12 Jun 2025 - Nitzer Ebb - Murderous

This would be a special edition - because their lead vocalist, Douglas McCarthy, died yesterday at age 58 - which is way too young.  He toured with the band until last year, when his health issues (cirrosis from excessive drinking earlier in life, for one) took their toll. 

He will be missed,

But we had to do a post today anyway, so this seemed like the best idea, and Nitzer Ebb is a band that I always kind of liked, but didn't think about too much.  

And let's talk about the music.  Pioneers of the industrial wave of music, the band chose a name that sounded German without actually using German words.... so everyone thought they were German.  They weren't.  They were from the UK. 

This 1986 song is one of my favorites by them.  It is both danceable and moshable, which is kind of a tough line to straddle. 

Industrial music is kind of a weird genre.  It's both poppy electronic dance music and angry, heavy music.  Rarely is that made more clear than in this 2023 live show.

11 June 2025 (Special Edition) - The Beach Boys - Wouldn't It Be Nice

You know I hate the special editions.

Brian Wilson passed away today.  He won numerous awards, including two Grammys (on nine nominations)

His masterpiece was Pet Sounds, and this song, which led the album, featured his lead vocals.  It might have also led to some of his mental health collapse as he left the touring part of his career behind.   His wife - Melinda Ledbetter, who passed away last year - helped him finally get the care he needed and got him making music again - and touring. 

His brilliant songwriting will be sorely missed.   

11 June 2025 - Jorge Ben Jor– Ponta de Lança Africano (Umbabarauma)

A striker typically plays further up the pitch from midfielders and defenders.  They are sometime called forwards or attackers.  We're talking about football here, by the way - and not American football, but the sport North American English speakers insist upon calling "soccer".   

Why the soccer lesson up front?

Because this 1976 song is about a striker.  

The song, considered by many to be the greatest ever written about a sport, was considered by Rolling Stone to be one of the 500 greatest songs of all time, a list dominated by English-language songs.  This song is very much in Portuguese. 

You might have noticed that I called this a "1976" song.  It was.  It's on his album África Brasil, which is an absolutely incredible album.  However, the song rose to fame in 1989, when David Byrne included it on Brazil Classics Vol. 1, and this video made the heavy rotation on VH1.  

He was known as Jorge Ben until the late 1980s, and changed his name allegedly because a chunk of the royalties for this song accidentally went to singer George Benson.  I don't know if that's true, but if you look at the title of this post, I ain't taking any chances with his royalties. 

Jorge Ben Jor is WELL into his 80s.

He STILL performs.  Here he is - aged 84, two years ago - performing the song, and playing the lead guitar, and bringing the energy!  But also, this is 11 songs into his set!  And he kept going!!!!

6 June 2025 - Amyl and The Sniffers - Chewing Gum (and an Easter egg)

Let's talk about Amyl and The Sniffers. 

They're a great, GREAT live band from Melbourne, Australia who have started to reach an international audience with their raucous, loud, energetic style.  Their third album, Cartoon Darkness, was met with universal acclaim, and deservedly so - it's fun and not like anything else being released. 

On the day that album was released, they also released what would end up being the second single - this clever song that is actually one of their quieter ones.  Give 'em a go!

Although the band was formed in and based in Melbourne, half the band now calls Los Angelas home, so it was a short flight over no oceans to get to the KEXP studios in Seattle to perform this song live.

And, as I am writing this - and I didn't write this ahead of time.  It was written this morning - this performance is from this March but the video was literally posted an hour ago - so you get to see it RIGHT when it's released. 

See what I mean about them being a great live band?

5 June 2025 - Future Islands - Seasons (Waiting On You)

Future Islands is a power-pop group that eschews the guitar and replaces it with solid synth.

This song, from their 4th album Singles, was the consensus best single of 2014, and I totally get it.  It's strong yet beautiful, forceful and emotional. 

It's a great song.

Their debut television performance of the song in 2014 was on The Late Show With David Letterman, and let's be honest, I posted this song for THIS performance. 

It's legendary.... if not for just the dancing, or Sam Herring's death metal growls.   

But also, don't they have the look of a band that, well, any of us could be in?  They're just normal guys.

4 June 2025 - Lionel Richie - Stuck On You

Lionel Richie's 1983 album Can't Slow Down yielded five US Top 10 hits - all five of them also hits worldwide.   Four of them were blandish 80's pop songs that you likely know.  One was a county-pop masterpiece.

"Stuck on You". written by Richie, was the 4th single from the album, and it was very different.  It would be also his first trip to the US Country Music charts - which is just wild. 

It's a very sweet love song, and the best thing on Can't Slow Down.

So when he performed the song more than 30 years later - and not only sang but played piano - it's not a shock that music fans from all walks know the words. 

But also, Lionel Richie is probably better known by the kids today as an American Idol judge.... and he joined his other two judges on the season finale this year to reprise a song that sounds more country than most modern counrty music.   

And it was pretty amazing. 

3 June 2025 - Courtney Barnett - Nobody Really Cares If You Don't Go To The Party

I was always a little afraid to give Australian artist Courtney Barnett a try.  I can't give you a good reason why.  I think her debut album - Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit - was so universally acclaimed that I was intimidated to even give it a try. 

I need not have been.  As part of my 1000-albums-in-a-year project, I listened to that album.

That album is one of the best I have ever heard, and certainly the best I've heard so far on my list.  This fun song was a highlight for me.

In a first for this blog....

The way a music video usually works is - the artist is lip-syncing and the studio version of the song is dubbed over top - and they certainly did the dubbing for this video...... but it wasn't a lip-sync.  She REALLY performed the song, and posted the original recording as well. 

Shockingly, Barnett and her band have performed this song A LOT, and they all sound impeccable and pretty much the same....

Except for this one, an acoustic version by just her, which is somehow just as thrilling.

28 May 2025 - Cocteau Twins - Pearly Dewdrops' Drops

This was the biggest hit by the Cocteau Twins - making the top 30 in the UK in 1984 - and brought them on import to the US - leading to the release of their first US album, a compilation called The Pink Opaque.  

It's a beautiful, ethereal song.  

I very much understated this song's beauty.  

The vocal performance in this song is considered to be one of the best of all time.

And here's Elizabeth Fraser, singing it live like it's nothing.

