The Polaris Prize Shortlist

Ryan's Ron Sexsmith Review

2011-09-10T14:17:00.000-07:00

It's the end of summer as I write this. Not officially,; the solstice is still a few weeks away, but we did just make through the unofficial end of summer that is Labour Day. The temperature even collaborated with that, coming down to the single digits for a couple of days this week.

This is kind of ironic, as Ron Sexsmith's new album, Long Player Late Bloomer, feels like a spring album more than it does anything else. It's a light, fun album, an album full of seventh chords and syncopation, of breathless lyrics and hope. Hope's a tricky thing to accomplish in today's indie rock world, as is earnestness. Both have gotten a bit of a bad rap over the years, victims of the forced, fake sort of earnestness one can associate with Celine Dion or the pop tarts that dominated the last decade of popular music. Still, the fact that saccharine gives you cancer doesn't stop sugar from being sweet, and the hopefulness that Sexsmith displays throughout this album is very welcome. All this makes it a little bit like Sexsmith's other albums, to be honest, which the listener might see as being either a credit or a drawback, depending on how they feel about the type of music he makes.

If you've been paying close attention to the past few weeks' worth of reviews around here, you may have noticed that I've been a little down on the albums we've been reviewing, and that I had to actively search to try to find something nice to say about them. That isn't the case here at all, and while I'll admit that there's a possibility the context of those other albums may have influenced how much I appreciated this one, it still is an objectively good album for the reasons I've outlined.

There's a song in the middle of the album called I'm In The Middle of Love that's a perfect example of this. It's just as goofy and fun as the title suggests, without becoming cloying or sappy. If I had to pick a stand-out track, that'd be it, but honestly all 13 songs on this album are well worth your time.

Gary's Ron Sexsmith Review

2011-09-08T12:41:00.000-07:00

There are certain constants in this world - unmistakable truths that exist. The sun will always rise and set, Coldplay will never put out an album that isn’t complete cheese and no one will ever take Nicolas Cage seriously as an actor.

Ron Sexsmith is one of those constants. Regardless of your musical tastes or preferences, we can all agree that Sexsmith puts out solid, easy to digest music with a Canadiana flare. His voice is instantly recognizable - like Kermit the frog crooning over an acoustic guitar.

So it should come as no surprise that Long Player, Late Bloomer is that in spades. It’s upbeat, catchy and sure to have you whistling the hooks for a week. It’s a great album to have on in the background during a dinner party, or while you cook dinner or flip through a magazine on a lazy Sunday afternoon.

It’s also why I’ll probably never listen to this album again.

Yes - it’s all the things I just mentioned, but for whatever reason it does nothing for me - and that kills me. I’m so worried I’m not getting it. I have to be missing something. I keep waiting for someone to tell me what that is so I can love this album unconditionally. But nothing.

I even feel guilty writing this because Sexsmith seems like just about the most genuine, all-around nice guy in the music biz. I think I would die inside if ever read this (but let’s be realistic).

This is the first album we’ve reviewed that I can’t point my finger at any one problem or fault or misstep to justify why I can’t get behind it.

The musician in me recognizes the effort and songmanship that went into this album. Sure, songs like Miracle border on 70s yacht-rock like Steely Dan or Christopher Cross - but deep down everyone likes a little "Ride Like the Wind?"

Hardly a slight.

And songs like Eye Candy, Believe It When I See It and The Reason Why are so uplifting and hooky I feel like - with a little work - I could become a fan. Maybe.

Long Player, Late Bloomer is Ron Sexsmith doing what he does best - and that’s being Ron Sexsmith. He clearly writes the music he knows and could care less what some hack of a blogger thinks about that.

I’m sorry Ron...I didn’t want to let you down.

Key Tracks: Eye Candy, Believe It When I See It, The Reason Why

Ryan's Braids Review

2011-09-04T20:50:00.000-07:00

I had an awkward feeling while listening to this album. It felt like I'd heard it before. Which seemed unlikely, because I know I only got a copy of it a few days ago, when I started listening to it to review it for this blog, and as far as I could remember I hadn't heard it on the radio or any of the music podcasts I listen to. The feeling was definitely there, though, nagging at me every time I hit play, like a piece of unpopped popcorn that gets stuck in your teeth and you spend days trying to find a way to work it out from in there. Then, finally, it hit me: I hadn't heard the album before, but I have been listening to Polaris shortlisted albums for the past three years and this sounded an awful lot like a lot of them.

I think that if someone were to sit down and try to compose an album specifically to appeal to Polaris judges, they would end up with something not unlike Native Speaker by Braids. I'm not saying that Braids went into the studio consciously thinking that, but the result is uncanny. You've got the haunting, feminine lyrics that one could associate with Tegan and Sara or Kathleen Edwards, the atmospheric, detached feel of a Besnard Lakes or Timbre Timbre album, and the electronic influence of a Caribou or Weeknd. For all of those combinations, though, it didn't feel like there was really anything new here - the sum of those disparate parts was no greater than any of the pieces that it felt influenced by.

I'm sure this album has its supporters, but when stacking it up against the rest of the shortlisted albums (and even some that were overlooked by the Polaris community), I can't help but feel it falls far short of the rest of them.

Dave's Braids Review

2011-09-04T18:56:00.000-07:00

Braids – “Native Speaker”

Okay I’ve listened to it and I’ve tried and I’ve tried, but I don’t get what all the hype is about with Braids and their debut album Native Speaker. It’s good to point, but it’s trying to hard to be something it’s not, and that’s where it loses me.

I love it when a band gets lost in the process of creation, but listening to this, it feels like Braids calculated every move, and didn’t account for the most important one in the creative process – emotional reaction. It all feels too structured and over contrived for me to enjoy fully – it’s as if they were saying “next we have to do this and that, it’ll be so much cooler”, instead they should have let it happen a little more. Now that’s not to say I didn’t enjoy parts of it.

The subtleties of the album are great, the way they transition in a out of songs, the start of the album as a whole, brings you in with a curious wonderment, and the overall unique sounds used play together well, but as Gary says – go on WAY to long, like a bad SNL skit. We get it. Give us something different.

Braids is trying so hard on this album. What they are trying to do is where they lose me though. They’re a young band and will grow into something special; I still feel their best album is yet to come out of them.

Gary's Braids Review

2011-08-31T06:07:00.000-07:00

Oh Braids, you poor things. A solid little album that suffers from being reviewed late in the process. I won’t deny that I’m suffering from a little reviewer exhaustion, but let’s be fair - this album did nothing to change that.

Native Speaker is a meandering, atmospheric album that talks a lot but never really gets to the point. With only 7 songs you might have assumed they would be adept at narrowing their focus. But when you see most songs run in the area of 7-8 minutes long, you start to understand why this album ends up being...well...boring.

Sure it’s beautiful and soaring and Raphaelle Standell-Preston’s voice is gorgeous. Hell, the music itself is inventive and ear catching - for 2 or 3 minutes. But if you haven’t said what you need to after 5 or 6 minutes, you’d better bring something pretty epic to the table.

I know what you’re thinking - who am I to dictate how long or short a song should be, and generally I don’t have a problem with long-form songs. But if you go back and check out the best musical tomes, they have a way of keeping things fresh and vibrant for the duration - something Braids just doesn't do.

Tracks like Same Mum and Plath Heart start out with the greatest of intentions and sound great, but then end up falling flat. Like a J.K. Rowling book this album would have benefited greatly from an editor (or more ruthless producer).

So yes I feel bad that Braids fell in the order where it did, but I doubt the review would have been all that different had it been slotted as the first or second album. And against meatier pieces from Arcade Fire and Hey! Rosetta, it frankly never stood a chance.

Bon Chance.

Ryan's Galaxie review

2011-08-25T18:35:00.000-07:00

I've started noticing this pattern when it comes to the Polaris shortlist, now that we've been posting to this blog for a few years. First is that there's always one French band that makes the shortlist. If Iwere a far more cynical person, I would chalk that up to an unspoken quota system on behalf of the organizers, but I know that's not actually the case. From a technical standpoint it would be difficult to game the system in that way; more importantly, I think that it would work completely against what the organizers of the prize are trying to accomplish, so they'd have no reason to do so. It's an interesting coincidence, is all I'm saying.

Another part of this pattern is that the one French band always puts out an album that's absolutely fascinating. The shortlist on a whole is always an eclectic group, of course, but that French band always seems to stand apart from the others (and not just due to the language barrier).

We're not here to talk about patterns, though, were here to talk about Montreal's own Galaxie, and their incredible album Tigre et Diesel. It's a short album (if memory serves, the shortest one this year), but it's also an intense one – Galaxie seems to know going in that their time is limited, so they don't want to waste a single second and bring the rock as quickly as they can. That intensity really works to the album's advantage – it grabs you and drags you out onto the metaphorical dancefloor, letting you lose yourself in the screaming guitars and electronic beats. In a longer album I think this intensity would become either overwhelming or tiring, but it works excellently here.

I won't go so far as to say that this is my favourite album of the year, but it's up there for sure.

Dave's Galaxie Review

2011-08-24T08:10:00.000-07:00

GALAXIE – Tigre et diesel

I have no idea what Galaxie are singing about on this album - but I like the way it sounds. There's an intense Brit-pop element but also a techno influence and for most of the album it works really well. It ebbs and flows between disco stompers and reflective ballads seamlessly.

Galaxie appears to be the red headed step-child of the Polaris Shortlist this year – accessible, poppy, and danceable – it’s hard to find that on the list, but here they are, and they fit. As Gary mentioned – they are Primal Scream almost more than Primal Scream.

For me, there is a huge language barrier, I can catch phrases and words but I’m not a fluent speaker of French so context is lost on me but I get the jist - which sucks for me when I want the whole picture.

There is nothing outstanding for me about this album, but it’s really good. I think it’s solid and fits in nicely amongst the shortlist, but at the end of the day it feels middle of the road. It stands out but for me it's not as much of a frontrunner as other noms are. The album is still fun, but I don't know if I'll look back and still like this album as much this time next year.

KEY TRACKS: Piste 1, Encore, Camouflar

Gary's Galaxie Review

2011-08-24T05:55:00.000-07:00

Holy shit - the French band did it again.

How do they keep doing it? How do they keep producing the most innovative, interesting and listenable music of the past four or five years?

Malajube blew my mind a few years back and then Karkwa was more than good enough to win the Polaris Prize last year. And now this bouncing explosion of ‘fuck-yeah’ energy from Galaxie - Tigre et Diesel.

And what a ride it is. Dance floor stompers, to dirty disco-chic to folk-rock love songs. It sounds frenetic and disconnected - and it is, but it works and frankly, I’m still trying to figure out how.

I mean, who would dream of incorporating the rock’n’roll swagger of say a Primal Scream with the thumping electronica of a Daft Punk? I guess these Montrealers would....and did.

I only wish I had a better grasp of the language so I could catch what frontman Fred Fortin was saying because with music this winking and clever, surely the lyrics are equally sly. That said, you definitely don’t need French lessons to dance along.

I think my favourite part about this competition is that something so big and raunchy is nestled amongst some pretty weighty projects. Like inviting Russell Brand to your country club - it’s sure to elicit some raised eyebrows. But this is what music should sound like more often - full of swagger, hedonism and straight-up fun.

I wouldn’t be shocked if this year’s Polaris Prize got handed out to yet another talented band francias. But even if it doesn't, this album stands out from the rest.

Stand Out Tracks - Piste 1, Encore

Gary's Timber Timbre Review

2011-08-22T07:18:00.000-07:00

Creep On Creepin’ On starts as it means to go on. From the Dr Dre-esque piano and drums of Bad Ritual through to the closer Souvenirs, Timber Timbre’s album exudes an eerie, horror-movie sense of uneasiness that you just can’t shake.

The vocals drip with reverb, the drums shuffle along like a villain trailing the heroin, and the atmospheric instrumentals are bound to disturb your sleep. And yet, it’s not like this album is hard to listen to.

In fact, in an ironic twist, this is the mood and setting I feel like Colin Stetson was aiming for on his album and ultimately didn’t achieve.

Not to say this album is groundbreaking. A lot of these elements were well explored on albums like Dark Night of the Soul (the product of DJ Danger Mouse and David Lynch) or even Ryan Gosling’s Dead Man’s Bones. All share the creepy church revival sway and cinematic intensity - Timber Timbre’s however, does approach it an a uniquely Canadian way.

However the lumbering beats and piano do start to run together after a while and you start to wonder if you’ve heard this song before. It’s a great album, but maybe too much of a good thing.

So while Creep On Creepin’ On does feel a little one note, I still really dig the idea behind Timber Timbre’s log cabin recording. Like some kind of evil Justin Vernon - Mal Iver perhaps?

Ryan's Timber Timbre Review

2011-08-19T19:18:00.000-07:00

There was this guy I knew in university who was a good guy, but was not the most intellectual of fellows. We had a couple of classes together, including, to my surprise, a philosophy class. The class was a struggle for him, and I ended up helping him study for his tests to help him pass the class. During one of those study sessions, I ended up asking him why he was taking a philosophy class in the first place, and he told me "Well, it's not that I care about philosophy; it's just that I thought I'd learn a bunch of impressive quotes to use in essays and stuff."

Listening to Timber Timbre's Creep On Creepin' On, I was strongly reminded of that sentiment expressed in that story - that it's okay to want just the high points, rather than wanting to understand the structure that lies beneath them. From the first time I listened to it, I had a feeling that I liked the album, and when I tried to articulate why I was left quoting individual lines from songs, like "I found depravity convinced me I may no longer care" and "The ectoplasm coiled like a hovering halo of smoke, and our beloved invention is conjured each night in your throat". And don't get me wrong - those individual lines are beautiful works of poetry. What I found limiting about the album, though, was that those individual lines seemed to exist in isolation; there was nothing that seemed to link them to a grander tableau or narrative, and the music of the album, while enjoyable in a chill, low-key sense, did nothing to provide a meaningful context for them to exist in either.

Overall, I'd say this was a fairly enjoyable album. If I were listening to my stereo and it came on, I wouldn't turn it off. But it lacks that special something I've come to expect from shortlisted albums, and that lack of cohesiveness of the lyrical highpoints with the rest of the album ends up as a distraction that takes away from the songs.

Dave's Timbre Timbre Review

2011-08-19T09:52:00.001-07:00

Timbre Timbre – Creep on Creepin’ On

As the summer whips by and the days shorten, and sunsets across our nations become more spectacular Timbre Timbre’s album fits the mellowness in the air perfectly.

Cinematic and haunting the album draws you in with stark musical landscape but Taylor Kirk’s voice is the centre piece of everything. It’s deep, emotive and pushes the listener inside the album. And once you’re in, you’re in.

Just the sentiment on this album is enough to scare the pants off of a hardened criminal. Murderous and mad, Taylor embodies the mystique of what a front man should be. Images of Leonard Cohen and Nick Cave come to mind when you imagine this album being written, Taylor hunched over a desk, scotch on the desk, paper littered across the room, notes and doodles – truly a creative situation if there has ever been one.

Then he creeps through the album, stalking his listener, and truly trapping us like the prey he so desires – but you can’t trap the willing can you.

KEY TRACKS: Bad Ritual, Too Old to Die Young, Do I Have Power

CLINCHER: Creep On, Creepin’ On

Ryan's Colin Stetson Review

2011-08-12T12:10:00.000-07:00

I'm absolutely fascinated by Rorschach tests. You're probably familiar with the concept, if not with the name: the Rorschach is a psychological test that involves showing someone a series of inkblots and having them identify images within them. The idea behind the test is that the images that people see reveal things about their personality or mental health; what's crucial about them, though, is that the blots don't have any intrinsic meaning. What's important is how people react to them.

It took a full week of listening to the album to realize it, but that's what Colin Stetson's New History Warfare Vol. 2: Judges is: an auditory Rorschach test. There's an argument that that's what all art is, to an extent, but I think this album more fully encapsulates that idea than most, if not all. As one listens to it, they take the scattered horns, haunting spoken-word poetry, and barely audible strings, and desperately try to attach meaning to it. They'll reach different conclusions while doing so, of course. Some might see Stetson as a decadent charlatan, while others might admire him for being brash and audacious in his musical creation. Some might even think, as I briefly did, that he's using the album to audition to be the house band of a post-apocalyptic wasteland.

The brilliance of this album - and let's be clear, I do think it's brilliant - is that you can't even argue that any of those perspectives are wrong. the album is so sparse, so minimalist, that it is entirely what the listener wants it to b. It's democracy in art. The end result is not one of those albums that I'm going to listen to regularly - in fact, I don't know if I'll ever give it another spin now that I'm finished reviewing it. Listening to it was a great, challenging experience, though, and I'm very glad that I did.

Standout track: A Dream of Water

Dave's Colin Stetson Review

2011-08-10T07:04:00.000-07:00

I listened to this record once and thought – this is, um, not for me. Then I said to my self: “Self, open you’re mind, relax and listen, just don’t hear it.” Once I did that the world that Colin Stetson has created with his saxophone opened up to me and I began to appreciate the performance, the intention, and the execution of both those elements into one.

New History of Warfare – Judges Vol. 2 is not an album that can be listened to just anywhere; for me it is a record that has to be listened to in the right environment. Listening to it while racing around on the 400 series highways of Ontario in a downpour – wasn’t the best idea. However, plugging it in while sipping a cold ale on the porch of the cottage – that’s where it becomes a record that makes a little more sense. The harsh sounds of the sax, jolting up and down the register, the tapping and pounding of the percussion elements fill the air. There is no room for other sounds, or other thoughts to enter.

What is remarkable about Colin Stetson’s performance on this record is he did most of them in one take, live, in a studio by himself. Think about that for a second…got it? Now think back to when you had to do anything by yourself that required you to focus, evaluate, and then trust yourself and you’re ability so much that you can move onwards without so much as looking back. But that is the exact energy on this album – it races forward, with an avant-garde sound, skillfully telling a story, using music as the voice, and dictating listeners emotion.

All that being said, this is not the record for everyone – certainly it’s not my favourite record of the year, but I respect the process and the art, but I don’t always get it.

KEY TRACKS: Home, All the Colours Bleached to White, Judges

CLINCHER: A DREAM OF WATER

Gary's Colin Stetson Review

2011-08-09T06:43:00.000-07:00

Halfway through my first listen I couldn’t decide whether to applaud Colin Stetson for his frenetic, insane and unique sounds or pass it off as art rock garbage. If David Lynch had some kind of deep obsession with brass instruments I have to imagine that this would be the album he’d create.

Stetson’s New History Warfare - Judges Vol. 2 is literally a cacophony of sax and trumpet samples looped endlessly in an anxious swirl. There’s virtually no discernable structure or form to the songs other than the repetitive (and ultimately grating) unmelodic loops.

The usual art project staples pepper the whole album.

Nonsensical spoken word pieces? Check.

Complete absence of drums or rhythm? Check.

Eventual onset of boredom? Check.

