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Top 10 Albums I Enjoyed This Decade

2009-12-30T18:48:00.000-08:00

Despite the very obvious decline in the abundance and quality of music, this decade still had some gems. The following is a list of albums I very much enjoyed, in order of release. Please note this is entirely according to my own personal tastes and just for fun.

Radiohead
Kid A 2000

A popular choice for everyone's favourite album of the decade, but not mine. As much as I dig this record, it's hard for me to listen to it without finding the praise a bit overrated. I guess the homages to Eno and Underworld are a little obvious for me.

Boards of Canada
Geogaddi 2002

This album scares me. Satanic overtones and hidden messages make for a dense and exhaustive trip to take in from start to finish. Definitely the up there with their first record.

Four Tet
Rounds 2003

I'm still looking for a vinyl copy of this one. I've heard this played in more coffee shops and pubs than any other electronica album. For an electronic record it's wonderfully organic and human sounding.

Ulrich Schnauss
A Strangely Isolated Place 2003

A discovered this one walking into Penguin Music one day; it was playing and I liked what I heard but it was on import for 25 bucks. I went home to try to download it, with very little success. Finally found it when it was back in stock a month later. Two years later it received a much wider release and everyone fell in love. My favourite album of the decade.

The Arcade Fire
Funeral 2004

A bit of an obvious choice, but that doesn't make it any less of an excellent album. Five years on, it doesn't date in the least and it always reminds me of summertime in Montreal.

Bloc Party
Silent Alarm 2005

"The Bends" of the naughties. I listened to this record an insane amount of times. In terms of sheer songwriting, this record was bursting with an energy and maturity that these guys never really showed again. For shame.

Sigur Ros
Takk 2005

As much as I enjoyed their earlier work, as an overall album Takk shone through with a more uplifting and accessibly varied palette. I think they got a little too accessible with the next record, at times spiraling into New Age corniness, but for me Takk was Sigur Ros at their peak.

Deerhunter
Cryptograms 2007

This record flows along, soaked in atmosphere. The guitars go whoosh on everything from Smiths pop to Eno ambiance.

Radiohead
In Rainbows 2007

Whether you consider it a return to form or another victory lap, the sound and feel of these recordings hold true again and again. This is a beautifully written, beautifully played and beautifully mixed album. This is the sound of the band not trying so hard, and sounding all the better for it.

Cut Copy
In Ghost Colours 2008

What started out as a guilty pleasure of mine became the record I couldn't deny. Sure we've heard it all before and so much of this material is heavily scripted(The New Order track, the Tears For Fears one), but this is a perfectly honed Summery Synth Pop masterpiece.

Honourable mention:
Broken Social Scene - Your Forgot It In People 2002
Air - Talkie Walkie 2004
M83 - Before The Dawn Heals Us 2005
Death Cab For Cutie - Plans 2005
Depeche Mode - Playing the Angel 2005
The Knife - Silent Shout 2006
LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver 2007
Working For A Nuclear Free City - Businessmen & Ghosts 2007
James - Hey Ma 2008
Portishead - Third 2008

Onward

Get On Your Boots

2009-01-19T19:35:00.000-08:00

The new U2 single is clean, simple and to the point. It's neither self important nor regurgitative of their past efforts. There's a catchy hook, a good groove and a nice half time break beat later in the tune. Bono even asserts "I don't want to talk about wars between nations". What's more, their album cover does not feature their name or album title, much less the band members, for the first time in over ten years.

I'm skeptical of this being the calling card to an upcoming artistic renaissance for the band, but it's nice to hear them not trying so hard.

Jigsaw Falling Into Place

2008-10-12T18:22:00.000-07:00

A million years later and time for an update. Moved, getting settled. Hopefully Jay won't kill me for moving shit around and such tonight. Place is looking a lot more like a home!

World's Largest Record Collection

2008-08-29T16:48:00.000-07:00

If you're a music fan or any sort, I can't see how this short documentary won't touch you in some way.

The Archive from Sean Dunne on Vimeo.

Time For An Update

2008-07-07T15:36:00.000-07:00

Am I crazy to find this song and video VERY annoying? And I actually like this band... *sigh*

Happy Pride Weekend

2008-06-27T17:51:00.001-07:00

New Friend

2008-06-26T17:28:00.000-07:00

Today marks the arrival of my new friend. He is a crimson red transparent standard American Telecaster with a rosewood fretboard. I've really grown to like the vibe and playability of Teles more than any other guitar, and this one is a thing of true beauty. The pictures do not do it justice, it sports a beautiful glossy finish and it happens to be such a rare and sought after colour combo that I had to wait four months for the special order to come in. The tone is great and the sustain seems endless and is something I have not yet been used to having the luxury of with any other guitars I've played.

