Friendly Giants boomed to life during the mandatory lockdown of 2020 when John Wittmayer and Shawn Fisher met and workshopped each other’s songs. As bands go, the duo added more talent to their collective, adding James Stephens, Barry Jones, Amy Heasman and Holly Schweitzer. Trevor Yost incorporates drums into some of the band’s discography. Each member lends their respective talent, be it Fisher on violin, Jones on trumpet, or Wittmayer on vocals.

Stephans

“The sum of our parts creates music that we all identify with, and this sharing is what thrills us to keep creating,” Wittmayer says.

On their new track, “Dancing By Myself,” Heasman leads the vocal track with a dark, haunting call to a past lover or close friend. She croons, “What do you see when you look inside me? What do you feel when you brush up beside me? Why can’t you know if you can dance by my side? I'm not a muse for your own gain. I’m not a fool to play your games.”

Check out “Dancing By Myself on YouTube here:

Toronto pop darling Victoria Alex is back, this time asking: “Let’s Pretend”.

The Torontonian behind the smash, “Screaming”, is solidifying her pop prowess on her latest single. “Let’s Pretend” features a hypnotic melody, crushing beats, and slung together With Alex’ signature powerhouse vocals.

Listen on Spotify here: open.spotify.com/track/5JZ35S4rsqNZmpjerG4W8M?si=bb6fdf2be7594daf&nd=1

“The song is about meeting someone and being infatuated by them, the moment you see them.  You know you can’t be with them, but you pretend that you are,” Victoria says, adding: “You just start living in your own head. It’s about that moment when you choose something unhealthy for yourself; you can’t stop. It really comes from a place of insecurity, which we’ve all experienced, if not with love, then with something else in our lives. Hopefully people will connect and find comfort in knowing they aren’t alone.”

Social media, constant internet connectivity, and a bottomless pit of not-so-reliable information always aimed at attention attraction are bringing the world to a boil. The Otherness calls for young cultural rebels to stand up and get loud in its latest single, “A New Resistance.” Check it out YouTube here:

The Argentine band now based in Berlin wrote the song by the end of its EU tour in 2021, inspired by the constantly unfolding events around them. The tour had been hamstrung by a COVID, and it seemed that nothing but chaos could be found.

Still, The Otherness considered it important to use its music to uplift and bring people together, not wallow in despair. The vocals and instrumentals in “A New Resistance” are delivered with positivity and delight, even if the lyrics themselves outline a grim reality.

Your Ex And I are a band in it for the right reasons. The Montreal-based rock group comprises five pals with very positive musical chemistry poised to explode on the scene with the debut single, “For All the Loves.” Check it out On YouTube here:

The mysterious comrades in Your Ex And I, comprised of frontman/keyboardist Danny, lyricist Gor, bassist Guillaume, guitarist Frank, and drummer Simon, have all paid their dues playing and working in musical fields and are suitably realistic about their motives and goals.

“We are not kids dreaming in technicolor,” said Danny. “We came together with the right people and the right vibe, so it was ‘let’s all have fun with this.”

Reality bites. Whaddaya say?

Welcome to Numb Tongues’ latest single, “Whaddaya Say,” which hits hard on the harsh truth that each one of us faces - reality isn’t all that great. Check it out on YouTube:

The Toronto-based funk rock band’s song cements a scathing review of reality, illuminating much of the nihilistic aspects common within contemporary Western society. Over a groovy tune and high-pitched vocals that center around the chaos many have felt for years, Numb Tongues lays down a raw look at modernity.

Lead vocalist Jonah Grinberg outlines what has him so dismayed, then asks the prominent question at the forefront of every doomers’ mind:
“I’m feeling trapped, everybody’s putting on a mask
But Halloween was a couple months back
So why’s everyone trying to act like they’re not scared?”

Catchy choruses and funky guitar walks are all to familiar to Waterloo, ON DJ/Producer Christopher Mihas, better known as Moves After Midnight. Christopher’s tenacity for electro-funk is captured in his newest single, “I See Right Through You” – check it out on YouTube here:

Synth-pop is a form of artistic expression that seems to impact each new generation of music appreciators while leaving a groovy stain on producers who grew up with and work within the genre. Inspired heavily by the music of his youth, Christopher pays homage to 80’s pop-funk music with this electro-funk dance track.

“I See Right Through You” is Christopher’s most recent release under the moniker Moves After Midnight following a string of releases, including October 2021 debut EP Fluorescent Memoirs, and more recently a smash single “Vanity Prayers” in September 2022.

Hot on the heels of the Native American Music Award nominated Rock & Roll City, Midnight Sparrows – the brainchild of Métis, Cree, and Dene musician Blair Bellerose – is releasing its much-anticipated follow-up, Born in the City.