I clearly didn’t get what Stetson set out to do with this album as my patience waned with each listen. With the exception of the cover And I Just Can’t Keep From Crying, with an actual, honest to goodness vocal melody (delivered hauntingly by Shara Worden) I took almost nothing away from this album.

I’m positive there are people who will listen to this album track by track and appreciate its uniqueness, but I’m not one of them.

Good for Stetson for trying something completely new. Bad for listeners who are looking for songs.

Ryan's Weeknd Review

2011-08-04T19:43:00.000-07:00

I was hoping to like this album. Liking it would have been a victory for me.

Allow me to backtrack a bit to explain what I mean there. There was, a decade ago, a pop-punk band from London called The Weekend. I was a fan: saw them live a few times, owned all their albums, even had a bit of a crush on their lead singer. So, when I heard The Weekend were shortlisted for Polaris this year, I was confused and excited, because that band broke up years ago and I hadn't heard anything about a reunion.

The Weeknd is definitely not The Weekend, however. This is, of course, not his fault, and that's why I wanted to like the album. If I disliked it there would always be this question hanging over me of whether I disliked it on its own merits, or if I was just subconsciously bitter about it sounding nothing like a pop-punk band from London. You can see my dilemma here.

So, to prove I'm not just a bitter old man fueled by nostalgia, let me start with some positives: this is a very technically proficient album. There's no denying that Abel Tesfaye, the man behind this album, is a talented singer who's capable of constructing some solid beats.

There's a wide gulf between technical proficiency and creating something great, though, and while The Weeknd might excel at the former, for me he completely failed at the latter. There's this sense of detachment between Weeknd and the lyrics he's singing, and likewise between the lyrics and the music, that stays unresolved and unexplained throughout the course of the album. At no point throughout the album did it seem to me that he cared about the music he was making – and if he can't be passionate about it, how am I as a listener supposed to be passionate about it? That's a question that House of Balloons seems unable to answer.

Dave's The Weeknd Review

2011-08-04T08:03:00.000-07:00

A House of Balloons is so many things – fragile for one, they can easily to burst I would imagine. But the other side of the coin is they are full of fun, bounce, bright colours, youthfulness and joy. Eventually though it has to go away – the balloons will either deflate of burst – either way it will never last.

The Weeknd’s album House of Balloons captures this essence perfectly – it’s a moment in time in one’s life, where everything is great – life is the party the movies promised you – but there are consequences and kudos to The Weeknd for not avoiding these, or letting them become the dominate dark themes of his album.

What hit me about this album from the get go, was this: it’s panty dropper record (don’t get me wrong there are some great panty dropping tracks on here) But it’s really more than that. The Weeknd not only looks at the party and the after party but he explores the emotions after the party, when the sins have been committed and the scars are left to be nursed. I know this has been done before, but for me this seems so poignant now – with the world of Jersey Shore and Real World: Vegas. Culture isn’t seeing the consequences, just the party a lot of the time. Just like the title, House of Balloons, it can all go pop at some point.

KEY TRACKS: The Party & The After Party, The Morning, Loft Music, Glass Table Girls

THE CLINCHER: Wicked Games

Gary's The Weeknd Review

2011-08-02T04:00:00.000-07:00

Here’s basically everything you need to know about The Weeknd. After downloading his album (for free from his website), I passed it to a friend at work. Within about four or five hours 10 other people in the office were listening to House of Balloons. By the end of the day it had been shared to another 5 or so people. It’s not that The Weeknd - aka: Abel Tesfaye - is that good. It’s that he’s so good you feel compelled to tell someone about it.

What happened at work was a microcosm of what’s happening everywhere right now - The Weeknd is blowing up!

He’s the guy everyone’s talking about, he’s featured in the promos for HBO’s Entourage and not to mention garnering a lot of record label attention (is it the 90s again?) So when he drops the line “They don’t want my love, they just want my potential” (The Party and The After Party) he could easily be referring to the many interested parties circling this 20 year old prodigy.

So what’s got everybody worked up into a lather? Some pretty sick fuckin’ music that's what.

The kind of music you listen to bleary-eyed at 4am long after the party has dried up and most people have gone home. Coincidentally this is also the subject matter of about 8 of the 9 tracks on this album.

The Weeknd deliver some dark and expansive beats - beats so big they sound like they’re echoing through an empty club (a sight I’m sure he’ll never witness). One minute your reference points are Kanye circa 808s and Heartbreaks, R Kelly and even Slick Rick. But as soon as you think you have him pegged he turns around and samples Beach House and new wave punk?

Maybe The Weeknd is a series of contradictions or maybe he just doesn’t give a shit about the musical conventions most of us live by and expect. Maybe at 20 years old he just doesn’t know better.

And while you might a expect a young man to get caught in a rut, it’s not all darkness, drugs and dirty sex. There’s some bouncier beats and tracks, like The Morning and Loft Music, the latter in which Tesfaye really puts on a verbal show somehow managing to wrap his silky smooth voice around some rough and nasty lyrics.

But that’s sort of his trick, On first listen you marvel at the vocal gymnastics, the sinister beats and uniqueness of the sound. But by the second and third listen, you really take in his lyrics and can’t decide whether your a little shocked or oddly titillated.

Either way the safest thing I can say is that you’ll definitely be hearing a lot more from The Weeknd whether he’s your Polaris Winner or not.

Standout Tracks - House of Ballons - Glass Table Girls, Loft Music, High For This

Ryan's Hey Rosetta Review

2011-07-28T20:04:00.000-07:00

Tim Baker, lead singer for Hey Rosetta!, has explained the name of their current album, Seeds, by saying that "the songs are seeds ... they’re these little things –- four and five minute things — but they have the ability to grow in your brain and be far more meaningful than just what they are", and I think that's a perfect assessment of the album. When I first started listening to it I wanted to say that the songs were haunting, but that's not really accurate – they don't have the mournful, melancholy edge that one would associate with a haunting. The 'seed' metaphor works as well because it's organic, and the music on Seeds is as well, each song fitting into a larger whole than just existing on its own.

I felt that Hey Rosetta!'s last album, the also-Polaris-shortlisted Into Your Arms, was about an immature band in the process of self-discovery; Seeds, in contrast, finds Hey Rosetta! having become much more mature and sure of themselves – sure enough that they've developed a more playful edge to their music. This is something displayed in the reggaesque beat of several songs, such as in the punningly named "New Sum (Nous Sommes)", or the outtake of laughter crossed with what sounded like a handsaw impression (?) at the end of "Parson Brown". It's an interesting contrast to the fairly structured, somewhat traditional instrumentation on display throughout the album. That play within structure helps strengthen the album, I found – you know it's neither going to become stilted or fall apart from self-indulgence.

Of course, instrumentation and self-discovery will only take you so far; if a band wants to win me over they need a strong lyrical presence, and it's here that Hey Rosetta! shines, with Baker crafting his lines in a thoughtful, measured way. In the hands of a lesser writer, subject material like new fatherhood and the intricate balance between fear and trust could come across as cliched or trite, but Baker manages to make them seem familiar and relatable, and brings them to the table without any judgment or trying to provide any unique insight. Doing it in this way allows the listener to develop their own conclusions about those subjects, which creates deeper roots for those subjects than a more didactic approach would. I mentioned that Hey Rosetta! comes across as very mature throughout the album, and this approach of guiding the listener and trusting them to make their own connections and conclusions is a reflection of that maturity.

Standout tracks: Young Glass, Welcome, New Sum (Nous Sommes)

Dave's Hey Rosetta Review

2011-07-28T04:57:00.001-07:00

Hey Rosetta have quickly become one of this country’s best bands – well I guess they were always that good, but now they are being recognized for it. And rightfully so. They are really really talented in everyway a band should be – songwriting, production, and performance is all top shelf. I would argue, not in this space, but somewhere else, that with the Tragically Hip being the quintessential Canadian band, Hey Rosetta is ready to grasp that mantle for the next generation – with the Hip’s permission of course.

Their sophomore album (and second Polaris nomination) SEEDS provides something that not a lot of albums provide today – familiarity. I don’t mean that in a sense of comfort or sounding like other artists out there, but the themes of SEEDS are familiar. Family, traveling, movement and evolution – these are what we (well at least me) as listeners are dealing with in spades in our own worlds, and SEEDS provides a perspective that proves we aren’t alone in our own thoughts – which is what we all want anyway right? Right?

From the moment the album starts with the title track you are drawn in to movement and progress of the album – it’s contagious. Similarly to the band’s debut INTO YOUR LUNGS the first song paints a picture that sets a tone for the rest of the album. “and we don't look back, cause we don't need that
and we're going too fast, and we don't want to, don't want to
crash” Exactly – and that is what the band does on this album – never looks back. The way it should be, all left behind as they move forward and evolve.

KEY TRACKS: Seeds, Young Glass, Seventeen, Bandages, Bricks

CLINCHER: Welcome (maybe single of the year)

Gary's Hey Rosetta Review

2011-07-26T10:09:00.001-07:00

It seems like the more I enjoy an album the harder it is to dissect its meaning. The better the music the less inclined I am to want to find deeper meaning, pull back the layers and guess at what the band "really" meant.

Luckily, with Hey Rosetta's Seeds, the meaning just sort of presents itself - blossoms if you will (first and last flower/seed reference). It might sound like the quintessential "band on the road" album (a very typical subject for sophomore albums). But it also seems to explore the idea of family and heritage too. So which is it?

The album's first lines - "the road bends long, like mother's arms" - don't clear anything up, but more on that later.

What those opening lines do is set up an emotional and hard hitting song that evolves from a subtle, strumming mandolin into a full fledged sonic assault. Lead singer Tim Baker's melodic wale explodes into the chorus, demanding you take notice.

And that's just the first song.

The albums that follows is equally impressive, whether the band is executing a seamless shuffle like 'Yer Spring' or bouncing nimbly through 'New Sum (Nous Sommes)'. But if you had only been casually listening to this point, 'Welcome' is when you’ll stop and take notice.

Erupting from a subdued instrumental piece (that sounds like a muted dinner party) comes the tale of a first-time father apologising to his newborn child for the trying times that lie ahead. The story is touching (and relate-able as a newish father) but the enormous song wrapped around it makes 'Welcome' 10 times more emotional.

Two years ago we reviewed Hey Rosetta's first album and unanimously agreed this was a band on the verge of something bigger. They were all potential and raw talent waiting to be realized.

Seeds is that in spades. The band has hyper-focused their talent and potential to create an album that showcases a cohesive, confident group of musicians. And yes, it's a more mature band, and a band coming into their own, but they retain all of the immediacy and intensity that got them added to the 2009 Polaris Shortlist two years ago.

The fact that two albums in and they've already been recognized with two Polaris shortlist nominations should tell you everything you need to know (no pressure for album number three guys).

So is this an album about a touring band or families, new and old? Frankly it could be about both, but fundamentally it feels more about travelling forward into something completely unknown. Whether barreling down the road or coming into the world brand new, Seeds sounds like a soundtrack to the journeys we’re all forced to take.

Ryan's Arcade Fire Review

2011-07-21T18:00:00.000-07:00

Growing up in the suburbs puts you in an interesting place socially, especially if you're the sort of person who has interests that lie outside the mainstream. You spend a lot of time around people who don't understand the things you like, be they music, independent cinema, underground comics, or whatever. So you find your nearest downtown and start spending time there, visiting places were people gel with what you're into. A lot of those people, though, have nothing but disdain for the suburbs and the type of lives they think suburbanites have, so there's a new barrier erected between yourself and the culture you want to be part of. At least, that was always my experience with suburban life.

I don't know how much of that experience applies to The Arcade Fire, but I do think that it's an important context to have when listening to this album; that feeling - of being in a scene, but not fully of it, of eternally being an outsider - permeates every aspect and every track of The Suburbs. That feeling of rootlessness, of wanting so badly to belong to something cool - it's a bit cliche to say it, but when Win Butler sings thinks like "There's nothing to do/But I don't mind when I'm with you", I feel like I didn't so much listen to this album as I lived it, and even on my first listen it felt as familiar as the corner stores and the mazes of residential courts, lanes, and drives that I wandered as a kid. I wouldn't quite call it a celebration of suburban life, but it is an understanding of it that you don't often find in much of modern music.

These themes - of being rootless, or being an outsider - are especially resonant for The Arcade Fire in 2011, because they've had a lot of success, but it seems to me that that success has only served to entrench their status as outsiders. They did win a Grammy, after all, and a Juno to go with it, and in doing so were immediately thrust into the spotlight of the mainstream; at the same time, though, they're still on an independent label, and that 'indie spirit', for lack of a better term, so they don't seem to fit with most of what's in the mainstream. At the same time, that success has come with a cost - I've seen the term 'sell-out' thrown out about this band in a completely unjustifiable manner, and a few blogs and tweets that have wondered if The Arcade Fire is too big for the Polaris Prize (which is a nonsensical comment, but I digress). Music made by outsiders, about being an outsider, that just drives them further outside - there's a poetry to that that parallels the music of The Suburbs nicely.

Standout tracks: Ready To Start, Modern Man, Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)

Dave's Arcade Fire Review

2011-07-20T11:18:00.001-07:00

The Arcade Fire we’re able to put lightening in a bottle with The Suburbs.

The Suburbs is more than a successful album that has sky rocketed a band from ‘popular’ to other worldly music stars - at the end of the day The Suburbs is a masterpiece - pure and simple, it will be remembered as such, but will it win the Polaris Prize this year?

That’s a tough question to answer. If this was any other competition we would just announce it as the winner and be done with it. But this is music, subjective and emotional as being technical and structured – so there is no clear right or wrong, winner or loser. There is only a consensus. We’ll see where out judges take us this year.

When I first listened to The Suburbs I was stopped in my tracks at how well crafted it was, how much care had gone into production, artwork, songwriting and the mix. It all seemed so deliberate – but not in a ‘too cool’ for school’ way, in a completely accessible way. The themes that play out within the songs drip with angst and love for a youth we all once lived, and sometimes miss.

It’s hard for me to talk about individual songs, because the whole album resonates so well from top to bottom with me and my experiences in suburbia. As a product of the suburbs myself, when this album is on, I’m taken back to memories of my youth (both fond and hurtful) – driving around in my mother’s car, tunes cranked, dreams of somewhere else, a better time (if one could exist).

Little did I know that 14 years after leaving the comfort of my parent’s Mississauga home I’d find the soundtrack to motivate me to actually leave. I’m sure for lots of us now in adulthood we wished The Suburbs was around to push us out and into the future. At least we have it now, to provide an emotional landscape to look back.

KEY TRACKS: The Suburbs, Rocco, City With No Children, Month of May,

CLINCHER: We Used To Wait.

Gary's Arcade Fire Review

2011-07-19T05:51:00.001-07:00

It’s amazing what a little time and perspective can do to change your attitude and help you remember things in a slightly different way. Maybe even romanticize it a little.

The way you can hold on to a memory for so long that you wonder whether you’ve invented more of it than you experienced, or if it even happened at all. Does it really even matter?

At it's core that’s what The Suburbs is all about. Remembering something the way you choose to - warts and all - with a fondness and sincerity. And coincidentally it also parallels my heartfelt reunion with Arcade Fire after a lengthy disagreement (granted Arcade Fire may have no notion we were fighting).

Let me back track.

After such a strong debut (Funeral), I thought 2007’s Neon Bible was the sort of pretentious art project that so many big bands seem to indulge in. It was bloated, and angry and devoid of fun. Had all the members been dancing around in French Revolution garb the douchery would have been too epic too even consider!

Moving along....

Fast forward some 4 years later and Arcade Fire has not only proven they can return from that dark place but with the kind of gusto and class that has forced people to take notice.

From its ragtime-piano intro, The Suburbs unfurls the story of a summer spent wasting time as a teenager in the burbs. Learning to drive, going to the mall, listening to music, but at the same time dealing with notion that maybe you’re outgrowing all of it. As a kid raised in the 'burbs a lot of this feels and sounds as familiar as my own memories.

There’s an amazing story that may or may not be based in fact (Butler cited his days growing up in the suburbs of Houston, Texas), and according to Spike Jonze may or may not include some kind of pseudo-apocalyptic suburban war (Suburban War, City With No Children). But all of it aside, the album stands on its own - narrative or not.

There’s an embarrassment of riches to go through. Song after song of that uniquely crafted Arcade Fire sound, that ebbs and flows at just the right times - like the best mixtapes (when we made mixtapes).

There's a little punk (Month of May), a little folk (Wasted Hours), a little menace (Rococo). Something for everyone.

But more than just great writing, the band creates symphonies out of every song. Layering the usual collection of guitars, drums and keyboards and elevating them into a tower of immense sound, destroying the simple notion of quiet/loud dynamics.

They were ambitious sure, but hit the mark with integrity and without pandering, something a few other bands should take note of. Arcade Fire almost never come across as pretentious or overreaching (anymore), and rarely miss a beat. The few missteps are too minuscule to really mention.

Listening to this album for the first time it was evident that I would have to eat massive amounts of crow for all the pot-shots and smarmy remarks I’d made at their expense.

Luckily with time I’ve come around and can appreciate Arcade Fire for the very impressive musical talents they are and fondly remember all the great times we’ve had.

Standout Tracks: Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains), Suburban War, Ready To Start.

Artist #1 - Arcade Fire

2011-07-18T06:47:00.001-07:00

Artist: Arcade Fire

Album: The Suburbs

Home Town: Montreal, QC.

Ready to Start!

2011-07-11T19:44:00.001-07:00

It's that time of year again. The Shortlist has been announced, the 10 albums are in place and we three amateur critics are here to help guide you through the Polaris Prize.

It's an exciting mix of instantly recognizable and more esoteric artists, but as always it will be an interesting and educative process. So sit back, put on your headphones and get ready for 10 weeks of provocative (sometimes) - but always entertaining (hopefully) musical judgments.

Enjoy.

