Maple Music

Playful as a puppy but smart as a whip, New Brunswick's Motherhood pack deeply conceptual art rock into a delightfully unpretentious package.

ilysm is a rapper from Edmonton! ilysm specializes in "noise rap" a genre of rap in which the rapper loudly or quickly spouts their lyrics over the beat to the point of being difficult to decipher. However, ilysm brings enjoyability to this genre with unserious, playful lyrics and album covers.

Andrew Laviolette hails from the small town of Dawson City, Yukon! This track is a fun little song about what a home is, and the joys of one.

The Travelling Mabels are a band from Alberta. While this track is not originally by them, being from Billy Joel's album Streetlife Serenade, this version is in my opinion much better than the original.

Redside is an electronic musician from Toronto! Redside allows for non-commercial use of his music outlined here, and has had his music featured in the hit rhythm game osu!.

Eye 2 Eye was a hip-hop trio from Montreal who disbanded shortly after their label Island City Monsters dissolved.

Voggue was a disco duo based in Montreal. While Voggue disbanded in 1984, the two musicians continued solo careers in the following years.

Lindsay Broughton hails from Whitby, Ontario!

Not a huge country music person, but hopefully this is a good share for the country fans here.

This thread is to document the musicians that have been spotlighted here in Maple Music. While the list is quite short as of writing this, as time goes on, more artists will be added with one being added each week.

As the list grows, artists will be categorized by the genre they specialize, such as rock, blues, hiphop, etc.. Also while this thread will not be pinned, it will be linked in the sidebar for ease of accessibility to community members and visitors:

Spotlighted Artists

• Femtanyl [Toronto, Ontario] (April 8th)
• Good Kid [Toronto, Ontario] (April 14th)
• TARiiiQ [Edmonton, Alberta] (April 21st)
• Robyn Hayle [Montreal, Quebec / Toronto, Ontario] (April 28th)

As we all know, The Junos were just a few weeks ago this year. The Junos of course, is a yearly awards ceremony giving recognition and applause to the best music talents that Canada has to offer...

...but to whom?

In previous years, there has been strong debate as to whether the stated intent of the Junos matches that of how it works in reality. While many artists see the Junos as what they present themselves as, an awards ceremony giving recognition to the best of Canadian music talent, others see the Junos as advertising Canadian talent to the American music industry.

Some artists have been quite outspoken about the latter opinion, with Matthew Good not attending the ceremony for any of the four awards he's won as a result of it. Others such as Kardinal Offishall have openly criticised the awards for having American acts such as The Black Eyed Peas perform.

This week we discuss our thoughts on the Junos, and the extent it serves as a marketing tactic for larger music industries outside our borders.

This week's featured artist is Good Kid!

Our second artist from Toronto, Good Kid is an indie rock act that's established themselves well as a major face in the genre.

While their titling of their EPs may be unimaginative, simply slapping the band name on them followed by their order number, the contents of those EPs is anything but. Every song of every EP soothes the ears with smooth vocals, sensual strings, and lovely lyrics.

Of all things to make them popular, they found their popularity shoot up as their music was featured in Fortnite streams, making a good portion of their music DMCA-free in response to fans receiving automated copyright claims for using their catalogue.

To choose a singular must-listen track is impossible, if you can spare the time, please listen to their whole discography as it certainly will be worth your while.

As always, suggestions for new featured artists are always welcome in the comments of this post!

From Vancouver, MDK delivers an incredible hardcore sound with this track, which is much expected from him and his experience in the genre.

Joey Nowyuk hails from a small town by the name of Pangnirtung in Nunavut. This track does an amazing job combining traditional Inuit music with modern pop, creating a beautiful upbeat song anybody will love!

Hey all! This here is a list of Canadian music websites that will slowly grow over time as more sites are found and added. These websites will all be a great resource for users to follow, share, and discover Canadian music, music events, and perhaps even a bit of music history.

