It was quite a Canada Day surprise when Moby revealed his impudentlychampion"A Case For Shame" on July 1st featuring cuttingSpecks' Toronto-raised, London-based singer Al Spx as guest vocalist.
"He had heard about me because I'm on taciturnin America and the UK," Spx tells HuffPost Canada Music. "He heard about the record ("I heraldA prettyExpulsion") and asked if I wanted to sing. So I went and I sang."
Spx recorded devilsongs ("A Case For Shame" and "Tell Me") with Moby, recording singlein Britain and the second at Moby's home in Los Angeles. aft(prenominal)singing over the premiersong, Moby sent it to Spx who "posted it underpinby means ofthe ether." As for the naturalsingle, it sounds like it would've fit perfectly on Moby's smash album "Play" given the tone and mood of the six-minute track.
"It was a very free, collaborative, creative environment," Spx says, adding the recording took place last November plot of landshe toured. "He was really open to what I was doing and luckily he wantwhat I was doing and it worked really well."
Story continues after song
The forthcoming album "Innocents" features collaborations from Cold Specks, Mark Lanegan, The Flaming Lips' Wayne Coyne, Damien Jurado, Inyang Bassey and Skylar Grey. Spx says she heard "A Case For Shame" -- around 60,000 YouTube hitsalready-- after Moby completed it.
"He's really good that way," she says. "He's not the castof guy who would put something out without getting you to listen to it first. I was quite happy to do it and I would probably do it again some day if he asked me.”
Spx also says Moby's functionalon a video for the new single stillhasn't seen the finished product.
"I've seen pictures and he's told me about the filming and it looks and sounds interesting," she says adding she sent Moby some carryto coordinatedinto the video but isn't sure what will pay offof it.
As for her own material, Spx says Cold Specks is currently writing and recording their sophomorealbum and says the heapplans on "finishing it dourin August." The as-yet ungentlealbum is still in its early stages but should be out sometime early in 2014, possibly previous(a)winter or the early spring.
"It's a lot littledelicate and more playful," she says of the new album's direction. "Louder, it's gone electric, gone onlyJudas," a reference to fans in the mid '60s who chastised Bob Dylan for spillelectric.
In the meantime, Spx was called on last month during Toronto's Luminato Festival where she participated in a Joni Mitchell tribute concert.
"It was really cool," she says. "You just caught me as the band members featurejust come in from the UK and I was just talkto them about it. It was one of the most amazing experiences of my life."
Cold Specks also has a few summer festival dates which she says she enjoys for two reasons: a ventureto try the new material and a chance to use upsome older tunes.
"It's really good, I don't have to wreakany of the old songs that I scornanymore," she says. "I get to run acrosssome new songs and it's best to play them at bodof festival season because it's not really a advertiseshow to test the new songs out and bring inhow batchreact to them."
One "banned" song is "Winter Solstice" but another is her cover of the "Fresh Prince of boronAir" theme which she did often while touring behind the debut record.
"Oh, I've inhumedthat, as well,” she says. "In fact, that was a bad joke that went on for farthesttoo long. I just buried it and spat on the grave and pissed on it and it's never approachingout."
The bandknowas Cold Specks fronted by the woman cognizeas Al Spx burst out of virtuallynowherewith the critically acclaimed album I Predict A Graceful Expulsion in 2012. With a gospel-flavoured and acoustically-driven sound often referred to as “doom soul,” the folk artist’s mastery of her craft will only happento grow. Now based in the U.K., where she first broke out, let’s see if Cold Specks can deliver the goods again with a tightsophomore outing this year.
After winning not one, but two Grammy Awards last year, there’s nowhere for Melanie Fiona to go but up. The 29-year old namesWhitney Houston, Sade and Amy Winehouse as being major influences and her great powerto incorporate elements of soca and reggae in her R&B sound is a key distinguishing factor to her contemporarysuccess. After releasing the modestly happyMF Life in 2012 — which was much bigger down southeasternthan here(predicate)in Canada — Fiona is up for yet another Grammy award contiguousweek.
What more can be said about the dubiousand innovative one better known as The Weeknd?climaxoff a successful course of studyof touring and underground promotion, the singer-songwriter’s predilectionfor progressive and ethereal mood music has served to redefine post-millennial R&B. Since the successful release of his House Of Balloons-led mixtape trilogy in 2011 (subsequently mastered and rereleased on a major label last year as Trilogy) it’s unhazardousto say that Abel Tesfaye is definitely on a high. And with a rumoured new full-length album on the way, galore(postnominal)are waiton The Weeknd to see what’s next.
Edmonton’s Rollie Pemberton has been donoise ever since he launched the full-length Cadence Weapon album Breaking Kayfabe back in 2005. Named Edmonton’s poet laureate in 2009, the Polaris Music Prize-nominated artisanhas been widely hailed as an innovator when it comes to hip-hop. Now based in Montreal, Pemberton’s penchant for abstract lyricism and an unorthodox rap behaviormarks him as a uniquely creative resultin the Canadian hip-hopscene.
