Specks of Light in Dark Times

A highly profitable collaboration with noisy indie outfit Noise of the World(check them out here: https://soundcloud.com/noiseoftheworldband). They added some funky guitars here and there while we added the synths and the finances. Our shareholders are pleased. 

We hope, so are you.

Miserable Today (Hooray!) feat. NotW

A fun song I wrote and recorded just at the end of the pandemic.

Nothing Yet

Benjamin Russell channels Tony Bennett and Sparks in his new video, performed in the Blueberry Ice Cream Room, a lounge on a plane between the Love Dimension and somewhere else.

The song explores the generational divide which has flipped since Cat Stevens wrote "Father and Son" in which the son implores his father to understand his point of view. Here, a father attempts the reverse.

VALE OF PAIN is from his brand spanking new PLEASURE CENTER album, available everywhere.

Music video: https://studio.youtube.com/video/rPRbn_txHz0/edit

Pleasure Center

Vale Of Pain

BPM: 80
SOUNDS LIKE: David Bowie, Harmonium
ISRC: CARI82400006
Written by Elyce and Benjamin Russell

Music Video: https://youtu.be/4FJZfyyG368

About: The 2023 ice storm in Montreal left people in the dark for days. Luckily acoustic guitars don't need electricity. This song of a love that endures was born by candle light.

BEAUTIFUL - lyrics by Elyce and Benjamin Russell

I'm here lying with you
Wondering where the time's got to
You say I'm more beautiful
More than ever, how wonderful
'Cause I feel that way about you

It is a mystery
How I found you - you found me
Sunlight radiant through your hair
Somehow I knew you'd always be there
And I knew you felt that too

Beautiful - you're beautiful

Always I hid what's me
Who I was they couldn't see
And I found it hard to trust
But you showed me that I must
And now I'm free to believe

Beautiful - you're beautiful

Beautiful

Spring has sprung in Montreal and Benjamin Russell takes off flying to appreciate the wonders of the world in this new video. It's pure fun, positive and makes you want to get up and dance!

DREAMS ACROSS THE SKY is from the new PLEASURE CENTER album, available everywhere.

PLEASURE CENTER: https://songwhip.com/benjaminrussell/pleasure-center

https://youtu.be/PDl-bwT2Dqc

#artpop #freeform #electropop #poprock #indiemusic #canadianmusic #canadiansongwriter #canada

Dreams Across The Sky

This is an archive of The Horizon Broadening Hour. More music added to Libretime means more music for y'all to check out.

Ariane Racicot – Avant la tempete 
Mike Boguski – 2013-2015 
Mike Boguski – Message From Mars 
Tanner Christian Gesek – Life is Both 
Back Seat Driver – The Mountain
The Nathaniel Hardy Project – Moonlight in Baltimore
Les Canards – Voyage en Italie
Joni Void – Muffin – A Song for My Cat 
T Gowdy – Blest Age! 
Benjamin Russell – Waves
Abi Mack – DIRTBAGS
Fernie – White Wine 
N Nao – Fleuron 
Athena Nadalin – Kaity
Athena Nadalin – Taxi Alone 
Tilia – Drivers Seat
Thomas Thomas – One Lone Candle
Julian Daniel – Northern Lights
MEGGO – bark, dirt & thistles 
Raging Flowers – Tissue Paper
Sarah Segal-Lazar – Anything But Age
Katie James – Chasing the Sky
Brian Tremblay – Where’s the Caboose? 
Trena – Not the Ring
Bobby Joe Henson – Jambalaya
Sunday Riot Club – Out in the Sky
Graeme Jonez – Ride or Die
Martyrs – Pin Blue Sometime
Sorrows – Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing In the Shadow? 
Kpec3 Arrival – Reagan
Erik Flaa – Fiesta For My Failure
La Sécurité – Ketchup
Glimmerjean & Goode – Rosavelle

