Maryze and Skyler Cocco Release Sparkling New Cover of “COOL”

“COOL” by Maryze and Skyler Cocco

“COOL” by Gwen Stefani might just be one of my absolute favourite songs in the whole world, so it was nothing short of delightful to hear that Montreal talent Maryze released their own version on Wednesday. At the same time, it’s not an easy task to re-capture such magic. All too often with covers, the listener will yearn for a tasteful rendition only to be let down and left with a tarnished vision. 

But, luckily for you and me, this is not the case – Maryze and LA-based artist Skyler Cocco have teamed up to combine their vocal talents with bold stylistic choices. Their take on “COOL” is a delight for the ears, self-described as a “modernized sapphic version with an 80s nostalgic feel” while being so much more than that. It is easy to over-80s a song, which can make it feel corny, inauthentic, and hard to listen to, but this cover captures the essence of the decade and of Stefani’s yearning to maximize a vibe that is truly timeless.  

Of the single, Maryze states: 

“There’s something about “COOL” that always felt evocative to me. It wasn’t necessarily Gwen’s biggest hit, but the melancholy of a past relationship that didn’t go up in flames – where there’s still a lot of sweetness, even if things didn’t work out – always rang true to me. I was inspired to do a cover and Skyler was at the top of my list to collab with! We’d had a couple studio sessions so I knew our vocal tones blended well and that her production had a super polished 80s feel.”

The cover was created by a fully female team, performed by Skyler and Maryze while being produced, mixed and mastered by Skyler herself. The release follows Maryze’s French dance-pop success “Langue,” which went viral on Instagram and TikTok and gained her 25k new followers. The “COOL” visualizer, directed by Priscilla Mars, is out today and I’ve already had a special glimpse. The soft, warm colours allow you to be swept off to an 80s pop dreamscape. Watch and enjoy!

Regardless of whether this is your first introduction to “COOL,” or whether you’re curious for a new spin on a well-known song, let the harmonies of Maryze and Skyler Cocco take you on an emotional experience.

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Maryze

Instagram | Bandcamp | Spotify | TikTok

Skyler Cocco

Instagram | Spotify | TikTok

Minou (she/her) is part of the core editorial team at Also Cool Mag. She is an artist and newly-passionate writer based in Montreal. You can check out her beaded art on Instagram and her website.

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PREMIERE: Night Lunch Trashes Post-Breakup Blues in "Junkyard of Love" (Music Video)

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Night Lunch by Aabid Youssef

Suitcases packed for their SXSW debut, Montreal misfit pop entourage Night Lunch unveils their new music video for “Junkyard of Love.” Coming off the band’s 2023 sophomore album Fire in the Rose Garden, “Junkyard of Love” is a gritty reimagining of the Brill Building ballad for today’s broken-hearted. 

On “Junkyard of Love,” Night Lunch frontman and music video star Lukie Lovechild shares “‘Junkyard of Love’ is a song about loneliness and isolation. Cannon fire says just how silly we can be, planting us firmly as the butt of the joke.” 

The prescription for coping with a dying flame is different from person to person. Some indulge at the bar of a local watering hole, take up ping pong, or find themselves in the depths of Reddit rabbit holes in the middle of the night. For Night Lunch, a cynical personification being “down in the dumps” in their oddball Phil Osborne (Osborne Oddities) cut depicts Lovechild as a lover scorned, wrestling with stinging bruises in a psychedelic scrap yard. 

Watch the premiere of Night Lunch’s “Junkyard of Love” below!

Director Phil Osoborne on “Junkyard of Love”:

“Lukie gave me some footage that he and Marlee shot in a junkyard. I edited what I thought were the best parts then did some rotoscoping of Lukie over the footage using a computer screen as my rotoscope machine. Going frame by frame with paper on the screen, tracing him playing guitar or dancing. These parts were inspired by Rick Raxlen's animations. Then I decided to improvise some more animation based on what is said in the lyrics, including some junkyard-type creatures such as a love tank shooting hearts out of its eyes. All drawings were done using sharpies on 8.5” by 11” paper. At least 600 drawings in total.”

Catch Night Lunch on tour across the USA & Canada this spring:

March 12th, 2024 - Austin, TX @ SXSW (Swan Dive)
April 19th, 2024 - Québec City, QC @ Le Pantoum
May 10th, 2024 - Sainte-Thérèse, QC @ Santa Teresa

Night Lunch

Instagram | Facebook | Bandcamp | Spotify | Apple | Youtube 

Zoë Argiropulos-Hunter (she/her) is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of Also Cool Mag. Aside from the mag, she is a music promoter & booker, and a radio host & DJ.

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Maryze and Morganne Create a Raunchy Queer Paradise with "Langue"

Maryze and Morganne in the “Langue” music video

Montreal’s stormy-sweet popstar Maryze has embarked on a spicy new chapter, teaming up with LA’s Morganne to drop the irresistible queer banger that is "Langue".

The two viral artists first connected on TikTok in 2021, forging an online friendship before meeting in LA in the spring of 2023 for writing and recording sessions. Together with Montreal producer (and Maryze’s longtime collaborator) Solomon K-I, the trio concocted an indulgent dance pop single about exploring queer identity. Maryze and Morganne deliver their flirtations with an edge, transcending linguistic barriers by imploring their crush to get raw and risqué: “J’aime la façon que tu parles / Même si le sens est flou / Watching the sounds leave your mouth / Et je tombe à genoux.” “Langue” plummets the listener into a descriptive fantasy.

Maryze by Lindsay Blane

Morganne by Max Rubin

Thanks to its alluring bilingual edge and pulsating composition, “Langue” has already enjoyed an impressive organic reach, charming audiences across borders and oceans. Maryze and Morganne have solidified their collab’s potency with a strong social strategy, shooting content in Paris, Montreal, Chicago, and LA, and it has paid off immensely – garnering praise from legendary hitmaker Bonnie McKee and THE Duolingo owl himself.

