Diner Drugs buy some time, Jakob Mind passes along the message, Michigander is doing just fine, Not A Citizen are seeing things — and we’re just getting warmed up in your latest gargantuan Weekend Roundup. Wanna hear a joke? OK, here goes: (1) An engineer, a physicist, and a mathematician are shown a pasture with a herd of sheep …
1 | Diner Drugs | Need Time
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Diner Drugs from Moncton deliver the video for their song Need Time off the 2019 album As Is. The quartet take inspiration from stoner-rock and punk, and come with as much harmony as they do beer. Elegantly self-coined as “mustard moustache muscle car cliché,” they have groove and grease for days. As Is was a more grown-up release than their self-titled debut, and they took a more serious angle, focusing on writing great songs, and put more thought into arranging the parts. Diner Drugs explain their music in their own words: “We’re a loud and punchy stoner metal band but we also have smooth vocal harmonies that usually catch people off guard. We love playing and even though our overall attitude is we’re pretty chill, we take a lot of time to craft our songs and it’s a group effort when we write so it’s not someone up there playing someone else’s songs.”
2 | Jakob Mind | Let Them Know
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Let Them Know is the third single and music video by Rotten Mind’s singer and guitarist Jakob Arvidsson. Under the artist name Jakob Mind, the Swedish punk is set to release his solo debut album The One Who Got Away on April 16. Jakob says: “The idea behind the video is that we had no idea. We just met up on the day that turned out to be the snowiest and coldest day of the year. First we wanted to make it a little bit like a commercial video for the tourist attractions in Uppsala, don’t ask me why. But after we went to the castle and shot some scenes we decided I should skate down from there and that was really hard. I learned that guitars tend to be really slippery when you skate them downhill in snow.”
3 | Michigander | OK
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Rising indie rock artist Michigander, the sonic alter ego of Michigan native Jason Singer, has released his new single OK and revealed the details for his third EP, Everything Will Be OK Eventually, due out March 19. Built around a melodic piano loop, head-nodding bass line, steady claps, and flashes of lead guitar, OK culminates on a chantable hook as Singer assures, “It’s okay to be lonely. It’s okay to be alone sometimes.” He explains: “Too often, whenever I was alone or feeling lonely, I would think it was a negative thing. But during last year, when there was an excessive amount of time on my own, I realized that being alone sometimes is a totally normal thing. Sometimes, it’s easier to think clearer when you’re on your own. I think a lot of people feel like something is missing if they aren’t constantly surrounded by people. I’m just trying to normalize the alone time.”
4 | The Unders | Sleep for What
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Brooklyn punks The Unders just dropped a video for their tune Sleep for What. It’s an exuberant, upbeat rev-up in classic ’77 punk fashion off their new record III.”
5 | Not A Citizen | Sin Tus Ojos, Yo No Te Puedo Ver
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Not A Citizen is Cristobal Jimenez Van Cauwelaert — a multi-instrumentalist and producer whose influences stretch between two continents. With a clear Latin influence, his signature vintage percussive elements and Spanish vocals, Sin Tus Ojos, Yo No Te Puedo Ver takes the listener on an obscure yet melancholic journey. He adds: “The title means “without your eyes, I cannot see you,” which refers to the feeling of losing someone while not being ready to let them go. The person who leaves takes their existence and everything they are with them, including their eyes, and their visions for a joint future. As the saying goes, the eyes are the window into one’s soul, and without them, there is no connection, just nothingness, a void. This is what inspired this song.”
6 | The Shootouts | Rattlesnake Whiskey
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “The Shootouts are known for their energetic blend of honky-tonk, Americana, and traditional country. After releasing their acclaimed 2019 debut Quick Draw, the band were nominated for an Ameripolitan Music Award for Best Honky-Tonk Group. Produced by Grammy nominee and BR549 founder Chuck Mead, their next album Bullseye ranges from catchy pedal steel-filled numbers to two-step tunes to fan favorites like Rattlesnake Whiskey. It’s the first single from the album, which comes out April 30.”
7 | Ontarians | Time
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “The members of the band Ontarians don’t live in Toronto, although their sound isn’t far removed from the distinctive brand of country-rock that ruled Toronto during the glory days of the Horseshoe Tavern, the Cameron House and the Rivoli. Today they release the album’s first single Time. “This was a true collaborative effort,” they say. “Between glasses of Pernod, car troubles and lots of laughter we wrote songs about various stages of life we found ourselves in — past, present, and a hypothetical future. When Craig and I sat down to write with a clear goal in mind, it was like a reservoir of creativity was released that had been building up for a long time.”
8 | A Muffled Snore | The Dainty Dandies
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “A Muffled Snore is a collaboration album between three Ontario artists: Friendly Rich, David Sait, and {AN} EeL. The album consists of 12 beautifully strange tales that soar through dark, timeless atmospheres. With the Dadaist texts of {An} EeL pairing with Friendly Rich’s dark vocal delivery and the other-worldly sounds of David Sait, this recording is cinematic, dreamy, and psychedelic. The narration is like a collection of twisted fairy tales describing mysterious places, rituals, and dark secrets leading with track The Dainty Dandies, which has been paired with a mind-bending video.”