The Horizon Broadening Hour

The Horizon Broadening Hour #64

01. 0:00:00  - Retro Dream Cassette chronicles intro
02. 0:03:16 Out Runner - Stellar Drifter
03. 0:13:16 Hollywood Brown - Heaven Help Me
04. 0:17:08 Nicolas Rixon - Ghost
05. 0:21:36 Pyramid of Chaos - Tell you a Secret
06. 0:28:48 Bending Grid - Phoenix (feat. Anna Moore)
07. 0:32:37 Just Scott - Just Breathe (feat. Shred Krueger)
08. 0:37:27 Benjamin Russell - One Step (The Time Is Now Mix)
09. 0:43:43 Time and the Hunter - Mycelium
10. 0:48:43 deZeption - And You Never Hear What I Say
11. 0:54:43 Bootblacks - Hidden Things
12. 1:00:06 Isaac Howlett - Endless Night (The Foreign Resort Remix)
13. 1:05:04 Chroma Cloud - No Escape
14. 1:09:08 Arcade Beach - Chelsea
15. 1:15:02 Valley Lights - Alexandra
16. 1:18:36 Spectral Knight - I'm Not Drowning ft Melody Smith (Spectral Mix)
17. 1:22:26 Fuzzle - I Don't See You Anymore
18. 1:28:33 Proletarian Poetry - Darkness
19. 1:32:23 Duel - Let Me Go
20. 1:36:19 MTTM - Dive
21. 1:40:49 Romance 85 - Snowfall In L.A.
22. 1:45:07 JESSY MACH - Ash-17
23. 1:48:49 The San Junipero Experience - (I Just) Died In Your Arms Tonight [Cover]
24. 1:56:59  April O'Neil + DMME - When The Party Is Over

The Cassette Chronicles with April ONeil - 2025-02-10

On the road too long...
It's About Time by songwriter Edwin H. Balder
I learned your silence like the back of my hand,
Every pause, every "I’ll text you" left hanging like a loose strand.
Now the diner’s fluorescent buzz don’t hum your name,
Just the clink of my spoon stirring sugar without shame.
It’s about time… I had a good time.
No more tracing your shadow in the 2 a.m. blind.
You’re a stain on the passenger seat I finally scrubbed clean,
Turns out the wheel feels lighter when you’re not the gasoline.
Your friends still ask about me like I’m some ghost they can’t shake,
I smile, say "I’m good"—let the lie start to ache.
But the ache’s just a reminder I’m alive, not a shrine,
And the highway’s singing louder than your "just give it time."
It’s about time… I had a good time.
No more tracing your shadow in the 2 a.m. blind.
You’re a stain on the passenger seat I finally scrubbed clean,
Turns out the wheel feels lighter when you’re not the gasoline.
I found a dive bar where the whiskey’s cheap and the jokes are mean,
Where nobody knows your name or the wreck you made of me.
The jukebox spits out a song I used to hate,
But tonight? I’m screaming the words like it’s fate.
It’s about time… I stopped counting the miles.
The rearview’s just a suggestion, not a life sentence file.
Funny how the heart heals in the messiest ways—
One day you’re choking, next day you’re blowing out the flame.

It’s about time… I had a good time.
The night’s soft as a ”whatever”, and the future’s bright as a dime.
No more ”maybe next year”, no more ”right girl, wrong life”—
Just me, the open road, and the damn sweet lack of strife.

Link to best of our country hits that you can cover to get to the top... https://soundcloud.com/edwin-balder/sets/country-hits-you-might-need?si=307edea8be674dc3bedee9345a814080&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing

All Rights Reserved Edwin H. Balder
Thanks so much to my band: Hot Cookie
See Our Music Videos Here> https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-509h42heKT05D8egf2U9w

It's About Time by songwriter Edwin H. Balder

Don't Come Back

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4E91iv6ciiQBtsyQaprtug

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/2z2ugiTNppfcvhmUq8ocsY?si=ooZFkaWIQI29JN7KRHe84Q

Pushing the Needle to the Red

Cover Image: detail from painting by Benjamin Russell, AFRICAN SUNSET ON MOUNT ROYAL. 

