4 March 2024 - Flower Face - Spiracle

Last year, I really sought to bring diverse artists to this annual celebration of Canadian music.  I went out of my way to find music I had never heard before.

I started that on March 2nd with an artist from Montreal named Ruby Mckinnon - stage name Flower Face.  That song, "Sugar Water", ended up being my most listened to song on Spotify in 2023 - and it wasn't close.  It's got a head start on 2024 as well - but I'm trying to be more wholistic in 2024.

You see, her 2022 album, The Shark In Your Water, is arguably the best of that year, and in my top 3 or 4 for this decade so far.  The whole album is so well written and performed.  Every song on there is incredible.

This song is where the album gets its title - it is a song that starts simple and gets louder and scarier.  It's beautiful AND beautifully constructed. 

Oh, by the way, a spriacle is an opening on some fish, like a shark, that pulls water over the gills. It is part of the respiratory system - and are literally used to force water in while swimming quickly.  

Live, the song features a full band and.... well, you can see the emotion.

3 March 2024 - KEN mode - Failing At Fun Since 1981

Those who know me know I don't listen to noisy music like this all that much.

But man, that title.

This noise-rock band from Winnipeg is nominated for a Juno Award this year.  They have won in the past for their heavy metal sound.  This song is from their 2015 Juno-nominated album Success, and it has the best title.  

The word "KEN" in the band's name is an acronym, for Kill Everyone Now.  I don't believe they've acted on that, though.  

This song is a banger on record, and it's a banger live.

2 March 2024 - Shubh - Hood Anthem

Why, yes, that is a Sihk man from Brampton, Ontario slinging Punjabi hip-hop.

This song, released just a few weeks ago, is already a hit in New Zealand, where he has gotten a fair amount of traction as an artist.  He's had some hits in the UK and Canada as well, and he is nominated as a Breakthrough Artist at this year's Juno Awards.  

Check him out!

1 March 2024 - Babygirl - Overbored

Every March for the last three years - this is our fourth - we've featured music exclusively from Canafian artists.  

I can honestly say a lot of my favorite music today is a direct result of what I've been doing these Marches.  

Babygirl is one of those artists I discovered while writing this blog who I have come to truly love.  They make nice, smart, edgy light pop-rock music that should be absolutely gigantic everywhere, but for some reason, isn't.  Hailing from Toronto, the duo met at Humber College and started making music there. 

From the interactions I've had with them on Twitter.... sorry, X.... they also seem to be lovely people.

This single is from 2018 - so, why aren't you listening to them yet?

29 February 2024 - Faith No More - We Care a Lot

If you know Faith No More, you likely know them from their later stuff.  This song, however, was one of their first - featuring a different lead vocalist than you might recognize.

The original lead vocalist and principal songwriter was a man named Chuck Mosley (who passed away of a presumed heroin overdose in 2017).  The lyrics for this song were written by Mosley and Roddy Bottum, the latter of whom also had a hand in the music.

This version, the best known, is from their 1988 album Introduce Yourself, but was originally recorded for their 1985 rare debut We Care A Lot.  At this time, you can really hear the Bad Brains influence on the band - very bass-heavy, very activist.  

Now, compare that to the harder, sparser version from their 1985 debut.  Yes, lyrically, it's a little different, but the musical differences are actually more apparent here - with a more drum-heavy mix going on here.

Mosley left the band soon after - some say he was fired, but it seemed to me to be more of a creative direction thing, as Mosley wanted to do less hard rock and more acoustic stuff.  Bottum has characterized it as "fired without being fired" and somewhat amicable.

The band did not abandon their best known early song, though, and released a live version of the song in 1991 as a single, with Mike Patton on vocals.  It's a different song, and Patton does a lot of ad-libbing while trying to hold onto the legacy of Chuck Mosley. 

The band did eventually break up, but reformed with Mike Patton on lead vocals - and of course they still perform this song (as they did here in 2015), which still carries the anger and activism Mosley and Bottum wrote in 1984.

By the way, anyone questioning whether or not the Mosley departure need only look to this performance from 2010, which featuted him on vocals with the band performing several of his songs, including, yes, "We Care A Lot".  

Here he is with the band AGAIN in 2016, a year before his passing, performing the song and others from their reissued debut,.  He sounds great (and looks awful). 

As far as we can tell, that's the last time the band has performed live, although they've scheduled other shows that were cancelled. 

28 February 2024 - MC Hammer - Pray

"Pray" is the answer to a trivia question.

What is MC Hammer's biggest chart hit?  

Answer: "Pray", the third single from Please Hammer Don't Hurt 'Em.  

That's right. Not "U Can't Touch This". 

Both songs have a lot of similarities.  Both feature prominent samples that are easily identifiable - this one samples Prince's "When Doves Cry" (and, in a great example of a fact you cannot unlearn, it also interpolated "We Care A Lot" by Faith No More).  Both are a little boastful, although this one a little more humbly so. 

It is a preachy song, but also enjoyable.  

27 February 2024 - Matthew Sweet - Sick of Myself

In 1995, Matthew Sweet released his album 100% Fun.  His fifth solo album, it would be the biggest thing he would do for his whole career - including generating this big hit single, his only appearance on the US pop charts.

Really, Matthew Sweet has made a career making great pop-rock music in relative obscurity.  So how did he get his gem in his hands?

Well, he wrote it.  And performed most of it himself.  Sure, he had a couple of guitarists and a drummer backing him on this track.  Richard Lloyd's guitar is particularly strong here - but the licks were crafted by Sweet.

Here are Sweet and Lloyd performing the song live on MTV in 1995.  You can see Richard just shreding and Matthew giving his all.

Sweet still performs, too.  Here he is, with Jason Victor backing him on lead guitar, at the Paste Studios in 2017.  With no rhythm section to back them, the song just becomes a guitar god dream, complete with trick ending.