Sarah Cripps from little ol’ Brighton, ON, is coming out with a new CD. Actually, she came out with a new CD back in February 2013 called “Change”. I think the CD release party she has planned at the Drake Underground on March 27 is for that same album. I could ask her, but I’m busy. I think it’s easier (and more fun) if we just go and support her on the 27^th and find out. Sarah has been described as “gritty country”. I don’t find her very gritty. In fact, she sounds all new and fresh. I hope she gets a bit grittier with age. I think maybe the person who said that was referring to her potential. Does that sound like I’m being nasty? I’m not. I think Sarah is great and I think she’ll grow and get better, that’s all. Have a listen here and tell me what you think: https://itunes.apple.com/ca/album/change/id602912091. Sarah won Best Country Artist at the recent Toronto Independent Music Awards. These local indie musicians make me so proud!

Stacey Y is coming out with a new album ‘Set the Water Straight‘. You may remember (I hope you read it), the article that Aaron wrote on Stacey after we went to see her. Aaron’s pretty fussy and can always find fault with musicians, but he actually found he was quite impressed with Stacey. I’m impressed with her because she works so damn hard. As well as Stacey’s original work with The Stacey Y Band, she also has  other bands she works with – Stereoflavour, DoVira, Kidd Rasta & The Peacemakers, Morta and more. It’s a good thing she’s so busy working because she has fully financed the release of her new album herself. Way to go Indie Girl! Woo Hoo! I love when artists do that – no answering to industry execs who don’t like your Facebook profile picture or tell you who you can or can not play with or hang out with. Stacey is taking pre-orders for the CD, so show your support peeps, buy here, she could use the cash! I’ll let you all know when the release party is as soon as it’s announced.

The Alter Kakers (“The AKs” – sounds like a cat choking up a fur ball doesn’t it?) just had a release party March 9th. Their 3rd new album, called…wait for it….”The Alter Kakers”,  is available now for download for only 6 bucks. This band was recently featured in the indie film “The Scene: An Exploration of Music in Toronto”. I won’t see the movie until it’s out on March 23 at the Canadian Film Fest, but my guess is the gist of it all will be that after 3 albums and being featured in a movie, you still don’t know who this band is. This town is tough.

From Toronto’s non-indie set (it’s okay, they might come back to the indie world one day)

As most people know now, Sarah Blackwood is sporting a baby bump. This week she was featured in Sweat Equity Magazine, a little publication coming out of Oakville for the Yoga and fitness enthusiasts. Sarah’s got the little bump unwrapped and front and centre on the cover. I hope they’ll be giving copies of this issue with Sarah on the cover at the upcoming Yoga Conference (March 21-24). I would love for all those peeps trying to extend their spines and balance their chi to check out Sarah’s music. I love this video below of Sarah in Walk Off The Earth (her band with baby-daddy Gianni) doing a cover of their own song Red Hands. Too cute. Walk Off The Earth are releasing their new album, R.E.V.O. (Realize Every Victory Outright) on March 19th .

Toronto is so proud of Drake (even if Chris Brown isn’t). He got out into that big bad rap world and made something of himself. Apparently, he’s proud of Toronto too. He just released a single that we can all stream for free called “5am in Toronto”. I was pretty pumped to hear about that, until I listened to it. Now I’m not sure. He sounds like he’s bitching about Toronto. Is he? If not, what’s he bitching about? Maybe that’s just rap. They always sound like they are complaining about something in that music. Oh well, there’s plenty to complain about in this town. Go ahead Drake, bitch away, and while you’re at it, put the City of Toronto on the Rap Map. (hey, yo, I just made a rhyme!)

Check out more as it happens. Follow us on Twitter @ohjusteatit