Dorothea Paas - The Backstays - Izzy Gazelle

Photo - Miriam Paas

Dorothea Paas - Waves Rising.

Toronto’s Dorothea Paas is today sharing her new single, "Waves Rising", coming just ahead of her debut album, Anything Can't Happen which is out this Friday, May 7 via Telephone Explosion.

The record was put together between Hamilton, ON and Toronto with mixing duties helmed by Max Turnbull (Badge Èpoque, U.S. Girls) and Steve Chahley whilst taking in members of Little Kid and Robin of Bernice. Over the last decade or so, Paas has worked with a number of Toronto-based projects, cementing herself as something of a stalwart in the city – these include (but are in no way limited to) U.S. Girls, Jennifer Castle, Badge Èpoque Ensemble and more.

Anything Can't Happen arrives from Doro's own push/pull relationship with the church, Paas initially felt uncomfortable about religion's utilising of music to control people and their emotions – now, however, Paas wants to tap into that idea, questioning the power and ability that music has to cause transcendence.

I find her way with lyrics to be pretty compelling, offering these fairy straight forward observations but embedding them with this universal wisdom which to me feels quite a feat given it's only her debut record – there's a lot more depth to this than the debut would necessarily suggest.

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The Backstays - Forever Gold Bricks.

"When the pieces first came together, it was about trying to escape but never being able to move on; like chasing after something intangible,” said The Backstays’ Serenna Chapman of single ‘Forever Gold Bricks.’ “I'd say this is a cautionary tale about how running away, towards empty, superficial things ultimately never works."

That push and pull mark the defining faultline of Tributaries, The Backstays’ debut album (released 05/01). A meeting point between heartland rock songwriting and darker, atmospheric indie rock, Tributaries sees the band experimenting with a more expansive sound that equally evokes new wave and post-punk.

"’Forever Gold Bricks’ is meant to be part of the ebb and flow of the album,” said The Backstays’ Pete Johnston (he/him). “Because so much of making this record was us learning how to fit these different sonic elements together, we wanted to take each song somewhere new, to see what sounds lent themselves to different stories."

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Izzy Gazelle - DOWN.

Emerging artist, Izzy Gazelle makes her way onto the rock scene with raw passion. Her new single “DOWN” is determined to cut out all the unnecessary noise. The hard-hitting track is released today May 4 on music streaming platforms.

Written and produced by Izzy, “DOWN” was inspired by the current sociopolitical climate. She says, “I think we're in a place in history where we have an abundance of information, some of which can be misleading around political or social justice issues and so I want this song to promote the idea of standing up for one’s self and staying curious about the facts and truths as opposed to being mere consumers of information." Her vocals are raw and reinforce her message with urgency, singing “Do you wanna get on your knees?... Don't you let me down,” amping up the bass and rhythmic riffs on the drums. She’s made the choices clear—fall at the mercy of deception or stand against it.

Izzy Gazelle is an artist based in Boston, Massachusetts. She describes her sound as a combination of raw rock & roll and blues with extra sauce. She cites Howlin’ Wolf, Tina Turner, Led Zeppelin, James Brown, Queens of the Stone Age, Bad Brains, and Jimi Hendrix among her influences. Izzy kick-started her music career in 2019 with a vibey stripped-down psychedelic rock cover of Post Malone’s “Sunflower”. She followed up with a dramatic slow-building, thought-provoking “sleep tonight” single in the wake of George Floyd protests and social injustice in 2020.  A modern DIY artist, she writes and produces to fully establish her vision. She is currently writing new material.

“To me, it’s about making good noise and bringing good vibes— the good, the bad, and the ugly even when it makes us uncomfortable.” says Izzy.

Izzy Gazelle · DOWN

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BOI - Frecko - Women In Song

BOI - Cael Chdi Nôl.

New Welsh outfit 'BOI' have announced their highly anticipated debut album entitled 'Coron O Chwinc' which will be released on the 25th June via new Welsh label Recordiau Crwn. The first single from the album is 'Cael Chdi Nol.'

'BOI' create a big, melodic, unapologetically drum and guitar driven sound, with lyrics and melodies that explore the big issues of our times and the human state. These 10 songs off “Coron O Chwinc” were recorded in various spaces around Wales, and were then mixed in the capable hands of Dafydd Ieuan (Super Furry Animals)

Band Members are: Keyboards/Allweddellau - Osian Gwynedd, Lead Vocals/Canwr - Rhodri Siôn, Guitar/Gitâr - Ifan Emlyn, Bass/Gitâr Fas - Heledd Mair Watkins, Drums/Drymiau - Dafydd Owen.

