Beck, to the layperson, is one of two things: the guy who did “Loser” and the guy who stole Beyonce‘s Album of the Year Grammy. To the average fan of alternative music he’s got a bit more sway; a fair bit of people are familiar with hits like “Devil’s Haircut” and “Where It’s At”. Beck Hansen is so much more than that though, and even moderate fans can forget just how much music he’s written and how varied his catalogue is. He’s not just the slacker art-pop pastiche sculptor relegated to Best Of the 90s countdowns. In fact, a substantial amount of his post-2000 songs can arguably vie for spots on lists of his best work (spoiler alert).
Welcome to a special all-Canadian Weekly Fiver, where I’ve picked five recently released Canadian songs of varying degrees of quality and thoroughly break them down for you.
To reduce the Tragically Hip‘s body of work to a list of ten songs is an ignoble, and potentially fruitless task. There simply isn’t a way to quantify the spirit of the band into such a compact collection, because they aren’t a band that can be contained by metrics. They can’t be measured by songs, or for that matter even albums. Readers either have an inherent connection to the Hip or they don’t; a scant sample like this won’t satisfy fans nor will it convert those who just simply aren’t into them. It’s less about “liking” the band and more about understanding how integral they are to the Canadian experience. This is not to cast aspersion on non-fans; one could very well have never clicked with the music but still respect how distinctly intertwined it is with millions of people across the country. Their music transcended itself and defined an entire country– literally.
The group’s final show on August 20th, 2016 proved this. Broadcast on the CBC, it drew an astounding 11.7 million viewers/listeners – a third of the country’s population – and that didn’t even account for viewing parties with multiple people in attendance. Even ardent detractors tuned in to watch at some point specifically because of the communal experience of the event. Can you imagine a Canadian purposely skipping the last Tragically Hip show ever? Inconceivable! It would be like turning down the last Tim Horton’s donut ever produced, or not wanting a moose as a pet. Willingly cutting yourself out of a generation’s historic moment…. basically tantamount to treason. This was a bandwagon with plenty of room, not unlike hockey games at the Olympics. Those who can’t name three NHL teams will gladly paint themselves red and white every four years. (Incidentally, the only Canadian broadcast that drew more viewers was the 2010 Canada vs. USA hockey game).
The Tragically Hip were Canada: The Band. They were essentially wholly contained within the country; bands like Rush or Nickelback may have crossed over into international fame, but they just didn’t embody the country’s lifeblood like the Hip did. So please keep the aforementioned in mind when reading through this list. It’s far from comprehensive, and shouldn’t even be considered as a literal countdown. It’s merely a sample of a catalogue that has been woven into the fabric of a nation.
If you were looking for big hooks and big energy this past Friday night then Massey Hall was the place to be. Thanks to Best Coast and Paramore the venue was filled to the brim with both and more than met the expectations of the wild crowd inside.
Welcome to a special Weekly Fiver, focusing entirely on the new record from Las Vegas quartet The Killers. It’s….not their best, to put it lightly. Remember their 2013 contribution to their premature greatest hits package? It was called “Shot At the Night” and it squandered production from M83 on an adult contemporary jam worthy of the featheriest mullets. There’s about five or six similar tracks on Wonderful, Wonderful, which is undoubtedly the weakest collection the band’s ever put together. It does however, have a few bright spots. The following are five picks of varying quality from the album:
