Waior
Waior
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Last Active 11-18-12 8:02 pm
Joined 11-09-08

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10.30.11 Sputnikmovies Revisited 10.29.11 Tea (and Its Music) Ranked! ♦
07.20.11 Waior'10: Top 15 Songs/moments01.28.11 Waior Gets Deported: A Musical Journey ♦
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09.26.10 Waiory Users?12.15.09 See You In Toronto
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11.11.09 A Waiory Year10.01.09 Post Your Desktop...?
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Waior Gets Deported: A Musical Journey

It's been four weeks since the new year started and I've been in, yes, 5 countries. Accidentally. Here are the five albums that remind me of each country and the historical and musical retelling of how my Mexicanadian self ended up sitting on a couch in Toronto after being politely nudged out of England. Times are rough, my friends - music stays strong somehow.
1The Swell Season
Once: Music From The Motion Picture

MEXICO - The last time I'd gone out to our local restaurant for pizza with my mates in Mexico was the one and only time I brought an acoustic guitar and a set of harmonicas along for the ride. Only a few minutes after we confidently put our orders in, one of the waiters came back to us with olive oil, balsamic vinegar and a nervous request in broken English: "you can play song for us?" I glanced over to the angel-voiced Mexican mistress who I usually sing with and we reluctantly agreed. We, naturally, played 'Falling Slowly' from the Once soundtrack for the cluster of waiters who were expectantly waiting for our performance in front of the kitchen - the same song we played drunkenly at a convenience store to swoon the cashiers into giving us free merchandise, harmonies and all. They applauded us, we went back to our table and ultimately, we got a pretty nice discount on our meal. An appropriately musical close to my waning three years south of the US border.
2Damien Rice
O

ENGLAND - And then, abruptly, it was off to England. After altercations in Los Angeles and in London, I made my way up to Newcastle to meet up with a special friend of mine who - bless her heart - also had the voice of angel. Her and her family doused me in English culture; I was smothered from the get-go in cream tea, yorkshire puddings, custard, Ellie Goulding, fish & chips and most importantly, Dr. Who. Although carrying my acoustic guitar on my back for a night walk along the beach was a romantic enough excuse to make the music I love, it was the music store I was taken to downtown that had my head spinning. Mandolins, banjos, guitars; everything I wanted. And when her and I found a £2200 Taylor and banged out renditions of Damien Rice's '9 Crimes' and Snow Patrol's 'Set Fire to the Third Bar', even I was impressed. Maybe it was the equipment, maybe it was the acoustics in the room, maybe it was the girl or maybe it was jetlag. Whatever it was, it was awesome and if any of you were there to hear it, we'd at least have gotten a 3.5/5.
3Ellie Goulding
Lights

SCOTLAND - While my tenure back in my ancestral homeland may have reasserted the fact that I am legitimately the greatest grandson of the first king of Scotland (Wikipedia wasn't lying!), it was the culture and architecture that swooned me. It was really quite good timing for me to emerge from the train station to the busy bustling of Edinburgh streets and a gentle street musician playing traditional celtic tunes on a bagpipe - kilt, socks, sporran and all. While Ellie Goulding herself really didn't have any appearance on the Scotland cobblestone, I saw my fair-share of fudge shops, closes, trinket shops, cafes, pubs and many a building older than Canada itself on the Royal Mile. The decidedly celtic atmosphere was perhaps due to our kitchsy, touristy location in the city but I'll be darned if there is a more pleasant sound than that of angry 6/8 strumming, frantic mandolins, busy fiddles and drunken singing seeping out of the local pub walls. This blissful ignorance helped numb my by-then imminent deportation.
4The Decemberists
The King Is Dead

USA - I ended up in New York by accident. Turns out, to study in the UK (which was my noble intention), you need more than a tourist visa - I really don't know how I managed to be so daft but in the grander scheme of things, it's the very reason why I was forcibly sent back to my home continent to get a real visa. Perhaps the only comfort in the 12 hour return flights were the sounds of Colin Meloy's latest record pouring out of my iPod headphones (recently dunked in Pepsi for that "fizzy" sound - anybody who wants to donate me new ones is welcome). And it was in a far-too-long layover in New York that I stepped out of the airport for a few hours and smoked my stress out to the tune of 'Dear Avery' and 'This is Why We Fight' whilst sat on top a mountainous heap of luggage. I may have pulled the guitar out and learned a few of the songs on the streetside even but my illness and stress-casing I'm sure made it more of an objective 2/5 rating this time around.
5Iron & Wine
Kiss Each Other Clean

And here I am in Toronto, twiddling my thumbs patiently as I wait for my departing flight back over the pond on Monday. While I'd lived in the city for a few months in my childhood, being within view of the CN Tower - for the first time in my life - didn't make me excited to be back in Canada but rather just pissed off at emigration forms for making my life so difficult. But hey - I now had 10 days to wait for my visa in which I had nothing to do but listen to Iron & Wine and whatever else I could really sink my teeth into. It's this period of patience that has lead to my recent influx of unproductive Sputniking and contributing. It's this period that I'm using to beef up my music library with your suggestions and the like before returning back to England so that I have something to get lost in these next six months - so that when I come back from the UK, I'll have new musical memories to write about. Maybe they'll be more exciting. Maybe you'll see me camped out in Edinburgh with a bagpipe in the future. Whatever I'm doing in 6 months, I sure as hell hope it's not in Toronto.
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