Home Blog Page 1593

Cuban-Born, Toronto-Based UMBE B Delivers Cut-Throat Lyricism In Hard Hitting “Champions”

Eric Alper
-
0
Cuban-Born, Toronto-Based UMBE B Delivers Cut-Throat Lyricism In Hard Hitting “Champions”

Delivered with an enticingly toxic swagger that lures even the most stringent, Umbe B’s newest single “Champions” is a cut-throat declaration of success and breakthroughs.

“Champions” is a hard-hitting Latin/trap banger that pays homage to Umbe B’s Cuban heritage and musical passions. Inspired by the city of Toronto and its iconic sports teams, Umbe B aims to put his name on the list of teams who have fought for a championship – and ultimately made it.

Umbe B reflects on the voracity of his newest single; “I’m setting the stage for my own victory: to become the next champion – the King of Latin Music in Canada.”

“Champions” describes the struggle of getting to the top through hardships – and the feeling of gratification when you achieve a particular goal. Umbe B’s sharp lyricism is laced with personal struggles, conveying his ambitions to be identified as the King of the North for urban Latin music in Toronto. Piercing cadence delivers a fiery flow that compliments Umbe B’s musical goals perfectly.

Ultimately, “Champions” is an underdog story preaching the significance of perseverance and resolve when it comes to pulling yourself out of a bad situation – regardless of the price. The song champions that hard work leads to success – and often requires sacrifice to become the best.

Umbe B is a Latin artist who was born in Alamar, Cuba. Faced with the hardships of growing up during an embargo, Umbe B found the value of family very early on. Despite growing up in areas with high levels of crime, Umbe B never strayed from the importance of family and friends, using that to bolster him as he worked his way into a better situation.

Despite migrating to Canada in October 2019, Umbe B’s music career has been going hard since 2013, when he founded an urban Cuban music group named Los Extraterrestres. Focusing on creating subgenres of urban music while innovating around the dance scene in Cuba, the group found great success across the island.

During this time, he would work as a backstage dancer for one of the most popular Cuban music groups, Gente De Zona. He would find the courage and affirmation to pursue his music career and fulfill his dreams after receiving the personal endorsement of Jacob Forever, a member of Gente De Zona.

In 2016, Los Extraterrestres were nominated for one of Cuba’s most renowned music shows, Los Lucas, where they were spotted and hired by a European show and promotion company to perform in 3 venues during the summer festival in Ibiza and Majorca.

From there, things slowed down a bit for Umbe B until 2018 when he began his solo career, focusing his music more on the trap and hip-hop genres, which sparked some controversy among a handful of top artists and directors in Cuba. After his band mates migrated to Europe and the rising controversy surrounding Umbe B’s productions, he decided to move to Canada.

Umbe B’s music can most accurately be summed up as a mix of Latin reggaeton, dembow, and dancehall sounds – all perfectly intertwined with trap elements made popular in Western music. Umbe B uses his passion for these genres as a springboard for his love for Cuba to tell stories based on personal experiences – both in Canada and Cuba.

Umbe B is set to release his first solo studio album this year.

Stricken With Cancer And THIS Close To Dying, Guelph’s Steve Neville Is Brought Back To Life And Releases “Don’t Say A Word”

Eric Alper
-
0
Stricken With Cancer And THIS Close To Dying, Guelph’s Steve Neville Is Brought Back To Life And Releases “Don’t Say A Word”

With the past, present, and future in full view, out of Guelph, Ontario—the traditional territory of the Mississaugas of the Credit, First Nation of the Anishinabeek Peoples—comes Métis singer/songwriter Steve Neville with his most vulnerable performance yet on a song about the silent company we sometimes need on the melancholy new single “Please Don’t Say A Word” — available now.

As if the COVID pandemic wasn’t enough, Steve Neville suddenly became incredibly sick and was subsequently diagnosed with leukemia in February 2021. Neville’s emotional tale on “Please Don’t Say A Word” comes from the solemn new album “Off Track,” a record that poignantly documents his life-threatening illness and leads audiences through his perilous journey to recovery.

All the more stressful as he thinks about his partner’s future and the life of their newborn son. The feeling of leaving behind a newborn is captured on the B-side single “Forever Yours,” also off the new record.

