Once, while enjoying a camping trip to Algonquin Park, we were travelling across Tom Thompson Lake, me and krista in one canoe, and chris and jackie in the other.

Though not a large lake, it was a windy day, and making headway was a labour. As we approached midway across, dark clouds came up, quickly erasing the sunny skies which we had enjoyed up to now.

A small speckling of rain hit, as we increased our efforts and made it to the portage to Canoe Lake in near record time. We managed the portage and headed out onto the lake, toward the south, where a warm bowl of soup and a piece of pie awaited us at the Portage Store.

The rain, and wind picked up as we made our way south, and by the time we hit the docks at the Portage Store, we and our packs were drenched to say the least.

We wrung our cloths out, and pulled the gear and boats onto land. With wallet in hand, we headed out of the rain, inside to the restaurant where lovely smells from the kitchen hit us. We were starved. Two weeks out in the park, eating dried foods and bland soups will do that to you.

As we sat at the table and placed our order, music, sweet music played over the sound system.

It was DeathCab’s Transatlanticism, and it’s track The Sound Of Settling. Oh, was a sweet sound, which i have missed while being out on the portage trail. I missed the music, and my daily blogs (Chromewaves especially). I was reeling in the strong tone of the song, while i enjoyed one of the most amazing bowls of tomato soup and pecan pie.

Once back in the car, i tracked up the album, and we listened to it all the way back to our home in Peterborough.

Thank god for the music of Barsuk Records.

Jeff Macklin

this ain’t no fiction…do you have any idea how good, good music sounds when you’ve been away from it for two weeks? Don’t get me wrong, i love being in the wilderness, but returning to real food and music is equally as pleasurable.

death cab by a landslide…rockin my world since 2003/

jeff

All true here.
The upcoming Long Winters show is a bummer for me because I had previously bought a ticket for Beriut on the same night. Now, I’ve seen Long Winters twice, so it seems that I should stick with Beriut — you know, the new & different thing.
But I really like Long Winters. And it’s been a long while since I’ve seen them.
The last time I saw them opening for The Decemberists. I chatted with John Roderick and Eric Corson afterward, and them that they were one of the few bands my kids would sing along to their record (Shapes, Stupid and Cinnamon). So I did the fan thing and got them to sign the liner notes to When I Pretend to Fall, and also bought the first record (unfortunately, that one wasn’t much of a hit with the girls).
So, the dilemma is which show to attend? Just a few more days to decide.

Can’t resist the opportunity to proclaim my love for Nada Surf – "Let Go."

Here’s the story: It’s 2002 or so, and things weren’t at their all-time best for me. I’d moved around a little bit and lost touch with some friends, so I didn’t have much of social life. What little I had consisted largely of my roommate at the time and his college buddies. They were all a good few years younger than me — nice guys, all, but we were in different places.

Still, I’d tag along with them some nights when they went out. They’d be in the living room at our apartment, finishing their beers, playing Eminem’s "Drug Ballad" or some such to get fired up. And yes, back when Mark Wahlberg was Marky Mark, that was how we made the party start – it’s a great song – but I needed something else.

So I snuck off to my room under the pretense of grabbing my wallet or something, cued up "Let Go," and blared "Killian’s Red." That sad boozy hopefulness just nailed it for me — "I almost love this town when you’re by my side" — and gave me the strength to get out there among the youngsters and keep looking for my boozy indie princess.

Of course I never found her. Instead, I found awesomely normal love with someone who was actually sweet and kind, rather than dramatic and sour – but that song still gives me that weird beery longing, and it probably always will. Thanks Barsuk!

I ordered the Long Winters’ <i>When I Pretend to Fall</i> from Insound in 2003. I didn’t actually listen to music at that point in the life – I was a racquetball court floor installer in Lafeyette, Georgia and was expirementing with a playing surface made entirely of CD jewel boxes. The effect on the spin of the ball would have revolutionized the game as we know it. Alas, the CD I was shipped had a cracked spine, and since the packaging was white and not the standard dark grey, it was completely unacceptable for the task at hand.

I mentioned by disappointment to a friend, who happened to have this magical machine designed to hold the shiny little disc inside the jewel box, which I had always thought was some sort of shipping ballast or something. Not only did the disc fit in this strangle little machine, it actually spun the thing around until music came out! Well, I had never heard of recorded music being played away from a computer, iPod, or player piano, so I immediately sat down and was entranced. In fact, "Blue Diamonds" inspired me to put aside my racquetball court designs and do something useful, like graduate school. I went on and created the gallium nitride light emitting diode, although I later found out that someone else had invented one fifteen years earlier. Now I’m a well adjusted, unproductive (still in grad school after all) member of society, and I owe it all to John Roderick. I think.