Alexandra, ON jazz pop artist Katie Ditschun cozied up with her piano this week to perform a stunning live rendition of “HER” and the results were brilliant.

Watch and listen to “HER” (Official Video) here:
https://youtu.be/_ABZNiJVLWI

The video comes amidst the Ontario-based artist’s current album release and complimentary live virtual music lessons.

For those looking to optimize a rise in screen time by developing their sonic skill sets, the lessons are every Friday at 11:00 a.m. EST on Ditschun’s Facebook page; they are geared towards beginners and focus solely on singing — no instruments are required.

Compelling and powerful in its experience, International exploratory prog rock pop artists Briand Boursin Rohr release the eighth chapter in their forthcoming concept album, The View Inside.

“Keep In Touch” — detailing the main character’s delusions of godliness and readying for something unclear — is available now.

Watch and Listen to “Keep In Touch” here:
https://youtu.be/HYdTYdvtgjc

A creative collaboration from guitarist and singer/songwriter Ludovic Briand, keyboardist and songwriter Julien Boursin, and lyricist and producer Matt Rohr, the song and video are the fourth to be released ahead of The View Inside’s arrival via Hypostatic Records and Musea Records.

Recorded in three regions — Paris, Los Angeles, and the south of France — over the course of three years, The View Inside features another three things of note: big drums, big guitars, and big ideas.

Canadian singer/songwriter and pianist Theo Tams’ new video “The Last Song” shows the Canadian Idol winner as a character chameleon of sorts, all in the name of self-love and care.

“The song represents the moment you realize your own self worth,” Tams says. “It’s about recognizing you are enough, and letting go of the past.

“Finally.”

“The Last Song” is also the ‘last song’ on Tams’ third and most recent album release, 2018’s Call The Doctor. Reflective in both the single and album at large is Tams’ musical evolution — a genuine and mature identity mindfully created from a place of honesty, courage, and vulnerability.

Watch and listen to “The Last Song” here:

Canadian indie alt rockers The Vaniers are out with their debut EP, Who Are You To Say? — and sophomore single, “On The Regular” — available now!

The five-track breakout EP hits with inspo from band beacons like The Strokes or Arctic Monkeys alongside original, intuitive and tightly-knit musicality from the three former high school classmates — Diego Paz on bass guitar and vox, Alex Iacobellis on guitar, and Nick Donato on drums.

“It’s got a carefree, toe-tapping rhythm that’s perfect for a day drink in the summer,” Paz offers of “On The Regular”s warm weather vibes and retro-inspired video. “It was written over a weekend at a cottage in Tiny, Ontario… We hauled all the equipment up after a late-night gig at Junction City Music Hall, set up after getting there around 3:00 am, and jammed the entire weekend.

Watch and listen to The Vaniers - On The Regular (Official Lyric Video) here:

Singer-songwriter, Delaney Grant, is gearing up today for the release of her new EP, After The Fire.

The 7-track release, co-produced by Jeff Dalziel (Diesel Music) in Ontario, Canada, and Travis Humbert in Nashville, Tennessee, will be available on all digital platforms.

After The Fire delves into the past ten years of Grant’s life, starting with the loss of her family’s home to a fire, where the EP acquired its harrowing namesake.

Grant comments about the album, saying, “In this album, you will hear songs about heartbreak with underlying themes of optimism and positivity. The songs represent different stories in my life but are also relatable, as almost everyone has experienced losing something or someone. I hope these songs can help those who need it.” 

When it comes to describing the indie-folk undertaking that is Canadian artist Noble Son — aka Adam Kirschner, singer/songwriter, actor, and VFV (very familiar voice) — his new single “Sad Dumb Lovesick Young Kid,” and album Life Isn’t Fun, here’s what others have to say:
“There is a dichotomy buried deep in the musical well that is Noble Son: the brutal heartbreak of reality and the bounding absurdity of life itself,” says BeatRoute. “His romanticism is all wrong according to feel-good rules — where love fails, politics prevail, that sort of thing — but maybe that’s why his music makes us hurt so good.

