13 March 2024 - FouKi ft. P'tit Belliveau - St-Han Quinzou

We missed FouKi.  We first featured him and his collaboration with Jay Scøtt in 2022.  That Félix award-winning song ended up on my heavy rotation and was my most-listened to song on Spotify in 2022.  

It is also sung by people in my house who do not speak French.  

FouKi was also nominated for a Juno in 2022 - for Francophone Album of the Year.  He lost - and deservedly so, honestly.  Impossible à aimer was amazing.  He's nominated again this year in the same category, for Zayon, and I am boldly predicting victory.

This song, a collaboration with fellow Canadian artist P'tit Belliveau (he is a folk musician from Nova Scotia who does a fair bit of Acadian vocals), is quite energetic.  It is a party song, celebrating a popular festival day in Quebec of St. Jean Baptiste.  

Also, FouKi wearing the Nordiques sweater is straight fire. 

I actually like this better live.  You can really hear the Acadian folk that Belliveau brings to the party.  FouKi brings the Expos jersey to the party in this performance.  

12 March 2024 - Lights - Savage

Well well well.

We've reached the Lights portion of the month.  

You had to know it was coming.  It's not like we've haven't had like 20 Lights posts in the last three years.  

Only a slight exaggeration.  This is the 19th since 2021.  

This single was released in advance of her 2017 album Skin&Earth, which of course came with a comic book and a post-apocalyptic video.  

As she has done several times since Siberia, Lights made an acoustic version of Skin&Earth and released it in 2019.  This was an innovative recording, with unusual recording locations. 

This is not the studio recording.  This was a live performance in Austin, TX in 2019.  

No, no, this was the "studio" recording.  I put "studio" in quotes because her "studio" was her portable rig under an umbrella sitting on the ground outside during a rainstorm.  

That's really rain you hear.  

And this kind of shows you how she did it.

11 March 2024 - Rêve - Release Me

We were delighted to see that Rêve released a full album - Saturn Return - in December, and it was nominated for a couple of Juno Awards this year.  We'd be happier if she'd release it in the States.

What delights us even more is seeing more depth from someone who will, undoubtably, become a big star, even if her whole 2024 seems to be contained to Canada.  This song, from the album, was released as a short film on January 5th of this year - so, yeah, that's why there are some pauses in the song.  It's a great, deep, softer song - with some ambient beats, but not the thumping dance numbers that brought her to prominence. 

The song was co-written by Max-Antoine Gendron and Rêve, and it should be a hit everywhere, but, for now, we're going to have to be happy with Canada.  

10 March 2024 - Brooke Nicholls - Enough

Brooke Nicholls is an artist... and worship leader.... from Hamilton, Ontario.

That's right.  This is church music.  Which is part of the the reason why I'm posting this on a Sunday morning.  And it's GOOD.  I don't post a lot of religious music, but I do when it's good music.  

The other part is that she's a Juno nominee this year, for Best Contemporary Christian Gospel Album of the Year, for Glory To God.   This song, which literally declares that Jesus is enough, is a centerpiece of that album, which is really good.  

9 March 2024 - Softcult - Dress

According to WikiPedia, Softcult are a Canadian grunge duo from Kitchener, Ontario, and the duo are actually twin sisters.  

They are so much more than that.  They bring back the aethestic of the shoegaze movement from the early 1990s, bringing in elements of grunge.  

They're also Juno Award nominees this year, for Best Alternative Album, for their EP See You In The Dark.  This emotional song is a centerpiece of that record - the darkest and a song that has deep, dark themes but still retains a poppy feel. 

This video might be triggering, because of the flashing lights and the themes of sexual assault, which is also the subject of the song.  It was directed and edited by Mercedes Am-Horn, who also happens to be one of the twins in the band (her sister Phoenix is the other, and she produced it).  They bring an excellend DIY feeling to their music and the visual that matches it.

Of course they perform the song live, and, believe it or not, they even tour the US.  This is from a show in Dallas from last March - they built their Maple Leaf March case last year! - and you can hear the emotion a little stronger in the live version.

8 March 2024 - Once A Tree - Perfection

Usually, when I double up on a day, it's the same artist - or else someone died.

No one died.  And neither 

Today, I'm doing it because I don't want to move anything else and because Once A Tree - the duo of Hayden and Jayli Wolf - released a new song today, and it's really great.  

Also, they're a Canadian act that released music in March!!!!!

So, go listen to it - on all platforms (I have it playing on Spotify here).  

8 March 2024 - Connor Price & Haviah Mighty - Trendsetter

I decided to do a double today.  Both Connor Price and Havian Mighty are Canadian rappers.  

This was originally just going to be a Connor Price post, though.  A respected actor before he got really prolific in the hip hop beats, he is nominated for three Juno Awards, including one for his album Spin The Globe.  This song is from its follow up, Spin The Globe: Season 2.  These are high concept albums - he literally spun a globe and pointed at it, collaborating with artists from whereever his finger hit.

On this song, the Toronto native must have not hit very far, because Haviah Mighty is from Brampton, Ontario.  Her 2021 mixtape Stock Exchange was a Juno winner in its own right.

Guys, that's the CN Tower in the background.  It doesn't get much more Canadian than that.  

Why yes, they HAVE performed this song live, and yes, BOTH of them. Toronto, make some NOIIIIIISE!