To complement their vision for “Langue,” Maryze and Morganne teamed up with LA cinematographer Priscilla Mars to produce the single’s provocative music video. The two artists and their pals team up for a debaucherous romp, flexing their chemistry under hedonistic red lights, marking the cherry on top of an infectious creative collaboration.

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Maryze

Instagram | Bandcamp | Spotify | TikTok

Morganne

Instagram | Spotify | TikTok

Rebecca Judd is the features editor of Also Cool Mag.

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D.Blavatsky’s New Single “FUK” Provides a Jaw-Clenching and Purifying Experience

D.Blavatsky by Feng Ish

Raw, tormenting, and cathartic – just some of the terms one might use when describing Montreal-based DJ, producer, and artist D.Blavatsky’s newest release “FUK.” This single emerges as part of their forthcoming album YOUR CHOICE, which will be released on November 11. Its inception stems from the symbiosis of D’s experience with the Calgary punk scene in their teen years, their active role in the Montreal electronic music scene, and the acute solitary reality of the pandemic years spent in their parents’ basement recording music.

From the fragmentary nature of the music video to the album’s themes of longing and desire, my conversation with D last week provides a glimpse of their complex artistic identity. 

From a Calgary goth-punk band vocalist-drum-machinist to an established Montreal DJ

D’s musical origins are rooted in the Calgary noise-punk scene, which they became part of during their teenage years. They explained that the “...big shifts [happened] when [they] started hosting a show at CJSW,” a local college radio station. From there, their musical interest intensified, and began shifting away from punk, noise, and instrumental productions to more electronic ones.

Another memorable moment stems from when they were 19 and formed a band, Torture Team, with three of their best friends. Torture Team was a goth-punk band, and D played the drum machine and served as the vocalist. They released one self-titled tape. As they spoke about it, D’s eyes were twinkling: “I really, really recommend that everyone is in a band at least once in their life,” they explained. “That was a really special time in my life. I look back on it with a lot of love and gratitude.”

A year later, they would arrive in Montreal with two of their bandmates, a move that would mark a turning point in their artistic and musical career.

D.Blavatsky by Feng Ish

“It was once I created the single “FUK” that I realized everything I had created previously was completely beside the point of what I was trying to do. And I scrapped that entire album.”

D began writing and creating the single “FUK” about three years ago. At that point, they had completed a draft of the whole album, composed of 15 pieces, which they discarded when they finalized the single that changed their vision of the album as a whole. The song, which was “mostly just a mistake,” as they explained, led to profound revelations.  “[I realized] that this is what I’m trying to communicate…I just felt very close to the language I [was] trying to create.”

“But this track really changed everything for me, because so much of this album was a learning curve of me just learning how to use digital production tools.”

This track was a turning point in D’s creative process in making the album. “I just felt inspired in a different way,” they explained. Throughout the album creation process, they began to move away from hardware production to digital, Ableton production. Their intentions also shifted: in the first version of the album, they said they felt that they were catering to some kind of audience or in a way they “had to,” so that it might appear more palatable.

But in creating “FUK,” they ruptured these mental standards. “[It] was a very pivotal moment, because it really showed me that it’s like, ‘okay, you can communicate.’” Going further, they explained that, as an artist, it is generally expected that you are “...reflecting on what perspective [you are] trying to communicate," or asking yourself why you are unique. Yet this kind of thinking doesn’t fit with their artistic process or experience. “This idea of creating a timeless work of art… I never cared about that. If my work doesn't necessarily age well within the broader cultural landscape, that's beside the point for me. I'm just trying to communicate something somehow.”

“Yeah, and “FUK” really just was like, holy shit. ‘I can do it.’ I think it was just really reaffirming…this track just embodies everything…I have something that I want to say and express.”

The creation is representative of a particular time – much of it was developed during the pandemic. The single–and, more broadly speaking, the album–seek to illustrate the complexity of desire, longing, and vulnerability within capitalist structures. On a more personal level, the works represented an exploration of a certain vulnerability they previously struggled to express.

Over a period of two years, D barely saw anyone – they said it was about eight months after they had burrowed themselves in their parents’ basement that they saw someone outside for the first time. And yet, this period of solitude was also a transformative moment for them: “The pandemic and this album was very much a metamorphosis for me, who I was when I made it.”

“[YOUR CHOICE is] about longing,  it's about desires in the most primal sense, like sexual desire, physical desire […] I'm getting my head nailed into the wall.”

D.Blavatsky by Feng Ish

Vocals, digital music, and a stream of consciousness

When listening to “FUK,” one element that grasps the listener are the vocals. Blending into the digital components of the song, one feels drawn into the destabilizing and intimately vulnerable mood that the vocals embellish. When I was preparing my interview questions, one of the things I was curious about was the intentions behind incorporating vocals, something which, unlike other genres, is not so common in experimental electronic music.

To begin, there is the process of creating the very content of the vocals. “FUK,” along with other songs on the album, often involves deciphering gibberish – quite literally. D explained to me that what they often do, including for this single, is “...create scratch vocals where [they] play around with cadence and syllables and tempo” of a digital production. “[I] just say random gibberish. And then I record that and then try to decipher the gibberish itself.”

When creating the song in their parents’ basement, they could never sing the vocals as loudly as would be featured in the final version. The final recording ended up happening in the studio of their good friend Keïta Saint, a producer and voice engineer, living in NDG. In a single, last-minute take before the curfew of noise complaints, the vocals were recorded: describing the moment of the recording, they explained that “...you could feel the static in the room.” D offered to do another take, but “...Keïta was just like ‘no, this is fucking it, you will never get a better take.’”

The music video accompanying “FUK” has its own story. D’s vision of the video was first situated in a cave: running through a cave, feeling claustrophobic, with a light constantly out of reach. Yet as they needed to adapt to the environment they were in, director Axel Zavala helped create a video that translated D’s vision with the single.

The creation itself went by fast. Axel, who had been working on other projects, connected with D right before they headed back to Montreal. In just two days, they went into the woods in the night, armed with a GoPro and camcorder. With ten hours of footage, they were able to create a visual embodiment of the disorienting and stimulating nature of the piece.

