DNTTA Playlist for July 19, 2024

 Artist - Song - Album (Label)  * indicates Canadian Content 

Listen to Do Not Touch This Amp every Friday 8-9 PM Pacific at www.thex.ca 

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Hansmole - Bouyancy*
Tilda Snakeoil - Perfume*
Beverly Glenn-Copeland - Stand Theme*
La Force - Empty Sympathy*
Teke::Teke - Onaji Heya*
Corridor - Chenil*
Helena Deland - Spring Bug*
KEN Mode - The Shrike*
NOBRO - Let’s Do Drugs*
Dismania - They Live*
Grimelda - George Thorogood*
BIG|BRAVE - Quotidian – Solemnity*

Meet the 2017 Polaris Award Short List

(This blog post is likely to come off as cynical. Take it as you will...)

The Polaris Prize used to mean something. Since 2006, the award has been given to a Canadian artist deserving of merit by artistry, not by album sales. But, like all awards as they age, it's lost its shine and has started to become irrelevant.

This year's crop of ten shortlisted albums doesn't seem like a particularly strong one. Though there are some great albums here, this seems cobbled together by tin-eared hacks looking to make a statement of some sort.

I was a Polaris juror once upon a time, just a few years ago in 2010. The online debate over what albums should be included in the long list, then the final ten, and the final voting, are something I'd like to forget. You can boil down the jury into three camps. 1) Those jurors with the loudest voices, self-aggrandizing and arrogant, vain believers that they are the taste-makers of Canada. 2) Jurors looking to make a statement, advocating for whatever artist made a social or political statement, regardless of the quality of the album in question, and 3) music fans who like music and want to celebrate that. Sadly, the first two seem to be the loudest groups, and the smallest in size, but the ones that generally get the most attention.

My own participation was earnest at first, but when the conversation degenerated into non-music topics, like the politics of the performers, or the ethnic background or sexual orientation of the artists, I quickly lost interest. I don't believe I even participated in discussion once the short list was announced.

I've talked about this in the past, and referenced Johnny Regalado's infamous blog post, "I Was a Polaris Juror, and it Sucked". Regalado's on the other side of the fence from me as to the ethnic make up of the musicians (I think it doesn't matter at all, it's the music that counts), but he's spot on about the talk about the music in general. It's juvenile, and dominated by a few louder voices.

This year's nominees:

A Tribe Called Red - We Are the Halluci Nation
BadBadNotGood - IV
Leonard Cohen - You Want it Darker
Gord Downie - The Secret Path
Feist - Pleasure
Lisa Leblanc - Why You Wanna Leave, Runaway Queen?
Lido Pimienta - La Papessa
Tanya Tagaq - Retribution
Leif Vollebekk - Solitude
Weaves - Weaves

Looking at the list, I see what you would call a nice Grammys style mix there. We've got a few great albums, some albums on the list because the artists pulls at the heart strings or represent some political or social ideology, and some safe picks there because the albums are decent, but not great.

Falling into the first part are my two picks for best albums, likely Weaves and Leif Vollebekk. Weaves I picked for one of my favourite albums of 2016, and I truly think it's a groundbreaking and innovative. Vollebekk has simply made a really enjoyable indy-rock/folk album that's a joy to listen to from front to back.

I'd put Tanya Tagaq and A Tribe Called Red in the first group too, with both albums straddling genres and blurring the lines between First Nations traditional music and modern indy rock and electronic styles. Though these albums do have the distinction of also being First Nations artist, which is going to muddy the waters a bit. The question will come up, "Are they being recognized for the music or for their background?" I point back to the strange win of Buffy Sainte-Marie's thoroughly mediocre album in 2015 for my cynicism there.

Gord Downie and Leonard Cohen are the Grammy style nominees this year, the "sorry for your personal problems, here's an award" award. Cohen's album was quite average. Downie's album was fairly decent, but his diagnosis of cancer is going to colour his nomination.

Then the safe picks. Feist has already won the prize twice before. Pleasure is an average album. Lisa Leblanc's work was groundbreaking gritty country, up until this latest album, which is very plain. Same with BBNG, a plain album that pales in comparison to their previous album, but this one has more big name guest stars.

I've not heard the Lido Pimiento album, so I can't comment on it.

If I were a gambling man, I'd go with A Tribe Called Red this year. Their album was a stunning statement, a wildly ecclectic album, confronational, genre-bending album, difficult to listen to but awarding once dug into. I'd love to see Weaves take the prize, but I think it's a long shot at this point.

