Weekly Wrap: k-os's new album, PISS, and Eurovision

In 2002, Ryan Wedding was an Olympic snowboarder at the top of his game. Ryan's style is really gunned and go. And in less than a minute, it slipped away. But he continued to chase the high. Ryan James Wedding. He controls one of the most violent drug trafficking organizations in this world. I'm Michelle Shepard and from CBC Podcasts and The Toronto Star, the most wanted Olympian. Available now. This is a CBC podcast. Hello friend, we have been blessed with some exciting new albums to get into, including a new album from Canadian Rap Legend Chaos, his first in more than 11 years. And the debut release from a Vancouver punk band who already has a lot of international attention. My name is Elimina Dumaymoud. This is commotion. Their group chats here, we are going to get into it. I got Nico Stratus, Emily Hanskamp, Rollie Pemberton, what's up y'all? How's it going? I think the way to start this, as you can imagine, is to check in with an old friend, so let's just play it. Let's go. That is the opening number of Chaos' new record, still number one from his new album, Black Neck That's Out Today. Chaos, of course, blew up in the mid-2000s with his groundbreaking record, Joyful Rebellion. That's a foundational record for a lot of us. Black Neck is his first album since 2015, so it's been a minute. And then he comes back and then you hear him on that track saying, "Oh, I never thought the Drizzy aka Drake would pay for my album." And he's like, "What is going on here?" Emily, what do we know about the relationship between Drake and Chaos? How did we get here? One of the ways, there aren't many, one of the ways I relate to Drake is he also grew up and came up watching Chaos on much music, and one thing I love about Drake is he's always been really intentional about eluding and explicitly giving nods to the folks who paved the way for him, and Chaos has laid many bricks on the Drake path, you know, if you think of the way, you know, he blended singing and rapping is just one example of one of these pioneers of this country, and so he was first an inspiration to Drake, right? But now it's so interesting to see that the way that that is flipped, they did collaborate to think early 2010s on a song in 2011, and now the way Chaos says it, Drake turned to him was basically like, "Make me a Chaos album. Here's a bag of money." Matt Babel, who works at his entertainment company, to Chaos said he would literally walk into the studio with bags of cash. Now for millennials who grew up on much music, the trifecta of Chaos, Drake, and Matt Babel cannot go unmist here, it is, you know, it's the gold star. So now it's really interesting to see those tables have shifted, and that Drake is now putting his money where the Canadian music industry is not, and saying, "I believe in you, Chaos, and like, go make the project you're meant to." I feel like we're gathering children with fire going like, "Listen to your elders, children, there was a time where Matt Babel and Drake and, like, that's the feeling that again, as you sort of tell of that story." Rowley, I will say that like, it's not uncommon to see albums credited with like executive producer. Here's another rapper who was involved in this project in some kind of way. I don't know if I've seen a record that comes with this financial transparency of like, "Hey, Drake paid for this album, and I will say I was trying to figure out what that means." And then I pressed play on the first song, and I was like, "Oh, it's an interpolation of Metallica." That's expensive. That's how we got here. Drake money paid for Metallica sample. I mean, I think like Metallica is actually credited fully on that song because it's a full on interpolation of that. But you've been following Chaos' career for a while now, talking to me about like, where this album is, how you receive it, what it has a sticker that says, "Paid for by Drake." Yeah, that's kind of odd. You know, the lyric I never thought Trizzy would pay for my album. Me neither. Right? I didn't think that was going to happen for Chaos. Yeah. You know, it's interesting. I feel like this is just Drake's way of giving flowers to Chaos, somebody who really inspired him coming up. It's definitely kind of a state of the music industry though, the Canadian music industry that Chaos is struggling so much to put on an album that he needs an angel investor to pay for his samples or whatever. He should be able to just walk in any label in Canada and be like, "I'm ready to put out a new album." But it should be cited by funding that. Of course, right? But I think it just, it makes me think also like, where has he been when it comes to these Junos things where they have all the artists do, "Oh, it's like a tribute to whoever." And like, why not Chaos being there? Yeah. It also makes you think if you were a millionaire, I would love to bankroll like all the favorite artists you had just be like, "Please make me an album." Oh, man. I'm like, "I'm going to buy a lottery ticket just for this very specific fantasy of walking up to artists I love and go. I'm going to need a record from you. I understand the labels don't want to fund it, but like, allow me." But also, if anyone wants to bankroll me starting a new issue label, you know where to find me. Let's go. I'm ready for this. Okay. Let's