Sunday May 9, 2021

La Peur

Some Party is a newsletter sharing the latest in independent Canadian rock'n'roll, curated more-or-less weekly by Adam White. Each edition explores punk, garage, psych, and otherwise uncategorizable indie rock, drawing lines from proto to post and taking some weird diversions along the way.

Hélène Barbier: "La Peur"

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Montreal's Hélène Barbier returns this summer with Regulus, her sophomore solo full-length. The art-pop / post-punk artist's new record arrives June 18, with Michel Records handling the digital and CD release and Celluloid Lunch issuing vinyl. The album alternates between English and French, with this week's premiere single "La Peur" showcasing the latter (it's also notably Barbier's first song ever released in French). Among the 12-song playlist, you'll also find a cover of "You Little Nothing" by Detroit garage legends The Gories.

The curiously compelling "La Peur" arrives alongside a video directed by Olivia Faye Lathuillière. You can check it out below.

While Barbier performs much of the instrumentation, the record features a handful of collaborators, notably Itchy Self and Protruders' Joe Chamandy on second guitar. Thomas Molander and VICTIME's Samuel Gougoux (fresh off his recent solo work as TDA) provide the record's percussion. Diana Gerasimov appears on backing vocals while Ben Lalonde and Olivier Demeaux take turns on keys. Freelove Fenner's Peter Woodford recorded Regulus at the proudly analog Bottle Garden Studio in Montreal. Faith Healer's Renny Wilson mixed at Value Sound with Olivier Demeaux mastering.

Regulus follows Barbier's 2019 LP Have You Met Elliott?. Earlier in her career, she fronted the post-punk groups Moss Lime and Phern.

Mononegatives: "Stilted Entrance"

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I had the privilege this week of premiering the latest track from London, Ontario garage-punk weirdos Mononegatives. The band's linked up with Big Neck Records in the US and No Front Teeth in the UK to release their debut LP, Apparatus Division. Our first preview of the record is a blown-out synthpunk number titled "Stilted Entrance." The band describes it as "urgently dehumanized," and I can't think of a better description. You can check it out below or at Bandcamp.

Mononegatives recorded over two days in July of 2020 at London studio The Watershed with Preston Lobzun and Eric Altomonte engineering. The prolific Will Killingsworth mastered at his Dead Air Studios. The set follows a handful of short-form releases issued in 2019, including the Cheap Heat Tour Tape, the Sure Shock 7", and the 5 Second Future digital EP.

Mononegatives is one of several ongoing projects from the relentless Robbie Brake. It arrives on the heels of recent material from the power-pop group Isölation Party, the proto-punk-styled Obsoletism, and contributions to Klazo, Dong Vegan, and HEXOFFENDER, among others.

Tough Age/Dumb: Pizza Punks

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Mint Records acts Tough Age and Dumb are pairing up for Pizza Punks, a split 7" which arrives in celebration of Cole Pauls' new comic collection of the same name. The record, released in collaboration with Conundrum Press, arrives July 9 as on pizza-splatter vinyl packaged with an eight-page comic. You can preview each group's contribution to the project on their respective Bandcamp pages. Mint-family regular Jay Arner mastered both songs.

Cole Pauls is a Vancouver-based Tahltan Nation artist, illustrator, and printmaker who hails from the Yukon village of Haines Junction. His Pizza Punks comics were originally published in DUNK, a newspaper issued through Lucky's Comics. This month Conundrum collected the strips as a 140-page graphic novel. Pauls also writes and illustrates the award-winning Dakwäkãda Warriors, an award-winning fantasy series presented bilingually in English and the ancestral language of Southern Tutchon.

Dumb released Club Nites, their second LP for Mint, in 2019. Tough Age last issued Which Way Am I?, their fourth LP, in August of 2020.

Lost Love: "Hell"

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Montreal pop-punk group Lost Love returns this fall with Empathy, a new full-length for the Fantasio Club label. The announcement came alongside "Hell," a new single that finds the group fully embracing the Blue-album Weezer vibes that surfaced on their last record. While Lost Love's calling card has long been their endless well of optimism, this new track colours it with the (entirely justified) frustrations of life in the pandemic.

Empathy arrives as the band's fourth album, following 2019's Stomp-backed Good Luck Rassco. Lost Love recorded in Montreal with Marc-André Beaudet.

