Monday, July 07, 2025
these birds not meant to fly alone
I made my annual trip to the beach today. I've never been terribly outdoorsy. Like, call me up for a good park hang, but I don't hike, I don't really even look up at the mountains much, and I have a Darth Vader-like aversion to sand.
But I get it. I guess I still live here because of a combination of inertia and hating actual winters (but also too-hot summers), but I understand that everyone else sticks around because of nature.
The other thing about the beach is that unless you live right by one, you're going out to Kits or the West End and sometimes that feels like it might as well be a mission to Mars, man.
Still, as much as I complain about it, that trek across the city's a nice one when the city's really alive. And people were out in enough force that I had to double check to see if it was a holiday tomorrow.
Album of the week
Turnstile - Never Enough
For a couple years, I've been making the joke that I'm about to become a hardcore guy, if it weren't for the fact that would count as a midlife crisis at my age.
And, like, one band doesn't make you a genre guy, but also depending on who you ask, Turnstile can't make you into a hardcore guy because Turnstile isn't hardcore anymore.
The 16-year-old me that briefly cradled a copy of Maximum Rock n' Roll under one arm at all times and railed against "fake punk rock" is happy someone's waving the flag for genre police (but also sorry ACAB counts here too).
Plus, those cranky dudes (guarantee they're 99% dudes) have a point, cause Turnstile's new one sure doesn't sound like a hardcore record.
Yeah, there's some sick riffs and that kick drum thing, but there's also a fucking flute. Indiecast also pointed out--and I don't love this revelation--that they kinda sound like Perry Farrell fronting Incubus some of the time. Somehow it all works though.
There's a lot of little flourishes--that flute, synths, weird new age interludes--around the edges of Never Enough's 14-tracks, but at its core it's the kind of pump your fist, stage dive, scream your fucking lungs out music that makes you feel like this band could be your life.
I'm too old for that too, but also I'd sure love to be in Seattle in October when Turnstile inevitably destroy the WAMU Theater.
Song of the week
Ethel Cain - Fuck Me Eyes
After Inbred and Preacher's Daughter, I figured that Ethel Cain had her sound figured out and she was fine staying in that lane (which wouldn't have been a bad thing). But then in January she dropped the Perverts on us and all bets were off.
It's one of my favourite records of the year so far and it kinda flips the sound of Preacher's Daughter on its head. The latter was a collection of these cathartic anthems that were snapshots of middle American life (at least the darker parts of middle American life), but there were smatterings of experimentation on the fringes of some of the songs. By contrast, Perverts is basically an ambient noise record with the odd Daughter-esque tune sandwiched between the sprawling, often discordant sheets of sound.
Preacher's Daughter sort of launched Cain into the stratosphere (...in an indie sense, so maybe more like low-earth orbit) and there was a lot of talk about how Perverts was a rejection of her new found fame. It sure sounded like she alienated some fans with it, but then as quickly as March, along came the announcement for what's being called her "proper" sophomore record, Willoughby Tucker, I'll Always Love You.
Lead off single, "Nettles," (which will almost surely stick around as one of my favourite songs of 2025), seemed to split the difference between Preacher's Daughter and Perverts. The track's core is an atmospheric, but also twangy little love song, but it takes about a minute of instrumental to get started and stretches out over 8-minutes by the time it's done. Apparently, it was one of the last songs that was written for the album.
By contrast, "Fuck Me Eyes" was originally conceived 5-years ago, and the synths that dominate the instrumentation would make it sound like a completely different act, if it weren't for Cain's voice and her trademark Gen Z does American Gothic quips ("boy, if you're not scared of Jesus/fuck around and come find out").
Perverts shocked me when I first listened to it. But even the contrast between "Nettles" and "Fuck Me Eyes" hints at, not just a great forthcoming record, but what will hopefully be a long run from an artist who seems like she's going to keep pushing in different directions whenever and however she pleases and that's pretty exciting, if you ask me.
Classic of the week
Oasis - Some Might Say
As funny as I still think it is to tell people that "music's objective actually," obviously that's not the case. That said, there's a general cultural consensus about some of the tunes that belong in the pretty wide swath of music that makes up the "best songs of all time." We're talking "Be My Baby," "God Only Knows," "What's Going On," "Like a Rolling Stone."
Most people wouldn't even put "Some Might Say" in the top 5 Oasis songs. It is not, by any measure, one of the best songs of all time. Except when it feels like it is.
And this past Friday in Cardiff, when Oasis kicked off their reunion tour, it sure looked like 75,000 people felt like "Some Might Say" was the best song ever written for the entirety of its 5 1/2 minute run time.
The last time it felt like that for me was when I was holed up in a little bar in Tokyo where the back wall's lined with CDs. When you sit down, you're given a catalogue of all the albums they have and a flashlight. You can pick whatever you want when it's your turn, but they also have a sheet in the front of the binder that lists all the bartenders and their favourites, and after a little back in forth with my terrible Japanese, I was able to figure out that that evening's barkeep loved: "Liam. Noel. Oasis!"
There were approximately 74,992 less people in attendance that evening than in Cardiff, but she cranked up "Some Might Say" for me like we were all live at Knebworth. Maybe it was the half dozen Asahis, but it felt like all of Shinjuku could hear it and in my head everyone was loving it as much as we were (minus some German tosser who wouldn't shut up about the fucking Scorpions).
Oasis are the ultimate vibes band and there's no song that's more "no thoughts, all vibes" (what the fuck does "she's got dirty dishes on the brain" mean?) in their catalogue than "Some Might Say."
There's a lot of things I'm looking forward to when I finally see Oasis again in August, but none more than the five odd minutes when "Some Might Say" becomes the best song ever written.
More heat
Shelly - Cross Your Mind
I already really like Clairo, but--shocker--turns out I love Clairo fronting what sounds like a DIY pop-rock outfit.
Editrix - Flesh Debt
Thank you to the band for summing this one up better than I ever could:
"The internal band nickname for this song is 'Horny Jail' and that should tell you all you need to know. ;-)"
Debbii Dawson - Gut Feelings
Shimmering 80s pop that kinda reminds me of "Physical" if you bumped up the BPMs or maybe (another throwback) "Back of the Van."
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