9 | Chet Faker | Get High
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “After reviving his acclaimed Chet Faker project in October with the soothing melancholic of Low, Nick Murphy now shares the followup single and video Get High. Opening to a swinging piano intro, Murphy slides down the keys before his raw vocals ask big questions. The song’s escapist lyrics are set to a funk-addled backbeat deep-seated in the kind of soul grooves that are unmistakably Chet Faker. Get High opens enthrallingly: “I wanna get high, I wanna take a break from myself.” Murphy elaborates: “Sometimes you just need a break. I find myself wanting to escape just for a little while and the song sort of showed up on its own.”
10 | We Are The Union | Fresh Fruit For Rotting Punk Rock Stars
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “WATU are back with another single, this time taking aim at aging punks who’ve tossed aside their ideals and are cashing in on their cred … and DAMN is it catchy. The video features Reed in clown makeup getting pelted by a whole bunch of fruit (it’s as entertaining as it sounds) … check it out below:”
11 | Lugosi | They Came From Outer Space
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Lugosi have released the single and video for They Came From Outer Space, from their new album Video Nasty out March 12. Video Nasty is jam-packed with eight slices of rock ’n’ horror madness that channels the spirit of Clutch drinking with members of The Cramps and Misfits while GWAR roll the next joint. Formed in 2016, and influenced by the unholy quadrilogy of beer, books, movies and music, they embarked on a mission to make heavy music informed by horror and science fiction, infused with a singular humour and delivered with groove and style. A sonic Ed Wood movie transmitted through rock ’n’ roll, Lugosi have created a cartoon catalogue of monsters and myths, aliens, witches, vampires, secret societies and much, much more.”
12 | Summoning The Lich | Cult of Ophidian
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Summoning The Lich have released the third single from their upcoming album United In Chaos, titled Cult of Ophidian. Accompanying the new track, the band have also unleashed a suitably macabre music video, directed by Danny Tilson. United In Chaos will be released on Feb. 26.”
13 | Rebel Wizard | The Poor & Ridiculous Alchemy OfChrist & Lucifer & Us All
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Negative metal pioneer Rebel Wizard released a new live video performance of The Poor & Ridiculous Alchemy OfChrist & Lucifer & Us All, the third offering in his ongoing series of live videos filmed at The Wizard’s Crypt. It’s a song from his 2018 album Voluptuous Worship Of Rapture and Response.”
14 | Mean Streak | Judas Falling
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Mean Streak were founded in 2006 by Peter Andersson. The Swedes released their fifth studio album Eye Of The Storm last summer, though they have long been a fixture in metal. They produced the album themselves, but the mix comes from Max Norman, whom greats like Ozzy Osbourne, Megadeth, Lynch Mob and Y&T have relied on in the past.”
15 | Elle Brightly | I Know Your Type
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Texas pop singer Elle Brightly has the perfect anthem for all the single girls this #GalentinesDay. I Know Your Type is a fun, simple song about not falling for the same kinds of unreliable guys over again. It’s an upbeat tune of solidarity with an electronic beat that’ll make you get up and dance rather than sit and wallow. As she says: “It’s what the world needs now, happy heart-full music.”
16 | The Ones You Forgot | Desensitized
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Pop/rock band The Ones You Forgot have released their new single Desensitized. The track serves as a mark of evolution for the quintet. Desensitized finds the band at a high point, while still signaling that they have a long, emboldened career ahead. Vocalist Jenna Bruno states: “Songwriting is very cathartic. It’s a great release of emotions, especially for the ones that we often bottle up. When I wrote Desensitized, I found myself in that place of pretending to be OK when I knew for a fact that I wasn’t. Writing this song took a weight off my shoulders and allowed me to accept how I was feeling and address the state of my mental health.”
17 | Michael Menegon | Connected … Not The Same
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Toronto roots singer-songwriter Michael Menegon releases his second album Time Is Now on March 5, and today shares his video for the first single Connected … Not The Same. Menegon explains: “Written while floating on a northern Ontario lake under the star-filled midnight sky, Connected … Not The Same is an ode to our universal connectedness and the uniqueness of our individuality, and to finding the proper pace in which to be in love with both.”
18 | MacKenzie Porter | Drinkin’ Songs
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Canada’s MacKenzie Porter has released the official video for her chart-climbing single Drinkin’ Songs. A time-travelling trip through the decades, the video was directed by Justin Clough and shot in Nashville, with Porter dating one dud after another time after time, with each love interest throughout the iconic eras becoming “just another one of (her) drinkin’ songs.”
19 | Raveena | Tweety
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Raveena returns to share a new song and accompanying visual. Produced by Everett Orr, Tweety adopts the same whimsical energy of the song’s namesake, with the accompanying visualizer directed by Raveena and Chris Cadaver bringing it to life as Raveena makes her way through a series of surrealist, candy-colored backdrops. “Music is all feeling,” says the soul and R&B singer. It’s a truth she’s leaned on through a whirlwind couple of years, which saw a potent flurry of output and a pointed ascent into the conversation.”
