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Heart That Breaks

I was in behemoth chain store recently and I came across a "NEW!" bag of Ruffles, Sweet & Spicy (I swear I had them a while ago and was confused by the "NEW!" branding but I can't find any notes in my phone and don't appear to have blogged about them in the past, so yeah. I grabbed a bag (and after consuming, the next time I was at the same store I grabbed 3 more bags). The cover shows a bunch of wings with a red honey glazed looking sauce, which is usually a pretty good sign. Do they taste like wings? Well, they taste like wing sauce, a mix of honey garlic and 2nd degree (or something like that). The bite is pretty mild but it's still present and complements the sweet very well. They're standard ruffles; mini ridged and light-mid weight crunch (I believe Ruffles are formed chips however they avoid the taste of eating a bag of instant mashed potatoes that comes with most formed chips, specifically of the Pringles variety [maybe because they're thicker?]). All around, a pretty banging flavour on adequate chips (I went back and bought 3 more bags if that says something).

I can't remember where I first heard of Territories (Calgary). It may have been in Razorcake (I know their s/t debut made some top 5's at least in the most recent issue) or Dying Scene..or was it through Pirates Press emails? (After writing out this review and revisiting the start of it I think it may have actually been through the Sloth Records Instragram account). Either way, I was intrigued when I heard of them so I flagged them in my Bandcamp wishlist and listened to them a few times when I was working. As background music it was aurally pleasing which led me to putting it in my online bohemoth store's shopping cart where it sat for a month or so without me pulling the trigger (for some reason I was interested but not fully hooked yet). Finally, earlier this month I was in Calgary at Sloth Records and I thought, "Territories is YYC, their album is probably in the store. Marc, why don't you go see if the Territories album is in stock. MARC, stop looking through the used bins and see if the TERRITORIES ALBUM IS HERE". It was, I purchased it and love it more and more with each listen. Territories play anthemic punk-n-roll. Mid to uptempo music with whiskey soaked melodic vocals, that at times sound sung from someone who's recently seen the bottom of a bottle, and lots of gang vocals on the choruses. Territories sound is very working class with beautifully simple lyrics that waver between heartbreak and resistance to/distaste for the status quo; you know, the garbage heap that large portions of North America seem to wallow in these days. The lyrics really add some depth to the songs, with a nice bite to them at that. Oh yeah, and there's an organ really filling out There and Gone, shit's tight.

To be lazy, Territories sort of sound like a streetpunk Bouncing Souls with a bit more rock than pop (anchors away era Souls).
Now for the packaging. On the cover is a dilapidated old farm house/barn 2 windows, wood siding old). The back is a greyed out pathway running through trees, the lyrics are a very plain font and clear over top of the pathway. The jacket and liner notes are on nice matte cardboard/paper (I think that'd be the best way to describe it, that paper that feels almost gritty, in a great way, in your hands). The record is oddly black (I say this as it's a Pirates Press release, I associate Pirates Press with wild vinyl variants) and a nice mid-weight. Why do the last 3 sentences matter? They don't. Go check out Territories.

Stay hydrated,
Marc

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