Songs of the Week: January 20 - 26, 2025

“Good Dream” and “Stowaway” by Mae Martin

You might know Mae Martin from their standup; their podcast Handsome with Tig Notaro and Fortune Feimster; their show Feel Good; or drawing pineapples, throwing balls, and just generally crushing it on series 15 of Taskmaster. But last week they announced their debut album I’m A TV.

The album announcement came with a pair of chill, hazy singles “Good Dream” and “Stowaway” which, along with the rest of the album, were produced by Jason Couse and Wes Marskell (of The Darcys)!

Mae shares, “I've been writing songs since I was a teenager, with no intention of ever sharing them. But it took moving to LA a couple of years ago and really having some time to sit alone in a rented apartment to reconnect with that Toronto teen. I didn't realize how badly I wanted to sit with an acoustic guitar by myself and get to say what I wanted to say without the pressure to find a punchline. Then, filling out the sounds with a band, collaborating with friends, I just leaned into warmth and simplicity and tried to learn this new medium as best I could and trust my gut. All that matters to me is that the album feels like an authentic extension of everything I write and do. No matter the medium I've been trying to say the same thing my whole life, and I kind of hope I never figure out how to say it perfectly because the joy is in trying to express it.”

You can check out the lyrics videos for both songs below, and pick up I’m A TV when it’s out February 27!

• Kirk

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“Migration Song” by Tariq

The highly anticipated (especially by me) new EP, Scroll Before You Sleep, from Tariq is finally out!
Of the release Tariq says: “It’s less of a command or a suggestion, more of a warning. Keep scrolling, see what happens. Our phone addiction keeps us up at night. It’s impossible to relinquish our devices and when we finally do, they sit beside us on the nightstand, buzzing, alerting, demanding to be looked at and engaged with. When they finally shut up, they start doing their most unsettling activity of all, listening. They eavesdrop on our desires, hunger, fears, our tastes in music, fashion, and lovers. They make decisions about our lives and then at night, they sell it all back to us in ads and subscriptions and as we scroll, we pay. We pay and we rarely sleep.”

After the first two of the three tracks on Scroll Before You Sleep, the final song “Migration Song” has been released as well. On what the track focuses on Tariq says “Lately we hear a lot of news reports about people—call them migrants, refugees, immigrants, etc.—putting themselves in great danger in order to flee injustice, persecution, war. And as they do, there is pushback from others who want to keep the outsiders out. Move on, they sing to the outsiders, move on.”

• Christine

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“Work Song” by Housewife

Over the last year or so, we’ve had a steady stream of singles from Toronto’s Housewife, and now we’re finally getting news of a new EP!

Girl Of The Hour drops March 7th and the news comes with yet another new track, the high energy, anthemic “Work Song”.

Brighid Fry describes the new single as “about feeling unsatisfied with yourself and where you’re going. I have really high expectations of myself but also have really unhealthy habits and so oscillate between being a workaholic and being burnt out. I wanted to poke fun at myself, while still processing it as a valid issue in my life. This song is for anyone else out there with executive functioning issues who sometimes feel like a hot mess.”

Check out the video below!

• Kirk

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“Eddie Vedder” (Steve Bays Remix) by The Matinee

And finally, here’s a remix of the latest release from The Matinee “Eddie Vedder” by the one and only Steve Bays.

• Christine

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

“Divorce” by Housewife

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

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

Check out the lyric video below!

• Kirk

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“Architect’s Studio” by Tariq

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

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

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

• Kirk

Songs of the Week: September 16 - 22, 2024

“Eddie Vedder” by The Matinee

The Matinee just wants to be friends with “Eddie Vedder”.

On their new tune, named for the grunge icon, singer Matt Layzell shares: “We grew up listening to Pearl Jam. Their album TEN came out at a formative time in our lives, and watching the band continue to evolve and stick it out together has always been something to aspire to. I was in a bit of a rut, feeling like I was attracting nothing but bad luck. The kicker was my car breaking down after a road trip and having to fork out my whole tax return. I took a walk with my dog to the dog beach here in Vancouver and remembered the moment the trouble light came on, which was around the Vedder River. Vedder. Eddie Vedder. I don’t know why, but I just said it out loud, “I wish Eddie Vedder was a friend of mine”. I perked up quite a bit as I realized my day wasn’t so bad sitting on a log, watching the waves. I started thinking about the things I’d ask Eddie if he was there, just chewing the fat with me. Eddie, if you hear this song, let’s grab a coffee sometime—it’s on me.”

