Parks N’ Rec is the new project from Canadian singer Marco DiFelice (Supergarage), songwriter, music supervisor (Orphan Black, Lost Girl). In collaboration with several producers at Self Titled Studios, Parks N’ Rec deals with lost love, polarizing societies, and self-renewal. 

In May 2021, Marco unveiled an album, Wish I Was Here, recorded in Central and South America. This process of releasing music while abroad is once again at the core of his forthcoming songs.

This fall, DiFelice conceived “the year that everything changed” in New York City, with a nostalgic and epic feel. While a deeply personal song, it taps into the mood and vibration of a whole world, experiencing a shared challenge. The last lyric, ”a blessing and a curse” sums it all up. 

Parks N’ Rec shares:

I am telling the story of reflection and acceptance; adaption and redefinition. 

After spending nine months in remote parts of Central and South America, I landed in New York City this fall. The shock of that transition combined with witnessing a metropolis hoping for a revival was interesting. I wanted to capture that recalibration of human behaviour, and the beauty of that challenge. You’ll hear a melancholic mood that comes from a place of strength.   

The single artwork is taken from the Hubble Space Telescope of stars populating globular clusters. The video was produced with edits of that celestial footage. The video hopes to encourage the journey and offer new perspective.  

Toronto rapper and singer Nue is a true creative – pushing boundaries, fitting square pegs in round holes. His music is vibey, edgy, with pop, electro and rock elements, and big on melody. You could say he has an underground sensibility with global accessibility. He’s smashing up parameters, but writing some of the catchiest songs you will hear this year.

Dreamy new track, “Thousand Times,” is about Nue’s lifestyle where the party never ends. With a spaced out, grunge feel, “Thousand Times” also features string melodies that evoke classical vibes.

Twin Rains are ushering in the release of Unreal City, their sophomore LP, with “All of the Angels,” a bright and danceable track about how we as people don’t really know that much.

“A situation that first appears bad might turn out favorably, and conversely, a situation that starts out great might eventually ruin you. You don’t get to know how it pans out,” the band explains.

The synths and vocals of this song float along dreamily, while the beat and guitars are infectiously feel-good.

Album title, Unreal City, refers not necessarily to a physical place, but to a state of consciousness. If you’ve ever deluded yourself to avoid unpleasant facts or spent any time fantasizing about things you only wish would come to pass, then you’ve seen the unreal city, too.

The achievements of rock ‘n’ roll heavyweights The Trews are many and mighty, highlighted by multiple radio hits drawn from seven critically acclaimed studio albums plus several EPs, a pair of live records, and a retrospective. Who could have predicted that electrifying recording sessions begun in Nashville in December 2019 with Black Crowes guitarist and long-timeTrews friend Rich Robinson would be curtailed by an unprecedented Canada/U.S. border closure, resulting in just three songs being completed? Amid the global pandemic, The Trews completed their forthcoming new full-length, The Wanderer, at home in Canada with producers Derek Hoffman and Eric Ratz. Now, they emerge with their fiercest and most accomplished set of songs to date.

Attentive listeners might notice that the buoyant, pealing new single “Enemy” features not Colin MacDonald on lead vocals but John-Angus, a Trews first.

After initial plans to record their record fell through due to the pandemic, Edmonton-based duo Altameda (æl-tah-MI-da) were provided with a window to continue the writing process. The feeling of isolation during this time led to the dream of a “Wheel Of Love” as a tangible concept for which somebody could spin, and generate a feeling of warmth and security during uncertain times. 

Over a few years of touring, Altameda amalgamated some super 8 footage that suitably juxtaposes with footage of the pair performing “Wheel Of Love” while isolated in separate places during a previous pandemic lockdown.

Eliciting feelings of warmth and hope, subtle instrumentation blooms into a soaring string arrangement.

It’s not every day that a long-dormant experimental noise project reappears as an elite electronic-pop outfit intent on burrowing into your subconscious and unearthing deep-seated memories of a time when we could congregate freely without worry. 

In 2014, the duo known as Allegories began to experiment across genres, melding eclectic soundscapes with pop inclinations. Gathering further inspiration from DJing house and hip-hop nights around town, Allegories went onto create electronic music that shifts throughout the over/underground spectrum. 

Case in point is the LCD-illuminated “Pray,” which reaches its strobe-lit fever pitch as the song’s most serious sentiment is delivered — can’t you see my heart is breaking in two!— in a bizarre, over-the-top, pitch-shifted exhortation. Every Allegories composition is created from moments of spontaneity, and trying to stay true to the state that you’re in whenever you’re recording. A menagerie of feelings.