Metallica - 2016 - Atlas, Rise!

Testament - The Pale King

The Deacons - 2016 - After Dark

The Deacons are a garage rock band from Olympia, Washington. After Dark is their sophomore EP, follow up to last year's Beat Up The World. The Deacons play a fuzzed out, slightly punked up brand of garage rock.



These are angsty rock & roll songs being blasted out of a garage with the requisite anger and distortion. The songwriting is a step up from the last EP, most of these songs have actual hooks that will burrow into your brain. Here's where I would normally list my favourite songs but there's no need with an EP this solid. With After Dark The Deacons have crafted an excellent step forward and followup making me anxious to hear what comes next. 

O.P.P. #6: The Long Shot Podcast

It`s time again for O.P.P., that`s right, Other People`s Podcasts! This week we join Amber Kenny and Jamie Flam around Sean Conroy's table for funny and at times surprisingly touching conversations in The Long Shot.

Who? The Long Shot consists of three comedians of different ages and backgrounds all living and working in Los Angelese. Amber Kenny is a comedy writer and performer and a founding member of sketch teams Super Kudzu, The Coat Club, and Hot Dog Volcano. Jamie Flam is a comedy writer, producer, and performer who currently books the Improv Lab at the LA Improv. Sean Conroy is an improv performer and writer, he is a founding member of The Swarm, performs regularly at the UCB Theater as well as performing and writing on Mr. Pickles.

What Is This Show? Every week these three comedians gather around Sean Conroy's table with a special guest. Supposedly each week has a theme but they diverge from those onto other topics very quickly. The chemistry of these three is unparalleled in podcasting. Amber Kenny is "a ray of sunshine" as Sean Conroy says, an up and coming comedian who's positivity comes beaming through and is both the supply and cause of nearly endless giggling. Jamie Flam is a stand up comedian who sometimes spends too much time on the funny voices and anti humour but is a genuinely funny person albeit the kind that is constantly having revelations about their life. Sean Conroy is the anchor and host of the show. Sean is the most reserved of the three, but also the funniest and he loves ship novels which are generally poo pooed.

Best Way In?: The Long Shot is all about the chemistry between the three hosts. They play off  each other well and balance each other. Choose an episode with a guest you are familiar with, Paul F Tompkins is always a solid bet, as is Jen Kirkman or Joe Wagner. 

Marc-André Larivière - 2016 - Farewell, Supernova

Marc-André Larivière is a musician from Gatineau, Quebec. Farewell, Supernova is his debut LP. This LP is an instrumental concept album about the future of humanity and space travel. Aside from spoken vocals this LP is a collection of progressive rock songs on guitar both electric and acoustic heavy on the solo's & noodling.



This LP is at it's best when there is a chugging, distortion generating riff that evolves several times before turning into a solo. The playing could be a little heavier but Larivière can really rock that guitar. My main complaint about this album is the production style. Too frequently there is only one guitar soloing with little or no rhythm backup underneath it. The sound could do with a serious beefing up.

My favourite tracks like Denying Gravity & Isolated Drift remind me of John Petrucci's solo LP Suspended Animation. These songs are filled to the brim with riffs that change & evolve before launching into kick ass solos. Other highlights include Miscalculated Malfunction; Ascensions - Defying Gravity and Descension. Marc-André Larivière has crafted an exciting debut of progressive rock in Farewell Supernova.

Pussy Riot - 2016 - Straight Outta Vagina

Endless Horizons - 2016 - Cycle Funèbre

Endless Horizons is a black metal band from Quebéc, Canada. Cycle Funèbre is their new LP. Endless Horizons play a brand of black metal faithful to the demonic old school. There isn't much to say here, it's black metal done the way black metal traditionally should be done.



The singer, going by the name of Winterthrone, has an appropriately deep growl while the tremolo guitars swirl around him. There are no surprises instrumentally speaking, everything is where it should be and the atmosphere they create is suitably satanic. If you're looking for some tried and true classic black metal Endless Horizons' Cycle Funèbre will serve well.

Serpentine Dominion

The Astroplex - 2016 - The Chronicles Of Azhul'tar

The Astroplex is a death metal band from Canada. The Chronicles of Azhul'tar is their debut LP. The Astroplex play death metal augmented with synths and blasted into space.  Self branded as space metal, The Astroplex start with melodic death metal, adding elements of groove metal while building an epic ambience in the background. Instrumentally the songs alternate between modern black metal and synth driven expository sequences.



