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lBy: Gemma Mastroianni Ron Gallo is a Philadelphia-based artist who makes alternative rock music while dipping his toes into a variety of other genres such as R&B, Pop, and more. I found out about Ron from his recent performance with Amazon Music and have been loving his collection of music ever since. His colourful branding, eccentric songwriting, and no-bullshit personality can’t be missed. Check out his most recent album PEACEMEAL and enjoy the interview below: Tell the readers a bit about yourself. I live in Philadelphia. I’ve been making music for way too long. I started in high school, I’m still doing it, and I like many different things, kind of a chameleon, and I tend to shift and change and evolve often. Favourite colour is orange. How would you describe your genre? I’m a bit of a chameleon. So with each record, it’s sort of a completely different world. So like first was “HEAVY META’l, I think you could kind of throw that into the type of garage punk. Rock world, maybe a little psychedelia, the second record, “Stardust Birthday Party,” is like a new wave post-punk record and then ‘Peacemeal,’ which just came out, is kind of like my weird attempt at pop music. I guess, you know, it’s kind of a blend of everything I like. That’s not what I had already done. You know, like there’s some jazz R&B, 90s hip hop, a little bit of the punk and previous stuff, kind of like thrown in there. It’s spoken word. It’s kind of a big mishmash, like a fruit salad or something, you know. If anything, my genre’s fruit salad because I’m just kind of like a bunch of different colours and all over the place all the time. I was going to ask you to say, how would you say your art has evolved over the years. But I guess a better way to phrase it would be what has influenced your art’s evolution? I think it’s always kind of about chasing myself. Any time I go to make something, it’s like, what are you really into? What’s the honest thing to say where you write at this moment and then create from it? And if you kind of always does that through your life, I think it’s always going to be different. Evolution should be natural because, I mean, I don’t know. For most people, I feel the way you think about things or what you’re into kind of changes constantly. You know, I know that it does with me. And so that’s it. Try to stay rooted and like, what’s the most earnest thing to do at any given moment, what’s the most accurate version of myself? And since that changes so often, that’s what kind of leads to the evolution. You said you’ve been playing music since high school. How did you first get into music? My first instrument was trumpet back when I was a kid, and it didn’t last very long. I dabbled a bit. On the last tour, I used to play it terribly in between songs. It was a joke part of the show. At some point, maybe when I was 12 or 13 years old, I got a guitar, and I took a couple of lessons, kind of just learning Green Day and Blink 182 song, and then I was like, I think I can teach myself how to do this and I didn’t have any natural ability. The first time I ever played music in front of people was at an audition for the high school talent show. A friend and I did it as a duo, and it was basically my first time singing in front of people. At the end of the audition, the judges said, “You can be in the talent show, but you have to perform instrumentally.” As I said, I didn’t have a lot of natural ability, and so I had to work for it to figure out how to do my thing. I just started bands in high school and then in college, and I’m just kind of still doing it. I don’t. I just started, and I’m still here. So then it wasn’t influenced by someone in your family or anything you grew up around? Yeah, not at all. I didn’t come from a musical family. Nobody. I was always a bit of the weird one, the one against the grain or non-conventional member of the family. I guess part of the reason I got into music was that I always tried to challenge everything. What was your first piece of gear? I got this line six convoy up with like a bunch of really cheesy built-in effects. I think that was the first time I used something beyond plugging my K-mart or Wal-Mart guitar into an amp that I found or was given to by a friend. What is your songwriting process like? Do you usually do it in the day or the night? Is it pretty random? Do you lay down instrumentals before writing lyrics? Tell me a bit about it. And, where do you usually write? It’s very random, but there has been a consistency to it during the last year or so. Most of the stuff that I do is written between 5:00 to 7:00 AM, and that’s just been basically pandemic induced. I’ve gotten on this schedule where I wake up around 5:00, and the first couple hours and awake are my most creative hours before that when life was “normal”, very random whenever I really can. I feel like I’ve written a lot of stuff while I’m driving into my voice notes on my phone. I guess I’m always thinking about and collecting little pieces when I’m out in the world, just kind of living, observing things. And then they all just kind of pour out at once, in small gaps where I get time to myself. Some start with just pages and pages of words, whereas others begin as a fully fleshed musical idea; others are sitting with a guitar. It’s always different, and I think that’s the enjoyable part of it for me, constantly changing the process. Did you say that you wake up most days at 5:00 AM? Yes. Oh, my gosh, that’s wild. And you’re the most creative at that hour? Right. It all happens between five and seven. Seven-thirty probably. That’s insane because I’m thinking to myself, and it’s like I struggle to get out of bed at 9:00 AM, and I am certainly in no way, shape or form creative. Do you have a morning routine? I wake up, go down to the kitchen, and sort of have a ritual of making coffee. I grind the beans, put the water and turn the kettle on, and I make myself an excellent pour-over coffee and grab some sort of snack. I usually come up here in the studio where I’m sitting right now; on the House’s third floor. And yeah, I just kind of jump around from different creative outlets. Sometimes I’ll just open up something that I’m working on musically, or I’ll write something for the Really Nice website that I run. I usually do that, like I said, for like two hours or so. Then Chiara starts to wake up, and she’ll probably message me actually from the floor below