Songs of the Week: April 11 - 17, 2022

“Hitman” by Little Destroyer

Vancouver’s Little Destroyer dropped a brand new single last week, “Hitman” along with a video directed by frequent collaborator Connor McGuire.

The raucous song is “an off-beat commentary that touches upon the harassment women encounter in today’s society.” Frontwoman Allie Sheldan adds “Michael and Chris told me to write a story, so I wrote ‘Hitman’. For weeks, I had that recurring question in my head ‘does everybody want to hire one’? We had talked about making something that was simple, driving and to the point, like a Sleaford Mods song. Kind of funny and satirical but also really kind of not, because shit, sometimes life tries to kill you. We’ve all felt sadness turn into rage, maybe while sitting on the curb outside the local liquor store. What do you do with a breaking point? I guess in our case, you write a song.”

The song also namedrops the (in)famous Kingsgate Mall in the lyrics, so how can you not love that?

• Kirk

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“Don’t Trip” by Aquakultre

A new single and an album announcement from East Coast artist, and former Polaris Prize nominee, Aquakultre.
Both the new single and the album are called “Don’t Trip” with the EP set to be released in July 2022 and will sport an impressive 20 guest artists on it!
The album was originally going to be a five-song EP based on the first three weeks of a budding relationship with his partner, but now we’ve got 13 tracks to look forward to. Check out “Don’t Trip” below!

• Christine

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“Reckless Reckless” by Anyway Gang

Anyway Gang is back with a brand new song, AND news of their next album!

The group is comprised of the familiar faces/voices of Dave Monks (Tokyo Police Club), Chris Murphy (Sloan), Menno Versteeg (Hollerado) and Sam Roberts (uh… Sam Roberts Band), and they’ve announced their sophomore album, Still Anyways, will be released on May 6th via Royal Mountain Records.

The latest release, “Reckless Reckless”, lives up to its name with the band saying: "This song is a collection of those small leftover memories that transport you back to another world where the grass is greener and the glasses are rose tinted. I think it was easy for the four of us to all relate too since so much of being in a band is an extension of your teenage dreams. There is a lot of common experience there and if was fun picking references and lyrics together that told a story we all loved. Our respective audiences has been on a journey with us and we wanted to relive some of those sweet nostalgic moments with them. And rip a few guitar solos while we're at it!"

• Kirk

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“The Frequency” by Riches

International collaborators Catherine McCandless and Wynn Holmes — better knows as Riches — have released their latest single, “The Frequency”.

The duo has been releasing a slow drip of new singles since their debut album Fantasy Chapel came out in 2020, and this latest song features McCandless’ haunting voice over a dreamy pop beat, with the band describing the song as “being swept up, being in love, longing and belonging, soothing and alive. It is a calling on the ethereal to take on form, on music to bring touch and connection over the frontiers of physical walls and distances”.

No word yet on their next album, but hopefully we’ll know more soon!

• Kirk

Songs of the Week: February 28 - March 06, 2022

“Reckoning” by Arkells

You thought just because Arkells put out an album six months ago they were going to slow down? Nope. Aside from an extensive tour planned, including playing this year’s Juno Awards, the boys from Hamilton are releasing yet another album, aptly titled Blink Twice.

“Reckoning” is the first taste of the new album that is somewhat of a companion album to Blink Once, with frontman Max Kerman saying “The title of Blink Once was born from the song “Reckoning,” and lyrics “blink twice, there’s gonna be a reckoning. If you listen to the outro track of Blink Once - “Last Night I Heard Em’ Sing” - we hint that there’s more coming. Kind of like a post-credits scene in a movie. “Reckoning” is the beginning of what’s next.”

Crank the volume on this Monday morning (or… whenever you happen to be reading this) and enjoy.

• Kirk

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“To Talk About” by The Weather Station

Speaking of “companion albums” and “quick turnarounds”, last week we got another tease of the newest album from The Weather Station, How Is It That I Should Look At The Stars.

Out this coming Friday, the album is a companion to last year’s Ignorance (which was just nominated for a Juno!) with songs that were written at the same time and deal with a lot of the same emotions and themes: disconnection & conflict, love, birds, and climate feelings.

