Born out of the chaotic dive bar scene in Toronto, Harley Olivia has seen it all. From fronting metal bands to circus-punk and everything in between, Harley has always felt most alive on the stage. Her energetic performances are characterized by punchy synths, infectious melodies and Harley’s signature swagger. But at the heart of it all, a Harley Olivia show is an empowering, rock n’ roll dance party where anyone is free to come join in and shake off the shame. 

Harley worked as a flight attendant for 10 years which meant that she spent a lot of time in hotel rooms in foreign countries, feeling lonely and burnt out, missing her family. In the beginning it was an exciting job, but over time aviation pulled her away from creating music. She dealt with depression and anxiety and ultimately realized that she was unhappy because she wasn’t pursuing her dreams. It was finally time for her to bet on herself, and make a big change. 

“Every time I found myself alone in a hotel room, I couldn’t turn off my thoughts,” says Harley. “A combination of jet lag, anxiety and loneliness caused me to constantly overthink, which felt like being ‘haunted’ by my own thoughts.” 

Nova Scotia songwriter Carleton Stone is an award-winning artist with a growing list of credits, and a founding member of the hugely successful Port Cities. An outstanding writer, Stone has written songs for, and with, diverse artists as Ria Mae, Matt Andersen, The East Pointers, Donovan Woods, Classified, Bobby Bazini, and Neon Dreams.

His latest single, “Fences,” is an anthem for the down-but-not-out romantics; an epic modern love story that unfolds in soaring fashion on the wings of poignant piano and glowing synth. Driven by a relentless beat, Stone guides us through the timeline of a fractured relationship.

When the final notes of the song’s climax ring out, there’s still no resolution, but most great love stories never end—they just transform. “Fences” provides a balm for the broken-hearted who aren’t ready to throw in the towel just yet.

The new track, co-written by Kayleigh O’Connor, owes its ecstatic soundscape to a team of musicians and studio wizards with musical prowess including Todd Lumley (Alan Doyle, Hawksley Workman), Loel Campbell (Wintersleep, Billy Talent), Corey LeRue (Neon Dreams, Ria Mae), and Colin Buchanan (Paper Lions). 
Stone added producer to his list of accomplishments with both Willie Stratton’s award-winning Drugstore Dreamin’ and his own self-produced album, Papercut, which was nominated for the MNS 2023 Pop Recording of The Year and the ECMA 2023 Contemporary Roots Recording of the Year.

Originally from London, UK, LTtheMonk had an eclectic musical upbringing that set him off on a journey to becoming a musician himself. Dance is also an intrinsic part of LT’s toolkit, with bantamweight Gene Kelly-meets-James Brown footwork and immaculate sport socks both indelible signatures of his persona as an entertainer. Melding all of his influences, LT aims to fuse dance music with hip-hop and pop, to create his own unique sound. 

The focus track “Reminder” from new album Uptown Intern #333 is inspired by childhood love, a first crush that no matter where you go in life, you can’t leave behind. Physically, LT describes seeing beautiful Canadian and American women that remind him of his first love back in South London, England, but metaphorically, the concept is all about that first love being the key to one’s childhood, maybe a true self that one left behind when entering adulthood. Remembering that love is meant to be a reminder of one’s true self, of keeping that childhood spirit and purity alive, no matter where you go.Uptown Intern #333 is musically inspired by the Uptown Sound, a sound defined by the New Jack Swing style that blended hip-hop, R&B and pop music, and was invented and popularized by Teddy Riley and Andre Harrell at Uptown Records in the late 80s and early 90s. Lyrically, the album tells the story of “The Intern,” the child with a love of music so pure he’ll do anything to see that love realized. Uptown Intern #333 tells the story of The Intern as he embarks on his journey Uptown, traveling through the sounds and the eras, to find his own New Monk Swing.

The Syncopation Rebels are the supergroup comprised of the artists Martha Johnson and Mark Gane of Martha and the Muffins, John Orpheus, Sam Casey and Alex Exists, who have come together to record a special version of “Sound And Vision” by David Bowie. 

“The artists in the Popguru musical community have always thrived on collaboration. It’s in our DNA,” says Popguru Sound & Vision founder Graham Stairs. “To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the company, we decided to record a version of Sound And Vision by David Bowie. Not only is it a great song by a great artist, but the company’s name is a tip of the hat to the song’s title.”

After the song was chosen, the first person brought into The Syncopation Rebels project was producer Mike Schlosser. He had already worked with a number of Popguru artists including John Orpheus, Sam Casey and Alex Exists. The next people invited were Martha Johnson and Mark Gane of Martha and the Muffins who have been great resources to the younger artists. The objective was to involve experienced and emerging artists from the roster.

“Over the years, Popguru has brought me together with many talented people to collaboratively write and record songs,” says Martha Johnson of Martha and the Muffins. “…It felt great to be recording the song with the whole group at Revolution Recording as well as shooting the video in an evening of exuberance at the CNE. After the years of isolation, it was so exciting to be all together singing and dancing our hearts out.” 

Recently announced, Mark Gane of Martha and the Muffins is one of this year’s Songwriters Hall of Fame inductees for “Echo Beach”.

Over the past 15 years, Graeme Cornies has been lucky enough to work on more than 40 TV shows and has contributed to more than 1000 episodes of television with his writing partners at Voodoo Highway Music and Post. The last five years have brought multiple awards from both SOCAN and BMI – recognizing his musical reach both domestically and internationally. Recently, Graeme has been releasing electronic-pop music under the moniker Kodiak Arcade.

The new Kodiak Arcade song, “Another Summer,” asks a question that people often ask themselves: Once the infatuation of a new relationship fades and the spell of newness has worn off, can the relationship bloom again and again over time? Even after you’ve been in a relationship for a long time, that question remains – can we keep falling for each new version of one another as we grow? 

“It sometimes strikes me how irrational it is for me to ask anyone to stay with me longterm if I can’t even guarantee who I will be in 10 years,” Graeme explains about the inspiration for the song. “And it’s the same in reverse. It takes some irrational faith to commit to another person to the point where you are building a life together, to say, ‘No matter who we become as individuals, I will try to love that next version of you too, even after a million minor disagreements, the grind of work life, bills, laundry and groceries.’”

Fake Shape is an experimental band from Hamilton, Ontario. They settle in between a melange of eclectic influences—a little indie rock, some solid jazz flow, and even the odd twang in the vocals. Chester Edington (guitar and vocals) states that “through actively practicing collaboration we [David Baldry (keyboard, synthesizer and flugelhorn), Olivia Brown (bass and vocals), and Mackenzie Read (drums)] are able to write better music.” The resulting music works together as a whole, not in one voice or instrument on the surface, but in juicy layers of well mixed and deeply felt meaningful music. 

Their latest release is “Black Bear,” one of their favourite songs to play live, so Fake Shape sought to capture that same level of intensity and energy. Temperamental and expansive, they wanted to bring attention to the space in between the lyrics and allow the sound to develop. Baldry’s trumpet solo shines, supported by Brown and Read’s instrumentals, and is further complemented by an undercurrent of super fuzzed feedback which creates an uneasy kind of crazed feeling.