Radio Slipstream counts down what it sees as the best albums of 2007! The tip top of my top albums of 2007 list that was fiddled with constantly throughout the year (and in its entirety went up to 280…uhps). Sure it’s a bit late, but that just means it’s more accurate a list than everyone else’s, right? Yeahuh.

Read on for the results
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ANYWAY

in the meantime, here is, sans any sort of commentary, my 101 favourite songs of 2007, unordered, 1 per artist. Now it would be pointless to just list ‘em… unless of course I provided means for procurement, and I have done exactly that, in the form of this torrent which contains all of the songs (in roughly 818 mb)

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With apologies for the late update of the site, here is probably the most unique and potentially most exciting episode of the slipstream to date. This past weekend I trawled around the sights and sounds of the LOLA festival, with my digital camera in tow, which turned out to have a sound recorder for its damn decent mic. So as it turned out I used my status as a community radio host to get some interviews with various folks. The interviews are occasionally of subpar quality, but I did learn a lot about the process from a technical and theoretical standpoint. I also managed to record a few special LOLA performances, which crop up also (see tracklisting for details of course). And just to keep things lively, behind my inane ramblings, you can hear snatches of many live performances recorded throughout the weekend at Victoria Park. It was thrown together in a bit of a mad panic on Sunday as I was leaving in the evening for Toronto, but I think it’s still worth a listen, and hope you will to. So what are you waiting for.. check it out (on the podcast, or the link above). Also, LOLAfest is a really exciting event and one of my most favourite things of a long while, so it’s worth looking into and encouraging similar endeavours.

Holy Fuck / The Pulse / Holy Fuck (EP) (2007)
My Brightest Diamond / Golden Star (Stop Die Resuscitate Remix) / Unreleased (2007)

*DJ TLO / Scratching Solo / Live at LOLA (2007)
Sixtoo / Sidewinders / Chewing on Glass & Other Miracle Cures (2004)
OK Cobra / Child In Rhyme / OK Cobra (2006)
Prefuse 73 / One Word Extinguisher / One Word Extinguisher (2003)

Interview with LOLA festival director Andrew P Francis

Beach House / Apple Orchard / Beach House (2006)
Sandro Perri / Family Tree / Tiny Mirrors (2007)
Torngat / Minute By Minute / You Could Be (2007)

Interview with artist Mr Ghosty

*Final Fantasy / Paris 1919 (John Cale cover) / Live at LOLA (2007)
Ohbijou / Steep / Swift Feet For Troubling Times (2006)
Basia Bulat / Snakes and Ladders / Oh My Darling (2007)
Meligrove Band / Planets Conspire / Planets Conspire (2005)

Akron/Family / Lake Song/New Ceremonial Music For Moms / Love Is Simple (2007)
The Acorn / Flood Pt.1 / Glory Hope Mountain (2007)
The Hylozoists / Strait Is The Gate / La Fin Du Monde (2006)

Interview with Constantines singer Bryan Webb

*Constantines / Million Star Hotel / Live at LOLA (2007)

Old Man Luedecke / Roustabout / Hinterland (2006)

Read on for an assortment of videos and pictures that i managed to grab while I was hanging around…
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These are not necessarily endorsements, but I don’t usually see an artist I don’t like. It does happen though, from time to time, for one reason, or another (and those more embarassing ones tend to be toward the bottom of the list…).

(Last updated November 25, 2007)

U2 x 5
The Mountain Goats
Sigur Ros x 2
The National x 2
The Constantines x 6
Wilco
A Silver Mt. Zion
Akron/Family
Final Fantasy
Saul Williams
Junior Boys x 5
The Arcade Fire
Royksopp
Radiohead
The Decemberists x 3
The Hidden Cameras
Ted Leo/Pharmacists x 3
TV On the Radio
Spoon
The Sadies x 3
Spiral Beach
Andrew Bird
Ohbijou
The Weakerthans x 2
Cuff the Duke x 2
The Notwist
Subtle
Caribou/Manitoba x 2
PJ Harvey x 2
Garbage
Do Make Say Think
Bowerbirds
The Hold Steady
Annie
Of Montreal
Grizzly Bear
Stars
David Bowie
British Sea Power
Joseph Arthur
Moby
Death From Above 1979
Iron and Wine
Calexico
The Unicorns
Shapes and Sizes
The Organ
R.E.M.
Dead Can Dance
Dan Deacon
Girl Talk
The Prodigy
Controller.Controller x 2
Merkury Burn x 2
Jon Rae and the River
Hylozoists
Laura Barrett
Head of Femur
Magneta Lane
Howie Beck
Matthew Barber
Matt Pond PA
Mary Timony
Meligrove Band
Moneen
Bell Orchestre
The Reputation
The Matadors x 5
Blackalicious
DJ Shadow
Latyrx
LAL
Maroons
Lifesavas
Joyo Velarde
Tiesto
Dieselboy
Adam Freeland
Max Graham x 2
Kid Koala x 2
Blockhead
Bonobo
Sixtoo
Amon Tobin
The New Deal
The Birthday Massacre
Sanseiru
The Gurriers
Alexisonfire
From Fiction
Spirit of the West
Sam Roberts
Pilate
Treble Charger
Turn Off The Stars
Avril Lavigne
Swollen Members
Elephant Man
Bif Naked
Theory of a Deadman
High Holy Days
Third Eye Blind
Kazzer
The Junction

Last but not least.. a whole slew of world class celtic musicians whose names would be impossible to all list, and you haven’t heard of them anyway. But my oh my there’s some gold in them hills.

