By Megan Magdalena
How a Vancouver punk band found themselves opening for the legendary guitar icon — and they have photos to prove it.
Diamond Cafe Is Feeling the Groove on "When You Can’t Resist”
The rising funk-pop phenom’s first release on Warner Music Canada is a polished tale of post-breakup soul searching.
by Ben Boddez
Photo by Brian Van Wyk
- Published on
He’s already been noticed by fellow connoisseurs of everything rhythmic and groovy as diverse as Anderson .Paak, dance duo PNAU and soul titan El DeBarge, but the Victoria-born Diamond Cafe is poised to take an even bigger step up in 2024.
Signing with Warner Music Canada and dropping his first single of the year, the funk-pop artist’s “When You Can’t Resist” continues to demonstrate why he’s popping up on so many lists of artists to watch.
The track itself was inspired by a low point in Diamond Cafe’s life, with lyrics finding him taking his vices a little too far to cope with a breakup, but you’d never know it from its sound. Produced by Pomo, who has applied many a syncopated guitar riff to tracks from artists like Mac Miller, Chloe x Halle and Kaytranada, Diamond Cafe applies a powerful falsetto to the track’s delightfully hazy vintage sound.
The shimmering synths and interlocking pieces of the instrumental would be able to keep a dance floor filled anytime from the 1970s to today, locking listeners into a polished groove and keeping interest for its nearly five-minute runtime. With a tour and more music on the way later this year, we expect that Diamond Cafe and we’re ready to watch him shine.
By Cam Delisle
Just hours before igniting the Commodore Ballroom stage, the R&B trio unpack the realities of touring, influence, and fan-fuelled evolution.
By Stephan Boissonneault
On her debut solo album, the songwriter captures the textures of an ever-shifting city, blending punk, synth, and zine culture into something defiantly personal.
