We’re back in visual form this week and with better movies as I checked out the third sequel in the Mike Lowry/Marcus Burnett bromance and Chloe give her thoughts on Pixar’s new film Inside Out. I have glowing thoughts on the long delayed animated beauty, Robot Dreams, Prime Video has two new seasons of great television, one more “controversial” than the other, and, yeah, I talk about Beverly Hill Ninja. It’s still not good.
This week I have everyone faked out with some good classic tunes, some heavy guitars hidden within, but then I go full post hardcore at the end and ruin the entire vibe. This is the hazard of creating a playlist in a day by day master but, now five months into doing this, that’s a pretty obvious statement, right? I break my own rules this week by allowing another Ronnie James Dio track onto the list a little early, but in my defense, it was his personal favorite of all he had created. I bring back two of the greatest bands of all time with songs off two of the greatest albums of 1999 and bring some love to a few newer rock bands before coming through with some serious noise. Trust me, if you have an open mind, it’s all worth it.
Track #1: Crown The Empire – what i am – Sudden Sky (2019)
Getting really angsty to start off this playlist and, don’t worry, the angst will most likely continue, at least for a few tracks. Spotify recommended this Dallas, Texas metalcore band with this exact song in particular and I was pretty hooked. I really love lead singer Andrew Rockhold’s voice a lot and the melodic notes hit so well here. There is a harder edge to his vocals elsewhere on the record but this is definitely the single to sell them on and I think a lot of people would dig them just hearing this leading single. The song itself is about the people which the band used to work within and how they overcame the obstacles associated with these people in order to take more control of their own band. I feel like it’s a direct shot at the labels.
“What am I supposed to do? (What am I supposed to do?)
You’re dragging me away from the promised land
You fucked me up (You fucked me up)
But I refuse to let you kill what I am”
Track #2: Middle Class Rut – New Low – No Name No Color (2010)
There’s a beautiful simplicity to the music of Middle Class Rut that I absolutely adore and maybe it comes down to my complete fascination with rock bands with two members. The first exposure to this Sacramento, California duo was certainly on the radio as this song was huge but I feel like calling them a one-hit wonder is so derogatory as they may not have had huge commercial success but they have so many bangers spread across five albums. Seriously, if you’re looking for some good rock grooves, there are far worse places you could look.
“I’ve got a new low
All 52 cards in a row
I see now that I won’t let go
No, I won’t let go
Well, who am I?
A cold shoulder left to cry
You feel bad, well so do I
Yeah so do I”
Track #3: Incubus – Nowhere Fast – Make Yourself (1999)
The second track on one of the greatest albums ever made, this is a grouping of songs I will be forever revisiting until the day I die. The second appearance of this legendary band, it was only a matter of time and the intro to this song makes it an incredible earworm immediately and a song that gets trapped in my head all day, not that I’m complaining. It also gets me with its content as well, a song about being stuck without an idea of where to go existentially. I’ve definitely had my moments there and had this song as a playlist for closing in on twenty-five years, as the album hits that milestone at the end of October. Incredible song and record and I think many people would agree.
“I take a look around, it’s evident the scene has changed
And there are times when I feel improved, improved upon the past
Then there are times when I can’t seem to understand at all
And yes it seems as though I’m going nowhere really fucking fast
Nowhere fast”
Track #4: Foo Fighters – Stacked Actors – There Is Nothing Left To Lose (1999)
The return of the Foo to my playlist and, although it is the second track of their’s to feature here, it does signify a couple firsts as this record was the first to feature the late and infinitely great and missed Taylor Hawkins on the kit as well as this being the first track off their third album. Dave comes out with some real vitriol to start out this record, tearing into society for being plastic and phony and, while he has stated it isn’t about any one person in particular, Courtney Love claimed on The Howard Stern Show that the song was directly about her. Of course, it is.
“God bless, what a sensitive mess
Yeah, but things aren’t always what they seem
Your teary eyes, your famous disguise
Never knowin’ who to believe
See through, yeah, but what do you do?
When you’re just another agin’ drag queen”
Track #5: Limp Bizkit – Rollin’ (Air Raid Vehicle) – Chocolate Starfish And The Hot Dog Flavored Water (2000)
Alright, partner, keep on rollin’, baby, you know what time it is. Now I know y’all be lovin’ this shit right here, because Limp is back on the playlist and it wasn’t a track from one of their lesser albums like Results May Vary, especially an album not featuring the incredible work of guitarist and total alien Wes Borland. This was the third single to be released in the Chocolate Starfish era and you best believe I was totally obsessed with it and played this album on a loop and definitely this song on repeat. It was the whole steering wheel dance to it, as indicated in the music video plus it was the entrance theme for The Undertaker during his American Bad Ass gimmick he was doing towards the tail end of the Attitude Era. This is a song of a generation and very fitting for this playlist.
