Always a fan of Sloan here, but I was recently reminded of Pure and have been grooving to “Spiritual Pollution” and “Anna”. So make me a virtual mix tape: What were your fav Canadian bands, albums, or songs of the ‘90s?

I understand with the rise of music streaming people have been introduced to a wider variety of bands than ever before, but what's your favorite band that no one has heard of? I think everyone has that one band that they love that no one in their friend group has ever heard of.

I think I have a few, but I'll throw out Kadavar who have a Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath feel to them.

I've realized the amount of bands that I'd describe as "really liking them" despite only regularly listening to 3-6 of their songs is pretty high. While I have a fair number of bands that I like 10+ songs from, the vast majority of bands I'd recommend have a much smaller pool. I was just listening to LCD Soundsystem, a band I've loved for years, and I realized I only regularly listen to 4 of their songs (All My Friends, Daft Punk is Playing..., Dance Yrself Clean and New York I Love You...). TV on the Radio, another band I've really been trying to get people to listen to lately, I only like 6 of their songs. And with a lot of these bands it's not even that I just haven't listened to a lot of their music. TVotR I've listened to 3/5 albums all the way through, and while there were a lot of songs I maybe sorta enjoyed, only 6 of them were good enough that I actually saved them.

It gets harder for me because there are also a lot of bands out there that I like 3+ of their songs but wouldn't describe myself as a big fan. Eminem, for example, I have like 15 of his songs saved but I'd definitely say I like TV on the Radio more.

I feel like for me it's more about how much I like the songs rather than the quantity. Like on a scale of 1-10 where 1 is barely liking it and 10 is absolutely loving it (so entirely ignoring songs I don't like), Eminem has a lot of like 4-7s whereas all of the TVotR songs I like I'd rate as 9s or 10s.

I'm currently working on a research paper (low-threat undergrad coursework), and I keep alternating between Lofi hip-hop and gentle acoustic pop covers to keep me motivated and on task. I've tried to get into a variety of classical music for this purpose, but I always end up rolling back to my Samuel Barber playlist and end up burning out on it. What's your go-to for productivity enhancement?