The album “Off Track” captures the treacherous nature of Neville’s experience with chemotherapy and stem cell transplant and the uncertainty of the future.

“Throughout the album, there are moments when I slip between states of lucidity – moments where I’m awake and fully aware of my situation and other times when I feel caught between dreams and nightmares about my past, present, and future,” says Neville.

While the subject matter can seem heavy, the rhythmic composition of the record compliments the sense of hope that arises from such a harrowing experience. As Neville puts it, “Ultimately, the album is about moving on in life and accepting that maybe there’s something bright and beautiful beyond the horizon of what initially feels like an accursed departure.”

“Please Don’t Say A Word” is a song that focuses on the contemplative nature of life-altering events and the need for companionship through hard times, but more specifically, about the appreciation of silent company. “When I was going through cancer treatment, it felt burdensome at times to constantly narrate to others what I was going through. Sometimes I didn’t feel like talking and explaining how I felt or how I was coping with everything.”

Neville explains that the high-energy support of friends and family was vital to his recovery effort, but he benefited greatly from the quieter moments with loved ones. “I did a lot of personal reflection and soul searching during this time, and it helped me deal with a lot of difficult thoughts and feelings concerning my past, present, and future.”

Neville would fully recover after multiple rounds of chemotherapy before receiving a stem cell transplant in May last year from his sister, Jacquie.

Originally born in Ottawa, Neville belongs to the historic Georgian Bay Métis and Environs community, where many of his relatives still reside. The gift of music has been a part of Neville’s life, having studied both popular and classical music at the Ottawa Youth Orchestra Academy and the University of Ottawa. Neville would form The Balconies with his sister, a band that would bring them throughout North America and across the pond to the UK and Europe, opening for bands like City & Color, Bad Religion, Sloan, Our Lady Peace, July Talk and more.

Neville now takes his act solo with a renewed sense of life. “The music is dedicated to everyone who has been touched by cancer, be it patients, survivors, friends, family, and healthcare providers.”

Folk Artist Dany Horovitz Looks ‘Downward Into The Dark’ For New Single

Eric Alper
-
0
Folk Artist Dany Horovitz Looks ‘Downward Into The Dark’ For New Single

Dany Horovitz provides a harrowing visual on his latest release “Downward Into The Dark.”

“This song has a different feel to a lot of my other songs. There is the subject matter, which is not my normal songwriting style. I don’t really do news-oriented or protest songs, but also, we added strings to create different effects and add emotional depth,” Horovitz says. And he delivers.

“A thousand bodies buried shallow, never deep,” he begins. It’s a line that sets the tone for the entire track. Horovitz is ready to sing the truth – no matter how uncomfortable the truth in the lyrics makes you feel.

“For more than a century, an estimated 150,000 Indigenous children were taken away from their parents and communities to isolate them from their past,” says Horovitz, adding, “Canada is a wonderful place to live for a lot of reasons, but this will forever be a great blemish on our history.”

As Canadians have reeled to accept the atrocities committed against Indigenous children from the latter of the 1800s until well into the 20th century in Catholicism-led residential schools, the country has been thrust into the international spotlight. Horovitz felt compelled to lend his voice.

“Downward Into The Dark” is an indie rock anthem – melancholy in its melody, haunting in its delivery. A shocking bridge including pieces of “The Lord’s Prayer” drives home Horovitz’s message.

“I really hope that Canadians across the country and beyond our borders can connect with this song. I’ve long wanted to work with Métis visual artist Lilly Mason, so I’m honoured she said yes. Each of the singles from the EP and the EP itself used the same image she created but with differences to give it rouse different emotional responses. For ‘Downward Into The Dark’, you can see through the window little graves, subtly visualizing how easy it is for humans to ignore the sufferings of others when that suffering is not directly in front of us. The banality of evil, as it were,” Horovitz says.

Produced at Dreamhouse Studios in Toronto by Calvin Hartwick, Horovitz is joined on guitar and bass by Sean Royle, Colanthony Humphrey on drums, strings by Mike Tompa and harmony arrangements and background vocals by Métis singer Kara MacKinley.

