Classic New Year's Eve song

Back in the day, I used to frequent the Phoenix Concert Theatre for their Saturday-night, live-to-air dance party with the late Martin Streek. I even went there for New Year's Eve one year.

With it being the 90's and with it being the Phoenix and with it being a CFNY/EDGE 102 night, the midnight song just had to be "Closer" by Nine Inch Nails.

Favourites: Inspiral Carpets

Here's an awesome tune from way way back in 1992 that just never seems to get old. It's Inspiral Carpets with "Stop Dragging Me Down" from Revenge of the Goldfish.

New music from the legendary Johnny Marr

Johnny Marr has had quite the musical career. I'm sure other sites can sum it up more eloquently and accurately than I would, but suffice it to say that from a little known band called The Smiths all the way through to his time with Modest Mouse and then The Cribs, he has made significant contributions to the alternative music space.

Now he's got a solo album called The Messenger coming out February 26 and he's released a video for the title track for us to check out. The video is a sparse, moody match for the song.

And here's another track: "The Right Thing Right"

Great. Pop. Song. Icona Pop with I Love It

I cannot resist a good pop song. From the first listen it just grabs you. Here's Icona Pop featuring Charli XCX with "I Love It".

"We Got The World"

Lyrical snippet of the moment: The Verve Pipe's Freshmen

"When I was young I knew everything"

In 1996, The Verve Pipe released Villains. It's a fantastic album featuring the songs "Freshmen", "Photograph" and "Penny is Poison" among others.

New song from Veronica Falls

I didn't manage to get up a tune from Veronica Falls' eponymous début album, but now that they have something new coming out, I'm all over it.

Here's "Teenage" from their new album Waiting For Something To Happen which will be out February 12. It features their jangly, drowned-in-reverb sound.

And just because I didn't post this before, and for those of you who don't know the band, here's "Bad Feeling" from their début.

This Christmas, we recycle, and celebrate an anniversary

Back in '09, I put up a clip of The Pogues and Kristy MacColl's Christmas classic "The Fairytale of New York". Well, that video is gone now, and the song is celebrating it's 25th anniversary this year. That is, if songs actually celebrate. And if songs don't celebrate, then we certainly can.

It's such a great tune, and carries the Christmas spirit so effectively, I had to put it up again this year.

"You're a bum

You're a punk

You're an old slut on junk

Lying there almost dead on a drip in that bed

You scumbag, you maggot

You cheap lousy faggot

Happy Christmas your arse

I pray God it's our last"

Last Christmas - Wham! cover by The xx

Christmas Eve.

I'm not particularly religious. At all. But it is the Christmas season.

So here's The xx doing a cover of Wham!'s "Last Christmas" for BBC 1.

Kids In Glass Houses have Gold Blood

This band sounds like a lot of stuff that came before it. I know that bands don't like to be compared to other artists, so I'll leave it at that. They're loud and aggressive with a good sense of song.

They're called Kids In Glass Houses and this track is called "Gold Blood" from their album In Gold Blood.

What did I miss?

It's a great time of year. All the year-end lists come out. And I get to see what I missed.

I'll be spending a bunch of time over the holidays checking out various sites and their best of 2012 lists. I'll probably discover some cool stuff that I'll wish I had included on my own best of lists.

Here's Torche with the songs "Kicking" and "Solitary Traveler" from the album Harmonicraft, which almost made it on to my best of list for 2012.

Official video for Black Chandelier

Videos, for me, are primarily a way to consume new songs. YouTube provides a no-muss, no-fuss way to put tunes up on this site and hopefully they're an easy way for you to check out some of the music that I suggest.

For that reason, I'm always a bit hesitant to post an "official video" for a song I've already posted in it's music only or Soundcloud form.

However, it's not stopping me from putting up "Black Chandelier" from Biffy Clyro's forthcoming album Opposites, due out January 28 in Europe and March 12 in North America. Damn, I hate waiting.

The clip looks like it's got the mysterious black oil from The X-Files along with a gang of clone-like characters storming an office building like something from Fight Club.

Buy the album so these Scottish lads can afford some shirts!

Bob Mould and Dave Grohl do "Ice Cold Ice"

"Ice Cold Ice" is one of my many favourite Hüsker Dü songs. Here is Bob Mould with Dave Grohl doing the song at the Walt Disney Concert Hall. It's due to be part of the concert film SEE A LITTLE LIGHT: A Celebration of the Music and Legacy of Bob Mould. There's a Kickstarter if you want to get in on the ground floor and earn yourself a cool package.

"Ice Cold Ice", originally released on 1987's Warehouse: Songs and Stories.

My favourite albums: Awesome and cool albums of 2012: My best of list: 20 Albums of 2012

2012 was no different from previous years for me in that I'm still more of a songs guy than an albums guy. It just takes longer for a whole album to show its charms to me and I struggled with what to put on this list, how to rank it, and even whether to do an albums list at all.

So here are the 20 albums from 2012 that made the biggest impression on me. So far. Alphabetically.


2:54 2:54

Band of Skulls Sweet Sour

Blood Red Shoes In Time To Voices

Bob Mould Silver Age

Diiv Oshin

Dinosaur Jr. I Bet On Sky

Dirty Ghosts Metal Moon

Divine Fits A Thing Called Divine Fits

Fun. Some Nights

IAMDYNAMITE SUPERMEGAFANTASTIC

Jack White Blunderbuss

Japandroids Celebration Rock

Ladyhawke Anxiety

Nude Beach II

Stars The North

Sucioperro Fused

The Twilight Sad No One Can Ever Know

The Whigs Enjoy the Company

The xx Coexist

Yukon Blonde Tiger Talk


Check out the rest of my best of posts.