The new song is the kind of catchy, roots-rock jam you would expect from the band (and I’ll bet they’re currently pretty happy they didn’t pick the frontman to another ground-breaking 90s Seattle grunge band to sing about).

You can check out the lyric video below, and find the song on their upcoming End of Scene EP — featuring B-Sides to their latest album Change of Scene — which is out November 1st.

• Kirk

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“If God Is A Woman” by Larkin Poe

I first heard of Georgia-bred, Nashville-based Larkin Poe at the Vancouver Folk Music Festival in 2019 and was instantly hooked.
This week they put out a new single titled “If God Is A Woman” and announced a new album Bloom, to be released in January.

Of the bluesy new track, Rebecca Lovell says “If God Is A Woman’ was written as a reminder to resist the typecasting of women, both conscious and unconscious. There are many shades of existence, and we had fun painting abstract with this sardonic blues.”

I hope we get more soon from these Grammy winners!

• Christine

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“Life of the Party” by Housewife

With their third release of the year, Toronto’s Housewife is looking to be the “Life of the Party”.

Though despite the name, the haunting ear-worm is a little on the darker side compared to their latest songs, with Brighid Fry explaining, “’Life of the Party’ is the closest I’ll ever get to making the music 13 year old emo me wanted to make. It’s a totally self pity fest, which is sometimes exactly what you need! I made this song with Mikky Ekko and Aaron C Harmon, and we wrote it about the cognitive dissonance you get between people’s perception of how your life is going versus how you actually feel it's going. I totally love my job, but I think sometimes people make a lot of assumptions about me based on the fact that I’m a musician. People see me on stage and assume that I’m this super confident person living a super glamorous life, and that is just not the case. Once I get off stage, I am a very anxious person who doesn’t like being the center of attention - so I wanted to write a song about balancing people’s opinions of me with how I actually feel about myself.”

No word on a full album from Housewife, but you can watch the lyric video below.

• Kirk

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“Candles” by Sunset Rubdown

I still sorta can’t believe that we have new music from Sunset Rubdown, but this past Friday, the Vancouver band released their first album in 15(!) years, Always Happy To Explode.

And to celebrate, they dropped their latest single, “Candles”, an upbeat song that started as one of Spencer Krug’s song-a-month project on Patreon in 2020, it was rediscovered and reworked by the band for the new album.

Always Happy To Explode is available now, and you can see Sunset Rubdown as they strike out on tour, starting October 10 here in Vancouver at the Rickshaw Theatre

• Kirk

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“All Bets Are Off” by Japandroids

It’s less than a month until the final album from Japandroids - with Fate & Alcohol being released on October 18th.

It is bittersweet getting new music from the band but knowing that it’s the end and we won’t be getting a tour for it, but I will take whatever they give me!

The latest track release is titled “All Bets Are Off” and singer/guitarist Brian King shared his journaling/thoughts on the night that inspired the closing track of the album:

“Night off. I could have rested though (of course) I didn't. The crew were on one and the party was well underway when I arrived. The other patrons didn't seem to appreciate our noisy and colourful presence (squares), but the boys were blissfully unaware, hurling hot words at one another and making absurd bets with their per diems, like whether it was possible to light a cigarette with a pistol shot. I knew where this was going and wanted no part of it. 

I slunk to a shadowy corner and ordered a cocktail, spur to my jaded spirits. I was gathering material for a book on bar life and it was the perfect place to watch the hungry hearts of Saturday twist towards the blue emptiness of Sunday morning. Poolroom tigers and nightclub kittens, on the prowl for a piece of anything. Cups and lips, quips and quirks, I frantically jotted it all down sparing no detail. Another cocktail? Don't mind if I do! The night was primed and I felt punk. 

Seeing her immediately stripped me of my powers. A thousand thoughts, frozen and kept in cold storage, thawed all at once. She was not the same woman I had known, exuding a subtle elegance and sensuality I had never seen before; she looked breathtaking. Every exquisite nuance like salt on old love-cuts. Chicly dressed too, which added to my agony. The imbalance between us was obvious, making me self-conscious. Still, I decided to let it play out. Cue the music.”

