The November Sweatdown 2K25 saying we’re getting close to the end of the year. Sunset no regrets folks. Get sweating.

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. These playlists may move off Spotify at the end of 2025.

Update on leaving Spotify: I don’t know what happens to all of my playlists once I stop paying for Spotify Premium. I guess I’ll have to find out the hard way. Later this month I got a bit of a vacation. I have already written down all of my playlists since April of 2018. I’m planning to move all of them to a dedicated YouTube channel under my account. That way they are all on YouTube no fuss or hassle. Not sure how long this will take me but this should all be completed come 2026.

Some of what’s Here For November

So The Smallest Number is kind of special for me. It’s Patrick Nissley formerly of Innerpartysystem which will go down as my favourite band that I never got to see live. They called it quits after two EPs and one LP. When The Smallest Number popped up on the Innerpartysystem facebook I thought they got hacked. Thankfully Jared Piccone (now in Black Caviar) said he’s helping the project on the management side.

I tried listening to the earlier stuff of Smallest Number in preparation for this and I wasn’t feeling it but Honey? As an IPS truther I can hear Innerpartysystem in this and it just makes me feel good. I’m looking forward to what Patrick does next with The Smallest Number.

Social Order is playing in Detroit on the 15th of November and if you go I’m jealous of you. I really wanted to go but going to the United States for shows is a bit more difficult than I’d like them to be these days. They’ve become one of my favourite bands of the past few years and I love their new EP.

I have really enjoyed the new album by Kanadia called The Fire That’s Tearing Through Our Home and Wired might be the best song off of it and one of the best songs by Kanadia altogether. I can’t say enough good about this song. First? It rocks. That one shout at 2:40 that goes for a solid 10 seconds? Fuck I feel that each time. The song makes me think of all the bands I loved in the 2010s who have gone soft need to listen to Wired and get fucking wired again. Embrace your rock roots. You don’t have to hit the yacht once you get into your late 30s and early 40s.

So Alexisonfire cover Misogyny by Rusty which I actually had on the August Sweatdown 2K24 despite it being a song from 1995. I just discovered the song and loved it so Alexisonfire doing their Copies of Old Masters Volume 1 and adding this? Perfect.

I don’t know how many times I can speak the praises of Emi Grace who at 22 is doing better things with her guitar than most of her contemporaries and those who came before her. Punch Bag might come under 3 minutes but still gets more done in that time than most songs pull off in double that time. A treasure. More should appreciate.

Don’t hurt me Mike Noble but I think I like the After Party EP by Hotel Mira better than the Pity Party LP? Just hit me harder. Usually after parties are low energy with everyone tired and drunk but this packed a punch.

So randomly on Instagram I got an ad for a band called Pro Wrestling The Band who will be playing in Windsor, Ontario, Canada in December. I thought, oh of course I got this ad will all of my wrestling and music interest and I listened to their album Falling In Love With and… it’s good? It’s damn good? I’m excited to see them now. Might as well start with Track 1 Side 1.

Fiona-Lee with Nothing Compares to Nineteen starts with a line about “no existential dread yet” which… god I wish I didn’t experience existential dread at 19. I started experiencing that at like six years old. Anyway, I love the song. Love her voice. I wonder if she made a longer version to this. It’s great at 2:48 but I feel it could have been much longer.

November Sweatdown 2K25 Features:

The Smallest Number – Honey
Social Order – Strangers
Kanadia – Wired
Alexisonfire – Misogyny
Emi Grace – Punch Bag
Hotel Mira – Don’t Break My Heart
Pro Wrestling The Band – Falling in Love
Fiona-Lee – Nothing Comes to Nineteen
Tigercub – Fall In Fall Out
The Midnight – The Right Way
Culture Wars – Bittersweet
Petey USA – Anything in Between
Rufus Miller – Baby You’re The One
Your Neighbors – Bombs Away
Fickle Friends – Fantasy
Sydney Sprague – As Scared As Can Be
Bronte Alva – Ghosts
Trevor Something – Love Me Through The Night

Thank you for reading and thank you for listening. Photo by me of the Gordie Howe Bridge on September 9, 2025. Next month is the best of 2025.