27 May 2025 - Vishtèn ft. De Temps Antan - Gaillard

Once upon a time, there was a woman named Pastelle LeBlanc, and she was a folk singer.  She started a band with her sister and her husband called Vishtèn.  They performed great folk music and promoted the niche Acadian culture they grew up in in New Brunswick.

Then Pastelle got breast cancer and died at age 42. 

Rather than roll over, the two remaining members took some of their recordings - yes, Pastelle appears on this and she is CLEARLY playing accordion here, and co-wrote the song with her sister and her husband - and turned them into a collaboration and a tribute - Expansion - as part of a project called Vishtèn Connexions, which I guess makes it distinct, but also it isn't.  

It's celebratory and beautiful, end to end. 

22 May 2025 - Chappell Roan - Femininomenon

So as a lot of you know, I am working on a different musical project that is involving me listening to 1000 albums in a year, and I'm going to do something with it, too.   

This post is about the best of the first 50 albums so far, and that is The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess. I have to admit - Chappell Roan is an artist I did not get.  She makes music for an audience that does not include me, or so I thought.   And there's nothing wrong with that.  

Well, this is the third post of a song from that album, and so I decided to give the whole album a listen..... and the songs, in context, are so much better.   It tells a story, and a good one. 

This song opens the album, and I swear I thought when it started that it was written by Taylor Swift.....

13 May 2025 - Pantayo - V V V (They Lie)

I have mentioned the Spotify DJ here many times.

One day recently, the Spotify DJ decided it was the right time to send this song to me.   

Wow, DJ nailed it.  

Self descibed, and this is not a joke, "queer Filipinx kulintang gong punks", the band is based in Toronto - or, as they call it, Tkaronto (a name that is somewhat indigeneous-derived).  They celebrate their Filipino roots while being punks that play traditional flat bells. Pantayo is literally the Tagalog word meaning "for us".  

The song is a direct assault on the colonialism that the Phillipines has experienced, and the cultural colonialism that occurs in Filipino diasporas worldwide.  It, and the rest of their self-titled album, resonated, as it was short-listed for the Polaris Prize in 2020. 

I personally think the song sounds so much richer live.   But first, listen to them introduce their instuments.

9 May 2025 - Elastica - Annie

When asked what is the best band I have ever seen live, without fail, I say "Elastica".

And the thing is, I saw them twice, in the same year - and they had a different bassist each time.  

I know what you're thinking right now.  "Who cares?"  Well, give me a second.

The second time I saw them, I saw them with Abby Travis, who is an absolute beast and amazing and, on later Lollapalooza dates, played back to back with Elastica and Beck in 1995 (she had already been playing with Beck, so I did see her play, apparently).  

The FIRST time I saw them, I saw them at Lollapalooza 1995.  It was an early date, and so original bassist Annie Holland was still with the band - she left about a week and a half later because of exhaustion.  No, she didn't write this song, which was VERY CLEARLY ABOUT HER.  No, it was primarily written by guitarist Donna Matthews and Jane Oliver and was about going to visit Annie in Brighton, where she spent most of her non-touring time.

By the way, they were EQUALLY solid BOTH times.   

The song is short, but it rocks hard.

This is a pre-Lollapalooza show, with Annie on bass, where they are killing the song live. 

And this is from a 1996 performance, when Annie was away from the band.

Annie did eventually return to the band.... but Donna Matthews left.  Here's one of THOSE performances, from 2000.

I'm not gonna lie - it's great.  It's missing the harmonies at the chorus, but it's still solid.

By the way, if you want to hear the ACTUAL performance - and probably me in the crowd - the audio of this performance is on YouTube.  And I remember it like it was yesterday.

I cued it up to "Annie" for you.  HOWEVER, you should hear the whole thing. 

8 May 2025 - Dead Kennedys - Police Truck

I was going to open this post with a fan-made video of this song with a lot of videos of police brutality.  

Unfortunately, those videos are age-restricted and can't be embedded here.  

This song began life as the B-side to "Holiday In Cambodia", a song with a similar feel, in 1980.  The surf guitar riffs kind of hide the fact that this song is told from the story of a two awful police officers who are brutalizing people and abusing their power.   

The song was actually written in direct response to a real 1970's incident in Oakland, CA, but, let's face it - it is more broadly applicable.  Written by Jello Biafra and East Bay Ray (who is responsible for the fantastic surf guitar riffs), the song experienced a resurgence in popularity after the George Floyd murder.  And yeah.  It was a murder.  That's how I feel about that. 

Back in the day, when the band performed live a lot, they brought even more energy than they did in the studio. 

SO what about more recently?

Jello is still angry and energetic.

7 May 2025 - Led Zeppelin - Heartbreaker

It's 1969.  You just picked up your copy of Led Zeppelin II.  You've just finished side one.  You flip it over.

You are smacked in your face with arguably the greatest riff in rock and roll history.

The iconic guitar solo in the middle was actually recorded separately from the rest of the track - and Jimmy Page used a pull-off technique that inspired guitar virtuosos for decades.   

Led Zeppelin was a great blues band who manged to get volume turned up to 11, and this song was arguably their magnum opus. 

Even though he originally recorded it separate from the rest of the track, hearing and watching Jimmy Page performing what is almost inarguably his greatest solo of all time, live, embellishing the hell out of it, is incredible.   This performance is from 1979. 

6 May 2025 - The Darling Buds - Shame On You

You know we take credit for getting the Darling Bubs back together, even though we KNOW for a FACT we had nothing to do with it.

Andrea Lewis, would you confirm that for us?

So thank US without merit for this 2022 performance of a song from their debut.

5 May 2025 - Lenny Kravitz - Rock and Roll is Dead

This song was Grammy nominated in 1996 after being a huge hit song around the world in 1995.... except in the United States, where it was NOT a hit.  Canada?  Loved it!  New Zealand?  Huge hit.  Spain?  Top 5.  United States?  #75 on the Hot 100. 

Let's be honest - even though Kravitz wrote and produced this song, it sounds like he lifted half the riff from "Heartbreaker" by Led Zeppelin.  It's undeniable (and probably why it failed in the US).  In reality, that riff was the riff from "Are You Gonna Go My Way" - which shared an album with this song - played backwards.... so, not actually lifted.  But man, I sure thought it was, too. 

