Holding On To 2006...One Last Gasp!!!

So ends another rock 'n roll year! (wow, cheesiest. comment. ever.) While it's been quite the tasty year for indie rawk, I'm hoping next year will be even more delicious. As my top 25 CD's indicated, there was a lot of good stuff that came out, but I felt that last year lacked that one super-obvious standout like 2005's "Illinoise" by Sufjan Stevens or 2002's "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot" by Wilco. So I'm looking forward to seeing what 2007 (sheesh! doesn't it seem like just yesterday we were panicking over Y2K?) has in store for us. I'm hoping to post a little more often. I'm hoping to get a few financial glicks out of my face so I can afford to go to more concerts. I would like to improve the look of this blog so as to make it even more pretentious and arrogant. (By the way, if anyone knows how to do that sort of thing, please get in touch!) I want to keep more up-to-date on podcast listening and I think I'm finally in the mood to maybe start my own podcast! Anyways, anyone who knows me knows that I'm not always the king of the follow-through but we'll see. However, here are a few more notes on what I liked and didn't like about the indie and not-so-indie music scene last year.

Attack of the overrated:
This year was the first year that Canada jumped aboard the whole Polaris Prize thing and there were many interesting nominees. The winner however, was Final Fantasy's "He Poos Clouds." The CD starts out pretty interesting but gets old fast, in my opinion. Another critical favourite was Cat Power's The Greatest. I've always loved Chan Marshall and I always will, but for me, this CD was her "Rattle and Hum" of sorts. A really good album, but her weakest to date.

Artists That Have To Stop
I feel that Jack Johnson has served his purpose but I really don't need to ever hear from him again. Curious George? C'mon! This year also saw a new release from the most overrated band in Canadian music history, The Tragically Hip. I've only heard the single and it's not a bad song I guess, but I have never understood the hoopla surrounding this band, and I doubt that I ever will. Same old chords, same old voice, same old ridiculous lyrics (no I doubt think they're deep, no I don't think they're interesting...don't shoot me...only an opinion!)

A tad underrated and a welcome surprise
As I mentioned in an earlier post, Sloan released a CD that was surprisingly good. I'm sort of surprised that I haven't heard or read much about it. I think many one-time Sloan fans have just grown disinterested, and the first single wasn't that great. But if you once really liked Sloan, than again, I urge you to check out "Never Hear The End Of It." It really is surprisingly good.

My favourite songs of the year

1. Painter In Your Pocket - Destroyer mp3

2. Young Folks - Peter Bjorn And John mp3

3. You And I Are A Gang Of Losers - The Dears mp3

4. Wait - Paul Michel mp3

5. The Island - The Decemberists

6. Wolf Like Me - TV On The Radio

7. It Covers The Hillsides - Midlake

8. Situation - Irving

9. Lloyd I'm Ready To Be Heartbroken - Camera Obscura

10. Fading Into Obscurity - Sloan

11. Get Lonely - The Mountain Goats

12. Objects Of My Affection - Peter Bjorn and John

13. One In - The Receiver

14. That Teenage Feeling - Neko Case

15. Emily - Joanna Newsom

16. Road To Peace - Tom Waits

17. Chile - Clothes Make The Man

18. Did I Step On Your Trumpet? - Danielson

19. Bullets - Editors

20. You Can't Fool Me Dennis - The Mystery Jets

21. Sister In Love - Envelopes

My Favourite Videos Of The Year

There are a few videos that have stood out for me, some of them I've posted here before. I think everyone was impressed with OkGo's insanely choreographed video for "Here It Goes Again." Cartoons also made for good video this year with both Rob Szabo's "Breaking Even" and Peter Bjorn & John's "Young Folks."

Concert-Going Highlights

Didn't get to go to as many shows as I have in previous years, but I thoroughly enjoyed watching the Broken Mascis Scene show at the Mod Club this year. Just hearing those classic Dinosaur Jr. tunes performed by the BSS-ers made me positively giddy. Being introduced to Irving this year was another highlight. Getting the rare opportunity to see Jason Falkner was a dream come true. The Stars were positively hyperactive at Lee's Palace. And, I'm not going to lie, but The Pursuit Of Happiness reunion gig at that same venue was also crazy good.

R.I.P. 2006

And finally there were a few significant losses in the world of music last year. Most notably for me is the founding member of Pink Floyd, the dark and troubled Syd Barrett . Here are some others:

Arthur Lee (lead singer of Love, one of my favourite bands of the psychedelic era)

James Brown (godfather of Soul)

Wilson Pickett (soul singer - 'Mustang Sally')

Martin Gilks (drummer for The Wonderstuff)

Lou Rawls (soul singer - 'Love Is A Hurtin' Thing')

Buck Owens (country music pioneer - 'Act Naturally')

Billy Preston (singer-keyboardist - played with The Beatles)

Anita O'Day (Jazz singer from the 40's)

Ahmet Ertegun (Founder of Atlantic Records)

Alan Sytner (Founder of The Cavern Club where The Beatles played their earliest gigs)

Clifton James (Bo Diddley's drummer)

King Floyd III (blues singer - 'Groove Me')

Danny Flores (saxophonist and dude who yells 'Tequila!' in the song 'Tequila')

The most extensive list I could find of rock 'n roll deaths from 2006 can be found here.