By the time she graduated university, Montreal’s Nova Rose was writing songs with artists from around the world, performing at different venues throughout Canada and reached a #1 spot on Quebec radio stations with her modern pop sounds. Her music speaks loudly on the coming of age of the new generation in a world that sometimes makes us feel isolated, and serves as an outlet.Nova Rose continues to shine a light on the importance of mental health in her brand new EP, Loved By. She assures us that it’s okay not to be okay; we have each other to lean on when times get tough!
“Loved By” is a chill summer bop featuring R&B/pop artist Josh Sahunta, produced by Joseph Pepe (Noah Davis, Vincent, Molly Moore) and Zack Burke (Mothica). The catchy hook brings comfort with the reminder that we are all loved by somebody.
and apart, the members of Diamondtown have decades of experience in the fertile underground rock scene of Nova Scotia. Alumni of Eric’s Trip, Dog Day, Century Egg, and countless other bands have now formed like a flannel-clad Voltron. The group fuses influences from ’80s goth and shoegaze with ’60s psychedelic pop for a melancholy, sun-bleached sound they call “dream-rock.”
New single, “Hide,” has an ethereal dream-pop vibe that creates a melancholic but uplifting soundscape for the listener to find solace in. Escapism is a very common topic in Diamondtown’s music in a world that can be so messed up and overwhelming.
For Steve Bays (Hot Hot Heat), Jeremy Ruzumna (Fitz and The Tantrums) and Erik Janson (Wildling), Left Field Messiah is their embrace of their internal calling: a rallying cry to document their impulsive, weird, eclectic and even ugly ideas. Their music teeters between soul and dark funk in one moment, and quickly disintegrates into howling rock on the next. In this age of endless distraction, we need to embrace our moments of internal rebellion and find a lane to express it. For Bays, Ruzumna and Janson, Left Field Messiah is that—their search for a way out.
Left Field Messiah’s new single, “Feels Like Summer,” is an atmospheric, hypnotic track with futuristic flourishes over a dreamy groove.
Willie Stratton picked up the guitar at 12 and started writing songs soon after. His previous releases have ranged from folk to roots to indie rock, so it comes as no surprise that he has landed firmly in the alt-country genre. It’s a shift that his fans are sure to embrace – an old time country vibe with strong contemporary lyrics and a smooth baritone vocal.
Willie just released a new single, “The Way She Holds Me,” a gritty, dark americana track. The title evokes a sweet love song, but as it goes on you realise it’s about a doomed relationship.
Surrey-based Asad Khan (aka Khanvict) is an escape artist. His love for lush strings, cinematic swells, and a West Coast bass music punch instantly transport the listener – conjuring visions of desert expanses and dense jungle paradises.
This year has been a big year for Khanvict, hitting his first million streams on Spotify. His recent release, the politically charged “Close,” has racked up over 1 million views on YouTube and garnered global press from Rolling Stone to Times of India to The Hindu.
Khanvict is now following this success with his second EP, Escape, which was inspired by a need for escape from the lockdown, the uncertainty, and into a feeling of freedom through music.
Focus track, “Impedance,” features lush chords juxtaposed by hard hitting bass lines and wobbles.
Shadow Monster is an angsty and loud two-piece from Bushwick, Brooklyn. Gillian Visco’s gritty, dissonant and desperate guitar riffs meet with John Swanson’s epic and explosive drumming style to form a raw and moody version of grunge rock. Lyrically, Shadow Monster explores themes of loss, depression and isolation. If you’re into Elliott Smith, Weakened Friends, Helium, and Kills Birds, your ears are going to love Shadow Monster.
Their new video “Kill Me Sweetie,” is the final release from their LP “Punching Bag,” which is an artful masterpiece from start to finish. Shadow Monsters sound is vibrant, captivating and bold as they bring a vision to the table that is truly their own. It’s hypnotic and smooth, yet raw, vibrant and dark. They bring the best of all worlds. The video perfectly encapsulates the essence of the duo, and goes above and beyond to impress your ears. We step inside of the video with Shadow Monster as they take us through the journey and process.
