BUSTY AND THE BASS SHARE “FAR FROM HERE (FT. MAGI MERLIN)”

LISTEN / SHARE / BUY / STREAM “FAR FROM HERE (FT. MAGI MERLIN)” HERE

RESIDENCES BEGIN IN TORONTO AND MONTREAL IN MARCH 2023

Photo Credit : Charlotte Rainville // DOWNLOAD HIGH-RES

"Far From Here" is Busty and The Bass’ sultry R&B single that started as a 10-minute instrumental jazz odyssey built on "just three chords and a groove" before being edited into the 4 minute single version. The free-flowing nature of the original jam session can still be heard on the track with Magi Merlin's playful and powerful voice floating atop the rolling groove through its psychedelic peaks and valleys. ‘All my life I've been this dope, baby,’ the Montreal-based singer-rapper boldly states at the beginning of the song about falling out of love and the self-doubt that often follows. Continuing their cross-genre explorations, "Far From Here" sees 10-piece collective deftly navigate the new waves of indie jazz alongside artists like Hiatus Kaiyote, Thundercat, and Kamasi Washington.

LISTEN / SHARE / BUY / STREAM “FAR FROM HERE (FT. MAGI MERLIN)” HERE

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MORE ABOUT BUSTY AND THE BASS
For the sprawling multi-national soul-jazz collective, Busty and the Bass, collaboration has always been at the forefront of their art.  Formed at the University of Montreal over a decade ago, the group is now scattered across four North American cities from coast to coast. The band’s two studio albums, both produced by Grammy Award-winner Neal Pogue, have been praised in equal parts by tastemaker press (Complex, OkayPlayer) and established media (Billboard, American Songwriter). Over the years, they have collaborated with legends George Clinton, Macy Gray, Earth Wind & Fire, members of Slum Village, and exciting new voices like Polaris Music Prize winners Cadence Weapon and Pierre Kwenders, and most recently, Philadelphia rapper STS. After an original member left the band during the pandemic, the collective used the opportunity to expand their ranks for the first time in years, invigorating the band with a newfound creative energy and approach. Now, the ten-piece collective includes new vocalists Mel Pacifico, Wayne Tennant, and Jordan Brown, with many songs featuring up to all five vocalists interchanging verses and harmonizing together. Along with these new voices come new ideas and influences that have inspired the collective's most dynamic and expansive album yet. The new record, due out in spring 2023, continues their singular experimentation with soul, funk, jazz, and dance music.

LISTEN / SHARE / BUY / STREAM “ALL THE THINGS I COULDN’T SAY TO YOU” HERE

MORE ABOUT MERLIN MAGI
After courting a cult following with her underground EPs Drug Music, On My Way to the Listening Party, and subsequent singles, the ever-mysterious Magi Merlin (MADGE-eye) is stepping into her moment with Gone Girl, her latest and most audacious effort to date.

Produced by longtime collaborator and beatsmith Funkywhat, Gone Girl draws on influences from 90’s house, drum and bass, Motown, to acid-flecked hip hop. Merlin’s voice reminds you of a smoky after hours club — if the windows were shattered by bass lines, the walls leveled by 808s. The self-described “cheeky nihilist” combines jazzy scats, raps, and breakbeats together in her musical cauldron to address issues like generational angst, fake friends, the casual racism of white suburbia, and the happy thrills of hedonism.

BUSTY AND THE BASS RESIDENCY DATES
March 1 - 4 - Toronto, ON @ The Drake | TICKETS
March 9 - 11 - Montreal, QC @ La Casona | TICKETS

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DAN MANGAN SHARES FELIX CARTAL REMIX OF “JUST KNOW IT”

LISTEN / SHARE / BUY / STREAM “JUST KNOW IT (FELIX CARTAL’S SUNSET MIX)” HERE

DAN MANGAN’S LATEST LP, BEING SOMEWHERE, NOMINATED FOR 2023 JUNO AWARD FOR ADULT ALTERNATIVE ALBUM OF THE YEAR

BUY / STREAM BEING SOMEWHERE HERE

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“This sixth album moves the needle on again, while never losing sight of his brilliance as a songwriter... Being Somewhere carries a gentle wisdom, filled with kindness... It’s like being given a cozy sonic hug while the world’s storms rage outside.” - MOJO