“You wanna mess with Limp Bizkit? (Yeah)
You can’t mess with Limp Bizkit (Why?)
Because we get it on (When?)
Everyday and every night (Oh)
And this platinum thing right here (Uh-huh?)
Yo, we’re doin’ it all the time (What?)
So you better get some better beats and, ah
Get some better rhymes (D’oh!)
We got the gang set, so don’t complain yet
Twenty-four-seven, never beggin’ for a rain check
Old school soldiers blastin’ out the hot shit
That rock shit, puttin’ bounce in the mosh pit”
Track #6: Black Sabbath – Heaven And Hell – Heaven & Hell (1980)
I haven’t done anything super classic in a long while it feels like so here is something tht was a total influence on my life and it is one of the founding groups of metal, Black Sabbath but the second itteration with Ronnie James Dio as the lead singer. This is sort of a cheat in my mind as I just brought Rainbow’s track Temple Of The King at the end of March so it’s a little early for more Dio but, to be honest, I totally spaced when I saw the mighty Sabbath, classic metal blinders. This is definitely the most Dio song of this era in Sabbath’s history and, reportedly, it was the song that Ronnie was most proud of in creating it. He had said that the lyrics are about which path we take in society, hether it be the path to Heaven, or the path to Hell and for the religious people who force you to do things and make you think that everything is evil. This song is supposed to tell you to choose your own path, which makes you a good person. Kind of fitting these days for sure, almost like Dio was a prophet. I’m not the only one to say that.
“Well, if it seems to be real, it’s illusion
For every moment of truth, there’s confusion in life
Love can be seen as the answer
But nobody bleeds for the dancer”
Track #7: GROUPLOVE – Inside Out – Healer (2020)
Sometimes a track can just be fun and mae you want to bop along on a sunny day and that is exactly what GROUPLOVE represents to me. A Los Angeles area collective that features Ryan Rabin on drums, the son of guitarist and founding Yes member Trevor Rabin, I got into these guys with their second radio single Tongue Tied in 2011. This song has a fun beat to it and that wild group singing to it that almost comes off as anthemic. The plucky sounds made this one a total earworm and it was a bright spot of grooves during the darkness of the pandemic.
“Baby
You’re makin’ me crazy
You got the only thing goin’
That I know’s worth waitin’ for
Baby
How you amaze me
Yeah, you got the only thing goin’
That I know’s worth waitin’ for”
Track #8: The Hunna – Sick – The Hunna (2022)
If there is a band that I have been most excited to discover, along with BLOXX, it’s these guys, an indie rock band out of Watford, Hertfordshire, England. Formed in 2015, this song comes off their fourth album, a record filled with absolute jams from top to bottom so expect almost all of these songs to appear at some point. People who have been reading this blog probably already know this, but I love an echoey song and this into has that feel all over it. The build to this song gets me going and I always bump up the volume when this track comes on my random mix. The Hunna absolutely rule and I hope more people get into them, they deserve all the acclaim.
“Aren’t you sick of feeling like that?
‘Cause I’m sick of feeling like that, honey
We’ve constantly got whiplash
We’re always tryna stay afloat”
Track #9: Jack White – If I Die Tomorrow – Entering Heaven Alive (2022)
Love him, hate him or with indifference, it is undeniable that Jack White has immense talent and this song is a beautiful showcasing of that. This song feels like a dusty desperado lament and I love every second of it. The analog Mellotron and Septavox synthesiser that Jack plays on this song add so much atmosphere to the song and then it gets to that solo and my face melts off with the beauty that I’m hearing. Furthermore, in my opening statement, if you hate Jack and his work, really, why? Explain yourself!
“If I die tomorrow
Could you find it in your heart to sing?
If my mother cries in sorrow
Will you help her with the many things
That she needs from time to time and day to day?
So if I die tomorrow
Will you know exactly what to say today?”
Track #10: Nine Inch Nails – No, You Don’t – The Fragile (1999)
Trent Reznor and Nine Inch Nails are massively important artists to me as it is music that spurred me through the adversity of my high school years. It seems cheesy and cliche to say that but his songs and lyrics were a safe space for me to retreat to after bad days and, with this album released during my final year of senior high, it was an infinitely played record during that year. Now an album that I think should have the greatest double album of all time sort of status, I took a track off of it that I love to yell and sing along with, embodying all of Reznor’s vicious defiance in some really pointed lyrics. When this song comes on, you play it loud. That’s the rule.