1. Arcade Fire - Suburbs
2. Hey Rosetta - Seeds
3. The Weeknd- House of Balloons
4. Colin Stetson - New History Warfare Vol.2 Judges
5. Timber Timbre - Creep On Creepin' On
6. Galaxie - Tigre et diesel
7. Braids - Native Speaker
8. Ron Sexsmith - Long Player Late Bloomer
9. Austra - Feel it Break
10. Destroyer - Kaputt

Ryan's Top Picks for 2010

2010-12-24T10:32:00.001-08:00

It was an interesting year for music. A lot of great tunes came out, and a lot more crap ones, but it seemed to me like there was no real dominant theme or pattern to anything that was coming out. Here's some stuff that I did like:

Top 5 Albums of the Year

5. Record in a Bag, Hollerado: Ten years from now, this one might not hold up as one of the greatest albums of our time, but for now it’s a fun, danceable rock and roll record that kept me entertained throughout the year.
4. Slash, Slash: The idea here wasn’t a new one - you have to look no farther than the last decade of Santana’s career to see an execution of “Famous guitarist records an album with a series of guest vocalists”. Like with the Santana albums, the result is a little eclectic, and doesn’t always feel like what an ‘album’ classically has. There’s some excellent guitar work throughout, though, and if you were ever the kid sitting around saying “Yeah, but could you imagine if Slash and Ozzy were in a band together?”
3. Tron: Legacy Sountrack, Daft Punk: I realize I’m most likely going to get mocked for this choice. Allow yourself to forget, for a moment, that it’s a soundtrack to a Disney film. What you find yourself listening to when you do is a finely honed, perfectly orchestrated electronic concept album. I’m often critical of electronic music as being soulless and shallow, but Daft Punk proves that need not be the case with this album.
2. The Suburbs, The Arcade Fire: I live in the suburbs, and have for most of my life. One thing that I’ve been acutely aware of as a result is the reflexive sense of scorn that city-dwellers feel for the burbs. There’s a lot more going on than meets the eye, though, and Arcade Fire chronicles that in this album, which isn’t a concept album in the traditional sense, but does manage to maintain a strong sense of theme throughout it.
1. Brothers, The Black Keys: I first got interested in this album entirely because of the cover art - simple white text on a black background declaring “This is an album by The Black Keys. The name of the album is Brothers.” Which in itself is a declaration - that the album doesn’t need to win you over, because it’s strong enough to not worry about such things. It was an accurate assessment, and the blues-influenced rock (or is it rock-influenced blues? I’m not quite sure) turned me into a fan on my first listen.

Top 10 Songs of the Year

10. Juliette - Hollerado The chorus of this song makes it an instant summer classic. Hook-laden, poppy, catchy, I found myself singing this one at odd moments for months.
9. This Too Shall Pass - OK Go The music video has fast become a dying art form, with most bands going with the tried and true rather than taking creative chances. OK Go is shaming all those bands, and making great tunes along the way. This is just one of them.
8. Trace Decay - Wintersleep I was excited about the New Inheritors, but didn’t find it to be that great upon listening to it. This track is stellar, though.
7. Highway of Heroes - The Trews All wars are tragedies, and the Trews definitely seem to understand that with this song, which walks the fine line of respecting and honouring the fallen without turning jingoistic or blindly patriotic. It’s a subtle song that I think a lot of people overlooked because of its subject matter.
6. I Was A Teenage Anarchist - Against Me! There’s something almost anachronistic about this song - it’s got a classic punk feel that seems almost out of place in 2010, but then again, nostalgia is always anachronistic, isn’t it?
5. Les Chemins de Verre - Karkwa A lot of people were upset at Karkwa winning the Polaris prize this year. Not me. It wouldn’t have been my first choice, but songs like this one are great arguments as to why they deserved the nod.
4. Ready to Start - Arcade Fire The strongest song on a strong album. Welcoming and accessible, just as any single should be, but not in a cloying or needy way. If Arcade Fire wasn’t on your radar before this one, they definitely should be now.
3. Black Sheep - Metric If nothing else, this song’s a statement as to how powerful of an album Fantasies was, that one of its B-sides is better than the A-sides on most albums.
2.Rose Garden - Shad. This song is one of the reasons I’m glad we started the Polaris blog. Hadn’t heard of Shad before, and probably wouldn’t have heard him if not for the blog, and I walked away with one of the most entertaining songs of the year.
1. Ten Cent Pistol - The Black Keys. The blues are about pain, and dealing with pain, and there’s no pain deeper than a partner who’s cheated on you. That was true in Hendrix’s Hey Joe, and it’s true in this tune, about a woman done wrong who seeks her revenge.

Biggest Flop of the Year
20Ten, Prince I really wanted to like this - Prince’s music in the last decade has shown that he’s still a competent, capable musician in spite of all the craziness that usually surrounds him (check out the instrumental jazz album NEWS or 3121 to see what I’m talking about). This album feels only half-finished in comparison, and doesn’t hold a candle to the others.

Dave's Top Picks of 2010

2010-12-22T06:36:00.000-08:00

This year in music was a confusing year. On one side it was filled with a mish mash of pop songs and dance hits, and on the other it was a beautiful harvest of artists creating reflective music of their times. If you stand back in 10 years and look at 2010, it probably won;t be a year that changed music or culture, but it probably will be a year that won;t be forgotten either. Here are my Top 10 songs, Top 5 Albums and my biggest flop. Enjoy and feel free to disagree - that's why we do it, to foster debate. Nothing on my list is on any order either, just as it came to me, don't read too much into that part of it.

TOP 10 SONGS

1. Kanye West - Runaway - The moment i saw this at the VMAs I was connected with it. Everything else after it has been a bonus. Kanye has lived up to the bravado and the image, and in the end it's really art that pushes expectations.

2. Sleigh Bells - Infinity Guitars - A song to define the year. Loud, frenetic buy still full of melody.

3. Cee Loo Green - Fuck You - Amazing amazing amazing.

4. Eminem - Not Afraid - Perfect single for a comeback that is full of repent. Honest? I hope so, for fans sake.

5. Jay Malinowski - How It Comes - This is the song that stopped me in my tracks the first time I heard it. A really underrated album too.

6. Shad - Rose Garden - A hooky soul driven jam that optimized summer for lots of people in this country. This song is a huge step for Shad, proving he's not just the run of the mill MC in this country either, he's got staying power and a huge ability to move beyond what people expect of Canadian Hip-Hop

7. Arcade Fire - We Used Wait - Sums up my teenage life along with this albums sentiments perfectly. Angsty, remorseful, and performed to a tee. The video is also magical and visionary.

8. Broken Social Scene - Sweetest Kill - A song that hits me right where I need it too every time i listen to it. It's haunting, and sticks with you for days - in the best way possible. A slow burn of the perfect kind.

9. The Black Keys - Never Give You Up - Any song from this album could have been on my list really but Never Give You Up echoes the the roots of what made me love The Black Keys way back when. Grab you're love and have slow dance to end the year, make them feel special and forgive people, just forgive.

10. Band Of Horses - Laredo - This track is a stand out for me on this album that surprised me from top to bottom. It proves that American rock legacy is in good hands, and that today's bands can still write a solid rock song, without ostracizing their fans, but still including others. That guitar lick is also just dirty enought.

TOP 5 ALBUM

Broken Social Scene - Forgiveness Rock Record: I was harsh on these guys in my Polaris review but this album is one I revisit again and again for sheer enjoyment. After seeing them live in Vancouver by myself, I was convinced this record was something that would stick with me for ages, and that I was quick to judge it based soley on a week or two worth of listening.

Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy: As an artist he put tons of preassure on himself to deliver a landmark album. For musics sake he did. We'll all look back on MBDTF in 10 years and realize how influential it is - there's no doubt kids in basements everywhere are trying to replicate this, heck, even Diddy Dirty Money is trying to replicate this. It truly did become a cultural movement for a short time - with ALL CAPS.

Arcade Fire - The Suburbs: This band does everything I love about music on this album. And most of all it feels so fucking relevant to everyone, everywhere.

The Black Keys - Brothers: I've loved this band for a long time, and I was hesitant when I heard they were going 4 piece. Still knock down rock, with the softest touch - only they could pull off such a rise to stardom with such a fantastic album. Sweaty, sweaty, sweaty rock.

Band Of Horses - Infinite Arms: This band started from scratch this year. They fired everyone, and hired all new players, and still they put out a solid record that slowly takes listeners through the emotional journey of an artist. This band is on the cusp of bigger things really - the next Kings of Leon maybe.

BIGGEST FLOP

When I interviewed bands and artists for a living I had a line I'd use when I'd meet them: if I liked the album I'd say so. If I didn't like it I'd say 'congrats on getting this out'. I know, I know - totally transparent and slimey but I was 22 and back then thought it was a smart thing to say. This year I'd have to say the artist that deserves biggest 'congrats' is: Interpol. One of my favorite bands phoned it in, and maybe packed it in for good too with their self titled release this year. Very disappointing for me and a world full of fans craving a record.

Gary's Top Picks for 2010

2010-12-20T09:21:00.000-08:00

Looking back over 2010 the first thing I noticed is that this year didn't have the same quantity of amazing songs and albums that previous years offered. That's not to say the albums that did make the list weren't deserving. There were some great tracks and it made narrowing the list down much easier. So with that here are my tops songs and albums of 2010.

Top 10 Songs

Kanye West - Power: The first minute of this song gets the adrenaline flowing. Try as I might to dislike Kanye's ego and bravado this song is just really good. Plus his Saturday Night Live performance was pure spectacle.

Broken Bells - The High Road: I expected a lot more from this album which I found, on the whole pretty underwhelming. That said, this song is solid.

Foster The Kids - Pumped up Kicks: Not knowing much about the band, this song crept out of nowhere to leave an impression.

Tegan and Sara - On Directing: This one song encapsulates all the things that make this duo great.

Beach House - Zebra: Emotionally this track means a lot to me. I've played it a lot over the year and expect to hear it a lot in 2011.

Arcade Fire - Rococo: There's something oddly affecting about the repetitive chorus and swelling stomp of this one. I can't help but love the depiction of how naive we are as teenagers thinking we know what life is all about.

The Black Keys - Tighten Up: Such an amazing groove and the whistling at the start gets me every time.

Broken Social Scene - Meet Me in the Basement: I thought this song was good after hearing it on the album. I thought it was amazing after seeing the video, post-G20 Toronto riots.

Ok Go - WTF: Just watch the video and try not to be amazed.

Sleigh Bells - Infinity Guitars: My favourite song for 2010 and with blazing guitars and screeching vocals, it should be evident why.

Top 5 6 albums

Beach House: Teen Dream: It's a simple well written album that evokes so much emotion (as mentioned above). I'm so eager to hear what they come up with next.

Broken Social Scene - Forgiveness Rock Record: I couldn't stop listening to this album all summer. There's virtually no missteps; so solid from start to finish.

Sleigh Bells - Treats: After hearing Infinity Guitars I had to see what the rest of the album was like. No two songs are alike and everything is short, sweet and to the point. I fully expect the track Rill Rill to catch a lot of people's attention very soon.

The Black Keys - Brothers: Dirty, dirty old school rhythm and blues. Indie music's hardest working duo.

Karkwa - Les Chemin De Verre: There were some people scratching their head when Karkwa won the Polaris Prize this year. But one listen to this haunting and beautiful album should explain why the were so deserving.

Arcade Fire - Suburbs: I hated Arcade Fire's last album Neon Bible. I thought it was the height of pretension and all that was wrong with indie music. So I went into this album expecting more of the same. I was so wrong. Arcade Fire have produced a personal yet epic sounding album that flows perfectly and hits all the right notes. You can consider me a fan once again.

Honourable Mentions - Ok Go - Of The Blue Colour of the Sky, Wintersleep - New Inheritors

Biggest Flop

Kings of Leon - Radioactive: I won't get to deep into how big a fan I was and how the first two albums exist in a very sacred place for me. I don't want to sound like one of those snobbish people who constantly go on about how great a band was when no one else was listening. But, this song (and the album) is terrible. The video is awkward and forced, the band has shed all the urgency and desperation that made them great and traded it in for the polished, top 40, gosh-I-wish-we-could-be-on-Glee commercialism that ruined bands like U2 and Coldplay.

Ryan's Tegan and Sara Review

2010-09-17T19:19:00.000-07:00

Love stories are tricky, and telling them in song there’s no exception to that. Part of this stems from cynicism – there is a lot of film, music, and literature that go around calling themselves love stories, but they're really empty, and talk about what is at best a childish understanding of the emotions involved and at worst a form of emotional sociopathy. Take a look at the “romantic comedies” that fill up the movie theatres in the summer, or the “love songs” that fill up the Billboard charts and you get an idea of what I'm talking about. Part of it also stems from the fact that falling in love is a scary and dangerous thing. An author I like, Wil McCarthy, once compared love to gravity – a powerful force, but one that can destroy you if you're not careful around it.

Tegan and Sara Quin realize this about love, but they went and wrote an album about love anyways. Sainthood realizes the pitfalls of writing about love – as the ladies sing on Hell, “These words are over-used”, but that's the thing about love: the cliches don't matter anymore, and it doesn't matter that the fire will burn you if you get to close. You're in love, and you want to let the whole damn world know.

Now, once you've acknowledged that there's a lot of cliches out there about love, you become obligated to avoid those cliches, and Tegan and Sara do that well with this album by not only focusing on the positive rush of endorphines you get in that initial stage of immature love. Instead, they've crafted an album that covers the entire narrative arc of a relationship. The first stage of the album is the first three songs: Arrow, Don't Rush, and Hell, which look at the initial attraction and starting of a relationship, and the emotional roller-coasters that result from that. The next two songs look at the infatuation of the early stages of a relationship. The Cure marks a move away from this – there's a notable change in the narrative voice and in the subject matter of the lyrics, and you can tell that we're getting a more mature, understated view of love – one that's willing to sacrifice, and put the other person ahead of yourself.

Sadly, though, this is not one of those love stories that end happily; the last few tracks look at the end of a relationship, and they give the album a bit of a bittersweet aftertaste as a result. It's more sweet than bitter, though, and like the narrator of this love story, you feel like you've learned from the experience. Listening to albums all the way through, in the order the artist laid them out in, has fallen out of favour in the past decade, but this is one of those albums that demands it to get the full experience.

Love, and its joys and pitfalls, a lot for an album to take on, especially one that's as short as Sainthood is (the entire thing clocks in under 40 minutes). It's short in the same way that a Hemingway story's short, though – everything extra and unnecessary has been cut away, leaving only the beating heart of the story. And a damn well told story it was. There have been a lot of strong albums on this year's shortlist, but in this reviewer's opinion, at least, Sainthood stands head and shoulders above the rest of them.

Gary's Tegan and Sara Review

2010-09-16T05:37:00.000-07:00

Seconds into the track On Directing Tegan Quin (or maybe it's Sara) let's fire the line "eyes focused like a microscope." And while probably relating to matters of the heart she could easily be talking about the impressive album she and her sister have put together - Sainthood.

This is without a doubt the tightest, most economical album of the Polaris bunch. Every note has been accounted for, every harmony justified. It's clear these girls are as serious as a heart attack when it comes to putting an album together. This is as polished and nimble as you can ask for in music, and clearly only the most essential pieces were included, anything extraneous was tossed aside.

But don't assume this means the music is cold or in any way detached. Despite their cut-throst approach to recording, these two can open up and bare their souls with the best of them. Heartbreakers like Night Watch and Sentimental Song are as autobiographical as they come and sound right at home peppered amongst a mixture of new wave jerkers and old school punk rockers.

Which is the other admirable thing about Tegan and Sara - their amazing knowledge and respect of musical history. There's a little something for everyone here whether you're looking for Thin White Duke era Bowie (Red Belt) or something approximating Social Distortion (Hell, Northshore).

Some people may not love the repetitive lyrics or the jerky guitar-synth tug of war but with the help of producer Chris Walla (Death Cab For Cutie) the sisters make it work almost every time and successfully too. They've got a knack for sniffing out the necessary parts and doing away with the rest.

This album could easily be announced next week as the Polaris winner and would have my full endorsement. With the exception of perhaps BSS and Kwarka, Tegan and Sara have assembled the most complete and cohesive album of the competition.

We truly did save the best for last.

Dave's Tegan and Sara Review

2010-09-14T12:33:00.000-07:00

Tegan and Sara seem to fill a void for people. Every album they release seems to be something that a certain group of people is craving at the time. For me Sainthood is filling the Riot GRRRL of the 90’s , it’s just evolved it for my tastes. I was fan of the L7s and Bikini Kills, the Eric’s Trips (Julie Doiron singing), 7 Year Bitch songs from the 90s – and this sounds like it was the adopted child of those bands – redheaded and all.

Upon first list Sainthood seems to be honouring the GRRRL era in a very appropriate way. Catchy, hooky, and full of sing-a-long songs that get stuck in your head for days at a time – that’s what really hooked me into this album, but it’s not what kept me around. Once I had let the album play top to bottom, I couldn’t believe it was over. Each song is short and sweet and really, really concise. It’s like original pop song kind of writing, where anything longer that 3 mins feels like an epic journey for Tegan and Sara – and eventually for listeners. It’s refreshing considering some of the recent releases that have enjoyed success with 4+ minutes of nonsense - this is a lean record, I like it.

It maybe trim, however, for me it all sounds very alike. It’s not that every song sounds like every other song, it’s the pace of the album feels the same top to bottom. With the exception of “Night Watch” and “Northshore” every song seems to be painting different pictures with the same pallet. Tegan and Sara don’t seem to be pushing themselves on the production side of things –focused on lyrics, they are able to sing a story with the best of the best in this country, but their music writing feels stagnant and stuck.

I can’t help but think that this album was released near the end of 2009. That it was able to survive the whole year, and still be considered one of the 10 best Canadian albums of the year and be short listed for Polaris Prize 2010 is really a testament to Tegan and Sara’s presence as a force within the industry - as they sing on “Alligator” “relentless yes it’s true”.

DAVE’S KEY TRACKS: ‘The Ocean’; ‘Alligator’; ‘Don’t Rush’; ‘On Directing’

Post #10: Tegan and Sara

2010-09-14T12:30:00.000-07:00

ALBUM: Sainthood

ARTIST: Tegan and Sara

HOMETOWN: Calgary, AB

Ryan's Shad review

2010-09-11T12:00:00.000-07:00

I didn't listen to a lot of rap when I was growing up, so I always feel a little out of my element when asked to judge or comment on it. It's not that I'm not willing to do it, just that I acknowledge that I'm not familiar with the history or form of it, so any opinion I have is somewhat limited.

That being said, there was a lot in this album that I really enjoyed, and a lot that doesn't fit in with the stereotypes that rap usually gets hung with. TSOL feels like a personal reflection that Shad's making on his life, and as a result it's humble, reflective, and spiritual, with healthy doses of sarcasm and self-deprecation peppered throughout it. Shad has clearly put a lot of himself into this album, and while it may at times seem to be rather patchwork and heavily produced (which, given that there were eight different producers working on different songs, is a fair claim), it's still clear that all those songs are presenting facets of the same author.

The end result is something very complex and interesting. Shad raps about racism and politics, about gender inequality and the negative effect it has on the rap scene, but also is someone who feels at home rapping about Green Lantern and “spelling out BOOBIES on the calculator.” Being able to balance those serious subjects with humour without detracting from either takes a lot of talent and experience; Shad might be a young man, but he's got an old soul, and it shows throughout the album.

Standout track: Rose Garden, which is also the first single off the record, has a nice, soulful backbeat that balances well with Shad's rhymes.

Gary's Shad Review

2010-09-10T12:33:00.000-07:00

Shad, I feel like we have a few things in common you and I. We both have a strong affinity for the 90s (as witnessed here) and we both think we're pretty handy with a clever turn of phrase. And where you're nominated for a Polaris Prize, I'm writing about the Polaris Prize. Ok this is starting to get tenuous.

So 9 weeks in and we're finally reviewing the first hip-hop album of the bunch (and no I do not count Radio Radio as anything like hip-hop). And call it what you will - a love letter, an homage or just straight influence - it's clear Shad's roots are firmly planted in 90s rap.

