2008: The Albums

For several personal reasons, 2008 is not a year that I will be looking back on with a great deal of fondness. There's been high points for sure, but the low points are ones that I hope I'll never need to experience again. On a much more superficial level however, there was a lot of good accomplished in double-oh-eight, and the world of interesting music cranked out a lot of good, while the world of popular music, once again, cranked out a lot of bad.

As per usual in the world of bloggers, snobs and elitists, a few bands were raved about ad nauseum. Some I agree with (Fleet Foxes), while others I simply do not (Vampire Weekend, Crystal Castles.) Overall though, I've really enjoyed this year of toonage and I've decided that I will try to control myself and keep my list to a top 10 (followed by a few honorable mentions.) So here goes, the Quadb Top 10 CD's of 2008. Enjoy.

1. Portishead - Third (Review)

Upon perusing through other best of lists, the comment has been made on more than one occasion that there was no real standout for 2008. I beg to differ. Although I'll admit that there are a lot of popular choices that I still have never gotten around to listening to, this third one by Portishead is the undisputable champion of the ones that I have heard. Surreal, original and passionately weird, there is no other album that has rotated upon my virtual turn table as often as this one has. (Myspace)

Video: Machine Gun on youtube

2. TV On The Radio - Dear Science (Review)

For a band to incorporate such a diverse amalgamation of styles, yet still remain hooky, said band would have to be very talented and focused. TV On The Radio are just that, and the fact that they do so with such consistency is what places them at my number two postition this year. (Myspace)

Video: Golden Age (live) on youtube

3. This Is Ivy League - This Is Ivy League (Review)

My vote for the "most hard to understand why this is so criminally underrated" pick of the year, goes to Brooklyn's This Is Ivy League's self titled full length debut. What can I say, I love catchy sugar coated pop music, and this album presents such in a very accomplished way. I honestly expected this one to be 2008's Peter Bjorn and John but I still haven't heard a heckuva lot of buzz on it. Curious... Highly recommended to people who like Belle and Sebastian or Kings of Convenience. (Myspace)

Download: London Bridges (EP Version) mp3

4. Lightspeed Champion - Falling Off The Lavender Bridge

Dev Hynes wears a big furry hat in the summertime and he likes to put comic book superheroes on his t-shirts. Never before has blatant dorkdom been so melodic and beautiful, and Falling Off.. is superbly so. I particularly appreciate the way certain songs scale epic heights while still managing to stay firmly rooted in accessibility. (Myspace)

Download: Everyone I Know Is Listening To Crunk mp3

5. Quest For Fire - Quest For Fire (Review)

It has been an especially good year for local releases and my favourite local one of the year goes to Quest For Fire's self titled release. They prove wholeheartedly that one does not need to be a stoner to appreciate stoner rock, and their progressive take on psychedelia was simply too enthralling for me to ignore. Their live show is a sight to behold as well. (Myspace)

Video: I've Been Trying To Leave on youtube

6. Rural Alberta Advantage - Hometowns

Following up one local band with another, Rural Alberta Advantage are one of those bands that I am positive are destined for greatness. Never before has a three piece sounded so full and complete that I think it would be near impossible not to succumb to their engaging folk rock ways. I was quite happy to see this one pop up on a few other best of lists as well. (Myspace)

Download: Don't Haunt This Place mp3

7. Deerhunter - Microcastle

While it's true that Bradford Cox has certainly cleaned up and streamlined his sound a little bit, I find it very hard to agree with those who feel that he has sacrificed any of his integrity on Microcastle. The man is simply doing what he wants to do, and this album is by no means a mediocre snag at commerciality. Rather, album number three is a perfect sonic melding of the worlds of ambience and punk rock, creating a soundscape that is wholly original and a blissful addition to the ever expanding Bradford Cox catalogue. (Myspace)

Download: Nothing Ever Happened mp3

8. Dodos - Vister

Despite my contrary nature, The Dodos are one of those mega hyped bands that I can totally get behind. Visiter is a rare and perfect blend of organic minimalism and high powered freneticism that can lead you to believe that the worlds of folk and bluegrass were always meant to lead into spastic psychedelic breakdown. (Myspace)

Video: Fools on youtube

9. The Golden Hands Before God Conducts Incredible Magic Band And The Spirits - Here

At this point I would like to state for the record, that I do not deliberately try to include local artists on my year end lists. While it's true that heavier exposure to these bands is going to be inevitable, I always try to keep the list nationally unbiased. That having been said, I am fully convinced that regardless of where you're from, if you like rock 'n roll, you will be impressed with the debut release from the band with the ridiculously long name. (Myspace)

Download: One Fine Morning mp3

UPDATE: Originally I had Dog Day's Night Group in the number 10 position but then I was quickly informed that the album was released way early in 2007. Fine. So this means my new number 10 is...

