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Ekkstacy’s EarCheck 001
“I’m moving away from indie… into heavier, faster, more energetic things.”
During a quick Ear-Check call, the Vancouver artist rattled off a mess of songs that span Riot-grrrl, shoegaze, emo, classic country, and blast-beat black-metal. “I mean, honestly that is a very jumbled-up, mixed-up group of songs,” he laughs. “But it’s all moving away from the computery indie shit and more into full-band, energetic stuff.”
Below, we break down every track he name-dropped—using only his own words to explain why each cut matters.
1) “Shop for America” – Bratmobile
“I’ve been listening to Bratmobile a lot… Shop for America, probably my favorite song by them right now.”
“My ex-girlfriend was super into the Riot-girl shit… I’ve just been listening to a lot of that in my car while I drive.”
“Chick punk its goated.”
2) “I Quit Girls” – Japandroids
“I’ve been listening to Japandroids a fuck ton.”
“Probably my favorite song from them is I Quit Girls… I’ve had that on replay all morning.”
“I heard it and was like, what the fuck is going on? … I just got such a visceral feeling from it.”
3) “…Negative Creep” – Nirvana
“Obviously fucking Nirvana… Negative Creep, probably my favorite song from them off of Bleach.”
“I have all their albums in the car, so I’d just be playing Bleach a lot.”
4) “Art School” – Remo Drive
“They were a big inspiration for my fucking album… ‘Art School’ by them goated.”
“Gratest Hits was a big inspiration… I found out I can sing perfectly in his register—so I pushed my voice higher on this record.”
5) “Anacondo Sniper” – Title Fight
“Title Fight, obviously… ‘Anacondo Sniper’ by them.”
6) “Dinosaur” – Fog Lake
“Fog Lake… probably Dinosaur by Fog Lake.”
“That’s my ultimate sad music.”
7) “One by One” – Immortal
“I’ve been getting into black metal… Immortal… my favorite shit from them right now is ‘One by One’.”
“I wanna start a black-metal band, but I have to learn how to play that type of guitar.”
8) “Coming Clean” – The Get Up Kids
“Get Up Kids ‘Coming Clean’… I’ve been loving that lately.”
9) “Walkin’ After Midnight” – Patsy Cline
“I’ve been bumping Patsy Cline a lot… ‘Walkin’ After Midnight.’ I’ve been playing that a lot.”
10) “Disengage” – Suicide Silence
“Suicide Silence… ‘Disengage’ by them.”
11) “Who Sees You” – My Bloody Valentine
“My Bloody Valentine… ‘Who Sees You’? I love that song.”
“I was in Poland, really, really, really depressed, and I would just listen to that album on loop all day.”
12) “Drown” – Slow Crush