“Teeth in the necks of everyone you know
You can keep on sucking ’til the blood won’t flow
When it starts to hurt, it only helps it grow
Taking all you need (But not this time) No, you don’t”
Track #11: The Used – The Bird And The Worm – Lies For The Liars (2007)
Now, for some angst stuff to add to this playlist, it’s something I kicked it off with but relaxed on as far as a theme went. Bert MacCracken and The Used have been on my radar since the release of their second studio album, In Love And Death, in 2004, and I was an instant fan. This song, the first single off of their follow-up to that record, is different than any song they had put out previously has an insidious creepiness to the sound that I absolutely love. It has a plucky gothicness to it, a song that Bert wrote about this brother, who suffers from schizophrenia. A fantastic song through and through and it has been heard in some movie marketing before as an orchestral cover was used in the trailer for the 2010 remake of Clash of the Titans, a Blu-ray I actually just picked up recently.
“He wears his heart safety-pinned to his backpack
His backpack is all that he knows
Shot down by strangers whose glances can cripple
The heart and devour the soul”
Track #12: Alice In Chains – Heaven Beside You – Alice In Chains (1995)
Easily one of my favorite groups of all time, Alice In Chains is a band that will constantly appear on my playlists, both in the original Layne Staley line-up as well as the modern William Adler iteration because the sound and feel still remain the same. What other bands can really say that they recovered completely through the loss of their frontman and leading sound of their band? This song is an alltimer for me, something that also plays beautifully on their Unplugged performance but I wanted to bring the original off of their self-titled record, their third album, one that is occasionally informally referred to as Three Legged Dog and Tripod. Jerry Cantrell wrote and takes the lead vocals on this track, a blend of rock and acoustic about lost love, a relationship ended by his own cheating actions. That outro to this song is so incredible too and gets stuck in my head.
“So, there’s problems in your life
That’s fucked up, and I’m not blind
I’m just see-through, faded
Super jaded, and out of my mind”
Track #13: Death From Above 1979 – Freeze Me – Outrage! Is Now (2017)
I am and forever will be a sucker for rocker duos that produce a loud and distorted sound and these two from Toronto, Ontario embody that sound and, along with Royal Blood, have become one of my favorite artists in the last decade. The first single off of an album that I give a weekly spin, this is a song that you put on in your car for a drive and crank the volume big time. I will fully admit that it took this track for bassist Jesse F. Keeler and drummer and vocalist Sebastien Grainger to be put on my radar, with this being their third studio record but best be sure that I am really making up for lost time and many of their tacks will appear right here on one of my playlists.
“Tell me where you are, am I getting warmer?
You freeze me with that look when I go undercover
Readin’ me my rights when you were gettin’ closer
I resist arrest until you say it’s over”
Track #14: LIMBS – Empty Vessel – Only The Lonely Know (2020)
Alright, apparently it’s time to wake the fuck up because I’m bringing a closer that is going to rattle yor ears and melt your face. A post-hardcore band from Tampa Bay, Florida, Spotify is how I was put onto the path of this thunderous group and I’ve loved everything from them starting with this trio of tracks released during the pandemic year. Post hardcore has definitely furmulated some of my favorite music of my early 40s somehow and maybe it’s me wanting to hold onto my youth or that it has evolved to this level but I’m hooked on it and I’m really hoping on a third album to be incoming anytime now. Sorry to my listeners to not have one playlist without something heavy. Sorry, not sorry, I guess it would seem.
“You can take it or you can leave it
Say goodbye, you can watch me burn it all away
Yeah
You’re just a ghost
A memory lost in the smoke
You’re just a ghost
A memory lost in the smoke”
This week I kick off the show with horror again but can M. Night Shyamalan’s daughter make up for last week’s letdown? Speaking of last week’s film, Chloe has her thoughts on it during this episode and both of us have some praise for Sydney Sweeney and the film she fought for. One of my favorite pandemic-era shows comes to a close, I got reacquainted with possibly the most influential masterpiece of all time during its seventieth anniversary and a really creepy Shudder original. Jump on in, but, just a warning, our video feed crapped the bad again so Chloe had to dazzle with her visual brilliance again.
It’s a lean week but I did manage to check out the first piece of the new Strangers trilogy and Guy Ritchie’s big and fun new WWII action flick with Henry Cavill and Reacher. Chloe and I both give our thoughts on Caitlin Cronenberg’s debut feature starring a few Canadian legends and Peter Gallager and, of course, I have some thoughts on the new Star Wars series The Acolyte. All this and more on this new episode!
We’ve now arrived in the double digits of playlists and, yes, there are still some jarring shifts in tone here and there but some themes still break through here and there and this one is definitely no different. A couple things become noticeable and nostalgia is a glaring one as the list kicks off with some top-tier Stone Temple Pilots and then features a Pixies side project, a leading Green Day single, some original and iconic Zombie and more. With a Big Shiny piece of Canadian nostalgia, I bring the CanCon in with Holly McNarland and two BC local groups and give some love to new discoveries for myself like We Were Promised Jetpacks and 3TEETH.
