O’ Canada (Broken Social Scene, Neil Young, Colter Wall)

Welcome to the Album Nerds podcast with your hosts, Andy, Don, and Dude. Hello everyone, it's the Album Nerds podcast. Hey, I'm Dude. I got Andy and Don with me. Oh my gosh, did you hear that? Neil Young just ran through the studio, man. I know. The Godfather of Grunge himself. The Sultan of Swat. Now that's another guy. So Babe Ruth. Yes, it is. I watched Sandlot recently. Here we are, the Album Nerds. As I said, I'm Dude. Got Andy and Don with me. How you fellas doing? Doing pretty well, eh?

I'm sorry. I don't know what you're talking about. How about you, Don? Just been craving some Reese peanut butter cups. Did you guys know that? There's no apostrophe S in Canadian Reese's peanut butter cups. I didn't know. No. Why? I don't know. Hoser says what? No one fell for it. All right, let's get to business. We're the Album Nerds and this is the Album Nerds podcast. We love music. We love talking about albums and apparently we like hanging out with each other.

So today we're going to be talking about three albums, answering a question. We'll then reflect on what we learned and then spin the wheel of musical destiny at the end of the show to find out what kind of albums we'll talk about next time. But this week it's all about Canada. That's what I'm talking about. Well, you guys might not know this, but Canada is a country in North America that borders the United States. It's the world's second largest country by area.

The list of Canadians who have made significant contributions to popular music is long. Includes acts like Paul Anka, The Band, Joni Mitchell, Steppenwolf, Gordon Lightfoot, The Guess Who, Leonard Cohen, Anne Murray, Brian Adams, Rush, Celine Dion, Tragically Hip, Michael Buble and Drake. Today each of us will present an album from a Canadian artist. A message from the government of Canada. Hola. Isn't that Canadian? Rock side of the border, buddy.

Yeah. So I think sometimes you don't even know an artist is Canadian because we share so much cultural DNA with our friends up North. But there are those bands and I kind of went in a lot of obvious directions and with things that I already like when I was exploring this past week. Bachman Turner Overdrive, Rush listened to a bunch of their albums. Moving Pictures was the closest. But I figure maybe we'll get to them when we get into a prog rock week or something.

And in that context, it might be more interesting discussion. But of course, I have favorite artists from Saskatchewan. One Bad Son is like a hard rock band. The Sheepdogs are a Southern rock band. Yeah, there you go. The Guess Who, the Tragically Hip who we've talked about before. Anne Murray in the country space. Joni Mitchell Blue and of course, a bunch of Gordon Lightfoot again. So yeah, there's a lot of great music and artists that I think people may not even know are Canadian.

So how'd you guys do? Yeah, there's just a plethora of Canadian high quality music. Yeah, lots of Rush for me. Listen to The Weeknd's discography. She's really developed a lot as an artist from when he started out. Cowboy Junkies, I kind of forgot they were from Canada. They have some good early records. A country group by the name of Blue Rodeo, really cool record in the mid 90s called Five Days in July. I was impressed by that.

And something I never thought I would hear, there's a like 60s sounding rock group from the 70s. They're from the UK called Teenage Head and they put out a soft titled record in 1979 that is pretty delightful and unlike anything I would ever thought would come out of Canada. So that was pretty cool. How about you Don? You know, had I not already done them in recent history, I would have maybe done Arcade Fire. We covered that album I last year. We just did the band songs from Big Pink.

That's probably one of the great Canadian albums of all time. I almost went with Leonard Cohen, the songs of Leonard Cohen, which was his debut. Back when we did the Judy Collins album, I really was kind of ready to do Leonard Cohen. But again, I went in a different direction. You know, there's one I thought about too late to really explore. The 47 Eastern Standard Time, EST, the debut album from Clatou. You guys ever hear about this from 1976?

No. It was rumored at the time because it had some Beatles-esque psychedelia to be a hidden Beatles album that they made after breaking up and changed their name and it's a Canadian band called Clatou. So maybe we'll find occasion to get into that sometime. It's a very interesting record. I haven't listened to it in a while, but just figure I should throw that one out.

Andy reminded me when he said that something sounded like it was from the UK and I was like, oh, the Beatles one, the Beatles one. But that'd be a fun story to dig into. But not today. So why don't we talk about what we're talking about?