Montreal, the rave scene, and moving forward

Throughout our conversation, it was clear that the Montreal electronic music scene continues to significantly influence D’s art – both as a producer and DJ. Being a raver has been a consistent and essential part of who they are. “[Raving] has pretty much been my life for the last five years… it is the primary way that I develop social relationships with people, and that I maintain the social relationships I have… [it’s] a sense of connection and expression.”

Once D arrived in Montreal and became involved with the collective Cyberia, something of a community became evident to them. Whereas a mix of social anxiety and dysphoria had made their teen years unstable and difficult, the engagement they have found in Montreal’s rave scene has been a way to come to appreciate and validate themself. “I learned how to celebrate my body. And I learned all of the beautiful things that my body could do for me and how to express [myself] and be present. I think that was [about] being present in my body in a positive way, in a way of celebration.”

YOUR CHOICE by D.Blavatsky

Moving forward, they look forward to continuing as a DJ, producer, and organizer in the Montreal electronic music scene. After living through the metamorphosis of the pandemic as well as visiting some Europe’s techno hotspots, D explained that they came to understand that Montreal has something special that they hadn’t seen elsewhere. “I think one of the biggest faults of our creative realms here is just how much people take it for granted.”

This upcoming album release is far from being their only project in the works. In just one week, they are hosting RIP VAULT for Halloween weekend, which will feature a myriad of local DJs. After releasing YOUR CHOICE on November 11, they hope to get working on the next one right away, which would ideally be released by next summer. 

Although the Montreal electronic music scene was deeply rocked by the pandemic, it is coming out of it in new and unpredictable ways – and D.Blavatsky is sure to have a role in the way it will transform itself. Whether in terms of the music they release or the infamous raves they organize, their impact on the community is here to stay.

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D.BLAVATSKY

Instagram | Bandcamp | Spotify | SoundCloud

Soline Van de Moortele is a tenant rights advocate, insatiable raver, and full-time griever.

A Grieving Girl Blog

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PREMIERE: Kaspien Marks a Dazzling Return with "Cinder" (Video)

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Ottawa-based indie wunderkind Karim Rostom, AKA Kaspien, has broken a three-year musical hiatus with the release of “Cinder”—a sparkling recollection of an unforgettable first date. Today, the 27-year-old singer-songwriter brings the experience to life with the anticipated debut of the single’s music video.

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On “Cinder”, Kaspien details: “‘Cinder’ is about the most chaotic first date I’ve ever been on,” Back when I lived in Toronto, Cinder (not her real name) and I went on a date to a New Orleans-themed restaurant in Trinity-Bellwoods called Southern Accent. The owner waited on us; he was very sweet and talked to us for a long time. Cinder and I invented a backstory that we’d been engaged for three years, among other things,” he shares.

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Made possible by a tight, talented group of Kaspien’s close friends, the homage to a formative evening at Southern Accent is a pearlescent daydream. Pinned coloured sheets and stringed beads transformed director Chantalyne Beausoleil’s childhood bedroom into a kaleidoscopic runway for Kaspien’s promising comeback. 

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To Kaspien, the level of trust surrounding the production made for an effortless rendering of his lived experiences into a dream-like standalone concept for the music video. This is evidenced by the palatable on-screen chemistry between Kaspien and Zara King—his best friend who stars as the fictional Cinder. “[Zara created her own version of the person I wrote about. It’s hard to listen to the song without picturing [her] as Cinder now!” he says. 

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“I’m blown away by the talent my friends dedicated to this video, and I’m eternally grateful to them,” beams Kaspien. “When directing, Chantalyne’s background in theater was incredibly valuable. Zekios Habtom, our cameraman, captured Chantalyne’s vision wonderfully. Jessy Lindsay took time out of her busy life as an incredible singer-songwriter to help us out in any way she could, and I’m forever thankful to her for that. Mack Brander, our editor, brings a creativity to video editing that is unmatched.” 

“Our video perfectly [captures] the hopeful, and maybe naïve, feeling that you might have just met your soulmate for the first time. When you feel that way, everything seems beautiful. Even throwing up,” humours Kaspien in reference to the lyric, “Cinder, I threw up my dinner / But still feel like a winner.” 

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Watch the Also Cool Mag exclusive premiere of “Cinder” below!

Kaspien

Website | Instagram | Spotify

Zoë Argiropulos-Hunter (she/her) is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of Also Cool Mag. Aside from the mag, she is a music promoter & booker, and a radio host & DJ.

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La Sécurité Ignites the Boulevard with Debut Album "Stay Safe!" (Mothland)

La Sécurité by Aabid Youssef

With their highly-anticipated debut album waiting in the wings, La Sécurité is ready to cause some commotion. The Montreal art-punk group shares Stay Safe! tomorrow via Mothland – a record consisting of ten electrifying tunes united in their skittish asymmetry.

The musicians that form La Sécurité are no strangers to the scene, having charmed countless audiences through other projects like Choses Sauvages and Silver Dapple, but operating within this collective keeps each member on their toes. From the arresting synths of debut track “Suspens” to the domineering bassline of “Serpent”, the band has set a standard of heightened sonic volatility, and the remainder of the record continues that thrill. Stay Safe! provokes the senses with its bilingual musings and jagged new-wave arrangements, traversing between subjects like flirtation and bodily autonomy with the same crafty cool. Expect to strut to zigzagging guitars, commanding rhythms, and a sprinkle of woodblocks.

A few weeks before the release of Stay Safe!, vocalist Éliane Viens-Synnott connected with Also Cool to reflect on the final touches and tease the summer adventures ahead.

La Sécurité by Aabid Youssef

Rebecca Judd for Also Cool Mag: This new single “Serpent” is peppy with a punch. I love the effortlessness of its undercut, how it captures the messiness of catty gossip with such breezy disco flair. This is a broader balance you strike within your forthcoming album as well: this determination to be both lyrically and instrumentally bold, scratching many different surfaces and thriving in the madness. How did the development of “Serpents” fit into Stay Safe!’s creative process?

