Ink Sticks & Stones is the moniker for Toronto-based composer-musician, Ai Rei Dooh-Tousignant. Being of mixed descent, she is constantly searching for different ways to express her many cultures, and openly advocates for a more inclusive Canadian music scene.
“Catharsis,” a conflicted yet hopeful neoclassical composition, was written during a period of personal physical rehabilitation following a brain injury that Dooh-Tousignant continues to recover from.
Dooh-Tousignant explains “Catharsis” as “a way to process how one can feel after finding some stability after an event that has overturned one’s life.
It’s that moment when you know the worst is over, but the end is still far off.
There is a tension in that stability; that things aren’t okay at the moment, but perhaps they will be eventually.”
Heartfelt lyrics and emotive vocals have helped Jade Hilton evolve into her distinctive sound. The singer/songwriter fuses earthly folk melodies over alt-pop beats. After graduating from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign playing Division 1 tennis, she moved back home to Toronto and began releasing music. Now, she’s unveiling her debut album, Unrequited, produced by Dominic “Dot” Okune and Kenny Muto.
“Not My Type” is about embracing a casual relationship, even if that means dating someone strictly for their looks. “Although you don’t have anything in common, it’s still a lot of fun and carefree to be together.” Jade elaborates, “I wrote a series of songs related through the theme of unrequited love. I wanted to share my value of female empowerment through this album, so my fans know that they are not defined by their relationships. They have the power to lead and become themselves.”
Stan Lynch, the original drummer of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, and singer-songwriter, Jon Christopher Davis (JCD), have joined forces to create The Speaker Wars. Together they are a powerhouse of sonic goodness. They wrote and recorded for years for their own pleasure and now finally feel the time is right to share their music with the world.
Their first single as a band, “Never Ready to Go,” dropped Friday – April 22, 2022. It was written for JCDs wife who has been with him since high school and pretty much any woman on the planet would feel honored to have a ballad like this written about her.
About the track, Jon says: “My high school sweetheart, and partner of 36 years, is the inspiration behind the song. Anytime I’m with her, I’m never ready to go.“
JCD sounds like a more gravely Bryan Adams with a touch of Don Henley thrown in for good measure and if you are a Heartbreakers fan you will feel right at home with Stan’s distinguishable drumming (after all, the man is in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame).
The track is pure rock and roll and the song harkens back to the old days when air-guitaring along with the tracks was part of the listening experience. Speaking of guitar, Andy Timmons, who not only has 7 solo releases, as a session player he’s been featured on albums by drumming legend Simon Phillips, a live CD with Olivia Newton-John (Andy has been her music director/guitarist for several U.S. tours), two Kip Winger albums as well as recording sessions for Paula Abdul, Paul Stanley, and countless radio and television jingles. Before that in Danger Danger, he toured the world opening for Kiss and Alice Cooper and sold over a million records worldwide. He also happens to be JCD’s neighbor.
Stan Lynch, turned to songwriting and producing and has written songs for Don Henley, Ringo, Toto, The Byrds, Rita Coolidge, Tim McGraw, Eagles, Eddie Money, The Mavericks, and The Knack. Jon Christopher Davis has written for and recorded with Dolly Parton, Timothy B. Schmit (Eagles), The Go-Go’s, Billy Ray Cyrus, Steve Lukather (Toto), Vince Gill, Radney Foster, Rodney Crowell and Hal Ketchum.
Highlighted by an artistic acumen and an amazing ability to evoke emotion, Rose-Erin Stokes’ music is demonstrative of a songwriting craftsperson at work, with music, words and vocal performances that connect to the hearts and spirits of all who hear them. What is undeniable is the deeply honest approach to her musical storytelling, a wide-open emotional tableau that is representative of the silence of the vast forests, and big open skies of the northern Ontario city of North Bay where Stokes was born and raised.
“The Same Way” is taken from her forthcoming sophomore album, When The Sun Goes Away, produced by Jim Bryson (Kathleen Edwards, Kalle Mattson) with additional production by Andrew Sowka and set for release this August 2022. There was inadvertently a long period of time between writing “The Same Way” and getting into the studio to record the album. In becoming a little less viscerally attached to the song, it opened up space to breathe new life into it in a collaborative way which felt really special after emerging from a long period of isolation and musical disconnect.
Watch the official music video for “The Same Way” – a quirky, endearing short film of a small town fishing derby and an unexpected catch.
Excuses Excuses come armed with a lawless desire to make a true believer out of everyone – and that means everyone – in the room with their jaw-dropping intensity and melody-heavy songs. The band doesn’t rely on just their energetic spirit alone: Excuses Excuses expertly pairs their unconfined, youthful energy with a pop sensibility and a focused sense of attention to the most subtle details of meticulously catchy songwriting.
Anthemic new single, “Listen Up!,” is inspired by the struggles we all face trying to achieve the goals we set for ourselves in life. Whether that goal is to become a movie star, or simply just to get out of bed that day, we can always find the strength inside to persevere no matter how tough or daunting things may seem.
Sophia Fracassi has always turned to music to ride out life’s storms. The Canadian singer and songwriter is just 18 years old, but her voice is direct and confident, indicative of someone who has dedicated her whole life to her art. Her lyrics come from exactly where she is: in the middle of trial and error. The intensity of a first love – and the heartbreak that came with it – helped gift her the perspective she is now repurposing in her music as she broaches adulthood and chases her dreams.
Through her transparent new single “I Lied,” Sophia validates that “it’s okay not to know what to do next, it’s okay not to be sure who to trust, or if you can even fully trust yourself. This song was written from the centre of the storm, but I got out, and I want every listener to know there is always, always hope, so long as you choose it.”
Modern Mystery 
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