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Mother Teresa Chokeslams the World / On wid da Show

So it would appear that Ruffles are trying to expand the standard American chip flavour pallet on the backs of Canadians. On a trip this spring I picked up a bag of American Ruffles All Dressed "#1 Flavor in Canada". "What does all dressed mean? Find out on back!" and according to the back, yadda yadda yadda.."that somehow taste salty, savory & sweet all at the same time. Sounds good, eh?". As I wanted to find out what these chips that are all the rage in Canada taste like I grabbed a bag. Cracked them open, a slight fragrance of vinegar..with potato chips. My first few snag and crunches..not a whole lot. The seasoning is pretty uneven ranging from adequate to "is there seasoning on this chip?". When I found some with discernible seasoning it tasted like a vinegary bbq.maybe a bit of ketchup trying to make some noise..I dunno, it's all dressed. The chips are standard Ruffles, somewhat thin with tiny ridges. I don't consume Ruffles very often so I can't remember if they're usually stingy with the seasoning/coverage..but I do enjoy the actual chips, they're light with a nice ridged crunch and nice for a change. These are okay if you like saxophones (or are an all dressed fiend and have nothing better at hand) but, Ruffles, you need to step your seasoning coverage game up, seriously (or if you like light seasoning these might just be your jam). I question the validity of their "#1 in Canada" statement and am not fully on board with them using the maple leaf to promote this specific bag of chips, but that's just a minor gripe (though I do fear that if this is someones first introduction to all dressed they might be let down..if that is you kind reader,  let me tell you this come up to Canada and either pick up a bag of Old Dutch all dressed or if you're a heavy seasoning person (like myself) grab a bag of President's Choice Loads of All Dressed from superstore).

Now for a couple Canadian exports that (I believe had fared well south of the border [but aren't necessarily household names] and) if you don't currently listen to, you should:

The Flatliners - From their ska punk beginnings on Destroy to Create moving towards a more straight forward skate punk (Fat) sound and the slightly more rock influenced Dead Language they were my jam. I've tried to get into Inviting Light a few times since it came out last year and it just hasn't grabbed me in the same way as their earlier material (I'm gonna try a few more times though).

Kardinal Offishall - Eye & I was a fantastic album (although a little bloated). Firestarter Vol 1 (as I briefly touched on last blog) is a classic. Fire and Glory was another banger. Kardi's contributions to Not 4 Sale were fire (some of the features really tainted that one for me however so it didn't get much play) and Kardi Gras was quite enjoyable. (The various mixtapes were banging [and helped fill the label issue gaps] but I'm not going to get into them).

I'm not saying that the Flats and Kardi are the only worthwhile Canadian artists to venture south of the 49th (far from it [like super far]), I just believe that they've made careers to the south so they may be more accessible.

Stay hydrated,
mARC




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