Ten minute tea with Afternoon Tea. Spend ten minutes with Afternoon Tea. In the time it takes to boil one kettle, and let one cup of tea steep, we will have your daily art + music fix covered. Take your afternoon break with our Afternoon Tea curators. Need an extra lump of sugar? One more sip? If you have five minutes more (or ten), we have one more hit.
Today’s tea + soundtrack + visuals curated by Jordan Venn and the Slizneys.
With M@GIC W*RDS, Toronto-based rock outfit Jordan Venn and the Slizneys pay tribute to the golden era of 90s alternative rock, crafting an album that’s both nostalgic and refreshingly modern. At the heart of the record is the dynamic and lyrically profound focus track “♡WWI>SPQR♡,” a high-energy, grunge-infused exploration of mortality and the weight of history.
Inspired by the viral discussion of how often men think about the Roman Empire, “♡WWI>SPQR♡” flips the script—Jordan Venn realized he thinks about World War I even more. The song captures the inescapable human tendency to reflect on the past, drawing connections between historical moments and personal mortality.
Driven by shifting dynamics—from clean, melodic passages to gritty, full-throttle rock—”♡WWI>SPQR♡” balances weighty themes with the sheer fun of rock ‘n’ roll.
Stream + share M@GIC W*RDS feat. “♡WWI>SPQR♡” now:
Bourbon Vanilla Rooibos
Don’t know if I can shout out my tea source but I order mine from The Tea Haus in Fake London. I promise they don’t know me. It’s just really good tea. I have a minor pet peeve when people use the word vanilla as a synonym for commonplace or boring. Vanilla is the seed pod of a new world tropical orchid that is extremely temperamental in its propagation and needs and wasn’t available to the majority of the human population for the majority of time the human population has been around. Today it’s grown primarily in Central America, Madagascar, and Tahiti. Apparently that’s not exotic enough for some people.
Okay, jokes aside, my next choices are based on other things I don’t want you to take for granted.
Trouble at the Hen House is my favourite Tragically Hip record. We drove an hour to Nanaimo to get it when it first came out. It has some real bangers like Gift Shop and Ahead By a Century. But the b-side also rules. My favourite track of theirs is on it and it’s called Apartment Song. I love how understated yet open and flowy it is musically. My favourite part of the lyrics is the end when the horrible aesthete leaves her apartment and fundamentally changes the space. I think it’s an overlooked but profound and magical song.
Guys, David Attenborough is turning 99 this May. I’m not saying we’re taking him for granted necessarily, but, you know, let’s make sure we don’t. Here he is in an audio/visually stunning segment with “the superb Lyre Bird”:
Enjoy!
Tea + Me 