Brooklyn-based producer GemimindBeatz and RnB singer/songwriter Ashley Sage have come together in a pop-trap pairing for this, their debut collaboration, “Wits End” — available now.
Mixed by multi-Gold/Platinum selling and Grammy Award winning engineer Michael Ashby (Cardi B, Latoya Jackson, Fetty Wap, Zoey Dollar, Offset), “Wits End” smoothes the surface as a lyrical lid-pop into frustrations with the ‘talking phase’ of a new relationship and feeling fed up with random drips of romantic engagement.
But dig deeper and music lovers will find themselves bearing witness to a debut crossover so rife with sonic chemistry, they’d never guess the collab came from a chance encounter.
“My production partners and I met Ms. Ashley Sage at an art showcase in Brooklyn, and we instantly connected,” Gemimind recalls. “She showed up to our studio the very next day to kick ideas around, which resulted in the initial freestyle that became ‘Wits End.’”
With a voice like a canary, the songstress has quickly made waves with her introspective, catchy releases that unleash her quirky, light-hearted personality. Drawing on jazz, RnB, and reggae influences, Ashley Sage is said to use music to ‘get honest with herself,’ and brought exactly that energy to the table that day.
“This song has us stepping out of our comfort zones,” Gemimind continues. “Ms. Sage usually keeps to her singer-songwriter, ‘slice of life’ and indie RnB roots, whereas I usually veer towards a more hardcore rap sound.
“This is actually my first non-rap professional release.”
GemimindBeatz first discovered his unique ear for melodies at the age of just three, and spent his adolescence and teens studying with a range of mentors. “It was important to me to continuously expand my repertoire with a deep understanding of musical foundations,” he shares. “Once I had my heart set on producing hip-hop, my goal became clear.”
That clarity has translated into a concerted dedication to training towards a more sophisticated trap / rap sound, he adds, describing his now-signature brand of heavy polyrhythmic drum patterns, counterpoint melodies, and lush harmonies. “I use my classical and jazz styling as the basis.”
GemimindBeatz’s breakthrough mixtape Macro-Wave was his first self-produced showcase, and he’s since created an independent studio MailBox Money in Bushwick, Brooklyn alongside fellow artists and collaborators YeVetta, Bishop 98baby, and 10PushUps.
Bob Wiseman believes most things in life are universal or, as Lauryn Hill says, everything is everything. Bearing in mind that advice, Wiseman writes about finding the link between music and daily life, like what is common between Mary Margaret O’Hara, hiding around the corner with the lights turned off in order to record herself and his 5-year-old insisting he stop hurrying to her dance lesson and marvel at the fluff ball she is blowing toward the ceiling. Each entry is unique and compellingly written, but the themes throughout — on improvisational music, life lessons, and conflict — are ubiquitous.
The RBC Emerging Musician Program will select and support 5 winners aged 15 to 35 (solo artists or groups) from across the country and provide them with tangible real-world experiences designed to help elevate their music and careers in a meaningful and sustainable way. You could win: Cash prizes, showcase opportunities including Festival du Voyageur in Winnipeg, MB, recording time at Metalworks Studios in Toronto, access to a creative workshop at ARTHAUS in Toronto, mentorship and more!
Submissions are open from July 13 to August 23, 2020 – apply at canadaswalkoffame.com.
Canadian grunge trap and alt hip hop rocker Krosst Out hits the open road for a “Drive” in this, his newest and most definitive single to date — available now.
“‘Drive’ is my anthem,” Krosst Out confirms. “It’s the song I’ve wanted to make for years, and it’s the song that, if someone were to ask me who I was, I would point to it and tell them: I’m that.
“It’s grunge, it’s metal, rap, and rock, all in the span of 2:44,” he adds. “It’s why I’ve spent the last 14 years of my life in a notebook.”
The track lands ahead of his forthcoming album, Phone Calls With Ghosts, a project that has the Toronto-based artist squaring away with his small-town upbringing. “Some kids treat piano lessons like a chore, but I treated them like a lifeline,” Krosst Out — nee Aaron Siebenga — offers. “They were my way out.”
The sentiment — and its translation into “Drive,” Phone Calls With Ghosts, and the album’s earlier single, “Funerals” — are in reference to his upbringing in the small Northumberland County town of Campbellford, Ontario, population 3,500.
“‘Funerals’ was the first song for this project I ever did, and it hit home with me,” Krosst Out shares of the revelation. “As the project grew, I built around this concept of talking to the people that don’t know who I am anymore, as well as for the people currently in my life, letting them know where I’m at.
“I feel as though you get to a certain point as an adult where it suddenly dawns on you that you’re no longer who you were when the people ‘back home’ knew you,” he reflects. “You’re different now, and that’s ok.
