ANOTHER YEAR IN CANADA?

[weasel-seeker.livejournal.com]

So I know Frank does this on his personal LJ, but in a few conversations with various and sundry poptimists over the past few months, it's occurred to me how ghettoized non-American pop music tends to be.

Due to Canada's odd cultural promotion legislation there's an entire bubbling underground of Canadian pop music, some of it great, some of it awful and much of it pale imitations of whatever happens to be going on in America at the time.  Regardless, drawing attention to some of it wouldn't be the worst jumping point for discussion, so what the hell.  Let's try it and see what happens.

2. KARL WOLF - AFRICA:

Ugh.  This has been perpetually stuck at number 2 for what seems like months.  Lebanese-Canadian singer from Montreal performs wholly unnecessary cover of Toto.  JoJo sampled this to greater effect.  Ubiquitous and if not actively bad, at the very least actively blah.

7. NICKELBACK - IF TODAY WAS YOUR LAST DAY

Let's not even bother, shall we?  Their songs all sound the same.  Boys with loud guitars and one melody.  Moving on.

25. MARIANAS TRENCH - CROSS MY HEART

www.youtube.com/watch

Hmm.  I had no idea that these guys existed. They seem to be a b-grade version of Fall Out Boy, much like Simple Plan were the Canadian Good Charlotte.  Simple Plan at least have the benefit of being secretly and surprisingly Quebecois and verrry French.  This isn't half-bad, although between this and Avril's Girlfriend, apparently the distinguishing feature of Canadian poppunkrock is backing handclaps.

29. DIVINE BROWN - SUNGLASSES

Unfortunately stage named Canadian R&B singer does a weird synthy 80s dance track.  Apparently co-written by Nelly Furtado, and the tone is reminiscent of much of <i>Loose</i>.  It's not great, but it could be worse.  That said, Brown has done far better, namely Lay It On The Line, which has some nice old school swing to it.  So in comparison, Sunglasses is kind of....eh.

31 DEBORAH COX - BEAUTIFUL U  R

www.youtube.com/watch

This HAS actually been on the chart for 29 weeks or something.  And you know what?  I don't mind.  It's a nice little empowerment confection.  Plus, after ten years of relative obscurity since topping the Billboard Charts, it's nice for her to have some success, even if it's just North of the border.

40. CARLY RAE JEPSEN - TUG OF WAR

www.youtube.com/watch

Former contestant on since cancelled Canadian Idol releases slight dance track with acoustic guitar and wispy vocals.  Somehow pulls it off.  There's something affected about her vocals that might bother certain poptimists, but to my ears, the tics add interest and texture in the way that Furtado's did on her earlier nasal folky albums.

Overall, kind of a weak showing, I suppose, but that should change as summer approaches, hopefully.

Comments

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

JoJo! I had forgotten all about JoJo...

(Thanks for posting btw! All pop content v welcome at the moment.)

[weasel-seeker.livejournal.com]

The reason this is a shame is because when I first came up with this idea back in January while talking to Lex, there was a great deal of ENJOYABLE Canada-made pop music on the Canadian charts. At the moment, this is not as valid a claim. At some point, I'll throw together a retrospective of the total oddities of the past year.

[koganbot]

Nickelback's songs don't all sound the same, even if Kroeger always tends to sing the same - a problem that is eliminated in Travis Tritt's terrific cover of "Should've Listened." (But one reason for that track's greatness is that the original song is really good.) And I don't mind the new Nickelback song, by the way. More successfully pretty than they often are.

[koganbot]

I like how the nerd boy in the vid for "Lay It On The Line" is so distractible.

[sm-woods.livejournal.com]

I liked Karl Wolf's "Africa" the first 345 times I heard it, but started to tire of it by the 346th. Though I still think what he does with the chorus is pretty effective here: frothy PM Dawn/Beach Boys-ish harmonizing, and it destroys the original for that very reason (music on the Toto version is good but their vocals are awful). (BTW, "Africa" has been remade and sampled and revamped all over the place in hip-hop and r&b and even teen pop... it's become a fun song to follow around, in a way, so I like this version for that reason as well.)

One song I'd add here, because I'm pretty sure it's Canadian -- I've mentioned it elsewhere -- is Nikki Awesome's excellent "You Say (It Was Supposed to Be)," which rips off New Order and is one of my favourite songs of the year.

[sm-woods.livejournal.com]

BTW, I will listen to the others, curious to hear them, I just can't do so right now at work. Does "Lay it on the Line" have anything to do with Triumph?? Is "Sunglasses" in any way related to Corey Hart? The answer to these and other exciting questions I hope to find out later.

[petronia.livejournal.com]

I have entertained multiple times the idea of doing a current Canadian charts thing, only to abandon it when I remembered how much Nickelback that would require me to listen to. XD;;

[strange-powers.livejournal.com]

Toto's vocals awful? I have to disagree - they aren't smooth or refined but they are striking and different and still pretty unusual. I think it's an integral part of what makes Africa great.

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

Remember JoJo's version of 'Beautiful Girls', where she sang about doing the dutty wine!

[sm-woods.livejournal.com]

They are striking, I just can't stand the guy's pinched falsetto. I don't think I've heard a Toto song where I didn't recoil somewhat from the guy's voice.

semantic quibbling

[piratemoggy.livejournal.com]

You can't name yourself after the "heaviest, deepest, most brutal part of the ocean" and then sound like a massive bag of pussies.