• Christine

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“Fear it comes in waves” by Sunnsetter

Sunnsetter is the latest music project from multi-instrumentalist, composer, and mixing engineer Andrew McLeod, and last week they released their latest single, “Fear it comes in waves”.

The new tune is a raucous song that Andrew says is an examination of “the daily dread or anxiety that just finds its way into your everyday life, in waves, even when you find ways to cope with it.”

Along with the new single, the band announced their upcoming album, Heaven Hang Over Me, which is out November 15!

• Kirk

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“Armour” by bloom effect

bloom effect is a Vancouver trio made up of members from Argentina and UK, and last week they released the first taste of their upcoming EP Portents,

“Armour” is a shoegaze- y dream-pop vibe, with ethereal vocals from singer Jula Lafit, and you can have a listen below!

• Kirk

Songs of the Week: February 12 - 18, 2024

“Lost And Found” by Chromeo

The iconic duo Chromeo have released their new record, Adult Contemporary, and it’s classically funky fun.
The album dropped almost 20 years to the day that their first album did, and it’s got a similar vibe to their early work.

The fun news on top of this is that they’re taking it on tour, including a show at the Malkin Bowl here in Vancouver on September 5th, and I cannot wait!

• Christine

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“Wind and Snow” by Elliott BROOD

Last year, Elliott BROOD released the first of a 2-part album project called Town. Now, just a few short months later, we’re getting a date for the second half, Country.

The latest single for that album is “Wind and Snow”, a frantic song that is sure to be a roadtrip classic.

Casey Laforet from the band explains: "This is a driving love song. It's a song about the Midwest and the Mississippi River and the Great Plains, the desert and the gorgeous west coast of North America. To be honest, maybe the greatest part of touring for a living is getting to see all these places that only exist in film and television for most people. This song is a true story of my migration to the West Coast of the United States from the comforts of Canada. I did the trip in a beat up Subaru in 4 days and aged 20 years. It was incredible. Travelling through America is in my mind the only way to gain a true fair and rounded perspective of the diversity and beauty of the people of that great country."

Country is out April 12, but in the meantime, you can check out the lyric video for “Wind and Snow”!

• Kirk

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“I Lied” by Housewife

Appropriately released on Valentine’s Day, Toronto’s Housewife dropped their latest single, “I Lied”.

The new tune is about a “messy ex-situationship”, and is incredibly catchy. Check out the video below, and good luck getting it out of your head for the rest of the day!

• Kirk

Songs of the Week: March 06 - 12, 2023

“Fuck Around Phase” by Housewife

Housewife is in their “Fuck Around Phase”.

Taking no time to rest after last year’s EP You'll Be Forgiven, Housewife (aka 20-year-old Brighid Fry) released the gritty new song which Fry describes as “about learning to enjoy yourself and be present after going through a difficult time. I want to embrace being messy and not take things too seriously!”

“Fuck Around Phase” also promises to be “the first taste of Housewife’s more mature and intentionally genre-blending sound”, and I’m looking forward to hearing what’s next.

• Kirk

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“We Live On A Fucking Planet And Baby That's The Sun”
by ALL HANDS_MAKE LIGHT

First off, “We Live On A Fucking Planet And Baby That's The Sun” is the early contender for best song title of the year.

Secondly, I was all in on ALL HANDS_MAKE LIGHT as soon as I saw it was the duo of Ariel Engle (La Force, Broken Social Scene) and Efrim Manuel Menuck (Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Thee Silver Mt. Zion).

I’m not sure how I managed to miss the self-titled EP they released a couple years, ago, but this ten minute(!) tour de force (no pun intended) that takes a journey from haunting synths to cacophonous drums. It’s the first song from their upcoming full length debut, Darling The Dawn, which will be out on April 21st, and if it’s any indication on the rest of the album, it’s gonna be one to pick up immediately.

So turn the lights off, close your eyes, hit play, and drift off through space for the next ten minutes.

• Kirk

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“Mom Jeans // Mom Genes” by Miesha and The Spanks

As we get closer to the release of the new album, Miesha and The Spanks are giving us another tease with a high energy song about the chaos of parenthood called “Mom Jeans // Mom Genes”.