“It’s impossible to speak of his work without also exclaiming about the other component of Noble Son: an uncanny Jim Carrey-esque persona. All the roiling energy in that creative well of the artist also expresses itself through comically brilliant physicality."

“When we think of folk music at a glance, visions of somber men and women standing emotionally with their guitars often comes to mind,” Citrus Magazine concurs. “Noble Son is quite the opposite.

Indie alt southern rock outfit from Los Angels, the Ian Abel Band bring their big guitars, big drums, and even bigger hooks to create “20’s Magic” — their newest single, available now!

Watch and listen to “20’s Magic”  here https://youtu.be/nmttg2KeLHc

“This is the song that started it all,” namesake frontman, lead vocalist, guitarist and songwriter Ian Abel shares of the track. “We were toying with the notion of going into a studio to record five or six new songs, but we weren’t ready.

“In talking about it with Kenny, he threw out the idea of slowing it down and pre-producing everything in our lock-out space.

“I agreed pretty reluctantly, but thank God I did!”

Abel is referring to drummer Kenny Schwartz; the band also includes Westray Tackett and Karthik Suresh.

The nom de plume for Vancouver-based multi-faceted artist Jacob Richter, My Oldest Friend first landed in 2017; it features back-up vocals and keys from Melinda Richter, Jacob’s sister, and drums from Kurt Dahle. 

“The name comes from the title of one of my previous songs that dealt with nostalgia, sadness, and existentialism,” Richter explains of My Oldest Friend as a whole. “This project started when I moved from Toronto to Vancouver, and in wanting to combine my love for music and acting into one creative expression.

“For ’Ghost’ specifically, it’s an exploration of coping with abandonment,” he continues. 

Watch and listen to ‘Ghost’ here on Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/394580964

Ghost: My Oldest Friend from J Peter Jones on Vimeo.

Canadian grunge trap and alt hip hop rocker Krosst Out marks the end of his former self with the symbolic unleashing of new single, “Funerals”.

Watch “Funerals” here:
https://youtu.be/oxTE5oMRlIs

The track lands ahead of his forthcoming album, Phone Calls With Ghosts, a project that has the Toronto-based artist squaring away with his small-town upbringing; the LP is set for release June 26, 2020.

“Some kids treat piano lessons like a chore, but I treated them like a lifeline,” Krosst Out — nee Aaron Siebenga — offers. “They were my way out.”

The sentiment — and its translation into “Funerals” and Phone Calls With Ghosts — are in reference to his upbringing in the small Northumberland County town of Campbellford, Ontario, population 3,500.

When Spin Doctors mega music man Eric Schenkman penned his newest single “Locked In The House All Day” for his latest solo album Who Shot John?, little did he know it’d become the shared experience for so many of us.

Little did any of us, really.

“I’ve been hunkered down in Toronto, not working live — which is basically what I do,” Schenkman says of how he’s personally wrangling social distancing and self-quarantine. “Still playing music at home, though!”

The video for “Locked In The House All Day” splashes city streets with graffiti alleys before they emptied entirely, and Canadians were called to change old routines into new normals — Schenkman included.

Watch and listen to “Locked In The House All Day” here:
https://youtu.be/L-4cKSosURU

“My mom is in an old folks home a mile from where I am,” he shares of another way his day to day has changed. “They actually have active COVID-19 cases, which is scary. I can only visit her at her window, which is kind of a miracle in itself since her room happens to have an accessible window.”

“I’m thankful for that!”

Canadian alt pop singer/songwriter Jadyn Lamb is all about lessons learned when it comes to relationship dynamics in her newest single, “Friends” — available now!

“I dug deep when writing this one,” the Toronto-area artist says, looking back. “This is everything I wanted to say when I was younger, but kept inside.”

