Apostle of Hustle - The National Anthem of Nowhere

It seems like a recurring theme - a needle stuck in a groove, if you will: Arts & Crafts Records has the corner on Canadian indie music and are not willing to go away any time soon. One member of the A&C stable of artists, Andrew Whiteman, more widely known as Apostle of Hustle, adds only fuel to that ever-towering bonfire. Somewhat of an enigma within the indie scene with his Cuban and Latin heritage, Whiteman is able to weave these artistic and cultural influences into his songs, even singing a few tracks entirely in Spanish (“jRafafa!”). Elsewhere, Whiteman offers a spicy celebratory Latin flavor with stomping, near Calexican beat of the songs showing up amidst the soundscapes of an otherwise very cool indie rock-sounding record.

Knowing little about the Apostle, one thing I truly admire about this disc is the fact that, even though walls of instrumentation are constructed, the lyrics are not lost in the noise. Whiteman’s warm and raspy voice, which is strangely very similar sounding to Jason Collett’s voice (another Broken Social Scene guitarist making solo efforts), breaks through the layers of synth, guitar, random horns and tightly orchestrated percussion, not willing to hide the gist of his message.

Whiteman is a postmodern musician - in it for the music but never afraid to kick out some politics. His cultural roots references run deep and force the listener to investigate further into the crux of his ideas. For example, the Flamenco-flavored track, “Fast Pony for Victor Jara,” alludes to Víctor Lidio Jara Martínez, a Chilean teacher and man of the arts (theatre director, poet, and musician) who never let any form of oppression silence his political views. During the socialist reign of Salvador Allende in Latin America, Jara was murdered, fixing his art and words into a symbol of someone who never stopped fighting in the face of military repression. What’s incredible about this track, though, is that even though it’s an instrumental, it still speaks volumes to our conscience and engages our thoughts.

Obviously influenced by many of my favorite artists (Dinosaur Jr., Pavement, Wilco), it’s somewhat of shame that Apostle of Hustle and others of his caliber will constantly get lumped into the category of indie because, so often, the music itself is so instrumentally expansive and uncategorizable. Whiteman shows he can drive us home with a bright, radio pop, mid tempo rock ballad (“Chances Are”) but still deliver darkly beautiful and imagery-filled pieces like “NoNoNo” depicting a man re-thinking the meat of his existence. National Anthem of Nowhere is an album for those who, perhaps like Whiteman, have never really felt that they fit in, within any specific country or region, to finally feel a part of something and belong to a community that could be called home. Here’s hoping the Apostle keeps his hustle on for many more albums to come.

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