Fourteen years on from their debut album, Hamilton, Ontario’s Allegories have crafted Endless, a dynamic and searching record that pulls inspiration from the entire history of electronic music and across the over/underground spectrum.
The record features “Funny Way,” which the band refers to as the album’s “beating heart.” The song holds a unique place in the duo’s catalogue as an ever evolving ballad undergirded by elegiac synths and steady beats.
“The two of us made this album in a vacuum, without anyone hearing a note of it for over five years,” the duo explains.
“That approach takes an almost arrogant level of belief but with a remove that allows you to make ruthless decisions. Nothing can be precious. You have to trust your ears after you’ve followed your heart.”
The brainchild of front woman Iulia Ciobanu, Cherry Blaster is a three-piece Toronto indie pop band that explores longing and uncertainty while striking the perfect balance of closeness and detachment.
“I don’t wanna” is a party ballad about being done with dating. Lush, soft, and sad verses are overswept by an exacerbated and exuberant wall of sound chorus. A mirage of a connection is dispelled in the blink of an eye and one is left to party alone again.
“I’d had yet another disappointing dating experience that left me wanting more,” said Iulia. “I was frustrated and hurt even though I knew that I had been trying to see more in it than was really there. When things don’t work out, I zero in on little moments and blame myself, even though it’s a two way street.”
Megan Dawson’s newest release, “Kissed Me Like That,” brings an exciting new sound for the pop-country artist. The song brings hooky lyrics and an energetic melody embodying the feelings of happiness when falling in love. Mixed with the combination of Megan’s bright vocals, this song brings an exciting sound to the pop-country space.
“As we head into Spring and Summer, I wanted a song that represented and embodied that feeling of something so beautiful that you can’t explain it but it makes you feel so good and optimistic,” said Megan.
“I want my listeners to be able to find themselves within my songs,” Megan said. “To be able to be a part of the soundtrack of the current chapter in their lives no matter if it’s happy, sad or somewhere in between. I hope to inspire my listeners in the same way that my favorite artists inspire me.”
Dan Hartman and Charles Ingram began making music together at age 15 united by a bold desire to explore the outer limits of alternately tuned guitars. The pair had an immediate intuitive connection, and hunkered down in a storage shed to home in on its avant-garde aesthetic. They emerged as Phantom Zell, a weird indie-punk band that specialized in curious guitar tunings and abstract and abrasive musicality. “We played punk shows, but we were the only band in the scene that broke the punk rules by not playing that typically fast and aggressive sound,” says Charles. By age 17, Dan and Charles’s songs were earning placements on compilations alongside diversely popular acts such as Of Montreal, Fugazi, Jawbreaker, Dillinger Escape Plan, and Converge.
Eventually, the band drifted apart, the scene changed, and Dan and Charles began to also go their separate ways. Though not actively creating together, the guys set out on parallel artistic paths finding inspiration in the synergy with films and soundtracks. And there were other uncanny connections. Over the years, they were bonded by unique correlating circumstances, including near death experiences such as near fatal car accidents, dying in a house fire, being struck by lightning, and escaping armed robberies.
“I had a 10-year relationship end, and, out of the blue, after a few years of not being in touch, Charles called me and said his marriage had ended at the same time,” Dan recalls. “At the time, I had completely stopped playing and creating music.”
The eerily similar life circumstances, the guys’ parallel creative paths, and the telepathic musicality they once shared made a powerful case to continue the musical dialogue. Inevitably, Dan envisioned a cohesive project and sent Charles that fateful text to start the impliers.
They just released their 3rd single, “Lightning,” which features their iconic experimental music with atonal sensibilities and playful nature. Their vocals provide a Beach Boys harmonic quality to it while their music provides a David Bowie meets Pink Floyd sound.
“Lightning” is chaotic in nature, with an ever changing tempo and a melody that’s just out of grasp. The music shares a story of the chaotic mind. They share yet another story with this song as they both were diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder. The song is a beautiful reflection of that experience through their atonal music and gripping lyrics. “While ‘Lightning’ constantly shape-shifts in mood and genre, it has its roots in a part of a song Charles made in 2005,” shares Dan. “While writing the concept for our upcoming record ‘cocoon,’ the lyric from that old riff came to mind and surprisingly; the entire idea for the rest of the song came as if it was always there. In about an hour, the bones of the song were written and recorded (the verses recorded that day are in the final version). By sending recordings back and forth, we traded disarming forks in the creative road, sending the song down a meandering but distinct path and arriving at the final version in the following weeks.”
