Songs of the Week: April 28 - May 04, 2025

“Olive Garden” by PUP

I got so excited when I saw that PUP announced a tour to support their new album Who Will Look After The Dogs?, and then I saw that they’re touring with Snotty Nose Rez Kids and my little brain exploded. That’s going to be a hell of a tour and you can count on me being at one of the shows on November 24th at The Pearl, and 25th at the Commodore (ugh, that’s so far from now!).

The latest track off of the album is “Olive Garden” - yes, about the chain restaurant - and the band even did a release party on the first of May with a whole Olive Garden theme.
About the song itself, lead singer Stefan Babcock says:
“This is a very stupid, but also wonderful song. The band gets all the credit for turning it into something really special. Zack (who plays drums) heard my cute little acoustic guitar demo and decided we should try and make it as heavy as possible. Which is objectively, a very annoying thing to suggest. But you know what, I’m glad I kept my stupid mouth shut, because it works. There’s a real magic in the way these sweet vocal melodies are bludgeoned by a wall of disgusting, grinding, detuned guitars. The whole song is kinda upsetting and uncomfortable but also, catchy and fun. And I don’t care what anyone says, ‘Olive Garden’ rhymes with ‘Grandma in a coffin’ –  listen to this crap and tell me I’m wrong."

• Christine

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“Dreaming” by The Darcys

The Darcys tour with The Blue Stones starts up again this week, and I can’t wait to see them when they play Vancouver on June 6th.

The band also announced a new EP, I Must Be Dreaming, with a few different versions of the track “Dreaming”, and a cover of Dua Lipa’s song “Don’t Start Now” that SLAPS (here’s the Spotify link).

I can’t wait to hear all new new music from their album Rendered Feelings live next month too!

• Christine

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“Take It On” by Georgia Harmer

Last week, Georgia Harmer released her third single of the year with “Take It On”, a slow-burn introspective piece driven by her raw vocals.

Harmer explains the song is “about the way I see myself, and the ways I have assumed others see me. It’s about the emotional labour of taking on conflict around me - and creating it internally - sometimes for the sake of having something to solve, to worry about, and noticing how that habit has weighed me down. This song is me holding a mirror up and being very honest about what I see.”

Hopefully we get news of a new album soon, but until then you can watch the video below, directed, shot, and edited by Nora Rosenthal.

• Kirk

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“eau miroir” by Ambre Ciel

I know there is less than zero chance this song was written & recorded for me, specifically… but everything about the new track from Ambre Ciel — from the haunting vocals to the beautiful piano to the sweeping orchestral arrangement assisted by Owen Pallett — is square in my wheelhouse.

“eau miroir” is the second single from the Montreal singer’s recently announced debut album still, there is the sea, which immediately shot up the list of my most anticipated albums of the year.

Have a listen below, and grab the album still, there is the sea when it’s out on June 6 via Gondwana Records.

• Kirk

Songs of the Week: March 10 - 16, 2025

“Reservoir” (PUP Cover) by NOBRO

The Polaris Music Prize has been having nominees cover each other for many years now (Hannah Georgas coving Arcade Fire was a fav of mine) and this week they released a new one.

I happen to be on the jury and definitely wanted to hear NOBRO covering PUP (or the reverse) and we were blessed with a banger. NOBRO went with “Reservoir” - an oldie from PUP’s self-titled debut album.

Holy hell does the guitar solo go hard. I’ve listened too many times to count already - now it’s your turn!

• Christine

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“Make Believe” by Mother Mother

On their 20th anniversary as a band, Mother Mother is not looking to the past, but the future with a brand new song, and album announcement!

“Make Believe” is the first single off their upcoming album Nostalgia, a frenetic song that singer Ryan Guldemond says: “I indulged a bit in my own life-philosophy on this track. Magical thinking, interconnection, cosmic gallivanting.”