hear another song from this record. This song is called, "Okay, Carral." Man, I had such a great drive in listening to this album. Like, it was just the best time. Nico, I think like, the thing that Chaos has said is that Drake bankrolled this album that's kind of allowed him to realize the ultimate creative vision that he wanted for this record. So what kind of chaos are we getting on this album? I like the phrase, "What kind of chaos are we getting on this album?" You know, I was on the subway listening to this record of my way here, and I was just like, you know, when you wanted to dance on the subway, but you're like, "There's too many people." I'm not perfect. Like, Joyful Rebellion came out in 2004 when I was 22, and those songs were everywhere all the time. Like, if you were leaving the house in 2004, you were like listening to Chaos wherever you went. Like, it was just a thing. And so like, it is a joy to live so long, to hear somebody that you just thought you would never hear again, come back and be like, "Oh, so you're better than ever." Like, I love that it sounds like him, but it doesn't. It sounds like, you know, the chaos we had in 2004, but it sounds like a man who has learned things, and who has somebody like Drake that is also bankroll in it, that is also, you know, like, maybe there is sort of a collaboration there, or I like this idea of reverse mentorship where younger people are like imparting knowledge onto, you know, their peers or people that, you know, they learned from, and the sort of cyclical nature of creation. And so listening to this record on the subway, I was just like, "Yeah, this is perfect. This is a vintage record that is brand new in a thousand ways." There's like, there's a honky-tonk song on it. There's a honky-tonk song on it, that is just like, "This is chaos, man, nobody else could make this record." Yeah, there's something about chaos that makes them so easily able to move between genres in a way that is like incredibly credible, the whole way through, that was the experience I was having as I was driving in. Emily, how are you feeling about this record? Yeah, and I love Niko's points, and also when we talk about nostalgia and nostalgia culture and an artist, let's say, makes a quote-unquote "come back." We tend to frame this within their nostalgia culture conversation, but really, this is chaos in 2026, just because this is someone who has disappeared for a long time. I do not see this album, like, I take it and received it, and it was received in the sense of like, he is standing ten toes down, and he sounds amazing. And there, as always, chaos brings in so many ideas that seem like they went on paper belong together, and they do meld together. So this is chaos today. It is not in a nostalgia act, and I think that's maybe the most exciting part of this record for me. Roly, we talk all the time, but the idea that hip hop has a really difficult time celebrating its elders, right? The idea, like, if you've had a very long career, your later albums are not as well received or is not as warmly received because we tend to think of hip hop as sort of a young person's game, if you will. You're someone who's trying to go like, "Hey, I'm trying to have some longevity in this thing. I'm trying to keep doing this for a long time." You listened to chaos, we've been doing this for 30 years. Like, what's the thing that you get out of this record? Yeah. I think Canada can be particularly unforgiving about this when it comes to rappers. I find there's not a lot of room for, we don't have a Jay-Z-type figures, you know, who are, you know, getting up in age. But I think this record, it just shows what a singular talent chaos is. And the thing about when an artist hasn't put out a record in a while, there's this idea in the popular imagination that, oh, they're doing nothing for 11 years. But, you know, he's been living life. He could be making tons and tons of songs that just didn't have him come out. Yeah. And you can see his pin is still sharp. Yeah. It's a golden touch. Yeah. Ooh. What a song. That's a beautiful song. Yeah. And, you know, it feels very contemporary. It's giving kind of Steve Lacey vibes, but it's still very chaos. Yeah. Very quirky, very inigmatic. Yeah. I love it. Yeah. I have to tell you guys, I'm like genuinely relieved to have chaos back. We are going to shift gears now. And I genuinely don't know we've ever had a more abrupt gear shift on this podcast than going from chaos to this. From Vancouver, that is the band "Piss" with the track "I Want It To Be a Singer". It appears on their debut album "You Made Me Skin On Linen", which comes out today. And it's lead up, "The Band Has Been Signed To The Legendary Subpop Label in Seattle". "A Piss" have appeared on the cover of "Exclaim" here in Canada. that appeared on the cover of "Edit" in the description. I mean, England, Nick, I'm gonna start with you, pal. You're a new stranger seeing punk and hardcore bands. What feels fresh about this? Like, why is there so much energy around this, you think? - I think people are often surprised when it's a woman doing punk rock, even though women have always been in punk rock, it's just that we traditionally always look at it as a male-dominated scene because we want that scene to be male-dominated. When, in fact, I mean, like, when we look at