Wurmy Wormfield (also known as Charles Herman-Wurmfield) is an artist, musician, filmmaker, teacher, gardener, beekeeper, parent and partner creating since the age of 13. This Silverlake, CA based entertainer helped overturn a Los Angeles public school parking lot and transform it into a community garden and educational center. This call to action inspired a transformative personal journey that brought forth a lifelong love of music which led to Wurmy Wormfield being formed and culminated in the opulent folk-pop album, For You, the Garden
Chances are, For You, The Garden is not your first experience with Wurmy’s artistry. As a director, his work includes D’Arcy Drollinger’s award-winning rock operas, Cereal Killers and Possession of Mrs. Jones, seminal collaborations with Tony-nominated cabaret singer and actor Justin Vivian Bond; and the feature films Fancy’s Persuasion, Legally Blonde 2, and Kissing Jessica Stein.
For You, The Garden is a compilation of Wurmy’s previously released EPs and singles into one convenient place. The 18 songs bring to life the community garden he helped put together in Silver Lake, CA.
Charles speaks from his heart stating, “Let’s dream for a moment as long as we are singing and dancing. Let’s imagine there might be a community garden here one day! Let’s see, I’ve got these pumpkin seeds here in my pocket, we could write our intentions on them, add water and see what sprouts up! So grab a pumpkin seed and let’s imagine a community garden. Shall we…” (Garden Song)
While the album was made for kids, specifically dedicated to his own, For You, The Garden is really for all ages. There is always something to be learned, especially when it comes to our Earth and empathy. There is no defines genre and no topic not sung about. Adults can enjoy the music from Wurmy too.
As an older dad, and a pandemic dad, he states he is aware of the time passing, and wanted to make sure and set nature / love of nature to a song so the kids could always know how he felt about it, and even share that joy with their own children, one day. The light hearted music dances on the breath of a dream and spins its web into the garden of the future.
Inspirational Norwegian DJ and producer Matoma,best known for singles “All Night” with The Vamps and “I Don’t Dance” withEnrique Iglesias,has released the emotional official music video for the heartwarming single “Heart So Big,” with electronic dance-pop trio A R I Z O N A, which can be found HERE. The track was written with A R I Z O N A’s longtime collaborator PJ Bianco as a love letter to his son with autism.
Watch the video here:
The pair have released an emotional music video showing a compilation of what love represents all around the world. Crowdsourced from over 2,000 fan submissions, the raw footage reflects pure happiness, excitement, and a very much needed reminder of all the positivity that exists in our seemingly ordinary daily lives. While the music video shows a diverse group of people from all over the world, it highlights the notion that love is a universal language. Together with simple yet impactful lyrics like “you gotta smile so bright, so bright,” this highly contagious and powerful video is a testimony to the power of love.
Matoma shares, “I couldn’t imagine a better music video for this special song than this! It truly brought me to tears to feel all the love in these incredible videos, like little glimpses into the hearts and memories of people all over the world. Like the song, it’s a reminder to treasure the good that we have in our lives, and that we are all connected by that common joy.”
A R I Z O N A shares, “This song, along with the hopes of raising autism awareness, carries a special notion in general that we should remember to cherish and protect the ones we love in our lives. Sometimes we can be all they have, or vice versa.”
The positivity in the song comes as no surprise to Matoma fans, as he is recognized globally for his charity work behind the music. He recently headlined Gravity Festival, in partnership with EDM juggernaut Proximity, and used his performance to raise money for Red Cross’ Ukraine Crisis Appeal. His livestream raised $10,000 USD in just 45 minutes, breaking past records for the festival; and he decided to match the donations personally.
Following that heartfelt livestream, he purchased three billboards on the i-10 highway to Coachella; originally intended for promoting his new music, but with the tragic war continuing in Ukraine, he decided to put them towards raising funds and awareness for Ukraine humanitarian aid organizationMusic Saves UA. A video of the billboards via a drone flyover can be found HERE. Matoma’s billboards received worldwide news coverage from outlets across the globe including NME,The FADER,The Independent,MSN,Yahoo News, andMetro UK.
“Heart So Big” follows previous singles “Take Me to the Sunshine”featuring Super-Hi and Bullysongs, “Never Surrender” featuring Steve Garrigan ofKodaline, and “Summer Feeling”featuring Jonah Kagen,which scored record numbers of streams in their first week. “Never Surrender”has since taken off with Matoma and Steve performing the moving track on The Tonight Show (Indonesia) and God Morgen Norge (Norway).
Modern Mystery 
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