“This album is about that. It’s about coming to terms with — and then burying — your old self to make way for your new self. As hard as that is, it’s how we grow as humans. You are not the kid they used to know.
“‘Drive’ was the song that solidified where I wanted to go sonically overall for Phone Calls With Ghosts,” he adds, referencing the soon-to-be released sophomore album that’s set to follow 2017’s debut EP Lifeoftheparty, and a series of singles — including 2019’s “Too Much on My Mind” with Spark Houston and “End of My Rope” with Statik.
“The video features myself and my crew inside a Lexus, which is a hidden gem alluding to my lyrics from another song on the album where I write, ‘if I had a Lexus, chances are I’d wreck it on the spot, and not regret it at all.’
“One of my favourite experiences in life is the simple act of just being in the car, either driving or being a passenger, and riding around at night,” he continues. “Sometimes having nowhere to go, or sometimes a road trip. You have a chance to connect with the people who are in this metal box, speeding along with you, or sometimes you can just stay silent and watch the world from the window.
“The video is built around the feeling of being fed up with where you are, and just wanting to ride. It’s something I think everyone can relate to.”
Canadian JUNO Award-nominated world ensemble Toronto Tabla Ensemble is having a party with some Unexpected Guests in this, their newest album release — available now!
Across the release’s seven tracks, the critically acclaimed group of artists weave a variety of instruments, from percussion to bagpipe, piano to taiko, sarod to flute, and more, with their signature sound rooted by the traditional tabla.
“This album is a simple one,” TTE Founder and Artistic Director and Roy Thomson Hall Award winner Ritesh Das says. ”Most of the tracks are in very straightforward 4/4 grooves. On our other albums, you had tracks with different time signatures that made it really intellectual and complicated.
“I wanted this one to be something that anyone can sit back and listen to and enjoy.”
Along with delivering the most approachable songs in their vast repertoire, Unexpected Guests is their latest in a series of boldly collaborative and sonically expansive works. In keeping with its eye-opener title, the immersive and diverse album finds Das and the TTE hosting a party of musical visitors: Enter The Haggis bagpipe player Craig Downie, Japanese Taiko Ensemble Nagata Shachu, singer Maryem Hassan Tollar, violinist Raaginder Singh Momi, flautist Alysha Addetia and more.
Toronto Tabla Ensemble have previously released six original studio albums, including their JUNO Award-nominated 2000 album Firedance, and Global Music Award and Independent Music Award-winning 2018 release, Bhumika.
Das and the TTE teamed up with Tea Party frontman Jeff Martin for the 2007 concert DVD Live At The Enmore Theatre, and their compositions have been licensed for commercials, films, and as the theme music for CBC Radio’s daily Metro Morning.
It’s this furthering of collaborative approach — plus a love of musical exchange — that allows members and audiences to learn about other cultures and unites people at a time when our world has never been more divided. “By collaborating, you create awareness,” says Das. “And through awareness comes respect.”
When you hear the track “Unexpected Guests,” it’s not hard to imagine why the music video features groups of Scottish and Indian dancers. Co-composed by Downie — who not only incorporated a traditional strathspey (dance tune which is named after the Spey River in north-east Scotland) and a reel (an energetic type of dance popular in Scottish, Irish, English and Quebecois folk music) — the beginning and end of the song were composed in memory of Ellen Wilkes Irmisch, a highland dancer and stage actor from the Tartan Terrors.
“In October 2019, we started by researching Scottish dance and came across some videos of the Royal Scottish Country Dance Society with a branch right here in Toronto,” TTE’s manager and film director Melissa Das-Arp shares of the video’s creation. “Seeing people of all ages and backgrounds dancing wearing their tartans and sashes, we knew it could work but… Would they be open to the idea of dancing in a Toronto Tabla Ensemble music video?
“Lucky for us, they were intrigued and wanted to learn more. We attended a few meetings and even participated in one of the dances.
“When we played ‘Unexpected Guests’ for them, dancers between ages of 15 and 75 got up and joyfully danced around the room already beginning to work out choreography. That’s when we knew we were in business!
“As this is a collaboration between ‘Bagpipe and Tabla’ — Scotland and India — we had visualized an Indian folk dance called ‘Dandiya Raas: Dandiya meaning sticks and Raas emotions,’” Das-Arp continues. “It has a similar community feeling to the Scottish Country Dance, and is a type of folk dance where people of all ages and genders line up and dance together. We had all our artists confirmed, a storyboard worked out, and each group — about 25 dancers per group — started working on their own choreography. We needed to bring them all together somehow at the end of the song, so we brought in TTE’s dance director, Labonee Mohanta, who worked with both groups to create a finale.