Miesha Louie says: “It's more than just about the new mom-fit jeans that I'm wearing though, that's just the metaphor. It's also the super tough mom genes that get us through that day to day of ups and downs and emotional manipulations and breakthroughs and pure joy that come with our role as matriarch. My babies were a great gift to me and I wouldn't change anything, but as I try to balance motherhood with everything that I had before, things can't help but fall off the scales. Moms are just out here doing their best, loving their babies, and trying to make time for loving themselves too.”

Unconditional Love In Hi-Fi is out April 14 on Mint Records, and the duo announced a string of western Canadian shows, including here in Vancouver at The Lido on April 13.

• Kirk

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“Words With You” by Chromeo

I needed some funk this Monday morning - and low and behold, new music from Chromeo!

Been a while since we had something new from the Funklordz, after their lockdown-inspired EP Quarantine Casanova.
No news in the press release if this is the first of many, or (fingers crossed) a tour to happen in the future, but I’ll keep my ear to the ground.

• Christine

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“Uummati Attanarsimat (Heart of Glass)” by Elisapie

It’s been nearly four years since Elisapie released her previous album, but last week we got a hint of something new with “Uummati Attanarsimat (Heart of Glass)”.

The gorgeous cover of the Blondie classic was translated from English to Inuktitut by Elisapie, and inspired by a childhood memory, dancing with her cousins.

No word on a new album, but Elisapie also announced Uvattini, a series of shows that “combine music, narration, video and performance to create a space of ritual where past and present merge”. Those take place in Montreal and Quebec City in December of this year.

• Kirk

Songs of the Week: September 12 - 19, 2022

“Just Know It” by Dan Mangan

We’ve been getting singles and teases from Dan Mangan as of late, but we’ve finally got a new album announcement.
Dan’s 6th album Being Somewhere will be released on October 28th, and of it he says: “I wanted this album to feel like the inside crook of a familiar elbow on the nape of your neck, a comforting embrace”.

We also got another single off of the LP, “Just Know It”, a soft, piano-heavy track about “shooting yourself in the foot, told from the foot’s perspective”. It kind of reminds me of a track you would hear in a late 90’s early-2000’s drama like Dawson’s Creek - but in a very good way.

• Christine

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“Tooth and Nail” by Skye Wallace

Speaking of October 28… that’s also the day we’re getting the brand new album from Skye Wallace! The new album is Terribly Good and will be out on Six Shooter, and comes with another tease, the gritty “Tooth and Nail”.

Wallace says “This record is a banger of a journey through all the messy, sometimes ugly pieces of being alive and the beauty of growing while moving through it. I realized after it was completed that it was a love letter to myself, telling me to keep going.
“Tooth and Nail shouts defiance at all the expectations of failure I’ve met along the way, be it from outside sources or my own brain. The road here has been long, but creating music that makes me whole, and getting a chance to connect with people and feeling something altogether – That’s what it’s all about.”

Skye’s currently on tour in Europe, and will be returning home to Canada for a string of shows in November, including here in Vancouver at the Fox Cabaret on November 9th.

• Kirk

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“You’re Not the Worst” by Housewife

The string of October announcements continues with Housewife, and their new five song collection called You’ll Be Forgiven, out on the 14th.

If the songs we’ve heard so far are any indication, the album will be incredibly catchy, and the latest single is no different. The duo says the new song “You’re Not The Worst” is “about undervaluing yourself and allowing people who are overbearing and arrogant to affect you emotionally. Why am I spending time with someone who doesn't respect me or my time? Then finally working up the courage to cut them out of your life when you've had enough.”

The new song comes with a fun animated video, which you can check out below.

• Kirk

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“Echo Park” by Tim Baker

It is only one month until Tim Baker’s new solo album The Festival is released, and we’ve got a sweet little ode to the west coast in his new single “Echo Park”, a song about moving to LA and homesickness.

When the song started I immediately got a Wes Anderson vibe from it (maybe it’s just the slow motion vibe of and colouring of the lyric video) and could see it fitting into a teary-eyed montage.

Check it out below!

• Christine

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“sucker4u” by Little Destroyer

Vancouver alt-rock band Little Destroyer have officially announced their new album 1134, out October 18th, and the first singles off of it have been some of their best yet in my opinion.

