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The Canadian Political landscape is a lot more restive than it ordinarily is at this time of year. Maybe it's because three months of the year disappeared down a prorogue hole or maybe it's because the Tories are busily trying to cram their agenda down the throats of parliament just before the break and Canadians are taking notice or perhaps wanton spending on the upcoming summits have made Canadians suspicious of a government that claims it is fiscally conservative. Whatever the reason, things are in a state of flux it would seem.

There's the sneaking suspicion that the Liberals and the NDP are in merger/coalition talks in spite of all the denials to fuel public interest. Make of it what you will. Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff dismissed the notion on Wednesday saying, “No one has any authorization to even discuss this matter. It's ridiculous. I am a Liberal. I am proud to be a Liberal. The people around me are Liberals. We are going to form a Liberal government.”

A string of seemingly endless polls that show the Tories incapable of getting beyond the threshold of 34-36% in national popularity - including the latest EKOS poll that suggests they would lose a bunch of seats in Ontario if an election were held today.

You know what Canada really needs? A politically right leaning network just like FOX! Well Quebec billionaire Pierre Karl Péladeau thinks so anyhow. They may even have landed their first news host, David Akin, the guy who falsely reported that Canadian icon Gordon Lightfoot had passed away. He sounds perfect for the job!

Lastly, so you'll go to bed tonight feeling confident that a disaster like the one in the Gulf could never happen here, the people at Chevron assure us  that it could never happen here by saying, "It could never happen here!" Well, there you have it then!

Thee Oh Sees
Warm Slime
In The Red Records

I'd like to start this review with a pithy maxim (is that redundant?) I crafted while watching TV in my underwear: You don't get into psychedelic music, it gets into you. Not like religion or love, more like Cordyceps. And if any album is going to drive you insane, make you climb a tree and then burst out the back of your skull, it's Warm Slime.
Warm Slime's sound drips off it in thick gooey rivulets, each a unique child of the driving title track. Every song throbs with a pulse, but each heartbeat is different. "Everything Went Black" is a dark march, driving an army of freaks, while its neighbour "Castic Tackle" runs at twice the speed and bears an unmistakable connection to the surf rock scene.
None of the lyrics are quite coherent, the opening track is 13 minutes long and all the guitars sound like they're on mushrooms, in other words a finely crafted entry into the genre.
(Gareth Sloan)

Nas and Damian Marley
Distant Relatives
Universal/Def Jam

Distant Relatives combines the soulful reggae jams of Damien Marley with the lyrically-meaningful hip hop of Nas. They come together to give us socially conscious music with a message. With songs like "Tribal War", "My Generation" and "Promise Land, they take their listeners on a journey to Africa and give insight as to how we've all come to be distant relatives. The album combines steel band, reggae, rap, and rock that work together harmoniously. Damien channels his father (the late Bob Marley) through his lyrics and rhythm. The "One Mic" rapper, and "Welcome to Jamrock" singer come together to make inspiring music that takes risks, and preach the message of struggle and hope. They give us a much needed dose of reality. Nas brings the guns and Marley brings the Ganja.
(Sarah El Fangary)

blessthefall
Witness
Fearless Records

The mew album Witness by blessthefall hardly makes an impression while listening to it. As an old extreme blessthefall fan I was excited to hear their new album with their new vocalist Beau Boken, however after a quick listen to the album it was clear that something was missing. The screams feel empty, the breakdowns lack energy and overall the songs are rather boring. The only song that I actually enjoyed off the album is “To Hell & Back”. This is the only song in my opinion that captures what blessthefall use to be about, it has everything that the rest of the album lacks but it is only 1 track off of a 12 track CD.
(Katrina Kuras)

Shad
TSOL
Black Box Recordings

Three years after he wowed critics with sophomore effort The Old Prince, Shaddy K returns with a third album full of introspective raps, solid production, witty wordplay and a barrage of flows that best his Canuck contemporaries. Where others are all flash and no substance, every verse spit by the Ontario native is deep with strange allusions and double-entendres, forcing multiple listens in order to get some sense of some of the lines he drops. The beats Shad has crafted/sought out complement the songs perfectly – heavy on live instrumentation as well as atmospheric qualities, the words and music are a perfect marriage. First single "Yaa I Get It" has Shad playfully boasting while at the same time self-deprecatingly making fun of himself (much like the character he creates on The Old Prince's "The Old Prince Still Lives At Home"). Literate yet inviting, Shad straddles the line in-between backpacker and crowd rocker with a set of songs that are sure to please most rap fans.
(Brian Hastie)

Today, as I busy myself posting the news links to stories I covered on my radio show, stories that are not getting enough MSM coverage because the medias are far too busy focusing on fake scandals like Obama using the word "ass," I find myself thinking of that fictional world. (My only problem with Obama's use of that word is that he did not direct it those truly responsible for the continuing disaster in the Gulf and those who really lower the level of discourse, especially when it comes to policy and politics.) Anyhow, as I continue following the nightmarish stories that are coming out of the Gulf while those on the right continue to push for an end to the moratorium on drilling, I see nothing but people blind to the real potential of this disaster in concert with everything else that is taking place around the globe. So much so that an entertainment I once regarded as a B-movie fantasy now seems prophetic and frightening.

With our PM there's never any shortage of adjectives to hurl his way. He makes it easy, heck he even inspired us at NMPCanada to create two new ones just for him: assalogue and sanctihole. Today however, we're going to stick to words that are already in the English dictionary.

A story being reported by the Globe and Mail describes his obsession with Tory message control, and how that reaches ...around the world in an attempt to orchestrate virtually every public utterance by seasoned diplomats from Britain to Bangladesh, a Canadian Press investigation concludes.

The Conservative government scripts every event using a communication tool they call the Message Event Proposal (MEP's). The MEPs have blurred the time-honoured separation of non-partisan public servants and political staffers and sidelined seasoned government communicators, sapping morale across the civil service.

It's far worse than just uninspired photo-ops. Quoting Jonathan Rose, a political scientist from Queen's University, “You've got bureaucrats who are doing the government's partisan work and also political staffers who are doing bureaucrats' work. So there's this huge blurring of lines between the two.” Those are lines that the government has no right to blur.

 Jeffrey Simpson of The Globe and Mail describes Tory message control this way: The MEP describes the request/event, the likely audience, the desired headline or sound bite, the appropriate backdrop, the best photograph or camera angle, the appropriate clothing, the accompanying materials, and so on. Nothing, if possible, is left to chance by this spin machine, which is why so many of Stephen Harper’s events, and those of other ministers, have such a lifeless, deadening sense about them.

There's something inherently sad about these tactics that prevent Canadians from ever getting an honest look at who is governing and what it is they believe as opposed to what they purport. It's also hard to read about this and not think that Harper and the Conservatives have co-opted the Republican playbook which has been been all about message control from the top down - and look where that has brought American public discourse.