Check out “Butterfly Wings” on YouTube here:

Identifying as Métis his entire life, the Vancouver-based musician is now also a proud member of Fort McKay First Nation thanks to a successful, women-led challenge to the Indian Act, which allows for more significant gender equity in passing on Indian status through the maternal family line. However, Blair also proudly retains his Métis identity.

Midnight Sparrows play guitar-driven hard rock that combines elements of classic rock, power pop and old-school heavy metal.

Niagara Falls-based alt rockers James Blonde encapsulate the restorative magic and magnetic appeal of the nightlife with their new single “Back To Life”.  Because no matter how dull and lackluster – or depressed and lifeless – one might temporarily feel, everyone knows that the best cure is a well-timed night out. Check it out on YouTube here:

Ukubonga [Gratitude], the new recording from South African singer Lorraine Klaasen and South African guitarist, composer, arranger, musical director and producer Mongezi Ntaka is a collection of songs from the Southern Africa’s Township music songbook and features songs written by some of Southern Africa’s celebrated singers and composers. Lorraine & Mongezi decided to show gratitude to the dedicated artists who endured and survived some of the most brutal and humiliating experiences a human can experience while pursuing their musical careers to support their families. Both Lorraine & Mongezi experienced some of the conditions that this generation of artists experienced in South Africa during the dark years of apartheid but not to the extent experienced by these celebrated artists whose songs Lorraine and Mongezi are borrowing to remind Africans of the basic concept of gratitude.

Kit Vale is the solo project of Toronto-based singer/songwriter Jen Simpson, whom you may know as the stunning voice of Canadian rockers Neon Bloom. Inspired by a diverse mix of musical tastes ranging from post-punk to hip-hop, Simpson uses Kit Vale as a project that combines elements of these influences and every genre in between. They have culminated in a melodic synthesis of sound filtered through her distinct gothic, garage-glam style.

Listen on Spotify here: open.spotify.com/track/1Xq6l3rrfObOAHhx0WH9CQ?si=d6d51367575e43e4&nd=1

“Pet” is Simpson’s second single under the Kit Vale moniker and was produced by the legendary Rob Sanzo. The track was co-written with bassist Robert Lechner, Simpson’s bandmate from her former group, along with Tony Sjoman and Walter Gardner, the Brooklyn-based The Never Evers. While The Never Evers thought they would never ever release the eight songs they recorded together, the powerful performance on “Pet” could no longer be contained.

Check out “Pet” on YouTube here:

A wistful pop ballad with a subtle jazz feel, Harriet Chung’s latest single “Old Montreal” relates a timeless situation to a history-rich locale, love lost in a romantic city. Offering a different local vibe from her earlier single “Vancouver,” “Old Montreal” is introspective, just this side of sad, questioning a star-crossed relationship gently, without bitterness or anger:
Maybe your flight began to depart
As I strolled along Clock Tower Beach
You’re off to break another heart
In some distant land so far out of reach.

Check out “Old Montreal” on YouTube here:

Autumn is often symbolic of deep transition, of parts of nature – and our natures – dying to make way for the new. Toronto-based rockers A Short Walk To Pluto, endorsed earlier this year by Howard Stern on his top-rated SiriusXM show, illustrate that poetically in their folksier but no less tight new single “Give Me Grace” – Check it out on YouTube:

A soaring, jangly, acoustic ballad about the transformational power of love perfectly captured in a song, “Give Me Grace” tells the story of two separate people eventually destined for one another. The first narrator, the woman, feels trapped in an internal, everlasting winter, where the sun can’t break through a sky seemingly made of ice.  The second verse tells the story of the male protagonist’s isolation and longing for companionship throughout a beautiful and fiery, yet lonely and daunting, autumn.

JUNO Nominated Singer/Songwriter & Multi-Award-Winning Music Educator Celebrates a Personal Connection with Sixth Single from Her Delectable Debut Album “Lemon Meringue Pie”.

Just like the languid last days of summer can make you nostalgic for all the good times shared, the warm memories that a favourite song from our youth brings to the surface can make us long to relive those days as well. JUNO nominated Canadian jazz vocalist Mary Lou Sicoly knows the power of that feeling very well and celebrates a personal connection with the music and music makers of ‘70s supergroup Earth, Wind & Fire with her smooth, sweet take on their nostalgia-fueled classic “September” – Check it out on YouTube here:

The Copenhagen, Denmark band The Lost Weekend' debuts with a conceptual wall of noise and an alternative rock album that aims to cut through and join the year’s best rock releases in giving the listener something real.  With sailing and crashing guitars, and a vocal frontman that burns bright, The Lost Weekend brings forth a sound that reminisces the most iconic bands of the 90s.

