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The upbeat title track and lead single (with video), satirically exposes the highs and lows of being a “Hopeless Romantic”. Bobby's vividly shattered dreams are brought to life with nostalgic melodies, and a topnotch Canadian country band that includes Bazil Donovan and Jimmy Bowskill - along with an animated visual clip produced by the “gorgeous and glorious” Gregory Pepper. Co-produced with Bazil Donovan (Blue Rodeo) and Tim Vesely (Rheostatics) at The Woodshed studio in Toronto, Bobby Dove’s new album, Hopeless Romantic, offers 11 new original Americana/Country songs on subjects such as unrequited love, being on the road, haunted hotels and hard-rocking pallbearers. On Hopeless Romantic, Bobby collaborates with some of the finest in Canadian Country music including Jimmy Bowskill (The Sheepdogs, Blue Rodeo), Burke Carroll (Kathleen Edwards) as well as guest singers Jim Cuddy (Blue Rodeo) and Jenny Whiteley.

https://www.instagram.com/bobbydovemusic/

“Corona King” by Dawn Drake (Feb 12, 2021 on PMX Records) chronicles a pandemic romance that is already barely hanging by a thread on Zoom. The relationship finally succumbs to a lack of actual human connection that many of us have experienced in 2020.

Imagine if your computer screen is actually a bad dream come true? Many singles in lockdown all over the world went for months without actually being in the presence of other human beings. Social media and video chats have been the only human connection we have had during the pandemic- and Zoom, Facetime and Skype have become some of the only potential romantic connections we’ve had as well. This bad dream for Ms. Drake tells a somewhat autobiographical tale of being in quarantine already cutoff from all social ties; the final straw is when that special someone catches coronavirus and is never heard from again. S/He becomes the “Corona King” for whom the song is named.

In Dawn’s signature fashion of accompanying her darker lyrics with grooves that light up the dance floor, the video for “Corona King” sheds a sunny light on the subject matter as the protagonist prevails. Dancing and singing into the post-lockdown summer and fall, she makes lemonade out of the tale, converting it into a passion-filled dance number that is at once New Wave Pop and Cuban Timba (Salsa Cubana) with some dashes of Afro-Cuban folkloric references that conjure up images of Changó, the Orisha of male virility, and Ochún, the Orisha of love and sweet waters. “Corona King” shows us that all is not lost in the world and that even when the floor is shaking… you can still dance!

Dawn Drake & her band of over a decade, ZapOte (a luscious tropical fruit) are beautifully filmed by Okay Motion in a lush Brooklyn backdrop that features the signature Colamari Horns (Jackie Coleman and Lynn Ligammari of Durand Jones, Antibalas and Red Baraat), the sounds of the tres guitar played by Benjamin Lapidus, as well as Drake’s own bass, vocals and percussion. The tight rhythm section featuring Rosa Avila (Summer on Broadway, Broadway Bounty Hunter) on drums and Mara Rosenbloom on keys makes you want to get up and groove all the way into post-pandemic land!

While you’re grooving you’ll be in good company with choreography by Hansell Vaillant of La Habana, Cuba accompanied by Ms. Drake and Brooklyn dancer Michele Drysdale. Cameo appearances by Brittany Anjou of BiTyrant and Eliane Amherd from the voice of Switzerland make it all in the family. A motion filled piece from beginning to end, the moves in “Corona King” will give you the energy you need to shake off the Corona King you may have in your own life.

Who is the “Corona King” in the video premiere? We may never find out, as the plot is purposefully gender-non-specific. One is left to guess who the actual Corona King really is. In the end, the takeaway is that perhaps there is hope for singles even in and beyond a global pandemic!

http://www.instagram.com/thedawndrake
http://www.dawndrakeandzapote.bandcamp.com/

From the album "Crest of a Wave", a beautiful solo piano piece.

https://www.instagram.com/pianoman_mark/

Mark Sutton is a composer and musician who creates background and theme music with a reflective and nostalgic appeal from his studio in Dorset. His masterful approach to digital orchestration gifts him the ability to compose to brief or to picture. For his non-commissioned work, Mark doesn’t set out with a mission to create a particular piece; instead, he arrives at his pieces, guided by his fingers and directed by his soul.

Since an early age, Mark has been a master of his piano and takes inspiration from an eclectic mix of modern and classical composers and artists, from Chopin to Coldplay, there’s something there for Mark to source from.

Mark’s work combines orchestrated and pure piano tunes, it’s the perfect ’study’ music, and guides the mind, body and soul towards feelings of contentment and peace during the times you wish to relax and unwind.

His 2016 album Quest of The Spirit, offers up 12 tracks of discovery, tracks that chart the evolution of the soul’s journey, an internal voyage everyone takes. Every note, every rise and fall in the music, maps out the way ahead as the sounds escort you on your quest to the very heart of your soul.

Mark Sutton’s music takes listeners on a journey, directed by a man who has masterful control over music and a deep, innate understanding of the human condition.

Eclectic Reggae/Island-Fusion Artist Vana Liya Releases Single “Come Away” (Featuring Half Pint) via LAW Records
Genre-busting vocalist, songwriter, and ukulele maverick Vana Liya https://www.vanaliyamusic.com/ made a serendipitous recent arrival on the national music scene after she posted several ukulele covers of popular reggae songs to social media, which garnered the support of top original artists and led to a 2018 record deal with L.A.-based LAW Records. She has since been quickly earning a reputation among many of her well-established musical peers as a solid collaborator who always brings a fresh take and positive energy to the mix with her distinct yet not easily classifiable “island” vibe.

That free spirit of collaboration between major and emerging artists is nowhere better illustrated than with Vana Liya’s new single “Come Away” featuring Jamaican dancehall and reggae legend Half Pint, (out Feb. 12, 2021, on LAW Records). https://halfpintmusic.com/ https://www.law-records.com/

Produced by multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and Stick Figure member Johnny Cosmic, “Come Away” had originally been constructed by Vana and Johnny as a reggae-pop club track before Half Pint was asked to collaborate on it. Yet when Half Pint sent the stems with a section of the vocals back with the lyrical tagline ‘come away from the land of the sinking sands,’ Vana was so blown away by those foreboding words, almost premonitory of the racial and political strife yet to come in 2020, that she decided to scrap everything she’d written and go with the more heavy-hitting, politically relevant storyline.

“I think musicians have a really important role to speak up about what they believe in. And it’s not necessarily like you have to get super political or anything. But I definitely think that if you don’t use your platform, you’re missing out on an opportunity. The song isn’t explicitly about racism, or politics, or any one thing. But it reflects the times that we’re in and the racial violence and political injustice is just something that hit me really heavy. This was the year I woke up and I realized that the world was corrupt. I’d had a shield over my eyes where I thought everything was fine before. So I wanted to address that in the song but it in a light way. So that if you wanted to just chill out and listen to the song, you could chill out and listen. But then, if you had your thinking cap on, it also hits you a whole different way.”

The release of “Come Away” serves as a sample of what has been a consistent flow and wide range of new material Vana Liya has had in the works over the past year and foreshadows the broad stylistic eclecticism and bold subject matter that can be expected on Vana’s upcoming projects. It is also indicative of a deeply personal renaissance Vana has been undergoing with her evolution as an artist.

Born Nirvana Goberdhan, Vana grew up just east of New York City in Deer Park, NY. As the daughter of parents from Guyana (located at the southernmost end of the Caribbean), Vana was surrounded from a very early age by soca, calypso, dancehall, and reggae music and began singing at the age of 12. At age 19, Vana’s mother recognized her daughter had a gift and love for music and bought her a guitar. However, playing the acoustic guitar was difficult for her small stature, so for the Christmas of 2014, her mother gifted her a ukulele instead — a gift that ultimately changed the course of her life and journey.

A couple of years later, Vana began posting ukulele covers to YouTube and Instagram of songs by her favorite reggae artists like Sublime, Slightly Stoopid, and Pepper. Her magnetic personality and smooth voice combined with the novelty of a reggae-rock-ukulele chick belting out fan favorites and soon enough her videos started taking off and getting lots of views and engagement Before long, artists like 311, Rebelution, Stick Figure, and SOJA were sharing Vana’s covers across various social media platforms, which was the beginning of Vana finding her audience. However, what would become a career-defining moment came in June 2017 when she put up a cover of Pepper’s “Too Much”. Within a week, the band had reposted it and taken keen notice of the young artist and her unique approach.

In April of 2018, Vana signed with Pepper’s LAW Records — becoming their first female and first solo artist — and subsequently released 4 singles within a year. In November, Vana visited Great Stone Studios owned by Scott Woodruff of Stick Figure in Oakland, CA. At that time, she recorded “Go For It” with Johnny Cosmic of Stick Figure and also did a duo song with Happy Madison star Peter Dante called “Give Love Get Love”.

That year, Vana made the business decision to move from her native New York to California, eventually settling in Los Angeles, where she formed her band, including Steve Shaw (keys/sax), Kenny Nishikawa (bass), Logan Tyler (drums) and Eli Reskow (guitar). Much of 2019 was spent touring relentlessly with bands including Expendables, KBong, and Kash’d Out, and opening for such noteworthy artists as Pepper, Ballyhoo!, Badfish, Oogee Wawa, Tunnel Vision, and Tropidelic.

After meeting Johnny Cosmic on tour, Vana asked him to team up with her in the studio for this single and the two worked closely through 2019 to develop Vana’s unique island fusion sound. While much of her work falls into the reggae category, Vana asserts she is not a straight-up reggae artist. For the “Come Away” single, she was successful in demonstrating an authentic stylistic eclecticism by creating a track that has a reggae basis but is, in essence, more of a heavy pop-reggae tune that even manifests elements of trance.

Says Vana, “Working with well-established and respected artists like Half Pint and Johnny Cosmic has been a rewarding and validating experience for me at this early stage in my career. I think one of the things I’ve been kind of struggling with is that a lot of people used to pigeonhole me as like ‘the ukulele chick’ who just does covers and stuff like that. I’m really trying to stray away from that and coming into my own now. So with this single, I want to let people know I didn’t come to play; this is legit!”

http://camelliapink.com/

Freedust first became airborne when Daniele Carmosino met singer Lisa Widmark among the creaking Hammonds and weather-beaten Moogs of an antique music equipment store in 2015. With more than just musical influences in common, the pair shared a feel for the music they wanted to create and soon began realising their vision in Daniele’s home studio. Combining their initial inspiration of Swing music of the 1930s and 40s, filtered through their love of pop, jazz, electronica and vintage gear to create a something new yet familiar, timeless. The duo were soon joined by guest singer Sarina Leah from London and the geographical influences of all three Freedusters (Italy, Sweden, UK) combine to form their singular sound .

Their debut EP ‘Jump Up and Down’ is a journey through bouncy beats and dusty breaks, scratched horns and whimsical electronics underpinning catchy melodies and gossamer vocals, for a fresh and playful approach to female-fronted experimental pop.

https://www.instagram.com/freedust.music/

Happy, uplifting drum and bass tune with female vocals. A throwback to euphoric liquid D'n'B

https://www.instagram.com/mattirealism/

Second single from forthcoming Blue Canopy EP 'Sleep While You Can' (out March 5) -- featuring Patrick from A Beacon School on guitar.

Blue Canopy's 'Sleep While You Can' is the newest entry from Portland-based multi-instrumentalist, Alex Schiff. Exploring the often unspoken anxiety related to having a child and what that means for losing the past version of one's self, the EP is beautifully introspective at a time where self-reflection is incredibly crucial.

Formerly the keyboardist and co-writer for indie band, Modern Rivals, the EP is a follow up to his 2020 debut, Mild Anxiety, which was produced alongside Patrick J Smith (A Beacon School), a frequent collaborator.

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Quote from artist: "I'm really intrigued by the relationship developing between our dog Banjo and our first born, Graham. When my wife was pregnant with Graham, I had a funny thought, "what life advice would Banjo give Graham when he meets him?"

https://www.instagram.com/blue.canopy/

G Bersa, born in 1981, is a Beat-maker of Apulian origin (Arnesano, LE). In 1997 he approached Hip Hop culture and actively participated as a breaker in the Fiacche Cumpagnie and Centrum Funk crews. In 2007, he became a member of the Southfam crew and collaborated with the Sudest Records label where he had the opportunity to produce the first songs. Assisted by the reliability of the members (Mani Mala), he created his first musical project, a completely self-produced mixtape entitled CRUNK EAT, characterized by electronic drumlines and simple loops. In 2009 he met a young Brenno Itani with whom he made the single "hombre que pasa" participated by Cobrakay and Nico Royale. He composes the track "Una Chance" in the album of the Syracuse rapper Izio Sklero and with the same he reappears, years later, in the track "Che ci faccio quà" in which Kiquè appears at the talk box. In the following years, for Mopashà he produced the singles "Appiccio la mia brasa" and "Babilonia", for Hector Dalai, the single "Nostalgie", for Young Bolo, the single "Contanti" and "Maraglio", for Jake La Furia and Guè Pequeno, the track "Disco Exclusive". Appears in the street album "Pugni in faccia" by Rap Pirata, in the track of Inoki, Mad Dopa and Lu Marra entitled "Bad Man". He currently collaborates with Emic Entertainment and lives in Bologna.

https://www.instagram.com/g_bersa/

An On Bast is a live electronic artist who creates all her work on the fly. This track was made at a time when she was busy with a number of projects at the same time. Anna Suda (her actual name) is a major in philosophy so she often has a deeper meaning behind the titles of her songs.