Tortuga's Music Blog

[Tortuga]

Hey folks,

Just for poops and snickers I've started up my own music blog.  I had one awhile back that never really happened, but this time it's gonna, darnit!

So, maybe you'll find something you like in it, maybe you'll find something you don't -- either way you're finding something, and finding things is gooder than losing things.  Except maybe weight.

So head over to Tortuga's Sound Advice and leave a comment or two.

Thanks!

[Midnight]

Ooh, Decemberists and Grandaddy. I'll have to check out your other suggestions.

[lugaru]

Decemberists are playing here in boston in a few weeks. Im not a huge fan but a friend is so I'll probably be going. I'll drop you a line if I do to tell you how they where live.

[Tortuga]

That would be great -- and good on ye for trying out some new music, you make walk out of there a fan!

Today I posted a video by a Swedish band "I'm From Barcelona".  It's a BIG band.  Not in the Big Band sense.  Check it out via my sig link.

[Verfall]

RADIOHEAD SUCKS!!!




I had too....  :thumbup:

[Tortuga]

Oh you just wait, Radiohead will show up sooner than later. :thumbup:

[konbiz]

WoW I'm just listening to Sloan right now and i love them!... very beatlesque... thanks Tortuga  :thumbup:

[Monkeyman]

You have to be the first person ive heard of who listens to sloan too! alright! :thumbup:

[Verfall]

I always forget Sloan was only really big in Canada. The Other Man and Money City Maniacs were awesome songs. I didn't even know they still existed since Muchmusic stopped playing music and decided to just become MTV-lite with an "urban-centric" focus. I miss seeing 54-40, Sloan and I Mother Earth for Canadian content rather than shoving crap like Three Days Grace and Hedley down my throat...ugh.

Pity Our Lady Peace has sounded the exact same since Clumsy and Finger Eleven has appeared to have sold out judging by the commercials I've seen for their new album. Mainstream music is starting to really suck in this country unless you're a country fan.

[Tortuga]

Thanks a ton for the responses, folks.  I dig talkin' music :cool:

Right now, indie rock is huge in Canada.  It's the new mainstream in many ways -- and thank goodness because it's generally much more worth listening to than the bands like you mentioned.  Bands like Arcade Fire, Broken Social Scene, Metric, Sloan and so many others are really flourishing at this time.

As for Our Lady Peace, I totally agree.  I remember hearing Naveed and thinking it was a cool song.  I loved the guitar chords...somewhat disonant.  But then their next single came out...and sounded so much the same, over and over and over.  They just didn't take the time to progress.

A hilarious example of this is Nickleback, who are unfortunately from my home province.  They have a vocal melody hook that can be picked out in 80% of their singles and nearly 50% of all their songs.  My students were listening to it, and I pointed it out.  They had never thought of it, and now they find it all over the place.  Sadly, people buy that crap and keep it going.

As for Sloan, if you thought they disappeared it's partially because Action Pact was such a poor release.  It had a decent single ("Rest of My Life") and a great opening track ("Gimme That") and one or two other good songs mixed with a bunch of filler.  Thank goodness Never Hear the End of It came out, because it totally resurrects Sloan.  It is one heckuva album -- length- and content-wise it's nearly TWO albums.  It's their best album since Navy Blues and is right now in my Top 5.  Definitely worth checking out.

54-40 is still around too, but they've gone independent.  No record company wants them.  They've put out two decent albums as indies, but they're nothing close to Dear Dear or Smilin' Buddha Cabaret.  On a side note: my former band met and played with Neil Osborne's (54-40 singer) brother Dave in Whistler BC.  Dave played keyboards and harmonica on the self-titled green album as well as a few others.  Myself and one of our guitar players were jamming after the gig, playing 'I Go Blind'.  We couldn't remember one chord change, and Dave, who was the sound man for the show told us what it was.  We said thanks, then he added "I played organ on that".  He was our soundman for the rest of the week and we jammed together at an open stage he ran in Whistler (he even covered one of our songs, hah!).  As a longtime 54-40 fan, that was a definite band highlight.  Later that year, 54-40 played Edmonton on their tour and after the show, Dave got myself, Madam T and our band's drummer backstage where we got to hang out with 54-40.  Highlight #2 :)