Back in the early 80s, Elyce and I saw a special on World Vision’s work in Africa. We were impressed while horrified by the people’s suffering. What made the largest impact though was a particular doctor who explained he couldn’t help everyone. He had to choose between the mothers who had enough will to live and care for their children, and those who were too far gone and had given up.

Doctor Avery was getting burned out and said he didn’t know how much longer he could go on.

We were moved to write a song, "Help Dr Avery", but it was never recorded until now. It is on my new album called, SHIKASTA SUITE. You can download and share this song here for free but we have pledged to donate ALL SALES from this song to World Vision to help in their ongoing work.

HELP DR AVERY  is a song on the new album, SHIKASTA SUITE, available wherever you download or stream your music including:
CDBaby: https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/benjaminrussell17 
Apple Music: https://cdbaby.lnk.to/P7aJq2/applemusic
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/033BnESR1B9rislO1hdek6
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_klb_hUOg2KZFPkMYvqpUnzL8JlMHBMg2E

HELP DR AVERY  - song by Elyce & Benjamin Russell
copyright © The Clear Blue Enterprise (socan)

Help, help, help Dr. Avery

If you can make the war, then you can pay the price
If you can sell the bombs, then you can buy the rice

All the new discoveries, all the new perfumes
All the latest hit songs, it's time for different tunes

Help Dr. Avery now

The world is getting smaller, we're next door neighbours
It's just another dollar, but it might save us

Help Dr. Avery, it's your decision
Help Dr. Avery - he says he can't go on

Help Dr. Avery now

Shikasta Suite

Help Dr Avery

original song

in a daydream
come across that floor you'd do it all
and you'd stay for some more
like yesterday
if just for a moment call me like before
i'd trade it all
and forget anymore
that yesterday's gone
careful where you're dancin'
accidents happen
 i've seen hearts get broke that way
watch your step with the skeletons
all the victims of your accidents
let my bones be next ok
just to myself now
talk about what for 
i spill it all till the phantoms get bored 
of yesterdays
baby goes lightly off to someones war
and that was all
to forget anymore
she says yesterday's gone

Skeletons

Benjamin Russell is a cross-genre singer-songwriter, producer, videographer, painter, writer, poet, photographer and graphic artist (he designs all his own album covers). Originally from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, a prairie province in western Canada, he now lives in Montreal with Elyce, his partner in life and art.

Nominated, "Most Promising Male Vocalist", in the 80s for his hit single, "Miracle (Miracle of Love)", he has released many albums, singles and videos and has shown his paintings in exhibitions. His newest album, WAVES, releasing in 2025 is his 20th.

His songs are wide-ranging in style and hard to pin down, combining electronic and acoustic instruments and production. He comes from an era when it was normal for artists to go where their creativity led them, so he offers no excuse. He may not be as famous as some of his influences, but he believes he deserves the creative latitude allowed The Clash, Bob Dylan, Sparks, David Bowie and The Beatles.

He is an artist. He creates. It's as essential as breathing for him. He can't help it. He even creates in his dreams, often waking up with a song or a painting completely planned out. Best known for music, he has recorded 20 albums including WAVES, releasing February 2025.

...there is always an escape route.

Here's our latest video which took something like 2 years to complete or so. Watch the little gem filled with expensive CGIs here: 

https://youtu.be/Xdvl6rqUn9M

Watch the video to Before It Blows You All Away here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCnuAgkAEhQ

Video for Girls and Boys of the World:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anX0Cp1Zrk4

There are more videos planned. And tracks, of course. So expect more lo-fi, noisy stuff in the not too distant future.

Contact: noiseworld.band@gmail.com

Help Dr Avery

Benjamin Russell

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Noise of the World

Benjamin Russell

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