Oh, you can mention two accomplishments, I won’t be mad.
Toronto-Based Pop Singer/Songwriter Jadyn Lamb Is Better Off As “Friends” in New Single — Available Now!
Canadian alt pop singer/songwriter Jadyn Lamb is all about lessons learned when it comes to relationship dynamics in her newest single, “Friends” — available now!
“I dug deep when writing this one,” the Toronto-area artist says, looking back. “This is everything I wanted to say when I was younger, but kept inside.”
It all comes down to gossip, egoism, and a genuine lack of experience, she says. “That’s what ruined my love life in high school. The inspiration for this song comes from years of stifling feelings of being discontent in romantic relationships, and not communicating it.”
It wasn’t for lack of trying, she adds.
“I would practice the words over and over in my head, but when the moment came to tell the truth, my voice would always tremble. It was hard to tell people ‘no’ or how I felt.”
One such instance — and the modern-day muse for this track — came when Lamb grew highly disenchanted with the direction the relationship was heading. “One thing became very clear to me,” she recalls. “We were better off as ‘Friends.’”
“Friends” is Lamb’s second release for 2020, following January’s “Bad Sign” — her sweetly sung pop track detailing a toxic relationship and unhealthy behaviour. That song initially had an ‘audience of one’; Lamb penned it for her younger sister in the midst of helping her navigate an abusive relationship.
For Lamb, who’s debut track “A Day Off” first came into play in 2018, the new song lands as an electrifying pop track layered with lush melodies that soak into the soul. Audiences familiar with previous recordings “Water,” “Quiet Zone” and “Long Way Home” will recognize the artist’s signature silvery vocals paired with powerful synths and spunky guitar riffs; the results are a smooth blend of electro-pop excellence.
“Friends” is available now.
JUNO Award-Nominated Teen Supergroup GIRL POW-R Leading Fans To Help Those In Need During COVID-19
JUNO Award-nominated and chart topping all-girl pop band Girl Pow-R are mobilizing the masses via mobile phones to, quite simply, help in any way they can in this newly uncertain time.
Leveraging the power of social media in a time of increased social distancing, Girl Pow-R continues to embody their core mission of banding together and uplifting those in their community, no matter the circumstances.
“We’re experiencing this quickly-changing and challenging time alongside other young people across Canada and the world,” the members of Girl Pow-R say. “We can only imagine how others feel watching the news, and we know first-hand what it’s like to sit at home and want to do something to help.”
“As a band, Girl Pow-R wants to continue to do our part and share ideas on how everyone can be a ‘helper’ to those who need support right now.”
Those familiar with Girl Pow-R and their management team, led by Canyon Entertainment Group’s Dawn Van Dam, won’t be surprised the girls are rolling up their sleeves to assist where they can amidst the global outbreak of COVID-19; passionately advocating for social causes close to their hearts is an integral part of who Girl Pow-R are, both as individuals, a band, and a growing movement.
Check out their daily videos and posts with the #GirlPowRment hashtag on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, with suggestions and tips about everything from the ‘Bear Hunt Game’ to ‘Caremongering’.
In the past, Girl Pow-R have helped contribute to charities who work on behalf of anti-war and anti-violence, SickKids Hospital, the Toronto Humane Society and SPCA, the Give and Restore Hope Children’s Charity, WE Movement, Food4Kids, anti-bullying, and raising awareness for the occurrence of strokes in minors — a scenario that personally afflicted Girl Pow-R member Maya during a dance class.
With members ranging in age from 11 – 17, Girl Pow-R’s greatest strength lies in the diversity in their ages, backgrounds and life experiences. The universal things that join them together, however, are dynamic skill sets and a shared mission of empowerment among young women in the world today.
In continuing their inspirational mission of spreading confidence and kindness, Girl Pow-R — as seen on Global News, CBC, CBC Kids News, The Canadian Press, CTV, YTV, TVO Kids, CityTV, eTalk Canada, Girls’ Life, Tiger Beat, J-14, Celeb Secrets, Fresh 95.3 and more — saw their debut album This Is Us not only receive a 2020 JUNO Award nomination for Children’s Album of the Year, but encourage over a million girls to stay confident in their individuality and avoid the pitfalls of peer pressure and online influence in today’s hyper-digital age.
