Tales of the Salty Bag

 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 ...

 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 ...