PICKS: Mor Air's Canadian Alt-90s

ambient electronica experimental Feature

Published on 2020-09-21 00:00:00 by Loose Lips

The sun is receding, gradually we look out into the sky to see the last furls of summer curling up and away. Our heads are fuzzy with emotional confusion and serotonin that we had planned to use up at festivals, and so it only makes sense that we invite the Canadian ambient sensei Mor Air to take the aux cable, to give us a soundtrack for this bizarre but sometimes pretty state of mind, all tracks are gathered in this Spotify playlist. (tune into his new album below instead if you wanna get reeeeeally chill)The 90s were a fertile time for singer/songwriter and alternative rock music in Canada. While CanCon regulations and the ‘MAPL system’ helped to create nationally celebrated artists, the large majority of this music never made impact outside of our borders, which seems crazy to remember, as several of the worlds biggest current superstars hail from Canada.Many of these songs were hugely foundational to me in my formative years growing up. Whether or not any of it comes through in my own output is up to outside ears.This was on a random old cassette mixtape that I found when we moved into a different house when I was about 12, which proved really pivotal and I wore it out completely. The production on “Wonderdrug” is admittedly cheesy ‘adult contemporary but the vocal work is stellar and that intro always gets me.

Holly is way too slept on. Huuuuge voice, blunt and angsty lyrics, overall badass style and never quite fit in neatly in any one box, pulling just as much from alternative rock and grunge as she does from acoustic songwriter stuff. If you like The Cranberries, do a deep dive on Holly. [The music video](https://youtu.be/FjN2rhlPjGU) was also pretty rad.Alanis is one artist that DID make the jump to charts outside of Canada. Jagged Little Pill had an insane amount of singles, this one being my personal favourite as Ill always be a sucker for a harmonica in the mix.You might recognize the voice from Drakes “[Over My Dead Body](https://open.spotify.com/track/2Gnsof1hvZzjE1xdLRpjtf?si=DgsLmWS7SEOthp-pgh7XnQ)“, but Chantal had a massive presence on Canadian radio for years prior. While I cant honestly claim to be a true Kreviazuk head, the chorus that comes in around half way through still makes me lose my entire shit.Sarah McLachlans _Surfacing_ is another album that has so many hits, its hard to pick one, but Sweet Surrender edges everything else out (members of Buffy hive will have opted for “Full of Grace” and I respect that). Hard to beat the song craft on this one, and trance heads can get a little extra mileage via [the Tiësto remix](https://open.spotify.com/track/4bnvGhDSMritR9W2H9fhB3?si=3NpD9ahhTTGolf_cAmhnng).My dad is a die hard blues fan so I grew up with a ton of it. Big Wreck’s debut _In Loving Memory Of…_ took all of that stuff and recontextualised it with a ‘music-school nerd’ technicality (trying to learn these songs as a beginner guitar player was truly hopeless) and some ridiculously heavy production. “The Oaf” sums up the band pretty well in a single song.Sloan cycled through a few different sounds, finding most of their success trying to sound like The Beatles et al, but the fuzzy, jangly stuff they were doing on the _Peppermint EP_ and _Smeared_ is really great stuff if early Teenage Fanclub is your thing.Picking a singular Hip song is basically impossible. The band was a staple on Canadian radio for decades, so several generations have their own connection with the band. The Hips sound changed up from album to album but it was always anchored by Gord Downies personal-yet-ambiguous lyrics and unique delivery, who sadly passed away in 2017. Its hard for me to think of a more Canadian band than the Tragically Hip or a song more beautiful than “Bobcaygeon”.A bit of a departure, but Id be remiss if I didnt nod to Canadas rap history. A one-off track that didn’t originally appear on Rascalz’s Cash Crop album, “Northern Touch ” features a ton of MCs from across Canada that were making waves at the time, with Rascalz’s own DJ Kemo on production. It’s an interesting snapshot of a bunch of careers that were about to go in a million different directions.Joni Mitchell is so legendary sometimes I forget shes Canadian, so its only right to round out this list with one of the most incredible artists from the Great White North. Blue and Ladies of the Canyon are iconic records for a reason, but Hejira is a personal favourite. It sees Mitchell playing with some slinky, rubbery jazz textures (featuring none other than Jaco Pastorius on bass!) against her legendary storytelling. “Song for Sharon” and “Amelia” are standout cuts.

Written by Loose Lips

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