Category: Canada

TRACK | Chad Vangaalen – Hangman’s Son

5/5 golden merles

Chad Vangaalen is another one of them on the list of greatest living songwriters that I am aware of and can comprehend. Clinically Dead, Willow Tree, Molten Light, Hangman’s son, are all tracks I will hopefully feature in this pleasant void.

I think of the line “I wake up early in the afternoon, just so I can call ’em as I see ’em comin,” probably once every other day, and additionally at other random intervals, “the priest told the brothers that she could not be killed.”

Hangman’s Son is itself worthy of this treatment, of etching into the gray matter:

Oh, have mercy / on the demons that cursed me, baby.
Oh, Lay it on me / When my time has come /
and I don’t have the sense to run.

TRACK | Mother Sun – Mycelium

5/5 golden merles

First, my friend John sent me this track, appearing as it did in his own scouting. And then several days later it came up for me on Submithub during one of the long stretches of reviews… a mostly pleasant gauntlet of articulation and credit acquisition which we undergo in attempt to receive equally coherent reciprocities.

And sometimes it happens.

In fact, my continued digital intubation of this blog is at least in very real part due to the kindnesses paid me by Jon Doyle (Different Jon, there are two Johns referenced here, one per paragraph, one of the ‘H,’ one without) of varioussmallflames.co.uk, and his kindness and coherence incarnate regarding some thing I did.

During this vile game of tit for tat I wrote, creating content upon the content:

“Sunny as heck and wavy. Good. straight out strong, vocals, synth and drum. The writer definitely has a good understanding and/or an interesting misunderstanding of language. Starts very strong. would prefer it ends after 120 seconds, of course, as is my preferred method of ingesting sun. but pleasant throughout. Good work my Canadian comrades.”

And I stand by that. It is good and sunny and wavy. If you like these things: go, see them.

TRACK | Friendo – Pass Times

5/5 golden merles

Pass Times features many characteristics I greatly admire when done well: some fine, howling backing vocals, symbol splashes that connote momentum in the chorus, reverb that begins to bite on the build, reaching the edge of the expanse and folding back over onto itself.

Listening back to it now, it’s almost as though the people playing the instruments can hear one another and are able to react accordingly, like there exists a framework but also some agency within it.

And though it sounds easy, why don’t more people do it? Maybe it is. Or maybe it isn’t effortless but that which is hard earned.

Plus, despite it’s detestable monarchist nomenclature, I prefer Royal Crown Cola to the other sodas… not that I would ever buy or drink any of those paragons of chemical castration. But if I had to choose, gun to my head, it’d be RC most of the time.

In the last decade since the release of Pass Times its creator, Cookie Brunel, has been making heaps of exciting art, some of which is new music.

TRACK | Cindy Lee – Heavy Metal

5/5 golden merles

Cindy Lee’s Heavy Metal is an exemplary track for conveying that lo-fi does not have to mean anti-lush or lacking in vibrancy.

There is great richness and subtle hooks everywhere here, built into the vocal melody and the winding bass. The drum fills and phasing between segments are pristine and luxurious set pieces.

It’s all pretty captivating and contorts the space of any room into which it is freed.

Find further spectral ache and alchemy at the bandcamp.

TRACK | Jesuslesfilles – +1

5/5 golden merles

This is some combination of gut and sucker punch. A brilliant French-Canadian garage rock tune that launches right out of the gate into several varied strong melodies. There are also some superb driving vocals and excellent jangly guitar production.

The strength of the melodies and production mean that the 90 second run-time is brief even by my standards. But this allows for borderline infinite replayability.