2:59

CBC Sunday is the best thing on television. If I was allotted only two hours of television a week, they’d undoubtedly be used on Sunday morning. That’s not to say that I watch an abundance of television anyways, but I’m clearly an election-time news junkie so whenever I’m in this room I’ve got one news feed or another providing background noise.

The Canadian federal election is in less than two weeks and it’s been a wonderful comedy of errors so far. Mr. Martin’s only really come out swinging and looking like a true Prime Minister this past week, but despite him claiming the title of “less of two evils” I’m at the point where I think we need a bit of a shake up in the government. While I’m loath to allow the right wing Conservatives to have any control over our social policies, it seems like they could at most win a minority and that means there’ll be enough balances to keep their more fringe views in check. I have to give Mr. Harper a bit of credit though for speaking with the most poise and calm dignity out of any of the candidates. I don’t like what he has to say, but I fear his manner of speaking will carry him further than his views would.

The debates didn’t help anything. The amount of sniping that went on made it essentially unlistenable. The clear winner of both the English and French debates was Mr. Duceppe, which may be because he had nothing to loose outside of Quebec, but the fact that the big scary separatist could make a more eloquent argument than the “credible” federalists that supposedly represent the majority of Canadians is sad. The fact that the Bloc Quebecois may hold the balance of power for a Conservative minority government is fascinatingly weird. The next government won’t necessarily be good for Canada but it’ll be interesting to watch.

I won’t outright reveal my support here, as it’s still undecided. If I was voting purely on social policy the NDP can have my vote. Mr. Layton’s genuinely intelligent but he comes off as smarmy at times and that puts people off. The debate studio audience could rank the current discussion with levels of agreement/disagreement and the results appeared on screen during the TV feed. Whenever it was Mr. Layton’s turn to speak the approval rating immediately dropped, before he even opened his mouth. What’s this prove? That debates are getting people to judge the parties purely based on personality. Since we in Canada vote for individual MPs in our own ridings and not the leaders anyways, these leader-debates seem counter productive in this respect.

Regardless of what happens, this election is the first with the new party financing rules. For each vote a party gets (as long as they pull in 2% nationally), they get something like a dollar and a half annually. This is a huge boost for parties like the Greens that get a noticeable percent of the national vote yet hold no seats. No, it’s not true proportional representation, but unless I’m missing something it seems like a step in the right direction. That alone makes me want to vote with my conscience and not for some strategic “keeping X out of office” reason.

Remember kids, Screw the vote: let others decide your future.

What about the US election? While it obviously has much larger ramifications for the world I simply can’t stand the coverage. Something about US politics drives me insane and the fact that I don’t get a vote there doesn’t make me feel so bad about not paying attention. I trust you Yankees will do the right thing. I hope.

What? I tend to talk about music? Oh I suppose.

I was the staff member saddled with the burden of reviewing The Empire Strikes First, which you’ll see from the review itself I quite like. It’s a burden due to the attention it gets and the pressure to make it worthwhile. I think the review itself has well over 7 thousand hits, that’s not counting when it was reprinted by Epitaph. I took a shot at reviewing the new Clann Zu record as well. Despite what I said last month I quite like Black Coats & Bandages. It’s not a casual listen but given the atmosphere it demands it’s pretty rad. The Frenetics’ new disc Grey Veins to the Parking Lot is well worth checking out as well.

On the flip side of the coin I’m astounded with the amount of clueless new bands that have been spamming / chatting with us lately. They ask us to go check out their downloadable songs all the time, and it seems like 95% of them feature some out of place, trendy emo element. I’ve heard perfectly respectable, if not incredibly distinct, rock in the Foo Fighters vein that has been completely ruined by some band member shrieking like a banshee during the chorus. The amount of young bands featuring this moronic nu-emo scream in their songs is staggering. So here’s my meta-response to you all:

Hey, you seem like a nice guy and you’re out there pursuing your rock & roll dreams. Awesome. All the power to you. However you sound like a fucking shill by lifting the stupidest parts of a dying trend and peppering your already sub-decent songs with it in a vain attempt to get the attention of fickle teens who won’t care in 6 months anyways.

I don’t want to become one of those cynical webzine bastards with their heads stuck in 1977, but damn does it feel like I’m being pushed in that direction. In that spirit, the song of the month is “Sonic Reducer” by the Dead Boys.

Cheers.

Spinning:
Guitar Wolf - Planet Of The Wolves
Beastie Boys - To The 5 Boroughs
Coffin Lids - Rock and Roll
A Wilhelm Scream - Mute Print