Éliane Viens-Synnott of La Sécurité: It came about in a pretty organic way. [Drummer] Kenny [Smith] started doing that funky beat, just joking around during a practice, and [bassist and producer] Félix [Bélisle] kinda whipped out that super groovy bassline! We noodled around with the rest, keeping in mind the more dancey side of our art-punk influences (Maximum Joy and ESG, to name a few) without wanting to rip anyone off, of course. I thought it was fitting for some lyrics I had already written. I didn't want the song to be emo or dramatic or anything – just a friendly little jab!

Also Cool: The video for “Serpent” is frenzied and lighthearted, capturing everything from Sonic to South by Southwest. Your videos notoriously stay true to your sound, feeling lo-fi yet descriptive. Does the band have a particular approach to concocting music videos, or was this one just as simple as a glitch?

La Sécurité: Pretty simple, yeah! Since we kinda established that DIY/VHS approach with our first videos, we thought it was a nice direction to continue in. It's a way to keep a natural, sort-of intimate-feeling approach, highlighting good times that we have spent together as friends and bandmates.

AC: As the video shows, La Sécurité recently played SXSW, which feels like a significant milestone given your first show at DISTORSION was six months ago. Can you share more about your experience in Texas and what you took from it?

LS: Yeah, what a ride that was. Even having our first show at DISTORSION was kind of unreal! We were pretty curious to see if there would be any buzz at all outside of the comfort of our MTL scene, and I guess the short answer to that question is yes! We met many awesome people and our shows felt pretty electric. Playing six shows in a week definitely helped us weld our dynamic on- and off-stage together.

AC: Stay Safe! comes out on June 16, and you’ve teased that your debut will be “quite pleasing, even to unsuspecting eardrums”. Without giving too much away, what kinds of experimentation made the final cut?

LS: Well, there is one unexpected surprise I'm excited to share. I guess the one hint I'm willing to share is: 90s prom night vibes, haha. Once you hear it, you'll get it. Besides that, expect more songs along the same lines as what you've been hearing so far. They each have their unique touch, but somehow all belong together.

AC: Festival season is afoot… surely there are some plans up your sleeve. What does this summer look like for La Sécurité?

LS: Looking good! In June, we are hitting up FLOURISH Festival in New Brunswick, followed by a show in Québec City with our friends Jesuslesfilles (which [guitarist] Melissa [Di Menna] also plays in)! Then we head to Calgary for Sled Island, and in July we are doing La Noce in Saguenay as well as Le Festif in Baie-Saint-Paul. There are a few more dates that aren't announced yet, so it's a secret for now. Last but not least, we will be doing a record release show in Montreal at l'Esco! The date will be announced the day our record comes out.

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Stay Safe!

Out June 16, 2023 via Mothland

1. Le Kick

2. Dis-Moi

3. Anyway

4. Waiting For Kenny

5. Suspens

6. K9

7. Serpent

8. Try Again

9. Hot Topic

10. Sleepy Rebellion

All songs written & performed by La Sécurité

Produced, recorded, and mixed by Samuel Gemme & Félix Bélisle

Mastered by Francis Ledoux

Artwork & layout by Melissa Di Menna

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La Sécurité

Bandcamp | Instagram | Spotify

Rebecca Judd is the features editor of Also Cool Mag.

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PREMIERE: Montreal's Love Language Melts the Winter Blues with "Little Gardens"

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“Little Gardens” artwork by Heather Lynn

When in eastern Canada, daring to embrace the cold is part of one’s seasonal lifestyle. Here to warm us up from the inside, Montreal’s indie rock outfit Love Language premieres a double-feature single and video for “Little Gardens.”

Following the release of their lush 2021 EP Trying To Reach You, “Little Gardens” boasts a heavier and edgier sound for the band—bringing to life a jam-packed tour and bouncing from stage to stage in less than a year from their first show under an overpass in their hometown. Clad with fuzzy tones and a casual, yet spunky, delivery, “Little Gardens” aligns with Love Language being described as “the band that’s playing in the bar—that all the high school kids are somehow allowed into—in your favourite 90s teen movie.”

Recorded this past spring with Rene Wilson of Faith Healer, “Little Gardens” is one of the first songs written by the band after the release of their debut album. A charming outlier for being “peppery, alive and [not] taking itself too seriously,” the live setlist favourite teases a to-be-released EP, set to arrive in early 2023.

Love Language by Connory Ballantyne

On “Little Gardens”, Love Language shares: “It's a song about two people navigating the world at different paces, desperately wanting a connection only to realize that the other person may as well be floating somewhere out in the solar system.”

Accompanying “Little Gardens” is a rosy music video, shot by the band on Super8, charting their voyage to Sled Island and New York City this past summer.

So, consider “Little Gardens” an ear-worm for your winter funk survival. Give it a spin (over and over) and watch the video below for an endless source of sunshine!

Pre-save “Little Gardens” before its official release on December 16th here!

Love Language
Instagram | Bandcamp | Spotify

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Maryze Drops Sinister New Music Video for "Emo" (Hot Tramp Records)

Still from “Emo” by Maryze

Spooky season has reached its peak, and Montreal’s alt-popstar Maryze is here to celebrate with a brand-new music video for “Emo”. The single first garnered nostalgic admiration upon the release of 8 — Maryze’s debut album, out earlier this year via Hot Tramp Records — for its torment and evocation, reminiscent of artists like Green Day and Avril Lavigne. With the release of this video, Maryze sculpts a queer love story turned horrifically upside-down.

Still from “Emo” by Maryze

The self-directed video begins with a tender honeymoon phase between Maryze and model/artist Brit Carpenter. The pair is depicted lounging on the bed and laughing through skateboarding lessons, entangled in the purity of infatuation. But their spark turns into a destructive flame, with angst and toxicity steering their relationship out of control and towards a bloody end.