The album’s title track “This Is Us” debuted on the iTunes Canada Children’s chart at #2 and #15 in the U.S. and landed in the midst of a summer featuring back-to-back-(to-back) Canadian and U.S. tour stops.
1-minute tip for bands and artists: What’s your superpower?
What are you great at, other than music? What are you hilariously bad at?
Toronto Folk Singer/Songwriter RAINA KRANGLE’s New Single “My Beautiful Dear” Is Straight From a Dream
Canadian folk singer/songwriter Raina Krangle shares a song straight from her dreams in “My Beautiful Dear” — available now!
The track was recently selected as a finalist in the 2020 Blues & Roots Radio’s International Song Contest, and is the premiere single off her forthcoming album, Headbangers – A Musical Recovery From Mild Traumatic Brain Injury.
On the surface, Krangle’s inspiration for “My Beautiful Dear” is endearing in itself; the storytelling lyricist draws on her parent’s 54-year long love story and her childhood in a house where Bruce Cockburn’s “All the Diamonds” was the harmonized lullaby of choice.
But to understand why “My Beautiful Dream” is even more poignant to Krangle, it’s to know it stems from her recovery from a traumatic brain injury (TBI) just under a year ago.
“The injury happened while I was at work as an educator,” she says of the accident. “From there, my road to recovery included lots of yoga, nature walks, photography, meditation, and journaling.
“It also included my own music therapy, as well as experiencing first hand how important music was for my brain to heal,” she continues. “I immersed myself in studying brain health having learned from a previous educator workshop at Toronto’s Royal Conservatory of Music how music could affect the neuroplasticity of the brain.
“The act of completely slowing down opened the window to self-reflection, vivid dreams and a vast amount of creative flow.”
The result is Headbangers — A Musical Recovery From Mild Traumatic Brain Injury, an eight track odyssey completed in just five months time.
Raina Krangle’s first foray into an album release was in the late-2000’s for Raina’s Rainbow Party, a critically acclaimed children’s release that seamlessly blended her education as an elementary public school teacher and folk/rock artist. “That album was inspired after my son asked me to write a song about the Disney dinosaur, Aladar,” she recalls. “I then began writing songs with my students on my guitar, which was covered in stickers at the time!”
She was later chosen for the official family-themed showcase at the Folk Music Ontario Conference.
In 2012, Krangle-Solstice released her folk/rock debut LP, Solstice; 2016 and 2017 brought follow-up singles “Home” and “Shine” respectively.
For her work, Raina Krangle has won a Newmarket Songwriting Award, a University of Western Ontario Talent Contest, and was nominated for a Folk Music Ontario’s Colleen Peterson Songwriting Award and the Ontario Arts Council.
A favoured fixture on the festival circuit, including Supercrawl, Newmarket Jazz Festival, Aurora Jazz Festival, Toronto PRIDE, Markham Street Festival, and more, she has been featured on Women of Substance, Music Lynk Radio, Whistle Radio, Rogers Daytime TV, and performed in support of Kids Help Phone.
“A Beautiful Dream” is available now.
Peter Jackson’s Documentary, The Beatles: Get Back, Confirmed For Theatres September 4
The Walt Disney Studios has acquired the worldwide distribution rights to acclaimed filmmaker Peter Jackson’s previously announced Beatles documentary. The film will showcase the warmth, camaraderie and humor of the making of the legendary band’s studio album, “Let It Be,” and their final live concert as a group, the iconic rooftop performance on London’s Savile Row. “The Beatles: Get Back” will be released by The Walt Disney Studios in the United States and Canada on September 4, 2020, with additional details and dates for the film’s global release to follow. The announcement was made earlier today by Robert A. Iger, Executive Chairman, The Walt Disney Company, at Disney’s annual meeting of shareholders.
