JUSTIN BIEBER - 'Baby'

Origin: Stratford, ON
Category: STUFFED CRUST PIZZA
Cherchez La Moose: There's no way I'm nominating Justin Bieber for Volcano Toss. HE IS ONLY A CHYLD! (Ahem, sorry - I invent new ways of spelling words when I get worked up). I'll admit, J Beebs is becoming J Dweebs in his latest interviews; what's with the new accent and slang? You are not from Atlanta, Justin! His latest album, 2010's My World 2.0, has some surprisingly decent pop tunes, and lead single Baby is a fun summer song with a catchy melody. The Stuffed Crust Pizza moment happens at 1:34 when Bieber performs a moronic pool table roll, but otherwise, he's in full swag mode on this one.

jackSOUL - 'Unconditional'

Origin: Toronto, ON
Category: NORTHERN ELIXIR
Cherchez La Moose: It is a privilege to include jackSOUL in this blog. Haydain Neale was a gifted singer-songwriter who, over the span of 13 years and 5 albums, found commercial success in the challenging Canadian soul/R&B landscape. jackSOUL disbanded in late 2009 after Neale passed away from lung cancer, at the age of only 39. I am thrilled that someone finally found the official video for Unconditional and uploaded it to YouTube. This song was the soundtrack to many late nights in University for me. The vocals and bass between 3:05 and 3:20 give me chills every time.

LAURA BARRETT

Origin: Toronto, ON
Category: EMERGING ANTLERS
Cherchez La Moose: I was fortunate to see Laura Barrett perform live twice in Montreal. The first was at Cagibi, where my drunk work friends cackled through the entire set. The second was at Barfly, where people were talking, playing pool, drinking, and not paying attention to her. It's a shame, because she is a technical wizard at the kalimba, and she plays it flawlessly on stage. If you like this song, venture over to her Myspace page and listen to Bluebird, a fireworks display of skills from her recent album Victory Garden.

CASTLE PROJECT

Origin: Vancouver, BC
Category:  LOST IN THE WILDERNESS
Cherchez La Moose: Videos like this one are why I wanted to start this blog. Although The Airways managed to achieve light-to-medium rotation on MuchMusic in the mid 2000s, it only has about 1,090 views on Myspace, and it hasn't even been uploaded to YouTube. This video proves that you don't need a big budget, pyrotechnics, hyper-editing, or a lead singer hamming it for the camera - all you need is a great idea. Other tracks from Castle Project's full length debut can be heard at myspace.com/castleproject and are available for purchase at zunior.com.

ALANIS - "Too Hot"

Origin: Ottawa, ON
Category: STUFFED CRUST PIZZA
Cherchez La Moose: Jagged Little Pill was an excellent album. You Oughta Know was the best song ever written at the time  ...about Dave Coulier. Poor Dave, he didn't cheat on her - he was just ready to start a family, and Alanis had different priorities (such as graduating from Junior High). Who knows, maybe she felt that she was "Too Hot" for him. My original video pick was for her fourth single, but unfortunately the embed code was disabled. The song is named "Plastic," and it describes her contempt for plastic guys. Meanwhile, her pop persona during this time was fake as hell. Isn't it ironic? ;-)  

B4-4

Origin: A small-town-Ontario bridge where trolls dwell
Category: VOLCANO TOSS
Cherchez La Moose: Care to know why these creepers are named b4-4? It's because there's 3 of them, and the number 3 is "before 4." I didn't just make that up, trust me. This video is absolutely hysterical from beginning to end, but the best moment has to be at 0:14. You'd think it was a cracked-out Aphex Twin creation, but no...it's something much more demented. The twins in this group have moved on and found success with RyanDan (another genius band name), and Ohad apparently moved to LA. B4-4 left major skidmarks on Canada's underpants, but videos like this will be cherished forever.

THE TRAGICALLY HIP - 'Bobcaygeon'

Origin: Kingston, ON
Category: NORTHERN ELIXIR
Cherchez La Moose: It took me a long time to warm up to the Tragically Hip when I was a teenager. The slightly twangy sound from their early albums never appealed to me. I was all geared up to dislike Bobcaygeon when it first hit MuchMusic, but I fell in love with it instead. If this song came out 20 years from now, I have a feeling it would be just as good. The video compliments the music perfectly, and the extended embrace at 3:19 is one of my all-time favorite music video moments.

DOG DAY

Origin: Halifax, NS
Category: EMERGING ANTLERS
Cherchez La Moose: Halifax is home to a lot of excellent bands, and Dog Day is among the best. Frontman Seth Smith is an ace songwriter, and his skills as a director shine in this clip from their 2009 album Concentration.  If you don't love the dog's nose poking through the door at 1:14, my heart weeps for you.

DL INCOGNITO

Origin: Ottawa, ON
Category: LOST IN THE WILDERNESS
Cherchez La Moose: DL Incognito isn't nearly as obscure as some of the artists that I'll be covering in the future, but it still pains me that he isn't more well-known. He has a huge catalog of music, and all of it is quality. I am also a huge fan of Universal Love, a should-have-been Canadian hip hop classic and one of the many highlights on his debut album, A Sample and a Drum Machine.

Welcome to Moose Tracks!

First off, thank you very much for visiting the site. I have never blogged before, but I promise I'll try my best.

The purpose of this blog is to showcase Canadian talent from the past 20 years. The bands/artists/videos chosen to be featured on the blog will fall into one of the following categories:

NORTHERN ELIXIR: a timeless Canadian classic.
EMERGING ANTLERS: buzz-worthy new/current talent deserving of recognition.
STUFFED CRUST PIZZA: kind of bad for you, but it's still cheesy and delicious.

VOLCANO TOSS: horrible in every way. A disgrace to Canada and to Moose everywhere.

LOST IN THE WILDERNESS: awesome, obscure, and underrated.

I will update the blog every few days. Enjoy!