and say hi, and then we usually have breakfast and start the day. That sounds like a perfect morning. We love coffee over here. I’d love to hear about what kind of coffee you’re into these days? It became a part of my routine at the beginning of the pandemic, and it’s a big part of life. Especially with touring, any time we go to a city, I was kind of constantly seeking out the most ridiculous over-the-top high-end fancy coffee shop. That’s what I always gravitate towards; I do my research! When I was going to be put in one place for a long time and not even be going to places near me, I signed up for this thing called Trade, which is basically like Netflix for coffee. Every few weeks, they send you a new bag of beans from a different roaster from all over the country. I tend to kind of gravitate towards the Ethiopian stuff, usually the light roast. I’ve just been getting different versions of that from other roasters from all over the country for the last year and a half. It’s been so fun, and I mean, that is kind of the thing that’s kept me going, that little ritual. I just never would have expected to get there because I don’t remember when coffee began to play that role in my life. But it’s like my favourite thing now. I’m probably completely addicted in a way, shape my life around it, but it’s nice. Tell me a bit about the website you run. So it’s called Really Nice. It’s named after an EP a few years back called Really Nice Guys. It was sort of this joke, experimental commentary about being in the music industry. I made shirts back then that just said Really Nice on them. Rewind a little bit when I was over in Italy at the end of 2019 with Chiara, and I was sort of in this breakdown rebuild period. I just got off a long tour, and I was over there as a kind of alien in this foreign land. I had this idea that I wanted to start this thing called Really Nice. I kind of started the website as a place to just put my ideas in something that I could focus on while I was over there. As amazing as it is, you’re still in a foreign country, and it’s hard to communicate and connect with people. So I needed something to feel like a home base for me creatively. So that’s where kind of the website started, and it was just a blog at first. At the beginning of a pandemic, I started a Really Nice fest, which was kind of like a nine-week-long digital festival, and I got a bunch of people from all over the world basically to play. It was comedy music, conversations. I did like jazz DJ sets and all that shit, and then it kind of fizzled out. Shortly thereafter, I started the clothing line aspect of it. That’s been going for a little over a year now. It’s just this kind of big web of some creative world that just kind of continuously morphs. Give me a bit of a rundown of what PEACEMEAL is all about and what it means to you. It’s kind of like a rediscovery, sort of self embrace of myself through the course of an album, just very drastically kind of letting in all these parts of myself I haven’t explored before, sonically, musically, lyrically. I’ve always been pretty outward looking at many of my songs, but now I’m looking at myself. It’s kind of neat looking in the mirror and reflecting on this isolated space I’ve been looking at my life over the last few years, relationships and trying to be as brutally honest as possible. The record is like me looking in a mirror and accepting a lot of the stuff there that maybe you don’t like, but also embracing a lot of stuff to even neglecting yourself. Many of the first songs are in a pretty aggressive, dark space, and I’m like, that’s not really who I am, so let in a little bit of the light. You can talk about serious stuff. You can talk about it the human condition and your own mind, but it doesn’t have to sound like that; it can actually sound really fun and light. I don’t have to keep making the same three-piece guitar fuzzed-out records; I can make whatever I want. The record is basically self embrace of where I’m at in this current moment with no limit, really. Did you record that with a band or everything on your own? Before this, I always recorded live in the studio with a band, but this is the first time I pretty much played everything on it. There’s a couple of guests here and there. There are even some electronic drums throughout the record, whereas before, I was such a purist, just like “Everything has to be real,” but that even felt limiting to me. So, yeah, it’s kind of a mix, but I finally allowed myself to play everything. A lot of it was done on GarageBand on my iPad, which is not normally what you think of a record. When I was doing it, I didn’t expect any of it to actually be on the album, but it ended up sounding cool. You know, no one would even know the way that it was made, so. Do you feel like you’re going to continue to go in that direction of doing most things on your own now that you’ve done it? I think so. It’s really liberating, and you can be anywhere and do whatever you want, and I love the concept of that. I like to say that I want to keep going in the direction. One of the cool things that I’ve realized about the past year is that you can pretty much do everything yourself or collaborate with people, and you don’t even have to be in the same physical space. So I think that’s something I’m intrigued by. You could go to any place in the world and get a little bit of space and make a record, and that’s such a cool concept. Where are you located on the album art? The front cover is a picture from the last day that I left my house without a mask. It was a beautiful day, and I thought the symbolism there was cool. The image was taken outside of a coffee shop in Nashville called Ugly Mugs and, I had this crossword puzzle; it was a great day. No one knew what was to come, and it just kind of felt it felt right for the album. Could you name an essential piece of gear or two that you used on this album? GarageBand for iPad and this little tiny Tascam IXZ, which is an interface for the iPad. As underwhelming and not fancy as that is, I feel like it’s the most honest thing because that really was what I used the most throughout it. I think it’s a reminder that you don’t have to have fancy things to make a great album. Yeah, and I didn’t know that until I just kind of started to do it. And so it’s probably good enough for anyone out there. You don’t have to wait; you just have to trust yourself. Exactly. Do you have a favourite venue to play at? And