Our recent drives to and from Nova Scotia were 18-hour music listening sessions. It made for an awesome soundtrack. Here are some highlights:
- I truly enjoyed the Boxer by The National. Last month, they recorded concert at Washington, D.C. 9:30 for NPR’s Live Concert Series. From the NPR: “”The National make thoughtful, mostly melancholy rock in the spirit of Joy Division or Leonard Cohen, with singer Matt Berniger’s warm baritone voice set against deflty orchestrated instrumentation that’s as epic as is intimate.” Besides being a favourite of mine, they are Rolling Stone’s New Breaking Artist. (YouTube link) I’ve got my tickets to the show at The Phoenix on October 8th.
- There are some great grooves on Malajube‘s latest, Trompe-L’Oeil. They are Canadian and were nominated for the last year’s Polaris Prize. My French stalled at grade nine (and wasn’t great back then). It doesn’t matter I don’t understand 99% of Malajube’s lyrics. Some of their stuff may
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sound familiar, as the Wikipedia entry notes, their song “Montreal -40 C” was used in a Rogers Wireless commercial and “Ton Plat Favori” was used in an ad for Zellers.
- There is something about honest to goodness CanRock and driving across this awesome country of ours. Friend of Mine by Treble Charger is an outstanding example of exactly that kind of song.
I’ll see if I can’t pop the MP3 up here later.The video does not do this song justice. Download 01_treble_charger_friend_of_mine.mp3 - Speaking of CanRock, we fell more in love with the latest album by The Tragically Hip. Fly is a great cut. Producer Bob Rock writes about recording, “It became clear that this was going to be a very different record for The Hip. The songs were very personal and one in particular, “Fly”, got to me right away. I had never heard a song like that from The Hip, It was so direct and pop-like. Visions of making “The Great Canadian Record” (a secret goal of mine, that I had been ranting to Gord about) seemed all laid in front of me.”
- Writer’s Block by Peter, Bjorn and John was a stand out album. Check out Young Folks and Objects of My Affection. I also enjoy the druggy off-kilter track, Amsterdam.
Other notables:
- All Night by Damian “Junior Gong” Marley (feat. Stephen Marley)
- The Race is On Again by Yo La Tengo
- The Bleeding Heart Show by the New Pornographers
- Make Another World by Idelwild
- (Antichrist Television Blues) by Arcade Fire
photo credit: traffic shot uploaded by harmonicagoldfish
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