Track #1: Stone Temple Pilots – Still Remains – Purple (1994)
It took the tenth playlist for one of the greatest albums ever made to make its first appearance on one of my playlists and you better believe it’s the kick-off to it! I was instantly obsessed with this record that doesn’t feature a bad track on it and I still listen to it very regularly. This song, in particular, maybe my favorite on the album, a track about being so infatuated with someone that you will accompany them past death. It seems creepy but it’s really beautiful.
“Pick a song and sing a yellow nectarine
Take a bath, I’ll drink the water that you leave
If you should die before me
Ask if you can bring a friend
Pick a flower, hold your breath
And drift away”
Track #2: Atreyu – Insomnia – The Beautiful Dark Of Life (2023)
My second repeat artist on the playlists after Tegan And Sara and it is almost a no brainer with how much I adore this band. The first track I hear off of their new album, this song features all the sensibilities I love about their songwriting plus has a hook that gets caught up in my head as a lovely earworm. The latest album of theirs absolutely rips but this song’s ramping up in the opening just invigorates me and I love the rising vocals of singer Brandon Saller in the chorus. For lack of a better word, it’s beautiful.
“I’m taking my chances
I’m leaving my sanity
Buried it down in this hole in me (Buried it down)
I’m losing the battle
I start to unravel
Until there is nothing that’s left in me”
Track #3: White Zombie – Thunder Kiss ‘65 – La Sexorcisto: Devil Music Volume 1 (1992)
Getting really classic three songs in here and it isn’t a solo Rob Zombie track that makes its debut here on the playlist but a song from the original group, the great White Zombie off their third album. A leading single, this song was the return after an album that did far less business than they wanted it to. This song is explosive, instantly iconic and contains all of the sounds that we have come to know and love from one of the absolute icons of heavy metal. With three different lyric versions out there, take your pick at which is the best but, even so, this song always rules.
“Well, sweet little sister’s high in hell cheating on a halo
Grind in a odyssey holocaust heart kick on tomorrow
Breakdown—agony, I said “ecstacy” in overdrive
Well, riding on the world, thunder kissing
1965 yeah, wow
Five, wow
Demon-warp is coming alive
In 1965, five five”
Track #4: Interpol – Barricade – Interpol (2010)
Whenever these second songs from artists and bands I’ve already posted here before start to reappear, it is a clear indication of how much I listen to them. The other factor with Paul Banks and his New York City band being back on the list with another song is that it even comes off the same album that the last one did. This has to be because, besides the Rock Band and Guitar Hero tracks, this album was the one that got me really on board with their sound, and it was the album that was on constantly at the beginning of the relationship with my wife and I. This happened to be the first released single and when it came on the radio, we made sure it was playing loud.
“It starts to feel like a barricade
To keep us away, to keep us away
And it kinda does
Starts to feel like a barricade
To keep us away, keep us away”
Track #5: Rammstein – Ich will – Mutter (2001)
More German techno metal and not just any band from that era but one of the greatest on stage shows you’re going to see, straight out of Berlin. Another track appearing on my playlist from Til Lindemann and his army of “ Neue Deutsche Härte” warriors, off the same album, Mutter, even, Ich will’s drive always gets my head rocking and the energy up. Their songs are so anthemic and catchy, you want to pump your fist along to anything without even understanding the lyrics. Rammstein may be out of a certain time in music, a discovery I made watching David Lynch’s Lost Highway, but those who are in the know still throw this on all the time.
“Can you hear me?
(We hear you)
Can you see me?
(We see you)
Can you feel me?
(We feel you)
I don’t understand you”*
*Translated from German
Track #6: We Were Promised Jetpacks – Quiet Little Voices – These Four Walls (2005)
The leading single off of this Scottish indie band’s debut record, there’s something beautiful about the simplicity of this song and its rising distortion to the finish that envelops me. Any song that brings the band together with a chorus harmony really gets me and this one has a great one that resonates to the rafters. I don’t have any deep thoughts on this band’s work as this is just the beginning of a love I’m really late to but I know that, given the company that this band rolls with, like, the giants of Scottish indie rock, Frightened Rabbit and Biffy Clyro. After rocking through this record, I’m definitely on to the sophomore follow-up, In the Pit of the Stomach.
