Encore – the fiery pop-rock group fronted by brothers Donald and Richard Plant, have stepped into the limelight as one of the music industry’s most vibrant new artists. Since their debut, the Plant brothers have launched themselves into orbit as a band that focuses on creating a community through their music and building a legacy for years to come. By fusing together a blend of inspiration from some of music’s timeless legends, Encore has contrived a unique, Rolling Stones-esque look supported by a boisterous and intrepid sound.

Their song, “DONE,” reflects the irony of how just a few simple words can be expanded into an entire story, diving into its history and saying so much even though it appears to be so little. Four distinct sections of song that somehow blend together into a kind of raw, authentic feeling sound that hits your heart and resonates with your emotions.

“We wanted to bring back the feeling of nostalgia that music can give you – one of complete submersion into a track where you’re singing at the top of your lungs in your bedroom, or even in the car,” says Donald. “‘DONE’ gives us that opportunity to emotionally connect, giving 100% of ourselves to express thoughts and feelings through a few simple words.”

Apryll Aileen is a classically trained pianist with a touch of science and spirituality; an alt-pop soulful vocalist, guitarist and songwriter from Atlantic Canada. Sultry vocals and an alluring stage presence make Apryll a fan favourite at music festivals worldwide. She transcends genres, creating her own undefinable sound with influences coming from pop, rock, electronic, folk and R&B. She doesn’t imitate – she creates.

Her new song “Wicked Ways” is a reflection about human nature and our propensity to act out and get angry at others. It’s an introspective examination about why she gets angry and says hurtful things sometimes, as well as how we judge and perceive the actions of others. Through this, we may be creating our own narratives (which are often untrue) and it’s only through walking in someone else’s shoes that we truly understand what caused their actions and words.

“All of us are capable of wicked things – all of us get angry, yell, say things we don’t mean and even wish ill will on others,” says Apryll. “But with that darkness, we also have so much light, love and peace within us. The song is meant to expose the vulnerabilities of the shadow and put them on full display.”

Singer/guitarist Craig Northey and his fellow Odds – bassist Doug Elliott, drummer Pat Steward and guitarist Murray Atkinson – are thrilled to finally unveil their long-awaited seventh studio album, Crash The Time Machine, on August 4th. 

After laying down most of the basic tracks, the band enlisted co-producer Steven Page in Syracuse, NY to help them sort it out. A good friend of the band since early 1990s, Page and Northey have remained frequent musical collaborators; Northey is a member of the Steven Page Trio, while Page is no stranger to sitting in with the Odds and employing them in his recordings. After collating their various musical explorations into a unified whole, Page and the Odds handed the whole thing to trusted mix engineer Paul Forgues. The end result is a cohesive blend that redefines Odds’ music for 2023.

The album’s latest single, “Fall Guy,” began as two songs the band had almost completed. At a certain point, Northey realized they were two parts of the same story and got to work bringing them together. The first half of the song was an open ended story about the getaway driver in a botched heist where the others got away. Odds had written another song that was essentially about a relationship between someone in jail and their visitor. It became evident that they were part of the same arc and described the evolution of a relationship. It would be most poetic if none of it made sense. 

JAD evades definition accidentally, intentionally. A young life spent caught between identities, JAD’s music seems to follow suit — not lost, per se, as it is unwavering in its right to exist in multitudes and in-betweens. Born in Canada to Lebanese immigrants, the implications of identity, both public and private, have been the unraveling and re-synthesis of this artist. 

As a singer songwriter JAD excels at having simple yet profound lyricaism wrapped in an easy and infectious listen.  As praised by Unheard Gems “There’s an Elliott Smith-like quality to these lyrics in their ability to be vulnerable and moving in their simplicity”  

His latest single matches that sentiment with a cheeky tune inspired by frustrating communication issues he experienced with another setting their expectations for his behavior in their head without being able to honestly explain why they had those expectations to him. 

A veteran of the Montreal music scene, Patrick Krief has been releasing music for nearly two decades, first as a member of The Dears then via his own projects including Black Diamond Bay and, most recently, as a solo artist.

His self-reflective song, “Eloise,” is about meeting someone at the wrong time, and looking back years later, wondering what might have been. The lyrics feel like a love letter to a long lost love, asking when the two lovers might meet again. It was partly inspired by his own parents’ love story.

My father followed my mother from Morocco to several other countries as her family moved from place to place in search of a better life. Ultimately they found a life together in Montreal in the early 60s. I imagined what it might have been like had my father lacked such persistence. And in that character, I imagined the longing he might feel for the rest of his life.

“Eloise” was created with an all-star cast: featured vocals from Erika Angell from Thus Owls, drums by Liam O’Neill from Suuns, and bass by Mishka Stein from the band Patrick Watson. The music video was filmed in Montreal’s Chinatown and features Krief‘s wife, Julie Krief, playing the titular “Eloise.”

We caught up with Patrick regarding the new video below!

1. I thought about the voyage my parents took when fleeing Morocco in the 60s, and Imagined a scenario in which they had been split apart, and left to wonder about each other later in life. This is a type of love letter song, a “when will we meet again?” 

2 and 3. because the song is written as a “love letter” I thought of different ways to portray that in a music video. My first idea was to have an animation of a carrier pigeon flying the note from Montreal to Japan.  I later had the idea that it would be a bit more transparent to have the letter be a tape recording of a song. I asked my friend Danny Smiles (top chef Canada), if I could use this restaurant’s (Auberge Willow Inn) dining room as it has a piano and a beautiful backdrop. We staged the room to look like a living room, and the idea goes: I record the song to a tape recorder, and mail the package to my estranged lover (played by my wife Julie Clermont). She walks around Chinatown Montreal listening to the song. I called upon director Evangelos Desborough to shoot and edit the footage.

MOONRiiVR is a brand new band from Toronto, by familiar musicians Gavin Gardiner (frontperson of JUNO-nominated indie-folk band The Wooden Sky) and “Champagne” James Robertson (guitarist for Lindi Ortega and Dwayne Gretzky). 

Listening to their debut album, aptly titled Vol. 1, is like entering an unfamiliar room down a long hallway, closing the door quietly behind you, and finding oneself lost in a different world, one where you’re not sure whether you’re looking forward, backward, or perhaps even into a mirror.

Their first single, “Blonde Hair Now” is a celebration of the small moments in our days that make up our lives – a beautiful homage to the gravity of the simple everyday decisions that shape our world. It invites listeners to imagine a world where you’re dancing in the RCA studios with the ghost of a young Elvis Presley or fast asleep between Richie Valens and Buddy Holly in the backseat of that ill-fated flight.