Tag: SZA

Music Festivals by William Ruben Helms

Spring and summer, along with warmer weather are just around the corner. And you know what that means? Festival announcements, followed by festival season.

Presented by Bell and Coors Light, OSHEAGA Music and Arts Festival‘s 17th edition will take place August 2, 2024 – August 4, 2024 in Montréal‘s gorgeous Parc Jean-Dreapeau. Over the course of 16 previous editions, OSHEAGA has become a global reference for great music and top-notch festival experiences: Attendees come to the Montréal and the festival to experience something that they simply can’t find anywhere else. Located on two islands, one which is man-made, just off the shore of Montréal Island and Vieux Montréal, Parc Jean-Drapeau was the site of the Expo 1967. The park has one of the most stunning views of Montréal’s skyline and Mont Royal, and while in the park, you’re able to catch a wide variety of artists, both emerging and established across an array of genres.

Festival organizers and books have curated this year’s festival with the explicit mission of appealing to fans of every genre, style and generation. Grammy nominated, rinsing folk pop artist Noah Kahan will be headlining the festival’s first day, August 2, playing what will be a rare festival set this summer. Fans of singer/songwriter pop can also catch Hozier, who played a sold-out show at Laval’s Place Bell last year; Teddy Swims, the genre-bending artist, who has dominated Tik Tok; Melanie Martinez, the alt-pop phenom, who has amassed over 12 billion streams and more; and singer/songwriter and actor Reneé Rapp, who starred in the Broadway production of Mean Girls — and played a much-talked about, sold-out show at MTELLUS last October.

If you dig punk and alt rock — and you were a child of the 90s or came of age in the 90s, OSHEAGA has got something for you: 90s punk icons Green Day will be headlining the festival’s second day, August 3. Fully expect to hear tunes from Dookie, American Idiot and more. But personally, I’d love to hear songs off Warning. Beloved old-school punks Rancid, rising Los Angeles rockers The Linda Lindas, riot grrrl legends Sleater-Kinney and The Smashing Pumpkins are the day’s biggest names. The Smashing Pumpkins return to the OSHEAGA stage for the first time in 17 years.

SZA, the biggest name in pop at the moment will be headlining the festival’s third and final day. And if you dig genre-bending pop anthems. T-Pain will be making his OSHEAGA debut. The festival’s bill features a wide variety of Afrobeats and Afropop including Grammy Award winner Tyla, who won the first ever Best African Music Performance Award for her global smash hit “Water;” Nigerian artist Ayra Starr; Haitian artist Michaeël Brun, who played a sold-out Festival International de Jazz Montréal show last year.

If you’re a hip-hop head who digs both chart-topping and underground emcees from across the globe, OSHEAGA will have something for you: This year’s lineup will feature Denzel Curry; Bronx emcee Lil Jay, who played Place Bell back in 2022; Swedish, experimental beat-driven sensation Bladee; British emcee Skepta, who has made a name for himself for pairing UK grime-driven bars with Afrobeat influences; Belgian emcee Hamza, who spits bars in a silky French; and Moroccan emcee ElGrandeToto.

If you dig electronic dance music, OSHEAGA will have something for you: Wildly popular Dutch DJ and producer Martin Garrix, who headlined last year’s îLESONIQ Festival will be playing; acclaimed French electronic duo Justice will be playing OSHEAGA to support their first album of original material in seven years; British electronic music artist and producer Labrinth, best known for the music in acclaimed series Euphoria will be making a rate live appearance this year, too. Additionally, there’ll be live performances from Overmono, Iréne Drésel, Confidence Man, The xx‘s Romy and DJ sets from Uncle Waffles and Mochakk.

This year’s edition will also proudly showcase homegrown acts. Roughly a third of the 2024 lineup features artists from Québec and Canada at large, including Ontario-based TALK, an acclaimed, multi-Juno Award-nominated, bilingual artist, with massive following in la belle province will be playing the festival. Acclaimed, Prince Edward Island-based indie outfit Alvvays are on the bill. Local funk outfit Clay and Friends, who I believe I caught at M for Montréal in 2019 or so will be playing. ASDIQ Félix Award winner CRi and local hip-hop outfit Planet Giza will also be playing on the OSHEAGA stage.

3 Day Tickets are already available. Single-day tickets go on sale Friday at 10:00am. Pricing and links are below y’all.

OSHEAGA 2024 TICKET PRICES
(Taxes and service fees included. Prices are subject to change without notice.)