All the great touchstones are there - A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul and especially the Pharcyde (just check out the video for Rose Garden). Like his influences he doesn't take him self too seriously but at the same time can deliver an impactful message with his rhymes. Plus the production isn't mired with that repetitive Timberland bullshit that seems to infect so much hip hop these days, but instead drops some old-school bass lines and funky drums.

So then why didn't I like this album more?

For me it's good but never great. With the exception of maybe album opener Rose Garden, TSOL aims for far bigger things then it delivers. Many times Shad is too clever by half and goes to the same lyrical well too often (close like Glenn, hit College like the Danoforth, etc). And anyone who rhymes rappin with nappin is just lazy.

For me this album has too many of those moments where it almost reaches greatness but doesn't quite make it. Shad is clearly very talented and I feel like aligned with the right producer he could achieve that high water mark. But TSOL just isn't it.

Dave's Shad Review

2010-09-06T07:32:00.000-07:00

There is something about Canadian Hip Hop that prevents its from being as popular and widely accepted as it’s US counter part. Canadian TV went through the same thing recently, as have Canadian movies, and I’m sure other artists as well. Hell Canadian rock/alt scene went through it twice in the last 50 years. I guess there is something Canadian about not craving stories created by our fellow country people – but once we do, we can’t get enough of them. Shad’s TSOL is a perfect example of this for me.

TSOL was very quietly released across the country, pop stations didn’t jump on it right away, our video stations didn’t give spins, but slowly over the last few months it has percolated into mainstream sources (the same way K’naan’s album did this time last year). All I can say about that is – it is more than well deserved for this artist and album and everything it represents.

TSOL has solid production all over it, and that is cause enough for it to stand out alone. “Yaa I Get It” is a banger, and was a phenomenal choice as a first single. Throughout the album the beats don’t disappoint either “Keep Shinning” creates the vibe of female empowerment from the man’s point of view smoothly. “Rose Garden” takes a soul tilt and the production opens it’s arms wide to invite everyone into enjoy the track – and as far as I can tell it's working. There is also a wide diversity of production on TSOL, “At The Same Time” slows down and incorporates a slower, more minimalistic production sound – something that I could've used a little more of on TSOL at times.

For me though Shad’s lyrics are what stand out on TSOL, there is a modern flow, with a wink to his influences. It’s easy to see Shad has been influenced by Kanye West and his style of rapping about self-awareness, but where Shad really shines, is where he gives us his insecurities and his faults without apologizing for them. “Rose Garden” is all about this – “I promise I’ll be with you no matter what the issue, and there will be some issues to address.” As a lead track, Shad lays it on the line for us – proving he’s not here to hide anything of himself on this album. “A Good Name” takes us inside the origins of who he is even more, exploring the personal relationship with his father, his name, and his heritage.

I truly believe this is a solid piece of art from top to bottom, and I hope that it gets the ears it deserves. But as I write this, I’m taken into my own insecurities, and do I like this because it tips its hat to the hip hop I grew up with - Tribe Called Quest, Roots, and The Pharcyde? Or does it sound so different to the hip-hop I listen to now that it’s refreshing? Either way I still believe it’s a solid album top to bottom and that it easily sits in the top three on this list for me and is a real contender for my choice this year.

DAVE’S KEY TRACK: ‘Rose Garden’; ‘A Good Name’; ‘Yaa I Get It’; ‘Keep Shinnig’; ‘At The Same Time’

POST #9: SHAD

2010-09-06T07:31:00.001-07:00

ARTIST: Shad

ALBUM: TSOL

HOMETOWN: London, ON

Ryan's Sadies Review

2010-09-03T17:26:00.001-07:00

There's a unique challenge to being an established act. Being a new act is challenging as well, of course, because it's hard to get exposure and you always end up getting compared to other artists. Being established is challenging too, though, because you not only are compeeting against other artists, you're also competing against the younger version of yourself, and you have to make music that's different from the old stuff, but not too different, because you want a sense of continuity to what you're doing. When you're as prolific a group of artists as The Sadies – Darker Circles is the band's eighth album in the eleven years they've been together – it's got to be even more difficult.

So how do you meet that challenge? Again, if you're the Sadies, you just don't worry about it and go do your thing - making kickass collections of tunes. If you've listened to the Sadies before, you have a rough idea of what to expect here – alt-country that still manages to have a lot of raucous energy to it, and which keeps your hips swinging just enough to keep you paying attention to the lyrics without you getting lost in the dance. There's not a lot of “innovation” here over the format of their older music, but that's largely because they've found a format that works, and there's enough “new”in the lyrics to make up for it. These are songs that are relevatory, reflective, and resonant – songs of experience, songs of being on the road, songs of real life and all the messiness that goes with it. If you like the feel of something that's familiar, but new at the same time, this is an album for you.

In short: this was a really solid album, full of songs that got me thinking and got my bum shaking at the same time. It's exactly what I needed to listen to this week, especially after being disappointed with the last couple of albums we've looked at on the blog.

Gary's The Sadies Review

2010-09-01T19:26:00.000-07:00

It's been along time since you would associat the terms A side and B side when to an album. There's no need to flip a record anymore or turn the tape and so we think of albums as one cohesive idea. But there was a time when a band would take that brief intermission while you ceremonially flipped to side B and switch up the sound or set you off on a completely new musical journey.

I mention this because knowingly or not The Sadies have given a nod to this bygone era with their album Darker Circles.

To wit, tracks 1 through 5 are pure Canadiana, embracing a decidedly 90s alt-country sound that puts me in mind of Blue Rodeo and Prairie Oyster. The songs are rich and deeply emotive and instantly draw you in.

Cut Corners and Another Day Again are instantly memorable, while Tell Here What I Said is a gorgeous love letter to someone long gone.

Meanwhile tracks 6-11 take a decidedly different turn opting for more of a 70s AM Gold feel. The country swagger is still very much present (maybe more than I would have liked) but now tinged with a little honky-tonk and that warm glow of the 70s . Gordon Lightfoot would be proud.

For some this stark contrast in style could be seen as jarring or even off-putting and they'd have a case. This sometimes feels like two albums almost at odds with each other. Some will embrace the throw-back country twang of side B while others will see it as a confusing and unanticipated left turn. Count me in that second group.

But at the end of the day that doesn't matter because it's clear The Sadies made exactly the album they wanted to, split personality and all. A fully complete Side A and Side B.

Dave's The Sadies Review

2010-08-30T06:44:00.000-07:00

You often hear screenwriters talking about how a song or album can inspire an entire movie. Just one song? The entire film is built around that tune? Darker Circles by The Sadies is an album of those songs. As you listen, scenarios of filmic glow will come to life in your minds eye. You'll see a smoke filed bar, a crowded subway platform and the countryside of a land where nothing good has happened in a long time. The music creates this world perfectly – I think it’s an achievement of any band to help inspire ideas within other people’s minds

As body of musical work Darker Circles grabs you. From the first note it speaks to the listeners. Lyrics address us directly- constantly using the pronoun 'you' without any description of who that is specifically. It sounds like it matters more than anything else we've been listening to as culture.

The Sadies have been making great tunes for as long as I've been interested in great tunes, but Darker Circles seems to put moments in a bottle unlike anything that I've heard from them. The album is full of rock 'n' roll swagger, with country insecurities and that's not even the best part about it- the best part is how comfortable they sound playing these songs. This is the album The Sadies was meant to make.

As a Polaris Prize shortlister - Darker Circles achieved something for me that very few albums on this list have - it makes me forget I’m listening, because it so good to just hear it.

DAVE’S KEY TRACKS: ‘Another Year Again’; ‘Tell Her What I Said’; ‘Postcards’; ‘Violet and Jeffery Lee’; ’10 More Songs’

POST #8: The Sadies

2010-08-30T06:42:00.000-07:00

ARTIST: The Sadies

ALBUM: Darker Circles

HOMETOWN: Toronto, ON

Ryan's Radio Radio review

2010-08-27T10:41:00.000-07:00

I'm going to start this with a bit of a digression that's not really related to music at all. I'm a bit of a cinema fan, and have always had something of an interest in international cinema. When I was in high school, and first started getting into more independent and 'arthouse' type films, I would often encounter an opinion from other cinephiles that international film was just better than what North America produces. I mean, after all, Hollywood is happy to put out schlocky Schwarzenegger movies and Pauly Shore comedies, but internationally you get real filmmakers like Felini and Kurasowa.

I was young at the time, so it was a convincing argument, and I felt that way until I finished school, and started living in a really ethnically diverse neighbourhood. The local independently-owned cinema wanted to cater to the different communities that lived in the neighbourhood, so they showed a lot of Polish and Southeast Asian films. When I first heard that they were doing this, I thought it was going to be great. Turns out, though, that what the local communities wanted was mostly cheesy action movies and romantic comedies – just ones in Polish, Tagalog, or Hindi rather than in English. It taught me an important lesson: that there is no relationship between nationality and quality, and that artists from any culture are just as capable of the odd stinker as those that I grew up surrounded by.

Which brings us to Radio Radio's Belmundo Regal. I'd been listening to more Francophone music over the past year – Polaris nominees like Malajube and Karkwa, and other stuff like Couer de Pirate and Caracol. Listening to those artists, it's easy to fall into a trap that thinks that the residents of la belle province are just better at this music thing than the rest of us, especially with the likes of Drake and Justin Beiber being so popular among English-language music fans. This made me oddly thankful to listen to Belmundo Regal because I absolutely did not connect to it at all – it seemed like the same kind of cheesy mainstream rap that, normally fills up the charts on top 40 radio and get scornfully dismissed by critics.

So I'm thankful that I've listened to it, but I can't say it's any good, and I'm in agreement with both Dave and Gary in wondering how it got on the list of Polaris nominees. I can fully understand French albums being on the Polaris shortlist, and rap albums, but I just cannot understand this album being there, especially when much more worthy albums (XXXX by You Say Party We Say Die and Hannah Georgas' This Is Good, for example) didn't.

Gary's Radio Radio review

2010-08-26T05:08:00.000-07:00

I appreciate that all music is subjective and that judging art is purely an individual effort. I can only tell you what I think of an album and how it made me feel. But at the same time I also believe something really bad is universally bad, ie- Michael Bay movies.

So with that intro it should come as no surprise that I didn’t dig Radio Radio. It’s unintentionally silly and ridiculous. It almost tries to emulate the Brooklyn dance-rock scene of bands like Animal Collective and Digital Projektors (oddly two other bands I think are terrible) but with a Weird Al Yankovic twist. This album is just a mess.

There is good amongst the bad, like some of the hooks in some of the songs, but not nearly enough to make up for the fact that this album seems ill conceived.

Every year there’s one album that appears on the Polaris list that's inclusion baffles me. Mostly because the rest are so good and I have trouble believing the judges got it so wrong but also because there were so many better Canadian albums. There’s no question which category Radio Radio fits into.

I can’t help but think someone like Jason Collett listens to this album and thinks what the fuck? Why them but not me?

Dave's Radio Radio Review

2010-08-23T07:15:00.001-07:00

At one of my old gigs, not so long ago I was sitting and small talking with a buddy at his desk, and the mail arrived. He opened a large manila envelope and out came the Radio Radio Belmundo Regal CD. Both of us were immediately drawn to the artwork. Those colours were so perfectly washed together over that gorgeous tall ship. We knew the music was going to be something remarkable - we imagined it sounded like Phoenix or Belle & Sebastian. Something that looks this well thought out has to sound equally as good right?

Then we put the album into his computer. We looked at each other puzzled and perplexed - "what the fuck is this?" he said. "There is no way the guys who designed this artwork make this music" I proclaimed. We skipped to the next track - still the same reaction. This went on for the entire tracklisting. We thought there was some kind of mistake with the manufacturing of the album - so we asked someone else in the office to put their copy on - same music. Same reactions.

That's Radio Radio, it's just so unexpected. They made a party hip hop album that addresses such issues as metro-sexuals, packing for vacations, and of course; girls - but they do it in Acadian. Acadian is a hybrid of English and French, and for all of it's historical importance to this nation just sounds ugly.

Radio Radio are a testament to the power and reach of hip hop and urban culture in general - how three Acadian kids were able to gain enough influence and exposure to an expression of black culture, then to adopt it and make it their own is a great example of how big urban culture has grown over the years. When I read that back out loud it sound like the tagline to bad movie - Yikes!

Radio Radio isn't for everyone - it sounds like something that fell off of Jersey Shore soundtrack and landed on this list. At times it's clever and witty, like a high school wise cracker, but at others it's trying to be something it's not and it shows. The imitation of American Hip Hop techniques wears thin about halfway through Belmundo Regal, for my tastes the production isn’t there to support the act for the whole album. But I also feel left out of something – I feel like I walked into the conversation late, or missed the set up to a joke – because everyone else seems to be getting it on some other level. If that’s you – enjoy it.

POST #7: RADIO RADIO

2010-08-22T18:09:00.000-07:00

ARTIST: Radio Radio

ALBUM: Belmundo Regal

HOMETOWN: Nova Scotia (now based in Montreal, PQ)

Ryan's Owen Palett Review

2010-08-20T15:06:00.000-07:00

A few years ago Time Magazine put together a list of the most important gadgets of the past 35 years, and one of the top ones on the list was Sony's Walkman. It's easy now to underestimate how influential the Walkman was, but there's an argument that it entirely changed the way we appreciate music – albums had become truly portable after its introduction, and the Walkman allowed people to use their favourite albums as the soundtrack of experiences in their lives. The counter-argument of this, though, is that it's changed it in a way that has ruined music as an art form: if music is a soundtrack of an experience, rather than an experience itself, it no longer carries the same artistic weight that it was for centuries.

It's not an argument that I'm fond of; I think that the question of whether or not something is 'art' is more dependant on the circumstances under which it's created, rather than those under which it is consumed. But the changes that technology brings to art, and the idea of music as a soundtrack, rather than an experience, is something that has been weighing on my mind of late. This is especially true as I've been thinking of several of the Polaris Prize nominees that I've been listening to over the past weeks – I thought of it when listening to Besnard Lakes and Caribou, but listening to Owen Palatt's Heartland has brought that line of thought to the forefront more than either of those earlier albums did.

It sounds dismissive to say that, and I don't want to be completely dismissive of Heartland, because on a technical level it's a well-recorded and performed album, and it's clear that Owen Palett and the rest of the people working on the album knew what they were doing. But the entire thing is reminisent, to me, like the soundtrack of a Disney film, especially in songs like Midnight Detectives and The Great Elsewhere. From what I've read that isn't Palett's goal, and that he was actually attempting to create this intricate, layered narrative that deals with all sorts of philosophical and spiritual questions. While it's all well and good to do that, what Palett didn't do was create anything that would draw me into its narrative or force me to ask those questions. Instead I'd rather be doing something else while listening to this.

Gary's Owen Pallet Review

2010-08-18T06:29:00.000-07:00

Sufjan Stevens. There I said it, now we can get on with the review and ignore the comparisons from here on out. Because while there are definite resemblances to the Chicago-native's blend of classical meets
power pop meets space-rock, talking about it during this review does
no justice to the supremely unique and awe-inspiring freshness with
which Owen Pallett approaches music.

To call it theatrical would be an understatement as would calling it
emotional. This is music that lives and breathes and demands you take
notice. It is an album of grace as it transitions from one superbly
crafted song to another. It is a the same time forceful; grabbing you
by the shirt and whisking you away to some insane carnival.

But while no one would classify this as mainstream in any sense and
this is not an album that would see regular rotation on my iPod, like
all art it is compelling. It defies you not to listen further and
become enthralled with its inherent beauty.

And the lyrics - oh the lyrics.

Stories are being unfolded here in beautiful emotive poetry for you to
linger on and dissect piece by piece. And as Dave mentioned, there is
clearly a sense of whimsy as Pallett seems to break the fourth wall
from time to time and speak directly to us, the listener; commenting
on the tale like some kind of vaudevillian narrator. When in Keep The
Dog quiet he quips "This place is a narrative mess" you wonder - is he
talking to me?

As we move into the midway point of our Polaris reviews it becomes
evident that these artists have been chosen for their sheer inherent,
god-given talent. These group and artists don't merely write songs,
they nurture and develop them like caring parents. And no more is this
on display than with Heartland. Not knowing a great deal about Pallett
one gets the sense that he is perfectionist at his core and the songs
are better for it.

Ironically as a parent myself this is the first album so far that -
with its lullaby-like tendencies - I would happily play for my 9
month-old son. Yet another reason to applaud Pallett; his appeal with
such a varying age demographic.

Dave's Owen Pallet Review

2010-08-16T16:59:00.000-07:00

Before the review gets underway - just wanted to say I've been lobster fishing in the Northumberland Strait for the last week, and have loved it. Here's a pic, to prove it. Now onto the review

For me Owen Pallet has always been a unique question on the musical landscape – is he pop music evolved? Or is he accessible high art? One in the same we could say really.

For Heartland, Owen Pallet seems to be working on a higher level than I expected of him to. There are layers of sounds, experiments, and textures that upon first listen for me were frustrating, but the more I listened to them the more I listened for them. I must admit, I didn’t think Heartland would be as intense to listen to as it has become for me. It’s really evolved into an experience over the last week.

What strikes me about this album more than anything is the mood of it. It has every right to be pretentious and inaccessible, but it’s welcoming and warm. It gives a humorless vibe to it, but it’s got a tongue in it’s cheek at times. Heartland is full of heart, and is one of the more “human” albums I’ve listened to in a long time.

For Owen Pallet, this album is an accomplishment – he’s been hiding under the Final Fantasy moniker for years, and working for other people (writing, producing, composing) successfully for years. Heartland feels like the true man behind all that, finally with enough wisdom and confidence to present himself to the world. It’s admirable really. And it’s very appropriate that the last track on the album is What Do You Think Will Happen Now?

DAVE’S KEY TRACKS: ‘The Great Elsewhere”; ‘E Is for Estranged’; ‘Red Sun No. 5’; ‘Oh Heartland, Up Yours’

POST #6: Owen Pallet

2010-08-16T16:11:00.001-07:00

ARTIST: Owen Pallet

ALBUM: Heartland

HOMETOWN: Toronto, ON

Ryan's Dan Mangan Review

2010-08-13T13:00:00.000-07:00

Reviewing works of art can be a tricky business. It’s not like, for example, reviewing garden tools. If you’re looking at a hose you’ve basically got one question to ask yourself - does it effectively transport water from the spigot to where you need it to go? With artistic works, though, half the writing that’s ever been done on them has been focused on what art what it should do - is it entertainment? A soul pouring itself out to others? Is it a sign of self-actualization, or just another business?

