Songs of the Week: January 13 - 19, 2025

“Keep It Coming” by Two Hours Traffic

Holy crap there’s new Two Hours Traffic!!!

Over a decade ago, the PEI band played what was to be their last concert, and while they have come out of ‘retirement’ and played sporadic shows over the past few years, I was definitely not expecting new music from them.

But last week they dropped “Keep It Coming”, a classic THT jam that will instantly get stuck in your head. According to the band, the song was written during a pretty tough year when ‘keep it coming’ became “a bit of a mantra, as well as a reminder not to worry about every little thing in the future and to trust that you will be able to deal with whatever comes your way,” says guitarist Andy MacDonald, with singer Liam Corcoran adding that the song has “the kind of arrangement we’ve tried to develop over the years, with lots of empty space on the recording and a focus on the groove and the rhythms. Our friend Dan Griffin (Teen Ravine) added keys and synths which ended up being the glue that made the recording really work.”

You can check out the lyric video below, and true to the title, the band has promised more to come!

• Kirk

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“I See The Same Things” by Frog Eyes

Vancouver’s Frog Eyes have dropped another new single, “I See The Same Things”, ahead of the release of their upcoming album The Open Up, which is set to come out on March 7th.

Of the song “taps into a central theme for the band of eschewing digital trappings and convenience culture, and when feeling enclosed by an increasingly fever-paced world, they turn toward their reverence for warm tones, historical rich reverie and storytelling art spaces, like The Western Front in Vancouver.”

Guitarist and singer Carey Mercer continues: “The concept for the video is to show Shyla, our keyboard player, digitizing and archiving performance-art pieces that mostly took place on the top floor in the Luxe Hall.  The video then shows us playing in the Luxe Hall.  It’s a conversation, as all art is, with the art of the city that you live in. We are all just doing the same things, day in, day out, it’s how the art gets made, I think.”

• Christine

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“Disco Polo” by Basia Bulat

We’re about a month away from Basia’s Palace, the new album from Basia Bulat, and last week we got our latest taste with the third single, “Disco Polo”.

The gorgeous song is named after a genre of Polish dance music, beloved by Basia’s late father, and honours her parent’s musician influence on her life. Bulat elaborates, “This is an homage to what I feel like is the two sides of my musical lineage–my mother was a classically trained piano and guitar teacher, and my father’s favourite genre was Disco Polo. About the only thing we could all agree on was the oldies radio station that was the peacemaker of our home when I was a child. I wanted to write something that felt like a folk tale about those genres and how they still influence me after all this time–even now every time I sit down at the piano all those different musical worlds swirl around each other and try to dance together in my mind.”

You can check out the fantastic video below, directed by Nora Rosenthal, and pick up Basia’s Palace when it’s out February 21 on Secret City Records.

• Kirk

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“Time Waited” by My Morning Jacket

It’s been a few years since we’ve heard from Kentucky’s My Morning Jacket, but they recently announced their tenth(!) studio album, along with the brand new single, “Time Wasted”

The new tune is perfectly chill and literally dreamy, as Jim James explains: “I made a loop of that piano intro and listened as I went for a walk, and all these melodies started coming to me. For a long time, I didn’t have lyrics, but then I had a dream where I was in a café and a song was playing, and the lyrics to that song became the lyrics to ‘Time Waited’ – the melodies just fit perfectly. And the lyrics are about how flexible time is, how we can bend and warp time, especially if we are following our hearts, the universe and time itself can flow to work with us.”

The new album, simple titles is, drops on March 21 and you can check out “Time Waited” below!

• 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: Holiday Edition 2024

“Light the Light” by Tim Baker

Tim Baker is no stranger to holiday songs, and this year he released a whole holiday album, Full Rainbow of Light.

Comprised of twelve new songs, and a cover of the standard “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” Tim expanded on the album, saying: “I started recording this album in Montreal with my great friends & go-to collaborators Marcus Paquin & Liam O’Neill, but it sat sidetracked by other projects for over a year. It took a long east coast winter and half the musicians in St. John’s to help me finally get it there. I guess it makes sense it had to come home, since ‘Town’ is such a central character to it. I was lucky enough to get the likes of Tom Power, Aaron Collis, Emilia Bartellas, Matthew Byrne & Rich Klaas of the townie trad legends The Dardanelles; stars in the their own right Kelly McMichael, Mara Pellerin, Nico Paulo & Maria Peddle singing backups; not to mention social media superstar Billianne backing me up on the title track; Rob Brown on the haunting Uilleann pipes; Peter Lannon lending his lead guitar sweetness; honorary Newfoundlanders Mike Brushey & Jason Haberman grounding everything on bass & drums; my dad sings on it, my friends are all over it, to say it's ‘of my home’ is funny cause so much of it was actually recorded in my literal living room, pausing when the snowplows ground past, or the wind got too loud in the chimneys.” 

