Sunday, August 24, 2025
keylime pie and frampton live/wish that I would fucking die
I'm going to Toronto... or I guess when you read this, I will be in Toronto. And I was going to say, "I'm going to see LCD Soundsystem (and also Oasis)," but when you read this I will have already seen LCD Soundsystem (but not Oasis yet).
Then there was 14-years ago when it could be the last time. And when I thought it was, it was something I thought would be etched in core memories forever. I mean, as much as something can be when you're too-many-drinks-to-count deep. But I had the time of my life at that show: my first time in New York City seeing one of my favourite bands. At the time, I called them "my favourite band of the last decade" and they definitely were. They still might be.
While I came home from that trip in 2011 and was still at peak "guy in his 20s who loves LCD Soundsystem" (pejorative) for another six months or so, it sort of felt like the beginning of the end of a particular chapter of excess that James Murphy soundtracked. Me starting to grow up a bit coincided with this band going away. And while I bought that Christmas single and then preordered the actual comeback album, I didn't jump at the first opportunity to see them like I did with Sleater-Kinney.
I had this weird "what's done is done" feeling and I still kind of do.
It's funny, because I hear about the Hold Steady doing a handful of shows a year for their middle aged fans to keep themselves from having to get real jobs and I think it rocks. But there's something about my personal experience with LCD Soundsystem that makes me feel a bit blasé about them being on the nostalgia circuit.
I finally caught them in 2022. I was in New York again and they were too. I actually really wanted to see Hop Along that night (and still wish I did), but I mentioned the LCD show to the friends I was with and suddenly we were going to see them.
Our group had a little Covid exposure scare and I spent the entire show stone cold sober with an N95 plastered to my face.
I did not have a good time.
This time around is a bit similar (minus the Hop Along thing and hopefully minus the Covid thing). I was going to fly into Toronto on Sunday, see Oasis on Monday, recuperate/shop for clothes and records on Tuesday, and zip home on Wednesday. But LCD Soundsystem are doing Friday and Saturday in Toronto, so why not show up a day early?
This one. This one could be the last time too. They all kind of feel that way now.
But also, maybe there's a chance that I'll find that spark and dance myself clean.
I've been feeling a bit like a kid again for various reasons lately, so there's a chance.
Album of the week
Hand Habits - Blue Reminder
It took a few singles--til that one above, to be exact--until I started to get excited about this record.
This is lazy as hell, but also, I don't think I can say anything intelligent about this record that wasn't already said more eloquently in Marissa Lorusso's P4K review, so go read that.
Song of the week
Joyce Manor - All My Friends Are So Depressed
This band has never been my thing, but this song sure is. Maybe you're all "dude, they're just ripping off the Smiths so hard here," and to that I say "yes."
From the Marr riff to that just-a-lil' twangy chorus, what a goddamn gorgeous little pop song.
Classic of the week
Pina Chulada - Someone Like You
It used to feel like the internet was forever, but there's actual media that's just sort of lost. There's an increasing number of things I've read, listened to, and really fucking loved. Gone. Less important, but there's also some stuff I've written that has just disappeared into the internet aether.
My friend Maegan seemed kinda taken aback when I said there was some stuff that I wrote that I just don't have copies of. "That's art too. You have to keep it."
"Art" might be too kind of a descriptor, but she's right (of course she is--she's a very smart lady). When it comes to all of those lost articles/blogs/etc, I wish I'd held onto something, even if it was just a .doc file.
I guess this video being on YouTube still means it's not lost yet. But it's not on streaming. You can't find a live download link (although I have some really dodgy quality mp3s somewhere?). And the band's MySpace, where this was originally hosted, obviously doesn't exist anymore.
But man, what a beauty of a song. And what a shame it'll be if it just up and disappears one day. There's probably already a lot of great songs that have.
More heat
Wednesday - Bitter Everyday
The fourth and final advance single from Bleeds is another ripper, but they put it out on Tuesday and should've waited 24-hours imho. This album is gonna be so good.