The latest song is the absolutely gorgeous “To Talk About”, featuring Tamara Lindeman’s incredible vocals tempered by a soft piano, and joined by Ryan Driver.

• Kirk

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“Out of Nowhere” by Anyway Gang

When your super group band has 4 lead singers, it’s always fun to see who is taking the lead next. In the case of Anyway Gang’s new single “Out Of Nowhere”, that’d be the one and only Sam Roberts.

The second most exciting part of the press release was the tease that the band would be announcing tour dates on March 11th - so be on the lookout for those!

By the way, I could only watch the video for about 3 seconds before I immediately got motion sick, so it’s a mystery to me - but hopefully you can enjoy it.

• Christine

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“Matilda” by PUP

I honestly don’t even want to write anything about this track because PUP’s lead singer Stefan did it best:

“Matilda is the name of my favourite guitar. She was a gift from my friend Ryan, after watching me accidentally break the only guitar I owned in the middle of a long tour,” says Backbock. “I had no money to buy a replacement, and Ryan’s act of kindness is up there on my list of ‘nicest things anyone’s ever done for me’. I played Matilda nonstop for 7 years at every PUP show, even when my bandmates started complaining that she sounded like shit. As the band got bigger, the pressure to sound better was building and so I bought a ‘good’ guitar and played Matilda less and less. Before I knew it I hadn’t played her in over a year. I wrote this song based on this intense feeling of guilt and sadness and shame and nostalgia and regret, watching her rot away in a corner. I love this guitar and I love Ryan and wanted to do right by them, and I felt like I’d failed them both. I convinced the band that Matilda deserved one last rip on a PUP record, and I played her during the bridge of this song. It sounds so shitty. But good shitty. Great shitty. For me, it was the most joyful and cathartic moment in the entire making of this record.”

PUP has added new tour dates, but the Vancouver one hasn’t been rescheduled yet - I’m eyeing April 7th as it is right before 2 Victoria shows. Cross your fingers!

• Christine

Songs of the Week: January 31 - February 06, 2022

“Alternate View” by Anyway Gang

The Canadian Indie Rock Voltron known as Anyway Gang is back! A couple years ago Chris Murphy (Sloan), Menno Versteeg (Hollerado), Dave Monks (Tokyo Police Club), and Sam Roberts (uh… Sam Roberts Band) got together to jam, and ended up releasing a self titled album and playing exactly one (1) show.

Now they’ve returned with a brand new single, “Alternate View”, a psyche-tinged indie-pop banger that’s paired with an excellent animated video from Justin Hess.

Released on Royal Mountain Records, hopefully this single is just the tease of a brand new album and, more importantly, at least one more show.

• Kirk

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“With You” by Mo Kenney

The first new music of 2022 from Mo Kenney came out this week with the song “With You”.
Mo says the track about their “own messy, true-to-life experience with loss, reflecting on dashed dreams, miscommunications, and moments of quiet connection”.

It’s about heartbreak and accepting something can be painful, but you’re okay with that.
Hoping to hear more from Mo in the coming months!

• Christine

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“Human Like You” by Adnama

Since her debut EP in 2017, Vancouver’s Adnama has been releasing a slow drip of new songs exploring a variety of sounds.

Her latest, “Human Like You”, is a dark & pulsing synth-heavy tune, that’s accompanied by a video of what appears to be an extraterrestrial being staring directly into your soul for 4 minutes.

Check it out below!

• Kirk

Song of the Day: September 23, 2019 - "Big Night" by Anyway Gang

I’ll tell you this right off the bat. When I saw the headline that Anyway Gang was a new group featuring members of Sloan, Hollerado, Tokyo Police Club, Sam Roberts Band, I was certainly not expecting the members in question to be the frontman of every single one!

Sam Roberts, Dave Monks, Menno Versteeg, and Chris Murphy have come together for what can only be described as a supergroup -- or as Roberts explains, a “Frankenstein’s monster of a band with stitched-on limbs provided by Chris, Menno, Sam and Dave. The beast is brainless of course, but it’s gonna be a wild ride!"

“Big Night” is the first single of the band, and sound exactly what you would expect from the sum of it’s parts, in all the best ways. Have a listen below, and mark down November 29th, for the release of their self-titled album out on Royal Mountain Records.