Probably for the best as it allowed full concentration on the scant amount of revision for the exam that I just returned from. The module had already been passed before I went into the exam, as it was only worth 25% of the overall grade, so pressure was certainly off. Nonetheless, I seemed to get slightly carried away and write one of the most anti-American things I’ve ever written; for a course on American History Since 1865. Opinions were coming out that I didn’t even know I had. I did, on the other hand, get the word ‘feminazi’ in there, as well as refer to the ‘war on terror’ as a war on an abstract noun. The joys of pass/fail years!
Anyway, I wanted to discuss some musical musings for anyone that is interested. Here are a few recommendations.
It makes sense to begin with the first band I saw in Canada, The Rural Alberta Advantage, when they supported The Weakerthans on the 15th November and was so impressed I caught them at a headline show a couple of months later. They’re Canadian, signed to Saddle Creek Records and play a very catchy form of folk-rock that kind of makes me think of Neutral Milk Hotel if they were a bit more upbeat. There’s quite a variety of instrumentation and the vocalist, Nils Edenloff (ludicrous name) looks like Jason Statham. I don’t know what more you could want. But, seriously, this band is well accessible. Give them a go. Oh, and I have a big, fat crush on the girl in the band. She’s lovely (to look at).
Aside from the fact this band are desperately missing a comma from their Bukowski-inspired name, they are awesome and similarly Canadian (Kitchener, Ontario). If I said the words No Idea, Punk News or beards you’d get the impression of the sounds they make. It’s lovely gruff, catchy punk with all the familiar comparisons: Hot Water Music, Gunmoll, Polar Bear Club etc. You know if you’ll like it or not.
Someone recommended me this man at the Fest. I’m not quite sure who as I vaguely remember it being dark at the time and if it’s dark and you’re in Florida at the Fest sobriety is never going to be likely. It could have been the guy with the Defiance, Ohio tattoo in the queue for Good Luck… but it doesn’t really matter. Either way, I’m eternally grateful. The Tallest Man on Earth is one man (Kristian Matsson) from Sweden playing awesome twiddly, finger-picked folk music in the vein of M. Ward, Bon Iver and Iron & Wine. It’s beard music for indie kids, if we want to keep with the beard theme. This video of the song ‘It Will Follow the Rain’ is pretty haunting. Thoroughly enjoyable.
This band won’t be new to the people that like this kind of music but, regardless, I’m going to harp on about how excited they get me, and how refreshing they are in a genre that can become tiresome. Essentially, it is like Modern Life is War never broke up. Defeater’s brand of raging, passionate hardcore bears a lot of resemblance to them, and even the vocalists are both doppelgangers of EastEnders’ Martin Fowler. Defeater’s little nuance is that their records form a narrative, they’re concept albums, and not in the 70s prog-rock sense. Travels, their first release, follows a man from his birth in 1945 all the way to his death and it’s not the happiest tale. The recently released Lost Ground EP follows the character from track six on Travels (who plays the Bright Eyes-esque acoustic song in the story, which also appears on the record) and his journey to World War II and subsequent demise on his return home. It’s intelligently written hardcore punk that I really can’t stop listening to.
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