Enter The Haggis

Ok, I know I mentioned these guys in an earlier thread, but that was just knowing a couple of their tunes. I bought the CD and I have to say, I am totally amazed. This is some of the best music I’ve heard, ever.

Unless hearing a fiddle causes a gag reflex, you should check them out. Their music is hard to describe, but comes across sort of like progressive/Celtic/folk/rock/bluegrass. The CD I got “Casualties of Retail” is about half instrumental and half with vocals. Both are great- their vocals use lots of harmonies and their instrumentals have some complex patterns, including non-standard meters likes 7/8. Their typical instrumentation is guitar, bass, drums, fiddle, and bagpipes, though they also have some other stuff in there too (such as Latin percussion and a harmonica).

I know I have tastes that are probably different from many, but I can’t imagine not liking this stuff. This is one of the first times I’ve ever heard a bagpipe and enjoyed it (yes, I have a personal bias against bagpipes for some strange reason).

Anyway, they’re independent so I figured I’d do my part by posting here. And since they’re from Canada and I don’t know what the exchange rates are, I should note you can get their CD from buy.com (it took me some searching to figure that out).

I like fiddles. I'm far more likely to have a gag reflex to the bagpipes. How prevalent is it in their music?

Speaking of fiddling, I had a friend in high school who was already a world class fiddler. Sadly, his website seems a tad out-dated. You can still get his album here, though. I recommend it.

I'll check out Enter the Haggis, too. Maybe I'll get around the bagpipes

Oooops. Sorry about that. I received my order for all of the albums and the DVD. I have not had a chance to even open the CDs yet. More to follow later.

I used my credit card to do the automatic currency conversion, and ordered from the vendor recommended on the ETH site.

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I'm far more likely to have a gag reflex to the bagpipes.

I cannot stand bagpipes myself, but I love it here. I can't really tell you why, though. They just sound right for the music.

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How prevalent is it in their music?

Very- at least for the instrumentals. My two favorite songs with vox on the CD do not have bagpipes- "Another Round" and "Gasoline". Sot it's not in all of their songs, but enough so that you hear it a lot. Most of the time it's just matching what the fiddle is doing though- very, very fast melody lines rather than the obnixious dirge-like sound you often get with bag pipes.

Searching around the web it seems that everyone loves these guys live, but aren't as enamored with the CD. Oh well, I think the CD is fabulous.

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Speaking of fiddling, I had a friend in high school who was already a world class fiddler. Sadly, his website seems a tad out-dated. You can still get his album here, though. I recommend it.

Checking it out now . . .

Jeff