let us now praise famous canadians
been listening a lot to an album called melville, by a band called the rheostatics. they're from canada, and proud of it, too. their songs are loaded with references to rolling prairies, hockey, and lotsa canadian history that's less than meaningless down here. the main guys have been together for over 20 years. one of them's a published author, another is a graphic artist who's done some of their album covers. the cbc declared their whale music the greatest canadian rock album, but you can buy it used on amazon for a dime.
canadian musos have it pretty sweet, at least in their own country. their government mandates that 30% of the music played on the radio has to be canadian in origin. (picture a radio station that played 30% gordon lightfoot, joni mitchell, neil young, ann murray, bruce cockburn, rush, triumph, barenaked ladies. hahahahahahaha!) it also provides loans and grants to canadian musos of all stripes. imagine being able to get a grant from the federal government the next time your band was about to get in the van for a circuit of the rock toilets! the state of texas' ineffectual "music office" should do so well.
these rheostatics are good, though. they're great players, not in the grandstanding virtuosic "look-at-me" manner of most sophisto musos, but in a very subtle way that takes awhile to stir your consciousness. they write great lyrics, too, which actually scan as poetry (or even prose), something beyond the reach of most dumbass lyricists. in "record body count," f'rinstance, you have to be listening very closely not to miss the suicide at the end. "sasketchawan" and "horses" are drawn from canadian history (a battle and a strike, respectively -- i've already confessed my ignorance of the specifics). "when winter comes," based on a letter from a fan, contains my favorite lines: "what about the band, what about the guess who / the day they made the charts in billboard magazine / all the irish armies couldn't teach you / about independence, peace and brotherhood." their melancholic music is tinged with wistful regret, but they can rock out, too.
damien stewart turned me on to the rheostatics, just like steve gray turned me on to the psychodots and geoff ginsberg turned me on to the yayhoos. all of these bands reinforce my faith that it really is worthwhile digging around to try and ferret out obscure music.
canadian musos have it pretty sweet, at least in their own country. their government mandates that 30% of the music played on the radio has to be canadian in origin. (picture a radio station that played 30% gordon lightfoot, joni mitchell, neil young, ann murray, bruce cockburn, rush, triumph, barenaked ladies. hahahahahahaha!) it also provides loans and grants to canadian musos of all stripes. imagine being able to get a grant from the federal government the next time your band was about to get in the van for a circuit of the rock toilets! the state of texas' ineffectual "music office" should do so well.
these rheostatics are good, though. they're great players, not in the grandstanding virtuosic "look-at-me" manner of most sophisto musos, but in a very subtle way that takes awhile to stir your consciousness. they write great lyrics, too, which actually scan as poetry (or even prose), something beyond the reach of most dumbass lyricists. in "record body count," f'rinstance, you have to be listening very closely not to miss the suicide at the end. "sasketchawan" and "horses" are drawn from canadian history (a battle and a strike, respectively -- i've already confessed my ignorance of the specifics). "when winter comes," based on a letter from a fan, contains my favorite lines: "what about the band, what about the guess who / the day they made the charts in billboard magazine / all the irish armies couldn't teach you / about independence, peace and brotherhood." their melancholic music is tinged with wistful regret, but they can rock out, too.
damien stewart turned me on to the rheostatics, just like steve gray turned me on to the psychodots and geoff ginsberg turned me on to the yayhoos. all of these bands reinforce my faith that it really is worthwhile digging around to try and ferret out obscure music.
posted by stashdauber at 7:11 AM
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