Anyway, the song is a pretty solid rock song.  

Oh yes, he plays it live, and it's perhaps more impressive as a straight-ahead rock song.  Here he is performing it in 2011.  Not pictured: the painting in his attic that's aging for him.

2 May 2025 - Throwing Muses - Ruthie's Knocking

Does Throwing Muses have new music out?  They sure do.

Did I go back to the 90s for some of their older stuff anyway?  I sure did. 

No, Limbo is not my favorite album of theirs - it was post-Tanya era Muses, which is never my preference.  It was their first album on Rykodisc after a decade with Sire Records (and of course, as always on 4AD).  The album and stress on it - combined with Kristin Hersh's successful solo career - led to the band breaking up for several years. 

As most of their music, written by Kristin, the song is at once noisy - a bit noisier than their earlier work - and dark.  Even though Limbo isn't my favorite of theirs, this song floats to the top for me. 

I love Kristin's voice live. It comes through a lot raspier than on record.  

1 May 2025 (Special Edition) - Jill Sobule - I Kissed A Girl

This 1995 song by folkie Jill Sobule was her biggest hit, in both the US and Canada.  It was on my short list to be posting this song very soon.  

Unfortunately, her untimely death today in a house fire at age 66 hastened that for me.  

In 2009, in response to Katy Perry's song of the same name, Sobule said, and I quote: "Fuck you Katy Perry, you fucking stupid, maybe “not good for the gays,” title thieving, haven’t heard much else, so not quite sure if you’re talented, fucking little slut."   No, she really said that.  

She didn't actually harbor any ill will against Katy Perry.  She was kidding.  Perry's song sparked new interest in Sobule's.  

Anyway, this song was sweet and earnest and kind, and here it is. 

Jill was touring until, no joke, this week.   She was literally scheduled to perform in Denver tomorrow.  This is a performance of this song from February of this year.   Her storytelling is pretty damned amazing.  

This is a sad day for music, and she will be missed. 

1 May 2025 - Technotronic - Pump Up The Jam

Well, I had a significant power outage yesterday.   Absolutely huge.   I was personally in the dark for a day and a half.   

And I had grand plans for an *NSYNC post yesterday, too!  Oh well.  Next year. 

Today, I'm dealing with the aftermath, so I felt like I'd pull out an easy one from my youth.  "Pump Up The Jam" was Technotronic's first and biggest hit. The brainchild of a couple of Belgian producers, the vocals were provided by Congolese-Belgian artist Ya Kid K.  She does NOT, however, appear in the video. 

The song was a massive worldwide hit in 1989, hitting #2 on the US charts and pretty high elsewhere.   

29 April 2025 - Hugh Cornwell - Another Kind of Love

The former leader of The Stranglers released an album in the late 1980s, and it was a pretty good pop-rock album that never really went anywhere.  

This was the biggest hit from that album, and it was a hit because of the video. This song, which came out two years after Peter Gabriel's "Sledgehammer", was directed by avant garde artist Jan Švankmajer, in his only forray into music video (the Brothers Quay, who made the "Sledgehammer" video, were influenced by him).  

Anyway, the song itself was a minor US alternative hit but also, it's a fun song. Cornwell brings the same Stranglers bravado he always had. 

Cornwell does not tour much, but he does perform this song, still.  Here he is performing it live, and playing guitar.

28 April 2025 - James - Laid

Let's talk about the only song by James that you know, "Laid".

OK, maybe not, but this song represents their only trip to the Billboard Hot 100 - and that was after suffering some serious attempts at censorship at the hands of MTV - who wanted to change a pretty bold line that you certainly know about her only able to do something when "she's on top" *drums*

The band didn't even take the song seriously - they were going to use it as a B-side. However, producer Brian Eno convinced them otherwise, and it was the best decision they ever made. Released in late 1993, it ended up bringing them great success both in their native UK and overseas. 

The song is about getting laid, people. 

By the way, more than three decades later, James is still together and still performing. This performance, from last year, still sounds as great as it always did. 

25 April 2025 - Charlotte Lawrence - Why Do You Love Me

Sometimes, I am surprised at the stuff I have not posted yet.  This is not one of them.

You see, Charlotte Lawrence has skated under my radar, and it's been only recently that I discovered her. Which is weird, because her dark pop sounds hits my wheelhouse hard. This 2019 single - from her 2021 EP Charlotte (release schedules are so weird these days) - is a phenomenal example of this. It's fun, and yet also dark. 

Lawrence is also an actress - she has a recurring role on the AppleTV series Bad Monkey, not coincidentally developed by her father, Bill Lawrence (her mother is actress Christa Miller, who you either know from Cougar Town or The Drew Carey Show, depending on your age, and Charlotte looks an awful lot like her mom).  There. I said it.  Now let's talk about the music.

Actually, I don't have a lot more to say about the music except that it was written by a long list of people, including the artist and Charlie Puth. Also, the video is pretty fun and playful, in spite of the dark lyrics.

She also released an entire acoustic version of Charlotte, including this song, and I can't lie - I like it.  It's a darker song with the extra production missing, but it still hits. 

24 April 2025 - Chairlift - Met Before

A couple of days ago, I featured a solo artist that emerged from a previously posted band.

Today, I go in the other direction.  

Before Caroline Polachek was a solo artist, she was in a band called Chairlift.  Polachek founded the band with Aaron Pfenning in 2005, and they lasted more than a decade before breaking up in 2017. 

This song, the second single from their 2012 album Something, is fun and sonically interesting. At this point, Pfenning had left the band, but early member Patrick Wimberly was still there. Polachek and Wimberly co-wrote this song, which has hints of an 80's sound (the band mentioned OMD and Art of Noise among the influences on this album). 

There's a lot of record of the band performing the song live, but my favorites are the stripped down versions, like this one for Belgian radio, where it's just a guitar, keyboard, and voices.....  

... or this duet version that even removes the keyboard. Polachek and Wimberly had a nice harmony that really pops here. 

23 April 2025 - Los Lobos - Shakin', Shakin' Shakes

This song by just another band from East L.A. was the lead single from their third album, By the Light of the Moon, in 1987.