Over the past year, Lost Love vocalist/guitarist Guilhem issued two solo albums, with Bored & Bored arriving just in time for the pandemic to shut it down and the French-language La Peur Au Ventre surfacing this past April. Lost Love last released the Glenn Spaghetti Legs EP in the summer of 2019 on Germany's Uncle M Records.

Bootlicker: "Two Faced" / "Hunting"

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Following a string of throat-grabbing short-form releases, Vancouver hardcore act Bootlicker are set to unveil their debut full-length. The self-titled Bootlicker LP arrives June 18 through Neon Taste in Canada and Static Shock in Europe, promising 14 tracks of Discharge-indebted punk rock that builds upon the tried and true aggression of the D-beat and UK82 sounds. You can stream "Two Faced" and "Hunting" at Bandcamp today.

This iteration of Bootlicker features Lewis Jay Podlubny on vocals, Athena Joan on guitar, Josh Nickel (Chain Whip) on guitar, Lucas Treadwell drumming, and new bassist Mark. The group recorded with Trevor Robson in August of 2020, with Will Killingsworth mixing and mastering at Dead Air Studios. The LP comes packaged with an illustrated 16-page zine by Athena Joan.

Bootlicker last released the killer How To Love Life in the fall, the fourth EP from the group since 2017. Last year also saw the Live In The Swamp cassette issued through Neon Taste.

JONCRO: "Cudjoe (Maroon War)"

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Mississauga rock trio JONCRO recently shared "Cudjoe (Maroon War)," another preview of their upcoming LP Richmond Station. The song finds songwriter Daniel G. Wilson composing with Faiyaz Shah (of Toronto garage trio Faiyaz And The Wasted Chances). The track also finds the band on yet another stylistic swerve from the recent "Sakura" and "Passa Passa." In "Cudjoe" Wilson presents a harrowing tale of resistance rooted in the 19th-century conflicts between the Jamaican Maroons and colonial authorities. The band revealed:

"It is a post-hardcore and indie rock fusion with elements of traditional Afro-Caribbean folk music. The song is inspired by Jamaican/Yamaye history and is a celebration of both Daniel's roots and the culture from which they draw strength. Captain Cudjoe (c. 1690s - 1764) was a Jamaican maroon leader who led a group of Maroons during the 1700s. He is one of Jamaica's greatest heroes. The Jamaican Maroons are a mixed African and Taino population that formed from Akan slaves who escaped colonial rule and fled into the mountains and hills alongside the surviving indigenous (Taino) population. They led numerous rebellions and waged war against both the Spanish and the English over many decades and resisted any attempts to capture and re-enslave them. They were so formidable that the colonial government was forced to agree to treaties that ensured the autonomy of the maroon communities and recognition of their unique culture and status as the first major free Afro-descendent population on the island. The treaties have remained honoured by the Jamaican government to this day and the original Maroon communities still stand to this day as a testament to both African and Taino survival in the face of colonial rule. Countless elements of Jamaican culture exist because of the Maroons (including Jerk chicken which fuses West African and Taino cooking methods) and many Jamaicans such as myself have roots within those communities."

JONCRO features Daniel G. Wilson on guitar and vocals, drummer Matthew Mikuljan, and bassist Kieran Christie. Wilson recorded the song at the band's home studio, The Lions Den, with Austin Nops of The Effens mixing and mastering at Lootbag Studios. Weatherboy's Isaiah Canario provides backing vocals on "Cudjoe," as well.

JONCRO last released the live Lions Den Session set in December of 2020, having issued The Joncro Mountains EP just a few months prior. The Richmond Station album is due later this year.

Needles//Pins: "Of Things Best Left to Chance"

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Gruff Vancouver punk group Needles//Pins recently shared the second preview of their upcoming self-titled LP. The group premiered the track "Of Things Best Left to Chance" last week through No Echo. In the feature, guitarist/vocalist Adam Solomonian band commented on the track:

"This song sat forever on the whiteboard in our jam space titled 'Jets' because we thought it had a kind of Jets to Brazil feel to it, which I'd say it certainly does... To me it came out sounding more like a bummer version of a Sloan song, which I'm very content with."

The track arrived alongside a (curiously) ice cream-themed video. You can find it now on YouTube.

The self-titled Needles//Pins record drops May 28 on Portland's Dirt Cult Records. It's the group's fourth proper full-length, following up on 2017's Good Night Tomorrow.