have you been working on booking any shows? Yes, so we’ve been doing a handful! Last” week, we did a few very small-scale outdoor safe-style shows. It’s very experimental, but we are also planning ten shows in Italy in July outside. Then we’re going to kind of just go for it and book a full US tour for most of September and October. Nobody knows if it’s going to happen, but we’re going to try. As far as favourite venues, I loved Rough Trade Brooklyn, Barracuda in Austin, Texas. Miaow Wolf in Santa Fe, New Mexico, which I’ve never played, but it’s my top list of places that I do want to play sweet. I like the Doug Fir in Portland, Oregon, Union Transfer in Philly or Johnny Brenda’s, which is right down the street. That’s so exciting to hear that show you’re able to play shows. What are those like right now? It’s very, very strange, which is expected. My experience the past week was when you go into it, you know that it’s not going to be what you remember, and everybody that’s coming to the show kind of knows that as well. We’re there and trying to recreate the feeling that we all have a desire for, but it just feels like it can’t get there. Many venues are trying to move stuff outside or on their rooftops, backyard or their patio. It’s like reverting to playing house shows back ten years ago or whatever. It’s weird; it’s like there’s this invisible wall that none of us want to break because it’s about respecting the fact and understanding we’re still in this. After these following three shows, I think I’m good to just now wait after this until the real thing can return and do it right. So, I found out about you from your Amazon music performance. I got really, really into your music after that. Did they write that script, or was it a joke? I ultimately made up the whole thing. People tell me a lot that they can never tell when I’m serious or when I’m joking, which makes it fun for me. I guess in retrospect. I probably should have thought maybe I don’t know if people will realize that I entirely made this up; I just thought it’s funny that you ask. I just thought that was so dope that after that, they decided to start paying people because it’s ridiculous that one of the wealthiest companies in the whole world and you can’t pay artists!? It must have felt kind of cool that, as a result, they decided to pay people. Oh, yeah, it was awesome. I kind of did all that without any real intention; I didn’t think it was going to turn out the way it did for me. It was more like, well, I said yes to this thing, and I feel conflicted about it because of what you just said. But I’m already kind of committed to doing it. So the only way I could feel good about it is if I had fun with it. That’s where it started, making it tolerable for me to do an Amazon performance for free- I had to say something. The outcome was when I got that call; I like lost my mind. I laughed for like forty-five minutes, just like there’s no way this is real right now. Could you give a couple of music recommendations? Chiara makes music under the name ‘Chickpea,’ so check that out; she is soon putting out some more music. This band called Sports, who did a remix for me a couple of months ago, is great. Going back to the coffee conversation I’ve been listening to, as I said, I’m really into the Ethiopian, and I’m really into Ethiopian jazz stuff. There’s an artist named Mulatu Astatke on this compilation called Ethiopia. It’s just like a bunch of awesome obscure Ethiopian music that I’ve been really, really into. Follow Ron Gallo. Listen to PEACEMEAL. Browse Really Nice.

By: Amanda McMillan Sound and Color by Alabama Shakes is the band’s 2015 follow-up to their 2012 debut, Boys and Girls. A lot is happening on this album, which is more robust and experimental than was expected from the band. It is an album best enjoyed through its parts rather than its sum. It is equal parts soul and pure, unfiltered rock and roll. A sprinkle of jazz. The zest of alt-rock. And the light, effervescent feeling of Americana. A departure from their more classic-sounding soul-roots/rock debut, Sound and Color is a deliberately weird album, a mix of many different influences. In that way, it is both a quintessential and risky sophomore album. But, it was nominated for six Grammys, of which it won four. In the end, their genre-bendy risk paid off. The vinyl and artwork are minimalistic in design, although the clear 180-gram vinyl adds a unique element. There’s a bit of a cold, industrial vibe to the whole thing, which seems to juxtapose to the album title. The gatefold sleeve opens up to reveal funky, inky stripes against what appears to be the corner of a white wood panel wall. The colour looks like it bled through from something else, giving it a lot of texture and inconsistency. Inside, you find two clear vinyl LPs, which again act as a juxtaposition to the album name. Disc one’s sleeve features black & white images of the four band members with lyrics on the other side. Disc two features a 3D geometric grid design with the remaining song lyrics on the back. When I think about what kind of meaning this album means to me, what comes to mind is just how fun it is to listen to. Lead singer Brittany Howard’s voice is truly one of a kind, and whenever I listen to this band, it takes me back to my early 20s and this kind of rock and roll spirit that the album evokes. I wasn’t immediately enamoured with this album when it came out because it did feel quite different from their first album, which I loved. Still, over time I came to appreciate the nuance and complexity of this album. Going back to listen to it with what feels like fresh ears, I hear so much more now. It felt over-produced at the time of its release, but now it feels so delicately and intentionally produced. There are many experimental instruments and sounds, giving it a gravitas that their first album just didn’t have (or need). Alabama Shakes could have very easily been tucked into an Americana band label and never found its way out. But instead of getting stuck with whatever label the industry wanted to give them, they showed the versatility in their sound and ability to be an honest to god rock band, with a shit ton of soul. This idea of being many different things mixed and creating music that makes something familiar feel strange and beautiful and powerful is inspiring. In the end, I keep coming back to this album because it rouses my soul, and right now, we need all the soul help we can get.