I think the 'biggest' Canadian band that still manages to stay grounded is The Tragically Hip.  They stay in touch with the indies but are able to play the stadiums and sell a ton.  Plus, they continue to do well in the States -- not Barenaked Ladies well, but they're doing fine.  The Hip's new one, World Container, feels a little too polished for my tastes, I much prefer In Between Evolution's overall feel.  But they seem to do this every other album lately.  Still as a live band, they deliver quite the show.

konbiz, if you like I can put together a '10 Best Sloan Tracks' list for you to help you get to know the band.  I may have trouble limiting myself to 10 tracks though  :P

Earlier tonight I posted the first of a series of at least three called "Cover to Cover".  It's a little story of how one band helped me discover another band, and then another, etc etc all through cover versions.  Check it out!

[Verfall]

Was watching Going Coastal tonight, and who shows up but none other than Gordie Johnson. Man do I miss Big Sugar.

You're right about the Hip though, they're probably the second Canadian band an American rock fan would know after Rush. Not my favorite band, but they have a ton of good singles that Canadian radio loves.

Can't really get into Metric. Mondy was a fan but they just didn't sit well with me. Though he did get me hooked on this one odd band, or just one guy if I remember right, who goes by the name Final Fantasy. Weird music, one song title being "The CN Tower Belongs to the Dead", but I for some reason enjoy them. He's worked with Arcade fire, one of his songs being named after two of their members.

BSS and Arcade I know of, but they do nothing for me. I catch their songs and videos, but to me it's all meh. The one video for Arcades "Neighbourhood" was pretty good though.

One Canadian band I quite enjoy is alexisonfire. Apparently they're a sellout straight-edge hardcore band, according to some moron in one of my Uni classes, but anyone who draws and X on themselves because they don't drink just seems to be crying out for attention anyway :lol: Seriously though, since my sister introduced me to them, her name being Alexis, I've quite enjoyed them. Melody and screaming that mixes well for my ears.

Couple of sask bands I've always tried to pitch to people would be Breach of Trust, an all native band from La Ronge, and Into Eternity. Of the two, Into Eternity is the most successful. They've been doing world tours for a couple of years. Wiki classifies em as "Progressive Death Metal", but they're one of the very few bands I know of that has every member of the band do vocals at some point. It makes for this harminous level of noise that I haven't seen copied or matched yet. Plus they're from my hometown  :D

Here's a question though...what the heck ever happened to Edwin? The guy went from having a huge solo record a few years back, after a big album with I Mother Earth, only to disappear into oblivion.

[The Hitman]

Great site, Tort!

Sloan actually opened for Jet (along with a great Aussie band The Anyones)a few years ago in Columbus, OH. Since then, I've been a fan.

[konbiz]

konbiz, if you like I can put together a '10 Best Sloan Tracks' list for you to help you get to know the band.  I may have trouble limiting myself to 10 tracks though  :P

That would be great! You know I've been saying for a long time now I need to find a new great band, and thanks to you I've found one. Once again  :thumbup: This especially helps since I recently bought Red Hot Chili Peppers' newest album 'Stadium Arcadium' and was greatly disappointed.

[Tortuga]

I'll throw something together for you tonight, konbiz.

As for Red Hot Chili Peppers -- they should've quit or drastically changed their sound after Californication.  Just like Ver was mentioning about Our Lady Peace, everything since Californication has been a pale imitation.  Their singles often follow the same structure - heavy funky intro, rap verse, melodic chorus w/ background vocals, rap verse, melodic chorus, etc. etc.

[Tortuga]

Alrighty konbiz, here's a list of some of my favourite Sloan tracks -- from various albums.

92's Smeared:
1. Underwhelmed - the single that kicked them off in Canada

94's Twice Removed
2. Coax Me
3. I Can Feel It

96's One Chord to Another - if you like their Beatleish sound, this is the album to get
4. The Good in Everyone
5. Everything You've Done Wrong
6. The Lines You Amend

98's Navy Blues
7. She Means What She Says
8. Money City Maniacs

99's Between the Bridges - much like their newest effort, the songs from this album blend with one another
9. Waiting for Slow Songs
10. Delivering Maybes

02's Pretty Together
11. The Other Man

03's Action Pact
12.  Gimme That

06's Never Hear the End of It - NHTEOI and Navy Blues are my two favourite Sloan albums
13. Who Taught You to Live Like That?
14. Fading into Obscurity
15. I Understand
16. Love is All Around
17. Ill Placed Trust
18. Another Way I Could Do It

Ok, so it was more than 10.  :thumbup:

It's difficult to pick songs from Never Hear the End of It, because it really is what an album ought to be: one cohesive set of songs.  Sure there are highlights and lowpoints, but it is a whole piece.  Sloan is really good at that as each album sounds very Sloan, but has its own 'sound'.