You choo-choo-choose me? And what to say about this next band? They're our neighbors to the north. They're from Canada. It's Broken Social Scene. All right. Let's get things started off here with some indie rock from Toronto, Canada. We're talking about Broken Social Scene and their 2002 record You Forgot It in People. Let's play a little bit of Stars and Sons. Did you know that they have a big band? Five of the members are clapists and they handle the clapping on that track.

Professional clappers. Wow. That's how they do it up in Canada. All right. So this is the second studio album for the ever expanding rock group from Toronto, as I mentioned. At the time of recording this record, they were at about 10 members or so, credited up to 15 on this record specifically. They started out as just a duo, Kevin Drew and Jarenan Canning. The first record is a very ambient instrumental record.

Pretty chill in comparison to this record, which is also chill, but in a different way. You Forgot It in People won Alternative Album of the Year and the Juno Awards in 2003. Yeah. My three words to describe this record are dress in layers. Obviously, when you get 10 people together, they make a lot of different sounds and they're all kind of mish-mashed or layered together on this record. I would describe it as a fairly eclectic sound. At times it's kind of like mumbly.

At other times it's kind of anthemic and there's a lot of space in between. I found this record pretty interesting when it came out and coming back to it, I was surprised how much it stuck with me. I think my biggest criticism of You Forgot It in People is just the general production style is like super thin. It doesn't really sound like a big group to me. It sounds almost like it was recorded in someone's bedroom, even though it'd be a very crowded bedroom. Yeah, it would be.

I kind of like that it sounds like a small band. It's hard to describe, but I kind of like how it feels like a group of five, but it's like how the hell would five people do this? Right. Yeah. I think there's moments where it feels very intimate, especially the topics they discuss are a little more intimate than you might expect with a big group. I think part of that is just the Canadian music itself, for me, always feels a little more intimate than American music.

I don't know, it's just going to be they're colder and have to huddle closer together, so they're a little bit more up on the microphone. I don't know, I played on the cap from the record. This is a little bit of Pacific. Surprise, surprise, Robert Smith makes an appearance on the Broken Social Scene record. Yeah, that little clip there could be from 50 different albums I own from previous artists. A little guitar riff. Yeah, I'm just a sucker for that kind of sound.

Yeah, so that song, Pacific Theme is an instrumental, which as you heard there, just kind of has a lot of those post-punk sounds and of course that melodic bass that I like. But they throw in some horns to give it kind of a different feel, which I appreciate. The three words I chose to describe the album are ambient rock ambivalence. I actually went back and listened to their first album, which was more like an ambient sort of approach.

And then in this album, it was kind of more of a traditional rock sound, but I think they are sort of blending those two approaches together. That's a space in music that I like a lot. The rock that I like is often very ambient or atmospheric and dreamy. And they do a really good job with that. There's sort of that early 2000s where you had bands like The National and Interpol that were kind of working in that space as well. So it was actually a pretty good time for this sound.

And I guess you guys hinted at it before. It is so eclectic and it's kind of seemingly unfocused, but somehow it does sort of play as one record. And that's a pretty good accomplishment, I think, because you have different voices on there. But somehow there's something tying the whole record together, which I think is impressive. Well, also, during my research, there is a following of this band, like people who just find life's meaning from their records.

And whenever a band is able to do that, regardless of what scale they are in terms of popularity, how many fans, it's still pretty awesome when a group of artists is able to capture hearts and minds so much. Yeah. That's one thing I think we're kind of sheltered from, just how popular some of these artists are in Canada. You think about Tragically Hip or something like that, kind of popular in the US. Huge rock stars in Canada, you know? And similar with these guys.

You may have heard them on college radio, but very big name up in Toronto. It's not that far away, but there's a big cultural divide with some of these artists, unfortunately. Why don't we play another cut from the record? This is a little bit of Cause Equals Time. So Cause Equals Time, I really dug that track. It did remind me a ton of Jay Mascis, Dinosaur Jr. That lo-fi sound, the way that they're using the vocals, the harmonies just really had that same kind of effect on me.

