Tag: canadian artists

Famed DJ Rezz Brings Her Dark, Doomy Bass Sounds to ‘Can You Hear Me’

July 20, 2023

DJ Rezz sitting on the floor cross legged in a black and white suit. There are red, black, and white graphic elements bordering the picture

Our series CAN You Hear Me returns to celebrate Canadian artistry and champion the music, unique talent, and diverse cultures found in the Great White North—from the jazz bars in Québec to the dance clubs in Ontario, all the way to the powwows in the West.

In this installment, we’re spotlighting Isabelle Rezazadeh, better known as the DJ with the lit-up eyes: Rezz. She’s one of the most highly regarded producers of downtempo soundscapes and strikes a firm balance between minimal original tech compositions and the all-heavy bass.

The Ukrainian-born artist moved to Canada at a young age and in her teens working as a local DJ in Niagara Falls. Rezz released free tracks online that caught the attention of electronic music icon Skrillex, who subsequently facilitated the creation of Rezz’s debut EP, Insurrection. Her music also caught the ear of famed DJ and fellow Niagara Falls local deadmau5, who put Rezz on his mau5trap imprint. She went on to release her sophomore EP, The Silence Is Deafening, to an ever-growing and appreciative audience.

Rezz’s highly anticipated debut album, Mass Manipulation, was released in 2017 and raised her to the upper echelons of the electronic world. It even won a coveted Juno Award for Electronic Album of the Year. Since then she has kept her fans well-fed with a steady stream of music on mau5trap and her own HypnoVizion imprint. This includes the albums Spiral, Nightmare on Rezz Street 2 Mix, and countless tracks and EPs that have seen the Canadian DJ collaborating with the likes of Metric, PEEKABOO, and fknsyd. And that’s in addition to the constant touring for festivals and sold-out concerts.

Rezz continues her rise in 2023. She moved to Toronto and announced her first HypnoVizion-branded event, Frostvizion, in Stanford, California. She will be sharing the stage with her now friend and longtime collaborator deadmau5 at VELD Music Festival. The latter is particularly notable among longtime fans as Rezz has cited that it was a deadmau5 set at VELD that inspired her to pursue music.

But it wouldn’t be Rezz without a release, and since April the artist has teased her EP IT’S NOT A PHASE, which marks a return to the DJ’s emo and goth roots. Singles such as “Signal” and “Embers” certainly make good on that claim, with heavy tones of goth rock and her signature deep bass sounds.

For the Record caught up with Rezz to talk a bit about her musical foray, the Canadian scene, and her creative process.

Can you tell us a little bit about your journey into music? 

I was originally a big fan of punk/rock music growing up, but around 12 I was introduced to electronic dance music. Artists like deadmau5 inspired me to create music of my own, and I became endlessly passionate toward it. Since then I get to tour and play my music everywhere and I feel really fortunate.

What’s your typical process for creating a track?

It’s different each time. Most of the time, however, it is just a process of searching for new sounds, creating the drums, adding some sort of melody, and then the track flows really quickly after that. Sometimes the searching for sounds or to find something to inspire me can take some time, so sometimes I either force myself to continue trying or wait a bit for inspiration to potentially come in other ways—like through watching a movie, etc. It depends on the day.

On your side of the Canadian dance community, what is it like? Do the scenes change throughout the country as you tour? 

The Canadian dance community is pretty awesome! I think being raised in a city so close to Toronto was hugely influential for me and the music I create. The crowds are very enthusiastic and awesome as well.

You’ve recently moved back to Toronto. What are you excited about in the music scene there that you haven’t been able to find abroad? 

My close friends! They are all here, and that alone is something exciting for me in relation to the music scene and also personal life.

You’ve often cited deadmau5’s VELD Music Festival set in Toronto as what inspired you to make music of your own. How has it felt working with him all these years? And how does it feel knowing you’ll be joining him onstage at VELD this summer? 

It’s definitely been pretty surreal. I’ve known him for a while now and most the time I am just going with the flow and not thinking too much about how big of a fan of his I am, but some moments it hits me, especially recently, as I have been working on this back-to-back set with him, alongside making an edit/remix of his favorite song of mine, called “Superliminal.”

Tell us about your upcoming EP. 

My upcoming EP, IT’S NOT A PHASE, is a punk/emo Rezz project. It really allowed me to reminisce on some of the music that I was initially drawn to. It’s made me grow so much as a producer working with all of the people on this record. It’s been extremely fun and I’m excited to show people a different side of Rezz, all in theme for the goth era.

What message do you hope your fans will take away from IT’S NOT A PHASE? 

Hopefully they can share in some nostalgia and remind themselves that IT’S NOT A PHASE.

