Olive B uses her melodic voice and emotive lyrics to take listeners on a reflective and often nostalgic journey through their past relationships, and the pain and pleasures that accompany love. Olive’s first release was a seven-song mixtape titled No(W)here, released May 2017, produced and mastered by Toronto-producer Kayobe. In 2018, she collaborated with Vancouver-based producer Chewy on “Always You” and “Joey Moon.” Olive B is currently in the studio with producer Bobby Love (“Illusion” and “Fine Wine”) working on finishing an eight-song album titled With Or Without You. It’s a mix of indie pop meets alternative R&B. Her brand new single entitled “With Or Without You” is a mix of indie pop meets alternative R&B. We featured her not long ago as our artist of the week and since then, Olive B has continued to not only impress us, but also the world.
Jett Kwong‘s work is colored by themes such as family, her identity as a mixed heritage woman, and the complexities of colonial history. “Our identities are colored by the context in which we are in – the way we grow up, our appearance, and our basic interests and beliefs”. It is through this belief that she channels her desire to seek out the true roots of individuality. Her new single ‘Cream’ is an ode to summer, a time passed, to lusting over someone and ultimately lusting over an idealized version of a persona and the past. Kwong reveals, “I was inspired by the realization that we all, including myself, fall prey to the romanticization of history, and the exoticism of Asia and Asian people. This to me is a legacy of colonialism, and that lens is particularly interesting when I apply them to my own family’s stories of surviving war, flourishing in post WWII Hong Kong, and immigrating to the US”. ‘Cream’ evokes the balmy imagery of Kwong’s grandparents strolling down the road in 1940’s Hong Kong in their beautiful, tailored clothes – in stark contrast to the reality of their inequality in a British colony and their everyday struggles to survive and ultimately immigrate. Sonically the single features ethereal vocals, shimmering soundscapes and hints of Kwong’s Chinese influences.
Sonically influenced by a variety of sounds from different eras, Jett’s music is built from pieces of the past with an essence of the future. With the desire to spark conversations about identity, the singer/songwriter confides, “I am inspired to tell not only my and my family’s histories, but a broader story of culture – to be a conduit for those stories and to find more innovative ways to express them.”
Empowered by issues surrounding women’s rights, social and political reform and questions around justice, Jett hopes to contribute towards conversations for affecting change. Having performed at prestigious venues including the renown Carnegie Hall, Jett Kwong is ready for the next installment of her journey.
The new studio album Glazed, from *repeat repeat is out now via Dangerbird Records. The album is available everywhere now and includes the first single “Hi, I’m Waiting” as well as “Apocalyptic,” “Pressure,” and “Head On.” The band says, “Glazed is about looking at the world through a different lens. It’s about taking the familiarities of life and love and the end of the world and approaching them with renewed optimism and a fresh set of colors.”
*repeat repeat delivers a batch of songs entirely true to the album’s title: sugary and sticky and impossibly shiny glistening harmonies and candy-coated hooks. But beneath the gloss lies something more jarring and jagged, a raw vitality generated by the Nashville band’s buzzy rhythms and blistering guitar work. Fortified by the distinct creative alliance of husband-and-wife duo Jared and Kristyn Corder, the result is an album that finds an unlikely power in irrepressible sweetness.
The follow-up to 2017’s Floral Canyon, Glazed marks a period of major growth for *repeat repeat, who worked closely with producer Patrick Carney to immerse themselves in a more rigorous songwriting and recording process than they’d ever attempted before.
Patrick Carney says, “It was a pleasure getting the opportunity to work with and befriend *repeat repeat. I’m really proud of the album and had a lot of fun making it as well.”
In support of the new album,*repeat repeat will be touring all summer beginning with their album release show on June 2nd and then heading out on their first headlining tour. Then this fall they will join Modest Mouse and The Black Keys on select tour dates.
The word that jumps to mind when hearing Deanna Petcoff’s music for the first time is yearning. Although yearning is a verb, not an adjective, it is the closest thing that can describe the hold her music takes on the listener. The warmth and texture of her sweeping vocals intertwined with the almost playful blueness of her lyrics fills the listener with a sense of intense longing, and reveals to us a worldview that is full of pain at the loss of love, and full of hope for something more beautiful.
Petcoff grew up worshipping the music of David Bowie, Joan Jett, Lou Reed, and Patti Smith. These musicians, among many others, inspired her to first pick up a guitar and start to play. This fire grew and was fostered by the women at Girl’s Rock Camp Toronto, which she first attended in 2011. It was there she began her musical career, being paired with many mentors and starting her first band, Pins & Needles, a four-piece based in Toronto. She continued to play with them for 5 years, across Canada, and co-wrote two albums with the group. For Petcoff, this band spanned her high school years and was a chance to grow, play, and experiment, finding her voice among others in the city. In January 2018, Pins & Needles disbanded, leading to the beginning of Petcoff’s solo career, and the creation of her first single, Terribly True, followed shortly by her second single Stress and next up, Stage Lights.
Californian singer-songwriter, Cody Lovaas’ debut EP Honestly is out now. It includes “Talk Slow” and “Finally Falling.” Previous releases “Finally Fallen” and “Talk Slow” have garnered over 60 Spotify playlists including New Music Friday as well as being featured on Apple playlists such as Best Of The Week, Today at Apple, Breaking Pop and more. Cody says, “I’m so ecstatic for my debut EP to finally be in the world. This is a collection of songs that sums up the last 9 months of my life the best way I can.”
In support of his debut EP, he will be co-headlining his first National US tour with Alex Di Leo in June and July.
Cody Lovaas has simple and confessional lyrics in soulful vocals, melodic acoustic performances, and smooth pop production. Lovaas plays with the boundaries of pop, acoustic, and electronic music, crafting a variant that retains pop’s effortless melodies while exchanging the genre’s cosmetic compositions for sincere and wistful love stories. Lovaas’s records have premiered on Billboard, Idolator, Culture Collide, Ones to Watch andWe Found New Music.In 2017, he released his debut single, “Lie,” which garnered over 5M plays and appeared on Spotify’s Chill Vibes and Pop Chillout playlists. The following year, he dropped “Find,” a single produced with artists Shallou and Kasbo that reached 20M streams as well as “Prove It,” which earned 3M streams and a place on Starbuck’s Coffeehouse playlist.Lovaas’s most recent releases Talk Slow and Finally Fallen gained over 70 playlist placements as well as. Both songs are from his upcoming EP which will release May 31st.
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