SJWs Invade Music!

A few days ago, I read an interesting article that was linked up from the BC Musician magazine Facebook page, called I Was a Polaris Juror and it Sucked. Having been a Polaris juror myself several years ago, I found the article an interesting look back into the world I had left. When I was a juror, I was called in due to my position as music director at CFBX and enjoyed the opportunity to help determine the best music in Canada, regardless of commercial success. I only stayed as a juror for one year, since I found a lot of the discussion fairly off-putting, as the article above points out. The politicking, sometimes harsh (if passionate) arguing and name calling often drowned out the actual discussion about the music. I kind of shrugged the rest of the article off as sour grapes, finding the tokenism of the author wanting to include more diverse voices as a point of social commentary, rather than a discussion of music.

That is until this happened:



The very same band the author of the article was campaigning against has changed their name, due to pressure from outside sources. I understand why the band did it, to silence people complaining about the band rather than talking about their music, but it's a shame they were forced to do so. They didn't choose the name because it was offensive (though that would be a totally post-punk/middle finger kind of thing for a band like this to do), but because it resonated with them. Today I realized, after watching the hilarious and spot on portrayals of SJWs (Social Justice Warriors) as bullying frat boys from Monday's season opener of South Park, that SJWs are beginning to infiltrate the music industry. And it sucks.

The SJW movement has it's roots in something noble, the feminists movement, but has turned into something extremely offensive and often unintentionally hilarious. Check out the TumblrinAction subreddit for the type of thing I'm talking about. Yes, the rights of the trans-gendered, the gay and otherwise marginalized members of society should be protected. No, just because you think you're a wolf in a human body (or even more ridiculous things like a galaxy in a human body, or a colour in a human body (yes, that's apparently a thing), does not make you special nor deserving of special treatment. Because you think you have a mental illness and you are "triggered" by someone saying you're not special does not make you special. It makes you delusional. Real people with mental illnesses don't brag about their illnesses, they instead work through them. And when they're triggered (actually triggered, not whatever you think being triggered is), they curl up in a ball in the corner, a quivering mess of uncontrollable anxiety or depression. They don't blog about it. Nor do they whine on the internet, unless they're looking for attention. Like most of these otherkin folk on Tumblr.

Yes, Johnnie Regalado, Viet Cong's name could be seen as offensive. But does that in any way reduce how good their music is? Fuck no. Their debut album is one of the best albums of the year so far, and I'd be pretty proud if the Polaris Prize went to them. Grant Lawrence is completely right pointing out that you don't seem to have any problems with other bands that have offensive names. The Dead Kennedys, named after the assassination of John Kennedy, are one of the most respected punk bands in the world. Joy Division are named after the group of "pleasure ladies" used to service Nazi leaders, and are one of the most important post-punk bands ever. Gang of Four are named after the repressive inner circle of Mao's revolutionary government in China, but still made several amazing and highly influential dance punk albums. The Lee Harvey Oswald Band, Marilyn Manson, Anal Cult, The Fucking Champs, The Dwarves. The list goes on and on of bands with offensive names that are making great music. Yet Viet Cong somehow twists your nipples and twisted a bunch of other people so hard that the band were forced to change their name because they got all offended by the choices they made. What right do you have to say that the band is wrong? How punk is it to knuckle down and bow to public pressure? Not very punk at all. And it robs the band of their ability to make an artistic statement.

This reminds me so much of the PMRC debates that happened back in the 80s, back when some morally upright politicians and their wives were openly complaining about depravity in the music industry. This was back when people were afraid that kids were killing themselves due to listening to heavy metal albums. The hearings that followed were amusing in a lot of ways, with Frank Zappa making the most poignant speech of the hearings. It's interesting to note that Zappa's Jazz from Hell album ended up with a parental advisory sticker on it, even though the album contained no lyrics, and there was nothing offensive on the album sleeve or liner notes. And Zappa was a staunch conservative. And, John Denver, who the establishment thought would for sure stand up for the depravity in the music industry, actually stood up for artistic expression.

Get your stinking moral high ground out of art and music. That sort of judgement stunts the artistic process and damages art and music. Viet Cong should not be forced to change their name.

FYI, here's Zappa's speech. It's a bit long, but worth listening to.

