Light Sleeper
Some Party is a newsletter sharing the latest in independent Canadian rock'n'roll, curated 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.
Home Front"Light Sleeper"
Watch on YouTube - Preview and purchase at Bandcamp
I had this entire mailing drafted, then Home Front had the audacity to launch an album campaign while I was already behind on my edit. Stop. Reset. I'm so goddamn late with this thing at the best of times that I'm not usually bothered by how untimely I am at regurgitating the latest press release. I'm too far gone to match my old Punknews pace, and I frankly don't care to. Yet I have a distinct, searing memory of the first time I encountered Home Front, and that drives a sense of urgency. It was one of those line-in-the-sand moments when you recognize that you've found something that's not merely good but quite likely important, with the potential to resonate well outside our comfy little scene. That potential remains, so this publication brakes for Home Front.
The Edmonton duo return this November with Watch It Die, their sophomore full-length and third release overall, through La Vida Es Un Mus. You can preview the album through the urgent lead single "Light Sleeper," which boldly reintroduces the band's hopeful, shout-along collision of new wave, street punk, Oi!, and post-punk. An accompanying video features the band's core, multi-instrumental duo of Clint Frazier and vocalist Graeme MacKinnon, performing alongside their touring band of Brandi Strauss (bass), Ian Rowley (guitar), and Warren Oostlander (drums).
Watch It Die's 12 tracks represent a thematic shift for MacKinnon and Frazier. While Games of Power (2023) and Think of the Lie (2021) wrestled with alienation and took an often bleak view of the world, this new effort strives to rise above that. A set of Jonah Falco-penned album notes calls this a "step forward" moment. Between that text and the press release announcing the record, the word "hope" is repeated again and again. The band offered:
"For us, ultimately, this is music that comes out of loss and heartbreak and failure, but I hope people have a good time listening to us. You can get rowdy, you can get emotional, you can do whatever you want, but maybe with all of that freedom, we all take a second to reflect on all our fallen brothers and sisters and friends who may have slipped away."
The band recorded in Edmonton between November 2024 and April of this year, with Nik Kozub engineering, mixing, and mastering. Fucked Up's Jonah Falco co-produced the album and contributed additional instrumentation to three tracks. Kozub, who previously played with Frazier in dance-punk act Shout Out Out Out, also handled synths, sampling, and programming.
The band will launch the album with shows at the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles on November 22 and 23, performing alongside Cock Sparrer and Dillinger Four. You can get your hands on Watch It Die on November 14.
Boy CommandosComet
Preview and purchase at Bandcamp
Between Jade Hairpins's ascendant indie pop and Fucked Up's latter-day penchant for trading out vocalists, Mike Haliechuk is more visible than ever. Boy Commandos, billed as his debut solo project, further thrusts the guitarist to center stage but, interestingly, swerves from the theatrical excess of his other outlets. The 11-song Comet, issued earlier this month, finds Haliechuk disarmed and direct, playing straight-up 90s-inspired power-pop with the earnest vulnerability of Sugar or the Lemonheads (it doesn't hurt that Mike's deadpan vocal delivery recalls Evan Dando). While there are most certainly Fucked Up songs with the lyrical candour of "I Don't Wanna Be Perceived," the band buries them in crunch and chaos. Stripped of that bombast, Mike's lyricism has a chance to breathe. We don't say "emo" around here, but it's honestly closer than not.
Production-wise, Comet's small supporting cast features longtime collaborators. The album showcases Mike on vocals, guitar, and bass, with his Jade Hairpins partner Jonah Falco drumming. Falco and longtime Fucked Up engineer Alex Gamble recorded in a raft of studio spaces between Toronto and London.
Coinciding with the Boy Commandos release, Haliechuk and Falco's manic indie-pop outlet Jade Hairpins issued "Like Fumes," a shimmering synth-pop jam with a curious vocal take that percolates deep down in the mix. The track stems from the sessions for 2024's Merge Records release, Get Me the Good Stuff, an extended coda for that record's laid-back highlight, "Better here Than in Love."
Ribbon Skirt"Lucky8"
Preview and purchase at Bandcamp
Fresh from their performance at the Polaris gala, Montreal's Anishinaabe-led post-punk outfit Ribbon Skirt are readying a new EP to follow up on their shortlisted Bite Down. Pensacola arrives on October 3 through Mint Records. The band's framed the release as an epilogue to their acclaimed debut.
You can preview the four-song set through "Lucky8," a shoegaze blur propelled by droning guitars and clipped, distortion-washed vocals. The short set's described as "emotional residue" left in its predecessor's wake: "the lingering heat, the unsaid, the still-burning edge."
The band's current lineup features Tashiina Buswa on guitar and vocals, Billy Riley on guitar, bass, and synth, with Lan Thockchom drumming. Everyone shared credit for the percussion on this one. Reprising their role from the LP, Scott 'Monty' Munro (Preoccupations) and Marlaena Moore produced the EP, recorded at Studio Saint Zo in Montreal. Graham Walsh mixed.
Look for Ribbon Skirt on the road this fall, heading west with Louisville indie rock act Wombo.
The Boojums"Wings of Fire"/"Burnin Up"
Watch "Burning Up" at YouTube - Preview and purchase at Bandcamp
Like the rest of you, I first stumbled across Nova Scotian trio The Boojums through a string of grainy, VHS-quality performance videos the band shared to boost their early singles. Promotionally, it was something of a masterstroke; the trio crammed awkwardly in a small room, banging through throwback garage rock while gazing, almost unnervingly, through the camera lens. I hate to dwell on fucking Instagram reels, but in an age when our attention spans are all hopelessly fried, it was an impressive feat.
The band's ready for the next step, with a self-titled LP due October 31 through Having Fun Records, a rock-oriented imprint of Toronto's We Are Busy Bodies.
You can preview the album through two advance singles. "Wings of Fire" drips with boastful attitude, delivered at a breakneck pace. The band takes their foot off the gas for the soaring "Burnin Up," accompanied by a Cape Breton-shot video. The latter taps a similar vein of throwback rock heroism that Sam Coffey & The Iron Lungs mines so well.
Guitarist/vocalist Willie Stratton spoke about "Wings of Fire" in a press release, stating:
"'Wings of Fire' is about chasing something bigger before it disappears in the rearview. It's that feeling when you're flying down the highway—gold on your engine, nothing but dreams in the tank, and someone you love in the passenger seat."
The Boojums recorded themselves live off the floor, with Darren Lawson (Bloc Party, Against Me!, Spiritualized) mixing. Hailing from Port Hawkesbury, the trio features Stratton (Beach Bait) on guitar and vocals, Sara Johnston (Skunk Motel, The Surfrajettes) on a distinctively crunchy 8-string bass, and drummer Peter MacInnis (Beech Hill).
Yoo Doo Right&Population IIYoo II avec Nolan Potter
Preview and purchase at Bandcamp
Montreal post-rock luminaries Yoo Doo Right and the psych-noise trio Population II recently joined forces. On an idle moment between SXSW showcases last March, the bands connected with the prolific Texan prog artist Nolan Potter, churning out a sprawling jam of an LP that finds the collective tapping their mutual love of krautrock, free jazz, and heady psychedelia.
Recorded on March 14 at Austin's Rundown Audio, the set finds Population II's Pierre-Luc Gratton (percussion and vocals), Tristan Lacombe (12-string electric guitar, organ, and signal generator), and Sébastien Provençal (bass) joining Yoo Doo Right's John Talbot (drums) and Justin Cober (electric guitar and synthesizers). Potter contributes an arsenal of instrumentation, including flute, saxophone, percussion, 12-string acoustic guitar, electric guitar, and organ.
Potter explained how it all came together:
"Yoo Doo Right and Population II had a short break between shows and I invited them to the studio to see what would happen. With the help of a great engineer [Autumn Furtak-Cole], we tracked about 90 minutes of music with one quick intermission. 90% of what you hear on the record is improvised. My recollection is that there was a serious energy in the room, everyone played with extreme intention and determination."
The album's song titles reference the voyages of the ill-fated 17th-century French fur trader and explorer René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle. Cavelier's massive expansion of what was then New France ultimately ended in his assassination during a mutiny on the Gulf of Mexico in 1687. Potter drew a playful parallel between this effort and that history, stating, "making this record was an exploration for us too, but we're much more pleased with the results."
At 43 minutes, you can lose yourself in the five-song Yoo II avec Nolan Potter. The set's now available in full through Mothland and The Reverberation Appreciation Society. Both Montreal bands arrive at this collaboration riding high on recent successes. Yoo Doo Right's From the Heights of Our Pastureland and Population II's Maintenant Jamais both made the Polaris Music Prize long-list this year, with the latter ascending to the 10-album shortlist.
ImplodersTargeted For Termination
Preview and purchase at Bandcamp
If you ask me, Toronto's Imploders are one of the most entertaining live bands in the country, and I relish any opportunity to see them tear through a set of smirking, grievance-fueled hardcore. The group returns on October 17 with their sophomore LP, Targeted for Termination. Available through Neon Taste Records domestically and Static Shock Records overseas, the band's promising an effort with even more fat trimmed (which doesn't seem that possible, to be honest). You can hear "Possessed to Hate" and "Eat, Sleep, Repeat" streaming now. Clocking in at around 96 seconds, the latter is the longest song on the record.
