The Weakerthans
““Reconstruction Site””
(Epitaph)
First off, I must say that since the demise of Pavement and Propoghandi (the two power P’s of punk turned indie, rhine stone-obscure) The Weakerthans have kicked way more ass than Stephen Malkmus.
I’’m still waiting for Malkmus to come through in true form and blow me away. Malkmus and the Jicks just aren’t as influential as a music junkie might expect. Malkmus is pulling a Frank Black if you ask me.
The Weakerthans are hands down the best band Canada has to offer and I’ve got a number of reasons. As on “Fallow” and “Left and Leaving”, “Reconstruction Site” proves you can write dance songs with a telecaster and that a little Dinosaur Jr. (just a smidge) can never be a bad thing. I would go as far to say that you could play some of these tracks at a dance club in the heart of NYC and the place would be bumping, but what makes the experience truly unique is that you could easily have heard one of these tracks on Urban Cowboy.
For those of you still wondering, yes, it is possible for punk rocker to write incredibly important indie music, just ask Bad Astronaut or Jets to Brazil. I highly recommend picking up some of the live shows floating around on the web. These guys are the future of indie rock, but trust me; you’re not cool enough so wait for their clone to be on TV.