On Godspeed winning the Polaris Prize

On September 23^rd, the 8^th annual Polaris Prize was announced. This year, the prize went to Godspeed You! Black Emperor, a seminal experimental music band from Montreal, for their album Allelujah! Don't Bend Ascend. Normally, I'd be celebrating this win, being a landmark and a validation of experimental music, a style and approach to music near and dear to my heart. But, my emotions are a bit mixed on this. Let me explain why.

Part of it is the feel of hipsterism to this year's pick. GY!BE have been doing their style of music for more than 15 years, mostly on their own imprint, Constellation Records. Constellation, due to their association with Godspeed, has been a remarkable label dedicated to the strange and artsy end of the musical spectrum. From those meagre beginnings, now Constellation's releases seem to enjoy popularity with almost every release put out. And good on them for it. But, where is the love for this kind of music coming out on other labels, even other Canadian labels?

Let me give you an example. One of the big names on Constellation is Colin Stetson, an avant-garde saxophonist who also dabbles in post punk and electronics (He was also up for the Polaris Prize this year). His music is dense, difficult and noisy. Without Constellation behind him, it's doubtful he would be as big of a name in campus radio as he is now. Nor would he be embraced by the same crowd that likes Metric, The Shins and Said the Whale. But, how much of this is on Stetson himself and how much is it on the label he's on?

Hot labels aren't new in music. Matador, Sub Pop, Merge, Kill Rock Stars, K, all have enjoyed a buzz that have helped their bands. Montreal also currently sports Arbutus Records. Everything they release seems to catch fire, regardless of quality (though most releases on Arbutus are of a high quality). Same with Constellation. Regardless of whatever strange thing they put out, it seems to get picked up by the hipster crowd. The most recent releases like this have been the aforementioned Colin Stetson, Jerusalem in My Heart (a bizarre mix of Middle Eastern folk, indy rock and electronics, with song titles in Arabic text-speak), Esmerine (a similar mix of world beat and post punk) and Sarah Neufeld (violinist from Arcade Fire, a drony mix of neo-classical and orchestral pop). Would these band, standing on their own, garner the same attention if they weren't on Constellation? Is their popularity due to their talent, or does it have more to do with who they are associated with?

On the avant-garde jazz scene in Canada, there are easily a dozen artists I can think of that deserve just as much attention as Colin Stetson. Jesse Zubot, Jean Martin, Peggy Lee, Simon Fisk, Gordon Grdina and more are doing things very similar to what Stetson is doing, but without the backing of Constellation, the Said the Whale fans of the world ignore them. And it's not like that Canadian college radio is not getting their music. Our station has many releases from these artists. But because the hip label Constellation isn't on the cover, they seem to be ignored.

Even bands similar to Godspeed suffer from this. Hamilton's SIANspheric has been doing droning post punk like Godspeed since before Godspeed existed, but they seem to be a footnote in Canadian music history, even though they often do the genre better. Ditto for the even older Nihilist Spasm Band, which even the most hardcore of experimental music fans in Canada might be hard-pressed to recall their songs, even though they continue to record and tour today.

The second aspect that bugs me about this selection is that it feels like tokenism. Godspeed's latest album isn't their best, nor is it particularly interesting. Their best work were their first couple of albums, F# A# Infinity and Slow Riot for New Zero Kanada. Godspeed have also been doing the same sound for 15 years, with not much variation in what they do. There's very little that's groundbreaking about Allelujah! Don't Bend Ascend. They're pretty much the same band they were in 1998, with the same expansive, twenty minute drones that they're known for.

This award feels like those Grammy award ceremonies where the awards go out to bands as a concession for their previous works. Remember when Santana took home all those awards for his album of collaborations with modern pop stars, that was several dozen steps behind his groundbreaking work in the 70s? Or Herbie Hancock's award for best album in the 2000s, long after his most celebrated work in the 70s. Or the awful Ray Charles album that won after his death? This feels like, “Hey Godspeed! We loved your past work but we didn't feel like acknowledging it til now. Here, have an award for this sub-par album that isn't as great as your old work, but makes us feel better for giving it to you.” Of course, there was no Polaris Prize back in 1998, but the point remains.

Ideally, this award should go to someone that was young enough to enjoy the cash reward and prestige that goes with the award. Godspeed already have a hipster empire. How about METZ, Purity Ring or Whitehorse, all of whom put out stellar albums this year. I'm happy for Godspeed's win, but it leaves a bitter taste in my mouth.