Nostalgia is the band’s tenth(!) studio album, and you can pick it up on June 6th, but in the meantime, check out the lyric video for “Make Believe” below!

• Kirk

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“Made For This” by Hotel Mira

Even though Hotel Mira is throwing a Pity Party, they still have cause to celebrate with the release of their latest studio album.

Frontman Charlie Kerr explains “The album title ‘Pity Party’ captures the genre and concept of the songs — the feeling of cycling between extreme joy, excitement and excess (party) and the impending depression, hangover and paranoia (pity). Being so caught up in the self-obsession of ends of this spectrum that you neglect to give yourself to anything of use.”

You can have a listen to lead single “Made for This” below, or grab the album in all the usual places!

• Kirk

Songs of the Week: January 06 - 12, 2025

“Paranoid” by PUP

It’s hard to believe that PUP hasn’t released a new single in two years!

The band recently began their tour with Sum 41 (and had a show in Vancouver on Saturday) and to celebrate put the new track “Paranoid” out into the world.

Lead singer Stefan Babcock says of the new single: “My favourite part of this song is the breakdown 1:45 in. It's the heaviest moment in the song, Zack and Steve are going so hard, I'm yelling about all this sad stuff that's going on with me, and Nestor is just playing the melody from ‘The Lion Sleeps Tonight’ on the bass. It cracks me up every time I hear it. So fucking funny. It's a very PUP moment."

Hopefully this is a sign of more music to come from the boys!

• Christine

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“Bologna” by Destroyer (feat. Fiver)

Destroyer is back with a brand new single, “Bologna”!

The new song is a first for the band, with frontman Dan Bejar deciding to take a backseat for the song’s narrative, supporting Fiver’s Simone Schmidt and her expressive vocals.

Dan explains, “I haven’t written many songs like “Bologna.” I struggled singing the first and third verses, the most important parts of the song. They needed gravity and grit. The threat of disappearing needed to be real. So I called Simone.”

You can watch the video — directed by David Galloway — below, and pick up the new album Dan’s Boogie when it’s out on March 28!

• Kirk

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“Babylon” by The Halluci Nation ft Northern Cree

The Halluci Nation are back with a new track and are once again teaming up with frequent collaborators Northern Cree. This track is heavy and dark and seeing as it’s a tribute to a night club, it fits perfectly.

Here’s the story behind the music:
“The new track is nothing short of powerful in its message and serves as a tribute to Babylon Nightclub in Ottawa, which helped in creating safe spaces for Indigenous and Non-Indigenous people and was the basis of the The Halluci Nation’s Electric Pow Wow parties, which aimed at providing a space for young people to gather. It was also at one of these first events that traditional pow wow music was mixed with modern dance music live for a crowd for the very first time.”

"Babylon was the name of the club that was home to most of our Electric Pow Wow parties in Ottawa. In 2021 the venue closed and was replaced by a dollar store. The same year we dropped our album One More Saturday Night as a tribute to those club nights,” shares the group’s, Bear Witness. “This latest single Babylon is a tribute to the venue itself and all of the people who worked to make Babylon a safe space for young people to gather, and played such a huge part of the Ottawa music scene for over 20 years.”

• Christine

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“Forget Yer Name” by Peter Dreams

With just over a month until his new album is out, Peter Dreams shares his latest single, “Forget Yer Name”.

The song is melancholic and heartwrenching, with Peter’s gruff voice pouring out his regrets, building toward a cathartic release.

As with the rest of the album, the July Talk singer is collaborating with his pals in MOONRIIVR, and you can pick up the appropriately titled album Peter Dreams and MOONRIIVR on February 14th!

