Sunday, November 09, 2025
won't you sleep with me, every night for a week/won't you just let me pretend this is the love i need?
Armand Hammer & the Alchemist - Mercy
After a couple decades of loving her music, I hear Leah's voice multi-tracked and I'm instantaneously all in.
Sunday, November 02, 2025
see-through box, i gotta let it go/“you can’t hurry love” plays on the stereo
Snocaps - Cherry Hard Candy
Ratboys - Anywhere
Noname feat. Devin Morrison - Hundred Acres
Sunday, October 26, 2025
i know that I've been selfish and i ended it the first time/but maybe if it's different and we listen to the warning signs
Dazy - Bad Penny
Sunday, October 19, 2025
what do i sing for? who do i sing for? don't ask me anymore
Almost every review of a Skullcrusher release touches on the fact that, on first blush, Helen Ballentine doesn't make music that sounds like it was made by band called "Skullcrusher."
Sunday, October 12, 2025
i used to think that every word you said/was a little gift that I'd unwrap/and then start dreaming about the next one i might get
She's got a knack for speaking in really plain language, but delivering the words in a way that somehow makes them seem poignant. Everything is simple and raw and if you're caught in the right (or wrong?) mood, it'll hit like a truck.
Stella Donnelly - Year of Trouble
Sunday, October 05, 2025
i'm glad that we stayed here for awhile/that we were here for awhile
Idlewild - Idlewild
Monday, September 29, 2025
purse your lips, let live die/i wanna eat you alive
won't you sleep with me, every night for a week/won't you just let me pretend this is the love i need?
I'm going to Los Angeles for the first time in well over a decade next month.
I fucking hate driving, so it's the last thing I want to do on vacation, which kinda bumps LA way down the list of places to visit, even though it checks off a lot of my other boxes.
But they've expanded the Metro so much and, well, Snocaps is only playing in three cities and Chicago's gonna be too cold. And both Chicago and NYC are going to be a little too expensive to fly in for just the weekend.
Over the last decade or so, the only act I've listened to more than Waxahatchee and Swearin' (plus all the related projects) is Laura Stevenson, so this one and done tour kinda ended up being a no brainer.
I've traveled for a ton of shows--I went to New York the last time the Crutchfield sisters toured together. And I've also traveled a fair amount by myself. But this one came up so quick that it's going to be the first time I've traveled for a show that I'm going to go to by myself.
I can't think of many other bands I'd do this for, but I wasn't going to miss this one. So here we go.
Album of the week
The billy woods record from this spring is incredible, but for whatever reason, I didn't spin it as much as I thought I would. But this one? Even though I've mostly been on a diet of all Snocaps all the time, I've already played this one enough to wear out a cassette tape (if those were still a thing).
These are distinctly Alchemist beats, but they still feel different from the tracks on Haram. Alan's still himself, but he's also so much more dialed into where billy and Elucid are going. These songs are dark and dense and they've got instrumentals to match
Song of the week
The Abramson Singers - Spider on the Moon
Classic of the week
Waxahatchee - Swan Dive
I was mostly joking when I posted on Instagram that if they play this song at the Snocaps show and I'm not there to hear it, I will die.
But also, Katie announcing via Substack that they'd be playing some Waxahatchee songs from the first four albums and none from the last 5-years on this tour, was one of the things that pushed me from "should I do this?" to "I should definitely do this."
I truly think the last two Waxahatchee records are the two best records she's ever put out. And all these old songs don't really fit in live with the tracks from Saint Cloud and Tiger's Blood, so it makes sense that they don't crack the setlist anymore. But that doesn't make me love them any less.
Maybe it won't be this one in particular. But maybe it'll be "Coast to Coast" or "Breathless" or "Air" or "Recite Remorse" or "Be Good." And I can't tell you how much I'd love to hear any of those live again.
More heat
Remember Sports - Bug
"Across the Line" sort of gave away that there was a new record coming, but now it's official: we're gonna get a new Remember Sports album the day before Valentine's.
