Aroly Tariq invites the listener into a rich sonic and visual landscape with her latest single, “Perspective,” and its mesmerizing accompanying film clip. “Perspective” is a mellow trip-hop ballad with a distinctly modern flair, weaving trap-inspired beats with electronic elements, unexpected samples and ethereal vocals. Tariq interprets the sound within the visual structure of the animated film clip, a stunning tableau in motion she brought to life using the multimedia programming tool Touch Designer.

Check out “Perspective” on YouTube here:

Calgary, Alberta duo The Wandering Off are set to capture your attention January 27 with “Hey There,” the first single off their 12-track self-titled debut album. Check it out on YouTube here:

It’s an upbeat blast of catchy, grungy, 90s inspired rock with crunchy guitars, melodic hooks and memorable vocal melodies that wears the subtle influence of bands like Garbage and Letters to Cleo on its sleeve. “Hey There” celebrates the beauty of imperfection, the art of not worrying about the mistakes you’ve made, because after all, as Emily Corner sings, you “Can’t please ‘em all, cuz when you jump you fall.”

Their sound is at once familiar and nostalgic as well as fresh and new. Like finding a brand-new sweater styled along classic lines, The Wandering Off combines comfort and excitement in one neat, chiming package, with catchy vocal melodies to boot.

A blank canvas is full of possibility—much like the partnership of Natalie MacMaster and Donnell Leahy, whose new album Canvas comes out March 17, 2023. They are two of the world’s top Celtic fiddlers: she a renowned, award-winning solo artist from Cape Breton, Nova Scotia; he from the legendary Leahy family of Ontario, an intergenerational musical act that toured the world. They were married in 2002, by which point their cumulative album sales topped one million. A power couple was born.

Canvas is only their third album together. They approached it not bound by easy patterns or habits, but as a blank canvas. “Creativity comes when there is space for it,” says MacMaster. “One thing Donnell and I were given in 2020 was the space and time to be creative, to think and focus and find what was inside of us. Like an empty canvas, our minds were clear, open for the music that was about to flow. There were no restrictions, rules, agendas, considerations. As Donnell often said, ‘Let the music decide.’ So, we indulged in full musical freedom, throwing patterns of the past aside. With a few challenges along the way, it was a delight from beginning to end.”

True North Records today announced the signing of Meredith Moon and the forthcoming release of her new album, Constellations, a blisteringly honest but astonishing body of work that easily puts her neatly in the footsteps of her father, Gordon Lightfoot. Constellations is set to be released March 31st, 2023. 

Check out Meredith Moon Constellations on YouTube here:

Director Alexander Sharp serves up sexy, slithery vampire with a steely, black-and-white grindhouse aesthetic in the video for Josh Jones & Trevor Kidd’s “Salvation”

Laser-sharp closeups of a pick strumming a guitar string, a drumstick hitting a cymbal, and the beater hitting the bass drum highlight the slowed-down sensuality of the song’s intro, while overexposed film negatives flash over longer shots of the band performing. The result is a dark, gothic vibe that matches the stalking, crawling, gasping progression of “Salvation” – “Are you hungry for it?”

I feel the rush of the chemicals kicking in
I feel the touch of your talons on my skin
I feel you play me like a violin
I feel you take us where we've never been

You can hear the love through her music as the multi-talented performing artist, Harriet Chung proclaims in her latest single, “Today and Tomorrow” -

 “Today and Tomorrow” explores the deeper meaning of a bond created between a mother and her child. This beautiful melody is featured as the 2^nd track on her newly released first solo album – “A World Away”, that dives into the meaning and importance of human connection.

Chung takes you on a dreamy, acoustic journey that explores the emotional give and take of a relationship between a mother and her child. You can hear her longing to recapture those memories between herself and her mother as she narrates the chorus:

There is magic inside each and every one of us, and it’s our job to mold it into something great.

That is the theme behind Swedish-Danish artist Frida Maria’s latest single, appropriately titled “Magic.”

Listen to “Magic” on YouTube:

In “Magic,” Frida explains the energy and possibility within each of our own realities. We have the power to shape our personal experiences, transforming the abstract feelings and visions in our minds into something we can touch, see, and live. This is what makes us all our own magicians.

