Category Archives: New Artists
Data Romance’s Debut Album, Other
Victorians Amy Kirkpatrick and Ajay Bhattacharyya have formed a Vancouver-based electronic duo called Data Romance and have recently launched their debut LP, Other. Of the several electronic releases so far in 2013 in the Great White North, this one stands out for its posh and sophisticated composition, smart production, complex down-tempo beats, and glittering soundscapes. The album opens with “Caves” that provides an ominous introduction with its thunderous trip-hop beats and suspenseful keys. “Others” drags its iron boots through space gravel while “Cargo” gives us a glistening night sky of northern lights. “Can’t Keep Your Mind Off” with its cheeky vocal and whirring background noise was recently offered as a free iTunes download and is followed by the more ethereal “Something to Me” and downright haunting “They”. The sweeping “Only a Few” flowers into throbbing black light intensity worthy of a club circuit highlight. “Guard” is a catchy composition that makes effective use of vocal falsetto. Given that this work of greatness is Data Romance’s debut, then the duo is destined to become one of the top acts of the genre galaxy-wide.
Other on iTunes Data Romance Official Website
Jessica Lee’s “Beautiful”
Jessica Lee was busy studying pre-med science at the University of Ottawa. Her roommate dared her to enter a contest to sing with Marianas Trench at Massey Hall in Toronto. She did, and she won. After blowing people away with her performance, she washed her hands of her “15 seconds of fame” and went back to the textbooks. But she was invited to Vancouver to record a new version of The Trench’s “Good for You” and to appear in the music video. The next thing she knew, she was signing a record deal with 604 Records and assigned a team who have worked with the likes of Carly Rae Jepsen.
Introducing Jessica Lee’s debut solo single, “Beautiful”.
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“What Was I Thinking” … About … Liz Coyles?
I have been thinking quite a bit these days. I was thinking about how refreshingly diverse Canadian music is, about how it is like attending a banquet with all kinds of different dishes and delicacies. Every dish on the table has someone who declares it his favourite. The dishes I sample from will not be the same as my neighbour selects, but we enjoy the food together and have a great time. I was also thinking about Canada’s brand new singers who are releasing their first singles, their first EPs, their first albums. New dishes are being served that no one has tried before and all will eventually find their fans.
Of all the new singers in the last year, a huge thumbs up to London, Ontario’s Liz Coyles. Her reggae flavoured “Butterflies” stirred up enough liking to have her placed on the Billboard Canadian Emerging Artists chart. We put up a little feature on it HERE. From just one hit, she was invited to perform at Canada’s Walk of Fame gala and to open for K’Naan and Sarah McLachlan at Massey Hall. Liz has served up her second dish in the form of a new single released just a few days ago. It’s called “What Was I Thinking”, co-written with Hawksley Workman, produced by Tino Zolfo (who has worked with Carly Rae Jepsen and Soul Decision), and mixed by Tom Lord-Alge (Blink 182, Coldplay, U2). Her music is good-natured, playful, sweet, bright, and sincere.
Give it a listen at Soundcloud LINK
iTunes LINK
Liz Coyles’ Official Website LINK
Red Magic by Beat Market
For those of you wondering whether Canada has more to offer in the realm of instrumental EDM (that’s electronic dance music) than deadmau5, look no further than this brand new duo from Montréal: Louis-Joseph Cliche and Maxime Bellavance. They presented their first live set in 2010 at Montreal’s Piknic Elektronik. Beat Market released an EP earlier this year and have now just released their self-produced debut LP, Red Magic. They make ample use of analogue synthesizers and have a more complex and sophisticated sound than many of the other acts out there. And yes, this album just may make your foot start tapping annoying the sleepoholics in the apartment below you, and when you, yourself, hit the sack with these vibes in your head, dreams of hangin’ at a video game arcade in Tokyo with some bubble tea in hand may just happen. Red Magic is the perfect party album and no doubt one of the strongest releases of the year in any musical genre, a very impressive piece of work.
iTunes Official Website
Unsolved Mysteries: The Strange Disappearance of Colin Janz
North Vancouver’s Colin Janz, son of Canadian pop star Paul Janz, released a record in 2008 after doing work with Dave “Rave” Ogilvie. According to Last FM and Myspace, he was to operate under the name Esper. We’re assuming he did not want to be confused with Colin James. An EP was released bearing the title Artisan Kane. CBC Music states that this was the title of the artist and the EP is called Shadowlands. However iTunes says Artisan Kane is the name of the EP, the artist’s name being Frederick. The EP was supposedly released by Vancouver’s 604 Records but they do not list Colin (under any of the aliases) as one of their artists. Myspace listed www.artisankane.com as his website. It has been taken down. His Facebook page is inactive. Things that make you go, “Hmmmmm”. Robert Stack would have had a good time investigating this one.