 Lyrically it tells the epic sci-fi adventure story of Captain Satis who seeks to overthrow Emperor Zarkhonn. Death Metal is not the first genre that comes to mind when thinking about vintage science fiction concept albums but The Astroplex pulls it off with style and riffs to spare. Herr Nox provides the black metal style guttural vocals with Lindsay Schoolcraft providing, at times operatic, clean backing vocals. With The Chronicles Of Azhul'tar The Astroplex have created Chapter 1 of this compelling, death metal epic.

Cani Dei Portici - 2016 - Due

Cani Dei Portici is a metal band from Bologna, Italy. Due is their sophomore EP following up 2013's Cave Canem EP. Cani Dei Portici play a super heavy brand of instrumental metal powered by the fury of (post)hardcore with some noise thrown in for extra grist in the mill. There is some post-rock in the mix and Cani Dei Portici does well to avoid the trap of indulgent, extended post-rock sections and keeps to the up-tempo heavy hardcore riffs.



 Instead of taking time to build up and then tear down epic vistas & soundscapes Cani Dei Portici find a groove and grind riffs out of it until there is nothing left barely leaving breathing room as the guitars explode around you. If KEN Mode abandoned traditional song structure it might come out something like this. Everyone needs some instrumental, kinda noisy, supremely heavy metal in their life whether they realize it or not. 

Art Of Burning Water - 2016 - Between Life And Nowhere

Art Of Burning Water is a hardcore punk band from The UK. Between Life And Nowhere is their new LP. Art Of Burning Water take standard hardcore punk and throw in some sludge metal to make things even heavier alongside elements of mathcore further complicate the already heavy material. This is no holds barred hardcore punk, driven to the point of desperation and fury where genre distinctions hold no merit, the only thing that matter is how visceral, noisy and artsy a sound these three men can wrest from their instruments.

At times trudging through knee deep black sludge, at other times spinning up into hardcore punk chaos verging into powerviolence Art Of Burning Water starts blown out in the red and only gets more violent from there. Highlights include To Be Brave and Voivodian Solutions To Die Kreuzien Problems. If you need some noisy, sludgy & chaotic hardcore punk Art Of Burning Water's Between Life And Nowhere will serve well.

Unreqvited- 2016 - Disquiet

Unreqvited is a one man atmospheric black metal band from Ontario, Canada. Disquiet is their debut LP. Unreqvited play black metal but dilute their metallic attack by wrapping everything in cold, ambient, depressing atmospherics. This record functions on two levels, as modern black metal with most of the satanic trappings but also as ambient music that works as well in the background as the foreground.



If you're into black metal this LP is solid, the vocalist has the classic demon summoning scream and the guitars & synths create a pervasive, demonic wall of noise. If you're into ambient music this LP works equally as well, songs like A Tear From The Oak create a dark, oppressive ambience that recalls the frozen landscapes of northern Ontario winters. Songs like An Ocean Of Ire cut the difference, transitioning from icy ambience to howling black metal and back in less than three minutes. If you're into either ambient music or black metal you will find something to satisfy on Unreqvited's debut LP Disquiet.

Tactus - 2016 - Bending Light

Tactus is a five piece progressive metal band from Fredericton, New Brunswick. Bending Light is their debut LP following up several EPs. Tactus combine modern technical metal & progressive metal with a djent sound. The vocals are one of several places where Tactus standouts. The two singers make use of clean singing, deep shouts and distorted growling to tie everything into one heavy, progressive package. The band was formed when the members met in music school and the technical abilities of these players is beyond doubt.



My only complaint is the albums length. At an average of six minutes per song it doesn't take much for Bending Light to overstay its welcome. That said they are going for progressive epics so some meat on the bones is more than welcome. The guitars are my favourite part of this record, they are responsible for blending aggressive, thrash, growling sections with the more progressive, melodic sections, pulling it off with aplomb. Highlights include Cardinal, Aurora, Scimitar, Feast Or Famine and Colosus  If you like your progressive metal with modern technicality and that classic djent sound Tactus' Bending Light will serve well.