Living Hour - Waiter
From Wednesday, to this band from Winnipeg that sounds like Wednesday. That sounds like a backhanded compliment, but I love this shit.
End It - Could You Love Me?
I was already excited for End It's debut full length (Wrong Side of Heaven out this Friday). And what I was expecting was 20 or 30-minutes of the kind of nasty, brutish, and short hardcore that they've become known for.
They're actually covering another hardcore band here--now defunct New York thrashers, Maximum Penalty--but this is a straight up 60's pop song with a the distortion turned up a little. I knew this record was going to be fun, because banging your head while getting crushed by punk riffs is fun, but this is a type of fun I wasn't expecting.
Also, you could already kinda tell Ekil Godsey could sing even when he's usually yelling, but dude can sing.
posted by Quinn @ 8:14 a.m. Comments:0
Sunday, August 17, 2025
but you got her, and I got him/and I got morals that are peeking in
I made the first tomato sandwich of summer with tomatoes that I grew in my little community garden plot.
I used to do a BLT every year with the first garden tomatoes and lettuce from the garden, bread I would bake, and bacon I'd cure. But it started getting so hot in the summer that I gave up on turning my oven on as hot as it goes for the bread part. The bacon part felt like a pain in the ass after awhile too. And, it's not like it was terribly difficult, but there was the whole timing fermenting dough and curing bacon and tomatoes ripening.
Last summer I was in a weird place and I just kinda forgot. If I'd remembered, I don't know if I would've been up for the whole ordeal anyways. My garden tomato plants sucked too, so there were less homegrown tomatoes to be had.
I mean, I'm sure I ate a sandwich with tomatoes in it last summer, but I didn't do it consciously and I didn't really think about that until this year, when I did.
It was early, but I went to water the garden last week and there was a lone, perfectly ripe tomato. A nice little surprise during a summer where I've been lucky to have a few nice little surprises.
The sandwich was just salted tomatoes and Hellmann's mayonnaise on milk bread that I bought.
It was simple, but it was perfect. I've been trying to let myself experience more things like that again.
So far, so good.
Album of the week
Pool Kids - Easier Said Than Done
I saw Pool Kids last March and couldn't tell you anything about their performance other than I wasn't particularly moved either way. They were sandwiched in between Militarie Gun and Spiritual Cramp--two bands that bring the same kind of sonic fury live--and Pool Kids sound nothing like either of those bands, so maybe that was part of it.
Apparently, their other records could be described as emo/math rock. "Tinted Windows" definitely has the drums and bass of the latter. And the lyrics fit the emo mould. But this one's pure pop.
"Leona Street" could've been a 90's radio hit and "Bad Bruise" sounds like it could fit somewhere in Pool Kids booster Hayley Williams' oeuvre. But even when they slow things down a bit, like on the brooding "Sorry Not Sorry," there's hooks to spare.
If you'd ask me last year if I'd ever see this band live again, I wouldn't have hesitated to say no, but I've been listening to this record so much that I'm thinking of checking them out in October at the Fox now.
Song of the week
Skullcrusher - March
"I saw the future in an afternoon/I saw it in you/And now I feel forever pressing into me/Beautiful and terrible."
There are times in my life when that would've destroyed me and I'm glad I didn't hear it during any of them. But also, what a beautiful way to be destroyed.
You can say this about a handful of Skullcrusher songs, but this is proof that you don't need to be loud to be heavy as hell.
"March" is the second single from And Your Song Is Like A Circle, out October 17th
Classic of the week
Ryan Adams - Oh My Sweet Carolina
Obviously there are way worse things that this guy has done, but the Spotify Release Radar served me up the "25th Anniversary Version" of this song the other day and I guess Ryan Adams decided to re-record this whole album.
