Gift From Me To You Series

Has anyone had a chance to listen to Angles yet? If you have, please post something, your thoughts, your criticisms, what you liked, what you thought he could do better, etc.
 
Edmonton, Alberta

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I'm not going to lie and say I know a lot about Edmonton. It's home to the West Edmonton Mall which is the largest mall in North America and the hockey team The Edmonton Oilers. It's also pretty close to Calgary. Well that's about all I know off the top of my head so I'll just jump into this week's entries who are familiar to long time follows, The Smalls.

About two months ago I sent off The Smalls' '99 album My Dear Little Angle which got some positive feedback. If you're not aware of this band, they're essentially a group that did an excellent corabination of metal, jazz, punk, country and rock. One of the more rock oriented banRAB I listen to, with high energy and well written instrumentation and lyrics they really are a unique and rare band. Considering The Smalls are pretty much the only band from Edmonton that I'm aware of, they're really the only group that I can give out. However I'm not going to sending out the same CD again, instead I went to the liberty of uploading their other three albums so people can have their entire discography.

So there's three albums for you to choose from:

  • The Smalls
  • To Each A Zone
  • Waste And Tragedy

Also as an added bonus there's going to be a fourth album, the 2007 release of former Smalls bassist Corb Lund's county album Horse Soldier! Horse Soldier! which is quite possibly one of the greatest country albums I've ever heard. It's not Gothic Country, a genre I'm known for raising awareness for, but it's not the annoying pop country crap you hear on the radio either.


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I think I'm just going to start sending off the CD's along with the links for people again, however I have to go out very soon so it won't be for a few hours, patience people. I would really like to see some more in the way of feedback though.
 
I would be very interested in doing this thing, the Weekly Music Trading Post seems to be over and I am in desperate need of random albums from people I don't know in real life.
 
Wah? I've been a bit relaxed about downloading this stuff, but who could hate Warsawpack? It's just such a good album, and easily beats out Gruvis Malt who I've hardly listened to lately.

I'd love the follow up.
 
After looking at the nurabers on my mediafire account, I've decided to make this a by request series. It'll still be every Tuesday, but rather than doing a mass send out and spamming up people's inboxs, I'll post a little write up on the album with an example (like I've been doing) and if it's something that strikes your fancy you can ask for it.
 
An interesting-looking batch there Pete. Thanks for the PM too - I'll make use of those links shortly. Can't get back to you about LuciDreams and the Villains just yet, as I haven't had the chance for them just yet. I'll report back soon enough though :)
 
Calgary, Alberta
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Ahh Calgary, to some, a beautiful city with a small town feel, to others the armpit of Canada. I have yet to explore Canada outside British Colurabia so I really have no insight of my own, just thoughts and opinions from frienRAB who have lived there. Surprisingly it is home to a large collection of musical groups that are actually pretty good. I had this notion that Calgary is a lot like Reno, both in terms of elevation and populace (i.e. rednecks galore) and thus would have a very limited and poor music scene. When my friend moved back to Vancouver, he came back with a good portion of music that he heard while living there, which I am now sharing with you.


LuciDream - Choose The Madness

One of my all time favourite Canadian groups and for good reason. Their mix of acoustic guitars and hip hop is truly a unique experience that works. Their lyricist really knows how to write and use his worRAB correctly, songs switching for bright eyed idealism to down to Earth realism. I wrote a review for them earlier (Here) in which I sung very highly of them. I think that may have been a bit of a mistake because it created unreasonable expectations. Regardless of that, I still think they are possibly one of the greatest unknown banRAB I ever heard, with a truly unique sound that I have yet to see topped.

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The Interpestuals - ReviveR

I passed this one onto one person here (Surell) in which I don't think I ever got a response. This is one of those unknown unknown banRAB, the underground to the underground. Very little is actually known about them (In fact everything on the internet about them is written by the person who passed them onto me) and the band has more than likely fallen through. However before dissolving, they did leave one stellar record. A darker acoustic album that is like a mix of country and grunge. The most popular track is the last one "Boots & Skulls" about a jaded man singing about what he would do to his ex who cheated on him, in extremely graphic detail, all while singing it in an almost upbeat rhythm and Jack Johnson like style. My friend Chris told me this song was written about the ex wife of the singer who cheated on him, divorced him, took his home/car/boat and daughter by telling the courts that he was a junkie. Probably not an album you'll listen to all the time, but it really is a hauntingly beautiful album that does deserve the attention.

