Sometimes, creating a pop hit is a lot like being an air traffic controller. You align everything correctly so that the plane or single lands as deftly as it soared when it first took off. Fortunately, Emland, a pop singer born in Ahlen, Germany but now calling Mallorca, Spain home, has melded his skillset as an air traffic controller at Spain's Palma de Mallorca airport with his pop sensibilities. The result is the stylish "Better Off Without Me," the latest single from his album EVOLVE set for release next year.

Unlike the legendary story of blues icon Robert Johnson and his iconic "Cross Road Blues," widely acclaimed blues guitarist Terry Robb and the highly lauded blues pianist David Vest have individually crossed clubs, cities, and countries performing their rich and illustrious discographies to blues fans from north to south, east to west. Now the two musicians have joined forces for CrissCross, the debut album from the duo featuring the almost criminally short but terribly sweet instrumental single "Long Gone Home."

Eugene Ripper might not be mistaken for Canadian music artists like the late greats Leonard Cohen and Ian Tyson. But the Toronto-based punk folk pioneer has put his own unique spin on their signatures with the gorgeous double-A side release featuring Cohen's memorable "Hallelujah" and Tyson's timeless "Four Strong Winds." It's a pair of covers which stay true to the originals while also adding subtle but quite tasteful atmospherics and accents to both.

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"In the summer of 2024, I emerged from the studio with my take on these two Canadian folk classics featuring a mash up of analog instrumentation merged with some trippy electronic grooves, beats and digital soundscapes," Ripper says. "This approach is not unfamiliar ground for me. Throughout my solo recording career, I've had a proclivity to bend, fold, and manipulate sonic structures, and I reckon this stance is projected with this new release."

Sometimes great art emerges from difficult times, either personally, socially, or politically. For Hamilton-based alternative folk singer S.G. Sinnicks, the tumultuous situation south of the Canadian border is what makes the excellent, pensive and timely "Miss America 2.0" so poignant. For Sinnicks, the song is "equal parts love song and lament" from the standpoint "of a neutral observer."

"I spent so many years playing and touring in the U.S. seeing the growing fractures in a society that is too important to fracture and the pain in my American-born wife, friends and family as it went downhill," Sinnicks says of "Miss America 2.0." "The title is a bit of a play on words. Both reflecting that I miss an America that used to value things like compassion and intelligence and using an aging beauty queen in her MISS AMERICA sash for her once beautiful country."

In an age where political discourse and conversation is often polarizing at best, Toronto folksinger Larry Folk brings a call for unity and equality with his warm, inviting single "There Is A Power." The poly-rhythmic song was inspired in part by the 1986 Mark Mathabane autobiography Kaffir Boy, which appeared on the New York Times bestseller lists detailing life under South Africa's Apartheid regime and the writer's escape from it.

Brantford, Ontario-based artist KC Armstrong has had a long, illustrious career thanks to fine songwriting and fun, infectious arrangements that pack a wallop. And although the title might lead you to think otherwise, "I Don't Care" is a great, Americana-laced barroom keeper off his Finally Crafted effort that proves Armstrong cares about offering finely-crafted nuggets that hit you in all the right places.

"I Don't Care" is a beer-raising, brassy, and bouncy slice of Americana from its saxophone courtesy of Sean O'Connor and the ivory ticklings of keyboardist Steve O'Connor. From there, KC Armstrong's vocals are accompanied by backing vocalist MaryEllen Allen, giving "I Don't Care" a gritty but groovy vibe from start to finish. Guitarists Scott Utting and Barry Haggarty adds some great work throughout, while Armstrong and Jake Adams round out the rhythm section, playing bass and drums, respectively.

In April of 2023, as Montreal’s winter stubbornly abided, between tunes at a Hay Babies rehearsal, Katrine said, half-jokingly: “We can’t seem to find time to make this album. Why don’t we go to Louisiana or something?”

Julie and Vivianne missed the joke, but caught the genius: Like many Acadians, the three girls felt a deep-rooted connection to Cajun culture, and always met a warm welcome in the Bayou. They booked flights south that very evening.

Whether it's work-related or relationship-related, temporary or permanent, losing someone near to you affects you. And adult contemporary singer Katie Ditschun has exemplified that feeling of loneliness with the gorgeous, reflective "In Your Arms." It's a song she delivers with a tenderness and fragility that makes you take note of those you're missing and need to touch or touch base with again.

