The nine-piece soul/roots superband Secondhand Dreamcar is crafting a distinct, funky, and lyrically driven sound that journalist and programmer Peter North has deemed the most exciting thing to come out of Edmonton since KD Lang and The Reclines. “Eight of Spades” is the group’s first ever release, and it’s a song about finding satisfaction in whatever life has to offer at any given moment, and about watching someone struggle in that dance with life and loving them for it. The song’s title refers to the tarot card the Eight of Pentacles, which encompasses the joy that can be taken in mundane work and activities, in everyday life.
“Lyrically, our songs deal with the nitty-gritty of the work of life, from a spiritual perspective. Because I believe that if there is a reason we are all here living a life, it is because there is something we are supposed to learn,” says lyricist Dana Wylie. “Musically, we work to engender joy in collaboration, collectivity, collegiality. We love writing and playing music together, and our songs are an embodiment of that.”
Secondhand Dreamcar is fronted by Canadian Folk Music Award-nominee Dana Wylie and also features notable producer Harry Gregg on bass, Jamie Cooper (Up and Over Trio, Obsessions Octet) on drums, Kyle Mosiuk (The Hello Darlins) and Chad Murphy (Dallas Smith) on guitar, Rooster Davis on organ, and a horn section led by Dave Babcock.
John Orpheus’ musical journey has taken him from the Caribbean bush to festivals across Canada and the US to opening for Liam Gallagher on a UK tour. Orpheus is known for his rabble-rousing live shows filled with audience participation, chanting, and impromptu dance-offs that feel more like Caribana road parties than concerts.
Lush with hip-hop swagger and “whole school” vibes, his brand new Get Right! EP is a catchy, fun send up of the era when funk, punk and pop could all be found on the same dancefloor. Influenced by early Prince, Rick James, and ‘90s hip-hop’s affection for Parliament Funkadelic, Get Right! is a funky throwback that feels like 2024. “I think we all could use a dance party right about now. GET UP! GET DOWN! GET RIGHT!”
Focus track, “U Funkin Right,” is a slinky and melodic number anchored by bass synth. “There’s an energy that drapes the track like a sensual fabric and that feels like sex and truth,” explains Orpheus. It’s a track about falling in love with your boldest, baddest self.
“U Funkin Right” is about falling in love. You out and about and you catch a vision of your lover. They’re dressed fly, moving hot, grooving, doing it. Then you realize that you’re looking in a mirror and you’ve just met your soulmate: your boldest, baddest self. So, go on, kiss yourself. You deserve it! – John Orpheus
Like the tides of the Bay of Fundy on which she was raised, or the steadfast city line that broods along its port, Kylie Fox has been devoted to honing her craft as a songwriter for as long as she can remember.
Growing up with a mother who would sing to her, and a father who sat at the helm of every kitchen party with his Yamaha and uninhibited voice, it became clear to Fox from a young age that music was how to show love, how to express identity, and how to connect with the people around her.
Grand, ethereal and epic, “‘Brandi Baby’ is my coming-of-age song,” says Kylie Fox about her new release. “It touches on my awkward high school years where I had the confidence to go to a school dance by myself, my early touring years where my ambition and my schedule prevented me from dating much, to when I found real big love in my now fiancé and drummer Ryan, where I feel so free and safe.”
She continues, “I used to straighten my hair to Brandi Carlile everyday in high school, and she became a big influence for me becoming a musician. ‘The Story’ was the first song my partner and I danced to and we are going to use it as our first dance at our wedding next year.”
In 2020, she released her first full-length album, Green, and is now preparing to release her second studio album, Sequoia, that was made with the support of ArtsNB, Music New Brunswick and Canada Council for the Arts. Sequoia has come to life as an 11-track album, developed with her band and six-time ECMA-winning producer Daniel Ledwell (Jenn Grant, Fortunate Ones, The Good Lovelies). Sequoia is deeply rooted in folk-Canadiana elements that have characterized Fox’s career, while also exploring folk-rock and jazz-pop fusion. The LP could be described as 70s Sesame Street meets Sharon Van Etten.
Brayden Bell is an indie-folk producer/songwriter with ballroom gravitas and campfire-folk relatability. His considerate songwriting pulls truth in detail from the luminosity of everyday emotional directives, like dandelions growing through the sidewalk. The Calgarian’s soaring falsetto brings a sensitivity to a contemporary midwest-emo phrasebook, a Hozier filmstock captured through a Julien Baker lens.
Bell has written and produced dozens of songs for synchronization with his publishing project We Are Crickets in partnership with Bow Valley singer-songwriter Amelie Patterson. Bell’s songs have been used by companies like McDonald’s, Lazada, Thor Industries, Sherwood and more, being seen by millions on TV and YouTube. Now, he’s releasing his first EP under his own name. Box Office Bomb is the result of the first time Bell carved out time for his solo music. His home studio became the crucible for these songs. Here, he stripped away production flourishes, prioritizing raw emotion and lyrical authenticity. With a solid system established, the future excites him for what’s to come next.
Nok Novum is an instrumental band that has developed a textured sound that cleverly fuses 70’s progressive rock, jazz-fusion, and heavy metal, creating a sound that is chaotic yet mesmerizing. All of the production choices were purely instinctual on Nok Novum’s new song, “Funky Shins.” The great thing about this band is that there are no rules. Each member has so many musical influences that they have a bottomless pit of inspiration to throw at the canvas, which is how this became the first Nok Novum song to use acoustic piano.
“The song title comes from a Siri autocorrect during a group chat where we were describing a particular section as ‘Funky Shit’ but was corrected to ‘Funky Shins.’ Felt appropriate,” says guitarist Scott Giffin.
Formed in early 2008, Nok Novum is an instrumental band from Canada. The band was originally conceived as a two-piece, with guitarist Grant Cooper and drummer Brady Mason with the addition of Scott Giffin on guitar and Cam Dougall on bass in 2013. Since 2016 the band has taken a step back to focus on their individual careers, raise families, as well as taking time to patiently record their highly anticipated sophomore release – Nok Novum II. This new album has recently been completed and is set to be released within 2024.
The new video for Stephen Jaymes’ latest single release, “Last Predictable Summer,” orchestrates a disconcerting dance of juxtapositions, exploring themes of impending doom and carefree revelry.
Using regular stock photography, Jaymes paints a striking portrait of the zeitgeist, where sun-drenched scenes of frolicking beachgoers and carefree road trips collide violently with the grim spectre of apocalypse. This cinematic manifesto, a punk-ironic folk opera, thrusts the viewer into a kaleidoscope of cognitive dissonance.
The listener is serenaded by William Blake-inspired imagery invoking apocalyptic falcons and gyres. The video morphs seamlessly from blissful ignorance to haunting premonitions, showing diseases seeping from the permafrost and plastics raining down from the heavens, all while an infectious rhythm compels us to sway to the beat of our rapidly approaching doom.
As the world teeters on the edge of a collapse, Jaymes emerges as our reluctant prophet and punk poet laureate inviting us to join him in a danse macabre to face the music.
In this interview, we caught up with Stephen to find out the inspiration behind the new song and the story of the music video.
The official music video for “Last Predictable Summer” by Stephen Jaymes is now available on YouTube here:
1. Tell us the story of this song, why did you choose to visualize this song specifically in this way?
I’m releasing my first full-length album this fall, and in the process of writing and recording the songs, I realized I had this feeling of urgency. We all know things are seriously out of whack in the world along multiple vectors, but we’re rewarded for ignoring that, numbing out.
So the realization sometimes comes at you sideways. I looked at the feeling, and what I saw was a background belief that next year nothing will feel normal, and nothing will ever really feel normal again. That this is the last year where we can all push our apocalyptic fears to the background. Which means this summer, the season for fun, is the last normal summer.
The last time we can dance obliviously. From here on out we’re going to have to learn how to dance to oblivion. Being oblivious won’t be an option. The devastation that just happened to Houston, the assassination attempt that has left everyone asking what is real – these are the harbingers of our future reality that I sing about in the song. They’re arriving even as I’m trying to promote the single. So it turns out my sense of urgency was founded.
2. What was the inspiration behind this video (visuals, storyline, etc.)?
Once I had the song written, and it wrote itself out pretty quickly, it was pretty obvious to me that the video had to be people having summer fun, oblivious to the doom over the horizon. Originally I was going to make a video with Ross Kolton, my collaborator on the three previous official videos, but Ross got called out of town by a big client on our shoot date.
I had already created the video that eventually became the official Last Predictable Summer music video in a fit of inspiration, feverishly seeking out the perfect stock footage to create a visual equivalent of an infectious, danceable rhythm carrying an apocalyptic message. It was supposed to be a guide for the project with Ross.
But once I started showing it to people whose opinion I trust, the feedback was that I already had the official video in hand, that I should release the stock footage version. The clencher for me was when my partner Christal, who as a professional film editor has worked on big shows like Scandal and Inventing Anna, said that the message played better with me just out of the way. I knew she was right.
3. What was the process of making this video?
Unlike my previous three official music videos, where we meticulously planned out locations and shots, this was a product of an inspirational trance. In one 24-hour period I found all the stock footage I needed, licensed it, and cut it to the song.
Like I said, it wasn’t supposed to be a public video. It was supposed to express the overall mood I wanted to convey in the larger video we were planning. Being in that mode took the pressure off and let me focus on getting it as close as possible to perfect so that Ross would get the visual message I wanted to convey.
Luckily for me, the world of stock video has really modernized in the last couple years, with so many creators wanting to earn passive income from their cool shots. I don’t know that I could have made this a few years ago. I want to personally thank everyone involved in the bus shots. Without that amazing footage it might not have come together so well.
Side note, when you look closely, notice that the driver of the bus isn’t really sharing everyone else’s mood. I couldn’t have asked for something more perfect even from an AI generator. For the actual cutting, I use a variety of different editing softwares, but for this one I just cut it fast in iMovie on my iMac. No filters, almost no transitions. It’s not even color treated. I wanted it raw, like someone shaking you awake.
Once I accepted this as the official version, an ethos of blunt reality was born. Less was more. To be honest, everything about the writing of this song and the making of the video was pretty swift. Like these ideas had been percolating for awhile and were now ready to be poured out fast. It’s not always like that.
Modern Mystery 
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