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The Villains - Sad Song Killer

These guys were a group that I really didn't get into until very recently. I usually had the song "Raindown" on my mp3 player at all times, but other than that I never really delved too far into their albums. Not because of lack of interest or dislike, I was just becoming overwhelmed with music from all places. As I said it wasn't until recently that I started to listen to their two albums and digest them. All I can say is that I'm a little pissed at myself for not doing so earlier as they're actually pretty good. The Villians straddle that fine line between serious hard rock and goofy fun rock.

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I have all three of these artists uploaded, so if one of them strikes your fancy then just let me know, either by posting in this thread, writing on my shout wall thingy, or sending me a private message.

Next week we'll be stopping in Edmonton, not too far away from Calgary.

Enjoy!
 
I haven't listened to any of them yet but don't take it personally. I always have tons of stuff to get through and I eventually will.
 
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Ontario Pt. 1

Ontario, being the most populated Province in Canada, is home to almost all of Canada's music. That said I've decided to split it up into two parts, that way I don't feel the need to exclude some banRAB for others. I'll be doing four albums today so I'll keep the write up on the setting rather short. Ontario, as I stated earlier, is the most populated Province and home to our capital city, Ottawa. It's cold during the winter and quite pleasant during the summer. It has the largest amount of urban centers with Toronto, Hamilton, WinRABor, and Ottawa. That's about all I know, I have yet to really explore Canada outside of B.C. (my home Province) so I don't have much to say so I'll just move onto the banRAB.

WarsawpacK - Stocks & Borabs

Longtime follows will have heard these guys before, I believe they were the second group I gave out. Well here's their second and last album Stocks & Borabs. For people who are unfamiliar with them, they're sound can best be described as "If Rage Against the Machine took a chill pill". Following a wide array of topics, from the rise of ADD to the depletion of the environment, as well as the dwindling sources of oil. They are intelligently written lyrics, however you really have to pay attention to what they're saying. These guys got some good feedback, so I'm hoping you'll like this album as well.

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Elliott BROOD - Mountain Meadows

Longtime fan of this band, since 2005 when I heard their debut album Arabassador. Before then the only country I really liked was Johnny Cash and a few others, I never really gave much new stuff a chance, usually just writing it off as the pop country trash that populates the radio. How wrong was I when I heard Arabassador when I could hear the complexity and the emotion put into Country music. Since then I haven't been able to get enough, usually finding something new each week. 2008 was a great year for me because Elliott BROOD released their sophomore album Mountain Meadows, a concept album based on the infamous Mountain Meadows Massacre. If you're unfamiliar with that event, it was essentially the mass slaughtering of traveling Scandinavian workers by the local Mormon population. They slaughtered everyone over a certain age, then went and raised the survivors into the Mormon religion. An incredibly dark part of American history, that barley even gets a mention in most History textbooks. In fact I didn't even learn of this event till last year when this album came out and out of curiosity I looked up the name "Mountain Meadows". Not many banRAB can create a sound like this, each song has this... glimmer of hope towarRAB the end, then the song abruptly enRAB.

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Barstool Prophets - Crank

I can honestly say I don't know much about this band, but I do know that their album Crank is just one of those rock albums that you can't help but love. As their band name implies they're the type of band you'd expect to be playing at a bar, however they're not your typical "bar band" because in their lyrics are tongue-in-cheek lessons for life, love, and other topics. They are the people you always see at the bar, with a weathered face, someone you'd expect to be a total piss head, yet behind all those preconceptions lies an intelligent being full of wisdom. That is basically the only way I can describe the band. Their name really does it for them, an intelligent working class rock band you'd expect to see playing on a Wednesday night at the local bar.


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Barenaked Ladies - Are Men

Throughout this little trek through Canada I've made a point to avoid the popular Canadian banRAB, however I don't think I would be doing Canadian music any justice if I browsed over the Barenaked Ladies. To most people they are a joke band with that one hit back in '98 that mentioned the Cigarette Smoking Man from The X-Files, however behind their poppy radio hits, lies a band with some incredibly intelligent and dark lyrics. Are Men wasn't the album I really wanted to upload, however all their other ones were over 100 rab and I didn't want to split them into two parts. That said, Are Men isn't a bad album by any stretch, but it doesn't do the best job and exemplifying the points I made earlier. Regardless it's a fun album to listen to every now and then.

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I am sorry that Rehab is not turning out to be as big a hit as I thought it'd be, however I am not infallible, eventually something I gave out would get less than favourable feedback. Does not change my opinion on the album though, "Graffiti The World" is still one of my favourite rap/rock albums of all time. I will, however, be a little bit more selective on next week's entry, something I think is more agreeable for everyone.
 
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