Gut Feelings #33 was made while listening to 1998’s Celebrity Skin by Hole. Recently reading Melissa Auf Der Maur’s book spawned a big Hole deep dive, and it had been a while since I really rediscovered Celebrity Skin. Music is crazy because hearing music at a younger age and revisiting as an adult can really evolve the experience. Which is why music lasts forever, because you grow along with it, see it in new lights. You can remember who you were then, while knowing who you are now.

I have at least 3, if not more, core memories associated with this album. It came out when I was 17. I went to see Hole on this tour at Edgefest in Barrie with my best buds and had the time of my life. I wore little gems in my hair like Courtney Love did in the Celebrity Skin video. I played covers from this album in my high school’s extra curricular rock band called X-Roads (insert image of me playing the opening riff to celebrity skin and being like “oh make me over” at a school assembly wtf). But the most poignant core memory, that stands out to 45 year old me now, is the feeling I get when I hear the song Malibu. After a few spins, I couldn’t shake the vivid memory of my Mom asking me to get my guitar and play Malibu for her when I was in high school. I would protest, but my Aunt and her would both start begging me for a performance of Malibu and they’d be making sad faces and whimpers until I would do it. I wish I could reminisce about this with both of them. Tell them I’m sorry if I acted like a brat at the time, because in hindsight it’s supportive, even if they were both wasted. Which is also why it’s heavy, since Malibu is, in large part, an empathy song about an addict. Maybe my Mom related to that. Maybe I was able to be empathetic to her through these lyrics in a way I couldn’t be in person, in a way I could never understand then. “Help me please, burn the sorrow from your eyes. Oh come on be alive again, don’t lay down and die.”

This whole album is grief and trauma and survival and catharsis tucked behind the healing body armour of the California sun. This print is a two layer monoprint for that reason. An homage to the album’s duality. Red the colour of dried blood and old wounds and fire. Sunshine yellow clouded by what is underneath, shining all the same. The soothing blue of the ocean. The pink of healing flesh.

Gut Feelings #32 was made while listening to On The Beach by Neil Young. If you’re looking for something to listen to on a hot Saturday afternoon (or any kind of day in any kind of weather) it’s a great album. Was reading about how these guys were getting all fucked up on honey slides (weed cooked in honey) while making this record and you can feel that (non derogatory). It’s smooth, melancholic, chill, but calls out the oil industry and politicians too. The album art is good. One of my favourite moments is when this chord hits so beautifully in the title track attached mmmmmm

Gut Feelings #31 was made while listening to Something Soft (2025) by Irish post-punk band M(h)aol. I could chat about every song on here, like the excellent pet grief song I Miss My Dog, or DM:AM about men excusing their shitty behaviour, or Pursuit, which perfectly captures the paranoia that women have to have to protect themselves. Snare is great. “Snare’ is about countless conversations I’ve had since my first drum lesson on my ninth birthday about how bizarre it is that I play that instrument, or how I should be doing it differently,” recalls lead vocalist and drummer Constance Keane.” I love how the song ends with a repetitive refrain of “it’s set the way I like it, it’s meant to sound like that, I want to sound like that” in regards to her drum sound. Every female musician in the world can relate. But it’s not all witty feminism, it also bops! It’s kind of fun too.

Gut Feelings #30 is brought to you by the best album of 2025, Bleeds by Wednesday. Wednesday is grunge. Wednesday is sincere Pavement. Wednesday is guitars. Wednesday is poetry. Wednesday is a pitbull puppy pissing off a balcony. This album is full of capital C “Characters,” and if you know Characters like these, you’ll get all kinds of feelings stoked by her evocative reflections. Karly is a killer lyricist. One could only hope to be memorialized as beautifully as Gary. Parasocial relationships are a weird part of music fandom, and knowing that Karly and MJ split before this album was recorded and that they had to navigate that breakup while recording is extremely vulnerable (and delicious) lore. The Way Love Goes? Beautiful, heartbreaking. Elderberry Wine? An earworm forever. Sometimes I have trouble making prints of my actual favourite albums, and I end up doing multiple layers, complicating things for no reason. But that’s the beauty of making something - it’s not “done” until it’s… “done.” And while unintentional, when I look at this one all I can see jumping out at me is “and your eyes are the green of tornado sky, ‘cause even the best champagne still tastes like Elderberry wiiiiiiiiiine.”

