Lets Just Say . . . Blockage

The Strokes can take a hike. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah are so last week and the White Stripes are totally mainstream! Now what band has the hipster nation collectively holding its breath and pining sweet-nothings you ask? Wolf Parade. So of course, I too wanted to crawl up Wolf Parade’s ass with the rest of indie music bloggerdom and suck face with some small intestine. But then I listened to their new album Apologies to Queen Mary. I was not impressed, so I put down the KY and returned to contemplating the sycophant nature of the indie music scene. It’s like watching a bunch of five year olds play soccer. They all converge on the ball, kick and grapple at it furiously until the ball squirts out and they are forced to chase it down and start over again. Running willy-nilly from one spot to the other all chasing the proverbial ball called “cooler-than-you.”

Isaac Brock of Modest Mouse discovered Wolf Parade in Vancouver, signed them to Subpop and then produced their record. So, not surprisingly, Wolf Parade has been drawing a few comparisons to Modest Mouse and, just because they are Canadian as well, Arcade Fire.

Wolf Parade’s album has grown on me a bit since the first listen but I’m going to sit this game out on the sidelines and just take bets.

2:1 – Wolf Parade gets a bowel obstruction from all the hipsters shoved up there.

5:2 – Wolf Parade is the darling of the indie press for six months, tours, and then nobody buys the follow up album.

10:1 – Wolf Parade cracks mainstream radio, scores minor hit.

1,000:1 – Wolf Parade keeps indie cred while making it on a major label, releases one critically acclaimed album after another and becomes a rock mainstay for the next 40 years.

Stuff to Sample: From Wolf Parade's new album Apologies to Queen Mary "Dear Sons and Daughters of Hungry Ghosts" and "Fancy Claps" and another song from the Strokes new album "You Only Live Once"