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By: Gemma Mastroianni If you’ve been keeping up with todays trends in the music scene, it’s no secret that a pop-punk revival is on the rise. As the years go by trends fluctuate, with many returning in an evolved way. Artists Xarissa (Anna James) and MNDFL (Jody Tompkins) grew up listening to pop-punk music and are enthusiastic about the return of this early 2000/2010’s trend, which helped inspire their new track “Never Coming Home” which was just released today. This brand new passionate single covers a relationship ending, but you get a glimpse of both sides of it which is represented by each artist, almost creating a duel effect as they take turns singing verses, and come together in the chorus. Although this track contains many elements of electronic music and effects, it certainly still has a hint of that pop-punk edginess through each artists vocal delivery. In terms of how this song was created, MNDFL originally wrote the hook. He presented it to James and she knew she had to jump on the track, where she wrote the verses to follow. Xarissa recorded her vocals partially from home, and then her outro vocals in MNDFL’s home studio in his basement. MNDFL recorded his in a studio just outside of Toronto. Towards the end of the song, both artists were joined by “a very happy and drunk group of people” (aka Xarissa’s fiancé, Hunter, MNDFL’s parents, Lisa & Terry, and their good friend, Basil), which is such a fun concept! Album art was shot at an abandoned house in Toronto, not far from his home. Learn more about each artist below: Xarissa Anna Xarissa James is a songwriter and musician from Gainesville, Florida, currently based in Atlanta. She recently moved from Toronto, where she met MNDFL, and has been collaborating with him as a producer. Her last release, “Popsicle Brain,” was produced by him. Since March 2020, she has grown an audience on TikTok (over 100k followers) and Instagram, posting daily videos about dogs, mental health, and the struggles of being an indie musician. She plans to release a few more singles before the end of 2021. MNDFL Toronto Based Artist/Producer, MNDFL, has been honing his skills in music since 2013. Originally a mix engineer in Toronto, MNDFL blended his mixing skills with his lifelong love of music to create a sound that is truly him. Growing up on Pop Punk bands like Blink-182 and Sum 41 while listening to the growing EDM scene helped shaped the fusion that MNDFL gravitates towards naturally.

Nick McKinlay is the drummer for the indie rock band Fast Romantics, but also plays with A Band Called Max, Sportsfan, Rouge Tenet, and many others. We talk about how he has more records than the rest of the band combined, how his dad got rid of his entire collection except for Led Zeppelin albums and how in a time of need he sold all his OG pressings of Mars Volta albums and got ripped off for them. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon, Anchor, or below: If you live in Ontario or Quebec make sure you check out Fast Romantics on tour. Check out Nick’s work composing theme music for the 155 Podcast. Follow Nick McKinlay on Instagram, and follow Fast Romantics on Twitter and Instagram. Crate Digging is a Soundtrack production, produced by Dakota Arsenault and Gemma Mastroianni. Original music by Jared Burke and graphic design by Stephanie Prior. Visit The Soundtrack for more great content! Follow The Soundtrack on Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

By: Dakota Arsenault On this EP we have Polaris Prize nominated artist, rapper and producer Junia-T. You likely know him from his hit debut album Studio Monk or possibly as Jessie Reyez’s tour DJ. We talk about him owning just about everything Sergio Mendes ever put out, record stores that don’t let you test their product out and how he just missed out on a $200 record that appeared in a dollar bin. We also broke some news about a vinyl release for Studio Monk near the end of the show. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Anchor, or below: Follow Junia-T on Twitter and Instagram. Crate Digging is a Soundtrack production, produced by Dakota Arsenault and Gemma Mastroianni. Original music by Jared Burke and graphic design by Stephanie Prior. Visit The Soundtrack for more great content! Follow The Soundtrack on Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

