FOCUS Wales 2023

5 piece femme powered hip hop group, NADUH, write, engineer, and produce all of their music – meaning they have crafted a sound that’s truly representative of their collective energy – spreading unity consciousness through R&B infused beats that hit every chakra, laced with buttery-smooth vocals and herstorical lyrics. This one-of-a-kind group aims to shatter earthly constructs and help their audience access higher realms of consciousness while entertaining their urge to twerk.

Grimelda (fka The Faps) has re-birthed as a really really really good band with unhinged rock songs that take art and punk to weird levels of amazing awesomeness. While their “New Daft Punk” EP (2021, Transistor 66) highlighted collaboration and genre-bending like the world had never seen, “It’s So Feeling When You Rock” (2023, Transistor 66) is a collection of absurd classics inspired by the need to claw your way through the dumpster fire in search of F U N.

Wow. Just wow. Is this the future of music? Could these two skids from the Canadian prairies be transcending sound? Or is this a regression into dank riffs? Find out by catching this ineffable aural monster in every single town on Earth for the rest of eternity.

XL The Band is a Western Canadian Music Award nominated hip hop/ jazz/ alternative fusion project featuring 2/3rds of 4x JUNO Award winning Vancouver group Swollen Members. The members of XL have decades of live experience rocking audiences of tens of thousands on festival main stages, playing in orchestras, and winding up jazz clubs.

XL have had their songs and music videos streamed over 3,000,000 times, have been selected to perform at multiple prominent festivals, and have European and North American touring lined up in support of their debut album release Opus No. 1.

As a lyricist, singer-songwriter Cassidy Mann often reshapes a small moment into a powerful and poetic song that feels both personal and relatable.

“My favorite thing is to write about tiny things that make the bigger picture more important somehow,” she says. “It’s interesting to me how memories are interpretable.”

Mann’s latest EP “If It’s Not Forever” served as a catalogue of how her early relationships ended and why – and she hopes that other people feel seen and comforted by her stories.

Certain moments in a relationship are almost always at the core of her songs, whether it’s the potential start of something special (“Since I Met You”) or the inevitable end (“Stop a Heart”).

Her latest offering is the new single “Along For the Ride” – a song she wrote alone in her bedroom and then co-produced with Kris Ulrich and long time collaborator Roman Clarke. The track features back up vocals and harmonies by Georgia Harmer, a choice Mann says is “a musical symbol of the people in your life who support you.”

“This song is about getting caught up in someone else’s life and losing your agency for a while, which is always destabilizing. I hope it can be a reminder that our own goals are worthy of pursuing and the right people will encourage them, not try to bury them.”

Haley Blais is a Vancouver based singer-songwriter and musician. Haley has been DIY-ing it since 2014, turning out song after song of defiant scream-into-your-pillow bedroom pop anthems recorded in her actual bedroom. Below the Salt, the debut studio LP from the up and comer, is a coming of age story that recognizes that there is no real ‘coming of age.’ Featuring production from indie favourites Tennis (Alaina Moore and Patrick Riley) and fellow Vancouver artist Louise Burns, Haley’s signature sound has matured into a distinct new voice. Her lyrics riff on the joys and banalities of the every day, on the need to break apart and away from an uninspiring life, on radical acceptance, and manifesting a world where you feel proud of yourself and who you’re surrounded by. “Canada’s nostalgia pop queen” – i-D Magazine

Born in Sudan, bred in Edmonton Canada, destined for stages around the world; Mouraine is a name to pay attention to. His debut EP Bigger Dreams, released via Birthday Cake Records in 2021 received props from Complex, The Source, CBC, Earmilk, Exclaim!, RANGE, If It’s Too Loud, Hip Hop Canada and more. After hustling in the underground for the past few years, Mouraine is quickly making moves to emerge into the limelight on the brink of his breakthrough full-length album, In Search of Gold. Slated for release in the spring of 2023, the project is a collaboration with producer duo deadmen (Begonia, Royal Canoe, Ashleigh Ball, Ian Sweet), with features from his brother MOTO, Canadian R&B icon JRDN, and a few surprise appearances. The songs delve into Mouraine’s personal life story and deliver an intimate vulnerability complemented by captivating stories, bold lyricism and colossal beats.

“There comes a time in every artist’s career to pursue their unimaginable creativity, to find themselves and their sound. “In Search of Gold” is metaphorically a representation of my life journey. I’ve always thought that chasing possessions was going to fulfill me. But I realized that to find gold is to find your purpose, peace, and happiness, and that’s what this album means to me.” – Mouraine

As a young, first-generation immigrant to Canada, Mouraine first learned to speak English through his insatiable appetite for music. Hip Hop, Rap and R&B lyrics became his teacher, his solace, and his inspiration to use this language as a tool for self expression and survival. By the age of 11 he began writing, recording and performing original music that would lead to sharing stages with the likes of Mac Miller, J.Cole, T-Pain, Big Sean, Pusha T, Classified, and Shad. Mouraine’s music has been placed in Footlocker Ads, played live at Toronto Raptors NBA games, awarded him accolades from his community and peers, and continues to infect audiences around the world. A seemingly endless source of energy, there’s no denying that Mouraine has a magnetic ability to pull people in and make them feel a part of his music and message.

seeing someone I don’t recognise or like very much.

With all due respect, I’m not a rapper. I am not an R&B singer. I am not a soul singer. I am not ‘urban’ or someone making ‘black music’. I make music and I am black!

I am pop, I am cinematic, I am rock, I am punk, I am alternative, I am electronic. Something like Michael Jackson, Future Islands, Prince, Coldplay, FKA TWIGS, or Labrinth – but nothing like any of them or anyone else.

MAUVEY was born as a result of my obsessions with storytelling, songwriting, cinema, and fashion. I was angry and frustrated and happy and grateful and in LOVE and desperate for the world to change. I was all of this, all at once, and so was my music – and it still is. It’s MAUVEY.

Our world is dying of a broken heart. With LOVE we might be able to mend it and each other. That’s what distributing LOVE is.