I’ve never met Dan Mangan, but if Nice, Nice, Very Nice is any indication, I’d be willing to bet that he’s a man who believes that art is a tool of memory. That’s the feeling I got from listening to the album, at least; collectively they tell the story of someone who’s been away from home far too long, but who’s afraid to come home because he’s worried that either he’s changed, or home has. So he’s writing down all of his experiences, warts and all, to make sure he won’t forget them by the time he’s gotten old enough to appreciate them. And that’s all it is - this is not an album that tries to impress you with fancy instrumentation or complex key changes, or even trying to get you to pay attention with snappy hooks or singalong choruses. Instead it just sits there, existing on it’s own terms,a chronicle of its singer’s experiences. And while it may be cliche to say it, sometimes that’s enough.

I mentioned a few weeks ago that I’m a fan of meaningful lyrics, and this week was a big treat for me on that front. Mangan’s lyrics seem reminiscent of the Weakerthans in their more intimate moments. When I first listened to “You Silly Git” or “Some People’, for example, it seemed almost like I shouldn’t be there - like I was intruding on someone’s private conversation. Eventually, though, you realize that you are welcome there - Mangan recorded and published the album, after all, so he must be okay with sharing it with you. That simple, unassuming lyrical honesty is at the same time quaint and refreshing, and makes a strong case for Nice, Nice, Very Nice as a Polaris heavyweight.

For Dan Mangan, though, I get the feeling winning would just be one more memory to right a song about.

Gary's Dan Mangan Review

2010-08-11T07:17:00.000-07:00

Nice, Nice, Very Nice might be the most appropriately titled album in this entire list of Polaris Prize nominees and perhaps of all time (unless Kenny G named any of his albums Generic Horn Music for Awkward White People). Dan Mangan’s offering is exactly that – nice. It’s the type of album that elicits words like nifty and neat and reminds me of music your mother would strongly approve of.

It’s safe to say no envelopes were pushed or animals harmed in the making of this album.

That’s not to say it’s a bad album by any stretch, but I – unlike Dave – felt zero emotional connection with this album (which is the fascinating part about this blogging process). Maybe under different circumstances, or pitted against less impactful Polaris Prize fare (like this year’s incredible line-up), Mangan would have stood out a little more from the pack.

The album begins promisingly enough, with Road Regrets eliciting a little toe-tapping here and there, but that’s about it. Robots follows and wastes little time in breaking out the clumsy clichés where robots are equated to heartbroken lovers, ending with a saccharin sing-a-long (robots need love too).

And such are Mangan’s lyrics – rarely treading into imagery and allegory, preferring the more heart-on-the-sleeve approach of putting it all out there. And when he does use metaphor it’s usually with slightly cheesy results (please see aforementioned Robots).

It’s also a bizarre album tonally ranging from 90s era Barenaked Ladies (Some People, Sold) to the Pogues (You Silly Git) but cohesively held together with that blunt lyrical style. And perhaps this is what keeps me from getting to deeply involved with this album. Mangan is unabashedly open and honest with his words and some people (ie – me) find this off-putting.

I should reiterate that this isn’t a bad album (which explains its inclusion in the Polaris Prize shortlist), and the worst thing you could say about it is that it’s corny and maybe a bit middle-of-the-road (a serving of vanilla ice cream with a side of white bread). Mangan is clearly a talented musician and songwriter and if that busking acoustic thing is your cup of tea have I got an album for you. But with so many of the bands on this year’s list creating soundscapes as complicated as the Taj Mahal, Mangan’s album sounds a little like a tree fort in comparison.

And I have to say I gain no pleasure from saying this, because Dan Mangan seems like a nice guy. Nice, nice, very nice indeed.

Dave's Dan Mangan Review

2010-08-09T06:11:00.000-07:00

It would be easy to come up with any number of clichés that could describe the way I feel about Dan Mangan’s Nice, Nice, Very Nice: it feels like an old pair of jeans, it’s like a prefect cup of coffee, it’s comfortable and it’s home. But it’s more than all of those combined - for me this album is simply honest.

Dan Mangan seems to have caught a magical piece of himself and put it on this recording. Robots is the track that makes everyone take notice, which it should – if there was a Polaris Prize for song, it would get my vote 100%. In Robots Dan sings ‘ring the bells that still can ring and sing your stupid head off to the ones who are not listening.’ That is just what that this album is – it’s Dan Mangan, playing the bells that work for him while singing his head off. And it’s magical from top to bottom.

The bells that Dan plays are simple narrative lyrics, sung through a warm smoked voice, combined with arrangements that include at times violins (You Silly Git) a stand up bass and what I think sounds like a washboard (Sold). But it all works, because Mangan took that leap as an artist that you often hear singer/songwriter types talk about – doing what might not be expected, but what their heart is telling them to do. The best sound on this album is the sound of Dan Mangan believing in what he’s playing and singing for you at every turn.

It’s easy to dismiss this as another folksy arty Canadian singer/songwriter, but there is tons of great things that happen throughout this album. I’ve spent a lot of time with Nice, Nice, Very Nice, and every time I learn to love something more about it. Today it might be just one lyric, and tomorrow it might be an arrangement – but it seems I can find something new in every listen – and for that the album is special and to me a remarkable piece of work, from artist who you can believe in – for albums to come I hope.

DAVE'S KEY TRACKS: 'Robots'; 'Sold'; 'Tina's Glorious Comeback'; 'Basket' - but try them all, each one is solid.

POST #5: Dan Mangan

2010-08-09T06:03:00.000-07:00

ARTIST: Dan Mangan

ALBUM: Nice Nice Very Nice

HOMETOWN: Vancouver B.C

Ryan's Karkwa Review

2010-08-06T14:57:00.000-07:00

If you listen to enough albums, you'll realize that a lot of them come with certain barriers. Sometimes those barriers come from the musicians themselves, if they've made a really dense or inaccessible album, but usually those barriers come from the listener: you don't like previous work by the artist, or you're not fond of the genre in question, or any of a hundred other reasons. To an extent those barriers are necessary, because there isn't enough time in the day to listen to every song by every artist that comes out, and you have to make decisions on what to listen to and what to skip. If you're not careful, though, those barriers can make you miss something excellent.

Karkwa's Les Chemins de Verre arrived in the review queue this week, with a fairly big barrier in front of it: the album's in French, and I don't speak the language much beyond what I learned in Grade 9 French class. This is a bit compounded by the fact that I'm at heart a lover of lyrics, and so the part of the album I most want to dissect is the one that's inaccessible to me.

Thankfully, though, it doesn't matter. Les Chemins de Verre is a good enough album that it doesn't merely climb over any language barrier you might have, it leaps over it in a single bound. From the opening track, Le pyromane, it's got you, giving you enough to keep listening while leaving enough unsaid that you're hanging on every chord change and transition in the album. From there, we go on a bit of a musical odyssey – through tracks like Marie te pleures, Les Enfants de Beyrouth, and Au-dessus de la tete de Lilijune, Karkwa explores several different genres and styles in a way that shows that they're familiar with all of them, and yet each one still has a distinctive stamp on them – you still know you're listening to a Karkwa song with each one.

It's an album with a lot of layers to it – I've been listening to it all week, and I still feel like I've only scratched the surface with it. And, while it's layered, it's still very accessible – you could jump into it with a single quick listen and still get a lot out of it. But trust me, with that single quick listen, you're going to want to come back for more.

Gary's Karkwa Review

2010-08-04T05:43:00.000-07:00

It would seem that in the last few years La Belle Province has thrown down the musical gauntlet to the rest of the country and maybe even the alt-rock music scene – a sonic warning to heed their ability. These are bands you should take seriously, very seriously indeed.

For years, acts like The Stills, Wolf Parade, Arcade Fire, Stars, Patrick Watson, Plants and Animals and – the band that should have won last year’s Polaris Prize – Malajube, have rolled out of Quebec in a steady stream.

And now here comes Karkwa. From the French word for a quiver of arrows (thank you Wikipedia), this is a band with a lot in its arsenal (see how I cleverly related their name to a character trait).

But to imply they’ve just arrived is inaccurate. Les Chemins De Verre is the fourth effort from a band that creates catchy, instantly likeable songs, but will consistently surprise you. And for me this is easily the best part of listening – like a Christopher Nolan film, you’re never going to know what happens next.

For some, this is a daunting, even scary experience. Certain people need the comfort of blatant chord change and a chorus that rides in with ample warning. So it’s rare that a band can still surprise you with their musical choices but without sacrificing pop sensibilities.

Dave alluded to comparisons with Radiohead and Sigur Ros, and he’s not wrong. You can identify those same textures and layers that have become staples for those bands. But if you listen very carefully, you’ll find that Karkwa are more like musical chameleons. They don’t really sound like any of those bands but more like variations of their style.

Take for instance Marie, Tu Pleurs which will remind you Bon Iver if he had a slightly sunnier disposition. Or maybe you’ll find something akin to the Shins in L’Acouphune, but only sort of. This is the wonder of the album, identifiable tones mixed with genuine surprise. But I’ll concede that this could also be its downfall. With such an eclectic mix of styles and tones, it can be hard to anchor yourself to the album as whole.

However the fact remains, that this is seriously good music, from seriously good musicians and I for one am watching the 401 for the next great export.

Other provinces, be on alert - something wicked this way comes.

Dave's Karkwa Review

2010-08-02T13:34:00.000-07:00

Karkwa Les Chemins De Verre, the first French language album we run across on the short list year. Welcome friend – you are refreshing, if you are not anything else.

For me it’s always interesting listening to an album en francais – I’m able to piece parts of the lyrics together, and I usually get limited by my own ignorance halfway through, but the music always keeps me listening.

That is no different with Karkwa – the album starts with a subtle, yet symbolic sound of a fire crackling and popping, or is that vinyl hiss? Not matter, because before you are able to indentify what it is, the lead track explodes out of the speakers and thus your journey begins.

Artistically, every song on Les Chemins De Verre sounds like a big statement, something that Radiohead and Sigur Ros achieve on albums these days (bands Karkwa are often compared with BTW), and something Coldplay and U2 attempt to achieve. However there is more of a mass, pop sensibility to this particular album. To the Karkwa’s credit they achieve a unified message here, without getting hokey and preachy about their art.

This album has something for everybody – “Dors Dans Mon Sang” is a haunting dark piano driven tune, “Marie Tu Pleures” is a sing a long, hand clap–a-thon, “La Piqure” is drenched in sentimental angst. But at the root of every song is an appeal, that speaks to listeners – it’s one of the most accessible French albums I’ve ever heard. With that being said, I'm really indifferent to it on a whole. I think it's good, but would I suggest you run out and get it or not get it? No either way.

Karkwa, has been able to demonstrate exactly what music is meant to do - break down barriers, in this case, they break down language. Le Chemins De Verre” maybe a French album but you don’t have to know the language to understand the message and emotion used to create it. Will it stand up over time, or will it just be the gateway to different artists doing the same thing? Time will judge that one.

DAVE'S KEY TRACKS: 'L'acouphene'; 'Dors Dans Mon Sang'; '28 Jours', 'Marie Tu Pleures'

POST #4: Karkwa

2010-08-02T13:29:00.000-07:00

Artist: Karkwa

Album: Les Chemins De Verre

Hometown: Montreal, PQ

Ryan's Caribou Review

2010-07-30T14:01:00.000-07:00

Have you ever had the experience of being in a confined space with two people speaking a language that you don't understand? It can be an incredibly frustrating experience, even if you're not trying to pay attention to the conversation. What can be even worse, though, is when those people are speaking a language where you know a few words of it, because you'll inevitably hear those few words that you know, and then you'll end up paying attention to the conversation, 99% of which you don't understand, because that's just the way the human brain works.

That experience was the same one that I had while listening to Caribou's Swim. There were a few things that I recognized here and there – dashes of Daft Punk here and there, and a healthy dose of Underworld's Beaucoup Fish album – but for the most part I just didn't get it.

No doubt that's my fault – I haven't really listened to much electronic music in the better part of a decade, and by not listening to it probably means that I've lost the ability to judge the quality of it, because I'm used to expecting a certain set of things from a song, and the types of things in 'good' electronic music are different from what I expect. But listening in as an outsider, there was really nothing here that pulled me in or interested me. If I had to pick a favourite track on the album it would most likely be the lead track, Odessa, but for the most part I felt like the songs kind of blended together and didn't really stand apart from each other.

Gary's Caribou Review

2010-07-28T05:24:00.000-07:00

On more than one occasion I’ve seen my wife climb into a pair of shoes that looked fantastic but were clearly uncomfortable. And after a long day of immense pain, she pulls these twin torture devices from her feet with relief, and asks herself was it worth it?

This is basically what listening to Caribou’s Swim is akin too.

We start comfortably enough with opening track Odessa and its perfect blend of trashy glam and bubble gum pop, the kind you would hear in any Brooklyn club. With wispy vocals and Daft Punk pianos, Odessa starts things off on a high note. Sadly, the rest of the album never quite achieves it again. After that the feet start to cramp and the shoes start to pinch.

Second track Sun is repetitive and annoying with Caribou repeating the word Sun incessantly and as the blisters set in, you’re suddenly starting to regret your choice. But then by track 3 (Kali) we’re back to this infectious dozy dance-pop and you continue on.

And this is how the rest of the album progresses, leap-frogging between catchy numbers and horribly forgettable ones. For whatever reason your forced to pay the penance of suffering through one boring song before getting to the enjoyable (if not interesting) one.

This is a tough album to love. Hell, this is a tough album to like – at all. Frankly it’s too much work and the payoff is never all that satisfying. Most of the songs feel half done and aimless while the few remaining tracks give you the faint hope things are going to get better.

They don’t.

There are some solid songs on their own (the aforementioned Odessa and Found Out) but buried amongst Swim’s other tracks, it’s just not worth rummaging around to find them.

I wouldn’t go as far as saying this was a bad album, but it sure isn’t one you’ll instantly love. It’s going to take a few listens. And by the time you’re done listening and start rubbing those blisters, you’ll think was it worth it?

The answer is probably not.

Dave's Caribou Review

2010-07-26T06:22:00.000-07:00

Caribou’s Swim is a journey through a tapestry of sounds – it will either find it enriching or it will drive you completely bloody insane. The following is my opinion of Caribou’s Swim.

In the late 90’s and early 00’s there was a club scene that was hooked on funk driven side of house music. These club kids prided themselves on being more mature, more refined –they wouldn’t let themselves be pigeonholed with the other eccentric club kids of the time. They searched for that DJ or producer that could deliver that magical beat, either created of found, that lives somewhere between jazz, funk, and 80’s synth rock. Dan Snaith as Caribou has done that for them on Swim

Outside of two or three songs Swim is a hard album to listen to, it’s not very accessible, it’s doesn’t allow simple listening. You are there not to participate but to simply listen. Swim is cold that way, but it can be argued that techno/house is always emotionally detached from it’s listener. There are lots of moments on Swim where it feel like you are listening to an experimental that wasn’t brought to full completion at times. The hypothesis could never match the results so the scientist just sort of gave up.

However if you can listen to this again and just do nothing but listen, like those sophisticated club kids, you’ll be chasing it down, listening each time for a new sound, and new element, and you’ll realize it has more emotion than a gospel song. It will find it’s place in your mind, and your heart, and you’ll come back to it, not all of it, but enough to remind you of the power of sounds layered one on top of each other.

What separated this album for me is that it sounds holistic through and through. Caribou, doesn’t change the instruments they use from previous recordings, they just change the limits that they are used wtithin. It’s a major step for any artist, but for Dan Snaith this is what he does, pushes his limits, the goal is not pass or fail, its the journey. As it should be – so enjoy it. It will enrich.

DAVE'S KEY TRACKS: 'Odessa'; 'Leave House'; 'Lalibela'

POST #3: Caribou

2010-07-26T06:18:00.000-07:00

ARTIST: Caribou

ALBUM: Swim

FROM: Dundas, ON

Ryan's Broken Social Scene Review

2010-07-23T20:10:00.000-07:00

I studied psychology as a university student, and one of the concepts that most fascinated me while doing that was that of the gestalt – that in combining things you ended up with something that was more than the sum of the individual parts. It interested me especially because growing up as a fan of rock and roll music, I was already familiar with the concept of the supergroup, and knew that it was often seen as an anti-gestalt; ask anyone, after all, and they'd tell you that supergroups, from Humble Pie to the Traveling Wilburys, always ended up being a disappointment compared to what one would expect from the lineups assembled therein.

Broken Social Scene seems to have bucked that trend in the history of supergroups (and yes, BSS fans, I know they don't like that term, but if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, they're a supergroup). Not only does the collective make music that gets acclaimed just as much as those of the individual members, but they've managed to hold on to their indie cred and kept the hipsters loyal despite becoming incredibly popular, both internationally and at home. We'll have to see how long that last point lasts, though, because with Forgiveness Rock Record, Broken Social Scene have made a mainstream rock album.

Don't take “mainstream” in the pejorative sense – they're not Nickelback, or anything, but compared to the other BSS stuff that I'm familiar with, it's a lot hookier, a lot more accessible, and filled with summer radio singles like Chase Scene and Texaco Bitches, while seeming to be deviod of a lot of what would appeal to that hipster crowd. This wasn't the Broken Social Scene that I was familiar with, but honestly for me that's a good thing, as I've never been a fan of the group, despite liking a lot of the individuals in it. Part of that is because, paradoxically, I've always been kind of fond of supergroups, because from the perspective of a fan they always seemed like fun projects – people who just happened to be amazingly popular musicians getting together and just jamming out. I know that they weren't often actually like that, but that's the myth of them I've always had, and myths are important in rock and roll.

Part of why I've never been able to really appreciate Broken Social Scene is because they defied that myth; because, despite actually being friends who got together and jammed, they never seemed like that, either in the image they chose to present publicly or in the music that they were creating. With Forgiveness, though, BSS finally seems ready to take their pretensions and “art is serious business” attitudes and leave them in the coat check, choosing to become the mainstream rock supergroup that they were always destined to become.

Gary's Broken Social Scene Review

2010-07-20T10:00:00.000-07:00

Broken Social Scene has always seemed like Peter Pan and the Lost Boys for me- a collective of friends first and musicians second, with Kevin Drew in the titular role. BSS make urgent, frenetic sounds with child-like zeal. They seem to always be chasing the music, trying desperately to capture the ideas before they evaporate into thin air.

These are the truths of Broken Social Scene. These are the things we know.

Until now.

With Forgiveness Rock Record we’re suddenly introduced to a less chaotic, more contemplative band of older, wiser musicians. But no less urgent!

This is undoubtedly BSS’s most accessible album to date. And while many scenesters (read: fucking hipster douchebags) will throw this around them like a scarlet letter, it’s definitely not a bad thing. There are some amazingly well written – nay, crafted – songs on this album and it’s crawling with hooks and potential singles (Texico Bitches should be the summer jam for 2010). Soaring pop melodies and sun-soaked harmonies wind their way through the songs and eventually into your head – where you’ll be left singing them over and over again.

What makes this album so successful is that it feels fresh – like nothing you’ve heard before. There isn’t a real definitive influence to point to or reference. BSS has managed to create the most unique and listenable album I’ve heard in ages and yet at the exact same time something recognizable and familiar.