“Full of kindness and empathy, the Vancouver songwriter's latest serves as a gentle reminder to appreciate what you have before it's gone.” - RANGE Magazine

“Being Somewhere showcases some of Mangan’s finest writing couched in some of the most atmospheric arrangements to appear in his catalogue. From the Spartan, piano-driven Just Know It with its subtle harmonies to All Roads driving atmospherics, the production is meticulous.” - Vancouver Sun

“Dan Mangan’s sixth album strikes a fine balance between the quiet intimacy of his best work and Bon Iver’s most fractalized folktronica... The likes of ‘Fire Escape’ and ‘All Roads’ provide warmth and immediacy without disrupting the delicate mood.” - Uncut

Photo Credit: Jonah Atkins // DOWNLOAD HIGH-RES

Last year, Dan Mangan released his sixth studio album, Being Somewhere, which was just recently nominated for a 2023 JUNO Award for Adult Alternative Album of the Year. Today, he’s sharing a remix of “Just Know It” by multi-platinum, JUNO Award-winning dance music producer (and fellow Vancouverite) Felix Cartal.

"I love the idea that songs can live many lives,” says Mangan. “I’ve known Felix for a bit now and I love his general energy and approach. I encouraged him to make it his own. This Sunset Mix of ‘Just Know It’ feels like a drive down Hwy 101. It also gives me hope that I might finally hear one of my songs while getting my haircut." 

Cartal adds that he was "flattered when Dan asked me to remix this single off his latest album! I only had one condition: I needed to fuck up his vocals. His response: ‘go bananas.’ I've been doing Sunset Mixes of my own songs but realized this would be the perfect time to try one for another artist. A moody deep house re-imagining of the record. And to tie everything together we got Jean Paul Langlois to come on board with his interpretation of the music into a beautiful sunset cover art. BC all around!"

LISTEN / SHARE / BUY / STREAM “JUST KNOW IT (FELIX CARTAL’S SUNSET MIX)” HERE

Single Artwork : Jean Paul Langlois // DOWNLOAD HIGH-RES

MORE ABOUT BEING SOMEWHERE
571 emails. 100+ hours on the phone and thousands of text messages. A mere 3 days spent in-person together over two and a half years of long-distance work. Such a displaced recording process might make anyone question the concept of being anywhere at all, let alone being somewhere else.

This is how Dan Mangan and collaborator/producer Drew Brown (Radiohead, Beck) manifested Being Somewhere. All components were recorded in isolation and beamed up to the mothership. No piece of the puzzle ended up as expected, and each moment is the fruition of separate, yet conjoined, rabbit holes. 

WATCH / SHARE “IN YOUR CORNER (FOR SCOTT HUTCHISON)” LYRIC VIDEO

“The hard part was waiting,” Mangan says of the long-distance process, “sometimes it took six weeks to resolve an issue that could have taken twenty minutes had we been together in a room. But Drew’s dedication and talent cannot be understated, and this music doesn’t sound like anything else I’m hearing these days."

LISTEN TO DAN MANGAN TALK ABOUT BEING SOMEWHERE
IN DEPTH ON CBC q HERE

Under the care of Drew Brown’s distinct touch, Being Somewhere forges sonics well beyond the tropes of modern folk music. Helming the project from Chicago, Brown sourced musical contributions from all over North America, the UK and Japan, including work from Joey Waronker (Beck, Atoms for Peace), Jason Falkner (Beck, St. Vincent), Thomas Bartlett (The National, Taylor Swift), Dave Okumu (Arlo Parks, Adele), Mary Lattimore (Kurt Vile, Sharon Van Etten), and Broken Social Scene frontman Kevin Drew.