By: Gemma Mastroianni Hannia Cheng (they/them) is a multidisciplinary artist, space maker, and host born and raised in T’karonto/Toronto. At the intersection of relationships and reciprocity, their practice focuses on art as the common ground in which we build capacity to make stuff up and make shit happen. Hannia just released their debut EP, “Linen & Denim.” I was so impressed with the intricacy and intimacy of the tracks and the visual album paired with them, and I’m incredibly proud to call Hannia the April artist of the month. Read my interview with them below: Tell me a bit about yourself! How did you get involved with the arts community? My name is Hannia Cheng, born and raised in Christie Pits, Koreatown. I went to the elementary school beside Fiesta Farms, the school was all first-gen/second-gen immigrant kids. When it came to high school, I could’ve gone to Harbord, which is the “Asian” high school, or I could go to Rosedale School of the Arts. So I took a risk and went to Rosedale, a majority-white art school, and did a lot of partying instead of going to class. I got involved in DIY spaces as well as street dance and became involved in the hip hop community, which led me to throw Support Your Local Collective, a series of pop-ups that brought together all five elements of hip hop in 2016. During late 2018, I co-founded Tea Base, a community arts space in the basement of Chinatown Center. Chinatown has always been the backdrop of my life, and then I was like, “Oh, what if Chinatown became the foreground?”. I went to art school because I wanted to be white, I went into the hip hop scene because I wanted to be black, and then I was like wait, I’m Asian. I’ve been doing this “Asian” thing for like three years and I can truthfully tell you that I’m not really “Asian” either? Identity politics is a waste of time, people who occupy the same identities as you cause just as much harm. Things need to be values oriented. Chinatown isn’t just for Asians, this neighbourhood is rooted in values of mutual aid and its lasting legacy of working class immigrants taking care of each other. I’m curious about a lot of things, multi hyphenated, and have dipped my toes in many mediums. Singing was my first, then dancing, which led to poetry and spoken word, then hosting/MC-ing, then space making, and mixed media has always been in there. I like expressing myself, I’m a carefree creative who’s been in and around Toronto’s art communities for a minute. How did you get into music and arts? Is it something that you grew up with? Did your parents inspire you? My parents are mostly down with my life ambitions. Maybe because I’m the youngest of three, also an unexpected C section, fucking wild card. My other siblings have more common names, and I got Hannia. How many other Hannia’s do you know? My parents were like, “Don’t be an artist,” but they weren’t very strict about it. They were loosely like, “Come on, be a doctor.” I think running Tea Base helped show them that this way of life is somewhat financially viable. Shout out to my elementary music teacher Arpad. He always gave us stickers at the end of class, and he would make me sing in front of the class; every class. Even though I wasn’t a good singer, he made me believe that I was a singer, and then I was like, ok I’m an artist. I’m grateful for all the wonderful people like Arpad who’ve had an impact on my artistry. Addy, Jesse, Giles, Jason, are also other people who believed in me when I was younger. Nowadays it’s a lot more peer-to-peer mentorships and horizontal teachings and learnings. Throughout this pandemic, how have you found things in an artistic sense? What keeps you going? Art has always been a sounding board for me to hear myself out. It helps me figure out what I’m feeling in the process of healing. That’s why I like having multiple mediums to express from. Not everything needs to be shared or go in front of an audience. Throughout the pandemic, art has kept me grounded as a self-soothing tool. Sometimes it’s stuff I want to share and sometimes it’ll never be looked at again. Sometimes you just need to dance alone and get it out of your body. Phenotype and I have been working on these songs for a while. It wasn’t until the pandemic hit that I was bored and wanted to document this pivotal and historical moment somehow but not on my phone. So I bought a camcorder and started filming. It turned into a time capsule of what was happening and how I existed in these times. It just so happened that I was in residence with jes sachse and Christie Carriere with support from the OAC. Through jes, Trinity Square Video hosted a no-visitor group show with us in March of this year around the lockdownniersary. It all lined up creating an opportunity to edit together a visual album for all three songs off Linen & Denim. The name of the show was called little did i know, very fitting. Getting a little more specific in the song “Try again.” To me, it seems like you’re talking a lot about the concept of manifestation. Can you expand on that? Yes, I’m pretty sure I had just read The Alchemist. It’s a lovely and simple story, easy to read, and a very popular book. At the time in 2017, I was going through a lot of self loathing like, “What’s the point?” how many times do I have to fucking try before I arrive? but then I realized that you never do. You never actually arrive at the destination. It’s just the process the entire time. I guess death is the destination in this metaphor? Until then, all you can do is try and make some friends along the way. What is your songwriting process like? I don’t come from an instrumental background, but I come from singing and dancing so I love music. My background is more in poetry and the power of words. Culture and language go hand in hand. If we want to change culture, we have to change language and vice versa. My writing takes place mostly in my phone notes. I consistently go back to read, edit, or rewrite. I’ll have new thoughts since I wrote something 3 years ago, like a follow-up or conclusive thought, and I’ll get inspired. I write whenever the moment calls for it but most of it is editing and letting thoughts marinade. Time is the ultimate ingredient! It’s a lot of going back into my notes, rewriting, consolidating, adding, taking away. My process is very time-oriented, it’s an on-going conversation with myself. A song is finished when I’ve told a story about what I was going through. Tell me about making the visual component to this album and what you learned from this experience. I learned that I’m not the main character, I’m the entire production. Star lead, Scriptwriter, executive producer, accountant, director, editor, marketing manager, camera guy, casting director, all of it. I want to tell my own story on my own terms, self-archiving is important to me. That’s not to say I’m opposed to more resources to bring on a fuller, more realised team and vision. The