So now I'm feeling like a bit of an unworthy bastard with some big shoes to fill, having acquired not one, but two guitars in the past two months. Others around me are jealous and I haven't the chops or years of playing to justify owning these instruments, just the interest to learn. Also coming from the world of electronics, picking up two quality instruments for $1500 dollars doesn't feel like a lot of money when you're used to everything being $2000 and up. I'd rather start with some reasonably quality and feed my desire, than cheap stuff. I've played for two hours tonight, and my fingers hurt but I want to keep going.

Now if I could get this album finished soon I could feed that interest and play like this every night...

Welcome To Toronto, Summer 2008...

2008-06-23T22:10:00.000-07:00

The Waves Break...

2008-06-22T09:27:00.000-07:00

My interest in The Cure has progressively waned over the last 10 years, but if they keep writing just one song like this every four years then I'd say I'm content.

The Scroll

2008-06-21T18:15:00.000-07:00

Jason is this guy I know from Montreal who creates some of the most beautiful, raw and honest music I have heard in my life. At its best it is uncategorisable and in my opinion rivals some of the best music out there period. It can be heavy and in your face one moment and upliftingly gorgeous the next. I am proud to have him singing on my record. His band is called The Scroll.

Error

2008-06-19T19:08:00.000-07:00

Now this is a message I definitely had not wanted to see again. Especially while in the middle of working on finishing up a song. Basically what it means is that my song is corrupted. Gone. Finished. Because I haven't been in the habit of making too many backups, I had to start again from square one with the update, redoing stuff I thought I was done with. Back to the Virus, playing and programming. Boring...

But I was able to take advantage of a couple shortcuts and while I did still lose time on needless repetition this eve, I managed to get a considerable amount done nonetheless.

And I made 2 copies of everything.

False Advertising

2008-06-19T16:51:00.000-07:00

What is with people misrepresenting an apartment that they are trying to rent? Are they thinking they're being shrewd businessmen OR is it really in hopes of enough traffic just happening to show up and despite the outright exaggerations, they simply just succumb and rent it anyway?

And In The End...

2008-06-17T17:07:00.000-07:00

Just look at that image. Doesn't it look so powerful and revolutionary? Fear not, mes amies, the revolution is in full effect. This borrowing of a portion of the famous painting Liberty Leading the People leaves a bold impression. It's on. But what does the music sound like? And...why the French connection, "Viva la Vida" is Spanish.

So here come Coldplay once again, bursting out of the gates with a highly anticipated follow up to their last highly anticipated follow up. I've been devoting a lot of my thought process to them as of late in due to their inevitable summer saturation being highly topical. You see, I've always had quite the opinion of Coldplay. They are the kings of the pretenders: bands that aspire to be much more, but crumble under microscopic analysis of the sum of their parts.

To think this group's opening track of their first record was titled "Don't Panic", after the famous line of Douglas Adam's Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. While I did enjoy this initial tune and a few that followed it, I would say the collective body of Coldplay's work would best be exemplified by Adam's description of earth: "Mostly Harmless". By Coldplay's own admission, they take the best bits of other, more progressive and respected artists and graft the catchy, easily digestible bits onto one another in a veritable Frankenstein of arena worthy soft rock delivered with serviceable songwriting. The edgy, more interesting bits are abandoned, left twitching on the cutting room floor.

For their most recent release Chris Martin and the boys have enlisted some pretty heavy hitters, by way of Brian Eno, Markus Dravs and Jon Hopkins. They all do their best to polish the collective turd of a band known best for repeating themselves and taking few, calculated risks. What we are left with is an interesting middle ground that still delivers Coldplay's vision of a PG Radiohead, but often channels late 80's and early 90's era U2 in more regularity. This is their "throw it all out and start again" album, their Kid A or Achtung Baby. What it really sounds like is a safe, diluted attempt at keeping the formula the same while dressing things up in new clothes to keep the faithful still interested.

The big buzz of Latin influences and 90 degree changes in direction don't ever come, other than a couple bits of exotic percussion on "Gone!", a guaranteed sappy if lyrically trite future anthem for dad rock fans everywhere. Their aspirations of one day pleasing the arty and underground music fans that abandoned them long ago take over for numbers like "Chinese Sleep Chant", with it's My Bloody Valentine aping "shoegaze lite" tones, and album opener "Life in Technicolor", in which Jon Hopkins creates a nice electro-ambient Ulrich Schnauss-esque atmosphere for the band to play after.

