I often hear from artists that I work with these two questions. #1: Is this good for us, I mean the best we can put our money into? #2 How big are the chances we get something out of it?

It doesn’t matter what the topic is. The only time they gladly spend money is when they buy new instruments or record, sometimes even videos since it’s fun and centers around them. When it comes to PR, traveling, meetings and other activities that cost money, these questions arise. I’m fascinated that it’s only in the creative business I experience this. It is the same in the movie industry, but I never really got that in the normal startup race that is out there.

This one’s from a local guitar god who’s breathed life into more than one misbegotten song. Stony Plain Records is proud to announce the release of acclaimed guitarist and performer Kevin Breit's "Stella Bella Strada" his second solo album for the label, out on iTunes, Amazon, Spotify and all digital retailers May 31.

Produced, engineered, mixed, and mastered by Kevin himself and out on Canada’s leading folk/roots label, Stony Plain Records, whose founder Holger Petersen sez,"Kevin Breit is one of the most creative and imaginative musician I've ever worked with. What he brings is far beyond incredible guitar playing. He is master arranger, composer and soulful visionary whose tones and phrasing color his music with sophisticated timeless concepts and good humor.To my ears Kevin's music includes blues based slide guitar playing with a heavy dose of Frank Zappa's compositional influence. But Kevin is his own man - there's no one like him!"

The Canadian Association for the Advancement of Music and the Arts (CAAMA) welcomes a full slate of international business opportunities at Canadian Music Week, which runs May 9 to 11, 32019 at the Sheraton Centre Toronto Hotel (123 Queen Street West.)

Canadian Music Week’s International Marketplace (IMP) is hosting back-to-back meeting sessions during this year’s Canadian Music Week.

Pre-arranged meetings curated by the IMP include Meetings with South Africa, in celebration of CMW’s first-ever Spotlight on South Africa.

Activities include a comprehensive panel from the South African music market and sector specialists on Friday, May 10 form 10:35 AM to 11:35 AM (Lower Concourse, Osgoode Ballroom West) followed by a session of business-to-business (B2B) meetings from 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM at the International Marketplace, Lower Concourse, Hall E). Join us for a taste of South Africa at the Spotlight on South Africa VIP reception at the International Marketplace on Friday from 5:30 to 7:00 PM.

We’re gonna start off with a mega album from an outsize perso. Been nearly five years since the last Flying Lotus album-the Grammy-nominated cadaver tetris of You're Dead! During that time out, the multi-disciplinary Los Angeles artist has remained in constant orbit, collaborating with Kendrick Lamar on the classic To Pimp a Butterfly, directing and writing the Sundance-premiered comic horror hallucination Kuso, and producing much of Thundercat's Drunk. He's also nurtured his Brainfeeder imprint into the most consistently innovative record label of the decade.

Now to Flamagra, a work which sweeps up every quantum advance and creative leap of the last dozen years of Lotus' career and takes them even further; the Warp release encompasses hip-hop, funk, soul, jazz, global dance music, tribal poly-rhythms, IDM, the L.A. Beat scene. But as per usual with FL, it soars above a specific vortex whose coordinates can't be accurately charted. He wouldn’t want it any other way, so I’m gonna call it an afro-futurist astral symphony of deep soul, cosmic dust, and an originality that will make Kayne weep.

We received a message last week from an artist that we have with our distribution. “We are going to release some new songs and we want to clean up a bit on our Spotify list, can you take down some songs down before Wednesday?” (we received this request on Tuesday)

Please note that this is not a professional artist and doesn’t have many streams.

With this behaviour they will never get anywhere, at least I hope they don’t. One of the critics in the early days of digitalization was just that song you might like will disappear from your collection. And by doing this you fulfill that fear. Before this was much more of a problem since you were giving it out in physical form and harder to erase. Today people seem to think that releasing a song is like making a Facebook post.

Another cliché you get from artists all the time is “this is the best song I have ever written”. The new stuff is always the best. If it was up to the artist, they would in many cases just take everything down so you could only listen to their newest creation “that is the best”.

Music is one of the greatest achievements of humanity when it comes to creativity, with it having an impact on emotions and feelings potentially more than anything else around. While we all listen to our favourite tracks as we go about our normal daily routines, music has managed to have a huge influence in all aspects of our lives. Similarly, the gaming industry has become a global phenonema, with most of us having heard about and played games on platforms like Playstation, Nintendo and mobile apps. So, it is probably no surprise that both go hand in hand and having the right music for any game is now a vital factor in its success.

A game without any sort of sound would be deemed as boring and cast aside by most, with some of the most popular and best loved games of all time being supported by brilliant soundtracks and the use of memorable sound effects. However, with each game differing in type and genre, it’s important to select the right music for that one individual game, otherwise it may be hindered as a result.

