Hope you find something you were missing, and have an awesome 2011.

Actress – Hubble
Addison Groove – Footcrab
Anaïs Mitchell – Way Down Hadestown
April Smith & The Great Picture Show – Colors
Arcade Fire – Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)
Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti – Round and Round
Autre Ne Veut – New Depth
Balam Acab – Dream Out
Beach House – 10 Mile Stereo
Big Boi – Lookin’ For Ya (feat. Andre 3000 & Sleepy Brown)
Big K.R.I.T. – Hometown Hero
Black Milk – Deadly Medley (feat. Royce Da 5’9, Elzhi)
Bonobo – Black Sands
Broken Social Scene – Chase Scene
Caribou – Odessa
Carmen Souza – Sodade
Paul Cary – Ghost Of A Man
Cee-Lo Green – No One’s Gonna Love You (Paul Epworth Mix)
Ceo – Come With Me
Charlotte Gainsbourg – Voyage
Crystal Castles – Not In Love (feat. Robert Smith)
Curren$y – The Day (feat. Mos Def & Jay Electronica)
Darkstar – Deadness
Destroyer and Loscil – Grief Point
Doc Daneeka – Hold On
Dr. Dog – Stranger
Emika – Double Edge
Erykah Badu – Window Seat
Flying Lotus – Do The Astral Plane
Forest Swords – Rattling Cage
Four Tet – Angel Echoes
Frank(just Frank) – Mr. Itagaki
Freddie Gibbs – Oil Money (feat. Chuck Inglish, Chip Tha Ripper, Bun B & Dan Auerbach)
Fredrik – Ava
Gil Scott-Heron – New York Is Killing Me
Girl Unit – Wut
Girls – Alright
Glasser – Apply
Gogol Bordello – Pala Tute
Grinderman – Palaces of Montezuma
Guido – Way U Make Me Feel
Harmonious Thelonious – Angewandte Muziek
Hot Chip – Take It In
Hyetal – Phoenix
Instra:mental – Watching You
James Blake – CMYK
Jamie Lidell – Compass
Jamie Woon – Night Air
Janelle Monae – Tightrope (feat. Big Boi)
Joanna Newsom – Good Intentions Paving Company
John Roberts – Porcelain
Joker – Tron
Kanye West – POWER
Kingdom – That Mystic
The Knife – Colouring of Pigeons
Kno – The New Day (Death Has No Meaning)
Laurel Halo – Supersymmetry
Laurie Anderson – Transitory Life
LCD Soundsystem – Dance Yrself Clean
Lissie – Little Lovin’
The Magic Kids – Hey Boy
Massive Attack – Paradise Circus
Matthew Dear – Slowdance
Mavis Staples – You Are Not Alone
Menomena – Tithe
MISTAH F.A.B. – Ungreatful (feat. Lil Kev)
The National – Conversation 16
The New Pornographers – Crash Years
Okmalumkoolkat – Boomslang
Omar Souleyman – Mandal/Metel Il Sukkar Ala Il Shai
Owen Pallett – E Is for Estranged
Pangaea – Why
Pariah – Prism
Phosphorescent – The Mermaid Parade
Prins Thomas – Nattonsket
Ramadanman – Work Them
Rana Santacruz – Cajita de Barro
The Roots – Radio Daze – feat. Blu, P.O.R.N & Dice Raw
Salem – King Night
Scuba – Lights Out
Shackleton – Man On A String Part 1 And 2
Shad – Rose Garden
Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings – The Game Gets Old
Shed – Keep Time
Sleigh Bells – Rill Rill
Strong Arm Steady – Best of Times (feat. Phonte)
Sufjan Stevens – I Walked
Sun Kil Moon – Alesund
Surfer Blood – Floating Vibes
Swans – No Words/No Thoughts
The Tallest Man On Earth – The Wild Hunt
Teengirl Fantasy – Cheaters
Titus Andronicus – A More Perfect Union
Twin Shadow – I Can’t Wait
Twin Sister – All Around and Away We Go
The Walkmen – Blue as Your Blood
Warpaint – Undertow
Wild Nothing – Summer Holiday
Zinja Hlungwani – N’wagezani My Love
Zola Jesus – Night

(Edit: Looks like the links did their expiring thing, so no dice. If you disagree with this situation lemme know and maybe we’ll see if we can provide an alternate solution)

Akron/Family – River
Alasdair Roberts – You Muses Assist
Alela Diane – White As Diamonds
Andrew Bird – Not a Robot, But a Ghost
Animal Collective – Bluish
Annie – Don’t Stop
Antipop Consortium – Volcano
The Antlers – Bear
Antony And The Johnsons – Another World
Art Brut – The Passenger
Bat For Lashes – Daniel
Bear in Heaven – Lovesick Teenagers
Ben Frost – Killshot
Bibio – Ambivalence Avenue
Big Boi – Shine Blockas (feat. Gucci Mane)
Bill Callahan – The Wind and The Dove
Bon Iver – Blood Bank
Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy – Beware Your Only Friend
Brother Ali – The Believers (feat. Slug
Bruce Peninsula – crabapples
Burial & Four Tet – Moth
Camera Obscura – Swans
Carter Burwell – A Serious Man
Cass McCombs – You Saved My Life
Circlesquare – Dancers
Clark – Rainbow Voodoo
Dälek – No Question
Dan Auerbach – Trouble Weighs A Ton
Dan Deacon – Snookered
The Decemberists – The Rake’s Song
Delorean – Deli
Destroyer – Bay of Pigs
Dinosaur Jr – Pieces
Dirty Projectors – Stillness is the Move
DJ Sprinkles – Sisters, I Don’t Know What This World Is Coming To
DM Stith – Thanksgiving Moon
DOOM – That’s that
Doves – Jetstream
Fashawn – When She Calls
Fever Ray – Triangle Walks
Finale – The Waiting Game (feat. Invincible)
Flaming Lips – Silver Trembling Hands
Four Tet – Love Cry
Future Of The Left – Arming Eritrea
Girls – Lust For Life
Grizzly Bear – Ready, Able
Handsome Furs – I’m Confused
Here We Go Magic – Fangela
The Horrors – Sea Within a Sea
Hudson Mohawke – Overnight
J Dilla – Mythsysizer
jj – Ecstasy
Joker – Digidesign
Junior Boys – Work
Kid Sister – Right Hand Hi
King Midas Sound – Meltdown
Kreng – Na De Sex
Lhasa – Rising
Mamer – Man
Manic Street Preachers – Jackie Collins Existential Question Time
Marissa Nadler – Brittle, Crushed & Torn
Matias Aguayo – Menta Latte
Matt & Kim – Daylight
Me’Shell Ndegéocello – Love You Down
Memory Tapes – Bicycle
Micachu & the Shapes – Golden Phone
Moderat – Seamonkey
Mos Def – Auditiorium (feat. Slick Rick)
Mr. Lif – The Sun
Mr. SOS – Die For You
Neko Case – This Tornado Loves You
Neon Indian – Deadbeat Summer
P.O.S. – Goodbye
Passion Pit – Sleepyhead
Patrick Watson – Big Bird In A Small Cage
Raekwon – New Wu (feat. Ghostface Killah & Method Man)
Redshape – Man out of Time
Röyksopp – True To Life
Shackleton – Mountains of Ashes
Soap&Skin – Thanatos
St. Vincent – The Strangers
Sunset Rubdown – You Go on Ahead (Trumpet Trumpet II)
Super Furry Animals – Inaugural Trams
Thee Oh Sees – Tidal Wave
Tim Hecker – Paragon Point
Timber Timbre – Magic Arrow
Tinariwen – Tahult In
The Very Best – Julia
Vitalic – See The Sea (Red)
Volcano Choir – Island, IS
Warsaw Village Band – 1,5 H
Washed Out – Feel It All Around
Wilco – Bull Black Nova
Wild Beasts – We Still Got the Taste Dancing On Our Tongues
The XX – Crystalised
YACHT – Psychic City (Voodoo City)
Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Zero
Yeasayer – Tightrope
Yo La Tengo – Here to Fall
Yppah – Gumball Machine Weekend

20. Gang Gang Dance – Saint Dymphna
19. Plants and Animals – Park Avenue
18. Fucked Up – The Chemistry of Common Life
17. Quiet Village – Silent Movie
16. Bonnie Prince Billy – Lie Down in the Light
15. Lykke Li – Youth Novels
14. The Walkmen – You & Me
13. Erykah Badu – New Amerykah Part One (4th World War)
12. Shearwater – Rook
11. DJ/Rupture – Uproot
10. The Tallest Man on Earth – Shallow Graves
9. Lindstrom – Where You Go I Go Too
8. The Bug – London Zoo
7. The Rural Alberta Advantage – Hometowns
6. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – Dig Lazarus Dig
5. Fleet Foxes
4. Portishead – Third
3. Esau Mwamwaya and Radioclit are the Very Best Mixtape
2. Cut Copy – In Ghost Colours
1. TV on the Radio – Dear Science

