Music

15 ancient Canadian Livejournals that are still alive

by Mark Teo

Before the blogosphere was saturated by coupon bloggers, wannabe “brand advocates,” and ex-English majors pounding essays into Tumblr, there was Livejournal. Unlike its modern counterparts, LJs felt deceptively innocent: They were a platform for diary-style entries about diary-style things. Everyone had one, and every single last one was humiliating.

But they were also adorable (and obviously, we had multiple LJs ourselves). For music nerds, we banded together in LJ webrings. We compiled amateur year-end record lists. And we slathered the entire posts with emoticons ( 😛 ), updates about our moods ( BARFY!), and swapped avatars endlessly. The biggest hero of the era? Pete Wentz, whose Livejournal still stands.

Not many of us still use LJ to this day, but it doesn’t mean we’ve forgotten. We’ve given the ol’ internet a good archaeological dig, and we’ve found these 15 LJs dedicated to Canadian music.

 

Quality Canadian Music Icons

Remember when we talked about the importance of avatars? This entire blog was devoted to cropped ‘n’ shopped LJ icons, including—shockingly—a Paul Langlois avvy. We calls dibs on the Wayne Petti icon on the top left of the screen—what a dreamboat.

 

Sam Roberts

This Sam Roberts tribute is a model of what an LJ could be: While Sam watches over the proceedings, it’s used to carefully analyze songs and link to B-sides and rarities.

 

The Arcade Fire

This Arcade Fire LJ is one of the most recently updated journal on this list—its author was last seen in 2011, after the Arcade Fire won their Grammy (see: the link to the Who Is Arcade Fire Tumblr.) We especially appreciate this LJ’s artwork, which depicts an actual arcade console ablaze.

 

Alanism

This faux-painted LJ’s design is surprisingly slick—it’s perhaps the result of some newfangled theme that no one used because, like, who still had a Livejournal after 2005? (Also, how do you pronounce “Alanism”? Alan-ism? Alanis-ism?) Anyhow, this forgotten, elegant piece of internet ephemera brightened up our day—almost as much The Same Pic of Dave Coulier Every Day, a Tumblr dedicated to Morrissette’s one-time flame. Alanism is the most current LJ on our list, having been updated in April of this year with some icons.

 

The Sick Fits

Remember when top-notch web design looked like Blood Brothers album covers? We hope that era never, ever returns.

 

Fans of Canadian Music

Fans of Canadian Music was a Livejournal that seemed to function as a message board—you can see the Nightmares, above, promoting one of their shows on the blog. Also, it was the web’s no. 1 trusted source for Sarah Harmer thumbnails. Still is, too.

 

Snowsuit Sound

Between Snowsuit Sound and the almighty Sloan Hut, Sloan had excellent fan-driven web hangouts. The former featured posts on just about everything Sloan, including—oddly—Chris Murphy-related comics.

 

Calgary Music Scene

AUX contributor Josiah Hughes edits Calgary’s alt-weekly, Fast Forward, but the real Alberta music heads know that the Calgary Music Scene Livejournal’s where the action happens. So screw you, Josiah.

 

Down at the Khyber

While you’d think this blog would discuss the happenings at Halifax’s legendary arts hub, The Khyber, it doesn’t. Rather, as far as we can tell, they only post Joel Plaskett tour dates.

 

RU Alexisonfire

RU Alexisonfire? No, and neither is this LJ. But it is, puzzlingly, a Russian blog entirely dedicated to the since-departed St. Catherines screamo powerhouse.

 

The Best Canadian Music

Do we sense a trend here? Here’s another Russian Livejournal—this, dedicated to Canadian music at large (and to Carey Mercer doing his best Mike Smith impression, apparently).

 

See Spot Run

This See Spot Run page, dedicated to the Montreal alt-rock band, is one of the oldest on this list—it hasn’t been updated in 11 years. We’d think that’s because the band went dormant, but nope—they’re still plugging away, and, according to their Wiki page, opened for Bon Jovi in Sarnia as recently as 2009.

 

Econoline Crush

This gun-obsessed, monochrome Econoline Crush Livejournal is the perfect accompaniment to the band’s lapdance-scoring industrial sex rock.

 

Spookey Ruben

Seven words: Whoopie-doopie-daiiii-aii-oh-pooo-yaaaaay!

 

Winnipeg Music

 

Winnipeg Music served as a hub for those curious about Manitoba’s music—and had we not visited it today, we might not have ever thought about Jet Set Satellite ever again. So like, thanks, Livejournal.