A long-time Toronto musician, Horovitz blends his music with eye-catching visuals. His debut album, Free Times, enjoyed radio time across Canada, the United States, Europe and Australia. His single Free Tonight earned him Top 20 honours on Cashbox Radio.

“Downward Into The Dark” is a cutaway to a new chapter in songwriting from Dany Horovitz. As a musician born with the ability to tell a tale, this song is something more. It’s a prose from a third-party perspective, lending their voice to those pleading to be heard.

“I do not know if the damage can ever be repaired, but we must always remember what happened, and far from merely preventing anything like this from happening again we must make sure to actively recognize and honour the original caretakers of the land we live on.”

Jazz Duo The AltoRays Throwback to the Groovy Future with New Single “The Hop”

Eric Alper
-
0
Jazz Duo The AltoRays Throwback to the Groovy Future with New Single “The Hop”

In the vast ocean of sound, the artists that rise to the top usually ride a wave of their own unique voice and innovation. Enter eclectic jazz duo The AltoRays, who continue to carve their own exciting improvisational path with the third groovy single from their debut album Back to the Light, “The Hop.”

With a super funky, percolating bass line, driving, snappy percussion, tasty horn and keyboard hits and improv vocal scats, “The Hop” is a total groove mood and a time trip that zooms back to the swingin’ ‘60s and forward to the future at the same time.

“It’s a groovin’ dance mixed with layered vocals, sleek guitar riffs and off-the wall improv,” describes Mitch Watkins, Austin-based guitarist, composer and producer and one-half of The AltoRays.

Once again, Watkins and his duo partner, Montréal-born and now Austin-based vocalist Dianne Donovan, have combined their hunger for exploration, experimentation and mad scientist motivation to create a fresh approach and feel to a genre with deep roots and tradition. The duo refers to the eight unconventional and highly collaborative songs on Back to the Light as creating a new genre category called ‘ChillJazz.’

“It took a pandemic!” Watkins says, giving silver-lining credit to the two-year, global health crisis for allowing him and Donovan enough time in their schedules to finally create their long-planned duo album, Back to the Light, released in November 2021.

“The music is unlike anything either of us have done before,” notes Watkins. “Instead of straight-ahead jazz, we explored every music form that has ever influenced us from Steely Dan to Weather Report, to Philip Glass to groove, R & B and pop.”

Collaborating in what they fondly call ‘Pent-Up House,’ Watkins and Donovan found the great flow of creativity to be unstoppable.

“There was something truly magical about those late-night sessions,” recalls Watkins. “The spirit was uninhibited, and we’d try anything and everything.”

“The Hop” is perfectly representative of those late-night, anything and everything sessions and has a video to visually underline it all. “The psychedelic video reflects pop of the ’60’s in more innocent times.” The video, by E. Buschek, uses visualizer and analog visuals.

Donovan’s vocals on “The Hop” and all throughout Back to the Light are wordless, improvisational and melodically textured creating their own song within a song.

“This is the freest I’ve ever been as a vocalist,” says Donovan. “I got to explore the multi ranges of my voice and the textures, from an all-hummed tune to all-whispered singing, to animal sounds.”

In addition to Donovan’s vocals and the instrumentation provided by Watkins, drummer Tom Brechtlein (Wayne Shorter, Robben Ford, Al Dimeola), pianist Sean Giddings (Christopher Cross) saxophonist Rob Lockart (Arturo Sandoval, Terence Trent D’Arby, Paul Anka) and percussionist, Dr. Tom Burritt also contributed their significant talents to the recording.

As the duo at the creative core of The AltoRays, Watkins and Donovan both have deep wells of experience to draw from.

McAllen, Texas-born Watkins has performed all over the world highlighted by four tours with Leonard Cohen, including Cohen’s final tour. He was a member of Lyle Lovett’s Large Band for eleven years and has performed with Jerry Jeff Walker, Barry Wallace, and numerous others. The Austin Jazz Society Hall of Fame member has released 5 solo albums and has produced albums for the likes of Abra Moore, Bob Schneider, and Jerry Jeff Walker.

