Iain Banks–The Wasp Factory (1984)

SOUNDTRACK: RAPEMAN-Two Nuns an a Pack Mule (1989). One of Steve Albini’s many groups, Rapeman made one album and an EP (both are included on the CD).  Probably the most striking thing about this CD is Albini’s guitar which is so sharp it practically hurts (and when your guitar is more notable than the lyrics from a [...]

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Daniel Alarcón–”Second Lives” (New Yorker, August 16 & 23)

SOUNDTRACK: BARENAKED LADIES-The Yellow Tape (1991). The Yellow Tape is legendary in terms of demos.  It was an indie cassette-only release and it went platinum in Canada. Before the internet, it was really hard to come across this cassette (again, even though it went platinum in Canada, I don’t know that it ever even made [...]

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Wells Tower–”Vogalooooonga” (Outside, April 2010)

SOUNDTRACK: ODDS-Neopolitan (1991). This was the first Odds album.  For such a quirky name, Odds played some pretty standard music. I’m not even sure if the first song qualifies as “alternative” as it sounds not unlike an early Phish song, only less quirky (and much shorter). The disc offers a pretty nice range of poppy [...]

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James Joyce–Ulysses 17-18 [audio book]

[LISTENED TO: Week of September 20, 2010] Ulysses 17-18 The final two Episodes of the Ulysses audio book were a mix of nothing new and massive revelations. Episode 17, the catechism, doesn’t reveal all that much in the reading.  It’s a fairly straightforward Episode, so there’s not very much in the actual reading that would impact [...]

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The Kids in the Hall: Death Come to Town (2010)

Beloved Canadians The Kids in the Hall who were hilarious for five years on their skit show (and who ended their reign while still being very funny) have returned to TV after a sixteen year hiatus (not including their underrated movie Brain Candy and their awesome live tours, naturally). I was beside myself with excitement [...]

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Nell Freudenberger–”An Arranged Marriage” (New Yorker, September 6, 2010)

SOUNDTRACK: BARENAKED LADIES-”Fight the Power” (1993). Public Enemy’s “Fight the Power” is one of the greatest anthems of the late 80s and 90s.  It’s got everything: noise, strength, rebellion great lyrics and Chuck D.  So, what can five white Canadians do with it? Well, they keep the intensity of the song very strong–even in an [...]

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Wells Tower–”Love in the Ruins” (Outside, March 2007)

SOUNDTRACK: CITY AND COLOUR-Live @ The Orange Lounge EP (2010). City and Colour is Dallas Green from Alexisonfire (he’s the one with the good singing voice as opposed to the screamy guy). This EP contains 6 songs, 4 from his last album Bring me Your Love and the 2 hits from his first album Sometimes. [...]

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Wells Tower–”My Kushy New Job” (GQ, August 2010)

SOUNDTRACK: Odds-nest (1996). My friend Amber from Vancouver copied this disc onto cassette for me sometime around when it came out.   I had heard “Heterosexual Man” when it was a minor novelty hit in the early 90s, but Amber wanted me to hear more from this Vancouver band. Since the Odds dissolved, Craig Northey [...]

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Shane Jones–Light Boxes (2009)

SOUNDTRACK: ODDS-Bedbugs (1993). This CD features the minor “novelty” hit “Heterosexual Man” (the video featured some of the Kids in the Hall in it). This disc feels like a big step forward from their first disc.  It isn’t radically different, but it feels more accomplished and maybe more confident. The bluesy tracks feel bluesier (“Car [...]

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Wells Tower–”The Tuber” (Oustide, April 2009)

SOUNDTRACK: THE MOMMYHEADS-”Needmore, PA” (2010). This is the first single from The Mommyheads’ new Dromedary release Finest Specimens.  The album (which is sort of a greatest hits, but not) comes out next month, but until then you can hear th is new track at a number of places, including the blog largehearted boy (which has all [...]

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