It did not chart, but it DID get a lot of MTV airplay, and I have to say, it's what really got me into the band, ahead of their hitmaking years. Co-written by Cesar Rosas (the vocalist) and T-Bone Burnett (the producer), the song has a rockabilly/Latin feel - which makes sense given the songwriters. 

On an album that is somewhat bleak, I always found this song to be a bright breath of fresh air, even as a 15-year-old music fan in 1987. 

Guys, the band is still together, and the core of their lineup is still together, all these years later.

And of course they perform this song live, still.

And of course they still sound great!!

22 April 2025 - George Michael - Faith

Strangely, we have twice posted Wham! on here, but never George Michael solo work.  

And yes, when I posted this last year, I very clearly called it more of a George Michael solo song, but it wasn't in name.  THIS was.  

This was Michael's second solo single, but also, probably his most iconic single.  It held the top of the Billboard charts for four weeks in 1988, becoming the biggest single of the year by ANY artist. The song was never intended to be a single - until it was and THAT is when the songwriter - not coincidentally, George Michael - added the famous guitar solo. 

The pipe organ at the beginning is actually a nod to a Wham! song, "Freedom".  

And c'mon, the song is just fun.

25 years later, he performed the song live and it still sounded great. 

21 April 2025 - beabadoobee - Beaches

I'm guessing a lot of you who are indie pop fans are saying "well, it's about time he got here."

I got here.  This draft has been kicking around for months. 

And really, Beatrice Laus is one of the greatest and most accomplished singer/songwriters of her generation, so it's surprising she's not a household name already.  But it's starting to happen - this was a top 40 Rock chart song in the United States and was also a hit in New Zealand. From her fantastic album This Is How Tomorrow Moves, this song was released as a single in late 2024 and is an absolute gem. 

I was originally going to post this last week.  

I'm glad I waited, because she performed this song THIS WEEKEND at Coachella, and that was a delightful performance that I now get to share with you.

16 April 2025 - Lowell - Palm Trees

I've been really bad at updating this blog because I have been consumed with work and, really, the Canadian election that's coming in a couple of week.  So, I figured I'd borrow I post I already had written for March 2025 and post it today. 

And I chose a hell of a Canadian to post about today - Lowell. 

Did you know that Lowell was nominated for a Juno in a non-performer category in 2025? And WON?!

Yep.  She's a songwriter. And a Canadian one at that. 

She was also nominated for a Grammy, by the way.  Song of the Year. For "Texas Hold-Em", which she co-wrote.  

Although it's been a few years, she is a musician in her own right as well, despite her non-performer nomination. Born Elizabeth Lowell Boland and Toronto-based, she was born in Calgary in 1991 and has collaborated with a lot of pop and rock artists we've featured on this blog.  She's also produced - she co-produced the 2023 breakthrough album by The Beaches, Blame My Ex. 

This song, from 2014, from her album We Loved Her Dearly, is dreamy noise experimentation, at once interesting and different.  Lyrically, she's been called "the next Kanye West."  I get it.   Anyway, I encourage your timely listen. 

The song also sounds great stripped down to piano, like in this 2015 performance. 

11 April 2025 - Cœur de pirate - Cavale

Why does every Canadian artist I listen to release new music in EARLY APRIL right after I dedicate a month to them?

And yet, here we are. Our favorite record mogul (owner of Bravo Musique) with "œ" in her name has a new single out today.  And, frankly, it's a bright and fun banger.  

8 April 2025 - Dua Lipa - Love Again

This MAY be the first time we've ever had a song with Bing Crosby credited as a songwriter, but he is.  You see, he wrote the lyrics for a song called "My Woman".  And, Dua Lipa and her songwriting team were writing this song with a disco feel..... and one night, one of her songwriters started singing the song "Your Woman" by White Town over top of the pieces of "Love Again" they had already laid down.  

Dua thought it was from Star Wars.

Anyway, they laid pieces of Bing's recording over top of what they had already - with some significant pitch correction.   So, Bing, and not Jyoti Mishra, got a songwriting credit, because, despite what you've heard on social media, Dua didn't sample "Your Woman".  Both "Your Woman" and "Love Again" sampled the same parts of "My Woman".   

The more you know. 

Anyway, it's a cool, disco-y song and adding the sample makes it better. 

This was a pretty big hit song for Dua Lipa, especially in Europe, so she performs it live a lot.  However, I love this version she did with Elton John and a bunch of strings live-performing the "My Woman" sample.  It takes on a less disco and more torchsong feeling, but it still works, really well.   

Also, the woman can sing.   

7 April 2025 - Kate Nash - Life In Pink

It's rare that I have a theme for a week and blow it before the first post.  

My theme was - Artists that I've Never Posted Before. 

And, while it's true that I have personally not written a Kate Nash post, Scott did.  

So, screw that theme for the week. 

This song was a single from her fourth album, 2018's Yesterday Was Forever, a Kickstarter-funded project that combines her riot grrl tendencies with some indie folk-rock sounds.   The album's themes revolve around her mental health, which she clearly addresses in this song AND the video. 

And yes, this was released during her time on GLOW. 

I mentioned that the album was Kickstarter-funded.   It took her five years to record and release the album, and the songs didn't magically materialize in 2018.   No, in fact, this is a live performance from 2016, one of her first of this song.  It's a little different, but not dramatically. 

But, like the song didn't materialize in 2018, it also didn't disappear, and she still performs it live - and it is a crowd favorite.  

3 April 2025 - Doechii - Anxiety | Sleepy Hallow ft. Doechii - Anxiety

I am quite certain there was probably no doubt we were getting here. 

But let's start with the obvious: this song makes heavy use of a sample from a classic song by Goyte and Kimbra (itself making heavy use of a sample) and I don't want people to forget the Kimbra part of this.

But this song is all Doechii, the 2025 Grammy Award winner for best rap album....and the song's social media following parlayed itself into her first Top 10 hit and the first huge hit of 2025. The song is happy and lighthearted and both anxious and energetic.   Anxious energy - THAT'S what I was looking for. 

However, a lot of you don't know that this isn't where the story started.   It started with a young woman who left her job to focus on music and recorded a song in her bedroom in 2019.  

Seriously.  SHE RECORDED THIS IN HER BEDROOM SIX YEARS AGO.