Riot Girl, we created a new genre to call them that because we didn't want to consider women in punk rock as punk rock artists. So this, in and of itself, is, you know, unique in its way. And it's also unique in that I really liked in the press release I saw, and in talking to other people that have been involved with this record, I like when they specifically say, this is not an entertainment product. This is a record that is telling something that is doing something. And as we look at the news right now, you look at Cornell, you look at all these stories. This is a record that is specifically talking about sexualized violence against women. It is talking about trauma. It is talking about all these things. And it is using it to then propel the songs. And the way that she moves on stage and the way that she sings, the way that she talks until she's screaming. These are all parts of it. It is, like, it is performance art. It is poetry as well as punk rock. So it's all of these complicated things that are beautiful and terrifying at the exact same time. - I think what I'm really fascinated by is the level of attention and the ways that people have sort of gravitated towards this. So, like, this is, as we sort of heard from that clip, like, it is not, you know, sonically and lyrically an easy time. Like, you are being challenged. You're being confronted the whole time. You're incredibly uncompromising band. But then there's also something about the way that they've been received, which is like all of this wider level of attention. How did they get there? - Mm-hmm. One thing I love about the Piss model, and I've been talking to this about a lot of indie artists lately is that they, this is their debut, as you mentioned, right, this is our first album. And yet, why have we all been hearing this buzz about them? It's because they've been honing their craft as a live band. They have had and been having such a reputation in the industry. There's been so much buzz about this band over the past year that you have to come and see their show. And when you see their show, I was there. I saw them last week, and I'm still processing it. It is unlike anything I've ever experienced. We use the word performance art as Nico says. It's almost like there isn't quite words in the English language for the emotional output that you are receiving from Tay in the band on stage. So they didn't put their money into releasing a bunch of singles or, you know, perfectly crafted marketing, employee on social media. They got into the studio. They did the time on the ground touring. And the result is an incredible live band first. And an incredible record that reflects that live performing second. And that's why I think it's really resonating with people because it's so powerful to see. - Nico, you mentioned the idea, like, this is the very specific project. The specific project that is like over and over again, returning to the themes of sexual violence against women. And making a lot of emotions around that topic, sort of very explicit at the forefront. So I just want to play another track that I think maybe captures that even better. Here's a bit of block of scene you can't remember and pay attention to the lyrics. - A girl lays on her back in the dark, staring at the ceiling. Something has been weighing on her for a long time in a room of his life. By the face of her cell phone, his number is dialed. She's finally going to cut again. A girl lays on her back in the dark, staring at the ceiling. Something has been weighing on her for a long time. A room of his life, by the face of her cell phone, his number is dialed. She's finally going to let him have it. At first, I thought I was only-- - That is pissing their performance at KXB. Rowley, as you heard there, that's a leasing her tazantig. She spends a great deal of this record. So it's a processing, very painful memories. What's the thing that makes you a compelling storyteller, you think? - Yeah, that song in particular, I think, is really powerful, really just unflinching, uncompromising. And you really see the lyrics influences I find in her songwriting. Like, the fact that the song, it starts first person and then shifts, or vice versa, it switches third person to first person. That's not easy to do. That's not easy to do in a book, let alone in a song. Like, this is masterful songwriting. And I feel like, I love how uncompromising the whole album was. I feel like it's something that's really needed right now, too, in particular, in the climate that we're in. And I find it really exciting, musically. - Nico, I was telling you downstairs, we were ready to each other, that I, this is the song where I was like, I'm not sure I'm a safe driver, listen to this. Because I'm only paying attention to the lyrics, there's nothing else sort of grabbing my attention. I think the frame that you said on it earlier is useful, which is like, this is not entertainment. What's, when you are listening to the song, you said that it has quite an effect on you. What, what was that effect? - Yeah, normally I listen to music first thing in the morning when I'm walking my dog really early. I'm an early riser. I'm out at like 4.35 o'clock in the morning with my dog and I couldn't listen to it because it was too terrifying for me being alone on the street. I have been attacked on the street