• Kirk

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“True Believer” by Art d'Ecco

As we inch closer to the release of his new album, Art d’Ecco is teasing again with the latest single, “True Believer”

The Vancouver glam rocker “explores the seduction of evil from within” on the new track, which comes with a video directed by Brendan Fletcher, as he elaborates: “Inspired by 1930’s horror films like ‘Frankenstein’, ‘The Invisible Man’, ‘Dracula’ and ‘Nosferatu’ (1922), the idea for the ‘True Believer’ video evolved from giving Art d’Ecco’s alter ego ‘The Serene Demon’ a back story. Exploring the creative demon within us all, that pushes us forward or holds us back. The idea of culminating the masks we wear, the personas in which our creativity manifests, into a singular character that could drive the next evolution… the Serene Demon”

You can hear more from the Serene Demon when the album is out February 14 on Paper Bag Records, but if you’re in Vancouver you can catch him at The Pearl on Jan 30th for a special ‘Road to the JUNOS’ show, where he’ll be backed by a nine-piece band!

• Kirk

Songs of the Week: June 05 - 11, 2023

“How To Live With Yourself” and “Smoke Screen” by PUP

It’s a double shot of PUP this morning!
The two songs are (previously unreleased) b-sides from the band’s last album, THE UNRAVELING OF PUPTHEBAND, and were put out into the world to celebrate their large summer tour kicking off.
Lead singer Stefan Babcock calls the track “How To Live With Yourself” a “catchy, miserable ripper”, which I love, and that “Smoke Screen” is a ““sludgy” version of PUP”.

The band is in Europe and North America this summer, with a big show in Toronto next week. No word on a Vancouver show, but I’ve got my fingers crossed.

• Christine

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“Overrated” by dwi

The new song from dwi is “Overrated” now.

The incredibly catchy fifth single from dwi’s upcoming album Zoo Life has a surprisingly clear message, with dwi explaining: “When everything in life feels meaningless just watch 'Everything, Everywhere All At Once’. That’s basically what this ADHD riddled song is about.”

Zoo Life comes out July 7th, and you can catch the album release show on July 8th at the Fox Cabaret, supported by Noble Son and Zach Gray (dwi’s bandmate in The Zolas).

• Kirk

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“I Do” by Colleen Rennison

There are many different types of “summer jams”. The big, loud, party ones; the chill campfire on the beach; and then the summer love songs. The newest single from Vancouver’s Colleen Rennison is that last one.

“I Do” is an R&B-tinged love song, with Colleen saying she "wanted to capture the excitement and delicious agony of being enamoured with someone and daydreaming about them to the point of almost insanity. I woke up in the middle of the night and wrote the chorus. I'd been listening to a lot of The Temptations and The Supremes and had been crushing on a graffiti writer who's name I kept seeing everywhere, hence the line: 'every time I see your name/ I seem to hear sweet refrains.'"

The new track is off her upcoming album Persephone, which will be out later this year!

• Kirk

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“Claws” by Ellevator

Well this snuck up on me! Not only did Ellevator release a new song last week, but they dropped a brand new EP as well! Do The Words I Spoke Still Move You? features live off-the-floor versions of four songs from their full-length album The Words you Spoke Still Move Me.

You can check out the video for the new version of “Claws” below, and the EP is out now on Arts & Crafts!

• Kirk

Songs of the Week: August 29 - September 04, 2022

“Teenage Tears” by Arkells (feat. Tegan and Sara)

A few weeks ahead of their latest album, Blink Twice (yes, it’s a follow up to last year’s Blink Once), Arkells have unveiled their latest collaborators: Tegan and Sara.

“Teenage Tears” is melancholic song, and frontman Max Kerman says: “There’s a particular kind of intense emotional pain that reminds me of high school. It’s not worn down, chronic kind of pain. It’s a sharp and confusing sad. This song is about how occasionally you can still feel that kind of sadness as an adult. We were trying to do something that might feel somewhere between Olivia Rodrigo and The National or Bon Iver.”

The new song comes with a video shot in Vancouver’s (in)famous Kingsgate Mall, check it out below!

• Kirk

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“Faded Like A Feeling” by Tegan and Sara

Speaking of Tegan and Sara (and Vancouver landmarks)….

