Here’s the Apple Music playlist with all the artists I’ve linked to on the blog. It’s also embedded at the bottom.

Streams

Math club

Wade Morrison is somewhere in the Venn diagram where Dashboard Confessional, The Weakerthans and Death Cab overlap, but from rural Ontario. Play his latest album while you work, and I’m sure there will be a few moments where his lyrics will stop you cold. 

The tracks I keep coming back to are “Playing Patient”, “That’s One Way to Quiet A Room”, “Call the Boys”, and “Let It Out, Repeat” but the whole album is excellent, and filled with unexpected pop culture references to Counting Crows, The Land Before Time and Texas Chainsaw Massacre. 

The Get Alongs

These guys are gloriously lo-fi, and their first album is out now. In an interview they talked about how their prior EP was recorded on an 8 track and I’m pretty sure this was too. It feels so loose and fun, and each listen reveals details in the mix (a little guitar noodle or a unique drum pattern) that you didn’t hear the last time. These guys push the live show hard and I bet it lives up to the hype.  Groovin speed is my go-to, but I’m digging the new record a lot.

Coast Contra The Old Way Mixtape

These guys are incredible freestylers and their best stuff so far has been on YouTube. After like a year, this 9 minute freestyle is finally available on streaming, and it’s an instant add. If you’re a 90’s hip hop nerd like me, the lyrical references are a ton of fun.

Teenage Sequence

I can’t believe I didn’t post this yet. KEXP has been a great music discovery source lately, and this is one of my recent faves. He’s reminiscent of Talking Heads and LCD Soundsystem, and the lyrics are honest, funny and attention-grabbing.  “All This Art” and “I Can” are the ones on the playlist. 

Spins

This weeks vinyl finds:

Stars: Set Yourself on Fire

Their breakthrough album and the one most fans consider their best (I disagree, more to come on that). Calendar Girl and Ageless Beauty are all-timers, but there are a couple clunkers on this album, which is a real hazard with their heart-on-sleeve style. 

REM: Automatic for the People

My Vonnegut theory applies to REM fans too: everyone’s favourite REM album is the one they first connected with. This one is mine. Nightswimming and Ignoreland forever. 

Bright Eyes: I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning

Conor Oberst set the bar so high with this album, and in my view it took him until Ruminations to exceed it. I can remember exactly where I was when I first listened to it (flight back from a work trip to California where I didn’t leave the hotel). It was on one of these, and as soon as I got home I bought the CD. 

Blondshell: Blondshell

One of my favourite albums of 2023, found it in a small-town record shop. Excellent surprise.

Lou Reed: Transformer

I know this is on every best-of list but I hadn’t listened to it end-to-end until this past weekend. There’s a lot there, and it’ll take a few more spins before I can say anything insightful about it. 

The Doors: Absolutely Live

My wife’s campaign to make me into a Doors fan continues apace. Might be working too. A good live album is always a solid listen.