Edmontonian singer-songwriter Billie Zizi is releasing a new song from her dynamic and vulnerable new LP, Levitate (October 25th). “Neon Dream” begins as an innocent sounding lovelorn folk song before the track’s guitars build into an assertive storm of emotion.
I wrote this tune as a bridge for another song. But my co-producer, Austin Parachoniak, said that we should make it into its own song and I’m so happy he did. We recorded with no click and it kind of has a rawness and off-the-cuff emotional abandon that I really like. It’s my favourite tune on the record for that reason. I love the simplicity of a single repeating refrain and Austin‘s solo is exactly the type of thing I’d love to hear at a late night festival set. The tune is about the spectre of loss that we all have and the ghost of love that lives in the dreamscape of the mind.
The music of Toronto based band Good Group Thanks For Coming is a dynamic blend of its member’s diverse influences. It’s a music of everything, lovingly curated to share with everyone. They make musical sandwiches, music soup, music pizza; all your favourite music simmered in an indie rock rue and served on a platter from your local dive bar.
“It’s a Game,” the band’s latest single, is a hard-luck sing-along layered with metaphors and dualistic intentions. An ode to gaming, internet humor and learning to cope, the song likens life to playing games and even has a few little games written into the song itself.
I think this song is bittersweet! It’s, basically, a song about accepting disappointments. It’s a song about self-soothing – but there are whimsical elements in it that are silly and fun too. It captures a kind of duality that I’m proud of. It has a certain innocence about it but it also has a certain helplessness about it. There’s, ultimately, maybe a little more sad than happy in it but without a bit of both it wouldn’t be nearly as poetic. – Justin Sullivan (Songwriter/Vocals/Guitar)
Owen Marchildon is a songwriter and guitarist who has been part of the Toronto music scene since 2002. His creative output has been prolific, producing volumes of his own music independently since 2005; 10 full length albums, one EP and several singles under four different monikers – Purple Hill, Rough Skeletons, Marchildon! and High Wasted. Owen also played bass for the critically lauded math rock quartet From Fiction and later with Julie Kendall’s surf-soul project 1977.
2024 sees Owen pulling back the veil of all his previous monikers and releasing new music under his own name. His debut album, Dangling Towards Heavy Sunlight, is a masterful fusion of rock ‘n’ roll nostalgia where power pop melodies meet witty, vivid storytelling. It’s an album that feels both familiar and fresh, a love letter to classic rock ‘n’ roll with enough personality to stand on its own. Longtime bandmates and collaborators, Jordan Bruce and Brent Hough, spread out the sound, complimenting the style, imagination and fabric of Owen’s songwriting.
Highlighted track, “Weather Gurl,” tells the story of someone harboring a secret crush on a weather anchor, capturing the ache of unrequited love with clever, vivid lyrics. The song is a delightful blend of classic rock influences brought together with a fresh twist.
Puma June, an “emerging Canadian artist you need to hear” (Exclaim!), is a Toronto-based multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, songwriter, and producer. With an eclectic array of influences from Stevie Wonder to Billie Eilish and everything in between, her music is a unique blend of pop, funk, hip-hop, and R&B – a genre-bending sound that is both nostalgic and distinctive to the listener. With a clear political point of view, Puma June’s feminist-laced songwriting pushes unfiltered honesty and centers around regaining power in one’s life, with a particular focus on women’s/gender issues, familial trauma, and the battle of self-doubt as an artist.
She entered 2024 as a Round 11 recipient of the RBCxMusic x The Prism Prize MVP Project Grant, which she used to make a music video for her single “My Body, My Problem,” released earlier this summer. Puma June has lots on the horizon for 2024, including being selected for SOCAN Foundation’s EquityXProduction Level II program, an initiative designed to help develop skills for women in music production, as well as one of RBCxMusic’s ‘First Up’ Artists for 2024, a prestigious artist development program and workshop series, powered by MusiCounts.
Latest single, “Bad Habits,” is an unapologetic jazz and hip hop infused pop track off her upcoming debut EP A Woman That They Want. The song’s themes explore the idea of bad habits being the internal battles like self-hatred and shedding trauma, rather than solely the traditional idea of bad habits.
