tuesday wake up call

New Thermals video for "The Sunset"!



"The Sunset" is taken from the band's sixth LP, Desperate Ground, out now on Saddle Creek.

friday wake up call

Another lyric video by The Thermals — "The Sunset" is taken from the band's upcoming Saddle Creek debut, Desperate Ground, out on April 16th.

saturday wake up call

New single / video "Born To Kill" by The Thermals!





"Born To Kill" is from the band's up coming record, Desperate Ground, out on April 16 through Saddle Creek.

wednesday wake up call

I have been waiting for this! — The Thermals have released a lyric video for the song, "Born to Kill", from the band's upcoming Saddle Creek debut, Desperate Ground, out on April 16th.

happy canada day!

Hey everyone, HAPPY CANADA DAY! To celebrate, here are some of my favourite songs from the past year or so by Canadian artists:

The Acorn: Slippery When Wet from No Ghost
Born Ruffians: Retard Canard from Say It
Diamond Rings: All Yr Songs from Diamond Rings/PS I Love You Split 7"
Great Lake Swimmers: River's Edge from Lost Channels
The Hidden Cameras: Underage from Origin:Orphan
Japandroids: Art Czars from Art Czars 7"
Propagandhi: Dear Coach's Corner from Supporting Caste
Timber Timbre: We'll Find Out from Timber Timbre

...and The Thermals: Canada, they are not Canadian, but it’s a wicked song about Canada!

i want to take you to canada

I was browsing through iTunes earlier and saw that The Thermals are featured in the 'Free Single of the Week' section. So I clicked on the link and to my surprise, the single is called "Canada"! Brilliant... perfect timing!—as we all know, the Vancouver Olympic Games are underway. Make sure you download this pop-rock sensation for FREE over at iTunes, or by clicking on the link below!

The Thermals: Canada [wicked-cool song]

the thermals' top 5 albums of 2009

Sorry, I have been neglecting this blog—I am completely addicted to Uncharted 2 (currently on my 3rd playthrough)—nonetheless, here’s a favourite 5 albums of 2009 from The Thermals that was sent to me more than a week ago... sorry for the delay!


Grizzly Bear: Veckatimest
Nurses: Apple's Acre
Bill Callahan: Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle
Tinariwen: Imidiwan
The Cribs: Ignore The Ignorant

The Thermals’ Now We Can See was #8 in my top 30 albums of 2009 list, it is out on Kill Rock Stars. Buy it here and visit the band’s MySpace here.



I am working on my favourite albums of the decade list... going to take my time with that, so look for it sometime next week.

the thermals: now we can see

The Thermals’ fourth album, Now We Can See is full of cheerful and catchy melodies; however, if one really paid attention to the lyrics, they reveal something that is quite the opposite. The opener, "When I Died", is a song about someone who is sick of life and everything around him; thus, he decides to drown himself in the sea. Lines like “Nature sure took her sweet time/I was already losing my spine” and “I was sick with horror/When my curtain fell/It’s the end of the story/I was certain to tell...” are chilling! "We Were Sick" is another ultra catchy tone polished with negativities—“Fed on the dirt/Laid on the land/Never gave a day away/Never gave a damn...”—it is an attack on mankind's carelessness and selfishness.

On the contrary, there is a slight sense of optimism in the anthem like title track. This is a song about evolution and the hope for progress in the wake of false promises and mistakes. Similarly, "When We Were Alive" celebrates our pasts in that somewhat optimist tone as well... and it is the loudest and fastest song on the album as well!

For me, "When I Was Afraid" and "Liquid In, Liquid Out" are somewhat interconnected. The former is about missed opportunities as a result of constantly holding back and being too cautionary (“Falling away/Out into space/Losing all my breath when I was afraid”) while the latter speaks about the repetition and dullness of life (Liquid in, liquid out/It’s what my life was all about/It’s what my life was all about/It was all about.”)

Certainly, there are plenty of gloomy lyrics in Now We Can See; however, it is also full of joyous and exceedingly poppy melodies that surely drown out the negativities surrounding the album. Until I heard the new Horrors album about two weeks ago, The Thermals’ Now We Can See was my favourite album of the year... I mean, how can you go wrong with an album that sounds like the best of Guided By Voices!

Ps, Now We Can See sounds sick on vinyl!

When I Died [wicked-cool song]
Now We Can See [wicked-cool song]
Liquid In, Liquid Out [wicked-cool song]

visit The Thermals' MySpace here
buy Now We Can See here