I listen to songs like Forced to Love or Art House Director and can easily envision a summer classic circa 1977. Or feel the dramatic impact of Meet Me in the Basement and think that maybe I’ve heard that riff before. It’s these contradictory feelings that make this such an enjoyable album to experience. And for a band built around contradictions (beautiful/ugly, order/chaos) this seems fitting.

The big reason Forgiveness Rock Record feels so unique and inspires repeat listens is probably because it feels like a really great mixtape. The kind of mix your friend would have made – you know, the one who’s well ahead of the curve, knows all the cutting-edge songs and listens to bands you’ve never heard of. Yeah that guy – he makes a great mixtape.

I’ve flip-flopped for a week on whether the album is about 4 songs too long. And while you could argue that a trimmer, leaner album would make for easier consumption, it still manages to keep you engaged for all of its 14 tracks.

In case you hadn’t gleaned from this review yet – I loved this album. It’s as close to a perfect record as I’ve heard in a long time. I was excited listening to it - excited to tell people about it, excited to talk about it, excited to hear it again. BSS has demonstrated that growing up doesn’t mean growing old and that you can create a new and unique experience without completely eschewing rock and roll conventions.

P.S. - I have a feeling you'll be hearing this track a lot.

Dave's Broken Social Scene Post

2010-07-19T07:35:00.000-07:00

I had grand ideas for this review but it seems the album didn't inspire me as much as thought it would. That's not saying it's a bad album by any means, this is maybe the most I've enjoyed BSS in ages. (read that however you want). It’s just that well, it didn’t move me the way I expected it to. It entertained me. It provided and escape for me. It made me tap my toes and sing along with it. Everything I want from a record, but it didn’t completely inspire me.

Forgiveness Rock Record opens with a stunning track: World Sick, and is filled with gems like Texico Bitches, Sentimental X's and Sweetest Kill – when it rocks it really rocks. But also it feels like it takes time to meander along with itself on tracks Highway Slipper Jam, Meet Me In the Basement, and Me and My Hand.

I can't really blame the BSS gang for posturing either. After success as a rotating all-star band, the solo stuff that is coming out of BSS Camp is some of the best music this country has seen in the last two years. So if they feel the need to strut like a peacock a bit. Go ahead.

Forgiveness Rock Record hits it’s stride perfectly when it finds that magical musical place where the spacey synth comes together with heavy beat and you can feel like influences are swirling around each other to create a perfect storm of what everyone loves about BSS. They top it off with a sing-a-long type chorus and bridge – just add a crowd and stir. It’s really a well-produced album more than anything – with a perfect mix of sounds colliding and not too much of anything, or too little of something.

I feel Broken Social Scene has earned the respect not to be compared to other bands – and besides, other bands get compared to them all the time now, so this record sounds like BSS through and through. As for being on the shortlist for 2010 Polaris Prize, I suspect it’s a wink to their past successes and the nod to the distance that will come before we see another album from this crew.

DAVE’S KEY TRACKS: ‘Sentimental X’s’; ‘Sweetest Kill’; ‘Texico Bitches’; ‘Art House Director’.

POST #2: Broken Social Scene

2010-07-19T07:33:00.001-07:00

ARTIST: Broken Social Scene

ALBUM: Forgiveness Rock Record

FROM: Toronto, ON

Ryan's Besnard Lakes Review

2010-07-16T18:55:00.000-07:00

The Besnard Lakes are the Roaring Night is an odd album to listen to. It doesn't really feel like a modern album, and that's something that starts from the cover art – it's an absolutely gorgeous oil painting that would look great on the sleeve of a vinyl record, rather than on a tiny Ipod screen or CD case. That classical aspect of the art is reflected in the material in the album; we've sort of swung back into a new age of the single, as a society, but this album is a holistic piece of art. On my first listen through the album I had to double-check that I was listening to separate tracks, because they all flowed into each other seamlessly. This isn't to say that they all sounded the same, or were repetitive, but rather that each song seems like a movement within a larger composition. It's reminiscent of the golden age of the album that was the late sixties and seventies, in some ways.

At the same time, though, the soundscape being produced here isn't “classical” in any way, despite the lack of modernity. If anything, the opposite is true; the laser-like precision of the instrumentation and sterile environment generated by the lyrics give it a futuristic feel. If David Lynch were making science fiction films set in the far future, this album is very much the kind of thing that would appear on the soundtrack.

That feeling of sterility is what stopped me from being able to get into this album. Listening to it, I felt separated from what was happening lyrically, as if the artists themselves wanted to keep distance between themselves and the material that they're writing about, which only creates a greater distance between the listener and the subject matter.

Ultimately, I can see the merits of this album on an academic level, and I can definitely understand why it would be included on the Polaris shortlist, but it was unable to create any sort of emotional resonance for me.

Gary's Besnard Lakes Review

2010-07-14T05:23:00.000-07:00

I’ve glimpsed the future dear friends, and its soundtrack kicks ass. The Besnard Lakes are The Roaring Night is the sonic equivalent of an Arthur C. Clarke novel. From the album’s quivering robotic intro our minds are filled with dystopian futurescapes with shimmering chrome, flashing LED lights and stomping armies of robots. Or at least that’s what I thought of.

The truth is, these songs feel like the future. As if the Beach Boys rocketed forward to the year 2150 and started making gorgeous pop music with our soon-to-be alien overlords. And while the soaring harmonies and haunting falsettos make the Beach Boys a clear touch point, there are definitely more.

Listening to the Besnard Lakes you’ll hear them drawing from sources as diverse as My Bloody Valentine, Polyphonic Spree and yes - even fellow Montrealers Arcade Fire (but who can do chamber pop these days without being compared to them).

But for all its futuristic sounds and Space Odyssey hums, oddly the lyrics never hint at anything more futuristic than a camera. But you get the distinct impression that words are secondary. Maybe not an after-thought - but certainly not the showcase. No, for husband and wife duo Jace Lasek and Olga Gorgeas the beauty is in the writing. These songs aren’t jams but meticulously crafted opuses from start to finish and the stories lie within their melodies.

This isn’t to say there aren’t short comings here and there. At times they fall prey to the shoegazer disease, meandering through songs like a child eating supper (that is to say they take too long) with a few too many songs coming in at a bulky 7 plus minutes. But the good definitely outweighs the bad here and we’re left with extremely beautiful music that soars despite its heft.

My friends, the future is now. The future is The Roaring Night.

Dave's The Besnard Lake Post

2010-07-12T06:42:00.000-07:00

Firstly let me welcome you back to the hot spot blog spot. It’s all fired up and we even cleaned up a little knowing you’d be around more this season. Hope you enjoy what Ryan, Gary and I have going on here. Let’s - as they say - drop the needle, shall we?

“The Besnard Lakes Are the Roaring Nights” feels otherworldly when you first listen to it. It feels like a record not of our time –with life getting faster and faster these days – this album takes you out of that world and into well, a slow burn of a roaring night.

It has roaring guitars and drums that at times sound like there are four kits playing at one time that all create this musical landscape that builds up and builds up and perfectly works in compliment with the vocals from Olga Goreas and Jace Lasek. Throughout “…Are The Roaring Night” the vocals swirl and up and down the register and playing in tandem with the music until finally both music and vocal come together and create that moment where I find myself lost in this world that The Besnard Lakes have created. It’s like the music and vocals are playing a game of flirty chase, then finally they connect – like they were meant to be together – and everyone listening just knows it.

I can’t help be hear the Pixies in moments throughout this album. I know that’s easy to say – “well the Pixies influences everyone” - but here The Besnard Lakes seem to have captured a part of the Pixies sound that I really love – that ripping guitar and rhythmic beat blending together so perfectly. I also hear a lot of Mazzy Star, Olga’s vocals sound similar no doubt, but there is an emotional energy to the music that takes me back in different moments on “…Are The Roaring Night”

I can see the album becoming a little prog-y for some tastes, but once you buy in and set yourself up for the journey, I can’t see how you can give up on it. There are dark themes at play here - elements of nature played against personal emotional states that some may get lost in. But isn’t this the kind of insight we demand from our art anyway? For me these are elements that make this album completely satisfying and remarkable.

DAVE’S KEY TRACKS: 'Albatross'; 'Like the Ocean, Like the Innocent Pt. 2: The Innocent'; 'Light Up The Night'.

POST #1: The Besnard Lakes

2010-07-12T06:37:00.000-07:00

Artist: The Besnard Lakes

Album: The Besnard Lakes Are The Roaring Night

From: Montreal, PQ

We're Back!

2010-07-06T19:27:00.000-07:00

The Polaris Prize shortlist for 2010 was announced today. The full list is available at http://www.polarismusicprize.ca/2010shortlist/ along with lists to the bands' online presence and links to listen to and purchase the nominated albums. With the announcement, Dave, Gary, and Ryan will be returning to the blog to share their thoughts on the albums, starting July 12. As with last year, one album will be discussed each week, with posts on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

The albums on the shortlist, in order that they'll be reviewed on the blog, are:

The Besnard Lakes – The Besnard Lakes Are The Roaring Night
Broken Social Scene – Forgiveness Rock Record
Caribou – Swim
Karkwa – Les Chemins De Verre
Dan Mangan – Nice, Nice, Very Nice
Owen Pallet – Heartland
Radio Radio – Belmundo Regal
The Sadies – Darker Circles
Shad – TSOL
Tegan And Sara – Sainthood

Ryan's Patrick Watson Review

2009-09-18T10:16:00.000-07:00

In 2002, my wife (who was my girlfriend at the time) and I went on a brief vacation to New York. As part of our attempt to get as full of a “New York City experience” as possible, we visited some of the major art galleries in the city. One of them (which I think was the Whitney, but I can’t say for sure) featured a sonic installation; a local artist had recorded a bunch of sounds from the roof of his Brooklyn apartment building, and then stitched them together to create a sonic collage. The end result was a bizarre, fascinating experience to listen to.

This brings us, in a very roundabout way, to Patrick Watson. Watson’s not from Brooklyn, nor does he create avant-garde sound collages, but listening to his album Wooden Arms created the same feeling in me that I had in that New York art gallery: the feeling of being surrounded by a meticulously organized soundscape.

“Soundscape” is one of those words that gets misused a lot, I think, but it’s one that definitely belongs to this album – listening to it creates a sense of an organic, lush surrounding that is sort of happening around you as you’re listening to it. As a result, there’s not a lot of stand-out singles on the album (except for the tracks Beijing and the title track), but that’s not really what it’s trying to be, so you can’t really judge the album by taking a song at random and listening to it – you need to get the full context of the album in order to get a feel for what’s going on.

One of the interesting things about reviews albums like these Polaris nominees is that it really drives home the question of what makes for a good album – is it a collection of good songs, or is it something that needs to exist as a narrative, cohesive whole? You arguably get a more artistic experience from the full-album approach, but it makes it harder for someone not familiar with an artist to try them out. That lack of accessibility can be a big barrier in today’s mp3 driven world, but it’s nice to know that there’s people out there still making albums like this one.

Gary's Patrick Watson Review

2009-09-17T08:47:00.000-07:00

You know those grey, rainy Sundays you spend inside, maybe curled up with a blanket and a magazine? Perhaps you're feeling a tiny bit maudlin or a little contemplative and looking for a soundtrack that reflects your mood. This is the ideal morning for Patrick Watson's Wooden Arms. It's a haunting, comfortable and vaguely hopeful collection of songs - that satiate all the feelings you crave on those reflective and overcast days. Grab a mug of hot coffee, put your feet up and leaf through the newspaper while Wooden Arms unravels in the background.

This feels less like an album of songs and more like a fragile and beautifully crafted antique - as intricate as a ship in a bottle. You're almost afraid that listening too often could snap any one of these delicate songs in half, but that's sort of the great part about it. You're experiencing music with an old soul, and yet never once sounding like a throw-back to another time. It is wholly unique, something almost unachievable in this day and age.

Watson has the uncanny ability to instantly transport you to wherever his mind happens to be. With an amazing accuracy, he paints a musical picture that bounces from the swirling, eddying currents of Tracey's Waters, to the hurried, hustle of Beijing - capturing exactly what you would expect from the hectic city itself, weaving in and out through imagined people.

Granted the loud/soft dynamic of the album is sparse. Watson seems content with his quiet, subdued sound (something I lambasted the Great Lake Swimmers for). And while there's no question he achieves an intimacy with his songs GLS could only dream of, it would have been nice to hear a bit more range. Perhaps that would have taken away from the slightly twisted movie-soundtrack aesthetic he so deftly builds (David Lynch would be inspired).

I liked this album and I think it has a succinct quality that makes it perfect for closing out this blog. Watson is a supremely talented musician as witnessed by his 2007 Polaris win. But I think this makes him a definite underdog to repeat less than two years later. It does however say a hell of a lot about the care and passion he pours into his art, and should he produce an album like this every two years, I wouldn't begrudge the selection committee for nominating him again.

Album #10: Patrick Watson

2009-09-17T07:50:00.000-07:00

Artist: Patrick Watson
Album: Wooden Arms
From: Montreal, QC.

Dave's Metric Review - VERY VERY LATE

2009-09-15T14:04:00.000-07:00

What’s really left to be said about Metric’s “Fantasies”? It’s obvious that all three of us writer types on here like this record and for generally the same reasons. So I could go on here and repeat Gary and Ryan’s points, but then I’d be cheapening the experience for you the reader. Something Metric hasn’t done with this album

Ryan’s right – this album should be handed out on day one of indie song writing school. Gary’s right – Emily Haines’ voice is such a distinctive element, it provides an identity that other bands work years to establish. For me what this album does so well, and consciously, is change it’s mood and create atmosphere and really paint vivid pictures of the themes.

Chord progressions within songs, echoes on snares, and vocal effects all synced together perfectly travel me to a time and place that I’ve only dreamt of – a fantasy land if you allow me to point out the obvious. These subtle, yet monumental, musical shifts within songs, and from song to song give the album a very distinctive atmosphere, which in turn creates worlds for the lyrics to tell the stories in. These are songs for a movie that hasn’t been made yet – the movie we all see ourselves in.

To top it off, there is something for everybody on this album. The band moves itself forward with progressive songwriting, and acknowledges music’s past with their radio hit “Gimme Sympathy”. As far as “cool kid” bands go, I think Metric has finally gotten over themselves in that aspect, or rather a certain clique of the press has gotten over them as the “cool kids’ and they are freer to be who they actually are as a band. Which for everyone is way better – because they are allowed to be better.

If you haven’t already, put this album on and let it run. Don’t sit and listen and ponder the meaning of it – that is not where this album will hit you. It will hit you while you are emptying your dishwasher or barbecuing with friends, or hanging out with your lover. Metric sounds like it matters to people, and it brings people together because it provides a comfortable back ground for good times to happen. Let it ride and enjoy it wherever you need a good song – this one is full of them.

Gary's Metric Review

2009-09-11T12:12:00.001-07:00

I feel a little strange reviewing this album. Back in March Dave and I spent a full week praising this album and listening to it relentlessly. You can almost hear us bickering - "I like it more." "No, I like it more!"

But schoolgirl antics aside, we had every reason to praise this album. Of the 10 Polaris albums it might be the most lush, well thought-out and well produced of the bunch. With Fantasies we find Metric at their creative apex to date, producing some of their finest work musically and lyrically.

That said, there's nothing that "speaks to me" about this album. It doesn't move me, make me think or provoke any other emotional response - it's just a really great album that's enjoyable to listen to. It's fun, danceable indie-rock that has virtually no controversy surrounding it or insight to impart, which is fine. Not every album has to touch that intellectual place or save some 17 year-old from a "dark time," (that's what MySpace is for). It's enough to create fantastic music and be done with it.

But I feel obliged to pass along something to you - dear reader - so I'll forage for a few musical nuggets to review. Like the fact that from the opening lines of the album you get the sense that singer Emily Haines is willing to put it all out there, bearing her soul no matter what the consequences:

"I tremble...they're going to eat me alive,"

Haines has one of those distinctive, Stevie Nicks type voices that sets her apart from the other girl-band singers. You can hear it anywhere (like buried in Broken Social Scene song), and know exactly who's singing. But now you can say the same thing about her lyrics. There's a familiarity these days in her words which are all told from the first person and are pretty intimate to boot. She seems more inclined than on previous albums to talk about herself without any deep metaphors or hazy allegories. Although she does still love a good turn of phrase.

As I said it's clear the band has stepped up its game on this album to produce something special (musically at least). And like Ryan pointed out in his post, this is just the type of album that throws a band from indie-darling to Billboard Top 40 material and appearances on Regis and Kelly. Some bands can handle that exposure and still create poignant, artistic music while others fall all over themselves to churn out more crowd pleasing milquetoast (Coldplay, I'm looking at you).

A band I've been into for many years recently jumped into the same sort of spotlight and I'm finding it harder and harder to listen to them when they seem so common place now. That special feeling of being one of only a few fans to appreciate them evaporates and suddenly the music doesn't sound quite as sweet. And so it's a special band that can achieve mainstream popularity and still hold on to their original fans.

I'm desperately hoping Metric knows that magic formula because I think they're going to need it.

Ryan's Metric Review

2009-09-09T20:42:00.000-07:00

There are some albums that we've been looking at over the past weeks that took a while to grow on me; I didn't particularly care for them on first listen, but the more I listened to them the more I dug them. That wasn't the case with Metric's Fantasies – I liked it right from the first listen, and subsequent listens have only served to deepen that love. I hadn't been expecting that, because I hadn't really cared for the Metric album previous to this one, Live It Out, or for lead singer Emily Haines' solo work that followed it; this album, though, really stand out as above and beyond the band's previous work.

Fantasies is one of those albums that attempts to be a lot of different things to different people, but unlike a lot of albums that attempt to do that, this one actually accomplishes what it sets out to do. It is simultaneously a fun, poppy record you can dance to, a lyrically complex indie rock record, and a reflection on the costs of becoming famous (in a vein similar to a record like Nirvana's In Utero album). Despite those different directions that the album's going in, it never feels like it loses its way at all, and manages to layer those different versions of itself into one nice little musical lasagna.

I know it might sound like I'm over-selling this, but Fantasies manages to do all this so well that it should be handed out on the first day of indie rock songwriting school. I've heard so many albums over the years that have tried to do what this album does, and does it in a way that makes it seem effortless.

Take, for example, a song like “Gimme Sympathy” (if you've been near a rock radio station anywhere in the country this year, there's a good chance you're already familiar with this one). This song is a textbook example of how to integrate a philosophical argument into a pop song, placing it within an easily understood metaphor (by asking “Who would you rather be, the Beatles or the Rolling Stones?”) and then giving equal credence to both sides (Haines sings “play me something like Here Comes the Sun”, but the song's title could be seen as a mashup of Gimme Shelter and Sympathy for the Devil) and ultimately letting the listener decide for themselves, rather than trying to get didactic in the bridge. The song serves as a good reminder that you can be deep while still being danceable, something that a lot of indie rock artists would do well to remember.

This isn't just one of the best albums to come out this year; it's one that is most likely going to catapult Metric fully into the mainstream, and will probably be talked about by music fans for years to come.

Dave's Great Lake Swimmer Review

2009-09-07T12:33:00.000-07:00

I’m gonna be brutally honest here. I could only listen to this album once through top to bottom. It’s not because it’s completely un-listenable, although it is challenging to listen to, it’s because it doesn’t want to be listened to again and again. It’s an album that is for writers of music, not listeners of music.

It’s slow and it plods along meandering around itself, paying attention to the nuances that only a songwriter or musician would notice. It’s good, for those in the know. The same way I love “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip”, or any other TV show about TV shows, I get it because that is what I do. I found if you don’t make music, you have a hard time getting this album.

That is another reason I couldn’t get through this album more than once – my job. This week, and sad to say next week, my career is all encompassing, 18 hours a day. When I’m done, I’m exhausted and my mind races; full of schedules and budget concerns, “Lost Channels” is not the album that helps me escape that. In fact it amplifies it, creating a paranoia in me, where I feel in adequate at my job, in my relationship, and in life in general. I don’t need that. This album does not attract me at this time.

When I was at a wedding this week Erik Arnesen was there, playing music for his friends (Bride and Groom), he played perfect banjo, his voice was pitch perfect, it was moving for everyone there. He’s a talented performer, he’s a gifted songwriter, and he knows the craft he’s chosen in life. But “Lost Channels” is just that – lost.

Ryan's Great Lake Swimmers review

2009-09-03T20:09:00.000-07:00

Lost Channels by Great Lakes Swimmers is a contemplative, melodic, subtle album that features musical and lyrical complexity and a host of talented musicians (both the band members themselves and special guests who sit in a a few tracks). This is, on paper, exactly the kind of album that I should really dig. And yet, with the exception of a single song (Still), I can't say that I really enjoyed listening to it at all. It's just a boring album.

It feels a little shallow to say that. Music is entertainment but, at the same time, it's art, right? And when you're appreciating a piece of art, you're not “supposed” to judge it on the level of entertainment, but rather on how effectively the artist conveys their message through their art, and how technically proficient they are in the creation of the art, of the themes and symbolism found within it, and that sort of thing. It's considered unseemly, in some circles, to even talk about whether or not you enjoyed an album, because that's an inherently subjective and fundamentally biased aspect of the album.

And yet, here we are. The problem with not thinking about the entertainment value of an album is that, if there's no entertainment there, your audience isn't going to keep paying attention long enough to get to the deep, artistic elements of the album; they'll have given up on you long before then. That was my experience with Lost Channels: I'm sure that, given enough time and enough listens, I'd be able to find something that I appreciated about the album, but I don't think it's worth the effort it would take to get through the boredom.

Gary's Great Lake Swimmer's Review

2009-09-02T05:50:00.000-07:00

I had a look at the long list of Polaris prize nominees a while back and was a little disappointed that some of my favourite albums this year didn't make the shortlist. The Stills return to form, k-os' amazing album Yes, and others were all passed over for the ten we've been profiling here. I was prepared to give the selection team the benefit of the doubt and give these albums a chance. I came in with an open mind and allot each album its due diligence.

Then came the Great Lake Swimmers.

I had big expectations from this band having liked the few tracks I’d heard up until now. But I’m beginning to think they’re best enjoyed in minimal doses. The shorter your listening time the less likely you are to be lulled to sleep by the boring and repetitive nature of the music. Thus saving yourself from a potential accident while listening in your car or traveling on the subway.

You start to assume the words “fun” and “hope” don’t get tossed around at band practice a lot. And you might have called the music depressing if wasn’t so hollow and devoid of emotion. Truthfully there’s nothing terribly organic or soulful going on here – just the musical equivalent of colour-by-numbers: Chorus goes here; bridge goes there; graceful fade-out starts now.

To be perfectly honest, this sounds like a record made by robots whose attempt at human emotion and feeling have fallen woefully short. But where robots have their artifice to blame, I’m still struggling to figure out what GLS’s excuse is.

Every song seems to be the same middling tempo and recorded at the same maddening whisper like they were trying not to wake the baby in the room (which they probably want you to think is a remote cabin in the woods somewhere). There are nods to a few folk-crooners like Bon Iver and Ray Lamontagne, but only in the most cursory ways and never ever approximating the sense intimacy and awe from either.

Everyone assumes that middle of the road music sounds like everything else on the radio, giving it a safe and hassle-free sound. But the truth is middle of the road music is anything that doesn’t challenge you, make you think and elicits something other than apathy. Sonically, Lost Channels is Dramamine for the ears and like your old college lectures dares you to stay conscious. The song title "She comes to me in Dreams" becomes wildly appropriate considering the narcolepsy inducing music it rides in on.

I brought up the long list of Polaris Prize nominees because I strongly believe there were albums that were far more deserving than this one that never made it this far. In this process I haven’t loved every album but I’ve always given props to the selection committee for music I could at least tell was filled with heart and devotion. If there was anything resembling those emotions on Lost Channels I sure as shit didn’t find it.

Album #8 - Great Lake Swimmers

2009-09-01T10:07:00.000-07:00

Artist: Great Lake Swimmers
Album: Lost Channels
From: Wainfleet/Toronto, On

Ryans Joel Plaskett Review

2009-08-28T21:31:00.000-07:00

I, I, I really, really, really liked, liked, liked this, this, this album, album, album.

Sorry, I just had to get that out of my system.

Three, as the song says, is a magical number, and it's clear that Joel Plaskett agrees with that - after all, he's crafted an entire album here around the idea of the number three – three discs, with nine songs (or three sets of three) on each disc, for a total of twenty-seven (or three to the power of three) songs on the entire album. Additionally, the majority of the song titles on the album feature a single word repeated three times (such as Deny, Deny, Deny and Precious, Precious, Precious). There are also a bunch of references throughout the lyrics to the number three.

Three's a powerful number, too, in a lot of ways – look at enough material in areas as diverse as visual art, psychology, philosophy, literary theory, or linguistics and you see the number three pop up in all sorts of places. So it's definitely fair ground for Plaskett to explore in and album, although he does explore it more from the perspective of “let's use this to help me tell the story I want to tell here.”

And tell it he does. Over his last couple of albums, Plaskett has been building up a reputation for himself as one of Canada's leading songwriters, and this album is a perfect showcase of where that reputation's been coming from. Halifax has long been known as a focal point for accessible, fun indie pop-rock music, and Three definitely keeps that tradition alive. It's a traditional record in other ways as well, blending elements of folk and Maritime music in with the more rocking elements. It's done in an almost seamless manner, and you don't really think of it as a combination of different genres, but just as its own organic thing. The same is true for Plaskett's use of additional vocalists throughout the record – they're not voices you'd usually here on a Joel Plaskett record, but they sound like they completely belong there, and you get the feeling you'd really miss them if they weren't there.

Lyrically, the album is really strong as well. Songs of love and abandon are often best told through metaphor, and Plaskett shows a strong command of that throughout the album, admitting things like “I was the Berlin wall, and you were a wrecking ball in a summer dress.” It doesn't come across like it's trying to be Important, and states itself simply, but in doing so manages to really strike the listener.

If there's any limitations to the album, it's that Plaskett is a little too committed to his central motif. There's enough good tracks on Three to make an absolutely flawless double album, but to keep the theme of threes going, However, it feels like there's a couple of songs on there that would have been better as B-sides (like Pine, Pine, Pine and the epically long On, On, On). I can't help but notice that the songs I thought were extraneous also happened to be among the ones that followed the triple naming structure. But take those few songs out and you're got two discs of practically perfect pop-rock, and what's not to like about that?

Dave's Joel Plaskett Review

2009-08-28T06:39:00.001-07:00

I really like this album because it doesn’t sound like Joel Plaskett should sound. It sound like Joel Plaskett wants to sound. Not that I’m a mind reader or anything and know what Joel Plaskett wants from his creative life (or life in general) but listening to this album is satisfying. Therefore I can also imagine the process of making was satisfying for Joel and everyone he included in the process.

“Three” is not my favourite Joel Plaskett album, but it is a good album. The concept, as far as I understand it, is everything in 3s. Song titles are often referred to in triplicate ( “Pine, Pine, Pine”, “Wait, Wait, Wait”) and choruses often repeat phrasing in triplicate. You have to admire an artist who sticks to the concept that they are working within. Jack White is a master of this. Joel Plaskett is learning to master this. His album’s concept is there on paper and I can imagine it works even better as a physical entity – you know with actual three discs broken out and divided and organized for listeners. But I don’t consume music like this anymore – I buy it digitally (and I am purchasing all these albums), therefore everything runs together and there seems to be no organization of it for me, except lyrically, or musically. Which begs the question, does the idea of concept album have to change based on delivery method in digital consumer era? I don’t think that is a debate for this space, but get in touch with your thoughts.

As for the songs on this record – they are great. They cover arcs of a bigger story, and all of them illustrate Joel’s evolution to the being crowned a “great Canadian Songwriter”. A place where he seemed destined to end up for fans that have been wooed by his magic arrangements before. What’s stands out for me personally on this album is that there are no crazy runaway hits like Joel would deliver before on albums. There is simply a consistent tone and vibe, Joel doesn’t rush us, his listener, to the point, he wants you to enjoy the journey, and he purposely crafts the album to make it worth the listen.

This album through and through feels Canadian. It has a twangy country vibe that we so proudly incorporate anywhere we can, he uses female collaborations to soften up storylines and add perspective – always nice touch. Of course he plugs in a turns up throughout the album. Listening and listening again, this record would be the first one I would throw on for a road trip to a rural town I’ve never heard of an most likely will never visit again.

As for the big Prize, I feel this one is the most accessible album we’ve run across so far, but if Joel’s going to win it, I think he has a better record in him that could take it.

Gary's Joel Plaskett Review

2009-08-26T07:53:00.001-07:00

Concept albums are just about the riskiest thing a musician can attempt. The musical landscape is littered with failures from some of the biggest musical acts of all time who - like Icarus - have succumbed to their hubris and flown too high. This is followed closely by the second hardest feat in music: The multiple disc format (a double or triple album). To attempt both would be the sort of doublebarreled ego-stroke you would expect from the likes of Kiss or U2. But from a humble Nova Scotian by the name of Joel Plaskett? Hardly.

And yet, here we are discussing Three, his multi-disc narrative of leaving, feeling alone, and finally coming back. It is ambitious, clever and at times thought provoking but the material is rarely as epic as the undertaking itself.

First some background. I've been a big Plaskett fan dating back to Thrush Hermit, and his other two solo albums and of course his work as Joel Plaskett Emergency. I think he's one of the perennial Canadian song writers and deserves any and all recognition he gets. But if he was going to be acknowledged for a Polaris Prize it would have made a whole lot more sense to honour his last album - Ashtray Rock (an extremely well executed concept album).

Why? Because this album - while good - is not Plaskett at his best. Sure there are flashes of his story telling, the amazing way he can turn a phrase or his genre busting style. But the truth is, he suffers the same fate so many other musicians did before him trying to churn out multi-disc albums...he just runs out of steam.

The length also makes it a tough album to review...but that's what you're here to read, so I'll oblige. First off, there are no direct miss steps that I can point to. The songs are solid for the most part, save for a few that are either long winded or just not memorable. Songs like Through & Through & Through are good ol' Plaskett doing what he does best. Wishful Thinking is the drowsy blues you've heard before and On & On & On (noticing a theme?) is Canadian folk greatness (big shoutout to Ana Egge and Rose Cousins who feature prominently on Three). But that's only three songs off a 27 song album...yes, 27 songs.

The other sticking point for me is that as Plaskett has aged so has his music. In his aforementioned Thrush Hermit days it felt like the music was barely being held together, at any moment ready to fly apart. Thrush Hermit sounded like four guys trying to break a song - pushing it to it's very limits and forcing it to submit. Now the songs are tidy, rehearsed and fit together properly. Granted, this is to be expected as a musician matures and gains more control of his craft, but it feels like there's a sense of restraint and belts being tightened here. Don't get me wrong, I'm not one of these stagnant fans who assumes his favourite bands will forever produce the music that made them famous, but there is something oddly discomforting watching them age in front of you.

This sounds like a bad review, and that's not altogether true. This is not a bad album by any stretch, but being familiar with his previous work I'm just not sold that his has the same relevance or impact as his last two offerings. Plaskett should definitely be commended for his efforts here. He's tried and nearly achieved what very few other rock luminaries would never attempt for fear of falling flat on their face. Plaskett never falls down, but he doesn't quite knock it out of the park either - more like a triple.

Album #7 - Joel Plaskett

2009-08-25T07:06:00.000-07:00

Artist: Joel Plaskett

Album: Three

From: Halifax, Nova Scotia

Dave's K'Naan Review

2009-08-21T20:03:00.000-07:00

From the first needle drop on the “Troubadour” it's clear what K’Naan's intentions are - infuse. So he does. He infuses his influences his heritage; his history and his dreams with catchy hip hop breaks and African arrangements. These elements enhance the messages K’Naan wanted to communicate; they help stories he tells on “Troubadour” to run deeper than the lyrics he spouts.

The lead Track “TIA”(for This is Africa) it sets the tone for “Troubadour”– one that crosses the preconceptions set up by cultural boundaries each of us bring to any form of art. Lyrically K’Naan has the skill and knowledge to sing about African politics and his homeland's penchant for Hip-Hop Heroism. On the flip side of that he is able to bring you in just as smoothly with his desire for love of a woman. For K’Naan this is all part of who he is and how he sees in his world.

Musically this record is pretty steady diet of worldwide influences (a la M.I.A) and it doesn’t feel forced, or added on like it might on another artist’s record (you know who you are). K’Naan has the production skill working with him to pull the experiments perfectly. The arrangements generally feel like party-esque tunes and I find myself happily repeating hooks all day along. The guest collaboration pairings with some of his ‘friends’ came from the bad wet dreams of record label boardrooms but overall they don't over shadow K’Naan himself. This is his record through and through. Lyrically the philosophical side of this album can sometimes feel bogged down in the amount of production some tracks have but re-listening to Troubadour proves a worthwhile venture. Satisfying if you will.

There seems to be two sides to K’Naan that are often at odds with each other on this record. On one side there is a proud African man who is full of talent, experience, and wisdom and this is his forum to educate.. The other is a boy who is realizing his dreams are coming true and he's enjoying the spoils of that success. No one can fault K’Naan for his indulgences into the excesses the music industry can offer a young talent. However I preferred the tracks where he revisits his roots and talks about where he comes from, and how he got here, and thankfully there is a plethora of those on here - buts that's the older fan in me. The 15 year old inside my soul (yeah I still got one) loved the party tracks – a lot.

Let's hope Polaris rewards K’Naan and he can keep the party (and lecture) going.

Gary's K'Naan Review

2009-08-20T05:40:00.001-07:00

There's been a lot of talk about a certain Toronto rapper right now. He's wowed American audiences with his style, earned fans in Lil' Wayne, Kanye and the like and is climbing the charts as the "next" great hip hop artist. Everybody's talking about former Degrassi star Drake these days - and it's too bad, because they should be talking about K'Naan.

The sheer fact he doesn't hide his skills behind the played-out auto-tune effect (and then call it innovation) is reason enough to love K'naan - luckily there's more to the Somali born rapper. That's not to say he doesn't fall prey to other gimmicks (more on that later), but to paraphrase Jay-Z, at least he ain't T-Pain'in to much.

But let's talk about what he does right - which is pretty much everything. You want party anthems to get you moving, you can't do much better than lead track TIA (This Is Africa), which sets the tone for the rest of the album - that you're in for a slightly different hip hop experience.

K'Naan can also deftly straddle the divide between socially conscious rapping with a message and guilty-pleasure/bling and champagne style hip hop in a way that always seems slightly out of reach for someone like Kanye. That's not even a slight on Kanyeze, but a testament to how effortlessly K'Naan can take a weighty track like Somalia or America (featuring Mos Def), and still make it feel like a party.

But it's not enough for him to simply start the party and hope you learn something subconsciously. K'Naan also has the ability to write some pretty majectic, message-laden songs that are guaranteed to warm the heart of even the most cynical bastard. While Wavin' Flag and Take a Minute are big, call and answer type songs you'll feel obliged to sing along with. Yes, they sound like they could easily find a home in an episode of One Tree Hill bu they're such good songs you'll hardly care.

One thing I find really exciting about K'Naan is that he seems far more interested in putting out a sunnier disposition than his contemporaries. It's less about image and more about inspiring his listeners - he doesn't feel obliged to remind you how tough he is or how rough his life has been.

Remember earlier when I said he does fall prey to some gimmicks? Well, where the album trips all over itself is the clumsy inclusion of guest appearances - from Moron 5's (not a typo) Adam Levine and Metallica's Kirk Hammett - that devolve an otherwise rich and thought provoking album into a forgettable pop cliche. Both songs sound like they were cooked up by studio execs to sell albums and have virtually no natural feeling or spirit. And while these are the only two songs that don't fit (and stick out like a sore thumb), the rest of the album is so good that you'll feel even more let down.

This of course is just one of the problems K'Naan faces going forward. Because he's so talented and has set the bar so high, there's a fear that he'll fall harder and faster than most. But for now, he's right where he needs to be and extremely deserving of the Polaris Prize nod.

Ryan's K'naan Review

2009-08-19T20:39:00.000-07:00

This was a tricky album for me to evaluate. The main focus of the album is K'naan's experiences growing up in Mogadishu, and in addition to talking about those experiences, he puts forth an attitude throughout the album that what we, as an audience, can't judge him or those experiences, because we haven't lived that kind of life. He has a bit of a point there - I'm willing to admit that most of the people listening to Troubadour, myself included, did not grow up in a Somali slum, or deal with the level of violence and strife that people living there have to put up with on a daily basis. Admitting that, though, creates a bit of a difficulty for the audience, because appreciating and evaluating any work of art requires a certain amount of judgement, and if we're not allowed to judge the main focus of the album, it kind of creates this awkward, empty feeling about large chunks of the album.

Despite that, though, there are some really good moments on this album. K'naan provides some insightful analysis of the Somali piracy issue (more than I've seen on most newscasts) on the track Somalia, rocks some smooth beats on Bang Bang, and proves that he knows how to craft a damn good love song on Fatima.

Moments like those on those songs, though, ultimately end up being kind of frustrating, though, because the rest of the album doesn't live up to them, and you know that K'naan is capable of. The album reaches a nadir on the bizarre track 15 Minutes Away, which I think was intended to be a parody of the commercialization of hip-hop, but instead ends up sounding like an ill-conceived jingle. I guess you could almost argue that it's a metaphor for the entire album, as well: a good idea, flawed in execution.

Artist #6 - K'naan

2009-08-19T10:05:00.000-07:00

Artist: K'naan

Album: Troubadour

From: Toronto, ON

Album Released: February 24, 2009

Dave's Malajube Review

2009-08-17T08:16:00.001-07:00

Sorry for the really late post on this – crazy week last week, and over the weekend a good friend was getting married.

