Songs of the Week: September 29 - October 05, 2025
“The Calm” by The Protomen
Holy crap it’s happening!
It’s been sixteen years since the release of Act II: The Father of Death, the second part in the epic Mega Man influenced rock opera from Tennessee band The Protomen, and now we’re finally getting the long awaited Act III: This City Made Us!
The announcement was made with the first two tracks on the album released on Bandcamp, with a promise of a weekly release model, until the final Bandcamp Friday of the year; or as the band puts it on their website, “sort of like that Alien show you’ve been watching… but with sound only. And less aliens, but maybe more robots.”
The two songs released so far are “Hold Back the Night”, which has been floating around for a few years, and the opening track “The Calm” (which I can only assume comes before some sort of storm), an instrumental opener that builds in suspense and anticipation.
The band has also promised a physical release of a CD which comes with a “story booklet/libretto + the amazing John DeLucca artwork” and a vinyl to come, with the release date set once they have the timeline set.
Have a listen below or on their Bandcamp page!
Kirk
“Fully Completely” Tragically Hip Cover by Alexisonfire
You know I love a good cover and especially when they’re unexpected ones…well Alexisonfire covering The Hip is delightfully unexpected!
The band is releasing an EP on November 7th titles Copies of Old Masters Volume 1 and along with the “Fully Completely” cover they’re tackling other 90’s CanCon: “Neighbourhood Villain” by Doughboys, “Cuz” by Shallow North Dakota and “Misogyny” by Rusty.
Enjoy the song below!
Christine
“Look What You Did” by JEEN
JEEN is back with a gritty pop anthem, “Look What You Did”, the first track off her upcoming EP For the Romance.
The song was recorded early this year, but almost didn’t make the cut, with JEEN sharing: “A couple months after recording, I had some unexpected music business trouble that completely derailed me and the whole release came to a full stop. I was crushed, so I was about to trash the whole EP and just start again, but I had a change of heart over the summer. I ended up using three of the original January recordings and one of them was ‘Look What You Did.’.”
And about the song itself, she adds: “At the end of the day, it's a pop song so I just wanted it to be light and easy to sing along with but hopefully still have some teeth/grit. It's about being entranced by someone or something and following that feeling all the way, even though you can't see where it will lead yet. I've had to learn a lot of hard lessons in this industry and 2025 tested me more than ever on that front, but for the first time in a while, I'm happy I'm still here, even if I have to follow a bit blindly for now.”
The EP comes out at the end of the month, on Oct 30, and get ready to have the chorus stuck in your head for the rest of the day when you check out the lyric video below!
Kirk
“Somebody To Love” by The Washboard Union
Getting new music from The Washboard Union was a really fun way to learn that Art & Crafts launched a country label!
The new song “Somebody To Love” is about hopeless romantics and the search for “that one who was meant for each and every one of us”.
The band is heading to Australia this week for a string of shows and festivals, and hopefully there’s more music on the way upon their return.
Christine
“Frequency Modulation” by Rich Aucoin
Last month, Rich Aucoin announced the final entry in his quadruple album project with Synthetic Season 4, and now we’re getting a tease with the new song “Frequency Modulation”.
The track (which of course comes right before “Amplitude Modulation” on the album) lives up to it’s name with a wavy vibe, and exemplifies what Rich says about the album overall: “A goal for this season was to have tonal shifts in genres and/or combine elements from multiple genres for each track (really subverting the idea of getting playlisted haha). I think the results of this experiment worked out the best with a heavy late 70s synth funk groove breaking way to French baroque house.”
Synthetic Season 4 is out on October 30, and “boasts the highest number of synthesizers of any of the previously released Seasons with its sounds being comprised of 103 unique synths!”
Kirk
“Nobody But You” by The Sheepdogs
When The Sheepdogs announced the departure of drummer Sam Corbett two weeks ago, I wasn’t sure when we’d be getting any music news from them… turns out is was this past Friday!
The band is out on tour, opening for Bryan Adams but that hasn’t stopped them from releasing a new song called “Nobody But You”. Of it frontman Ewan Curry says: “The twin pillars of love and rock ’n’ roll come together here in a pure expression of musical bliss. It’s the sound of windows down in your Trans-Am, the end of a workday, the optimism of a long weekend on the horizon. Power-pop vocals and southern rock guitars burst from your speakers like a double bill of April Wine and Lynyrd Skynyrd. Both a testament to the power of rock ’n’ roll and a tender love ballad.”
Oh, and speaking of Bryan Adams, The Sheepdogs will appear on his holiday special “Bryan Adams and Friends: A Great Big Holiday Jam” along with appearances from Alessia Cara, Alan Doyle, Barenaked Ladies, Lights, and more (all set in Vancouver/Bryan’s Warehouse Studio). That makes facing the chilly weather ahead a little less daunting!
Christine
“Video Life” Chris Spedding Cover by Art d’Ecco
About a month ago Art d’Ecco released a cover of “Outcast” by Eddie & Ernie and he’s back with another, this time tackling “Video Life” by Chris Spedding.
I’ll let Art tell you about it: “I don’t know how this song came into my life but as soon as I learned Chris Spedding played on two of my all time favourite records (Here Come The Warm Jets and Nilsson Schmillson) I had to know more. There’s something quite prophetic about the lyrics in ‘Video Life’, given the state of things in 2025 and the obsession the music industry has with artists creating content (juxtaposed against the ongoing geopolitical darkness that blankets our screens on the hour, every hour). It’s maddening to be sucked into that gravitational pull, and most days I just tune out and pretend the world doesn’t exist outside my little island bubble. Sometimes a song speaks to you so clearly, and this one was on repeat all summer so I felt compelled to shine a little light on it.”
With this second cover being released (and my obsession with his latest album Serene Demon still going strong) I hope that means we’ll continue to get more music!
Christine