visual album is my yearning to share space again. I miss hanging out so much. It’s dedicated to my communities, friends, comrades, and all the small moments we got to share together during the summer when it was “safer”. I liked how you spoke about the contrast between Linen and Denim. Could you just expand on that a little bit and what it means to you? In 2017 when I started conceptualizing this project, I was going through significant internal transitions. I felt like everyone expected me to be this happy, go-lucky, energetic bubble on the dance floor. That’s what I was known for and I questioned if that’s all I am. I felt disconnected from people’s perception of me vs my depression’s perception of me. I lacked a lot of self compassion and love for myself. Doing this project and writing these songs was about reconciling the two and that multiple truths exist at once. I’m a dynamic bitch and I’m allowed to be everything. I’ve come a long way since 2017 in unlearning internalized beliefs and humanizing myself. I’m always learning to accept myself for the good, the bad, and grow. Follow Hannia Cheng. Listen to Linen & Denim Watch Linen & Denim visual album

By: Gemma Mastroianni Toronto based rock band Cigar Club has blessed us on this very special day with a chilling new single, “From a South East Asian Two Bedroom Condo.” This year things feel different, once again. Typically I would hit up downtown Toronto and explore what it has to offer on this “holiday” but we are arguably more isolated than ever. In this weird time, we’re in, this impactful single could not have come at a better one. The song starts out quietly with a celestial sound effect and catchy soft guitar riff layered over, with crisp vocals added, setting the foundation of this intimate track with themes of beautifully painful nostalgia. The lyrics are minimalistic however, they are placed strategically throughout the five-minute song. Each time they are repeated and layered on new instrumentals that continue to intensify and build up throughout the song allows you to take them in deeper, and truly feel the impact of this intimate song. Typically I love more lyrics and as much detail as possible, but this minimalistic approach and placement really allow the listener to digest them fully and appreciate them in different contexts. The build-up in this track through the use of a Tibetan meditation bowl, drums that slowly intensify, electric guitar, gorgeous vocals, and haunting lyrics is chilling. It reminds of something that City and Colour could put out, but with a hard rock edge that you get closer to the end of the song, “This song is a good example of our versatility in dynamics as a band. Not our common rocker, this song is very vibey. I would even consider it a rock/r&b hybrid.” -Jeff Lefort “This ones surely for the lovers out there. Touching vocals, deep lyrics, the whole works. Personally, this song was a challenge for me to connect with while recording because we had just recorded a bunch of hard rock songs. I had to strip down to my skivvies in the studio (eternal apologies to Darren and Matt) to feel grounded enough to tap into the celestial vibe of this track. I think it sounds great”. -Dan Amato When you listen to this song make sure to sit back, relax, and give it a few listens. There is so much beauty and detail that was put into this and I can promise that you will enjoy taking it all in. Stay tuned for their album coming out next month- you won’t be disappointed. Lyrics: Do you recall, So long ago? Before things became so hard to hold I was passed out on your kitchen floor And woke up to you gone Oh, I’ve been here before Its not alright for me to want you more Now im lying on your kitchen floor Your bed is hot and honesty’s a whore I can’t be great on my own But I just can’t keep going I cant pretend that it’s good Like my friend said I should Follow Cigar Club.

By: Gemma Mastroianni Canadian rock duo Death From Above 1979 join me on Wavy to talk about their brand new LP, “Is 4 Lovers.” The hard-hitting new album has been on repeat for me since it released at the end of March and is actually my favourites of their release of theirs since”You’re A Woman I’m A Machine.” I have respect for their entire collection however, it feels like this one has a bit of flavour from each of their albums all meshed into one, making for a punk-dance hard-hitting and heavy sound at times. It’s well balanced with Side A being up-beat, while Side B is a bit slower but still keeping some edge. Dive into our conversation and learn about key gear, production process, promo, songwriting, and so much more. Watch below or listen on Spotify or Apple Podcasts : Listen to “Is 4 Lovers.”

By: Gemma Mastroianni The Antlers is an indie-rock band from Brooklyn, NY. They have been one of my favourite bands for many years now, and I have been patiently waiting for the brand new album to drop. Several years later after “Familiars”, “Green to Gold” is here and it’s absolutely stunning with a dance film to accompany the body of work. Singer Peter Silberman joined me for an in-depth conversation about the album. We talk about the writing process, production, lyrical themes of growth, how he has managed his hearing issues, and more. Listen below: Or, listen on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. As I previously mentioned, the band released a dance film to accompany the near flawless album. I grew up as a dancer and was so excited to see an entire film to visualize all of the songs that I admire so deeply. Just like the LP, the film has been carefully crafted with detail featuring Bobbi-Jene Smith, Or Schraiber & Dea Schraiber. Watch as the couple moves through the seasons and visualizes the struggles and wins with one another with mostly contemporary, modern, and lyrical influences. The film takes places at a house in a country setting, along with the nature surrounding the home. As a dancer and a big fan, this was one of the best things to happen with a release of an album I admire so deeply. It’s always nice to see a dance music video here and there but an entire film!? What a treat. One of my favourite aspects of the film includes the lighting to accompany each mood and even the switch to black and white at one point. The chemistry between the two dancers is touching and I think they did a fantastic job at bringing such a beautiful body of work to life. Additional credits: Directed by Derrick Belcham & Emily Terndrup Choreography by Bobbi-Jene Smith & Or Schraiber Cinematography, Editing & Color by Derrick Belcham. Moral of the story: listen to the album, and watch the movie. The collection of songs are a nice reminder of change and how it aligns with seasons. In a time where it feels like we are very much sitting still, it’s a nice way to reflect back on ways that we have changed over this past year, and throughout our lives. Follow The Antlers. Purchase ‘Green to Gold.’

