It’s a big episode this week as I was able to squeeze in another hotly anticipated new film alongside Jeff Nichols’s return after an eight-year absence with The Bikeriders, as I got to check out the new Oz Perkins flick, Longlegs, featuring, the GOAT, Nic Cage. There is some solid legacy enjoyment to talk about with the new Beverly Hills Cop movie, Fiala and Franz are back with their third film to continue their special brand of bleak and Chloe has some thoughts on the latest polarizing indie horror, In A Violent Nature. All this plus me digging into Chloe’s cinematic trauma of watching Skinamarink on Shudder!
Another big anticipated 2024 horror film hit theaters and both Chloe and I have our thoughts on it as Lupita N’yongo and Joseph Quinn find themselves in a new Quiet Place this week. I also have a couple of Criterion viewings to mention, a classic one in a brand new 4K as well as an Assayas film I had never seen before. I have big praise for the latest season of The Bear, Andrew McCarty’s film therapy really worked for me and we both give some love to an under-talked-about Bong Joon Ho film. All this and more on this new episode!
I have arrived at the dozen mark of playlists on my new journey and, aside from some melodic metal with beautiful vocals out of the Netherlands, I have none of those harsh guttural screams that can sometimes dispel the vibe. I have not one but two instrumental tracks on this, by two artists who specialize in mood setting grooves as well as four of my favorite current songwriters in Charli xcx, Taylor Swift, Lana Del Rey and the Söderberg sisters. I also get in real touch with my teens and early twenties with tracks that remind us of the Family Values tour and my goth times. I’m really proud of this list, enjoy!
Charli may be celebrating the release of her new album brat right now but this was the record that really got me interested in her work. Yes, I knew that she was the backing vocals on Iggy Azalea’s Fancy but the whole record took me by complete surprise and I had to pick it up on vinyl. When the song was being created, it was noted that it would be a great song for Halsey to perform but Charli was adamant that the song was hers and hers alone. I’m glad she made that choice because it is a phenomenal track off of an album full of them.
“Something ’bout the way you Hold my body tight even on my lowest nights Locked down by my side Even when I’m borderline Yeah, I don’t even know why I push you away It’s something ’bout the way you”
Thanks to my friend Drex, I was put on the path of Tycho, also known as Scott Hansen, a dance and electronic musician from Sacramento, California. Always chill vibes and a fantastic drive, Tycho is an artist I’ll put on for long drives or good smoke sessions on the patio, the perfect summer music in my opinion. Awake was the record that piqued my interest when I heard it and this is a buried little track that I think needs some good exposure, even ten years later.
This one is a little embarrassing for a guy who loves metal like I do because this Waddinxveen, South Holland, Netherlands band has been around since 1996 and I only started listening when Spotify suggested the lead single off of their 2023 record. Needless to say, I totally devoured the whole thing immediately and now it is one of my most listened-to new albums in 2024 without a doubt. No doubt, it is destined to be part of my Wrapped at the end of the year but the beauty of the melodic vocals and crashing guitars and drums in this track makes it a great choice for their first appearance on the playlist. There will be more.
“Let me feel it ’cause I don’t know, I can’t see All I feel’s I’m breaking up Oh, can’t you see it’s taking over, over me? Can’t you see? Yeah, you want me to fight it, and you want me to let go Yeah, you tell me to fight it, and you damn me if I don’t So let me bleed it out and purge me, I can’t see No, I can’t see, no, I can’t see”
I think it was through either the Jackass show or movie or the CKY videos but I was put on the path of how kick-ass this Germantown, Maryland is but it wasn’t until this single came onto my Spotify recommended list a few years back that I really started paying attention. This is undoubtedly a total drive song that keeps your head bopping throughout and it is born from being a road trippin’ song about a guy picking up a mysterious hitchhiker, something vocals, rhythm guitar and keyboard player Neil Fallon describes on a really solid commentary video that’s worth checking out on YouTube.
