Tales of the Salty Bag

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 ...

 This past November was quite alright. After lengthy gaps both The Cure and The Dopamines blessed us with new albums. I don't think either album has fully set in for me yet, but I wanted to inform you that if you haven't checked out either albums yet...you will not be disappointed. The Dopamines 80/20 smokes. The same band that brought us 2017's Tales of Interest comes again with lyrics that are often quite angry and/or dark with a fair amount of introspection, poppy punk music, hypnotic basslines. To me the music for Save Your Beers has one foot in late 90's/early 2000's alt rock with that verse riff, if you just played me the riff with no lyrics and told me it was from the Green Album I wouldn't argue with you, then the punk kicks in with some classic bass bridge in the mix. Weiner wrote and has lead vocals for two songs on this album (I haven't pulled out the previous albums but I don't believe he's had lead vocals and I'm assuming with only ...

It's Alive Records is back baby! If you're not familiar with IAR, they released some of the best pop punk (not in a warped tour sense, in a punk with great pop sensibility, uh, sense [while hitting so many different branches of the pop punk tree]) to come out of the States and (typically Eastern) Canada from 2004 through 2019 (Copyrights, TBR, Steinways, Dopamines, Gateway District, Crusades, The Creeps...lets just say I celebrate their entire catalogue, as should you). I had seen the Local Drags LP on Recess Ops a while ago (along with Punk Rock Raduno 4) but it wasn't on the IAR website. I wasn't quite sure what was going on, but was a little concerned that it meant the end of the label. Those two records have been on my list of things to get to for a while, but you know, sometimes you just don't get around to getting things. Anyway, this past Oct 4 a notification pops up in my email, IAR posted a new record on their bandcamp. I kept scrolling, is that another IAR...

 I have a very thoughtful friend that when they go on a trip they often bring me back a bag of chips that can't be found in the 204. Well, a couple weeks ago they went on a trip and brought me back a bag of straight up Lay's weirdness. It would appear that Lay's has entered into a partnership with IHOP to bring Rooty Tooty Fresh 'N Fruity Strawberry-Topped Pancakes with Syrup & Bacon Naturally (yeah, okay) & Artificially Flavored Potato Chips. Since these are 'merican the nutrition facts on the back are in 28g portions, but these actually aren't all that unhealthy 24% fat (high side of average amongst all chips, but pretty much par for the course for Lay's) per 56g and only 12% sodium. My guess is that these'll actually be decent. In the past I've found that sweet flavours on chips actually goes over pretty well.  Well, these smell pretty weird..almost like maple syrup and coffee. I've never been in an IHOP, but it sounds about right for ...

 When I saw that Spencer Jo was touring central Canada I made a note of it...so just over a month ago I went to a show in Winnipeg with my wife. Spencer Jo, Grotoko and Borrowed Standards put on an amazing show.  Borrowed Standards opened up (this was my first time hearing his music) with a set of aggressive acoustic folk. If you told me Borrowed Standards put out an album on Plan-It-X I would believe you. Folk that sounds like it's about to go off the rails, but stays on track the whole time.  Next up was the draw for me, Spencer Jo. Before their set I had mentioned that Quit It! hadn't played Guts & Glory and asked if they were going to play it that night. Long story short, they explained why Quit It! took Guts & Glory out of the set and asked if that was a request. Well, I didn't intend it to be a request, but if they wanted to play it who was I to stand in their way, haha. Spencer Jo plays more straight forward folk with a hint of punk and has a presence on s...

 Yoo. So President's Choice Spicy Ketchup (kettle cooked) potato chips "Crave-worthy crunch with an unexpected kick" (but really, how is it unexpected, they say right on the bag that they're spicy [did PC assume that we wouldn't trust them? Maybe the company's ethics are not the most trustworthy, but the products typically aren't]) bang. I tried them last week and have been thinking about the second bag in the salty cellar ever since. They're PC kettle cooked chips, decent crunch and not overly greasy. The flavour though, the flavour; vinegar tartness, sweet tomatoey ketchup and a fantastic flavourful (cayenne) bite. The flavours dance around together in your mouth. Sweet, no, tart, no spicy pepper, huzzah. The odd time some potato flavour peeks out, but just for a second so that it doesn't overstay it's welcome. I'm hoping that PC keeps these along with the spicy dill pickle around for a while. In late 2022 DL Incognito put out his first a...

 Spicy Dill Pickle (kettle cooked), eh President’s Choice. Took you long enough. I found out about these about a month ago when my wife brought home a bag (and a bag of the new PC spicy ketchup as well). When I cracked the bag I was met with a familiar dill pickle scent, smells similar to PCs creamy dill pickle. Initial taste was a creamy dill pickle flavour followed soon by a nice pepper heat. It’s not an obnoxious spicy, it’s just sort of there for the party and lingers for a while after you’ve finished the mouthful. Natural hot pepper flavour that builds the further you get into the bag. These are some crunchy kettle cooked chips, they’re not playing around. Outside of the crunch, the chips definitely play second fiddle to the seasoning. Potato flavour is minimal, that’s not a complaint just an observation. These are also basically health chips at only 17% of our daily fat and a very surprizing 8% of your daily sodium (usually when the flavour is this pronounced the sodium level...