By: Gemma Mastroianni Claire Rosinkranz is an alt-pop artist and California native. Within just one year she has garnered over half a billion streams and has received widespread media coverage. Her song “Backyard Boy” has inspired over 3 million TikTok’s, and she has just dropped a brand new EP titled “Six in a Billion.” I discovered Claire through TikTok and have been obsessed ever since! I was so excited to chat with her and it was great to dive deeper into her background as an artist. Please see my interview with her below: Tell me a bit about yourself as an artist. Well, obviously, I’m close friends and I make music with my Dad and I have been doing it for a really long time. I started pursuing it really seriously, basically only a year ago. That’s when I dropped my EP and then everything happened and now I’m here, which is great. So fantastic! And I’m assuming you got into music because of your Dad? Yeah, honestly, because my entire family, which is really fortunate for me, my grandma, was an opera singer. My Dad has been composing and producing all of my childhood and my Mom has been singing and her mom, my other Grandma, was a children’s singer songwriter. Honestly, it was just like both sides of my family were in music and it all kind of transferred to me, which is really great. They’re also very supportive of me wanting to do music, so I’ve gotten really lucky. That’s awesome. And then when did you realize you wanted to take it a step further and do it professionally? When I was 11, I was like ‘Oh, this is actually something that I could do in the future. Like, it doesn’t have to just be a family affair.’ When I was around 13 and 13 I started to experiment with my sound, and then I started releasing things. But I actually released my first first project about a year ago. So crazy. But it’s been a good roller coaster. Cool. And where do you write your music? I mean, like, my bedroom is a really safe place. I honestly don’t like when I’m around people when I’m writing music, I have to be by myself. I can’t be around people. I don’t like people hearing my process. Sometimes I just drive around and I’ll make something or I’ll be in my car, or the studio, or my living room, or anywhere! Awesome. And I know you’re in school and doing music. What’s your approach to time management? So I am in school, I’m going to be a senior. Since it’s been like such a big whirlwind and stuff, I haven’t really been in school that much, but I will graduate next year! But yeah, I don’t know, it hasn’t really been that hard to manage it because I have been homeschooled for the majority of my life. It wasn’t very different, having to learn how to homeschool. It was good and bad, but it gave me more time to pursue music and get into all that, which is a really big blessing. How do you stay organized? Probably if I do like I mean sometimes I am not organized at all. My mom and my dad both manage me at the moment. So it’s very like, ‘Oh by the way you have this!’ Or ‘You have an interview’ or ‘You have a meeting’ or ‘You have this like super last minute or just like with everything.’ But, I am a list maker and I just love writing and I love writing music, obviously. But I love just writing out lists in my notebook and stuff. So yeah, I’m cool now. I’m the same way. How does it feel to have over two million TikTok’s using ‘Backyard’? How did it feel to have that blow up? Oh, I don’t know. It’s weird every time I hear it because I don’t really look at the numbers that much. And it was like, I don’t know, I put it out and was like teasing it on TikTok and then I got off of it. And then I was getting texts from my friends and I still didn’t check. And then I was getting more texts and then I checked TikTok, and there were like seven hundred videos. And I was like, oh crazy. But then I don’t know, it’s just weird. It almost doesn’t feel real because it’s just on my screen. I feel like it’ll feel real when I start performing and once I get to see people in person. Yeah, it’ll be a whole other feeling once you get in front of people for sure. Speaking of TikTok, have there been any artists that you personally discovered through the app? So many! It’s really cool because a lot of people I’ve discovered on the app have become my friends, which is so cool. It’s such a cool community. And who are some of your big inspirations when it comes to making music ? All different people for different reasons. But my favorite artists are Frank Ocean and Daniel Caesar. Even though I don’t really make that type of music, I’ve definitely written a lot of stuff like that. I have a big selection. It’s a hard question. Yeah, kind of cool. So I know you’re a ballerina, and I’m a ballerina as well which has played such a big part in my connection to music. I’m wondering how it played a part in your journey with music? It’s been a huge part because I’ve been dancing since I was three and specifically ballet was what I was always passionate about. Just being in classes and doing competitions over and over again and having to be on time, I think that plays over into music a lot. It helps you even with performing and stage presence, and work ethic because it’s so strenuous and you have to do it until you get it right, and it hurts like hell. I think it transfers over to music a lot because of timing and rhythm and all of that stuff. But it’s been really great and I feel like it kind of just matures you on another level, too, like ballet specifically. It also helps me handle high pressure situations which transfers over to performing in person for music. Your music videos are really fun and there is always so much detail, how long does it take to usually plan those and shoot them? “Backyard” was really funny because it was all thrown together by my entire family. It was me, my dad, my uncle, my cousin. It was very last minute! My cousin flew down from New York, my uncle flew from Oregon, and my Dad and I were already in California. We used my best friend’s house and it was basically thrown together, what felt like the night before. ‘Frankenstein’ was a whole different situation because there were directors and a wardrobe person, hair and makeup and all that stuff. It’s kind of different every time so far!, Congratulations on your EP ‘Six of a Billion.’ I love EP. What does it mean to you? Basically it kind of stemmed from my song ‘Boy of a Billion.’ There’s six songs in the EP, so I was like, it’s six of a billion songs that I want to write, so I don’t know, I was kind of like either that or ‘Secrets.’ Then a lot of people thought that ‘Six in a Billion’ caught their attention more. So, yeah, I don’t know. It is six of a billion songs that I want to release because all I want to do is just release more music. What do you like to do aside from playing music? There are so many things right now since it’s summer, I feel like there’s so many like summer activities that I want to do. The other night my friends and I went night swimming in the ocean. We go to hotel pools and we go swimming, and I go to the mountains a lot. I love swimming in different lakes and oceans and all that stuff. I love the water, off roading. I have a lot of little things, but also dance. I do miss dancing a lot, especially because of COVID. It’s just been really hard and with everything else going on. I did see your TikTok about sneaking into hotel pools if you like to go. Do you have any tips for people who also want to sneak into hotel pools? It’s honestly so easy because we go to this one and all you have to do is talk with your friends. One of us opens it from the inside and nobody questions you, they’re not like, ‘Are you staying at the hotel?’ It’s just fun because it’s adrenaline and it’s just fun, you know. But yeah, unless high security, it should be easy. Go swimming. If somebody asks you for a key card or whatever, just say ‘I left it in the hotel room.’ Your style is really bright and fun, where are some of your favourite places to shop? Lots of it is thrifted. I also love going to the trading post in L.A. and then really specifically I love surfing and Oregon, which is super random. I have family there and my best friend lives there and everything is actually like thrifted pieces because everything’s still expensive even though it’s thriftier or whatever. I also love Urban and Brandi Melville which are so basic but sometimes the basic serves!