““Firebirds! Energy weapons! Both these things are interesting to me I don’t care how you get them I need them both, and I need them urgently””
My music god and favorite singer of all time makes his second appearance as the Mike Patton fronted Faith No More’s second single off of their sixth record is now a part of my playlists. It was the first album to feature the band’s current guitarist Jon Hudson, and was their last studio album before their eleven-year hiatus from 1998 to 2009. For me, this song feels like an early indicator of the style Patton would bring to his new band, Tomahawk, in 1999, although their debut record wouldn’t land until 2001. I really love that all the marketing and artwork around the single are fashioned like the Alfred Hitchcock film, Vertigo. Patton’s love and reverence for film is something I fanboy out for big time.
“Like a snake between two stones It itches in your bones Take a deep breath and swallow Your sorrow Tomorrow”
If there was a band that was at the top of the British indie rock sound of the mid 2000s, it was defintiely these guys, which is weird for me because I didn’t get into them until way later. For me, it wasn’t until the Guitar Hero and Rock Band era, where this song was a king for sure, but it was also before their signature sound would change for the AM record. This sound has since changed again but it is really awesome to go back to the style that put them on the map, for a fast and drive bop that really makes you want to dance or just shake your limbs around like a Muppet.
“Brian, top marks for not trying So kind of you to bless us with your effortlessness We’re grateful and so strangely comforted And I wonder, are you putting us under? ‘Cause we can’t take our eyes off the t-shirt and ties combination Well, see you later, innovator”
Here is a track that brings me back to the mammoth tour at the cusp and start of the millennium, which was the Family Values tour and one that even produced a record. I had a soft spot for this Los Angeles band, someone I always saw as the more electronic side of nu-metal that came through with Deftones, Korn and Limp Bizkit, something that vocalist Jay Gordon and guitarists Amir Derakh and Ryan Shuck, the founding members of the group, call “death pop” which is sort of fitting. There is a real beauty to this, the first single off of their sophomore record and one that definitely got a lot of play on my CD player at the time. Remember those? It was also one of the over five hundred CDs that got stolen from my first apartment circa 2001. Yeah, it still hurts.
“And your pixel army can’t save you now My finger’s on the kill switch I remember I used to compose your dreams Control your dreams And don’t be afraid to expose yourself Before I shut you down You’ve made some changes Since the virus caught you sleeping”
The harmonies created by Svedmyra, Stockholm, Sweden-born sisters Johanna and Klara Söderberg are of a quality that you don’t see very often and were an instant lure to a music lover like myself. I was obsessed when I heard their song Rebel Heart for the first time, a song that will most likely end up on a playlist here, but it was this track and the subsequent performance I saw on The Late Show and the Spotify Studio sessions that really caught my ear and I feel like I listened to Ruins on a loop for a couple weeks afterwards. The song was the second single off the album and is about big dreams that fell unrealized. Such a beautiful four minutes of music.
“Stood out on that beach in Chicago Woke up next to you on Silver Lake Avenue Wherever I went I always knew, always knew Till I didn’t know”
This playlist is already a bit of an anomaly as I have not one but two instrumental tracks on it. Actually, I’m a little surprised that nothing off of a movie score has made it here yet but this track from Eau Claire, Wisconsin artist Lucy In Disguise kind of forms its own chill landscape in your mind, which is fitting as they are categorized as future synth and chillwave. This song feels like a cool and breezy odyssey but it really hits its stride from about a minute thirty to forty five on and becomes a groove that you want to night drive to and feel the wind course over you. Such a damn good track and one I wouldn’t have known unless I got into Le Matos and their score for the Canadian sci-fi action flick, Turbo Kid.
