The 10th record (not including two EPs, a live album and a “greatest hits” collection) from stalwart Toronto band Sloan, The Double Cross (just released on Yep Roc) also serves to commemorate the quartet’s 20th anniversary as a versatile guitar-pop collective. Guitarists Patrick Pentland and Jay Ferguson, bassist Chris Murphy and drummer Andrew Scott—all four write and sing their own tunes and often switch instruments onstage—have successfully forged a productive two-decade career full of preternaturally catchy songs and beyond-entertaining live shows. Thankfully, they don’t appear to be slowing down; The Double Cross continues the group’s winning streak, particularly the seamless opening 1-2-3 of Murphy’s “Follow The Leader,” Ferguson’s “The Answer Was You” and Pentland’s “Unkind.” (Check out the band’s YouTube channel for a track-by-track discussion of the LP.) In their typically all-for-one, one-for-all fashion, the members of Sloan are guest-editing magnetmagazine.com this week. Read our brand new Q&A with Pentland.
Scott: There’s a restaurant in the Plateau area of Montreal, Au Pied de Cochon, that is good enough to make that city a destination, not to mention everything else Montreal has to offer. I’ve eaten there on several different occasions and can say with certainty that it is the best restaurant in the world. Don’t ask how I know this, as I’ve barely touched the thresholds of what critics and foodies across the globe cite as just that. I’m not a critic of food, nor am I a fan of foie gras, the central ingredient at Au Pied de Cochon. But I do like good food, and this is beyond good.
Recently, friends having just visited Montreal for a meal at Au Pied de Cochon came back with, to my surprise, Duck In A Can. I had never had it at the restaurant because there is simply too dizzying a menu and, depending on your constitution, one wants to “try” too much. You’ll never finish your meal here. You can’t. You’ll inevitably order way too much. Combined with drinks, by the time you waddle out onto the street with a big dumb smile in a groaning, distended stupor, your half-finished plate will have gone to some very lucky dogs in the alley.
Duck In A Can must be consumed within 24 hours, as there are no preservatives. As the label suggests, it is immersed in boiling water for exactly 27 minutes. By the strike of 28, it should be upon toast and, preferably, celeriac puree, but I didn’t have that. What I did have was surreally delicious and outrageously unavailable to me here in Toronto at this very moment. In fact, I just got off the phone with Marc from Au Pied de Cochon to see if I could have three cans Fed Exed. The answer a resounding “Non.” I’m crushed, and I’m starving! I dare you to go eat here and order this item, and I dare you to have a better eating experience anywhere.
