I guess I’m making this a monthly thing? In any case, here’s a roundup of some of the writing I have done recently, including freelance pieces and a couple of things I wrote just for fun.
Music review: Mad Professor brought earth-shaking dub bass to the Chan Centre
(Stir, October 6, 2025)
The Massive Attack songs were certainly plentiful; Fraser started his set with “Eternal Feedback”, his reworking of “Sly”, the track that kicked off his association with the Bristol trip-hop pioneers. Working with a setup that included a mixer and effects that included copiously applied delay and reverb, he also peppered the show with other No Protection cuts, notably “Trinity Dub” (based on “Three”), “Bumper Ball Dub” (“Karmacoma”), and, of course, “Radiation Ruling the Nation” (“Protection”).
For good measure, Fraser also threw in “Teardrop”, taken from Massive Attack’s 1998 masterpiece, Mezzanine. With Elizabeth Fraser’s powerfully ethereal vocals filling the Chan, Mad Professor brought the song’s signature harpsichord motif in and out of the mix, at one point changing the song’s key entirely with a melodramatic wave of synthesizer before bringing things full circle.
This wasn’t a Massive Attack concert, however, and the proceedings arguably got even more interesting when Mad Professor returned to his roots.
Bilingual Montreal band Bibi Club prefers to perform without a safety net
(Stir, October 16, 2025)
Based around Trottier-Rivard’s unassumingly melodic vocals and Basque’s guitar work, which sometimes takes things into left field with unexpected chord voicings and occasional dissonance, Bibi Club’s music draws on the traditions of indie-rock forebears including Blonde Redhead, My Bloody Valentine, and Stereolab.
That last band looms especially large in the Montreal duo’s pantheon of influences; Bibi Club even recorded its own version of Stereolab’s “Orgiastic” for the extended edition of Feu de garde.
“Stereolab inspired me when I was younger, because I think it was the first time I was listening to a female voice that honest,” Trottier-Rivard says. “It really spoke to me, the way the singer [Lætitia Sadier] sings, and it was the first time I would listen to someone sing in French the way she does, and it really inspired me. I think it kind of helped me to write in French and try to find the right words to make me comfortable, and just to find my style in writing. So that band in that way really inspired me.”
The 10 most spooktacular Halloween music videos of all time
(Medium, October 17, 2025)
In the tradition that I started at the Georgia Straight (which I am sad to report no one has kept up in my absence), here are some Halloween-appropriate music videos. Are they really the “most spooktacular” of all time? Almost certainly not, but for SEO purposes, sure. And even though these are in no particular order, let’s count them down from 10 to 1, just for fun.
Please note that there is no Michael Jackson or Backstreet Boys or “Ghostbusters” on this list. Not because those videos aren’t great in their own right, but because they are just a little too obvious. And you know where to find them if you absolutely must.
Are these the 5 worst Halloween songs ever?
(Medium, October 29, 2025)
Earlier this month, I shared my list of the Top 10 most spooktacular Halloween music videos (which was actually a completely arbitrary selection of things that I happen to like). Because not all things Halloween are equal, this time around I’m bringing you the most horrifyingly awful songs of the season. Because you, dear reader, deserve only the worst.
Occasionally, someone creates a work of art so stupefyingly bad that its very wretchedness provides a high degree of entertainment value. On the other hand, some things just suck. It’s all in the eye—or in this case, the ear—of the beholder.
John Lucas 
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