 Yowza. Doritos Tangy ! All Dressed are a limited time only chip that Doritos Canada has on shelves right now. I'm a vinegar man, so typically all dressed is right up my alley..I was however a little apprehensive as I didn't know how well all dressed would go with a tortilla chip. Well, let me stop burying the lead, these bang. With the first bite I found a little smokey bbq in the mix with a little bitta vinegar tang. As I made my way through the bag the vinegar became more and more present. Not overwhelmingly, but as a vinegar fan just enough. The seasoning to chip ratio is bang on. As far as Doritos families go, I'd say these would be sweet chili heat's cousin, that sweetness must be coming from some sort of ketchupy base in the flavour. I think I can faintly taste some onion up in the mix. I'm not sure how limited time 'limited time' is, but if you're at all into all dressed/vinegar based flavours you won't want to miss out on these. You like Ram...

 Ultra Magnus is a Canadian emcee who should be a household name. He's been around for a minute with his most recent album being 2019's M uziki Mzuri . Rooted in boom bap with hints of chopper and dancehall, Ultra Magnus brings aggressive rhymes with rap references sprinkled liberally throughout (both lyrically and flow, but not in a biting way). UM has flows for days, often throwing multiple within a song to make sure that the listener's never getting bored. On Muziki Mzuri the guests are limited to The Mighty Rhino (outside of Fresh Kils producing the entire album). Hand'Solo hit gold with Ultra Magnus, if he ever puts out another album I'm without a doubt adding it to my collection. First there was Archer Farms (rip Target Canada [specifically for the chips]). Then way too long later Hardbite gave it a go with Miss Vickies following closely behind. Now it's Old Dutch's turn to give Spicy Ketchup a go (under their Dutch Crunch line). OD very rarely lets me...

 Myles Bullen put out a new album on March 1st, timetokill , it is beautiful. I came to Myles's music through Fake Four/Ceschi a couple years ago and their brand of weird rap really got it's hooks into me. The music on timetokill is all over the map. There's songs with synthy/computery beeps and bloops and heavy bass. There are songs that are lush yet somehow spacious. A few that are bare bones uke music. Yet the album is cohesive as hell. I think that's primarily due to Myles Bullen's melodic delivery of his very personal lyrics that are so heavy you can't help but feel grounded when listening to this album. There's some seriously dark lyrical content but they offset it with an optimism that when it comes out makes you feel like you're sitting outside on a sunny day feeling a nice warm breeze while you watch the clouds float by allowing you to make pictures in your mind with the blue and white canvas. Myles seamlessly goes from smooth raps to singing to...

 Cornitos Nacho Crisps, Sweet Chili flavour. Somewhat thin corn chips but with a significant crunch. Corn is up front and centre with these ones, I guess Cornitos isn't just a clever name (thought nacho crisps is quite confusing, nachos are a dish and I was always under the impression that crisps are specific to potato [maybe this is a translation thing as these are a product of India]). The chili is sweet with a nice natural heat. When the seasoning kicks in it is quite alright, however as I previously alluded to the seasoning to corn flavour is like 40 / 60. Tasty chips, a bit of tang to the seasoning, but I'd say that the Arriba Sweet Chili is still top of the pack. It should be noted that I grabbed this bag when I was on a Covered Bridge mission at Dollar Tree. I recently picked up a couple The Cure demo albums from Forbidden Beat Distro (great distro with very reasonable prices and shipping, some weird releases and based out of Southern Ontario [accept CAD]). Faith Demos ...

 Asian Man Records delivers heater after heater. Halfway through 2023 they put out the debut LP from Sweet Gloom, Reverie , which is a fantastic album. Sweet gloom deliver indie poppy rock with punk swagger, croonish vocals and sprinkles of doo-wop. The vocals croon in an Alkaline Trio way, and I don't mean like one of the vocalists, Jaake's voice and delivery is almost a mash of Skiba and Andriano. The bass player Chis sings on a couple songs where he has that midwestern gravely pop punk delivery which is a fantastic juxtaposition against Jaake. Predominantly introspective lyrics. Sweet is the vocals, melodies; Gloom is the lyrics. I guess one might say that Sweet Gloom play sweet gloom music. I strongly recommend that you listen then purchase Reverie. In Canada...in Manitoba at least there are two primary chip dips. Philadelphia (cream cheese based) and Heluva Good! (sour cream based). I'm not here to tell you which type is better...I am however here today to give you my ...