Fast forward to 2023.  Sleepy Hallow caught her song, and sampled it. 

THAT got some attention, including the attention of social media. 

So Doechii rerecorded her vocals and rereleased the song, and it blew up.  

2 April 2025 - Soccer Mommy - bloodstream

The hardest part of Maple Leaf March is the great music being made in the other 190-odd nations in the world. 

And usually, if you look at my Spotify stats for March, my most listened to artist is almost always going to be Canadian.  

Not this year.  

2-10, absolutely Canadian.  

#1 was an AMERICAN artist and I'm frankly a little surprised, but not a lot. My family would not be surprised, I would assume.

3 of my top 4 listened to songs in the last month are by one artist - Soccer Mommy. 

And two of them are "Driver".  Yeah, one of them is the stripped version from Jimmy Kimmel Live. 

The third is this song, the opening track and 4th single from her experimental and groundbreaking 2020 album color theory, where she incorporated a bunch of chunky downstroked chords with a number of weird samples and unusual synth choices.  They all work, by the way - the entire album is incredible, end-to-end, with this being my favorite of a great collection. 

Hey, if you end up loving this song as much as I do, you can sing along with the official karaoke.

Anyway, you know we're coming at you with a couple of live versions, and this first one is something of a historic doozy.  color theory was released at the end of February 2020. As part of the promotional tour, Soccer Mommy was supposed to do an NPR Tiny Desk Concert.

Then a pandemic happened. And, well, NPR stopped hosting these. However, they had the idea to have artists do these concerts from their own homes..... and THIS was the FIRST one, in March 2020.   

"bloodstream" was the first song she played and it's beautiful in its acoustic format.. 

Live music did return, and this performance from 2021 of the song - with Sophie in a cape! - is one of my favorites, truly illustrating the chunky guitar rifts.  

1 April 2025 - Laura Branigan - Gloria | Umberto Tozzi - Gloria | Jonathan King - Gloria

Well, #MapleLeafMarch is over for another year.  Guess it's time to get back to the American artists we all love.

Never mind that I'm writing this in January the same day I wrote this post.   I should really be working on a Monday post.  Oh well.  

The reason I wanted to put this today is that my birthday is in March.  And, because of what I do in March, I posted this song on my birthday.  This year, as I was researching the other post, I realized that I was the same age as Laura Branigan was when she passed away in 2004.   Which means I'm older than she was now.   

This cover - of an Italian song - was her biggest hit by far, and at the time of its release, it spent 36 weeks on the Billboard chart, which, at the time, was longer than any song by a female artist had ever been there.  It peaked at #2 in 1982, kept from the top spot by the juggernaut that was [checks notes] Toni Basil.  

I mention it was an Italian cover.  The original was performed by Umberto Tozzi, who also was co-writer on the song.

It should sound really familiar, but lyrically, it's very different. This is a love song.   Branigan's version was about a woman out of control.  

Tozzi DID record an English version of his song, with lyrics translated by Jonathan King.   THIS retained the love song aspect of the lyrics.

It's not the same song exactly as the Italian version, either - it's very much an imaginary woman here.

By the way, Jonathan King recorded his version as well, and it was a minor UK hit.  It's barely worth mentioning.  His songwriting was good, though.  

But back to Laura Branigan.

In January 2019, the St. Louis Blues were in last place in the NHL Western Conference, so they.... adopted a theme song and went on a 19-game winning streak.  They ended up making the playoffs, and won the Stanley Cup in seven games that year.

So, yeah, "Play Gloria!" is a thing in St. Louis now. 

31 March 2025 - Pixl Girl ft Sophie Powers - STFU

I lied.  But for a good reason. 

I am all about bookends.

We opened this month with Sophie Powers. Great.

I end with Pixl Girl, but really, I'm pretty sure Pixl Girl is Sophie Powers.  I just can't be 100% sure, but really, Ms. Powers has had snippets of this song on her social media for months.   It was only a matter of time before she released it.   

And she - well, whoever - released this portait-mode video in landscape, which is a weird choice, but also, visually interesting.

The song is really about people needing to be told to, well, shut the fuck up.  Listen closely, French people. 

The reality is, Sophie Powers appeared on American Idol this month, performing this song for the judges.  THAT is why this was a MUST-post. 

Luke, shut the fuck up. 

But also, she declares that she's literally Canadian at 1:28. 

31 March 2025 - Nemahsis - You Wore It Better

OK, fine, one more.  But I promise you, I'm not writing anything else for March.  This is the last one until tomorrow.  (Edit: I changed my mind on this but that doesn't mean Nemahsis does not deserve your attention).

Nemahsis is a proud hijab-wearing Palestinian-Canadian woman who is making fantastic music.  She won a couple of Junos last night, including one for Breakthrough Artist of the Year.  

She frequently sings about the hijab and the unique struggles of being Muslim in Canada in the 21st century. That is NOT what this song is about, though.  It's about a girl who liked a shirt she saw her friend wearing and, well, she got her own.   

Anyway, she's young and cool and different and I encourage you to check her out. 

31 March 2025 - bbno$ - check

With literally one day left in #MapleLeafMarch, I just could NOT ignore this guy.  He won a JUNO Award last night - the FAN'S CHOICE award, in a stunning upset.   He also had some things to say.

Fun fact: The Beaches had won an award earlier in the evening and he was the presenter.   So, guess they are trading awards :D

Anyway, besides not being a fan of Elon Musk, bbno$ (pronounced "baby no money") is a pretty accomplished and prolific hip hop musician in his own right.   It was hard picking a song for today, but I felt one of his 2025 singles - this song, which heavily samples "Low Rider" - would be an excellent choice.  It is a fun and energetic single that deserves your attention. 

And yes, he's touring, so there are live versions ALREADY! And they are just as much fun and just as energetic, if not more so. 

31 March 2025 - Once A Tree - Small Town Dreams

It was two weeks ago today that I got all maudlin about how much of a bummer this March had been.  Normally, I am spending the month enjoying Canadian music, but in this month of #ElbowsUp, it's been more difficult.

Also, I was at the point of making some tough decisions about artists to leave out and artists to include this month.  There were some that I had wanted to post that I still hadn't - and a lot of those are coming in 2026.  That's right. I'm not stopping this.  I seriously, TODAY, have enough material to go through at least 2028 without breaking a sweat.  

