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Here You Are

 Spanish Love Songs put out a new album this fall, No Joy. Spanish Love Songs newest album is almost the child of the two versions of their previous album, Brave Faces Everyone and Brave Faces Etc. It brings a bit more of the Everyone rock but they've maintained a heavy synth presence that Etc. introduced to the band's sound. A good portion of No Joy is dancable as hell. The guitars have a pedal or two in the mix. The synth gives the album an 80s feel but the album doesn't sound dated. Dylan Slocum's voice once again sounds like he's on the edge of a breakdown, wavering but not affected and delivering his beautifully painful lyrics. There's the odd sliver of light throughout the lyrics mostly in the form of some dark humor. The juxtaposition of the dark lyrics with synths and relatively upbeat music has the ability to leave one awestruck. When you listen to No Joy you're not sure if you're crying because the bleakness of the lyrics has overtaken you or if they're tears of joy due to the sonic beauty that is the music and melody. Either way, No Joy is a masterpiece. 

Tonight I had a bag of Ruffles Flamin' Hot Cheddar & Sour Cream flavored (yes, it's an American bag) potato chips, "By Lebron James". The chips have a decent crunch, Ruffles are a somewhat dense chip. These chips give me a bit of a forehead sweat. The mix of Cheddar, Sour Cream and "Flamin' Hot" actually tastes sort of like a buffalo wing and blue cheese flavour, which is a nice surprise. I'm still not a huge fan of "Flamin Hot" it tastes a bit too fake. I don't get Lay's US's obsession with the "flavor" that is "Flamin' Hot", I want to say they're batting under 500...but I guess if you throw the "flavor" on 50 different bags of salty snacks hitting 250 or 300 ain't bad? Throw shit at a wall, amiright? At least with this bag because the flavour isn't actually what's advertised on the bag I'd say it's a hit, don't go out of your way to get them but if you see some at the store it won't be your worst purchase.

Stay hydrated,

Marc

RIP Shane MacGowan

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