Who are some fellow Canadian artists that have inspired you? 

deadmau5, Zeds Dead, and Metric.

What songs are on your On Repeat playlist? 

I actually love the new Melanie Martinez album, PORTALS.

Explore the dark world of Rezz by listening to IT’S NOT A PHASE now.

Palestinian Canadian Pop Star Nemahsis Brings Her Vulnerable and Healing Pop to ‘CAN You Hear Me’

July 7, 2023

Nemahsis Cover

We’re back again celebrating Canadian artistry with CAN You Hear Me, a series championing the music, unique talent, and diverse cultures found in the Great White North—from the jazz bars in Québec to the dance clubs in Ontario, all the way to the powwows in the west.

Our latest featured artist is Nemah Hasan, known better by her fans as Nemahsis. The 29-year-old Palestinian Canadian pop musician garners global attention with every move she makes, with her previous work as a fashion and beauty influencer and her hauntingly beautiful and relatable music.

Hailing from Milton, Ontario, Nemahsis first found her following online with her single “what if i took it off for you?,” a biting song that sparked a conversation within the Muslim community and encouraged women to talk about their personal relationships with the hijab. Her 2022 debut EP, eleven achers, named after the farm she grew up on back in Milton, is filled with minimalist yet lush folk-futurist ballads addressing topics such as immigration and depression. 

Moving ahead with singles such as this year’s “i wanna be your right hand,” Nemahsis is showing signs of shifting in a whole new direction with her music.

For the Record sat down with Nemahsis to talk about finding her sound, her new direction, and who her favorite Canadian artists are.

Tell me about your journey into making music.

I started making music in late 2017, and at that time I was working a lot, sometimes even taking on three jobs at a time while also freelancing. At the time, being a music artist wasn’t even an option for me. I come from an immigrant family, so there was always this pressure to have a “real” job. But once I got into my mid-20s I felt that I had proved to my family that I could keep a job, make a sustainable income, and can always come back to that if music didn’t work out.

So I wrote my first song, “what if I took it off for you?,” and quit my job two weeks later. But honestly, I didn’t actually like the song. I kept listening to albums like Sam Smith’s The Lonely Hour and Adele’s 25 and felt like their songs were all hits and sounded nothing like mine.

So music was put on the backburner while I continued to freelance, and I didn’t take it seriously until the pandemic hit, where I wrote my EP, eleven achers.

How would you describe your sound? How has it evolved since you first started writing and performing?

When I discovered that first level of Nemahsis, the sound was very stripped back, minimalist, and almost feminine and dainty, but with lyrics that touched on a lot of heavy topics. Whereas my new sound feels like kind of a reversal, where the lyrics are more poetic and more relatable, but the production and tone of voice play around in discomfort.

But regardless, I feel like there’s room for me in the pop world so long as I’m making a difference in history, and I’d love to see if I get as much recognition and appreciation by being relatable and trying to fit into the same world as Taylor Swift and Selena Gomez. I’m an artist of analytics and data, and I’d just love to see if I’m appreciated as an artist if I’m not writing music that could be tokenized by the wrong demographic. It’s exciting, but also a challenge.

What has reception for your music been like in Canada from the Palestinian and wider Muslim communities? How about from white communities?

Honestly, it’s very weird. I feel like the Palestinian, Muslim, and Arab communities have known about me for quite a few years and that I was seen and recognized as an artist before the rest of Canada and the world had acknowledged me as one. But I feel like my music and career have sustained because of all the new people that have joined throughout Canada that don’t look like me.

What message do you hope listeners will take away from your music?

That there’s no point in trying to be the best in every single situation. You don’t have to be the prettiest, coolest, or the funniest one in the room all the time. For so much of my life I felt like I had to dance, doing the most to stand out so I could be accepted. Whereas now I just think there’s so much room for not having to be like that.  

How has Spotify for Artist tools helped you?

I actually navigated my last tour with Spotify Artist tools. My manager and I would just go through the analytics and make decisions on what to hold off on and what to do. It’s funny, when it comes to my songwriting, I’m very free-spirited with no real strategy, but when it comes to using Artist tools, I become very analytical and strategic.

Who are some fellow Canadian artists that have inspired you? How about other Arab or Palestinian artists living in the diaspora?

Oh my gosh, there are so many. I love Nelly Furtado. I think she’s so good that I even forget that she’s Canadian, and the impact she’s had on us all has been enormous. I also love Joni Mitchell.

And of course, Céline Dion! I always say that she’s like the Coca-Cola of music in that no matter where you go, Ethiopia, Jordan, Palestine, or China, everybody knows “My Heart Will Go On.” They know what movie it comes from, who sang it, and they’ll even belt it out word for word. There’s a lot of power in being an artist like that.