"'In Your Arms' is a song for anyone who is having a hard time because they're missing someone dear to them," Ditschun, now based in Alexandria, Ontario, says. "They may be physically absent, or perhaps emotionally absent. They're not where or who they were before. 'In Your Arms' captures that sense of deep longing to regain what has been lost."

When a song begins with the line “There has been a rip in the fabric/ Of the spacetime continuum,” you know the artist has a little something weightier on their mind than wanting to dance with somebody who loves them. But neither is “Supernova Spacetime Continuum,” the new single from Sault Ste. Marie-born, Uxbridge-based psychedelic folk-rockers Hollowsage & the Three Mile Islanders, a metaphorically apocalyptic rumination on life, death and the nature of eternity—with a scope that reaches all the way across the universe and back.

Declaring his own inability to protect humanity from “a black hole engulfing the sun,” Hollowsage—a.k.a. Sault Ste. Marie-born, Uxbridge-based singer/songwriter Sagen Pearse—comes to terms with the looming End of Everything by musing that imminent heat death may always have been the personal destiny of every one of us. If we’re lucky, that is:

Unless you were interested in playing the wicked step-groupies in the Cinderella videos, there wasn’t a lot of room for a pair of young women in the heavy-metal scene of the ’80s. Certainly not as musicians in their own right. That’s the daunting landscape that confronts Sapphire and Destiny, the heroines of author Dawn LeFevre’s keenly observed and lovingly rendered period novel, The Metal Sisters.

Inspired by LeFevre’s passion for headbanging music, the book is set in 1985, when burning riffs were everywhere and the allure of dominating the Sunset Strip was overwhelming. Into that maelstrom wade a college-bound honor student and a tequila-soaked bad girl who are united by their love of playing guitar. Can their band climb the mountain of metal to a height that justifies putting their life plans on indefinite hold? Or will poverty, unreliable bandmates, and a palpable lack of label interest make it all go up in smoke?

Ottawa-born, Austin-based roots singer-songwriter Sarah Burton addresses the often-awkward question some women who have yet to tie the knot are often asked with the earnest, mesmerizing single "Worth Sticking Around For" off her forthcoming album Swoonville USA. It's a track whose first half is great thanks to Burton's lyrics describing the conundrum of not settling for second best but hoping her other half realizes just what they have in her. Meanwhile, the song's second half is a delectable swampy roots-based instrumental romp that could go on and on.

Picking up and leaving for a new town or city can be a challenge at the best of times. But for Toronto-based blues musician Ken Kawashima (aka Sugar Brown), leaving Chicago -- often considered one of the blues' hotbeds -- for Toronto seems like a natural fit on the groovy and gorgeous new single "Toronto Bound," the title track of his latest studio album.

There are moments when life tells us it’s time to get up and get out—even if the departure we’re being nudged into is simply a withdrawal from our own outmoded patterns of thought and behaviour.

That’s the personal exodus Toronto alt-rock band Shoemaker Levee is describing on their current single, “Planning Our Escape.” Like a collective Moses leading the way out of a wilderness of malaise, the group issues an impassioned call to leave the spiritual doldrums behind and head straight for something more edifying and enlightened. Something better.

Some days you’re chasing stones
Dazed, amazed, resigned to walk alone
I’m waking it up, I’m waking it up
I’m planning to escape
Out past the ransacked minds
Shaken awake 

Returning from his first European tour, Hip-Hop artist Pimpton is thrilled to announce the release of his double-A side single, featuring the songs "Real Love" and "Swang featuring Snotty Nose Rez Kids.

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With his distinctive blend of Caribbean roots and hip-hop style, Pimpton is a musical force to be reckoned with. His latest 17-track album, Kcmkv3, out now, is a testament to his energetic style and introspective lyrics. As he puts it, this album marks a significant evolution in his artistic journey, promising a fresh and captivating musical experience for his fans.

Pimpton has noted that his music is often geared toward Cannabis-friendly fans, and "Swang" fits right into his signature style. Pimpton's eclectic flow draws you in right away. The song is a collaborative effort between Pimpton, Young D and Yung Trybez from Snotty Nose Rez Kids. This hard-hitting track with a futuristic sound takes your mind on a trip. His loyal and new fans are in for a treat with this tune.

