A Tribe Called Red and the Budget

I wanted to add I find it kind of fitting that after a day in which the Harper Government unleashes a budget that does nothing for most Canadians, I am introduced to A Tribe Called Red, a native electronic outfit out of Ottawa.

A people that have long been ignored and swept under the rug and otherwise treated horribly by successive governments and people since our ancestors first crossed the Atlantic have so much to contribute and share and this music is a unique way to hear their music.

If you don’t want to move to it, there may be something wrong with you.

Mogwai - New Paths to Helicon, Pt. 1. The long patient build style I was talking about. Quintessential Mogwai.

Not toooooo indie

So, music is pretty important to me. I love listening to music, seeing live music, performing music. It’s so important, I’ve used the word “music” five times before the end of the third sentence of this post.

I tend to not listen to top 40. That’s not by design; it usually just turns out that way. I don’t avoid it or anything. I just don’t usually like the sound of it. At the same time, I’m not one of those people that digs for music that only a hundred people around the world have heard of. The equivalent to that university professor who is an expert on the make-up and health benefits of llama urine. He’s devoted his life to an obscure topic that only four other people on the planet care about.

So what I end up listening to is that stuff that is too mainstream to be indie and not mainstream enough to be mainstream. It’s the musical grey area where I’m most comfortable. It’s where I find bands and musicians that have small but loyal followings. Either they have a style that just doesn’t grab a large number of people, or bands that were briefly big then faded from the spotlight but have continued on over the years. Maybe THAT’S something I can talk about here. The musical grey: my home.

Marnie Stern is a musician I was introduced to in 2011 and she is fantastic. She absolutely shreds at guitar and her vocals… They take some getting used to, but if you can, they’re heartbreaking lyrics. Unfortunately, I live in Calgary and she’ll never come here. One day…

So I just learned about A Tribe Called Red today. Admittedly, I know nothing about them except that they are Canadian, but this is an awesome mash-up of aboriginal singing and electronic beats. This is long overdue, but it’s here and pretty effing cool. This track is “Electric Powwow”

I Love You I’m Going To Blow Up Your School

And so goes the title of my favourite song by my favourite post-rock band from Glasgow, Scotland: Mogwai.

So, I was on a roll for the first week of tumblrdom and then predictably forgot about it until just now, when I remembered I got tickets to see Mogwai live in Vancouver on May 29th at the Commodore Ballroom.

I can’t imagine that I can sum up this band in a post. Well, I suppose I could, but I don’t have the attention span. I’ve only been listening to Mogwai since 2009 when a great friend of mine recommended them to me (and probably has regretted it ever since, because between them and Marnie Stern, that’s who I talk about most, musically).

To describe Mogwai? Dynamic, atmospheric, layered, overdriven, wall of sound, instrumental rock. My favourite songs of theirs are long patient songs, starting with an almost inaudible bassline and building ever so slowly until it finally kicks with the aforementioned wall of sound. I don’t know what I ever did without this music in my life. They will probably tear the flesh off my face when I finally see them, and you know what? I’m okay with that.

I’m finding myself unable to get all my thoughts together to describe them and why they’re amazing, but performing almost entirely without lyrics the music can just hit you in unexpected ways. You’re not led on by words. I think there are only 2 songs with discernible lyrics by Mogwai: Travel is Dangerous (excellent song) and Mexican Grand Prix (HORRIBLE). They should probably stick to instrumental.

In short, not sure why I’ve written this, but it’s so poorly written, I feel like I’m in high school or elementary talking about my favourite band. But a blog written so badly means the music MUST be great, right?

That’s called specious reasoning. Maybe it isn’t.

Here’s what I know? Mogwai is incredible. Listen to them now!

So, here I am connecting to yet another network, as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn weren’t enough. I haven’t quite figured out the point of this yet, but I’m sure I will in time. It seems I have little to do lately but think about life. Having just had my left ACL reconstructed, my world is the couch. I haven’t been outside of my apartment in 4 days. My wife is busy becoming a doctor; I’m busy stuck as a public servant as I have no actual skills, and now I can’t do any sports. My musical ambitions seem to be on hold too, just after I finally bought myself my own bass guitar. Currently, I’m on percocet and naproxen, so I’m having trouble focusing my thoughts.

So, we’ll see how this goes, perhaps when I’m not so with the lacking of focus.