Tuesday, April 28, 2026
you'll cry at commercials/at an unbolted leg scraping against the ground
Johanna Samuels - Two People, The Moon
Sunday, April 19, 2026
i know that the bar closes at 11/i hope you never finish that beer
Monday, April 13, 2026
go tell your brothers and all of your friends
Brennan Wedl & Waxahatchee - Six O'Clock News (Kathleen Edwards cover)
Sunday, April 05, 2026
is your heart still fightin'/to get our of your mind?
Maria Taylor - Story's End
you'll cry at commercials/at an unbolted leg scraping against the ground
On Friday, I was at the Vogue to see Wednesday.
Bleeds was one my favourite records of 2025, so I was pretty amped about hearing the songs in the flesh. And I certainly wasn't alone, because the Vogue was sold out. It was a (relatively?) rare show where they pulled the seats from the Orchestra of the theatre though, so while the bottom half of the venue was packed, it was pretty roomy in the old person seats upstairs and I ended up with a great view, even though my friend and showed up right as Gouge Away was playing their first few notes.
I saw Wednesday on the Twin Plagues tour and thought they were just okay. Maybe it was my mood--I had to come straight from a work thing--but they rocked on Friday night. We were treated to all of the bands many personalities (although they never got as hushed as on something like "The Way Love Goes"). And while I'm most partial to the twangier tunes on record, the noisier ones unsurprisingly popped the most live. They closed with the straight up hardcore of "Wasp" and in very punk fashion ended the night right there with no encore.
We're very lucky that Gouge Away must be excellent tour mates, because they've played here three times in the last 14-months and none of them have been headlining shows.
When I was planning when to arrive, I texted my friend that we could "meet for a drink if you've got time, but if you can't make it for 8pm, I'll send you your ticket." We were able to do grab a couple beers and make it on time and I'll leave you with Tyler's review of the openers: "holy fuck this band is good."
Album of the week
Friko - Something Worth Waiting For
I swore these guys must be British or something, but apparently the singer (and the other dudes) all grew up outside of Chicago. I don't know how he ended up sounding like this, but I dig it.
Song of the week
"You know how there’s a cinematic trope/ About two people and the moon?/ She’s looking up at it the same time as you."
Classic of the week
Gary Stewart - She's Actin' Single (I'm Drinkin' Doubles)
One of two covers that Wednesday unleashed on the weekend.
More heat
Jody Glenham - Love Deficiency Syndrome
I have been living with Jody's new EP for awhile, but it's out there for everybody now and you should listen to it (and I'm not just saying that cause she put me in someone's liner notes for the first time in a couple of decades). Go see her play it on Thursday at the Fox.
The Abramsons Singers - Can You See It Now
Hey, speaking of my favourite songwriters in Vancouver, here's another one. Leah's new one is weird and wonderful in a way that's been so uniquely her since she started using the Abramson Singers moniker. She is not playing it this week, but promises (maybe) some future shows.
Francis of Delerium - Requiem for a Dying Day
I can't think of anything to say that's better than what Jana Bahrich said about this song already (via Stereogum):
"Requiem for a Dying Day" began after reading about Katy Perry going to space and then developed into this pre-emptive mourning and grief for our future. I wanted the video to be done in claymation because the form itself is a celebration of process and slowness. All the work that has been put into it is blatantly on display, every thumbprint and every minor adjustment. We are hurtling towards our future without much pause or forethought. I wanted this video to be an attempt at the opposite, so I chose the most painstaking medium I could think of.
Big Brave - In Grief or in Hope
Every Big Brave song I've heard finishes and I think "man, that band is so fucking cool" and this one's no different. Catch them with the Body at the Cobalt on July 21st for a real scorcher of a double bill.
Vince Staples - Blackberry Marmalade
I am unsurprisingly very into Vince Staples doing post-punk.
now playing: Mirah - Look Up!
Sunday, April 19, 2026
i know that the bar closes at 11/i hope you never finish that beer
Song of the Week
Olivia Rodrigo - drop dead
Still disappointed that Olivia's new album title is 9-words too long and all of them aren't 4-letters, but the lead off single's a pretty great one.
"Drop..." sorry, "drop dead" is a nice little fake out too. This isn't a spiritual successor to "get him back." In fact, it's the opposite. And it comes out swinging with a dreamy little keyboard line that was buried in my brain after the first listen, then wallops you over the head with a big chorus that's going to do numbers in karaoke bars around the world all spring and summer.
As with the best Rodrigo songs, it's fun as hell. There's the "Just Like Heaven" reference in the first verse that would be pretty cute in a vacuum, but becomes pretty clever when you remember that she performed it with Robert Smith at Glasto and he was in the studio with her when she was making the album. And speaking of "get him back" there's that quasi-rap thing that worked so well there in the second verse. There's the chant-along bridge that's got people trying to sleuth out who the gemini is. And there's all the nice little touches like the handclap punctuating "goddamn!"
I was kinda worried when I read that she was straying away from the rock thing she did so well on GUTS, but if this is what we're going to get on you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love, I'm here for it.
Classic of the week
Sonic Youth - The Diamond Sea
I went to a record store on Record Store Day before 1pm for the first time in many years to get Diamond Seas, a 12" single that features live recordings of my favourite Sonic Youth song ripped apart and plunderphonically stitched back together by (brief Vancouverite) John Oswald.
Side A was spliced together from versions recorded in 1995 and side B features recordings from 1996. Both sides clock in 20:44 and apparently you can play them simultaneously a la Zaireeka if you have two copies and two turntables too. They're weird, wonderful and such a fitting postscript to one of my all time favourite pieces of music.