Gut Feelings #29 was made while listening to the world is still here and so are we (2025) by mclusky. mclusky returns after 20 years with an absolute banger that matches the intensity of all your favourite mclusky releases. It’s hard, it skewers how terrible our world is through a gritted grin, and the guitars... oh my god the guitars. That three-piece drums/bass/guitar heaviness can be a special kind of heaviness. I love the disgusting riff on the digger you deep, the drums on unpopular parts of a pig, and the rhythmic vocals that vascillate between being sing-songy and ferocious on every track. We do love a shithead in this house, and Falkous has always been a lyrical inspiration. On the latest album he says “lyrically it touches on subjects as rich and as varied as work-it-out-yourself and impenetrable-inside-joke-for-the-band, but one thing is clear, all of the songs have different words.” Jokes aside, it has some great social commentary. Something else I’ve always loved about his vocals is that they feel like riffs, and I like the way he makes the words fit. Also shoutout to the lowercase courier new album design which feels veryyyy right.

Gut Feelings #28 was made while listening to Sit Down for Dinner (2023) by Blonde Redhead. Great album! I really like the big strawberry cover art. The songs on this album bubble and melt into each other in really nice and beautiful ways. As you bop around, you’ll almost forget for a minute that you’re sing-songing about death (etc!). Man, I love music that is upbeat and mournful at the same time. What a line to straddle.

Gut Feelings #27 was made while listening to Band on the Run (1973) by Paul McCartney and Wings. Who do you prefer, The Beatles or The Rolling Stones? I prefer Wings. Paul McCartney wanted to record this album at an exotic location and chose EMI’s studio in Nigeria. I respect the grift that is going on vacation with your wife to make a record. Like hell yes, point at the map and make the record company pay for that! Naturally, locals were suspicious he was culture vulturing, and Fela Kuti confronted him at the studio for coming there to steal African music. McCartney played him the album to prove it wasn’t locally influenced (though I’m not sure Mumunia beats the allegations...). There are a couple songs on here that are like 5 songs in 1 and it’s amazing. If you’re looking for a good time, I highly recommend blasting Band on the Run, Jet, and Let Me Roll It at top volume on a sunny summer day.

Gut Feelings #26 was made while listening to Songs of a Lost World (2024) by The Cure. Beyond the singles, I didn’t have much history with The Cure, but I’ve put this album on A LOT since it came out. It’s gloomy and grand, slow and cathartic, heavy and glittering. Love the epic instrumental lead-ins before the vocals come in on a few tracks (Alone, Endsong). For this print, I experimented with toning the paper pink before printing and I really enjoy what it did to the brown and white bits.

Gut Feelings #25 was made while listening to Pavement’s 1997 album Brighten The Corners. A classic indie rock record that sounds upbeat but in a shit-eating grin kinda way. The lyrics are perfect, the album art is perfect, the guitars are perfect…. but the emotional, instrumental breaks when the band just clicks on a different level for some random interlude? I love that most of all. I’ve been listening to a ton of Pavement lately because it’s nostalgic and comforting. Looking at this one I was wondering if the music reflected in the piece, then I noticed the big ol’ shady lane in there surrounded by sunny yellow (omg, omg…)

Gut Feelings #24 was made while listening to one of my fave albums of 2024 - Romance by Fontaines D.C. When this album was being released, I initially balked at the band’s whole new LEWK. But like most of my favourite bands and albums, it grew on me with multiple listens until I knew every song. And the more I saw the cover, the more I fell in love with that crying, bulbous heart. As a 90’s teen this album feels very comfortable to me. The opening title track sets the tone for a big, dramatic album, then it takes you through every emotion until the poppy Favourite finishes things off on a surprisingly sweet and happy note. Great record!

Gut Feelings #23. It continues to be so depressing that Trump won the election in the US. I’m not American and have no skin in the game. Still, I live 3 kms from the river separating Ontario from Michigan and I go over there often to see shows, buy records, eat food, attend sporting events, go to galleries and museums, and buy snacks. Living in a border town has been an interesting experience over the past couple years. Canada has a reputation for being nice, but if you go over to America the people there are always a much better hang. Despite the politics, I often wish I could move there, but my lack of special skills keeps me trapped in Canada. Anyways, Tim and I recently found ourselves crossing the border once again to see MJ Lenderman and The Wind play at the El Club in Detroit. This show was booked before MJ popped off, and it was cool to see them in a small venue. The new album Manning Fireworks is an instant classic. We all deserve a little indie rock, as a treat. At the show, the fiddle broke in the intro to Riptorn. So the band stopped and said they might not be able to play this one, and someone in the audience yelled “You’re playing Riptorn!” and they did. Little moments like that at live shows are great because I’m gonna hear that guys voice from the crowd in my head every single time I hear that song. And as if seeing a great MJ show wasn’t enough, we also got to meet our friend Dan from Kin Ship Goods after years of online friendship/art admiration, and see his band Ryan Davis & The Roadhouse Band open up the show with a great set! As usual, another great night in America.

