Songs of the Week: August 04 - 10, 2025

August 12, 2025 by Christine McAvoy in Song Of The Day, Songs Of The Week

“Bloodshot” by Milk & Bone

A little funky bass and syth to start your morning!

After their 2019 JUNO win Milk & Bone had a chance meeting on an escalator with fellow JUNO nominees Chromeo, and later DM’d them about working on a project.

The two duos created A Little Lucky over the course of a few years with Milk & Bone focusing on songwriting and Chromeo on production - and it will be released in December of 2025.

The first single, “Bloodshot”, has the Chromeo-esque funk with Milk & Bone vocal harmonies and it’s a dance-able summer track for a sunny day. Excited to hear more!

Christine

“bob dylan's 115th haircut” by Ada Lea

Ada Lea thinks “Bob Dylan couldn’t have written this song / Not even if he wanted to, not even just for fun.”

That’s the chorus for the Montreal singer’s new track, “bob dylan's 115th haircut”, the final single for her new album which was released last Friday, when i paint my masterpiece.

The new track is a soft, thoughtful piece on comparisons, with singer Alexandra Levy explaining, “Sometimes I get into these moods where I feel like there will always be a gap between what I want to say, and what I actually end up writing. I start comparing myself. The mood that evening was comparing myself to Bob Dylan. And why not? In order to pick myself up off the floor after saying things like ‘I could never write a song like Bob Dylan,’ which of course, is true, I had to reverse the thought ‘could he write one like me?’ Whether or not that was a good thing, it was something.”

The album when i paint my masterpiece is out now on Saddle Creek, and she’ll be heading out on a huge North American tour next month, including a stop in Vancouver on October 25th at the Kingsway Club.

Kirk

“You Can Call Me Al” by Dwayne Gretzky

Renowned Toronto cover group Dwayne Gretzky has been packing venues with their live shows for over a decade, and now they’ve unveiled a brand new series, Dwayne’s World, which will see new covers uploaded to youtube monthly.

Filmed inside a DIY set that’s made to look like a rad 70s basement, the latest released is a fun version of the Paul Simon classic, “You Can Call Me Al”.

Check it out below, or see their previous video, Rush’s “Tom Sawyer”

Kirk

Songs of the Week: July 21 - 27, 2025

July 28, 2025 by Christine McAvoy in Song Of The Day, Songs Of The Week

“Twin Lakes” by Dust Cwaine

Vancouver drag performer and indie-pop rocker Dust Cwaine just dropped the second single off their upcoming album with the title track, “Twin Lakes”

With a frenetic urgency to it, the new song is about Dust growing up in the Kootenays & the passing of their father, as they explain: “I wrote this song about growing up in an isolated community, and the pain of being further isolated from the people within it. I realized that in death, my father had bypassed any chance to be held accountable for the things he put me through. This song imagines what it might have been like to finally say what needed to be said.”

Still no release date for the album, but you can check out the video below — directed by Luke Beach Brown & filmed at the Britannia Mine Museum — below!

Kirk

“Caught Light” by Great Lake Swimmers

The new album from Great Lake Swimmers, Caught Light, officially has a released date of October 10th - just in time to kick off their tour with Elliott BROOD!

Last week they released the title track “Caught Light”, which might be my favourite of the new music so far. The press release makes reference to photography (quite literally catching light), which as the photographer around here I can appreciate.

As for the song itself, singer Tony Dekker says it is about “a skydiver who strays off course while in the air, and then takes stock of his surroundings while on the ground in unfamiliar territory. The ‘caught light’ of the song has multiple meanings, in that it implies the metaphor of a mirror reflecting one’s life back to one’s self; the photographic aspect of light being ‘caught’ on paper and creating a physical document of the ephemeral; and also the discovery of a lack or a low reservoir, being ‘light’ on what is needed to make meaningful sense of the predicament of being lost.”

More songs with photography metaphors please!

Christine

“Lost Without You” by Luca Fogale

I have a playlist that is simply called “Morning” that I listen to almost every morning when I’m camping, and when Luca’s song “I Don’t Want To Lose You” comes on I stop whatever I’m doing and just listen to it.

When I saw the words “Luca Fogale” and “Piano Ballad” I knew I was going to love this new track immediately and I wasn’t wrong.

“Lost Without You” is beautiful, elegant and heartfelt - it tugs at my imposter-syndrome when it comes to relationships. Luca says: “I wrote ‘Lost Without You’ as honestly as I possibly could and the result was a song about accepting love at a time when I was not fully able to accept some parts of myself, in the hopes of finding a way to dismantle the patterns of thought that have held me down.”

This is his third single of 2025, so I’m hoping that means even more is coming out soon!

Christine

“midnight magic” by Ada Lea

We’re only a couple weeks away from the release of Ada Lea’s new album, when i paint my masterpiece, as she releases the third single from it with “midnight magic”.

The ethereal song is is accompanied not only by a surreal video, but a painting as well. Alexandra Levy painted it herself, and then collaborated with visual artist Clarice Hana to bring it to life in a video where “a giant creature woman births a candlestick holder, a cloud-sized egg, a piano, an enormous tube of paint and finally, she gives birth to me,” Levy explains. “The OBGYN has 4 eyes and uses 3-foot scissors to cut the cord.”

You are definitely going to need to check out the video below, and then keep a look out for when i paint my masterpiece on August 8th. Ada Lea is also hitting the road this fall for a massive tour, which includes a stop here in Vancouver on October 25th at the Kingsway Club!