“Everything I feel right now
It’s in my heart
Everything I see right now
It’s in my mind
Baby, can we be right now
Oh, let me, let me hold you in my arms
‘Cause everything I breathe right now
It’s life, oh, and it’s ours”

Falling in love is always a risky proposition. Alongside the exhilaration and pleasure of opening one’s heart to a new relationship can come worries about getting hurt, or maybe even heartbroken.

Wasaga Beach, ON singer/songwriter Emily Power explores these feelings in her emotional, wistful, and ultimately hopeful new pop single, “If I Fall.” Check it out on YouTube here:

“I wanna feel, I wanna feel these moments
I wanna taste I wanna touch them all
I wanna be wanna be swept off my feet
I wanna know that you will catch me if I fall”

Powerful vocals accompanied by heartfelt acoustic expressions are what make Vancouver’s Tissa Rahim’s newest single, “Done, Done, Done” such a gem.

Check it out on Spotify here: open.spotify.com/track/1dBEWKqJ0RUr1sTohgYo9W

Tissa’s emotional dumping about a one-way relationship comes off as an authentic and empowering anthem as a slew of seasoned musicians paint the canvas for a soulful retelling.

Featuring Berlin’s own Dominique Fricot, Tissa and Dominique approach the idea of processing heartbreak and manipulation, bringing each respective artist’s own experiences into the studio as they produced this smashing retro-soul single. Tissa’s vocals on “Done, Done, Done” can be affectionately compared to the love child of Amy Winehouse and Corrine Bailey Rae’s stylizations.

The new single from Calgary, Alberta band Mystery Romance is “Story of We” from the album Flying Thru The Moon (Current Records). Mystery Romance enjoyed mainstream success in the late 80s and early 90s charting three singles domestically, and one song (“So Far Away”) internationally.

Check out “Story of We” here on YouTube:

Toronto reminiscent rock trio, Fake Magic released the album Sad Dad, which reflects on all the intricacies and responsibilities of being a man. Particularly a dad. A sad dad.

Listen on Spotify here: open.spotify.com/track/0rlgrUVuvLnAqxX2YM5DGg

 However, the group - Greg Markham, Bryan Paccagnella and Cory Williams - didn’t limit their inspiration to forlorn fathers. No. The album pays homage to men they've known, heard about, or encountered through media representation.

“Good dads. Flawed dads. Dork dads. Stepdads. Substitute dads. Sad dads. Randy Marsh. Homer Simpson. Hank Hill. On the surface, it’s a thumpin’ good time. Below the surface, it’s about ego and acceptance. It’s fun, dark, funny, sincere, and sometimes all of them at once,” the band said.

Sad Dad’s opening track, “Saturday,” recounts the power of getting out of bed to complete a simple task, even if melancholia overwhelms you. The driving guitar and keys inspire the lead vocalist to reclaim a bit of power he has lost.

Hell has never sounded this good. “Welcome To The Hell,” the new single by the eclectic Regina, SK-based pop maestro known as nasmore, taps into his unique sonic formula: an amalgam of stadium rock, goth-industrial textures, modern R&B and cinematic scores. Like most nasmore singles, it’s a collaboration. Returning to the nasmore fold is guitarist Neil Taylor, best known for his work with Tears for Fears in the mid-’80s and Robbie Williams in the early 2000s. New to nasmore is an operatic pop singer from Italy, La Strange. On this lively, edgy and stark single, Taylor lashes out with gritty vocals and fierce guitar licks that perfectly mingle with La \ beautiful and yet powerful voice. This is a no-brainer for fans of artists like Paramore and Dua Lipa, to mention only a couple. In nasmore’s own words, “Some songs make you cry, and some songs you skip forward, and then there are songs that immerse you into their world, putting a sarcastic smile on your face and dragging your mind to visit dark places—like Hell, for example. Just for a day? Stay in a hotel situated by the burning sea of lava with a nice view of torture and punishment.

From the ashes of a band called Glass Atlas would rise the jet-fueled sound of The Flakes; founded in 2017 by guitarist Adam Sweeney and drummer Kyle Merson, they’ve been on a rampage since they hit the scene. In 2018, the band would be accompanied by the electrifying vocals of Tynan Moors, prompting several blazing singles that summer. Bigger shows like the Mount Funky music festival raised their notoriety and culminated in an appearance by The Flakes at Toronto’s legendary Horseshoe Tavern.