O.P.P. #5: The Bugle

It's time for O.P.P. again, Other People's Podcasts! This week we get international and political with The Bugle hosted by Andy Saltzman and John Oliver.

Who? The show is hosted by two British stand-up comedians Andy Saltzman and John Oliver. Andy Saltzman has performed at the  Edinburgh Festival Fringe since 1999 and has worked with John on two BBC Radio programs, Political Animal and The Department. John Oliver was a correspondant at The Daily Show With Jon Stewart and now hosts his own HBO show Last Week Tonight With John Oliver and plays a recurring character on Community. The two have been doing The Bugle together since October 2007.

What's This Show? Andy and John are both fond of politics, dick jokes and satire. Andy is fond of pun runs and cricket while John likes Pippa Middleton's badondadonk and singing pop songs on occasion. Since Andy is in London and John is in New York City assuming neither are touring there is both American and British politics under the satirical lense along with a good helping of international news.

There is no subject beyond the reach of their bitingly silly satire. The show was originally produced by TimesOnline, which is owned by Rupert Murdoch, during the News International phone hacking scandal of 2011 the jokes came just as quick as they always did, biting the hand that produced the show became the norm. In January 2012 The Bugle became an independently produced podcast and has soldiered on ever since. Production became more infrequent once Jon started hosting his HBO show but Zaltzman has announced the imminent return of the show.

Best Way In: This is another podcast that will not be for everyone but for political and satire junkies this should come quite quickly.  It is rather necessary to have at least an interest in if not knowledge of politics, the hosts do a good job of contextualizing the satire but it is at it's heart a satirical news show.

Axxion - 2016 - Back In Time

Axxion is a four piece heavy metal band from Toronto, Canada. Back In Time is their new LP courtesy of High Roller Records. Axxion play a traditional brand of heavy metal harkening back to the glory days of metal as championed by Iron Maiden, Judas Priest or Metallica. This is heavy metal straight out of the early 80's, thundering drums with riffs & solo's piled up to the ceiling with songs about metal fans, religion and judging books by their covers.



The vocals tends to fall on the speed metal end of the spectrum while I would have preferred a little more growl but that's a minor quibble. Here's where I would usually list my favourite songs but when an album is this consistent and excellent there is no need. If you need some metal to take you Back In Time to when thrash and speed ruled supreme, look no further than Axxion's new LP.

Beast Of Doom - 2016 - Beast Of Doom

Beast Of Doom is a garage rock band from Brighton, UK. Beast Of Doom is their debut EP, they play a fuzzed out brand of garage rock. This is the kind of lofi debut recording where one isn't sure if the lofi nature is a production or budgetary choice. Either way these songs are snugly wrapped in distortion and they sound great.



Death Comes From The Sky is the highlight for me, a solid, surprisingly catchy punked up garage rock song overflowing with energy and lead riffs aplenty. Beast Of Doom's debut is a solid first step of fuzzed out garage rock.

Noēsis - 2016 - The Current

Noēsis is a progressive metal band from Québec City, Québec, Canada. The Current is their debut LP. Noēsis play prog rock citing Dream Theater, Porcupine Tree, Mastodon & System Of A Down as influences. The singer has great pipes that would equally be at home in a traditional power or speed metal band while the backup vocalists, both clean and growling, interplaying nicely. Instrumentally Noēsis switch from more straight forward, hard rocking modern heavy metal to the melodic, solo focused prog-rock elements.



If you are into thrash, progressive or old school metal you will find something here to dig your teeth into. Highlights include The Fall of Barca, Intoxicated & The Prey. If you're looking for some progressive but still thrashy metal Noēsis' The Current will serve well.

Unbound - 2016 Flesh Burns (Demo)

Unbound is a four piece black metal band from Australia. Members have also played in Where's The Pope?, Ripped Off, The Submissivies, Pissed On and Sick People. Flesh Burns is their debut EP under the name Unbound. They throw black metal & hardcore punk in a blender, drown everything in noise then regurgitates it all at high speed.