“Quiet little voices creep into my head
I’m young again, I’m young again
I’m young again, I’m young again
Quiet little monsters creep into my bedroom wall
I’ll fall for you, I’ll fall for you
I’ll fall for you
Quiet words of wisdom creep into your victim’s ears
I’ll die for you, I’ll die for you
I’ll die for you
In any which direction, call me
I will run for you, I’ll come for you
I’ll die for you, I’ll come for you
Quiet little voices creep into my head
I’m young again, I’m young again
I’m young again, I’m young again
Quiet little monsters creep into my head
I’ll fall for you, I’ll fall for you
I’ll fall for you, I’ll fall”
Track #7: Holly McNarland – Numb – Stuff (1997)
Making her way from Winnipeg, Manitoba, I was a fan of Holly as soon as I heard this track and then when Elmo, it was sealed, I love her. The love has gone so far that we even found this album at our local record store and picked it up immediately for our car. Yes, at this point we still have a CD player. This track is also the eighth track on the second Big Shiny Tunes compilation, a collection of songs released by MuchMusic yearly in the nineties. That was definitely where I spun this over and over again in the late nineties, sandwiched between Marilyn Manson and Bush. Or Bush X if you’re Canadian.
“Chase distraction of your own existance
Keep it clean, clean enough to stab
Lick your own wounds, anxious for the next one
Cry for more pain, heal what you have”
Track #8: ASHES dIVIDE – The Stone – Keep Telling Myself It’s Alright (2008)
Being a big fan of A Perfect Circle and everything they’ve done as, really, a supergroup, I have to admit that this Billy Howerdel solo side project completely missed my ears but I am so happy to catch up with it recently. This is an album featuring something I love, big sound that resonates to the rafters, and this is a perfect example, starting with that beautiful intro. I also have a deep love for those echoey guitar riffs from Billy after the chorus, really great stuff and recommended for any APC fan. He actually wrote it during a writing session with the group and their instrumental Army, an unreleased track that was supposed to appear on Mer De Noms.
“We survive what we can’t change
So let it fade
Just let it go
We pretend so nothing does change
We’re flowers never breaking through the stone”
Track #9: 3TEETH – Drift – EndEx (2023)
I have had a deep love for industrial, as far back as my discovery on Nine Inch Nails and how it guided me through high school and really informed some of my musical tastes. Now, with a new record released in 2023, that fire still burns and it burns brightly with this Los Angeles-formed five-piece. This was the first thing I heard by them, the intro, and it’s a solid and darkly grinding song with dark and sinister lyrics and, when it comes to my industrial, I eat that shit up. It does hinge towards the metal side of the genre and that, honestly, works for me even better. Can’t wait for more from these guys.
“Abandoned like the American dream
Begging you to govern thee
Celebrate moral vanity
With a permawar for eternity
Cut my tongue like an amputee
With phantom love that used to be
Fading like my illusion of free
Soon there’ll be nothing left of me”
Track #10: Mother Mother – Simply Simple – Eureka (2011)
With beautiful and energetic harmonies, this Quadra Island, British Columbia band has always been a provincial favorite of mine especially with that three-headed hydra of Ryan Guldemond, Molly Guldemond and Jasmin Parkin. This song has such a flowing lilt to it that I can’t get enough of and it may be my favorite off their album which is a big thing to say because the lead single was the infinitely singable track, The Stand. I feel like, at its core, this is about a toxic relationship but a dependability threaded within that is simply unable to disconnect without ruining both of them. This interpretation might be way off but I’ll leave the songwriters to tell me I’m wrong.
“Rock me, baby
Until my eyes are closed and I’m asleep
And then it’s safe for you to leave
Call me lazy
For I have yet to let my soul free
It’s still very much in my reach, oh”
Track #11: The Breeders – Cannonball – The Last Splash (1993)
It’s really mind-blowing to me that the first thing Pixies related to land on this playlist is not something from the Black Francis-fronted legendary group but instead something off of the side project of founding member Kim Deal, a band formed in 1989. As soon as this song came on a mix, I was transported back to listening to all-request radio in the hopes that this track would be played. It also sets us back in time with the fax machine noise in the beginning, which would be totally foreign to a lot of music listeners these days. The Breeders still rule, The Last Splash is a landmark record and it all begs to be rediscovered. Just play this song for anyone looking for “new” music.
“Spitting in a wishing well
Blown to hell, crash
I’m the last splash
I know you, little libertine
I know you’re a real cuckoo”
Track #12: Green Day – Hitchin’ A Ride – Nimrod (1997)
For a first Green Day track appearing on one of my playlists, fro my money, I would have thought that it would have been of their landmark record Dookie but this song came on and gave me a good groove and I knew this had to be it. I know that this is a song about an alcoholic having trouble staying sober but if the drive into Billy Joe’s guitar solo as he says “SHIT” doesn’t kick you up full of energy then I don’t know what to tell you, you may have heart problems. This famed trio is definitely a part of my music evolution in the nineties and this song was definitely a good piece of it as I turned up the volume everytime it cme on the radio or MuchMusic.
“Hey, mister, where you headed?
Are you in a hurry?
Need a lift to happy hour
Say oh no
Do you brake for distilled spirits?
