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Single Servings, Aug. 9, 2021

On this week’s Single Servings, Digging Roots seeks healing, Dylan Sinclair seeks pleasure, Nathan Wiley seeks heat, and much more!

Single Servings, Aug. 9, 2021

By Jason Schneider

In this week’s Single Servings, Digging Roots seeks healing, Dylan Sinclair seeks pleasure, Nathan Wiley seeks heat, and much more!


 

The Weeknd – Take My Breath

Release Date: Aug 6

Label: XO/Roc Nation

The Weeknd has gone from redefining R&B through his initial darkly sexual explorations, to achieving world domination through a regurgitation of ‘80s sounds on his 2020 album After Hours. The Toronto icon seems ready to enter a new phase with Take My Breath, the first taste of his just announced album The Dawn. There’s still a strong “Quincy Jones meets Giorgio Moroder” (his words) feel to this track, but with its harder edged groove and shout-out chorus, it could potentially reach even more ears—if that’s possible at this point.

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Big Wreck – Ought To Be

Release Date: Aug 4

Label: Warner Music Canada

The veteran CanRockers continue to tease new music, and this latest single finds Ian Thornley and co. tempering the power chords a bit with retro synths. Although the two opposing forces do find a sweet spot, Ought To Be sounds exactly like everything that was on rock radio just before grunge hit. So maybe that’s a good sign.

Stream/Purchase here 

Digging Roots – The Healer

Release Date: Aug. 5

Label: Ishkōdé Records

The acclaimed duo Raven Kanetakta and ShoShona Kish will release their new album Zhawenim this fall, and The Healer is a powerful preview, delivering a message of strength to Indigenous peoples through the soulful approach they’ve honed over the past several years. If ever there was a moment for a song like this in Canada, it’s now.

Stream/Purchase here

Beverly Glenn-Copeland – Sunset Village (Blood Orange Remix)

Release Date: Aug. 5

Label: Transgressive Records

Earlier this year, Glenn-Copeland’s recently rediscovered 1986 album Keyboard Fantasies was reissued to universal acclaim, and up next this winter will be Keyboard Fantasies Reimagined, featuring other artists’ interpretations of pieces from the album. Blood Orange’s take on Sunset Village expands upon the track’s psychedelic foundation, as different sonic parts continually intertwine to create (under the right conditions) a true out-of-body experience.

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Charlotte Cornfield – Headlines

Release Date: Aug 5

Label: Polyvinyl/Next Door Records

Cornfield is an undeniably beloved figure within the Toronto indie scene, and seems poised for a major breakout with her forthcoming album Highs In The Minuses, out this fall. Breezy first single Headlines plays out like a bittersweet encapsulation of life over the past year in the city she loves, and shows off her melodic gifts—gifts that ultimately save the song from losing focus as a result of diary entry-style lyrics.

Stream/Purchase here 

Janet Cull – The Only Thing Changing

Release Date: Aug. 6

Label: Independent

She’s been honoured with nearly every music award her native Newfoundland can bestow, and praised by no less than k.d. lang. Now Janet Cull is ready to get off The Rock with her new album Hear It, an album that chronicles a devastating breakup through the vintage sounds of Memphis and Muscle Shoals Soul. If you’re a fan of Ann Peebles’ I Can’t Stand The Rain, or anything by Candi Staton, this one’s definitely for you.

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Bandcamp

Dylan Sinclair – Black Creek Drive / Pleasure

Release Date: Aug. 6

Label: Five Stone Records

Toronto native Sinclair received a Juno nomination this year for Traditional R&B/Soul Recording, and he’s sure to build on that recognition with this new, sleek single that in part pays tribute to a major thoroughfare north of the city. The atmospherics suggest that Sinclair could soon be Canada’s answer to Frank Ocean.

Website

Justin Nozuka – Nova

Release Date: Aug 6

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Label: Black Box Music

It’s been over a decade since Nozuka burst onto the scene at age 19 with his debut album Holly that earned him a Juno nomination for New Artist of the Year. But much like his contemporary and fellow Justin (Bieber), Nozuka has made every attempt to make his style of pop-soul more age appropriate as he’s matured. Nova is a well-conceived summer night slow jam that shows Nozuka taking further of those steps in the right direction.

Stream/Purchase here

The Honest Heart Collective – 11/17

Release Date: Aug. 5

Label: Independent

This Thunder Bay crew has been one of Canada’s underappreciated indie rock bands, as their earnest heartland punk more than lives up to the band’s name. With another potential anthem 11/17 heralding the arrival of new album More Harm this October, hopefully The HHC can get in the van before too long and bring their music back directly to people across Canada where it belongs.

Stream/Purchasehere  

Nathan Wiley – Heatseeker

Release Date: Aug. 6

Label: Independent

There was a time back at the beginning of the new century when PEI singer/guitarist Wiley was tapped to be the next big thing in Canada. But after an initial three-album burst, times moved on from his well-crafted roots rock. Kudos then to Wiley for sticking to his guns and re-emerging recently with the EP Modern Magic, highlighted by Heatseeker, a sultry R&B-infused track demonstrating that, indeed, the magic is still there.

Bandcamp

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Kesha
Brendan Walter

Kesha

Chart Beat

Kesha Brings 'Holiday Road' to The Billboard Canadian Hot 100

The newly independent pop singer's cover of Lindsay Buckingham's 1983 song from National Lampoon's Vacation was first released as a Spotify exclusive for the holidays. Michael Bublé's Christmas, meanwhile, remains at No. 1 on the Canadian Albums chart.

Kesha has brought an under-appreciated holiday gem back to the charts. Her version of "Holiday Road" debuts on this week's Billboard Canadian Hot 100 (dated Dec. 28, 2024) at No. 83.

"Holiday Road" was originally released in 1983 by Fleetwood Mac legend Lindsey Buckingham and serves as the propulsive opening theme to the Chevy Chase-starting classic comedy road trip film National Lampoon's Vacation.

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