The Achtung Baby connection can be heard on "Death And All His Friends" and "Lovers in Japan", their sweeping Edge mimicking guitars diving and frolicking while Martin tries with great urgency to articulate the gravity of it all with recurring themes of war, politics and death. Elsewhere Marcus Dravs ads his share of assistance in dressing bits of the title track and "Reign of Love" up in Arcade Fire production with grand strings and lots of reverb.

All of this ads up to a marked improvement over previous terrain Coldplay have tread. I am quite sure the unwashed masses will clamour on about how this is a breakthrough, but for me--it's just pretty OK. As a fan of Eno and others, there are some nice sounds and atmospheres here. But if anything, even when the band does a good job of scoring up a nice ballad or rock number, things fall flat when splattered with Martin's amateur and snore inducing lyricism. He still hasn't got much or say, or an interesting way of saying it. The political and religious messages all contradict or confuse as if penned by a man not wanting to offend anyone. He may still dream of a seat at the table with Bono, Yorke, Hutchense, Stipe et all, but he's still nowhere close.

Martin sings "And in the end/We lie awake/And dream of making our escape"on the set closer "The Escapist". One might surmise this as being the collective sentiments of all of Coldplay, in the grand conclusion of creating this record, hoping of attaining a level of artistic appreciation and identity that matches their record sales. The rest then, is up to us. 5/10.

Check out these amazing chops...

2008-06-12T17:28:00.001-07:00

My Boy Lil' Wayne shows us how it's done.

I love this quote:

2008-06-11T16:57:00.000-07:00

Independent journalist Andy Gill seems to agree, when hearing the latest Coldplay album: “Their music sounds like Radiohead with all the spiky, difficult, interesting bits boiled out of it, resulting in something with the sonic consistency of wilted spinach; it retains the crowd-pleasing hooks and singalong choruses while dispensing with the more challenging, dissonant aspects and sudden, 90-degree shifts in direction.”

Also Chris Martin speaking to Q Magazine said: “I dreamed about Radiohead last night and Westlife the night before, which is the perfect blend of what we’re trying to do musically.”

And This
rant is highly amusing.

I Have No Words For How Good This Performance Is...

2008-06-07T19:17:00.000-07:00

And on another note...

2008-06-05T18:19:00.000-07:00

This was Coldplay's performance on Jimmy Kimmel from the other night. They played a song where the singer and guitarist arbitrarily tapped on keyboards at random intervals when they weren't busy doing other things while an orchestra played on a backing track.

So let me understand; are the keyboards on stage as a token prop to represent or somehow signify that Coldplay is "playing" or "triggering" the orchestral parts live? Cuz it looks kinda stupid when they walk away and the orchestra keeps playing. Why not fess up and not pull an ashley simpson or just leave the orchestral parts to be enjoyed on the full produced CD? The mind boggles.

And incidentally, their U2 War-era-esque outfits are a nice touch and should probably tide over the salivating masses who impatiently await Bono and Co's latest addition to the ranks of dinosaur dad rock due later this year.

Toiling

2008-06-05T18:04:00.000-07:00

So tonight i worked on a Hi Hat pattern for 3 hrs. Programming drums has always been my weakest area, and for some reason I can never seem to be happy with them. Couple this with the fact that as I keep working I slowly get better, and if I don't get a project done quickly you've got a recipe for disaster. I'll just keep going back to and reworking things until I'm satisfied.

Nudging rhythmic fragments and tiny aural particles isn't my idea of a fun time making music. I'd rather be jamming or writing new tunes. But if the end result is something even slightly better(and in this case it is), I guess I find it justifiable.

So now Empires is sounding slightly less plodding and has some diversity and momentum. I still think it needs a touch of spice here or there, but it's on its way. Onwards to the next one...

Slow and steady...

2008-06-03T18:22:00.001-07:00

So I've got this unfinished album that's been hanging in limbo like a dark shadow over me for the better part of a year. Sometime last summer I just sort of abandoned work on it. It might have been cuz I was stressing over bullshit problems in my living situation, or possibly due to constant delays and cancellations with getting the vocals recorded. But whatever the reason, it's been so much easier just to not face it and instead focus on other projects.

The way I work is more or less like this; motivation strikes and I've got all sorts of ideas that then inspire me to try stuff out. If these experiments are successful I then start gathering a kind of momentum and that gets me off the ground and moving. If however for whatever reason I stop for too long a period of time, it becomes hard to get that initial feeling of excitement back.