before. So when you're like, when you have that fear, you're like, not now. So I was at home and I was at my desk and I had my coffee and I was listening to it and I just couldn't do anything but listen to it. And then I listened to it again. And you know, like, I love the way that she rises in the song when she says, cut again and she goes back to the beginning of the story when she gets like progressively angrier as she remembers more of the story. She's like a conductor. It's like, it's a very angry song and it's a very beautiful song and it's beautiful because it's angry. And look, if we were all as beautiful and angry as that, we would have a much better world to live in and I think that's part of it, right? By the time she's screaming, you want to be screaming too and I just couldn't help but focus on it. And then I just played it again and again and again and again because I was like, I just can't stop because it elicits a response in me that is like comes from a place of understanding which is gonna be different for so many people too, right? And like, this is the beauty of art and creation not as an entertainment product but as a means of storytelling. It's the reason why the cover of the album is a pitch together quilt because it is these disparate stories and pieces and ideas brought together to tell stories that people will see themselves reflected in and they can take forward and use from there. - Yeah, I take your point about the idea of the emotion that elicits in you because that was the thing that I was responding to and I think like, I need to play that again 'cause I don't know what just happened. Like I don't know what just happened in my body. I don't know what just happened. Music isn't responding to this. And Emily, what I found really fascinating about it is that like on the fourth or fifth listen, when you listen to it, like the music is doing a lot of interesting things also, like in the background where it's kind of getting closer and closer to her as she tells the story and at first it feels very sparse and it's very alone but then suddenly like they are kind of much closer together. It's again, it's an uncomfortable listen and it's meant to be that and the album is also that, right? Like this is like, this is really intense. You would describe it. I mean, I would describe it as like, okay, you just witnessed a very heavy documentary. There is something with that experience that is not often repeatable for people. People don't want to go like, oh, let me listen to that pissed record a second time. What do you do you imagine people saying, I want to spend a lot of time with this album? I mean, you have been. - So, so much time. I mean, if I heard a blocking scene, you can't remember that came out a few weeks ago and I sat down on my kitchen floor and I listened to it five or six times in a row and I was crying and I was just like taking it in and then I reached out and was like, please can I have like an advanced stream of this and I have been listening to this album non-stop because there is something about having your emotional reality reflected so as stutely that is addictive and when that happens, it's like you're holding a mirror up to yourself. Finally, where it was all muddy before and that return on investment with music, I don't know that there's anything that artists can give you that is deeper than that. And so for me, piss being able to put on this record and find comfort in the suffering and find comfort in as they say on this album, the misogyny that we are all swimming in and the misogyny, we are all affected by regardless of your gender and that's one thing this album does so well and this band does so well. They invite everyone into the conversation because everyone is impacted by this in different ways as Nico said, but we're all impacted. It isn't a blame game of one individual victim and one individual predator. This is collective and systemic and I think that being able to step inside that is something that I am grateful to keep doing and I keep going back to again and again. - Rowley, I'm really interested in the idea of a band offering confrontation. You know, you and I have talked about so much of like sort of algorithmic music being about literally disappearing in the background. It's so frictionless that you barely even notice what it's on. This is not that kind of music. And just a response, does the excitement about this tell you something about what listeners are craving? - Yeah, definitely. I think people they wanna feel something, right? And I think the algorithmic state of music right now is designed to just, music is just passive listening. You cannot passively listen to pins. - No. - Right, you're invested, you're a part of it. And it's like something like a horror movie that you can't look away from, right? And I feel like there's gonna be more music coming that is gonna be more artful in this way rather than just something that's just a unit shifting, streaming vehicle. Like this is the time. I feel like they're coming at the exact right time with the right kind of thing. And the thing I really love about this record is there is no levity. - No, it does not let up. - It does not let up. - You know how like, you list a gangster rap album from the '90s, and then the last song is like all about church and there. They don't do