Songs of the Week: November 02 - November 08, 2026

“Handshake Thugs” by Arkells

Arkells are having a busy year! They released their latest album Between Us in the spring, have done multiple “city takeovers”, and now they’ve dropped a brand new single!

Written a mere two months ago and immediately added to their live set, “Handshake Thugs” is as bombastic as you would expect from the Hamilton band, with frontman Max Kerman saying:
“We tend to think of thugs as people who steal, cause havoc, and make our lives less safe. But these are largely imagined boogie men. The real thugs sit at the top, make deals for themselves, and eat first, before everyone else. Handshake Thugs is a song for the 99%, inspired by the 1%.”

Check out the video below, which was shot in Hamilton City Centre, a former indoor mall that’s been closed since 2022.

• Kirk

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“Lucky” by Combine The Victorious

Vancouver’s Combine The Victorious are back with a new upbeat and funky single titled “Lucky”.
The timing is perfect after the good/bad/good news of the last month we’ve had. The line: “A change in your perception might be just what you need, so shake it up start moving to this sound” was perfect for me after spending the last week on the Sunshine Coast for my birthday week, surrounded by nature.

The band will be performing this song and the other new releases at the early show on January 2nd at Guilt and Co. here in Vancouver.

• Christine

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“Black Tattoo” by Dusted

Brian Borcherdt is back with a brand new single from Dusted, “Black Tattoo”

The catchy, lo-fi song was recorded analog to a vintage Tascam 388, with Borcherdt reflecting, “The recording took a few attempts. With no click tracks used anywhere on this record, this particular performance wanted to speed off the rails. But each version landed faster than the previous. After some consideration, the first take won the band vote.”

No word on a new album, but Dusted promises more to come in the new year! In the meantime, check out the video, featuring Brian and his daughter, below!

• Kirk

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“Return The Goat” by Netherwilds

Somehow I completely missed out on the latest project of former Tokyo Police Club frontman David Monks and it’s blowing up to say the least.

Netherwilds is “peasant metal”, which is a new one for me, but when you see the video for the track “Return The Goat” you definitely understand.
Side note, my favourite comment on the video (which is at just under 700k views!) called the character “Medieval John Wick”, which is perfect.

The debut 22-track album, Peasant Rising, was released at the beginning of October and the band consists of the following (with the names pulled from the credits of the music video):
Worm Chewer (David Monks)- vocals/bouzouki, Loamspeaker (Jesse Turnbull) - guitar, Two Spoons (Mitch Maidens) - guitar, Viv (Vivienne Wilder) - bass, and Boh (Bohdan Kotik) - drums.

It’ll take me a while to get through the entire album but my intrigue is already peaked.

PS! Just as I finished writing all this up I noticed a follow up video for the track “Helm Yeah” if you want to see the next part of getting that goat back!

• Christine

Songs of the Week: October 26 - November 01, 2026

“Goodbye, America” by Dan Mangan

Just in time for election season, Dan Mangan has released a thoughtful new song dealing with his complicated feelings toward our neighbours to the south by saying “Goodbye America”.

Dan says, “As a Canadian, watching Rome being torched from within is like holding someone’s hand as they wither away in a hospice. It’s like seeing the innards of a loved one corrode as they drink themselves to death.”
But the Canadian singer isn’t completely writing off America, as he continues, “This song could be misconstrued as scathing, but truly it’s a love letter. It’s not that a country is actually gone, or that I would turn my back, but that the prevailing myth of America is no longer sturdy enough to see without squinting your eyes. To steal a metaphor from Get Out, many sane Americans have receded to ‘the sunken place’ - somewhere in there, millions upon millions of people are screaming through a pinhole. They want to know: ‘how could we let this happen?’”

Check out the video below, and catch Dan out east as he tours through Quebec and Ontario this month!

• Kirk

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“Coming Home” and “Somewhere I’d Like To Go” by The Sheepdogs

The Sheepdogs released a special deluxe version of their most recent album Keep Out Of The Storm that included two new tracks: “Coming Home” and “Somewhere I’d Like To Go”.