Osian Gwynedd and Rhodri Siôn were members of Beganifs/Big Leaves for 15 years and more, and recorded several albums and EPs under various labels, with their hits including Seithenyn, Meillionen, Cwcwll and many more. The group gained huge success in Wales during the 1990 and 2000s and performed throughout the UK and further afield with bands such as Catatonia and Super Furry Animals. Their English-language single Racing Birds was Single of the Week on Mark and Lard’s Radio 1 show.

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Frecko - The Note.

Somewhere deep within the diverse collective of alt country music lies the story telling cadence of Frecko.

Inspired by the romance of Australian story, Jason and Jack Freckelton, create music that celebrates the simple moments in life including love, loss and everything in between.

“The Note” is the fourth single lifted from their second album due for release later this year and takes us straight to the scene of the crime. Jangled guitar riffs and shuffling drumbeats set the mood for a song about love, revenge and consequence.

Produced by Golden Guitar winner, Lachlan Bryan and co-conspirator, Damien Cafarella - “The Note” - plays on the tension of the scene and showcases the band’s trademark dark humour. Frecko’s new single, “The Note”, is out now.

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Women In Song - But I Knew Her When.

All-female Blind River, ON-based singer/songwriter trio Women in Song reflect on the hopes and dreams of their parents who have suffered from, and eventually and sadly succumbed to Alzheimer’s Disease in this, their new single,  ”But I Knew Her When” — available now.

The touching and ethereal song is the latest to land from the Ontario-based all-female group’s debut LP, Life of a Woman. “But I Knew Her When” is a prime example of what to expect from Women in Song…

It takes chunks of inspiration from the likes of folk, pop and country music and fuses them all together into something beautiful, and features an astonishing progression of chorus-heavy chords on the acoustic guitar, the soothing melody of an airy violin, and the beautiful, yet haunting vocal harmonies of singers Lois O'Hanley-Jones, Debbie Rivard and Patty Dunlop. Women in Song are based out of the small town of Blind River, ON — just off the North Shore of Lake Huron — and began performing together over 20 years ago after a conversation at the kitchen table.

Though the tightly-knit troupe has been together for more than two decades, Life of a Woman serves as their premiere studio album. The record was released in mid-January, and inspired by the ladies’ respective families, friends and fans — from near and far. The concept of the 13-track album, according to the talented musicians, is the “reflection of the reality of our lives.”

“It speaks to women having a career and a family, having arguments with their children, having our children leave home and ultimately that we are good enough,” the trio revealed. “Our album is a perfect homage to women — to the Life of a Woman — as the title suggests.” Along with the rest of the album, “But I Knew Her When” was written, recorded, and produced in Blind River at the local Riverview Studios. The ladies like to call the charming hamlet the “Nashville of the North.”

Succinctly describing what they’re all about, the group called Women in Song a “musical experience that aims to delight your musical sensibilities and tickle your funny bone.” “We are fortunate that not only are we musically compatible but we are good friends. Every rehearsal contains tears and laughter,” the ladies concluded.

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Go Analog - Eric Bazilian

Go Analog - Wait.

Columbus Ohio's Go Analog dropped the official video for the song "Wait" from last year's Moonlight Gram today. In addition to the video the EP is also officially available on vinyl as of now!

Go Analog is back with a new EP recorded at the Oxide Shed in Athens, Ohio with producer/ engineer Eddie Ashworth (Sublime). The four piece band has been a mainstay in the Midwest for over a decade, but has not released any new songs in years. 

The songs for Moonlight Gram began to come together during a few stripped down jam sessions following a time when the band had not even hung out let alone played together for nearly a year. As the lyrics came and the sonics of the songs began to fill out, they knew they had to get back into the studio and lay them down.

Over five days Moonlight Gram was recorded with Ashworth helping them see their vision to fruition. The resulting EP is a wonderful throwback to early to mid 90s indie rock. With a guitar driven sound surrounding Eric Croft’s vocals the songs take on relationships both past and present, the situation the world finds itself in, and a bit of self awareness that only time passing can create. All of this wrapped in away that only good rock n roll can.

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Eric Bazilian - Back In The 80s.

Grammy nominated singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist and founding member of The Hooters, Eric Bazilian, is set to release his fifth and final single prior to the release of his long-awaited new album Bazilian.  Titled “Back In The 80s,” the song may at first seem like a glorified look back on a very successful time (the heyday of The Hooters)—a simple nostalgic ode in a time of isolation. The melodic, yet measured pop track is in fact an ode to appreciating all that life has to offer, the highs and lows and of being in the moment.  

