Winners of the “Best Live Band” title at the 2022 Mississauga Music Awards, The Jailbirds are a band you need to see live, known for their on-stage heavy hitting sound and their love of a good, loud rock show. 

Their cover version of Deep Purple’s “Highway Star” has become one of their live show staples. Everyone’s familiar with this classic, legendary song, but it was important for the band to make it their own, and not just play it exactly like the original, cause otherwise what’s the point? The band altered some parts, put them through those Jailbirds sound filters, to make it an authentic cover. 

They specifically kept the same tones as some of their other songs like “All I Need” and “Watery Grave,” to make sure this was a recognizable Jailbirds song.

“‘Highway Star’ was the first cover song we learned as a band when starting The Jailbirds,” explains frontman Myke Penney. “In our opinion, it had everything a band needed to be able to do, packed into one song. The solos, the rhythms, the vocals, it’s all there, and it’s all on 11. It proved to be a fun way to get a crowd’s attention as well, especially if they aren’t familiar with our music yet. We frequently start off our setlist with this track, because it’s really one of those songs that people can’t look away from while any band is attempting it to see if they can pull it off.”

Inspired by early instrumental synthesizer music, Brock Geiger and Ian Jarvis are the collaborative duo, Étamine, creating immersive tracks that envelop listeners in a cinematic dream world. With their debut collection of music, lines blur between human and machine, between grounded and celestial, and between introspective-wandering and body clutching grooves. 

Their new song’s title, “Helicopter Takeoff at Night,” was directly inspired by Andreas Feninger’s long exposure photo of a helicopter in the dark. The centrifugal motion of the lights on the blades feels like a perfect representation of the propelled dizziness that this track induces. 

This track, along with the rest of the record was all written and produced by Brock and Ian remotely during the peak of travel restrictions. Étamine had archives of improvised jams with basic setups (a couple synched drum machines and synthesizers) from messing around on the tail end of recording sessions they’d been doing with other bands. With so much time to explore, they dove into some of the sessions and started to realize these improvs might actually have something going on. 

“When Ian sent the first bones of this track to me, it immediately elicited feelings and visuals analogous to a fast paced, high-action film sequence,” says Brock. “The way the main harmony sits against the odd time signature creates a strong forward momentum. When I was writing additional melodies I kept picturing it accompanying a chase scene with neon lights blurring or a Mortal Kombat fight.”

Hamilton-based artist Melissa Marchese was born to sing. Her new album, MAD LOVE, runs the gamut from country torch and twang to anthemic bluesy-rock to the record’s focus track, “Sirens,” a horn-soaked Motown-inspired romp.

“Sirens” reflects on climate change and how deprioritized this existential threat is. Marchese expresses the human experience that we all share and the importance of our only home. 

“The wrath we are already beginning to experience from humans’ destruction of the planet does not discriminate, and we should wake up and do something while we still can.”

MAD LOVE is an exercise in bringing peace to listeners’ hearts, reflecting Marchese’s ethos that love unequivocally always wins. “It means everything to think that I can help someone remember that they’re not alone and that we’re all going through something,” she enthuses.

Toronto-based multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Shanti Abbott, also known as Puma June, evokes a hopeful sadness through her introspective songwriting. June has a dreamy yet rich, experimental chamber-pop style, with a sprinkle of R&B.

She wrote “Lost Years” during her first year working as a registered nurse, which coincided with the early days of the pandemic. Pursuing music has been a lifelong aspiration for June, but like many artists, she was told to take the “safe” route along more certain avenues to “success.”

This yearning ballad represents June’s moment of reflection and realization: feeling the weight of aging and losing time to pursue her artistic dreams, but finding the motivation and strength to reach higher and create a future that she can be proud of.

Despite the regrets and choices that weigh us all down, it’s never too late to create the life that you want. Puma June wants listeners to know that they have the power to alter the trajectory of their lives.

Toronto-based singer/songwriter and producer Lyle Kam channels sonic inspiration from artists like Lauv, Jeremy Zucker, and Charlie Puth. Now, he unveils a fresh batch of music featuring his trademark introspection about love, loss, and belonging. 

Primarily self-produced, blurry eyed serves as a time capsule of when things in his life were just a bit blurry⁠; uncertain. This album is a collection of thoughts and emotions when he was still figuring himself out and determining what he wanted. To have a crush, fall in love, and have it fall apart, while learning about the responsibilities of being an adult. Stream in full here.

With an emphasis on nostalgia, “tokyo” captures the heartache of holding on to someone who is slowly slipping away. Retro synths and elements reminiscent of Japanese city pop make the song feel warm, as well as vibrant and lively.

The success of his debut EP Folly, featuring the Tik Tok viral single “Unlove, ” led to more than 4 million streams and over 70 thousand monthly listeners on Spotify. He hopes to shine a light on Asian-Canadian artists and inspire others with his message that nothing is out of reach with enough passion and hard work.

Both Lesley Pike’s songwriting and production skills have progressed throughout the crafting of her new, two-volume album, WILD. WILD (Vol. 1) finds a new resilience for the Toronto and London, UK based Pike, who mined her own vulnerability to craft these complex songs.

“What we feel deep down, we know. What we feed will grow.”

“Wild,” the album’s title track, is an organic and airy piece of folk pop which reflects on children’s sense of abandon and the freedom which Pike has found within herself. It’s a song about taking the time to reflect and really trust in oneself.