The Sweatdown is back for 2026 and now only on YouTube!

The Sweatdown has existed since April of 2018 as a monthly collection of music I’ve been listening to. Sometimes it’s old tracks but it’s usually new music. Everything from indie to synthwave to rock to alternative and more. Every December is a culmination of the music I’ve listened to. Originally posted to Spotify, these playlists can now all be found on YouTube where they will be updated monthly for YouTube Music.

Transferring everything to YouTube was a lot of work, and also helped me learn just how many of these I’ve made. There’s been 94 Sweatdown playlists created. This year I’ll have made my 100th. 100 playlists is a pretty big deal! I started doing this as a way to give me a project I had to do every month. I have ADHD so it can be easy for me to start things then put it down and never do it again. This has been the one consistent thing I’ve been doing since 2018. It’s not just a way for me to collect the music I’ve been enjoying listening to and keeping up to date with new music but it’s also a way for me to have something to look forward to making. I enjoy this. It’s a nice light snack for me to make.

Back in the day I used to do some real hunting for new music. I started to get a bit lazy and relying on Spotify’s algorithm to find me new music I’d like. It was pretty good at it! It’s now time to get away from it, especially since it has really dropped in quality over the past year. Now it’s time to hunt again. I did rely a bit on bands I’ve already enjoyed in the past for this first January Sweatdown without Spotify but I definitely plan to go gem hunting again.

Some of what’s Here For January

Can’t kick off a new year without HEALTH calling this the TRASH DECADE can we?

I enjoyed Bully by Durry even if I thought the lyrics were kinda a mishmash but Dead Media is a rocker. I enjoy it and the lyrics still convey their scathing views on modern culture without having to hammer it in.

I saw Pro Wrestling The Band in December and even got a t-shirt. Great band! They are far better than their current popularity level. I really hope they make it through the current music landscape. It’s great to have legitimate rock bands who sound great live.

I think Casper Skulls might be the best lyricists to come out of Canada in a long time. They make me wish I was back in high school on my bed reading the lyric booklet that came with the CD. Petty at a Funeral is devastating. “There’s no-one living in this house at all but what’s behind the walls?” is an incredible chorus line.  “When the day has come to play your final song, everyone who has come won’t know they played the wrong one” is fucking brutal. Absolutely brutal. Might be one of the best insult lines I’ve honestly ever heard in a song. “Nobody will come to your funeral” is mean, but, “People will come but you mean so little they won’t know they played the wrong song” is so much more under the fingernails.

The Blue Stones doing a cover of A Thousand Miles by Vanessa Carlton is cute.

January Sweatdown 2K26 Features:

HEALTH – TRASH DECADE
ALT BLK ERA – My Drummer’s Girlfriend
Party Nails – Trigger Warning
Durry – Dead Media
White Lies – All The Best
Pro Wrestling The Band – Coke Blues
Hotel Mira – Like The Ocean
Kasador – I Don’t Hate You (But I’m Trying)
Yota – One More Reason
Glowbug – Dead Comedian
The Smallest Number – ANOTHER LIFE
Casper Skulls – Petty at a Funeral
Portugal. The Man – Father Gun
The Blue Stones – A Thousand Miles
Moonbeau – Only The Lovers
Ash Molloy – nice to know you

Thank you for reading, thank you for listening, and hope you look forward to another year of The Sweatdown!

Photo from LiUNA!625 display at Bright Lights Windsor on December 11, 2025.