“The day of the shoot was absolute chaos! There were Indian and Scottish dancers in every room, costumes and garment racks were busting at the seams, there were line ups for hair and make-up, coffee, tea and of course, some delicious Indian snacks. After 12 hours on the set and what felt like a thousand takes, we finally had what we needed.
“We feel lucky that we were able to complete this project when we did,” she adds, noting the February 2020 date. “Had we set our shoot just a few weeks later, it would not have been possible. Editing this project during the pandemic was a surreal experience. Looking at the footage and seeing this huge group of people dancing and playing together, holding hands… And no masks! It feels like a completely different universe where this took place, but does give us hope that one day we can all be dancing and playing together again.”
With Unexpected Guests, the 62-year old veteran teacher has crafted an album that shares his musical vision and presents listeners with a vision of “inspiration, hope, encouragement, integrity and strength.”
Throughout it all, however, Das has never lost sight of the simple pleasure that drew him to tabla half a century ago and continues to give him joy to this day: The instrument’s enigmatic, wondrous sound.
“I don’t know exactly what it is about that sound,” he admits. “And I don’t think I want to know. Because if I do know, I think I’ll die.”
The Go-Go’s, the iconic all female L.A. punk band, will release their first new recording in nearly 20 years, “CLUB ZERO,” on July 31st on UMe. The band can be seen working on an early version of the song in their new documentary THE GO-GO’S, directed by Alison Ellwood (Laurel Canyon, History of the Eagles) which premieres July 31 at 9 pm ET/PT on SHOWTIME.
Propelled by the spirited, melodic punch we’ve come to expect from the Southern California band, as well as a catchy, call-to-action chorus, “CLUB ZERO” will certainly join the ranks among an esteemed catalog of Go-Go’s classics.
The self-produced track was created via email exchanges amongst bandmembers and recorded at Lucky Recording in S.F. with Co-Producer/Mixer/Engineer Travis Kasperbauer and in Los Angeles with Lead Vocal Recording/Producer Gabe Lopez. As the band’s stance has always been fervent when it comes to relevant issues, the anthemic, punk-infused paean arrives just in time for a world in desperate need of a voice of optimism and change:
“HEY WE’VE GOT SOMETHING TO SAY
‘GONNA MAKE THE WORLD SHAKE’
READY OR NOT HERE WE ARE”
A live version of “CLUB ZERO” featured in the THE GO-GO’S documentary shows the evolution of the track as the band writes and works out the melody in preparation for their performance at their early stomping grounds The Whisky a Go Go on The Sunset Strip. The documentary directed by Alison Ellwood (Eagles, Laurel Canyon) premiered at the Sundance Film Festival this past January to standing ovations and critical acclaim. With full access to The Go-Go’s, both past and present, this candid archive-rich documentary assesses the group’s place in music history as it focuses on their roots as a formidable contender in L.A.’s late ‘70s punk scene, detailing their rise to the top as they become one of the decade’s most beloved acts as well as an unstoppable force. It also examines the personalities and dynamics behind their rise, fall and numerous reincarnations. Until this definitive film, there has never been a serious appraisal of and showcase for The Go-Go’s’ talents or achievements – as musicians, groundbreakers, but even more so, as survivors.
To date, The Go-Go’s have the notable distinction of being the only all-female band to write their own songs and play their own instruments on a #1 album. Formed in 1978, they were a vital part of the early Los Angeles punk scene. Following the release of their debut album in 1981, the landmark multi-platinum Beauty And The Beat, they topped the Billboard 200 chart for six consecutive weeks and received a nomination for Best New Artist at The 24th Annual Grammy® Awards. Their 1982 follow-up, Vacation, hit Top Ten on the Billboard 200 and featured the Top Ten title track “Vacation.” Overall, they have sold over 7 million records worldwide and continue to tour with the “classic lineup” from 1981 – Belinda Carlisle (vocals), Jane Wiedlin (guitar), Charlotte Caffey (guitar), Kathy Valentine (bass) and Gina Schock (drums). More recently, Head Over Heels, a musical featuring the songs of The Go-Go’s, had a successful run on Broadway in July of 2018.
THE GO-GO’S is fully financed by Polygram Entertainment, the film and television division of Universal Music Group, and presented and produced by Polygram, Universal Music Publishing Group, Interscope Films, Fine Point Films and Fadoo Productions. Alison Ellwood (History of The Eagles, American Jihad) directs the film with Trevor Birney, Corey Russell and Eimhear O’Neill producing. Polygram Entertainment’s David Blackman and Daniel Inkeles are executive producing; the creative team also includes editor Brett Banks and executive producers Brendan J. Byrne. Wally Eltawashy & Arturo Cisneros serve as co-executive producers.
