Ice Fog - No Exit
Some Party is a newsletter sharing the latest in independent Canadian rock'n'roll, curated by Adam White. Each edition explores punk, garage, psych, and otherwise uncategorizable indie rock, drawing lines from proto to post and taking some weird diversions along the way.
It was awfully hard to tell the difference between an unavoidable death spiral and the routine malaise of a typical February. I've been off the board for a month, lumbering between work, domestic mundanity, volunteer stuff, and the numbing distractions of my phone. It could be my age, or the absence of sunlight, but my lack of zeal for after-hours writing felt insurmountable. Last week was as close as I've come to shelving Some Party entirely, as if lancing this incredibly low-stakes obligation would make everything better. To kill a thing I love because the bleakest month predictably sucks wouldn't have been my wisest move. That's a clearheaded March observation, mind you. A week ago, I was ready to draw up the epitaph. A little thaw and the hint of spring do wonders for your existential dread.
Anyway, back to the Cancon. Positive vibes only. Where were we? In my absence, I assume that you, like the rest of the world, watched Angine de Poitrine's breakthrough KEXP session on repeat. I'll spare you the redundancy of rehashing such epochal events here.
Closed CityClosed City
Preview and purchase at Bandcamp
Closed City is the dark new project from Peterborough's inscrutable Michael Cloud Duguay (Scions) and Mathias Kom of PEI storytellers The Burning Hell. Their self-titled seven-song concept album draws inspiration from the Soviet-era phenomenon of "closed cities" - intentionally isolated, remote communities of industrial and military workers that operated in such secrecy that the Kremlin often omitted them from official maps. Kom and Duguay explore this dehumanized setting through the lens of drone, avant-metal, and musique concrete. It's a grim mix that parallels the post-societal soundscapes of the Constellation Records roster (in particular the apocalyptic protest epics of Godspeed You! Black Emperor).
As of this writing, you can preview the record's concluding songs, the title track and a single edit of the album-closer "Ice Fog - No Exit." Look for the full album on March 27 through Watch That Ends The Night. Closed City's fascinating claustrophobia is the result of a focused artist residency, with the record's principles spending two weeks holed up together in the eastern Finnish region of North Karelia, back in the winter of 2024:
"In extreme winter conditions, the two lived together in a centuries-old log house at the tip of a coniferous headland, warmed by a masonry heater, surrounded by unexplored rocky islands and a WWII military defense line on the Finnish-Russian border. They were joined occasionally by Karelian kantele player Mammu Koskelo as they developed framing concepts and musical ideas."
Kom, who holds a doctorate in ethnomusicology, constructed the album's narrative from both the region's Cold War history and its folk traditions. Duguay took compositional cues from the cabin's out-of-tune piano and wove in elements of the late 80s totalism movement. Completing the record a year later in St. John's, the pair recorded with a six-piece low-brass ensemble of Newfoundland musicians in a decommissioned church. Their studio players featured original Wintersleep bassist Jud Haynes and Swimming/Sick Puppy drummer Jacob Cherwick. Canadian noise musician Ky Brooks (Lungbutter, Ky) mixed the recordings.
The band commented:
"As a metaphor for intentional isolation and its unintended consequences, the closed city was on our minds while we wrote the music and lyrics in the frozen January of northern Karelia. The snow and ice seemed to go on forever, and the sun reflected the endless white and blinded us to the possibility that there could be anything outside of this strange and beautiful environment. Recording in St. John's, a heavy fog descended on us and we found ourselves in another kind of closed city altogether. Most music exists in a nebulous state somewhere between isolation and interaction; as much as we hope to tell a particular story about seclusion and remoteness with this record, we do so in the spirit of human connection."
The album follows Duguay's acclaimed 2025 solo LP Wobbly Yonderand The Burning Hell's Ghost Palace. Duguay played with The Burning Hell during that band's formative years, appearing through 2009's Baby. He and Kom rekindled their fellowship in 2021.
Forty Seven TeethFakers
Watch "Portland Flower" on YouTube - Preview and purchase at Bandcamp
Kingston's Forty Seven Teeth returned in January with Fakers, a nine-song follow-up to their 2022 full-length Apologies. The band's swimming in 90s-alt rock, and reflects on the quiet trajectory that emo seemed to follow before the mainstream caught on. In an Instagram write-up, the photojournalist Virginia Maria referred to them as "emotionally precise punk," and that just about nails it. There's something very pleasantly uncomplicated about this one, a satisfying throwback both in sound and spirit.
You can stream the record everywhere or check the band's video for the lead single "Portland Flower." That clip, filmed near Kingston on Amherst Island, features "a gang of mysterious woodsy witches and one bewildered band."
The trio recorded Fakers with Tim Aylesworth and Anna Robertson engineering. Shane MacPherson mixed and mastered. Forty Seven Teeth features Anna Robertson on vocals and guitar, Dee Prescott on vocals and bass, and Jesse Aylesworth on drums.
Hot Garbage"Wewu"
Watch on YouTube - Preview and purchase at Bandcamp
Toronto post-punk quartet Hot Garbage returned in January with "Wewu," their first new material since the release of Precious Dream a year prior. Out now through Mothland, the track wraps the band's dark psychedelia in escalating waves of noise and aggression, building from off-kilter guitarwork to an assaulting crescendo.