No one's going to sing better at 50 than they did at 26 for starters. But also, there's probably no way he's working with Emmylou Harris anymore and she's very noticeably absent on the re-recording. The real crimes are the arrangement and production though. There's some schlocky sounding strings and too much reverb or something. It's like watching those Star Wars remasters where George Lucas added all the stuff he couldn't do the first time around--it really makes you question if either of these guys understand what made their art so good in the first place.
When he reviewed Heartbreaker's 2016 reissue for Pitchfork, Ian Cohen summed up the album's appeal: it’s actually enjoyable knowing you can hit bottom for 50 minutes and still appreciate the view.
This whole re-recording thing makes it sound like Ryan Adams is back down there, but he hasn't come up for air again.
More heat
Militarie Gun - B A D I D E A
There isn't anything notably different from most other Militarie Gun songs and frankly that fucking rocks. OOH OOH.
Neko Case - Winchester Mansion of Sound
I don't like this one as much as "Wreck," but I like that Titanic sized love song a lot. So this still feels like it's going to be my favourite Neko record in a long time.
Chief Keef and Mustard - Shake Dat
The Bel Air Lip Bombs - Hey You
The quality of this song is inversely proportional to the quality of the band's name.
posted by Quinn @ 11:48 a.m. Comments:0
Sunday, August 10, 2025
'cause baby i've never seen brown eyes look so blue
I went to Red Gate on Thursday to see Colleen Green. It was one of those weekday shows, where I for sure wanted to go, but I was planning to just putter around at home as long as possible, sneak in and sneak out. But I've also been trying to spend less time doom scrolling and I managed to cobble together dinner at a reasonable time, so I made it down in time to see Sleeping Bag's last song and all of Rozwell Kid's set.
I didn't catch enough of the former to pass judgement, but Rozwell Kid plays that kind of "dudes' pop punk" (see also: Pup, Jeff Rosenstock) that young men fucking love. That sentence sounded like a criticism, but even though I'm an old man now, I also dig it. They were reminiscent of Pinkerton era Weezer too, but, crucially, without the Drake vibes on the lyrical side.
I love Colleen Green's music. I love the early power chords/drum machine/big girl group melodies thing the most. But I still love her more "recent" output a lot. And, especially considering the economics of touring in twenty twenty five, it was a treat that she brought the 10th anniversary tour of I Want to Grow Up here.
Rozwell Kid did double duty serving as a very good back up band for Colleen's set, where she ripped through I Want to Grow Up's ten tracks and then encored with "Time in the World," "I Wanna Be a Dog," and "I Wanna Be Degraded."
The latter two really underscore a big part of her appeal to me--songs that are nakedly and purposefully so referential, but turned on their heads enough to avoid being simply derivative.
It's the kind of music I was really enamoured with for a period of time and ultimately ended up making (or at least trying to make), so it was a pleasure to see one of my inspirations from that era wind the clock back for an evening.
Album of the week
Ethel Cain - Willoughby Tucker, I'll Always Love You
All the previous Ethel Cain releases hinted at the promise that Willoughby Tucker, I'll Always Love You fulfills.
Obviously, "American Teenager" is it's own beast, but this really feels like the synthesis of what she was doing on the EP and Preacher's Daughter and what she was doing on Perverts.
There are moody, experimental instrumentals--sometimes as their own tracks, sometimes dispersed within the sprawling runtimes of what would otherwise be "pop songs." There's the Southern gothic story telling (and it's even sharper here than on previous efforts). There's big, big melodies that sometimes carry through an entire number and sometimes burst out of some wall of noise. And there's one of indie rock's best singers doing what she does best.
About the latter, the songs here are great, but they also wouldn't quite be the same in someone else's hands with someone else's voice trying to propel them forward. Hayden Anhedönia makes them soar.
If you're of a certain age, you're used to getting bombarded by nostalgia. I mentioned my friend Lindsay's party photos coming back up online last week as part of the whole indie sleaze revival.
