Tales of the Salty Bag

Ever since Local 604 I've been a fan of Sweatshop Union and the emcees and groups that that union was comprised of (if you're not be aware of them, they haven't put out an album in 6 years and even at that I believe they may have been more of a Canadian commodity that was known stateside in isolate pockets [primarily the west coast]). As a group, Sweatshop isn't all that active these days however individually they're still out there. Off the top of my head I know Pigeon Hole are putting out bangin' west coast bass and playing festivals/touring regularly, Ray Black is out there DJing, and Mo Moshiri, well he put out his debut solo album this past September. If you don't recognize the specific name Mo Moshiri you may recognize him as Mos Eisley of Dirty Circus..of Sweatshop Union, haha. When I heard about Mo's pending album, Can I Tell You Something , in February I was pretty excited, after all..new Sweatshop. Was Can I Tell You Something a major departur...

So Off With Their Heads put out a new album this past August ( Be Good ), it was their first album since 2013's Home and I don't believe I'm off base when I say that it was highly anticipated in punk world. Ryan Young and co. have always put out fantastic music that has increasing returns and Be Good is nowhere near being an exception to the rule. Ryan has returned with his tunefully weathered vocal chords delivering his heart on his sleeve. If you follow Anxious and Angry you'll know that this album coincided with the dissolution of a long term relationship which is front and centre throughout the album. Musically and lyrically it's a heavy album, the lyrics are downright dark with very few glimpses of light. The music and vocal delivery however is dynamic with pop and melody throughout, oh and did I mention there is a good portion that is heavy (my wife described it as angry music the other day when I had it playing, I guess I can see where she was ...

Familiarity is both a gift and a curse. If something is too familiar it can run the risk of being tired or boring..on the other hand, if something is familiar with it's own little twist it can be comforting while still providing some of that (sort of) new new that we all crave. When I was first made aware of Co-op Gold Pure Loaded Burger Kettle Cooked Potato Chips I was pretty excited. This excitement was based on 2 things; 1 - new Pure chip flavour 2 - the new flavour being 'loaded' from Covered Bridge..err, Co-op Gold Pure. If you've been reading this blog for a minute you might recognize Covered Bridge's Loaded Hot Dog popping up in 2016. Lets just say, they were bangin'. I had a sense of what I could expect with Loaded Burger (and CB stopped production of Loaded Hot Dog earlier this year)..now were my expectations met? Youbetcha! Loaded Burger is basically Loaded Hot Dog with some Montreal Steak Spice sprinkled on top (really, I think CB mixed their Loade...

Angry Burger Takis “Zesty”    “spicy hamburger flavour” Mild relish/pickle flavour. Heat is less than zesty. Mild after burn, MILD. Thought they’d be bad, turned out to be meh. Slightly less than a jalap heat. Maybe the faintest hint of tomato? Haven’t tried them again since and probably won’t again. Stay hydrated, marc 

Colleen Green released a complete Dude Ranch cover album this past August on Burger Records. Does it bang you ask? Yes (well, it's a fantastic take on the album, but maybe bang isn't the best choice of descriptor). Colleen took all 15 of the songs on Dude Ranch and slowed them down to about 3/4 speed (as played by Coleen Green clocks in at just about 64 minutes while the original album was a tight 45). Colleen's almost whispered (but not quite) vocals are accompanied by her playing a short scale bass through what sounds like some sort of pedal. This cover album is sleepy but not boring and breathes new, and different life, into a classic album. How do the sometimes juvenile lyrics hold up when delivered more clearly with stripped down backing you ask? They hold up, now take off and stop asking silly questions. (I believe that) This is a great album on it's own merit, but it's hard for me to speak to anything related to Dude Ranch without a bit of a bias . I'd...

The last time I wrote about Tomahawk Chips, I regaled you with my take on their BBQ and Ketchup flavours. I tried to track down an easier way to find them locally (you can order them on Amazon.ca now) but it was to no avail (they didn't email me back). Low and behold, my friend Top was at a store recently and picked me up a bag of Fire Chip (spicy flavour)..(unbeknownst to her that these chips were actually on my active list of chips to try). First thing's first, who's the artist who created the front art for the bag..(because as far as I can tell the art comes first, chips come second with Tomahawk Chips)..well it was none other than Mabel Nigiyok. Mabel created a piece with what appears to be Inuit hunters with seals, a polar bear and some buffalo among a landscape. As I was reading the back of the bag looking for the artist, I noticed that they have a "Friendchip Choice, Native Canadian Chip Corporation" slogan and logo (I also noticed that these chips are best...

Lay's Bacon Wrapped Jalapeno Popper Flavored Duet. I'm not sure if you can still purchase them, but you could in the States this past spring. I finally cracked them a couple weeks ago. First whiff, fake bacon flavoured chips. Initial taste, cream cheese with a hint of "bacon" (you know, that sort of unsettling bacon flavour seasoning). The jalap flavour is a little uneven throughout the bag ranging from a mild to medium mild heat. Not your typical jalapeno flavour but..I don't know, they're almost a smokey? heat. The further I got into the bag I found that I was left with a mild chili pepper heat wrapped in cream cheese and a sprinkling of bacon. I'm not a fan of bacon flavoured snacks in general..so if that was cut out of the flavour and it was just cream cheese stuffed jalapenos that'd be tight but as it stands they're pretty decent. So my laptop is running really slow and glitchy right now, but just before I started writing about the aforement...

So this one's a little bit out of format for the saltybag, I'm forwarding on reviews from (one of?) our international correspondent(s) (who at the time of submission didn't know they were providing reviews for this here blog). Willards (limited edition) Crinkle Cut (since 1977) Bunny Chow flavoured potato chips: Light curry with a side of white bread. No bunny. Snoeks Naks Seafood Flavoured Naks "tangy tasty fresh from the ocean": These are weirdly good. Taste like the batter of fish and chips w slight umami. Smell like a fish and chips shop. A snoek is a fish. Messaris "Traditional Quality since 1948" Greek Island Potato Crisps Feta & Olive Flavour: Slight hint of olive. Did feel like I was on a Greek island. Would eat again. So Waka Waka DID have a South African band contribute to the song, and I'm far from the first person to gripe about this but..a Colombian singer. Seriously? SMDH. That's like getting Danny Elfman to write a Hock...

FRIED PICKLES WITH RANCH FLAVORED LAY'S. As you can tell by that first line, I recently had a friend that went on a trip to the States and was kind enough to bring me back a bag of 'merican Lay's (unsolicited at that [thanks Top]). I got them on Monday and I'm already cracking them and posting..this is a pretty quick turnaround from procurement to this here blog. I'm not going to tell you what I think they're going to be like as I have heard second hand of another's first impression, so without further ado...they smell like dill pickle chips with the faint odor of a gym bag (or something to that affect [that was unexpected]). They taste like creamy dill's first cousin. Dill is up front and centre with some creamy texture to the chip seasoning. There's almost a hint of the most faint blue cheese flavour, I know they're telling me it's ranch on the bag but I get some sort of blue cheeseness (maybe it's just me [I have been eating a lot of b...

I had a small bag of chips earlier this week, they were about a month past their best before date so I was concerned about 2 things. 1 - Small bags go stale a lot quicker than large bags. Don't ask me why, it's just that way. 2 - They were of the Lays Streats of the World variety. Pizza to be exact. (the reason I was concerned about this is because I thought that once again I missed blogging about a limited time chip in the time-frame when people could actually go out and purchase if my words made the chips seem appealing [the day after I had my Pizza Lays I was at work, and a co-worker broke out a bag of Pizza Lays, I guess they recently re-released this flavour for a limited time]) Now what do these Pizza Lays smell like? Large chain pepperoni pizza. The crunch is somewhat lightweight (I guess midweight if you take kettle cooked out of the equation). Now I can hear you screaming, 'but what about the flavour Marc. WHAT ABOUT THE FLAVOUR!! DO THEY TASTE LIKE PEPPERONI ...

Wow this year is flying by. I'm already writing about Mal Blum's latest offering, Pity Boy . This album was high on my list of anticipated albums because their last album, 2015's You Look A Lot Like Me , was bangin'. With Pity Boy, Mal once again brings their somewhat monotonous voice to deliver their poetic lyrics over top of predominantly (mid to late 90's) alt rockish music. There's some bounce and sweetness here and there throughout the album, but for the most part there's a lot of subdued darkness reflected in both the music and the lyrics. When I read the lyrics they came off as very personal, they're not specific to the point of being not relatable but they are definitely autobiographical. There's some nice use of metaphor throughout the album and repetition/semi-repetition (does that exist, she'll repeat a group of words but sort of change the order sometimes or throw in a new word here and there). When the songs dip into relationships, i...

