Album opener “head empty blues” emerges out of a television static landscape with a juicy bassline. Vocals bounce through the song with an urgency that makes me want to run into the pit. The pit, by the way, that I’m hypothetically running into is sweaty and glittery and, ow, I think I just took an elbow to the head.

One of my favourite local Vancouver bands, Night Court consistently churn out punk masterpieces. “Happy Birthday” is a lo-fi lilting tune with a guitar melody just repetitive enough to give you anxiety. The spoken word introduction breaks into existential lyrics coated liberally with Night Court’s signature fuzz. Despite its short runtime the track packs a punch.

Electronic meets hardcore meets punk meets, well, loud. A pulsing beat runs through the track holding down the veritable cacophony slithering atop. While the vocals aren’t necessarily lost in the mix, they’re pretty deeply inset. On a track with so much going on it’s nice to hear the instrumentation, in its abundant volume, taking centre stage. 

Hardcore band Wastoid released their third album and topped my person bands to see live in 2025 list. A track that screams swamp monster reincarnate, the guitars are nothing short of sludge perfection on “Radioactive Drug Machine”. Are the lyrics incomprehensible or are you not listening hard enough? No matter- here come the drums! It’s short and loud, or whatever Sabrina Carpenter said. 

Fresh off the back of Intermezzo by Sally Rooney, I informed my girlfriend that I “love miserable Irish people”. To be clear, I don’t want Irish people to be miserable, and, in fact, have nothing against them, Sally Rooney just has a knack for the topic. My girlfriend suggested the new Fontaines D.C. album based on my proclamation. I mean, she’s not wrong. While not strictly a song recommendation, the entire album is a delightfully dreary post punk landscape. “Bug” topped my most played songs of the year with its melancholy guitars and lyrics that I couldn’t quite place on the scale of sarcastic to genuine.