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420 today. Guess what the theme for the afternoon radio show was? Yeah, don't over think it. I have never heard so many songs about Mary Jane in my life. Strangely, Bob Marley's was probably the least awesome.
So The Weakerthans have a song about curling. Only in Canada, baby. I've heard 'Tournament of Hearts' a few times but I only twigged to the lyrical content today.
The Weakerthans recorded their fourth album, Reunion Tour, in March 2007, in a recording studio built above a factory on the outskirts of Winnipeg, the cold prairie city where the band was born 10 years ago.
The factory produces cases for machines and computers and musical instruments, but only in the daytime; for a week and a half in the middle of winter, after the casemakers departed each afternoon at 4:30, the musicmakers, led by producer Ian Blurton, would arrive and play all night, crafting new sounds and new songs on the factory floor and then driving back to the city through the frigid Manitoba pre-dawn.
The result is lush and energetic, infectious, unforgettable--hours after listening to it you may be surprised to find that you still have one of the songs stuck in your head, and what's more, it's a song about curling. Yes, curling: that noble sport of sweeping and sliding that in the snowier precincts of North America is more like a religion than a sport. (Winnipeg, a city of just 600,000 people, has 21 curling clubs.)
"Tournament of Hearts," the curling song, is a perfect example of what John K. Samson, the band's lead singer and lyricist, calls "first-person fiction," and there's a lot of that on Reunion Tour.
Artist info: The Weakerthans - Epitaph Records
I dearly love stories about how records are put together. Behind the Music would be my porn, if it was actually you know, good. What I do love though, is Alan Cross' History of New Music. Alt-rock, new-rock, punk, emo, rock - whatever - fans, who are interested in the art and business of music! Cross' encyclopedic knowledge of music will blow you away. His shows are great for people who know a lot, a little, or nothing about the subject.
Another band that brings the curling references (their last album was 'Tournament of Hearts'), The Constantines, my favourite up-and-coming Canadian band, have recorded a cover of 'Islands in the Stream' with Feist. It's lovely, which is to be expected from this particular team up. The Constantines have one of the most powerful live shows that I ever had the fortune to experience, but on their slower tunes, they bring a delicate tenderness.
With their previous albums, I found that repeated listening on my ridiculouslyexpensive awesome headphones revealed a lot of unexpected detail, especially for a band that is straight up rock and fucking roll. I'm digging 'Trans Canada' and 'Shower of Stones', and of course 'Islands in the Stream' (which I like better than 'Ghetto Superstar. *g* Although that track is powerfully catchy).
Here's a great description of their particular flavour of awesome.
From the rather unlikely location of Guelph, Ontario, just a bit west of Toronto and the banks of the mighty Lake Ontario, a rock and roll machine comes roaring, flavored with the passion of punk rock's late '70s godfathers, the sweat of '80s hardcore, and the craftsmanship of '90s indie. This snarling beast of a band is known as The Constantines and they preach the agit-punk gospel with the kind of soul that has endeared The Clash to so many over the years (singer Bry Webb's raspy, shouted polemics make this reference a no-brainer). What makes them so satisfying is the feeling that there's real purpose behind the razor-edged slice and slash of the guitar work and the bouncing aggression of the rhythm section. There's a brilliant mixture of nihilistic cynicism and idealism against their better judgment which makes the sharp planes and angles of The Constantines' songs still more striking. The Cons' great self-titled debut record comes in gorgeous handmade packaging from Toronto-based Three Gut Records, a single matchstick punched through its sleeve providing an obvious metaphor for The Constantines' considerable ability to set things ablaze.
***
In unrelated news, Gwyneth Paltrow is hot.
Iron Man + Fashion? Done.
So The Weakerthans have a song about curling. Only in Canada, baby. I've heard 'Tournament of Hearts' a few times but I only twigged to the lyrical content today.
The Weakerthans recorded their fourth album, Reunion Tour, in March 2007, in a recording studio built above a factory on the outskirts of Winnipeg, the cold prairie city where the band was born 10 years ago.
The factory produces cases for machines and computers and musical instruments, but only in the daytime; for a week and a half in the middle of winter, after the casemakers departed each afternoon at 4:30, the musicmakers, led by producer Ian Blurton, would arrive and play all night, crafting new sounds and new songs on the factory floor and then driving back to the city through the frigid Manitoba pre-dawn.
The result is lush and energetic, infectious, unforgettable--hours after listening to it you may be surprised to find that you still have one of the songs stuck in your head, and what's more, it's a song about curling. Yes, curling: that noble sport of sweeping and sliding that in the snowier precincts of North America is more like a religion than a sport. (Winnipeg, a city of just 600,000 people, has 21 curling clubs.)
"Tournament of Hearts," the curling song, is a perfect example of what John K. Samson, the band's lead singer and lyricist, calls "first-person fiction," and there's a lot of that on Reunion Tour.
Artist info: The Weakerthans - Epitaph Records
I dearly love stories about how records are put together. Behind the Music would be my porn, if it was actually you know, good. What I do love though, is Alan Cross' History of New Music. Alt-rock, new-rock, punk, emo, rock - whatever - fans, who are interested in the art and business of music! Cross' encyclopedic knowledge of music will blow you away. His shows are great for people who know a lot, a little, or nothing about the subject.
Another band that brings the curling references (their last album was 'Tournament of Hearts'), The Constantines, my favourite up-and-coming Canadian band, have recorded a cover of 'Islands in the Stream' with Feist. It's lovely, which is to be expected from this particular team up. The Constantines have one of the most powerful live shows that I ever had the fortune to experience, but on their slower tunes, they bring a delicate tenderness.
With their previous albums, I found that repeated listening on my ridiculously
Here's a great description of their particular flavour of awesome.
From the rather unlikely location of Guelph, Ontario, just a bit west of Toronto and the banks of the mighty Lake Ontario, a rock and roll machine comes roaring, flavored with the passion of punk rock's late '70s godfathers, the sweat of '80s hardcore, and the craftsmanship of '90s indie. This snarling beast of a band is known as The Constantines and they preach the agit-punk gospel with the kind of soul that has endeared The Clash to so many over the years (singer Bry Webb's raspy, shouted polemics make this reference a no-brainer). What makes them so satisfying is the feeling that there's real purpose behind the razor-edged slice and slash of the guitar work and the bouncing aggression of the rhythm section. There's a brilliant mixture of nihilistic cynicism and idealism against their better judgment which makes the sharp planes and angles of The Constantines' songs still more striking. The Cons' great self-titled debut record comes in gorgeous handmade packaging from Toronto-based Three Gut Records, a single matchstick punched through its sleeve providing an obvious metaphor for The Constantines' considerable ability to set things ablaze.
***
In unrelated news, Gwyneth Paltrow is hot.
Iron Man + Fashion? Done.
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I was devoted to Alan Cross's show for years; it pretty much shaped my musical taste in the early '90s.
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And interestingly, Alan's the program director now.
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You know what's funny? I can easily stream a station from Toronto, but there are two local stations here that refuse to play for me. I don't own a radio, either.
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