I'm not feeling all that great right now so I'm going to hold off on posting about chips that I'm excited about. Time to dip into the back of the salty cellar and see what I retrieve... Great Value Kettle Cooked Burnin' Hot Potato Chips. They apparently have no cholesterol (isn't that surprising [these must be health chips, amiright?!?]). They also give you nutrition facts on 28g (1oz) rather than the pretty typical 50g. Why am I pointing that out? Because right under the popping no cholesterol label on the front it says "See Nutrition Information for Total Fat Content" (which is 10% per 28g..or about 18 chips [with sodium at 7% per 18..that's actually not to bad]). Now that I'm through trying to figure out what health means. They smell like chips, some might say..potato chips. The crunch is mid-weight, some might say average. The flavour is burnin' hot, some might say that the name is actually pretty accurate. There's a bit of oil in the...

Everything's been turning up Millhouse in the chip and music department lately. New Murderburgers came in the mail a couple weeks ago..along with the debut KKFC LP that I'll write about below. Mal Blum's new album Pity Boy comes out in 8 days, Small Crush's debut is expected late July..and that's just the tip of the iceburg. On top of that, Co-op Gold Pure chips just released 4 new flavours (3 haven't been previously released by Covered Bridge). Hot dang I'm excited for some blog posts..if y'all are too, fantastic..if not, your loss. So as mentioned above, my copy of Kitty Kat Fan Club's debut LP " Dreamy Little You " finally made it's way to my front door (and by the looks of the shipping box it may have been a long and semi lost journey. Why was I so excited for this, because based on their 2 previous 7"s I've been pointing towards the fence since they announced that an LP was coming out. What does KKFC sound like on Dreamy...

(If you take nothing more away from this post, go listen to the music in the second paragraph..and if you don't want to listen to all of it, just go listen to 1996 [then work your way backwards from there) So I've had a bag of..Calbee Snapea Crisps Harvest Snaps Flavoured Green Pea Crisps Baked. Wasabi Ranch. Low in Salt. Very High Source of Fiber..sitting around the basement for a while. It's Thursday so I decided to crack them open. When I looked at the best before date 15 MA 19 I realized that this would be a test to see how well Snapea Crisps hold up past their best before (the year in that BB date is 2015). I've had these before and enjoyed them..they just fell to the back of the salty cellar and were passed by in favor of chips. When I peeled off the top of the bag and cracked them open..wow, these smell stale. I put a few in my mouth, the crunch is still there..a very airy crunch. The first thing that I noticed in terms of flavour was a nice wasabi bite followe...

Hardbite's chip names are always, um..I dunno, you sort of pull at the collar of your shirt looking awkward after stating the name. This brings me to Drop'n Mad Beets "handcrafted style" chips. Lightly salted beet chips (when I consumed them they were 9 months past their best before date [I'm just not very good at getting to non-typical chips for tasting]). Scent, like beets. They had a nice crunch, toward the thick aggressive side of the crunch spectrum..the chips then gives way to a slight softness after a couple chomps. Taste, like beets..that have been kettle cooked and lightly salted. The chips are on the smaller side (diameter wise). They have sweet beety goodness. Drop'n Mad Beets are a welcome change of pace however not getting into the regular rotation (these notes are from Feb 7, 2017..so my assessment at that tie held true, I haven't consumed them again since [after reading my notes I do however want to get another bag]). Halfway through the bag...

This post isn't necessarily judging the chips that I consumed on February 7, 2017..it is however a quick lesson on how I've learned to interpret best before dates. The following is a direct quote from my phone notes, "Sensations sweet potato kettle cooked chips with sea salt. 1 year 7 months past best before date. Smell like animal feed. Somewhat soft crunch, shit's definitely stale". It appears that I cracked another way past best before date on Feb 7, 2017, "Covered Bridge sweet potato with sea salt. Smell kind of like alfalfa. Somewhat soft crunch, taste like a mix between how they smell and sweet potato fries. Generously salted. Fist time I've had sweet potato chips. Also 1 year 5 months past best before date. Need to try again."  What I've found with chips and best before dates is that when you're dealing with potato chips, kettle cooked generally stays fresh longer than standard chips. Small bags seem to go stale a lot sooner t...