By: Dakota Arsenault The opening to Newmarket’s own Cigar Club’s latest single, “Like Flats in Winter”, has guitarist Trevor Coughlin slowly plucking away as the notes come out crunchy and distorted, while simultaneously giving a hauntingly beautiful vocal delivery. The first line might be the most evocative in the entire song, “Walking off pavement into stars”, a sentiment that is easy to envision, but the meaning of it can be up to interpretation by the listener. Combining this coy lyricism of reaching somewhere far away by floating off the edge of our existence with the guitar playing that has enough fuzz to it, it immediately transports anyone who hears the track into somewhere else. Following the haunting introduction, Coughlin’s delivery turns from despair to emboldened, as he belts out with confidence “But I’ve got no patience in my mind/Ain’t got no gracious in my eyes/I’ve got not braces on my spine/I feel lighter with you inside” and at that point, the rest of the band kicks in and the song turns from a slow woozy blues rocker to an all-out dark alternative anthem. The track kicks into overdrive as the vocals give way to his own and Amato-Gauci dueling guitars, as it sounds as though they each try to one-up each other’s aggression with chunky headbanging riffs. Everything comes together in a crescendo with the backbeat of Jeff LeFort’s rhythmic bass lines and Tyler Booth’s monstrous double kick drum beats. Just when you are happily headbanging away, a wild vibraslap appears before giving way to maracas and hand percussion drumming, taking the song from rock and towards something with a Latin dance flair to it. Cigar Club’s drummer Booth said his contributions to the song “was influenced heavily by Latin dancing music, I wanted to go with something that would make people move their hips. A little clavé can go a long way. Also, I would say this is the song where I opened up the most with my playing style.” Eventually, the maracas turn to the sound of a rattlesnake getting ready to attack its prey, just like the grooviness of the song switches gears to bring back the intensity. Coughlin returns to the middle refrain, this time with more onslaught as the bands backing harmonies start to creep in as if there are many voices battling for control inside your own head. Originally this song was supposed to have a much later release, but with the pandemic changing up everyone’s plans, Coughlin knew it had to be on their upcoming record coming out on May 20th. It’s an early peek of what is to come, but according to Amato-Gauci it “was a last-minute song but it’s by far my favourite song off this album.” Stay tuned for another single release before their debut LP “Day, Now” drops in May. Follow the band on Instagram.

Toronto-based four-piece Garage-Rock band Passport Radio has just released a brand new nostalgic and dreamy track titled “Movin On.” Evidently, the song is about moving on and it can be taken in a variety of different contexts: from a person, job, city, lifestyle, etc. The versatility of the song makes it relatable to any listener especially through these weird times we are in, all experiencing loss in some state. Moral of the story: we all love the song and obviously want to celebrate. Tonight we are hosting a virtual release show for this beautiful song right here on The Soundtrack on IG Live at 7 PM. We have a variety of amazing artists playing, please see below: Hannia Cheng Moscow Apartment Quezal Passport Radio Don’t forget to get your drinks, snacks, and outfit ready for this fantastic show filled with so much local talent. The show starts at 7 PM EST here!

By: Jayben Favila Harry Styles, a former member of One Direction, has made a name for himself as a solo artist within the Billboard charts and with his most recent Grammy win for “Pop solo performance” for his hit Single “Watermelon Sugar.” In 2019 he released “Fine Line”, an album that is far from a“Sophomore Slump” but is Styles’ most acclaimed album in his young music career. He takes influence from 70s rock that you can hear in songs like “Watermelon Sugar”, “Adore You”, and “Sunflower Vol 9.” Billboard reported that Harry Styles’s “Fine Line” was the leader of the 2020 vinyl sales breaking US records. I chose to feature this album not only because of his Grammy win but also to serve as a reminder of how fantastic this album is from start to finish. The album is jam-packed with songs that narrate Styles’ vision of the “Fine Line” era with exciting sounds that represent his euphoric passion towards his lover, accompanied by psychedelic visuals that give the album a fresh appeal to fans. When it comes to the vinyl itself, you are welcomed to a gatefold record that shows various portraits taken by British photographer Tim Walker. The visuals show a 70s David Bowie-esque photo paired with a giant poster of half-naked Styles on one side, and the other of him in a pilgrim hat with pink spandex and psychedelic visuals. The variant I bought was the limited edition coke green vinyl which was repressed during the summer of 2020. My first copy of this was a black and white splatter Target edition but, I was not pleased with the water damage that came with it due to Target’s shipping methods, so the Coke Green vinyl definitely made up for it. The vinyl was pressed in different variants such as standard black, coke green, and the majority of the copies pressed on 180-gram vinyl. This was a major setback for a lot of briefcase/red needle turntable owners as it was reported throughout social media during the release of the album that and were met with the album skipping due to the 180-gram vinyl quality. Furthermore, for the first year anniversary, Harry decided to commemorate the album with the Fine Line album box set that included the 180 gram black vinyl, the rest of the fine line photos from photographer Tim Walker, a zine from the one night Fine Line show, and a pair of white gloves for a personal experience from home. The next time you go to your local record and want something modern in your collection, grab a copy of Fine Line- you won’t regret it! The

By: Gemma Mastroianni “You Know I’m Not Going Anywhere” from The Districts is a diverse album that will make you want to dance, reflect on the past, and chill out. It has a thematic foundation of change but seamlessly dips into a variety of genres, with the entire album still sounding like one piece. This was easily one of my favourite albums of 2020 and the one year anniversary just passed. I knew it had to be celebrated, and I was grateful to have singer Rob Groote on the Wavy Podcast. Groote takes the time to chat with me about production, recording in a cabin, lyricism, and how this album is closely tied to his spiritual curiosity. Listen below: Alternatively, listen to the episode on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Listen to “You Know I’m Not Going Anywhere” on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or purchase the LP on vinyl.