Mission-driven Canadian rock duo, Crown Lands, release their powerful new single, “End of The Road” with Universal Music Canada, the country’s leading music company. “End of The Road” pays tribute to the Indigenous womxn, girls, and two-spirits who have gone missing or have been murdered on Yellowhead Highway 16 in British Columbia, which is referred to as the Highway of Tears.
With this release, Crown Lands introduce themselves as allies, sharing “End of the Road” as reflective address of the disproportionate violence and ongoing injustices experienced by Indigenous communities with hopes to encourage education, discussion and action surrounding this national crisis.
Guitarist Kevin Comeau (he/him) remarks, “We don’t claim to have any answers, but we want to use our voice to bring awareness and help make a difference.”
From 2001 to 2015, the homicide rate for Indigenous Womxn in Canada was almost six times as high as the rate for non-Indigenous women (Statistics Canada). Lead vocalist and drummer, Cody Bowles (they/them) expresses the personal experience that influenced the creation of “End of The Road” explaining, “End of the Road is an outcry for awareness and action surrounding the colonial horrors of the missing and murdered Indigenous Womxn, Girls, and Two-Spirits that still haunt Indigenous communities today. Violence against Indigenous people is something I have witnessed firsthand throughout my life. I am half Mi’kmaw and grew up spending of a lot of my childhood in and around Alderville First Nation. I identify as Two-Spirit and dream of a better world for the brilliant Indigenous womxn, girls and 2SLGBTQ+ people who face adversity every day for their very existence. It’s up to all of us to make this world a better place for future generations, and this song is a small message of hope adding to the rising wave of Indigenous resistance throughout this land.”
The accompanying video for “End of the Road” also released today, opens with a narration by Canadian Inuk singer Tanya Tagaq, contextualizing the devastating facts of this ongoing issue. The video was co-produced by Sage Nokomis Wright, co-directed by Tim Myles, alongside Alex P Smith, and features a cast of Indigenous dancers with drone footage from The Highway of Tears in B.C. . The dancers represent the souls of the missing and murdered womxn and the red dresses are inspired by the work of The RED Dress Project, a collection of 600 red dresses by community donation that is installed across Canada as a visual reminder of the staggering number of womxn missing and to draw attention to the gendered and racialized nature of violent crimes against Indigenous womxn, girls, and 2SLGBTQ+ people. “End Of The Road” was choregraphed by Teineisha Richards, a Mi’kmaq artist from Bear River First Nations, Nova Scotia, raised in Toronto. Teineisha explains her process, “To create the choreography I had to go to a pretty deep and dark place and put myself in the shoes of both the women who went missing and the families of those women who suffered with their loss…I wanted to express the desperate feeling of someone fighting to escape, but with no redemption. Additionally, I aimed to generate a sense of self-empowerment and unity within a shared struggle, by my use of staccato, aggressive, and synchronized movement during the group sections of choreography. Most of the choreography derived from that dark, yet powerful place, and the overall message and feeling I received from the song.”
“End of The Road” follows the release of their acoustic EP Wayward Flyers Volume 1 and will be featured alongside the band’s previously released tracks “Spit it Out” and “Howlin’ Back” on Crown Lands’ upcoming debut album which they’ve announced is set to be released on August 13 with the pre-order available now. Working in Nashville with six-time Grammy winner Dave Cobb (Rival Sons, Chris Stapleton) who produced the album, helped the duo in both refining their writing and following their gut. “Dave pushed us to listen to ourselves and really trust our initial instinct with a song,” says Bowles. See below for full track listing.
After meeting six years ago and bonding over their shared love of music Bowles and Comeau became “instant best friends” and started jamming together in a local barn, switching up instruments, but never straying from a two-piece set-up. Crown Lands have released two EPs Mantra (2016) and Rise Over Run (2017). Making music that brings together a range of influences from folk and blues to psychedelic to prog rock, and drawing on their own intense personal chemistry, Crown Lands are a startlingly fresh jolt of energy.
The group’s name is indicative of their musical ambitions: “Crown Land” is territorial area belonging to the monarch—or, as Bowles puts it: “Crown Land is stolen land and we are reclaiming it.” Crown Lands are on a mission to represent a sense of empowerment for marginalized communities through their music and the weighty subject matter of their lyrics. “People are going to listen to you, so you may as well say something that matters,” says Comeau.
CROWN LANDS ALBUM TRACK LISTING:
Spit It Out
River
Leadfoot
Howlin’ Back
End Of The Road
Forest
Sun Dance