Yes.

Some I want to see more than others.

Italicized shows have been attended. (Parenthesized shows mean I probably won’t go, but are noteworthy). Starred shows I have tickets to.

Here’s a brief, in progress, rundown (this list will hoperfully be kept uptodate, also some weblistings contradict each other, so I might not be sure wtf):

Oct 02: Yo La Tengo - Phoenix - Toronto - $22.50
Oct 09: Under Byen (w/Giant Sand) - The Horseshoe - Toronto - $15.00
Oct 11: The New Pornographers - Kool Haus - Toronto - $20.50
Oct 12: TV on the Radio (w/ guests, Grizzly Bear?) - The Opera House - Toronto - $17.50 - sold out.
Oct 14: Art Brut (w/ We Are Scientists, Spinto Band) - The Opera House - Toronto - $17.50 - Doors 2030
Oct 28: The Hold Steady - The Horseshoe - Toronto - $15.00 Adv
Oct 29: Love is All - The Horseshoe - Toronto - $10.50 Adv
Nov 05: Califone - The Horseshoe - Toronto - $10.00 Adv
Nov 06: The Decemberists (w/ Alasdair Roberts) - Kool Haus - Toronto - $22.50

I started working on this list in December 2004 when the 2005 crop started leaking out into netlandia and since then I’ve been constantly tweaking, adding, removing and rearranging. Until airtime, at which point it all gets set in stone. The actual list that this was culled from goes up to 180, which represents all the albums I heard this year that I enjoyed enough to consider them list-worthy. There are plenty of others that were never considered. The ones that made it on I have heard and enjoyed and usually multiple times, with increasing as you get nearer to the top.

As with all lists, it is inherently wrong. I disagree with several parts of it already, and have for a while. Most annoyingly, Bright Eyes is too high and I don’t know why the hell I pushed Beck off at the last minute. As unrevolutionary as Guero might have been, I quite enjoy it from time to time and it deserves to be here. So there, now that I’m not fully behind this list, you shouldn’t even give two and a half craps about what’s on it. But if you do anyway, more’s the power to ya!

This was originally aired on CFMU on my radioshow. The songnames in parentheses with each album correspond to the song that I played on the show. You can listen to the 5 parts (2 hours each) by dealing with the following links as you see fit: part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5.

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From Sept 17-21, I saw the four best concerts of the year so far. Four very different concerts at four very different venues. And they all blew my mind (or at least came damn close) in their own big way. I was going to post this all nearly after the fact, but the busyness, fullness, laziness and a little bit of the greatness of life conspired for it to take rather long.

Following is a lengthy but brief account of U2, Lal, Peoples Republic, Saul Williams, Amina, Sigur Ros, Annie and Royksopp live in Toronto and Hamilton over four sweetly consecutive days.

Saturday, Sept 17: U2 - Air Canada Centre - Toronto.

It’s no secret that Damon likes U2. Hell, he basically didn’t listen to any other band between 1994 and 1998, and then it was about 50% U2 for 2 years and a bit. Now, of course, they don’t get to occupy much of my aural schedule and they probably never will again. Largely because their new material is uninspired. But whatever. The old songs are still as good. They still know how to work a crowd like nothing else. The light show is fookin’ incredible.

I was looking forward to this concert less than I might have been. But when it got down to the wire and Wake Up by Arcade Fire was playing and then the arena was plunged into darkness, I was pretty damn thrilled. I actually trembled with excitement for a bit, which was nifty. The band was pretty tight (they’ve probably been tighter). But ohh the lights, and ohhh the crowd, and the soaring songs. Here’s the thing… at a U2 concert the audience is almost as important as the band. Being in a huge room with 20k overly enthusiastic people, it’s hard not to be quite enthusiastic oneself, and it feels damn good. Everyone singing along, cheering loudly, being moved, being rocked. It’s all one giant churchlike catharsis.. and that’s the power of music as went on to be demonstrated on this and on the next three days.