By: Gemma Mastroianni Spring is here, finally! I love putting together playlists dedicated to seasons. I update them throughout the time period and then not only does it become my go-to playlist for a variety of occasions, but it’s nice to revisit in the future. It represents my favourite music throughout a specific period of time which is often tied to people, places, memories- it’s like a little time capsule really. Check out the playlist I’ve started for Spring! This is exclusively on Spotify but if you don’t have Spotify, take a look and check out what songs I have added. Consider starting your own Spring playlist too! It’s so lovely to look back on in the future.

By: Gemma Mastroianni ZABO is an EDM artist from Niagara Falls, Canada. A few years back, his music unexpectedly went viral in China and he has had tremendous success in the electronic dance music scene there. He has toured across the country, been welcomed by fans in airports and streets, and has also played on major festival line-ups, sharing bills with successful artists such as Armin van Buuren. We chatted about this unexpected success approximately a year ago. With travel bans, it was seemingly impossible to continue riding on this wave in China, or anywhere for that matter in terms of touring. Touring is one of the biggest ways for artists to make an income and it has affected the scene immensely not only for artists but all parties involved. Despite this barrier, ZABO has managed to break past this and has only grown his audience. I wanted to check back in and see how things were going, and also celebrate his grand success so far as an international artist. We are excited to have ZABO as our artist of the month and share the interview below. It’s been about a year since we last spoke- how have you been? Yeah, I think we talked last February 2020. Lately, over the last few weeks, I’ve been doing really well. I’ve been writing the most music I have since quarantine started. Ever since quarantine, it was pretty slow for me music-wise. I was unmotivated and not feeling creative so, for the first eight months of covid, I wasn’t writing much. I still finished a few songs, but definitely wasn’t writing as much as I would have liked to. Lately, I’ve hit a good creative and motivational run, and I’ve been finishing a lot of music so it’s been great. Would you say it’s the sunshine and warm weather that has been inspiring this creativity? The turning of the weather has definitely helped- everyone gets the winter blues. I think I just go through my own creative ups and downs and I just caught a good one recently. Yeah, this winter was weird. I feel like I was a bear hibernating and barely experienced weather. It was a pretty short winter too, we only had two or three weeks of snow on the ground- not what we are used to. I was so happy about that. We are well on our way to spring and I am so happy about that. Me too! Bringing it back a bit- when did you first get into music and what kind? Like everyone, I grew up listening to music and loved it. I started getting involved in making and playing music in high school. I learned how to play the guitar in grade nine mostly because I wanted to be in bands and because I wanted to be cool. Throughout high school, I played guitar, bass, and sang in a band for a little bit. So I was in a bunch of random bands throughout high-school. Which genres? A lot of stuff we were doing was mostly covers but they were like punky and mostly pop-punk. We would cover Paramore, Fall Out Boy, stuff like that. When I got into grade eleven I started listening to dance music and I wasn’t obsessed with it, but I definitely liked it. By the time I was going into university I was really into dance music and that’s when I decided to just download Ableton and fool around with it. I was really interested in it and kept spending more and more time on it. This was around 2012 when I started to make music and I think I liked it so much because when you’re in a band, you have to rely on other people in the band to practice, write songs, whatever. Also, studio costs are extremely expensive if you want to record music as a band. So what I loved about making dance music was that I could do it all on my computer, all by myself, I could work as much or as little as I wanted and didn’t have to rely on anyone else or spend extra money recording anything because it was all done on the computer. So for those reasons, and because I was falling in love with dance music more and more, it became such a passion of mine that I just needed it. I think it’s funny that what made you play music was a bit of a popularity game. Yeah, my Dad was in bands when he was my age now, and growing up that was kind of his job, doing bar gigs and stuff. Even when I was young he was still in bands and I always thought he was super cool. I wanted to be a rockstar like my Dad and I feel like that’s kind of the reason I got into it. What is your current setup? Here’s a pretty simple rundown: I have my computer, a Macbook pro. Then I have a midi keyboard that allows me to play out sounds and get ideas into Ableton- it’s by the brand Acorn and it’s the master key 49- more than enough. Besides that, I have an external monitor so I can have two screens to work on. Then I have a pair of Beyerdynamic DT 880s headphones, which I use to produce. Highly recommend it for producing. Then for my studio monitors, I have KRK Rock It 8’s. They get the job done. I don’t produce a lot on those because I don’t want to bother my roommate, but I mostly work on my headphones. I have a simple microphone, the Rode NT1-A. It’s a really good microphone and it’s pretty cheap. That’s my setup! With everything being on your laptop, has there ever been a time where you lost data? How do you keep everything secure? As a producer, that is my worst nightmare. I make sure that will never happen because I upload everything to Dropbox and I also have another cloud service that I pay for annually. Every night at midnight it automatically