Tales of the Salty Bag

 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 ...

 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 ...

  Territories are putting out their sophomore album, the follow up to their self titled , next week. I'm not sure about you but I'm excited. Blue Diamond Almonds, Bold (Elote) Mexican-style Street Corn eh. "Intense Taste!" you say? Blue Diamond has put out some flavoured almonds in the past that are quite alright. Will these Mexican-style Street Corn stand their ground and put up a fight? They're crunchy, like other almonds...I'm not sure if there are different ways to bake(?) almonds to change their crunch, but they're generally all the same. I'm first hit with a sweet corn flavour, drenched in butter (or something to simulate that good ol' butter flavour). There's the odd note of spice, but the corn and butter flavours are up front and centre for me. As I make my way through this tin the spice starts to build up a bit, it's a mild hot pepper..uh..heat (the forehead is not sweating). So the flavour is quite enjoyable..but how does it mesh ...

Lets start this off with, I have some great friends. Recently Joj' ( 5'1 Perspective [DIY maker. Started with wood based decorations then moved onto some other materials and projects. If you like crafty stuff I would strongly recommend giving her site a browse.]) and her husband went on a trip to Iceland. About a week after they got back into Canada I found a bag of Nordical (a taste of Iceland) Fish & Chips Salt & Vinegar (potato chips and dried fish) in my mailbox (Joj' and her husband have always been super supportive of the blog and wicked thoughtful with chip recommendations). What a pleasant surprise. The packaging for these is awesome, it's faux newspaper artwork. 40g bag of chips with 10 grams of protein. Sodium is off the charts with 30% of your daily in 40g (37.5% converted to 50g), fat ain't too bad 11% per 40g (13.8% per 50g). They smell a little fishy, but not aggressively. At first glance I didn't think there was fish in there, but upon cl...

 What do you get when you mix Josh Martinez and Sleep together? A cross border juggernaut known as The Chicharones. There's nothing funny or clever about that question or answer, it's a fact. Josh Martinez and Sleep both spit clever tongue twisting raps that at times hang around the fringes of chopper territory. Melodic rapping leading into sing song deliveries. Somehow choppy and smooth simultaneously, they both hit the syllables hard. Their last release was 2012's Swine Flew which was a banger. The beats pulled from all over the musical spectrum including rock, new wave, electro, country, etc. There is a ton of humor on the album, but it wasn't all jokes. SunMay is absolutely heart wrenching. Even though they haven't put out an album in over a decade at this point, I believe they're still collaborating. J Mar moved from Vancouver down to Oregon and they're now selling edibles, or something like that.  Apparently Inessence (by Rubio) is a chip brand..appar...

 Uglies Kettle Chips. Jalapeno. Earthy but not overpowering the flavour. Slightly creamy seasoning, hint of sweetness and a nice natural jalapeno bite. Mid level heat, forehead's getting a bit damp, but not wet (maybe a 6/10). Lots of skins present, hence the earthy flavour. Seasoning to (bangin') chip ratio is pretty on point. Both the chips and seasoning taste relatively natural. And only 10% daily sodium per 50g, these are borderline health chips, haha (17% fat [10% saturated] per 50g). Uglies, you did it again.  The Raging Nathans consistently put out banging pop punk. This held true with their most recent album, Still Spitting Blood . Sometimes more '94 while other times late 80's/early 90's Lookout. There's some 80's hardcore energy present here and there. Melody and harmonies. Critical angry lyrics that can be a little dark but not bleak..typical 'pop punk' lyrical tropes are nowhere to be found. Intelligent pop punk. The Nathans did it again ...

 When I cracked my bag of Off the Eaten Path Hummus Crisps (Rosemary & Olive Oil flavour) I didn't have high expectations. They were quite past their best before date and typically anything that's not potato based goes stale rather quickly. When I popped one into my mouth I was met with a fluffy crunch, similar to popcorn crisps (mid to mid light on the crunch scale [that only really exists in my own head]). The seasoning was sour cream and onion textured, kinda creamy, but undeniably rosemary..not overwhelmingly so though. I didn't get much of a chickpea flavour out of these hummus crisps. With each chip I kept getting drawn back to the seasoning, it was just oddly creamy. Because I tend to group things my laziest way of describing these would be that they are cousins to sour cream & onion. Did I mention that they didn't taste stale, not at all. Pretty good snack. Fat and sodium are 14% and 13% respectively, per 50g serving. All in all, I didn't have the hi...