Shout out to Red Cat for providing the goods.
More heat
Rosali - Other Side
Not an RHCP cover (thank god).
Kevin Morby - Badlands
Not a Bruce cover.
Kacey Musgraves - Middle of Nowhere
Not a Hot Hot Heat cover (also thank god).
now playing: Skullcrusher - March
Monday, April 13, 2026
go tell your brothers and all of your friends
On Monday, I was back at the Biltmore (twice in 7-days for the first time since...?) to see Ratboys.
Singin' to an Empty Chair might be my favourite album of the year so far (and The Window was one of my favourites of 2023), so I was pretty excited for this one.
I don't think they have a bad album and everything from Printer's Devil forward really feels like "this is Ratboys" for lack of a better description. But Singin'... also somehow seemed like a step forward.
It seems like it wasn't just me that noticed. The press cycle for this record seems (deservedly!) a lot more intense and it was awesome to see the Biltmore packed out on a Monday.
And man, do they rock live. Julia Steiner is the focal point for obvious reasons, but Dave Sagan's guitar playing--which is amazing on record--really goes to the next level live. I am not much of a solo-appreciator, but Sagan shreds in the exact kind of way I love, where he's simultaneously showing off some insane chops, while never taking away from the actual song.
Hopefully, you made it down, because I imagine they'll be somewhere a lot bigger the next time they're in town.
Album of the week
WU LYF - A Wave That Will Never Break
Look, I like Go Tell Fire to the Mountain quite a bit--enough to own a copy on vinyl. But there was always something a little... try hard(?) about this band. It's probably more annoying to accuse a band of being disingenuous than it is to actually be a bit disingenuous, but it always seemed like they were putting on a show.
That said, the one time I saw them, they really put on a show.
On A Wave That Will Never Break, I was kinda ready to roll my eyes. They pulled all their music from streaming (and there are very good reasons to do that, but it didn't seem like those were the impetus) beforehand and, while it's now up for purchase on Bandcamp, it seemed like it would only be available via some weird subscription service with vague terms.
But this record is good. Like, really fucking good.
It simultaneously sounds so similar to their debut, but also so, so different. Ellery Roberts wasn't going to hide unless he drastically changed they way he was singing, but everything surrounding him sounds similar too. It's just... way better.
Go Tell Fire to the Mountain sounded like a band trying to live up to their own hype, but 15-years later, they've finally arrived fully formed.
Plus, even streaming, it sounds fucking good. I threw on the first LP when I sat down to write this and the production--that the, at the time, young band took on themselves--betrays all the pomp and drama they were trying to evoke. Conversely, A Wave That Will Never Break sounds big and lush and just like the other parts of WU LYF's music now, whole.
Song of the week
Slippers - Fool in Your Room
Equal parts C86 and that lo-fi Olympia thing (which makes sense, since it's out on K Records) held down by a driving Is This It? bass line.
Classic of the week
This was a bit of a weird way to announce that Brennan Wedl is on Anti now--like you would've expected an original, not a cover. But if you're going to announce your new record deal with a cover, why not make it a cover of this Canadian classic.
Wedl's voice sounds so much like Kathleen Edwards' on this, which sure as Hell isn't a bad thing, but it would've been almost too true to the original without Katie Crutchfield, who doesn't really announce her presence, but her background vocals bring just enough to add some contrast.
now playing: Brennan Wedl - Kudzu
Sunday, April 05, 2026
is your heart still fightin'/to get our of your mind?
On Tuesday, I was at the Biltmore for the first time in ages to see Skullcrusher.
They (or maybe "she" is better, cause despite the touring band--openers h. pruz--Helen Ballentine is Skullcrusher) simultaneously sound nothing like their name and also sound exactly like their name.
Ballentine's music is sparse, quiet, and sonically serene. But on another axis, she also writes the heaviest fucking songs imaginable.
"March" is perhaps the best example of that dichotomy and the plunking piano dirge was soft and beautiful sounding live, while the weight of "what do I live for? Who do I live for? I don't know anymore" hit like a Mack truck.
Last night, I made it down to the Commodore for Jeff Tweedy
I haven't seen Tweedy solo for so long, it took til about three songs in that I realized he just plays his own tunes from his solo releases now, which makes sense, since that description covers so many songs now. Also, "solo" is a it inaccurate and the band probably should've tipped me off that it wasn't going to be a fluid mishmash of songs he'd written between Wilco and other projects and oddball covers (although there were a couple of those in the encore).
But while it wasn't what I expected, it's always a treat to see one of earth's greatest living songwriters do his thing.
His backing band features his two sons, Sammy and the very prolific Spencer (who Tweedy half joked about us "seeing with someone back here soon") and three other young'ns. And the non-musical highlight of the night was Jeff beaming with pride when he introduced all of them and talked about the music they do outside of touring with him.
Dad rock at its finest.
Album of the week
Turns out I really missed 00s Saddle Creek records, because this one sounds like it was plucked directly from that era and I haven't been able to turn it off.
Song of the week
Greg Mendez - Gentle Love
Turns out I also really missed Figure 8 era Elliott Smith.
Classic of the week
Laura Stevenson - Jesus, Etc (Wilco cover)
Seemed like an appropriate week to post this.
There's no topping the original of this for me. But Stevenson might be my favourite singer and the chorus of Laura's swelling up behind the lead vocal on the "our love" part might be my single favourite moment on any version of one of my favourite songs of all time.
More heat
1000 Rabbits - Rubik's Cube
Weird Nightmare - Where I Belong
now playing: Priests - Jesus' Son