“No band has had the kind of impact on the world that The Beatles have had, and ‘The Beatles: Get Back’ is a front-row seat to the inner workings of these genius creators at a seminal moment in music history, with spectacularly restored footage that looks like it was shot yesterday,” says Iger of the announcement. “I’m a huge fan myself, so I could not be happier that Disney is able to share Peter Jackson’s stunning documentary with global audiences in September.”
“The Beatles: Get Back,” presented by The Walt Disney Studios in association with Apple Corps Ltd. and WingNut Films Productions Ltd., is an exciting new collaboration between The Beatles, the most influential band of all time, and three-time Oscar®-winning filmmaker Peter Jackson (“The Lord of the Rings” trilogy). Compiled from over 55 hours of unseen footage, filmed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg in 1969, and 140 hours of mostly unheard audio recordings from the “Let It Be” album sessions, “The Beatles: Get Back” is directed by Jackson and produced by Jackson, Clare Olssen (“They Shall Not Grow Old”) and Jonathan Clyde, with Ken Kamins and Apple Corps’ Jeff Jones serving as executive producers.
The footage has been brilliantly restored by Park Road Post Production of Wellington, New Zealand, and is being edited by Jabez Olssen, who collaborated with Jackson on 2018’s “They Shall Not Grow Old,” the groundbreaking film which featured restored and colorized World War I archival footage. The music in the film will be mixed by Giles Martin and Sam Okell at Abbey Road Studios in London. With this pristine restoration behind it, “The Beatles: Get Back” will create a vivid, joyful and immersive experience for audiences.
Peter Jackson says, “Working on this project has been a joyous discovery. I’ve been privileged to be a fly on the wall while the greatest band of all time works, plays and creates masterpieces. I’m thrilled that Disney have stepped up as our distributor. There’s no one better to have our movie seen by the greatest number of people.”
Paul McCartney says, “I am really happy that Peter has delved into our archives to make a film that shows the truth about The Beatles recording together. The friendship and love between us comes over and reminds me of what a crazily beautiful time we had.”
Ringo Starr says, “I’m really looking forward to this film. Peter is great and it was so cool looking at all this footage. There was hours and hours of us just laughing and playing music, not at all like the version that came out. There was a lot of joy and I think Peter will show that. I think this version will be a lot more peace and loving, like we really were.”
“The Beatles: Get Back” is also being made with the enthusiastic support of Yoko Ono Lennon and Olivia Harrison.
Although the original “Let It Be” film, directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg, and the accompanying album were filmed and recorded in January 1969, they were not released until May 1970, three weeks after The Beatles had officially broken up. The response to the film at the time by audiences and critics alike was strongly associated with that announcement. During the 15-month gap between the filming of “Let It Be” and its launch, The Beatles recorded and released their final studio album, “Abbey Road,” which came out in September 1969.
Shot on 16mm and blown up to 35mm, the 80-minute “Let It Be” movie was built around the three weeks of filming, including an edited version of the rooftop concert. The GRAMMY®-winning “Let It Be” album topped the charts in the U.S. and the U.K.
The new documentary brings to light much more of the band’s intimate recording sessions for “Let It Be” and their entire 42-minute performance on the rooftop of Apple’s Savile Row London office. While there is no shortage of material of The Beatles’ extensive touring earlier in their careers, “The Beatles: Get Back” features the only notable footage of the band at work in the studio, capturing John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr as they create their now-classic songs from scratch, laughing, bantering and playing to the camera
Shot on January 30, 1969, The Beatles’ surprise rooftop concert marked the band’s first live performance in over two years and their final live set together. The footage captures interactions between the band members, reactions from fans and employees from nearby businesses, and comical attempts to stop the concert by two young London policemen responding to noise complaints.
A fully restored version of the original “Let It Be” film will be made available at a later date.