They too put out a new single, which will appear on their soon to be released 10th studio album, Crybaby, (due October 21). “Faded Like A Feeling”’s video was shot on the swing set at Hastings Mill Park near Jericho Beach (their last video for “Yellow” was at Locarno Beach!) - and happens to be directed by Mark Myers, who did the video with the Arkells as well!

The tune is about the “mysterious ebbs and flows of love and relationships” and the hazy vibe of the beach adds perfectly to the mood of the song.

• Christine

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“Matilda” & “Robot Writes A Love Song” by PUP

I love a good live album - when it’s done well and you get the energy of the crowd in there, it can be the next best thing to seeing a band live.

Well one of my FAVOURITE bands to see live is PUP and they’re giving us just that with an album recorded in Toronto at multiple venues and titled PUP Unravels Live In Front Of Everyone They Know.
Appropriate since it’s their hometown.

The first two songs released (the album drops on October 12th) are “Matilda” & “Robot Writes A Love Song” which you can hear below.

• Christine

Songs of the Week: November 08 - 14, 2021

“I Am Water” by July Talk

After weeks of teasing on twitter what their new album would sound like, July Talk has returned with a brand new single, “I Am Water”. The new tune, produced by Graham Walsh, is “ruled by a vast force of emotion, just as the tide is controlled by the moon”, fitting since it features the familiar ebb & flow between Leah and Peter’s vocals.

With the new song, they’ve also partnered with Six Shooter Records and founded Danuta, which is “equal parts independent record label, production company and creative collective, as a new home base for Leah Fay Goldstein and Peter Dreimanis’ many creative pursuits.”

They’re also gearing up for a Canadian tour, which includes a stop right here in Vancouver, at the Queen E Theatre on Dec 22nd, with Kandle supporting them!

• Kirk

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“Waiting” and “Kill Something” by PUP

PUP has this excellent way of making even their heavier songs super sing-a-long-able (is that a word? It is now.). This is exactly what you get from “Waiting”, the first of two new tracks the band released this week.

The second, “Kill Something”, is about lead singer Stefan Babcock’s dog Moose. Apparently he loves to “destroy his favorite things, and then is sad that those things are destroyed” - which is definitely a dog thing.
The band will be touring again starting in February, including a show at the PNE Forum with Billy Talent on Valentine’s Day.

• Christine

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“Look Out!” by Peach Pit

And now to mellow you out, the new song from Vancouver’s Peach Pit.

“Look Out!” has summer-beachy-sounds - which we can definitely all use right now - and comes with a super fun little video that give me serious Wes Anderson vibes. They’re new album, From 2 to 3, is set to be released on March 4th, and they’ll be heading out to tour it shortly after.
Two shows are listed for Vancouver - an all ages afternoon show and a 19+ one, both at the Commodore on April 24th.
Can’t wait for more music to be released between now and then, but in the meantime, watch the new video below.

• Christine

Song of the Day: January 17, 2019 - "Kids" by PUP

I think one of my favourite things about PUP songs are that so many have a good little bit, be it the chorus or just a line, that you can sing along with, or shout back at the band (or computer screen).

“Kids”, the first single off of their soon to be released new record Morbid Stuff (April 5th) has just that, AND some awesome guitar solos.

I’ve missed their last few appearances in Vancouver, but I’m determined to make it to the next one: March 29th at the Wise Hall!

Check out the new song below:

Song of the Day: April 02, 2016 - "If This Tour Doesn't Kill You, I Will" by PUP

More new music from Toronto band PUP, that, and this is just a guess here, may have stemmed from the 2 straight years of touring?

"If This Tour Doesn't Kill You, I Will" is the latest single off of the upcoming new release The Dream Is Over (out on May 27).

PUP will (shocker!) be touring this spring starting April 17th in Europe and then heading across North America. The only Canadian date so far is Toronto on May 26th, but fingers crossed when they're on the west coast of the USA, they'll pop back up here.