Kirk

“itero” by bloom effect

Last week the Vancouver-based transatlantic trio bloom effect announced their upcoming EP oscilón, with the release of the first single, “itero”

The track is an instantly catchy, fuzzy shoegaze jam, which is described as “a melancholic anthem for love that could’ve been.”

Check it out below & let it wash over you, and you can pick up their new EP oscilón on September 19 via Kingfisher Bluez.

Kirk

Songs of the Week: May 12 - 18, 2025

May 20, 2025 by Christine McAvoy in Song Of The Day, Songs Of The Week

“Yvonne” by Foxwarren

I am so sad that I have to wait until December for Foxwarren to finally make their return to Vancouver (December 4th at the Vogue), but I’m so excited that their new record, 2, will be released next week on May 30th!

The second track released from the upcoming album is “Yvonne” - a “compulsory study of love’s strange spell” and the bands says “Yvonne, the woman scanning the beach each morning for buried treasure, deserves a love song too”.
The song starts with sounds of a shoreline - waves and seagulls and builds to add drums, harmonies and strings.
It’s a gorgeous little track and is accompanied by an equally beautiful video by artist Meghan Fenske.

Christine

“baby blue frigidaire mini fridge” by Ada Lea

Ada Lea (aka Montreal’s Alexandra Levy) has announced her latest album, when i paint my masterpiece, and dropped a brand new song called “baby blue frigidaire mini fridge”

The lead single is a lilting love song which highlights Levy’s soft vocals, as she reflects on the inspirations: “The Chantal Akerman film where the camera moves in slow circular pans around her apartment. Then what if the frame quickly zooms out as far as it could possibly go? And in that wide pull back, what we recognize as universal is still ‘this chair, this window, this mountain view.’ Then, move out again, even further. What we are left with—three things: ‘our old time souls, this old time moon.’ Two things, I mean.”

when i paint my masterpiece is out August 8 on Next Door Records and you can check out the video for “baby blue frigidaire mini fridge” below!

Kirk

“Gospel” by Chinese Medicine

On Friday, Toronto’s Chinese Medicine released their sophomore EP, The Trans Agenda.

The album starts off hard, fast, and heavy with “Gospel” — taking aim at the church’s hypocrisy — and doesn’t let up from there. Frontwoman Juno Hailey says of the new EP, “I was inspired to write after growing tired of hearing accusations that we’re pushing some ‘evil agenda’ onto children. The only thing trans people have ever pushed is radical self-love. This album is meant to highlight the hypocrisy of it all. This album for me at least, holds all the emotions of my transition, anger, sadness, joy, etc. I hope it provides that same sense of catharsis to the listeners, as it gives me.”

“The Trans Agenda” (which was initially announced on March 31st in celebration of International Transgender Day of Visibility) is out now on Twin Fang Records!

Kirk

“Mental Mentality” by Pig Pen

I’ve been waiting for this song since Pig Pen announced their existence in March!

The super group includes Matty Matheson (Vocals), Wade MacNeil of alexisonfire (Guitar / Vocals), Daniel Romano (Guitar), Ian Romano (Drums), and Tommy Major (Bass).

While most people would recognize Matty from either his cooking videos or his role on The Bear, I actually went to high school with him and spent many a time in a mosh pit at shows in Niagara - so seeing him on stage is so awesome and feels full circle.

The band has announced their album will be released

Christine

Songs of the Week: September 02 - 08, 2024

September 09, 2024 by Christine McAvoy in Song Of The Day, Songs Of The Week

“ElectroComp” by Rich Aucoin

I think I might need to make this song my new morning alarm.

We’re finally getting a taste of Synthetic: Season 3, the four-part project from Halifax’s Rich Aucoin.
Like the first two releases, Rich composed the instrumental albums at on vintage synthesizers at the National Music Centre, and the Vintage Synthesizer Museum.

The track, aptly titled “ElectroComp”, was made “on a bunch of old ElectroComp synthesizers” and is a hard and driving techno song, that when I closed my eyes I immediately pictured the rave scene in The Matrix Reloaded - which might just be because no matter what style of music he creates, Rich finds a way to scratch a nostalgic itch.

You can catch Rich doing his penultimate tour of the current version of his live show on October 3rd at the Fox Cabaret.

Christine

“come on, baby! be a good girl for the camera” by Ada Lea

Last week, Ada Lea announced her new EP notes, with the brand new single, “come on, baby! be a good girl for the camera”

Her lilting vocals drive the song, that Ada Lea said she wrote “while on a very challenging tour that took everything out of me. Over the years, I’ve developed a suspicion that your skin must be made of macho steel to ‘make it’ in the industry—you’ve gotta be able to suck it up, put a nice smile on your face, and do a little dance with a twinkle in your eye. The chorus runs with that belief, in a cheeky, non-committal and playful way.”

You can pick up the notes EP on October 4th, and check out the video co-directed by Lea and Lawrence Fafard below!

Kirk

“Come Save Me” by Peter Dreams

July Talk frontman Peter Dreimanis has released his second solo single under the moniker Peter Dreams.

“Come Save Me” sees Peter joined by members of MOONRIIVR for a song full of energy and swagger, that is “a foil to a deeper, more delicate truth about overconfidence and the human condition: our self-doubt will be waiting for us at the end of the ride.”

Still no word on an album from Peter Dreams, but if you’re lucky enough to be in the Hamilton area, he’s part of the incredible lineup for this year’s Supercrawl!

Kirk