An Austinite by way of Montréal and Edmonton, Dianne Donovan started out as a background vocalist for Moe Berg’s facecrime, a precursor band to The Pursuit of Happiness, while she was studying jazz. She went on to sing at some of North America’s most prestigious venues with Gary Guthma’s Tribute to Harry James show and has been featured on numerous radio and television shows including “Tommy Banks Jazz”. Donovan’s first album Yes and No was produced by the great Canadian jazz icon, Banks. A second solo album A Musing garnered great reviews from the likes of Wayne Arthurson of Vue Weekly, saying it has “songs that are the epitome of smooth, sensuous jazz, offering solace but leaving behind a lingering simmer.” Now making Austin her home, Donovan can be heard performing with her own combos and as one third of the vocal jazz trio, The Beat Divas.

In addition to creating music, Donovan spins it on the airwaves. She’s an accomplished daily radio show host and producer of “Classical Austin” for KFMA Radio. Additionally, she currently produces a weekly vocal jazz show, “Voices in Jazz” for CKUA Radio in Edmonton, interviewing a variety of jazz greats from Bobby McFerrin to Shirley Horn.

All that varied experience adds up to enough seasoned know-how to be able to jump into the musical kitchen with all the best ingredients for The AltoRays. Now serving…their latest smooth, joyful, and danceable swig of ChillJazz.

Edison Rupert Does It All Himself In The Face Of Hard Times With “vultures”

Eric Alper
-
0
Edison Rupert Does It All Himself In The Face Of Hard Times With “vultures”

One-person indie rock outfit Edison Rupert dazzles with an ethereal track about resilience in the face of hard times that is sure to make a cerebral connection with audiences on the contemplatively catchy new single “Vultures.”

Based out of Ottawa, Ontario, the 2022 Capital Music Award-winner for Newcomer Of The Year, emerging artist Edison Rupert delivers an indie rock tune that evokes the imagery of mental stagnation in life and how a dreadful stillness can resemble death and the subsequent pecking of vultures.

Multi-layered guitars, a swinging baseline, and uptempo percussion set the stage for a track that’s more than the sum of its parts. “Vultures is a song about staying strong in hard times,” says Edison Rupert.

The song is thematically about individual wellness and striving towards a better life one day at a time. As Rupert says, “The more dead you let yourself get, the more the vultures will pick at you.”

While musical melodies are the backbone of “Vultures,” the sentiment of internal oppression and its ease into our subconscious is captured through sobering lyrics that give audiences a sense of hope.

“Took a trip to where I didn’t know
The vultures, they don’t tell me so
Got caught again inside a wave
Of all the ways that I should behave.”

Subsequently released are the visuals for “Vultures,” which take the form of a music video shoot in the recording studio and reveal to audiences that Edison Rupert is conceived, performed, and recorded by one person.

Edison Rupert quickly garnered some local attention after his second self-produced single, “Ticket to a place.”

Although Rupert has been making music for over 15 years, he is just starting to put it out into the world. The entire musical endeavor of writing, performing, engineering, mixing and mastering is executed by Edison Rupert himself, who insists on sincerity and heart to drive his music. Edison Rupert is a compelling act with a clear vision and no intentions of slowing down any time soon.

Apricity Releases Cover Of Scorpions “Wind Of Change” With Ex-Canadian Tenor Joey Niceforo

Eric Alper
-
0
Apricity Releases Cover Of Scorpions “Wind Of Change” With Ex-Canadian Tenor Joey Niceforo

The Scotland-born, Puslinch, ON-based songstress and entertainer, Apricity, is captivating audiences once again with her cover of the Scorpions 1990 classic, “Wind Of Change.”

Teaming with former Canadian Tenor, Joey Niceforo, Apricity breathes new life into “Wind Of Change”, while remaining pure to its original structure transforming it into a lush and beautiful duet.

In true Apricity fashion, the song is accompanied by a stunning music video – shot in sepia, and captivating from the opening of an ominous phone call. Apricity and Niceforo are thrust into a new mission – complete with action, drama, and suspense.

“Bringing this spy themed video to life with Apricity and Joey was an absolute pleasure. I don’t think there are many artists that could do a classic song like “Wind of Change” justice, but they were certainly able to do just that! Shooting the video was a blast and using locations like Rosedale United Church and Dundas Square was surreal, Joey and Apricity brought a very James Bond-esque feeling to modern day Toronto and I’m proud of what we were able to create,” says Jesse Read. Director. Dropout Entertainment.