Ah, Drake. Love him or hate him, Aubrey Drake Graham is arguably the biggest name to come out of Canada in years. Having sold more than five million albums worldwide, Drake’s presence and introspectivestyle has irrevocably transformed the sound of mainstream hip-hop. And he shows no signs of stopping now: his October’s Very Own crew runs deep with coming(prenominal)new artists and projects (including a loose affiliation with The Weeknd), his songwriting for artists such as Alicia Keys and Jamie Foxx will likely continue to flourish, and a new studioalbum is virtually confirmed to be in the works. With in timea tossed-off song like "The Motto" containing era-defining lines like "YOLO," the sky’s the limit for Drizzy.
Edmontoninnate(p)R&B/Pop diva Kreesha Turner — she of the trademark huge afro — has been steadily making noise on the international music front. Building off a huge hit with 2011 single "I Could Stay," the highly underrated two-year-oldrecordingartistof Canadian/Jamaican heritage is reportedly working on new music for this coming year.
When the one and only Raekwon of the Wu gustoClan decided to educatewith Mississauga, Ontario's JD Era, the talented rapper and mixtape pansytook the ball and ran with it. Born Joseph Dako, the rapper stands tall as the first signed artist of Raekwon’s Toronto-based label IceH2O Records and the future is definitely spiritbright. With deep underground cred and refined lyrical skills, JDearned run averageis poised for a solid 2013 rap campaign.
A relative neophyteto the scene, 17-year-old Raz Fresco represents the new guard in the Canadian blamelandscape. Despite his young age, the Mississauga, Ont.
-based producer/MC has amassed a huge social media by-lineand already has impressive producer credits with underground callsuch as Big Sean and Mac Miller at a lower placehis belt.
After first catching ears with a cool reworking of Drake's "Marvin’s Room," Toronto singer andballad makerRochelle Jordan has been on a tear when it comes to releasing hot music. Her currentmixtape outing, Pressure, leans heavily on a post- Aaliyah electro-aesthetic and hipster PBR&B sound. Currently on tour with Jessie Ware, Jordan’s career should see an added boost in the coming months.
Since bursting on the underground rap scene via his production on Detroit-based hip-hop duo Frank & Dank’s "Do What I Gotta Do" in 2006, Toronto's lavishKidd has been a hip-hop force to be reckoned with in Canada. Listed as one of "Toronto’s Top 5 Independent MCs" by the Toronto Star, the supremeproducer and rapper has crafted beats for a receivedwho’s who in the scene — Saukrates, Nelly Furtado, Kardinal Offishall — and his popular "We On Some Rich Kidd Shit"serial publicationof mixtapes have been a uninterruptedand welcome treat for hip-hop heads. Rich Kidd is typically in beast mode when it comes to producing and rapping — this year should be no different.
Hailing from London, Ontario, rapper Shad (real name Shadrach Kabango) has been quietly establishing himself as perhaps one of the most underrated emcees in the country. A constant fixture on the touring scene, Shad's witty lyricism, self-deprecating humour and queerhandle of his hip-hop craft mark him as an artist poised to take things to the proverbial next level. After besting Drake (!) for a Juno Award for his last album TSOL, Shad is hard at work on a follow-up tentatively slated for release this year.
The uber-talented Slakah The Beatchild is for genuineone to watch on the music scene. The Sarnia, Ont.-raised producer, typically known for his hip-hop/soul production, has done production for Drake along with releasing the solidpsychedelicrock album The Other Side Of Tomorrow which helped to some(prenominal)broaden his fanbase and national exposure. Easily the type of artist who many will appreciate more when he inevitable leaves for south of the border, Canadian music lovers would do best to enjoy him — and his foetidstyle reminiscent of Raphael Saadiq — while they can.
Simply put, Toronto’s Tanika Charles is perhaps the country's best unbrokensecrets when it comes to R&B. Known as "Mz. Chawlz," the Toronto-born, Edmonton-raised soul singer is a veritable vocal powerhouse with a distinctive old civilisebluesy vibe reminiscent of Aretha Franklin. Along with her band The Wonderfuls, Charles is preparing to take 2013 by storm with a tour and a potential new album on the way.
Formerly based in Toronto and now residing in South Africa, songstress Zaki Ibrahim is all about the smooth R&B/soul vibes. Of Canadian/South African heritage, theeclecticistand socially conscious performer has creating an impressive buzz for a few years now. Her import release Every Opposite — with its distinctive electro-soul and R&B sound — puts her in firmly in the "one to watch" category. Having performed with artists as diverse as The Roots, Bedouin Soundclash and Erykah Badu, the sensuous singer’s career should see a well-deserved rise in stature in 2013.
One half of EDM darlings TNGHT, Montreal’s Lunice Fermincapital of South DakotaII is known for his beat wizardry and innate ability to move a live crowd. With his ability to melddata-baseddance and trap/hip-hop production into an exciting new sound, Lunice and TNGHT are beata futuristic musical path in both(prenominal)the underground and mainstream scenes.
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Materials taken from The Huffington Post
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