10. Born Ruffians: Red Yellow and Blue

It actually took me a little while for the brilliance of this album to eventually peek through, but once it did, I was addicted. It is catchy and fun, that's for sure, but there's also just enough weirdness taking place just below the surface that, if you listen carefully, you can catch something new with every listen. (Myspace)

Video: I Need A Life on youtube

And because I actually have no self control, here are 10 more honorable mentions:

Lykke Li - Youth Novels
Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
Entire Cities - Deep River
Okkervil River - The Stand Ins
Leerone - Imaginary Biographies
British Sea Power - Do You Like Rock Music?
M83 - Saturdays = Youth
High Dials - Moon Country
Hey Rosetta - Into Your Lungs
The Disraelis - Demonstration

Other lists have already begun to surface, and there will undoubtedly be many more, but for starters:

Kirstiecat
Chromewaves
Butchslap
Cause = Time
Indie Music Filter
Herohill
Muruch
I Am Fuel, You Are Friends

Mudhoney w/Quest For Fire @ The Horseshoe

Admittedly I didn't put a lot of thought into what I was doing when I picked up tickets to see Mudhoney at The Horseshoe on Friday night. My reasoning was all like, "Mudhoney is soooo awesome and I can't wait to see them rock out and stuff cuz I loved them when I was 19 and junk!" The thing is that it completely slipped my mind that I'm not 19 anymore. Shoulda thought about that. The show reminded me pretty fast of my fragile tender age, but apparently I was the only one. As the crowds started closing in, I knew that I wasn't going to be hanging around the stage for very long.

Still, this doesn't mean that I didn't enjoy the show. Mudhoney are one of the original grungesters and even though I've always lumped them more into a garage rock category myself, there's no denying the influence they've had on the genre. The new millennium saw the band pumping out some new material once again, and they've just released their latest album The Lucky Ones, which shows that they can still rock out in all of their Stooges inspired glory. Mark Arm still has all of the attitude and swagger that one would expect, refusing to act his age which I can't help but somewhat respect. It was also really cool to hear classics like Touch Me, I'm Sick on the live stage, which sounded amazing. What I always liked about Mudhoney, which set them above bands like Soundgarden and Pearl Jam for me, is that they never appeared to take themselves as seriously, almost poking fun at the fans as much as they embraced them. About 45 minutes into their set however, I felt satisfied with what I was able to see, and the mature responsible man inside of me reasoned that it was time to take my leave. And boy, did I respect myself in the morning.

Photos: Mudhoney @ The Horseshoe on flickr
Myspace: Mudhoney
Video: Into the Drink on youtube

Opening for Mudhoney was local band Quest For Fire, whose praises I have enthusiastically sung a couple of times before. They've already released my favourite local album of the year so far, and seeing them perform again was as exhilerating as ever. The band likes to use the subtle attack approach, which means that many of the songs start out with a drone before exploding in your face with a barrage of psychedelic ambiance. The band is also beyond tight, and you'd be excused for thinking that they've been playing together for twenty years. Buy the album; go to the show. 'Nuff said.

Photos: Quest For Fire @ The Horseshoe on flickr.
Myspace: Quest For Fire
Video: I've Been Trying To Leave on youtube

Quest For Fire - Quest For Fire

As impressed as I was seeing Quest For Fire open for Eric's Trip at The Mod Club earlier this year, nothing could prepare me for the experience of listening to their self titled debut. The members of this band together as a unit may be new, but the long time experience of its collective members shines brightly on this outstanding disc.

I'm willing to admit that I can be quite the fanboy of exaggeration. I've declared many bands to be my "new favourite" and I throw around terms such as "it's been a long time since something THIS GREAT" and "best of the year" with somewhat hapless disregard. But if you'll forgive my crying overenthusiastic wolf just this one time, you have to believe me when I say that this band will blow your mind.