The rock and roll vocalist has become synonymous with Canada’s music community. Having been “bitten by the entertainment bug” as a child, Apricity has dedicated her life to music, and entertainment. Hailing inspiration from female leads like Shirley Manson and Amy Lee, Apricity has nestled into her own groove as a songstress; singing songs that inherently move her.

Apricity’s debut single, “All My Lies” set the precedent for her tenure in music back in February 2021. Teaming with producer Thomas McKay, Apricity is at the cusp of a turning point in her career – finding her voice, her style, and her groove.

“I feel so fortunate with respect to the way things have played out for me,” she says. “It’s been incredibly tough in some respects, but if it wasn’t for the pandemic, I might not have had the chance to work with Vic and Tom and this great team I’ve found myself with. So many people spend countless days and hours dreaming of what they want to do with their lives but then determine it’s not realistic. So for me, this whole experience just seems surreal. It is something I’ve been dreaming of for such a long time.”

Now Apricity’s release with Joey Niceforo is steadily racking up views on YouTube with their interpretation of “Wind Of Change” and its Bond-esque cinematic music video. Whether in the studio or watching her online – Apricity is sending fans on a wild ride with this stunning cover – through spy-scape, with a heavy dose of nostalgia. It’s the “Wind Of Change” you didn’t know you were waiting for, but grateful it decided to show up.

CT Investments to Launch the First K-POP ETF in the U.S.

Eric Alper
-
0
CT Investments to Launch the First K-POP ETF in the U.S.

CT Investments, a subsidiary of Contents Technologies, announced today that it is launching the KPOP and Korean Entertainment ETF on the NYSE Arca exchange on September 1, 2022. With the launch of the KPOP and Korean Entertainment ETF, investors now have the ability to access Korea Exchange-listed companies in the entertainment and interactive media industries that have exposure to the potential growth in K-pop and the broader Korean content industry.

The KPOP and Korean Entertainment ETF begins trading on Thursday, September 1, 2022 on the NYSE Arca exchange under the ticker KPOP.

The KPOP and Korean Entertainment ETF (NYSE Arca: KPOP) seeks to provide results that, before fees and expenses, correspond generally to the total return performance of the KPOP Index, which is designed to provide exposure to the Korea Exchange-listed entertainment and interactive media & services companies engaged in K-pop businesses. The KPOP and Korean Entertainment ETF targets weights between 70% and 80% in the entertainment industry and between 20% and 30% in the interactive media & services industry and the index is quarterly rebalanced.

Jangwon Lee, the CEO of CT Investments and Contents Technologies, stated that “K-pop, which has become a global keyword, has become part of mainstream culture for fans in Korea as well as around the world.” He added, “We are launching this ETF to provide an opportunity for global fans who love K-pop to participate in the potential growth and development of the K-pop industry as well as investors access to Korea-listed companies that are driving the future of global content industry forward.”

International sales of music records from Korean entertainment companies topped $221 million in 2021 from $24 million in 2012, with significant growth coming from some of the world’s largest music markets in North America and Europe, reinforcing the trend of K-pop resonating with mainstream culture.1 “The global market for K-pop is still at an early stage of growth and the KPOP and Korean Entertainment ETF will offer thematic exposure to key companies in the Korean entertainment and media industry that stand to benefit from this secular trend,” said Jangwon Lee.

Of Course The BBC Would Interview Goths In A Cemetery Back In 1987

Eric Alper
-
0
Of Course The BBC Would Interview Goths In A Cemetery Back In 1987

London Plus reporter Antonia Higgs skulks around a graveyard to investigate a strange new youth subculture, the goths. …Can goth survive in the mainstream, or is it inherently underground?

Sue Foley to Record New Live Album at El Mocambo

Eric Alper
-
0
Sue Foley to Record New Live Album at El Mocambo

There’s an unmistakable magic that comes with — not only being in the room with live music — but live music captured live-off-the-floor and forever archived in album form. Now such experience is on the horizon with multi-award-winning powerhouse blues guitarist and singer Sue Foley and the upcoming show recording September 8th at the El Mocambo and tickets are available here.