This one sticks to the pop-punk thing they do best, but it throws a noisy Built to Spill (and also kinda Swearin') solo into the mix.
now playing: Snocaps - Coast
Sunday, November 02, 2025
see-through box, i gotta let it go/“you can’t hurry love” plays on the stereo
Album of the week
Maybe it wasn't a total surprise--Katie and Allison had both been teasing something on Instagram for the last week or so. But pretty much out of nowhere, and for the first time since 2011 we've got a full album collaboration from the Crutchfield sisters. This time around they're backed up by MJ Lenderman and (Saint Cloud and Tiger's Blood producer) Brad Cook.
They're splitting the difference between Bad Banana and PS Eliot and sharing vocal duties on this thing, so I guess it's fitting that the band's operating under the brand new moniker, Snocaps.
Sonically, it's back in similar territory to what those bands shared. And hey, I love the last two Waxahatchee records--they're Katie's best under that project--but hearing her in scrappy indie rock mode is an even bigger treat, because it felt like something that wasn't going to happen again.
It's not just a retread of the music they were making a decade and a half ago though and you can hear that Tiger's Blood twang on songs like "Cherry Hard Candy." Elsewhere, "Brand New City" sounds like if Lenderman dropped in to lay down some riffs on a Swearin' song.
Swearin' might be my favourite band of the 2010s and Waxhatachee's not far behind, so it's going to take me awhile to digest this one properly, but I already love it after the first handful of listens.
Apparently, they have a few shows planned before the end of the year, so maybe I have one more trip to take in 2025.
Song of the week
"I'm going anywhere that you're going" kinda sounds like it might have a romantic lean to it, but the longer the lyrics go, the more there's kind of a creepy "Every Breath You Take" or "Standing Here" vibe to it... until you find out that's actually not a love song and it's inspired by Ratboys' guitarist, Dave Sagan's anxious pup.
Easily the best song of all time about a velcro dog.
"Anywhere" is the second single off of Singin' To An Empthy Chair, Ratboys first record since one of my favourite's of 2023, The Window. It's out on February 6th.
More heat
ROSALÍA with Björk and Yves Tumor - Berghain
A very cool song that somehow has an even cooler video.
Sunday, October 26, 2025
i know that I've been selfish and i ended it the first time/but maybe if it's different and we listen to the warning signs
Album of the week
James Goodson's a music PR guy who started putting out music under the Dazy moniker after COVID started, which honestly seems pretty rude, because the guy's way better at his side job than I've ever been at any job.
Goodson writes hooks and this surprise EP (that doesn't have anything to do with a Big Black cover) crams a zillion of them in an economical 21-minutes.
I liked the original version of this song from Sasami's May album, Blood on the Silver Screen just fine. But I fucking love this pop-country duet version. It's a good song no matter how it's dressed up, but the double vocals and that slide guitar really take things up a notch.
Song of the week
Sasami and Soccer Mommy - Just Be Friends (Soccer Mommy Version)
Classic of the week
Bikini Kill - Rebel Girl
My favourite song from 1993, the last time Toronto was in the World Series.
Go Jays.
More heat
Ekko Astral - Horseglue
Speaking of Bikini Kill, here's a band that sounds as vital as they did in '93.
Home Front - Eulogy
There's that hardcore sound, that synth pop song, and this largesse (complimentary) that kinda hangs over everything that makes this sound like it should be soundtracking an 80s coming-of-age movie (also complimentary). And (with respect to SNFU, the Smalls, Cadence Weapon and... uhh Shout Out Out Out Out, I guess?) they're from fucking Edmonton of all places.
Armand Hammer & the Alchemist w/Silka & Cleo Reed - Calypso Gene
"Super Nintendo" was fun as hell and a whole record like that would be a great one. But when I think of Armand Hammer getting together with the Alchemist, this is what I think of. I didn't get as into Golliwog, billy woods' solo effort from earlier this year, but I'm ready for this to be my favourite rap record of 2025.
now playing: Madi Diaz - Hope Less
Sunday, October 19, 2025
what do i sing for? who do i sing for? don't ask me anymore
Album of the week
Skullcrusher - And Your Song is Like a Circle
"Skullcrusher" sounds like it should be black metal outfit, which is sonically about as far as you can get from the actual Skullcrusher. But Ballentine's sparse, soft, and gorgeous music is still heavy as hell.
