It's the end of 2006

Time goes unnoticed. This is one of my favourite singles of 2006, along with "Soobax" (his other single).


K'naan - What's Hardcore?

Jeffrey Eckman and his amazing keyboard

We are now diverting from indie snobdom to bring you an important message:

B-Boy

An overlooked release this year was the new Long Winters album.

"Putting the Days to Bed, the third LP from Seattle’s The Long Winters, combines lyrical intimacy and melodic complexity with the guitar pop rave-ups of the band’s earlier material. John Roderick writes songs that make you feel like you’ve been talking to someone really interesting in an airport for the last hour and, although you know you’ll never see them again, you just told them your whole life story and a part of you will love them forever."

Though familiar with John and his songs, I never got around to listening to this album. Good news however-they're putting out a DVD called Through With Love on Dorsia Films. Watch the preview here.

2007's coolest new band name = "Apostle of Hustle"

I hope everyone enjoyed their boxing day experiences. It was a bit of a disappointment for me, since the mall failed to impress. However, to my surprise, American Apparel had a 25% off sale! Though not 50%, or the more radical 70%, 25% means that 50 dollar sweater now becomes $37.50!

Basically AoH was created by Andrew Whiteman, the guitarist for Broken Social Scene. He was born in Havana, Cuba, and therefore loves the Latin guitar sounds; I can`t say it seems to influence what I`ve heard from the band, but that certainly seems like it could help. Look forward to another over hyped release from Arts & Crafts.

Let`s steal Stereogum`s bandwidth: ``My Sword Hand`s Anger``

Talk to your current therapist

In Civilian Clothing are a band from Flint, which balances out Micheal Moore as another product from the town. So, in my eyes, Flint is neutral-neither good nor bad. Here's one of their tracks:

In Civilian Clothing - Current Therapist

You're probably saying to your self, "why does this post suck from lack of information on the aforementioned band?"

Well for that I have an answer. Blockbuster and the Holidays have stolen my soul so I have no energy.

Fuck the Holidays,
Jon

**EDIT** - their website is down, but they have a Myspace. (Love, Thomas)

BESTOF06 - PART 5

Officially, our top ten of 2006. We'll leave which bands are whose up to your mind, but any emails with a close enough guess will get a prize. Some facts: 10 of our top 20 are Canadian, and 20 of our top 50 are Canadian.

Destroyer - Destroyer Rubies
Tokyo Police Club - A Lesson in Crime (EP)
Land of Talk - Applause Cheer Boo Hiss (EP)
Tapes 'n Tapes - The Loon
Small Sins - Small Sins
The Decemberists - The Crane Wife
The Hold Steady - Boys and Girls in America
Chad VanGaalen - Skeliconnection
Neko Case - Fox Confessor Brings the Flood
TV on the Radio - Return to Cookie Mountain

Also, this is in no order. It would be impossible to come to an agreement on which of these albums places ahead of another. In all honesty, tape the names to the edge of a twister spinner and randomly select your order.

BESTOF06 - Part 4

So cats and kittens, this is almost coming to an end. My holidays have so far been spent sick and on the couch under blankets, but I've been able to re listen to all the top 50 CD's we chose. Confidently, I can say we made good choices, though it was hard to rank albums Jon completely ignored, or ones I completely ignored throughout the year. Sometime this weekend I'll post the final 10 (5 of our own picks), which will be our final present for the year. Jon will vacation in Sin City, and I will continue to write songs for my own musical project. Thank you, and without further deference:

11. Islands - Return To The Sea
12. Joanna Newson - Ys
13. I'm From Barcelona - Let Me Introduce My Friends
14. Thom Yorke - Eraser
15. Grizzly Bear - Yellow house
16. Swan Lake - Beast Moans
17. Band of Horses - Everything All The Time
18. Final Fantasy - He Poos Clouds
19. Danielson - Ships
20. Sunset Rubdown - Shut Up I Am Dreaming

On a final note, I would like to point out that this is the closest installment choice we made. Out of our initial list of 50, the 20 left could almost be considered on equal terms. The Grizzly Bear record really surprised me, Final Fantasy won the Polaris music prize, Swan Lake become Canada's second indie super group, Thom Yorke ventured out on his own, and Carrissa's Wierd bandmates reunited to form Band of Horses. An overall great runners up list.

BESTOF06 - Part 3

21. Voxtrot - Mother Sister Daughters and Wives (EP)
22. Junior Boys - So This Is Good-Bye
23. Think About Life - Think About Life ("Paul Cries" is one of my top singles though)
24. Hot Chip - The Warning
25. Lily Allen - Alright, Still
26. The Ghost Is Dancing - The Ghost Is Dancing (EP)
27. K'naan - The Dusty Foot Philosopher
28. Born Ruffians - Piecing It Together (EP)
29. Damien Jurado - And Now That I'm In Your Shadow
30. James Figurine - Mistake Mistake Mistake Mistake

BESTOF06 - Part 2

The Second Installment. This really is a hard task to do, pick and choose between the (40) great albums left. Listen to the show tomorrow!

31. Fiery Furnaces - The Bitter Tea
32. The Awkward Stage - Heaven is For Easy Girls
33. The Album Leaf - Into The Blue Again
34. Beck - The Information
35. MSTRKRFT -The Looks
36. Regina Spektor - Begin To Hope
37. P.O.S - Audition
38. The Thermals - A Pillar of Salt
39. LCD Soundsystem - 45:33 (Single)
40. Shout Out Out Out Out - Not Saying/Just Saying

BESTOF06 - Part 1

We're going to give 'em to you in 5 parts; a countdown until Christmas. The last day will be a more lengthy post, with Jon and I elaborating on our (5) favourite albums. If you want a sneak peak, listen to CJAM 91.5 fm this Thursday morning--6-8am--where we'll be wrapping up the year. So here we go, the last 10 out of our top 50 albums of 2006. I feel really important right now.

41. Belle and Sebastian - The Life Pursuit
42. M. Ward - Post-War
43. Cold War Kids - Robbers and Cowards
44. Gnarls Barkley - St. Eleswhere
45. Fiest - Open Season
46. Controller Controller - X-Amounts
47. Yo La Tengo - I Am Not Afraid Of You And I Will Beat Your Ass (*Scored the film Old Joy, which also came out this year)
48. Clipse - Hell Hath No Fury
49. Girl Talk - Night Ripper
50. Emily Haines and the Soft Skeletons - Knives Don't Have Your Back

I'm From Barcelona

For some insight into our Best-of-2006 post, here's a gorgeous video of the Swedish popsters doing what they do best: drinking!

Get me out of the swamp

It's my birthday, for another 50 minutes. To celebrate, let's nod our heads to the less-notable Pacific-Northwest bands.

Quasi - Ex-husband and wife (that must be horrible), pop band (avec piano).
764 Hero - Loud yet melodic. I adore the voice (and the song "Calendar pages").
Mount Eerie - This is only Phil's "proper" band name.
Currituck Co. - "You can be my anti-Christ, will you be my Saviour?"
F$%# F&^! - SECRET BAND! (not actually the f- word). Hint: western-Canadian cities. A correct guess gets a birthday hug.

I'm quite fatigued.

Stop Folding Me

I don't think many people know Sufjan is pronounced "Soof-yen", not "Suff-Jan" or "Sooph-Jan." It really doesn't matter, but it does.

They were on the show last week, and will probably be on the show this week; Port O'Brien is a catchy force. Just listen to "I Woke Up Today" and you'll think to yourself about the parallels The Most Serene Republic and/or Jim Guthrie might draw. I hear Win Butler in his voice. Can this Oakland musical force be overstepping the already established Canadian boundary when it comes to great sound?

On the YouTube note, Thriller (Remix)

The History of Pop Music

The very long and complicated history of pop music broken down into 4 chords.

Loop de Loop

Here we go Loop de Loop...

I've been studyin for days and yet know nothing about anything *shakes fist towards sky*

Atleast I heard this gem on the way home on CJAM by the walkmen.

The Walkmen - Loop de Loop

Yeah I know I wanna dance too...

Love,
Jon

Clap your hands and say Yeah!...Again

New Clap your hands and say yeah. Do you guys still like them or has the buzz worn off yet.

Clap your hands and say Yeah!- Underwater(You and Me)

Clap Your Hands and Yeah! - Love Song # 7

Yeah, I like Underwater.

**Edited as to not whore the band's bandwidth**

Hello, Blue Roses

Sadly the first post of December has come four days late. Better late than never, so to compensate for this travesty I will post something from one of my favorite artists. .. and his girlfriend. Ah love.

Dan Bejar and g/f Sydney Vermont have a project called Hello, Blue Roses.

Hello, Blue Roses - Hello, Blue Roses

Love,
Jon