updates everything to their cloud service. So if my computer crashes right now, I can just sign into my account and download everything to my new computer. I can’t stress how important that is enough. I never needed to do that yet, fortunately, but it is 100% worth the investment as a backup. If you lost everything I can only imagine how heartbreaking. What does a typical writing and production session look like for you? Most days I’ll work on music for a few hours. Whenever I’m in the mood and feeling inspired, I’ll just go for it as opposed to scheduling. I usually have a bunch of projects on the go and it’s honestly just a feeling. Sometimes when I’m in bed or in the morning I will hear an idea that is for a song I’m working on, and I’ll know that when I sit down and do music that’s what I’m going to do. A typical thing is when I’m writing a song, I’ll have an idea in my head and record a voice memo into my phone, like a sound beat or rhythm. I’ll listen back to these voice memos and try to put that down into Ableton and I kind of work from there. A lot of times I don’t have a full song idea in my head. I have some sort of idea or hear a sound that inspires me, and I will just build from there. It’s always different but it always starts that way. Typically, how long are your sessions? I’ll do an hour at a time but because I’m doing this all at home, ill do tasks around the house. For example, if I’m working for an hour ill take a break and do laundry or make lunch, so I’d say it’s probably 3-4 hours dispersed throughout the day. I’ve heard in music that it’s better to do little chunks as opposed to eight hours or you’ll burn out. Definitely. Your ears can get tired especially if you’re trying to finish up a track and mix it down to get it sounding professional, its super good to take breaks because if you’re listening to the same thing over and over again, your ears might not be at the peak performance they could be to hear certain little details you need to be hearing. It’s good to take breaks that said there are times where I’m so in the zone and I have a good flow going and I’m at my computer for hours at a time because sometimes when it’s going good, you gotta keep going. What or who inspires your music? One thing that I enjoy and something that’s been inspiring my music a lot lately is orchestral sounds and pieces and big epic fight scene moments in movies. I love shit like that and I’ve been starting to incorporate it more and more into my music and it makes me feel so good when there’s a huge set of sounds that fit so perfectly. There are a bunch of artists that I draw inspiration from. One is Iyo who passed away recently rest in peace. He’s a techno artist. I don’t make techno but I’ve been drawn to his music ever since I heard it and the energy within it. I take inspiration from that to feed energy into my songs. Drezzo is another artist I take a lot of inspo from, of course, Rezz is one too. She’s one of the pioneers from that mid-tempo song. There are a lot of artists that I take inspiration from and a lot of genres. I really love so many styles of music and I kind of just listen to music all the time and I’ll get inspired by a certain sound I’ve never heard and I’m like oh wow I can make something like this or similar to that sound. Speaking of techno, I saw your TikTok about how to make a good techno song. I’m wondering what your thoughts on TikTok and music and how it affected the scene? Specifically for me, TikTok has benefitted me so much. My one song “Breathe” started getting really popular on Tiktok just as an audio people were using back in October. It got so crazy that it’s been getting me millions of streams. People are pouring over to Spotify and Apple Music into millions of streams, all from TikTok. The weirdest thing is that “Breathe” has been out for over two years. Things that like, I feel like I get lucky in certain situations that are so random but it’s so cool that happened and it’s allowed me to reach a different audience. Yes, that’s so neat. I remember the last time we spoke about how you were so big in Asia, but you wanted to try and shift that to North America as well. I’m assuming this has helped your growth out here? Yeah, it helped. It brought a lot of engagement to my Spotify and Apple Music, and people are starting to spill over to my Instagram a little more and I’ve built up a small following on TikTok, but it’s all because of Breathe. The fanbase is growing slowly, but it’s been doing well since we last talked. What do you see for yourself in the next year? Any plans if possible? I have a bunch of unreleased music right now and were just shopping them out to different labels and seeing what we can do with them, which is a waiting game. I hope I’ll be releasing about seven or eight songs this year. I do have a couple of big collaborations in the works that I don’t want to say anything about now because nothing is guaranteed until it’s finished, but there are a couple I’m very very excited about that I hope we will get to see in the future. In terms of shows, my team in China has talked to me briefly about getting me back over there this year, it’s just really hard to get a visa right now because of covid-19 of course. They said were moving in the right direction and they’re pretty confident that in the next six months I’ll be able to go. A lot of these things are out of my hands so I just kind of do my thing and make music, and see where it takes me. What can you tell us about your new single, “Last Goodbye”? It’s a collab with Tokyo Rose who reached out to me last year. We’ve been working on the song all of 2020 and we found a singer for it, Aloma Steele. She’s sung on a bunch of dance music tracks and her vocals fit the track really well. It’s a vocally melodic track with an aggressive mid-tempo Zabo style drop. There’s also a nice melodic drum and bass drop for the second half of the song. I’m really excited about it! Listen here on Spotify. Follow ZABO on Instagram and Apple Music.