10 great tracks out now by international artists. In no particular order we have up first;
1. Lido Beach Release “The Kelli Song (Oh, Lucky Me)”
Lido Beach is debuts “The Kelli Song (Oh, Lucky Me)”, a track that frontman Scott Waldman co-wrote with Kim Shattuck, the late frontwoman for LA’s The Muffs, who tragically passed away from complications of ALS in 2019.
Waldman says “I used to manage Kim as a songwriter and producer. We wrote this song together and shortly thereafter she revealed to me that she had some form of ALS and had stopped producing and writing. She and I had the chance to write “The Kelli Song (Oh, Lucky Me)” in 2018. I spoke with the publisher then, and Kim passed. There is never the right time to release a song from the dead or by the deceased. I decided to put this track as the meat (track 2) of the upcoming Lido Beach three-song EP ‘Sweat Equity’. I’ll never play it live, but we are donating half of its proceeds towards ALS research. I hope that Kim would be happy. I miss her.”
2. Tracy Lawrence releases ‘Price Of Fame’
Tracy Lawrence has released the first official music video, “Price of Fame” featuring Eddie Montgomery off of his upcoming album, Hindsight 2020 Vol. 2: Price of Fame. This is the second album release of the year for Tracy, following up his Hindsight 2020, Vol 1: Stairway to Heaven Highway to Hell. The new album is set for release on August 13th and will continue the celebration of Tracy’s 30th Anniversary in Country Music. The new project includes five new tracks, including “Price of Fame” in addition to a new collaboration with Tracy Byrd.
Talking about the new video, Tracy had this to say, “I was eager to create an official music video for this song featuring Eddie, that included Troy,” says Tracy. “The images we used to highlight our careers really backs up the message of this song and brought back so many great memories for me. I am so blessed with all the friendships in the industry and outside of it and can’t believe I’ve been lucky enough to do this for thirty years and thankful that the fans have stuck with me on this wild ride.”
3. Linda Varg – ‘Standing In The Middle Of The Road’
Linda Varg is a Swedish pop artist who brings a unique and fresh sound with her empowering and uplifting anthems. With influences ranging from pop and rock to reggae and urban, her music is sprinkled with a punky attitude and a 90’s flavored tinge. Her musical career has been a colourful one – born in a small village in Sweden with a population of only around 25 people, it’s been a wild ride to where she is now. From winning the TV show Popstars and landing multi-platinum status with the group Supernatural, to signing a major label deal with Warner Music, Varg has devoted every second of her life to music. She’s had the pleasure of performing as Annie in the musical Chicago in Copenhagen, living out her childhood dream, and was also one of the finalists of Swedish Idol in 2010. All of this eventually led to Varg deciding to take the plunge into a solo career and she has never looked back since.
Her latest single “Standing In The Middle Of The Road” was written from Varg’s own experiences with bullying. It’s a personal message giving off a much bigger meaning, with the track applying to those who have gone through emotional hardships and risen up from the ashes, despite the pain and battles. Varg explains, “The message is that you should never let anyone, anything, or any circumstances run you over. What might seem like a failure, broken dreams, or insurmountable obstacles or challenges can instead be the passage or opening to something much greater than you could ever have imagined. So do whatever you want in life and don’t live as a victim of your own bad thoughts.”
4. Alec Benjamin releases ‘The Way You Felt’
5. Crown Lands release ‘White Buffalo’
Juno Award-winning, powerhouse rock duo Crown Lands – Cody Bowles (vocals and drums) and Kevin Comeau (guitar, bass, and keys) – share two new tracks, “White Buffalo” and “The Oracle” today through Spinefarm/Universal Music Canada, the country’s leading music company. Both tracks were recorded with three-time Grammy Award-winning, Toronto producer David Bottrill (Tool, Mastodon, Rush, Peter Gabriel).
“White Buffalo” arrives as a symbol of aspiration, in recognition of the resilience and strength of Indigenous communities to overcome injustice while manifesting a prosperous future. The big guitars, stomping baseline and pummelling drums barrel forward as if to conjure the movement of a giant buffalo.
“White Buffalo is the third instalment in our trilogy of songs about Indigenous rights,” says Crown Lands. “Mountain” is what happened. “End of the Road” is what is happening. White Buffalo is manifesting what will happen: overcoming oppression and rising up to reclaim one’s land. The White Buffalo is a symbol of manifestation. When Colonizers came to North America they tried to wipe out the Buffalo to starve Indigenous people to death. The buffalo are still here. We are too, and together we’ll overcome. Also, never has 7/8 ever been more danceable.”
6. sadeyes releases new track ‘Unexpected
‘Epitaph Records welcomes sadeyes to the family. sadeyes is the creative persona of 21-year-old singer/writer/producer Nathan Lewis. The Portland, Oregon based artist combines lo-fi, alternative, emo rap, and hyperpop with confessional lyrics to create infectiously catchy hits.
sadeyes has launched his new lo-fi hip-hop single ‘unexpected.’ “’unexpected’ is about the uncertainty of falling in love,” notes sadeyes. “It also deals with the struggle to understanding why we cling to good things when most good things come to an end.”
Along with the track, sadeyes shares the eye-catching and colorful music video directed by Max Moore (jxdn, nothing,nowhere., Cold Hart). Check it out here.
7. Manny Blu releases his new single ‘Valet’
Canada’s genre-bending, Country-Punk founder Manny Blu brings fans another glimpse into his upcoming DEViL EP with the release of the collection’s first ballad “Valet,” alongside fellow Montrealer and SiriusXM Top of the Country finalist Brittany Kennell. While definitely one of the most traditional country-sounding songs found on DEViL, Blu continues to push his punk-inspired mentality forward by embracing the fact that an acoustic country ballad is the perfect, unexpected addition to the EP tracklist.
“I’m so excited I got to work with a fellow Canadian artist Brittany Kennell on ‘Valet’,” said Blu on today’s release. “Canada’s country music fans have been there since day one for me. This is the most traditional country song on the EP and it reminds me of growing up there and watching Shania Twain achieve global success. It only made sense to have an incredible female artist like Britt on it with me. I’m so humbled she came onboard and made ‘Valet’ what it is.”
Kennell is also having quite the year. In addition to her spot on Top of the Country she has just released her new track “Bought the T-Shirt” that fans will find on her debut album coming out in September 2021.
“It’s funny because I moved back to Montreal from Nashville when Manny made his move down to Nashville from Montreal – we totally swapped places,” said Kennell. “I couldn’t be happier that we somehow still connected and got to record this song together. Nashville has an incredible collaborative community and I’m so excited Manny and I get to bring that to Montreal and Canada too.”
8. The High Loves release ‘Call Me Back’
Hear that? It’s The High Loves calling you. You should probably answer.
Alt-rock five-piece The High Loves lend credence to the connotation that Toronto is the creative capital of Canada with this, their new single “Call Me Back” — available now!
Freshly pressed from their forthcoming album, Too Much Of A Good Thing, this electric groove-laden rockin’ offering is one of the “catchiest songs” lead guitarist and vocalist Noah Monckton has ever written, he says.
“When I first wrote the hook, I wasn’t able to get it out of my head for weeks,” he adds. “For better, or for worse.”
Whittling away at the riffs and lyrics on voice note app on his phone, Monckton would bring together the rest of the group to flesh out the high-energy, souped-up summer bop. “’Call Me Back’ was around for a while,” lead guitarist Marko Stojanovic recalls. “At least, the melody to the chorus was. It didn’t really come together until a little under a year ago and we’re really happy with how it turned out. It’s a fun and groovy bopper you can blast in the car, on the patio, at the beach or anywhere you can have a good time.”
9. Olivia Lane Shares ‘LOIS LANE’
Following the announcement last month of her forthcoming new album, Olivia Lane has shared ‘LOIS LANE’, a brand new song from the upcoming project. ‘LOIS LANE’ is available to stream/download everywhere here.
Today’s release features on her brand new full-length album, HEART CHANGE, which will be released on September 17th 2021. The album will also feature previous tracks ‘HEART CHANGE’, ‘SWEET SISTER’, ‘WOMAN AT THE WELL’, ‘BOY’S STILL GOT IT’, ‘WHY DON’T WE’ and ‘I LET THE DEVIL IN’, which has been receiving airplay across the UK & Europe following its exclusive first play on BBC Radio 2 in February. Streams for the album tracks released to date have already totalled over 1.9 million, with 1.2m+ views for the official music videos, and features on high profile playlists including Wild Country & PopCo (Spotify), New In Country (Apple Music) and Country Waves (TIDAL).
10. Typhoid Rosie releases ‘Defend Your Temple’
Brooklyn, NY’s Typhoid Rosie is rolling out another new single off the band’s upcoming album ‘Queen Of Swords’, out August 13. The latest track, “Defend Your Temple”, is an empowering feminist anthem– and an urgent plea to stop seeking validation outside of ourselves.
Frontwoman Rosie Rebel says, “I would never sit a little girl down in front of a glowing screen to watch Cinderella. It’s not that I don’t believe in a good love story, it’s just the fact that generations of women have grown up with this idea that if we play dress up that some magical prince will come and save us. It’s a sham fairy tale about a girl who cries and waits for other people to come and save her- the mice, a fairy godmother, and finally a prince. She’s afraid that the prince won’t love her because she doesn’t have the right clothes. How is this any different than the plot of Pretty Woman?
These are nice tales to get the kids shopping at a young age, but let’s be real and remember that all of this dress up won’t buy you love, but it does suggest that we should be seeking validation outside of ourselves. This is a magic formula that is worth billions: we see just enough airbrushed models every day – to keep us feeling just ugly enough to keep us shopping. Truth be told, there’s not enough diet tricks, ass-cheek squats, breast implants, fake eyelashes, high heels, spanks and wrinkle creams to ever make someone love you. Real love is way deeper than that, it’s not so fleeting, shallow, or superficial.
When your looks have faded, love is the thing that will drag its 90 year old balls across the kitchen floor just to kiss your stank breath on your aging face. But we never see this love story, because we’ve been told thousands of times a day by advertising companies that aging is ugly, “anti-aging.” You’ll be surprised the impact these glowing images have had on our self-esteem and images of beauty. Personally, I think it’s so fucking sad, to discover that for an entire girl’s life it is way more profitable for companies to make her feel ugly than it is to build her up into becoming the magical person she was meant to be.
