After 25 years of proudly putting out some of the best Canadian folk and roots music, the principles of Borealis Records – Grit Laskin and Bill Garrett – have announced that as of January 1, 2021 the Borealis catalogue will shift to the management of Linus Entertainment, a leading Canadian rights management company whose portfolio of labels includes True North Records, Stony Plain Records, The Children’s Group, and Solid Gold Records.
In a joint statement, Laskin and Garrett said of the transition, “We have partnered with Linus Entertainment for some 13 years in distribution and they have been our partners in the best sense.”
Geoff Kulawick, President and CEO of Linus Entertainment, said of the transition, “It has been a joy to work with Grit and Bill and their wonderful artists. Taking on the responsibility of managing the Borealis catalog, which includes many ever-green musical gems of Canadian culture and folklore was a natural fit as we know the music well, so transition for the artists and our global distribution partners will be seamless.”
Laskin and Garrett continued, “We have been most fortunate in being able to work with a large number of very fine artists over the years. Their music has been a constant source of inspiration and the friendships made will be life-long. Although we leave the business of running a record company behind we by no means will be leaving music.”
Grit Laskin continues to craft some of the best acoustic guitars made anywhere and Bill Garrett is in demand as a producer.
The Toronto Blues Society’s annual Maple Blues Awards will be a little different this year in that, like many arts awards and programs, it will be held virtually and streamed from four cities across Canada on each Monday of the month of February.
Multiple Maple Blues Awards have been selected to host and perform for the awards events beginning with Alana Bridgewater and Johnny Max hosting from Toronto on Monday, February 1st with a performance from Dione Taylor, who has been nominated for Female Vocalist of the Year, new Artist / Group of the Year, and Songwriter of the Year. Also performing is Jack de Keyzer, who has been nominated along with his bandmates for Entertainer of the Year, Electric Act of the Year, Male Vocalist of the Year, Recording / Producer of the Year, Guitarist of the Year, Horn Player of the Year (for Richard Thornton), and Bassist of the Year (for Alan Duffy).
On Monday, February 8th Angelique Francis and Matt Sobb will be hosting the stream from Ottawa and the evening will feature a performance from JW-Jones, who has been nominated along with his bandmates for Entertainer of the Year, Electric Act of the Year, New Artist / Group of the Year (for Jones’ other project HOROJO Trio), and Recording / Producer of the Year. Also streaming a performance from Ottawa is Nashville-based Indigenous artist Crystal Shawanda, who has been nominated for Female Vocalist of the Year, Songwriter of the Year, and Recording / Producer of the Year.
Monday, February 15th the Maple Blues Awards will be streamed from Montreal and hosted by Dawn Tyler Watson and Ben Racine and will feature a performance from Durham County Poets, who are nominated for Songwriter of the Year and Recording / Producer of the Year. Matt Andersen, who has been nominated for Acoustic Act of the Year and Male Vocalist of the Year will also be performing.
The final night of the Maple Blues Awards stream will be coming from Vancouver Island on Monday, February 22 and will be hosted by Dalannah Gail Bowen and Jim Byrnes and will have performances from 13-year old New Artist / Group of the Year nominee Liam Docherty and Drummer of the Year nominee Lindsay Beaver, streaming from Halifax for a true coast-to-coast MBA experience.
This week’s Sunday offering from the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain is a clip taken from their 2018 Le Poisson Rouge, NYC show. The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain live streamed a concert to promote their upcoming US tour. This version of ‘Happy’ is taken from that live show.
UOGBTV presents the Ukulele World Service Episode 2, our second pay-per-view show, available to stream now from their website. For £5 you will be able to access the video stream for 5 days. You can watch as many times as you like within those 5 days.
OutKast’s “Ms. Jackson” was released as the second single from their fourth album, Stankonia, and topped the US Billboard Hot 100 chart for one week on February 17, 2001, and also reached number one in Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden. In October 2015, NME placed it at number 81 on its list of the, “150 Best Tracks of the Past 15 Years” and in June of the same year Rolling Stone ranked it at number 55 in their, “100 Best Songs of the 2000s”
Canadian Music Week announces the 20th Anniversary Canadian Independent Music Awards – Live Streamed on Friday, May 21st, 2021.
