DAS RAD - RADAR
Toronto's heavy shoe-gaze heroes Das Rad have returned from the dead with their first new album in twelve years, following up 2014's Radiation with the aptly-titled Radar. The scene that Das Rad emerged from during their brief but prolific initial run between 2013-2016 saw them share bills and split releases with bands are varied as HSY, WTCHS, Odonis Odonis, and the Soupcans to name but a few. It was a wildly creative period in Toronto's indie scene, a simpler time when there were half as many condos, twice the number of live venues, and a mayor who was smoking crack. What a time to be alive!
Fast-forward to 2026, and both the city and scene that Das Rad inhabited have been rendered largely unrecognizable. As such, it's only fitting that Das Rad would create a soundtrack that uniquely captures the dumpster fire state of the world in 2026, and Radar accomplishes this feat masterfully. Spread over nine songs and forty-five minutes, gone are the three-minute freak-outs that characterized much of their early work. The band have matured in the intervening decade, and it shows in the songwriting and performances.
Album highlight "Queen Palm" best captures the evolution of Das Rad, a band that has been expanded to a four-piece with the addition of newest member Ian McPhedran, alongside original members Bo Frantz, Allyn Norris, and Dean Dallas Bentley. The song draws inspiration directly from the west-end neighbourhood of Queen & Palmerston, but just as easily could have been titled Syagrus romanzoffiana for the horticulturalists without losing any of its mystique. Clocking in a five-and-a-half minutes and featuring Ami Spears on synth, the song sounds like the dawn of the interplanetary tourism industry, with Dean Dallas Bentley's clockwork drumming echoing the first steps taken on some distant planet. A totally out-of-this-world experience to be had in your favourite Toronto hot spot!
Album closer "Right Down the Spine" is the closest the band comes to achieving the heaviness of their early work, but even here the performance is more nuanced and sophisticated. Bentley's masterful drumming holds everything together while the rest of the band create controlled explosions of noise and emotion, with Frantz's vocals buried so low in the mix that they effectively become an additional percussive instrument, rather than a vessel for melody. It's a heady experience to be sure, and a powerful way to conclude an album twelve years in the making.
The world needs Das Rad now more than ever, and Radar is perhaps the best balm for times that are increasingly painful to live through. You may not be able to find it on cassette like much of their early work, so pick your digital streaming platform of choice and escape from a world that desperately needs escaping from. Long live Das Rad!
-Leks Maltby