When I think of the actual artifacts of that time, it makes me feel about the aughts like Craig Finn's narrator in "A Multitude of Casualties" feels about the 80s though. Obviously, there's some stuff (some music especially) that I don't just think back on fondly, but still love. But it's the experiences that really made everything surrounding it feel special. And the experiences are why some of it still does.
It wasn't fun because my pants were too tight or I wore a sloppily tied tie or a fucking bandana around my wrist. Or because of whatever was happening in the bathroom. And it definitely wasn't the majority of dance punk tunes in a vacuum.
It was fun because I was at an age where I was nominally an adult, but I still didn't feel like I had most of the responsibilities of one. It was fun because my body still let me stay out all night without being too angry at me in the morning. And it was fun because all my friends at the time were in the same place.
In a weird way, this song makes me think fondly about that period between 2006 and 2013 or so way more than "House of Jealous Lovers" or Spank Rock does, because even though it takes place during a different time, it's about one of those nights.
Partying all night, dancing yourself clean, and crashing out crammed in someone's crappy apartment, plus that little spark of romance.
Sometimes the latter goes away and sometimes a little something finds a way to stay with you. I've been thinking about that a lot lately too.
Classic of the week
Dum Dum Girls - Heartbeat (Take It Away)
This was one of the other bands that I was listening to a ton of right before Pleasure Cruise became a thing. And I hadn't listened to them in ages, but I've been on a bit of a kick since Thursday.
More heat
Bananahaus - Black Hole
A local band?! We're so back. I first saw Bananahaus when they played with one of my friend Lindsay's bands at not Toast and not Take Your Time, but whatever it was called between that and I was smitten after the first few bars. When I think of watching Vancouver bands in quasi-legal venues, this is the sound I think of and it's so heartening to this middle aged man to hear someone carrying this specific torch (Piss are doing it very well too)
Casey Dienel - Your Girl's Upstairs
I've been blogging about Casey Dienel for nearly two decades(!) and apparently I'm going to keep doing it, because she's going to keep writing great songs. Casey's style has shifted around a lot over the last 20-years and this electric guitar driven "if that's your boyfriendgirlfriend (s)he wasn't last night" song is such a far cry from "Frankie and Annette"
Big Thief - Los Angeles
I've found Big Thief really hit or miss for a pretty long time now, but this one's a hit.
Jehnny Beth - High Resolution Sadness
An absolute fuckin' ripper from the Savages frontwoman. It does not, in fact, sound like she wants to feel sadness, it sounds like she wants to feel blinding rage.
Pelly jokes about Almost Famous in the article, but especially because of the Pelly twins' friendship with the Crutchfield twins, there's an interesting feel to it.
It also mirrors the last two Waxahatchee records a bit, in that it's joyous and at times and also immensely sad at times.
Most importantly, it's one of the greatest contemporary music writers on one of the greatest contemporary songwriters.
Album of the week
The Armed - The Future is Here and Everything Needs to be Destroyed
When I interviewed Japandroids for the first time, I asked Brian what he did at his day job. It felt like a pretty mean nothing question to me--something that I asked just so I could add a little colour about who these two guys were.
He paused uncomfortably and after awhile said, "I'm a scientist. I drop science."
It wasn't until we wrapped up that I understood why he was so hesitant and why his answer was so vague. They were still such a small band, but if they ever did "make it," he didn't want to be Brian with the office job from Vancouver, because Brian believed (and probably still believes) in the theatre of rock 'n' roll.
We ended up finding out a lot about Ozzy (belated RIP), but there was a long period before the reality show where he really did seem like the Prince of Darkness. And it's a lot cooler to think of Bowie as an alien than as David Robert Jones.
Which brings us to the Armed. The Armed believe in the theatre of rock 'n' roll.
The sprawling hardcore(ish) collective has some number of members, some number of which are named Dan Greene, one of whom is the guy who first writes the songs (but never finishes them and rarely performs them). Most of them live in some weird compound. It all sounds like some cult, except I kinda want to join the cult.
