Marzzhia Janine (MJ) Ancheta, mononymously known as MARZIA, is a Filipino-Canadian R&B singer born and raised in General Santos, Philippines. She has gained recognition around the world for her live performances and vocal range. MARZIA carries a strong influence from R&B, Soul and Pop music, citing Ariana Grande, H.E.R. and Giveon as inspirations.

Now releasing her debut single “SHE IS HER,” the artist shares: “I wanted to emphasize how taking a hold of the right person is so important that instead of looking for the right person, be the right person. On the other hand, it’s also about a guy forgetting a girl’s value and it’s to remind him of how much she really means to him. It’s a realization on either partner’s side that you never realize what you have until it’s gone.”

FRANKIE FLOWERS is an emerging alternative artist from Waterloo, Ontario. She creates a genre-bending sound by merging her love for dark-wave and post-punk music, as well as combining elements from other genres. FRANKIE has a dark, psychedelic, and eclectic vibe that urges you to escape reality and experience the unknown. 

“You can lust for anything,” says FRANKIE. “People, money, power – we’re all longing for something.” Her aptly-titled new single “LUST” feels dark and desperate, with echo and reverb that drown out the verses, in contrast with the punchy chorus.

Melina Coolen is a Canadian musician, songwriter, producer and audio engineer. Her retropop influence is undeniable in her carefully self-produced sound and sophisticated songwriting style. After years of formal classical training and receiving the RCM Silver Medal in piano, she pursued her love for pop and jazz songwriting in college and university. Paying homage to the Brill Building greats, Melina researched production and recording techniques of the past while studying at Ryerson University. There, she released her debut EP, All of My Life, in 2017 in conjunction with her master’s thesis on analog and digital recording hybrids.

Part of a new instrumental series, Melina is sharing the poignant and heartfelt piece “Behind Every Cloud.”

I composed this piece about eight winters ago shortly after my grandfather passed away. I’m a spiritual person, and I could sense the response in nature and his presence. For about a week or two after his passing, I remember the sun being extra vivid in the sky. Once I looked out my window on a stormy day and the clouds were dark but the sun was shining brightly behind them. It was very striking and inspired “Behind Every Cloud.”

Buried deep in Montreal’s lingering winters, a trio of musicians (Francois Jalbert the guitarist, composer and producer; Mélanie Bélair the violinist, arranger and composer; and Aurélien Tomasi the composer, arranger and performer) sat in a room together. Accustomed to the crazy pace of working in the city’s hyperactive music industry, they might have been unconsciously looking to do something slower, calmer, and free from commercial constraints. Looking at the snow battering the wide windows by the train tracks, they spent the afternoon playing around with what was in the room: a slide whistle, a Juno, and some guitar pedals. The table was set for what would become Caméra. 

“Matsutake” is a species of mushroom that grows in East Asia, but also in Quebec. It is prized in Japanese cuisine for its distinct spicy-aromatic odor.

The new single is inspired by the famous scene from the film My Neighbor Totoro, where Totoro and Satsuke wait for the Catbus in the pouring rain. The piece paves its own unique soundscape blending 1980’s synth with organic instrumentation.  

Described by UK critics as “one of the most innovative of their era”, Martha and the Muffins emerged from 1977 Toronto’s early punk/new wave/art pop scene in various clubs along Queen Street West and the Ontario College of Art, where several members of the band attended. The first Canadian band to sign to a UK label, Martha and the Muffins recorded their first album, Metro Music, at The Manor Studio near Oxford, England. After 1980’s “Echo Beach” became a Top 10 single around the world and earned them a JUNO for Single of the Year, Martha and the Muffins toured extensively in Britain, Europe, and North America including dates with Roxy Music. Since then, the band has released eight studio albums, three of which were co-produced with Daniel Lanois (U2, Bob Dylan, Peter Gabriel). 

More recently, founding members Martha Johnson and Mark Gane (inducted into the Canadian Songwriter HOF) went through their extensive archives to select 12 rare singles, B-sides, and unreleased tracks. For the band’s global audience as well as the uninitiated, Marthology: In And Outtakes offers a behind-the-scenes glimpse of the original and diverse avenues of Martha and Mark’s songwriting which has defined them as a groundbreaking band.

When speaking on the inspiration to do a rendition of Buffalo Springfield’s “For What It’s Worth”, Martha and Mark had this to share:Not only is Buffalo Springfield’s 1966 classic “For What It’s Worth” timeless in its own right, but Stephen Stills’ poignant lyrics are more relevant than ever. Over the ensuing decades, his words have lent themselves brilliantly to constant reinterpretation depending on who the artist is covering the song, their own sensibilities and the times in which they find themselves. Gun violence is an ongoing societal blight, a perverse virus perpetuated by hypocrites mouthing their meaningless recitations of ‘thoughts and prayers’. With this in mind, our interpretation is slower, darker and considers the possibility that events that were once rare and unacceptable are now met with a shrug of indifference.