Tales of the Salty Bag

I'm tired, how 'bout you? There were some great things that happened in 2021. I haven't catalogued my record purchases for the year yet, which is somewhat odd, I usually get that done in the first few weeks of January, like I said, I'm tired. The cd's that I got throughout the year are somewhere between filed away on my cd shelves or in my car. 2021 was a year that flew by yet at the same time dragged on like a mother lover...so I may not quite remember what came out in 2021 or if it actually came out in 2020 and my memory's just shot. Below I'm going to provide an update on what sticks out in my mind as being tight in 2021...it's not a definitive list, and if I were to actually dig around through this blog and my collections it may change, but as a great book once said, you get what you get.  Beyond categorization - I interviewed Jon Lewis of The Dopamines, I'm still quite stoked on that and he was super kind (if it wasn't on a dated blog post ...

 This is just a rundown of my postings in 2021 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 for 2015 , 2016 , 2017 , 2018, 2019, and 2020 ) January 2021: Beachfront Property - Music (for title): Spanish Love Songs [Brave Faces Everyone album]. This was a rundown of good things from 2020. Also included is a brief review of co-op Gold Pure kettlecooked popcorn, Jalapeno White Cheddar flavour Outta My Head - Music: Reifer Madness - Break Out     Chip: Hardbite Wasabi Ranch   February 2021: Gruesome Tasks - Music: Cancer - Death Shall Rise     Chip: Paqui Fiery Chile Limon Here's Looking At You Kid - Music: Gaslight Anthem - (sort of The '59 Sound)     Chip: Covered Bridge All Dressed March 2021 : Tree House Lullaby - Music: Blaze Foley - The Dawg Years     Chip: Old Dutch Ridgies Salt and Pepper Wings 19/11/19 ...

 9 years after his last Peanuts and Corn (P&C) album (just about 3 years after his last album [bangin' colab with Rob Crooks] Schadenfreude [that I wrote words about Dec 2020]), Bazooka Joe 204 (second under Bazooka Joe [luckily adding 204 with this release to really help his SEO {fka John Smith}]) blessed us with a stellar 9 track album this past October, Prairie Nilsson . If you want a breakdown of songs straight from the horses' mouth, go check out the 3 part podcast that Mr. Joe did with bigmcenroe (the albums producer, Mr. P&C) where they discussed each song from Prairie Nilsson and provided comparisons to songs in the John Smith P&C back catalogue. The beats on the album are lush and Ol' Man Winter wears his politics and life on his sleeve while also providing observations that paint a full picture of the good and bad without judgement. So, King Cake Baby is one of my favourite songs that Bazooka Joe, Sloppy Joe, John Smith, whatever you want to call hi...

 Nosh and Co. (weird brand name [but I like it]) ketchup potato chips. Made in Canada since 2013, "*made in Canada from imported and domestic ingredients". Cracked the bag on these bad boys and they were relatively fragrant. They looked lightly seasoned. When I started masticating, I found that as they appeared they were lightly seasoned..however, the chips were also very light weight, light crunch. Airy one might say..but somehow not bubbly, just, like, airy. Tart tomato flavour but not overly vinegary. Because the chips are so light, the light seasoning actually goes with them pretty well. 130g bag with somewhat high fat (23% per 50g) and somewhat low sodium (15% per 50g [which makes sense with the light seasoning levels]). The high fat (vegetable oil) percentage gives them a somewhat buttery flavour. Pretty good chips. My initial reaction was meh, but the oily butteryness won me over, quite enjoyable.  (in my phone notes I ended with "pair with something indie rock or...

Lets get this out of the way Bad Operation slaps hard. A while back I wrote about a record order from Bad Time Records, I mentioned Bad Operation but I wrote words about Joystick and Best of the Worst. Well, let me get to words about the record that made me place the order with BTR in the first place. Bad Operation's S/T 2020 release 's sound is is definitely rooted in 2tone (even on the back of the album the bottom left corner states "New Tone 2020"..which couldn't be any more accurate [I guess I could have shortened these words to, "Bad Operation's 2020 self titled album is New Tone. Go buy it, listen to it, consume it"]) but Bad Operation is way more than a 2tone tribute. Dominic Minix has so much soul to his vocal delivery it weighs on you in the most welcomed way. I knew that this band was from New Orleans, however I would like to think that if I didn't know that...I would have known from listening to this band, I want to say there's a ...

 When I saw that Takis made kettle cooked potato chips I took notice, but had no real expectations. There's been a bag of Takis Kettlez Typhoon Jalapeno..Hot, Spicy Jalapeno (just the name/spelling is somewhat of a turnoff) sitting in the salty cellar for a minute. I finally got around to trying my first flavour of Takis take on kettle cooked potato chips this past week. The bag has a 'tear here' note, well Takis, I'll pass on your bag opening suggestion. So I cracked the bag open standard style (pulling the 2 sides apart) and took a whiff that presented me with what I noted as spicy. These chips have a good solid crunch. They're a thicker cut chip that makes me think that they may not have been cooked quite as long as a 'standard' kettle cooked chip, but still a solid crunch due to the thickness. The flavour is aggressively spicy. There's cheddar in the mix..or some sort of cheesy saltiness. Jalapeno heat..like, fresh jalaps..hotter than standard jalape...

Off the dome I can only think of 1 restaurant chain x chip colab (Lay's Chalet Sauce), I'm sure there have been more (I want to say Covered Bridge have collaborated with east coast restaurants, but they're not widely known). Well, a couple days ago a friend from work made me aware of a second colab..and followed up by providing me with a tube of Limited Time Only Pringles Wendy's Spicy Chicken Flavour "Potato Chips" (sure Pringles, these are "potato" "chips"). I quite enjoy a spicy chicken go wrap from Wendy's so even though these are Pringles I'm actually looking forward to trying them.  Pop open the tube and..they smell like Pringles, not much of a seasoning smell, just that sterile tube chip smell. Pop it in my mouth and the initial flavour is spicy breading, decent kick, because this flavour is so often associated with chicken breading it (I think tricks my mind into thinking that it) tastes like chicken. Pepper kick. The back e...