Saturday, January 11, 2020

this is a record that i keep waiting to pick up, but never does and one that i kind of have to write off as sort of boring, in the end. the pieces are here for something interesting, but it doesn't actually come together, it just kind of meanders nowhere in particular. unfortunately...
i just want to add to that dana review.

it's not that what i said isn't true in an absolute sense, but what i'm hinting at is unrealized potential. and, it's true - they're not there yet.

however, after sorting through their bandcamp site a little more, i need to point out that their new record is really light years beyond their last one. so, while i think it's fair to give them shit for being generic, it's not fair to give them shit for stagnation. they are at least evolving in the right direction, i'll give them that.

it's my fucking birthday on monday, but the weather is really just horrible, and i'd really rather stay in. 
https://www.tvo.org/article/were-not-tragically-hip-fans-and-yes-were-canadian
no.

i'll double down.

maybe you can't see yourself in the mirror. maybe you don't realize what you actually look like.

but, if you honestly think that gord fucking downie belongs on the $5 bill, you look a lot like bob and/or doug, or julian and/or ricky, to me.

that is what your average tragically hip fan was like - pickup truck driving, beer swilling, low iq, white bread retards.
or, maybe we can put julian & ricky on the $20.

the queen's almost dead, anyways.

fuck, why don't we just put julian's shot glass on the front, and a giant blunt on the back.

somebody needs to write a defence of laurier. he belongs there. these other clowns don't.
hey, after we put gord downey on the $5, maybe we can put bob on the loonie and doug on the toonie.

you fucking hosers.
this has some moments, but it's kind of reflective of where we really are with rock music at this point. this doesn't really appear to intend to accomplish anything besides being absurd, which has become kind of the status quo - it's entirely pointless. was there ever any point? well, i guess it's an open question, and i don't really want to overthink it too dramatically, when it doesn't intend to be overthought.

what we're seeing over and over are these acts that kind of have this aesthetic of being "art rock", while really just being novelty. so, they make use of a theremin in a way that's just a gimmick, opening up the question of if i have an example of a band that used a theremin substantively, and i actually don't. but, when gimmicks are repeated, they become cliches, and then novelties. like marx' history repeating as farce, and then tragedy - itself a cliche, at this point.

which isn't to say that this probably wouldn't be fun on a different night, in a different climate. it's a shitty weekend in detroit; unseasonably warm, perhaps, but rainy and gross, overall. it's a good night to stay in, drink some hot coffee and read a book.

but, i'd like to hear these kinds of bands kind of break out of the expectations and do something legitimately different, rather than retread the same ideas over and over - and i know that's not going to happen. i know this is done, as a form.

if you're closer to the venue, this is probably worth a beer or two, but it could be that much better. really.

https://danabandohio.bandcamp.com/album/glowing-auras-and-black-money
laurier is probably the best leader that this country will ever have.

it will be a sad, backwards day in this country's history if you replace him on the five with an overrated rock star that wrote trite garbage and trafficked in the worst cliches imaginable.
i've still actually never heard of viola desmond, or know why she's on the bill, other than that she was black, and they wanted a black person on the bill.
i think laurier should stay on the bill.

but, i think mackenzie-king should have stayed on the $50, too.

they should take that piece of shit borden off the $100...