Belvedere: "Chromatic"

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Calgary's beloved skate-punk combo Belvedere recently shared another preview of their fast-approaching 6th LP, Hindsight Is The Sixth Sense. You can stream the galloping "Chromatic" at Bandcamp now. The 13 track record arrives on Thousand Islands in Canada and Lockjaw Records in Europe on May 14.

The band's current lineup brings back guitarist/vocalist Steve Rawles, Belvedere's only constant from 1995 to present, and drummer Casey Lewis, who's been on board since 2011. They're backed here by guitarist Dan Wollach and bassist Ryan Mumby, modern-era Belvedere members since 2019. Hindsight serves as this incarnation's first studio record together.

Belvedere recorded at Echo Base in Calgary, with Lewis and Rawles producing. Hindsight features guest appearances from Roger Lima of Florida ska-punks Less Than Jake, Rody Walker of Whitby prog-metal favourites Protest The Hero, and Dylan Toews of Edmonton's Wolfrik.

Enchanters: Torture Chamber

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Toronto power-trio Enchanters have a new 7" out on the Winnipeg garage label Transistor 66. Torture Chamber rockets in with a pair of new songs, following up on the group's early 2020 EP High Heel Roller Skates. Enchanters features guitarist/vocalist Classy Craig Daniels (of the garage-punk duo The Leather Uppers), drummer Ter (City Sweethearts), and bassist Derek B (Do Nothings). The group draws from a mix of proto-punk and glam, with an eye on English freakbeat sounds in particular. You can check out "Torture Chamber" and "Backstabbers UK" at Bandcamp now, or pick it up as a limited-run 45 through the label.

Matt Post Band: The Nest Was Destroyed In A Storm

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Matt Post's usually making an abrasive racket as one-half of the Whitby-bred noise-punks Deathsticks, so much so that I'm floored by how much of a curve he's thrown us with the Matt Post Band. Matt's new solo act recently shared The Nest Was Destroyed In A Storm, a 10-song full-length that's chock full of gleefully weird dance beats, playfully hushed vocals, and a sinister industrial buzz. The record features guest vocals from Peterborough singer-songwriter Peachykine on three tracks, including the album-opening "Like a Broken Leg."

Post recorded at his home in Oshawa in late March and early April of 2021. The album arrives right on the heels of the Matt Post Band's eponymous debut EP. Deathsticks, Post's two-piece with drummer Laura Klinduch, last released the 2019 EP Soon the Troubles Will Be Over. Last summer Matt also shared the debut EP from a new lo-fi punk group dubbed The Gunge.

Possum: "Clarified Budder"

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"Clarified Budder" is the soaring album-opening track from Lunar Gardens, the upcoming sophomore full-length from the Toronto psych titans Possum. The space rock epic follows "Gala at the Universe City" in previewing the new work, due July 2 through Idée Fixe Records

Possum plays as a quintet featuring Brandon Bak, Tobin Hopwood, Patrick Lefler, Christopher Shannon, and Bradley Thibodeau. This record again finds them in tight collaboration with visual arts collective The Oscillitarium (Hopwood with sisters Sarah and Sophia Bassakyros). A limited version of the LP includes Transmissions from the Lunar Gardens by The Oscillitarium, a 12-page booklet of album-related photos created by the group.

Patrick Lefler's psych-pop solo act ROY also has an album due on Idée Fixe, with the anticipated Roy's Garage set arriving this coming Friday.

Anxious Pleasers: Anxious Pleasers

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At long last, we finally have the opportunity to check out Anxious Pleasers. Before the world ground to a halt, the band appeared on a few cool Hamilton bills supporting the likes of PRIORS and Tommy and the Commies. Despite sharing the stage with some of the nation's best, no recorded material surfaced before this past week. The trio, featuring members of TV Freaks and Flesh Rag, tracked a set of high-energy demos just before the pandemic, songs the band's now mixed and assembled as a limit-run cassette release. Due June 11, the tape features six whip-fast garage-punk originals plus a cover of The Pagans' 1978 single "Street Where Nobody Lives."

Anxious Pleasers features TV Freaks guitarist TJ Charlton and Flesh Rag's Matt Ellis with drummer Nathan Burger (a member of both groups). Charlton recorded the group, with frequent Daniel Romano collaborator Kenneth Roy Meehan mixing and mastering. All proceeds from digital sales of the Pleasers demo are due to be donated to the Hamilton Encampment Support Network.

