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Spotlight Feature: Ella Rossi negated adorated anxiety in her ethereal indie soul pop sophomore single, Linen

Posted on 16 June 2023
Ella Rossi

After finding her voice as a jazz singer, the LA-born, Montreal-based artist Ella Rossi has flourished as one of the most seminal RnB Pop singers of her generation. With a vocal timbre as rich as the staccato guitar chords, few ethereal indie RnB Pop soundscapes spill as much tonal sanctity as her sophomore single, Linen, which explores the sensual highs and the tormenting lows of a relationship you can’t leave in the rearview mirror, despite never knowing where you stand in it, or how the severe the wounds will be when time finally closes on it.

With a vocal range so luxe and rich it would make Elon Musk feel inferior, Ella Rossi is a diamond in the rough; it is only a matter of time before major record labels want to mine her. Her capacity to captivate with her honeyed harmonies and so-radiant-they-glow soundscapes is second to none. Rossi is the ultimate proof that if you stay in your own creative lane, there will be no one out of your expressive league.

Ella Rossi said:

“Linen is about a passionate but complicated relationship and being unable to resist the attraction, despite the potential consequences. The lyric, “wrapped in this linen”, represents a sense of comfort and intimacy while alluding to a feeling of entrapment in a dynamic where there is no longer a clear view of how the other person feels.”

Linen will release ahead of Ella Rossi’s debut EP; stream it via Spotify and SoundCloud from June 16th.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Shift your perceptions in a brighter direction with ORCHAD’s riotously synthy call to arms, DAMAGED GOODS

Posted on 9 June 2023

‘DAMAGED GOODS’ is the latest hyper-cosmic feat of synth-driven alt-rock from Montreal’s most monolithic powerhouse, ORCHAD.

With pinches of pop-punk making the hooks even sharper, this riotous call to arms to everyone who knows how it feels to disregard themselves as broken and too idiosyncratic to love is enough to shift self-perception in a far brighter direction.

The riffs that will make you reminisce about Dragonforce are just a fraction of the hard-hitting impact of DAMAGED GOODS. With an entire generation at risk of being lost to entropy and apathy, ORCHAD delivered an upbeat anthem, fierce enough in its exhilaration to affirm that it is society that is royally fucked, not the people living through the fallout.

If you could imagine what it would sound like if the Black Parade was written today, you will get an idea of the heart-in-throat resonance you will sink your teeth into when you hit play.

“The song is about the struggles and challenges of life and mental illness, including the pressure to conform and fit in with societal norms. It encourages the listener to let go of the expectations that society places on them and to accept themselves for who they are, flaws and all.

We should all focus instead on finding solace through healthy forms of self-expression. Everyone is going through their own struggles and we really are all “damaged goods.” If we focus on loving ourselves first and “dance in the rain” you might just be able to ease the pain.”

DAMAGED GOODS will hit the airwaves on June 9th. Hear it on SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Dedicated to all our serving military friends: Teku Syndrom leaps towards the light at the end of The Path

Posted on 7 June 2023

Taken from their spectacular 5-track EP to consume with utter satisfaction, Teku Syndrom sees the target in sight and drops a soldier-filled single for all those who wonder why they’re involved in such destruction on The Path.

Teku Syndrom is an Edmundston, New Brunswick, Canada-based indie rock band who are 5-member strong and rattle the fences nearby with an exhilarating blend of powerfully designed music to start up all slow heartbeats.

”The band’s debut single “Help Me Grow” was released in May 2022 and quickly worked its way up numerous online charts as well onto Australian radio. The powerful ballad captures the emotions surrounding Raz’s daughter’s gender transition, delving into how she reached out to her family for support throughout her life-changing/altering/awakening and inspirational journey.” ~ Teku Syndrom

Goodness gracious me, this is precisely what our warn-torn world needed. A proper song with a meaning many will truly feel. Teku Syndrom is rather brilliant on The Path and projects a real story that others chose to hide away from, instead of embracing.

