Our weekly (or however often) roundup of this week’s discoveries and old faves. Usually it’s friends of mine or just music I like. Now including “liner notes” to help guide you through this journey and hopefully introduce you to some new, great music! Meet you at the record store!!
BIKINI KILL –NEW RADIO
“I’m the little girl at the picnic who won’t stop pulling her dress up.” I think we all know this girl. It’s Kathleen Hanna. I’m a huge fan of everything she does and represents, and when she screams, “This is NEW RADIO!!!”, I’m 1000% with her. In my mind, I’m already in a moshpit. A respectful moshpit but a moshpit nonetheless. Bikini Kill should be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, along with Warren Zevon and Iron Maiden.
THIS MAD DESIRE –BRAND NEW LOVE (as made famous by Sebadoh)
Our latest single which I’m still promoting. Let me know what you think and please share this with others. I think what initially attracted me to the original song was partly how well the words capture the messiness of falling in love. Ugh… feelings. Gross!
TIANDA –DO TOO MUCH
I’m part of Tianda’s Discord community and I’m sure I interact with her “on the daily”, as the kids say. She was a Canadian Teen Idol or something like that and lives in Edmonton, which I’m starting to realize is an under-appreciated hotbed of cultural activity. In the past year or so, I’ve met quite a few people either in Edmonton or from there. It’s practically another Winnipeg!
JULIE NEFF -PICK UP MY PIECES
This track is a great example of what Julie does. I think she's influenced by artists like Florence + the Machine and definitely delivers an alt-pop/ alt-rock sound with great production and also, in this case, video. She's toured in South America and here in Canada. She's based in Toronto and I can also tell you that she and I are working on some totally cool music including a cover of a very famous song by a very famous 90s band. We had a brief meeting and when I mentioned I was recording a version of this for my Secret Covers, she coughed and cleared her throat and said, “I'm actually learning this same song for a totally different reason.” This is how the magic happens, folks!
SLEIGH BELLS –YOU DON’T GET ME TWICE
I’m a huge, huge fan of Sleigh Bells and apparently the singer, Alexis Krauss has a new Ted Talk. How awesome is that? This song came out around five years ago or so and yet she keeps singing “2023” in this song. I still don’t understand that. Her lyrics are very cryptic but I love how they sound! She’s on my list of people I want to work with, for sure.
PROPER PET -KINK
This is a very cool track and I LOVE the video imagery associated with it. I came across them on TikTok and looking forward to learning more about them.
MIDNITE GOSSIP –STREETLIGHTS
One of the members attended SCREEN X SCREEN 2023 the other week with me and I’ve been checking out other attendees’ latest tracks. I like that this one has a guitar solo –even if it’s short.
ARIANE ROY –FILLE A PORTER
Nominated for Francophone Album of the Year for the JUNOS, Medium plaisir is the album I came across randomly and fell in love with last year. My understanding is that Ariane is from Quebec City. I really, really like her vibe. She has a live music video on youtube that is absolutely stunning. Makes me wish I were French!
PARAMORE –C’EST COMME CA
I’m a closet Paramore fan. I find most of her lyrics to be a little more interesting than many others of her stature.
LUSCIOUS JACKSON –MOOD SWING
I think I bought this CD the day it came out in the 1990s. They were hyped as a “female Beastie Boys” and that sounded interesting to me. This was always one of my fave tracks on the album. It also contains the album title phrase “Fever In Fever Out”.
EVA ARCO –BAD HABIT
Eva is a friend of mine from Tianda’s Discord and this is her new track.
THE GO! TEAM –GEMINI
I've been listening to this band for around 15 years. I love how upbeat and celebratory they sound.
NELL SMITH / THE FLAMING LIPS –RED RIGHT HAND
What a cool record. Nell Smith was wearing a parrot costume at a Flaming Lips show in Calgary and attracted their attention as a 12-year-old. Then they made a whole album of Nick Cave cover tunes! What???!!!
HOTEL LUX –NATIONAL TEAM
I think this band is from London and I heard them on TMD Radio on Spotify. It's catchy and kind of absurd!
DE LA SOUL -3 IS A MAGIC NUMBER
For me, this is a classic track and I was surprised that it wasn't already available on streaming services, which makes it all the more tragic that Trugoy the Dove just passed away while in the midst of this new launch onto streaming.
KRISTEN PRINCE –SHIPS IN THE NIGHT
Kristen is a pretty with it saxophonist here in Hamilton. Sounds like we might work together on a couple of things. Yay!
GREMLYN / ROME IX –On 2 The Next 1
Gremlyn is also a member of Tianda's Discord. This is some pretty well-produced R&B. Love it!
STRAWBERRY COUGH –SAD AT THE MALL
These guys are from Brampton (Toronto suburb) and dress like clowns. What more do you want?? Apparently another act also has this name in Salt Lake City and probably because they both like that strain of marijuana.
And with that, this wraps up this week’s playlist. Hope you enjoyed it!!
If you like this playlist, please share it and follow these artists. Music is the fuel that fills our soul.
If you are an artist that would like to be included in the future, reach out anywhere and I’d love to check out your tunes!
Yours in music,
Mac