The vocalist sounds like he's being tortured for sins unimaginable while the guitars tear at the fabric of reality around you. If this is the sound they achieve with a demo I really want to hear what they can do with a "proper" recording. If you're in need of some punked up black metal, and to be honest who isn't, Unbound's Flesh Burns will serve well. Thanks to Fucked By Noise for pointing this out

Bestir - 2016 - Awaken

Bestir is a four piece doom infused grindcore band from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Members have also played in Thorazine, Death Toll Rising,The Dead Cold, WAKE, Exit Strategy, Into Eternity, Untimely Demise, Disciples of Power, West of Hell, Villianizer and Section VIII. Awaken is their debut EP under the Bestir name. Formed in 2015 with the express intent of marrying doom metal intensity with the unrestrained aggression and chaos of grindcore. In practice that means epic doom metal soundscapes that transform in the blink of an eye into nailbomb like grindcore spitting riffs in every direction.

Bestir can clearly play both black metal and grindcore with aplomb there is not enough melding of the two. There are grindcore parts and doom metal parts and while this EP is fascinating it is not reinventing the wheel, simply placing two disparate genres right next to each other. This is an intriguing debut, from the opening bestial screams of The Lies That Bind to the closing moments of chaos of The Bewildered Herd there is never a boring moment. If you are into either doom metal or grindcore Bestir's Awaken EP is an excellent first step.

Deny The Cross - 2016 - Alpha Ghoul

Deny The Cross is a four piece powerivolence band from the United States. Members have also played in Spazz, Black Army Jacket, Agents of Satan, Plutocracy, Funeral Shock, Municipal Waste, Discordance Axis, Human Remains and King Generator. Alpha Goul is their debut LP under this name. "The inspiration behind getting this band going was simple,” relays vocalist Carlos Ramirez. “We wanted to write songs that sounded like early to mid-‘90s powerviolence and grind, mixed with some NYHC and crossover influence." That is an entirely accurate description. Start with a base of hardcore punk, speed things up to hyperactive with all the needles in the red and then mix in some light bits of the aforementioned crossover and NYHC sounds to smooth things out only slightly. The opening track Heart Like Siberia is what got me hooked but there's only one and a half other songs with that same level of thrash. If you're looking for some powerful grindcore & powerviolence to power your next beatdown, Deny The Cross' Alpha Ghoul will serve well.

Andy Rantzen & Jochen Gutsch - EP #1 & 2

Andy Rantzen & Jochen Gutsch are Sydney based musicians & composers. They have also been involved with or released music under names like Itch-E and Scratch-E, Cherry2000, Pelican Daughters and Hinterlandt. In this project Andy writes and performs the lyrics while Jochen provides the music. They limit each themselves with strict rules with a "a different lyrical and sonic concept" on each EP. This is music that is hard to describe, it is piano & guitar driven but that guitar only has two strings. These EP's would be equally at home among pop music, art rock or ambient music.

On EP #1 each song is two minutes long and the songs consists of synthesized squiggles, horns and various other instruments. These songs from 2015 never stay in the same place for a moment, changing moods & tones at will. Grief Is Manna For My Machines is a highlight with pounding drums & bird sounds while Watch Me Disappear jumps wildly between rough noise & a repeating chiming rhythm.



EP #2 is stripped way down from the constant shifting of EP#1. EP #2 consists only of one piano and one vocal somehow managing to be both stripped down and much more intense at the same time. There are still wild jumps but here they are from cold to warm, from life to death and back again.

If you're looking for some modern, experimental music that is somehow both ambient and the center of attention Andy Rantzen & Jochen Gutch's EP's will serve well.

O.P.P. #4: Harmontown

This week on Other People's Podcast we rant, rave and rap with Dan Harmon & Jeff Davis on Harmontown. Once a week Dan Harmon and a variety of other people, generally including but not limited to Jeff Davis, Erin McGathy Spencer Crittenden and Kumail Nanjiani. Dan drinks liberally and they may or may include a roleplaying section.

Who? Dan Harmon is the host of the show, Jeff Davis is the comptroller. Dan is probably best known for creating Community, Rick & Morty and Heat Vision & Jack while Jeff Davis is best known for being on Who's Line Is It Anyway and not creating Teen Wolf. Spencer Crittenden was a member of the audience who became the show's Dungeon Master.

What's This Show? In the back of Meltdown Comics in Los Angelese there is a performance space and recording studio called Nerdmelt. Once a week, usually on a Sunday, Jeff & Dan host a comedy chat show. The premise of Harmontown is that the hosts and listeners will colonize the moon, the shows are town hall meetings and Dan Harmon is the mayor of Harmontown. 