You can check out “Light the Light” below, or listen to the full album everywhere you get your music!

• Kirk

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“You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch”/ “Vous êtes méchant, M.Grinch” by Jill Barber

Hot off her latest, French-language album ENCORE!, Jill Barber celebrated the season with a few covers of Christmas classics. And true to form, each song was recorded both in English and en français!

Below is her sultry version of Dr. Seuss’ “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch” — as well as “Vous êtes méchant, M.Grinch” — but you can also hear her takes on “Sleigh Ride”/ Promenade en traîneau” and “I’ll be Home for Christmas”/”C’est la nuit de Noël” 

• Kirk

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“The Little Drum Machine Boy” by Jane’s Party

This was too funny not to include and I’ll just let Jane’s Party vocalist and guitarist Tom Ionescu tell you about it:

“With this holiday song, I wanted to add to the Christmas lore. One character that stood out to me as needing some extra attention and a revamp was the Little Drummer Boy. I’ve really been getting into old drum machines and exploring ways to include them into the songs we write and produce. With our attention on all this drum machine stuff, I thought maybe the modern re-telling of ‘The Little Drummer Boy’ would be ‘The Little Drum Machine Boy’. The rest of the concept fell into place quite fast!”

• Christine

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“It Can’t Be Christmas” by Johnny 99

It’s been a minute since we’ve heard from Johnny 99 — the solo project of John Sponarski, who is currently part of City & Colour (or long-time readers of this blog may remember him as one half of Portage & Main).

But now he’s back with a holiday song, “It Can’t Be Christmas”. Backed by his C&C bandmates Matt Kelly, Erik Nielsen, and Leon Power, the tune fits into the “sad Christmas song” genre, with Sponarski explaining, “This song was one of those magical moments you don't have to work for, or coax out of the ether. It leapt from my imagination as soon as I awoke early one morning with the holidays right around the corner. The previous evening I had spoken with a friend who was grappling with the loss of his mother. We talked about his grief, how it weighed on him and took away the joy and comfort he normally felt during the holiday season. It’s really a song for anyone who has experienced loss around Christmas, and how that has changed what it means to them.”

• Kirk

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“SantaClauge” by Elliott BROOD

Elliott BROOD did a Christmas parody of Beastie Boys’ “Sabotage”, and I kind of hate how well it works???

It’s incredible.

• Kirk

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“Santa Must Have Winter Tires” by Future Star

You can always count on Mint Records for some local Christmas cheer, and this year it comes from Future Star with “Santa Must Have Winter Tires”.

The bedroom-pop jam was written in about a snowy winter night in 2022, with Future Star dedicating the song to “all the shiftworkers and commuters who gambled on it being a mild winter and lost.”

Have a listen below!

• Kirk

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“The Sound Of Christmas” by William Prince

We got some more original Christmas music from William Prince his his track “The Sound Of Christmas”, as well as “Don’t Go Leaving Me (It’s Christmas Eve)” and a cover of “Silver Bells”.

In “The Sound of Christmas” he “puts an ingenious twist on classic themes, celebrating the role that music and the real-life sounds of Christmas - laughter, clinking of glassware, skates carving ice, bells carrying through the air - play in our memories and festivities.”

• Christine

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“Santa Man” / “Hot Christmas” by The Sheepdogs / BROS

We’ve got a double whammy of Christmas music from the combo of The Sheepdogs, and BROS (Sheepdogs bandmates Ewan and Shamus Currie).

Of “Santa Man” Ewan says: “There’s a lot of Christmas music out there, but not nearly enough Christmas Rock N Roll. So we’re making like Santa and delivering the December goods: a Xmas party banger for your next holiday shindig.” (I agree, more rock n roll holiday songs please!)

Shamus adds: “‘Hot Christmas’ is a spicy piece about getting away from it all and having a Christmas vacation complete with Latin grooves and rhythmic piano ideas.”

• Christine

Songs of the Week: December 09 - 15, 2024

“She Has No Time” (Keane cover) by Dan Mangan

I was a big fan of Keane and their 2004 breakthrough album Hopes & Fears, so I was surprised and delighted when I saw Dan Mangan drop a cover of their song “She Has No Time”

On his SubStack, Reality Shield, Dan said he was approached by representatives from the band to cover the song in celebration of the album’s 20th anniversary, adding “I remember listening to it when I was in university, which suggests that time is a flat circle and that we’re nothing but space dust floating in a sea of nothingness. My intention with any cover is to pull it away from the universe in which it came and place it under a different shade of light. I may have made this sad song even sadder, which I suppose is my gift.”

