John K. Samson “Letter in Icelandic from the Ninette San”
Provincial is the new solo album from John K. Samson and it is the perfect album title for the type of songs he writes. Throughout the record, Samson sings about familiar things such as the centre of Canada. He delves into Canadian society, small towns in Manitoba, old hockey players, and of course his hometown of Winnipeg.
As one has come to expect, the lyrics on the album are very sharp, but sometimes Samson strays from his tried and true formula with some oddities. On “When I Write My Master’s Thesis” he sings of video games, and for Samson this is a bit strange.
Provincial is more like a collection of songs rather than a brand new record. Over the past couple of years, Samson has released a couple three-song EPs, all of which appear here. There are five previously un-released songs, so it does sort of feel like a new album, especially given that the previously recorded songs have been re-recorded.
The best song on the record is “Letter in Icelandic from the Ninette San.” The lyrics are especially great. Samson tells a very interesting story here from the perspective of a man from Iceland, who was once living at the sanatorium in Ninette, Manitoba.
Provincial, for the most part, is a good album. Samson always writes good songs and he always makes you imagine his homeland of Canada through his stories. It is a very nostalgic record.
Today’s music recommendation is by an artist called Ozaki Yutaka. His music is very powerful and I think his lyrics are especially good. This song is simply amazing.
I Skyp’d with my friend Ji this afternoon. It had been a long time since we last talked, so we had a nice conversation about our recent experiences. Ji and I both really love music, so usually when we get together we end up chatting about music. This time we talked about “Tonbo.” When Ji was 19, he moved to Canada to study. I met him about four years ago at the company we both once worked for. Anyhow, when Ji was a junior high school student in China he heard “Tonbo” for the first time. But, the song was not Nagabuchi Tsuyoshi’s version, it was a cover by a Chinese band. I find this very interesting. Someday, I want to perform this song in Chinese, Japanese, and English with Ji.
If you’d like, please listen to the Chinese version below.
As long as I can remember, I have always loved music. From digging in various Minneapolis record stores for the latest punk rock release when I was 16, to playing drums in a number of bands throughout high school and college, to maintaining a fledgling music webzine for seven years, to broadcasting the latest independent music to our two listeners from Midnight to 3AM on the local campus radio station, music has always held a special place in my heart.
It was at one time an obsession, and you’d have to look no further than the 1500-plus record collection that now sits in dust-covered DELL monitor boxes in my mother’s White Bear Lake, MN basement for the proof.
After I quit playing in bands, and eventually gave up the dream of making it as an online music editor, I sort of stopped paying attention to [new] music, or at least lost the drive to discover anything new. I still listened to music, of course, but nothing was truly catching my ear, or making me as excited as when I first heard Green Day’s “Dookie”, thanks to my older brother’s random mall record shop purchase. He, to this day, credits himself for my musical tastes. And, well, fair enough – I’d probably still be listening to Kid and Play, the Eagles, Naughty By Nature, and the latest Ice Cube (is he still making records?) if it were not for his discovery of “Dookie.”
When I moved to Japan year before last, I was on a steady diet of Iron and Wine, Mike Midwestern, the National, and some old emo-reminsicing ala Jimmy Eat World and the Get Up Kids with good friend, Brandon. And when we went on snowboard trips, I often found myself enjoying – thanks to my fiancé – the latest Top 40 hits such as Justin Bieber’s “Baby” and especially Flo Rida’s “Club Can’t Handle Me.” There is a playlist of this so-called “Junk Pop” searchable on my iPod, mostly for nostalgic reasons, and sometimes simply for a “good pop song” reason. But nothing was necessarily sending chills down my spine, like that first time you heard the fireworks exploding in the background of Sigur Rós’ “Staralfur”.
Some would say that good things come to those who wait. And while my music drought was a long one, perhaps the longest since I tore the tape out of a Kid and Play cassette in frustration that it simply was not that good, a floodgate of music has recently been opened up to me. And, I have been riding nothing but ten footers!
I alluded to this in a previous post, and I will always credit that night at Japanese class for this newfound wave of absolutely incredible music that I can no longer live without.
So, I would like to share with you some of the music that has made me feel like a 16-year-old again, riding in the back of my best friend’s mini-van blasting the new Propaghandi record on the way home from the record store.
I should probably mention it is all Japanese music, and my search for the best of the best would not have been possible without some good friends’ excellent recommendations. Who knew!? Give it a try.
ジョンケーサムソンの最初のソロアルバムは「Provincial」と言うアルバムです。このアルバムの名前はサムソンの曲にとって完璧だと思います。やっぱり、アルバムの全部の曲の中でサムソンはカナダの真ん中について歌っている。例えば、様々な社会や昔ホッケー選手やカナダの田舎やウィニペグに関しても歌っています。