Then Spotify delivered me two gifts.  The first, I posted about on Saturday.  The second is this ABSOLUTE gem, which seems to be at least semiautobiographical, by Once a Tree.  Co-written by Hayden and Jayli Wolf (who are Once A Tree), it is a mature and compelling song that is the best new music I've heard this year.

(By the way, they also did this for me - I'd like to think it's for me, anyway - last March)

So, I'll be promoting the hell out of this, the last post of #MapleLeafMarch 2025. PLEASE, share this one.  PLEASE, tell your friends about this amazing song and this incredible duo.

30 March 2025 - Anne Murray - Snowbird

We've giving you a bonus post today, because no one has won more Juno Awards than Anne Murray, with 26.  This Canadian Music Hall of Famer is quite probably the biggest thing musically coming from Canada. 

Tonight, she is being awarded only the second JUNO Lifetime Achievement Award. The first guy who won it was Pierre Juneau, the guy the awards are LITERALLY named after. 

Born in Nova Scotia, I'd love to tell you that she wrote this song, but, as we know from Family Guy and Stewie Griffin's reaction, it was written by Gene MacLellan. 

Yes, she voiced that.

And she sang Gene's beautiful song, which he wrote in twenty minutes on Prince Edward Island.  That's not a joke.   Anyway, she sang it to the top of both the pop and country charts in the US and Canada.  It was the first US gold record awarded to a Canadian female solo artist. 

And really, listen to the lyrics here.   It is a sad song.  It's a lonely song. 

Here she is singing it live on David Frost's show in 1972.  The accompanying music is very light, so it is pretty close to acapella, but she was equal to the task. 

In her day, Anne Murray was an icon.  In 1980 - when she was still making hits that my mother LOVED, she appeared on the Muppet Show performing her huge 1970 hit.

30 March 2025 - Snotty Nose Rez Kids ft. Tia Wood - SHAPESHIFTER

Well, here we are.  Nearing the end of March and we've got the JUNOS tonight.   

I might be the American most excited about this Canadian award show. 

I knew that, for today, I wanted to 1) feature a nominated artist and 2) feature a not-so-well-known artist.

This song accomplished that in spades, because this song features not one, but TWO nominated artists - in the same category! Let's break it down.

Let's start with Snotty Nose Rez Kids.  They are nominated in THREE categories - Rap Album/EP of the Year (RED FUTURE - the album this song is from), Rap Single of the Year ("BBE", not this song), and Contemporary Indigenous Artist or Group of the Year (also for RED FUTURE). 

Big Braid Energy, by the way.  

Members of the Haisla Nation First Nations community in British Columbia (presumably the "Rez" in their name), the duo have been making acclaimed hip hop music for about a decade - with a total of six Juno nominations and two Polaris Award shortlists. This year, they are going to star in a CBC comedy as fictionalized versions of themselves.  

Tia Wood grew up in the Saddle Creek Cree Nation in central Alberta.   An acclaimed artist in her own right, she garnered her first Juno nomination in the Contemporary Indigineous Artist or Group of the Year category, for her EP Pretty Red Bird. 

Together, they made a pretty compelling song. 

29 March 2025 - The Funk Hunters X LÜN - XEROX

Oh, by the way, there was a new LŪN single out last week - a collaboration with British Columbia DJs The Funk Hunters.

When the hell does Lights have time to sleep? 

Anyway, this song was so freaking funky, I wanted to include it. 

29 March 2025 - LŪN - myyyy medssss

I love discovering new artists I have never heard.  

LŪN is not an artist like that. 

You see, I accidentally discovered LŪN last year, when Lights released her new single in September 2024.  As I was reading up on that, I was surprised to hear that Lights would not be touring AS LIGHTS for a while.  Which I thought - well, that seemed strange.  Lights is literally her government name.  Granted, not from birth - I get that - but legally.  

As I read people's comments, they speculated that there would be a LŪN tour, and it was then that I made the connection.

LŪN is Lights.  Lights is LŪN. 

As LŪN, she takes on something of a fox persona - this isn't a joke and this video should make it clear - and she mostly and usually obscures her face (but not consistently - let's just say this isn't a secret).  Also, as much as Lights gravitates towards the poppy electronic spectrum, LŪN is a bit more hard EDM.

For those who have read Skin & Earth, you know LŪN is a character in there - I guess she's closer to an NPC, a musician that is well-known in that universe. Lights is just occasionally playing the part. And the part is compelling, and I'm here for it.  

Also, as I have previously stated, Lights IS touring, AS Lights, so not sure where that information came from. 

28 March 2025 - Sum 41 – Fatlip

Sum 41 is being inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame this year.

They deserve it.

I have to admit, I've never really been a fan of theirs. 

But the fact is, they've made hard-rocking compelling music for more than thirty years.  

That ends on Sunday, March 30, 2025, when they will be playing their farewell performance at their induction ceremony, at the Juno Awards.  

So, on the occasion of their induction and breakup, I decided it was time to give them a second listen.

This was one of their first singles, and the only one to chart on the US pop charts.  It also topped the US Modern Rock charts - the first of three times they would do so - in 2001.  It was be 22 years before they would do that again. 

So yeah. After going back and listening to them with fresh ears, I'm more of a fan.  I can appreciate the music they made and the time they made it. 

Hey, remember when MTV did Spring Break and Carson Daly hosted TRL?  

So do we.

We're going to guess that Sum 41 are going to close their set with this song on Sunday. This post may end up being updated to reflect that.  

But also, they played it there in 2002, when they were nominated (and won an award, although not for this song).

27 March 2025 - The Beaches - Jocelyn

I told my sister when she saw The Beaches last month that I'd be posting this one so I guess I have to. 

Nah, the song is great.  I was posting it anyway.  

Written by the band after the huge worldwide success of "Blame Brett", it's about the pressure of being thrust into that role of being a role model.  

And yes, there's a real fan named Jocelyn.  And yes, she's a PhD student.  From Iowa.  She's a fan of the band and follows them on Instagram.  The band wanted to tie this song to real life, and so they chose a fan.... named Jocelyn.   

As a gift, my sister actually recorded the song when she saw them live last month, so here's that video.  Yeah, they're looking for any Jocelyn in the crowd.