It’s a great version of the song, and their plan definitely worked; as soon as I listened I went to find if there was an anniversary vinyl of the album (there is) and immediately bought it.

• Kirk

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“Easy Love” (MSTRKRFT cover) by Alice Ivy

Guess it’s a week for covers of songs, and also feeling extremely old about them!

Last Gang Records turned 20 this year and they’ve been releasing covers of artists from the first years of their original artists. There have been ones of Death From Above 1979, and Metric, and now Aussie artist Alice Ivy has covered “Easy Love” by MSTRKRAFT.

About the cover she says: "I grew up listening to MSTRKRFT so being given the task to reinterpret one of their hits felt like a BIG responsibility to do it justice. I was super inspired by one of their interviews they did backstage at a festival back in the day and I simply had to sneak in a few samples from it. I wanted to keep the BPM and energy nice and high; it was an honour to create this cover as part of Last Gang (my first ever record label!)’s 20thAnniversary compilation. I hope they vibe it!"

In addition to this, Alice released her new album Do What Makes You Happy last month and you can listen to that by clicking here.

• Christine

Songs of the Week: December 02 - 08, 2024

“Stardust” by Scenic Route To Alaska

Edmonton natives Scenic Route To Alaska have just released their latest album - Lasts Forever, and this week we got a new single as well.

“Stardust” is definitely a song you should watch the video for as it “explores themes of love and existential musings” and is set “against a cosmic backdrop”. The black and white music video has big 80’s vibes and was modelled after the work of artists like The Police and Elvis Costello.

There are no tour dates for the new album yet, but I’ll definitely be keeping an eye out.

• Christine

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“You Got Something” by TAURO

TAURO is the collaboration between jazz pianist & singer-songwriter Cynthia Tauro and Broken Social Scene’s Brendan Canning (among many, many other bands), and last week they dropped their second single, “You Got Something”

The new song brings to mind a late 90s trip-hop influence, with the director of the video Bea Santos agreeing, saying: “I knew that I wanted to make something fun that matched the fresh and idiosyncratic talent of Cynthia and Brendan, and looked and felt like it could have been on the Wedge (IYKYK). Some of the sequences in the video are an ode to the work of video artist Chris Cunningham and videos from artists like Massive Attack and Portishead. Ultimately, I wanted to create a moody, DIY vibe that underscored the song's melancholy and introspective mood.”

You can check that video out below, and while there’s no word on an album from TAURO, they have teased more… so keep an ear out!

• Kirk

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“Little Bit” by Larkin Poe

Grammy Award-winning duo Larkin Poe are set to release their new album, Bloom, on January 24th, and have dropped another single for us.

“Little Bit” is a tender and slow tune (especially compared to their single “If God Is A Woman”) and is perfect as the theme of it is taking time to be present and in the moment.

One part of the sister duo Rebecca Lovell says: “As touring musicians, we have cultivated a pedal-to-the-metal, high-octane culture, but the shine has slowly worn off that penny. ‘Little Bit’ is all about slowing down and savoring the precious little details, as lyrics say: ‘more ain’t always more than a little bit.’”

Their tour has been announced for the new year, and it will come through Vancouver on April 19th at the Commodore Ballroom!

• Christine

Songs of the Week: November 25 - December 01, 2024

“Divorce” by Housewife

Housewife is having a busy year! “Divorce” is the fourth single released in 2024 from Toronto’s Brighid Fry, and is an anthemic alt-pop tune, with their ethereal voice getting vulnerable about a recent split.

Fry opened up about the song, saying: “’Divorce’ is a really personal one for me- I wrote it after experiencing really bad heartbreak that kind of blindsided me and completely uprooted me. It’s about not only mourning the person and the relationship you have with them, but also the life you were building together. It's about starting to rebuild and the struggle between needing to protect yourself, but also not wanting to be involved in something adversarial with someone who has hurt you. The process of making this song was completely different than any others of mine- it was written in about half an hour which is definitely the fastest I've ever managed. I then took my time to record it though, co-producing with my friend Hans Li over the course of about a month. We slowly recorded everything ourselves in his bedroom. It’s the first track I have co-produced in years which I’m really excited about.”

Check out the lyric video below!

• Kirk

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“Architect’s Studio” by Tariq

Last week, Tariq released his second single in as many months, and announced his latest EP, Scroll Before You Sleep.

The new single, “Architect’s Studio” is a driving song about a poet who’s down on their luck and sleeping in an architect’s studio. Tariq explains, “Every morning they vacate the premises, sneaking out before the staff arrives to work. Do they have a place to go, friends or anybody that cares about them? The track discusses the current epidemic of loneliness that pervades our current society.”

