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Don't Drink the Kool-Aid

 I ordered the Hockey Moms Warming Up the Van LP strictly because Wasted Wax was putting it out, I simply trust Bart to put out good stuff. I didn't check out Hockey Moms Bandcamp to see what they sounded like because it didn't matter. Based on the band name I was thinking it'd be on the humorous side of pop punk..sort of The Hextalls..ish So when the LP came in last week and I threw it on, well, I was quite surprised to be slapped in face with some punk rock with a real 80's hardcore influence. This albums bangs. The vocals are somewhat melodically shouted, with some doubling up/back up here and there. Without the lyrics in front of me I have a somewhat hard time making out the words, so I was a little disappointed that it didn't come with a lyric sheet to see what's up. I mostly assumed that based on the name of Hockey Moms they'd be somewhat thematic and jokey...when I went to their bandcamp, to link it in this post today, I saw that all their lyrics were available digitally. I read the lyrics for song 1, Hockey Moms and thought, yep, this is gonna be a weird and funny album. Then I got to song 2, Sunrise, and dang. After Hockey Moms the remaining 12 songs are quite introspective and personal, there's the odd bit of humor sprinkled in here and there but in general who ever wrote them is not dickin' around. I was hoping that there would be substance to the lyrics with music this enjoyable, and there was. Warming Up the Van is a whole meal.

I was in the co-op a month(?) ago and I saw that their Gold PURE line (*cough* Covered Bridge *cough*) had some 'new' flavours. I recognized them from the actual CB brand, one of the flavours I hadn't yet tried..well, chip and flavour I guess...Chickpea Chips Red Curry. They sound a little weird, generally when chips deviate from potato or corn I'm not as enthusiastic about trying. But there's something about the bowl of hummus on the front and red curry that actually had me consuming these chips before their best before. How does this fresh bag of Gold PURE Chickpea Red Curry Chips taste? Well, they sort of look like veggie chips and taste somewhere between rice crackers and veggie chips. The crunch is mid range. Oh, you wanted to know what the seasoning is like? They taste somewhat salty, with some buttery goodness. These'd be great for dipping, I think their rigidity and slight cuppidge would allow you to really get some dip on em. What's that about seasoning? Oh, it's quite light. There's the mildest heat, for the most part weaker than bbq seasoning heat. If you gave these to me in a blind taste test I'd have trouble discerning the flavour outside of the buttery chickpeaness. I guess I'd say they're a really weak bbq flavour. I'd be let down if the actual base chickpea chips weren't so crunchy and buttery tasting. If there was 3 to 4x the seasoning on these I think they'd be face meltingly good, instead they're just an enjoyable non-potato chip. They're sort of like a bangin' album without the lyrics to round it out.

Stay hydrated,

Marc

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