This year, I was all about different sounds. 2005 might as well go down as the year that UK indie bands that sound like the 80’s Brit Invasion bands (XTC, Squeeze, Talk Talk, Joy Division, etc) took over. I wasn’t really into it since I heard it all before in the basement of my cousin’s when I was a little scamp. Instead, I gravitated towards bands with different and sometimes eclectic sounds. So here it is; the annual list of my favourite albums of the past year. Enjoy and discuss!

AFX – Analord 9, 10 and 11
AFX, Aphex Twin, Richard D. James – which ever name you prefer – put out a collection of analog recordings this year; no computers. Volumes 9, 10 and 11 are my favourites. “Fenix Funk 5”, “Xmd5a”, “W32.Aphex@mm” and “VBS.Redlof.B” are outstanding.

And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead – Worlds Apart
Not your typical AYWKUBTTOD album with plenty of screaming and feedback. I hate to use the term “mature” but it is a more mature album for them. Mind you, “Caterwaul” is like the best rock song I’ve heard in a very long time.

Boards Of Canada – The Campfire Headphase
Moody and airy, but now featuring some cool processed guitar sounds. The perfect album for when you’re staring out the window, wishing you were outside.

Bloc Party – Silent Alarm
I didn’t follow the latest trend of UK indie bands sounding like XTC and Joy Division; I heard all of that in my cousins’ basement when I was a kid. But these guys are way above the latest crop of those bands with fast melodies and crazy-swift drum fills at seemingly random times.

Broken Social Scene – Broken Social Scene
You Forgot It In People was a great album that was a breath of fresh air in the indie rock world and anything else would pale in comparison. I like this self-titled release much better; it’s more fleshed out with hardly any filler. And “It’s All Gonna Break” is the cherry on the cake.

Caribou – The Milk Of Human Kindness
The best way to describe The Milk Of Human Kindness is to refer to it as – and these are not gospel but simply my own words – a history lesson in contemporary music. Within a span of eleven tracks, Dan Snaith manages to cover chamber music, 70’s stoner rock, hip-hop, folk, shoegazing and electro pop. The eighth track, “Brahminy Kite”, is my idea of marching band music that actually sounds good.

Death Cab For Cutie – Plans
If Dena can put “Soul Meets Body” on her iPod, this must be a pretty accessible album. This harks back to DCFC‘s pre- Photo Album and Transatlanticism era and the change is good.

Fantômas – Suspended Animation
It can only be described as the result of combining Saturday morning cartoons with cheap drugs. Play this album when you don’t want to be disturbed by people. Anybody who hears you listening to this will think you’re a schizophrenic with Tourette’s and will wisely leave you alone.

Idelwild – Warnings/Promises
Another “mature” album full of tight melodies and an excellent album closer in “Goodnight”.

M83 – Before The Dawn Heals Us
I totally have an affinity for shoegazers and M83 fit the bill niceley. Dense soundscapes and easy beats are this album’s bread ‘n’ butter. There is a little bit of danger in Before The Dawn Heals Us – Dena woke up from a nap to hear “Car Chase Terror” and she hasn’t been the same since 😉

Mogwai – Government Commissions (BBC Sessions 1996-2003)
There aren’t any new songs on this, but John Peel recorded perfectly captured Mogwai in these amazing live sets. All of the songs have more punch; especially “Like Herod”. And the songs from Ten Rapid sound even more beautiful.

Nada Surf – The Weight Is A Gift
Let Go was good, but The Weight Is A Gift is much better and more consistant. Pure guitar pop bliss.

New Pornographers – Twin Cinema
This is my vote for Album of the Year. 5 stars. 10 out of 10. Many thumbs. Whatever. It’s perfect.

Queens Of The Stone Age – Lullabies To Paralyze
This is heady rock music for those disciples of Allan Cross who would kick ass on Rock And Roll Jeopardy. There isn’t a lot culled from recent Desert Sessions, except for “In My Head”. But there is plenty of punk, skronk, funk and more to keep rock nerds happy.

Sigur Rós – Takk
Their last album, ( ), would be the perfect soundtrack for the Apocalypse. The world hasn’t ended yet, so Sigur Rós put out an album that’s uplifting and actually rocks at times; see “Glósóli”, “Hoppípolla”, “Meo Blódnasir”, “Seaglopur” and “Gong”.

Silversun Pickups – Pikul EP
This EP shows that the Los Angeles quartet will be a promising new band when they release their debut LP next year. They have the sounds that give me the warm ‘n’ fuzzies. Check out an interview I did with them on Earlyfish sometime in early 2006.

Stephen Malkmus – Face The Truth
S.M.‘s gone back to his style on Wowee Zowee when he was in Pavement and it’s refreshing to hear. BTW, hey Matador! It’s 2005; where’s the Wowee Zowee 10-year anniversary re-release?

White Stripes – Get Behind Me Satan
With the exception of two songs, there isn’t any of Jack White’s trademark big guitar work to be found. Essentially, every instrument except for the guitar is represented on this album, and it works.

Wolf Parade – Apologies To The Queen Mary
Many may think this is a Modest Mouse sound-alike (Isaac Brock did produce this album) but there’s much more to Wolf Parade. They meld raucous melodies with ambient keyboards and plenty of lyrics about ghosts, which makes for erie yet hard-driving rock music.

Bring on 2K6!

Here’s the moment that you’ve all been waiting for. Like I do every December, here’s the annual list of my favourite albums from the year that was. It was an excellent year for good music. I mean c’mon, I never thought I’d be able to have Nirvana and Pavement on the same list ever again. I’m in highschool! Anyway, here they are in alphabetical order:

Alexisonfire – Watch Out
To some, Alexisonfire are known as “that screaming band from St. Catharines“. If you tune out the screaming for a moment, you’ll hear some excellent melodic rock music. But at the same time, if you tune out the screaming, you miss out on one of the band’s key instruments. To me, Alexisonfire are a way more agressive version of Sigur Ros, and I like Sigur Ros. Like many Mogwai albums, crank Watch Out realy loud (and thier self-titled one too) when you have some chores around the house to do.

The Arcade Fire – Funeral
If Broken Social Scene were from Montreal instead of Toronto, they might be The Arcade Fire. It should be noted that this album is completely different from any BSS album, so I hope you enjoyed that comparisson 🙂 Funeral is an emotional album with a unique sound, especially given the lyrical content.

The Cure – The Cure
It’s always good to see a new Cure album released. This time Robert Smith is filled with plenty of energy and anger, but not in the manner of any of the Dark Trilogy albums (that includes Pornography, Disintegration and Bloodflowers in case you’re not aware). “Us Or Them” and “Alt.End” are good examples of agitated rock ‘n’ roll ventine against the current goings-on in the world, without the whine of bands like sucky Linkin Park, Papa Roach or Nickelback.

Fantômas – Delirium Cordia
Mike Patton. You can’t really say much more. The album is one 74-minute track of, what I believe, to be a surgical procedure gone horribly wrong. Mike never sings a single note. Instead, he’s twiddling knobs and using his magical voice to scream, gasp and spit over sparse guitar chords, bells, the wind and any sound that you can imagine hearing on a demented surgeon’s operating table. Like Doom3, play this album loudly when you’re alone in the dark. Stare at the gorey surgery pictures in the album art, too. I’ll come to bail you out of the psych ward afterwards.

Frank Black – Frank Black Francis
On the first disc, to hear the original demos recorded prior to the recording of the Pixies‘ Come On Pilgrim is a real treat. Listening as Black Francis is pointing out how these songs will take shape and be played in the studio is phenominal. The second disc is Frank Black re-working his masterpieces, or as the liner notes say, “messing with the gospel”. While the original songs are works of art that most contemporary rock music is based off of, it’s neat to hear them reworked with horns and strings. Sometimes, the lyrics are clearer than the originals and you can hear things you might have missed.

Franz Ferdinand – Franz Ferdinand
This is one of those albums that sounds great in the car. I don’t think it would be possible to fall asleep while listening to Franz Ferdinand. The reworked version of “This Fire”, retitled “This Fffire”, makes the re-release of the album worth it.

Interpol – Antics
Turn on the Bright Lights was amazing. Many critics think that Antics is much weaker by comparisson but I disagree, and not just because music critics suck. The heavy Joy Division influence has been shed a little and we’re left with ten excellent songs that work well together as a whole, as well as capable of standing on their own. I can’t wait to hear what’s next from Interpol.

Jimmy Eat World – Futures
Folks expecting Bleed American Part 2 will be disappointed. Futures reminds me of Clarity and that was a great album. There’s some excellent rockers on this album but if I could’ve written a song like “Night Drive” in highschool, I would’ve had all of the chicks 😉

Local H – What Ever Happened To PJ Soles?
This is the best pure kick-arse rock album of the year, IMO. Period. “California Songs” should’ve existed a long time ago so we wouldn’t have to hear all of those songs about California and New York. “Buffalo Trace” is a wild retro ride. Aw hell, it’s all just so rawk-tacular.

Modest Mouse – Good News For People That Love Bad News
This year Modest Mouse made me feel like a fan of a hockey player who finally made the “big team” after paying his dues in the minor leagues. I never would’ve expected to hear Modest Mouse played on commercial rock radio like the Edge or see them on Saturday Night Live. But it all happened this year. This wasn’t their strongest album but it’s still excellent. Please release “The View” as a single. <TEARING UP>Our lil’ Modest Mouse is moving on to bigger things. I’m so proud of ’em.<SNIFF>

Nirvana – With The Lights Out
It’s called a box set but it would be more appropriate to call it a rarities box set for the fans. I love hearing songs as they take shape, as well as the songs that we weren’t meant to hear. Even the most obscure tracks are better than anything on the radio or music video channels that passes for modern rock these days. And the DVD is a nice surprise. Hearing Kurt announce “a new song…this is called Smells Like Teen Spirit” at a gig in early 1991, prior to Nevermind‘s release will send chills up your spine since you know that music as we know it is about to change forever.

Pavement – Crooked Rain Crooked Rain: L.A.’s Desert Origins
If Matador keeps releasing these Pavement collection albums, I’ll keep buying them. There are plenty of unplucked gems to be found that never made it onto Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain like “Haunt You Down”, “All My Friends” and “Soiled Little Filly”. Bring on the Wowee Zowee collection!

Preston School Of Industry – Monsoon
More Pavement? Not really. There’s a definite Wilco influence at work here and it’s a good thing. Spiral Stairs has put out an album comprised entirely of actual songs. In the past, some were songs and some were fragments. I still would rather see a worthy Pavement reunion, though 😉

Snow Patrol – Final Straw
Final Straw is an excellent and varied album. Everbody loves “Run” but take a listen to “Wow”, “Spitting Games”, “Chocolate” and “Half The Fun”. Hopefully Snow Patrol will be around for many years to come to release albums during the years when Idlewild doesn’t release an album.

Sonic Youth – Sonic Nurse
I loved Murray Street, after they kinda got off-track a little, but Sonic Nurse one-ups it. Kim hasn’t had any memorable songs from the last couple of albums but “Pattern Recognition” and the very-rollicking “Kim Gordon and the Arthur Doyle Hand Cream” totally redeem her. The album as a whole, though, is wonderful and sometimes harks back to the days of Evol and Sister. Brilliant stuff from a veteran band that hasn’t lost their touch.

Ulrich Schnauss – A Strangley Isolated Place
Ulrich Schnauss is an electronic DJ/composer from Germany. But does he really make electronic music? Sort of. He’s heavily influenced by the shoegazing guitar bands of the late 80’s/early 90’s like My Bloody Valentine, Ride and Swervedriver. Coincidentally, I’m a huge fan of My Bloody Valentine, Ride and Swervedriver 😉 If "A Clear Day" wasn’t inspired by a combination of "When You Sleep", "I Only Said" and "Come In Alone" from MBV’s Loveless, then I’m a poor excuse for a music geek. Ulrich somehow recreates the wall of guitar noise with electronic sounds and the results are amazing. Play A Strangley Isolated Place when you need some soothing.

Worthy Mentions…I’ve a heard a little of but would love to hear more of Singapore Sling’s Life Is Killing My Rock ‘N’ Roll, TV On The Radio’s New Health Rock, Death From Above 1979’s You’re A Woman, I’m A Machine, The Polyphonic Spree’s Together We’re Heavy, The Streets‘ A Grand Don’t Come for Free and The Tragically Hip’s In Between Evolution. I’d even like to take the Deluxe Edition reissue of Nine Inch Nail’s The Downward Spiral into one of those rooms at Future Shop with the surround sound setups. I haven’t listened to U2’s How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb enough yet to formulate an opinion but I’ll probably love it and I think “City of Blinding Lights” is a wicked song. The same goes for the Blues Explosion’s Damage; I bought it a couple months ago and like it thus far, but it needs further spins. We even got a new Pixies song this year with the iTunes-exlusive “Bam Thwok”. Could more new material be far behind?

And now for the disappointments. Guided by Voices‘ Half Smiles of the Decomposed contains two amazing soon-to-be classics in “Everybody Thinks I’m a Raincloud” and “Huffman Prairie Flying Field” that bookend an entire album of wishy-washy filler crap. I think it’s a good thing that Bob decided to end GbV right now before any more disgrace comes to the GbV name. R.E.M.’s Around the Sun put me to sleep…literally.

Well that’s the way I heard the music in 2004. It’s pretty varied, don’t you think? Hey, I’m no black rim-glasses-and-thrift-store-clothes wearin’ indie rock snob dork Do you want to be? Either way, I have a feeling that 2005 will be just as good or perhaps even better.

Well, folks, here it is. It’s what you’ve all been waiting for. Here’s my annual list of favourite albums that were released this year. Once again, you won’t find any shlock that’s sandwiched between commercials on “new rock” radio stations and music video channels. This is pretentiousness at its finest 😉 2003 was a surprisingly decent year for music, so I’ve left off some good albums due to sheer volume. If you’re a serious music fan, you’ll seek them out. Let’s get on with the list (in alphabetical order).

1. A Perfect Circle – The Thirteenth Step
Is it a coincidence that this album is entitled The Thirteenth Step and I have thirteen albums in my list this year? Yes, because that is what a coincidence is defined as. This album rawks even though distortion is kept at a minimum and the amps never go all the way up to 11. This is what The Cure would sound like if they were headbangers. Jeordie White’s (the dude formerly known as Twiggy Ramirez when he was in Marylin Manson‘s band) bass riff in “Vanishing” has to be one of my highlights. I can’t wait to hear the next album when James Iha is around for the recording of it.

2. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club – Take Them On, On Your Own
Sure BMRC ape The Jesus and Mary Chain a little bit, but they do it well and I’m a huge JAMC fan. This album has more kick than their first album, which is a good thing.

3. Death Cab For Cutie – Transatlanticism
If Lou Barlow were to have a child and it matured at an alarming rate, there’s a good chance he would become Ben Gibbard. No, DCFC don’t sound like Sebadoh or the Folk Implosion. They sound like DCFC, duh. Dena might actually approve of this band since they were name dropped by one of the stars on a fave TV show of hers, The O.C..

4. Frank Black and the Catholics – Show Me Your Tears
Frank got divorced and it’s all over this terribly depressing album. There’s no Pixies flourishes or sci-fi references to be found on it. Instead, we have a cathartic release from one of rock’s foremost icons and he pulls it off with style and dignity. He even manages to rock a bit, too.

5. Mogwai – Happy Songs For Happy People
Mogwai rawk, lull, spook, hypnotize and rawk some more. I love these buggers. “Hunted By A Freak”, “I Know You Are But What Am I?”, “Stop Coming To My House”…aw bloody hell, all of the songs are great.

6. New Pornographers – Electric Version
The Vancouver super-group’s second album is as good as guitar pop gets. Most ciritcs think this album is better than their first. I disagree but the Electric Version is still a wicked album.

7. The Postal Service – Give Up
Death Cab For Cutie’s Ben Gibbard shows up twice in my list this year. This time, it’s for his electronic side-project with some guy called Jimmy Tamborello from a band called Dntel that I’ve never heard of before. It’s Ben’s lyrics on top of electronic music. Now I’m not the world’s biggest electronic music fan, but this is good stuff. Anyone that can sample the Super Mario Bros’ theme and make it sound good is ok in my books.

8. Pretty Girls Make Graves – The New Romance
They’re sorta sounding like AYWKUBTTOD and then they’re sorta not. It’s stuttery at times, laced with interweaving guitars, screaming female vocals and the odd Sonic Youth-like blast of noise here and there. They’re first album was a little “punkier” and had appeal right out of the box, but The New Romance is still an awesome album. It took a few repeated listens to sink in for me, but wow, is it great.

9. Radiohead – Hail To The Thief
Let’s face it, if Radiohead released a CD of fingernails scratching a chalkboard, it probably would be hailed as a masterpiece. As the world’s best band, IMO, they can do no wrong in the eyes of many. This album is comforting in that although it contains some of the electronic flourishes of Kid A and Amnesiac, there’s more of the familiar guitar rock that they were once known for. That and the kewl alternating left-right stereo effect at the beginning of “Backdrifts” is a nice touch (headphone stoners take note).

10. Sloan – Action Pact
I’ve been a Sloan fan since Smeared (I missed out on the Peppermind EP the first time around) and in each of their phases (shoegazers, indie rockers, 60’s rivivalists, etc), they’ve always sounded great. This time, they appear to be celebrating rock for rock itself. This album is massive guitar onslaught with a steady dose of hooks, ya’ll!

11. Stephen Malkmus – Pig Lib
I wasn’t a huge fan of his first solo album and prefered PSOI’s All This Sounds Gas instead. SM’s sounded like a bunch of Pavement toss-aways from the Wowee Zowee sessions gone awry, except for “Jo Jo’s Jacket” and “Jenny And The Ess-Dog”. But this album sounds more like the SM I remember. It’s funny but never seems like it’s trying to be funny and it rocks when it’s required to. This album will remind you of how great of a band Pavement really was while charting a good future direction for SM.

12. The Strokes – Room On Fire
Critics lauded the Strokes‘ first album, Is This It, as a masterpiece. Personally, I thought it was pretty good, but not all it was cracked up to be. You might say that I was pondering “is this it?”. Heh But this time around, the Strokes hit the nail on the head. The album’s ending trilogy of songs is an awesome way to conclude Room On Fire.

13. The White Stripes – Elephant
Let’s face it, Michigan hasn’t produced any good music in a long time. It’s been some time since Iggy Pop, Alice Cooper and the MC5 burst onto the scene. Eminem, Andrew W.K. and Kid Rock aren’t good music folks, sorry. At least they can claim one of the world’s best bands as their own. If you don’t _get_ the White Stripes, that’s a shame for you. And why “Black Math” hasn’t been released a single is beyond me.

Here are a few albums that didn’t make the list for whatever reason, but could have.

Grandaddy – Sumday
This album is a rarity for Grandaddy in that it’s quite upbeat. They do upbeat well. It’s not the most exciting album, though, but “Stray Dog and the Chocolate Shake” has to be one of the catchiest songs…ever.

Folk Implosion – The New Folk Implosion
This is a great album but only 9 songs?!? C’mon Lou, give us some more.

The Music – The Music
I haven’t listened to the entire album but from what I have managed to hear, it’s definitely good. The songs don’t contain insights into the secrets of the universe, so the lyrics are mostly a secondary thing. But the sounds are what count and they definitely have a great groove at a very young age.

Sam Roberts – We Were Born In A Flame
Here’s another album that I haven’t heard in its entirety, but he’s released 4 singles and I’ve liked them all. Who would’ve thought that the one to take over for the Beatles’ sensibility would be some guy from Montreal in need of a shave and a haircut.

Outkast – Speakerboxxx/The Love Below
Hip-hop bores me these days. It didn’t always, though. In my younger days, Public Enemy, Ice Cube, Cypress Hill, NWA and Ice-T were going boldly where nobody else had gone before. The last hip-hop album that I actually listened to daily was A Tribe Called Quest’s The Low End Theory and that was a wicked album that was released back in 1991. After that, it became all about the bling-bling. Boring. Enter Outkast, who remind me of A Tribe Called Quest. Not in sound per se; mostly about style and muscial intelligence. Here’s another album (actually two solo albums combined into one) that I haven’t heard in its entirety. But what I have heard, has been a breath of fresh air in an otherwise boring (to me) hip-hop world.

Yo La Tengo – Today Is The Day EP
EPs aren’t albums and won’t make it on to my list. But the version of “Today Is The Day” on this EP crushes the wimpy version found on Summer Sun. It’s refreshing to hear distortion and feedback from YLT after they’ve released two very light and breezy jazz-ish albums in a row.

The Flaming Lips – Fight Test EP
Another EP that has no chance of making my list but I gotta mention the Flaming Lips every year Sure, the Ego Tripping At The Gates Of Hell EP was just released but Fight Test EP contains three special gems; the creepy cover of Kylie Minogue’s “Can’t Get You Out Of My Head”, the rip-roaring cover of Radiohead’s “Knives Out” and the awesomely hilarious “Thank You Jack White (For The Fiber-Optic Jesus That You Gave Me)”.

Lost In Translation Soundtrack
This has a few new songs from Kevin Shields. Since there may never be a follow up to My Bloody Valentine’s perfect Loveless, I guess we have to take what we can get. But I haven’t heard any of the new songs yet (except for one and it was almost over but it sounded kewl)!

Here are two albums that I wanted to make my list but they just couldn’t.

Guided By Voices – Earthquake Glue
Bob, what happened? I’m all for the rock, but GbV is not Yes.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Fever To Tell
Their first EP was great. But this over-hyped album, though, seems like nothing but filler except for one amazing song; “Maps”.

What albums will 2004 bring us? If 2004 knows what’s good for it, they’ll be good ones

Happy 2K3, folks!

Dena and I are back from our holidays. Yup, no code for ten days. It was a nice break, but became horrendously boring towards the end of my holidays. Most of my time was spent shoveling snow (which I don’t get to do in Kitchener), watching hockey/football with my dad, watching my mom sew up any holes in my clothes, participating in obligatory family functions and doing some social mildly irksome meet ‘n’ greets. In the end, it all became tiresome and I looked forward to being a geek again in my own groove. It’s deperessing to think that holidays aren’t exciting for me as when I was younger. Sad to say, but it happened.

Since I said I’d do it, here it is…my top ten picks for albums of 2002:

1. The Flaming Lips – Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots
2. Sonic Youth – Murray Street
3. Guided By Voices – Universal Truths and Cycles
4. Interpol – Turn On The Bright Lights
5. And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead – Source Tags And Codes
6. Coldplay – A Sudden Rush Of Blood To The Head
7. Sigur Rós – ( )
8. Pearl Jam – Riot Act
9. Queens Of The Stone Age – Songs For The Deaf
10. Weezer – Maladroit

An honorable mention goes to the Foo Fighters for One By One; a wicked album that didn’t quite meet the hype, IMHO. Also, I would probably have included Wilco’s Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and Beck’s Sea Change, but I haven’t heard them in their entirety yet, so it wouldn’t be fair to list them.