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. 

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.

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.

Stella Donnelly - Year of Trouble

Since you've closed off to me, I've been on a lonely ride.

now playing: Tom Petty - Wildflowers