And that's one of the things that sucked me in to this record. The song was written by members of Broken Social Scene, Kevin and Brandon, largely indie rock, post rock, chamber pop. Good energy in the song. The guitar riffs are cool. Many of their songs touch on the themes of love, complexities of relationships, but those harmonies really do, and the layered instrumentals really do kind of set the scene of what they do best.

It's supposedly a play on words, the title, juxtaposing the concept of causality with the passage of time. See, that's why they have a cult following, because they're all thinky, you know what I mean? These equations and stuff. So the three words I used to describe this album are broken music scene, feel like the scene at the time was breaking down. This was the tail end of like new metal and the tail end of really alt rock and rock being the king of the jungle in terms of popularity.

And so they were able to take these 15 people and while being informed by the sounds before them of Dinosaur Jr, U2, like in that spit song, there's definitely a very zu ropa-ish vibe from what it's called. Yeah, love her spit. And that echoey guitar sound, that janglier, kind of like the edge, you know? But then the swelling instrumentals and all of that, the no choruses. Apparently that was not on purpose. It's just the way the songs came together, but it's really just bridges and verses.

There are not choruses in these songs. And so I think they took a broken music scene and found a way to kind of cobble together the pieces and make something pretty awesome. That's a good way to put it in, man. I know. I mean, thank you. I actually thought about this a little bit. I appreciate that. That's what I do. All right. Well, that was a broken social scene. You forgot it. They are still together, ever expanding, probably up to about 30 people now up in Toronto.

But yeah, they're still active. The entire city is now just broke with social media. No, but they're still putting out music, still doing their thing. So yeah, definitely check them out. If you're not familiar, You Forgot It in People is available on all the usual streaming platforms. I'm good enough. I'm smart enough. And doggone it, people like me. If you're enjoying the show and we hope you are, do us a solid and leave a review on Apple podcasts or your favorite podcast app.

Maybe we made you laugh or you discovered an album you enjoy. Leaving a review keeps the show going and helps other music fans find out about us.

It's your boy, Neil. I think I'll pack it in by a pickup. I think the whole time we should all talk like this. Your speaking voice isn't really as nasal as that. No, he's got a pretty low voice. So my pick for an artist from Canada is Mr. Neil Young. I actually think he has one of those like Canadian night ships. I don't know if they're called SIRS or whatever, or COs or something. So this is Neil Young's 1972 album, Harvest. And here's the big number one hit from that album, Heart of Gold.

Heart of Gold features backing vocals from Linda Ronstadt. Oh boy, here we go. And James Taylor. I think Linda needs to take out some kind of protective order, man. I think you are obsessed. So Heart of Gold is one of several more acoustic tracks on the album. And of course, that song and a couple others feature harmonica from Neil. This track, along with I believe the title track, and A Man Needs a Maid are supposedly inspired by his love for the actress Carrie Snodgrass.

The three words I chose to describe Harvest are from Hank to Hendrix. So many years later, he kind of did like a sequel to this album called Harvest Moon. And there's a song on it called From Hank to Hendrix. But I chose those words just because I think Neil comes from both of those places. So this album is kind of part Hank Williams. But there's also maybe a little bit of that rock inside, the Hendrix side later in the album.

So this is the fourth studio album by Neil Percival Young, born in Toronto, Ontario in 1945. Certainly one of his more accessible works. If you go through his catalog, there's a lot of weird stuff in there. Some loud, some quiet, some electronic stuff. It gets weird. Even after this album, I think the success of it drove him into a little bit of a, okay, I'm going to be a freaking weirdo to sort of try and get people to keep their distance.

You know, in the 80s, he was actually sued by Geffen Records for making records that were not Neil Young-ish. Although there was that album, Trans, I think it was called. Yeah, that's the one. Anyway, well, let's hear another one. This is a song called Alabama. So Alabama is pretty obviously inspired by the state of Alabama here in the US of A, the lower 48. It was really the racial tensions, political climate in the Southern United States in the late 60s, early 70s.

And Young had on his previous album after the Gold Rush had the song Southern Man. Between Southern Man and Alabama, that's the inspiration for Lynyrd Skynyrd's Sweet Home Alabama. And it's both of those songs. And we talked about the Lynyrd Skynyrd album a while back and talked about this little controversy with them calling out his name. His intentions were good. He was saying, hey, Alabama, you've got the entire country behind you. Just do the right thing.