26 March 2025 - Len - Steal My Sunshine

Yep.

I know what you're saying.

You did this one, jackass.  

Yep, but I did it half-assed. And this song being such a Canadian classic, I felt it was time to revisit it, alone this time. 

Written and produced by Mumble C, aka The Burger Pimp, aka Marc Costanzo, aka the guy singing the song, the song is an ode to slacking off.  Ironically, given the fact that they share a scooter and vocals on this, it was written at a time that Marc and his older sister Sharon were not speaking to each other.  

The dual vocals were due to the fact that Marc really wanted to make a new "Don't You Want Me".  Ultimately, his song was a success in its own right, without the need for so much synth.  

Shockingly, the band directed this video themselves.  It was recorded one afternoon in Daytona Beach, FL at a cost of $100,000.  It was recorded over sevem afternoons because a large portion of that $100,000 was spent on alcohol the band consumed the night before, and they needed the morning to sleep off their hangovers and the evening to get drunk.

Seriously.  They had so much booze they broke an elevator at their hotel - by exceeding greatly the WEIGHT limit. So they shot between 1 and 5pm.

The song was absolutely the greatest song of the summer of any summer.  It was not, however, the official Song of the Summer declared by Billboard in 1999 - "Genie In A Bottle", for the record - but anyone who thinks this song wasn't everywhere in the summer of 1999 doesn't remember the summer of 1999. 

But, then again, Len were probably drunk all summer, too.

Len was never really much of a band - it was just something Marc did in his garage and occassionally dragged his sister and best mates into. 

So, really, any time Marc performs this song, it's a Len performance of this song - like this performance he did last year with Brooklyn-based Charly Bliss (who did a fantastic cover in their own right).

25 March 2025 - Cœur de Pirate ft. Loud - Dans la nuit

I thought about not posting any Cœur de Pirate this year.  

Then I remembered that I LITERALLY OPENED the first Maple Leaf March with three of her songs. 

And one of those posts was quite unusual, and for the rest of this post, I am going to ATTEMPT to replicate what I did in that post.  

Plongeons dans l'univers envoûtant de "Dans la nuit", une pièce maîtresse de l'album En cas de tempête, ce jardin sera fermé de Cœur de Pirate. Cette chanson, fruit d'une collaboration inattendue avec le rappeur montréalais Loud, nous offre un mélange captivant de pop mélancolique et de rap introspectif.

Les paroles de "Dans la nuit" nous transportent dans un monde de relations complexes, où l'apparence et la réalité s'entrechoquent. Cœur de Pirate explore avec finesse les nuances de l'amour et de la solitude, évoquant ces moments où l'on se sent à la fois utilisé et utilisateur. Cette dualité se reflète dans la musique elle-même, où la mélodie hantée de Cœur de Pirate se marie parfaitement avec le flow incisif de Loud.

Musicalement, la chanson crée une atmosphère réflexive, presque onirique. Les notes de piano caractéristiques de Cœur de Pirate s'entrelacent avec des beats plus urbains, créant un paysage sonore qui oscille entre douceur et tension. Cette fusion des genres souligne parfaitement les thèmes de la chanson, incarnant cette danse constante entre connexion et déconnexion.

"Dans la nuit" marque une évolution dans le style de Cœur de Pirate, tout en restant fidèle à son talent pour capturer les émotions les plus intimes. C'est une invitation à plonger dans les profondeurs de nos relations, à explorer ces moments d'ombre et de lumière qui définissent nos connexions humaines. Une œuvre qui résonne longtemps après la dernière note, nous laissant contempler nos propres expériences dans le miroir de ses paroles poignantes.

Les deux sont montés sur scène lors des Juno Awards 2019 pour interpréter la chanson ensemble.

Au final, c'est SA chanson, et elle peut l'interpréter toute seule. Elle le fait ici, au piano.

Merci beaucoups, Google Translate.

24 March 2025 - Frank Mills - Music Box Dancer

I told you this month was gonna be huge. 

I bet you didn't know this song was Canadian.  But yes, it is. 

This Montreal pianist had a #3 hit in the US in 1979 with his instumental classic.  And it came with a very clear mistake - a few notes are missing in that third repeated introduction.  However, Mills could not afford to rerecord it, so the mistake stayed.

By the way, he recorded it in 1974.  It took that long to get it released. 

The song is recorded in C# Major so it would sound like a music box - specifically, his daughter's broken music box.   

Oh yes, Frank Mills is still with us and still performs this song.  It still sounds like it always did. 

23 March 2025 - Mitsou - Bye bye mon cowboy

This is a woman who did it all.   

Actress.

Cooking show hostess.

And, of course, musician.   This was her debut single, in 1988.  It ended up being a hit ACROSS Canada, which is a rare feat for a francophone song..... probably because it contained a few English words in the title.  

It's a pretty racy song, to be honest - she ends up breaking up witht he cowboy even though he makes love like a god.   This is not my intepretation.  It is literally what she says.   Well, also, he cheats on her, so she says... bye bye to her..... cowboy. 

It's catchy as hell and you should hear it. 

The song got a remix and a US release in 1990, and, well, Canadians love it.  Americans just don't listen to French songs, even great ones. Still, it's a French song that got worldwide exposure, and that's great.  

22 March 2025 - Wave - California

CBC Music has been a great resource for this blog for several years.   Just this week, they released a list of songs that were hits ONLY in Canada.

ONLY in Canada.

Yes, there is a rule in Canada that a certain percentage of radio-broadcasted music has to be by Canadian artists, which makes Canada unique in promoting home-grown artists - and also makes a whole bunch of artists that are known ONLY in Canada.

This 2001 single - the debut by this Niagara Falls, Ontario pop-rock duo - was, indeed, a top 10 hit in Canada.   It did get the song a Juno nomination (losing to Nickelback) and also a nomination for best new group, which it also lost. 

The band broke up in 2003 to pursue other things, but they did reunite once, in 2016, at a Niagara Falls beer festival, and of course they performed their biggest hit. 

21 March 2025 - Great Big Sea - Ordinary Day

This folk group from Newfoundland and Labrador had a few hits in the 1990s - hits that you wouldn't know if you didn't live in Canada.   