Detailing the theories behind their grungy and dysfunctional nightmare, Maryze shared:

I always seek out queer representation in horror, so this music video is my little contribution. I also feel like queer narratives lack the nuance that straight relationships receive in film, so I wanted to portray all the sides of the story, from beautiful tender moments to scary unhealthy fights. The horror aspect is left pretty ambiguous and moves into a more experimental art direction. We set out to use horror devices to illustrate the toxicity of relationships without having any explicit on-screen violence. I wanted the viewer to be left asking: “who killed who?”

To fully realize her cinematic vision, Maryze created the video concept with horror screenwriter Joel H. Brewster. The visuals were shot by artist Janette King and edited by Solomon Krause-Imlach, who also produced the song.

With its gory and gruesome complexity, this depiction of “Emo” fits magically within Maryze’s universe of transcendence.

Watch the video for “Emo” below, and catch Maryze DJing at the M for Montreal after-party (co-presented by Hot Tramp and Also Cool)!

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Maryze

Website | Instagram | Bandcamp

YouTube | Spotify | SoundCloud | Twitter | Facebook | TikTok

Rebecca Judd is the features editor of Also Cool Mag.

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Janette King Sinks Into Self-Confidence with Euphoric New Video for "Ooh Yeah" (Hot Tramp Records)

Still from “Ooh Yeah” by Janette King

With less than a week until Valentine’s Day, songstress Janette King is paying intimate tribute to the ultimate lover – herself. The slinky and self-assured “Ooh Yeah”, off Janette’s debut EP What We Lost, is reborn with a liberated new music video.

“Ooh Yeah” sees Janette re-emerge with a deep admiration for all that she is worth, wrapping the listener in waves of inspiration to follow suit. Produced by GRAY, the song documents Janette’s journey into the realm of self-pleasure, offering a masterclass in putting yourself first and chasing your wildest dreams and greatest ambitions. “Ooh Yeah” elaborates on Janette’s unique concoction of R&B and woozy electronica, showcasing her vocal agility.

"'Ooh Yeah' is about breaking trauma patterns, "killing" your old self in order to be reborn into the greatest version of yourself,” Janette reflects on the track. “This idea of walking into a new sense of self came from the forced time alone due to the pandemic, where I was left to reflect and learn what my soul truly needs in order to feel whole.”

Still from “Ooh Yeah” by Janette King

In the new DIY-style video for “Ooh Yeah”, Janette and pals soak in the pleasures of indulgence, transcending through various states of euphoria. Between cupcakes, champagne and video games, the deeper meanings of solace are explored. The video is directed, shot, and edited by Alexandra B. and Elya M.

As Janette explains:

“These visuals are a celebration of joy. It’s a music video about what it means to feel good in one's own skin and not feeling shame when one enjoys that feeling. Liberating oneself from societal pressures and expressing one’s sexuality in whatever way it feels best. It’s about self-pleasure, love, community and independence.”

Watch the video for “Ooh Yeah” below!

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Janette King

Website | Instagram | Bandcamp

YouTube | Spotify | Apple Music | Twitter | Facebook

Rebecca Judd is the features editor of Also Cool Mag.

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Raina Sokolov-Gonzalez Looks at Longing Head-On with New Video for “40 Days”

Still of Raina Sokolov-Gonzalez in “40 Days,” directed by Sofia Geld

The opening bars of Raina Sokolov-Gonzalez’s “40 Days” invoke a familiar feeling of all-consuming loneliness. From its first moments of gentle piano and haunting vocals, you are pulled into the Brooklyn-based singer’s personal experience of deep solitude and recovery. 

Released in May 2021, “40 Days” is just one of several emotionally-resonating songs off the singer’s debut album If They’re Mine. On this track, Sokolov-Gonzalez explores themes of longing. Her lyrics “I dreamed of you for forty nights and forty days” lament not being ready, or able, to let go of a version of yourself that no longer serves you. 

Still of Raina Sokolov-Gonzalez in “40 Days,” directed by Sofia Geld

While the song alone packs a heavy emotional punch, the experience is heightened by the captivating visuals of the recently-released music video. Premiered in December and directed by Sofia Geld, the video paints a visceral picture of Sokolov-Gonzalez’s experience, as she embodies the feelings of longing that inspire this track.

As “40 Days” opens on a decidedly-desolate note, it establishes shots of an empty home that feels silent and heavy with dust, emphasizing the feeling of something missing. Shots of body parts, belonging to Sokolov-Gonzalez and her backup dancers, appear fragmented on-screen as an instrumental transition shifts upwards; this suggests that though something is over, it is now time to pick up the pieces. 

Still of Raina Sokolov-Gonzalez in “40 Days,” directed by Sofia Geld

Just as the viewer sinks into a comfortable feeling of melancholy, the arrival of layered drum, bass and keyboard, as well as the introduction of Sokolov-Gonzalez’s vocals, transform the love-sick ballad into a much needed pick-me-up. 

Sokolov-Gonzalez’s powerful voice, enriched by a layered harmony, creates a choral sound that is both invigorating and tender. That rich, soft sound is mirrored in the warm light that permeates so many moments in her video. Geld’s directional vision embodies the sound of “40 Days,” which can best be described as the euphoria of letting light into a dark room. 

Still of Raina Sokolov-Gonzalez in “40 Days,” directed by Sofia Geld

The focal point of this video is the body – namely, the physical manifestations of longing and solitude. Seemingly sequestered in a dark home that may be understood as symbolic of the singer's mind, we watch as she returns to her body and her feeling of self. It is in the repetitive movement of the hands and the erratic dancing of the backup singers that the audience is able to understand a powerful somatic experience that can’t be translated through lyrics alone. 

Everything about this project is deeply moving. The smooth R&B of “40 Days” makes for an anthem that will have you driving around the block a second time just to hear it again. Similarly, the world created in the accompanying music video will pull you into a dream-like state from which you will be reluctant to wake up. 

Watch the video for “40 Days” below!