The band also announced a slew of tour dates that will see them tour the UK and EU in November and December, and then embark on a North American tour throughout January and February and again in April.

The boys will be rolling through Vancouver for two nights at the Commodore Ballroom on January 29th and 30th!

• Christine

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“La La La” by Alexandria Maillot

Vancouver’s Alexandria Maillot is back with another brand new single, a brass-y and hook-y song sure to get stuck in your head.

“La La La” was written after Maillot was diagnosed with synovial sarcoma in 2022, and they say it’s about “the emotional torment one feels after receiving a cancer diagnosis and the fear of having a recurrence.”

The new track is also accompanied by a video, directed by Sam Tudor and features dancer & choreographer Emma Tow!

• Kirk

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“r1 (ripples)” by nowhere else to be

Since back in May, Montreal band nowhere else to be has been releasing a steady stream of singles, and now they’re ready to announce their self-titled debut LP, along with a new track “r1 (ripples)”.

The new songs is soaring and hazy, as the band explains, “‘r1’ is the album's thesis. A violent, beautiful birth. You are the result of everything that came before you, but you are also constantly influencing everything around you. That can destroy you or give you power. The song moves through three emotional phases:
1 the joy of feeling connected to something larger than yourself
2 the tragedy of a man, Oscar’s father, strung out and alone, unable to carry that weight
3 and then back to the opening question: aren't we all ripples?”

Find out if you are, in fact, ripples by listening below. And mark December 4th for the release of nowhere else to be!

• Kirk

Songs of the Week: October 19 - 25, 2026

“Power In” by Skye Wallace

A few months ago, Skye Wallace started posting teases on social media about working with the inimitable Matt Mays, and now we’re getting the first single from that recording session!

“Power In” is a dark, simmering song which is also the first track Skye has released since becoming a new parent. Skye says about the song: “I wrote Power in when I was pregnant and I felt big and powerful and wanted to feel that way forever. I feel like I’ve stepped into my fierceness since becoming a parent and adapting my strange musician life around my new little one - in a way ‘Power In’ is a meditation reminding me not to allow myself to shrink or be shrunken ever again.”

Looking forward to hearing more from Skye soon, and I especially can’t wait to see them with David Vertesi, Jasper Sloan Yip, and Teagan Johnston here in Vancouver at the China Cloud on November 15th!

• Kirk

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“Too Many Cooks” by Lisa LeBlanc

First things first: it’s not what you’re thinking (as much as I’d like a cover of the infamous infomercial from Lisa LeBlanc).

No, “Too Many Cooks” is the latest single from the Acadian singer, a blend of funk and country to make an incredibly catchy song.

It also comes with a fun video, which like her previous ones features a cast of puppets. Lisa explains, “The music video for Too Many Cooks is inspired by a reality cooking show where contestants host the other participants in their homes. I'm competing against little mischievous puppets who are trying to sabotage my chances to win. Based by the turn of phrase ''Too many cooks in the kitchen'', it's a quirky, kinda funky, kinda country fun tune! ”

Check it out below, and pick up her upcoming album Patchwork, which is due out on February 5th!

• Kirk

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“Lady Of The Lake” by MOONRIIVR

What a haunting new song just in time for spooky season!
Following singles “You Get Me By” and “Force Of Habit” Toronto’s MOONRIIVER has released “Lady Of The Lake”, a grungy slow-builder of a track that crescendos with an eerie saxophone addition (which we know I love).

Singer Gavin Gardiner says: “While working on the guitar for ‘Lady of the Lake’ we accidentally recorded the amp using a microphone with a bag over it, about 15 feet away in another room. This distant, muffled sound became the haunted centrepiece that defines the rest of this recording.  This song is a collage of moments stitched together to form something searching and new.”

• Christine

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“Scheele’s Green” by Art d’Ecco

Another video perfectly timed with Halloween!
The title track to Art d’Ecco’s recently released album Scheele’s Green is out now and the video features clips from a Swedish-Danish silent horror about “Witchcraft Through The Ages”.