And with this announcement came a new single and music video - and the second I saw the cover still for it, I knew it would be a fun one.
Fo “sucker4u” the band, dressed up as ““Ace of Spades” era Motorhead”, start out in a sunny field, but end up crashing a pool party, Jack Daniels in hand.
A song about love, and lead singer Allie Sheldan coming-to-terms with the reality that she was “now an absolute love-sick sucker”.

• Christine

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“Summer Slaughter” by Babe Corner

Last Friday, Vancouver’s Babe Corner released “Summer Slaughter”, the first single off their debut full length album, Crybaby.

The breezy tune is the perfect end-of-summer comedown, inspired by “the chicken factory down the street from [their] house and the stench it gives off when mixed with the summer heat.”

Check out the chilling video directed by Lester Lyons-Hookham below.

• Kirk

Songs of the Week: August 01 - 07, 2022

“Sweet Relief” by Colyn Cameron

Start your Monday off with this soft and sweet new song by JUNO Award nominated songwriter Colyn Cameron.
Cameron released his new album Freehand last week, almost four years after his last (Sad & Easy), and says that the “materials for Freehand emerged within the paradoxical spaces of experimenting with dispersed and concentrated rhythms”.

The single off of the new album that was released this week, “Sweet Relief” was written smack in the middle of the pandemic and is about trying to find love and relief in that kind of world.

• Christine

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“I’m Spent” by Housewife

Toronto duo Housewife released yet another new songs this week, a slightly melancholic yet incredibly catchy song “I’m Spent”.

The band explains that the new tune “deals with fading friendships. You have this group of people you're really close with for years, but as you both grow and change, you start disagreeing more often and eventually drift apart. Growing up and moving on can feel sad, but mostly necessary so you can continue to evolve as a person."

No word yet on a new album, but with three new songs out in as many months, fingers crossed for something soon!

• Kirk

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“Party4One” by dwi

How can you not love a song with a lyrical reference to the classic ‘97 N64 game GoldenEye 007?

That’s exactly what we hear from the opening lines of “Party4One” by dwi, the solo project from Dwight Abell (The Zolas). As you may guess from the title, the song is a “celebration of being a loner” and captures dwi’s “experience of cabin fever and losing touch with reality, all the while falling in love with himself.”

Check out the song below, and check out dwi live at Light Organ’s 10th anniversary celebration, the Summerlight Festival on August 20!

• Kirk

Songs of the Week: June 27 - July 03, 2022

“Bones (God Like You)” by Housewife

Toronto’s Housewife has just released their second single of the year, the gorgeous and incredibly catchy “Bones (God Like You)”, which was co-written and produced by Jackson Phillips of Day Wave.

The band says "Bones is about struggling with ongoing mental health issues and feeling like you won't get better, like a broken bone that can’t heal properly. It always seems like everyone around you is doing better and it reminds you of how lost you are in your own illness. There's also an interesting juxtaposition with this track that Jackson helped us create; lyrically it's quite dark and touches on suicide, but it has this bright rhythm to it."

Have a listen below, and if you’re on your way to the Vancouver Folk Fest later this month, make sure to seek them out!

• Kirk

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“Hamptons City Cowboy” by Lowell

More new music from Lowell, and I gotta guess an album is going to be announced soon - but in the meantime we’ve got “Hamptons City Cowboy”!

This one is upbeat and catchy, and is about the start of a new relationship. About the tune Lowell says: “unlike some of my other more introspective songs this is really just a fun and flirty Friday night out.”

And fun and flirty it is! Have a listen.

• Christine
  

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“Green Tea” by Matthew Barber

Matthew Barber’s new album, No Singing, No Dancing, is set to be released on July 22nd, and we recently got a new single from it called “Green Tea”.

”Green Tea” was written quickly in one backyard sitting on a warm spring day in May of 2020;" shares Barber. "The song’s mellow feel reflects a world that had slowed down from the frenetic bustle of public life. A world in which the changes in the garden that come with the changes in seasons become more apparent and take on more significance. In this world, one can more easily meditate on gratitude - both for heroic acts and simple pleasures - and that’s what this song tries to convey."

It very much does (I’m sipping tea while I write this - not green, but it has the same effect). Barber has released a few tour dates, but nothing on the west coast as of yet.

• Christine