Raina Sokolov-Gonzalez

Website | Instagram

Kate Addison

Website I Instagram

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PREMIERE: Nick Schofield Unveils Blissful Music Video for "Light and Space" (Forward Music Group)

Nick Schofield, shot by Christopher Honeywell

To celebrate the one-year anniversary of his sophomore LP Glass Gallery, Hull-based electroacoustic composer Nick Schofield aptly unveils the music video for his new track “Light and Space.” Composed entirely on a vintage Prophet-600 synthesizer, “Light and Space” is a meditative soundscape inspired by the dance between its namesake within the National Gallery of Canada, located in Ottawa.

On “Light and Space,” Schofield shares:

“This composition conveys a core sentiment that inspired the making of Glass Gallery - the sublime light that flows through the serene space of the National Gallery in Ottawa. I researched the Light and Space artistic movement and noticed that ideology of perceptual phenomena applied to the architecture of the gallery, especially how the glass structure frames the ever-changing natural light and environment. In a way, experiencing the light and space of the National Gallery showed me that the world can be framed as a work of art.”

Out today, the song’s accompanying music video captures Schofield’s notion of the everyday creative sanctuary. Shot on a ferry in British Columbia using a beloved point-and-shoot camera, the glimmering footage deconstructs Schofield’s surroundings, the ocean air, wind, waves and sparkling sunlight, into ethereal abstractions. On the video’s conceptualization, Schofield remarks: “In the song, crescendos of vintage synth chords and glistening arpeggios perfectly align with the fuzzy footage of water and waves, so it felt natural to pair them together.”

Watch the video for “Light and Space” below!

Nick Schofield
Website | Instagram | Bandcamp

Zoë Argiropulos-Hunter (she/her) is the co-founder and managing editor of Also Cool Mag. Aside from the mag, she is a music promoter & booker, radio host & DJ, and a musician.

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Scarlet Rae Shares Dreamy Music Video for "Seems Like Forever"

Scarlet by Jason Renaud

Waking up from a mid-day nap in the winter, getting lost on your way home from the metro, working too much and forgetting to make plans with your friends... The icy vulnerability of January requires a soundtrack that's just as emotionally heavy. Scarlet Rae's latest single, "Seems Like Forever," is the perfect addition to your hibernation playlists.

Scarlet is an independent artist originally from Los Angeles and now based in New York City. She was previously in a band called Rose Dorn (Bar/None Records) and has since launched her solo career with previous singles "Parachute" and "Going Through." Her tender approach to the singer-songwriter style will find fans among those of Cryogeyser, Momma, and waveform*.

Scarlet by Jason Renaud

"Seems Like Forever" is a preview of her upcoming album (set to be released later this year) and draws on inspiration from Elliot Smith, Bright Eyes, and Sparklehorse. 

The track is accompanied by a music video directed by @surfgang1 @harrrrisonnnn @isawdottie, and was mixed by @aron.kr and mastered by @timothystollenwerk.

Watch "Seems Like Forever" below

Scarlet Rae

Spotify I Instagram I YouTube

Malaika Astorga is the Co-Founder & Creative Director of Also Cool. She is a Mexican-Canadian visual artist, writer, and social media strategist currently based in Montreal.

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Oxford Drama Tackle the Never-Ending Spiral of Being "Too Busy" in New Music Video

Too busy to see friends regularly, too busy for work-life balance, too busy for the gig tonight, too busy to buy groceries... it's all a little bit too much, all the time. If this sounds like you, you're not alone. It seems that we're all struggling to keep up with life now that the world has (sort of) opened up again. 

Although it may seem like everyone else has their lives together, they're probably just good at keeping a curated online presence. Our Polish pals Oxford Drama encapsulate this chaos energy perfectly in their music video for “Too Busy”, a single off their recent album What's The Deal With Time?

They offer the important reminder with their lyrics, "The world only stops when you tell it to" – something that all of us need to take to heart more often. Setting boundaries, being firm in self-care routines, and prioritizing physical and mental health are all things that can get pushed to the side with the easy excuse of being "too busy."

According to the band, “Too Busy” is an honest confession about an unhealthy start to the day when you compare to everyone and everything around you. It's also a fierce statement about getting your own life back after quitting an addictive spiral of who's got it better. And despite the appeal of all those apps, sometimes you're just too busy for more punches from the modern world. 

Watch “Too Busy” below & read our last interview with Oxford Drama here.

Oxford Drama

Bandcamp | Soundcloud | YouTube

Instagram | Facebook | Spotify | Apple Music

Malaika Astorga is the Co-Founder & Creative Director of Also Cool. She is a Mexican-Canadian visual artist, writer, and social media strategist currently based in Montreal.

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GG Love Release Montreal-Core Music Video for "Telephone"

GG Love has joined the pantheon of musicians with iconic telephone-themed tunes. Although far from the art-pop sound of Lady Gaga's popular communications-themed track, GG Love's Telephone is a softer, heartfelt melody. 

Despite the track's tenderness, the lyrics are firm in setting boundaries with a person from GG's past, who seems to have lost their number to the void and yet continues to try and reach out. It's one of many love-themed tunes from their latest album, "How Do You Define Love?" Check out our interview for their last release, It Could Still Be A Win here.

Telephone is accompanied by a very Montreal-core music video featuring the infamous train tracks, Jarry Park, and our unofficial workout group Pump Pump. Not only that, but there's also a whole choreographed dance routine featuring some very cool cowboy hats, a samurai, disco ball weights, and a banana phone. What more could you ask for?

Watch Telephone below

GG Love

Bandcamp I Spotify I Instagram

Malaika Astorga is the Co-Founder & Creative Director of Also Cool. She is a Mexican-Canadian visual artist, writer, and social media strategist currently based in Montreal.

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FHANG Shares Surrealist Video for FLEUR DU MAL (via Hidden Ship)

A white horse dances in place, a shadow crawls across the ceiling, a man on fire emerges from a lake. Welcome back to the world of FHANG, the up-and-coming duo from Montreal. 

Through ritual and visuals straight out of Twin Peaks, FHANG offers us another portal to enter their universe with their latest music video, FLEUR DU MAL. Gentle vocals guide us through surging crescendos, evoking the sensation that maybe we've been in this dream before. 