The track however, according to Art, is “a surrealist nightmare, painting a picture of isolation, fear, anxiety and rage. It’s a stark impression of the urban decay experienced by the images and newsfeed we’ve become totally addicted to and mediated by. It’s a paranoid vision of the present world with no hope for the future.”

Now that the whole album is released, I’m excited to dive into it from start to finish!

• Christine

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“The Better Part of Bravery” by The Decemberists

Okay, as much as I love The Decemberists, part of the reason for including this is just how much I want to talk about Wildwood.

I saw LAIKA’s newest stop motion animated movie last night — based on the book by frontman Colin Meloy & his partner Carson Ellis — and it is incredible, absolutely gorgeous! And during the closing credits for the song, you can hear the brand new Decemberists tune, “The Better Part of Bravery”

The Portland band has also contributed another new song, “I Want To Be Lost” on the Wildwood Sessions, a collection of songs inspired by (but not featured in) the film.

Watch the performance video below, intercut with scenes from the film, and then do yourself a favour and go see Wildwood on the big screen!

• Kirk

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The Dwayne Gretzky Halloween Special

And finally, just before we get to Halloween on Saturday - check out the Dwyane Gretzky Halloween Special for 2026!

The band recorded the following songs live off-the-floor and in costume:
“Ballroom Blitz” by the Sweet
“Lay All Your Love on Me” by ABBA
“Frankenstein” by the Edgar Winter Group
“White Rabbit” by Jefferson Airplane
“Magic Dance” by David Bowie

Check it out below and HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

• Christine

Songs of the Week: October 12 - 18, 2026

“This Is The Last Time” by Total Fucking Darkness

For a few years now, the trio of Torquil Campbell, Stephen Ramsay, and Tom McFall have been dropping synth pop bangers under the name Total Fucking Darkness, and now they’ve finally confirmed their debut full length album for next year!

Along with the news comes their latest single, the soaring and romantic “This Is The Last Time”. Ramsay says the song came together quickly, explaining: “It may as well be called ‘Real Time’ because Torq wrote this in real time. By the time I had played him the instrumental once, he had written the lyrics.”
He also adds, “Every band says their latest music is the best thing they’ve ever done. It’s obviously cliché at this point and therefore categorically untrue in almost all cases, but I’m telling you, this is the best song we’ve written.”

It’s definitely my favourite of their singles so far, but you can see for yourself with a video that follows an adorable canine love story!

• Kirk

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“Rote Zora. ‘Resistance is Possible.’ Emma, no. 6, June 1984, pp. 39-41.”
by PISS

I’m SO stoked for the release of you made me / skin on linen on October 30th, and am eagerly awaiting the vinyl that I pre-ordered. Every time a new single lands in my inbox, the anticipation amplifies and I just know it’s going to be one of the best of the year.
Speaking of amplifying - the new track (which is a mouthful in more ways than one):
“Rote Zora. ‘Resistance is Possible.’ Emma, no. 6, June 1984, pp. 39-41.” needs multiple listens and watches of the video.

The video was created by Eila Vallevand, a łingit Tagish Kwan multidisciplinary artist from the Yukon, and combines found footage with animation.

The track includes powerful questions about how women have to exist in society, layer over driving noisy guitar and drums and ends with: “Our actions contribute — even if they aim only against the individual responsible — to the development of an atmosphere of 'Resistance is possible!'”
Fuck yea.

• Christine

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“We Both Care” by Ten Kills the Pack

Last week, Ten Kills The Pack (the JUNO winning project of Sean Sroka) released the latest single, “We Both Care”.

The catchy song features Charles Spearin (of Broken Social Scene) and Hannah Georgas, and Sroka says it’s a song “I really felt as I was writing it. Though it is a bit more boppy and the production is fun, the song is based around the idea of the divide people have between them even when they both care about the same things. And as you grow as a person, will that divide become bigger or smaller. How will you get through to each other, even on the small things? The main thing is, you care enough to be there. Even it's on a different side of that made up line.”

Check out the video below!

• Kirk

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“Begin Again” by So Faint

The new album from the collaboration between Lyn Heinemann and Hannah Georgas is out today and I cannot wait to take a deep dive into it!