I need a break as well
The well that inebriates the guilt
One, two, one, two, three, four”
Track #13: Asking Alexandria – Into The Fire – Asking Alexandria (2017)
I will completely admit that this song only came onto my radar because it was one of the theme songs for NXT Takeover: Philadelphia but it was enough to make me immediately pick up the self titled record and devour it. This track was the leading single off of what was their fifth album but it was also the return of original lead singer Danny Worsnop, as he left in 2015 to focus on rock music with his new band, We Are Harlot. This is a fantastic song with killer melodies but the bridge to this song is a facemelter that I can never NOT headbang to. Heck, even my youngest daughter loves this song a lot.
“I’m a paranoid sycophant, masochistic dilettante
Narcissistic elephant in the room
I’m the end of the world thinning the herd
The all-around outta my mind, fucking absurd
I am gone, I am gone”
Track #14: Default – Sick And Tired – The Fallout (2001)
The recurring theme for playlist ten at the end of it is definitely a good pushing of Canadian content as Default makes their second appearance in these listings of my favorite and it’s the more angrier and aggressive song on the record. This also happens to be the kick-off of The Fallout and has a great little lead in with a tasty bass lick on the way in via Dave Benedict. I may have already stated that this was a fantastic live band and if Dallas Smith wanted to step away from the country scene for a little tour, it’d be amazing to see a run that celebrated this fantastic album. It’d be cool to see it played in order too but this is all my dream.
“You swore I’d regret it
Now thanks to you I can’t forget it
Cost of this constant battle
Won’t even miss you at all
Free from this life that you call…“
We go to the Wasteland this week as George Miller has gifted us something truly cinematic to feast our eyes on! Glen Powell proves his star charisma in another team-up with Richard Linklater and Boby Cannavale stars in a comedy-drama that hit really close to home for me. I decided to give an Oscar-nominated film I hated another shot on 4K, a childhood favorite creator gets his flowers in a new documentary and we give our full season two thoughts on a Robert Kirkman masterpiece. All this and more on this all-new episode! WITNESS US!!!
This week I got in touch with my imagination once again, but from the family film side with Ryan Reynolds, I got to check out the latest Ivan Sen flick and devoured the latest Nicolas Cage post-apocalyptic thriller. I finally checked out a classic Edward James Olmos film on a new blu-ray edition, got an early look at a new documentary about one of the most pivotal bands in music history as well as rewatched the greatest recorded concert in history (in my opinion). All this and so much more on a brand new episode!
It only took nine playlists to get to this point but I think I have finally made a playlist that is largely accessible and without any metal or hardcore rap to dispell any good energy I had earlier cultivated. Heck, this is a playlist my mom could listen to. Hear that, Mom! Just press play! Keep in mind, the opening track is me getting a little close to metal to start as my WWE love go the best of me and Code Orange is a solid band but after that, it’s clear sailing!
Track #1: Code Orange – Shatter – Bray Wyatt Entrance Theme (2022)
This is a cool and sort of bittersweet one to start off this new playlist with because when I first heard this song I was absolutely freaking out (or “marking out”) about the return of superstar Bray Wyatt to the WWE. Sadly, Wyatt, real name Windham Rotunda, passed away last year but this song, so full of atmosphere and wonder, still remains on my shuffled favorite songs and I give it a spin pretty regularly. Code Orange is such a cool and inventive band.
“Die for me brother
(Know not what you’ve seen)
Love one another
(Know not where you’ve been)
Lie for me brother
(Know not what you’vе said)
Use me for cover
(Whеn things break, things shatter)”
Track #2: Red Hot Chili Peppers – Get On Top – Californication (1999)
A track off of one of their greatest albums, for me the last front-to-back masterpiece, I’ve always loved the sound of the Chilis but mostly their guitar and bass combos. John Frusciante and Flea work like fire in this fast and funky track that is reminiscent of something they would have made in the Blood Suger Sex Magic days. I also love it when they do a flighty bridge and this song definitely has one. This is what I call an energy bringer and the track was inspired by Public Enemy which I think is so cool.
“I’mma linger on your block and
Give the finger to a cop and
Pick a lock before I knock and
Set you up to get on top”
Track #3: Metric – Speed The Collapse – Synthetica (2012)
Emily Haines and Company are one of my favorite Canadian music makers and this track totally envelopes me in atmospheric sound, echoey guitar and beautiful vocals from one of our home and native land’s greatest poets. While not released as the first single off of Synthetica, this song was part of the tease for the new record at the time and I was drooling for the complete record afterwards. Upon a deeper look at the subject matter and inspiration, the song draws close parallels to the US involvement in World War I and II, from their neutrality at the beginning of the war to the end which I think is kind of wild for a rock song from a band out of Toronto.
