Ashtray Rock

So it's almost time to start reviewing the year that's been and getting my album of the year sorted out. I haven't really done much on it yet but thinking back it's been a year dominated by Canadian and Scottish bands. Granted, I'm biased towards both places, but there really is some incredible music coming from both right now.

To that end, my most recent find has been the Candian artist Joel Plaskett and his band the Joel Plaskett Emergency. I've sort of known about them for a while but somehow never checked them out. Recentley I decided to get hold off all the Polaris Prize nominees and their record "Ashtray Rock" was among them.

It's a concept album of sorts centred around a band who end up falling apart after the two leads both fall for the same girl. It's also a rocking good time. Lyrically Joel has a fairly straightforward approach but always with a good sense of humour "The reason I like the instrumentals is cause they ain't got no words" and musically he's never afraid to throw in the cheesy hand claps or high pitched harmonies.

I can't really decide on my favourite tune but this one is definitely in the running (and illustrates the pure fun this album is):

Myspace

I haven't blogged in a while, mostly because I've been spending most of my free time playing guitar and trying to come up with some songs. So I've created a myspace page where I can post a few songs:

http://www.myspace.com/alanmoffat