The Johnnys are an Ontario-based rock’n’roll band founded by spouses Veronica Johnny (lead vocals/ manager/ producer/ writer) and Dave Johnny (drums/ producer/ writer). The duo’s early recordings were more punk-influenced, characterized by fun, up-tempo songs while later releases have a classic-rock feel.

The Johnnys are known to deliver rowdy, high-energy, humour-filled performances. They’ve played across Canada, been featured on TV and film and shared stages with such luminaries as Geordie Johnson, Bif Naked, Stevie Salas, Bruce Cockburn, Keith Secola & Crystal Shawanda.

New single Butterfly (Salas/Gutierrez Remix),” was inspired by The Butterfly teaching taught to Veronica by Indigenous Elder Joanne Dallaire.

“You cannot hide from what’s inside” is an excellent analogy for the butterfly transformation and the pandemic induced self-isolation. If you weren’t distracting yourself with streaming film/TV and you took the time to do some self-reflection, chances are you emerged a different being.

Toronto-based multi-instrumentalist and arranger, Les Cooper, is sharing “Best Of You,” the latest single taken from his debut solo album, Noise, out on May 20th.

Conceived in a parking lot ahead of a therapy session, “Best Of You” is a somber and searching piece of downtempo indie which weaves layers of keys, vocals, and guitars amid a desire to feel secure: “And the world pulls you ‘round, and the sky holds you down to the ground.”

“I think that getting advice from people that you are close with can be a tricky thing to navigate. It’s tempting to steer toward what feels safe or comfortable. An objective point of view from someone who isn’t emotionally invested is invaluable,” Cooper explains of the song’s inspiration.

Recorded with acclaimed producer Thomas D’Arcy (Neko Case, The Sheepdogs) and mixed by studio wiz Tucker Martine (My Morning Jacket, Whitney, REM), Altameda’s stunning new album, Born Losers, is a meditation on change, loss, and growth – but more than that, it’s a reckoning with mortality, a call to live while we’re still alive.

The band recorded the album after moving from Edmonton to Toronto, and Troy Snaterse wrote much of the lyrics during a tumultuous stretch in which he nearly lost his father to a stroke, only to lose his 18-year-old stepbrother just weeks later in a tragic accident. The resulting emotional upheaval permeates the music in ways both painful and transcendent, with raw, candid performances often arriving wrapped inside gorgeous, gently atmospheric arrangements. 

Soulful focus track, “Sweet Susie,” for instance, wrestles with powers that lay beyond our control before eventually finding peace in making the most of what little we actually can dictate. “You can blame it on all the cold clouds above,” Snaterse sings atop a slow burning groove. “Through the hate you’ve gotta find love.” 

Heather Green’s songwriting has accumulated several accolades and nominations (Music Nova Scotia, ECMAs), countless TV and movie spots (including Degrassi, Rookie Blue, Private Eyes), and hundreds of thousands of spins on Spotify.

She recorded “Close Enough” with award-winning producer Alexander Meade (Sofi Tukker, Aquakulture, Bit Funk), an exciting departure that brings out new tones and voicings in her melodic and lyrical structure. The earnest new single is about the blind optimism of being infatuated with someone. “Wanting to know how they are as a person, who they have been, and to be at the top of their list of best lovers,” Green says.

Good Fortune, the brainchild of Toronto songwriter, musician and visual artist Kelsey McNulty, creates a cinematic collage of sound both new and old on her debut self-titled album out this spring.

McNulty highlights a lyric from her new single, “I Know,” reasoning that it takes the view of glass half-full versus half-empty. “When one dream lives another dies. Every time you choose an adventure over time spent on your craft, or follow your inspiration on a project and miss out on something social, you are realizing a dream and putting another one aside, at least for a time. This is positive, it means feeling strongly enough about something in your life to let something else go and trust that it will be ok. There are always new dreams!”

With an affection for the ‘60s French pop of Francoise Hardy and Serge Gainsbourg, to space pop revivalists like Broadcast and Air – McNulty delivers her intimate and sultry vocals stylings (in both English and French) over intentional layers of dreamy synth, surf guitar, and an airtight rhythm section.