But in his book, Waging Heavy Peace, he later, Neil Young acknowledged that he deserved the reaction from Lynyrd Skynyrd and said that he doesn't like the words he used when he hears it back, that they're accusatory and condescending and not fully thought out and easy to misconstrue. And I really love that he wishes he had done better. And I appreciate that. But I like the sound of the song. It's got sort of post-hair band grunge period, why sometimes he's called the Godfather of grunge.

You can hear that crunchy guitar in there. So Neil had the backing band, a country backing band that he called the Stray Gators. And basically, it's a country rock record, but you hear banjo, you hear slide. It does have Nashville tones to it, but the songs that are harder rocking tracks blend somehow seamlessly. It somehow all fits together. He manages to draw all these songs together where you have these harder rocking tracks.

But still, I think what was smart about it is the song itself is about Southern stuff. So it all does piece together. And a lot of this album is about loneliness and relationships and wanting to be alone, but not wanting to be alone. The three words I used to describe this album are songs of gold. And I think I kind of already shot my shot on that by my previous statements. But I mean, these are some of his best songs.

He was at the peak of his Neil youngness that made the brand of who he is as a solo artist. And it's a great record. I mean, you got songs. It's tough because we want to talk about all of them here. But you got super impactful songs like Old Man, which is a story about him buying this ranch in California and the old man that's the caretaker, The Needle in the Damage Done recorded live at a college concert. So there's just like incredible songs. And I love Neil Young.

The weird stuff, the classic stuff, it's all good to me. Well, let's let's hear another one. Here's A Man Needs a Maid. I was particularly struck by that track listening back to this record this time through it's the London Symphony Orchestra there accompanying Mr. Young. Nothing says country like the London Symphony Orchestra. That is true. Right? It's kind of a weird combination of things, but I think it works fairly well.

There's a couple of records on here that have the orchestra or a couple of tracks on here. Yeah, my three words describe this record are Thanksgiving at Neil's, and you have the big harvest, get all the food together, come on over for a big meal. Do they do Thanksgiving in Canada? All right, don't get caught up in the details though. Well, they do. They have, yes, they do. They have their own Thanksgiving. Do they? Yeah, something else. They just call it Thanksgiving, by the way. Sorry.

Do they celebrate at the same time? No, it's in October. This feels like a big cornucopia of different styles of Neil's career to this point of harvest. Ah, I get it now. It's that horn thing that looks like a giant bugle cracker and there's fruit and stuff in it. It might be a centerpiece at a Thanksgiving dinner. Yes, I get it. Both Thanksgivings. Yes, both countries use cornucopias. Yeah. All right.

Yeah, as diverse as this record is, I think each of these styles and each song really does sound fully realized and kind of, to me, almost feels like its own mini album at times, like going through each track. It has such a big arc to each song and I feel like it's kind of doing this together almost listening to this album, especially like Every Man Needs a Maid, just a strange message. He was probably right, I guess.

On one hand, it feels kind of like a sexist thing to say, like, you know, is your wife essentially just a maid or are you just a big baby you can't clean up after yourself? My interpretation was that he wants none of the complication of a relationship but doesn't want to be alone. So if there was someone around... Right, in between. Yeah. No, I think you're right.

I think that's what I got out of it eventually too, was like he just doesn't want to deal with the heartbreak anymore but he acknowledges he has some shortcomings on his own. Yeah, I mean, how bad could it have been? He was 25 or something at this time, 26 when the album came out. It's like, dude, come on. Yeah, I mean, any record that's just as diverse as this record, I think, you know, maybe can suffer from just some unevenness in terms of the pacing and the flow of it.

I think this record, for me at least, does kind of feel a little bit up and down and it's hard to tell when it's beginning and ending. But still, the strength of all the individual songs, I think, is so high that kind of smooth things over. Yeah, I mean, let's talk about his voice for a moment. It's definitely unique. I think it's maybe even at its most fragile in terms of or most nasally on this record at times. I think that's the weakest aspect of his career personally.

I don't know, you guys like his voice? Oh my God, you're one of those guys. Do you sing along in that fashion or do you sing in a normal voice? It depends. I mean, I try to because I love it. You love it? Well, that's what makes him him. It carries emotion in a way that I don't think he could if he wasn't letting it go there, letting it crack, letting it soar and sputter. That's what's great about it. Yeah, it feels very authentic. It's gutsy. Yeah, gutsy, totally.