There's a grief that hangs over everything--a darkness. While it's not a ten ton riff hitting you over the head, the piano line at the end of "March," the one that comes after the lines "and now I feel forever pressing into me/beautiful, terrible," hammers down like it's trying to push you into the abyss. And even the lilting backing vocals on "Red Car" can't hold up the weight to keep the lead vocal afloat--it eventually fades out into the sound of waves crashing against the shore.
What a beautiful way to drown. I've been letting it wash over me all weekend.
Armand Hammer & The Alchemist - Super Nintendo
Wednesday - Game of Pricks (Guided by Voices cover)
Song of the week
We've been blessed by Alchemist beats for nearly three decades. And it seems like we're blessed by an Armand Hammer release every two years. What a time to be alive (minus the rise of American fascism, the impending end of the world accelerated by war and intense power use so the hugest nerds alive can talk to their AI girlfriend or make the worst "art" I've ever seen, and every-fucking-thing else).
Classic of the week
Obviously, I was going to love this, but Karly Hartzman really does sound fucking perfect singing it--one of the all time great pop songs.
She wrote an incredible piece for Vulture on "The Way Love Goes" from my current record of the year, Bleeds, that nearly broke me in two as well.
More heat
Julianna Barwick and Mary Lattimore - Melted Moon
For the forthcoming Tragic Magic, ambient music's version of billy woods and ELUCID got hooked up with their version of the Alchemist: the thousands of historical instruments housed at the Philharmonie de Paris’ Musée de la Musique.
"Melted Moon" is our first preview from the record, out next January, and it's soaring, expansive, and beautiful. Pretty much exactly what you'd expect from these two.
runo plum - Pond
I find this song so sonically sooting even though:
This song came from feeling really stuck in a slump, feeling the height of the absence, the pain, and the loneliness. Wondering how there will ever be a time where it didn’t feel like this, and fighting with the internal voice that was telling me my best option was to not be on earth.
now playing: Wilco - Open Mind
Sunday, October 12, 2025
i used to think that every word you said/was a little gift that I'd unwrap/and then start dreaming about the next one i might get
Album of the week
Madi Diaz - Fatal Optimist
Madi Diaz's last record, Weird Faith, didn't exactly boast lush instrumentation, but just a year later she's back with Fatal Optimist, an album that's stripped right down to the studs--just Diaz's voice and acoustic guitar.
If you've listened to any of her records, you have an idea for what you're in for here. These are broken heart songs. Fuckin' dirges.
I had a few too many beers watching the Canucks on Thursday night and came home and put this one on and it felt like being run over (a thing I actually have first hand experience with).
Madi's at the Biltmore on November 15th.
Song of the week
Lande Hekt - Favourite Pair of Shoes
Going all the way back to that first Muncie Girls record, if there's a Lande Hekt song, chances are I'm going to love it.
There's less power chords nowadays, but no matter how the songs are dressed up, they still soar.
More heat
Jay Som w/Hayley Williams - Past Lives
It's weird to say "Hayley Williams is finally getting her due," cause Paramore wasn't exactly unpopular, but it does seem like Hayley Williams is finally getting the respect she deserves. And it seems like she's celebrating by showing up everywhere she can and it fucking rocks.
This one's the last pre-release single from an unsurprisingly wonderful new Jay Som album.
Ragana & Drowse - Ash Souvenir
This album is going to be heavy is hell. The lead off single already fulfilled that promise, but this song is what I was really hoping for when I read about the collab between the black metal duo and the ambient noise guy. Maria Stocke finally breaks out into a scream in the final minute of this one, but it's a lot more of the drone-y Drowse side of the collaboration for the first 6-minutes. I guess it's still heavy as hell, but in the kind of quiet way that I love so much.
Weird Nightmare - Forever Elsewhere
I'm so here for one of the dudes from Metz doing his best Cloud Nothings impression.
Since you've closed off to me, I've been on a lonely ride.
Sunday, October 05, 2025
i'm glad that we stayed here for awhile/that we were here for awhile
A short one this week.