Danny Rebel & The KGB: "Whispering Eye"

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Montreal trad-ska group Danny Rebel & The KGB returns this month with a new 10-song full-length for Stomp Records. You can preview the smooth, brass-driven Toss It Up now through the single "Whispering Eye." The record features five new originals on the A-side, with dub versions remixed by Victor Rice (Stubborn All-Stars, The Adjusters) on the flip. The label describes the record as "fusing elements of Motown Soul, Studio One Reggae and 70's era funk."

The core band on Toss It Up features Danny Rebel on vocals and guitar with lead guitarist Marco Lapenna, bassist Philippe Caouette, drummer Oliver Thompson, and Paul Caldwell on percussion. The group recorded with Philippe Nault at Montreal's Seratone Studio. The KGB is following up on their 2017 LP Lovehaus.

Waxing: "Phase Me Out"

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Toronto indie rock/emo outfit Waxing has a new full-length on the way, with the 10-song New Moon in the Old Moon's Arms slated for a June 1 release. You can preview the record now through the sombre "Phase Me Out," available to stream now at Bandcamp. Jackson Willows produced and mixed the record with Sun K's Kristian Montano mastering.

Waxing features bassist/vocalist Erin Charlton, guitarist/vocalist Cameron Fraser (Luge, Hobby), vocalist/baritone guitarist Duncan Wardlaw (Hobby), and drummer Rob McLay (Westelaken).

The new LP follows the group's 2018 EP Through the Deep End. While I'm not overly familiar with their past output, given the players involved, Waxing certainly has my interest.

Dresser: "Bystand"

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Montreal art-rock group Dresser returns this summer with their debut full-length. Seventeen Blocks and Then Some arrives June 4 as a nine-song set that includes the quirky single "Bystand." You can find the song streaming at Bandcamp now and showcased in an animated video from Liam Hamilton. The band commented on the track:

"'Bystand' explores a common moral dilemma faced by many an urbanite: to see and not to act. The song centres itself in the momentary calculation that occurs when witnessing something distressing, and the internal conflict resulting from a passive response. 'Bystand' offers no conclusions but simply serves to air out feelings of urban malaise."

Dresser features vocalist/guitarist Finn Dalbeth, guitarist Ryan Young, bassist Chris Foster, and drummer Kevin White. Emmanuelle Beauvais-Lacasse provides backing vocals on several songs ("Bystand" included), and Wes MacNeil appears on keyboards. Ryan White recorded the new record at Autoland in Montreal.

Calling All Captains: "Tailspin"

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Technical Edmonton post-hardcore unit Calling All Captains recently shared "Tailspin," the group's first new single in over two years. The five-piece commented on the hard-hitting track in a press release, stating:

"'Tailspin' is a song about falling deep into your own vices, consistently telling yourself you need to change, but struggling with the real pain that comes with healing..."

The song's the first new material to emerge from the band since the pandemic. Over the past year, the group worked with Quinn Cyrankiewicz of Royal Tusk, their second outing with the producer after their 2019 EP Nothing Grows Here. "Tailspin" arrives via New Damage in Canada and Equal Vision down south.

Calling All Captains features Luc Gauthier (vocals), Brad Bremner (guitar/vocals), Connor Dawkins (guitar/vocals), Nick Malychuk (bass), and Tim Wilson (drums).

Bitter Fictions: Two Remarks

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Devin Friesen's feedback-drenched recording project Bitter Fictions recently shared an eerie two-song set titled Two Remarks. Each atmospheric song clocks in at 10 minutes, featuring some haunting material recorded in Calgary and Montreal (with one song, rather fittingly, tracked on Halloween). In a statement accompanying the release, the artist reflected on the frustrating malaise of the pandemic, admitting that these are "not the most pleasant pair of tunes I've made." The new material arrives following a series of releases in 2020, most recently the Heat Spells EP last September.

Friesen offered up the new tracks while hinting at a future project, declaring that the forthcoming Full Spite would be "the meanest album I've made." That noise-rock set's expected on cassette in the summer of 2021.

Sook-Yin Lee & Adam Litovitz: "Ship It Out"

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Mint Records recently shared a video for "Ship It Out," a track from jooj two, the recent full-length pairing Sook-Yin Lee with the late Adam Litovitz. The clip's described as "an interplanetary adventure in geopolitics through the language of disco dancing" - one that includes a parade of plastic toy dinosaurs. I'm not qualified to parse through the layers of meaning here, but it's a lot of fun regardless.