The Killers Share “Caution”, First Single Off Forthcoming Album, Imploding The Mirage, Out May 29
THE KILLERS are thrilled to share the details of their forthcoming, highly-anticipated sixth studio album, Imploding The Mirage, which is set for release on May 29, 2020. The album – produced by the band in conjunction with Shawn Everett and Jonathan Rado of Foxygen – was recorded in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and Park City, UT. It is the first Killers album to be written and recorded since leaving their hometown of Las Vegas, NV. Imploding The Mirage also features a brilliant array of collaborators, another first for the band who have typically kept guest spots on their albums to a minimum. The list of featured artists includes Lindsey Buckingham, kd lang, Weyes Blood, Adam Granduciel (War On Drugs), Blake Mills, and Lucius.
The album’s first single, “Caution”, is all of Imploding The Mirage’s excellence densely packed into three and a half minutes. Both refreshingly next level and reminiscent of the band’s much-loved albums Sam’s Town and Battle Born, it finds The Killers evoking the spirit of ambitious reinvention matched with the kind of anthemic chorus to which they’ve become synonymous. The track also features an iconic guitar solo courtesy of the legendary Lindsey Buckingham.
Since the release of their 2004 debut, Hot Fuss, The Killers have sold 28 million albums, headlined stadiums and festivals around the world and won dozens of accolades globally. The band continues their reign as America’s heartland heroes as they head into Imploding The Mirage. Following their 2017 Billboard #1 album, Wonderful Wonderful – a love letter of sorts, as Brandon Flowers crafted songs of encouragement to his wife during crippling bouts of depression – Imploding The Mirage is the light after the dark; the overcoming of sadness and moving into celebration. It’s a record about eternal love, perseverance through hard times, and the strength gained from friendships and familial bonds whilst weathering a storm.
Indeed, Imploding The Mirage leaves the grit and glitter of Vegas behind for something more expansive and triumphant. (Literally. Flowers moved his family from the parched flats of Vegas, NV to the lush mountains of Utah before beginning work on the record.) It’s an album that also pushed the band out of their musical comfort zone, exploring new terrain and referencing the albums in their collection that filled them with a sense of romance and camaraderie in their youth. Influences include Kate Bush and Peter Gabriel, as well as Killers’ touchstones like Bruce Springsteen and New Order. Throughout it all, Flowers remains a wholly singular songwriter. A prolific artist with a steadfast understanding in how much solace a song can provide; he’s a pensive craftsman in the studio and an exuberant rock star on the stage. These 2020 shows will give fans a chance to experience The Killers as they deliver the most relentlessly enjoyable rock show of the year.
Norah Jones Announces Seventh Studio Album, Pick Me Up Off The Floor, Out May 8
On May 8, nine-time GRAMMY winning singer, songwriter, and pianist Norah Jones will release her seventh solo studio album Pick Me Up Off The Floor on Blue Note Records. The lead single “I’m Alive”, a collaboration with Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy, is out today. The song was co-written by Jones and Tweedy, produced by Tweedy, and features Jones on vocals and piano, Tweedy on electric guitar, acoustic guitar, and bass, and Spencer Tweedy on drums.
The track listing for Pick Me Up Off The Floor is as follows:
How I Weep (Norah Jones)
Flame Twin (Norah Jones)
Hurts To Be Alone (Norah Jones)
Heartbroken, Day After (Norah Jones)
Say No More (Norah Jones/Sarah Oda)
This Life (Norah Jones)
To Live (Norah Jones)
I’m Alive (Norah Jones/Jeff Tweedy)
Were You Watching? (Norah Jones/Emily Fiskio)
Stumble On My Way (Norah Jones)
Heaven Above (Norah Jones/Jeff Tweedy)
Produced by Norah Jones (except “I’m Alive” and “Heaven Above” produced by Jeff Tweedy)
Jones didn’t mean to make another album. After she finished touring 2016’s Day Breaks — her beloved return to piano-based jazz — she walked away from the well-worn album cycle grind and into an unfamiliar territory without boundaries: a series of short sessions with an ever-changing array of collaborators resulting in a diverse stream of singles (with Mavis Staples, Rodrigo Amarante, Thomas Bartlett, Tarriona Tank Ball, and more). But then slowly but surely, the session songs Jones hadn’t released congealed into that very thing she’d meant to avoid — an album. But Pick Me Up Off The Floor is not some disjointed collage. It holds together beautifully, connected by the sly groove of her piano trios, lyrics that confront loss and portend hope, and a heavy mood that leans into darkness before ultimately finding the light.
