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novella ella ella eh

I missed the boat last year, so this year as soon as I heard that it was Donair ("Greco Donair 310 30 30 Atlantic Canadas #1 Donair" according to the bag) season in the Covered Bridge world I ordered a half dozen bags (limited batch yo!). It should go without saying that I have mild expectations for this salty bag of (hopefully) goodness (to say the least). It took me a week to get down to business and now here I sit with the beautiful blue bag in front of me. Tear, whiff, medium well done potato chips with some sort of indistinguishable (by scent) seasoning. With the ol' maw watering I tossed one in..the actual chips being Covered Bridge are as usual bangin', a nice shade of brown with the skins and a mid level kettle cooked crunch. The seasoning isn't overly aggressive. Slightly sweet with an almost hint of tomato, onion and..mayo? After consuming for a while there's a hint of almost mesquite bbq flavour (mostly in the aftertaste). I was initially a little underwhelmed (with the light seasoning) but the further into the bag I got the more the seasoning built up in my system and the more I enjoyed the bag. In the CB line up I'd say they're a solid #4 which is miles above most chip companies so take from that what you want.

Back in 2014, Chumped's latest album Teenage Retirement made a good number of year end top 10 lists. I noted it..then proceeded to sleep on said album. Fast forward to 2016, time to get Teenage Retirement. I can't remember if I finally checked them out on Bandcamp or if I just got around to clearing it off my backlog of a want list at an internet retail store. Either way, Teenage Retirement is enjoyable as hell. I'd place it somewhere beteween the midwestern pop punk camp and 90's pop punk/alt rock with flavours of twee. Sonically it's such a happy album, even when I've listened to it in the dead of winter it's felt like summer to me. I just love Anika's voice. Lyrically there's a lot of longing and heartbreak, growing up and regretting past decisions..the odd beacon of joy. The juxtaposition of the music against the lyrics is my jam. Shit's great. On the cover of the album there's a bearded guy floating around in a blue above ground pool with a bunch of boring houses and a white fence surrounding it and a backdrop of cloudy grey sky (suits the album perfectly)..my copy of the record is what I would describe as above ground pool opaque blue, beautiful.

Stay hydrated,
Marc  

ps..Anika Pyle has a new band Katie Ellen..Chumped broke up shortly after releasing Teenage Retirement.

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