By: Dakota Arsenault We’re back from a brief break! On this EP we have DJ Waves joining the show. She’s a talented DJ who can be seen spinning at afterparties for the hottest concerts at Budweiser Stage and at clubs around Toronto. We talk about her not appreciating her dad’s record collection, what a Vampyros Lesbos is and what the differences are between DJing with vinyl and with MP3s. Listen below: Listen on Spotify or Anchor. Read about DJ Waves record collection when she wrote about it last year for The Soundtrack. Follow DJ Waves on Instagram, Spotify and on Soundcloud. Crate Digging is a Soundtrack production, produced by Dakota Arsenault and Gemma Mastroianni. Original music by Jared Burke and graphic design by Stephanie Prior. Visit The Soundtrack for more great content! Follow The Soundtrack on Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

By: Gemma Mastroianni Cigar Club is a Newmarket-based alternative rock band that has been shaking up the scene over the past couple of years with their high-end production and apocalyptic twist to their sound. Today, the band debuted their highly anticipated debut LP, ‘Day Now.’ The album opens up with ‘.VESSEL.’’ with ambient sounds and a distorted mystery voice, sounding quite similar to TOOL. Things speed up instantly following into “Aliens.” The psychedelic intro and hard-hitting upbeat second track set the tone of how diverse and alluring the album is. “Aliens” features precise and upbeat percussion, dirty guitars with a ton of impressive licks, and a build-up to the chorus with a big sound. Soundwise, this track is relatable to Alexisonfire in terms of progression, structure (backup vocals, solos), and heaviness. Things move on smoother as ever to the even heavier track, “Swimmin’ in Gold” which almost sounds like a continuation of ”Aliens.” The song starts heavy and maintains this throughout, and ties in the listener with Zeppelin-like guitars, smooth vocals, and spot-on drums. Thematically it represents how we as humans are tied to money, and I think the intensiveness of the vocals and instrumentals highly represent this. The band and producers made a large effort to make this album sound whole. Each song blends into one another perfectly and is strategically organized to sound cohesive and take you on a rock and roll-psychedelic trip. The next track “Like White Flats in Winter” starts to slow things down a little bit for a dark-alternative anthem. It gives listeners a chance to listen closely to the beauty of Trevor Coughlin’s vocal delivery and once again, very dynamic instrumentation. See our full thoughts on the track here. “COLD” has a similar vibe to the previous track with an angsty feel with an impressive phased-out ending before leading into “Conversation” which serves as an ambiance build up into the passionate track, “From a South East Asian Two Bedroom Condo.” This single released in April has to be one of my favourite singles released this year by far. It’s incredibly catchy, emotional, with glimmering guitars and a spacey sound. The vocals remind me of a City and Colour song but with more of an alternative edge. You can read my in-depth thoughts on this stunning track here. We get some final tastes of their harder rock sound in “Parable of the Sea Dogs” which is essentially the band’s take on the classic sea shanty. The song progresses at a medium pace but ends unexpectedly upbeat and intense with what sounds like a Tom Morello-inspired guitar lick and strong drums. The album has an epic ending with the eleven-minute blues-inspired track, “Turned Black//A-loan.” It’s always so fascinating and impressive to see bands tackle long-form tracks and see how they can make it work, and Cigar Club certainly did that by making an effort to showcase all of their talents. Halfway through the track, we see the album come full circle as they bring back sound from the introduction track “.VESSEL.” in which things get a more simplistic and intimate vibe with slow strumming guitar and vocals. Overall, I’m incredibly impressed with this project from Cigar Club. For a debut LP, it’s incredible and makes me excited to hear how much better it could get as they continue to craft more albums. The instrumentation is dynamic and heard crisp through the excellent production. This album is such an excellent example of showing the importance of flawless production. The band have so much to showcase and because of the production, everything came through strongly. I was able to appreciate each player for what they could offer and very much admired the detail and craft that went into this project. I recommend listening through multiple times and focusing on the elements of each instrument, and the sound each track has to offer. The attention to detail and beauty of this album is something all should appreciate, and local bands should certainly take inspiration. Listen below: Song Credits All songs written by: Cigar Club (Daniel Amato-Gauci, Tyler Booth, Trevor Coughlin, Jeff LeFort) Produced by: Cigar Club and Matthew John Mixed by: Matthew John (all tracks except COLD – Anton Delost, and Turned Black// A-loan – Tristan Plumb + Matthew John) Mastered by: Noah Mintz Performed by: Cigar Club Featuring: Liam Slingerland – Organ (Turned Black// A-loan) Mateen Mehri – Conga, Claves, Bongo (Like White Flats In Winer) Recorded by: Darren McGill + Matthew John