Highlights of the show: Great setlist and good variety of songs from their older albums (too much from Bomb, but that’s to be expected) we even got a B-Side, and the Ocean and Electric Co. During One they pulled up Daniel Lanois and afterwards Eddie Vedder onto stage for a little singsong of Old Man River. Very cool. The first encore was just about the best thing ever. All of a sudden we hear a familiar beat and melody… … popmuzik!! which eventually turned into Discotheque (first song from Pop on the whole tour i think). we hoped for Mofo, but that was swell enough. The ZooTV style fly display was hella awesome. And Bono bellowing out Pavarroti’s part in Miss Sarajevo was incredible. I especially liked Bono’s intro to Miracle Drug: saying how Edge is from the future on another planet, and when he landed in Dublin his spaceship was playing those 4… no 5 notes. When Edge came out of his spaceship, Larry asked him “what’s the future like?” and Edge just said “better.” Then he dedicated the song to the Sick Children’s Hospital. A powerful little sentiment. A powerfully gigantic show.

Sunday, Sept 18: Lal, Peoples Republic, Saul Williams - Pepperjack Cafe - Hamilton.

This show was a bit of a gamble. Lal sounded pretty neat on record, Saul Williams is pretty cool and has a pretty hot rep but some people weirdly don’t seem to like him, and Peoples Whothehellwhatsit? *shrug*

First of all, props to the venue. Really nice place, nice atmosphere, nice stage, good acoustics. Makes the Underground look like a hole in the ground… wait.. never mind. It was easy to see it was an older clientele: no IDing, quieter, less hollering and lameness, a very mature crowd; probably mostly determined by the slightly steep 25 buck ticketprice (for another show that might be a concern, this one was worth more).

LAL was awesome, because LAL is trip-hop. And it actually worked really well live. The singer had an awesome voice, and kept doing this thing where she’d sing the same line over and over while walking to and away from the mic - sounded really good. The production courtesy of dude in the back with a laptop was mellow, kinda glitchy sonic massaging. Come to think of it, every act was just one emcee and one producer guy with a whole whack of confusing buttons and cranks to pull and twist. I guess that’s hip hop live for you. Haven’t seen to much of it in all honesty.

Peoples Republic was startlingly awesome. Good production (are you afraid of the dark? scrrreeeeeach). The fella spittin’ tha rhymes (and in fact the other dude) used to be in Warsawpack (notice a trend with the names?) nothing wrong with some good old whiteboy socialist rap, right? Most of the lyrics were pretty jaw-droppingly good, which is always surprising when you have no idea who the bloke is. Unfortunately I can’t really find any info about this stuff online as it’s not the easiest thing to google for.. I don’t quite think they have any releases yet. Wish I could quote the lyrics.. but some songs were: monotony rock, terror level red, blackout, we walk among devils. much bang on lyricism.

But how can you even talk about lyricism in comparison to Saul fucking Williams? This dude… this dude. wow. He really is a poet. I don’t think I’ve seen anyone on stage with quite that much conviction and sincerity. Slow songs, thumping songs. Standing still, the crowd enraptured. Dancing around manically, the crowd pumping. During one song, the beats cut out and it was just Saul a capella, and then he lowered the mic and it was just his unamplified voice twisting and bending words like nothing else. He was in fact perhaps at his most powerful a capella, but the raucous grimy beats were a necessary and pretty sweet counterpoint. Saul was pretty much like a preacher a lot of the time, and thankfully his messages were definitley ones I’d agree with. If not, by the end of the show I’d probably be convinced. It was obvious he himself stood behind his words 100%.

This show certainly taught me some things, or rather reinforced them in a boot-to-the-head sort of fashion: people who think hip-hop is not a completely profound method of self-expression, and those that think music shouldn’t be political are completely wrong and should have terrible things done to them if they refuse to change their opinion after being asked nicely.

Monday, Sept 19: Sigur Ros - Massey Hall - Toronto.

I’d heard some very very good things about Sigur Ros live from two of the people who went to the show with me (Ian ‘lowball’ Delong and Michael Mikhai Hightower Dealerdog MacCool Roellinghoff el Conquistador) so I thought I was in for a bit of a treat. Boy was I wrong. This was not a bit of a treat, this was a gigantic mother of a creamsicle filled crazy-pie of a treat. Though I must say that using sweets and candy to describe this show might be completely dumb.

This was my first time at Massey Hall, and seeing music somewhere that was designed to be have it played in is absolutely wonderful. It was a very different crowd, too. We even got shushed as we came up the stairs a couple songs into Amina’s opening set (they played a saw with a mallet and a bow, it was all pretty great, and definitely cool but nothing on Sigur.. even though they ended up being Sigur’s string quartet) and there was actually silence during the songs and then polite and exuberant applause in between.

The band started with a gigantic sheet across the stage and lights shining outward to splash their shadows on it in a large fashion, it was a really neat effect though they got rid of it for the second song. The image of Jonsi’s gigantic shadow holding a violin bow and playing his guitar with it will not soon leave, it was just such a peculiar and unique motion, in other surrounds it might have been truly terrifying. The production of the show was quite excellent, lots of lights in many colours but very appropriate, and a lot of abstract sorts of films projected gigantically behind the band.. birds on a wire, a baby’s face for a whole song etc.

