Janice Jo Lee is a dynamic artist, born in Toronto to a Korean immigrant family. By the time she graduated from Wilfrid Laurier University with a degree in English Literature, she was a songwriter performing locally with The Radical Choir.

It’s been almost seven years since Janice’s last album, Sing Hey. In that time she’s been through total and utter burnout and spiritual destruction, through rest and healing, to where she is now – feeling well and whole and full of love.

The last album was made with the dregs of her energy and no resources. In contrast, the upcoming album, Ancestor Song (2023), is Janice’s musical vision completely realized, fully supported on the engineering and producing end by fellow Kitchener-Waterloo musician, JoJo Worthington. 

“Here I Am” is the first single from Ancestor Song. It’s a declaration song that she envisions as an opener to her live show. It was actually written the night before the album release for Sing Hey. She wanted to start the show by clapping and getting everyone’s attention and bringing everyone together through rhythm.

“When I came up as a singer-songwriter in Kitchener-Waterloo, there were a handful of other women and femme musicians of colour in my community,” says Janice. “It was my dream to have them all back me up on this track like a girl gang. To bring us all together and say: move over, we are here. So I’m thrilled that we have Alysha Brilla, Elsa Jayne, Joni NehRita, Camila Diaz-Varela and Charlena Russell on this tune. These are individuals who have each inspired me and have witnessed my journey as a human being, so it’s a very big deal for me to have all our voices on this song together.”

Lo-Fi Hero is the brainchild of Erik Alcock and John “P*nut” Harrison in their studio in Berlin. The duo make music that is old and new, loop-based and performed. Previously, Harrison has worked as a producer for Amy Winehouse and Alcock has written many songs for Eminem. 

The whole project of Lo-Fi Hero is based on taking live performances then turning them into samples and resampling the parts in inventive ways. They want to show new ways of using modern technology in conjunction with old technology to create a new sonic landscape – in essence, making modern music on analog gear. 

“No Appetite” sees the duo channelling longing and foreboding heartache in their first release. 

The video was shot by Jakob Stolz, with a Berlin based performance artist. Lo-Fi Hero wanted the video to convey a narrative to the music in an abstract way. 

Toronto-based singer-songwriter and magical girl Sia Shells is back again with fellow Toronto multi-genre artist, Ekelle for another dream pop collaboration! 

After the successful release of their first group collaboration “Magic Girl,” Ekelle and Sia wanted to create a part 2 that worked as an inclusive dancing mantra for girls everywhere. You can blast this whenever you’re feeling down or alone and get an instant serotonin boost with a sprinkle of divine female energy.

The video is a compilation of Sia and Ekelle’s IRL girl gang adventures this past summer, and it’s a perfect way to keep the momentum and high vibrations going through the colder and long year ahead. It’s filmed by the different women in their lives, and captures authentic moments from their girl gang adventures.

Watch the upbeat and positive video here:

Grant Boyer is embarking on his career as a solo artist, giving voice to edgy alt-rock with a dash of humour. After years of success as a founding member of Canadian rock group Golden Gate Graves, Grant took time to enjoy the downtime and to also start his family – though he never stopped writing music. 

Agreeing to disagree doesn’t seem to cut it anymore. The online arguments go nowhere. Boyer searches for a solution to social media discourse and phone addiction in “De-Evolution,” his twangy new single. He’s not not trying to change the world, but if he can inspire a pause to think, maybe that’s okay.

His previous release, “Alarm Bells (Never Drinking Again),” climbed to #37 on Canada’s Active Rock radio charts. 

Lesley Pike’s upcoming album, Wild, focuses on the resilience that comes after pain. Ahead of its October 28th release, she is sharing “Paper Thin,” written with folk duo The Dunwells, a fragile yet hopeful reflection on a couple’s fight that Pike overheard while staying at a hotel one night in Leeds, England.

‘Oh god, have I ever sounded like this?’ Pike asked herself as she tried to catch some sleep. The next morning, her and The Dunwells set out to write a song which feels tender but also quite optimistic and hopeful.

Delicate lap steel guitar and Pike’s vocal at the forefront tell a story of comparison and the shifting perceptions of conflict that come from overhearing such a personal row between strangers.

We still have now what we had then, but it feels a little cold. 

What got underneath our skin that keeps us from living in the full?