Several years in the making, “Radiance” has been both a solid anchor and a forward driver in an uncertain world – an organic constant that gropes and hunts, or as the band puts it:
“The record has been a quest to find continuity in a society hungering for meaning.  It is a journey that goes back to beat music’s rise, past the 90’s grunge and shoegaze to 00s Indie Rock, and then spills over the borders in searching voodoo fables. Tales of anti-heroes and bumbling declarations of love.  The Lost Weekend, and Radiance turns on being lost in the fog of the weekend, the noise of euphoria – to go forth, let go, give existence form, and then spit it out.”

Rich vocalizations and big-band pop vibes aren’t the only things driving young breakthrough artist Valentina Cherico. Her unique fusion of pop and Latin music sends shivers down spines across the globe, featured prominently in her newest single, “Believe In Yourself” – watch it on YouTube here:

Based in Pittsburgh, PA, 19-year-old Valentina’s polished vocals are merely the icing on this massive production. Featuring sexy Latin trumpet riffs, stylish Spanish guitar licks, and an alluring depth metaphoric of our own potential, “Believe In Yourself” is a massive mix that has something to tickle everyone’s fancy.

Truly a visionary in his craft, Plex consistently releases hard hitting hip-hop anthems reminiscent of old school hip-hop that progress the civil rights agenda. Who Am I To Judge carries this banner proudly  -
Check it out on YouTube here:

Following the release of “Great Ones (E’s Up)”, a track that topped the Indigenous Music Countdown this year, the critically acclaimed rapper debuts his newest project, Who Am I To Judge and has released the new song “Red Flags” featuring Aleah Belle. The 12-track LP is curt – corporate greed and manufactured hate are a toxin in the veins of society, condemning corrupt governments, cultural appropriation, uncanny wealth, and the toxic remnants of fake news and sinister intentions.

Being a good guy doesn’t necessarily entail grand gestures, but merely paying attention to the little things – doing the dishes, walking the dog, cooking dinner. Canadian singer-songwriter Dan Moxon catalogs all the ways he fits the bill on his new single “Real Good Guy” – check it out YouTube here:

Taking its cues from easygoing ’70s soul, “Real Good Guy” features tinkling piano, joyful horns, subtle harmonies, and even some exuberant whistling as Dan basks in the reality of being a responsible member of a household. Throughout the song, there’s the sense that Dan isn’t actually trying hard to convince anyone that he’s a good guy, but that he’s instead marveling at a particular stage of life.

Almost eight hundred years since the first guitar strings were fashioned and plucked in Spain, arguably one of Canada’s best guitarists and award-winning singer/songwriter composer Jeff Gunn finds a new six-string story to tell with his meditative new single “One Life” check it out on YouTube here:

Few artists have honed the guitar as a storytelling instrument the way Jeff Gunn has, and “One Life” is the latest demonstration of Gunn’s transcendent musicianship. “One Life” is the latest single from Gunn’s meticulously crafted third studio album “Momentum,” an eclectic collection of beautifully executed guitar-driven songs that are as compelling as they are versatile.

Death, breakups, moves, and more separate us from people who are important before we want, sometimes before we need. But in life, people come and go.

This is the theme of Thunder Bay singer, songwriter, and producer Collin Clowes’s latest single, “Go.”

Check out “Go” on YouTube here:

A slow, soft track, “Go” evokes the emotion of sorrowful grief. This extremely human experience is encapsulated in the tone, lyrics, and melody of the song.

Collin is responsible for writing, recording, producing, mixing, and mastering the track, plus did the vocals, guitar, keys, synths, drums, samples, and bass. In short, “Go” is solely a Collin creation, and it comes from a place deep inside the artist.

Listen on Spotify here: open.spotify.com/artist/385HjNvJFeratbybX2IZhx

The Canadian metal-rockers of Edmonton, Alberta are in a “State of Mind” -

Watch and listen to “State of Mind” on YouTube here:

The collective made up of Michelle Johnson (vocals), Steven Johnson (guitar), Corey Johnson (guitarist, bassist, keys, producer), and Keith Runco (drums) have created a new, gothic style of metal - surging electric riffs and laden with the vocal prowess of Johnson. Infusing orchestral and piano-based melodies with wavetable synthesis, Circle of Wolves are re-inventing metal into an entirely different and exciting sonic experience. By combining harmonies, with complicated chord progressions, and an exhilarating stage show, Circle The Wolves are intent on tearing up the rule book, forging a path of songwriting, and performing uniquely their own.