From Blown Speakers

Monday, November 17, 2025
you can call me if you feel something

I went to two very different shows last week.

On Thursday, I made it down to the Rickshaw for a sold out all Vancouver affair, headlined by (in my no longer very educated opinion) the city's best band: Piss. It was a great bill from top to bottom and it always rocks seeing locals sell out a big room.

Piss recently got back from a tour of the US and Europe and seeing the response/press/etc they've been receiving, maybe they're just going to start selling out big rooms now.

They make such loud, uncomfortable, and confrontational music, but they also seem like the nicest kids. Every time I've seen them, their set starts with a quick message about where to get ear plugs, masks, a request to look out for each other, and a warning that their music gets into some really dark territory. I would still love them if they just made great music, but they're also people you want to root for.

On Saturday, I went to the Biltmore for the first time in ages to see Madi Diaz.

I love her latest, Fatal Optimist, so it was a no brainer (it helps that I live about 10-minutes from the Biltmore too).

Since the album's so stripped back, the show was just Diaz and her guitar as well and it was a treat to hear both the Fatal Optimist tunes as they were recorded, plus a handful of songs from her other records given the bare bones treatment.

Shout out to the crowd, who kept the chatter to a minimum too.

Album of the week

Home Front - Watch It Die

I only recently found out that this band is one of the guys from Wednesday Night Heroes and one of the guys from Shout Out Out Out Out (they're a five piece live, but apparently it's just those two dudes in the studio). And if you've heard those two bands, then suddenly Home Front makes a ton of sense.

The formula of punk guy bellowing over synth pop maybe isn't supposed to work, but this record is loud, snotty, and fun as hell. There's depth here too. Sometimes things veer closer to pure pop and some songs get more industrial or even new wave.

They don't seem to have any big tour planned, but since the hail from Edmonton, hopefully they'll get over here at some point. It's the kind of album that seems like it would be even better live.

Song of the week

Robyn - Dopamine

I mean, if you give Robyn 7-years of time to write new music, she's going to give you a fucking banger, right?

"Dopamine" has all the hallmarks of a Robyn track--in lesser hands, it might come across as Robyn paint-by-numbers--but it still sounds fresh, new, and exciting.

It makes me wish I still "DJ'd" (played songs without mixing them), because I bet this one destroyed a zillion dance floors around the world this weekend.

Classic of the week

Madi Diaz - Enema of the Garden State

This one kinda stretches the definition of "classic," since it's a brand new release, but it's also Madi covering a 26-year-old album in it's entirety.

Fatal Optimist producer, Andrew Maury, would turn on a 4-track when recording sessions started and let Diaz warm up with whatever she wanted. She was listening to a ton of Blink 182 while jogging at the time.

It was just something fun and wasn't something she intended to release, so some songs work better than others, but honestly they all sound great. And the one's that work, really work (I'm partial to her take on "Going Away to College").

Enema of the Garden State is a Bandcamp only release and all of the money from sales goes to the Defending Our Neighbors Fund.

More heat

Hiding Places - Holy Roller

Delaney Bailey - Nightshade

now playing: Suzie True - Every Dog

posted by Quinn @ 12:25 a.m. Comments:0

Album of the week

Song of the week

Classic of the week

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