Dan Ozzi wrote an incredible profile on them for the Fader in 2023 and after reading it, I would say that I was hooked, but there was one problem. I thought the actual music was just pretty good.
I loved the idea of the Armed so much, but their songs never clicked with me.
Until now.
The other Armed albums had all the elements that are present on The Future is Here, but it finally feels like everything is there in the right proportions. It's relentlessly aggressive like their earlier albums, but the "that's not hardcore" experimentation is still there too. It just feels like it's in perfect balance now.
It's a brutal, beautiful half hour of music and I'm finally ready to refract.
Song of the week
The Berries - Angelus
Every part of this song is so subtle and understated, but it all comes together to make such a satisfying whole. The vocal hooks are never huge, but they come one after another, only taking a break for the guitar solo, before they come back in the bridge. And those guitars, man. Both the playing and the production sound so good. It's like Matthew Berry harnessed all the best parts of 70s classic rock radio and then let them loose for five near perfect minutes.
Classic of the week
The Walkmen - The Rat
Linds put her old party photo website back online, which made me think about the chorus to this one.
Here's a photo from a decade and a half ago where I'm probably telling Neil he should play something that no one else but me will enjoy.
More heat
Hayley Williams - Love Me Different
Apparently, "it's not an album," but Hayley Williams released 17 songs last week. This one's my favourite (although this one that's really giving T Swift is pretty great too).
Dovetail - raining here, too
The debut single from two kids from Vassar that met at an open mic night and bonded over their shared love of Elliot Smith. It's got that dreamy, lush thing that Beach House used to do so well, with the dueling vocals really taking things to another level.
Golden Apples - Mind
A bouncy little garage pop anthem about trying to exist when everything around you is terrible.
posted by Quinn @ 10:24 p.m. Comments:0
Wednesday, July 30, 2025
i was standin' there in the morning mist/a jack and coke at the end of my wrist
If you're like me and prefer to buy your physical records from the actual record store (or if you're simply Canadian and don't want to pay roughly $1-million for shipping), here are four digital-only releases that aren't on streaming platforms that you can pick up for Bandcamp Friday tomorrow.
Go Fly a Kite is "a compilation created for Rick Dirck: father; friend; DJ and long-time volunteer at the Portsmouth, NH community radio station WSCA 106.1 FM; full-hearted believer in the power of music; flyer of kites; and endlessly more."
There's an otherwise unreleased Mirah song, an unreleased All Dogs song (that's still the last thing they've ever released), some demo versions of some great tunes, and this cover where Waxahatchee sings the DIY classic, "Make a Deal With the City" by East River Pipe in appropriately ultra lo-fi fashion.
This thing has over 130 songs, so there's bound to be something you like. For awhile, it was the only way to hear SG Goodman duetting with Will Oldham on "Nature's Child". There's a live version of "How Hard is it for a Desert to Die" where Jeff Tweedy's joined by Wednesday's Karly Hartzman. And I guess if you have an indie charity comp, you're required to have a Waxahatchee exclusive, because this one has Katie covering Gillian Welch's "Wrecking Ball."
A tribute to one of the best records of the aughts from Tim Crisp's Better Yet podcast, benefiting the AIDS Foundation of Chicago and featuring Ratboys covering "Pot Kettle Black" and Laura Stevenson covering "Jesus, Etc." The latter is a song that I didn't think I could love more than I already did, but the multiple Lauras harmonizing on the last "voices whine" part is something else, man.
posted by Quinn @ 11:24 p.m. Comments:0
Monday, July 28, 2025
now I'm growling at a stranger, i am biting at their knees
I made it down to the Commodore on Thursday night to see Mannequin Pussy and Gouge Away.
If you had asked me on Wednesday, I would've told you that I like Mannequin Pussy alright, but my big motivation for getting tickets was because of how great Gouge Away were opening for Chat Pile in February.