WATCH / SHARE “FIRE ESCAPE” (MUSIC VIDEO) HERE

MORE ABOUT DAN MANGAN
Dan Mangan is a two-time JUNO Award-winning and two-time Polaris Music Prize-nominated musician and songwriter. He lives in Vancouver, British Columbia with his wife and two sons. Mangan has toured extensively in North America, Europe & Australia. He has played Glastonbury and Jimmy Kimmel Live, collaborated with David Grohl, sold out Massey Hall and scored acclaimed soundtracks for television (Netflix, AMC) and feature films. In 2017, he co-founded Side Door, a community marketplace platform for the arts that seeks to democratize and decentralize the entertainment industry by allowing non-traditional spaces to be venues. 

BUY / STREAM BEING SOMEWHERE HERE

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JILL BARBER’S NEW LP OUT TODAY, SHARES NEW VIDEO

WATCH / SHARE “HELIUM” HERE

JILL BARBER’S NEW LP, HOMEMAKER, OUT TODAY VIA OUTSIDE MUSIC

BUY / STREAM HOMEMAKER HERE

CANADIAN TOUR DATES BEGIN THIS SPRING

“​​Throughout Homemaker, Barber reminds us that our lives — exactly as they are — are unfathomably rich, nuanced, epic.” - No Depression

“A gorgeous album, with a somber folk backdrop and close harmonies that feel like an update on early Simon & Garfunkel.”  - BrooklynVegan

“Anyone who loves the layered storytelling of John Prine and Nanci Griffith or novelists like Anne Tyler will immediately warm to Homemaker.” - Holler (7.5/10)

“Homemaker is a jubilant piece of musical matriarchy and cooperation, plain and simple.” - KUTX

“Homemaker brims with stripped-bare emotion and homespun instrumentation.”  - American Songwriter

“‘Beautiful Life’ is carried by gentle fingerpicked guitar and sweet sun-lit melodies, coloring Barber’s vocals with a warm early-morning glow, one that is bolstered even further by her charming lyricism.” - Under The Radar

Photo Credit : Jessica Jacobson  // DOWNLOAD HIGH-RES

“One day I was headlining Massey Hall, and the next day I was sweeping a messy hall,” jokes JUNO Award-nominated songwriter Jill Barber about the origins of her brand new album Homemaker. The reality is, having spent the last 20 years playing nearly every folk and jazz festival in Canada—and captivating audiences across the globe in Japan, Europe, Australia, Mexico, South America, the USA, and the Middle East—Barber recently began feeling an increasing disparity between her public image as “Canada’s Sweetheart” and the reality of her domestic life as an overwhelmed wife and mother. But, as strong, smart women like Barber tend to do, she took her life and her story back into her own hands. “I needed to write this album in order to reconcile these two versions of myself and feel okay about all aspects of who I am,” she says of this collection of songs which tell the story of what happens to the young romantic when she reaches “middle age.” Much to the delight of fans and critics alike, Barber has recast “The Homemaker” as the hero of her own story, reclaiming its power for herself and others.

Today, Barber also released a stunning music video for Homemaker’s penultimate track, “Helium”. Directed by Montreal-based artist Yang Shi, “Helium” was choreographed and performed by Winnie Ho. “The song ‘Helium’ evokes our ability to let go of our problems, just as we let go of helium balloons. I pictured this story of a dancer navigating through her problems—represented by the helium balloons—and trying to get free of them,” says Shi. “[The subject] is constantly attached to a single balloon, representing how we are tethered to and learn to work with some lingering thoughts and Winnie Ho's dance is expressive; both fluid and deliberate.” Fans can watch the “Helium” video at this link. 