FLEUR DU MAL acts as a gateway to FHANG's self-titled album, released earlier this year. It forces us to confront how we can refresh our capacity for wonder while the supersaturation of endless change dulls our senses.

We were able to catch the duo live at this year's FME, and we were just as much enchanted by their live performance as their recorded work. You can read our interview with FHANG here.

Watch FLEUR DU MAL

FHANG

Instagram | Bandcamp | Spotify

Malaika Astorga is the Co-Founder & Creative Director of Also Cool. She is a Mexican-Canadian visual artist, writer, and social media strategist currently based in Montreal.

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Backxwash and Maryze Share Spooky Music Video for "Squelettes" (Dir. Méchant Vaporwave)

Still from Squelettes

Happy Halloween from Also Ghoul! We hope you're all enjoying this spooky Sunday, whether you're recovering from a night out on the town or cozying up for some classic scary movies (or both). We're celebrating by sharing the work of our two favourite spookies, Backxwash and Maryze, who have released the long-anticipated music video for their track Squelettes.

Directed, edited, and shot by Backxwash's esteemed creative director Méchant Vaporwave, the black and white footage features glitchy performances from the two Montreal artists in creepy makeup and fantastical costumes and delivers witchy twists sure to delight their Halloween-loving audience.

Inspired by gritty black and white horror films, Méchant Vaporwave set out to create a nauseating fever dream aesthetic à la David Lynch, using quickened shots and flashing images to establish unsettling feelings of disappearing dissociation and dysmorphia. The bilingual banger, released last fall, is an arresting reflection on addiction and how it consumes us. Futuristic producer Margo delivers the track's feverish beat and hyper pop sensibilities.

"The song personifies addiction as a destructive entity that creeps in and takes hold, becoming inescapable, as well as the loss of self with lyrics like "my face no longer looks like me, I've lost my shadow." I was so blown away by the way Méchant Vaporwave brought that vision to life and how perfectly Backxwash's verse fit in. It was an honour to work with them!" says Maryze.

Watch the video below!

Backxwash

Bandcamp / Instagram / Website

Maryze

Spotify / Instagram / Website / TikTok

Malaika Astorga is the Co-Founder & Creative Director of Also Cool. She is a Mexican-Canadian visual artist, writer, and social media strategist currently based in Montreal.

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Sunglaciers Release MGMT-Inspired Indie Pop Track "Draw Me In" (Mothland)

via Mothland

According to our recent Instagram polls and that one guy's TikTok, we've all been missing early 2010s indie-pop in a real way. MGMT, Phoenix, M83, and Passion Pit had held us with a vice grip for a while with their sparkly guitar riffs, upbeat vocals, and slightly dystopian lyrics.

Lucky for us, Sunglaciers (Mothland's latest signing) fill that nostalgic void with their latest single, "Draw Me In." The track is reminiscent of The Postal Service's "Such Great Heights" and embodies the band's self-blurring of dazzling indie-rock melodicism and icy post-punk experimentation genres. It's a departure from their earlier shoegaze sound and delves into MGMT-inspired pop.

Sunglaciers came together as a band in 2017 and are based in Calgary. The track was co-produced by Chad VanGaalen and mixed by acclaimed engineer Mark Lawson (Arcade Fire, Yves Jarvis, The Unicorns). It's also accompanied by a video directed by pluri-disciplinary artist Anthony Lucero.

"I went with the direction I did because the sound and spatial structure of the song was very fluid and encompassing. I found that when messing around with machine learning that flowers and daisies really fit the nature and energy of the song better than anything else could." -- Anthony Lucero

Watch "Draw Me In" below

Sunglaciers

Website | Bandcamp | Spotify | Apple Music | Youtube | Instagram | Facebook

Malaika Astorga is the co-founder of Also Cool. She is a Mexican-Canadian visual artist, writer, and social media strategist currently based in Montreal.

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PREMIERE: Pascale Project's Tonight My Dance (Dir. Antoine93, Released via La Rama Records)

via Pascale Project

It's been a summer of asking, "Where's the party?" From party-hopping from the skatepark DJ set to the secret outdoor rave and then back to the spontaneous park party. The pure bliss of running into your friends on the way to the gig and then finding each other again on the clandestine dancefloor is unmatched. If you know, you know, and if you don't, someone will probably post an Instagram story about it later that night.

Either way, if you like the sound of the end-of-summer dream I'm describing, then you'll love Pascale Project's latest music video for Tonight My Dance. Soaked in the tradition of summer fun in the city, elements of Freestyle and Electro weave into the House beat and are made for having a good time. These sounds evoked by our beloved corner of the world (Montreal) are now broadcast to the global network of party purveyors. The track is one of three off of her latest release, "Where's The Party" (La Rama Records).

via Pascale Project

Tonight My Dance brings the glam of club culture, calling back to glossy Y2K aesthetics and 90s high-fashion commercials. Directed by Antoine93 (another great musician and party-goer extraordinaire who we have previously covered), the video was created on a $0 budget in the true DIY spirit.

Watch Tonight My Dance below

Pascale Project

Instagram I SoundCloud I Bandcamp

Tracklisting:

A1 - Tonight My Dance

A2 - Welcome (Dust-e-1 Remix)

B1 - Welcome

B2 - Go Home

All cut at 45rpm for diverse playing styles!

Music by Pascale Mercier.

Mastered by Nik Kozub.

Artwork & design by Kris Guilty.

Manufactured & distributed by La Rama Records.

Malaika Astorga is the co-founder of Also Cool. She is a Mexican-Canadian visual artist, writer, and social media strategist currently based in Montreal.

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Alicia Clara Shares Surrealist "Stones Like Eyes" Music Video (Hot Tramp Records)

Alicia Clara by Tess Roby

Are you in need of some escapism? Perhaps a trip across space and time would do the trick. Enter the world of Alicia Clara's Stones Like Eyes, her latest music video from her EP Outsider/Unusual. Alicia takes us along for the ride as she travels between dreamscapes and surreal liminal spaces until she finds herself in an alien-like landscape that may be familiar to fellow Montrealers.

