Today Shopify announced a global partnership with Spotify that will empower artists to share their brands with fans and listeners on the platform.
With Shopify’s Spotify channel, artists can connect their Spotify for Artists account with their Shopify online store, allowing them to sync their product catalogue and display featured products directly on their Spotify profiles. Fans and listeners can then browse these products directly on the artist’s Spotify profile and make a purchase.
Shopify is giving artists and merchants the ability to monetize across every surface where commerce is possible—like TikTok, Instagram, and now Spotify—all from a single platform. Giving artists around the globe the ability to expand their commerce footprint beyond just merch table T’s.
One of the artists jumping at this chance to expand her eclectic, whimsical line on the heels of her 10/15 album drop is colorful funk-pop artist Remi Wolf — dubbed by The New York Times as “a star-in-waiting.”
Today, legendary singer/songwriter Janis Ian announces The Light at the End of the Line, set for a January 21, 2022 release on her own label, Rude Girl Records. The Light at the End of the Line is Ian’s first album of new material in 15 years, and is also her last solo studio recording – a “swan song,” she notes. The Light at the End of the Line also sets the stage for Ian’s final North American tour in 2022, aptly titled Celebrating Our Years Together. First track “I’m Still Standing” is the perfect statement for this enthralling album.
The Light at the End of the Line bookends a kaleidoscopic catalog that began with her 1967 self-titled debut at age 15. The songs are intimate portraits of getting older but wiser (“I’m Still Standing”), of knowing when to stand up and not take any more shit (“Resist”), of celebrating life’s fleeting beauty (“Swannanoa”), of exalting in your true identity (“Perfect Little Girl”), of paying homage to a lifelong hero and her demons (“Nina,” as in Simone). The Light at the End of the Line feels like a victory lap for an artist who has nothing to lose and nothing left to prove. You hear that in the risks Ian took in both her lyrics and the inspired production choices.
“I love this album,” Ian says. “There is an element of, ‘This is the absolute best I can do over the span of 58 years as a writer. This is what I’ve learned.’ And I realized that this album has an arc, and I’ve never really done anything like that before.”
Ian is also planning her final run of the US, the Celebrating Our Years Together tour, with dates starting in February and running through May 2022. Her tours have sold out in every country she’s visited, and this one will likely follow. Dates are listed below and will continue to be updated; for tickets go to janisian.com. Additional shows for September, October and November 2022 are in the works and will be announced soon.
Janis Ian began her iconic career at age 14 when she wrote her socially and politically impactful song “Society’s Child” about an interracial romance between teenagers. Her honest songwriting has translated into timeless, culturally significant tracks including “At Seventeen,” “Jesse” and “Stars,” the latter which was covered by Nina Simone, Cher, Mel Tormé and a host of other artists who felt the song spoke to their own lives. She has been nominated for nine Grammy Awards and won two: one in 1976 for Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female (“At Seventeen”) and one in 2013 for Best Spoken Word Recording (Society’s Child: An Autobiography).
Over her extraordinary career, Ian has forged deep connections with her fans, and she cherishes those associations. She notes, “As I wrote The Light at the End of the Line, I realized that it’s really a love song. I didn’t understand that so many years of meeting my audience after shows, of corresponding with them, had created this very real relationship that few artists are privileged to have.”