The Path from New Brunswick, Canada-based indie rock band Teku Syndrom is a drum-packed experience featuring ear-healing vocals to show us inside the mindset of those brave warriors who carry on despite the emotional and long-lasting trauma.

Showing us deep inside real life and honouring those who put their life on the line each day, to pulsate our souls and make us all respect those who fight with the inner emotions of slaying other humans when called upon.

See this dynamically charged music on YouTube.

Find out more and see where they’re playing live next on IG.

Reviewed by Llewelyn Screen

Propter Hawk stoked the fires of a rock n roll revival in Clean Old-Fashioned Hate

Posted on 2 June 2023
Propter Hawk

With demurely electrifying vocal lines in the same vein of She Drew the Gun and Black Honey fused with cruising kaleidoscopic guitars which angularly nestle into the middle ground between Pavement and The Beatles, Toronto’s premier rock outfit, Propter Hawk, knocked it out of the sonic ballpark with their latest release, Clean Old-Fashioned Hate.

The feel-good rock n roll rhythmics were the perfect way to address our contemporary appetite for division and hatred while throwing you right back to the simpler times when we could believe what we read and tribalism wasn’t excessively weaponised.

Armed with their vintage gear and an MO to stoke the fires of a new era of refreshingly relatable rock n roll, the raconteur powerhouse is unreckonable; join forces while you still can.

Clean Old-Fashioned Hate will be available to stream on all major platforms from June 2. Head over to their website for more info.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Strange Things became the heirs to sonic obscurity with their vintage psych rock tour de force, Witness to the Apathy Gospel / Approaching Mindfulness

Posted on 1 June 2023

With the same fuzzy psychedelic alchemy that would be tasted in the notes of a cocktail of The Zombies, Sonic Youth, and Wire, the standout single, Witness to the Apathy Gospel / Approaching Mindfulness from Strange Things’ LP, In That Light of Fading Day will leave you intoxicated from the first time you savour the vintage tones.

The melting pot of psych, shoegaze and experimental noise, influenced by the likes of The Jesus and Mary Chain, The Telescopes and The Stooges, ensured that the LP from the Canadian connoisseurs of sonic obscurity was far from the ordinary lockdown-born albums that proliferated the airwaves when amateur hour seemed to stretch out in perpetuity.

Beneath the sludgy swathes of effects are some serious songwriting chops, written in the way the progressions immerse you even deeper in the vintage psych outpour of grief for the victims of the Uvalde County shooting.

Closing the single on headily distorted Eastern rhythms was the cherry on the sonic dissonance cake. Stream Witness to the Apathy Gospel / Approaching Mindfulness for yourselves via Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Be a passenger to the alchemic Avant-Garde experimentalism in SEAKIN’s alt-indie single, Men of Heart

Posted on 25 May 2023

Montreal’s most Avant Garde alt-indie outfit, SEAKIN, went into experimental overdrive with their ravishingly alluring amalgam of post-punk, psych and ethereal desert rock, Men of Heart. The angularly funky guitar chops around the diaphanous siren-ESQUE vocal lines provided by the author, composer, and performer Natalie Talbot is a combination that will stir the senses of any innovation seekers out there looking to fill their playlists with originated material.

If you could imagine what Blondie, Jim Morrison, Bowie, Siouxsie and the Banshees would sound like in an aural melting pot, Men of Heart can give you a phantasmally beguiling idea. We can’t wait to hear what SEAKIN put out next after Men of Heart gave us a serious taste for their darkly scintillating spin on post-punk.

Men of Heart will hit the airwaves on May 25. Hear it on YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

For Mom: Martin Mayer makes a special song for his biggest fan on HEART OF AN ANGEL

Posted on 24 May 2023

Sending us into a mesmerizing vortex of wonder, Martin Mayer’s HEART OF AN ANGEL is surely one of the sweetest singles so far in 2023 no matter the genre and is refined in delivery to warm all cold veins.