A. R. Rahman – Mausam & Escape
Air France – Collapsing At Your Doorstep
Alejandro Escovedo – Nuns Song
Amadou & Mariam – Sabali
Atmosphere – You
Azeda Booth – Big Fists
Barry Adamson – The Beaten Side Of Town
Beach House – D.A.R.L.I.N.G.
The Black Keys – Things Ain’t Like They Used to Be
Black Mountain – Wucan
Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy – For Every Field There’s a Mole
Bruno Pronsato – Slowley Gravely
The Bug – Murder We (feat. Ricky Ranking)
Cadence Weapon – True Story
Calexico – Man Made Lake
The Chap – Fun and Interesting
Clark – Volcan Veins
The Constantines – Our Age
Crystal Castles – Courtship Dating
Cut Copy – So Haunted
David Byrne and Brian Eno – Strange Overtones
Death Cab For Cutie – Grapevine Fires
Deerhunter – Nothing Ever Happened
Department Of Eagles – No One Does It Like You
Destroyer – Shooting Rockets (From the Desk of Night’s Ape)
DeVotchKa – The Clockwise Witness
DJ Rupture – Quest, Team Shadetek – Mirage, Brooklyn Anthem (acapella)
The Dodos – Winter
Drive-By Truckers – Two Daughters And A Beautiful Wife
The Drones – Nail It Down
Elbow – The Fix
Ellen Allien – Elphine
Erykah Badu – Soldier
Frightened Rabbit – I Feel Better
Fuck Buttons – Sweet Love for Planet Earth
Fucked Up – Son the Father
Gang Gang Dance – House Jam
The Gaslight Anthem – Great Expectations
Grails – Predestination Blues
Grizzly Bear – Two Weeks
Grouper – Stuck
Hercules & Love Affair – Blind
The Hold Steady – One for the Cutters
Jacaszek – Lament
James Blackshaw – Past Has Not Passed
Jamie Lidell – Another Day
Kleerup – Thank You for Nothing
Koushik – Be With
Lindstrom – Where You Go I Go Too
Louis Guilliaume – Fucked Up
Love Is All – New Beginnings
Luomo – Have You Ever (feat. Cassy)
Lykke Li – Breaking It Up
M83 – Kim & Jessie
Man Man – The Ballad Of Butter Beans
Marlena Shaw – California Soul (Diplo/Mad Decent Remix)
Max Tundra – Which Song
MGMT – Time to Pretend
Mount Eerie With Julie Doiron And Fred Squire – You Swan Go On
The Mountain Goats – Lovecraft In Brooklyn
The Neighbourhood Council – Liver and Tan
Neon Neon – Trick For Treat (Feat. Spank Rock & Sean Tillmann)
Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds – Lie Down Here (And Be My Girl)
Nico Muhly – Mothertongue Pt. 1: Archive
No Age – Things I Did When I Was Dead
Okkervil River – Lost Coastlines
Osborne – Downtown
Paavoharju – Kevatrumpu
Parov Stelar – Fleur De Lille – Original Mix
Pete And The Pirates – Come On Feet
Plants and Animals – Bye Bye Bye
Ponytail – Beg Waves
Portishead – We Carry On
Prosumer and Murat Tepeli – Serenity
Quiet Village – Free Rider
Ricardo Villalobos – Enfants (Chants)
Roots Manuva – Let the Spirit
The Ruby Suns – There Are Birds
The Rural Alberta Advantage – Don’t Haunt This Place
Sam Phillips – Don’t Do Anything
Shearwater – Rooks
Shed – Estrangé
Sigur Ros – Gobbledigook
Silver Jews – Aloyisius, Bluegrass Drummer
Snowman – We Are The Plague
Son Lux – Break
Sons & Daughters – Gilt Complex
Subtle – Unlikely Rock Shock
Sun Kil Moon – Lost Verses
Syclops – NR17
The Tallest Man On Earth – The Gardner
Thomas Brinkmann – Meadow
Thomas Function – Snake In The Grass
TV on the Radio – DLZ
Vampire Weekend – Walcott
The Very Best (Esau Mwamwaya & Radioclit) – Wena
The Walkmen – I Lost You
The Week That Was – The Airport Line
Wolf Parade – Fine Young Cannibals
Zazen Boys – Asobi

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

25: Curses (Future of the Left)

24: You Follow Me (Nina Nastasia and Jim White)

23: 23 (Blonde Redhead)

22: Armchair Apocrypha (Andrew Bird)

21: The Stage Names (Okkervil River)

20: Five Roses (Miracle Fortress)

19: I’ll Sleep When You’re Dead (El-P)

18: Dirty Acres (Cunninlynguists)

17: Emotionalism (The Avett Brothers)

16: Night Falls Over Kortedala (Jens Lekman)

15: Sole and the Skyrider Band (Sole and the Skyrider Band)

As with anything released on the Anticon label, this disc explores a (non)brand of hip hop that’s likely to rough up your understanding of the genre a bit (broad as that genre might be). Sole spits the lyrics in a rapid, arrhythmic staccato stream that’s not particularly musical but suits his rough voice and irritable mood. The beats from Skyrider are murky, drenched in back alleys and samples of violins, rock, ye oldies, and even opera; layered together it sounds not unlike DJ Shadow or Amon Tobin united with Current 93. Between pounding and sparse, angry and bemoaning, the sound is processed to be raw and the meaning only dimly aware of hope.

14: Spiderman of the Rings (Dan Deacon)

This album is particularly defined by the character of its creator. If I hadn’t seen this video, I might not have put in the effort to see it as pure unadulterated glee rather than something cheap and/or annoying. So he seems all kinds of zany DIY madness, with possible overtones of insanity. In reality, Dan’s got a Masters in musical composition; he’s just coming at things from a unique angle and has quite a wonderful sense of humour. There’s something so unpretentious about this that it can’t help but get me grinning. And championing fun and innocence so honestly without coming off like a self involved ass is pretty awesome. Catchy, in-your-face, retro futuristic absurdist fantasy techno for 6-year-olds. Or something.

13: From Here We Go Sublime (The Field)

Track 7, The Deal, is ten minutes long and essentially repeats the same 15 second phrase over its entire length with minor variation (after a one minute build). It’s also one of the most compelling songs I heard this year. The base sample is so utterly beautiful it becomes enchanting and the minor variations are effortless, but exciting. The other songs follow a similar pattern, though they’re all a bit more active about it. Combining multitudes of bright samples cut down and glitched up over steady backbeats and dripping with airy, ethereal synths, or are those samples, too? You could define it as microhouse, glitch, techno, or even look toward the subtle trance-like epic builds for categorization inspiration. It sounds to me like the brightest sun in the clearest sky shining warmth on the coldest winter ice.

12: Foley Room (Amon Tobin)

A concept album in the vaguest sense, Foley Room sees Amon Tobin setting aside the samples that defined his first four albums and setting out with a mic to record all manner of natural sounds from a variety of sources. The album ends up as a channelled cacophony, drilling itself even deeper into paranoid atmospherics than its predecessors, but occasionally dipping into the melodies of dusty gramophone music. Foley Room is not entirely comprised of conceptually themed samples in the style of Matthew Herbert, rather, it’s a broad exploration and celebration of the varied noisemakers all over our world and how they relate to music. As a collection of music, though, the album is equally successful, sounding almost like a soundtrack for some hundred year old steampunk industrial revolution.

11: Rumpelzirkus (Kalabrese)

Minimal house is a big thing these days. Long, repetitive sleepy dance tunes with little clicks and a light hint of melody. It can be good, even awesome, but no one can ever be blamed for not liking it. Kalabrese (Zurich-based producer Sascha Winkler) takes the template of spaced out house music and decorates it with ample touches of funk, a smattering of dub and techno and some wtf that makes semiminimal music much more fun. He opines about (among other things) chicken farms and the pain of losing his chair, and the tone is irreverent but serious. There are some downright danceable grooves, mixed with quirky experiments and even some compelling melodic swells to satiate most people’s need for purebred enjoyment.

10: Untrue (Burial)

A steady clacking beat carries most of this record by anonymous dubstep producer Burial through the scary, uneasy side of squalid urban nightlife. Ghostly voices of manufactured radio passion fall against the murky thuds and strains of eerie darkness. The songs here often flow together, often seem not too different one from another, but throughout they build on the same compelling atmosphere. It is cold, lonely and somewhat uneasy. Possibly meant for dancing, to me it could only soundtrack a trip onto the dancefloor if it was lost in a hazy, slow motion stupor. The album sounds more like it’s heard from outside the club on the way back home, the cheesepop R&B samples muffled like a fragment of a memory.

9: Andorra (Caribou)

Andorra was carefully constructed entirely on the computer of Hamilton, Ontario native Dan Snaith, who now lives in Britain and has a master’s degree in mathematics. His live shows, and aspects of previous albums, are basically an orgy of frantic drumming and not overly concerned with melody. On Andorra, though, that spastic madness is dipped in a gloopy coat of sunshine and glee—giving us a bright pop record that sounds like it might have come out of a drug trip in the swingin’ 60s. And it’s great! Layers and layers of carefully arranged sounds: catchy, immense, grandiose, sparkling joy. Definitely a record for the summer.

8: Kala (M.I.A.)

Arular, Maya Arulpragasam’s first album, was a miniature sensation. It fused the rhythms of her homeland (Sri Lanka) with the electronics of modern dance clubs while sounding ultra-chic instead of like an awkward experiment in worldbeat. That her father is a Tamil Tiger and her incisive lyrics reflected a view of the world unfamiliar to many also certainly helped to draw attention. Kala continues in much the same way, perhaps moving slightly toward a more Western sound (there’s even almost a Pixies cover). But it’s still heavily informed by musics made to make you move your body, and perfected over centuries (that is, non-western). It can be noticeably repetitive, but if you concentrate on shakin’ that thang you really shouldn’t mind. Maya’s confidence and the swagger in her lyrical delivery is almost as infectious as the lively backing tracks.

7: For Emma, Forever Ago (Bon Iver)

Justin Vernon’s self-released solo record (which he mostly wrote and recorded over four months hidden away in a remote cabin) is a delicate, haunting beauty. It takes the common palette of a guitar-toting folk balladeer (Will Oldham is an obvious point of reference) and spreads it lightly toward soul and gospel, wearing its emotion proud and poignant. Vernon’s voice is raw, even shrill; the melodies, his ardent wails and occasional layers of overdub render it remarkably affecting. Even if the obtuse lyrics leave few clues about many of the songs’ subject matter, the album title itself succinctly conveys the loss and longing contained in the ragged guitar swells, fragile melodies, and straight-up beauty found within.

