A friend of mine visited Canada some years ago, and his recount of that trip left me with the impression that our neighbors to the north were freaks for Rod Stewart, Dairy Queen and ketchup-flavored potato chips.
Granted, that was before The Arcade Fire’s Funeral had become a requirement for your hipster merit badge or before said friend had heard my copy of Godspeed You! Black Emperor’s Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven.
If the ’90s will be remembered as the decade when America’s underground rock scene was harvested into commercial homogenization, perhaps the ’00s will go down as the decade when the Canada finally got its turn. That remains to be seen, of course, but The AV Club shows us it’s not such a far-fetched scenario.
Last week writers Scott Gordon and Noel Murray offered a handy rundown (ooh, hush) of Canada’s fertile indie-rock scene — where it’s been, where it is and where it’s headed. They report. You decide.
4 responses so far ↓
1 K // Sep 25, 2007 at 10:25 pm
It pains me to admit it, but I am a total sucker for canadian indie rock, though, typically only their first albums. (stills, metric, arcade fire, Tokyo Police Club, broken social scene, etc.) Lately, I’ve been obsessed with Stars for no particular reason.
2 K // Sep 26, 2007 at 11:01 am
I totally left out Junior Boys. Damn, Canada!
3 Kevin Langston // Sep 26, 2007 at 6:59 pm
Wait, so I wasn’t the only one who liked Funeral better than Neon Bible? We should start an Oddfellows Local or something.
Canada’s really come on strong this past decade.
Then again, a lot of people overlook that fact that The Band – one of the most American-sounding bands of all time – consisted of four Canadians and one American.
4 bigcitysheep // Sep 27, 2007 at 6:53 pm
Tragically Hip! Tragically Hip!