Martin Mayer is a Czech-born Canada-based piano master who is known as one of the best at his craft no matter who is in the room.

Gracing us with a splendidly memorable embrace, Martin Mayer is at his best with a delightful soundtrack to marvel at for its loving nature. In a world with so much hate and confusion, this is the impactful reminder humanity has needed for years.

HEART OF AN ANGEL from Czech-born Canada-based piano legend Martin Mayer is a top-quality instrumental experience made for his caring Mother. There is care and love involved which requires us to merely listen, and take in each second on a special day caressed with exquisite and endearing excellence.

If your tastes head for the best, this is it.

Listen up on YouTube.

Reviewed by Llewelyn Screen

Montreal’s Charlize Anne is massively courageous on the superbly honest Perfectly Me

Posted on 23 May 2023

After sending our hearts into a bundle of emotions on previous singles Karma and Playboy, Charlize Anne rattles a gem up for us to get over a past flame with via the why-did-you-let-me-down anthem, Perfectly Me.

Charlize Anne is a Montreal, Canada-born indie pop singer-songwriter who started life on the stage when she was just 6 years old through the school choir.

”During high school, Charlize, fronted a pop rock band. Performing alongside her twin sister (Rochelle) Charlize has sung the national anthem for hockey games as well as performing for the elderly.” ~ Charlize Anne

Taking her life back and never letting up despite the scars, Charlize Anne is on top form and leads the way in showing us what to do when the hurt bellows so deeply. Sung with precision timing and a glorious tone which is massively memorable, we are treated here to a new single with so much meaning.

Perfectly Me from Montreal, Canada-born indie pop singer-songwriter Charlize Anne is a heart-tearing single about expressing the anger behind being played by a manipulatively dangerous snake who only wants one thing.

Feeling hurt and slicing away the pain, this is a catchy pop single to nod heads with all day long.

Listen up on Spotify.

Reviewed by Llewelyn Screen

DDRMR dropped the biggest rap hit of the year with King Shit featuring GYZ

Posted on 22 May 2023

If you are looking to discover the biggest hip-hop track of 2023, there is absolutely no point in looking past the latest single unleashed by DDRMR. Created in collaboration with GYZ, King Shit, is a riot of galvanizingly layered ingenuity.

After a prelude of droning synthetics which harbinger cinematic doom, King Shit quickly becomes a multifaceted masterpiece of duality with the gospel-ESQUE backing vocals that have been amplified to the nth degree to enliven the juggernaut of a rap track with a sense of soul that you will want to savour time after time.

The Russia-born, Canada-based artist crafts his genre-fluid hits under the heavy influence of Linkin Park and Mike Shinoda, Buckethead, Kanye West, J-Cole, Hans Zimmer, Odesza and Japanese composer Yuki Kajiura. By having complete creative control over his tracks, from writing to production, he actualises his rhythmic poetry in his monolithic urban soundtracks, which always come complete with storming rap bars that are dominant enough to make your speakers shiver.

While nothing comes close to a live performance from DDRMR, watch the official music video for King Shit on YouTube until he rocks the stage at a venue near you.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Ride the electromagnetic waves in Us or Aliens’ latest industrial pop-rock call into the void, Black Hole

Posted on 22 May 2023

Giving us all the dark industrial rock energy of Celldweller and Zeromancer, with a few sharp pop hooks for impaling measure, Us or Aliens’ latest cry into the void, Black Hole, is an existential tour de force.

While the hollow find it hard to find fulfilment in a disenfranchising reality where ennui is as escapable as the cosmic phenomenon which became the metaphorical focus of the single, the pensive will more than get their resonant fill from Black Hole.

Us or Aliens is the solo project from Shawn Kirkpatrick, who has been writing, composing, recording and producing for himself and other artists for the past two decades. In his impressive by any measure career, he has performed in over 500 venues and found the time to become an accomplished guitar teacher and TV composer.

Delve into Black Hole by heading over to SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast