Audio By Carbonatix
Canada’s been getting loads of attention this year from stateside indie-rockers jazzed over ornate ensemble productions from “gay church folk music” practitioners the Hidden Cameras and extravagantly spaced-out guitar-popsters Broken Social Scene. Here’s two more acts worth your overvalued American dollar: Winnipeg’s Weakerthans and Toronto’s Constantines, passionate rock believers possessed of fairly different agendas. On Reconstruction Site, smarty-pants Weakerthans front man John Samson (known to some from his days with goofy activist-punks Propaghandi) wants to make a big difference in a small way, telling bare-naked crash-test-dummy stories about “tape hiss and the modern man, the Cold War and card catalogs” over likable folk-rock that isn’t afraid of the occasional fist-pumping chorus (provided you can still make out the words). He’s good when quoting Martin Amis, but he’s better when admitting, “I’m so glad that you exist”; your mom would agree. She probably wouldn’t like Constantines singer-guitarist Bry Webb–he spends the entirety of Shine a Light sounding either totally unhinged or royally sloshed. But the band does such a strangely good job of connecting the dots between burly roots-rock and first-gen emo–check the layering of salty guitar and sweet organ in the title track–that you’ll want to forgive his vocal excesses and dig into the noise. Yo, Canada: Got anyone else?
Will you step up to support Dallas Observer this year?
At the Dallas Observer, we’re small and scrappy — and we make the most of every dollar from our supporters. Right now, we’re $16,000 away from reaching our December 31 goal of $30,000. If you’ve ever learned something new, stayed informed, or felt more connected because of the Dallas Observer, now’s the time to give back.