JANIS IAN 2022 TOUR DATES
February 24 – Santa Fe, NM – Jean Cocteau Theatre
February 25 – Santa Fe, NM – Jean Cocteau Theatre
February 26 – Santa Fe, NM – Jean Cocteau Theatre
February 27 – Santa Fe, NM – Jean Cocteau Theatre
March 3 – Tucson, AZ – Rialto Theater
March 6– El Cajon, CA – The Magnolia
March 11 – Santa Monica, CA – McCabe’s Guitar Shop
March 12 – Santa Monica, CA – McCabe’s Guitar Shop
March 13 – Santa Monica, CA – McCabe’s Guitar Shop
March 16 – Fresno, CA – The Painted Table Events Center
March 18 – Saratoga, CA – Montalvo Arts Center
March 20 – Berkeley, CA – Freight & Salvage
March 31 – Clearwater, FL – Ruth Eckerd Hall
April 2 – Ft. Lauderdale, FL – Parker Playhouse*
April 3 – Stuart, FL – The Lyric Theatre
April 6 – Jacksonville, FL – WJCT Soundstage
April 14 – Saratoga Springs, NY – Caffe Lena
April 15 – Saratoga Springs, NY – Caffe Lena
April 16 – Saratoga Springs, NY – Caffe Lena
April 18 – Saratoga Springs, NY – Caffe Lena
April 21 – Old Saybrook, CT – The Kate
April 23 – Lynn, MA – Lynn Auditorium*
April 24 – Turners Falls, MA – Shea Theater Arts Center
April 27 – Harrisburg, PA – The Whitaker Center*
April 29 – Richmond, VA – Tin Pan
April 30 – Alexandria, VA – The Birchmere
May 1 – Newton, NJ – The Newton Theater
May 5 – Collingswood, NJ – Scottish Rite Auditorium*
May 6 – Ocean City, NJ – Ocean City Music Pier*
May 7 – New York, NY – Concert Hall Society for Ethical Culture*
May 8 – Riverhead, NY – Suffolk Theatre
May 11 – Cleveland, OH – The Kent Stage
May 13 – Stoughton, WI – Stoughton Opera House
May 14 – Chicago, IL – Old Town School of Folk Music
May 15 – Chicago, IL – Old Town School of Folk Music
May 22 – Iowa City, IA – The Englert Theatre
*with special guests Livingston Taylor and Tom Chapin
Today, Canadian singer/songwriter Nemahsis shares her second single ‘paper thin’ via 11 Acres/Universal Music Canada.
‘paper thin’ is a brooding guitar ballad, exploring the insecurities a young Nemahsis faced while growing up. Conflicted by her appearance, Nemah would pray to God to change the way she looked. “I was taught to pray for whatever you want, and God will provide. I wasted two decades begging for fairer skin and lighter eyes; it became routine,” says Nemahsis. “I spent the majority of my life hating the features I currently love most about myself.” A display of her intimate storytelling, ‘paper thin’, is the outcome of Nemah overcoming her internal battles and learning to love herself.
Nemahsis’ latest offering is the eagerly-awaited follow-up to her soaring debut single, ‘what if i took it off for you?’. Released earlier this year, the track details the Canadian’s experience of shooting a major campaign for a multimillion-dollar corporation and being offered no compensation for it, with the brand justifying, “It’s a good look for your community.”. Nemahsis stood up for what she knew to be right and flatly refused for them to use her image and in her exact words, ones that will come to define so much of what she does as an artist, “I’m not going to be anybody’s token Hijabi girl.” Despite Nemah’s refusal the brand went ahead and used the images anyway, this undeniable act of exploitation set in motion a chain of events that brought Nemahsis to write and release her first record.
Nemahsis is a fresh talent who grew up on a farm outside of Toronto. Before entering the world of music, she was a Grade A business student and worked for a cosmetics giant. The quiet storm of her vocals has already found a massive audience across socials (including TikTok, where she has over 400k followers).
Equipped with striking vocals and poignant lyrics, ‘paper thin’ is another soul-baring track from the emerging singer/songwriter. With plenty of new material to come from Nemahsis, ‘paper thin’ is a stellar addition to her burgeoning repertoire.
Rise Against today announced their new EP Nowhere Sessions, a live expansion of their acclaimed latest album Nowhere Generation, will be released on November 12th, 2021, via Loma Vista Recordings/Universal Music Canada, the country’s leading music company. Inspired by the album’s success and this summer’s triumphant U.S. tour playing various sold-out amphitheatres and major festival stages nationwide, the EP captures and celebrates the anthemic intensity of the band’s renowned performances, shown here in peak form. First single “Talking to Ourselves (Nowhere Sessions),” a live version of the band’s current radio single and one of three Nowhere Generation tracks featured on the EP, is out now; of the song, singer/guitarist Tim McIlrath says, “‘Talking To Ourselves’ is about watching yourself and the people around you fall into complacency. Despite your best efforts to get people’s attention, it feels like no one is listening. Sometimes we feel the urge to do something crazy, to disturb the peace, to jostle the world around us awake. Our actions might be seen as out of the ordinary, but they are acts of desperation when all else failed.”
Other songs on Nowhere Sessions include Rise Against’s 2009 breakout hit “Savior,” which has accumulated nearly 1 billion streams to date and held its place at #1 on Billboard’s Alternative Songs chart for a staggering 65 consecutive weeks, as well as fiery covers of Misfits’ “Hybrid Moments” and Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Fortunate Son.” The EP also features a live version of their soaring, impassioned rock hit “Nowhere Generation” (the original climbed to #1 at Rock radio and #7 at Alternative radio, where it held in the Top 10 for 10 consecutive weeks). “Our songs take on so many different patinas when we play them live or strip them down,” says McIlrath of the new EP. “In some ways, every time we play it is different. It was fun to document one of those sessions and we’re excited to share it with the world.”