The music itself is obviously the focal point of a show like this, and boy did it deliver. Sigur Ros could easily be lumped with what we in the biz call post-rock. Long, langurously intense songs, built on fluttering of pianos and walls guitar and violin noise, with some plaintively high vocals that are either Icelandic or gibberish, but it doesn’t quite matter. The songs move with grace between hammering intensity and sparse, delicate beauty.

Half of the experience was mental, which is rather unique from the concerts I usually attend. The music sort of provided a nice set of paints to use on the canvas of my mind. It’s a really lame sounding metaphor, but it’s fairly appropriate. I had a bunch of really nifty ideas just from hearing the music, cause this music is probably best described as profoundly inspiring. The only difficulty with the concert was that every three minutes I wanted to rush out of the hall and write a novel or shoot a movie. Powerful, deeply affecting sorts of stuff. And recommended for basically everyone in the entire world.

The concert was perhaps best summed up by Ian’s friend Erin who attended the concert having never heard the music of Sigur Ros before. Mike asked her if she liked the concert and her response was something along the lines of “how could I not? it was like, pure beauty or something.” Yes.

Tuesday, Sept 20: Annie, Royksopp - Opera House - Toronto.

After Sigur Ros, the stakes were pretty damn high. How could sometimes goofy Norwegian electropop compete with those profound Icelandic swells of inspiration? It turns out this show might have taken the cake if Ontarians/Torontonians knew how to be not lame and dance at a blatantly DANCE SHOW (I’m planning much longer diatribe and analysis for the Sil at some point, perhaps in a new column entitled why everyone should be more like me). But it was still pretty awesome.

The Opera House is a pretty sweet venue. It was indeed, at one point, an opera house. There’s fancy windows, an arch over the stage and a big balcony up at the back. There’s haze and red light falling on the surrounds so it looks like a sort of post-something ghost of an opera house. Very funky.

Annie was really more than you should bargain for for an opening act. Unfortunately short set, but she played all the main ones and for some messed up reason the songs were actually better live than on album. She was backed with 2 Finnish gentlemen: a guitarist/percussionist and a nob-twiddler, and they really did a good job of even having some jamming etc. Also, Annie is extremely attractive. And Norwegian. So that was good.

Didn’t really know what to expect from Royksopp, live electronic music is never easy to predict, or pull off. But wow. Royksopp (that being two Norwegian dudes.. I don’t know their names so I’ll call ‘em Royk and Sopp from left to right) came out dressed in fancy red shirts with black ties, and behind them they had a gigantic inflatable cassette tape with their name on it, and in front of that a whole bucketload of electronic shenaniganery… there were mixers, and keyboards, and some drum kits and other more mysterious devices.

The performance itself was pretty flawless, they were awesomely into it, the songs worked surprisingly amazing live, the light show was awesome. It was really cool when they brought real live girl singers on stage to sing, too. Their music is pretty mellow, almost chill-out on album (at least Melody AM), but live it really jumps out and grabs you, and shakes you around a bit. The show was really great at the beginning, but the stoic audience really detracted from it, for the last couple songs of the main set things got better. (I had been going bananas consistently for a while) It is a demonstrable fact that when during poor leno everyone just let go and started jumping and singing along, you could tell that everyone in the building.. the band, the audience, the lighting technician, even the coupld people who still refused to dance.. everyone’s enjoyment of the concert increased dramatically.

I’ve always wanted to see a band like Orbital or Underworld live, and though I wasn’t expecting it beforehand, Royksopp pretty much gave me that oppurtunity. The first encore (as confirmed later by a setlist someone managed to snag) was made of unreleased songs.. basically jams it seemed like, that occasionally incorporated bits of their other songs. Really great idea for an encore, I think (like when the Cons just do covers for their encores) that makes it really seem like a bonus, rather than just a prerehearsed hollow excuse to make the audience wreck their voices. But what’s a better bonus? An actual unplanned encore, which we got due to the mindblowing exuberance exhibited by the crowd. It was great. Kevin and I started doing this unison arm bopping kinda thing during the chorus and Royk acknowledged us with a point of finger and a nod, which was way cool.

Hearing such great music so loud, and as organic as it really can be and just going all out and grooving to it is a wonderful experience, and an appropriate way to end my concert marathon with a bang, just as it started.

There’s some pictures and further discussion here

Idlewild – Warnings/Promises

Oh, copy control. Thanks to you this CD might “encounter playback problems” on my CD player. Yay! Luckily, I’ve had the whole album in easily burnable MP3s on my hard-drive since January, so it doesn’t bug me too much. At any rate, clearly the copy-control is working!

The upshot of that whole thing is that my anti-copy-control convictions won’t let me recommend buying this CD, which is unfortunate since it’s quite good. While perhaps not as strong as their two previous albums, Warnings/Promises is still definitely worthwhile. Idlewild has that distinctly Britrock sound, so fans of British Sea Power, Snow Patrol or the Killers (who are just pretending to be British) will likely find this of interest. It’s a little less polished, a little more scratchy and rough around the edges (which works to its benefit) than those bands, but it’s still got some fist-pumping choruses and the dancing guitar riffs we fans of the Edge all love so well.

