Location, location, location

Arab Strap, complete with their thick accents, seemed to embody Scotland. Of course the band that is named after a particular sexual "device" also likes to spin tales of drunkeness and relentless skirt chasing... so, sorry Scotland (I loov ya... even though you did spend $250k on a new slogan, so cleverly entitled Welcome To Scotland!?!)
Video :: The Shy Retirer by Arab Strab (best Arab Strap song ever!)

Countless English bands - and their descriptive lyrical imagery such as "enslaved in a pebble-dash grave" by Suede - scream out to me in a way that no Canadian band can hope for. In supporting and enjoying musicians and their works I have always struggled with that sense of distance and perspective. Basically, I eschew anything local. I don't want to hear some Canadian band spout off about suburbia...

Actually, that's wrong. There is this amazing Rush classic. Ok... thesis abandoned!

Then there is the (now) internationally popular Sigur Rós who find themselves wrapped up in the very fabric of their nation and pretty much are Iceland. Have 97 minutes to spare? Watch their full-length/ incredible/ goosebump-inducing film:
Movie :: Heima by Sigur Rós






Bonus:

Song :: The Shy Retirer by Arab Strap

"I want to fall in love tonight and form the perfect unbreakable bond
you can be my teenage jenny agutter, swimming naked in a pond
you know i'm always moanin'/ but you jumpstart my seratonin
but how d'you know you've ever really loved?"