SOUNDTRACK: MIKE FORD: Satellite Hotstove (2007).
I was going to say I didn’t know what the name of this album meant, but then, while looking for a photo of it, I discovered it’s a part of Hockey Night in Canada. Shame on me for not knowing that.
Anyhow, Mike Ford is a member of the fabulous Moxy Fruvous. He has released a few solo albums, and this one I just picked up from MapleMusic.
This is a very solid folk album. Mike wrote some of these on the Trans-Canada train, so as you might expect there’s a lot of Canada packed into the 8 songs. Although Ford and Fruvous liked to throw humor into their songs, there’s no much of that here. “Huge on the Luge” being the exception, which is very funny and quite silly (and was actually written in 2001).
The rest of the album deals a lot with Canadian water images: The Eastern Gap in Toronto, The Credit River in Ontario, The Seaway in the St Lawrence, and The Fraser River in BC. And, there’s the rather obviously titled Saskatchewan (not a cover of the Rheostatics song).
I’m very fond of the song “Late of October,” a sweet celebration of Autumn, which is probably my favorite season, too. There’s not a lot more to say about this record. Mike has a great voice, perfect for folk songs, and his lyrics are thoughtful. If you’re looking for good folk music by someone you may not have heard of before, definitely check this one out!
[READ: July 5, 2008] “The Eagle Has Landed”
The Walrus is a magazine I’ve subscribed to since Issue 2. It’s a great general magazine from Canada. They cover everything from politics to the environment, to arts and culture, and they don’t only cover Canadian issues. It’s one of my favorite magazine. They write about things that I don’t think I care about and then I find my self totally engrossed by it. (more…)
I Just Read About That... 