Following Litovitz's death in June of 2019, Sook-Yin worked with engineer Steve Chahley (Partner, Ice Cream) to complete the art-pop record. The album, released in April, serves as the sequel to jooj, the electronic full-length Lee and Litovitz issued together in 2015.

Young Guv & James Matthew VII: "Til I Find Love Again"

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Ben Cook rolled into the weekend with a pair of announcements, the first being a video for his recent collaboration with James Matthew VII. Cook (as Young Guv) and JMVII shared a jangling pop single last month titled "Til I Find Love Again." The new clip, directed by Cook, showcases the song amidst a collage of psyche visuals and vintage videotape artifacts. You can find it now on YouTube.

For Bandcamp Friday, Cook also shared a set of demo recordings for his recent Run For Cover platters, GUV I and GUV II. He commented:

"For me when making music the demo stage is always the coolest. I've spent days in a studio trying to recreate the charm of a demo only to throw everything in the garbage and return to the original usually captured very quickly and randomly in a bedroom. Apologies to all engineers I've driven mad."

You can grab that collection, a 17 song set, at Bandcamp now.

Sometimes billed as Matt Delong, JMVII's played in several bands with Cook over the years, from the earliest days of No Warning through the Marvelous Darlings to the present-day Young Guv records. He last released the psych-country solo effort Stoned When I Pray on Idée Fixe and often appears as a session guitarist on Matthew 'Doc' Dunn's albums. Cook, a regular member of Fucked Up, released the above-mentioned GUV I and II in 2019. Guv and JMVII jointly issued the Bloom EP that same year.

Venus Furs: "Page Before"

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Montreal's Venus Furs recently a video for "Page Before," the album-closing rocker from the band's self-titled 2020 debut on Silk Screaming Records. The new piece wraps a sustained effort to highlight each of the record's eight tracks visually.

Venus Furs' multi-instrumentalist principle Paul Kasner commented on the song in a press release, stating:

"'Page Before' is a song about walking into a party with a weird vibe, only to discover that you're walking into your own wake. There's a nod to We Are Scientists in the lyrics ('the scene is cold and the party's dead'), and an abrupt change around the two-minute mark, to a bass-driven riff that builds and builds to a crescendo, with delayed noise solos matched in performance with panning, for a trippy headphone experience."

The video again pairs Venus Furs with Justis Krar and IMMV Productions. The filmmaker commented on the clip:

"For the video, I wanted to connect the lively instrumentation to the darkness and mystery of the lyrics. Flashes of colour, saturated layers above muddled hazy backgrounds, and shrouded figures are found throughout the video. Animating movement and changing to full screen was done to follow the journey of the song through to the climatic ending."

Chris Page: "A Love Song For Some"

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Satisfying solo material keeps rolling in from Ottawa vet Chris Page with comforting regularity. The latest in his monthly series is "A Love Song For Some," and it's fast become one of my favourite songs of the spring. The track arrived just a few days following a collaboration between Page and the folk singer-songwriter Susan O. He provides backing vocals and instrumentation to her lovely recent single "Third Time Around."

When not stuck recording at home, Chris Page plays as part of the duo Expanda Fuzz. His past work includes stints with Camp Radio and the 90s-era Glengarry, Ontario pop-punk group The Stand GT. Last year he released Decide To Stay and Swim Again, an LP revisiting the songs from his 2004 solo record Decide To Stay and Swim.

King Pong Dub System: Sound Induction

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Etobicoke-based dub producer King Pong recently shared Sound Induction, a three-song EP single. It's the first new material to arrive from the artist since the summer 2020 full-length Amplify. Pong, a stage name of Jakob Rehlinger, describes the new tracks as "trance-inducing hypnotic dub and post-punk funk for your feet and for your mind."

Poison Suckers: "Grain Alcohol"

Preview at Bandcamp - Purchase at Transistor 66

Poison Suckers are a blown-out, trashy garage duo featuring The Sorels' Joanne Rodriguez and Fashion Bathers' Joe Warkentin. The Winnipeg group has a four-song self-titled EP out now through Transistor 66. The band completely nails a super distressed, vintage recording aesthetic here - you almost have to hear it to believe it. Poison Suckers feels like a record lost in time.

Besides her work with garage-soul trio The Sorels, Rodriguez previously played with numerous Winnipeg groups like The VaGiants, American Flamewhip, ChicaBoom Boom, and Rodeo Date. I wasn't familiar with Warkentin's recent work - but I'm fast becoming a fan of the Spits-styled Fashion Bathers. Before that group, he performed in such varied acts as the raucous Hot Live Guys, the lo-fi punk group Shitbots, and the grindcore act Archagathus.