“Every session I’ve done, there’ve been extra songs I didn’t release and they’ve sort of been collecting for the last two years,” says Jones. “I became really enamored with them, having the rough mixes on my phone, listening while I walk the dog. The songs stayed stuck in my head and I realized that they had this surreal thread running through them. It feels like a fever dream taking place somewhere between God, the Devil, the heart, the Country, the planet, and me.”
Sure enough, just as this set of songs blurs sonic colors (blues, soul, Americana, and various shades of jazz) it also swirls the personal and political, specific pain and societal trauma, into one mercurial body. Even the album title’s meaning seems to shift. The words “Pick Me Up Off the Floor” at times play as a plea for outside intervention, but in other moments the phrase feels like a bootstraps-style statement of purpose, as on the rootsy “I’m Alive,” made in Chicago with Jeff and Spencer Tweedy, where Jones slashes her own silver lining into the haze of the modern news cycle: “She’s crushed by thoughts at night of men / Who want her rights and usually win / But she’s alive, oh she’s alive.”
“Living in this country — this world — the last few years, I think there’s an underlying sense of, ‘Lift me up. Let’s get up out of this mess and try to figure some things out,'” says Jones. “If there’s a darkness to this album, it’s not meant to be an impending sense of doom, if feels more like a human longing for connection. Some of the songs that are personal also apply to the larger issues we’re all facing. And some of the songs that are about very specific larger things also feel quite personal.”
The backbone of this album was formed early in an especially fruitful session with her go-to drummer Brian Blade who appears on six of the album’s 11 tracks. Other musicians who contribute throughout include bassists Christopher Thomas, John Patitucci, Jesse Murphy, and Josh Lattanzi, drummers Nate Smith, Dan Rieser, and Josh Adams, keyboardist Pete Remm, pedal steel guitarist Dan Iead, violinist Mazz Swift, violist Ayane Kozasa, cellist Paul Wiancko, percussionist Mauro Refosco, background vocalists Ruby Amanfu and Sam Ashworth, and the horn section of trumpeter Dave Guy and tenor saxophonist Leon Michels.
“I don’t know if I was just in a zone or if this process turned it on, but I’ve felt more creative in the last year than I ever have,” says Jones. By completely rethinking the way she made music, Jones discovered a new wellspring of inspiration, with the fortunate if unexpected result of making an album of tremendous depth and beauty that she was not trying to make.
Unpredictability has been a hallmark of Norah Jones’ career from the start. She first emerged on the world stage with the February 2002 release of Come Away With Me, her self-described “moody little record” that introduced a singular new voice and grew into a global phenomenon, sweeping the 2003 GRAMMY Awards. Since then, Norah has sold 50 million albums globally and become a nine-time GRAMMY-winner. Her songs have been streamed five billion times worldwide. She has released a series of critically acclaimed and commercially successful solo albums—Feels Like Home (2004), Not Too Late (2007), The Fall (2009), Little Broken Hearts (2012), and Day Breaks (2016)—as well as albums with her collective bands The Little Willies, El Madmo, and Puss N Boots featuring Sasha Dobson and Catherine Popper who released their second LP Sister in 2020. The 2010 compilation …Featuring Norah Jones showcased her incredible versatility by collecting her collaborations with artists as diverse as Willie Nelson, Outkast, Herbie Hancock, and Foo Fighters. Since 2018 Jones has been releasing a series of singles including collaborations with artists and friends such as Mavis Staples, Jeff Tweedy, Thomas Bartlett, Tarriona Tank Ball, Rodrigo Amarante, and Brian Blade. The 2019 singles collection Begin Again gathered seven snapshots of creativity from one of the music world’s most consistently intriguing artists.
1-minute tip for bands and artists: How likes and shares are the new autographs.
…or how to blow your fans’ minds in less than a minute.