McIlrath and Zach Blair of Rise Against will next play three intimate U.K. album release shows in November in support of Nowhere Generation. The full band will close out 2021 by playing Chicago’s Byline Bank Aragon Ballroom on December 10th as part of WKQX’s The Nights We Stole Christmas festival. A current itinerary is below, including an initial set of 2022 live dates.
On Nowhere Generation, released in June, the multi-Gold and Platinum band draws a line in the sand with its blazing and aggressive punk rock and lyrics that shine a spotlight on the social and economical deck that has been stacked against our younger generations’ pursuit of The American Dream. The album debuted at the top of multiple Billboard charts with its first week sales (#1 on Rock, #3 on Top Current Albums, #3 on Vinyl, and the Top 40 of the Top 200), and has been earning the band great press from outlets including Revolver, Consequence, Brooklyn Vegan, Grammy.com, American Songwriter, The Line of Best Fit, Clash, Kerrang!, and All Music, while June 4th was declared “Rise Against Day In Chicago,” the band’s original hometown.
Nowhere Sessions EP Tracklist:
Talking To Ourselves (Nowhere Sessions)
Broken Dreams, Inc. (Nowhere Sessions)
Fortunate Son (Nowhere Sessions)
Nowhere Generation (Nowhere Sessions)
Hybrid Moments (Nowhere Sessions)
Savior (Nowhere Sessions)
Rise Against tour dates:
11/15 – Leeds, U.K. – Nowhere Generation UK Album Release Event
11/16 – Brighton, U.K. – Nowhere Generation UK Album Release Event
11/17 – Kingston Upon Thames – Nowhere Generation UK Album Release Event
12/10 – Chicago, IL – 101 WKQX The Nights We Stole Christmas
04/01 – Ville De Québec, Canada – Videotron Centre
04/03 – Laval, Canada – Place Bell
04/04 – Ottawa, Canada – TD Place
04/06 – Toronto, Canada – Scotiabank Arena
04/07 – London, Canada – Budweiser Gardens
06/09 – Nickelsdorf, Austria – Nova Rock
06/09 – 06/11 – Interlaken, Switzerland – Greenfield Festival
06/10 – Derby, U.K. – Download Festival
06/23 – Clisson, France – Hellfest
06/25 – Ysselsteyn, Netherlands – Jera On Air Festival
06/29 – Viveiro, Spain – Resurrection Fest
Called “Never Let Go,” award-winning St. John’s-based singer/songwriter and flute looping troubadour Rozalind MacPhail has released a new music video inspired by her artist residency through the Unscripted Twillingate – Digital Arts Festival and Director/Producer/Writer Joshua Jamieson’s LGBTQ short film, Waiting Outside.
Featuring the Newfoundland-based multidisciplinary artist, inspirational speaker, and classically-trained musician’s moody vocals, atmospheric omnichord, and percussive flute loops, “Never Let Go” is about leaving a loved one behind after being diagnosed with a serious illness.
“I composed ‘Never Let Go’ after being moved by the story behind Newfoundland and Labrador Director Joshua Jamieson’s award-winning LGBTQ short film, Waiting Outside,” MacPhail shares. “Having to leave a loved one behind after being diagnosed with a serious illness is a tough experience to put into words, but Joshua Jamieson captured it so beautifully in his film.
“I always wanted to release the song as a single, but felt it needed a new musical direction before I did,” she continues. “After initially composing the song for the ending credits of Jamieson’s film, I recorded new flute parts and new vocal harmonies during the pandemic. Torbay-based Producer Terry Barrow laid down some ukulele bass grooves, and we got Ottawa-based audio engineer Jason Jaknunas to add his mixing magic to really make it pop.
“Without this amazing team of engineers, this song would still be sitting on the shelf.”
When it came to creating the music video, it was important to MacPhail to incorporate parts of Joshua’s film — which is currently on CBC Gem as part of Reel East Coast (Season 6, Episode 3) — to tell the story, along with footage of her singing the song, she says. “We tried to shoot video footage twice in horrible winter weather conditions, but I never felt like the footage was right for the video, so the song remained on the shelf.