It all comes down to gossip, egoism, and a genuine lack of experience, she says. “That’s what ruined my love life in high school. The inspiration for this song comes from years of stifling feelings of being discontent in romantic relationships, and not communicating it.”

“It wasn’t for lack of trying”, she adds.

“I would practice the words over and over in my head, but when the moment came to tell the truth, my voice would always tremble. It was hard to tell people ‘no’ or how I felt.” 'One such instance — and the modern-day muse for this track — came when Lamb grew highly disenchanted with the direction the relationship was heading. “One thing became very clear to me,” she recalls. “We were better off as ‘Friends.’”

Watch “Friends” here:
https://youtu.be/cvQbsVS19AE

Kyle Meagher is a Canadian musician and actor. Kyle’s EP, “Beats in a Bagel Shop” had over 800,000 plays across Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube, including “Nowhere”, which received much acclaim across U.S. radio, including play on 20+ stations in California, New York, Texas, Illinois, Nevada, New Jersey, Utah and Vermont. With a total audience of over 1.5 million, “Nowhere” charted #3 on Radio Disney and #58 on Mediabase Charts for the U.S. Top 40 radio. His acting credits include a recurring role in all three seasons of the CBC and Netflix series, Anne with an E,which won the prestigious Canadian Screen Award for best drama series, as well as numerous TV commercials for companies such as Black Diamond and Walmart, and TV shows such as the Odd Squad and Murdoch Mysteries. Meagher has made numerous media appearances including interviews with etalk, iHeartRadio, The Kid Kraddic Morning Show and Global News. He has performed on stages across the US, opening for some of the biggest names in music including Austin Mahone, Mike Posner, Why Don’t We, Madison Beer, Bryce Vine and NF.

Fresh off last year’s breakout debut release, Canadian alt indie folk rocker Oliver James Brooks has “Set Free” a new message for the masses with his latest single — available now.

“This song was written in response to the current state of our planet,” he shares of the track and its origins. “The turmoil in which we live has reached an unfathomable level… Some days it becomes unbearable to even exist.

“It was on one of those very days that ‘Set Free’ was written.”

Watch the video of ‘Set Free’ here:
https://youtu.be/gNOWwjPjSow

“Set Free” is the second new single for Brooks since his 2019 take-notice debut, A Turn in the Bend. Written and mostly recorded while living in Brooklyn, New York, the eight-track LP quickly cemented the singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist's ability to capture and creatively express nuance in an intuitive, layered and carefully considered way.

Sandy Horne ( bass, vocals) and Gord Deppe ( guitar vocals) are two of the most under-rated and best players in Canadian music history.

Being the only band in Canada that Nile Rogers chose to produce an album and EP is history-making enough but to continue a 40-year career by releasing a new record that speaks to their growth as musicians and a band; still relevant to their fans and making new fans worldwide is pretty cool.

I am from Montreal, where while at Chom-FM, I played every Spoons record ever made and the Quebec audience loved them. The latest offering from The Spoons features their best collection of songs since "Arias and Symphony".

Full of hooks, cool fun tunes and great production by Sandy's husband Jeff, if you were ever a Spoons fan you will not be disappointed but pleasantly surprised by the songs and production.

Canadian folk singer/songwriter Raina Krangle shares a song straight from her dreams in “My Beautiful Dear” — available now!

The track was recently selected as a finalist in the 2020 Blues & Roots Radio’s International Song Contest, and is the premiere single off her forthcoming album, Headbangers - A Musical Recovery From Mild Traumatic Brain Injury.

On the surface, Krangle’s inspiration for “My Beautiful Dear” is endearing in itself; the storytelling lyricist draws on her parent’s 54-year long love story and her childhood in a house where Bruce Cockburn’s “All the Diamonds” was the harmonized lullaby of choice.

But to understand why “My Beautiful Dream” is even more poignant to Krangle, it’s to know it stems from her recovery from a traumatic brain injury (TBI) just under a year ago.