that here. And I just love that they stood on business for the whole project. - Yeah. - Nico, similar question. I mean, look at what's the offer of confrontation right now, you think? - I mean, it's exactly as Rolly says, you know, like we are existing in a world that is sort of like impacting all of us and we are all like scared and afraid. And we are constantly needed to be reminded. You can be, but these things are useful. We can actually do something here. But it, it, beg us, it implores us to care enough, to feel that friction, to feel, you know, like uncomfortable, at times the record will make you uncomfortable. That's the point. The point is to be made uncomfortable, so you feel like doing something or changing something or processing something out loud so that it doesn't hurt anymore or it does but in a different way so that you can go and do something. And hopefully we get more and more people that are taking this lesson that are saying, you know, like I'm not going to be passive, I'm not going to be on the sidelines of this anymore. What if I do something to try to change something, even one small thing so that when I wake up the day after, I can feel like we've moved forward because we've felt stagnant for so long. You do feel the hairs on the back of your neck stand up when you hear Tay yelling resistance, as possible, as possible, right? Because we've also, we've communicated this in so many ways, and I think like blocking a scene when she keeps cutting herself, it's like we have to be perfect storytellers of our trauma as well. And this album is a great lesson in like whatever your story is, whether you're a witness to the story or you've experienced the story, like the whatever way you tell it and share it is so so valuable. If you have ever told a comp about abuse that you have faced, you have felt that story. Because I have had to do that and it sucks because you do be like, okay, hold on, let me go back to a detail. I can do it better, which isn't a say I was lying before, it's just they're like, that's hard. Yeah, there's constant sort of editing and editing, you know, like you know, we have the thing, right? Yeah, Nico, thank you for sharing that. I really do think that like that is one of the things that are so powerful about this record is it takes you to all of those places. We are going to leave it there for Pissa, we're going to take a quick break, we'll be back in just a moment. In a world where the news feels bigger, louder, and harder to make sense of, Canadians need more than headlines. Hi, I'm Karen C. Olin, news reporter and host of the big story podcast from world shaping events to the everyday stories that spark debate. My team and I will explain what matters and why it matters to you. We're here to help you make sense of the news and give you the context you need for those kitchen table conversations trusted, Canadian focused, curious. Listen to the big story wherever you get your podcasts. Okay, we are back. My name is Alamine Abdul Mahmoud and this is commotion. I have Emily Hanskamp here and Nico Stratus and Rurali Pemberton. And now we're going to move on to another big story in the world of Canadian music and we're going to start with this. All right, so we got Josie Ann, we got Tyler Shaw, we got Talk, we got William Clotier, we got Cliff, the five finalists, find, represent Canada at next year's Eurovision Song Contest. In Bulgaria earlier this week, we talked about what's the stake for Canada entering this competition. Right now, I want to check in with you guys about these finalists because these are the five. One of these people is going to represent this country. Rurali, I'll start with you. You're not your Eurovision Deficionado, but you look at these finals, you go like, all right, I'm locked in. Let me see what we're going to do. Let's go. Yeah, this is a similar for me with the World Cup. Once Canada is in, I am watching. So that's where I'm at with some of these nominees. I'm familiar with Rev and Talk. And all I want really is it to not be a guy in red plaid with an acoustic guitar and be like, you know, the cliche. It can't be. It can't just not do that. What I would love, the thing I like actually about somebody like Talk is it's like, okay, this is actually the really the breadth of Canadian music, you know, it's a little freaky or a little more like off-kilter. Yeah. Maybe the world knows. Yeah, I'm really worried about you. What's jumping out at you at these five finalists? Well, maybe piss for next year. I think, you know, Eurovision, it's camp, it's theater, it doesn't take itself too seriously. It makes a statement. I think Talk would represent Canada very well in that way. He's also got a real set of pipes. Yeah. Even looking at the, you know, the costume, we're like that. He, you know, I don't think I've ever seen Talk not wear a cape. So I do think it's, Eurovision is in Talk's blood and I'm excited to see if it goes forward. Okay, you guys have mentioned some names. I've really mentioned a couple names. Emily, you mentioned a couple names. If you want to get to know all these finalists, our pal Tom Power said down with each one of them for a CBC special. That special is called Eurovision Song Contest, Meet Canada's finalists. You can find that on CBC Listen and CBC Gem and you can get to know these finalists. But