If you have any sites you are aware of that aren't listed here, please feel free to leave a comment pointing them out! While this post will not be pinned to the community, it will be added to the sidebar as a helpful pointer to Canadian music resources to new community members and those passing by.

THIS LIST WILL GROW AS MORE RESOURCES ARE DISCOVERED

Digital Music Magazines:

• Exclaim! - Canada's biggest music magazine! On top of having a digital publication, one can find print copies of Exclaim! for free all around Canada.
• HipHop Canada - Canada's go-to digital magazine for Canadian hiphop and rap news. These people give the Canadian hiphop scene the true attention it deserves as Canada has a huge pool of undiscovered hiphop talent. Please give them your readership.
• Roots Music Canada - Your go-to stop if you love roots music and want to give Canadian talent your listening ear. Please feel free to support them with a donation or volunteer writing as they are independent and donor-funded.
• Canadian Music Spotlight - Canadian Music Spotlight is an independent music organisation that publishes music news and a monthly email newsletter.

Canadian Music News:

• CBC Music - The CBC has it's own section of it's website dedicated solely to music news! Please, of all the music news listed, your readership here is appreciated as the CBC is publicly funded with your tax dollars. Put those tax dollars to use by reading the excellent news provided here!
• CityNews' "The Music Beat - Centred specifically on Calgary, The Music Beat is a segment of CityNews' programming that gives attention to Canadian music and the Canadian music scene as it pertains to Calgary.

Other Publications with Music Segments:

• Calgary Guardian's "Five Minutes With" series - The Calgary Guardian does a weekly "Five Minutes With" segment in which they highlight music talent in a five-minute interview with the artist. While artists typically are Calgarian themselves, interviews also include other artists throughout Alberta.

Canadian Music Databases & Directories:

• Calgary Cassette Preservation Society - the Calgary Cassette Preservation Society (CCPS) is a small preservation group based in Calgary focused on preserving Calgary's local music history. One can discover older music recordings from cassettes and records, as well as links to download rips of these historical tunes.
• Alberta Music - Alberta Music is a website and organization that seeks to expand the reach of Albertan music talent. Alberta Music has incredible resources, such as a directory of Alberta-based musicians, Alberta-centric music news, and a list of resources for growing music acts in Alberta.
• Indigenous Music - Indigenous Music is a music organization based out of Manitoba, highlighting the rich presence of Indigenous music the province has to offer. Included in their website is a directory of Indigenous musicians based in Manitoba, a listing of upcoming live music events, and music resources for aspiring indigenous musicians in Manitoba.
• Museum of Canadian Music (MOCM) - Canada's largest private music archive, started by Robert Williston in 2005. Features over 700,000 sound recordings by 3,500 musicians.
• Canadian Music Centre - Perfect for fans of classical and orchestral music, the Canadian Music Centre has an extensive music library and list of Canadian music composers.
• MusicNB - MusicNB is an organization for music in New Brunswick. With the province of New Brunswick having both English and French as their official languages, this site is available in both. They provide music news, resources for musicians, and a directory of musicians, festivals, venues, and more amongst other things.
• Canada Black Music Archives - The Canada Black Music Archives serves as a directory and archive for Black music talent across Canada. The effort the people behind the archive have put in to document, catalogue, and advertise the music talents displayed on their site deserves nothing less than to be lauded as the gold standard for the Canadian music industry.
• Music PEI - Music PEI is a website where one can find musicians and music events in Prince Edward Island.
• Music Nova Scotia Music Nova Scotia is a website dedicated to embracing the music scene of Nova Scotia, with a directory of musicians in the province, as well as events and programs for audiences and musicians alike including Nova Scotia Music Week.
• MusicNL - MusicNL is a non-profit embracing the music industry in Newfoundland & Labrador! Browse their listings of musicians or the programming they offer!
• African Nova Scotian Music Association (ANSMA) - The African Nova Scotian Music Association (ANSMA) is a non-profit organisation seeking to embrace the historical black community in Nova Scotia. Please check out their musician directory, their upcoming events, or the ANSMA awards!
• East Coast Blues Society - The East Coast Blues Society's purpose is to advance the reach of blues music from Atlantic Canada. Browse their musician directory, or check out their upcoming events!
• Music Cape Breton - Music Cape Breton is a charming little website started in 1998 by Cape Breton resident Mike Little. While the layout of the site may look like it hasn't been changed since '98, Little actively keeps the website updated, adding new events, and showcasing a list of Cape Breton's music talents, venues, and festivals!