The single we have got over the last few month from So Faint have been leading up the the self-titled debut last week and we have one more today titled “Begin Again”.
The track is about “being stuck in cycles of indecision and effort that can feel meaningless,” explains Georgas. “And it’s also about hope for a future after the relationship is over, where it feels good to be alone. The fantasy of feeling somehow brand new and desirable in this unrealized future state.”

The duo is going to be here in Vancouver on November 6th at the Fox Cabaret and I’m so mad that I’ll be out of town - so you all better pack the place for me.

• Christine

Songs of the Week: October 05 - 11, 2026

“Black Gatorade” by The Zolas

The Zolas may be celebrating the 10th anniversary of their album Swooner, but this month they also dropped a brand new single!

“Black Gatorade” is the first new music we’ve had from the Vancouver band in a while, and comes with a burst of energy and gang vocals, with lyrics that indicate a fresh start for the group (as well as a fun local reference when they sing about how “it’s nice to be back Making noise in Railtown”)

You can see the lyric video below, and fingers crossed for more from the Vancouver band soon!

• Kirk

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“Sailing Back To Souris” by The East Pointers

JUNO Award winners The East Pointers are heading out on their almost fully sold out tour this week, and have announced a deluxe edition of their album Schoonertown.

The new single “Sailing Back To Souris” is about “being away, missing home, and finding your way back to the people and places that keep you pointed in the right direction.”

You can catch them on said tour on October 19th at the Hollywood Theatre!

• Christine

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“Sit” by ARK IDENTITY

Toronto’s ARK IDENTITY (Noah Mroueh) released a new single last week with the new wave anthem “Sit”

The incredible catchy tune is ‘inspired by the constant barrage of outrage, opinion, and polarization that defines everyday’ with Noah elaborating, “Politics, racism, sexism, social media, people constantly arguing, the news, algorithms. It feels like there’s almost no space to just think for yourself anymore. ‘SIT’ came out of that frustration.”

No word on a full album from ARK IDENTITY, but check out the trippy video below!

• Kirk

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“How Real Is Real?” by Art d’Ecco

As we inch closer to the release date for Art d’Ecco’s new record Scheele’s Green, we continue to get new singles from the band.
This week, it’s a protest song that deals with “ICE raids, the genocide in Gaza, and Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine”.

“How Real Is Real?”, Art says, “serves as a clarion call. Our new realities have desensitized us to the real life atrocities and injustices that are actually being experienced by people in our communities around the world. The idea that we’ve never been more connected to fast, unlimited free information but are still completely separated from reality and truth, is a paradox of our own making.” 

Scheele’s Green is out October 23rd, and check out the new track below.

• Christine

Songs of the Week: September 28 - October 04, 2026

“Darth Vapor” by La Force

It’s been a couple years since we last heard from La Force, the solo project of Ariel Engle, and now we have a brand new single with “Darth Vapor”

The dark and haunting track highlights Engle’s stunning vocals, and she says it “was born out of an improvised jam session in a small one-room studio in Montreal. I picked up a right-handed bass hanging on the wall and started playing it upside down, because I’m left-handed. I remember it all coming together at once — Liam [O’Neil] on some kind of rhythm-generating machine, and Thom Gill on a soft synth. Later, Liam and I shaped the raw take, and the theme emerged. The song is about excavation, consumption, and lust — both my own seemingly endless need to consume, and that of the world’s population. This endless want in the face of a finite world of resources."

Check out the video below, and keep an ear out for more new music as La Force promises a new album next year!

• Kirk

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“Private Lives” by Death From Above 1979

DFA is back! They’re celebrating their 25th anniversary of bandom by announcing their fifth LP, Private Lives, due out January 29th.

The first single and title track “Private Lives” is a rip-roaring vintage Death From Above song that I can picture crowds shouting back at them already.
The band says: “The song ‘Private Lives’ is a declaration of privacy in an era of overexposure. We are compelled, often by one another, to share our most intimate moments and quietest thoughts. To what end? More often than not, to be part of a cheap consumer feedback loop. Ultimately though, it’s just a ripping rock song with maniacal riffs!”