I received a puzzle for christmas 2017..the picture was made up of dozens of potato chip bags. As I completed the puzzle people kept asking me if I had tried all the chips. Well, some were old and appeared to be discontinued prior to me being born, some were flavours that I hadn't tried of brands that I was aware of and/or had consumed..and some were completely foreign to me. One of these foreign bags was Zapp's. When my wife was in Bottineau about a month ago she picked me up a couple bags of Zapp's chips, so it should go without saying that I was pretty excited when I got to check out the US chip booty. Zapp's Potato Chips (a Division of Utz Quality Foods, LLC Hanover, PA) are "New Orleans Kettle Style" and the flavour that I'm consuming today is Voodoo. I have no per-conceptions of what this flavour will taste like. At first sniff, an all dressed heavy in the mesquite bbq. At first taste..well, I'd say they taste like they smell. Voodoo is in the al...

I bet you were starting to think that my blog description was a lie. That there was never going to be inverview on this site! Well, if you're reading this I can guarantee you that there will be at least one interview (we'll see if an s is warranted in the future) because Mike Park of Asian Man Records (and Skankin' Pickle, Chinkees, Bruce Lee Band, Ogikubo Station, solo..solo kids, Kitty Kat Fan Club....[and I'm in Love With a Girl Named Spike "A Degrassi Podcast]) graciously agreed to let me interview him (via email [which I've found may not be the ideal interview format but that was my choice..I figured it'd be easiest to schedule around]). I was pretty excited when he agreed to the interview so hopefully you're just as excited to read it..so without further ado... (the text below hightlighted in green are follow up musings, questions, etc. that weren't part of my initial interview email and I'm guessing may have gotten lost in the email sh...

Is Beer Cheese a classic cheese styling? I've had beer & cheddar soup, I thought that was pretty good..but I don't recall ever having beer cheese. Well, maybe Lay's is lying to me or maybe they're not, but one of their turn up the flavor..flavors..this year is Kettle Cooked Classic Beer Cheese (with an orange lightening bolt between Beer and Cheese). When I cracked the bag and took a whiff they smelt like somewhat stale chips (I think that's the beer in the beer cheese flavouring [the Guaranteed Fresh date is 21MAY2019]). I took a bite and the first thing that popped into my head was, "my, those chips are yeasty..with some thick seasoning (the coverage is fairly good, but I mean the actual seasoning is quite dense). Once you get past the initial yeasty flavour, you're met with a weird faux cheese mixed with..I don't know, it's weird..it's almost a the taste of a fair or carnival (I know you can't actually taste a fair/carnival, but you c...

How would I describe Lay's Streats of the World..Taco you ask? I bet you didn't guess they'd smell like taco seasoning. Do the chips differ from standard flat Lay's? Na, they're pretty typical, on the lighter side of crunchy..no ridges, no skins, pretty sterile. Do they taste like 'plain' chips with a light sprinkling of taco seasoning? Yuppers. There's also a faint onion seasoning way in the background. The seasoning was pretty uneven throughout the bag. I'm not sure if these are still in production, if not..well, you're not missing out on a whole lot. (now don't let my indifference towards the chips taint your opinion of the below music. I didn't really try to tie the two together this week) It took me way too long to acquire MakeWar's sophomore album Developing a Theory of Integrity . It ended up in my bandcamp wishlist a while ago but I just never got around to listening to any of it, then finally a couple months ago I was scr...

So I have a bag of chips that I anticipate is going to be a challenge to consume, with that in mind I wanted to pair them with some heavy music..que a text to Ryan (who's deep into metal of the death/black variety) for a recommendation for a super heavy/aggressive album. I'm just starting to listen to Outer Heaven's late 2018 album Realms of Eternal Decay. Before even listening to the album, based on the cover font, I'm going to go with..death or crust (as I previously mentioned the affinity for death so it must be a death font [do metal genres have distinguishing factors between their fonts])? A few songs in, this shit's heavy. The vocals are gutteral and I'm not sure if my ears just aren't trained to pick up on the deep vocals (based on my primarily punk to hardcore listening tendencies) or maybe they're just too barked to discern what the actual words are (not saying it's a bad thing [and suffice to say I'm not going to be delving into the lyr...