And Gouge Away were great again last week.
The friend I was with mentioned that they reminded him of Nirvana and he's right: they sound like they're just trying write "Tourette's" over and over again and it fucking rocks.
I wasn't ready for Mannequin Pussy.
It certainly helped that the crowd were absolutely amped, but the band took all that energy and redirected it back tenfold and it was one of those rare shows nowadays where I see a band I've never seen before and end up absolutely blown away.
They front loaded their set with the more melodic songs in the catalogue, but things really picked up in the back half. They sort of sound like Celebrity Skin era Hole a lot of the time to me, except all the songs are about "I have a crush on you" (complimentary). And we got a ton of that in the first 40-minutes or so. But the back half of the set was all of the songs where they just sound like a no frills 80s hardcore band. And while I enjoy both of the bands personalities on record, it was rad to see and hear them just rock out once everyone was good and warmed up.
Missy Dabice injected a lot of politics into her stage banter (Colins Regisford did too), but there was a full on pause for a political rant near the end of the main set. And like, I share a lot of politics with a lot of bands I end up seeing, but generally that's a bit eye roll inducing for me.
This was different though. She hit all of the same beats that you'd expect (all good things: fuck Trump, free Palestine, capitalism sucks), but she also tied it all up with this quiet call to arms, encouraging people to just do something, no matter how small, to push against **gestures wildly** everything. Make music, even if it's just in your room. Give something to or do something for someone else. Do anything to carve out a little bit of beauty in this ugly world we're all stuck in.
It might seem insignificant, but it all helps.
I didn't really think that was something I needed to hear, but turns out I did.
Album of the week
Folk Bitch Trio - Now Would Be a Good Time
I spent Friday morning re-writing a bunch of ChatGPT generated garbage that someone decided to spit out at work and this stopped me from quitting my job and driving across the continent to kidnap Sam Altman and throw him off of a bridge.
Song of the week
Flock of Dimes - Long After Midnight
Sometimes songs sound effortless.
Maybe it actually takes Jenn Wasner (who you might already know from Wye Oak) ages to craft melodies, but this one feels like it appeared fully formed--like this perfect little song about deep friendship and desperation has always just been there waiting to be heard.
"Long After Midnight" is the lead single off of The Life You Save, out on October 10th on Sub Pop.
Classic of the week
The Hold Steady - We Can Get Together
Heaven is whenever we can get together
Sit down on your floor, and listen to your records
Heaven is whenever we can get together
Lock your bedroom door, and listen to your records
Yeah, it still is.
More heat
Madi Diaz - Feel Something
Every Madi Diaz song is a break up song. And look, I haven't broken up with anyone in a long time, but I still love most of them. She's at the Biltmore on November 15th.
Wednesday - Pick Up That Knife
"Elderberry Wine" let us know we're going to get some "How Can You Live If You Can't Love How Can You Live If You Do" Wednesday on this forthcoming record and this one let us know we're going to sprawling noise band Wednesday too and I'm here for both.
Tyler, the Creator - Don't You Worry Baby
I kinda wish I still went out dancing, cause I bet this one's gonna get everyone in the club moving.
Nation of Language - Under the Water
I'm not sure if I mixed this band up with a different band or if they just finally wrote a song I like, but for some reason I thought I fucking hated them and turns out I was wrong. Real New Order vibes on this one.
posted by Quinn @ 8:48 a.m. Comments:0
Sunday, July 20, 2025
in the stick count for the song of knowing you're gone
I’ve been thinking a bit about my relationship with streaming music. It’s so obviously different from buying CDs or records exclusively. But it's even a big change from downloading.
I caught myself thinking about the radio, something I only really hear now as background noise when I jump into an Evo car share. But the radio used to feel like a portal into a whole different universe.
