Cancanon... Mondays?

The cheesiest tattoos are those based around one's nationality or ethnicity. I mean, I admittedly do have a few cheesy tattoos, but there are some absolute horror-show tattoos that people have based around where they’re from. They probably rank somewhere below tribal pieces (which everyone knows are pretty cheesy at this point – targeting them is like shooting fish in a barrel) and perhaps Looney Tunes characters (unless in a nationality-themed Marvin the Martian, which, admittedly, is pretty cool).

Anyhow, over the years, I’ve seen some doozies – angular maple leaves designed around the Toronto Maple Leafs logo, beavers playing lacrosse, etc. To a certain point, I’d wondered what exactly was the purpose of getting these tattoos – aren’t Canadians supposed to be mild and self-effacing? Since when were we supposed to be so proud of where we’re from? I mean, it’s understandable to wear the flag whilst travelling (lest everyone think that you’re Canadian), but I mean, to etch it in your skin? It never really made sense to me.


But, little by little, my opinion has been changing. If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you’d recognize that I generally support Canadian music – past and present. And I don’t even necessarily support good Canadian music – I’m just kind of charmed by Canadian music in general. Cancanon Fridays, after all, are generally my weekly tribute to Canadian music, past and present, across generic lines; I’d like to hope that there’s no real illusion of every video I post being good.

And this is actually kind of bizarre to me. I mean, aren’t bloggers semi-tastemakers in their own right? Aren’t blogs supposed to be reflective of a particular blogger’s voice? And don’t bloggers tend to write about what they like? And don’t most bloggers seem to believe that what they like is good?

So it dawned on me – I don’t like everything I post here, or even all of the music that I write about – typically, I can actually just associate with it. And sometimes, that's even better than liking music.

And I’m beginning to understand why people get Canadian-themed tattoos – it’s probably for the exact same reasons that I continue to keep writing about Canadian music. Those with Canadian tattoos aren’t necessarily ardent nationalists, or particularly slow – really, they’re just indicating that they associate with Canadian iconography. And it’s actually quite resonant that Canadian iconography, coast to coast, consists of lacrosse rackets, tournaments of hearts, or, um, Molson Canadian beer (okay, maybe not Molson Canadian beer).

Anyhow, it’s interesting that this bland set of shared signifiers can be as resonant for someone in Victoria B.C. as they might be to someone in Labrador. And I’m not sure why we’ve chosen such a diverse, redundant set of metaphors, but it’s intriguing that we've developed and maintained them.

And the same rationale applies to Canadian music. I tend to feel that I associate with Canadian music more than music from, say, Botswana; this is, I am guessing, because the music produced in Canada was created under specific circumstances more-or-less similar to my own.

But the odd thing is that I can still identify with Canadian product created of completely dissimilar circumstances – and I’m not exactly sure why it is. For example, I’ve long admired and identified with the music coming from Vancouver, and there’s no plausible reason why. Vancouver, for all intents and purposes, is located as far away from my house as Botswana.


See, Vancouver’s a huge mystery to me. I know all of about ten people who live there – with maybe three I’d describe as ‘close friends’ – which, on the acquaintances-living-in-different-cities scale, places Vancouver slightly above Regina, SK. I’ve only really been there once, and I recall being impressed with the union of ocean and mountains; but I can’t say I got a great read on the city. My initial assumptions about the city involve bourgeois mushroom-growing snowboarders; witness account have indicated that it’s a city packed full of junkies with a overinflated rent prices. I am guessing that Vancouver’s reality lies somewhere in between both accounts.

But that being said, Vancouver is – and has always been a fantastic contributor to the Cancanon; from team Black Mountain, to the classic power-meets-ancestral-twee pop of Mint Records, Vancouver is a neck-to-neck competitor with Toronto and Montreal’s music scenes. And for this week in the Cancanon, Vancouver gets the spotlight.



Ladyhawk – My Old Jackknife
I’ve seen Ladyhawk three or four times now, and to be quite honest – I don’t understand the hype. They should be – based on the country twang, sweaty fat-dude content, and ZZ-Top bearding, the template for a band that I enjoy. They should be my favourite band, but they are not. That being said, one of my best friends from Vancouver absolutely adores them; personally, they will always be compared to frequent tour mates Attack in Black, who I deem to be the far superior band (but maybe that’s just my Eastern bias). Anyhow, I felt that any posting about Vancouver wouldn’t be complete without Ladyhawk, and ‘My Old Jackknife’ is one of my favourite Ladyhawk tracks; with rustic handclaps and a sugary-sweet chorus, I can – for a moment – believe that I love this band.



The Pointed Sticks – Lies
In my (frequently misguided) opinion, the Pointed Sticks – who have recently disbanded – are one of the most perennially underrated Canadian bands. They are, essentially, Vancouver’s answer to the incredibly strong power-pop scene in Seattle; and they can go toe to toe with (and were very much the precursor to) the Exploding Hearts. And, coming from me, that’s a compliment of the highest order. While D.O.A. tend to be the most lauded of Vancouver punk rock bands, I'll argue that the Pointed Sticks were better.



Vancougar – Distance
I’ll always be sucker for dirty, synth-heavy girl rock. Aside from having one of the best names in music, Vancougar continue in the tradition of classic Mint Records bands: sugary, gritty, verging on twee pop, and, uh, fucking great.



The Awkward Stage – The Sun Goes Down on Girlsville
I’m also not exactly sure how the Awkward Stage are forever overlooked; they possess celebrity links (with New Porno affiliation), music industry veteran savvy (possessing former members of Limblifter), and play power pop akin to mid-90s radio alt-rock. The Awkward Stage, for me, are the template BC power pop band; if Halifax is defined by Matt Murphy and Joel Plaskett, then Vancougar is defined by the Dahle brothers.



Zumpano – The Party Rages On
Zumpano entirely sounds like the New Pornographers, and rightly so – New Pornos frontman Carl Newman cut his vocal wares with Zumpano. If it hasn’t been apparent yet, Vancougar’s music, to me, is very much about power pop, and Carl Newman, much like the Dahles, is an important piece to Vancouver’s power pop voice. ‘The Party Rages On’ gets extra Canadiana points for beginning this video with Canada’s favourite surly migratory bird (read: not pigeons).