3.3 stars

There are a lot of shows (that is, concerts) coming up that I really want to see.

Yes.

Some I want to see more than others.

Some I already have tickets to.
Italicized shows have been attended. (Parenthesized shows mean I probably won’t go, but are noteworthy). Starred shows I have tickets to.

Here’s a brief rundown:

Sep 12: Bloc Party - The Docks - Toronto
Sep 16: The Stills, Wintersleep - Underground - Hamilton
Sep 16-18: Ear to the Ground Festival - Toronto
Sep 17: U2 - Air Canada Centre - Toronto
Sep 17: Kid Koala - Casbah - Hamilton
Sep 18: Saul Williams, Lal - Pepper Jack Cafe - Hamilton
Sep 19: Sigur Ros - Massey Hall - Toronto - sold out
Sep 19: The Organ - Casbah - Hamilton
Sep 20: Royksopp, Annie - The Opera House - Toronto
Sep 23: Metric - Quarters - Hamilton - sold out
Sep 26: LCD Soundsystem, M.I.A. - Toronto - sold out
Sep 30: Ted Leo/Pharmacists - Underground - Hamilton
Oct 1: Dead Can Dance - Massey Hall - Toronto - sold out
Oct 2: Lyrics Born - Lee’s Palace - Toronto cancelled
Oct 9: The New Pornographers - Phoenix Theatre - Toronto - $25
Oct 10: John Vanderslice - Horseshoe Tavern - Toronto
Oct 10: Fiery Furnaces, Apostle of Hustle - Lee’s Palace - Toronto
Oct 13: The Decemberists - Phoenix Theatre - Toronto - $17.50
Oct 14: Controller.controller, Magneta Lane - Underground - Hamilton
Oct 14: Ka’Naan - Pepperjack Cafe - Hamilton - $12
Oct 17: Mountain Goats - Lee’s Palace - Toronto
(Oct 17: Wolf Parade - Horseshoe Tavern - $12)
Oct 17: Deadly Snakes, Tangiers - Casbah - Hamilton
(Oct 18: Franz ferdinand, tv on the radio - Ricoh Coliseum - Toronto - $32.50-$42)
(Oct 19: My Morning Jacket - Kool Haus - Toronto)
Oct 29: The Matadors - Call The Office - London
Oct 30: The Go Team - Phoenix Concert Theatre - Toronto - $15
Nov 1: Spoon - Phoenix Theatre - Toronto - $20
Nov 2: Constantines, The Hold Steady - Opera House - Toronto - $17.50
(Nov 2: Calla - Horseshoe Tavern - Toronto)
Nov 3: The Hidden Cameras - Casbah - Hamilton
Nov 11: Andrew Bird w/ head of Femur - Revival Bar - Toronto - $15 - doors @ 7
(Nov 13: Art Brut - Lee’s Palace - Toronto)
Nov 16: John Cale - Corktown Tavern - Hamilton
(Dec 01: The Magic Numbers - Lee’s Palace - Toronto)
*Dec 09: Iron and Wine/Calexico - The Docks - Toronto

There’s some I’m forgetting. I will probably keep this updated.

It’s quite possible I forgot some things, and any ranking is interchangeable with most things up to 10 or 15 spots away, because ranking things is silly. But for some reason we love to do it anyway.

Expect it to be updated with some amount of frequency (last time was July 05)

