Jos here. Apropos of nothing, I’m finally ready to share something I’ve been working on in some capacity or another since before the pod — a new “solo” “album” of “music.” The artist name is SILLY, and the album is called 0 Views. I’ll explain more soon, but you can find a lyric video at the bottom of the newsie, or go to Bandcamp and pre-order that shit before it drops on September 6. As far as I can tell, there are no other notable releases coming out that day.
Here’s some other stuff we’re listening to this week.
State Faults “Blood Moon”
Sam: The truth is that I’m up in Sauble Beach with my family this week so the only two things I’m listening to are Fun House while driving to pick up more burgers from the Valu-mart, and 97.9 the Bruce, playing the best classic and new rock, along with local news, sports, and weather, for all the people of Bruce – from Saugeen Shores, to Kincardine, to Wiarton, to Sauble Beach, and everywhere in between. The Bruce would never play State Faults, or any band whose album is framed as “A Collection of Songs Performed by,” and they’re probably right. But if you like Deathwish bands and screamo – well, you already knew this album was out. It’s good! I’ll listen to it again when I’m home and playing “Down on the Street” cruising down a country road with the windows down is no longer an option.
Jos: I really wanted to go on a road trip this weekend too, but it turns out our 2024 budget of “go on vacation constantly” is not as sustainable as it seemed, so I’m going to stay home and, I guess, read? Books? Ugh. This is kinda cute, I like when a skramz song has a bit of a pop feel to it. Maybe they all kinda do. I was expecting it to be a newfangled skramz band but they’ve been going since 2010 which is making me like them less. By now, they should have imploded or had one of the members reveal themselves to be extremely evil. By year 6 of your screamo band, if you’re not having some kind of viral implosion that requires multiple notes app screenshots, you’re doing it wrong.
Respire “The Sun Sets Without Us”
Sam: This whole album rocks but I love this borderline pop anthem from local skramz greats Respire. I almost never watch the music videos that accompany anything we write about here, but I did see some classic Honest Ed’s signage (RIP) here before clicking into a different window and that made me feel nice. I missed New Friends Fest this year but I feel like I’m right there in that Lithuanian Hall when I hear this. More shows at the Lithuanian Hall by my house, please. I probably like this 2% more based on fondness for walking to shows alone.
Jos: I love that Sam just became a skramz guy. In fact, it’s probably exactly why we can’t do a podcast anymore. He figured out what I’ve always known — the way to be eye-contactingly emotive and arm-in-arm in the pit without being nasty about it is to just make sure the vocals are skramzed. Cute video concept, and I always do love that Respire has fun little extra parts to their songs without making it a whole thing.
Physical Therapy & Patrick Holland “7 AM Drive” / “7 PM Drive”
Jos: My neighborino Patrick Holland is quite literally constantly putting out heaters, and I’m really loving the new EP Daymaxxing that he made with Berlin’s Physical Therapy is full of divine moments. Since I assume Sam is like me and spends a full 12-hour period on each blurb, I’d encourage him to listen to these songs at their respective times, and take notes in between. But for real, they just sound so good. “I love you so much.”
Sam: Is this what driving at 7am is like in Montreal? I don’t believe you. No one is saying “I love you so much” at this hour unless it’s a Sunday and you’re still awake from the night before. And maybe driving was like this at 7pm in 1980 but these days rush hour lasts until about 10pm. Regardless of how inaccurate these songs feel to my personal experience of driving in Toronto and Montreal, they are a delight and I can’t wait to listen to them all the time. I recently discovered my “neighborino” made the incidental music for the daily CBC news podcast Frontburner which, if I’m being honest, is good but still less cool.
Perc “Heartbeat Popper”
Jos: Even I sometimes forget that I got my start as a music writer faking my way through record reviews in XLR8R magazine hahaha. Dance music in its various forms has always intimidated and allured me in equal measure, and I barely know how to talk about it, but whenever I find a honeypot online with the good recs, I spend a long time digging in. This Perc album is so heavy and scary sounding. There are more accessible tracks I could’ve included but I had to stick with the one that has chopped choral vocals.
Sam: Yeah this obviously sick and equally obvious I have nothing smart to say about it. I don’t know that the ideal situation for listening to this is right by the nice sunny window at a cottage as you prepare to take your dog to the beach, but despite the thematic issues with my current situation, I am grooving, spookily.
SILLY “0 Views” (lyric video)
Jos: There’s pretty much only one other person I know who understands what it’s like to start a hyper niche cult podcast that consumes your life for half a decade then suddenly stop, and we both know it’s tough to figure out what to do next. Sam has made some pretty interesting things, and I’ve been tinkering too. I became obsessed with the idea of “0 views” — content that people make for no reason other than to bring themselves joy. I even turned it into a web series pilot that we pitched, and one of the gatekeepers at a Canadian streaming company said it reminded them of Tosh.0 so I had to delete it from my computer. Anyway, I also realized sometimes it’s nice to stop commenting on other things and make some things yourself, so I made an album called 0 Views that will be out next week. It was mixed by Shoes Robinson, with drums by Ned Paige and drum production/additional mixing by sparkling Caleb. I’m really excited about it.
Sam: Okay I’m going to actually watch the video first then come back. Okay yeah I’m glad I did that it’s wonderful. SILLY really is the expression of Josiah’s quest to define his own taste that was a modest part of the 155 journey (I’ll figure out the other parts eventually). The entire album, which I AM bragging about having already heard, continues to walk this incredible line between Dude Ranch and whatever other stuff he likes that I have no real interest in. It’s the best pop-punk I’ve heard in years because it’s unlike anything else I’ve heard… ever? I’m not blowing smoke, it’s a really wonderful collection of songs that feels like spending years of your life talking to Josiah condensed into a much more manageably crisp 30 minutes. You’re reading this so I know you’re going to fucking love it exactly like I did, but I also think people who have never heard us ramble about cum will find something totally unique and compelling in this wonderful thing Josiah has created for us. I’d say we should have ended the pod much earlier so we could have got this album sooner, but I think that process is what got us here and that’s cool.