Album of the week
If I'd been in a different headspace, I might have talked about the frenetic pop-punk that Snõõper put out on Worldwide this week. But Idlewild, at this point, feel so familiar that this one hit me like a warm hug. I'm actually not much of a hugger, but it's finally fall and it felt good to bundle myself up in something.
Remember Sports - Across the Line
Song of the week
The emo-pop/punk thing this band does so well, paired with the lil' twang in Carmen Perry's voice is my kryptonite.
Classic of the week
The Constantines - Young Lions
I've loved this song for so long. There's so much meaning packed into it and so many moments from years gone by crammed into the 4-minutes for me. Pretty recently, it started to make me think of something different and it's just weird to think about how something that's been a certain way for so long can suddenly become something else entirely.
More heat
Suzie True - Every Dog
"We used to drink at house shows/just to feel like we weren't alone... chain smoking in the backyard/fingers barely touching/I look up at your face/and I wish that you would touch me."
The first verse of this one really made the nostalgia machine fire into overdrive for me.
Dorothy - 50s Song
A pretty little tune that's true to its name.
Jennifer Walton - Miss America
Thanks to the great music writer, Laura Snapes, for tweeting for the first time in almost a year to give props to her current song of the year, this devastating ballad about how Jennifer Walton found out about her dad's death while in an airport hotel room.
now playing: The Get Up Kids - Holiday
Monday, September 29, 2025
purse your lips, let live die/i wanna eat you alive
Album of the week
Sprints - All That is Over
Sprints were all gas and no brakes on their debut (that just came out last year), Letter to Self. Some of the songs came out of the gates with a slow smoulder, but it felt like every one of the eleven tracks eventually exploded.
On All That is Over, there's a little more room to breathe. Opener, "Abandon," builds and swirls, but never escapes into orbit, but that doesn't make it any less compelling. In fact, the formerly uncharacteristic restraint just makes the songs where they really let loose sound that much bigger.
Lead single, "Descartes," is 3-minutes of heavy riffs and front woman Karla Chubb wailing. "Need," "Pieces," and "Coming Alive" bring similar energy, but they really pop, because they come after songs like "Better" and "Beg."
They're still heavy as hell, but it's not just because of the volume anymore.
Song of the week
Ratboys - Last Night Mountains All That
It took me until about my 20th listen of this song to realize it's six fucking minutes long. It makes sense in retrospect, because the band crams all of their best traits in: the big, poppy emo hooks, the deceptively big riffs, Julia Steiner straining against the din. But the tune just flies by like it's Guided by Voices length.
They're at the Biltmore on April 6th. Get tickets and call in sick for work on Tuesday.
Classic of the week
Sonic Youth - The Diamond Sea
Happy 30th birthday to Washing Machine and my favourite 20-minute SY banger that devolves (evolves?) into an ambient noise jam.
The 5-year, four album run from Goo to Washing Machine was so damn good and it's wild to think that they'd already done Bad Moon Rising to Daydream and did Murray Street to The Eternal after that (albeit on a slightly longer timeline for the last one).
More heat
Fiery Furnaces - Far Away
The Friedberger's re-released all-timer, Blueberry Boat, for a 500 copy vinyl run (that's already sold out--sorry) and it comes with this "lost" track. It's really just an older version of personal Furnaces fave, "Waiting to Know You," but if you're a fan of the band--and I'm a huge one--it's a fascinating window into what the Bitter Tea stand out would've sounded like if it made their magnum opus.
Parts Work - Trenton
I desperately want a new Hop Along record, but this EP from Frances Quinlan and Kyle Pulley (who engineered Hop Along's last album, Bark Your Head Off, Dog and plays in Thin Lips) will tide me over til then.
Sharp Pins - I Don't Have the Heart
Like Exploding Hearts meets those songs the Fountains of Wayne guy wrote for that movie (complimentary).
Alexa Rose - Anywhere, OH
The last thing we got from Alexa Rose was a Lucinda Williams cover, which made a ton of sense, because this one could've been plucked right off of Car Wheels.
now playing: Neko Case - Wreck