The band again worked with producer Graham Walsh (Holy Fuck) and mastering engineer James Plotkin (Khanate), the same team behind Precious Dream. Hot Garbage features guitarist/vocalist Alessandro Carlevaris, bassist/vocalist Juliana Carlevaris, keyboardist Dylan Gamble, and drummer Mark Henein. Carlevaris crafted the accompanying video for the track, a mess of abstract footage seen through the photonegative lens of an eye-like orb, the song's tension given life in sickly blues and greens. There's no word yet on a new album, but this is likely our first hint.
SunglaciersSpiritual Content
Watch "Only Love" on YouTube - Preview and purchase at Bandcamp
Calgary's Sunglaciers are readying Spiritual Content, their fourth full-length, for a March 27 release through Mothland. The nine-song set finds the band continuing to refine their blend of post-punk, art rock, and experimental pop — still upbeat and attitude-driven but intent on making a deeper connection. The band claims the record finds them "emerging from our daily grind, looking for a higher meaning." You can catch that wavelength through the preview singles "Eye to Eye" and "Only Love." The latter's an endearing indie garage tune floating on motorik and disco beats. The band expanded on the song's themes in a press release:
"Only love can upend your lifestyle, change your patterns. You're young, you're out at parties all the time. Then something happens. Years pass in an instant. Maybe you found love, or self-love, or something else. Got healthy. Got busy. Where you used to go out, now you stay in. The party's not over; it rages on in your memories. This video is kind of an illustration of those memories."
You can see "Only Love" featured in a video directed by Ethan Clark. It finds the group at a house party, with the song's angular rhythms highlighting a strange tension. A vintage film collage, assembled by the band's Evan Resnik, serves as the visuals for "Eye to Eye."
As with 2024's Regular Nature, Sunglaciers' core songwriting duo features Evan Resnik (vocals, guitar, synthesizer, piano, sampling) and Mathieu Blanchard (drums, percussion), with guitarist Nyssa Brown and bassist Kyle Croughå rounding out the lineup. The inimitable Chad VanGaalen (who the band refers to as their guru) returns as a guest contributor and studio collaborator, adding several instrumental flourishes to the final work. Mark Lawson (The Unicorns, Land of Talk) mixed the record, with vinyl mastering handled by ex-Besnard Lakes member Richard White.
Weird NightmareHoopla
Watch "Might See You There" on YouTube - Preview and purchase at Bandcamp
On May 1, Sub Pop delivers Hoopla, the sophomore LP from Toronto's Weird Nightmare. The album's breezy, amiable power-pop again proves a dramatic contrast to the harrowing noise-punk Alex Edkins crafts with METZ.
You can hear three cuts from the album today. The record's lead single, "Might See You There," arrived first, accompanied by a bubbly animated video from CC Mulligan. It's available alongside "Forever Elsewhere" and "Pay No Mind," each glowing with an earnest likability and extensive toolkit of hooks spanning 60s psych-pop and early 90s college rock.
Edkins co-produced Hoopla with Spoon's Jim Eno, recording at Seth Manchester's Machines with Magnets studio in Pawtucket. His rhythm section features Loel Campbell (Wintersleep, Cut Cult) on drums and Roddy Kuester on bass. Roddy's better half, Julianna Riolino, makes a guest vocal appearance on the track "Bright City Lights."
Hoopla follows Weird Nightmare's 2022 self-titled debut and a string of subsequent singles. That includes a rather chill cover of the Ramones' "She's The One" and a split 7" with Welland's Ancient Shapes. METZ last issued Up on Gravity Hill in 2024.
Head CrackZero 2 Dust
Preview and purchase at Bandcamp
Livewire Toronto hardcore act Head Crack have a new cassette EP out through Denver's Convulse Records. The five-song set's steeped in 80s crossover thrash, so much so that the label draws a direct line to Agnostic Front's '86 classic Cause for Alarm. It's no stretch of the imagination to visualize the crowd madness that muscular shout-alongs like "A.E.I." are sure to inspire.
There are just 75 copies of the Zero 2 Dust tape in the wild, so get hunting. Tallies' Dylan Frankland (Fucked Up, Partner, Gloin) produced the record at Wychwood and Palace Sound, with Will Killingsworth mastering at Dead Air. The new EP follows the band's self-titled 2023 effort.
The RiptidesWho Goes There?
Preview and purchase at Bandcamp
Ottawa pop-punk vets The Riptides have a new four-song EP out through Pirates Press Records. Who Goes There? draws from the same Blasting Room sessions that produced last year's Burn After Listening, collecting three new originals alongside a cover of Dayglo Abortions' boneheaded classic "Proud to Be a Canadian." That one's somewhat re-imagined to fit the cross-border horrors of the modern era. Like the full-length, these sessions feature Kody Templeman and Darren Chewka of Teenage Bottlerocket, with Joe King of The Queers also making a guest appearance. The band recorded with Andrew Berlin and Jason Livermore.
The Riptides hit the road in April for the Weekend Bizarro Tour alongside Baltimore's Huntingtons, with Canadian dates slated for Toronto, Ottawa, and Montreal. The new EP follows a busy stretch that not only saw the Riptides' recent LP, but remastered editions of 2017's Canadian Graffiti and 2010's Tales From Planet Earth.