I keep getting stuck on how it felt to sit poised ready to record a song off of the radio for some reason. You'd sit around waiting just to end up with this terrible quality recording, often with a commercial or the DJ’s voice bleeding over the beginning or end. But before an actual CD was out, when there was no other way to hear something on demand, it felt priceless to me--a treasure that I captured out of the air.
Don't get me wrong. Having access to almost everything on demand is incredible in a lot of ways. I certainly wouldn't be doing this every week, even if the barrier to entry was as minimal as having to torrent all the new music I end up parsing through each week. But it also makes me care a lot less about any snap judgements I make on something. Dragging a song into my trusty "temp" playlist is more or less effortless and making a song disappear into the aether is even quicker.
Eventually, I'd dub over those radio recordings with newer radio recordings, but all those songs would live at least a nominal life of re-listening.
There was a Chart Magazine (RIP) editorial that ended with a sentence that I think back to now and then and that I'm thinking about now, now that I'm contemplating all the songs I've skipped halfway through on YouTube or scrubbed forward on Spotify.
“I mourn all the songs deleted from hard drives over the last ten years that would have been tolerated and eventually, perhaps, fallen in love with if they were on cassettes or LPs or CDs”
Having most of popular music at your fingertips is a gift, but I wonder how many songs that I could have loved that I'm missing out on.
Album of the week
Alex G - Headlights
With every album release, there's always one Alex G song that I love, but I've never really been able to get into an entire full length. It's funny to say this, because I typically gravitate towards weirdness, but I think it's all the weird little experiments that get jammed between his best songs that have turned me off really diving into his catalogue.
This one's got a couple too--I'm not sure who the vocal affection on "Far and Wide" is meant to sound like, but I don't care for it--but most of the little idiosyncrasies generally seem to add colour to the songs without distracting from them.
And there are some songs on this record.
Opener, "June Guitar," is this bittersweet, but gorgeous little love song with a chorus that seems aimed directly at the "I'm not into emo, but I am very emo" adult man demographic (hi, it's me):
love ain't for the young anyhow/something you learn from falling down
And "Afterlife" is going to land near the top of a lot of song of the year lists in December.
On this week's Indiecast, Steven Hyden compared it to REM's great major label records, and as a New Adventures truther, I'm inclined to agree.
Even though none of his previous albums really grabbed me, I respected how he wasn't afraid to throw anything he felt like on them. He's probably still doing that here, but it all sounds so much more cohesive and whole.
Song of the week
Winter - Without You
I'm kinda getting burned out on how every second band seems to be a shoegaze band these days, but I constantly seem to dig the acoustic ballads that the same bands put out. This one tries to capture the feeling of the Portuguese word "saudade." Apparently it can't be translated to English, but from what I understand after a quick Google, the line about an ex-love "who are you when I'm not with you" sounds like it sums it up pretty well.
Classic of the week
The Weakerthans - Night Windows
I was walking around listening to Fallow the other day and it sort of struck me that I continued to care a lot about the Weakerthans past Left and Leaving, but I, relatively speaking, started caring way less about their recorded output after Left and Leaving.
I definitely bought (and before that probably eagerly downloaded the leak of) Reconstruction Site as soon as I could, but for whatever reason, it didn't grab me like those first two records did.
But this song always stuck out as their "late" period masterpiece.
There's maybe no Weakerthans lyric that screams "THE WEAKERTHANS" more than opening line to this one and while it's a song about longing and losing someone, the descriptions of modern life that fill space in the verses make it feel political in the way a lot of the band's songs do, without ever being explicitly about politics.
It sort of feels like John K's talking to that person from "My Favourite Chords" a decade later or something.
Sidebar, but, it's real Roughriders hours that the Weakerthans have a song called "Tournament of Hearts" and the Cons have an album called Tournament of Hearts.
More heat
Jeff Tweedy - Enough
I still love Wilco, but it feels like there's this weird samie-ness with Jeff Tweedy songs (solo or with band) these days. And this one kinda starts like that with the riff, the guitar tone, and the bouncy, but understated verse. But then the chorus opens up and it's a reminder that this guy's been one of planet earth's greatest songwriters for my entire adult life.
