Tristan Rene is a sonic whisperer, a conjurer of ethereal melodies grasped from the collective consciousness, brought forth in a singular voice that’s at once reverent and deeply resonant.  

His voice is of the world, channeled through his family’s vast origins. Born in Montana to a Jewish West Indian mother and a Mallorcan father, he was raised in Washington D.C. before making his way to Montreal, where he was drawn to the city’s poetic energy and gothic aesthetic.

“Light Up Garden” was born from a guitar melody one summer ago in Mallorca. Tristan was sitting on the terrace of his father’s house, singing and playing guitar without any real intent. Lo and behold, the rest of the song came to him when he was alone again in Montreal. “Loneliness is the truth behind my music,” Tristan affirms. 

Vancouver-based rock singer Charlie PS has a sound that can be described as a sonic melting pot. Inspired by a wide variety of rock and blues from legends of the 20th century such as Stevie Nicks and Ann Wilson, to modern rock artists that include Grace Potter and ZZ Ward, Charlie borrows elements of strong vocals and energetic riffs and uses them to create her own blended sound rooted in modern-rock.

Prompted by a tendency to consider the worst case scenario, “Down to the Devil” is the latest single from her upcoming EP, Even If It Kills Me. The main hook, “Take my oh-weary soul, Take me down, down to the devil,” came to her after watching prison shows and noticing a recurring theme of southern influenced soundtracks. The chain sound was captured by continuously dropping an industrial chain on the studio floor until it made just the right sound to use as a sample, in order to call back to the inspiration.

Reminiscent of 90’s alt-icons like Fiona Apple, Ash Molloy is vulnerable, raw, and unfiltered in her approach to music. A multi-instrumentalist with a degree in neuroscience, she’s full of surprises as she bares it all with her deep-cut takes on sexuality, body-shame, and life as a woman. Not fitting the mold in her small town of St John’s, Newfoundland, Ash is an absolute force of an artist, making a name for herself with her unique vocals, cutting lyrics, and sheer tenacity to get her message and music out into the world.

The majority of the music for her newest release, “Viv,” was already written for a woman by that name. Ash had never met her but loved how her name looked so she kept it. Now she has a song and a tattoo on her body named after a woman she only wound up meeting a month ago. It’s a song about losing yourself in the summer and that feeling you get when you’ve drank a little too much and start looking at people a bit differently. 

Montreal-raised, Toronto-based certified Afrobop queen, Aiza, is claiming her own sovereignty on her debut album. Featuring 11 tracks which showcase her unique blend of soulful afropop and R&B, Sovereignty is in the words of Aiza herself, “an ode to the many lessons I’ve learned to become the empowered and unapologetic woman I am today.” 

“The album dives into my experiences dealing with heartbreak, healing my inner child, honoring my lineage and boldly owning the fact that I’m a star.”

Working with her longtime partner and producer, C The Reason, as well as an established team of collaborators including Divinity Roxx, Beyoncé’s former bassist and music director, Aiza has crafted a collection of songs which own her power.

As the album’s wise and percussive title track establishes, “f*ck it I’m coming through: young, Black, gifted and beautiful!” 

Creating a hypnotic soundscape of drums, bass, and synths, Aiza and C The Reason share a compass for the equal parts vulnerable and boundary establishing songs to come.

Sovereignty features previously released singles, including the playful Afropop of “Majimbo,” Aiza’s French language “eff around and find out” anthem, “Kité,” the delectable and self-assured “Alright,” as well as the album’s debaucherous and seductive lead single, “Cocoa Butter.” 

During the three years it took to complete Sovereignty, Aiza explains that she “chose to bet on [herself] over and over again, even when [she] had no idea how it would come together.”

“To my precious and growing tribe around the world, thank you for believing in this little Burundian girl from Montreal. I have never been more proud to put out a project and I can’t wait for you to listen to it on repeat. May this album become the soundtrack to powerful awakenings and unforgettable nights spent dancing under the moonlight.”

Among the latest to emerge from a Texas psych-rock tradition that goes back more than fifty years, Houston’s Cactus Flowers announce the November 17th release of their sophomore full-length Elation with leadoff single “Stockholm.” 
Listen in here: 

Once again, frontwoman/bandleader Jessica A.M. channels the power of a live volcano through her guitar rig, her tone pouring through your speakers like scorching lava. Meanwhile, her mystical lyrics convey a dreamlike, starry-eyed romanticism spiked with a bite of attitude. 

Raised by a mom who photographed bands for Rolling Stone during the magazine’s counter-culture heyday, Jessica was, believe it or not, a late bloomer when it came to playing rock music. Originally, her path seemed to point in the direction of her formal violin training. 

But once she discovered the electric guitar in college, the die was cast. And when she met drummer and musical soulmate Mark Carcamo, a chemical reaction catalyzed, giving rise to Cactus Flowers’s intoxicating cocktail of psychedelia, fuzz, doom and classic rock. 

“It took me like 7 or 8 years to craft my sound,” Jessica explains. But once it clicked, there was no turning back. 

Recorded by Grammy-winning producer Steve Christensen (Khruangbin, Steve Earle), Elation is a super-charged, almost monolithic realization of the band’s vision, which now includes bassist John Griffith (who produced the band’s debut full-length, 2019’s Incantations). 

Fittingly enough, the band wrote the bulk of Elation on numerous desert drives from Texas to the West Coast. Taken together, the songs take the listener on a fuzz-soaked musical journey of inner self discovery. 

Lol, the new album from Portland duo Zeroz, hyperpop’s answer to alt-rock/grunge, but with lots of tears and brooding to go along with all the guitar crunch. This is an infectious record with lots of emotional contours for how zany and upbeat it gets.

It’s not too often that we associate face-melting guitar crunch with late-night crying jags, but Zeroz (FKA Butterfly) aren’t like other bands. In what can best be described as a party album for when you need to do some brooding and jump around a bit, Zeroz reach new heights of frenzy with their sophomore album Lol.

With Lol, the Portland duo serves up an irresistible blast of ‘90s-style alt/grunge riffing mixed with punk energy, contemporary hyperpop, dollops of sad boy tears and a deliciously wicked embrace of dark moods — all wrapped up in sugar-sweet hooks and a powerful knack for writing anthems for our current moment.