That conceit was abandoned fairly quickly and now Dan gets drunk on stage and talks about race, raps about fucking your momma and brings up various funny people who then play a role play strategy game. Guests have included LeVar Burton, Bobcat Goldthwait, Greg Proops,  Patton Oswalt, Jason Sudeikis, Robin Williams, Mitch Hurwitz, Eric Idle, and Steve Agee. The show is not highly structured other than at some point they will play D&D though that has changed to Shadowrun recently.

Best Way In: This is not a podcast that is for everyone. It will be appreciated most by those who love Community, secondly being a comedy fan in general because this is a genuinely funny show. Dan Harmon is a gifted storyteller and Jeff Davis is quick with both jokes and sound cues. I recommend going back to Episode One: achieve weightlessness and work your way forward. It may be an acquired taste but once you acquire it Harmontown is essential listening.

Peeling the onion of propaganda

In the last post in the 'Thing Break Down' series we briefly explored why I think the U.S. election is a complete fraud. It was really all I could stomach writing at the time, but there will be a part 4 which will explore beyond the election into what an empire that breaks down looks like.

However, while I prepare that content a recent Twitter exchange has inspired me to go a bit deeper into the propaganda being deployed against an unsuspecting western populace that is at the moment obsessed with despising Donald Trump.

The fact that someone with as despicable a character as Donald Trump is running in this election should be raising a few eyebrows, and I am convinced it is no coincidence. People hate Donald Trump, absolutely hate him, with a passion. This is a hugely emotional response and I believe that the status-quo is milking that for all it's worth. When you despise someone you are not inclined to listen to evidence that may defend them, you will be inclined to believe anything and everything you hear about them because why not right? Even if it's not true so what? It's not like you'd care.

You should care though, that attitude of not critically examining incoming information even if it may oppose your emotional viewpoint provides the groundwork to layer other lies on top of it that may support nefarious agendas.

The latest propaganda to further efforts of war with Russia comes from Newsweek and the last paragraph really caught my eye as it truly reveals the intention of the article. It's not about Donald Trump at all, it's about Russia, U.S. interests and.. Israel?. Let's take a look.

For now, though, Americans should be outraged. This totalitarian regime, engaged in what are arguably war crimes in Syria to protect its government puppet, is working to upend a democracy to the benefit of an American candidate who uttered positive comments just Sunday about the Kremlin's campaign on behalf of Bashar al-Assad. Trump’s arguments were an incomprehensible explication of the complex Syrian situation, which put him right on the side of the Iranians and Syrians, who are fighting to preserve the government that is the primary conduit of weapons used against Israel.

 Very last paragraph, the author throws everything and the kitchen sink at you. Observe the language being used, the claims being made. "regime", "working to upend democracy". Much as Chris Martenson wrote in his extremely important MUST READ post on the propaganda strategy being deployed here you'd have to forget everything that has happened in the last 5 years to believe this. I'd bet that if much of this propaganda wasn't riding on the hatred of Donald Trump people wouldn't believe it.

But fuckin' Donald Trump, Am I right?

After the Newsweek article had already gained popular support the Washington Post, and The Intercept have come out with information that counters, or at least demonstrates that Donald Trump wasn't "fed the information from the Kremlin" much as the author would have you believe and that it's likely that Sputnik having realized their mistake and misinterpretation of the email removed it. The only one still running with this farce is Newsweek, but that's enough to trigger the mob (herd?) mentality needed to sew the idea that evil Russia is bein' all aggressive again.

The Trump-Putin link that wasn’t

But Sputnik either misread or misrepresented the contents of the email. The original makes clear that Blumenthal was passing along a news article — from Newsweek, by Eichenwald — and not sharing his own thoughts. (In fact, the original email suggests that Blumenthal was passing along the article because it mentions himself, if for no other reason.) This isn't a “falsification” of the email, as Eichenwald puts it, since the email is there in the batch. In the most charitable interpretation, it's a sloppy misreading of it. 

At about 6 p.m. Eastern, Trump was scheduled to take the stage at a rally in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. During his speech, he pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket and said, “This just came out a little while ago.” The “this” appears to have been the alleged confession by Blumenthal that was misreported by Sputnik. The crowd, as Eichenwald notes, began to boo Hillary Clinton. 