6: Hissing Fauna, You are the Destroyer (Of Montreal)

The third Of Montreal album since they went ‘hi-fi’ by adding liberal dabbling in synthesized sound to their palette (and 8th overall), Hissing Fauna is a psychedelic and deceivingly upbeat collection of bubbling and catchy tunes. Under that, though, is a starkly engaging retelling of Kevin Barnes’ break-up and trip to Norway, “trying to restructure my character, because it had become vile to its creator.” He speaks with eloquent forthrightness about his emotional turmoil, leaving the listener alternating between empathy, pity, amazement and amusement. Happily, the album isn’t a wallowing, sorry-for-itself tearfest, but rather a celebration of life with all its inherent scratches and scars intact. The hopeful tone only hinted at by the lyrics is reflected in the lilting, squelching arrangements and infectious melodies.

5: The Shepherd’s Dog (Iron and Wine)

Sam Beam’s voice is like cedar smoke from a campfire buried somewhere in the Ozarks. On his last albums that voice combined with gentle swooshes of acoustic guitar, like the song of crickets and warblers. Then it did it again. And again. It was beautiful, but a bit too repetitive. This time around (following stylistically on 05’s Woman King EP), he diversifies the backing band, and to great effect: getting us out of that faraway forest and taking us through households and wilderness, city and country. It all still sounds very rustic and dusty, but with a real drive and energy to get us from one place to the next. The arrangements (lots of pedal steel, organs, accordion, quiet drumming, piano, and still those acoustic strums) give the songs a perfect bed as they lilt, swell and sway through open fields, natural aromas, breezes and candlelight. Shepherd’s Dog gently carries you into another world, one I sometimes wish I could stay in.

4: Random Spirit Lover (Sunset Rubdown)

These songs are unconventionally orchestrated, paced and sung; my brother actually thought it was meant to be funny when I played it for him. It’s a bit like a twisted carnival somehow exploding into music. If you can get past the potentially off-putting uniqueness, though, there are intricate and surprisingly catchy songs with lyrics that are very much worth paying attention to. It’s a bit hard to describe why I like this album so much, but I think it’s mainly the energy, the wild abandon with which the band approaches the strangely epic songs, even through the quiet moments. The grunts, squeals and yelps from instruments and voices alike are touching and invigorating; a display of beauty from an organized caterwaul and a meditation on humanity and society laced with complex metaphor and mythological imagery.

3: Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga (Spoon)

Spoon has a singular sound, but they’re always able to find a slightly new angle to explore those punchy, syncopated beats from. Gax5 (reportedly named for the sound of staccato piano chords) shows Brit Daniel and friends at the top of their game, sticking to their signature sound but expanding it significantly. It’s more direct than Gimme Fiction and more varied – giving us some nice bouncy horns and also recalling the raw sound of their earlier albums. Discarding any silly comparisons, what GaGaGaGaGa’s really all about is catchy as hell, fun funky piano guitar pop with a deliciously rough edge hiding out below. It’s both a succinct summary of Spoon’s talent and possibly their best album yet—and that’s no mean feat.

2: In Rainbows (Radiohead)

Put simply, In Rainbows is full of great songs. There’s a revelatory joy and soulfulness not traditionally associated with the band flowing through most of the tracks. It is an album by a band who is comfortable with their sound, not trying to shock or surprise us, just playing naturally. The songs are diverse yet contained, rambunctious and climactic or delicate and haunting—sometimes at the same time. That In Rainbows strikes a perfect balance between these extremes and defies easy categorization is a definite part of what makes it a great album. The production helps, too, bringing out a bright, organic sound that sounds to me something like fresh-cut veggies. Just generally brilliant.

1: Boxer (The National)

The National really hit it big in 2007. Their last (and third) album Alligator was a sleeper-hit in 2005; it was largely ignored initially, but steadily picked up fans and accolades over the following couple years until eventually becoming a mini indie sensation (even getting them an opening spot for hipster favourites the Arcade Fire). Anticipation and expectation (hype!) were high for their next album and when Boxer hit the ears of the world, it quickly garnered critical and popular acclaim. The National played at sold out venues, appeared on Letterman, and probably even sold some copies of their new album (research pending).

That’s the macrocosm of the story of The National within the independent music community. My personal experience isn’t all that different. I heard Alligator on recommendation, liked it enough to rank it #5 on my top albums of 2005, then liked it more and more. I fell in love with the band and their strange mystique: the smoky, urban middleclass placelessness. They seemed to me more honest, more listenable and more intriguing than just about anybody else putting out music.

I was anticipating Boxer BIGtime, but prepared for disappointment (because when you follow the number of bands I do, it happens a lot). Boxer, however, did everything exactly right to fuel my fandom even further. So I listened to it constantly and loudly, saw the band twice in concert, hummed and sang along at all hours, and wondered at how I could find such strong emotional connections between myself and the lyrical and musical content of the songs. Ya can’t really ask for much more from an album.

So what is it that makes me spill out such gluts of praise?

First off, the arrangements and musicianship are brilliant. Each drum hit, sigh of distortion, rich bass note… every feathery guitar arpeggio, piano chord, violin tremolo, horn spike… they all rise and fall together perfectly, creating tension, softening, tightening. And despite the rich, multi-layered arrangements barely a note is wasted.

The atmosphere created by the instruments is a consistent one, (and for this, Matt Berninger’s deep voice counts as well). It’s dark; not in the way absence of light creates darkness, but in the way layers of paint create darkness. A darkness made with lightness, richness, and colour still swilling under the surface. Much like the heady and strangely sweet air of the city at night. While consistent tones give the risk of blandness, Boxer keeps moving just enough, between urgent charging and delicate floating, to keep interest piqued and still seem like a cohesive whole.

Lyrics are a very important part of Boxer. Berninger never quite says it straight—he’s got a real knack for nebulous little images that could mean a number of different things, but mean them all very well. “I’ve been dragging around from the end of your coat for two weeks; everywhere you go is swirling, everything you say has water under it,” he sings on Brainy. He dabbles in the details of implied feelings and undefined moments, and applies great number of really wonderful turns of phrase.

It’s a very impressionistic approach, but the picture it builds in the end, for me at least, is one of listlessness in a suburban existence defined by a pre-delineated way of life, and a half-hearted struggle to break that tedium or at least navigate through it toward something partly meaningful or fulfilling. “Another uninnocent elegant fall into the unmagnificent lives of adults.” There are references to growing up and losing the innocent fun of childhood in several tracks. No wonder that, as a recent university graduate confusedly hanging on to the last corner of irresponsibility, I feel I can relate.

My favourite thing about The National’s lyrics on this, and other albums, is the way glints of optimism and humour shine through, even when it’s dry, confusing and absurd, or ironic optimism turned around at the last minute. It’s a lot like life, that way. “So worry not; all things are well. We’ll be alright. We have our looks and perfume on.” The songs feel very real. No posturing, proselytizing or trying too hard. It is what it is, nothing more.

Berninger’s low, languorous voice and delivery fit the lyrics and subject matter, which fits the heaviness and resonant intricacy of the arrangements. It all fits snugly together, both aesthetically and thematically, in a way that’s a rare accomplishment. Some might find the sound of the album consistent to the point of dullness, but Boxer excels because the National adhere to their fairly strict formula and explore it completely. It is a truly wonderful album.

And the drums!

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)

2080 (Yeasayer)
23 (Blonde Redhead)
Always (Amon Tobin)
Apnea Obstructiva (Savath & Savalas)
Atom (British Sea Power)
Back On The Calder Line (Bracken)
Bad Kids (Black Lips)
Beautiful Burnout (Underworld)
Brace Yourself (Les Savy Fav)
Bubbles (Dizzee Rascal)
Chainsaw (Aidan Baker)
Clickety Clack (Sage Francis)
Cold Days From the Birdhouse (The Twilight Sad)
Colleen (Joanna Newsom)
Conqueror (Jesu)
D.A.N.C.E. (Justice)
Dance For Me (CunninLynguists)
Deserter (Matthew Dear)
Disaster (The Besnard Lakes)
Dumb It Down (Lupe Fiasco feat. Gemstones & Graham Burris)
Ed Is A Portal (Akron/Family)
Electric Blue (Shape of Broad Minds)
Elephant Gun (Beirut)
Family Feud (Von Südenfed)
Fancy Footwork (Chromeo)
Fiery Crash (Andrew Bird)
First Class Riot (The Tough Alliance)
Flashing Lights (Kanye West feat. Dwele)
For Reverend Green (Animal Collective)
Forces Of Victory (Gogol Bordello)
Heart it Races (Architecture In Helsinki)
Heart Of Hearts (!!!)
House by the Sea (Iron and Wine)
Houseclouds (Liars)
I Need You (Kathy Diamond)
Impossible Germany (Wilco)
In Our Talons (Bowerbirds)
In The City (Chromatics)
Isn’t Life Strange (The Clientele)
I’ve Been Out Walking (Nina Nastasia And Jim White)
Kanske Ar Jag Kar I Dig (Jens Lekman)
Left Foot Stepdown (Bees)
Lips Are Unhappy (Lucky Soul)
Manchasm (Future Of The Left)
Mankind Failed (Motiivi Tuntematon)
March Into the Sea (Modest Mouse)
Mate Tron (Luke Vibert)
Maybe Lately (Miracle Fortress)
Medusa (Ulrich Schnauss)
Melody Day (Caribou)
Murderer (Low)
None Shall Pass (Aesop Rock)
Not The Same Shoes (Kalabrese feat. Kate)
Numbers (Booka Shade)
Oh Yeah (The Cliks)
One Two Three Four (Feist)
Out There (Studio)
Overpowered (Roisin Murphy)
Overture (Patrick Wolf)
Paper Planes (M.I.A.)
Paranoia In Bb Major (The Avett Brothers)
Paris Is Burning (St. Vincent)
Pioneer To The Falls (Interpol)
Premier Encuentro Latino-Americano (Ricardo Villalobos)
Rainbowarriors (Cocorosie)
Raver (Burial)
Re: Stacks (Bon Iver)
Reckoner (Radiohead)
Rotten Hell (Menomena)
Rumors (Josh Ritter)
Saints (Gravenhurst)
Same Old Drag (The Apples In Stereo)
Saturday Waits (Loney, Dear)
Saturn Strobe (Pantha du Prince)
Silvia (Marissa Nadler)
Sin Exagerar (Calle 13 feat. Tego Calderón)
Singer Sing (Dean & Britta)
Slow Show (The National)
Snakes and Ladders (Basia Bulat)
So I Felt (MIA)
Someone Great (LCD Soundsystem)
Sweet Decay (Gabriel Ananda)
Swimming In The Swamp (The National Lights)
Take Your Medicine (Cloud Cult)
The Bones Of My Pets (Sole and the Skyrider Band)
The Deal (The Field)
The Lost Brigade (Ted Leo and The Pharmacists)
The Overly Dramatic Truth (El-P)
The Past Is a Grotesque Animal (Of Montreal)
The Troglodyte Wins (Busdriver)
To Build A Home (The Cinematic Orchestra feat. Patrick Watson)
Unless It’s Kicks (Okkervil River)
Warmer Climes (Boat Club)
Weight of My Love (David Thomas Broughton vs. 7 Hertz)
Welcome Home, Son (Radical Face)
Wham City (Dan Deacon)
Whatever you want (Club 8 )
Winged/Wicked Things (Sunset Rubdown)
You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb (Spoon)
You! Me! Dancing! (Los Campesinos!)
Your Lips And You (Bikeride)

This is one of my most anticipated releases of the year, partially because I have to make most of the hype for myself cause I’m not seeing it much place else (probably because the name of the group scares people away). But when the retail version (sans annoying promo voiceovers) popped up on the filesharing circuit, I got an uncharacteristically intense giddy rush. The lush rhymes and vibes from Deacon The Villain, Natti and Kno’s conceptual A Piece of Strange made it my favourite hip hop album last year. Its follow-up continues on in a very familiar manner. On first impression, it starts quite good, gets slightly dull toward the middle and ends like a fucking monolith. And then it’s back to the beginning to find everything growing a bit more warm and lovable.

Dirty Acres starts the same way my favourite rap album of all time (Outkast’s ATLiens) ends with Big Rube’s rich bassy voice rapping languorously over delicate piano chords, though the subject has shifted from religion (a topic that would definitely feel very appropos on this disc) to black identity and the state of hip hop: “as long as we breathe, hip hop is gonna breathe with us. As long as we real, folk can’t help but feel us.” This intro provides a calm expanse for the triumphant explosion of ‘Valley of Death’ to rip up and fling into the air like confetti. From there the album continues on, with moments both upbeat and slow, and is consistently not afraid to be soulful, melodic and even emotional; usually without coming off as schmaltzy.

That accomplishment is in the hands of Kno, who provides production duties on all of the tracks and is to me the real hero of the album—or at least what gets me gobbling it up. His sound is quite distinctive. It is very lush and organic, rather like a jungle near Rio Di Janeiro might be, often layered with music that would sound at home behind the crooning of Barry White, and interspersed with plenty of soaring gospel voices and old soul samples. I’m seeing a lot of comments that this album is dark. Darker even than their previous album. Maybe I don’t share this interpretation because I already listen to plenty of trip hop and twisted, haunting electronica. To me the vibe I get from this disc is heat; not exactly a soothing warmth, but more the bright heavy sunshine of the summer, and maybe a bit like a conscientious and understanding friend in a dark place (like the hood, I suppose).

The rapping from Deacon and Natti is in fine form, though to me the album is all about Kno’s production. I don’t know enough to know who is who, but both rappers boast beautiful, deep and expressive voices, which isn’t at all a necessity for spittin’ flows, but certainly helps in the context of this music. The subject matter is generally not the bitches’n’bling of popular hip hop, nor does it follow the independant hiphop trend of pessimism and elaborate wordplay. The songs often touch on beauty and pain, religion and hope, most often by telling stories about characters struggling through various hardships. Perhaps due to their somewhat impressionistic nature, the stories often seem somewhat sensationalized, so when I hear “if you knew where my head is when I’m doing these records you’d never listen to my music again; I can’t let you see the things I dream” I can’t help but think that the dark and twisted things happening in the narrative are more a part of some parable than reality. That is not necessarily a negative criticism, though it might be, but the way the two weave their words together is impressively skilful.

As with most hip hop albums, there are several skits in between tracks. Thankfully, they are more about themes and less about random recorded conversations while the artists were high. They manage to be sonically satisfying and mostly contribute to the flow of the album rather than breaking it up. While they are more pleasing than most hip hop interludes, they could easily have lead into the tracks they set up more smoothly. The flow is injured because the brief skits can’t quite generate enough momentum to get over the blank spaces, and that problem might have been easily remedied. Somewhat related to the above quibble, a few of the real energetic tracks (like KKKY and Valley of Death) are cut off perhaps too abruptly.

While we’re discussing some shortcomings of the album, let’s talk about its biggest. The middle. There is a series of about four songs at the centre of the disc that get gradually more the same, and end up being too smooth and saccharine to the point of near boredom. My appreciation of this suite of songs is not helped by the fact that many of them deal with the rappers (usually guest spots) trying to suavely get sex with various ultra hot women—an all-too-common trope of hip hop which is thankfully absent from the rest of the album. I’ll admit that Devin the Dude’s guest spot on Wonderful is actually quite fine and really only guilty of setting the mould that makes the following seem a bit dull. The worst offender, though, is Yellow Lines, which, while boasting ultra-smooth soulful production, is the source of the albums most remarkable chorus: “Yeah. I put a spell on dem hoes, forgive me lord but I’m hell on dem hoes. Yeah. I put a spell on dem hoes, forgive me lord but I’m hell on dem hoes. Heyeah. I put a spell on dem hoes, forgive me lord but I’m hell on dem hoes. Yeah. I jus… I put a spell on dem hoes, forgive me lord but I’m hell on dem hoes.” I don’t think I need to explain what I find irritating about that one. Those two tracks are followed by a couple of very nice, positive jams, that are really well done, but maybe too subdued to keep me interested; nonetheless it’s still interesting to hear rapping about the simple joys of summer barbeques.

I do really, really like this album, though, and its real power reveals itself toward the end. After Summer’s Gone, Gun picks things back up a bit and gets us ready for the final four songs which are my favourites on the album. Dance for Me is a crooning, slow jam about a stripper, and it is utterly beautiful. Hearing both rappers caress the words they drop is a joy, and the production is perfect, featuring a wonderful, touching old sample that google won’t help me find. While the song is a heartstring-tugger and generally downbeat, the driving rhythm of words and beats keeps it constantly riveting and downright addictive. After that, Georgia is a soulful gospel-inflected lament for poverty and violence. Then Things I Dream throws us straight into that dark, desperate world, describing the violence and greed first-hand. Mexico ends the album on a wistful note as a man muses on goals and dreams and relationships. These four tracks perfectly illustrate how beautifully the production suits the subject matter on all these songs, and the general effect of that is a hip hop album that can be extremely affecting.

Despite my occasional qualms with the middle of the album, almost all the songs are excellent and extremely listenable; it’s easy to come back to them over and over. This is a quality product. So what makes this different from their last album? All-in-all it’s actually very similar (which is sure as hell not a bad thing). But they do make some changes; for example there are far fewer chipmunk samples, which is a definite improvement. It also seems more single-minded and more cohesive to these ears, a little smoother, but still leaves room for improvement. Is it a better album? I’ll need some more time to figure that out. Overall, this is a standout disc. If you want it in mathematics, I guess I’d call it 8.5 over 10.

There are 4 sample tracks on the band’s myspace page (including my favourite, Dance for Me)

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…

The photos were taken with my Canon S3 IS… and it’s really the first time I’ve taken concert photos with a decent camera, so there was a bit of a learning curve. I wish I’d remembered about changing the ISO setting a bit earlier in the night.

And some brief video clips! more are available throughout youtube with some clever searching.

Akron/Family:

Grizzly Bear:

Meligrove Band:

Final Fantasy:

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.

111: Nick Cave and Warren Ellis – The Proposition Original Soundtrack (The Proposition #1)
Atmospheric, at times pretty and others creepy as Nick Cave and Warren Ellis (a violinist who has worked with Cave on several albums) are so good at. It has a real character, and though I haven’t seen the movie yet, it builds a mood quite clearly and effectively on its own.

110: Maxïmo Park – A Certain Trigger (Acrobat)
Another in the parade of British nu-wave seemingly cashing in on the success of Franz Ferdinand. This is a cut above the likes of the Kaiser Chiefs and The Bravery, though. Maximo Park take the sound and make it theirs.

109: Black Rebel Motorcycle Club – Howl (Shuffle your Feet)
A huge departure for the band; turning from somber and gritty guitar-rock to gospel-tinged blues. Good to see a band progressing somehow, but this one was close. At first I hated it, but the craft is there and I eventually found myself actually wanting to listen to the album.

108: Why? – Elephant Eye Lash (Crushed Bones)
An intriguing blend of indie rock and indie hip hop. Valuable, if only for the interesting sound it exudes, but listenable beyond that as well. Worth a listen.

107: Boards Of Canada – The Campfire Headphase (Satellite Anthem Icarus)
Ambient electronicery by Scotland’s famed duo. Can feel a bit repetitive and uninspired at times, but there’s some beautiful stuff going on here.

106: Metamatics – 3 Jak and Dive (vlokal)
Glitchy ambience almost in the style of BoC.

105: Jason Collett – Idols of Exile (Fire)
Folk rock from the lead singer of Broken Social Scene. Pleasing to the ears, and some brilliant melodies.

104: Xiu Xiu – La Foret (Ale)
Eerie minmalist and sometimes hard to listen to rock. Lead singer sounds pretty bent out of shape sometimes. A difficult listen, but let it weasel its way in and you may well find something valueable.

103: Lemon Jelly – 64-95 (’64 aka Go)
A bit of a departure for the group. Each song uses a sample from the year in the title. Sounds a little more traditional than previous Lemon Jelly offerings, but at the same time mature and accomplished. The DVD that comes with videos for every track is a treat.

102: Pendulum – Hold Your Colour (Fasten Your Seltbelt Feat. The Freestylers)
Wicked drum and bass from Australia. Shades of Apollo 440. A ripping good time.

101: Thomas Brinkmann – Lucky Hands (THIRTY2)
Delicate ambience. Sounds both natural and heavily computerized at the same time. Beautiful and subtle.

100: Ry Cooder – Chavez Ravine (Poor Man’s Shangri-La)
A concept album from the veteran performer about the destruction of the titular community, a sort of commemoration of their unique way of life. Many different styles and very rich, Chavez Ravine has a lot to offer and it’s definitely one I feel would place a higher given some more time to sink in.

99: M83 – Before the Dawn Heals Us (Teen Angst)
Bombastic synthesizer anthems. If you excuse how seriously it seems to take itself, very fun and at times profoundly beautiful.

98: The Clientele – Strange Geometry (Since K Got Over Me)
Gentle guitar rock. Not much else to say. Quite well crafted.

97: Espers – The Weed Tree (Rosemary Lane)
Medieval sounding psychfolk covers of everything from traditional ballads to Blue Oyster Cult, and an original.

96: The Lucksmiths – Warmer Corners (A Hiccup in Your Happiness)
Sunshine and simple catchy pop melodies.

95: The Rosebuds – Birds Make Good Neighbors (Hold hands and fight)
Not so different from Warmer Corners, a little more airy and straightforward.

94: Common – Be (Testify)
Straightforward but certainly high quality hip hop from one of the genres notables.

93: Stephen Malkmus – Face The Truth (I’ve Hardly Been)
Fun, catchy all-over-the-place light indie rock.

92: Clap Your Hands Say Yeah! – Clap Your Hands Say Yeah! (Details Of The War)
Nice arrangements. Get a new singer.

91: Keith Fullerton Whitman – Multiples (Stereo Music for Acoustic Guitar, etc – Part One)
Nice experimental ambience. Surprisingly complex and easy on the ears though it sounds strangely mathematical.

90: The Herbaliser – Take London (Song for Mary)
Hiphop, reggae, soul and electronica flounce together in this rather lovely bit of music. Electronic music played on live instruments.

89: Of Montreal – The Sunlandic Twins (The Party’s Crashing Us)
No Satanic Panic in the Attic, but there’s certainly some delicious gems here. Fantastic as a quantitative judgement (as in, the realms of fantasy), but not so much as previous offerings, and much more disco involved.

88: Robyn – Robyn (Be Mine!)
A variety of styles and speeds, but all well-crafted electropop as always seems to be big in Europe.

87: Menomena – Under an Hour (Flour)
A set of three extended tracks created for a dance performance. Repeating arrangements weave in and out, build, denoue, and make for great listening

86: Kate Bush – Aerial (Somewhere in Between)
Kate’s first album in 12 years is a double one, though it could fit on one CD. Exhibits the fanciful, lush, dark atmosphere of her best work, but more restrained and not quite as sharp.

85: Ladytron – Witching Hour (Destroy Everything You Touch)
Hard-hitting, brooding electro, a little bit gothy. Gets a bit repetitive after a while, but a very worthy effort.

84: Roots Manuva – Awfully Deep (colossal insight)
One of hip-hop’s best and most distinctive voices comes out with a pessimistic, worried album tinged with techy elements of the booming UK garage scene.

83: Gang Gang Dance – God’s Money (Egowar)
Pygmy children locate whistles, helium, and a variety of drums and crunchy things. The result is somehow very appealing (at least to these ears). Psychedelic, insane and a little bit spastic.

82: Busdriver – Fear Of A Black Tangent (Reheated Pop!)
Extra-speedy rapper Busdriver delivers a disc of cynical rhymes backed with loopy, chirpy production. If you can decipher what he’s saying there’s good stuff in there!

81: The Kills – No Wow (No Wow)
Grimy guitar rock with male and female lead voices. A little reminiscent of Damon-favourite PJ Harvey.

80: Out Hud – Let Us Never Speak of it Again (How Long)
Sharing some members with !!! (and that’s what you get when you capitalize the number of albums in this here countdown), Out Hud delivers an album of whacky indie disco psych techno riddled with some excellent songnames.

79: Serena Maneesh – Serena Maneesh (Selina’s Melodie Fountain)
Murky guitar rock that drones at times and sometimes learns to fly—in an anthemic, epic sort of way. M83 for those who like to rawk? No. But I just name-dropped, so I am elite.

78: Matias Aguayo – Are You Really Lost (De Papel featuring Max Turner)
Some goshdarn excellent micro-house. Subtle in its way, it creeps along with a steady rhythm and buries itself inside you.

77: Kelley Polar – Love Songs of the Hanging Gardens (Here in the Night)
The Junior Boys have already spawned an Imitator! Monsieur Kelley, though delivers great variety on this disc, expertly crafted productions back succulent and surprisingly complex pop cherries, crooned over with a sweet voice.

76: Fiona Apple – Extraordinary Machine (Extraordinary Machine)
Caused a little bit of controversy when Fiona abandoned producer Jon Brion for . No one can definitively decide which version is better, but they’re both good. It sounds a little bit out of its time but it all fits together quite beautifully.

75: The Drones – Wait Long By The River And The Bodies Of Your Enemies Will Float By (Baby²)
Australian band delivers longest album title of countdown! One of best also! Manly, dense and dirty rock and roll. Grrr.

74: Richard Hawley – Coles Corner (Just Like The Rain)
Some lovely and warm tunes involving lush instruments and melodies, with Richard’s pleasant croon to make you smile. This is an album you can play for your parents. Good, old fashioned songcraft.

73: Cage – Hell’s Winter (Stripes)
Chris Palko’s troubled life gets the focus on his album. Cage explores how his abusive, heroin-addicted father, violent upbringing, and time in a mental institution (etc) made him who he is. Dark stuff, finely produced by Def Jux regulars like Blockhead. And Eminem thought he had it bad…

72: Buck 65 – This Right Here is (Bandits)
Canadian rapper’s big label debut collects some of his previous tracks and some new ones and re-jigs them for a theoretically larger audience. That audience includes me, so I won’t complain about any of that selling out crap. He could almost come from the south, probably the most un-urban hiphop I’ve run into.

71: esem – scateren (dispehrse)
A free web-release that breaks from traditional albumic conventions. Beautiful electronic ambient music of various types.

70: Blackalicious – The Craft (Ego Sonic Wardrums)
Independent hip-hop’s flagship (Gift of Gab and Chief Xcel) delivers their third album, and it’s a much more polished affair. More consistent in sound than previous offerings and therefore less noticeable, but expertly put together and there’s some delicious offerings within.

69: Devendra Banhart – Cripple Crow (Chinese Children)
Sad-voiced Devendra delivers another long, dusty album of folky songs, sometimes Mexicanally affected, sometimes straight ahead strum. He knows how to write some fine lyrics and tunes.

68: Thee Silver Mt. ZionMemorial Orchestra& Tra-La-La Band – Horses in the Sky (Mountains Made of Steam)
The ex-Godspeed You Black Emperor side project (too big to be a side project now, i’faith) delivers number 4. Unfortunately a step down from other albums, but brilliant, moving and honest nonetheless, if you can get used to Efrim’s voice (cause oh boy does he like to sing now!) Still no substitute for their mindboggling live show.

67: Castanets – First Light’s Freeze (A Song is Not The Song Of The World)
Unique spare electronic indie folk rock… or something. Clackety beats, building atmospheres of organic sounding synths create the bed for dramaric dual-voiced lyrics.

66: John Vanderslice – Pixel Revolt (trance manual)
Following up Cellar Door with another album of pleasantly catchy often beautiful melodies, a variety of narrative lyrics and extremely eclectic instrumentation.

65: Okkervil River – Black Sheep Boy (For Real)
Ragged voiced folk-rock. I don’t want to say emo, but this guy doesn’t sound happy. He still manages for some excellent lyrics and a true emotional punch now and then. It often gets pretty intense.

64: Caribou – The Milk Of Human Kindness (Yeti)
Formerly Manitoba, Dan Snaith (a Dundas native!) doesn’t let Handsome Dick cramp his style, delivering a superb set of wild and psychedelic songs that stretch the mind with sounds you’ve never heard before.