Presented by El Mocambo and Sam Grosso, the JUNO-nominated and Blues Music Award and Toronto Maple Blues Award-winner’s Live Recording event joins an iconic roster of previous live releases at the legendary venue — including The Rolling Stones, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and Elvis Costello.

Sue is a 5-time JUNO Award nominee and 2001 winner for Best Blues Album and a few weeks ago, was also named as the winner of the Traditional Blues Album, and Traditional Blues Female Artist of the Year at the 2022 Blues Music Awards in the US. Last month, she won Guitarist of the Year and Entertainer of the Year at the Maple Blues Awards, and her new album, Pinky’s Blues has been on the Roots Music Report’s Canadian Chart top 10 albums for the last 27 weeks.

Sue Foley’s Live Recording will take place on September 8th at El Mocambo. Tickets are $40, and $20 for students with a special meet and greet VIP ticket for $80.

Pop Songstress Sam Casey Wrestles With the Hurt of a One-Sided Fling on “New Company”

Eric Alper
-
0
Pop Songstress Sam Casey Wrestles With the Hurt of a One-Sided Fling on “New Company”

Drunk dialing your ex — or, worse, that person with whom you were just in a situationship — is never ever a good idea. And while Canadian pop songstress Sam Casey knows that, first she’s going to wrestle with it for a while (like we all do) in her soulful and starkly honest new single, “New Company.”

Slow, smooth, sassy, soul ballad-y, and fresh from her forthcoming New Company EP, the song eventually comes to the foregone conclusion that the embattled narrator needs to find a new man. But just for tonight, she sits with her phone in her lap and fights with herself and an absent paramour –

Well, the clock strikes one
And I’m pissed drunk
I want to call, but I know I’ll fall
Back into your arms
Where I feel most calm
But you’ll mess it up like you’ve always done

As the predictable predicament plays out in her head, she eventually decides ‘So, I want some new company/ I want some new company/ Yeah, I want some new company.’ There’s ambiguity blurring at the edges, however, and so we’re not entirely sure – and the narrator might not be either – whether this is what she truly wants.

Because of just how realistically Casey captures this internal monologue, it’s not surprising that it’s based on one of her actual experiences. “‘New Company’ was written in my university dorm room,” she says. “I was involved with someone at the time, and we mainly saw each other after 1:00 in the morning. I was hoping for something more and, after a few months, I realized that he was never going to give me what I needed in a relationship.”

One of her diary entries became the inspiration for the lyrics, and an interesting beat she had found on the Internet served as the catalyst. “I voice-recorded myself singing the page from my diary over the beat and showed my best girlfriends that night,” Casey recalls. “That diary entry became the chorus of ‘New Company’ and prompted me to pull from my journals for almost every song I’ve written since then.”

“New Company” comes with a freshly minted official music video — an experience that felt surreal to create, the Toronto-based artist reveals. “This being my first music video for an original song, I was extremely excited to place a visual to my lyrics for new and old listeners,” she shares. “In the video, we feature the more melodramatic aspects of my character as she leaves a fight with her ‘wheel’ and drives home through the city only to see an angel-like figure — untamed and floating through the street — near the end of her trip.”

In all, going through the process of turning her feelings into both a song and video allowed her to move on from the crappy situationship — as well as the low self-esteem the one-sided fling had engendered.

“Since I wrote ‘New Company,’ I’ve been in three somewhat healthy relationships,” she reveals. “I can confidently say that, as soon as I started really loving myself and looking in the mirror like, ‘Oh girl, you are so funky and fresh today’ or ‘Damn, Sam, your personality is super unique and that’s a GOOD thing,’ I was truly able to demand what I deserved and not be afraid to lose someone if they couldn’t give that to me.”

1...1,5921,5931,594...3,130Page 1,593 of 3,130

Follow us on Instagram @thatericalper

That Eric Alper

Eric Alper is a 6-time nominee for Publicist of the Year during Canadian Music Week and has overseen the publicity campaigns for over 183 JUNO Award-nominated albums (and 16 in 2025), 45 Grammy-nominated albums, including 47 JUNO Award, 58 Canadian Folk Music Award, 126 Maple Blues Award-winning albums and is also truly honoured to work with some of the biggest and most important artists of our time.

Contact me: eric@thatericalper.com

Popular posts

Popular category

© Copyright - That Eric Alper