So now I'm basically back in the groove, only problem is I have to keep it up and things are moving real slow. I have a lot of stuff left to do, some left over from last year, other things new ideas or realizations based on having a year's perspective and living with the record. My goal is to be done the music in early September, and if I don't meet that at least I'll be very close to done.

I only hope nothing derails the whole thing again and I don't set off in other directions with new conquests. Getting a little tired of hearing the same stuff beat me over the head...

Synth Orgy

2008-05-26T20:21:00.000-07:00

My music making usually involves toiling away in front of a computer or synths for many hours creating sounds and loops and treatments and a lot of trial and error and second guessing. So it's great to once in awhile get out and just jam with other similarly inclined music folk.

This was the second Synth Orgy we've had, and like last time we recorded it, and will hopefully upload the results to the web to share. Just being able to rely on instincts and go with the mood or path set by others can be an inspiring and reinvigorating change of pace.

Either way. I’m in awe of you. Either way. We’ll survive.

2008-04-08T18:03:00.000-07:00

The band James are a bit of an oddball anomaly within the course of popular music history. For those who get them, they really really get them. To the rest they are seen as a weird, underachieving version of U2. And while I do admit that on occasion they strive to create anthemic stadium rock songs, they are just so much more.

Their music is passionate, emotional and ambitious in scope. They write some of the most delicate and understated music. They write some of the most epic and catchy music. They jam freely on stage, taking their songs into new territories and always leaving an element of discovery and excitement to their performances. Most of all, they are driven to create the music that they want to, regardless of acclaim or success. This is what I respect them the most for.

After reforming last year, they have completed and released their new album "Hey Ma" on April 7th. Do yourself a favour and download this stellar album and give it an honest chance. If you are a fan of anything to do with genres such as folk, indie, or alternative rock I'll dare you to bring me a finer collection of songs released in the past year. If you are a fan of The Arcade Fire, The Pixies, The Velvet Underground, U2, Travis, Coldplay, etc then please give them a try.

Even if you don't find them to be your thing, I am sure this strange outsider group will be sure to move you if only in astonishment at the level of talent relatively unknown and existing under the radar.

The Future Of The Cult Performer

2008-03-03T15:59:00.001-08:00

So my new album's ready; i'm releasing it as 1) for free download and 2) A $300 Four disc cd/ dvd/ blu ray/ 4 vinyls in a luxurious sperm coated slipcase, along with pictures that only i find interesting in a heavy pirate's treasure chest padlocked with my official logo on it. inside you get a vile of my blood, an envelope with samples of my pubic hair, and a deed declaring you the owner of my soul.

Enjoy my crap.

Building Nothing Out Of Something...

2008-02-23T18:04:00.000-08:00

The continuing gentrification of Queen West is sickening me. It's now hardly a shadow of its former self that I remember from my youth. Only 10 years ago there were close to fifteen little independent record shops selling everything from CDs and vinyls to rock shirts and memorabilia. There were a handful of little arty furniture and craft shops with cool affordable furniture and accessories. There was even 4 local comic shops, each with different selection and their own unique spin. And this was all just between McCaul and Bathurst.

Looking back, the fact that I worked and lived off of Queen West these past few years used to fill me with pride and excitement, not annoyance and forelornment. I think I'm in need of a change. It's too crowded and it's too expensive.

What is sad is rather than little clusters turning up elsewhere, everything is becoming a bit more displaced and spread apart and the sense of community is slowly getting lost. There's expensive trendy crap coming in from the east, and coming in from the west. Now with this recent fire it feels like some of the last holdouts right in between have gotten wiped out, or will sadly need to move away.

Make way for more ugly office space

Fuck February

2008-02-17T11:38:00.000-08:00

I can't wait until about late March/ early April. In the winter I get all sluggish and depressed and sit around looking for distractions from the world being frozen and dead outside.

As soon as the thaw starts and the days get longer music starts flowing out of me like a sieve. I recently came across something like 20 songs that are really good that are either finished or almost which I want to polish up and play live at some point.

And then there is of course the matter of a certain CD that needs to be completed really fucking soon. I'll just keep limping along doing a little here and there until things pick up. *sigh*

Jigsaw falling into place

2008-02-09T16:58:00.000-08:00

Am I crazy because I love albums? Everyone is submitting to the iPod ethic and jumping tracks like channels. Even my parents, whose musical tastes are pretty contemporary for pushing 60 don't have the patience anymore for me to introduce them to something they might like via long player format.

I'm all for singles, and I can certainly appreciate that (unlike a piece of film) music can be enjoyed as singular compartmentalized vignettes. One of my favourite things to do is listen to vinyl, and not cuz it's trendy but because it takes me back to a time when people appreciated the journey as much as the payoff.