63: Iron & Wine – Woman King EP (In My Lady’s House)
Sam Beam presents a collection of 6 songs backed by his unique and utterly wondful voice. The arrangements are much expanded from the simple palette of his sparser previous offerings, now offering various layers of rattling and dinging, but still in that dusty back forty sort of way.

62: Deerhoof – The Runners Four (Spirit Ditties Of No Tone)
A sprawling, strange collection of lopsided, loopy somewhat psychedelic indie rock. With 20+ tracks to choose from there’s a lot of variety.

61: Danger Doom – The Mouse and the Mask (A.T.H.F.)
Danger Mouse and MF Doom team up with Adult Swim to create a rather interesting collection of raps about immature adult cartoons. Dark and layered yet spare production and MF Doom’s weathered sounding raps create a murky atmosphere and the Adult Swim samples make it rather demented. Cool.

60: Yann Tiersen – Les Retrouvailles (Kala)
A collection of sparkling and gentle decidedly French sounding melodies from the man who brought us the Amelie soundtrack. Guest spots from Liz Fraser (Cocteau Twins) and Stuart Staples (Tindersticks) give a few of the finest songs of the year, and the rest of the album is infinitely listenable, if a little repetitive

59: Cuff The Duke – Cuff The Duke (I Really Want To Help You)
Oshawa natives deliver a highly enjoyable album of countryrockbluegrass. A simple album, and not even deceptively simple: You’ve got your catchy hooks, jangly instrumentation, and lyrics about the travails of working class life. An album for the common people.

58: Calla – Collisions (So Far, So What)
New album is fortunately much less aimless than previous offerings. There’s louder guitars and more straightforward melodies, and it’s all pretty bleak. Most of the music ends up being processed into a haunting, uneasy delivery. Quite good, but doesn’t fully realize its potential.

57: The Magic Numbers – The Magic Numbers (Mornings Eleven)
British popsters recall the days of the shiny pop tunes of the sixties where harmonizing voices lament the complexity of relationships. Simple, but delightful.

56: Røyksopp – The Understanding (Someone Like Me)
Follow up to 2001’s spectacular Melody AM sees this Norwegian production duo straying away from ethereal chill-out to more traditional Euro Electro, or something. They definitely know their way around a pair of synthesizers and the result is lovely. The live show is definitely notable.

55: Gorillaz – Demon Days (O Green World)
The animated dudes are back with another album, and it is just as fun and eccentric as their first. The formula remains basically the same – hip hop and alternative and rock all filtered together into a batch of catchy, danceable tunes.

54: Depeche Mode – Playing the Angel (A Pain that I’m Used to)
A comeback of sorts for these dudes who are primarily associated with 80s nu-wave movement. They sound like themselves, and may be accused of rehashing, but they are pretty near the top of their game. The electronic beats sound manufactured and vicious as they should, matching David Gahan’s voice perfectly.

53: Sage Francis – A Healthy Distrust (Agony in Her Body)
Some very fine hip hop from the Sage. Songs both political and personal generally communicate an atmosphere of anxiety, mostly thanks to Sage’s voice and lyrics (there’s some awesome lines in here). The production is fittingly dark, lurking in the dark streets and slamming us with intensity as required.

52: Cristian Vogel – Station 55 (Neon Underground)
Electronic pioneer monsieur Vogel operates on his own terms, and it’s rather hard to place him in any specific category. As is often not the case on full length electronic releases, there’s a huge amount of variety here and a healthy dose of bizarre, dark, infectious and jazzy productions.

51: The Boy Least Likely To – The Best Party Ever (Be Gentle With Me)
A rather lurvely little collection of unabashedly hyperhappy indie-pop. “I’m happy ‘cause I’m stupid.” Well, we’re happy you’re stupid then, because my day is made that little bit more bearable by your chirpy, chipperness-inducing melodies.

50: The Books – Lost And Safe (An Animated Description Of Mr. Maps.)
A more conventional album from one of the least conventional groups going. Some melody and sometimes logical lyrics get added to the reversed guitars and mangled samples from here, there and everywhere. For some reason all these strange sounds sound really excellent together, and this is certainly a highly unique album.

49: Edan – Beauty and The Beat (Rock and Roll)
Edan reminds us of the classic hip hop of the mid or even nearly 90s. A more organic production style, though it’s very layered and a little bit psychedelic. For some reason I feel this album should be tie-dyed.

48: Franz Ferdinand – You Could Have It So Much Better With (Walk Away)
Sophomore release from the indie bozos that split the world in half in 2004. They progress somewhat with fuller productions, and some (more accurately one) slower ballads (done quite well, too), but the formula remains largely intact; but it’s a rather infectious and successful formula so that’s no reason to complain.

47: Architecture In Helsinki – In Case We Die (Do The Whirlwind)
At times goofy, but incredibly tight little bits of pop. There’s a couple songs on here that just won’t get out of your head, even if you beat it with a stick (your head I mean). Horns, synths, even sitars, guitars and sound effects create a sort of carnival atmosphere like an incredibly colourful acid trip.

46: Animal Collective – Feels (Banshee Beat)
More acid! Yay! I think they call this psychfolk. A bit like an acoustic Four Tet with lyrics; all sprawling, textured, untraditionally structured bits of this and that. It’s all quite complex and compelling and these guys clearly have leet skill; I just can’t quite get it to give me an emotional connection

45: The Eels – Blinking Lights and Other Revelations (Railroad Man)
A double album from the band that managed one mainstream hit. Remember Novocaine for the Soul? This is a really wonderful listen. Not all the songs are gems, but there’s 33 of them and there’s a whole wealth of interesting things to discover; from country, to happy pop, to folky approaches, and yet it all hangs together pretty well.

44: Black Mountain – Black Mountain (Druganaut)
Gritty bluesrock from Jupiter. Actually it’s from British Columbia (that’s where I’m from!) This album is one I often enjoyed significantly while listening to and then forgot about until a few months later when I would appreciate it again. An intriguingly different collection of songs.

43: Fiery Furnaces – EP (Sing For Me)
Not exactly sure this fits my own criteria for inclusion, but I put it on back in February and after so long one can’t cut it. This is a sort of collection of odds and ends from the Fiery Furnaces previous, overlong albums. I find this concise picture of their unique sense of melody and arrangement much more listenable than their rather overwhelming LPs. And 40 minutes sure ain’t bad for an EP.

42: Broken Social Scene – Broken Social Scene (Superconnected)
Hotly anticipated followup to 2002’s You Forgot It In People. There’s some awesome guitars and tunes here no doubt, and I find it more immediately accessible than their aforementioned hypemachine, but it is lacking some of its subtlety. The barrage of 50 odd instruments can be a bit overwhelming, but there’s some wicked songs at the core.

41: The White Stripes – Get Behind Me Satan (Take, Take, Take)
A radical departure from Elephant. When you’re one of current popular music’s most well regarded guitar players, recording an album largely on marimba and piano is a … well, Jack White thing to do. It works quite well, though. Their signature style remains intact, but it’s lovely to see it from a rather different angle.

40: The Hold Steady – Separation Sunday (Stevie Nix)
Badass dirty guitar rock backs half-sung tirades about growing up and being a part of the music scene. Clever lyrics and quite excellent music combine for a rather unconventional but engaging and really quite awesome experience.

39: Mew – And The Glass Handed Kites (The Zookeeper’s Boy)
An all-out progrockathon with guitars spidering in and out and elevated vocal melodies soaring above with rambunctious joy. All the tracks flow into one another and despite a few overwrought moments it’s all fun as hell.

38: Doves – Some Cities (One Of These Days)
Third time’s the charm? Not quite, but given what they were putting themselves up against, we don’t expect them to necessarily surpass past genius (Lost Souls, Last Broadcast), but what we get is an evolved, very solid offering of power-hungry anthemic Britpop.

37: Sigur Rós – Takk (Saeglopur)
Another third album, if we choose to ignore the oft-ignored Von, and it functions in a similar way to Some Cities, offering us with the power, delicacy and beauty we have come to expect from Icelandic twins Sigur and Ros. It gets a tad bit predictable in patches, but it’s a wonderful journey nonetheless.

36: The Deadly Snakes – Porcella (Gore Veil)
Toronto natives give us a delightful modern cross between Tom Waits and Nick Cave. There is plenty of variety here, and a whole bucket of songs which are fantastically catchy in their own untraditional way. Just very well done, really.

35: M. Ward – Transistor Radio (Fuel For Fire)
Matt Ward is a seemingly rather dour fella, and he lets his disenchanted outlook bleed through his music. Well he can’t really help it because his voice is just so beautifully ragged, but the bluesy tunes he spins certainly compliments very well and creates a beautiful atmostphere. Not notably different from previous albums, but that’s a good thing.

34: Camille – Le Fil (Ta Douleur)
French electronic folk or something like that. Most of the sounds on the album seem to come from Camille’s lips and be mussed up somehow or other. But mostly it’s a collection of diaphanous melodies that bob around and hang together like a bit of cheery abstract tapestry.

33: 13 + God – 13 + God (low heaven)
A quite successful collaboration between The Notwist (dreamy German electronica) and Themselves (murky American hip hop). The bands’ sounds suit each other surprisingly well, and there’s definitely some marvellous tracks in here. Not for all, though, it can easily be a little strange. Themselves have a knack for that.

32: Sons and Daughters – The Repulsion Box (Rama Lama)
Another entry that might only be on here as a result of its similarity to Nick Cave. But seriously, a rip-roaring batch of… rock, I guess. Very Scottish, quite fierce, and a covered in a nice caking of dried mud. This ain’t the music of the sleekly polished innercity, but rather… pirates, I guess.