I wouldn't say he has a traditionally good singing voice, but I mean, it's- No, he's no Bob Dylan. Perfect example. Sometimes it doesn't matter as long as he has something good to say. All right, well, I tend to know that something is Einhoff worthy. When I find myself wishing we could cover more of the songs, because we didn't talk about Harvest, we didn't talk about Out for the Weekend. So I'm going to nominate Neil Young Harvest for the Album Nerds Hall of Fame.

All right, what do you guys think? I'm in, eh? Totally. I mean, there's a chunk of his albums that could, in my opinion, go Album Nerds Hall of Fame, and this one is the top of the mountain for me. I think it's his best. It's his most complete. It's diverse with all those strings and stuff. It's like, what is this doing here? But it works. So absolutely. There's actually a, I feel like every list I saw of the greatest Canadian albums of all time, this was number one or number two.

Probably behind Rush. Yeah. Yeah, I'm on board with this one too. I'm glad you nominated it, because I think we would have had to if you didn't. Okay. So, congratulations to Mr. Neil Young with your 1972 album, Harvest.

Excuse me. I'd like to ask you a few questions. Okay. Time for our highest rated moment on the show. The algorithm loves it, man. This is when people turn up their speakers. Right. So we're going to ask ourselves a question about our neighbors to the north. Why do you most often visit Canada? For me, I feel like we usually go over for entertainment. They get a lot of bigger acts up in Toronto. For me, at least it's closer than New York City.

So typically for that, I used to go over a lot growing up because you could drink there at a younger age. Plus their dollar and two dollars are coins. So the Looney's and Toonies always were just nice to have a couple of those rattling in your pocket. The Looney's, yes. And yeah, the exchange rate, good for shopping, I guess some would say. There was a time when the beer was stronger too. I don't think that's true. Oh yeah, the Canadian XXX, the Molson Canadian XXX. Oh yeah, XXX, yeah.

So yeah, I mean everything's just a little different in Canada. Very similar but just the small differences. So for me, Canada is known for many things. One of the biggest things it's known for is fake girlfriends. When have you ever gotten laid? I've laid lots of times. Name one. She lives in Canada. That was something in high school that was pretty common because where I was living at the time wasn't too far from Canada and you hear that one every once in a while and that's a classic.

She lives in Canada. The old fake girlfriends. One trip I made to Canada with some friends in college was specifically to hunt down five pin bowling. You guys familiar? Is that the one with like the little balls and the little pins? Yeah, it's called candlestick bowling I think too. So the pins are on strings and it's these small, they're like bigger than bocce balls and there's no holes in them and I think you get to throw three times.

So we went over the border, we asked around and people were super polite and helpful and there was some mall with a bowling alley in the basement I think in Toronto and a dude led us, got in his car and led us to it. It was really nice of him. We did some five pin bowling and got treated like royalty up there in Canada. Yeah, as Andy said, it's usually for entertainment. So a lot of the artists that I like do not come to these medium sized cities around where I live.

So often I have to make the trek to Toronto. Yeah, one thing I just remembered, I haven't done this but my dad used to work for this really rich guy and so one time when my dad had a business trip in Canada, he ended up having to smuggle in for his boss some Cuban cigars because they don't have the trade embargo with Cuba. So yeah, you go for the Cuban cigars and then you got to sneak them under the seat or something. I can't get away with that these days. Yeah, they're brutal at the border man.

Come back into the US's. All right, so why do you go to Canada? Hit us up on the socials. Check out our discord album nerds.com slash discord.

Gotta go watch strange brew y'all. All right, so my pick is very Canadian loves the prairies of Canada loves his country sings about it a lot, which is part of what drew me to this particular album of his talking about culture wall. The album is songs of the planes from 2018. Let's start off with the opening track plane to see planes. They just like lives in your chest when when he's singing. The guy's not even 30 years old. I know. He's like late 20s. It's pretty amazing anomaly.

Yeah. So culture wall born in 1995 raised in swift current Saskatchewan and country singer songwriter. I love the country music scene up in Canada is very rootsy. And I think people don't think about it too much. Like Hank Snow and Wilf Carter, who was known as Montana slim down here in America in the I believe he was in the 50s and 60s. But a lot of these artists have been inspirations not only culture wall but to roots country music here in America as well.