When you first hear the music of emergent pop sensation Vancouver and Toronto-based Ella MNOP, you might find yourself wondering why you should be taking life advice from someone who isn’t even going to turn 12 until October. Well, for starters, she’s one the youngest artists to ever have an original song aired on FM radio. (Mix 96.7 in her native Windsor, Ontario, gets the honors, trivia hounds.) For another thing, she’s already racked up numerous awards and performed before millions of rapt listeners. Oh, and she’s fluent in multiple languages, including French, and she’s currently learning Italian. Feeling inadequate yet?

But Ella doesn’t want you to feel bad; she just wants you to have a well-rounded and realistic approach to your own day-to-day reality. On her breakout single, - the 1.4 million-viewed “L’s with the W’s,” she makes a compelling case that savoring one’s triumphs depends upon learning how to lose with dignity. That same thoughtful approach to life now extends to her acting career.

Toronto Indigenous Blues artist D.M. Lafortune continues to revisit her stellar Beauty and Hard Times album with the latest single "Where Are All The Children?" It's a song which is wide-ranging, universal and addresses the injustices, wars and conflicts from the Middle East to Central America and beyond. But it also speaks to the tragedy involving Canadian residential schools and the horrific abuse indigenous children suffered in such institutions.

Many miles from home, we are taught in your fine schools
Where the history books are a weapon, not a tool
In many voices, we try to understand what has come upon this land
Many good-intentioned Christians tell us children you must listen or they kill us
With their kindness in God's name, they terrorize us

Clutching onto a doomed relationship until your fingernails start to crack is a feeling a lot us can all too easily recognize. But nobody can convey the sensation of dangling from a high precipice of the heart quite like Avalon Stone, the consistently astounding post-grunge heavy rocker who’s rendered just such a predicament in typically dizzying style on her new single, “Cliffhanger.”

Drawing a picture of imminent romantic freefall that’s equal parts despair and acrophobia, Stone casts herself in a position in which there’s simply nowhere to go—whether up or down.

Executive Produced by Bernie Finkelstein and David Hatch and Directed by Michèle Hozer
Durham Region International Film Festival – October 24 -27
Airings Start on CBC Documentary Channel on October 27 and CBC GEM January 10, 2025
Regent Theatre in Picton, Ontario – November 24

The record-breaking success of Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer shined a fresh light on the changes the development of the A-bomb wrought on America and Japan. But there was another country that was left out of that portrayal. The eye-opening feature-length documentary Atomic Reaction, which is about to receive a new series of high-profile showings, reveals the pivotal role Canada played in making nuclear warfare a reality—and the consequences of that involvement that persist to this day.

Photo Credit: John Packman

It’s an age-old story: Your parents mess you up, only for you to mess yourself up further by carrying the negative lessons they taught you into your adult relationships. And then you write a bunch of songs about it all.

Well, you do if you’re Nathalie King, the Toronto -based songstress who’s entered the homestretch of her own healing process on her liberating new single, “You.” With a stark, unvarnished beauty, the song captures perfectly the cascade of sometimes conflicting emotions that accompanies childhood trauma and its ensuing adult self-sabotage. Yet the recorded result isn’t cathartic just for King herself, but also for anyone who’s in need of a little auditory TLC.

As an artist who thrives under stage lights and in front of a microphone, Ukrainian-Canadian singer-songwriter Vitalia pursues music as something that is equal parts artistic expression and therapeutic healing. Beginning her musical journey at just 6 years old, Vitalia has since experimented with a variety of genres including disco, pop and alt rock. To define is to limit, and Vitalia has proven her artistry is just that – limitless.

Now, the singer is adamant in moving towards a grungier route with her musicality. Along with the release of her newest disco-infused single “Maybe,” Vitalia admits she is yearning for something grittier.

“Though I’ve released a few singles already, the sound I’m going for with my upcoming singles in comparison to ‘Maybe’, is going to be more vulnerable and rawer,” Vitalia says. “I wanted to change into a rock era because any grungy song has been the perfect thing for me to listen to when I wanted to release some anger or sadness of my own. Doesn’t it help you knowing you’re not the only one going through a hard time?”