Spiritual Cramp - At My Funeral
This sounds a lot like "Slick Rick" (one of the standout tunes from their last record, not the guy), but that also means it reps Spiritual Cramp's hardcore-by-way-of-GbV vibes perfectly.
The Armed - Sharp Teeth
I have a feeling I'm going to be writing about this whole album next week, so I'll just say that this fucking rules.
DJ Haram feat. Armand Hammer - Stenography
Armand Hammer sound good over anything, but this beat is something else too.
Eliza McLamb - Like the Boys
If I'd written a single song with a line this cool at 24, maybe I'd still be writing songs:"I like the boys like the boys like to shoot their guns/something I can hold in my hand pretending to be someone."
upcoming shows
2/8 Twin Sister, Eleanor Friedberger, and Ava Luna @ the Media Club
2/9 David Choi @ the Rio
2/10 Secret Chiefs 3 and Dengue Fever @ the Rickshaw
2/13 White Buffalo @ the Media Club
2/14 The Ballyntines and Pleasure Cruise (TT) @ the Biltmore
2/18 Grimes w/Born Gold @ Fortune (early)
2/18 Cruel Young Heart, Young Liars, the Oh Wells, and Matiation @ the Dodson Rooms (AA)
2/18 Cursive w/UME @the Media Club
2/19 The Asteroids Galaxy Tour w/Vacationer @ Venue
2/20 Veronica Falls w/Bleached @ the Media Club
2/26 DJ Krush @ Fortune
2/29 Trevor Hall @ the Media Club
3/6 Slow Club w/Signals @ the Media Club
3/7 Cloud Nothings w/Mr. Dream @ the Media Clubr
3/8 Islands @ the Rio
3/10 Memoryhouse @ the Waldorf
3/17 William Fitzsimmons @ the Biltmore (early)
3/18 Magnetic Fields @ the Vogue (AA)
3/21 Plants & Animals>/b> @ the Rickshaw
3/22 Drive-by Truckers @ the Commodore
3/23 White Rabbits @ the Biltmore
3/23 Loney Dear @ the Media Club
3/24 Sharon Van Etten and the War on Drugs @ the Biltmore (early)
3/25 Nada Surf and An Horse @ the Rickshaw
3/27 The Ting Tings @ the Commodore
4/5 House de Racket @ the Electric Owl
4/6 Chairlift w/Nite Jewel @ the Electric Owl
4/7 Heartless Bastards @ the Media Club
4/8 Metronomy @ Venue
4/8 Gotye @ the Vogue (AA)
4/9 Cults @ Venue
4/10 First Aid Kit @ Venue
4/10 Andrew Bird w/Laura Marling @ the Vogue (AA)
4/13 The Odds and the Grapes of Wrath @ the Rickshaw
4/14 The Joel Plaskett Emergency @ the Vogue (AA)
4/24 School of Seven Bells w/Exitmusic @ the Electric Owl
4/26 Justice @ the PNE Forum (AA)
4/27 M83 @ the Vogue (AA)
4/27 Yukon Blonde @ the Commodore
4/28 Neon Indian @ Venue (early)
5/6 Delta Spirit w/Waters @ the Electric Owl
5/9 Yann Tiersen @ the Rickshaw
5/11 Great Lake Swimmers w/Cold Specks @ the Commodore
5/12 The Boxer Rebellion> @ the Biltmore
5/27 Coeur de Pirate @ Venue
legend:
AA = all ages
DG = @damaged goods
DFTK = @dirty for the kids
FJW = @fake jazz wed
EN = @easy now
GD = @glory days
HL = @higher learning
JH = @junior high
JY= @junkyard
RRPP = @rocknroll pizza party
SD = @shindig
TT = @toonie tuesday
NW = @no worries
Sunday, August 17, 2025