One of the interesting things about culture is not only his baritone voice and all the awesome storytelling and love and loss that he really resonates in his songs and with his audiences. His father was like the premier of Saskatchewan for years politician governor I think right of province. Yes, exactly. And so he's from a small town of I think something like 15,000 people.

But I think his father's love for country and for the planes and for where they live, which is adjacent to Montana, it's above Montana. I think that is part of what has informed his love of his home. It's pretty cool. When I first read that his dad was like some politician, I'm like, so how come he's so cowboyish? Okay, we're talking about politician in a very rural area. Everybody's a cowboy. The three words I used to describe this album are sitting by the fire.

His love of the Canadian prairies and his home is so poignantly expressed here, but it feels like a night after a day of herding cattle and you're sitting by the fire and he's noodling at the guitar and singing songs about the land that you work and love. It really resonates. Not surprisingly, that song was featured on Yellowstone, which their culture down there is very similar. Their love of the land, wanting to preserve their lifestyle and the way that they've done things for decades.

You're on a roll with these Yellowstone artists. No kidding. I know. Well, I watched the show and then it's like, hey, culture walls on. I was more into the show because I'm like, okay, they know what they're doing with the music that they're playing. All right, so why don't we listen to another song? This one is Wild Dogs. It was the first blood and we tasted together. We were wild dogs. Wild dogs. I love that. Man, that guy is... That's some heavy shit.

That little slide guitar there or pedal steel or whatever is awesome. It actually sounds like a wild dog. Yeah. It works well on that track. Yeah, I find this record to be very haunting. My three words described it are echoes of the past. Yeah, it feels almost like these are ghosts called back to life by Mr. Wild here to tell their stories of growing up on the Canadian frontier.

And not also their individual stories, but it also ties back to just like we talked about a couple of shows ago how country is very tied to its roots and its history. You can hear a lot of Johnny Cash and Wily and Jennings on this record for sure. I think my biggest criticism would be it's so sparse. It's so minimal. There's hardly any belishments or flourishes at all, I have to say, anywhere. I'm sure that's completely intentional.

But if you look back on some of those Johnny Cash records, he has many sides to his sound and personality. I'd be curious what Mr. Walls might sound like if he did a more traditional country song. I'm sure he'd still get curious. Yeah, I'll expand out. This album is produced by Dave Cobb, who did a good job with Chris Stapleton as well, but definitely plays to the strengths.

And yes, they could have added a bunch of sounds, but some of the things they did add were touches of like hearing a popping, crackling fire in the background during some of the songs and things like that to bring you into this moment where all you need is the voice and the words to be moved, especially if you're listening on headphones and you're just sitting there and you're doing nothing else but paying attention. And this album, his second full length.

When I got it, I wasn't as thrilled with it as the first one because the first one had some more raggedy kind of sounds to it. But Coulter's voice is getting better. He said that being out on the road, he's learning to sing and it's still that baritone, but it's cleaner than it was before. It sounds less forced and on this album, it really starts to come to life. Yeah, I know his voice is something to behold.

It doesn't really sound like he's imitating anyone necessarily, but you can definitely hear some similarities. But the way he pronounces things and the way they just kind of like drip out of his throat in a way, it feels like it's just kind of sliding out of him. It's cool. Why don't we check out a little bit of Tying Knots in the Devil's Tale. So Tying Knots in the Devil's Tale is actually a song that goes back at least 100 years.

It was actually written by somebody known as a cowboy poet, Gale Gardner. And this song also features vocals by a Cor Blund and Blake Berglund. But most of the songs on the album are Wall originals. But yeah, but this one, it kind of stood out to me, maybe just because it had a little more tempo to it. But it also has that sort of the Johnny Cash kind of train sound, the clickety-dick. You know? The kind of like skiffle. Yeah. It's got that shuffly sound to it.

So the three words I chose to describe this album are actually similar to what Andy said. I said ghost of outlaws past. So again, it's Johnny Cash and Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson all brought into modern times.