By: Jayben Favila Home video by Lucy Dacus has been a suprise album for me for 2021. With the past year of music giving us various projects either rushed to meet the demand for people staying at home or being COVID19 focused, ‘Home Video’ has been an elegant surprise of an album with its nostalgic lyricism and dreamy instrumentals. For context, Lucy Dacus is an indie singer-songwriter hailing from Richmond Virginia, and has two acclaimed albums under her belt “No Burden” and “Historian”. Dacus has made a name for herself in the indie rock scene with her two albums in addition to her collaborations with Phoebe Bridgers and Julia Baker with their band “Boy Genius” showing the range of work within her music career. ‘Home Video’ came as a surprise with fans claiming a few tracks were teased in 2019 leading up to a 2020 release, but with the pandemic, Dacus opted to release the album this year. “Home Video” focuses as an autobiography of Dacus’s childhood living in Virginia, lyrically focusing on the themes of young teen romance and coming of age seen in songs such as “Hot and Heavy” and “The First Time.” It’s paired with religious undertones Dacus experience of attending Christian Youth Camps as a young girl with songs such as “VBS” with the opening line “In the summer of ’07 I was sure I’d go to heaven” the first line of the song. I was personally surprised with this album, I heard ‘Hot and Heavy’ as a single from a close friend with the song instantly catching me with its nostalgic lyricism with the line “You were always stronger than people suspected, Underestimated and overprotected” on “Hot and Heavy” which gives the feeling of a call back to early childhood being sheltered and coming of age which is a common theme throughout the album. My top songs from this album consist of ‘Hot and Heavy’, ‘The First Time’, ‘Brando’, ‘Partner in Crime’, and ‘VBS.’ When it comes to the vinyl itself, ‘Home Video’ is pressed on various vinyl variants starting from standard black, indie exclusive clear limited to 500, cloudy blue and pink vinyl limited to 500 with 250 being singed, red and blue nebula, Spotify blue exclusive, and summer sky edition which is the version I have. This viny is so gorgeous with the swirls inside the vinyl and the mock-up photo of it does not do justice compared to seeing it in person, overall, it fits the album’s aesthetic perfectly. If you want to get your own copy of home video locally Pop music Toronto and Sonic boom have the clear vinyl pressing for sale and the same goes for any participating indie record stores, check out the album on all streaming services.

