“Everything in my music is high, loud, and abrupt – because I have something to say,” says Greyson Grimes, vocalist and songwriter of Happy To Be Here. Alongside his co-conspirator and collaborator James Hamilton, Greyson fronts the powerhouse four-piece Los Angeles-based band whose courageous message of hope, healing, and rebirth is portrayed in a riveting new track titled “Me Now.”

Unleashing a voice tinged with melancholy, Grimes is a singularly expressive singer. He says that the story of “Me Now” — co-written with Hamilton — reflects on an inner conversation about ghosting a girl with whom he had a long distance relationship. “The acknowledgment that I’d hurt someone, but I was so wounded myself.” He says that the song was too personal to share. “I didn’t play or perform it for a decade,” he affirms. 

Multi-platinum producer Mikal Blue and Dean Dinning, producer, composer, and bassist for Toad The Wet Sprocket, were behind the board at Revolver Recordings for the “Me Now” sessions. Formulating a colossal rhythm section, drummer Cole Walker and bassist Alex Mospanyuk provide a thunderous foundation for the hard-edged guitar grit and the poignant regret that shades Greyson Grimes’ transcendent vocals. 

The theme of “Me Now” is artfully illustrated with a narrative video that presents the band performing against a skyscraper backdrop of downtown Los Angeles, crosscut with a sobering narrative depicting a dreamlike overdose. Grimes and Hamilton both share a hard-won sobriety.  “We’re happy to be on this side of the dirt and create – and do the only thing we were ever supposed to do,” says Hamilton. Echoes Grimes, “I always struggled with the darkness of the world and the light. Our message is one of relatability, that you are not alone. People who come to our shows are people like us.” 

Edmonton writer and pop musician Jason Purcell (they/them) is back with their first musical release in over a decade, with “Ambitions,” a cover of Norwegian pop sensation Donkeyboy’s 2009 euro hit. 

The song is about the feeling of giving up on your dreams. Naturally, it evokes nostalgia for a younger, more naïve self whose dreams were so wide and when possibilities seemed endless. As we grow and mature, our dreams narrow in scope, align more with our actual abilities and the conditions of our world, but the bigger dreams and fantasies don’t leave us.

Purcell worked with Tatiana Zagorac on a video and photo set that evoked a karaoke fantasy wherein these repressed hopes and ambitions might play out. There’s an intense intimacy and at times awkwardness to the shots that conveys the feelings of unbelonging inside a dream you’ve let die.

Jordan Lowery, lead guitarist Jay Mills, drummer Chris Melanson and bassist Maxwell Jacobs. Their unique brand of entertainment fuses memorable riffs and a country influence with stage antics and an unforgettable show that will make you get up and dance. 

Debut single “Striking Like Thunder” and its accompanying video tells the tale of the heart-wrenching emotions one feels when away from their loved one for a long period of time. “Lowery Mills created this song with mentorship by “Leon Harrison”, founder of “Bandwagon”. Bandwagon has helped us shape our sound and understand the industry better and had us working with pros such as “Ryan Roxie” of “Alice Cooper” and “Kenda Legaspi” from “Creepshow.””

Warm and dark, soft with stabs of madness, poet and songwriter Jenny Berkel’s These Are the Sounds Left from Leaving is a cohesive collection of spare songs that bloom lushly with detail. The new album features contributions from critically acclaimed folk duo Kacy & Clayton, string arrangements by Colin Nealis (Andy Shauf) and for the first time, Jenny took on a production role, co-producing alongside Dan Edmonds and Ryan Boldt (The Deep Dark Woods). 

Exploring the openness and non-linear nature of time, “Just like a River” feels like a mellow meditation. A recreation of moments where small, specific reveries gave way to more sprawling contemplation–but in an appreciably peaceful and illuminative way.

Each song unfolds like a widening web of poetic associations, narrated by nostalgic piano, pondering strings, glittering guitars—and Jenny’s hauntingly immersive vocals. At times, they end with an unravelling, the music splintering apart into disintegration like a lingering open question. “The songs themselves are a study of proximity, bringing big fears into small spaces,” Jenny reflects. “They’re intimate examinations of a world that often overwhelms.” 

TANDM is a Toronto-based indie pop duo consisting of Maxine Beck-Sinderby whose distinctive vocals and catchy reverb-filled guitar riffs are driven forward by the energy of Thomas’ dynamic drum flourishes. Together, they tell complex stories of the bittersweet personal pleasures and conflicts experienced in young adulthood.

In the midst of preparing their third EP, TANDM offer “Accidentally In Love,” their optimistic and hopeful cover of the Counting Crows’ song from Shrek 2.

Musical talent runs in Maxine’s family as her uncles are Jason Beck known to the world as recording artist Chilly Gonzalez and Christophe Beck, the prolific Hollywood film composer whose work includes Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Frozen, Frozen II and Ant-Man. Thomas honed his craft studying with international jazz drummers Bill Ransom and Anthony Michelli.

Toronto-based alternative duo HjNX are back with their melancholic but defiant new single, “AK-Rocker.”

“AK-Rocker” is a comeuppance – the moment a gamble becomes a reckoning. A chance for salvation, but a dance with malice. 

HjNX invites listeners: “As the wave rises, and the heat falls heavy… will you dance?”

The siblings duo, Gregory and Mark Calderone, have been writing and producing music in their private recording studio, Apt. Sea since 2020. The brothers have been a part of the Hollywood scene for years; Greg on-screen as an actor in TV shows such as Salvation (CBS), The Good Doctor (ABC), Heroes Reborn (NBC), In Return (eOne) and the new series Sort Of (CBC/HBO Max); Mark as a musician under his solo project Nicemark with songs featured in shows such as CBC’s Kim’s Convenience.