Outside of Canada, Yuna is a big one that I’d like to mention. When I was in grade 10 back in 2011, she had just released “Decorate,” and I emailed her to tell her that I thought what she was doing was great, and the fact that there was a woman singing in a hijab in pop music blew my mind. She later emailed me back with a lot of encouraging words, and honestly, I wouldn’t be where I am if it wasn’t for that email.

Start listening to the sound of Nemahsis with her eleven achers EP.

‘CAN You Hear Me’ Spotlights Northern Cree, a Legendary Canadian Powwow Act Preserving Indigenous Culture Through Music

June 21, 2023

In celebration of Canadian artistry, For the Record recently launched CAN You Hear Me, a series championing the music, unique talent, and diverse cultures found in the Great White North—from the jazz bars in Québec to the dance clubs in Ontario, all the way to the powwows in the west.

Next up in our series is Northern Cree, a powwow and round dance act based in Maskwacis, Alberta. Widely regarded as one of the best acts in powwow music, the group was formed in 1982 by the Wood brothers—Steve, Randy, Charlie, and Earl of the Saddle Lake Cree Nation. Today, most of its 15 members originate from all across the Treaty 6 territory and are members of the Cree Nation.

Forty years in, the legendary act has recorded dozens of albums—and their influence has reached far and wide. The DJ Shub track “Indomitable” featuring the band was selected by Sacha Baron Cohen as the theme song to his Showtime series, Who Is America?, while M.I.A. and Santigold sampled Northern Cree for their 2008 song “Get It Up.”

Since 2002, Northern Cree has been nominated for nine Grammy Awards and three Juno Awards. In 2017, the collective made history when it became the first powwow group to perform at the Grammy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles. Most recently, they played at the 2023 Juno Awards ceremony alongside Aysanabee in Edmonton, Alberta. 

For the Record spoke with Steve Wood and his son Joel Wood to discuss powwow traditions, their greatest inspirations, and the importance of preserving Indigenous history and culture through music.

What are some of the traditional elements of powwow music and dance? How do these come through in your music?

The instruments are created from things that are natural and land-based. The music’s vocals and lyrics are connected spiritually to our history and ancestors. The drum is referred to as “the heartbeat of Mother Earth,” and that is what connects all human beings to one another, everything living on the planet, and the earth itself. The outfits—or regalia—reflect our history, spirituality, and cultural teachings. These are also created from objects that are land-based, such as plant and animal life.

This type of music is so different when you’re able to hear it in a live setting, because you can really feel the energy. We often hear from people who are standing around the drum or near the drum or in the area that you can feel the energy that’s being made there—it’s doing something to them. If we’re doing that, if we’re making people feel good, then we’re doing our job.

How has Spotify helped you expand your music to a broader audience or connect with other artists?

Spotify has helped us reach audiences, within the borders of Turtle Island [North America] and all over the world, that have never heard our type of music before. It helps connect our group to various First Nations communities, as well as other communities in Canada and the U.S. 

Spotify has also played a part in enabling mainstream artists to sample our music, which has led to collaborations that create a new, unique sound. 

Who are some fellow Canadian artists that have inspired you? How about Indigenous artists from areas around the world?

Our biggest influences are our grandfathers and fathers, who used to play or create this type of music in our homes when we were children. Another one of our biggest influences is Ms. Buffy Sainte-Marie. Whenever we cross paths, we affectionately refer to her as “Mom,” and she refers to us as her “boys.” 

There’s also the late great Gord Downie of The Tragically Hip, whom we had the pleasure of opening for on Canada Day in Trafalgar Square in London. He was one awesome musician, not to mention an extraordinary human being. Other spectacular musicians that have influenced Northern Cree are Robbie Robertson, as well as Pat Vegas and his First Nations band Redbone.

Can you speak to why it’s so important to preserve Indigenous cultures and traditions and pass those down to future generations?

Passing down our culture helps us in maintaining our language, which is something that we’re really striving to hold on to as First Nations peoples. Everything is rooted in language for us—our identity, culture, histories, ceremonies, and where we come from.

One of the ways that our young people, and even other people, are picking up our language is through music. Having our music out there sends a message to our young people. They can aspire to pick up a guitar or a fiddle, or play the piano. So, if we can spread our language amongst our people—or even further—that’s a good thing for our people in general.

When they see what we’re doing—performing at the Grammys, at the Junos, at powwows in various parts of the country—it sends a message that they can believe in who they are, where they come from, their culture, their identity, and most importantly, their language. They can be who they are, they don’t have to emulate anyone else, and they can still aspire to great things. 

That’s one of the biggest messages that we hope to send not only to our young people, but people in general.

 

Check out Northern Cree’s latest album, Ôskimacîtahowin: A New Beginning, to experience the power of powwow.