the truth is in the details

The Juno nominations are out now. Everyone is focusing on Nelly whatever-her-name-is because she's got the most nominations. Well, that's great for her and I'm proud that she's got that much support from the Canadian music scene. Yet, of course the nominations I was most interested in what "best alternative album." Now if you look in the past two years you'll see that the people who won were almost unknown - Rufus Wainwright, and Julie Dorion & the Wooden Stars - to people outside of their own fan base that musical community. Yet at least that how I saw it. So when this years nominations came out I was surprised to see who was nominated. Here's the list:
Best Alternative Album
Kid Koala, Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
Ramasutra, The East Infection
The Weakerthans, Left And Leaving
The New Pornographers, Mass Romantic
King Cobb Steelie, Mayday
Now, all these albums aren't on a major label. Last year, the only album that was on a major was the Len album. Hell, I think three of them were on Sonic Unyon. The fact that none of these albums are on a major proves that there is a strong independant music scene in Canada. Plus, these albums are actually good (well, I don't know who Ramasutra is so I can't comment on them). Actually, I'd say that both the Weakerthans and New Pornographers albums were the some of the best I heard last year. Kid Koala's album is one of the few DJ records I've heard, but was impressed by it. The things he was doing with the turntables was... well, it's cool. And King Cobb Steelie... well, there new album isn't exactly what I like, but it's certainly still better than anything called "alternative" at the Grammys (and if that's spelled wrong, who fuckin' cares). I think that the Weakerthans should win because it's the best album of the year in my mind, but if the New Pornographers were to win I wouldn't be disappointed either. Anyway, in an age where awards shows are more annoying than anything else, seeing that these bands are getting noticed makes me that much happier (and even hopeful a bit). see ya