Scroll Before You Sleep features some of Vancouver’s finest musicians backing Tariq — Robert Chursinoff (Drums), Peter Carruthers (Bass/Keys), and Adam Nanji (Guitar) — and you can pick it up on January 24 next year, via Tiny Kingdom.

• Kirk

Songs of the Week: November 18 - 24, 2024

“E-E-Y-O-R-E (That's Me!)” by Frog Eyes

Vancouver’s Frog Eyes are back with a brand new single called “E-E-Y-O-R-E (That's Me!)”

The song features the frantic pace and distinct vocals from Carey Mercer that we know & love, with the band explaining: “"E-E-Y-O-R-E" has that riff that happens in the middle and end of the song, and it’s rare, and I like it. When we play it live, our keyboard player Shyla will often look at my guitar with enthusiasm and encouragement. The song itself is a bit about loneliness, fear, isolation, the irony that we all are simultaneously bombarded with these isolating emotions, but unable to bust out of these individual spheres. Eeyore: our collective familiar, our beloved daemon.”

You can check out the fun video, directed by Derek Janzen, below!

• Kirk

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“Peace Of Mind (Morning)” by Leif Vollebekk

I needed a pretty, acoustic song this morning with the grey outside and Leif Vollebekk delivered it.
“Peace Of Mind” is a re-recording from his new album Revelation (no relation to us) and the man himself says of the song: “there’s something about a mountain that always makes you feel at ease. It can inspire the stillness you need to find yourself.”

Leif is on tour right now and will be swinging through Vancouver in February for two shows at The Pearl.

• Christine

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“Window” by The Weather Station

As we get closer to the release of Humanhood, the next album from The Weather Station, we’re treated with another tease in the way of the latest single, “Window”.

The anthemic new song from Toronto’s Tamara Lindeman is accompanied by a video directed by Philippe Léonard, and features Lindeman’s performance of the song projected out the window of a moving van onto trees, forest, and passing signs. Lindeman says the video was “filmed on the island of Notre-Dame-des-Sept-Douleurs, Quebec late one night with battery powered projector, with many attempts to get that one perfect take. Philippe’s note to me was ‘you are the window.’”

As well as the single, she announced a huge tour for next year, starting in January in the UK, and winding back to Canada, including a show here in Vancouver on May 16th at the Hollywood Theatre!

• Kirk

Songs of the Week: November 11 - 17, 2024

“My Angel” by Basia Bulat

Last week, Basia Bulat shared the lead track form her upcoming album Basia’s Palace, called “My Angel”.

The new single is a lush song that highlights her impeccable voice, with Basia explaining, “This is a song about love at first sight–a rush of overwhelming emotion that feels definite, unmistakeable, and mysterious all at the same time. I wanted my singing on this song to reflect the way that I wrote the music: sneaking in moments while my baby daughter was sleeping, rushing to the Wurlitzer in the basement when an idea struck in the middle of the night. The string arrangements on ‘My Angel’ and the entire album were all written and performed by Drew Jurecka and I love how he captured the mystery and romance of love at first sight, the violins transforming into something divine.”

Basia’s Palace is out February 21 on Secret City Records, and she’ll be hitting the road shortly after with a stop here in Vancouver on April 30 at the Hollywood Theatre!

• Kirk

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“Ring Pop” by CARYS and FEATURETTE

The bright colours in the “Ring Pop” video caught my eye first, and the infectious beat and spicy lyrics have had me listening on repeat.
Aviva Mongillo aka CARYS teamed up with bff Lexie Jay of FEATURETTE for this badass song about bad bitches, that gives me shade of another recent obsession of mine, “Guess” by Charlie XCX ft Billie Eilish.

The two bands are heading out on an Ontario tour together - and hopefully we’ll get to see them on this side of the country soon.

• Christine

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“Doing My Best” by Sam Lynch

On Friday, Vancouver’s Sam Lynch released her latest album Outline, as well as videos for each song! (well, aside from the two already out)

My early favourite off the album is “Doing My Best”, a simmering tune that builds to a swelling chorus.

You can check out the video below, see Sam’s YouTube page for all the videos, and catch her live at the Fox Theater on December 4th for her album release show!

• Kirk

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“Take a shot” by Sunsetter

Alongside the release of their new album, Heaven Hang Over Me, Ontario’s Sunnsetter (the music project of Andrew McLeod), also dropped a new video for the single “Take a shot”.

The track starts out with a slow-building fuzz and then crashes into a grungy introspective song about “recognizing your own flaws. Following through, and knowing what you believe in without hesitation.”

The Nirvana vibe I got was confirmed when I read that the album title was actually a misheard Nirvana lyrics - “When Cobain sings ‘have a hangover now” it accidentally translated to Andrew’s ears as “heaven hang over now.”

Give it a listen below.

• Christine