Okay, so there's actually something of a story behind this one. The year is 1999, and I'm at the Record Exchange on Hillsborough St. I'm going through the used bin and I come upon a band I'd never heard of with an interesting name/album art combo. As is usual in such situations, I took the bait and plopped down $4 for the CD. I can't remember my first experience with the album, I probably wasn't blown away, but I remember liking the song 'Kiev Trains'. I recall listening a few times, but then the CD mysteriously disappeared and I quickly forgot about it. Fast forward 7 years and my friend Zack plays 'Kiev Trains' at a party. I ask him what was up with such a strange coincidence, and it turns out he's had the CD all these years, albeit without the case (which I still have; I'm looking at it right now). He laughs and then claims that this album, Brokeheart Audio, by the basically-unknown Canadian band Strawberry, is one of his favorite albums! I say, "well, ahh, shucks, can I have the CD back now? I haven't heard it in awhile." I never get it back... which was only a problem until earlier this year, when the dudes from Strawberry posted their discography for free on some website.
Strawberry was a band from Prince Edward Island, Canada, and other than some shows opening for Modest Mouse back in the day, are almost totally unknown. Turns out Brokeheart Audiois the only album that got released on a label, and I have no idea how it ended up in The Record Exchange. I'm still not blown away by any of their music, most of it is fairly diluted late-90s indie rock, and it hasn't aged well. But fuck, it's still as good as a lot of Modest Mouse! All said, I think these guys deserve their due, and they're finally getting the retrospective treatment from us here on the most world-wide of webs.
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