“Then, when I was invited to do an Artist Residency through Unscripted Twillingate – Digital Arts Festival, it felt like it was meant to be. Twillingate, and it’s breathtaking landscape, was the perfect location to shoot this footage. We met with the brilliant local photographer and drone cinematographer, Julian Earle, who captured everything so beautifully. We feature my favourite spots in Twillingate as we tell the story of riding my bike from sunrise to sunset, all as the story unfolds in Jaimeson’s touching film.”
As one of the world’s most buzzed about Gemeinhardt artists, MacPhail has received multiple honours and awards — including an East Coast Music Award for Electronic Recording of the Year, and MusicNL’s Female Artist of the Year.
Rozalind MacPhail’s “Never Let Go” is available now.
Six-time Grammy nominee Maria Muldaur, who’s been dubbed “The First Lady of Roots Music” for previous albums touching on her wide-ranging influences from blues, country, folk, jazz and even jug band music, releases her new single ‘I’m Vaccinated and Ready for Love!,” on Stony Plain Records.
“As I drove away from receiving my second vaccination shot, I was immediately overwhelmed with an immense feeling of Liberation, Exhilaration, Lightness and Joy,” Maria recalls as the inspiration for her new song. “It was a beautiful Spring day, so I rolled back my sunroof to enjoy the ride, and before I knew it I spontaneously started singing ’Vaccinated and I’m ready for love’ at the top of my lungs all the way home! I sort of chuckled to myself and forgot about it, but the next day the refrain returned and I found myself singing it throughout the day! I realized this was a pretty catchy refrain that wouldn’t go away, so I called my guitar player Craig Caffal and told him, ‘I’ve got the title and I’ve got the hook – help me write the song!’ “He did and we recorded it, and made a video to go with it. It is my hope that it will be a useful message in convincing vaccination reluctant folks of yet another good reason to get vaccinated! If all the other good and common sense reasons of protecting loved ones, children, the elderly, etc., didn’t do it, perhaps the thought of being liberated to safely resume/pursue a happy active love life will be the motivation that does the trick!”
Sonic Reducers. One topic. Two music nerds. 5 minutes.
Come along as we talk about the Grateful Dead T-shirt that just sold for $17,640 at auction, discuss our personal concert shirt collections, and debate whether it’s cool or not to wear your favourite band’s shirt to their show.
How exciting and enduringly accessible can roots music be? Highly prolific Canadian roots and jazz duo Q&A have a very tasty, home-cooked answer for you with the veritable buffet of songs they’re serving with their new album, Demo Listen Derby — available now via Sonic Peach Music.
The playful play on words of Demo Listen Derby headlines a joyful, 15-track ride that shifts gears thrillingly and effortlessly from jazz to blues to country to bossa nova to Cajun and back again. Packed from front to back with original songs written by the duo, this is a collection rich and diverse in theme and flavour.
So, who is the “Q” and who is the “A”? They are the dynamic duo of jazz guitarist, composer and JUNO-winning producer Tony Quarrington and accomplished vocalist, actress and comedienne Zoey Adams. Q&A wrote and recorded the new album as just one of their songwriting projects in 2021 — and there are still three months left in the year! It just goes to show that it takes more than a global pandemic to shut down this energetic, hard working pair who’ve co-written over 100+ songs since 2017!
Along with the release of the new album, Q & A are highlighting a featured single “You Never Let Me Down.” An upbeat, smile-worthy swing opus paying sweet tribute to a steadfast loved one, “You Never Let Me Down” is propelled by Quarrington’s stellar Django-style guitar, Adams’ perky vocal and swinging violin lines from highly regarded Toronto player Shelley Coopersmith. The song underlines the importance of dependability in a great relationship, much like Quarrington and Adams’ 15-year successful and fruitful musical partnership.
The two artists were first brought together by the late broadcaster, humorist, author and CBC Radio host of The Vinyl Cafe Stuart McLean. In 2005, McLean asked Quarrington to compose a cycle of songs that became Vinyl Cafe: The Musical. Then, Quarrington and Adams were hired to sing the characters’ songs in the musical. Working together on that project opened the door to creating and performing together as a duo long term. Quarrington’s award winning musicianship on more than 20 original albums and Adams’ extensive, international theatre, comedy improv and vocal performance experience have made for an unusual blending of backgrounds and interests that somehow just works. Of course, they’ve written a song about that too!
The duo’s songwriting project that has become Demo Listen Derby was originally conceived as a showcase to present these songs to other artists. However, the performances were too good and the songs too luscious to be stuck waiting on the shelf.
