Saturday, September 18, 2010

Locked in and ignored

To my loyal readers (ha!) I must apologize.  Since starting my degree last week, my time has developed quite a premium and I find myself neglecting the simpler, joyous things in life, such as roommate rugby, staircase tobogganing, and of course... writing about music.  I'll warn you right now that for the next 8 months or so, expect shanangians to be infrequent, and likely not as verbose as you're used to.

As a side benefit, you don't have to listen to me shoot my mouth off as much.

Vancouver's Sweatshop Union has long been one of my favorite hip hop groups, so you can imagine my excitement when this summer past, the union put out not one, not two, but three different releases from subordinate crews.  Trillionaires and Dirty Circus made great albums, however, the best of the three (or at least my favorite) came from Pigeon Hole.  Combining minimalistic, almost trip-hop beats, with the usual intelligent lyrics I've come to expect from Sweatshop, Age Like Astronauts has been seeing a lot of rotation on my computer (it still makes sense... the hard drive spins).

Check it:


-I don't need no devil to show me how to do you wrong

Thursday, September 9, 2010

Reginald Joseph Leach

What I love the most about John Samson, frontman for The Weakerthans is not his catchy anti-establishment songwriting, his soothing voice, or his charming good looks; it is his blatant, unapologetic love for my home.  Samson has long been a champion of the Keystone province and amid massive pressure to move to more popular, commercially viable cities, he has resisted the urge and stayed in his hometown of Winnipeg, MB.

With songs like One Great City! many people assume The Weakerthans really hate where they are from.  However, as any good toban knows... living in Manitoba comes with a certain love-hate relationship.  The Guess Who did suck at times... but they're the best we've got.  The Jets were lousy, but we love them anyway.  Winnipeg is a dirty, crime laden city, but it's our dirty city.  Samson knows that Manitoba can be a tough place to call home, but that is part of what makes us Manitoban.  Suffering through -40 winters and +40 summers, swatting off mosquitos in swarms that look like dust clouds and living off an economy that relies on a slowly failing farm industry makes us unique, makes us strong, and brings us together.

So, I once again tip my hat to Mr. Samson, who has yet again brought forth another piece of Manitoban history by writing a song, nay a Petition, to get Reggie Leach into the Hockey Hall of Fame.  Leach was a Manitoban born First Nations man who is one of the few players (and the only non-goaltender) to win the Conn Smythe Trophy (playoff MVP) while playing for the losing Stanley Cup finalist.


-Trouble don't seem to know my name no more

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

A Dark BC Interior

Odds are, if you haven't had your head wrapped round your body and inserted firmly up your anus, you've heard of Black Mountain.  Their psychedelic, classic rock revival lead by Jesus-look-alike Steve McBean took the music industry by storm a couple years ago with their 2008 release, In the Future.

While being a going concern since 2004, its taken years and a lot of hard work to push this riff heavy beast to the forefront of the music industry.  Now, after proving they have what it takes in 2008, BM is poised to release Wilderness Heart, their latest dig into the rock n roll world.  While I've only heard a couple tracks so far, Black Mountain seems to have brought out even more of what made me love them; that grindy, groovy, 70s rock feel.

In short... expect no sufferings of sophomore syndrome here... especially since this is their 4th or 5th album.



-Stonewall all the love you've left in your path