All of this aside, his music is brillant and you can can dowload 3 tracks from the EP from iTunes.
If you have any information on the whereabouts of Colin Janz, please contact The Canadian Music Blog.
Vancouver’s Wanting is Drenched in Love
Folks, let’s go on a little trip. Those of you sweltering in summer heat will appreciate this. We’re flying over to the most inhabited continent on earth where over 12% of Canadians claim their ancestry lies. Beyond Japan and the Koreas is the world’s most populated country. In its northeastern region sits a city called Harbin, home to well over 10 million people in its metro area. Although it is Edmonton’s Chinese sister city, it perhaps has more in common with Quebec City, given that, it has a huge winter festival that attracts tourists from around the world. It erects a whole neighbourhood of buildings and sculptures composed of ice. Harbin also has a strong music culture; in fact, it is the home to China’s first symphony orchestra and its first school of music. Every two years, the city hosts a huge international summer concert series. In 2006, 1,000 pianists performed on the city’s Central Street. UNESCO has recognized Harbin as China’s Music City.
At the dawn of the new millennium, one of Harbin’s citizens, named Wan Ting (or Wanting), whose family name Qu means song, decided to bring her talents eastward and emigrated to Vancouver, Canada. She got a university of degree in Business Management but felt 
she was not going in a direction in keeping with her gifts and yearnings. What she was really wanting was to become a singer-songwriter. In 2005, she began composing music. The music was so inspired and beautiful that she was invited to perform at all sorts of gigs around Vancouver, BC Fashion Week, the Railway Club, Backstage Lounge, Beaumont Theatre, and even on CJSF radio. Wanting Qu’s amazing works blew Nettwerk Records / Universal away, and they signed her.
Wanting has released her debut album entitled Everything in the World which has, thus far, spawned 2 singles. Although essentially an English album, she began auxiliary songwriting, due to demands back in China, to record some songs in Chinese. She is now creating so much buzz in China, having gone platinum the first week of release, that Billboard Magazine has featured her in an article (LINK). Enjoying parallel burgeoning careers on both sides of the Pacific, Wanting is doing well. Check out lyric video below of her gorgeous song “Drenched”.
Wanting on…
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CBC
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New Singer Darrelle London Is Doing “Fine”
For those of you who like your music lighter, sweeter, and fun, Toronto has done something for you: it has given us a brand new singer, songwriter, and pianist named Darrelle London.
Darrelle was accepted into law school but perhaps wanted to do more useful things with her voice than repeatedly yell “Objection!” in a court of law. She began writing songs and touring and was encouraged by the response she received. She has played gigs in posh Hollywood venues as well as Lilith Fair, North by Northwest, and Canadian Music Week. MuchMusic, Entertainment Tonight Canada, eTalk, Canada AM, MTV, CBC, PBS, and the official 90210 TV soundtrack have featured her and her music.
It was not long before Darrelle caught the attention of JUNO award winning, multi-platinum Canadian recording artist Chantal Kreviazuk. Impressed with Darrelle’s talents, Chantal met with her in 2010 to assist with songwriting, resulting in three collaborative songs for Darrelle’s debut album, Eat a Peach. Chantal also helped with production and sang some backing vocals. “She sings from her heart,” Kreviazuk said of Darrelle, “and her gentle unique approach to music is so special, it is a pleasure to be immersed in.”
Chantal was not the only big name to notice Darrelle London. Diamond-certified international superstar Sarah McLachlan was also impressed. Sarah and a judging committee chose Darrelle as the Toronto Lilith Talent Search winner, inviting her to perform at the fair sharing the stage with McLachlan.
In the meantime, Darrelle’s music began being used in advertisements run in South Korea and the music’s popularity has spread throughout Asia.
In conjunction with the release of her delightful debut album, Eat a Peach, lead single “Fine” has been released and is being picked up by radio stations across the country. Check out the music video below.
Darrelle London Official Website
Darrelle London on iTunes