WATCH / SHARE “HELIUM” HERE

MORE ABOUT HOMEMAKER
With Homemaker, Barber delivers ten quietly profound songs about the complexities of motherhood, marriage, and the struggle to feel at home in one’s own identity. It was over the past few years that Jill began to feel an increasing disparity between her public image as “Canada’s Sweetheart” and the reality of her domestic life as an overwhelmed wife and mother. “One day I was headlining Massey Hall, and the next day I was sweeping a messy hall” she quips. “I was afraid to break the spell of the more romantic version of myself that I put out there in the world and which helped define my career, but I eventually reached a breaking point where I needed to write this album in order to reconcile these two versions of myself and feel okay about all aspects of who I am.” These songs tell the story of what happens to the young romantic when she reaches “middle age,” with Jill recasting “The Homemaker” as the hero of her own story, reclaiming its power for herself and others. 

WATCH / SHARE “INSTANT CASH FOR GOLD” HERE

Written and recorded in Barber’s adopted hometown of Vancouver where she lives with her husband and two children, Homemaker is the first record that sees Jill in the role of a producer, co-producing with Erik Nielsen (City and Colour), and featuring some of Vancouver’s top session players like Paul Rigby (Neko Case), and Geoff Hicks (Colin James). “These songs are so damn personal, and such a deep reflection of my soul, that I felt an almost maternal instinct to both protect them and produce them for myself,” says Barber. “I really feel like I stepped into my own power as a producer on this record, with a lot of generous assistance from engineer/producer Erik Nielsen, who really championed my abilities in the studio.” 

Homemaker is a return to Jill’s folk roots. Whereas her most recent albums have been bathed in lush string arrangements, Homemaker sees emotions laid bare, with a stripped-down production style reminiscent of her acclaimed debut Oh Heart and double JUNO Award-nominated follow-up, For All Time. But mostly, Homemaker is a statement about the humility and strength that it takes to do the meaningful work of creating a home for others, while still holding space for your own dreams.

BUY / STREAM HOMEMAKER HERE

MORE ABOUT JILL BARBER
Jill Barber is a three-time JUNO Award nominated singer-songwriter with an unforgettable voice once heard, never forgotten. Her critically acclaimed repertoire spans a transformative spectrum from folk, to vocal jazz, to pop, and includes songs in both French and English. 

Her 2018 album Metaphora featured the #1 hit song “Girl’s Gotta Do” and her breakthrough jazz album Chances was certified Gold for 40,000 copies sold in Canada. Jill’s work has earned her awards, such as the Sirius XM Jazz Artist of the Year and the East Coast Music Award for Album of the Year, and scores of fans, including Blue Rodeo, Ron Sexsmith, and Kris Kristofferson, who called Jill “a real songwriter, and a damn good songwriter.” Her evocative and timeless songs have been featured in film and TV, scoring shows such as Orange Is The New Black, The L Word, Working Moms, and Heartland, and powering a global advertising campaign for Chrysler with the track “Never Quit Loving You”. 

An unforgettable, enchanting performer, Jill has headlined iconic venues such as Toronto’s Massey Hall and Roy Thomson Hall, Ottawa’s National Arts Centre, Vancouver’s Vogue Theatre, Dubai’s 2020 World Expo, and Tokyo’s Blue Note and Cotton Club. 

WATCH / SHARE “JOINT ACCOUNT” HERE

TOUR DATES
Apr 5 - Whitehorse, YT - Yukon Arts Centre
Apr 14 - Winfield, BC - Creekside Theatre
Apr 15 - Vancouver, BC - York Theatre
Apr 17 - Sidney, BC - Charlie White Theatre - Mary Winspear Centre
May 9 - Paris, ON - Dominion Telegraph Event Centre
May 10 - Toronto, ON - TD Music Hall
May 12 - Ottawa, ON - Babs Asper Theatre
May 13 - Smiths Falls, ON - Station Theatre
May 14 - Kingston, ON - The Isabel Bader Centre

For ticket information, please visit jillbarber.com/shows

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HOMEMAKER TRACKLIST
01 Instant Cash For Gold
02 Beautiful Life
03 Homemaker
04 Joint Account
05 Woman Of My Own Dreams
06 Hell No
07 My Mother’s Hand
08 Big Eyes
09 Helium
10 Still In Love

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