GENERAL ADMISSION TICKET / SINGLE-DAY: starting at $165 CAD
GENERAL ADMISSION TICKET / 3-DAYS: starting at $395 CAD

CASINO DE MONTRÉAL GOLD TICKET / SINGLE-DAY: starting at $320 CAD
CASINO DE MONTRÉAL GOLD TICKET / 3 DAYS: starting at $745 CAD

PLATINUM TICKET / SINGLE-DAY: starting at $685 CAD
PLATINUM TICKET / 3 DAYS: starting at $1,620 CAD

American Express Cardmembers can get Front Of The Line® presale tickets started yesterday at 10:00am ET and goes until tonight at 10:00pm ET tonight.

Click HERE to take advantage of the offer.

3-Day Tickets are available here: https://osheaga.com/en/tickets-osheaga-2024

Single Day Tickets will be available here, tomorrow morning: https://osheaga.com/en



Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Taylor Knox is a Toronto, Ontario, Canada-based singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer, who can trace the origins of his musical career to over a decade ago, when he was recruited to play drums for The Golden Dogs, an act that was considered one of Canada’s criminally under-appreciated bands — and coincidentally, one of Knox’s favorite bands, too.

During his stint with The Golden Dogs, Knox forged friendships with several other bandmembers, who all go on to form Zeus. As a result of Zeus, Knox was a frequent presence at the band’s Toronto studio Ill Eagle, which naturally offered him the perfect environment and the opportunity to begin experimenting with his own original material. Interestingly, Knox and his then-newly formed Zeus were tapped by Jason Collett to be his regular backing band — and it brought him into contact with an even wider circle of musicians, including Luke Doucet, whom he joined on Doucet’s tour to support his acclaimed Steel City Traveler. He also joined Hayden for the Us Alone recording sessions and subsequent tour. He also played with acclaimed Halifax, Nova Scotia-born and-based singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer and JOVM mainstay Rich Aucoin.

With the release of the Lines EP and his full-length debut Love, Knox stepped out into the spotlight, crafting anthemic power pop that has drawn comparisons to acclaimed and highly influential Canadian power pop act Sloan and others. Slated for a June 7, 2019 release, Knox’s sophomore album Here Tonight thematically focuses on the mystery, stillness and artistic inspiration of the night; in fact, Knox’s tendency to be a night owl was a major influence on the album. And when he started writing the material that would eventually comprise his forthcoming sophomore album, he focused on precisely what he was thinking about — and what he wanted to do and say with it. He didn’t want to waste the insight that nighttime has always given him.“I really try to make sure the songs I write come from a place of not something I want to write but something I kind of have to get out. What I’m feeling below what I’m thinking,” Knox says in press notes.

Sonically speaking, the album, which sees Knox working with Josh Korody reportedly sees Knox continuing with the power pop that has won him attention — fuzzy and /or crunchy power chords, forceful drumming and rousingly anthemic hooks; but he sought guidance and inspiration from much more contemporary artists like The Weeknd, SZA and Prince in terms of production and songwriting, as well as the legendary Joni Mitchell. In fact, Korody’s production helped to add new textures to his overall sound, thanks to the incorporation of synths and keyboards to create glistening gutter tones. Knox also worked with Rob Schnapf in Los Angeles, who helped make one song reportedly to sound like one of the best Oasis songs to never appear on an Oasis album.

Interestingly, what sets the Toronto-based singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer’s sophomore album apart from this previously released work is a free flowing spontaneity that was encouraged by Korody and Schnapf — and that left room for unrestrained creativity. Doing this, he says, “leaves a little bit of room for discovery with the collaborator and room for their influence. I’ve always tried to do that but I did it more this time because I have confidence that I’ll be able to come up with it on the spot.” Adding to that, Knox brought in a number of Toronto’s finest musicians to collaborator for the sessions including July Talks‘ Peter Dreimanis and Leah Fay and Tokyo Police Club‘s Dave Monks.

Here Tonight‘s latest single is the rousingly anthemic, Live It Up.” Centered around fuzzy power chords, forceful drumming, a big arena rock friendly hook and an ethereal falsetto, the track recalls 120 Minutes alt rock — in particular, The Posies, The Breeders, Smashing Pumpkins and even more contemporary acts like Silversun Pickups but with the free-flowing air of a bunch of guys jamming and coming up with something incredibly cool and full of furious passion.