Canadian Music Streaming:

• CBC Listen - CBC Listen provides music playlists and live music radio for free to Canadians. Again, please utilize this resource extensively as you pay for it with your tax dollars! Put those sweet dollars to good use!
• Nikamowin - A music streaming platform for indigenous artists, by indigenous artists. There is endless indigenous talent to be found here, please check it out!

Canadian Live Music Services:

• Stagehand - Stagehand is a startup company in Alberta that helps musicians and venues to connect with one another. Venues are able to browse musicians seeking talents to host, and musicians are able to browse and see what services and equipment are available at said venues. Stagehand also allows users to follow musicians they like, being notified of future events, and are able to browse what live music events are available in their area in the near future.

Music Publication Archives:

• RPM Weekly via World Radio History - An archive of RPM Weekly, a weekly music publication that was published in Canada from 1964 to 2000.

Canadian Music Awards:

• The Junos - Canada's single largest and most important music awards. The Junos are held every year with a wide variety of categories artists can be nominated for. It is always a blast, please be sure to follow them closely as you may find incredible new music based on the nominations.
• CCMA Awards - The Canadian Country Music Association (CCMA) does a yearly music awards ceremony in which they recognize Canadian country music talent. If you're a country music love, tune in!
• The Canadian Folk Music Awards - Canada has an incredibly rich folk music scene, indicated by the countless folk music festivals that occur around the country each year. These awards give recognition to the cream of the crop in a deep pool of music ability.
• The Polaris Music Prize - This award is for the best album of the year based purely on artistic merit, not sales, genre, or label.
• East Coast Music Awards - Presented by the East Coast Music Association (ECMA), the East Coast Music Awards are presented each year to outstanding talents in Atlantic Canada.

Useful, Non-Canadian Resources:

• MusicBrainz/ListenBrainz - MetaBrainz is a non-profit organization based out of California that seeks to create the world's ultimate music information database. MusicBrainz is their primary project, which serves as an incredible resource by providing users the option to search for music talent based on area. One can find musicians throughout Canada, in specific provinces, or specific cities or towns. ListenBrainz is a joint project which serves as a music tracker much in the same way lastfm is. ListenBrainz's radio feature allows users to find musicians utilizing specific tags, such as the country they're from, the genre they specialize in, or both.
• ReverbNation While owned by Singaporean company BandLab Technologies, ReverbNation's search feature allows one to find musicians within certain countries and localities using their Location search.
• BandCamp - BandCamp, while American, has incredible search features to help one find Canadian music and musicians. One can combine genre tags and the area in which they wish to find musicians. BE CAUTIOUS: sometimes non-Canadian music will appear in results as they are posted on the pages of Canada-based music publishers. Big example of this is non-Canadian electronic musicians appearing in results due to their music being published on the pages of a record label based in Canada, such as Monstercat.

Band hails from Mississauga! Dog Drive Mantis' music category is a wonderful listen if you're big into fusion instrumental music.

Pegmode hails from Edmonton! Please give the album a full listen, it's incredible!

Cousin Harley is a wonderful Blues band that hails from Vancouver! Please give their stuff a listen, it's genuinely all incredible.

Sorry for the inconvenience! This week we're skipping the weekly discussion post in order to regularly schedule them on Mondays. After this however, there shouldn't be any gaps for the foreseeable future.