31: Go-Betweens – Oceans Apart (Here Comes A City)
Juicy British guitar pop with an occasional sprig of folksy leanings (and remember, folk is not a dirty word!). The Go-Betweens were big in the eighties, disappeared for a stint, but now they are back! It is exciting to see older bands at the top of their game. They pound out quite a few killer riffs and tunes and certainly keep us interested. It has a bit of the bright jangle a la Unforgettable Fire era U2. That is a good thing.

30: Sleater-Kinney – The Woods (Entertain)
Grrr. L. Grimy and a little angry. Sleater-Kinney are back for another helping of distorted rawk. This is all pounding drums and words in a not particularly pleasant singing voice, but the fever is infectious and seductive. Ragged and rough, but in all the right places.

29: Art Brut – Bang Bang Rock And Roll (Formed A Band)
I keep thinking of Art Brut like a Rock n Roll version of the Streets, but they’re much more than some version of something else (though a comparison to The Hold Steady might be more apropos). They have their own very unique style, and even if you don’t get into the hilariously simplistic talky lyrics, the music itself should have you rocking in no time.

28: Underworld – RiverRun Project (Food A Ready)
Underworld is back! After their quite disappointing 100 Days Off back in ’02, they’ve started releasing internet only Eps of sorts, and they are delightful to the ears. A great variety of sounds, all intriguing, moving, or relaxing, just like the excellent old days. It’s much like meeting an old friend after 5 years, and got this little radio DJ very excited.

27: Patrick Wolf – Wind In The Wires (Teignmouth)
A collection of airy, violin-driven pop-tunes, run through the electro/glitch filter. A cloudy day in spring, a strong, fresh wind blowing in from somewhere else, beckoning you along with it… this album captures that certain reflective, pregnant mood that is one of my favourites, and so it’s rather difficult to not like it quite a bit.

26: System Of A Down – Mezmerize (Revenga)
I’m no metal-head. If I was, perhaps I’d hate this album. But damn if it doesn’t just push a few great buttons. A wide variety of soaring melodies, frantically hammering guitars, and even something like polka in there somewhere. These guys are a little unhinged, but if you can tolerate their mainstream oddness, quite a listen.

25: LCD Soundsystem – LCD Soundsystem (Too Much Love)
James Murphy gives us a fine collection of dancefloor friendly, indie-rock-dance. You don’t realize how indie-rock this album is until you hear Never as Tired as When I’m Waking Up. Also, his voice sounds a lot like Ted Leo to me, which is good, but not in a particularly noteworthy fashion. Some of the year’s finest dance beats all on el CD..

24: British Sea Power – Open Season (It Ended On An Oily Stage)
Sophomore album from British Sea Power sees them abandoning a lot of their quirkiness and focusing those wonderful elegiac choruses that made Carrion one of my favourite songs of ever. This is a bit disappointing in a way, but in the end largely successful, I just hope they switch it up for the next album or I might find myself not caring. Like ‘Wind in the Wires,’ it creates a certain mood. That expectant lethargy brought on by the pre-dawn black summer sky-tinged dark blue. Prowling at night when your mind and body tell you you should be sleeping, but another bit of your mind and body disagree. And again, a lovely mood.

23: Vitalic – Ok Cowboy (La Rock 01)
Easy to lump in with that European electro trend, but Vitalic has a character their own. Their grinding, obviously processed synths have a certain down to earth feeling that makes them feel deceptively organic. And it definitely has that French sound, which gives it a lot of life. Lush, in a sparse sort of way… which is a contradiction, but that’s just how I see it.

22: Super Furry Animals – Love Kraft (Atomik Lust)
A delightful and somewhat whacky dish of muuusic. Not sure what all to say about this here. There’s lots of very catchy summery melodies, and some strangeness. I dunno. I like it.

21: Isolée – Wearemonster (Schrapnell)
Some latenight textured house beats. Some more acoustic sounding instruments are thrown into the mix and mangled, along with some samples and none of it seems out of place. It’s a largely dark piece of work but full of intriguing eccentricities and immaculate production. Just get in the right mood and get some nice speakers and enjoy.

20: Vashti Bunyan – Lookaftering (Turning Backs)
Vashti’s last album came out more than thirty years ago, so she’s been out of the loop for a while. What we get here is a collection of delectable delicate strains of folk melody. They are charming in their quiet pastoral beauty, something of Keren Ann or Espers. This is sunlight dappling over a field swelling in the gentle breeze music; the sweet melodies calming like the bite into a perfect apple.

19: Bright Eyes – I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning (We Are Nowhere And It’s Now)
I was originally wary of Bright Eyes. I didn’t give Conor Oberst a chance because he was lumped in with emo and that whole scene (along with metal) is one that I generally give a pass despite my attempted inclusiveness. I realise eventually that this is really indie-folk, not emo. And that is one of my favourite genres of all. One of Two 2005 Releases by Bright Eyes, I’m Wide Awake… is a fairly straightforward, rootsy affair with beautiful melodies, notable guests and young Conor’s notably distressed sounding voice

18: Antony & The Johnsons – I Am a Bird Now (Man Is The Baby)
Antony’s unique, beautiful voice haunts the lush string arrangements of these beautiful melodies, well, beautifully. There aren’t a lot of albums these days that sound exactly like this, or really anything at all like this unabashed soulful crooning. It’s just beauty, dudes, take it or leave it.

17: Kanye West – Late Registration (Gone (Feat. Consequence & Cam’Ron))
Second album in as many years from the new star of hip-hop. Kanye is everywhere. The media loves him, the radio loves him, even the indie kids are buying in. Not without reason, this one is a doozy. Late Registration, produced with some help from Jon Brion, is a more fleshy, direct doozy of an album. Highlights galore, and while Kanye’s rapping is very commendable, the lush arrangements take centre stage.

16: M.I.A. – Arular (Bucky Done Gun)
Maya Arulpragasam is the daughter of a Sri Lankan Tamil, a revolutionary group that sometimes uses violence as a tool to affect change. Considering the climate of the world these days, Maya has a very unique view of the world, even if she does not embrace the views of her father. “I’ll fight you just to get peace” she proclaims. Mean, gritty, born of the jungle and transplanted into an immaculately produced beast of a dancefloor album, Arular is not for all ears… it is abrasive and frenetic more than it is melodic, but it is technically and ideologically ahead of almost any competition.

15: Bloc Party – Silent Alarm (Positive Tension)
2005′s flagship band of the British press, Bloc Party deliver a mean rocking album. A subtly synthetic sheen over its hard-rocking exterior, the Bloc deliver catchy and compelling riffs from tip to tail. The base sound of these songs is intense and paranoid, coiled up around your leg with a snarl. Many move toward more delicate territory, but they never leave home completely.

14: Elbow – Leaders Of The Free World (An Imagined Affair)
Elbow hit the 3rd album masterstroke with this fine collection of songs. Alternating between fast and slow for much of its duration, Leaders… consistently delivers. Guy Garvey’s wispy lyrics are personal and effective; the arrangements either fist mashingly intense or plaintive and simple. Though there are better things about Cast of Thousands and Alseep in the Back, Leaders… is more cohesive, direct and passionate.

13: My Morning Jacket – Z (Wordless Chorus)
More produced than previous albums, which were quite sparse, Z is a joyful collection of sunsoaked melodies that bleed out through the instruments and singing. Every song is catchy and remarkable in its own way. It is always wonderful to see such remarkable craft on display for all to see. This is more accessible than older albums, which were perhaps more personal, but here it really works.

12: Wolf Parade – Apologies To The Queen Mary (Dinner Bells)
The next Arcade Fire. Hailing from Montreal, produced by Modest Mouse’s Isaac Brock (and it shows), these world worn youngsters deliver a murky, grimy arrangements with ragged lead vocals that are counterracted or maybe contradicted by soaring anthems of melodies and stir-the-populace lyrics. It doesn’t work as well as it did for the Arcade Fire, but it sounds to me like it’s coming from an honest place, and it’s a very wonderful experience to hear them trying.

11: The Constantines – Tournament of Hearts (You Are a Conductor)
Third album from Guelph based rockers. And this is rock. The where, how and why of rocking. It comes from the travails of the street and is channelled into searing, roaring cries. This album past by most critics, and even disappointed a large number of devoted fans. Well, I pity the fool. I love this thing start to finish. It’s not as immaculate or as experimental, or as brutally raw as the first two albums, but it delivers, and it rocks.

10: Spoon – Gimme Fiction (The Beast And Dragon, Adored)
5th album from Britt Daniel and his Cronies, well, 4th if you don’t count Telephono (which no one does, really) is more of the same and more on top of it. Indie rock with an uncharacteristic zip and fuck added to the rhythm section. Stylistically, it’s easily to tell a song that Brit has had his paws on, but these songs are often excellent and earn their high place in Spoon’s utensilarian pantheon.

9: Jamie Lidell – Multiply (Multiply)
Jamie Lidell made aname for himself in the electronic world as one half of Super_Collidor (with Cristian Vogel). On multiply, he somewhat abandons his electronic leanings and turns his eye to mo-town… with much success. I often complain that what these days we call R&B, is largely a load of crap and doesn’t have half the soul of the “black” music (for lack of a better term) of the 70s did. Maybe that’s a strong argument for synthesizers taking the soul out of music. I respect this album a whole lot because it does a lot to revitalize and modernize a genre without killing it. James goes back to the source material, and proves very soulful indeed (and includes a whole whack of synthesizers anyway!)

8: Sufjan Stevens – Illinois (Jacksonville)
The objective album of the year. For my tastes however, it is a bit too saccharine to be at the top of the heap. It is heaps of awesome, though. From the bleak heart-rending beauty of John Wayne Gacy, Jr to the hyperactive broadway musical bliss of the title track, there are a whole whack of stupendous songs on this album. Clever turns of phrase, and twinkly turns of ivory and strings. Cut out 20 minutes and you might get into the top 5 of my subjective list.