How could Trump have gotten that? He could have gotten a secret message from a KGB agent posing as a hot dog vendor in the rally arena, the two surreptitiously meeting after Trump gave the appropriate hand signal. Or maybe one of his allies, who follows Sputnik, saw the article and was like, “Hey, Donald, check this out.”

Read that Newsweek article and observe how the author insults Russia. He calls their hackers stupid, their plans stupid, like they're a bunch of fools bumbling around despite the fact that none of the claims of Russian involvement have been proven and the stupid Russians have been quite effective of halting U.S. ambitions in Syria with nearly surgical precision while the U.S. has struggled to keep their bullshit story consistent. If you need a history lesson in what has lead to the situation with Russia and Syria I'll let the Council on Foreign Relations explain it to you again (from the time before the "ISIS" narrative took hold):

Al-Qaeda is not sacrificing its "martyrs" in Syria merely to overthrow Assad. Liberation of the Syrian people is a bonus, but the main aim is to create an Islamist state in all or part of the country. Failing that, they hope to at least establish a strategic base for the organization's remnants across the border in Iraq, and create a regional headquarters where mujahideen can enjoy a safe haven. If al-Qaeda continues to play an increasingly important role in the rebellion, then a post-Assad government will be indebted to the tribes and regions allied to the Jabhat. Failing to honor the Jabhat's future requests, assuming Assad falls, could see a continuation of conflict in Syria. 

Thus far, Washington seems reluctant to weigh heavily into this issue. In May 2012, U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta publicly accepted al-Qaeda's presence in Syria (Guardian). And in July, the State Department's counterterrorism chief, Daniel Benjamin, rather incredulously suggested that the United States will simply ask the FSA to reject al-Qaeda. The unspoken political calculation among policymakers is to get rid of Assad first—weakening Iran's position in the region—and then deal with al-Qaeda later.

Remember that? Trump's statement that "Assad is fighting ISIS" is 100% accurate. Russia is also fighting ISIS. There is only one actor in this theatre of war that isn't fighting ISIS, and that's the U.S. and Putin takes every opportunity to point this out. There is a reason why Russian media relations have been so successful in the last few years and that is because their propaganda has a much stronger grounding in truth while the west's is sloppy and inconsistent and relies on irrational emotional drivers, like the hatred of Trump, to ensure nobody stops and thinks too hard about what it is they are being told.

Obama administration considering strikes on Assad, again

Covert strikes on Assad back on US table to prevent ‘fall of Aleppo’

U.S. Admits Airstrike in Syria, Meant to Hit ISIS, Killed Syrian Troops

Russia Accuses US Of Defending ISIS, After Pentagon Admits Coalition Jets Killed 62 Syrian Soldiers

But fuckin' Donald Trump, Am I right?

You see, the U.S. doesn't have the truth on it's side regarding Russia, or Syria, what it does have however is that disgusting lump Donald Trump who is an expert actor whose best character just happens to be Donald Trump. And there is nothing Donald Trump loves to do better than play up Donald Trump. A person no one likes and says a lot of bullshit with a little bit of truth mixed in but it is these aspects of truth which the U.S. is attempting to associate with Donald Trump. Discredit Trump, and you discredit everything he has ever said, true or not. You see how that works?

This is why I said it should be no surprise that the U.S. state department is trying to tie Trump to Russia, because the anti-establishment views he is expressing are also now being tied to Russia. Suddenly now if you speak out against U.S. actions in Syria you must be a "Russian sympathizer", yadda yadda, even if you were saying the same things 4 years ago that you are today long before Russia's involvement, long before ISIS, long before "chemical weapons", or failing to convince the American people it's in their best interest to overthrow Assad. The U.S. story has changed so much over the last 5 years you'd almost think it's a different war. It's not.

The same motivations driving the war then, drive it now. The U.S. is still violating international law by operating in Syria. The U.S. is still supporting terrorists to overthrow Assad. Israel is still utilizing the war to expand their territory and cement their position in the Golan Heights - also against international law. None of this has changed.

But fuckin' Donald Trump, Am I right?

Update-1:

White House says U.S. will retaliate against Russia for hacking

Update-2:

Hillary Clinton

Clinton campaign dubs WikiLeaks 'Russian propaganda' after latest hack

Originally posted at Canadian Trends.