They did release a fairly comprehensive best of (called 'A Sides Win') in 2005 that has most of the tracks on this list except anything from NHTEOI.  The bonus DVD is a treat as well.

Anyway, hope that list helps you get to know one heckuva band.

Tort

[konbiz]

Wow thanks, I'll make sure to check these songs out. Just thought I'd "attempt" to return the favour, have you ever heard of a band called the Neutral Milk Hotel. They split up 9 years ago I think now, but their music is pretty good.

[El Condor]

Just came across this thread and checked out the blog.  Very cool stuff, Tort!  :thumbup:

The only newer artist on your sight I recognize is The Decemberists.  I was introduced to Crane Wife by my stepson as we drove to the in-law's in Pittsburgh for Christmas.  That song that goes "When we get there, sons and daughters/ We'll build our homes on the water..." was churning away as we drove across the hilly Pennsylvania river valleys.  Quite a cool scene, it was!

I've been down on mainstream (and even much off-mainstream) music for a while now because of (as has been mentioned here) the grinding repetition that can be so easily picked up. The only artist on the pop scene that has interested me lately is Beck, who seems to be one of the few who is really following his muse and innovating, and doesn't seem so beholden to industry formula.  But I'll definitely be checking out your blog for new ideas! 

EC

[Spring Heeled Jack]

Hey Tort, I wrote an Aerosmith concert review a few months ago. I've never been a big fan, but I did enjoy the show. You can read the review here: http://a-pop-lectic.blogspot.com/

PS, Nice blog.

[Tortuga]

Wow thanks, I'll make sure to check these songs out. Just thought I'd "attempt" to return the favour, have you ever heard of a band called the Neutral Milk Hotel. They split up 9 years ago I think now, but their music is pretty good.

Thanks for the recommend, konbiz.  I'll see if our library has any of their CDs.

Just came across this thread and checked out the blog.  Very cool stuff, Tort!  :thumbup:

The only newer artist on your sight I recognize is The Decemberists.  I was introduced to Crane Wife by my stepson as we drove to the in-law's in Pittsburgh for Christmas.  That song that goes "When we get there, sons and daughters/ We'll build our homes on the water..." was churning away as we drove across the hilly Pennsylvania river valleys.  Quite a cool scene, it was!

The Decemberists' lyrics are brilliant -- they're sensory and subtley disturbing.  "Shankhill Butchers" is a great example.  But then they blend it with pastoral and hopeful ideas such as "Sons and Daughters".  If you enjoyed The Crane Wife, I would absolutely recommend their previous album, Picaresque.  "The Sporting Life" (track 4) is a song that, in the words of a classic Kids in the Hall skit, I wish was a whole day long, cause that would be the best day ever.

Hey Tort, I wrote an Aerosmith concert review a few months ago. I've never been a big fan, but I did enjoy the show. You can read the review here: http://a-pop-lectic.blogspot.com/

PS, Nice blog.

Thanks SHJ, I'll check the Aerosmith review once my report cards are written.

"Cover to Cover Part 2" is up...continuing the saga of how Aerosmith led me to other (better) bands.  :D

[Spam]

Freakin' A website, Tortuga. Even though I've never heard of those bands, (Sloan, The Decemberists, some other ones mentioned here), I should check them all out.

Once again, freakin' awesome.

FORIAMSPAM!

[Figure Fan]

I love Sloan! OMG!


That is all..

[afterburn]

  I'll put in a second for Neutral Milk Hotel.  The album "in the aeroplane over the sea" is one of my favorite albums in my collection, but a lot of people put it down because it takes a few listens to get into.  The title track on that album can give me shivers every time I listen to it.  My music snob friends almost never agree with my music choices initially but in a few months they come up to me and say something like "have you ever listened to the New Pornographers?"  and l'll say "Yeah, I tried to get you to listen to them a few months ago but you refused."  and then they'll reject what i say and then start saying how it was so great they found it for themselves and how hey love it now.