The more I think about it, it really does remind me, as you guys were talking about the sort of the production of it and the sparseness of it, a couple of those American recordings that Cash did with Rick Rubin have a similar sort of haunting feel because of the space and the sparseness of it. It's really cool that you have artists like this still carrying on the legacy of some of these country roots. A couple of weeks ago, we did the Billy Strings that is still celebrating bluegrass.

And here you have Wall doing these sort of outlaw sounds. I mean, I'm always a bit torn with stuff that is just about the past. And I'm always asking myself, how do we move forward from here? Is any new ground being broken? I don't know. For some reason, I don't really think that way with this record. I guess maybe there's just enough compelling songwriting and storytelling going on that it just is what it is.

And I guess good songs are good songs, whether they're breaking ground or, you know, really rehashing the past. You're right. This doesn't sound put on. It doesn't sound like someone being a classic something act. It's just what comes out. But yeah, I mean, Wild Dill Hickok, The Trains Are Gone, Manitoba Man, those all have shades of the past in them. But yeah, I just love this dude. He's got a new album coming out. I've already got it pre-ordered.

But yeah, I have his records on vinyl and that adds to the experience for me, especially since the album covers do look a little old timey. It adds to the growing legend that is Kulter Wall. I was really surprised. He's on Spotify where he shows the number of streams per song. He's got like tens of millions of streams on each of these tracks. He's doing pretty well for himself. I thought he was kind of under the radar. Maybe the Yellowstone exposure or something. Oh, that could be.

Don, had you listened to Kulter Wall at all? Had you heard of him, heard him? Is this brand new? Never. Yeah, this is new. Thank you. Cool. Go dig in. All of you should. So that was once again, Mr. Kulter Wall with Songs of the Planes. Go check it out.

All right. So we took a trip up north and explored the various terrain. What did we learn? I mean, for me, let's just listen to like this large swath of Canadian artists. This is totally stereotyping, but their music is like super chill, man. Along with just the people up there are super chill as well. I don't know if it's just the weather or what, but like very subdued in Canada. Very calm, very contemplative. I like that.

But in comparison to like US music, it sounds very distinct in my opinion. Yeah. I mean, I think there was more to sample than I expected. I was surprised like what Andy was just saying and how there's just a slight different flavor even when it's the song American Woman or hard rock stuff from Canada. There's still something just a little different in the delivery or the sound or I don't know what it is, but it is distinctive and I like that.

To being so close, you wouldn't expect to be able to hear it, but there is something different in the way that the art is being delivered and I can't put my finger on it, but I really love that. I love being able to listen to something similar and accessible, but also makes me pay a little bit more attention. I had a similar experience when we did Australia.

Yeah. It's still, it wasn't the same as English music, although it was very, very close, but there's something about it that made it unique from American and English music. We did neglect to do like a French Canadian act. I don't know who the candidates would have been like Celine Dion. Oh God. Yeah. I forgot about her. Sorry. Sorry, not sorry. And that's one to grow on. I'm your density. I mean your destiny. All right, boys and girls gather around for everyone's favorite part of the program.

Well, it's up there with the questions, I guess. Like a neck in terms of popularity here, but let's bring out our favorite AI friend to find out what our musical destiny has in store next week. Wadboot. That's right. Music can be a wondrous thing, especially those special songs that are never forgotten. Next week, you will be searching for albums crafted by those who are considered one hit oneders, I mean wonders. Enjoy the oneders. We're going to be talking about one hit wonders.

One hit wonders. Wow. One hit wonders. So they had one popular song. So we have to find an album that has enough quality to it that we can discuss as a whole. That should be interesting. All right. Who's your favorite one hit wonder? What other music do you like from Canada? What are you listening to? Let us know. If you're a fan of Album Nerds on discord at albumnerds.com slash discord, you can email us at podcast at albumnerds.com or follow us on Facebook and Instagram at Album Nerds.

Please subscribe, rate and review on your favorite podcast app. And if you'd like to support the show, you can do so via paypal at albumnerds.com slash support. Thank you once again for joining us here on the Album Nerds podcast. It's all about our love of music. We'll catch you next time when we talk about some one hit wonders and Andy talks about Tub Something by Chumbly. Oh, that's a good one. I get knocked down. Hey, he's saying. See you guys next week.

I get knocked down, but I get up again. Please stop. Please stop.