Some of them were covers, to be sure, but they did original music, too.  This song, from 1997, was among their biggest hits and it was written by members of the group.   According to co-author Alan Doyle, it was inspired by a Vancouver street musician who had gotten beaten up and robbed, and then went right back to performing in the same place.  

That musician?  Jann Arden.  

The song was co-opted by Conservative Party politicians in the 2000s, but the band filed a copyright claim to stop that.  Because they don't need their song politicized.

It may not be so clear from the official video that they were a folk group, but this live performance should make that clear. 

Also, the audience knows the words. 

20 March 2025 - Maestro Fresh Wes - Let Your Backbone Slide

Let's talk a little about Wesley Williams.  

In 1989, he released his debut album, Symphony In Effect.  He would release this classic as his first single, ever.   

It hit the US top 40 chart and was a top 15 US rap hit.  It is the first time a Canadian rap artist ever did either of those things.  

In Canada, he sold more than 50,000 copies of this - which is their gold certification.  He was the Canadian rap artist to do this. 

But also, the song kicks some old-school ass.  It's a great song, and even though he proudly declares he's not American, at the end of the day, that doesn't matter.  

It is, of course his biggest hit, so it makes sense that he's still performing it all these years later.  Here is the Canadian Music Hall of Famer performing the song last year as part of the coast-to-coast Canada Day celebrations. 

He's still got the mad rhymes.

I mentioned he was a member of the Canadian Music Hall of Fame, and that's great.   He was inducted in 2024 at the Juno Award ceremony and, yes, of course he closed with this song. 

19 March 2025 - Barenaked Ladies - If I Had $1000000

THIS might be the biggest oversight of this page so far.  This song, when I first heard it on CFNY in the early 1990s, changed my life.  It was lighthearted, fun, and lyrically clever.  And you KNOW this post is going to be a doozy!!!

It also changed the way I looked at green dresses.  

Written by Steven Page and Ed Robertson - the two vocalists - which should suprise no one - it takes a call-and response style and adds a lot of eccentric romantic purchases, many of them references to REAL purchases that Michael Jackson made.   You never connected that set of dots, did you?  But yeah, he bought Joseph Merrick's remains and a monkey.  Haven't you always wanted a monkey?

The dialog pieces are different in every live performance because, no joke, they're made up as they go along. It's just banter.

The song was never released as a single, but became a HUGE HUGE hit anyway.   

I can't even justify a studio version of this song for this post.  I start with this 1996 live performance, where they react to the rides around them.  

In 2000, the band performed the song at Farm Aid and were complementary to fine organic foods. 

Then there's this Page/Robertson performance where they pick on the TV host in a stripped-down manner.

Then there is this 2008 performance where they have a special guest star on accordion.

Of course, Steven Page left the group and it's never been the same, but there's still a lot of banter. The whole band gets into it now.  This show happened to be in Cincinatti, Ohio.  If this concert happened today, it would probably cost 25% more. 

But really, it was their reunion at the 2018 Juno Awards that got me.  The shoutout to Maestro Fresh-Wes was a nice touch. 

18 March 2025 - Evelyne Brochu - Paris

When I first saw this pop up on my Spotify last year, I had to do a double take.  You see, I recognized the artist's name.... but not from music.  

One of my favorite TV series of all time is a show from the 2010s called Orphan Black. Seek it out - I highly recommend it.  Evelyne Brochu was the name of an actress on the show (for those who know the show, she played Delphine). And yes, it's the same Evelyne Brochu, I found out in my research.  The even wilder thing I found out?  She's Canadian - growing up outside of Montreal and a native speaker of French in Quebec (although also learning English at a very young age). I always thought she was French.  

She did reprise her role of Delphine in Orphan Black: Echoes, which was also good but not quite matching the original.

But let's talk about "Paris".  A sincere love letter to the city, Brochu sings the song with a sincerity and a brightness.  It also seems like she recorded the video on her cell phone - because she did.  She was the cinematographer.   

Her performance is just as genuine and sweet live as it is recorded.

17 March 2025 - The Arrogant Worms - The Last Saskatchewan Pirate

This has been the toughtest Maple Leaf March so far for me.  

You see, I live in the United States, but I have been a long time fan of Canada.   In 2011, one of my first attempts at blogging, I wrote an article about several of the things I love about Canada.  It really needs an update - I have, for example, had poutine on several occasions and been to many poutineries at this point, and I did spend about 6 months in Calgary more than the States, so I have kind of lived in Canada, too.

But hell, I had pictures of Canadians in my locker at school as a teenager.

OK, Canadian. Singular.

And it was Carling Bassett.  

I was 16.  Don't judge me.

But this month, the United States President, Donald Trump, has escalated a trade and culture war with Canada by

• Imposing significant tarriffs on Canadian goods when there once was none
• Requiring Canadians - including snowbirds who winter in Florida - in the United States to register with the US government
• Continually joking, but not actually joking, about annexing Canada as the 51st state, ignoring the fact that Canada has TEN unique provinces and 3 territories (also unique)
• Blamed Canada for the fentanyl crisis, when in fact, very little fentanyl enters the United States from Canada.

In short, this administration has damaged one of the most enviable partnerships - the one between Canada and the United States - and I hope this isn't irreparable, but it's probably going to be a few years. 

This has made me sad on so many levels. On an economic level, Canada is our biggest trade partner and the United States has now demolished that. On a foreign policy level, Canada has had our back in many conflicts.  On an entertainment level, Toronto has been a stand in for New York City because it WAS cheaper to film there - I doubt that's going to continue. 

On a personal level, I have many excellent friendships with Canadians that have been damaged because my President is being an asshole.  There's no other word for what he's doing.  He's being an unprovoked, egotistical, misguided asshole to Canada. 

So, to my Canadian friends, I don't blame you for keeping your elbows up, and don't for a second believe that the current administation at all reflects the love and respect the American people have for our Canadian neighbors.  

Today's post is one of the last I wrote for this month, because it's been so hard, and because I needed a great song that sounded vaguely Irish and that completely misunderstands the geography of Saskatchewan (the nearest shore to Regina is about 140 km away), and it is a great and funny song. And yeah, because of the current world situation, this song is getting the shaft - I mean, I pretty much guaranteed the thumbnail most people are going to see is going to be Carling Bassett - but listen to it anyway.