Ignorance Is Bliss

This weekend I'll be gonzo from the city, spending some quality time with the family, so I figured I might as well post a little something something before I go.

Earlier this week, I discovered another major perk that comes from starting up your own goofy little indie music blog. My realization came while I was working my day job. On this particular day, I was "working" in front of a TV set that happened to be set on Much Music (Canada's music video station.) Now generally, I pride myself in knowing a little bit about music. But I knew very very little about any of the music that was playing. At first, I was perturbed at the fact that I didn't know anything. However, upon thinking about it, that annoyance quickly turned into mild jubilation as I pondered the fact that I've been sheltered from a lot of terrible music over the last year or so. This is a direct result of the fact that not a day goes by that I'm not introduced to something new, hovering well below the radar. Therefore, I simply have been distracted from what the public at large has been exposed to. And for that, I am eternally grateful. For example, before this week I had never seen the latest Nickleback video (I don't want to mention any names but it was called Rock Star.) By the seventeenth time that I had to suffer through it (which was around noon I believe,) I had discovered that this just may be the most irritating song I had heard since Patrick Swayze decided to pick up a microphone. If you like it, that's totally cool, but personally I thought that it was very very really quite terribly bad. And as the videos kept playing throughout the day, I was shocked and amazed at how boring mainstream radio / video has become. I mean, it was bad a couple of years ago, but it has actually become even more insufferable. And that's in a couple of short years!!! I couldn't wait to get home and check out whatever else has appeared in my mailbox because I knew that even the most mundane thing being sent to me in the mail is miles better than what mainstream media has to offer. That's why, if you have the time or desire to start up a music blog or podcast or just simply to go out and check out some of the local bands in your own hometown, I highly recommend doing so. Before a few days ago, I had grown completely ignorant towards what was climbing the charts these days, and baby, in this case, ignorance was definitely bliss.

On that note, here's a random smattering of tunes I've recently found and dug:

"The Gospel Plow" - Obviously Five Believers (mp3) (myspace)
"Lonely Halls" - The Airfields (mp3) (website) (myspace)
"A Lot Like Me" - The Midways (mp3) (website) (myspace)
"Danger" - Fried Robots (mp3) (website) (myspace)
"Epilogue, Celebration" - The Oaks (mp3) (website) (myspace)
"Cheap Cologne" - The Ums (mp3) (website) (myspace)
"Jade Like Wine" - Six Organs Of Admittance (mp3) (myspace)
"Spieltier" - Emperor X (mp3) (website)
"Atom" - British Sea Power (mp3) (website) (myspace)

Enjoy and have a great weekend!