Tell us the story of this song, why did you choose to visualize this song specifically?
Kill Me Sweetie is a song about going through the motions when everything you see makes you shake your head. It’s when you reach that point of being so over-it that you feel nothing. One day I was listening to the album mixes on the train and this song came on while I was going over the Williamsburg Bridge and I watched all the different lives passing as I remained in place, detached, and it was then that the seed was planted for a music video. At the time we already knew Punching Bag would be the first single so I just kept the idea on the backburner.
What was the inspiration behind this video(visuals, storyline, etc.)?
The vision for the music video was birthed from the lyric “…we’ll laugh and pat each other’s backs and walk back home to nothing.” The color palette and fly-on -the-wall feeling the one-shot provides, were an attempt to capture that window of time where late night bleeds into early morning, when the good-time buzz wears off and reality starts to resurface. And the dance is an interpretation of that walk home, catching the sunrise over the city when you feel completely alone in the world, a final exhale after holding it together for so long.
What was the process of making this video? My friend Cade Weidenhaft and I had discussed doing a music video together, so we met a few times over zoom (as this was shot in 2020) and mapped the whole thing out. I brought up the idea of a one-shot video and he was just as excited as I was by it. We discussed time stamps beforehand, and knew exactly where we had to be during pivotal moments in the song . We shot six takes over two hours on an early November morning while the sun was coming up. I don’t think a one-shot video would have been possible without Cade’s enthusiasm and commitment to make it work. It also helped that Cade’s friend and collaborator Sean Hart showed up to set so we had an extra set of hands and eyes to guide Cade while shooting.Open document settingsOpen publish panel
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Shadow Monster is an angsty and loud two-piece from Bushwick, Brooklyn. Gillian Visco’s gritty, dissonant and desperate guitar riffs meet with John Swanson’s epic and explosive drumming style to form a raw and moody version of grunge rock. Lyrically, Shadow Monster explores themes of loss, depression and isolation. If you’re into Elliott Smith, Weakened Friends, Helium, and Kills Birds, your ears are going to love Shadow Monster. Their new video “Kill Me Sweetie,” is the final release from their LP “Punching Bag,” which is an artful masterpiece from start to finish. Shadow Monsters sound is vibrant, captivating and bold as they bring a vision to the table that is truly their own. It’s hypnotic and smooth, yet raw, vibrant and dark. They bring the best of all worlds. The video perfectly encapsulates the essence of the duo, and goes above and beyond to impress your ears.
We step inside of the video with Shadow Monster
Tell us the story of this song, why did you choose to visualize this song specifically?
Kill Me Sweetie is a song about going through the motions when everything you see makes you shake your head. It’s when you reach that point of being so over-it that you feel nothing. One day I was listening to the album mixes on the train and this song came on while I was going over the Williamsburg Bridge and I watched all the different lives passing as I remained in place, detached, and it was then that the seed was planted for a music video. At the time we already knew Punching Bag would be the first single so I just kept the idea on the backburner.
What was the inspiration behind this video(visuals, storyline, etc.)?
The vision for the music video was birthed from the lyric “…we’ll laugh and pat each other’s backs and walk back home to nothing.” The color palette and fly-on -the-wall feeling the one-shot provides, were an attempt to capture that window of time where late night bleeds into early morning, when the good-time buzz wears off and reality starts to resurface. And the dance is an interpretation of that walk home, catching the sunrise over the city when you feel completely alone in the world, a final exhale after holding it together for so long.
What was the process of making this video? My friend Cade Weidenhaft and I had discussed doing a music video together, so we met a few times over zoom (as this was shot in 2020) and mapped the whole thing out. I brought up the idea of a one-shot video and he was just as excited as I was by it. We discussed time stamps beforehand, and knew exactly where we had to be during pivotal moments in the song . We shot six takes over two hours on an early November morning while the sun was coming up. I don’t think a one-shot video would have been possible without Cade’s enthusiasm and commitment to make it work. It also helped that Cade’s friend and collaborator Sean Hart showed up to set so we had an extra set of hands and eyes to guide Cade while shooting.
Modern Mystery 
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