In the latter part of 2018 I picked up The Brokedowns newest album Sick of Space. The Brokedowns play bouncy punk rock that is mid to up tempo. Both the music and vocals can be at times quite aggressive..abrasive..the vocals are slightly strained but it's intentional and it fits the bands sound. There's some nice harmonies. They have a Festy gruffness to them. The lyrics are darkly funny criticisms about..well, to be very broad, how the world is going to shit. They paint pictures in your mind somewhere between a 90s Tarantino movie and an adult swim cartoon. They have just the right amount of grit and anger to make for a very enjoyable listen. This is the third Brokedowns album that I've purchased and it's the 3rd for a reason, they always deliver the goods. Bangin'. I usually try to have some sort of connection between the music and chips in each blog..well this week I'm writing about Pringles so don't read too deep into the connection. The best connectio...

Franks grilled cheese & ketchup. Covered Bridge. Taste like ketchup, followed by au gratin then culminating in a combo of the 2. CBmini ridged kettle cooked. You can taste the potato in conjunction w seasoning. Great chips, decent flavour.  (The above is a direct cut and paste from my phone notes.  I saw and picked these up at a Canadian Tire [hence the Franks labeling] in Calgary this past November. Hadn’t had breakfast yet and they were more than sufficient to break my fast. Covered Bridge has so many interesting business partnerships. Hazzah!) Calgary’s Knucklehead (that basically went on to become Territories [I believe I blogged about Territories self titled in Nov/Dec of 2018]) put out their last few releases through Pirates Press. You know who else has a history of releasing music through Pirates Press? Lenny (and the Piss Poor Boys) Lashley, most recently through the form of his sophomore Lenny Lashley’s Gang of One album, All Are Welcome. I got into Lashley...

What do Doritos Late Night fully loaded Nachos smell like? Chili powder..err, Old Dutch Mexican chili chips. What do Doritos Late Night fully loaded Nachos taste like? Well, they taste like they smell. Predominantly "chili" (as a chip flavour) flavoured chips with the odd hint of cheese (similar to President's Choice's jalapeno popper chip seasoning [but without the increased heat]). What sets Doritos Late Night fully loaded Nachos apart from..I don't know, not Doritos fully loaded Nacho chips [apart from the obvious seasoning differences]? Well, let me tell you, I found that you get a lot more of the corn chip flavour with these chips compared to typical Doritos (now is this true or have I just not had Doritos in a minute..you tell me). Any final thoughts? I thought that these were going to be pretty wack based on the "Late Night" labeling and neon sign looking bag artwork (this is based off of previous superfluous Doritos naming and bag layout)....

2018 was a busy year. I had a few lengthy stretches between posts on here (I try to keep it bi-weekly...14 days give or take between posts). I managed to cut down on my record purchasing, upped my CD purchasing and got into some of the old chip stock that was pushed to the back in the salty cellar. Below are some things that I enjoyed in the last 365 or so. Chip/Snack Division : - Covered Bridge chips & Co-op Gold PURE chips (these will likely show up every year because they're fantastic. [I (still) haven't tried CB popcorn yet..maybe in 2019 {I'm a chip man, man}, we'll see]) & there is no beating the PURE price point. They're premium chip quality for like $2.70. - Making dip by mixing tartar sauce with sour cream (I bet it'd work pretty well with plain Greek yogurt as well) - Riley's chips. Good chips for the price point. - Co-op Gold kettle cooked Black Pepper & Balsamic Vinegar - Ruffles Sweet & Spicy (could become a regular...

This is just a rundown of my postings in 2018 including: the blog title, chip and music reference for anyone that doesn't want to read all them (I've done this each previous year 2015 , 2016 and 2017 ): January 2018: Tales of Interest - Music (for title): Dopamines. This was a rundown of good things from 2017. Why Should I Care - Music: Dark Thoughts - S/T    Chip: Double Dutch "appetizer edition" Sour Cream, Green Onion and Bacon February 2018: Wild Knives - Music: New Creases & Nervosas     Chips: Cape Cod Sweet and Spicy Jalapeno / Boulder Canyon Red Wine Vinegar Back to the Bright - Music: Needles//Pins - Good Night, Tomorrow     Chip: Riley's Sea Salt & Malt Vinegar March 2018 : Love the World We Have - Music: Ezra (Kire) - Speakers in the Sky     Chips: Tomahawk Chips BBQ, & Tomahawk Chips Ketchup The Way that I Live - Music: Mumford's/Samuel Locke Ward and the Boohoos split 7"  ...