I thought I would love this record way more than I actually do. I don't know what it is that is hanging me up exactly but there is something off about the whole experience I’m having whenever I listen to it. I want to like it, I feel like I’m not part of the club if I don’t like, but really indifference creeps up and I find myself wanting to turn it off or skip songs. Unlike my fellow contributors, this album does not restore my faith in anything – and it’s not a French language thing, I’m somewhat fluent and can get by on my loose translations. So let’s analyze my problems.

I know for one thing Gary loves this album and proclaim on his Twitter how he thought, “oh sorry know Malajube were winning the Polaris based on the first half of track 1”. Me I'm way more fucking indifferent to this sound but I agree if this was a political game (a la the Junos) Malajube makes sense as a winner. The music although 80% of the country won't be able to keep up with the lyrics; they appear non-threatening enough and the arrangements are accessible like a John Mayer record is accessible and non-threatening. One thing that does bug me is how highly polished the production on this album is. Most Quebecois albums are does anyone know why? Do they have better studios there or better microphones? For a band that others find jammy and improvised it seems that they really take their time make sure everything sounds just right and pristine, rather than a mistake or two slip through the cracks.

Maljube have made a nice sounding middle of the road record. And there's nothing wrong with that. But at the same time I was hoping my ears would lead the experience here and take me into a world I had yet to encounter I stead it feels like Montreal on a Thursday in February. I can’t distinguish why people (namely Ryan and Matt below) go gaga for this. All the praise they give it seems justified, they are smart, well read, well versed music men – but I just don’t agree with them on this one. Which makes it two weeks in a row I stand out in my opinion on this blog – which gets me thinking there is something wrong with me or my earphones. Nah, I just have an opinion and my own tastes, which aren’t always satisfied by Malajube.

I don’t want to seem like I’m crapping all over this record, it has great moments on it, good songs, and killer arrangements. Overall the experimentation feels forces and that is what takes away from the sentiment for me. Malajube could win this Polaris this, and I wouldn’t be disappointed one bit, I’d mention it to my dinner guest as the album came on during a lull in conversation at my next party. It’s that kind of album for me, the one you put on for “life’s background music”, and I was hoping it was going to be “soundtrack to a moment” music.

dave

Gary's Malajube Review

2009-08-14T07:31:00.000-07:00

Who the hell is Malajube?

Midway through the opening track of their stunning third release Labyrinthes I found myself excitedly asking this very question. How could a band this majestic in sound have escaped me? Sun-soaked harmonies, enormous pop choruses and expert musicianship - surely I should know about this band.

The fact they sing entirely in French (with absolutely no desire to start singing in English) would be a huge reason why they’ve never shown up on my radar. Or have they?

After telling anyone who would listen last week how impressed I was with this band, one of my friends politely pointed out that he’d offered to take me to one of their shows last year. When I found out they sang entirely in French I dismissed them with a guffaw and sneered “no thank you.”

A year later - I'm a wiser man...maybe.

So yes, they sing in French but I’m conflicted, because telling you this will inevitably create a language barrier, and quite honestly the best way to appreciate them is with no preconceptions whatsoever. But I implore you to see past this and give them a fighting chance as you won’t be disappointed. There is virtually nothing lost in the translation (so to speak). All the emotion and raw intensity of unrequited love/loss/happiness/sadness comes through loud and clear, even though lead singer Julien Mineau could very well be singing about his groceries for all I know.

Malajube is a band of song crafters and musical auteurs, not content to throw chords against a wall and see what sticks (to be fair, I suppose that's true of the other nominees as well). They build weighty rock songs that swagger and grow to hair-raising crescendos like Ursuline but also create earnest, intimate offerings like Heresie in which Mineau croons about the short lives we all lead.

But for all of their prowess as artistes (oui, oui), what they do best is write absurdly infectious songs that you'll be singing long after hearing them - doubly impressive if you don't speak French. Stand out track Casablanca is right now in a dead heat for my song of the year (right up against Liztomania), and if you can get to the end of Luna without singing the refrain - I'll be amazed.

I posted in the last round of reviews that I didn't expect to like every band in the shortlist, but I certainly didn't expect to be so instantly moved by a band. I apologize now for the fact that this was less of a review and more of a fan letter, but between you and me, Labyrinthes is easily in my top five albums of the year. Based on what I've heard to this point, I could easily see a Polaris Prize win by Malajube and a completely warranted one at that. The competition is thick, but for the first time I've got a clear front runner.

Ryan's Malajube Review

2009-08-13T18:49:00.000-07:00

Part of me feels a little uncomfortable with reviewing Malajube's Labyrinthes, and, I'm sad to admit, it's for the exact reason one might expect it to be: the album's in French, and my French ability is, at best, somewhat limited. Now, obviously, we live in a bilingual country, and there's no reason that I should expect that all of the Polaris nominees be in the language that I speak. If anything, it's a little surprising that there's only one album in French out of the ten that received the nominations (but the reasons connected to that might be beyond the scope of a review like this).

So, anyways, on to Labyrinthes. It's a fairly complex album, one that brings in a lot of different influences (everything from 60s French pop to 80s synth music to late 90s/new millennium rock), but it does so in a way that all really comes together nicely, and really feels like Malajube is a band that loves nothing more than justs getting together and jamming out until they get a song. Not all bands feel like that, and it's a very organic, holistic sort of texture that gets brought out in all of the instrumentation.

Lyrically, as I said, it was hard for me to get a feel for it, as I only have a grade nine level of French. This was kind of hard for me, because I'm usually a bit of a lyrics nut, and it's often the lyrics that determine for me whether or not I'm going to enjoy a song. That being said, despite the barrier, I still got a good feeling for the emotional content of the songs - lead singer Julien Mineau really does a good job of emoting (a skill that usually has a negative connotation, because it's often overdone, but here it's done just right).

It's been said that a defining quality of real art is that it has the power to affect change within its audience; that you're either not the same after having appreciated it, or at the very least it creates the desire within you to be different. It sounds cheesy to say it, but this album makes me wish I had a better understanding of French, so that I could better understand the art that our entire country creates. I think that says something about it.

Artist #5: Malajube

2009-08-13T09:18:00.000-07:00

Artist: Malajube

Album: Labyrinthes

From: Montreal, QC

Ryan's Fucked Up Review

2009-08-07T16:41:00.000-07:00

The Chemistry of Common Life, the second album release from Toronto band Fucked Up, is an incredibly decadent punk rock album – you can tell that from the flute intro in the first song. To a lot of punk fans, especially older ones, this must seem like a contradiction – after all, punk as a genre first became popular as a reaction against decadence in music. By going against that impression of what punk 'should be', though, you get the feeling that Fucked Up feels they're doing the most punk thing possible. What they have accomplished, though, is an album that doesn't quite know if it wasn't to be punk, or be a critical favourite.

That's not to say, of course, that punk can't be critically acclaimed, just that those two things typically value different things in an album. That, if anything, is the main failing of Chemistry of Common Life: it's unsure of what it wants to be, and as a result it never really commits itself to becoming the album that it could have been.

Now, don't get me wrong: there are some fun tunes on this album, like Son the Father and No Epiphany, which have a classic, 80s-style punk feel to them, especially in the vocals. Sadly, though, the good songs aren't quite enough to save the album from mediocrity. Some day, Fucked Up might be able to win a Polaris prize, but I can't see them doing it on the strength of this album. It's not the type of album I'll put on in the future, but if it turns up on a shuffled playlist, I won't be turning it off, either.

Dave's Fucked Up Review

2009-08-06T08:47:00.000-07:00

I like my music loud, and heavy. Or rather, let me say I did like my music loud and heavy on a regular basis when I was younger. Now I like loud and heavy music every so often. So unlike Gary, I have a point of reference to appreciate Fucked Up’s “The Chemistry of Common Life” album. However I wouldn’t say that this record is necessarily a punk record or a metal record – as much as I would say it borrows characteristics normally associated with those genres and makes them prominent in this crazy infusion of expression and culture to make a modern music that really stands alone in it’s originality (oh look Dave’s getting all high brow on us with the “metal” record) – Damn fucking right I am – and don’t call it a metal record – what is this Vice magazine?

So ages ago Fucked Up were super hyped as this super cool band that was doing amazing things – now they are this moderately hyped band actually doing cool things with their music. “The Chemistry of Common Life” is a perfect example of how Fucked Up have matured and stayed – well fucked up. Where some people find it hard to listen to and “noisy” at times, I love how the band is able to stitch together eclectic sounds so perfectly. You can hear a grunge influence in bass lines, a punk sentiment in lyrics/vocals, the history of rock on drums and garage band fuzz in the layers of guitars. Where the fucked up part comes into play is where you hear a sprinkling of piano, a woodwind, or some kind of synthesizer.

There are a several stand out tracks on this album, ones that really define it – “Son the Father”, “Golden Seal”, and the title track “The Chemistry of Common Life” to mention a few. Each of them does something different – they experiment within themselves. This is where Fucked Up are so much better than their “hardcore” peers – they are willing to take the chance on doing something outside of the genre, outside of the expectations they put on themselves.

What really separates Fucked Up is the vocals though, if you added a traditional rock singer to this band it would sound dated and at times cheesy, with the deep growl of Damian Abraham it creates atmosphere (something all of the Polaris short listers do well) in abundance, and that atmosphere also solidifies the identity of Fucked Up as something more than a generic rock/punk/metal/hardcore band.

Where the “The Chemistry for Common Life” lacks is in its cohesion as an album from top to bottom. For me it’s a collection of good songs, well produced, well performed, but really nothing that binds them together except the people playing them. I guess that’s what really makes it Fucked Up.

deedle

Gary's Fucked Up Review

2009-08-05T08:17:00.000-07:00

Folks, I’m gonna be straight with you – I don’t get it.

I’ve listened to this album a few times; I’ve tried to find a level of appreciation – tried to dig a little deeper to find something I liked. But frankly it’s just not there.

Fucked Up is hardcore punk outfit with a decidedly un-punk methodology. Where all the punk I grew up with was trimmed down, short bursts of rage usually from no more than 3 or 4 players – Fucked Up is 6 people strong and all about the 6 and 7 minute musical opus. This is all contrary to my notion of punk-rock, but frankly I’m a crotchety old man with an early bedtime and the loudest thing I listen to is Queens of the Stoneage. Generally speaking I’m no authority on metal or hardcore.

And that’s sort of what’s vexing me about this. I have no barometer to measure this music against others of its kind. I have zero familiarity with the genre and so can’t tell if Fucked Up is good, bad or other. Their nomination for this prize should indicate that they’re a worthy act and not the same rage-rock I’ve heard emanating out of every church basement and rec centre in the suburbs. Also the appearance of organs, flutes and lush vocal harmonies should at least indicate they’re not you’re average punk band.

What I can comment on is the production, which in my opinion is bad…bordering on terrible. Someone robbed the album of any nuance by ensuring that every instrument and vocal track was mixed to the same level - thus producing a muddy mixture of noise and static and effectively killing a lot of the dynamics in the album.

I’ve heard more than once that Fucked Up is a really great live act, and I’m assuming their enthusiasm is far better represented in public and so I’ll defer to their legend as a band you must see to truly appreciate.

I went into this assuming I wouldn’t love every album presented to me, and out of the 12 there was bound to be more than one. But I think it’s worth saying that I didn’t dislike this album on its merits, or even dislike it at all for that matter. It just didn’t move me, and that’s no fault of Fucked Up. That lies squarely with me and my f’d up brain.

Album #4 - Fucked Up

2009-08-05T08:15:00.000-07:00

Artist: Fucked Up

Album: The Chemistry of Common Life

From: Toronto, ON.

Dave's Chad VanGaalen Review

2009-07-31T06:58:00.001-07:00

This album is a journey (all albums are a journey idiot) but this album feels as if it’s taking you somewhere special. Like Alice chasing the rabbit into the hole, listeners are enticed to follow Chad VanGaalen into the album song by song – and with each dity the journey becomes a little more bizarre and a lot more satisfying.

It’s obvious each song plays its role perfectly contributing to the larger meaning and themes of the album. That theme, by the way is death. But not the kind of death that makes us uncomfortable, but the kind of death that makes us seeks answers within ourselves to the life beyond and our experience in this time. Which is why when listening to “Soft Airplane” you’ll find yourself drifting off into the imagery created by Chad’s lyrics (“I can hear the cries of the dead/Maybe its your Neighbor/Beating his dog in the basement”) to suddenly be snapped back by the unique textures created by non-traditional instruments and arrangements.

That juxtaposition is the key to this album’s ability to act as escapism into Chad VanGaalen’s world. It’s an adventure of the undiscovered. While exploring the infinite and unanswerable questions of death there seems to be a childlike innocence in VanGaalen’s method. It feel like he’s experimenting in the recording process rather than meticulously arranging in the writing process - but it works, simply because he’s trying it. Like when a small child finger-paints, or uses Play-Doh, it becomes instantly endearing because of the method. That is where the charm of “Soft Airplane” lies.

Chad VanGaalen has delivered a great record, as one of my fellow reviewers pointed out, there isn’t a bad song on “Soft Airplane”, however unlike Ryan, I feel the album has more cohesion and unity to it. Intentional or not is irrelevant, because for me, it’s part of the entire package, it’s the journey of “Soft Airplane” as a work of commercial art.

The one thing that Chad VanGaalen’s “Soft Airplane” has working against it, is that upon listening to the album several times, the novelty of these songs almost becomes predictable. For the listener it’s like a drug – they keep listening hoping to find that same magic they heard the first 5 or 7 listens – but it’s not going to happen, it’s never as good as the first time. “Soft Airplane” is the kind of album that is best is small doses, it reminds you how special it really can be that way.

There is no doubt that Chad VanGaalen’s career will be a wonder to watch in the coming years. His sheer talent will take his art places that will (hopefully) satisfy him, and along the way, he’ll have people follow him on the journey – just like Alice and followed the rabbit down the hole.

Gary's Chad VanGaalen Review

2009-07-30T08:55:00.000-07:00

Ladies and gentlemen - lay back, relax and allow Chad VanGaalen to take you on a trip. Or, perhaps more aptly put, a journey through time and space. A musical journey that's both beautiful and melancholic, stretching back through time. You'll hear the familiar madness of 60s style psychedelia then rocket forward and experience the futuristic sounds and blissed out space-pop the Calgary native can so delicately create.

Soft Airplane, VanGaalen's third full length release, is a near expertly-crafted album that pulls from all over the musical spectrum. From the onset I was instantly imagining VanGaalen as the perfect mash-up between Bon Iver and Sufjan Stevens (many an indie fan's wet dream). But before you can tag him with a label, he's changed it up. The sheer fact he can pull off these varied sounds and influences is an achievement in itself, but the really impressive part is the way he deftly switches gears and never misses a step. At any point this album could have devolved into a messy, hodge-podge of VanGaalen's musical crushes. But somehow he makes the experience cohesive and unified, like a story unfurling before you. And as the attentive listener you try your best to anticipate what comes next, but chances are he'll leave you guessing. A hundred little nuances are peppered through the album from oboes to xylophones to harmonicas and you'll be pleasantly surprised by them all.

I mentioned the journey would be melancholic and it is. Death and hardship crop up all over the album and you wonder if perhaps VanGaalen is carrying more than a few ghosts around with him. He's more than happy to bear his soul to you and at times the music feels so small and intimate you're sure he's telling you a secret. Then suddenly the next song is so distant and soaked in reverb it's as if he's broadcasting from some lonely, distant planet - that perhaps we're hearing the haunting echo of a musician who dissolved along with the stars.

It's so apt that the album - and your journey - should come to a close with the sounds of a train disappearing into the distance (Rabid Bits of Time). The destination was never the point on this trip, but all the stops along the way. And yes - technically there is one more track that truly closes out the album. The skull-shaking noise rock of Frozen Energon is an indulgent little extra like the cherry to a sundae that instantly brings to mind The Velvet Underground.

I hope you enjoyed your trip.

Ryan's Chad VanGaalen review

2009-07-29T20:11:00.000-07:00

A comparison I've often heard is that great albums are like great novels – they tell a cohesive story with recurring thematic elements and motifs, and have one overall message that the artist is trying to communicate. No doubt this is often true, but what a lot of music fans tend to overlook is that it's not exclusively true, there are some great albums that are more like short story collections, where a bunch of very different songs are put together with no connection other than the artist creating them. The Beatles' white album and REM's Out of Time are great examples of the latter, and Chad VanGaalen's Soft Airplane is another good example.

As with any short story collection, you really have to consider each song on its individual merits. This can be both a blessing and a curse – if the songs are good, it makes the whole thing seem that much better, but it's harder to justify bad songs than it would be with a more concept-type album. Luckily, with this one, there aren't really any bad songs on here; they range from excellent (Bare Feet on Wet Griptape, City of Electric Light) to at its worst only fairly good (Frozen Energon, Phantom Anthills). Even those “weaker” songs on the album can only be described as such in relation to the other songs on the album – compared to most songs that appear on most albums released, they're still fairly strong tunes.

If I had one quibble with the album, it's that VanGaalen tends to wear his influences on his sleeve – most of the songs tended to remind me of songs by other artists, but done in a way that is evocative, rather than derivative. There's quite a range of those influences, as well; I heard strains of everything from Dylan, to Gord Downie's solo work, to Nine Inch Nails, to Edwyn Collins' modern classic Girl Like You. VanGaalen's clearly someone with a great love of music, and it shows throughout the album.

Chad VanGaalen's eventually going to build up a huge, 'mainstream success' name for himself, at some point in the future if not with this album. Maybe it'll come after appearing on the soundtrack of a popular indie film, a la Kimya Dawson on Juno, so you might as well check him out now, so you can tell your friends that you've been listening to him for years. The fact that you'll get to listen to some great tunes at the same time doesn't hurt at all, either.

Album #3 - Chad VanGaalen

2009-07-27T08:56:00.000-07:00

Artist: Chad VanGaalen

Album: Soft Airplane

From: Calgary, Alberta

Dave's Elliott Brood Review

2009-07-25T12:57:00.000-07:00

Mountain Meadows. The words conjure up images of green pastures littered with wild flowers bathed in sunlight and white rabbits hop through the grass blissfully. Listening to Mountain Meadows the Polaris Prize short listed album from Elliott Brood it’s obvious that in their version of Mountain Meadows those lush hill tops have been clouded over with a violent storm – refreshing and welcome by it’s sheer presence but dark and volatile by nature.

Elliott Brood will one day win a Polaris Prize, but I feel this year is not their year. This year they are the band that is too strong to ignore; with an album that is consistently good from top to bottom. Thematically it’s strong, and production (maybe it’s strongest area) is magical at points, the album has moments where your mind will escape into it, but I found myself always losing a connection at some point for some reason.

Where Elliot Brood succeeds is not allowing their music and songwriting to have limits. Any band that banjo picks usually succumb to the “bluegrass” label instantly, but not Elliot Brood. You hesitate to label them a bluegrass band or a country band or even a rock band, when you hear this album it’s just good music – and good music is limitless.