They have a psychedelic sound that borrows just as much from 70's metal as it does from late 60's psychedelia. The songs are progressively epic, with several ones breaking into the 8 and 9 minute range. However, their sonic assault of the senses plays like an action packed thriller that keeps you enthralled and longing for more. Bison Eyes is the album opener, the shortest and most immediate song, containing a riff that reminds me of the opening strains to Pink Floyd's Let There Be More Light. I've Been Trying To Leave is another highlight as it serves as an adventurous piece of work that never lets up for a second, containing harmonies that haunt and inspire. Album closer Next To The Fire is phenomenal, taking you on a musical journey that reaches the stratosphere before dropping you in mid air, leaving you exhausted, but in a good way.

I could wax metaphorically all day about just how impressive this album is, but it really deserves to be exposed to as wide an audience as possible, and hopefully the folks at Storyboard are working extra hard to do this. Call it post rock, math rock, prog, neo-psychedelia, grunge experimentation or whatever pigeon holing genre term you desire, I simply call it one of the greatest albums of the year.

Quest For Fire will be opening for Mudhoney at The Horseshoe on September 19th. You'd be a fool to miss it.

Myspace: Quest For Fire
Video: I've Been Trying To Leave on youtube

Eric's Trip w/Quest For Fire & $100 @ The Mod Club

Finally getting to see Eric's Trip was like a dream come true to me. As far as I'm concerned, they're one of the seminal bands of the 90's, and it's a shame that they never entirely got the recognition that they deserved. They always seemed to be the band that was highly respected, yet never quite able to reach much more than a cult status.

Oddly enough, I ran into Rick White a couple of weeks ago. He was painting a wall on Queen Street. Very random. It turned out that this wall was to be the new location for Rotate This, Toronto's legendary independent record shop. I gushed a little bit (can't help it, I'm a fan) and he explained that the reason for The Mod Club show was to raise a bit of bread so as to be able to play a few shows in Europe. I thought that was kinda cool.

Sadly, the turnout wasn't quite as great as I would have expected (or hoped.) It wasn't bad by any means, but I was sure that this was going to sell out, and it didn't look like it did. The crowds, however, were pretty much what I expected: comprised mostly of those whose musically formative years were the early to mid 90's. It was great not to feel like the oldest guy at a show for once. The band was very tight, wasting as little time as possible between songs. No sooner would one song finish before the drummer counted off his "1,2,3,4" and the next song would start up! The setlist was full of crowd pleasers, and my favorite moments were hearing Follow sung with youthful exuberance, and Cloudy, which Rick sung as if his mother told him to use his inside voice. It was beautifully gentle and restrained, almost forcefully held back. But the number one moment was right before the encore, with Julie Doiron's blistering rendition of Blinded. She didn't look all that angsty but boy, did she sell it, making me very happy that I brought my earplugs to this one. Left the venue, pulled them out, no ringing in the ears. What an enjoyable after-moment.

Photos: My shots of Eric's Trip @ The Mod Club are up on flickr.
Myspace: Eric's Trip
Video: My Room on youtube
Video: Stove on youtube

The first of the two opening bands was a local alt-country band called $100. These days the term alt-country conjures up images of any number of roots rockers from Wilco to Ryan Adams. I assure you that $100 sounds even more authentic than even those bands do. The vocals of Simone Schmidt sounds as if she did some hard living in the deep south many many years before she could possibly have been born. Their music was an interesting contrast to the heavier bands that were to follow, but it didn't feel out of place. The set started off a bit slow paced which made it a little bit difficult for me to appreciate right away, but with each subsequent number, they continued to suck me in even more. By the time they got to a song which I believe was called Tirade, I was completely ensconced in an airy pedal steel dream that I never wanted to end. Their upcoming album entitled Forest of Tears was recorded with Rick White and will be released on Blue Fog Recordings.

Photos: $100 @ The Mod Club on flickr
Myspace: $100

The second opener was Quest For Fire. Long story short, I think that I may have a new favorite local band. When they started their set, they came across to me as somewhat reminiscent of Pink Floyd during their mid period between the psychedelic Syd Barrett years and their FM radio mainstream progressive years. But as the show continued, I realized that they had honed a sound that is entirely their own. The band consists of Chad Ross, Josh Bauman, Mike Maxymuik and Andrew Gunn. Chad and Andrew used to play in The Deadly Snakes, the former band of my other favorite local Andre Ethier. Their sound is so atmospheric and aggressive and ethereal and mind blowing that I'm already itching to see them again. The light show at The Mod Club was also a good complement to their music, adding a surreal visual backdrop for their sounds; songs that have a tendency to veer off into lengthy cosmic soundscapes. I could serious fall in love with this band. Seriously.

Photos: Quest For Fire @ The Mod Club on flickr
Myspace: Quest For Fire