTunes Canada Children’s chart at #2 (second only to cultural force “Baby Shark” but ahead of genre mainstays such as Sharon, Lois & Bram, The Wiggles, and Raffi), and #15 in the U.S. — “This Is Us” comes in the midst of back-to-back-(to-back!) Canadian and U.S. summer tour stops.

With lyrics like “passionate for some change,” “take our message, shout it out,” and “we won’t be pushed around, we are strong, we are proud,” the latest song from the all-girl supergroup continues to embody their core mission of banding together and uplifting their peers. 

Yes, we all do need to get paid for our work. The problem is when you expect that payment or must invest to get out something out of it later.

If you open a business, you must market it. We go back to my restaurant that I always talk about that I should open if I wasn't in the music industry. Of course, no one will know my restaurant if I just open it. I need to advertise. Part of that advertising is probably to invite some food critics to a free meal. Yes, I will lose on that. I won't get paid for these free meals. In the end, though I will get people to come in faster who are paying to eat at my restaurant through these reviews. I must make a choice here, start making money direct and take a long time before I have enough of a customer base to get the money out or a faster way to give something away for free to bring in the money. Both ways have their faults. Give away food and I might re coupe it but aren't sure. The long way it might take so much time that I never get any salary out of it.

Featuring esteemed poet, multimedia artist, and Somali refugee Ifrah Mansour, the gorgeous and heart-gripping track is part of a larger cross-collaboration release, Refuge. Set for Spring 2020, this their seventh and most historic album features talents that arrived in Canada and the U.S. as immigrants and refugees — many of whom are GRAMMY and JUNO Award winners.

“Each one of us in the world has a remarkable story to tell…” says Sultans of String co-founder, Chris McKhool (Jesse Cook, Pavlo). It’s his bold, fiery fiddle — melded seamlessly with founding guitarist Kevin Laliberté’s (Jesse Cook) rumba rhythm — that lead the group’s distinctly signature sound. 

Added to this rich foundation are bass master Drew Birston (Chantal Kreviazuk), guitar wizard Eddie Paton, and Cuban percussion master Rosendo Chendy Leon (Alex Cuba). Together, their musical synergy strikes inimitable, explaining their three JUNO Awards, and four Canadian Folk Music Awards, plus many more. 

“Anything this good cannot be close enough” Canadian pop songstress Mauve sings in her newest release, “Close”.

Same goes for volume: a track like this one can’t be played loud enough either.

“I compare the energy of love to a growing fire,” she says of the chill-bop pop track sprinkled with hints of tropical house and RnB. “The energy a person emits attracts you… Then it spreads like a wildfire…

“I imagine a scene of watching embers in a fire start to glow, and that’s like the magic that’s birthed through that special connection with someone. That’s why I said a feeling like that cannot feel close enough because you want it completely come over you.

“My inspiration for this song began when I put together a tropical drum beat on my Cubase software program,” she recalls, painting a bigger picture on how “Close” came to be. “Justin Timberlake was in Toronto for a concert and I guess my mindset was in the romantic, hip hop mood he’s known for.

“I wanted to create a beat that was subtle but still had a lot of intensity charged into it — like that fire building up.”