The wry, quirky video conceived and directed by Max Tellving provides the perfect backdrop to the track as it takes old tymey imagery and turns it on its head to encompass a much wider perspective than anticipated.  Bazilian produced and mixed the track and plays guitars, bass, keyboards and mandola.  The Hooters’ David Uosikkinen provided drums from his home in Philadelphia and Steve Churchyard (formerly of Air Studios in London), provided help with the mixing. “Back In The 80s” was released on April 30 and the new album will be available May 14.

Says Bazilian: “I did a podcast with a Medium last spring. She told me that my father had a message ‘from the other side’-- that there was a song I’d given up on that I needed to finish. I wrote the chorus to ‘Back In The 80s’ the next day, and, with some help from James Bourne of the legendary British band Busted, I wrote the third verse a couple of days later. As glorified as that decade has been (and as kind as it was to me and my band, The Hooters), I feel no more sentimental attachment to it than I do to any of the other decades that gave us great music. If anything, the song is about appreciating the time we live in for all its beauty as well as its faults and frailties.

The video was conceived, directed, shot, and edited by Max Tellving in Sweden, the same person who has done many of my earlier videos such as ‘One Light,’ and ‘Happy Birthday’ (with James Bourne). His concept was to set the video in the 1880s (or 1780s) rather than the expected 1980s, but to include several timely visual ‘Easter eggs.’ We shot the video in my wife’s home town of Järvsö, four hours north of Stockholm, in the summer of 2020.”

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Belle Tower - Annie Keating - Sunshine & the Blue Moon - Bayleigh Cheek

Belle Tower - Fear.

Belle Tower is the lo-fi indie folk rock project of Isabella Harned, found at the intersection of life experience in Tiohtià:ke/Montreal and Xwilkway/Halfmoon Bay. 

Isolation, solitude, pain, love and healing are key themes at the heart of Belle Tower’s collection; songs that are heavy in their vulnerability, but that simultaneously carry you weightless through the processing of emotions. 

With contributions from main collaborators Ben Robertson (Winona Forever, Schwey), Scott Boudreau (Mauno), and strings from Audreanne Fillion (Lovelet, Crusssh), Belle Tower showcases ethereal vocals, dreamy guitar lines, and varied layered instrumentation resounding a sonic lightness in the new EP ‘tend to’, which was out April 27th, 2021.

Belle Tower · Fear

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Annie Keating - Kindred Spirit.

"Kindred Spirit," the first single from songcrafter Annie Keating's forthcoming album (Bristol County Tides).

The song is about finding commonality in our humanity and brokenness; the narrator is speaking about someone that has become a special part of the narrator's life, acknowledging that life's experiences have shaped the narrator and the narrator's friend, and finding the common threads of hardship that make the bond formed between them even stronger.

Annie's new LP, Bristol County Tides (out on June 4th), pays tribute to relationships forged in difficult times - Annie, who lives in Brooklyn, relocated herself and her children to coastal Massachusetts to wait out the pandemic.

She was treated with kindness and compassion and inclusion by her new neighbors, her city-raised children became country kids, learning to fish and all of that fun stuff, and she was able to write for the first time in a while. This album tells the stories of the love given and friendships forged in the middle of major hardship and pays homage to the people who embraced her and welcomed her family with open arms.

AnnieKeatingNYC · Kindred Spirit

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Sunshine & the Blue Moon - Good Morning Sunshine.

"Good Morning Sunshine" was inspired by dreary hazy mornings, when you wake up and don't want to do the things you’re supposed to do, with your mind more prone to wander.

Recorded live off the floor in Toronto, it's from our rock n roll-inspired sophomore album, Born 2 Boogie, which will be released on June 25 as we try to make sense of the human experience following our collective anxiety in this uneasy state of the world.

It's important to find time to unwind. The Dutch even have a word for it, niksen, the concept of doing nothing. It's supposed to be a stress reliever.

Let's remember that we're all in the same boat. Different lived experiences, but we all share those introspective humdrum days.

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Bayleigh Cheek - Release Me.

Dallas native Bayleigh Cheek began her love affair with music at an early age thanks to her immersive upbringing. Both parents were in the music scene, exposing her to a variety of sounds ranging from psychedelic and folk to progressive rock and new wave. 

Some of her personal music influences include Patti Smith, P.J. Harvey, Radiohead, and Angel Olsen. Those influences led to the creation of her EP, Immortals, that was self-released in early 2020 which brought her DOMA nominations for Best New Artist and Best EP.

In early 2021, she signed with Red Zeppelin Records, which will re-release Immortals as well as her debut album which is set for release in early 2022.

Cheek has frequently performed venues such as The Kessler Theatre, House of Blues, Three Links, opening for acts including Matthew Sweet, and Dallas natives Medicine Man Revival playing consistently for the past five years.

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