7: The New Pornographers – Twin Cinema (Use It)
Despite two very solid albums coming before, the third album from the Pornos is their best yet. In my mind there is no hint of a question about it. These songs are so tightly wrapped, so deliciously filled with hooks and bubbling with melody; it just goes hard and never lets up until the end. Leaving you wanting more. Pop/rock is the biggest, least defined genre at most CD stores. This (Canadian!) album comes close to a definition.

6: iron and wine | calexico – in the reins (he lays in the reins)
When 2 of my favourite artists get together to do a collaboration, it is an exciting thing. When it turns out that together they are even better than individually, it is great cause for celebration and hollering. This 7 song EP is chalk full of spanishly influenced country folk narrated by Sam Beam’s incomparable voice. Every song is notable, and it is over much to quick, but sometimes it’s nice to hear such a succinct statement made and not belaboured.

5: The National – Alligator (Daughters of the Soho Riots)
Maybe this is just straightforward indie-rock. A collection of slow and fast songs, with lyrics, driven by guitar.. acoustic for the slow songs, distorted for the fast songs. Not particularly interesting, right? Well maybe I fuckin’ love it! It is a beautiful meeting of country-rock, Britpop, and alternative, just keeping the best parts of each. Matt Berninger’s deep voice caresses the occasionally jaw-dropping lyrics that accompany these consistently brilliant songs.

4: Roisin Murphy – Ruby Blue (Through Time)
When one of my favourite bands breaks up, it is a sad thing. When the lead singer goes on to make a solo album that’s better than any of that band’s albums, it is great cause for celebration and “oh yeah”ing. Such is the story of Moloko and Roisin Murphy. After the demise of Moloko, (when she and …, whose romantic partnership basically formed the band, broke up) Roisin teamed up with famed (in some circles) producer Matthew Herbert, whose warm, jazzy, electronic yet startlingly organic productions fit Roisin’s sultry voice beautifully. A perfect variety of subtly gorgeous jazz numbers and rambunctious and delightfully strange experimentalism. Also look out for the delicious live show.

3: The Decemberists – Picaresque (The Bagman’s Gambit)
Colin Meloy’s Decemberists are the band that made me go from thinking it would be cool to play guitar, to picking one up and learning about 8 or so chords badly. Hey, it’s a start, alright? Their story-driven songs are expansive and delightful, whetting the imagination and the emotions with moving tales from all walks of life, though mostly the downtrodden (which is usually more interesting anyway). Picaresque is more boisterous and garish than its predecessors, with the layers of violins, stand-up basses, 12 string guitars being applied liberally. Somehow, it stands an equal alongside their previous completely brilliant albums. It is joy to behold.

2: The Mountain Goats – The Sunset Tree (This Year)
John Darnielle is quite a prolific writer of music. The Sunset Tree is something like his 13th album since 1995, depending on how you count them. Only on the last couple albums of his, though, has he turned his lyrical eye inwards where, thanks to his abusive stepfather, there resides a wealth of poignant material. Using professional production techniques instead of a Kmart boombox is also a new development, and to these ears a very welcome one. These songs are delicately haunting at times and often painfully true. Darnielle’s lyrics stay to smaller details that paint a more complete picture (running to his room to escape an outburst.. “so this is what the volume knob’s for”). Honest and compelling.

1: Andrew Bird – The Mysterious Production of Eggs (Measuring Cups)
Andrew Bird is somewhat of a virtuoso. He is a classically trained violinist, whose first releases were straightforward classical and folk songs. He also whistles and sings and plays guitar, and his newer releases have expanded into some sort of mostly mellow indefinable amalgam of any musical style you can make on his instruments. His awareness of music convention is acute and you can tell from the first few notes that everything on this album is put together precisely and expertly. Whether you like it or not is then up to you. Bird fills the album with a generous helping of wit, unpredictability, and at the core great tunes. The Mysterious Production of Eggs is a unique creature whose song is truly delightful to hear.

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
8) 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

Ted Leo/Pharmacists

Junior Boys

Manitoba

And one bonus, out of focus (because I forgot to use the flash) picture of the anti-racism consortium held on stage during the end of the concert

Lyrics Born rocked that show, I think. He was totally tight, had such a great lyrical delivery, and just so fun to watch him bobbing around. I thought he seemed to be having an inordinant amount of fun goofing around with Joyo Velarde.. and I just read that they are in cahoots romantically.. which explains all the giggling. Gab was awesome, but got a little muddled and was sometimes a little hard to understand… mostly because he was rapping faster than the speed of sound. He did alphabet aerobics perhaps even faster than the recorded version, but overall he didn’t have quite the same feeling as he does on record. I also was reaaally impressed with Lifesavas.. They rocked! I didn’t get into their album too much before, but they really knew how to move the crowd, and now i’ve been listening to the album and loving it, it was super cool when Vursatyl chatted with a prerecorded version of himself on the video screens during ‘hellohihey’. All in all everybody was great. Lateef looked kinda like he wouldn’t be out of place in a band like Staind… except that he has creative spirit and is an awesome lyricist, so big difference there.

I gotta say, though, I got a bit sick of the pandering for crowd noise.. I guess it’s sort of the ‘hip hop thing’, but they coulda kept that to more of a minimum for great effect. I was cheering so much I was short of breath and hardly able to cheer anymore anyway, so when that wasn’t enough I got a little cranky. It feels much better to cheer when things are awesome and great (which they were) rather than because the mcs are asking us to constantly. I guess I’m still getting used to this type of sorta quiet crowds.. the first concerts I went to were the floor of U2 shows.. and at those the crowd is always so insane there’s really nothing the band could say to possibly change that. I wish everyone was like that all the time. Or at least while at concerts.

Kind of shitty they decided to not let me bring my digital camera into the show.. I didn’t bring it to the ninjatune show at kool haus last month cause i heard they’d probably take it away, but they didn’t give me any trouble so i figured this time it’d be clear sailing. Not so though. At least I got my newly bought Spectrum CD signed by Lyrics Born, Vursatyl, and Gift of Gab who were out chattin with fans after the show.. that was quite awesome! And as the night wound down I had all sorts quannum tunes raging through my head for a really long time, and now i’m listening to ‘em in a constant sort of nature. I’d quite like to go back to the show right now.. and that’s the mark of a good time. Wish I had a setlist though, cause while I recognized most of the songs, I didn’t know which ones they all were.

In other news of little import, my 2 exams seemed to go pretty well in the aftermath of the show. English I thought went very well, and Communications Studies went less well, but still decently. Or so I hope. It’s really hard to know how they’re gonna be marking the exam essays, so I guess I will find out how well it went at some later date.

I became instantly rather set on the idea of going to said performance, and spent much of the day trying to convince various people to come. Of course it’s a heavy time for schoolwork, and nobody seems to have money, or want to spend it on a band they haven’t heard of, so once again I ended up making the GO trip to Toronto by myself. I chanced to meet Dallas and Tara and their friend whose name I don’t know because it’s kind of a running gag not to tell me, which was very fortuitous, and they offered me a ride back to Mac after the concert, so that was a happy little thing. The opener was Tom Heikl, who performed several “stereoke” numbers, which basically consisted of him semi-awkwardly singing rather funny songs along to backing tapes that he put in his stereo which he had on stage along with his chair and lamp from home in Eugene, Oregon, and an empty gasoline can that he used as instrument at one point. It was hilarious at first, and still at least partially amusing to the very end.

The Decemberists eventually took the stage after an elongated opera introduction, and they were good to the last drop! Colin Meloy’s clear, earnest voice rang out brilliantly above the beautiful chorus of harmonious instrumentation. Some of the funnest parts of the show were the goof induced banter. Like when Chris Funk’s guitar playing faltered due to an alleged case of carpal tunnel syndrome resulted in an interlude of strumming and encouragement from the audience and Colin calling out that “Jimmy Page never had carpal tunnel syndrome!” as well as other very famous people, and then performing a little impromptu reinterpretation of The Modern Lovers “He could walk down you street/And girls could not resist his stare/Pablo picasso never got carpal tunnel syndrome!” Other fun things happened as well, but I will keep them all to myself. The band decided to “festoon themselves” with Canada stickers all over their equipment, and Chris wore a canada hat… good to see they know what’s what! Despite that they didn’t play my two favourite Decemberists songs (California One, Shanty for the Arethusa) there were no misses, and so many songs were imbued with a great spirit live. Their newest release, the epic “Tain” was performed at least mostly in it’s entirety… 18 minutes of Celtic metal in the loose retelling of “Tain Bo Cuailinge” from the Ulster cycle. It was very well done, and fun to see the band rocking out like that, though it was so long I felt I might have enjoyed hearing 3 or 4 of their other amazing songs. They really have too many good ones to play ‘em all. The last song, “I was meant for the stage”, was a definite highlight, beginning with Colin alone and then eventually joined by the rest of the band coming back onstage, and then Tom Heikl with a trombone.. in the end it (de)generated into a chaotic frenzy of dissonance and clatter, but in an appropriate last song sort of way.

I don’t have pictures to prove it this time…as I tried to capture one of the opening act, it soon became evident I hadn’t put the damn memory card back in my camera, despite having a memory kicking around of doing exactly that. Nor do I have, unfortunately, any way of permanently capturing the absolute perfection of the weather this night. Fresh night air in Hamilton is, happily, possible after all. This bodes well for the future!

“Those pictures of ‘the midget blow-job queen’ are incredible! Great job!!!” – Joel “Hooch” Perkins