1) U2: Achtung Baby
2) Massive Attack: Mezzanine
3) Radiohead: The Bends
4) Talk Talk: Spirit of Eden
5) Radiohead: OK Computer
6) U2: The Joshua Tree
7) Outkast: ATLiens
The Wrens: Meadowlands
9) Wilco: Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
10) Underworld: Dubnobasswithmyheadman
11) Air: Moon Safari
12) Vangelis: Blade Runner Soundtrack
13) Ted Leo/Pharmacists: Tyranny of Distance
14) Kruder and Dorfmeister: the K&D Sessions
15) Portishead: Dummy
16) The Decemberists: Castaways and Cutouts
17) The Shins: Chutes Too Narrow
18) Augie March: Strange Bird
19) Primal Scream: XTRMNTR
20) Doves: Last Broadcast
21) The Notwist: Neon Golden
22) Arcade Fire: Funeral
23) Red Hot Chili Peppers: By The Way
24) Royksopp: Melody A.M.
25) Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds: Let Love In
26) The Flaming Lips: Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots
27) Sigur Ros: Agaetis Byrjun
28) R.E.M.: Automatic for the People
29) U2: The Unforgettable Fire
30) Lamb: Lamb
31) The Flaming Lips: The Soft Bulletin
32) The Roots: Phrenology
33) Wilco: Summer Teeth
34) Outkast: Stankonia
35) Massive Attack: Blue Lines
36) Junior Boys: Last Exit
37) R.E.M.: New Adventures in Hi-Fi
38) Twine: Twine
39) Blackalicious: Blazing Arrow
40) Andrew Bird: The Mysterious Production of Eggs
41) Calexico: Feast of Wire
42) The Weakerthans: Left and Leaving
43) Spoon: Kill the Moonlight
44) Dusted: When We Were young
45) Massive Attack: Protection
46) Pulp: Different Class
47) Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds: Abbatoir Blues/Lyre of Orpheus
48) Bjork: Post
49) Radiohead: Kid A
50) The Dresden Dolls: The Dresden Dolls
51) Aim: Cold Water Music
52) Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds: The Boatman’s Call
53) The Decemberists: Her Majesty, The Decemberists
54) Aesop Rock: Labor Days
55) U2: Zooropa
56) The Delgados: Hate
57) Silver Mt. Zion: Born into Trouble as the Sparks Fly Upwards
58) A Camp (self-titled)
59) Menomena: I am the Fun Blame Monster
60) Adem: Homesongs
61) British Sea Power: The Decline of British Sea Power
62) The Who: London Calling
63) PJ Harvey: Is This Desire?
64) Lyrics Born: Later That Day
65) Neutral Milk Hotel: In The Aeroplane Over The Sea
66) Tom Waits: Rain Dogs
67) RJD2: Deadringer
68) Brian Wilson: Smile
69) Quannum: Spectrum
70) Amon Tobin: Bricolage
71) Orbital: In-Sides
72) Franz Ferdinand: Franz Ferdinand
73) Annie: Anniemal
74) The Decemberists: Picaresque
75) Moby: Play
76) The Pogues: If I Should Fall From Grace With God
77) Run Lola Run: Score
78) Of Montreal: Satanic Panic in the Attic
79) Air: Premiers Symptomes
80) Goldfrapp: Felt Mountain
81) Delerium: Karma
82) U2: War
83) John Vanderslice: Cellar Door
84) Moloko: Statues
85) Ada: Blondie
86) Amon Tobin: Supermodified
87) Outkast: Aquemini
88) El-P: Fantastic Damage
89) Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds: The Good Son
90) Elbow: Asleep in the Back
91) Espers: Espers
92) Lyrics Born: Later That Day
93) Wolf Parade: Apologies to Queen Mary
94) Primal Scream: Screamedelica
95) Dead Can Dance: Aion
96) Beth Orton: Central Reservation
97) Moxy Fruvous: Bargainville
98) The Insider: Score
99) Shpongle: Tales of the Inexpressible
100) Gladiator: Score
101) Bjork: Homogenic
102) Conjure One
103) At The Drive In: The Relationship of Command
104) Sufjan Stevens: Illinois
105) Basement Jaxx: Kish Kash
106) PJ Harvey: To Bring You My Love
107) Grandaddy: Sophtware Slump
108) Iron & Wine: Our Endless Numbered Days
109) Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds: Henry’s Dream
110) Ulrich Schnauss: A Strangely Isolated Place
111) Primal Scream: Vanishing Point
112) U2: Pop
113) The Go! Team: Thunder Lightning Strike
114) Bloc Party: Silent Alarm
115) Hybrid: Wide Angle
116) Prodigy: Music for the Jilted Generation
117) Modest Mouse: Good News for People who Love Bad News
118) The Constantines: Shine A Light
119) Prodigy: Fat of the Land
120) Broken Social Scene: You Forgot It In People
121) Cinematic Orchestra: Every Day
122) Elbow: Cast of Thousands
123) Delerium: Semantic Spaces
124) Bent: Programmed to Love
125) Dismemberment Plan: Change
126) M.I.A.: Arular
127) Badly Drawn Boy: Hour of the Bewilderbeast
128) Kanye West: The College Dropout
129) Nits: Da Da Da
130) Spoon: Gimme Fiction
131) Slowdive: Souvlaki
132) Josh Ritter: Hello Starling
133) St. Germain: Tourist
134) Four Tet: Rounds
135) Vitalic: OK Cowboy
136) M. Ward: The Transfiguration of Vincent
137) The Weakerthans: Fallow
138) Augie March: Sunset Studies
139) LCD Soundsystem: LCD Soundsystem
140) Moby: Everything You Know is Wrong
141) U2: Boy
142) Keren Ann: Not Going Anywhere
143) PJ Harvey: Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea
144) Smashing Pumpkins: Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness
145) Sigur Ros: ( )
146) Broadcast: Haha Sound
147) System of a Down: Mezmerize
148) Modest Mouse: The Moon and Antarctica
149) Apollo 440: Electro Glide in Blue
150) Mint Royale: On The Ropes
151) Loreena McKennit: The Visit
152) 13 & God
153) Jens Lekman: When I Said I Wanted to Be Your Dog
154) Delerium: Poem
155) Crime and the City Solution: Paradise Discotheque
156) Boards of Canada: Music Has A Right to Children
157) Antony and the Johnsons: I am a Bird Now
158) Sun Kil Moon: Ghosts of the Great Highway
159) The Album Leaf: In a Safe Place
160) Cocorosie: La Maison de mon Reve