Part concert and part awards, the 2021 Jim Beam Indie Awards are a celebration of new music and the artists who inspire the independent spirit, both nationally and internationally. Submit your nomination(s) today for a chance to be recognized among industry peers, media and fans alike. Submissions are being accepted through indies.ca until February 5, 2021. Artists or their representatives (including labels, agents, managers, and publishers) can submit nominations on their behalf. The eligibility period for all awards categories runs from January 1, 2019 through January 1, 2021. Nominees must have been active during the eligibility period and are based on the performance of the group or artist. For complete submission details, eligibility criteria and award categories, see “Criteria” on the Indies website.
Past winners include The Weeknd, Arcade Fire, Carly Rae Jepsen, Deadmau5, Alexisonfire, Lights, Marianas Trench, Mother Mother, Arkells, Jessie Reyez, KAYTRANADA, Death From Above, The Strumbellas, Crystal Castles, and many more! Past nominees include Daniel Caesar, City and Colour, MAGIC!, Alvvays, Purity Ring, Coeur de Pirate, BADBADNOTGOOD, Chromeo, Bob Moses, Mac DeMarco, and more.
Past performers include Janelle Monae, Tokyo Police Club, Billy Talent, Metric, The New Pornographers, Passion Pit, Rural Alberta Advantage, Bombay Bicycle Club, Born Ruffians, Arkells, and many others!
Canadian singer/songwriter dynamo K BESD has turned rock, pop, and hip hop genres on their heads as she pays homage to Goddo’s 1978 iconic hit in “TUFF TIMES” — available now.
This week, the video has been announced as a finalist for The Canadian Independent Video Awards, conceived to share a spotlight on the incredible videos that are created by independent artists across the country. Last year the contest received over 100,000 votes and this year is set to be higher.
Round one ends with four finalists chosen, per genre. Two videos will move forward based on Judges choices and two based on fans votes. These finalists will move on to round two. The finalists will be decided between a combination of Judge and fan votes. The winners will be announced at a live (and potentially virtual) event in 2021, the date and venue for this event have yet to be announced at www.independentmusicvideoawards.com.
Executive produced by Goddo’s Greg Godovitz himself — and co-produced by Trey Mills (KRS One, Canadian Brass, Forest Blakk) and Eddie Kramer (The Beatles, the Rolling Stones, David Bowie, Jimi Hendrix) — the track was mastered by multi-GRAMMY Award-winning engineer John Greenham (Billie Eillish).
“I’ve known Greg since I was a kid, and ‘Tough Times’ has always been one of my favourite songs of Goddo’s,” K BESD (Kelly Abesdris) recalls. “My producer and I were sitting at the studio brainstorming ideas and played the beginnings of Post Malone’s ‘Take What You Want’ and Goddo’s ‘Tough Times’ — they both have a great guitar riff in the intro, and I love the idea of blending genres to create what Post Malone calls ‘shmusic.’ We realized it was time for me to make a call to Greg and luckily he said yes to allowing me to rework his song.
“A lot of magic happened right from the beginning,” she recalls. “Trey started working on the beat and soon enough, the lyrics simply flowed out of me. I knew I wanted the original hook, and to incorporate some of the other lyrics — but also make them my own.
The rap feature involves Calgary-based artist Jackie Art. “I felt the way he wrote and delivered his lyrics would fit perfectly so I reached out to him on Instagram and, within 24 hours, he had written and sent over his idea.
“It was perfect.”
The pieces had come together but, before releasing “TUFF TIMES” to the world, K BESD was keen to glean Godovitz’s thoughts on the reimagined track. “Once we had it somewhat put together, I sent it to Greg on my way home from the studio one night. He called shortly after and said, ‘ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!’
“I held my breath for a moment,” she reveals. “I was wondering if this was a good or bad reaction? It turns out it was good, and he immediately sent it over to his pals Paul Dean (Loverboy) and Eddie Kramer, both of whom shared his enthusiasm.”
