Music Meme

A while back I was charged by The Struggling Writer to "list five songs on your i-pod you are proud of and five that you are not so proud of. Explanations are welcome, as are links to the songs or YouTube videos".

I'm not very good at things like that as I listen to such a broad range of stuff how could I only pick 5? It's like asking a Mother which child is her favorite. I love all my music. What I will listen to depends on my mood, what kind of day I've had, if it will be in the background while performing a task or if it is to be for the sole pleasure of just sitting and listening (my preferred method).

Not to mention, I don't have an actual i-pod, just an RCA MP3 jukebox of which the hard drive promptly decided to breakdown as I was on a flight back to Canada. 9 hours is a long time to sit without some good music to listen to.

Which leaves me with my laptop. I started scrolling down my list of CD's I was able to rip onto it before moving, but I only got as far as the M's.

I'm not doing very well here at all am I.

As mentioned above I flew back to Canada last week to attend my Grandmother's funeral. was strange how I ended up being back in Canada for Canada Day (July 1st). So that got me to thinking about Canadian music, of which I own quite a bit. So then I started trolling YouTube searching for Canadian bands.

Oh Canada
The Music

In no particular order...

Band: The Tragically Hip
Album: Phantom Power
Track: Poets
From: Kingston, Ontario

This is the quintessential Canadian Band in that they are huge at home but have never been able to crack the US market. And you know what, that makes them even MORE Canadian.




Band: Big Sugar
Album: Big Sugar
Track: Sleep in Late
From: Toronto, Ontario

I remember seeing this video for the first time on Much Music a loooooong time ago. Loved it! but never made note of who it was and it wasn't really a top 40 tune so not on high rotation. As a result I never saw it again. Fast forward a number of years and I see this band live at Plaza of Nations during Foxfest. I quite liked them so the next day I went to A&B Sound and picked up their first 3 CD's. Back home, I popped in their first album and track one was this tune. Sweet.



Band: Pilot Speed
Album: Caught By The Window
Track: Melt Into The Walls
From: Toronto, Ontario

This is another band I discovered through watching The Wedge on Much Music It's a non-top 40 show that focuses on the more avaunt guard or intelligent videos. I've discovered quite a few interesting bands on that show. Anyway, I digress, I saw this video a few times before finally having a pen and paper handy to make note of who the band was and then going out to buy the CD. I love every track.



Band: Sloan
Album: Pretty Together
Track: The Other Man
From: Halifax, Nova Scotia

This was one of those albums where you hear a couple of tracks on the radio and you think, hey that's kinda catchy. Then you get the CD home and pop it into the player and you are blown away by what you didn't hear on the radio. I think that's one of the pleasures joe shmoe misses out on when only listening to music on an i-pod, or computer. So often the musical subtleties are lost when music is compressed within an inch of it's life. This tune has an amazing bass line through-out, the band itself has incredibly intelligent lyrics and use intricate harmonies. A great band and a great album.



Band: Matthew Good
Album: White Light Rock and Roll Review
Track: Alert Status Red
From: Vancouver, British Columbia

Matt is all that is good about Canadian Music. Intelligent,artistic, political & outspoken.

So there you have it, a small snippet of the Canadian Music scene. In all cases the whole CD is fabulous. Not a throw away track at all. That's another thing I don't really like about the i-pod generation. If you're just downloading one tune you're missing out. For me, once I get the CD home I find the tune that got airplay is not necessarily the best track. But I'll save that rant for another day.