Gut Feeings #22 was made while listening to NO TITLE AS OF 13 FEBRUARY 2024 28,340 DEAD by Godspeed You! Black Emperor. What a record. What a title. Every time you play this album you will be forced to reckon with how much that tragic number has grown (as of today estimated to be 44.5k). My husband Tim and I saw Godspeed play the day after the US election. We were naturally feeling extra cynical about the state of the world that day, but what better distraction could there be than this show? As BABYS IN A THUNDERCLOUD washed over me, soaring and serious but hopeful too, I felt emotional. There’s nothing quite like being pummelled by sound when you’re upset. That was my first time seeing them play live, and this print represents how that show felt. I’ve been listening to this album a lot ever since the show! Probably too much.

This one was made while listening to PJ Harvey’s 1995 album, To Bring You My Love. I have always loved this album, but upon some recent obsessive listening I love it even more. Her vocals are incredible. It’s a dark, weird, heavy album. PJ’s entire catalogue holds up. If you’re a fan I highly recommend the 2 part episode of Bandsplain with almost 7 blissful hours of PJ talk.

Gut Feelings #20 was made while listening to MJ Lenderman’s 2019 album, MJ Lenderman. It’s a great album. Sweet and sad, rocking and soft, twangy, intimate. Came to MJ by way of the Wednesday musical universe… such a talented crew. This album is new to me, yet it feels nostalgic in a nice, cozy way.

She is me, I am her. SHE IS ME, I AM HER!!! Gut Feelings #19 was made while listening to Pussy Whipped (1993) by Bikini Kill. This album rips. It’s so good. The “fucks” after “you don’t own me” on Magnet? I dare you not to sing along. Rebel Girl? Yes. Alien She? Yes. I distinctly remember buying this CD used from City Lights Bookshop in London. I bought a lot of used CD’s there. I think the chaos of this print speaks to the energy of the record 💥

Gut Feelings #18 was made while listening to Very Necessary (1993) by Salt-N-Pepa. The hits on this album are legendary (Shoop, Whatta Man), but there are a lot of other tracks that also go so hard: Somebody’s Gettin’ On My Nerves, None Of Your Business, Heaven or Hell. I distinctly remember getting this CD from Columbia Records waaaay back in the day when the 12 CD’s for a penny scam existed. I was around 13 or 14 when I got this one (from filling out an insert card from a magazine??), and it was definitely one of my first exposures to hip hop and girl power after a childhood of classic rock. I had a handful of CD’s at that time (at least 12), and since all I had were those CD’s and the radio, this one got a lot of play. Life before streaming, can you believe it 🫠 It’s always interesting to go back to albums you had at a young age and consider their impact. Music is the best.

Gut Feelings #17 was made while listening to I Got Heaven (2024) by Mannequin Pussy. Plainly, this album rocks. It’s indie rock, it’s punk rock, it’s hardcore. It’s sweet, it’s sexy, it’s angry. It’s whatever it wants to be, ok? (Ok? Ok! Ok? Ok!) I just saw the band a few weeks ago, and they were great live. Not only did they pummel the crowd with a really tight set, but they also used their stage to speak to a young crowd about police brutality, being yourself despite what your parents think, and their country’s involvement in the ongoing genocide in Palestine. It was inspiring, and the kids in the pit were having the time of their lives. I was also having the time of my life, but from the very back with my fellow olds.

Gut Feelings #16 was made while listening to Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! (1978) by Devo. Uncontrollable Urge is a great opener, and I love the guitars in Too Much Paranoias and Shrivel-Up. There is also a song called Gut Feeling on this album, so naturally, that is now the theme song for this series. While I am initially skeptical of any costumed concept band, these guys make the theatre work with some solid bangers.

Gut Feelings #15 was made while listening to Rumors (1977) by Fleetwood Mac. Multiple couples in a band writing and recording breakup songs is a wild vibe, and they made HITS out of it. I usually listen to each album a bunch of times when I do this, and the first round with this one was in my earbuds while I mowed the grass. I think that’s how the green got in there. Anyways, it really hit the spot that day because, as everyone knows, classic rock always sounds better outside on a hot day.

Gut Feelings #14 was made while listening to I Was Trying To Describe You To Someone (2020) by Wednesday. Got hooked on this band when I heard “Fate Is…” from this album. This record is a great mix of sweet, tender moments and big, soaring moments. It always reminds me of sitting on the deck and shooting the shit with Tim at our last place, enjoying a post-work beer in the sun, Wednesday pumping through the Bluetooth speaker.