“Pushed away, I’m pulled toward
A comedown of revolving doors
Every warning we ignored
Drifting in from distant shores
The wind presents a change of course
A second reckoning of sorts
We were wasted, waiting for
A comedown of revolving doors”
Track #4: The Rolling Stones – Can’t You Hear Me Knocking – Sticky Fingers (1971)
There are a few classic songs that are appearing on this playlist that have direct relations to cinema and this one is the first as The Stones are clearly a go-to for a legendary director like Martin Scorsese, this track appears in Casino. Featured again six years later in the George Jung biopic Blow and a decade later in David O. Russell’s The Fighter and Michael Bay’s Pain & Gain, this track has that iconic opening on it and always adds a beautiful atmosphere every time it’s used. An all-time great song.
“Can’t you hear me knockin’? Ah, are you safe asleep?
Can’t you hear me knockin’? Yeah, down the gas light street, now
Can’t you hear me knockin’? Yeah, throw me down the keys
Alright now”
Track #5: Deftones – The Chauffer – B-Sides & Rarities (2005)
Yes, with the Deftones being one of my all-time favorite bands, it’s definitely weird of me to pick a cover song as the first that I post from their catalogue and one that isn’t on one of their standard studio records. That said, frontman Chino Moreno’s love for new wave music of the 1980s as well as this being an iconic song from Duran Duran made it an easy choice when it popped on randomly during the work day. I will never not headbang to that heavy stylist outro with that patented Deftones crunch on it from Steph, Chi and Abe. So damn great.
“And the sun drips down, bedding heavy behind
The front of your dress, all shadowy lined
And the droning engine throbs in time
With your beating heart”
Track #6: AC/DC – Shoot To Thrill – Back In Black (1980)
Is there any better evidence of the fact that I’m slowly moving through the Marvel Cinematic Universe again than me posting this driving track from the second Iron Man film? This song suits Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark like a Black Sabbath t-shirt and the build in the beginning can almost be timed as the suit forms around the billionaire playboy philanthropist. Being an overtly sexual song makes it a bit questionable in its use in Iron Man 2 as singer Brian Johnson utilizes the metaphor of a gun to describe his own junk, in which his climaxing is referred to as “pulling the trigger”. Actually, maybe it really is a Tony Stark song but more to the comics version of him. Like the MAX side of him. Comic term, don’t worry about it.
“Shoot to thrill, play to kill
Too many women with too many pills, said
Shoot to thrill, play to kill
I got my gun at the ready, gonna fire at will
‘Cause I shoot to thrill, and I’m ready to kill
I can’t get enough and I can’t get my fill
I shoot to thrill, play to kill
Yeah”
Track #7: Garbage – Push It – Version 2.0 (1998)
On Mother’s Day, I definitely had to pick the Scottish Mommy, Shirley Manson, and her group and, yeah, I, without a doubt, had a number one crush on her in my teen years. The first single off of their second album, I saw the video premiere for Push It on MuchMusic and my love for the group was reinvigorated. I picked up the CD on release day and probably played this song until there was an etched groove in the disc. The full allure of Shirley is definitely on display in this song.
“This is the noise that keeps me awake
My head explodes and my body aches”
Track #8: Opeth – Harvest – Blackwater Park (2001)
The black metal minstrels finally made their way onto a playlist and it was merely a matter of time as they are a favorite of mine, especially this record in particular. Funny enough, the first song I chose was one that is more palatable for listeners and doesn’t feature frontman and lead guitarist Mikael Åkerfeldt’s death metal roar or any heavy riffs for that matter. Instead, Harvest is a beautifully crafted ballad that deals with the immediate arrival of mortality from a first-person perspective. This is one of my favorite bands to see live and seeing them do this song was a life memory for sure. I recommend finding their live DVD Lamentations and you’ll see what I mean.
“Into the orchard I walk, peering way past the gate
Wilted scenes for us who couldn’t wait
Drained by the coldest caress, stalking shadows ahead
Halo of death, all I see is departure
Mourner’s lament, but it’s me who’s the martyr”
Track #9: Post Malone – Wrapped Around Your Finger – Twelve Carat Toothache (2022)
This album definitely got it’s play in my household when it came out, a definite best-of-2022 record in my opinion, so, really, any track off of it would be a welcome addition to a playlist. I opted for this fun and light-sounding track that shows off Posty’s range so beautifully, one of my favorite current singers in popular music. There is something really universal about his music, the current generation absolutely vibes with him as well as their wine-drinking moms just looking for a fun groove to bop to. Twelve Carat Toothache is the album to bop along with and I think I’ve given a solid first cut from it if you’re unfamiliar.