(Last updated December 05)

1. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
2. U2
3. Radiohead
4. Outkast
5. Massive Attack
6. The Decemberists
7. Augie March
8. Ted Leo/Pharmacists
9. Underworld
10. Wilco
11. Andrew Bird
12. The Constantines
13. The Wrens
14. Portishead
15. The Flaming Lips
16. Lamb
17. Spoon
18. Air
19. R.E.M.
20. Moloko./Roisin Murphy
21. Amon Tobin
22. Sigur Ros
23. The Notwist
24. Primal Scream
25. Doves
26. Talk Talk
27. Calexico
28. Orbital
29. Blackalicious
30. The Arcade Fire
31. Dead Can Dance
32. Vangelis
33. David Bowie
34. Royksopp
35. Bjork
36. Elbow
37. Red Hot Chili Peppers
38. Franz Ferdinand
39. Junior Boys
40. The Dresden Dolls
41. The Shins
42. PJ Harvey
43. British Sea Power
44. Silver Mt. Zion…
45. The Prodigy
46. The Weakerthans
47. Aim
48. Pulp
49. Lyrics Born
50. Delgados
51. Ulrich Schnauss
52. Iron & Wine
53. Broken Social Scene
54. RJD2
55. The Tindersticks
56. Modest Mouse
57. Cinematic Orchestra
58. Hybrid
59. Cardigans/A Camp
60. The New Pornographers
61. Menomena
62. Aesop Rock
63. The Roots
64. Adem
65. M Ward
66. Keren Ann
67. Luomo
68. Stars
69. Yo La Tengo
70. Delerium
71. Bright Eyes
72. Sufjan Stevens
73. Grandaddy
74. Way Out West
75. Moby
76. Merkury Burn
77. Neutral Milk Hotel
78. Saul Williams
79. Lemon Jelly
80. Beth Orten
81. Of Montreal
82. Smashing Pumpkins
83. Annie
84. The Pogues
85. Goldfrapp
86. The Bloc Party
87. Apollo 440
88. Sage Francis
89. Beck
90. Enigma
91. Four Tet
92. Fatboy Slim
93. DJ Shadow
94. Boards of Canada
95. John Vanderslice
96. Simon and Garfunkel
97. Dismemberment Plan
98. Kanye West
99. Gorillaz
100. White Stripes

Keren’s style is light, easygoing and very difficult to dislike. Her
gentle voice caresses your ears as the dreamy but catchy melodies
float over sparkling guitar arpeggios and strains of violin or piano.
The album exudes a delicate folky chill-out vibe, but there are some
louder moments and a good amount of variety within. It is a great
example of how music can be straightforward and emotional without
coming across as schmaltz, though it sometimes treads the line
closely. Like those infinitely enjoyable golden oldies, every song
brims with honest charm and friendliness.

Understated, relaxing and unabashedly pleasant, it’s not an album for
all moods or tastes, but I can’t help but think it may be the perfect
album to take the edge off late night crammings.

9/10

Comparisons aside, the band have a good command of the sound they’re working with. The first two songs hit hard, but unfortunately it starts to flag afterwards, though not from a decrease in quality. The sounds all come together pleasantly, but as the album winds to its close, the songs remain too similar to get very far off the ground. Fans of Pilate and Turn Off The Stars will definitely find a lot to like here.

Eventually, my incredulity was eroded away by the sweet ’70s arrangements, catchy tunes and often comical lyrics. Jens (who kams vrom Schweeden) sees the world as a big, scary, confusing, and, more often than not, heartbreaking place. It’s hard not to feel sorry for the poor guy.

But it’s nice to hear a songwriter who doesn’t take himself too seriously and keeps his sound simple. Jens is enjoyable, purely for his quietly amusing, over-dramatized tales, and the bright and wonderfully sentimental melodies that accompany them.

4/5

7.5/10

The Organ

Controller.Controller

The fiery spirit of Celtic music suits a marriage with punk, but I find the distorted guitars don’t really help beyond securing a demographic. That reflects my own preference, and it’s safe to say fans of either genre will find something worthwhile here. The musicianship is good but not outstanding, and the vocals and lyrics are pretty average. Overall, it’s the genuine Irish spirit of carousing that carries the album.

Most of songs are upbeat and many end up sounding rather like one another. This isn’t entirely bad because it’s a formula that works pretty well, but a few standouts (like Tobacco Island) show there’s a lot of potential not being tapped like it could be.

3/5

Adem

Explosions in the Sky

Josh sticks to the same gameplan throughout, but the songwriting is accomplished, catchy, emotive, and it stays interesting. The lyrics are poetic and often brilliant. This sort of music isn’t for everyone, but if you do like mature, well produced, low-to-mid tempo, melodic folk-pop songs, it’s difficult to think you would find any problem with this album. Down in my room, with a perplexing and draining late summer cold, Hello Starling is my comforting mug of steaming tea, and an understated friend I feel I’ve known my whole life.

