The story of how music can help to take your mind off the fact that your window is frozen open...
Ahh, winter. The falling of snow, the after-effects of Christmas (gyms, diets, credit card scary movies), and the knowledge that spring won't be so far away, and after that, summer, and all that entails (festivals, open-air concerts). At least, that's how it should be...
Not for this put-upon scribe. Thanks to my wonderful landlords, I'm currently sat with a scarf pinned to the main window in the front room of my apartment, trying to keep the cold air out. Which is quite important, considering Toronto is currently about -10 in the warmer areas! The reason for this? My carbon monoxide alarm advised me that there were low levels of CO in the air, and that I should ventilate the room immediately. Fine, I open the window, which was an adventure in itself (it's a long story - suffice to say that there's an ongoing battle between me and the landlord, with the windows being just one issue), and let the fresh air in. But then, when I go to close the window, I find it's frozen stiff to the slide rail. Which leads me to about here...
What does this have to do with indie music? Well, apart from hot soup and my trusty scarf, not to mention my lovely better half, it's given me a lot of time to catch up on some yet-to-be-listened-to CD's, as I sit at the computer and type complaint letter after complaint letter to my landlord. And there are some excellent EP's, albums and demos floating around at the minute, all of which I will be featuring in the coming weeks.
It's also given me time to check out the local gig listings, as well as look ahead to the festival season in the summer, and see which bands and gatherings I should be going to. Once again, I'll be reporting on this, both in advance and after the event, so you can be pre-warned as to what's around the corner. Hopefully this may just help you decide between SXSW or Coachella and the likes.
So, yeah, cold weather - great for frostbite, tobogganing and reasons to wear oversized snow boots. But also the time to find and appreciate a band it may have taken another month to get round to, and realise thirty-band extravaganzas are mere months away.
Here's to a burst pipe! :-)
