The 2025 Festive 50 is well and truly OPEN! Send your top 10 tracks of the year before the vote closes in 2 weeks time.

My year end list will have no Geese.

I love being surprised by new music and new artists. Saya Gray is local and sort of unclassifiable. Give her album Saya (2025) a listen, though. It's great!

47 years ago today, I attended my first rock concert. It was Queen at Maple Leaf Gardens here in Toronto, and it blew me away. RIP Freddy Mercury.

Thanks to everyone who’s voted so far this weekend. Please keep them coming! Send me your top 10 tracks of 2025 by replying to this or sending me a chat if you want to keep your vote private.

Go to concerts by yourself. Go to movies by yourself. Go to restaurants by yourself. Travel by yourself. It’s normal and good!

It’s a tough time to be a Liverpool fan these days… #ynwa

TONIGHT in TORONTO CITY! Join me at Houndstooth from 10pm on for the postpunkiest tunes in the city! NO COVER!

T minus ONE day until my debut set at Houndstooth. I've included another song I'll be playing. First released in 1983, "Sleeper in Metropolis" finds English poet Anne Clark reciting her dystopian words over a haunting and infectious musical track written by David Harrow.

T minus 2 days now, Toronto City!

T minus 3 days until my Houndstooth debut! My playlist will include a song from one of my favourite albums from 1979. I bought this as a 14 year-old and played the grooves off it.

Stranded in Toronto City tonight with nothing to do? Come and hear some great music in a friendly room. No cover, free pool, cheap thrills and alcohol!

I just love this so much. The Kids Are Alright! chicagoreader.com/music/music-...

Stranded in Toronto City tonight with nothing to do? Come and hear some great music in a friendly room. No cover, free pool, cheap thrills and alcohol!

Just watched the first episode of Pluribus (AppleTV+). Very freaky.

Fantastic set by Lifeguard here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Xav...

I just love this so much. The Kids Are Alright! chicagoreader.com/music/music-...

This is a great show and worth your time!

@alexrobertross.bsky.social is on Bluesky, too!

Not as poorly as I have chosen. :)

Whatever happened to personal database software like FileMaker? Did something replace it or is that whole category of software just gone?

What bands have you avoided listening to just because of their name? Some of mine: Kitchens of Distinction, The Spongetones, Rainbow Butt Monkeys, Cherry-Poppin' Daddies.

This sums up the US right now: "A top FBI official with 27 years standing has reportedly been fired by the bureau after its director, Kash Patel, became enraged by press stories revealing he had used a government jet to travel to see his girlfriend sing the national anthem at a wrestling match."

Just seen this book is coming out in June next year. #SimonReynolds book Rip It Up And Start Again is a Post-Punk bible and one of the greatest music books I own. If Still In A Dream is anything like that it will be an essential purchase. Looking at the bands on the sleeve, wow, roll on June…

What a brilliant filmmaker. His film about the Paris Commune (La Commune, 2000) is monumental.

From Squamish, BC, cistern are a post-punk band who remind me a lot of early Modest Mouse. I also hear a little bit of Chicago's Deeper. Highly recommended! cisternband.bandcamp.com/album/rhizome

Teenage Head - Disgusteen [Canada, punkrock] (1977) https://redd.it/7uqbt0 https://youtu.be/5jpa8UhlLw0

This one's a banger.

This is so very true. At least it's definitely the way I felt.

I'm sure he's a nice guy, but is anyone else sick of seeing Seth Rogen in EVERYTHING?

Turns out I'm related to Anne Boleyn!

Oh brother. Peter Thiel's beliefs about the Antichrist and Armageddon were already warmed over in the 1980s when I was an evangelical. How funny would it be if he himself is the Antichrist? Well, not funny, I suppose...

Stuck in the boring hellhole of Toronto City tonight? Come out and listen to punk choons while drinking cheap booze, playing pool and pinball. Cheap Thrills! Hey Ho, Let's Go! 10pm - late!

Has Trump actually got congressional approval for ANYTHING yet? How many "executive orders" can he use before he levels up to Full Dictator? Doesn't the US have any rules around this stuff?

Canadians too!

I'm very bummed to discover that The Vast of Night (2019, Dir: Andrew Patterson) is still unavailable anywhere except streaming on Amazon Prime. What kind of terrible deal did they force him to sign?

Dr. Jane Goodall filmed an interview with Netflix in March 2025 that she understood would only be released after her death.

First thought on seeing One Battle After Another: America is already fighting another civil war.

It’s hard not to think that the UN is effectively finished.

I'm on the job hunt. I've worked as a freelance writer, editor, essayist, and film theorist for nearly 15 years, with bylines at /Film, FANGORIA, Rue Morgue, CBC Comedy, etc. I ran Shudder's The Bite, served as FANGORIA magazine's Managing Editor, and was the evening news editor at /Film. Any leads?

Mark Ronson's book NIGHT PEOPLE was amazing. The accompanying playlist is also great. This is my biggest discovery so far: tidal.com/browse/album...

Had to cancel my Pro Mixcloud subscription but have left 10 shows up. Hope you enjoy them. My series about being a college radio DJ is pretty good. Mixes from 1992-1993! www.mixcloud.com/djolnerdybas...

False prophets everywhere.

OMG, thank you to the great folks at Feel It Records for this great new discovery. Maura Weaver is amazing and you can download her new record for Pay What You Want. @mauraweavermusic.bsky.social mauraweaver.bandcamp.com/album/strang...

OMG, thank you to the great folks at Feel It Records for this great new discovery. Maura Weaver is amazing and you can download her new record for Pay What You Want. @mauraweavermusic.bsky.social mauraweaver.bandcamp.com/album/strang...

Highly anticipated albums coming out soon: thetelephonenumbers.bandcamp.com/album/scarec... sloanmusic.bandcamp.com/album/based-... If you like to jangle...

Highly anticipated albums coming out soon: thetelephonenumbers.bandcamp.com/album/scarec... sloanmusic.bandcamp.com/album/based-... If you like to jangle...

This is great!

This is great!

What's Shane Carruth been up to? What happened to him?