8.5/10 or something like that

In the afternoon Colin and Amy came up and they, I, and Brian saw the play ‘The Love List’ which had Colin’s uncle in it (so we got 2 free tickets which made it quite worthwhile). It was very funny, light-hearted, goodtimes. Then we ate some really good cheap pizza and showed up to the Underground for the Arcade Fire show. And these guys really have blown up, my oh my there was quite a line-up. Then Colin decided the ten dollars was too much for him to spend on a band he didn’t really know, so he got in the Lexus and drove back to London. Poor guy. In retrospect, it might have been criminal to charge any less for the show.

The first of the opening bands was Heston Rifle. They play what might be described as post rock metal. Violin and guitars and interweaving melodies and then lots of hardcore noise-wall rocking. The violinist was cute but she kept hiding back by the rear speaker-stacks, and the bassist played really hard and made his fingers bleed all over his guitar. I guess it was pretty cool, but not really my cup of tea, so to speak.

Belle Orchestre followed, and they were awesome. They called for silence by raising their right hands and just waiting for the crowd to quiet down a bit and then launched into their orchestral intensely fun music. They used a wide variety of instrumentation, and at one point the guy with the french horn and the guy with the trumpet went out into the crowd and played a bit. Lots of neat percussing with chains and multiple drumsticks and stuff as well. Three of the members were shared with Arcade Fire as well. Overall they were pretty awesome, similar vein to Arcade Fire but a bit lighter and sunny. I really wish I’d had the money for their CD.

And then it was time for The Arcade Fire. And it was an instant sort of ‘holy shit’ moment that almost gave me chills. They did Laika first and Richard Reed Perry (the distinctive looking fellow with the glasses) went manic and started smashing everything with his drum sticks.. the stage, keyboards, tambourines, you name it. There were splinters flying, and damn it was intense. And with such an awe inspiring initial impression working away at piquing my exuberence, the show progressed. Win’s voice was pretty rough (listening to the album, the way he sings really doesn’t seem healthy) but it didn’t make too much difference. I would have wished that the audience could’ve all sang along every single word a la a U2 concert, but.. maybe in a couple years. The slow songs often missed a bit of punch due to Win’s hurting vocals but they were still awesome, and the fast songs kicked major major ass. They played everything from Funeral plus four other songs which were likely all from the EP (I know at least No Cars Go was). They had really good, entertaining stage banter as well, which is always a plus.. talking about how they finally realized there was more to Hamilton than the 20 ft around Underground, etc. They had all sorts of fun instruments as well… accordian, french horn, violin, stand up bass (sometimes bowed), 2 keyboards, 2 xylophones, drums, bass guitar, guitar, 12 string guitar, bells on guy’s legs, fun flute, triangle, steel drum, lots of tambourines and various other percussive type things, and maybe some other things I’m forgetting or didn’t manage to notice. And they also switched instruments like mad.. Regine played drums for a couple songs, and they were constantly moving around. Except for the violinist who stayed put on the other side of the stage, but I don’t think she’s technically in the band. Regardless, It was powerful, powerful stuff. It’s difficult to describe the music, I suppose earnest, honest, emotional, and soaring would be some choice adjectives for it, as well as wickedly good. The highlight of the show for me was probably Power Out, wickedly followed up by Rebellion (Lies), and Tunnels was also high up on the list, but there was nary a dull moment to be found. I have definitely not used that much energy at a show this year, nor have I heard that much audience enthusiasm at a club show… ever, I think. I was totally stoked afterwards and so bought a t-shirt and a CD, and then some gatorade to rebuild those electrolites and have green sweat. Oh I’m a good little consumer, I am. The excitement and rush lasted well after the concert had ended, which is the sign of an evening supremely well spent. It’s hard to decide definitively, but The Arcade Fire are at least dangerously close to being the best live band (out of 30+) that I’ve seen in the last three years.

Pictures here.

my camera became a bit of a community commodity this time, so only most, and not all, of the pictures were taken by my own hands

Heston Rifle

Belle Orchestre

THE ARCADE FIRE

Greenwood has opted for a very produced sound. This lets you enjoy the quirkiness of his often-interesting instrument and style choices, but overall it’s not a wise move. The songs themselves have a loose, unfinished-in-not-necessarily-a-bad-way feeling that is choked by the lavish, artificial arrangements. If Clarence was some guy playing around in my garage I’d think he was great, but with the whole studio behind him he balances awkwardly on the edge of sounding pretentious to the point of being silly. Criticisms aside, there are some fine songs here, and it’s definitely an interesting even rewarding listen, but all in all it can’t quite outdo being average.

http://www.radioslipstream.com/wp/?p=18 The Sadies like to defy easy categorization. Their sound takes on elements of bluegrass, country rock, surf, and psychedelia, but it’s not such a strange combination: all these allegedly disparate styles sound natural together.

The Reputation