Po Lazarus: "Despair, Too"

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Shortly before the pandemic, Montreal's self-described "passion-rock" group Po Lazarus recorded a dozen songs at The Tragically Hip's Bathouse Studio. They worked at the Bath, Ontario space alongside Hip producer Mark Vreeken and assistant engineer Nyles Spencer (Broken Social Scene, Gord Downie). Those sessions resulted in the material for both their upcoming full-length and a three-song EP. That set, titled Despair, Too, arrived at the end of April. You can check the title track out now through a slick new video from director Elisabeth Couture. The band describes it as "a herky-jerk dance that eerily resembles a grand-mal seizure."

Po Lazarus is a project of songwriters Joshua Carey and Paul Mascarenhas. They're following up the 2017 Oh Body EP and their 2016 debut full-length Ways To End The Night.

Genetic Angry: Mixtape (2006-2009)

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The archives of the 2000s Nova Scotian punk group Genetic Angry were recently collected and uploaded to Bandcamp as Mixtape (2006-2009). The Truro-based band may have been active for just a few short years but left a lasting impact on the noisy Halifax hardcore community that in their wake. The quartet featured vocalist Tim Totten, guitarist Luke Mumford, bassist Joel Rushton (later replaced by Tyler Fleck), and drummer Evan Mumford.

In a write-up at Bandcamp, Sewercide Records (who released Genetic Angry's Thoughts/Change EP in 2008) reflected:

"The first time I heard Genetic Angry was during my time spent away from the maritimes in Toronto. I was often checking in with what was going on musically back home and when I heard their first demo, it kinda caught me off guard. Here was this group of teenagers from my hometown of Truro that were playing this weird kind of punk that sounded so different from a lot of the boring bullshit that was coming out of the province at the time. It was rough, but it was honest and I found myself listening to those recordings more than a few times that morning. When I finally had the opportunity to see the band a few months later, they were great and even had their set list scrawled onto the bottom of a skateboard deck. At some point shortly after, we agreed to release a single by them (that took forever to come out thanks to the pressing plant) which became the second Sewercide release, a record I still spin regularly. While a lot of people are familiar with that single, they don't realize that the band had a ton of other recordings, many which either came out on very limited cassette releases or never surfaced at all."

Nap Eyes: "When I Come Around"

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Last week the beloved Halifax indie rock group Nap Eyes shared the title track to an upcoming covers EP, and When I Come Around delivers exactly what you'd hope. It's eerie how well Green Day's ubiquitous Dookie single translates to Nigel Chapman's languid drawl. Margarita Brighton's accompanying video, which finds the vocalist's hair dyed electric green, just drives the whole thing home. I'm carrying myself through the pandemic on an unending stream of 90s nostalgia, so my worlds are colliding wonderfully here.

Chapman shared his love for the East Bay pop-punk stars in a statement:

"Green Day has been my favourite band since I was 12 years old, and 'When I Come Around' has always been one of my favourites by them. The quality of the song speaks for itself; it's one of the greatest songs ever written, in my opinion. I've been working under the influence and in the shadows of this and other Green Day songs, periodically reconnecting with and being floored by them, ever since I first began writing my own songs years ago. I hope the world will understand that getting to record this cover with Nap Eyes is a longtime dream come true."

The EP also features a cover of Bonnie Raitt's 1971 album cut "Thank You," a previously unreleased original titled "Following A God Desire," and a reworking of "Even Though I Can't Read Your Mind." The new spin on the Snapshot of a Beginner track arrives from Time XL, a hyperpop duo featuring Nap Eyes guitarist Brad Loughead and drummer Seamus Dalton. I'm just old enough not to understand what that is.

Nap Eyes released Snapshot of a Beginner, their fourth LP, right before COVID knocked the world on its side. The LP arrived collectively from Royal Mountain, Jagjaguwar, and Paradise of Bachelors. The group's since released the digital singles "Snake Oil," "Child's Romance," and the "Blood River" collaboration with Chicago's NNAMDÏ. When I Come Around arrives in full on May 14.

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Some Party is Adam White's misguided quest to share the latest in Canadian garage rock, punk, psych, and more. Subscribe and get it in your inbox more-or-less weekly. Your information's always kept private, and unsubscribing is easy.

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