“When we met, you ain’t know I was a singer
You weren’t impressed by all the ice on my fingers (So icy)
I had your mom and daddy’s house on my pinky (My pinky)
If I’da known what it’d be like now
I wouldn’t be in misery right now
Look in the mirror, I don’t see myself
Being with me has gotta be like hell
So tell the devil I’ma be right down”
Track #10: Kaiser Chiefs – Wait – Duck (2019)
With a clicky little beat and a whole horn section, the fact that this wasn’t a single off of their 2019 record is kind of crazy to me because it has radio play written all over it. Making their way from Leeds, England, the indie rock band once known as Runston Parva or simply Parva has always had a penchant for churning out energetic rock hits as Ruby was a favorite even before it was on Guitar Hero III: Legends Of Rock. The chorus of this track also has a reference to drinking Diet Coke so I know it has an immediate fanbase in my house with my wife and daughter.
“Laughin’ all the time, singin’ as they go
Lookin’ like an ad, drinkin’ Diet Coke
Everybody dance, let’s breakdown tonight
Making up the lies, keeping up the show
Checkin’ out the boys, wearin’ summer clothes
Get it while you can
Let’s breakdown tonight
I’ll just wait”
Track #11: Lee Ranaldo – Waiting On A Dream – Between The Tides And The Times (2012)
Being a guy who became a teen in the mid-nineties, I know exactly who Sonic Youth is but my focus was limited to Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon generally. So, when Spotify popped this track into my recommendations from Ranaldo, a co-founder of the legendary New York City rock band, a track off of his ninth album, it led me on a journey through his solo work. Surprisingly, like the last song on this playlist, this wasn’t a track released as a single, the honor of the first single falling to the song that appears after this one, the opening track on the record. Though, at over six minutes, I can understand why it wasn’t shopped to radio stations.
“Hanging around with saints and sinners, losers, winners, I try to pay no mind
I can see thru all that shakes and quivers, every loveless soul strung out on the line
There’s a golden light in the sky tonight, where 10,000 soldiers stand with feet of clay
Secrets to be told will keep for the night and we will soon be on our way”
Track #12 – Thom Yorke – Black Swan – The Eraser (2006)
Another incredible track off of a fantastic album that was never released as a single and should have been. At four minutes and fifty seconds, this song may clock in as too long for radio but it’s so damn catchy in its execution and it could be anthemic but with a bit of bleeping on the cuss words. On the outside of this pick, it’s a little crazy that I didn’t present a Radiohead song first, a band that was a part of the evolution of my musical palate but to include a sort of lo-fi song from Yorke is almost more fitting because it is the side of him I appreciate a lot. The pops of the drums and his low vocals make this easily one of my favorite songs he has ever written.
“You cannot kick-start a dead horse
You just cross yourself and walk away
I don’t care what the future holds
‘Cause I’m right here, and I’m today
With your fingers you can touch me”
Track #13: Kings Of Leon – Waste A Moment – WALLS (2016)
It may just be the May long weekend as I’m writing this but there is something about the resonance of this Mount Juliet, Tennessee band’s sound that makes the sun hit a bit sweeter, the wind has a bit of warmth and the atmosphere really bringing the season home for you. This song kicks off with that big-time feel and it really is a no-brainer as to why this was the leading single to tease the album and also why it is what starts off this fantastic album. No matter where you are or how you’re feeling, Caleb and the rest of the Followills always have a way of making the sun break over the horizon for you in your musical landscape.
“Tex, he was her boyfriend with no kin always running from the law
Every other weekend, the week ends with his back in her claw
He’s a livewire, wired, shooting sparks in the night
He’s a gun for a hire, hired with a bead in his sights”
Track #14: Tegan And Sara – Closer – Heartthrob (2013)
The first two time artist on one of my playlists arrives to finish off this week and they’re Canadian as well! This also makes this playlist, the ninth in, the most accessible and sort of mellow since I started this journey. Hell, my mom could listen to it and enjoy it! Maybe I’ll call it that! Anyways, this is one of the more accessible and commercial tracks from the Quin sisters but I really love the poppiness to it as they lean into the catchy hooks that really started getting them radio popular. This song was just more icing on the mainstream cake in my opinion.
“The lights are off and the sun is finally setting
The night sky is changing overhead”
This week we see what the landscape of a post-Matt Reeves Planet Of The Apes looks like, I finally got my eyeballs on Godzilla Minus One and a heartbreaking drama out of Cabrini Green. I also gush about a 4K update to the movie that sparked my film obsession, the “Silent Space” version of a Oscar-winning film and Chloe is excited to talk about a returning horror series to Prime Video. All this and much more on an all-new episode!
We celebrate the stuntman on this week’s episode with Ryan Gosling stepping into the boots of The Fall Guy with Emily Blunt, a fun ripper of a movie. I’ve got two indie queer movies that I really enjoyed, including one produced by Telefilm Canada now playing in limited release, Peter Jackson remastering the theatrical angle on the Get Back sessions and Colin Farrell bringing all his charm and likeability to AppleTV+. All of this plus We’ve got a little surprise for you viewers.
Steve Stebbing 