Can’t wait for more from the duo, but more excited to see that they’ll be heading back to Vancouver on March 26th at the Vogue!

• Christine

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“Getting Out Of Dodge” by Olivia Penalva

Appropriate song for today as I’ve got out of dodge and am camping for the last time this year!
But BC artist Olivia Penalva’s track “Getting Out Of Dodge” is about “finally choosing the unknown over the past”.

For her new album Exit Wound (which was released last month) hears Olivia pivoting from her traditional pop sound to more of a blend with folk, rock and adult contemporary.

Check the track out below!

• Christine

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“blocking a scene you can’t remember” by PISS

The new album from PISS comes out at the end of the month, and we’re getting another tease with their newest single.

“blocking a scene you can’t remember” is an intense slow burn about '“sexual abuse and its lasting impacts. The lyrics take the form of a monologue read by a girl in her room, rehearsing a long-overdue confrontation with a man from her past.”

This official video was co-directed by PISS front-person Tay Zantingh & Nushi Sharma, which you can watch below. And the new album you made me / skin on linen is out o October 30th.

• Kirk

Songs of the Week: September 21 - 27, 2026

“Lions Pride” by Zeus

Zeus is back! The Toronto quartet has returned with a look back to their past for their upcoming album, Lost & Found (The Say Us Archives), which explores songs written around the time of their 2010 debut. As the band puts it, the project is “an outward rebellion within their scene: the basic need to drop all egos and just make music together, regardless of the [album's] final destination or distribution”.

And the first single off the album is classic Zeus, “Lions Pride”, which Mike O’Brien says is a song “that’s always had a special place in our hearts and is exciting for us to finally get to share it. This collection in many ways tells the whole story of the inception of our band. Each songwriter coming from his separate corner and finding a sound together. These songs didn't end up fitting the picture that became Say Us but they serve to fill in the gaps in that time period. We hope you enjoy this trip down memory lane as much as we did.”

The 13-track album is out on October 9th via Arts & Crafts, but you can hear “Lions Pride” below!

• Kirk

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“Chain Chain Chain” by So Faint

At first I thought this might be an Aretha Franklin cover (and now I want to hear that), but it’s the new single by So Faint - the duo of Hannah Georgas and Lyn Heinemann.

They previously released their first single “Fully Slow”, announcing their long worked on collaboration as well as a self-titled EP for October 16th.

The new track “Chain Chain Chain” continues to showcase the effortless melding of their voices and as the duo states the song is about “choosing commitment while quietly knowing the relationship feels broken. Not because there’s no love, but because love alone isn’t fixing what’s broken. It's driven by history, loyalty, and the weight of having built something together. Staying becomes a choice grounded in commitment rather than desire.”
While that sounds like a bummer, the song itself makes you want to dance around the room with joy.

• Christine

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“Pure Comedy” by Allegories

Last week, Allegories — the experimental duo of Adam Bentley and Jordan Mitchell — released the latest single from their upcoming album with “Pure Comedy”.

The ethereal indie-pop song evolved throughout the years-long writing process for the new album, as Adam explains, “This is the song that I think best represents our new album. There are elements from many different iterations of the song still in there, and sonically, it feels like it touches on the kaleidoscope of sounds and genres that the record eventually became.”

You can check out the VHS video below, and gran By Accident, On Purpose, when it’s out October 16th.

• Kirk

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“Our Year” ft Lights and Felix Cartal by Tegan and Sara

Despite Tegan and Sara growing up in Calgary, we like to claim them as Vancouverites, and if this music video doesn’t put a stamp on that, nothing does!

Kits pool, the Museum of Vancouver, the City Centre Motor Hotel just to name a few, are all featured with each of the artists at the iconic Vancouver locations. Not to mention appearances by Vancouver Canadians, BC Lions, Vancouver Goldeneyes and Canucks jersies.

Song and video bring end of summer vibes and as Lights says they “wanted to share a tongue in cheek approach to more or less bitching about the economy while still celebrating that we made it this far, and that there’s always hope to keep striving for.” 

Ahem, get out and vote Vancouver…

• Christine

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“Cherry Pit” by Kids With Knives

Vancouver shoegaze band Kids with Knives recently released a brand new video for their song “Cherry Pit”.