Neon Taste shares elaborately:
"The sound still resides in classic hardcore from both sides of the border with the emphasis on punk (think Circle Jerks, Zero Boys and Angry Samoans). Lyrically they dive deeper into their world of annoyances, grievances and late nights of taking in the joys of both Heavy Metal (the movie) and Medieval Times (not for buffs). Housed in a sleeve with a vision of the future that could have come straight out of a cheap 50's sci-fi novel. Would you survive?"
Imploders features Todd Faux (ex-Average Times) on vocals, Joey Parenteau (Vicious Cycle, Pink Wine) on guitar, Mikey Microwave (First Base, Teen Archer) on bass, and Curtis Tone (PlasticHeads, School Damage) drumming. Micah Brown (Pillea) recorded and mixed the new songs at Happy Hour Studios.
Imploders head to Europe in October to support the new record, their second tour of the continent to date. This new album follows up on their self-titled 2023 debut.
Absolute LosersIn The Crowd
Preview and purchase at Bandcamp
Charlottetown power-pop trio Absolute Losers return next week with In The Crowd, their sophomore full-length. Look for it September 26 through the above-mentioned Having Fun label.
The record represents a significant leap from their scrappy 2023 debut At The Mall, a pandemic product recorded in a basement during lockdown. This time out, the band worked with Holy Fuck's Graham Walsh at Toronto's Palace Sound, taking the time to create a set of songs described as "ambitious, widescreen, and built for volume." Walsh served as producer and mixed the sessions.
The nostalgic lead single "At The Same Time" taps into bassist/vocalist Sam Langille's memories of his grandparents' cottage at Flat River, PEI, where he and his brother, guitarist Josh Langille, would spend the summer. They comment:
"A lot of people can relate to feeling some kind of magic when they're with their grandparents. This place was definitely magical as a kid. Even though I've outgrown that part of life, I know my family still cheers me on... Now they're cheering me on for moving out, getting a job, releasing music. The cheering is just more felt than shouted."
The track follows the band's evolution from angular post-punk to a warmer sound rooted in 90s power-pop, standing on the shoulders of Maritime heroes like Sloan, Thrush Hermit, and the Super Friendz. Absolute Losers features the Langille brothers backed by drummer Daniel Hartinger, with all three sharing vocal duties.
Smug LLC"Little Gusts"
Preview and purchase at Bandcamp
Single Mothers' Drew Thomson tends to play fast and lose with the identities of his various musical outlets. The pandemic hit the gas on that, with a raft of bedroom recording projects competing for space amidst a scattering of releases attributed to both The Drew Thomson Foundation and a handful of Single Mothers name variants. That's to say nothing of his recent side-gigs fronting garage outlet The Stoves or playing in the duo Wind in Mono. At first glance, you could consider Smug LLC yet another name on the list, but this project looks a little more serious.
The new act finds Thomson working with the Anxious and Angry label, founded by Ryan Young of Off With Their Heads. You can preview the six-song New Exciting Doom EP now through the lead single "Little Gusts." Thomson commented:
"It's about internal and external struggles and how they intertwine. Lyrically the album is kind of like looking out a window into the litter filled streets, seeing a reflection of yourself in the glass. Can things get worse? Can they get better? Is it all perspective? Is this a new doom, or has it always been here, lurking just around the corner, waiting to swallow us whole?"
SMUG LLC's described as a "laptop band," harkening back to Thomson's isolated lockdown efforts that gave rise to projects like 2020's No Idea Head. A press release describes "analog and digital drum loops, basslines, synthesizers, and samples arranged together in a simple mosaic of chaos and hooks" backing Thomson's unmistakably propulsive vocals.
This October, Thomson's taking that laptop on the road when SMUG LLC opens for Off With Their Heads on a US tour. New Exciting Doom lands October 3.
Piercing DamagePiercing Damage
Preview and purchase at Bandcamp
Late in the summer, Charlottetown hardcore outfit Piercing Damage issued their self-titled debut EP. The whip-fast six-song set, released through Montreal's Be About It zine, expands upon the searing demo the group issued last November.
The EP features vocalist Andrew Cormier (formerly of Swallowing Knives and Iron Eye), guitarist Liam Farrell and bassist Tyler Turner (both from Baited), and drummer Brett Sanderson (Cell Deth, ex-Antibodies). Cormier and Farrell handled the recording in-house. You'll find art from Prism Shores' Ben Goss adorning the cover. Look for tapes from the band soon.
We'll next hear Piercing Damage on a new compilation of Maritime hardcore through Sewercide Records, the spiritual successor to 2020's landmark Seaside Sickness set. They'll be joined on the 7" by Excited To Die, Ritual Warfare, Cell Deth, Misanthropic Minds, Poison Spear, and Peracetic. We're told to expect this in the fall, but punk springs eternal.