Other highlights from the new album include “Sweet Destruction”, a funky Nashville duet depicting a relationship that you know is bad for you but is too sweet to pass up. “The Old House”, a gentle meditative ballad about a common recurring dream of revisiting one’s childhood home. The cajun waltz “Blue Bayou Lullaby” features Quarrington on lead vocals backed by Adams and assorted percussion “implements” from the kitchen drawers and tool box…oh, and an iphone. There is also a ballad featuring a string trio, a humorous tribute to legendary singer-songwriter John Prine and a song co-written by Tony and the late, great Mose Scarlett.
Like the inspired pairings of Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald, Dean Martin and Peggy Lee, Frank Sinatra and Pearl Bailey and more recently, Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga…Tony “Q” Quarrington and Zoey “A” Adams are a musical marriage made in high-toned heaven.
Demo Listen Derby including the featured single “You Never Let Me Down” are available now!
Shortly ahead of their long-awaited, self-titled third studio album, Forth have released a brand-new single called “1993” — available now.
Doing its job in successfully taking listeners back to the glory days of the 1990s — objectively, one of the finest decades in music history — the — the up-and-coming Finnish hard rock band pay ode to fallen musicians of the era with this gorgeous new ballad.
This emotional, four-minute spanning song serves as the third and final single from the Forth album, and was written by frontman Brian Forth. “This song is about the loss of those voices, and the fading away of a kind of music that was real, powerful and driven by raw emotion,” the lead vocalist/acoustic guitarist says.
Though there’s twinges of Bryan Adams and early 1990s Axl Rose in Forth’s seemingly familiar voice, “1993” is a clear product of the massively short-lived grunge era. It’s constant, and addictive bass groove is carried by not just a glorious acoustic guitar melody, but a rock-solid rhythm backing and admiringly emotional vocal delivery from the band’s leader.
In fact, his delivery is similar to something you might hear out of Scorpions — the veteran German rock titans. To top it all off, guitar virtuoso and lead Tim Norrgrann treats fans with an incredibly succinct guitar solo at around the three-minute mark.
Speaking further on “1993”, Forth gave a nod to four of his most beloved heroes in particular. The late Grunge icons: Kurt Cobain (Nirvana), Layne Staley (Alice in Chains), Chris Cornell (Soundgarden, Temple of the Dog, Audioslave) and Scott Weiland (Stone Temple Pilots, Velvet Revolver).
Though he wrote the lyrics on his own, Norrgrann — another insanely talented multi-instrumentalist — helped him compose the instant classic, which landed itself at the No. 1 spot on Finland’s “Suomi Soi Top 20” chart upon release.
Of the writing of “1993”, Norrgrann said “it pretty much wrote itself,” after jamming over a few guitar ideas with Brian. As is clear throughout the song, he described it as an amalgamation of different musical eras, naming “late ‘70s stadium rock” as one of the key themes.
While Forth’s back-catalogue incorporates clear inspiration from the classic rock, alternative, hard rock and grunge genres, the four-piece band has pro-actively dubbed themselves a style called “newstalgia” — a sound the Espoo natives have become well-known for. The idea for this so-called newstalgia spawned from not just their own, but society’s repeated desire to look to the past and resurrect fads and/or trends from a bygone era. Its roots? An undeniable craving for nostalgia. Who doesn’t love that?
“1993” was recorded, mixed and produced by Forth and Valtteri Kallio at Soundwell Studio and mastered by Janne Hakanen. An accompanying music video was created by director Lassi Hurskainen. Hurskainen’s captivating short captures the aspiring band performing the song in-studio, with some intertwined flashbacks of the lead singer’s childhood — particularly when he was gifted his first guitar by his girlfriend at the time.
“That guitar was the gateway to a lifelong affair with music for the singer,” reminisces Forth, alluding to the dust-covered guitar which, in the video, is rediscovered in an attic. “The memories come flooding back (to me),” the frontman concluded.
Forth is: Brian Forth, Tim Norrgrann, drummer Kari Storckovius and bass guitarist Mikael Söderbäck.
Ahead of the release of their forthcoming album, Forth’s elusive, 11-track debut Road Stories (2014) is available to fans worldwide, as well as 2019’s immersive Captivity record.
“1993”, the brand-new, stirring single by Forth, is available now.
Sonic Reducers. 1 topic. 2 music nerds. 5 minutes.
We discuss Peter Hook’s upcoming tour Joy Division: A Celebration, delve into the joys and pitfalls of watching bands play classic albums in their entirety.