What's even cooler is that part of the video was filmed at the Also Cool HQ. Alicia enlisted the help of local creatives Roxane Loumède (writer & director), Matthew Sperdakos Clark (editor & VFX), Tishanna Carnevale (costume design) and Malaika Astorga (DOP) to make the Stones Like Eyes vision come to life.

"I made this music video with a bunch of friends, so it was a really easygoing and fun collaboration – we had a great time shooting. Roxane's surrealist vision matched the oddness of my lyrics, putting the track into a new world of its own," says Alicia. 

Watch the video below

Catch Alicia Clara live at POP Montreal this year on September 25th, and keep an eye out for new music very soon.

Alicia Clara

Instagram I Facebook I Twitter I Spotify

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Neo-Psych Rockers Hot Garbage Share Spooky Video for "Sometimes I Go Down" (Mothland)

Artwork by Derek McKeon

Are you in need of some brain-melting psychedelic rock? Well, you've come to the right place. Toronto-based psych outfit Hot Garbage, who are newly signed to Mothland, meld their shiny metallic melodies with gritty krautrock and post-punk rhythms to bring us along on a gaseous neo-psychedelic trip. 

Their latest single, “Sometimes I Go Down,” takes inspiration from the sounds of Sonic Youth, and gives us a taste of their upcoming album Ride. The track is accompanied by a spooky music video featuring mysterious calls in parallel universes, tarot cards, and more

We caught up with the band in anticipation of their set at FME on September 3rd to chat about their music and what's to come in for Hot Garbage in 2021.

Photo by Alex Carre

Malaika Astorga for Also Cool: Hi! It's nice to meet e-meet you. I'm interested to know how you all met and how that friendship turned into Hot Garbage.

J: You too. Alex is my brother, so I've known him since birth. He was putting a band together with Mark, who he had played with in bands throughout high school. I jumped in on bass, and Dylan, who I'd recently met through friends, joined shortly afterwards to fill things out on keys/synth.

A: Thanks for having us! That's pretty much it, yeah. We were hanging out and going to shows and listening to music together in Toronto. So we started experimenting with writing and playing together, and it was fun! We started doing little gigs and stuff around the city.

Also Cool: Your sound is unmistakably psychedelic. Can you give us some insight on where your inspirations are coming from and what those different genres' scenes are like?

J: Our musical inspirations are pretty varied. I think for this record we're putting out now, we delved into a lot of krauty / noisy territory - inspired by stuff like CAN, Gary Numan, Sonic Youth, Exploded View. We also draw a lot of inspiration from the local scene. There's a ton of quality music coming out of Toronto. Even without hanging with those people and seeing them at shows, I'm listening to amazing record after amazing record that people have been putting out during the pandemic.

A: Yeah, I think all of us really enjoy a lot of different types of music. From a writing standpoint, psychedelic is a great access point to play with musical ideas. The human experience can be so psychedelic, mysterious or strange at times, and those feelings are also so hard to put into words. So I often feel like psychedelic music is just music that is relatable in that way. We're extremely lucky to be a part of a great music community here in Toronto!

AC: Psych shows are often accompanied by crazy visuals that enhance the overall experience. Do you have any memorable/favourite psych shows that you've been to?

J: Definitely. Anything the Oscillitarium has done visuals for is memorable. They have this magical way of transforming any space. A Place To Bury Strangers at the last Crystal Lake was pretty amazing and intense. I've seen Black Angels a bunch, and they always have great visuals by the Mustachio Light Show. There are also a lot of sets that stick with me from Levitation and Desert Daze over the years, like Iggy Pop, 13th Floor Elevators, Jesus and Mary Chain, John Cale. The installation art and visuals are always really well done at those fests; it's clearly factored into the experience.

A: Yeah, it's interesting to see this live collaboration between visual artists and musicians! Oscillitarioum light shows in Toronto rule. With buds like Possum, Kali Horse, Vypers, Mother Tongues, and so many more. I also remember having a pretty profound experience seeing John Cale at Desert Daze a few years back. The visuals and music hit me so hard. It was such an expression.

AC: I'm curious about the mysterious phone calls in your most recent music video. Can you give us any hints of who the mystery caller might've been? I'd also love to know a bit more about the tarot symbolism in the video.

A: Good question... We were playing with the idea of these kinds of gross dudes (Dylan, Mark and myself) talking on the phone and maybe being warned about something and not taking it seriously. While we're being gross, we meet our demise. Juliana maybe heeds the warning and challenges fate by pulling the right card (mystical tarot magic). She's "in touch" with the caller.

Also for the record, we made this video like a year before the pandemic, so any parallels there were not planned… Last year, when the band could only talk on zoom, we were joking about how it looked just like our music video!

AC: We're very excited to see you play IRL at FME. What are you most looking forward to at the festival?

J: Thanks, we're really stoked to play. I'm looking forward to seeing Paul Jacobs and OBGM's for sure. There are a bunch of friends going who I haven't seen in a while, so I'm excited to just hang out and see some shows. I am going to try and catch Cadence Weapon on Thursday if we get in in time. 

A: Thanks! Yeah, I know Paul Jacobs and the OBGMs have such great energies, and I can't wait to soak that up! Also just to be able to play again and be at a show feels so good. This will be our first indoor gig since the pandemic started.

AC: Lastly, what are your plans for the next year, now that shows are happening again?

J: We will be playing shows around the release of our new record - fall/winter will be mostly local-ish but hoping to make it back down into the US to do some touring in the spring. There is also new material being passed around, so we're going to be working on putting that together for the next thing. 

A: Exactly, finally tour this record! We'll go to the USA again and play some shows as soon as we can. But we've been writing tons during the pandemic, so we'll also be working on new material.

Watch Ride below

Hot Garbage

Bandcamp | Spotify | Apple Music | Youtube
Instagram | Facebook

Malaika Astorga is the co-founder of Also Cool. She is a Mexican-Canadian visual artist, writer, and social media strategist currently based in Montreal.

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