So much so that Kramer would come aboard to co-produce the track. “He really had a hand in shaping the vision and the sound of the single.”
At 15,000+ streams across platforms, “TUFF TIMES” is K BESD’s sophomore single release; it follows this year’s hit “L.I.Y.E. (Lights in Your Eyes),” and lands ahead of the Toronto-based artist’s forthcoming EP.
Artfully ominous and delicately foreboding, Alexandria, ON’s contemporary jazz-pop artist Katie Ditschun steps surely into winter’s evening glow with the release of “The Moon” — her moody, ethereal new single and video available now.
“This song came to me in a sudden rush,” the multi-talented Canadian singer/songwriter recalls. “I sat at the piano and was astonished at how quickly it flowed out of me.
“It was like it had been poured into me.”
The third single to shine from the Alexandria, Ontario-based artist’s debut album, Spare Skirt, “The Moon” is a song about secrets, and reflects the anxieties of these inauspicious times. There are three characters in the lyric: “I,” “you,” and “the moon” — the narrator, someone who keeps secrets, and someone who knows everybody’s secrets, respectively.
“I’m fascinated when people tell me which character they identify with, and whom they cast in the other roles,” Ditschun explains. “It’s definitely open to interpretation; one friend said they thought it was about the loss of privacy in the digital age, and another said it resonated with her experience growing up closeted in a small town.
“Given its relatively simple song structure, I realized I needed to stretch it out when it came time to record,” she continues. “The idea of this enchanting extended cello solo as a middle section just struck me as perfect for the song as a whole.”
Cellist Noël Campbell stepped into the moonlight, per se, to fill the role; he also stars in the video. Filmed amongst the marshes on the Glengarry Trails in North Glengarry, Ontario, the video also features a goat named after one of the G.O.A.T.’s — Johnny Cash.
Born and raised in Brantford, Ontario, Ditschun spent time in Montreal, Quebec following her studies at Berklee College of Music for jazz and contemporary vocals before returning to her home province; she is also a member of the National Association of Teachers of Singing and the Ontario Registered Music Teachers’ Association. Though she was diagnosed at 18 months old with juvenile arthritis, beginning piano lessons at age four to keep her fingers moving, it was the onset of her mother’s terminal illness that gave Ditschun the push to pursue music full-time.
As an artist featured across radio nationwide, including CBC and with 15,000+ streams across platforms, “The Moon” follows Ditschun’s previous singles “Here We Are,” “This Is That,” and “Be Still.”
To remember David Bowie on his birthday and to mark the fifth anniversary of his untimely death, producers Robert Fox and RZO Entertainment Inc are exclusively releasing the stream of the London production of Lazarus, captured live on stage. This will be the UK premiere of the filmed version of this remarkable show.
The livestream event will include multiple showings across four different zones running from January 8th, 2021 (Bowie’s 74th birthday) to January 10th, the fifth anniversary after his death. Visit Dice.fm for streaming times and ticket information.
Lazarus includes songs from Bowie’s iconic catalogue as well as new songs written for the stage including the title song, Lazarus.
Inspired by the book, The Man Who Fell To Earth, by Walter Tevis (“The Queen’s Gambit”) Lazarus focuses on Thomas Newton, as he remains still on Earth – a ‘man’ unable to die, his head soaked in cheap gin and haunted by a past love. We follow Newton during the course of a few days where the arrival of another lost soul – might finally set him free.
Michael C Hall (“Dexter”, “Six Feet Under”) stars as Newton, the character famously portrayed by David Bowie in the 1976 screen adaptation of The Man Who Fell To Earth directed by Nicolas Roeg. Lazarus co-stars Sophia Anne Caruso (“Beetlejuice” on Broadway) and the production is directed by Ivo van Hove (“All About Eve”, “Network” and “A View From The Bridge”).
Lazarus opened at The New York Theatre Workshop in November 2015. The London production opened in November 2016 where it played a sold out run.
This live-streamed event will be available for three performances only in multiple time zones (GMT, AEDT, EST, PST, CST) from Friday 8 to Sunday 10 January 2021.
