Parisian Orgy, Belly Hatcher, Cain Price, and CHEAP HEAT

Written By Jeff MacCallum

Parisian Orgy - Self Titled

It’s been a long lead-up to this release from Calgary’s Parisian Orgy. Helmed by Gwen Morgan, the band took their time to hone their sound, playing around their hometown for years and earning coveted opening slots for acts like Lydia Lunch. Their self-titled album is art-punk at its finest. Elements of new wave, noisy experimentation, bedroom-pop, twee, and post-punk all get tossed it all in a blender and the result is whimsical, charming and super fun.

Belly Hatcher - Late Heavy Bombardment

Marking their first new release in nearly three years, Montreal’s Belly Hatcher dropped an EP at the end of 2025 that is worth some attention. The duo craft scuzzy techno-house beats that lean heavily into industrial territory. Over those trashy beats, there’s a punk aesthetic to the vocals that is never more present than on the track “Big Bus”. Snarl and spit belt out as Belly Hatcher sing about getting run over by a big bus, it’s a brilliant track on a must listen EP for anyone into danceable industrial music.

Cain Price - Geist

Vancouver’s Cain Price returned at the end of 2025 with a gorgeous EP called Geist that expanded on the electronic avant-folk sound of their debut EP, Open Call. This new effort opens with ghostly instrumentation that suits Price’s haunting voice perfectly. The following track, “Yellow Flowers” is my favourite on the release. It samples a poem by Al Purdy called “At The Quinte Hotel” with simple guitar and drums and a soaring emotive organ that is only topped by Price’s vocal performance. The final three songs are also incredible and lighten the mood into dreamy pop, needed after the opening two tracks.

CHEAP HEAT - II

Regina’s CHEAP HEAT play unapologetic, cock-sure, hard-rock and for some reason, I love it. This is not normally a genre I’d be interested in but they manage to walk the fine line between championing maleness and delivering jabs at “bro” culture. It doesn’t need to be a negative thing to embrace testosterone tendencies as long as there’s an awareness of how to also veer away from the toxic elements. CHEAP HEAT are cocky, confident and cool but not distasteful enough to raise an eyebrow and make you wonder if they’re shitty dudes.

Jeff MacCallum

Jeff MacCallum is our founder. He created Cups N Cakes simply because he had a love of local music. Soon the platform grew beyond the confines of his scene in Edmonton to include all of Canada.

"I did it all very DIY. Everything you see was me learning on the fly. I'm a carpenter not a musician, or a journalist, or a publicist... I'm a carpenter and a weird crazy music fan that thought he could do something fun that might benefit something I care about"

Over the years, MacCallum's commitment to elevating Canadian music earned him a spot as a Polaris Prize Juror, a WCMA Juror, a consultant for music festival curation, and a dear friend to independent music in Canada.

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