The track is for ‘anyone who has ever been someone's maybe. It's longingly sweet, a little desperate, and slightly unhinged’, and comes with a video shot in Tokyo during cherry blossom season!

Watch for yourself below, and you can hear the song on their debut album Open Wounds, which is out now.

• Kirk

Songs of the Week: September 14 - 20, 2026

“Pieces” by WiL

Vancouver Island’s WiL & Company are back with a brand new song, “Pieces”.

The new single spotlights WiL’s commanding vocals and incredible guitar work, and is about the various fleeting moments that make up someone’s life, as WiL explains: “Be wild in your life by building it and filling it with meaningful, great experiences and moments. These, to me, are the ‘Pieces’ of our lives. Good or bad, just keep putting the f’n puzzle together until you run out of pieces.”

“Pieces” was produced by Leeroy Stagger, and you can watch a live performance video below!

• Kirk

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“Something Sweet” by Blonde Diamond

Last Friday Blonde Diamond released their latest EP Love Is A Shadow and celebrated by giving us “Something Sweet”

The the dreamy pop tune comes with a fantastical video directed by long-time collaborator Brandon William Fletcher, and perfectly represents the rest of the EP, which Alexis Young says is “an exploration of what it means to keep going.Spanning cynical joy, queer heartbreak, supernatural desperation, and hard-won sobriety, it probes my messy and nonlinear work of growing into a new chapter of adulthood. And while it’s not necessarily a beautifully choreographed arrival, it’s still a celebration of the series of life moments that brought me kicking and screaming to this next phase of life.”

Check out the video below, and you can grab the new EP Love Is A Shadow everywhere now!

• Kirk

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“4:44” by Land of Talk

Land of Talk is back (again!) with new music and the announcement of an album, LASTS, that will be released on November 13th.

Land of Talk aka Liz Powell says of the first track “4:44” (which isn’t the song length and was originally titled “Harmonic Nation”): “Melodically, I don’t remember where the track came from, it just appeared fully formed despite my best efforts to doubt it, shape it, or abandon it altogether.”
“I had recently read online some demonstrably false things about my personal (and professional) life written by someone who I thought knew me. Whether they changed the facts out of sheer ignorance or in an effort to protect my privacy is unknown. The experience reminded me how I’ve come to accept the false narratives and (essentially) myths surrounding Land of Talk for years. For a while, I was questioning if I even knew my own story; my own lived experience. As for the title, there’s a story, but that will stay private :).”

Mysterious, kind of like the video for the dreamy track that you can hear and see below.

• Christine

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“Good Boys” by Miesha and The Spanks

Also dropping a new EP last week was Miesha and The Spanks with Visions, and they want to remind you that “you don’t have to be a dick” with the hook-filled “Good Boys”.

Miesha says the song is “about raising good boys, and asking what is a good boy, or a good man, and recalls the many times in sexual assault cases/trials when a young man is facing charges and everyone comes out to say what a 'good boy' he is and how it's his future that could be ruined.”

Perhaps unsurprisingly given the last part, the video for the song is hockey-themed, as Miesha & the Spanks plan to shine a light on the Moose Hide Campaign - an Indigenous-led grassroots movement working to end gender-based violence during their upcoming tour.

You can catch them on tour all around western Canada in the coming months, including a show here in Vancouver on November 5th at the Fox Cabaret. But until then, watch the video — directed by Sebastian Buzzalino — below, and pick up the EP now!

• Kirk

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“You Win The Trophy” by princefarming

Toronto songwriter Michael Wynn (of Vicky von Vicky, Melted Wings) is delving back into his past and releasing a new EP under the moniker princefarming.

The three-song EP reaches back over 15 years to remaster songs from throughout his career, including “You Win The Trophy”, about the ‘mythology of Hollywood success’.

Wynn admits “For a long time, I didn’t think anything of these songs. It was only recently that I started listening again. I don’t think they are my best work, but I do think they have promise, and I thought they should be ‘out there.’”

The EP is called Bleeding Star and is available now!

• Kirk