By: Gemma Mastroianni American singer, songwriter and producer Bosley (Thomas Humphrey) has just dropped a brand new single titled “Hey Hey Ramona.” Humphrey has appeared alongside notable contemporary rock and soul acts such as Dr. Dog, Sharon Jones, Galactic, just to name a few. His music has also been featured on large networks including HBO, Netflix, MTV, Comedy Central, Nintendo, and so much more. “Hey Hey Ramona” is a mysterious mid-tempo song with a hint of a jazz feel to it, but still maintaining an alternative edge. The build up to the chorus is cinematic with strings, and a variety of other instruments and bass that result in a large sound that will give you goosebumps as you lead up to his “Fa la la’s.” As the song continues Humphrey does an excellent job at displaying his stunning vocal abilities as they get higher, and harmonies are implemented. The flawless production is just the cherry on top as well! This track was written in a time of despair for Humphrey. Following years of touring, fraying relationships and emotional turmoil, and losing a deal with a large UK record label following months of tirelessly negotiating. This would have been the biggest success in his career, settling all of his debts. As a result, ‘Bosley’ was dead to Humphrey, “I wasn’t graceful about my exit. I was disenchanted and confused and wanted badly to disappear. I sold my van for cash and was quickly in the wind.” – Bosley Following this, Bosley traveled to Europe with no plans in place. 18 months later, he was living in Barcelona where he was inspired to write “Hey Hey Ramona.” “Over the course of the next year or so I added pieces and played with verses. I kept picturing a girl running away from home, stealing out into the indigo predawn and walking briskly, nap-sack pre-packed, through the Creamsickle glow and hum of the city streetlights. I cut all those verses as they were verbose and pretentious and ultimately, not about me. Call it ego, but I suppose you have to write what you know. And I was tired of corralling my listeners and my lines into convenient fictions. It didn’t feel real.” Eventually, he realized he was the one running away from painful realities and looked within, and that this song was about himself. This and other songs that he wrote over the next few years ended up being a part of his forthcoming album, which was never planned. His long-time friend and Grammy Winning Producer Harry Zelnick produced the song, and it was also fixed expertly by Rick Frederick at The Philadelphia Recording Company. Don’t forget to add “Hey Hey Ramona” to your music library, and give Bosley a follow on Instagram. I truly can’t wait for his upcoming album and appreciate him sharing his story with me.

By: Dakota Arsenault All four members of Toronto based rock outfit, The Beaches join the show. Listen as Leandra, Kylie, Jordan and Eliza talk about how they stole records from their parents, how Kylie can’t be trusted to not ruin other peoples albums, how Jordan judges a store based on their classical music section and how Leandra made a big deal about finding a deluxe Beatles album on a filmed shopping trip when it turned out she already owned it. Listen below: Listen on Spotify (it’s free) or Google Podcasts. Coming soon to Apple Podcasts! The Beaches just released a fantastic EP Future Lovers and are heading out on tour later this year. Follow The Beaches on Twitter and Instagram. Crate Digging a Soundtrack production, produced by Dakota Arsenault and Gemma Mastroianni. Original music by Jared Burke and graphic design by Stephanie Prior. Visit The Soundtrack for more great content! Follow The Soundtrack on Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

By: Dakota Arsenault On this third episode of Crate Digging, we are joined by Carlo V who really puts the fan in fanatic. He has an immense collection of not just records, but CD’s, posters and general memorabilia. He talks about his massive 700+ record collection (which includes about 100 pieces of just The Supremes members), an emotional journey into how he got started collecting, trading rare artifacts and the online fan community at large. Listen below: Or listen on Google Podcasts or directly on Spotify here. Coming soon to Apple Podcasts! Follow Carlo and his record collection on Instagram. Crate Digging a Soundtrack production, produced by Dakota Arsenault and Gemma Mastroianni. Original music by Jared Burke and graphic design by Stephanie Prior. Visit The Soundtrack for more great content! Follow The Soundtrack on Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

By: Dakota Arsenault On this second episode of Crate Digging, Zachary Gray, lead singer and guitarist for the Vancouver-based indie rock band The Zolas joins the show. The Zolas have released three full-length albums, and are in the midst of putting out several new singles in the midst of a new album rollout. We talk about how Eric Clapton is overrated, bringing your own records to play at a bar (while wanting to impress the DJ) and being gifted records from within your own music scene. Listen below: Or listen on Anchor, Spotify, or Google Podcasts. Don’t forget to subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts. Coming soon to Apple Podcasts! Follow The Zolas on Instagram where they just announced tour dates. Crate Digging a Soundtrack production, produced by Dakota Arsenault and Gemma Mastroianni. Original music by Jared Burke and graphic design by Stephanie Prior. Visit The Soundtrack for more great content! Follow The Soundtrack on Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

By: Gemma Mastroianni 22-year-old Canadian talent, Olivia Lunny, has just released her debut self-titled album! I was grateful to chat with her about her ‘dancefloor-ready single drop ‘Who Could Say No’ before the album was released. It was created with the help of Grammy-winning music maker Boi-1da (Rihanna, Lana Del Rey), and hit producer YogiTheProducer (Kehlani, Jessie Reyez), with topline support from Canadian songwriters Tally and Mandee. Please check out our discussion below: Visit her website here.