So CMW and all the pretty people but before we get to that…

Saint Lo Is a Montreal-based folk, indie, pop rock band with roots that stretch across the continent. Their songs are nuanced and layered featuring hypnotic vocals, profound lyrics, and dense harmonies. They sing about complex emotions – vulnerability, isolation, connection, nostalgia and loss – always infused with more than just a hint of hope. Out this spring, their new album ‘We Could Be’ is a thematic tour-de-force. The first video single from the record, titled ‘Wounds’, is a stunning ode to the way that heartbreak does not occur in isolation. The second video single “Blueberry Fields” is a song about nostalgia, memory, and childhood.

Blueberry Fields is about that feeling of nostalgia – like the exhale of a sigh. The feeling of constantly moving away from the past but keeping it with you as you move forward. It is about people and places loved and lost, while ever cherished. Kinda get the sense this crew is a little young for all this looking back and playing in nostalgia but they’re young enough to get over it.

Many of the older A&Rs (read grumpy old men) are blaming social media for killing the rock star. That social media is taking off the magic away from the artist. At the same time many of the old rock stars were assholes, but in the media they were nice.

I heard so many times that John Lennon was an asshole. Maybe he was, or maybe he wasn’t. I don't know since I never met him and can only tell from the interviews and stories that people in the industry tell me who had met him. The interviews I have seen are, of course, controlled so it can’t give the true picture. It was under control so he was playing the role of the perfect nice guy. Someone that you would have to like.

So, four hunks of burning babe magnets, three voices entwined in celestial harmonies, two savage guitars, pumping bass and one unifying vision on drums and to date, with zero ineffective ballads which even rock.

This is Tribe Royal, musical children of Ottawa with a deep investment in the honeyed sounds of yesteryear’s amber colored folk rock as dished up by the likes of CSNY and The Byrds but not Sonny & Cher. They are all young dudes tho so they don’t get all tribute bandy about their music, just keep kickin’ it 21^st century streetwise while shaping and moulding a specific creative vision.

Which is what?

Before we get into that, the speaking voices of founder/members Chris Kerwin and Terry O'Brien are similar and their speedy, tag team style of answering questions makes it diff to figure out who’s replying. So we’ll hear the quotes as coming from the dual mind of Kerwin O'Brien.

So, the vision thing. Is Tribe Royal looking to build a distinctive sound?

This one will really hurt for some artists. What do we really wish for in an artist as a music company? If we could choose, what would we consider to look like a perfect artist to develop? Yes, this is a wish list not a list set in stone. Good to know is that you never get it all perfect.I spoke to some colleagues around this and it all boiled down to these topics.

At age 20, Wes has amassed as many accolades as artists twice his age, having won numerous international music awards and gaining tens of millions of media impressions across TV, radio, and online.

Catching up with Wes at his home in Toronto, he shows he has what it takes to make it in this business. True values for a young man and has old soul insight into life.

“I grew up on classic rock and and folk/country music. I loved the lyrics of Garth Brooks, lyrics are what gets to me. I also listened guitar songs like ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’, Harrison really knew how to make a guitar tell a story. I grew up on The Doors, The Beatles, The Who so I was surrounded by classic rock, hip hop and R&B. I think it has influenced my sound but I took it and made it my own.”

This week, we kick it off with a comeback story of sorts. Ottawa and Leamington-based Singer/Songwriter Francine Honey has been nominated for her single “Stay” in both the Americana and Sing Your Heart Out/Love Songs Categories in the 2019 International Songwriting Competition Awards with the same song. This is a shade unusual, having the same song nominated in two diff categories but the lady is loving it.

Although the bilingual Canadian roots/Americana artist has made music since childhood, she never dreamed of making it a career. Instead, she studied math and computers, got married, had kids and worked as a project manager. Her life seemed perfect. Then a near-simultaneous breakup and job loss forced her to relocate, find a new career and raise a family alone. Music went on the back burner; she never stopped writing, but songs went unfinished — until her kids fixed that.

I run one of the biggest showcase festivals in Scandinavia. Showcasing has become much bigger in the last fifteen years. Still, I feel that many artists don’t really understand what a showcase does and how to get something out of it. Too many times I hear both the artists and professionals mutter that they waste their time and got nothing out of going to a certain festival and that it costs money.

Most of the time these people don’t understand it. A showcase festival is an arena to move your career forward. You are here to showcase not play a festival gig. A festival gig you are booked because you draw an audience for the organizer. Here you get an opportunity to show off what you have to offer and find people to build your team.

Since his debut release of Crazy Life, in 1973, Gino Vannelli has remained one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary music.

But Vannelli’s evolving music has kept his fan base growing for over 40 years. From rock, to jazz, to soul, even classical, this singer/songwriter/producer has left no musical stone unturned.

Andrew Bird
Photo Credit Amanda Demme

Humble internationally acclaimed multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Andrew Bird’s new album is called My Finest Work Yet. It’s just out and it may just live up to its title.

Along with the new album, Bird is premiering an animated video by Andrea Nakhla for “Manifest”.

His forthcoming My Finest Work Yet Tour will find him on an expansive run of North American dates. Bird will be joined by a variety of guests including Yola, Meshell Ndegeocello, Hiss Golden Messenger, Chicano Batman, MadisonCunningham, Tift Merritt, and a co-headline date in Boston with Calexico and Iron & Wine.