So it turns out, the sun does provide a lot of serotonin. All we needed to do was put on some headphones and take a lap around the neighborhood to some new tunes. This is the essence of our Playlist Refresh: a bi-weekly introduction to new music keeping us going.

Starting off with Jane Inc., who has just released her sophomore LP Faster Than I Can Take via Telephone Explosion Records. Entirely written and self-produced by the project’s brain Carlyn Bezic (Ice Cream, U.S. Girls), Faster Than I Can Take delights with experimental, multifaceted danceability. Embellished with “a Prince-like ability to shred harmonic guitar riffs over deep, danceable grooves, an eagerness to experiment with form, and lyricism that seamlessly links the personal and the political.” Faster Than I Can Take puts Bezic’s dynamism on full-display, with tracks like “Pummeled Into Sand” making room for a new tone of self-reflection from the artist.

Ottawa/Hull: Don’t miss Jane Inc. with Akeem Oh and FIAMMA May 14th at Club SAW.

Jane Inc. via Telephone Explosion Records

Next is “Immaterial Girl” from Marci, the rogue pop project of Marta Cikojevic from Montreal’s beloved soft-rock outfit TOPS. “Immaterial Girl” boasts Marci’s signature syrupy sincerity, which we can’t wait to hear in full on her self-titled debut, out August 5th on Arbutus Records.

“Immaterial Girl” arrives with an accompanying music video, directed by one of Marci’s star-studded personnel Chloé Soldevila (Anemone). Let loose in Marci’s 80s dream world and watch the video below!

All the way from Paris is French-Mexican post-punk girl-band Rose Mercie with “Sweet Place”. The track is off their latest offering ¿ KIERES AGUA ?, co-released on Celluloid Lunch and French label Jelodanti Records.

The creation of ¿ KIERES AGUA ? began in 2019 when the band drew tarot cards on a beach in southern France. Following the guidance of their reading, Rose Mercie took the plunge and traveled to Mexico, where they completed an immersive artist residency to compose their second album in La Casa Del Bosque.

On ¿ KIERES AGUA ?, Rose Mercie shares:

“As we composed the songs for our new album, the image of a young, contemporary, yet ageless woman was conjured; a woman who left, who disappeared, got lost and then found more than ever before. We imagine this record as the journey of this woman, whom we will sometimes try to find, to guess through the clues, who seems to have gone very far from home, who no longer knows where her place is, who is changing and who is evolving. We grow stronger with her, we run, we laugh and we dance and then we sit in the sun, we let our skin warm, we realize that we are totally in the present, and that around us there are only girls, sisters, our friends, and that no one can ever lock us up.”

In need of chonky electronic beats? DR. GABBA has got you covered. The mysterious space doctor has taken over TikTok with his funky piano tunes and recent single “MAGIC RIDER”, which follows his Planet Piano EP.

DR. GABBA is an estranged doctor who invented groundbreaking devices in the new emerging school of MUSICAL MEDICINE. However, an argument about the future with fellow co-founder, HENRY J. KAIZER, led to the banishment of DR. GABBA from all future healthcare services in America.

In order to survive, DR. GABBA experimented on his own body and invented the ACID HEART, a musical medical device that keeps him alive using sonic frequencies. With this new invention and never-ending lifespan, DR. GABBA is now forced to spend the rest of his life creating music to fuel his ACID HEART and ultimately take on the whole KAIZER HEALTH CORPS.

After leaving Planet Piano, DR. GABBA and crew see a car floating around the moon known as the MAGIC RIDER. They decide to hop in and it takes them to the underground MOON CLUB for a night of dancing.

Can’t get enough of this intergalactic music-maker? Check out his most recent track “GABBACOPTER”, released on Almost Good Dance Tapes Vol.2.

Almost Good Dance Tapes is a compilation album series created by a collection of producers and longtime friends with eclectic voices in the electronic music medium. Ranging from techno, house, and breakcore to barely dance-able ambient and AGDT celebrates the homegrown nature of experimenting, creating, and sharing music with your friends and the world. Vol.2 is the second album in the series where the collective has really hit their stride. Expect basement-techno bangers, acid melters, light-hearted lo-fi, and much more!