Music News Digest, April 9, 2018

By Kerry Doole

Drake has just released a new single, “Nice For What,” along with an accompanying video clip directed by Canadian Karena Evans. The young Toronto director is a winner of the Prism Prize-affiliated award, The Lipsett Prize. The song features a Lauryn Hill sample and is produced by Murda Beatz.

– Highly-rated singer/songwriter/producer L CON (Lisa Conway) has announced May 25 as the release date for her next album. Entitled Insecurities In Being, the set will be released on cassette as well as on the usual digital platforms. 'Insecurities' is her own third full-length; she has also recorded three with trip-hop outfit Del Bel. Conway heads to Berlin in the fall to participate in Red Bull’s Music Academy. In 2016, she graduated from the Canadian Film Centre's Slaight Music Residency. Here's a brand new track.

 – Fresh from dazzling at festivals in NZ, Toronto's 12-piece world music party band Lemon Bucket Orkestra is throwing a hometown party at The Opera House on April 27. The performance is to be captured with a multi-camera, broadcast-quality video shoot. Fans old and new are invited down. Tix here.

 – Three SOCAN No. 1 Song Awards were presented during Juno Week in Vancouver. Terra Lightfoot was recognised for the single "Paradise," which topped the CBC Radio 2 Top 20 chart. That same feat led to Ruth B.'s No. 1 Song Award for the single "Superficial Love," published by Sony/ATV Music Publishing Canada.  Arkells songwriting members Tim Oxford, Nick Dika, Max Kerman and Mike DeAngelis received two awards, for co-writing "Knockin’ At the Door," which topped the Nielsen BDS Album Rock Chart last year, and “Private School,” which topped the same chart in 2016. The latter was co-written with Brian West. Both songs are published by Sony/ATV Music Publishing Canada, Words & Music Notes Canada, and Words & Music Tunes Canada.

– The reputation of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame seems to be in dire straits these days. A controversy has blown up over the refusal of Dire Straits leader Mark Knopfler and his brother and former bandmate David Knopfler to attend the induction ceremony in Cleveland on April 14. A dispute over travel costs was cited by David Knopfler as the reason for his no-show. Three other members of the group, Alan Clark, Guy Fletcher and John Illsley will attend the ceremony, reportedly to perform an unplugged version of the song "Telegraph Road." Other artists to be inducted this year are The Moody Blues, The Cars, Bon Jovi, Nina Simone, and Sister Rosetta Tharpe. Source: Hollywood.com

– St. John's NL campus and community radio station CHMR-FM is reminding local artists to submit new music for potential airplay. Area artists added to the playlist in March include Joel Thomas Hynes, Sherry Ryan, Mick Davis & Thin Love, Carolina East & BRDGS. Submit here

– Jazz/pop singer/songwriter Jill Barber will release her next solo album, Metaphora, on Outside Music on June 22. Look for it to veer to the pop side, given that it features writing collaborations with Ryan Guldemond of Mother Mother on four tracks. One of these, "Girl's Gotta Do," is the first single.

– Music BC is partnering with Upstream Music Fest and Do604/Do250 to present Canada House at the Seattle-based Upstream fest. 12 Canadian acts will showcase at the event, which runs June 1-3.. BC artists featured this year include: Yukon Blonde, Dear Rouge, Five Alarm Funk, Snotty Nose Rez Kids, Little Destroyer, So Loki, daysormay and Schwey. See the full lineup here

– Toronto-based alt-rock band In My Coma has announced three Ontario dates in support of current album Next Life. The shows are at Peterborough's Red Dog (May 16), Hamilton's Mills Hardware (May 18), and Waterloo's Maxwell's (May 23). The band is managed by Graeme McDonald / Kharma Management. Fellow client Mark Makoway from Moist produced.

– Nominations for the 45th annual Daytime Emmy Awards include three SOCAN members. The screen composing team of Asher Lenz and Stephen Skratt is nominated in the Outstanding Original Song category, for “Prologue – El Fez’ Song” from Hotel Transylvania The Series, airing on Disney Channel. Lenz is the son of famed Canadian composer Jack Lenz.

Screen composer Matthew Tishler has earned a nomination in the category of Outstanding Music Direction and Composition, for Blaze and the Monster Machines, airing on Nickelodeon. The Awards will be held April 29 at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium in Pasadena, California, and streamed on Facebook Live.

– A Music Event Safety Summit will be held at The Great Hall in Toronto on April 11, 6-9 pm. Free to the public, discussion on safety and regulations at music events will feature City staff.

– Advance response to the inaugural FastForward music industry conference in Sydney, Australia, has reportedly been very positive. A lineup of 54 international speakers has been announced, though we couldn't spot a Canadian presence. Staging April 12 and 13, the future-focused international music business conference, curated by Media Insight Consulting, is being held outside the UK and Europe for the first time. Source: The Music Network

RIP

David Kavanagh, U2’s first booking agent, died on April 6 of cancer, at age 62. Mr Kavanagh started out as the entertainment officer at UCD in 1975 and his Road Runner Agency represented U2, The Boomtown Rats, Christy Moore, Planxty and Thin Lizzy.

He had further success after setting up Celtic Heartbeat label in 1993 with U2 manager Paul McGuinness. The label initially capitalised on the worldwide success of Riverdance, and it sold more than seven million records worldwide. Kavanagh went on to manage Clannad and Celtic Woman to global success. Source: Irish Times