To say that I liked or enjoyed Ville Vallo and his Helsinki, Finland gothic rock ban would be a massive understatement. The reality is that when I first heard their songs on Bam Margera’s CKY video, predating his Jackass work, I was so hooked, got the CDs, got the merch and was a die-hard H.I.M. guy through and through. This track is so beautiful in its pitch-black romance but encompasses exactly the sound that Ville loves to produce. Love, death, lust and need are all wrapped in a dark cloud of guitars and piano keys. It’s simply just awesome.
“This world is a cruel place And we’re here only to lose So, before life tears us apart Let death bless me with you”
The legendary group of Canadian minstrels out of Montreal, Quebec make their return to the playlist with a song that is probably one of their most widely known. The final single off of their debut album, a record that released a whopping five singles, this song is typically the one that they close all of their shows with and just the “sing to the sky” atmosphere of it all, I totally get it. The lyrics themselves describe the discontentment that comes with growing older, but also how we can overcome this ennui and live more of a laissez-faire attitude to deflate that crushing feeling. Being from Quebec, I thought using French terms would be appropriate.
“Children, wake up Hold your mistake up Before they turn the summer into dust If the children don’t grow up Our bodies get bigger but our hearts get torn up We’re just a million little gods causing rain storms Turning every good thing to rust I guess we’ll just have to adjust”
Two of my absolute favorites on the same track? Yes, please! Sadly, I’m barring them both from appearing on any playlist for the following few months but this son is so worth it, a showing of two of the greatest living songwriters coming together for a swirly and poignant track about the immediate love connection between two individuals. Going through this song and then the album again for the hundredth time afterward, I was easily reminded again that this might be my favorite of Taylor’s work. The difficult choice was whether to put the first version of the song on the playlist or to put the “More Lana” version on instead. It was a hard decision but I opted for the first one but both are insanely good.
“And it’s like snow at the beach Weird, but fuckin’ beautiful Flying in a dream Stars by the pocketful You wanting me Tonight feels impossible But it’s comin’ down No sound, it’s all around”
Everytime I think of this band these days, I have no choice but to yell out “Seven dollars of Hoobastank” which is a line that Jason Mantzoukas’s character Raffi, or Brollo El Comyado, on the comedy series, The League. That was a plug to a great series but I was actually on the Hooba train since the beginning and this might be the heaviest song that they produced. Great energy and a good drive, this is a song that will immediately get you grooving in my opinion. The track was the first song released off of the mega popular The Reason record and, unfortunately features back up vocals from the rightfully disgraced band Lost Prophets but it’s still a damn good song that holds up today.
“I may never know the answer To this endless mystery Where should I go? What should I do? I don’t understand what you want from me”
Being a huge fan of Norwood, Ontario band Three Days Grace since the first angle, I would follow establishing lead singer Adam Gontier to any project he does and when Spotify suggested this supergroup, my eyes widened and my jaw dropped. I loved this first track immediately and the darkness of it and pure Gontier flare and style on the track are exactly why. Saint Asonia is comprised of Gontier, his brother Cale on bass, Staind’s guitarist Mike Mishok and drummer Cody Watkins and their EP is one of my favorites in the last five years, all launched by this track. The only issue with it is now I’m waiting for a full album to be released as their page has gone silent with those updates for a long time now.
“It’s time to take a stand and save our lives Rise before we fall There’s no more second chance it’s do or die Rise above it all”
I go one-on-one with you, the audience, this week as I give my thoughts on a new and the first June Squibb-led revenge “thriller”, Russell Crowe doubles down on his Exorcist era and I also got the first piece watched of the new Alexandre Dumas adaptations. Jeff Nichols’s debut film makes the upgrade to Blu-ray, Jake Gyllenhaal goes head to head with his brother-in-law in a new AppleTV+ series and Jared Keeso out Canadians himself in the third season of his Letterkenny spin-off. All this and more in this new episode!
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.
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”
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”
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”
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”
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”
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”
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”
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”
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?”
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”
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”
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”
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”
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.
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”
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”
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”
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”
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”*
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”
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”
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”
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”
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”
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”
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”
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”
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!!!
Steve Stebbing 