Nico, you're, you're not a big Eurovision person. When you look at this crop, like, what is Canada understanding the assignment? Yeah, I'm a conscientious objector. It should be said, there's been like, there's been calls for a cultural boycott on Eurovision for a number of years now. And you can go read the BDS website if you want to know more about that. But, you know, it is always interesting when people would be like, we need to choose who gets to represent Canada. I'm like, I wonder what parts of the country will be well represented. Oh, is it the eastern side of one person from British Columbia? Oh, that's strange. They never do that. It's strange that there's no indigenous people, isn't there? Like, but this is the country we live in. This is how nationalism and art works together. So look, whoever gets it, I hope they have a great time. And for everybody that loves Eurovision, I'm happy you're happy. That's how I feel about it. I believe you. I'm curious to see what's going to, what's going to unfold in terms of this. I for, for the purposes of this conversation, I have no horse in this Eurovision race. Obviously, there's a lot to talk about when it comes to Eurovision. People can vote for their favorite right now at cbc.ca/eurovision. Voting closes on November 5th. And the winner is going to be announced a few weeks later. I guess we shall wait and see. But before I let you guys go, I'd like to give you each a moment to maybe recommend something. Something that you've been reading, something you've been listening to, something you've been watching. Nico, we're going to start with you because after the news of Patrick Stewart's death, I know you want to dedicate your recommendation in his honor. So let's start with you. What do you want to recommend? Shadow to my dad. My dad doesn't like to watch TV or movies at all. He only ever watched Star Trek The Next Generation. The only movies I've ever watched with my dad were Star Trek The Next Generation movies. So we just lost Patrick Stewart. He was the voice of my childhood in a million ways. So, you know, go watch Star Trek The Next Generation and also watch David Lynch's Dune. I will say at homework. We're bringing this up because Patrick Stewart died on Wednesday at the age of 8 or 8 or 6 and we will be talking about his life and his career next week on the show. Emily, you're up next. What recommendation do you have, pal? Well, I'm going to bridge some musical gaps between Quebec and the rest of Canada. Please. Because yet another division, there's this band that just released their album. They're called Come On Debog. There are seven piece band out of Quebec. It's like a disco funk, groovy, great songwriting. If you don't understand French, it's totally fine. Put this on for yourself with your headphones. Put this on for your next hangout. People will be shazamming it. People will be asking you what's playing. It is funky, groovy, delicious. Dive into that Quebec music scene, man. Can I just say there's no greater flex than putting on a playlist than having someone go, "Hey, what are you?" This is it. What is that thing? What's that thing you put in on? So, I will take that recommendation specifically for that feeling that I love very much. Okay, really last word to you, pal. What do you got? Yeah, mine is actually really quite obvious, but it wasn't to me because I am really obsessed with the Cameron Winter live in Carnegie Hall. Brother again to it. Yes, I'm okay with Geese. Geese is good. Yeah. And in solo work, of course, it's good. Yeah, it's good. Yeah, I don't know how it's going to happen at the end. It's good. It's good. It's what I'm talking about for me. It's incredible. This is like you really can hear his lyrics in the majesty of performance. Carnegie Hall, yeah. He really is. I'm hearing Van Morrison. I'm hearing Bob Dylan. Yeah. Yeah. So many textures. That's opening track, man. That opening track of that record, which is a new song. It's unbelievable. Unbelievable. Okay, go ahead. What do you want to say about it? It's so good. I think I'm really happy that like his live elements and his songwriting elements are all coming together in a way that people can all appreciate even the Geese haters on my right. For me, you either love them or you hate them. I'm actually right in the middle. I will say if you like the record, Paul Thomas Anderson shot that performance and that will be coming to cinema as soon as Nico will see you there. Maybe question mark. I might say copy the man that you'll talk about. I think that is a wonderful place to leave it. I really appreciate your time. You guys, this has been wonderful. Thanks again. Thank you. Thank you for doing this. Nico Stratus of the freelance culture writer in Toronto Emily Hanskamp, freelance music journalist also in Toronto. Rolly Peperton, a writer and rapper also known as Gaines Weapon. He's based in Hamilton, Ontario. And that is it for the show today. This week, commotion was produced by Stuart Burman, Thai calendar, Nathan Chisholm, Jess Lowe, and Nikki Manfredi. Our digital producers are Vinym Retubja, Emilie Eggball, and Ray Mona. Our engineer is Sam Hashmi. Our director is Daniel Grogan. Jean Kim is our senior producer and our executive producer is Beza Saiva. I'm a Lemme of the Mahmoud. Commotion will be back on Monday. For more CBC podcasts, go to cbc.ca/podcasts.