Award-winning power duo Campbell & Johnston are a soulful blend of vintage blues-rock, roots and folk with a modern twist. Trading off lead vocals, harmonies and guitar solos, the two are a musical yin and yang, captivating audiences with raw emotion and heartfelt authenticity. Whether experiencing their performance as an acoustic duo, or with their full electric band, the chemistry is palpable and the musicianship is top-notch. 

Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness all led towards their album, Paisley Hearts, setting the stage for a jam-packed year of touring ahead. The new collection is centered around love and loss, regret, righteousness…and smoking hash and drinking coffee. Focus track, “Don’t Get Down (On a Good Thing),” serves as a “tongue and cheek reminder that this too shall pass, and a war of attrition can only be won one way, by staying the course,” says Johnston.

“Don’t Get Down (On a Good Thing)” is an upbeat soul rock jam reminiscent of Sly and The Family Stone and the Hendrixian ways of days gone by.

Veteran Toronto singer-songwriter and 4x JUNO nominee Julian Taylor has an upbeat and bluesy new slice of his upcoming album, Pathways (out September 27th), to share. 

“Running Away” juxtaposes the weary Americana of lead single “Weighing Down” with a driving piece of blues rock which tries to outrun hurt and pain instead of facing it head on.

“All my life I’ve been a huge rural blues fan,” explains Julian. “My grandfather used to spin old blues records like Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee when I was a kid so that kind of rockabilly country blues groove lives inside me. I would say that [this] song is inspired by the blues music that came out of plantation fields.”

This song was produced by Colin Linden and the version you hear today is the first take recorded live off of the floor, capturing the electrifying spark of a rollicking and soulful full band groove. 

Award-winning new wave Canadian band The Pukka Orchestra was formed in 1979 by lead vocalist/guitarist/main songwriter Graeme Williamson and vocalists/guitarists/co-songwriters Neil Chapman and Tony Duggan-Smith. Based in Toronto in the ‘80s and ‘90s, they became an important and revered contributor to the Queen Street music scene of that era.

After a two decade hiatus, The Pukka Orchestra completed a new album – Chaos Is Come Again (Pacemaker/Cadence Records, March 2024) – of updated, reworked, remixed tracks, remastered posthumously after the death of Williamson. The original tracks were made available only to friends and local fans and now, Chaos Is Come Again is widely available. Stream here and purchase here.

“If we don’t care about our world and those in it, then chaos has come again” is the album’s resonant theme. “Weekend (Come Alive!)” ushers it in with an intense dance groove and reckless guitar solo, combating injustice in life with positivity.

“Graeme’s words were inspired by his experience working in the sub-basement of a government building in Toronto and eagerly anticipating the upcoming weekend to have a real life for a couple of days before returning to the mundane grind. While shooting the music video, a helicopter pilot friend of ours took us up to shoot some scenes in his chopper. Thinking it would be a cool thing to do, he gave the controls over to Graeme who, not realizing how delicate the joystick was, sent it into a near death spin that Robert had to recover from. Hearts were pounding!” –Neil Chapman, The Pukka Orchestra’s vocalist and guitarist

Luella is the musical project of 20 year old Kingston/Montreal-based artist Liv Whitfield. Her soulful dream-pop sound is most notable for its catchy baselines, crisp vocals, and honest lyrics. 2022 brought the release of her debut album, Luna, produced in collaboration with her father, Zane Whitfield, at North of Princess Studio (Glorious Sons, Kathleen Edwards, Blue Stones). Luella’s sophomore album, Summer Bummer, is a testament to her final years of girlhood; bolder with a newfound confidence all while staying true to her trademark vulnerability. A fusion of earnest lyrics and warm melodies, Luella captures the bittersweet essence of fleeting summers and the complexities of first love and inevitable heartbreak.

In her new single, “Peach Ginger Tea,” Luella is comparing her past relationship to an ice cold glass of peach ginger tea. The idea always sounds lovely on a scorching hot summer afternoon, but after a couple of sips, you realize it’s never been all that sweet and this hot summer weather isn’t going to last forever. 

“The lyrics draw back to a time I was dating ‘the perfect guy,” says Luella. “He was incredibly attractive, with a genuine kindness that stood out from others and yet I couldn’t shake the fact we lacked a deeper connection. It seemed as though we only loved the idea of each other. I felt terrible for admitting it, and spent a summer distracting myself with the newfound freedoms of my late teens, trying to find ways to romanticize the relationship I was unhappy in.”

Matías Roden is a Peruvian-Canadian singer-songwriter drawing from classic British synth-pop and combining it with modern sample-based production. His unflinchingly personal lyrics delve into struggles with mental health, referencing his unique childhood of growing up between vastly different cultures (the UK and Peru), as well as experiences as a gay and queer youth. 

Gearing up to release his debut EP on Light Organ Records, produced by acclaimed singer-songwriter Louise Burns, the latest single “Close Your Eyes” juxtaposes an upbeat synth-pop melody with melancholic lyrics. It’s about feeling guilt and regret after breaking someone’s heart. “I wanted the lyrics to be a little creepy to mirror how this character singing thinks of himself, like a monster for hurting someone else emotionally,” Roden explains. “It’s about what keeps you up at night when you go to sleep, what’s inside your mind that is torturing you.” 

The intimate music video is set in the 19th century, filmed at the Roedde House Museum in Vancouver, a surviving Victorian mansion from the 1800s; as well as Central Park in Burnaby in an old-fashioned gazebo. It unapologetically depicts a secret love affair between two gay men during that time period, and how one of them, after choosing to run away from the relationship and dying, becomes a spectral vampire-like figure that haunts his ex lover. “It’s really important for me for this kind of video to not feel sexless and sanitized,” Roden states. “One of my mission statements as an artist is to be the openly gay pop star I did not have growing up, and I want any depictions of love between two men in my work to feel authentic.”

Tara Van is a Toronto-based singer-songwriter who was born to pour her heart out into music. Her genre-eluding sound finds roots in her first loves: soul, folk, pop, and jazz. Tara Van’s life has been steeped in music. Her life sounds like: choral baroque music over breakfast, loitering in the parking lot when the song hits too hard to deny belting out the last notes, or firelit open-mics where guitars seem to appear out of nowhere as loved ones take turns bearing their soul. 

Tara’s new tune “Sunshine’s Callin’” is centered around the importance of getting outside to air out and sun soak your problems. Sometimes when we aren’t out looking for answers, they come to us. This release, like last year’s single “Fucked-up-ness,” points to Tara’s exploration of her neurodivergence. It also paints a universal picture that urges us all to value simple outdoor pleasures and those “aha!” moments of realization that so often follow. The song is the first collaboration produced with Mark Calderone. 

“After officially being diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder right before my album ‘Rise’ dropped last year, I began trusting my gut,” explains Tara Van. “The answers I had been searching for my whole life seemed to strike me out of nowhere, all at once, mirroring the lyrics ‘just like lightning’. It electrified me and jolted me into a new reality, one with a lot more clarity. The self confidence that came with the diagnosis is probably the biggest thing. It solidified my ability to trudge forward as my most authentic self and brush off all the abusers and critics.”