Top 25 Albums of 2010

it`s the most, wonderful time, of the yeaaar (lists and reviews season!)

Already ran through the whole preamble in my previous post, so look there for an explanation of how my Top 25 works (otherwise: Hey, here's 25 albums I thought were pretty great this year!).

25 | Delorean | Subiza | The album that knocked Band Of Horses out of this last spot is a cheery and upbeat musical portrayal of a night out in the Mediterranean.

Highlights: "Real Love", "Stay Close"

24 | James Blake | Various EP's | Probably the closest I'll come to dubstep, this guy takes everything that makes dubstep good (at least to Londoners) and mixes in snippets of R&B as well as his own voice to craft haunting flashes of warbling beats and eerie vocals. "I Only Know (What I Know Now)" may be one of the songs of the year, off his Klavierwerke EP.

Highlights: "I Only Know (What I Know Now)", "CMYK"

23 | Gayngs | Relayted | Have you ever wondered what would happen if a bunch of guys from the Midwest got together to craft an homage to the cheesiest beats/songs/musical ideas of the late 80's and early 90's? This is what. Call it a guilty pleasure, but also call it one of the most interesting and unassumingly engaging albums of the year (neat feature, if not overdone: the end of each song has around a 30-second lead-in to the next). The kitsch is all over this one, but Gayngs know it sounds that bad - which doesn't really allow us much room to make fun of them. So just appreciate the musicianship -- as well as the great Justin Vernon (of Bon Iver) cameos.

Highlights: "Faded High", "The Gaudy Side Of Town"

22 | Free Energy | Stuck On Nothing | Pop-rock like you probably haven't heard in years, these guys are what mainstream radio sorely needs right now, and which alarmingly few American bands are offering (instead acts like Down With Webster and Bruno Mars are dominating the airwaves). A lot of it is sugar-sweet, with none of the comedown usually associated with a treat like that; it's an earnest effort by a group of kids who know how to craft catchy, timeless tunes.

Highlights: "Bang Pop", "Young Hearts", "Dream City", "Free Energy", "All I Know"

21 | Crystal Castles | Crystal Castles II | It doesn't have the immediate appeal of their debut album, but II makes up for that with more depth, and a greater reliance on Alice Glass' always-haunting vocals. There's not as many party-starters on here, but I guess it shows a more polished and balanced side of Crystal Castles. Meh, dunno if you can notice, but maybe I ranked it too high; either that, or it's just not outdoing Crystal Castles I. Whatever. Oh, but just remembered, the version of  "Not In Love" featuring Robert Smith (of The Cure) isn't on this album, so it's missing a little something. Definitely check that song out, great addition with his stellar vocals over an otherwise solid track. Yes I write in stream-of-consciousness.

Highlights: "Empathy", "Baptism", "Celestica"

20 | Black Keys | Brothers | Would probably rank higher if I'd had more time to listen to it, but since it's only been with me for a couple weeks now, this is a decent position. My sister opined that it's an album that keeps its pacing throughout, which is definitely true. It's also one of the few collections of music that makes me appreciate blues-rock, in a way The White Stripes never could (because even they don't get nearly this bluesy). The instrumentation is great, the song concepts are well-done, and there's a few standout tracks to be enjoyed on repeat. "Tighten Up" especially makes its mark with the transition halfway through between a healthy dose of soul, to something more rocking and slightly darker, but no less engaging.

Highlights: "Tighten Up", "Next Girl"

19 | PS I Love You | Meet Me At The Muster Station | Possibly the most annoying album name on this list, even though the group name gets an A+. I was missing my Japandroids this year, with not much other than singles coming out from that duo, so these Kingston boys did well to fill that void. Lo-fi has its rightful place in rock (not pop, which has been a year-long peeve of mine due to "chillwave"), and PS I Love You does a great job with that style: quick-hit headbangers with echoes of deeper feelings filling the space between the endlessly banging drums and effects-pedaled guitar.

Highlights: "2012", "Facelove", "Get Over"

18 | Diamond Rings | Special Affections | Coincidentally, this guy and PS I Love You split an EP in the summer of 2009, and they're here side-by-side as well. John O'Regan's alter ego, Diamond Rings, manages to craft one of the best synth-pop albums of the year, while at the same time drawing on his fantastic songwriting to produce some of the most memorable lines of the past 12 months. There's probably not a weak song on this album, and it has the added perk of being completely gender neutral: every song could be sung by a girl for a guy, guy for girl, guy for guy, or girl for girl. An album that really has to be listened to for the clever lyrics and impeccable backing tracks.

Highlights: "All Yr Songs", "Wait & See", "Something Else"

17 | The National | High Violet | Yes, I ranked this one probably 10 spots lower than just about everybody else doing their year-end lists. It's great, don't get me wrong, but it's not totally my cup of tea...though I have to say the album would go over well alongside a spot of that and some biscuits. It's not coincidence that one of the best songs on here is called "England"; The National are a regal band, and no more so than on this album. Even their stadium-big anthems maintain a sense of propriety, made all the more imposing by Matt Berninger's always-impressive baritone. Unfortunately, the downtempo nature of a lot of the music on High Violet didn't garner many replays with me. I can still more than appreciate the talent and skill The National possess however. So 17 on paper, 17 in my head, but probably a 7 in my heart.

Highlights: "Bloodbuzz Ohio", "Afraid Of Everyone", "Lemonworld", "England"

16 | Wolf Parade | Expo 86 | I swear I started them off in my Top 10, probably even Top 5. But then I thought about it, kept re-doing my lists, and they had to drop down to here. There are enjoyable songs, but nothing possessing the immediacy or shout-out-loud lyrics of their exceptional Apologies To The Queen Mary (think "Grounds For Divorce", "Shine A Light", "This Heart's On Fire"). There's still standouts, but they all seem to drag their feet a bit, and in the end they still come out a bit too dark to become timeless indie anthems (something entirely within Wolf Parade's wheelhouse, and both Dan Boeckner and Spencer Krug individually, considering Handsome Fur and Sunset Rubdown's work). As I've said before, this album leaves them mired in a decent middleground between ATTQM and follow-up At Mount Zoomer...but short of what they're truly capable of.

Highlights: "Ghost Pressure", "What Did My Lover Say? (It Always Had To Go This Way)", "In The Direction Of The Moon"

15 | The Besnard Lakes | ...Are The Roaring Night | Another group that got bumped down as I wrote and rewrote my Top 25. It's a great album (I still think it should have won the Polaris Prize), and works amazingly as a whole. Individually, the songs are hard to get in to without the context of the rest of the album, one highlight aside. But where four of the songs are split into "Pt. I" and "Pt. II", I think you catch my drift. The harmonies and space-rock (a term I've never really liked for this genre, but which seems oddly appropriate) are maxed out here, and it's easy to get lost listening to the album in its entirety. That's more of a testament to the complexity and enjoyability of the work than anything else though.

Highlights: "Albatross", "Like The Ocean, Like The Innocent, Pt. I and II"

14 | Yukon Blonde | Yukon Blonde | From deep rock orchestras emanating from the throes of space, to this album of down-to-earth rock done right. Yukon Blonde just kills it, with some of my favorite guitar solos and lyrics of the year (yeah, I guess it was a good year for lyrics...not so much for solos though?). If you look at it one way, this is simply an album of songs from a guy to a girl, set to artfully executed drum hits and guitar plucking. That would ignore how it all meshes together so well though; I can throw this thing on and listen to it all the way through and not feel a hint of boredom. Yukon Blonde manages to keep you locked in in the same way as The Besnard Lakes, but a manner just different enough that it really makes you marvel at the various veins of rock that are out there to enjoy. For good measure, they even throw in some Fleet Foxes-like harmonies on a few tracks.

Highlights: "Brides Song", "Rather Be With You", "Babies Don't Like Blue Anymore", "Wind Blows"

13 | Javelin | No Mas | The first of three darkhorses on this list, this is one of the albums I'm truly thankful for discovering this year (as usual, courtesy of Pitchfork). It's 15 tracks of expertly mixed samples and snippets, but instead of party-accentuating bangers from the likes of Girl Talk, it's a collection of some of the most chill beats (and even funny lyrics) I've had the pleasure of throwing on this annum. So much on here makes you think you've heard the song before, or at least a part of it. Javelin's cut-and-paste style has a lot to do with that, but you still can't shake the familiarity of a lot of the tunes, and it's in the most comforting way - not the nagging kind where you're killing yourself to come up with the name of that five-second rip. I'm just disappointed more people and lists didn't pick up on this gem; the 13 ranking is modest: it deserves to be higher. For hilarity's sake, the vibes conjured up listening to this album range from Hercules strutting down the street in Anicent Greece, to The Chipmunks hitting on a girl in a disco. I'm not kidding.

Highlights: "Vibrationz", "Intervales Theme", "Susie Cues", "Shadow Heart"

12 | Holy F**k | Latin | I'm lumping +Ghost in with this too, the companion EP, because there's not much theme variation between the two works. All that matters though is that they work. I'm a big fan of instrumentals and electronic music as it is, so it's easy for a group like this to please me; some tracks venture to blow me out of the water however, in the same way "Lovely Allen" by these guys did a couple years ago. Holy F tries and succeeds at what they do best, which is make the best beats from the simplest things around them - from Casio keyboards to unaltered drumsets. These are two albums that keep pulsing and throbbing, leaving you wanting more, but knowing there's still enough to tide you over (yes, it's "tide"...I looked it up).

Highlights: "Stay Lit", "Latin", "Jungles", "SHT MTN"

11 | Land Of Talk | Cloak And Cipher | This one flew under the radar for me way too long, even though I've had it for a while. It was pretty prominent around the time I broke up with my ex, and the sombre tone of a lot of the tracks didn't mesh too well with the difficulty the breakup brought emotionally. Anyways, I digress, because this is an expertly done album. The songs are long and enjoyable in a micro-Broken Social Scene way; much was made of them being tourmates and having it rub off on Land Of Talk, but I'm not totally buying that, because they don't go for the grandeur BSS so masterfully exhibit. This is like Broken Social Scene-lite if anything; one main vocalist, chugging guitars and drums, and just the right amount of variation that the good songs on here are really good in their own different ways. That's the problem with some of the albums ranked lower than this one: the good songs on those albums are almost undifferentiated from the lesser tunes, which makes it tough to pick standouts - when everything is just solid, can anything really be that much greater than everything else? Land Of Talk answers that question by avoiding it altogether, and crafting a great collection of midtempo crooners.

Highlights: "Blangee Blee", "Quarry Hymns", "Swift Coin"

10 | The New Pornographers | Together | My eyes lit up glancing at this one as the next entry on the list. That's the problem with this album: I kind of forgot about it during the year, the same way I did just doing this list. But as I usually do, I throw on each album as I write its review, and my eyes lit up realizing I'd get to listen to Together for a bit. Now, what I'm getting at is that The New Pornos had the bad luck to release this album the same week as another Canadian juggernaut ranked higher up on this list - a group receiving a fair bit more spins from me the last half of this year. That takes nothing away from this great compilation; I wouldn't call it their best as some have, but I think it lived up to expectations for the most part. There's the old-standard ballads, the AC Newman-led upbeat tunes, the requisite wordy and lamenting Dan Bejar tracks, and the uplifting Neko Case anthems. It's status-quo for a band that does this kind of thing with ease; I don't really think they can or even should get out of their comfort zone when they team up for New Pornos records like this.

Highlights: "Crash Years", "Up In The Dark", "Valkyrie In The Roller Disco", "We End Up Together"

09 | LCD Soundsystem | This Is Happening | Yes, I just ranked a Top 3 album at number 9. I can't seriously contend that it's any better than Sound Of Silver, and yes I'm going to measure it by that exemplary 2007 effort. Heck, I'll even put it up against their earlier work. Everyone has waxed eloquent about how James Murphy has found his voice and his touch, and while I agree wholeheartedly that he has on about half the songs here, the other half are seriously lacking for my tastes (and I love LCD Soundsystem). The anthems and slow-burners on This Is Happening are done impeccably, and certainly show off the maturity Murphy has attained these last few years, but: what the hell happened to his party-starting abilities? I mean, I know the guy is getting old, but you can't put out more than one banger on this album? The highlights are real highlights -- unfortunately, the rest of the songs don't deliver like their older material did. It's not a case of selling out, it's not a case of going in a different direction...it just seems like James and his usually-impeccable rhythm section didn't bring it on half the songs on the album. So that's why it's at number 9.

Highlights: "All I Want", "Dance Yrslef Clean", "I Can Change"

08 | Kanye West | My Beautifual Dark Twisted Fantasy | Heretofore known as MBDTF, it's probably also known as the be-all-end-all of albums this year, a perfect 10 from Pitchfork needed to drive home that idea. I love the fact that Kanye returned to his College Dropout roots, focusing on his legendary production touch and letting a litany of guests provide a good portion of the vocals. Even on the songs where he's the primary vocalist, he's matured enough from 808's & Heartbreak's (autotuned) singing that he can more than hold his own the handful of tracks he's featured in. As mentioned, the rest of them are more than adequately buoyed by guests ranging from Rihanna (good), Fergie (horrible), Elton John (surprising), and Jay-Z (honestly: disappointing on the whole); a smidgen of the kind of guest list that was sorely lacking on his last couple efforts. The reason I can't rank it any higher than this is the same as the reason LCD got ranked so low: it didn't consistently blow me away. If this got a 10, and College Dropout didn't, I can still listen to College Dropout almost the entire way through. MBDTW on the other hand, has too many songs I'll skip through, especially for a 13-song album. One thing has to be mentioned before I finish though: Nicki Minaj's verse on "Monster". My sweet Lord Jesus did she ever blow everyone out of the water on that song.

Highlights: "Power", "Monster", "Runaway", "Lost In The World", "Gorgeous"

07 | Tokyo Police Club | Champ | Case in point: this album delivers throughout, deserving of its ranking above Kanye. It's good in the same way Land Of Talk's Cloak And Cipher is: consistent themes, great songs throughout, and the really great ones stand out enough from the just-great ones that the album works perfectly as a whole. Tokyo Police Club do a great job here of keeping 90% of the songs uptempo and dynamic, something I thought was missing from previous release Elephant Shell -- for every good song on that earlier album, there's two on Champ. Either way, I'll keep this short: great album; the only reason it's not higher is because it's not particularly awe-inspiring or epic music.

Highlights: "Breakneck Speed", "Wait Up (Boots Of Danger)", "End Of A Spark", "Bambi"

06 | Caribou | Swim | I like how these are leading in to each other, because Swim truly is epic and awe-inspiring. A few tracks from the album had me in a trance-like state when I saw Dan Snaith and company live (two drumsets and all!), as they do an amazing job of improving on the album material with live instrumentation and dream-like meanderings. I guess between the title and interviews with Snaith, he wanted an album that was very fluid dance and electronic, and he easily succeeds. The beats drip with sound, the vocals are smooth and slippery, and the whole thing seems to be under a layer of heavy water, if not a thin layer of ice. There's a coldness to Swim that's not there on his other albums (why would there be, on something titled The Milk Of Human Kindness?), but it succeeds, in part because there's a common thread of fragility and ethereal feeling that doesn't allow us to get too close to Snaith or his subject matter. The instruments do a good-enough job of conveying anything Dan doesn't emote on his own, as they slither and clink their way in and around his oft-haunting vocals. By the end of the whole thing, you don't know where Snaith stands with his love(rs), but you at least know he's not standing on dry land.

Highlights: "Odessa", "Jamelia", "Lalibela"...various other names that would sound great attached to a Russian hooker

05 | Future Islands | In Evening Air | Darkhorse number two. What I love about this Baltimore group, affiliated with Dan Deacon, is that they take what could be the latter's electronic instrumentals, and infuse them with heartfelt lyrics and vocals, in a way Deacon's well-intentioned squelches and beeps never could. The singer wavers between an out-of-place English accent and a deep and gravel-y baritone, even on the same song at some points. The tracks are all distinct and varied in their delivery, and it's so out-of-the-ordinary on the whole that I can't help being enthralled every time I listen to a song from In Evening Air. It's a rare gem that works very well front-to-back, but also when you pull bits and pieces from it to listen to casually. The subject matter is dark enough, but the keyboards are endlessly pacing the tunes, allowing your emotions to keep a comfortable distance from the heavy material. On that note, there's a veritable sadness throughout this album, one resulting from loss, and also from fearing impending loss. The greatest highlight however is the singer's voice - I can't say I've ever heard anything like it, and as eccentric as he gets, he makes this album. I can't say much more than it wholeheartedly deserves this Top 5 ranking.

Highlights: "Walking Through That Door", "Long Fight", "Inch Of Dust", "Swept Inside"

04 | Rah Rah | Breaking Hearts | I can't really call these guys darkhorses, as they've been decorated with a couple iTunes awards that would make any upcoming band blush for their good fortune. I just had to double-check that this album came out this year, because where the hell have I been?! I heard their songs on CBC Radio3 a handful of times, and was instantly intrigued. Once I won a $50 gift certificate to iTunes from said radio station, I bought Breaking Hearts, and it's been my most-played album in the two months or so since then. It's simply expertly crafted, supremely earnest, and innovative pop music, with just the right twinge of Canadian rock to it. Top to bottom, the album deftly navigates the highs and lows of love and life through near-perfect sequencing (putting two of your best songs at the start is my only qualm with it) and a great balance between rockers and ballads. The main vocalists have an endlessly endearing interplay between guy and girl, their call-and-response working to perfection on a tune like "Ghosts", definitely the standout here. It's like they mix the hard-rocking attitude of Ladyhawk with the pop sensibility of The Ghost Is Dancing, while placing their own unique stamp on the outcome. They sound like everything pop music should be.

Highlights: "Ghosts", "Arrows", "Salty Cites", "Breaking Hearts"

03 | Arcade Fire | The Suburbs | I wrestled with this one for a while, starting it off at number 10 and moving it up in subsequent lists. That's a microcosm of how I've felt towards this album since it came out: I was probably unimpressed at the start, and it's seemingly grown on me ever since. After repeated listens driving back and forth to surfing over the summer, I came to realize (and vocalize to my friend) that The Suburbs is a truly and thoroughly good album, front to back, top to bottom. That's saying something for a 15-song work, because it's always easier to trim the fat and put out a solid 10-song effort. While there are indeed five songs on here I could probably do without, I know there are others who hold those as favorites and couldn't do without them. This is the effort I've been needing from Arcade Fire, who I honestly don't hold as dear as many other Canadians, or indie music fans in general. Their forays into synth-pop and increased use of Regine Chassagne's beautiful voice (the combination of the two could hang with Robyn or any European pop songstress) certainly put The Suburbs over that edge for me, as did many of the more uptempo selections from the album. All in all, epic songs about a not-so-epic life spent in the 'burbs.

Highlights: "Ready To Start", "Half Light II: No Celebration", "Sprawl II: Mountains Beyond Mountains", "Empty Room"

02 | CFCF | Continent | If you're thinking "who/what the fuck?" I'd totally understand. This is darkhorse number three, a kid from Montreal in his early 20's who seems to have found the auditory magic required to turn Italodisco into relevant, contemporary, and enjoyable music. On an almost-entirely instrumental album that can be alternately useful for study sessions, dinnertime music, reading, low-key parties, and even writing essays, I definitely found the most versatile and thoroughly graceful album of the year. I first came to know about CFCF through his artful remix of Justice's "D.A.N.C.E.", but I would have never expected an album of this magnitude from the still-young Canadian mixmaster. It's so unlike anything else I've heard in a long time: it's not the bangers of the aforementioned Frenchmen, it's not the downtempo croonings of Junior Boys (though they would absolutely murder some of these tracks had they considered adding vocals to them), and it's so far removed from any crunchy electronic that it doesn't even merit a comparison. At an hour long (first time reference I've made, been trying hard to avoid them), it's a longer and very rewarding listen, but it's the least you can do to support such astounding homegrown talent.

Highlights: "Raining Patterns", "Monolith", "Invitation To Love", "You Hear Colours"

01 | Broken Social Scene | Forgiveness Rock Record | I've spoken at various lengths about my unwavering love for these guys, so it should come as no surprise that I've ranked them number 1 for 2010. No other album was this complete, this chock-full of talent and superior execution, this wide-ranging, this artfully constructed, this well-sequenced -- this deserving of number 1. Where other BSS efforts following You Forgot It In People have been drubbed for being too lackadaisical and unfocused, the supergroup (there's really no other word for such a talented collection of individuals) really got their act together for this album, churning out 13 of the most solid tunes on one album this year ("Me And My Hand" expressly not included...whether or not it's an ode to masturbation is irrelevant; it's the most skippable and only boring song on the album). There's epics here in good measure, poignant social commentary, ethereal instrumentals, hard-rocking instrumentals, and vocal affectations so late 80's/early 90's that I get severe nostalgia for years I wasn't even alive for.

There's the requisite female-driven tracks with Emily Haines, Feist and Amy Millan starring, and Kevin Drew's dependable pained-like delivery, maybe this time for the mournful state of his fellow man and his many shortcomings. Just a solid, solid album throughout, and other than the one previously mentioned song, I would not change a single thing about it. The material surrounding the album has been similarly well-done, from the jarring fan-made video for "Meet Me In The Basement" to the cool-as-shit Starslinger remix of "Texico Bitches" (also a candidate for Best Song Title of 2010). There is unequivocally nothing lacking on the stellar record, and now it's just a matter of deciding whether or not 2010 albums qualify for Best Of The 2000's, or if Forgiveness Rock Record has to wait for a 2019 list to receive any higher accolades.

Highlights: The whole thing, but specifically "Romance To The Grave", "All To All", "World Sick", "Meet Me In The Basement"

The Top 25 Albums of 2010 | honorablementionythingies

it was the best of times...it was the end of the naughts of times

Year-end list time! Let me be straight-forward here: I guess I only listened to about 40 full albums this year. While that’s a little less than one per week, I still don’t feel like it’s all that many, especially when Pitchfork lists their “top” 50. I know I can’t really compare myself to a daily music reviewing site, but I still like to aspire to that kind of level, at least taste- and writing-wise. Anyways, they do five reviews a day. 25 a week. For argument’s sake, holidays accounted for and re-issues discounted, that’s about 1000 reviews a year. That’s a shitload of new music. So now, I think you can see how my mere 40 albums pale in comparison.

I’m just telling you straight-up that these are the 40 albums I listened to, ranked in an order based on how much I liked them, how good the music itself was, and the amount of time I’ve had to be exposed to it. Albums I’ve only listened to a little bit are probably ranked lower than they should be. Albums I like more than other people might are ranked higher than they should be (much more so in some cases). Either way, the list has its flaws, and I’m making those clear from the start.

Before we get to those rankings though (my top 25 by the way), there’s 12 other albums that didn’t quite make the cut, for a variety of reasons – most of which I’ll expand on below. They’re arranged by categories, and not in any way by preference or quality. How about we just go alphabetically:

Avant-Pop:

Robyn – Body Talk: I’m lumping in Body Talk Pt. 1 and Body Talk Pt. 2 here, much the same way the artist herself did by releasing the aptly named Body Talk. I gave both parts a few listens, and Robyn has her pop downpat obviously. In some ways, she’s light years ahead of pop here in North America – probably owing to years of honing her skills in the vastly different pop climate of Europe. In other ways, she bangs out tunes with Pharrell and Snoop Dogg much like Katy Perry and other American pop contemporaries. Either way, the girl is good. Not whole-album good though, which is why she didn’t crack my Top 25. There’s absolute gems like “Dancing On My Own”, but there were too many songs that sounded like filler to me. Maybe to a pop aficionado they come off a little more meaningful, but to an appreciator like myself (Katy Perry’s “Teenage Dream” kills me – in all the good ways – simply because I can recognize it’s amazing pop music) they don’t mean much, and they didn’t earn many spins because of that.

Yeasayer – Odd Blood: Oh yea Yeasayer, I cannot say much. There are neat tunes like “ONE”, “Ambling Alp”, and “Madder Red” on here, but they kinda lend this category its name – it’s pop music that’s too forward-thinking for my tastes. Like, I can see these guys appealing to pop radio listeners in 2030 – with their 2010 album. I guess I just don’t get it. But keep it up guys. The future still needs music.

Autre Ne Veut – Autre Ne Veut: A late contender emerges! I guess this was released in August, but I only picked up on it after a warm Pitchfork review the other week, and a very enjoyable mp3 of “Two Days Of Rain” off the internets. Couldn’t find the album anywhere though, so I bought it off iTunes (!), and it’s had a few (mainly falling-asleep) spins over the last week. It’s solid, I love the singer’s audacious range, and he rivetingly straddles the line between avant-pop and retro stylings recalling the 80’s in all their gaudiness. Maybe if I’d discovered Autre Ne Veut earlier in the year, he’d have cracked the Top 25. For now though, he’s hanging with Yeasayer and Robyn. I’m thinking there’s a lot of makeup tips and weird song ideas being thrown around there too.

Black Sheep:

Frightened Rabbit – The Winter Of Mixed Drinks: These guys got kind of unlucky. They’re good. The album’s pretty good. I listened to it. I kinda liked it. But my God are they pretty depressing when it comes down to it. Between the tone of the songs, the album title, and the moods you can get in to while listening to them, I’d swear all the songs are about crumbling relationships, forlorn love, drinking yourself into a stupor, and speaking in the most indiscernible Scottish accent possible. Really, I think that’s what it’s about. Poor bastards.

Droners:

Tame Impala – Innerspeaker: I want to get this one out of the way first for this category. I can’t take it off my iTunes library. And you know why? I think it has to do with the album cover. Seriously: I can’t get enough of that thing when it comes up on my iPod. The music though? Literally just a drone of undifferentiated Australian stoner-rock songs. Imagine a range of 1-10, just a simple thought exercise where 1 is one end of the spectrum, and 10 is the other. These guys are constantly locked in between 3-5. That’s to say, there’s really isn’t a difference between most of the songs on here. It’s boring. Well, the songs are at least.

Pink Skull – Endless Bummer: Punks Kill? Get it! If Tame Impala is stoner-rock, this is electronic music on acid. I don’t mean that in a bad or trippy way; the music is pretty rudimentary in a lot of ways. I just mean the song titles are nuts, the album covers (it’s a two-sider) are bright pink and neon green, and the songs just kind of ebb and flow. I remember writing a few essays and generally chilling out to this album, and it has a really good vibe (no bad trips here), but I just couldn’t bring myself to name it to my Top 25 for the year. I’d still definitely get their next album though.

Emeralds – Does It Look Like I’m Here?: Alright, you want trippy and droning? This album. I swear to God this gave me sleep paralysis one afternoon when I was home sick from work and threw this on while napping and wearing my headphones. That memory still makes me queasy (I think you’d understand if you’ve ever experienced sleep paralysis), and kind of turned me off of this otherwise great electronic/drone record. The songs are epic, varied, and quite interesting. It’s a masterful effort by Emeralds even, who I only knew before this album as crafting one particularly great, autumn-like electronic tune called “Side A”. But waking up with my body asleep, my eyes awake, and the most unsettling visceral buzzing in my ears did a lot to get me away from listening to this for the rest of the year. It would probably do the same for you.

Enjoyable Rockers:

Sleigh Bells – Treats: I don’t get it. I really don’t. It’s a good album. It has some great songs. But it’s one dude tearing away at his guitar, and a girl with some cute and sometimes poignant lyrics about school, summer, and boys and girls. I have nothing against that kind of thing, but it doesn’t exactly lend itself to epic music, overarching themes, or an album rating better than my number one on my list (seriously, Pitchfork rated them like that – I told you I don’t get it). “Crown On The Ground” bangs like nothing of this world, and there’s at least four or five other solid tracks. It’s just not great music though. I think that’s what I’m getting at. Fits the category anyway: it’s enjoyable, it rocks…and it’s not in my Top 25.

Hawksley Workman – Meat: …aaaand, the award for worst album title goes to…! I kid. This isn’t a great album either – in fact, I deleted all but about five songs off it. Hawksley (that’s not his real name, as you can probably guess) has such a knack for easily relatable and heartfelt ballads that I couldn’t leave him off this list. One of my favourite tracks this year was his “We’ll Make Time (Even When There Ain’t No Time)” simply for his delivery and lyrics, spare instrumentation be damned. “The grass is always greener/but you’ve still gotta cut it”? Golden. Album title? Nooot so much.

Los Campesinos! – Romance Is Boring: …aaaand, so is this album! Only kinda though. I dunno, I was expecting a ton from these guys with their follow-up to one of my personal favourites, We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed. There’s still some laugh-out-loud lyrics, elaborate and abstract song titles, and the same great instrumental breakdowns and oddities, but there’s a distinct lack of character compared to their previous efforts. I probably gave this thing like five listens, and I just didn't pick up on the real-life relationship re-tellings that made me fall in love with these guys in the first place. I couldn’t get enough of WAB,WAD. Swingandamiss on this one.

Letdowns:

Stars – The Five Ghosts: I’m pretty sure the title is foreshadowing what would happen to the five members of Stars' musical careers if they put out another album like this. Okay, that’s pretty harsh, but after absolutely stellar efforts on all their prior releases, Stars just went somewhere…else, and that didn’t go over well with me, nor most others I know who really love them. Gone are most of the heartstring-tugging ballads, replaced by synthy, fake-sadness, wannabe-tearjerkers. Alright, that was harsh, but deserved. I just don’t feel like they delivered with this one. I was so pumped for a new Stars album, and they gave me two, maybe three good tunes, and the rest was almost unlistenable. That’s not a Stars album to me. That’s the ghost of one.

Band Of Horses – Infinite Arms: Ohhh, it got bumped off the Top 25 by literally one spot, as I was sitting down watching the World Juniors and listening to the Strombo Show on CBC Radio2 count down their Top 100 of the year just about an hour ago. Really, they were at number 25 for each one of the four lists I did (more on that next time) until they got bumped. That’s more of a reflection of my less-than-40 album listens for the year than it is of the quality of this album. I thought I liked Band Of Horses before Infinite Arms; at least the songs “Is There A Ghost?” and “The Funeral”. That counts as liking, right?

Alright, I barely listened to them, but I was surprised by the panning most critics gave them for this effort. I gave it a bunch of plays and I thought it was pretty good, a few tunes aside. Only afterwards did I also grab some of their older albums, and only then did I realize album standout “Laredo” could be sung right along with earlier effort “Weed Party” – and not only that, but the words sounded better over the “Weed Party” track. It’s one thing to make a middling album; it’s another to rip your own songs off to do it. Oh, plus my ex would constantly make fun of me for liking these guys, and especially this album. This is kind of a “washing my hands clean” ranking, for that reason.

Anyways, that’s what I’ve got for now. Later on this week, I’ll do my Top 25 albums of 2010, and if I can squeeze them in before the New Year, my Top Singles of 2010 (the number of which is as of yet undetermined). In the meantime, try and think of your own; I’ve always liked to use lists like these as a kind of barometer for my own tastes, and I’d be glad if you used mine the same way.

Wolf Parade | Expo 86 | Album Review

it's 1986...do you know where YOUR children are?

It's been too long. There's been too much music in between. Same old, same old. So let's get right to it. I love Wolf Parade's new album Expo 86. Like, so much. If I'm ever bored or tired of my other music, I throw it on. If I need something to play while I'm in the shower, I play the middle of the album. If someone asks me what my favorite album of this year is (there are maybe three people who might ask me that, and none of them have...but if they did!), I'd probably put Expo 86 in my top 3 right now.

Before I break this thing down track-by-track, as I usually do for albums I really love, let me take a minute to discuss the state of music reviews currently. Now, I'm a big fan of Pitchfork. However, I don't always feel like reading their reviews. There's a few reasons for that:

1.) They're long: yeah, they're a few paragraphs, maybe two or three for something not-that-interesting, but still, it's a lot of words. I love reading. If you read this at all, you probably like reading. I love writing. I'm a total hypocrite by calling them out for overly-long reviews. But we'll get to why they're unbearably long in a minute. For now, just ask yourself: why do I need to read eight hulking paragraphs about Arcade Fire's Suburbs? Wait, you mean I don't? That I could probably get through a song or two in the time it takes to read it? Weird.

2.) They have little to do with the music: even when they talk about the music, what are they actually saying about it? Are they just comparing it to something that's already out there? Are they talking about the music climate that currently exists around that genre/band/scene? Are they musing about something totally unrelated? Or are they telling you what songs sound good, what songs sound bad, what's alright, what they could've done better, and maybe, what kinds of things they're hearing in each song? Maybe it's just me, but I'm more apt to wanna read something that has lots of quotation marks in it. You know why? Because lots of quotation marks mean they're naming lots of songs...on the album. And if I'm not able to listen to the album, or if I wanna read a review about it, I wanna know what you think of the songs that make up the album. It's as easy as that. Try to cut down on all the extraneous BS. To use that Arcade Fire review as an example, the second-shortest paragraph contains the most quotation marks. Which means the paragraph containing the most song mentions is the second shortest of eight. That doesn't seem right to me.

3.) They don't correlate with the rating: it's often I'll read a review of an album rated 7.8, and it'll be largely glowing, with maybe one flaw mentioned. Why didn't it get something higher? Did the reviewer get to rate the album them self? Is the rating a consensus among the staff? Some clarity would be nice; even those video game and car magazines will tell you "the total score is not a cumulative score of how well the game/car did in individual areas - it is simply a total score we have assigned it". Those scores make sense to me, because at least they explained how they arrived to them. Pitchfork seems to lack that.

4.) They're too short: okay, this one flies in the face of the first point, so this is a critique of other review sites. I read a blog this week that would rate something out of 5, then write about two short paragraphs concerning the album. If you have the time to write as many reviews at once as this blog did, why not make the effort and give something good and in-depth? I can understand something so short for singles, but this is obviously much more than that. If you're gonna do yourself a disservice by limiting your rating scale to a five-point one, at least counter that with deeper writing. Those are just my thoughts.

5.) Maybe I'm just being a sourpuss and Pitchfork's not that bad and I'm just so busy in my life right now that I don't have time to read and appreciate their reviews like I used to.

Anyways, now that that's off my chest, let's get to the review:

"Cloud Shadow On The Mountain" | This song is the most Sunset Rubdown-y of the bunch I'd say. Spencer Krug's waw-waw voice is all over the map, and if I were doing the sequencing, I'd think they'd have better options to kick the album off with. Many of Krug's mentions of mythic creatures and sceneries abound, but like the better Sunset Rubdown tracks, the instrumentation keeps the whole thing chugging along and interesting. The guitars rip through the drum beats and punctuate the spaces in between Krug's grandiose statements ("you gotta jump, jump over the islands/like a gazelle"). There's enough screeching weirdness in the background to fill any voids, and the whole thing gives you about 10 seconds of respite in all. I can't stress the Sunset Rubdown connections enough though. Wolf Parade will always be Dan Boeckner and Spencer Krug coming together, but it's the differences between their side projects and the sounds they bring with them from those that set them apart - and at the same time, keep Wolf Parade albums interesting. We'll explore that more later on anyways.

"Palm Road" | The guitars instantly resonate happier on this track, and as expected, Boeckner's more laid-back voice leads the charge. I've gotta admit though: these two openers don't really do it for me. They've got the some of  the right elements there, but not the catchy anthemics of Wolf Parade's greater songs, especially the ones off Apologies To The Queen Mary (I like to pretend that the follow-up to that - and pre-cursor to this new album - At Mount Zoomer, never happened). Anyways, "Palm Road" doesn't really hit hard, and comes off more as a warm-up for Boeckner's usual bombastic-ness than anything else. Like he's holding something in reserve for the other songs.

"What Did My Lover Say? (It Always Had To Go This Way)" | Before Dan can get there though, Spencer brings what I think is his best performance to the album. The beat is an awesome back-and-forth rocker -- if anyone has seen Death Cab's Ben Gibbard perform, this beat is the equivalent of his on-the-spot, hip-rocking, odd-thing-going-on thing...alright, if you've seen him, then you know what I mean, if not, I'm no help here. Anyways, back to the song: it's got a few distinct sections, and Krug, as he seems to do in most of his tunes, lets his voice rise above all the other sounds, and the songs where he does that benefit from it. He has great tone, for as much as he vibrates it up and down, and you'll never mistake him for anyone else given his unique delivery. The guitars are at work again here, delivering wordless jabs to keep you on your toes, and there's this whole sense of them, along with the drums, constantly "driving" this album. It's a great sound that Wolf Parade have always had a grasp of, but never executed as well throughout - I think - as on Expo 86.


"Little Golden Age" | The previous song really starts what you could call the "meat" of this album; that great string of tunes that defines the collection and keeps your attention when it's essential an album does so. So on "Little Golden Age" (I think Katy Perry-song when I first hear it start up, not gonna lie), Dan builds upon his earlier offering, serving up an earnest stomper complete with some of the catchier guitar lines filling in the bars between his cryptic lyrics. Here's where I think Expo 86 excels by the way: even when it's trying to sound sad, it's still moving and it's still percussive and it's still awesome. Songs are constructed in a way that elicits emotion from you as a listener. When the notes drop, that usually a signal for sadness. Now, when you can take those drops and keep them exciting and - ultimately - not depressing, you've done something great with music. "Little Golden Age" has a lament to it, but that's lost in the instrumentation and "uh-oh"s and great guitar. This would also be a good place to point out that so far, the drumming has been very consistent on the album, if not spectacular. Wolf Parade is certainly a guitar-driven group.

"In The Direction Of The Moon" | I had a real thing for this song for a while. I still do. But I'm talking a thing where I'd come home and have to turn this on, just to hear it. It's Krug again, but this time, what really does it for me is the stellar keyboard stabs. And this is where I hesitate to talk about keyboards and guitars and all; we all know you can do a ton of stuff with electric guitars. Those guitar mentions I've made above then? For all I know, they could be keyboards. I'm still not that great at picking out individual sounds, other than for this all-too-easy and -encompassing idea of "catchiness". Anyways, there's wicked keyboard running through this song like a glowing line of contrasted stitching; it's not enough to totally draw your attention away from what it's holding together, but just by being there, it's making whatever it is that much better. The other hero of this song is the guy helping on the "I'll put my rockets away" vocals; they're another reason I'm so drawn to this tune. There's a slight lull for a minute plus on "Moon", and that's probably all that brings it down, but once it recovers from that, it's this onslaught of keyboard, marching drum, droning guitar, and Krug finally hiding his voice behind some of that, letting it do its thing. Even the "rockets" guy gets his chance to shine, no longer singing in unison with Krug. The ending is a bit different from the rest, building up then finishing kinda flat, but it takes nothing away from the rest of the song.

"Ghost Pressure" | The lead single from the album, and the one I've heard the band make reference to as their most danceable - even going so far as to say the working title for it was "Beyonce". It's certainly the most radio-ready, with Dan toning things down a bit and letting the song play out like a ride down a set of rapids, if I had to find the best descriptor for it. It starts off fine, picks up momentum, then it just sails through. The keyboards do a great job again here, to change things up between the choruses, and then add an electrified organ sound to the choruses themselves. All in all, this is probably the most straightforward track on the album: it's meant to get you moving, it's driven largely by the instruments and a few repeated lines, it's at this constant 8 out of 10 sound level, and then jacks it up to 10 out of 10 when it needs it. Wolf Parade could make a whole album of these; they wouldn't be expanding into new territory, but they wouldn't really be letting people down either.

"Pobody's Nerfect" | For me, this is where the album starts to slow down a bit. This song in particular is probably the most Mount Zoomer of the bunch, so while I don't not like it, I wish it was, you know...something else? It's technically sound, like I've heard At Mount Zoomer described before, but it doesn't do much for me other than when Dan picks the song up by its britches and shakes it with his "and you don't know how to stop it at all" lines. Oh, and he also says "we built this city on cocaine lasers", which might be my favorite line from anything all year. The song doesn't really hit its stride til about halfway through, where the big guitars come out and do their 80's-rock thing all up and down the strings. These guys can shred no matter the style, and they do a good job of showcasing it here on a tune that would otherwise be kinda boring if not for those guitars and a raucous finish.

"Two Men In New Tuxedos" | ...and here's the point where I wished Wolf Parade's songs were named with a little more Handsome Furs influence and a little less of Sunset Rubdown's. It is Krug's song though, so I guess his side project's naming rights win out. This tune just kinda does its thing, but functions like one of the more forgettable Sunset Rubdown tracks, and it's these times when you can clearly see the side projects' influences that I think Wolf Parade suffers from: Spencer should leave the grand theatrics to that group, and bring his foot-stomping, fist-pumping best to the Wolf Parade side. There's too much stop-and-start, too many up-and-downs, for this song to really grow on me, and not enough in the way of guitars/keyboards/drums to draw me back in. Probably the biggest miss on the album for me. But good for you Spencer. Get it out.

"Oh You, Old Thing" | I had a hankering to hear this one the other week; I dunno why, and it probably can't be considered one of the more stellar tracks on here, but I think that speaks to an album that's well put-together and demanding of multiple listens. You seem to discover something new and enticing every time through. In this particular tune, there's an interesting keyboard pattern starting it off, and Krug gets his turn on vocals again, though this time he's toned it down a bit. There's so much going on around him, and although I may have mentioned above that he really shines through when he lets his voice rise above everything else, there's other times when he can dial it back to a level appropriate for the song, and simply mesh with it like he's just another instrument. "Oh You, Old Thing" is odd, in that, even though it's a good song, it doesn't leap at you like most other great Wolf Parade songs ("Shine A Light", "Grounds For Divorce", among others); it just kinda vibes along, something which the songs on Expo 86 seem to do well it seems. Wolf Parade has really found themselves -- or at least, found themselves again, going back to the roots they so successfully showcased previously on Apologies To The Queen Mary.

"Yulia" | Wow, did Boeckner really restrain himself enough to only gives us one Handsome Furs-inspired track on this new Wolf Parade album? I mean, Spencer seemingly took as many liberties as he could bringing Sunset Rubdown into the picture, but Dan? What moderation. The triumphant guitars and galloping beat are there, and the snippy lines punctuate the "sense" (because I don't know if it's nostalgia, sadness, longing...what it is) the lyrics and their delivery are trying to bring to the surface. More than any of the other songs, this is the most pleasant listen on the album by far. Again, there's so much going on that it's hard to place exactly what works the best here and makes the song the standout it is. Is it the cymbals, oddly lacking on the other tunes? Boeckner's earnest vocals? The tom-tom? In the end, yeah, it's probably the percussion in one form or another. But rest assured: when you need to take the time to figure out which one of the many great things go towards making the song itself great, I think you're doing something right.

"Cave-O-Sapien" | The longest track on here, and the closer. It's pretty upbeat, this time propelled by the fast-forward of the drumming. Yes, I just made up that phrase. Krug is like Sonic The Hedgehog here, nimbly running his way up and down the walls of the obstacle course that is the music in front of him. That music though: Wolf Parade consistently do a great job of making melodies out of instrumental lines, delivering just as much feeling and distinction through those as they do via the lead duo's voices. There's tension in the guitars here, though totally that video-game kind if we're talking Sonic; it's fake tension, just manufactured to get things going. You know you're never in any danger of the song falling apart around you, same as you're never worried you yourself are going to be injured while playing a video game. Spencer's cries of "I got you/til you're gone" are the real hook here, followed closely (and literally) by the odd-sounding electro stabs of the keyboard. There's almost a joking sense to this whole song, from the title to the words to the sounds. These guys are having fun, and you can tell.

Thankfully, by manufacturing a return to their former glory - albeit, short on songs emulating Apologies For The Queen Mary's rocking anthems that a generation of indie kids embraced as their own - and balancing the triumvirate of Wolf Parade, Sunset Rubdown and Handsome Furs in relatively equal parts, Dan, Spencer and the boys have restored that exciting feeling to their albums with Expo 86. So maybe more of the same old, same old isn't always that bad.

we couldn't afford a cover artist, so we got my 6-year old nephew to do it

It's 7am on a Saturday, I just got up, and I don't feel like getting back to sleep. The working life is doing wonders to me. It's weird, but I think I could eventually come to enjoy it - which is the perfect sentence to describe Sunset Rubdown's music.

Sunset Rubdown is a Canadian group made up of five people (four of them unreferenceable as they don't even have Wikipedia pages - I mean, that's like you don't even exist, right?), including lead singer Spencer Krug, who splits time between these guys, Swan Lake, and his slightly more acclaimed - and certainly more popular - band Wolf Parade. You know, he's the guy with the strange and affected voice, whereas Wolf Parade's Dan Boeckner has the more straightforward-sounding one.

Introductions aside, if you know me, I like to work backwards: get the more recent album, and if I like the music, explore the back catalog. Thing is, I've had Sunset Rubdown's Dragonslayer for a little less than a year, and often, I tend to listen to a band's older stuff within a month of liking their newer offerings. Not so with Sunset Rubdown. Like I mentioned - this is weird stuff: heady lyrics, irrational progressions and song structures, and if you've ever heard the term "swirling rhythms", it had best have been about Sunset Rubdown's music, because I'm relatively sure they have the style trademarked. Due to all the unorthodox clattering Sunset Rubdown seem to do, I wouldn't blame you if you listened to either Dragonslayer or the here-to-be-discussed Shut Up I Am Dreaming (awesome choice of name if I may say so) and couldn't get through more than two songs.

Anyway, in usual fashion, I was turned on to this album by listening to CBC's Radio3. They occasionally play "Stadiums And Shrines II" off of it, which is surprising, because Shut Up I Am Dreaming came out in 2006, and R3 doesn't seem to stray too far from a playlist that's 95% newer music. I first heard "Stadiums And Shrines II" a few months ago, and got as far as finding the torrent for the album, but never decided to hit the download button. Dunno why. So I heard the song again yesterday and decided "to hell with it, I really haven't been listening to enough music lately, and I'd like something challenging". Luckily, the album didn't disappoint, and I had it on repeat all night. 

But I'm not here for the album review. I'm here cause I groggily got up to pee at 7am, and all I had stuck in my head, wriggling about like a musical earworm, was "I'm sorry/that your/mother died/...I'm sorry/that/any/body dies at all/these days". Now forgive the gratuitous use of forward slashes, but I couldn't think of any other way to textually present Spencer Krug's staggered delivery of that stanza. The words themselves may be poignant, and their presentation all the more impactful, but his tone is such that you can't quite take it too seriously. Unfortunately, it almost even comes off as mocking, but if you were to listen to the rest of the songs on any Sunset Rubdown - or even Wolf Parade - album (think "Grounds For Divorce" for the best example), you'd realize it's just his natural singing voice, and nothing is implied by it.

Sunset Rubdown - "Stadiums And Shrines II"

So yeah, the words really stuck with me, but so did the instrumentation. They made a great choice starting this record with "Stadiums And Shrines II", because it's one of the warmest tunes they've ever produced. Where "Idiot Heart" from Dragonslayer was their callous and drum-banging lead single ("I hope that you die/in a decent pair of shoes/you've got a lot more walking to do/where you're going to"), Shut Up I Am Dreaming's lead offering is sympathetic and - my God, is that a flute?

Honestly, drums and distortion aside, it sounds like a lead-in from medieval times, or even the ancient Greek figure Pan playing his wood flute in a low-slung forest. I mean, that's the kind of mental image it calls up for me, I dunno if that's strange, but whatever. The flute makes a few other appearances in-song, all of them welcome. Some piano even joins in. These guys will play anything (Pitchfork's review of "Idiot Heart": "...their trademark willingness to play anything that's lying around...") and their songs certainly showcase that. For example, the song following is "They Took A Vote And Said No" and it transitions from quite literally a sea shanty with a triangle tinkling in the background, to an outro with enough distorted guitar pounding it would make My Bloody Valentine slightly proud.

So if you can put up with that, some mind-bending lyrics, equally head-spinning and disorienting swirls of guitar, and a lead singer who could be providing voiceover for the weirdest character on a morning cartoon show, then I certainly encourage you to give Sunset Rubdown a listen. If you can't, then I've probably turned you off of them and I don't care and I'm gonna try and go back to sleep. I'm thirsty too. Ugh.

The Best 1-2 Punches

This little musical experiment combines everyone's love of lists (really!) with two of my favorite theories/mannerisms: the first being that I need to hear two great singles from an album to be sold on it; the other, that I like to be able to play one song on an album, then not mind the one after it. The latter speaks to an album's structure, sequencing, track interaction, and consistency, while the first speaks to strengths of songs individually.

A good album can grab your attention in a few ways. If you're like me and hearing two great singles does it for you, then great. If you're just sitting down and listening to an album for the first time, then you're more impressionable, and the whole 1-2 punch concept becomes that much more important. Does it come right off the bat and hook you instantly? Is it placed a few songs in, to pique your interest? Is it smack dab in the middle, forming a crescendo of sorts for the album? Or is it right at the end, leaving you with a pleasant taste in your mouth/sound in your ears as you come away from the compilation?

I ran through my library and tried to pick out the combos that stood out the most to me. Some are debatable, some are infamous, and some are purely personal choice. I've laid out the rules for the selections beside the categories, and I'll make short commentaries on the choices as I go along.

Great album openers (has to be the first two):

• "Moves", "The Crash Years" - The New Pornographers, Together

The first starts off with authoritative guitar stabs, then softens up a bit into the more recent, mellower NP sound. The follow-up tune is easily the best cut from the new album, and reminds me the most of "The Bleeding Heart Show" in its triumphant chorus. 

• "Fake Empire", "Mistaken For Strangers" - The National, Boxer

The first is one of the better mood-setters for any album anywhere. You can palpably feel the cool air around you as you "tiptoe through our shiny city", down the dark and deserted alleyway at 3am in the morning. The rest of the album does nothing to dispel that feeling...other than the second track, easily the most drastic departure on the album. It's foreboding, but in a way that comes at you, like a fearsome spirit, with it's cold rhythms and fervent drumming. The rest of the songs on here lay back and invite you into the sombre mood - "Mistaken For Strangers" hits you over the head with it.

• "Free Energy", "Dream City" - Free Energy, Stuck On Nothing

You'd better have a good song if you name it after your band, on your debut album nonetheless. On an LP full of bubble-gum pop-rock, the first cut is nothing but, and establishes the group's identity perfectly. The second tune is more of anthemic stomper, but paired together the tracks offer an accurate presentation of one of the more straightforward rock bands out there now.

• "Son The Father", "Magic Word" - Fucked Up, The Chemistry Of Common Life

The first here is a 6-minute-plus epic, and let's you know that you're in for an album-full of hardcore at its most refined. From the minute-and-a-half build-up to the first shout of "Wooooooooooowwwwwwwwwww!" to the ear-piercing chorus, it's an aural assault of unheard-of proportions. "Magic Word" on the other hand is a jive-like tune that shows the true stylistic depth of Fucked Up, chalkboard-raking vocals and all.

• "Switched On", "No You Don't" - Islands, Vapours

With the breeziness of the album on full display, the first song throws out Beach Boy harmonies and laid back vocal delivery, with a quirky smoothness you can only find on an Islands album. The second track balances that with some drug-referencing synth-pop, the vocals dripping with sly warnings. Still breezy, but more like "shit, I'm in a tropical country and there's a good chance I'm going to be robbed right now" kind of breezy. Apologies to tropical countries of course.

• "Johanna", "Havin' My Baby" - Think About Life, Family

One of the few combos here where I think the order should've been switched. "Johanna" is a stuttering dance-rock tune, the voice seemingly pleading with the titular femme. "Havin' My Baby" on the other hand is fucking awesome. The soul sample starts it off with minimal instrumental backing, then like a kid in a candy store running to the most sugary sweet delicacy there, the chorus is the first part of the song you hear. Here the vocals seem breathless, like the singer is trying to keep up with the frenetic pace of the beat. So much of what Think About Life does best is featured here, so you can see why it would be great had this been the first track on the album.

Middle-of-the-pack track-ers (not the first two, and not near the end...just in between):

• "Afraid Of Everyone", "Bloodbuzz Ohio" - The National, High Violet

One of my favorite National tunes leads off this duo, with Matt Berninger largely leaving behind the usual drama and deep baritone of his voice, in exchange for something a little more laid-back, but no less imposing. The instrumentation feels a little "bigger" than similar tracks on Boxer, the chorus a bit more stadium-ready. I'm going to see The National in Montreal this summer, and I can't wait to see how they pull off this tune live. "Bloodbuzz Ohio" follows that big-rock feel The National seem to have taken to some of the cuts off the new album, even more so than "Afraid Of Everyone". The drum hits are purposeful, and Berninger's voice re-ups that distinctive baritone, while the seemingly non-sensical hooks about Ohio and money owed (tax evasion problems, Matt?) may seem odd, the juxtaposition of sadness and triumph going on here is too compelling to ignore.

• "Ungrateful Little Father", "Meet Me In The Basement" - Broken Social Scene, Forgiveness Rock Record

This was really, really tough, because I'm a huge BSS fan, and they have a ridiculous 1-2-3(!)-4(!!) combo of "Texico Bitches", "Forced To Love", "All To All" and "Art House Director". If you're a fan of "Chase Scene", you can string together album opener and first single "World Sick" with the above tunes, and you'd have an unprecedented 6-spot of great tunes. But alas, I've decided on two of the more different cuts on here, which follow much the same formula that makes me love BSS so much in the first place. Great piano, fervent singing by Kevin Drew, that little bit of quirkiness that lets you know you're still listening to like, ten people on one song, and some vaguely risqué and sexual lyrics. The second tune is an instrumental (save for a shout of "here we go!"), and as they go, I'm not usually a fan of BSS instrumentals on their full-length albums. This one however has the hallmark sounds of Do Make Say Think and even Electric Light Orchestra, along with engaging guitars and a lively string section, seamlessly telling a wordless story.

• "Ageless Beauty", "Reunion" - Stars, Set Yourself On Fire

One of the best - if not the best - Stars songs leads off this pair, followed by one of their most recognizable. "Ageless Beauty" really speaks for itself and has to be listened to - romantic pop music on a widescreen. "Reunion" has a back-and-forth cadence and a relaxing lilt to the verses; however, the chorus will have you reaching for where you think you've heard this tune before. I still haven't figured it out. But damn is it timeless.

• "Vampire", "Holiday" - Pink Mountaintops, Outside Love

The first offering here is a haunting acoustic piece that just washes over you. Again, simply give it a (rewarding) listen. As for "Holiday", I'm gonna be selfish and save myself some writing by referring you to my previous post on the track.

• "Phantom Pt. 1", "Phantom Pt. 2" - Justice, Cross

I remember walking home from downtown one night, the first song here repeating itself over and over and over again in my head, my lips happily obliging by trying to reproduce the industrial-like electronica of Justice on their own. A lot of Cross flows from one song to the other, barely separated but for a brief bridge cutting from one tune into the next. Part 1 and 2 of "Phantom" showcase this quality the best, with the second part not only continuing in the musical spirit of the first, but rebuilding and infusing the beat with new life - no less frantic or head-bobbing, just in a different way. Both songs feature what seems like a voice. I say that because imagine a human voice put through one of those vocoders that make it sound like a monotone robot. Then imagine putting that voice through another vocoder. Then doing it five more times. Then you have the main thrust behind the Phantom two-some.

• "Crystalized", "Islands" - the xx, xx

As I've mentioned before, there's easily four standout tracks from the xx's amazing self-titled debut. Luckily, they put these two back-to-back. No need to explain. But do give the album a listen. Seriously.

• "I'm Not Here", "Too Far Apart" - The Wheat Pool, Hauntario

The Wheat Pool were a group I only discovered this year through CBC Radio3. "I'm Not Here" is other-radio ready rock, mixing a bit of country-twang with smart melodies and nicely intertwining harmonies. The emotion in the lead-singer's voice shines through his pulling of every inch of feeling from the chorus' lyrics, and the guitars and drums recall everything from silos on the prairies to run-down factories to a dusty country road. "Too Far Apart" speeds things up just a tad more, but keeps that emotion intact. The Wheat Pool are a great and under-appreciated band on the Canadian indie landscape, and these two songs just show everyone what they're missing by missing out on these guys.

• "Black History Month", "Little Girl" - Death From Above 1979, You're A Woman, I'm A Machine

As for bands that are sorely missed on that same landscape? DFA1979 are those guys. Sebastien Grainger and Jesse F. Keeler are doing their own things and still making a fine living producing great music, but this duo had it back in those days. The strut and cocksure-ness of "Black History Month" followed by the Black Sabbath-like chords and shout-along lyrics of "Little Girl" (whose first verse I always want to start like 20 bars too early...anyone else?) are the sounds of an unforgettable tandem stringing together their own unforgettable tandem.

• "Ibi Dreams Of Pavement (A Better Day)", "7/4 (Shoreline)" - Broken Social Scene, Broken Social Scene

Missed the Album Openers section by one strangely-placed Feist near-instrumental. "Ibi" strains at the limits of the music as well as Kevin Drew's voice. When I was first getting into BSS, I only had these two songs and I think one other from the self-titled album, and all of You Forgot It In People. It was once I realized, not only could I tolerate the wayward-seeming composition of "Ibi", but that I totally loved it, did I know my liking for the collective was well-founded. "7/4" is a bit more pedestrian, at least in terms of the Scene's music, but the female vocals are a nice balance to the insanity of Kevin Drew's delivery in the song preceding. The nimble guitar playing is masterful, and I can't help but feeling this could soundtrack one of those corny car commercials where they're trying to sell you an SUV that's gonna change your life, evening-time runs on the beach, rock-climbing, forest hikes and all.

• "Young Hearts Spark Fire", "Wet Hair" - Japandroids, Post Nothing

Maaaaan. I love these guys. And they love each other. Ferocious but heart-felt rock about all the shit you go through in your early 20's.

• "All My Friends", "Someone Great" - LCD Soundsystem, Sound Of Silver

The first track is one of the Top 5 of the last decade. I can't really say much that hasn't already been said about it. The second track has one of my favorite videos, and holds a bittersweet message for anyone missing someone that's gone.

• "Stars And Sons", "Almost Crimes" - Broken Social Scene, You Forgot It In People

Can you tell that I like Broken Social Scene? Most of their entire albums could go on this list, but as mentioned, I've tasked myself with narrowing it down. That stair-climbing bass on "Stars And Sons" is unmistakable and forms the backbone of the song, with "Almost Crimes" sputtering down to start off, then launching into a quick-strike, lo-fi tune - before lo-fi was cool. The first tune is the sound of a polished band crafting a musical benchmark. The second is that same group getting together in the garage and jamming out on a Saturday afternoon - but either way, you know it's gonna turn out great.

• "Electric Feel", "Kids" - MGMT, Oracular Spectacular 

Need I say anything, really? In a year when MGMT has been some spectacularly bad decisions/videos/songs/appearances, it's refreshing to know that at one time, they put these two jams back-to-back.

• "Sex On Fire", "Use Somebody" - Kings Of Leon, Only By The Night

Again, if you haven't heard these, you're probably living under a rock and your iPad hasn't arrived yet, so you're not reading this.

• "All We Want Baby, Is Everything", "I'm Confused" - Handsome Furs, Face Control

I guess I'm getting a little tired of writing by now and need to save up some words and effort for the next section. Just let me say it's nice when you put the first two singles from an album back-to-back, and those two singles also happen to be the best songs on said album. More Handsome Furs here and here if you do feel like reading up.

Great album closers (doesn't have to be the second-last and last songs, but close enough to them):

• "Yeah (Crass Version)", "Yeah (Pretentious Version)" - LCD Soundsystem, LCD Soundsystem [Side 2]

20 minutes of funky dance-punk? Yes. Now that I think about it, this tandem is right up there for best overall 1-2 punch. When you can throw on the first track for 9 minutes and the second for 11, and one just builds off and complements the other, you know you've got a good tandem going. The "Crass" version is more word-heavy, while the "Pretentious" cut I guess, assumes you know James Murphy already said his peace on the prior track, and just intends to rock out for 1/6th of an hour.

• "Remind Me In Dark Times", "In The End It's Your Friends" - Shout Out Out Out Out, Reintegration Time

16 minutes of electronic? Um, yeah. I can see a bit of a theme here. This CD was in my car for months at the start of the year, and anytime I was taking a short drive, these two songs were a perfect soundtrack. I've highlighted the first tune already on here, and the second tune just takes some of that same bravado and parlays it into a track about your friends being the ones you should probably watch out for should things turn sour.

• "Edmonton", "In The Summertime" - The Rural Alberta Advantage, Hometowns

It could've been "Four Night Rider" followed by "Edmonton" - all I know is that the latter had to be featured if I was gonna do a 1-2 punch article. "Four Night Rider" leads into "Edmonton" a little better, but the difference in pace and delivery of the first tune here and the second was the deciding factor for me. I broke down the whole album track-by-track on here late last year, so it's at least worth a look to see what I said about this outstanding pair of songs.

• "We Are Being Reduced", "Before You Leave" - Thrush Hermit, Clayton Park

Didn't even realize these two combine for 12 minutes of album time. On a fun Clayton Park album, these are a couple of the more downer tracks lyrically, but the music picks itself up off the ground in rousing fashion and provide a strangely appropriate ending for what was to be Thrush Hermit's last album together. I saw them on their reunion tour (not "comeback" because they have no intention to do so) in March, and they broke out both of these, finishing their encore and the show itself with an absolute bang by trotting out "Before You Leave". While the first song, with its mournfully poignant guitar, takes a whole 4 minutes to truly get off the ground, it ends with a decent flourish, and provides the perfect lead-in to "Before You Leave". The latter flips the formula, starting off happy and slowly peeling away the layers of the musical onion until you're left with a pleading Joel Plaskett baring his soul to the girl who's left him. The guitar riffs throughout are quite pleasing, and the instrumental ending the track - and album - runs through an entire gamut of emotions.


The Best:

• "Use It", "The Bleeding Heart Show" - The New Pornographers, Twin Cinema

I had no choice but to go with this pair. It's often you'll see a band string together two of its singles on an album; sometimes this means they also happen to string together the two strongest tracks from an album. But to be able to put together arguably the two best songs you've ever made? That's unheard of, and that's why this tandem has to be the best 1-2 punch I know of. The immediacy of "Use It" is lost on no one, especially that sonically-perfect drumming of Kurt Dahl. "The Bleeding Heart Show" for its part is the most fruitful exercise The New Pornographers have ever undertaken in attempting to craft the perfect pop song. It has one of the most soaring choruses, the sharpest drum fills, the ooo-iest "ooo"s, the uplifting-est "hey la"s...the list goes on and on. The two tracks back-to-back is an embarrassment of riches album-wise, and an undeniable treat for the ears.

Not gonna lie...after eight great minutes of The New Pornographers like that, you might just wanna lay back and light up a smoke.