Imagine for a moment that you live somewhere in the vast nothingness of Canada (this should be easy for those of you who actually do live in Canada). The temperature is below freezing at least 360 days a year, several feet of snow lay on the ground year round, and moose attacks are a constant danger. What do you do with your time when stuck in our northernmost state? Well, if you’re like Chad Vangaalen, and I’m going to assume that you are, you spend all of your time hiding out in your basement, mostly by yourself, writing creepy lyrics, recording weird music, and drawing even weirder cartoons to accompany that music. It’s easy to go crazy when it’s that cold and you spend that much time by yourself in a basement, and anyone who could make this (NSFW, probably not safe for people with heart or bladder conditions):
And that gets you signed with Sup Pop. What’s most frightening, perhaps, is that it works. I mean, I actually enjoy it. Maybe I have some Canadian blood in me, eh? Anyway, here’s some more compelling weirdness:
And…
Oh, and…
I enjoy listening to him, but I’m not sure I want to get caught alone with him in a dark alley. Wait, are there alleys in Canada?
Hope your Friday evening’s going well, and that the rest of your weekend does as well. Also, I hope you don’t have any nightmares about these videos.
moose attacks are a constant danger.
Mynd you, møøse bites Kan be pretti nasti.
Vangaalen produced this record, and left plenty of noise in it:
I assume Canada looks like that all the time.Report
Also, “Peace on the Rise” is really pretty.Report
It is. I needed a palate cleanser after vengeful spirits, dead brains hooked up to machines, and blood sucking.Report
Also, speaking of leaving the noise in, in a lot of his songs, you can almost hear the room. They really sound like they were recorded in his house, because a lot of them were.Report
Well, you know I’m a GbV fan. So I love those sort of “environmental artifacts”. Doors creaking, strings squeaking, etc.
Or taking a beautiful melody, and putting the sound of a friend snoring on the couch under it as the rhythm bed:
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Is the no-title thang an over site, or on purpose?Report
Ugh, sorry. First time doing it from my phone, and I clearly didn’t know what I was doing.Report
Yes there are alleys in Canada. Be very afraid. Mr VanGaalen’s tunes get played irregularly on CBC (it’s actually good company on long car trips), but I’d never been exposed to his videos. The artwork gives me visions of Robert Crumb and Jack Kirby doing peyote at Tenochtitlan. Cool!Report
The art reminded me of Jim Woodring’s stuff too.Report
Only twisted.Report
I have actually gotten lost in Canadian alleys.
Also, glad you liked the videos.Report