Skip to main content

Confrontation

 When Get Dead put out Dancing with the Curse a few years ago I'm relatively certain that I must have listened to it at least once, but then I moved onto something else. I don't know exactly why, but it fell to the back of my mind and not into my record collection. Well last fall when I pre-ordered The Copyrights new LP (and first on Fat) Alone in a Dome, I added a few other albums to make the shipping cost a little more palatable, of the albums that I ordered were Dead to Me's African Elephants. Cut to this past January when they were getting ready to ship my order Fat realized that they didn't have any more copies of African Elephants and asked if I wanted to substitute it with something. Because Dead to Me's sound is somewhat eclectic I figured that I'd substitute it with another punk band with a non-conventional sound, enter Dancing with the Curse into my life (I also really enjoy their previous album Honesty Lives Elsewhere [which is a very different sound than the new album, it was still pretty firmly based in their folk punk roots]). It's been spinning on a relatively heavy rotation since I got it about a month ago. The folk punk is still lurking around in the background, but this album wouldn't be out of place next to my ska-punk section. It's almost the sonic vibe of the Flatliners' first 2 albums mashed together (Destroy to Create with The Great Awake). Sam King's vocals are gravely/phlegmmy melodic, with at times almost a Richard Butler (Psychadelic Furs) esque cadence (I think it's cadence anyway, there's something just really Furs to his delivery now and then). Like I eluded to, a lot of ska rhythms that are interspersed with skate punk, and a sprinkle of folk or almost Romani and a dash of HxC punk, just a dash. Substantial lyrics both in volume and content. This album's amazing and I'm happy I didn't sleep on it for any longer.

Flamin' Hot Cool Ranch sounds like it could have been the name of a song that was the produce of the mid 90's big band revival. I get it that it's combining 2 Frito Lay's flavours together, doesn't change the fact that the bag and chip flavour seem like they're either from the Cherry Poppin' Daddies back catalogue or may have appeared in a Lit video on somebodies shirt, shoes or both. In general I find Cool Ranch Doritos to be okay, not my go to flavour though, and Flamin' Hot is usually also decent but not something that I crave. When a buddy posted a pic of these chips in a group chat I was mildly intrigued and about a week later my wife brought some home, along with a few new Lay's flavours (like those very bleh cucumber chips). These smell like corn chips. The flavour actually tastes like a very good mix of Cool Ranch and Flamin' Hot, neither flavour takes over..it sort of meanders back and fourth between the 2, even through the aftertaste (which I did not expect as I've always viewed Cool Ranch as a sort of limp flavour. The heat is mid to mid high, maybe a 7/10, hotter than jalap but not feat of strength. All in all, not my new go to for Doritos, but a decent hot chip with a little bit of ranch chip seasoning in the mix.

Stay hydrated,

Marc

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Stairway to heaven 2

Dear Diary, I was in Dollarama last week picking up some last minute..well it doesn't really matter why I was there. Anyway, as I was in the line for the checkout and out of the corner of my eye I noticed a blue bag that I'd seen a million times before. For some reason this time, it's unassuming blue on blue top with stock photo potato chip bottom intrigued me (that in addition to it being 280g for $2). I thought, to myself, 'hey, they carry Covered Bridge..maybe these Made in Canada "D Gourmet" potato chips are some other high end chip that just happens to be carried in dollar stores.'. I proceeded to take the $2 leap and threw them in my basket. Within an hour of getting home I had cracked the bag and was happily consuming. These D Gourmet Salt & Vinegar potato chips were for lack of better term, pretty run-of-the-mill. The chips are somewhat sterile, no well done chips and no skins, and fairly lightweight. The seasoning is faint but fairly well di...
Post a Comment
Read more

Antoinette

 At the end of 2023 I saw Quit It! play in Winnipeg at the Handsome Daughter. I typically try to catch the opening bands, because I like being introduced to new music. One of the opening bands was Leon's Getting Larger, LGL (not sure if they ever abbreviate their band name like that [it reminds me of LWL, the Jersey pop punk band from the late 90s early 2000s, I'll Always Remember the 6th is such a banger {LGL doesn't really sound much like LWL, other than a bit of off center pop sounding...where was I going with this}]) were really fun to watch and they produce a sound that I don't hear very often coming out of Manitoba (maybe I just typically run in a different musical circle?). Anyway, Leon's Getting Larger put out their first album late last year, You Be Good Now ...which saw a vinyl release earlier this month (February 2025). I ordered a copy and it came to my door late last week. This album's great. Leon's Getting Larger has a couple singin' voices...
Post a Comment
Read more

And Nothing Is Forever

It happened. I started wondering if it ever would. It's been 16 years. People who were born after 4:13 Dream became teenagers and started driving between 4:13 and Songs Of A Lost World. Am I complaining that The Cure took 16 years to put out another album? No. They don't owe me anything. If Lost World never came out that would have been perfectly fine. Mr. Smith and his cohorts provided the world with hours and hours of fantastic music. In 2024 they added 49 minutes and 16 seconds into their absolutely amazing catalogue. A lot of the lead-up to Lost World spoke of the darkness of the album, the very few reviews that I've glanced at have mentioned the darkness as well. Like, I sort of see it, but to me, it's more of a heavy album (not like metal heavy, more so that there's some serious weight to this piece of art) and sonically epic soundscapes. There's a lot of brightness in the music and vocal melodies. Don't get me wrong, the lyrics are super bleak and if ...
Post a Comment
Read more