Most artists fumble the first time they get into a studio. In the case of Montreal singer Silka Weil, and her debut single, “Capsized,” she knocked it out of the park. Maybe that’s because the song dates to her days in her parents’ basement, and “polishing it into a finished piece of work has been like framing an old photograph,” she says. Maybe it’s because Weil has been singing since before she knew how to speak, and has been playing guitar since she was nine years old; she was more than ready for her first closeup. Maybe it’s because the lyrics are deeply personal for her, about using art to unlock one’s inner potential. Which Silka Weil has clearly done here.

Check out “Capsized” on YouTube here:

Playing With Fire could refer to the feeling emanating from any member of Maqueque, the all-women band formed by veteran Toronto jazz musician Jane Bunnett with young female grads of the Cuban conservatory.

Check it out on YouTube here:

 A decade ago, Bunnett met the core of the band at a jam session with her band Spirits of Havana, at the Cohiba Hotel in that city. Ten years later, Maqueque has created opportunities for composing and performing extraordinary jazz that has taken the pioneering ensemble around the world. It has expanded to include not only women players from Cuba, but also the brilliant vocalist Joanna Majoko (from Zimbabwe) and musicians from the Dominican Republic, Latin America, Spain and Lebanon.

Toronto's feel-good folk-rock performer Evelynne Ross has released the stirring new single "Old Oak Tree," - check it out on YouTube here:

Taken from Ross' new EP, Against the Fence, "Old Oak Tree" is built on twanging, riffing guitars, mid-tempo percussion, and Ross' own soulful vocal. Thematically about strong family roots, Ross weaves a tale about a woman ready to make a difficult decision in her life: "Nobody, nah nobody is gonna hold her back/ Throw her off the track/ You'll see/ She's got her roots from her mother/ She’s like an old oak tree."

Not all breakups are bitter, and sometimes you part ways wishing the other person the best even though it hurts like hell. Cobourg, Ontario-based singer/songwriter Harry Hannah captures a breakup’s bitter-sweetness with his easy-galloping, alt-country new single “Baby Don’t Look Back” – check it out on YouTube here:

With mellow rhythm, a little bit of twang, and chock full of philosophical introspection, “Baby Don’t Look Back” tells the true story of a breakup Hannah went through years ago, knowing the whole time it would eventually have to end:

You always told me you’d be leaving soon
bum town just got nothing to do
there’s a world that’s been needing you
Cut the chains off and go let loose 

How many friends do you really have—and not just online? How well do you know the members of your family? How many times do you promise to make a date to catch up, and never really do? Do you know what your friends and family take in their coffee? Maybe it’s time to make a New Year’s resolution to follow through and find out.

Listen on Spotify here: open.spotify.com/track/0tE9huFhDNms1O8whC8nhw

Lynn Miles has earned her reputation as one of Canada’s most formidable songwriters, having written more than 900 songs and released 15 albums over her remarkable career.. She’s racked up multiple Juno Awards, Canadian Folk Music Awards, had two albums voted #1 by readers of Penguin Eggs magazine, and had her songs covered by a multitude of artists including Claire Lynch on her Grammy-nominated album North by South. The Ottawa-based singer is a producer, professor and public speaker, a paragon of excellence in everything she does. You could say she is reliable. The songs on her 16th album, TumbleWeedyWorld, however, are about unreliability. About shaky situations. About a time when cracks begin to appear in everything.

Listen and pre-Order here: truenorthrecords.com/lynnmiles

The new single by Opaskwayak Cree Nation, Manitoba’s Low Budget Rock Star, “More Than Ever,” sounds like it’s about a lover: “I need you more than ever / baby don’t you ever go.” But that chorus was written about drummer Richie Cudmore, who was diagnosed with cancer in 2022. It was written as a “what if,” scenario: How would the Indigenous three-piece rock band survive without Richie? Would the remaining two members of the anthemic trio, from the remote northern community of The Pas, Manitoba, find themselves thrust into the unknown, wandering the streets of Winnipeg, feeling lost, tired and alone?

Check it out on YouTube: