Michael Barclay probes a seminal period in Canadian music, Arcade Fire (pictured) scores a rave review, and Allison Russell rediscovers Montreal. Also in the headlines are The Weekend, Michael Bublé, Allegories, Canadian Opera Company, Tory Lanez, The Dirty Nil, Victoria Anthony, Andrew Smith, N.B. Youth Orchestra, Roblox, Soundful, the cassette revival, T Bone Burnett, Cynthia Plaster Caster, Bonnie Raitt, Logic, The Who, DaBaby, Re Styles, and The B-52's.
By Kerry Doole
“Hearts on Fire” is a love letter to a time when acts like Arcade Fire, Joel Plaskett, Caribou, Metric, Kardinal Offishall and more were gaining the world’s attention. – David McPherson, Toronto Star
Effort has never been a problem with Win Butler, the American-made mastermind of the Montreal rock giants. He’s a toiler, a galvanizer, an all-giver, a tryer, a rock-opera maker. Arcade Fire albums are forged by deep passions and steeped in compelling messages and dire societal concerns. Butler doesn’t know ditties – he writes sermons and calls to arms. With his band, he’s on the comeback trail. On May 6, Arcade Fire releases WE, their first album in five years. – Brad Wheeler, Globe and Mail
Allison Russell says she hopes the process of writing a memoir about her abusive upbringing in Montreal will help reclaim a piece of herself she lost along the way. The Nashville-based folk singer-songwriter is in the midst of scouring old journals and photographs to jog her memory of a time she’d rather forget. – David Friend, CP
“The Idol” is being reworked with changes to its cast and crew, Variety has learned. According to sources, production was already completed on multiple episodes of the six-episode series, which will now be redone due to a change in creative direction. – Selome Hailu Variety
The singer describes his Sunday spent going to church, munching dim sum and screaming at the NFL on TV. – Rachel Corcoran, The Observer
Followup album ‘Endless’ was 14 years in the making. – Graham Rockingham, Hamilton Spectator
Musicians in certain Mississauga neighbourhoods are the most active in all of Canada when it comes to creating new songs. – Steve Pecar, InSauga
The Verdi opera, which the Canadian Opera Company opened on April 23, had a disastrous 1853 premiere in Venice. – William Littler, Toronto Star
Megan Thee Stallion talked about the 2020 incident in which Tory Lanez allegedly shot her on “CBS Mornings” Monday. The incident, in which Megan has claimed publicly that Lanez shot her in the feet after an argument following a party in July of 2020, has never been fully explained; the court case is ongoing. Megan has slowly revealed details on social media and in interviews; Lanez has vaguely denied it in statements and in several songs. – Jem Aswad, Variety
It looks like a promising 2022 for The Dirty Nil. The Hamilton rock band performed at the sold out Bridgeworks over the Easter weekend and shook the building. On May 15, they will be hitting the Juno Awards red carpet in Toronto, with a promise to make a splash there, too. – Beatriz Baleeiro, The Hamilton Spectator
One of the most anticipated Vancouver rock concerts of 2022--the Foo Fighters show set for October 6 at Rogers Arena--was canceled in the wake of drummer Taylor Hawkins's tragic death last month. But there are still a whole lot of other primo gigs coming up this year to keep live-music fans happy. – Steve Newton Georgia Straight
Plus, Toronto’s Daniel Caesar teams up with jazz group BADBADNOTGOOD and Kurt Vile covers Bruce Springsteen. –Toronto Star
Depending on where you stand—eight wheels optional—Victoria Anthony has just done Vancouver a huge favour, or she’s ruined things for everyone who loves Roller Boogie starring Linda Blair, and owns not just one but two pairs of Moxi Lolly Roller Skates (one clementine orange, and one pineapple yellow) The West Coast teenager’s new video for “Kinda Into You” is set in a roller rink. – Mike Usinger, Georgia Straight
“I like celebrating the small venues. They are the bottom rung on the entertainment ladder.” – Briony Smith, Toronto Star
Infiniti commercial depicts parent drowning out sound of daughter's youth orchestra from inside SUV. – Aidan Cox, CBC News
International
Jonathan Vlassopulos, the Global Head of Music at gaming platform Roblox is leaving his role at the company at the end of April. Vlassopulos says that he will stay on as an advisor at the platform after he leaves however, in order “to help Roblox continue to execute on their music strategy”. The exec posted that his current role at the gaming and metaverse platform his “dream job”, adding, however, that “the time has come to embark on my next adventure”. – Murray Stassen, MBW
AI-powered music-creation platform Soundful, which says that it “enables anyone to create incredible music quickly,” has raised $3.8 million from investors including Disney, Microsoft, and Universal Music Group. – Dylan Smith, DM News
Guiding an act's career now involves so many disciplines that some managers say it's time their relationships with artists reflect those additional duties. – Elias Leight, Billboard
Though the overall numbers are quite low compared with their 1989 peak, sales of music cassettes in the United States have seen double-digit increases in recent years. In 1983, cassettes overtook vinyl as the most popular music format, according to the RIAA. Handier and more portable than vinyl, tapes could be played while driving or, with a Sony Walkman, walking, and people could record music on them too. By the end of the decade, global annual sales hit 83M. – Brad Wheeler, The Globe and Mail
A devastating report has found the number of A-level students has halved in the past decade and some schools have less than £1 a year per pupil to spend on music provision. UK Music chief executive Jamie Njoku-Goodwin said. – Daily Express
Producer T Bone Burnett has long promised the development of a new analog format that he promised would improve on both vinyl and CDs, as well as digital streaming and any other existing recorded music medium. Now comes news that he has been in the studio with Bob Dylan, re-recording some of the legendary singer-songwriter’s classic songs with the purpose of introducing the new ultra-high-fidelity medium.– Chris Willman, Variety
Cynthia Albritton cast the erect penises of rockers like Jimi Hendrix, the Buzzcocks’ Pete Shelley, and Dead Kennedys frontman Jello Biafra. – Madison Bloom, Pitchfork
Last month, at the Billboard Women In Music gala in Inglewood, Calif., Bonnie Raitt dedicated a quiet, dignified performance of John Prine’s Angel From Montgomery to the women of Ukraine. Speaking truth to power is nothing new for the 72-year-old Raitt, who just released a new album, Just Like That …, her first since 2016′s Dig in Deep. – Brad Wheeler, The Globe and Mail
Logic is putting Def Jam Recordings on blast for the way they’re handling his music releases. The Maryland rapper took to social media on April 20 to call out the label, but made sure to point out his comments weren’t aimed at the company’s CEO. – HipHopDX News
Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend were once again joined by a full-scale orchestra for two of the 24-song set's three distinct sections. See the full set list here. – Ultimate Classic Rock
The controversial rapper shot and killed Jaylin Craig in a Walmart. DaBaby swears he acted in self-defense, but never-before-seen footage raises doubts about his story. – Rolling Stone
The beloved Georgia band has a run of U.S. dates between August and November. – Allison Hussey, Pitchfork
Born Shirley Macleod in the Netherlands in 1950, she was a model who’d appeared in Playboy and Penthouse by the time she met Tubes drummer Prairie Prince in the mid ‘70s. The pair developed a relationship and Styles became the band’s costume designer before becoming part of the stage act then taking on vocal duties. She’s best known for performing the female lead in the hit Prime Time from 1979 album Remote Control. – Ultimate Classic Rock
Deryck Whibley of Sum 41 perform on stage during Day 3 of Hurricane Festival 2024 at Eichenring on June 23, 2024 in Scheessel, Germany.
The band's second and third No. 1s have led over two decades after its first in 2001.
After earning its first No. 1 on Billboard’s Alternative Airplay chart in over two decades earlier this year, Sum 41 scores another as “Dopamine” rises a spot to No. 1 on the Nov. 30-dated survey.
The song follows the two-week Alternative Airplay command for “Landmines” in March. The latter led 22 years, five months and three weeks after Sum 41’s first No. 1, “Fat Lip,” in August 2001, rewriting the record for the longest break between rulers for an act in the chart’s 36-year history. It shattered the previous best test of patience, held by The Killers, who waited 13 years and six months between the reigns of “When You Were Young” in 2006 and “Caution” in 2020.
Meanwhile, when “Dopamine” reached the top 10 of Alternative Airplay in September, Sum 41 notched two top 10s in a single year for the first time since 2001, when both “Fat Lip” and “In Too Deep” (No. 10) reached the region.
Concurrently, “Dopamine” ranks at No. 9 on the all-rock-format, audience-based Rock & Alternative Airplay chart with 3.2 million audience impressions Nov. 15-21, according to Luminate. It hit a No. 6 high a week earlier.
“Dopamine” is the second single from Heaven :X: Hell, Sum 41’s eighth and to-be-final studio album, as the Deryck Whibley-fronted act is disbanding following the conclusion of its tour in January 2025. The set debuted at No. 23 on the Top Rock & Alternative Albums chart in April and has earned 41,000 equivalent album units to date.
All Billboard charts dated Nov. 30 will update on Billboard.com Tuesday, Nov. 26.