“The injury happened while I was at work as an educator,” she says of the accident. “From there, my road to recovery included lots of yoga, nature walks, photography, meditation, and journaling.

Halifax-based folk and dance-pop artist Jont is encouraging that “all of us together can change the way the world works.”

And so goes the call to action in his new single, “I Think It Could Be Possible” — and resulting cover song invitation. 

“So many people seem to think things are so bad right now and are giving up hope that we can have any positive impact on our world,” he says. “I say, don’t get swept away by disempowering goals of changing the collective chaos caused by humanity. 

“Instead,” he continues, “affect positive change on the world around you right now by changing how you relate to the world… By addressing the inequality you see every day around you… By healing the wounded parts of you that stop you from being as loving and kind as happy as you would like to be… 

“If everyone did that, imagine what our world would be like.” 

For her second album on True North Records, Nashville-based singer Crystal Shawanda has channelled the spirit and strength of blues greats such as Etta James and Koko Taylor, paired with a contemporary delivery that makes the 10 tracks on Church House Blues a rousing testament to her powerful vocal and songwriting abilities.  

 Recorded at several Nashville area studios, Crystal Shawanda says that the recording sessions for Church House blues allowed her to express herself without feeling like anyone was looking over her shoulder. “This is the most I’ve ever loved an album out of everything I’ve ever done,” she offers. “This is really who I am. It’s my most definitive album yet. All these songs reflect different aspects of who I am. It’s putting a finger on that definitively. I’m not trying to prove anything. I’m just being me. I’m done with trying to fit in.”

Ahead of their US tour, Saskatoon, SK’s indie/alternative rock trio, has shared a new music video for the title track of their latest album Afterglow.

Over the last few years, Canadian alternative rock band Autopilot has become a staple in the Saskatoon indie music scene. Known for their thoughtful lyrics, powerful hooks, dynamic stage show, and obsessive hard work, they somehow seem to effortlessly walk the line between passionate art and massive appeal. Over the course of 3 full-length records, and one EP, they’ve become road warriors, touring relentlessly across Canada and the US. They’ve been praised for their tireless work ethic by publications like Canadian Musician Magazine, who called them “quite possibly one of the hardest working bands in the country.” 

With the video by Paul Abderrahim, the track itself was produced by Bizar and POG (Bon Enfant Production, Shawondasee), with the mix by POG and mastering by Benjamin Joubert.

First formed in the mid-2010s, Bizar embodied one — and just one — singular, overarching goal for frontman Alexis.

“Hit music only,” he recalls.

From there, he dedicated himself to “1000 hours” of looking for the perfect chorus, crafting creative paths between pop and every genre possible. His love for puns is on full display within many of the French lyrics, and, on his latest and sophomore EP, 2019’s Greatest Hits II, there’s even a tribute to the six months he spent in Brazil with the Portuguese lyrics of “Eu Ela.”

“Making a song always starts in my bedroom, focusing on melodies with a guitar or synth,” Alexis shares. “Once I’ve got a decent demo, I visit POG to make it shiny and add weird noises.

Watch Bizar – Goudja here https://youtu.be/akx9dpNMWYI

Produced by Young Kxge and with visuals by Wifey, the track is Blacklite District’s second to be released in 2020 — with “Over This” landing before it. With songs stacking over 250 million streams across across all platforms, “Falling” adds to the music man’s growing roster of previous projects, including mixtapes Souled Out (2019), Through the Ages (2018), Instant Gratification (2017), and To Whom It May Concern (2016). His first official album is set for release later this year.

“I make songs from real life experiences, and based on the real things I’ve been through” says the artist of the track and his creative direction at large. “I feel like I’m writing the best music of my career so far, and the music is really developing into a defined sound.

“Falling” is a great example of where I want to be in terms of sound and feeling,” he continues. “The song is real, raw, and emotional.
“I’ll let the music do the talking.”

Watch “‘Falling” here:
https://youtu.be/MQl3ddt9eXE