Uninformed music reviews, Volume 1

Recently, I went out and got hold of some albums by musicians I'd never heard of, in a possibly vain attempt to seem up to date. Here's some comments on a few of them.

I can't help but like a band that calls themselves And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead. (According to the Allmusic Guide, they're named after a prayer to Mayan corn gods.) Their So Divided album is definitely going to be worth listening to a few times. To my non-expert ears, they sound like all of the following at one time or another: Pearl Jam, Radiohead, Matthew Sweet, a crowded restaurant, ELO with bongo and accordion accompaniment, a symphony orchestra getting into a bar fight in mid-overture, Pink Floyd in the Atom Heart Mother era, what Oasis would have sounded like if they had played brass instruments, Blur, My Chemical Romance, and a folk-rock band forced to stay up for 34 hours straight before recording. And that's only the things I could think of. I'm going to have to go back sometime and see if I can add to this list.

The Arctic Monkeys have become one of the most popular bands in Britain. After listening to their Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not album, I'm not surprised. They sound a bit like Oasis - what with the northern accents and all - and they also sound a bit like those old Madchester bands of the early 9os that seemed to be enjoying a never-ending party. They're not bad, but I'd like them more if they weren't obviously having much more fun than I've had lately. Blaah. I don't like it when the music I'm listening to makes me feel old.

After seeing Joanna Newsom's name on some critics' favourites lists, I got a copy of her Ys album. Alas, I lasted about a song and a half before giving up. I just can't endure her singing voice. Sorry.

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah's self-titled album reminds me a lot of the Talking Heads and their More Songs About Buildings And Food. The guitars are doing all sorts of interesting things that blend together, and the lead singer's voice is a bit, erm, adenoidal. I'm going to be listening to this again.

And, while I'm thinking about music, I just wanted to mention that I've fallen in love with Bikini Kill's "Feels Blind". Three chords, feedback, and attitude. That's all you need to be great.


Today's Toronto Star contains the results of a Decima Research poll that named the environment as the issue that was troubling Canadians the most. I'm not surprised. It's 10C as I write this. In January. Did I mention yet that I'm scared now?