My favourite songs: Awesome and cool songs of 2012: My best of list: Top 10 Canadian Songs of 2012

It's been a great year for indie-alternative music. Maybe it's because I've been putting more emphasis on seeking out great music for the blog, or maybe it's just intergalactic forces. Whatever it is, I'll take it.

Just to avoid consistency of any kind, I've abandoned last year's idea of doing 2-year best of posts, like doing "The Best of 2011-2012".

And just because I'm Canadian and I live in Canada and I love great Canadian bands, I've extracted 10 Canadian tunes from the Top 60 and I present them here.

Here is the list of my Top 10 Canadian Songs released in 2012.


10. "Are You Gonna Waste My Time?" Zeus

9. "In Came The Flood" Wintersleep

8. "I'm Just Me" Diamond Rings

7. "Hold On When You Get Love And Let Go When You Give It" Stars

6. "Let's Fall In Love" Mother Mother

5. "This War" Men Without Hats

4. "You Read My Mind" Ladyhawk

3. "Fire's Highway" Japandroids

2. "Katana Rock" Dirty Ghosts

1. "House that Heaven Built" Japandroids

The live shot of Japandroids is mine, taken at their recent gig at The Phoenix.

Check out the rest of my best of posts.

PAWS

Sometimes I start to feel that I'm covering a lot of quieter or more electronic acts on the blog, and then I come across something like the loud guitars and insistent beats of a band like PAWS and I'm suddenly back in alternative rock land. Their latest album is called Cokefloat!. The first single is "Sore Tummy" and you can listen to the whole album here:

Joe Walsh teaches the kids about Funk 49

When I was little, I used to watch WKRP in Cincinnati.

I wanted to be Johnny Fever when I grew up.

In one episode when there was a bomb threat at the station, Johnny was trying to leave the building against Andy's advice and he exclaimed, "If I die, who's going to teach the children about Bo Diddley?"

The point being that the old rock still has something to teach us.

Here's one of rock's legends, Joe Walsh, on Kimmel, playing one of my all time favourite songs - "Funk 49" by Walsh's old band The James Gang (not that other old band he was in, The Eagles). Amazing tune!

He's got a new album called Analog Man out now which features a revisited/updated version of "Funk 49" called, oddly enough, "Funk 50".

And if you're groovin' on the classic rock now, you might as well listen to one of Joe's all time great songs, "Life's Been Good", which appeared on But Seriously Folks back in 1978.

If you're going to watch the interview, stop reading now because I'm going to put in the best quote Joe Walsh says. "The thing about having a chain saw is, if you have one, you don't need to use it." Kind of like the martial arts, but less subtle and portable.

Bat For Lashes covers Rihanna

Here's a cool cover of Rihanna's "We Found Love" by Bat For Lashes. I really like Bat For Lashes, and I like this Rihanna tune, and I think the cover version is cool.

And here's the new video for "All Your Gold" from Bat for Lashes' latest The Haunted Man.

MS MR

Cool, groovy, easy to listen to tunes by MS MR.

Check out the upbeat "Hurricane", the piano tinged and tom-tom laden "Bones", the downtempo and luxurious "Dark Doo Wop", and the moody "Ash Tree Lane". They're all from the Candy Bar Creep Show EP.

My favourite songs: Awesome and cool songs of 2012: My best of list: Top 60 songs: #20-1

It's been a great year for indie-alternative music. Maybe it's because I've been putting more emphasis on seeking out great music for the blog, or maybe it's just intergalactic forces. Whatever it is, I'll take it.

Just to avoid consistency of any kind, I've abandoned last year's idea of doing 2-year best of posts, like doing "The Best of 2011-2012".

Here's the final post featuring songs 20-1 of my favourite 60 songs released in 2012.

20. "Happy Pills" Norah Jones

19. "Let's Fall In Love" Mother Mother

18. "Sunday (Psychic Conversation #9)" Crocodiles

17. "Sex" The 1975

16. "This War" Men Without Hats

15. "You Read My Mind" Ladyhawk

14. "Where Will We Go" IAMDYNAMITE

13. "5678!" Butterfly Boucher

12. "Would That Not Be Nice" Divine Fits

11. "Fire's Highway" Japandroids

10. "Cholla" The Joy Formidable

9. "Angels" The xx

8. "Anything Could Happen" Ellie Goulding

7. "We Are Young" Fun.

6. "Katana Rock" Dirty Ghosts

5. "How Long Have You Known" DIIV

4. "Creeping" 2:54

3. "House that Heaven Built" Japandroids

2. "The Descent" Bob Mould

1. "This Ladder Is Ours" The Joy Formidable

Check out the rest of my best of posts.

The live shot of The Joy Formidable is mine, taken at their recent gig at The Mod Club.

My favourite songs: Awesome and cool songs of 2012: My best of list: Top 60 songs: #40-21

It's been a great year for indie-alternative music. Maybe it's because I've been putting more emphasis on seeking out great music for the blog, or maybe it's just intergalactic forces. Whatever it is, I'll take it.

Just to avoid consistency of any kind, I've abandoned last year's idea of doing 2-year best of posts, like doing "The Best of 2011-2012".

Here's post number two featuring songs 40-21 of my favourite 60 songs released in 2012.

40. "Ropes That Way" Dirty Ghosts

39. "Lost Kids" Blood Red Shoes

38. "Are You Gonna Waste My Time?" Zeus

37. "Little Talks" Of Monsters and Men

36. "In Came The Flood" Wintersleep

35. "Forever" Haim

34. "Waiting" The Whigs

33. "Cold" Blood Red Shoes

32. "To Nothing" Sucioperro

31. "I'm Just Me" Diamond Rings

30. "Stereo" IAMDYNAMITE

29. "Keep Believing" Bob Mould

28. "The Mother We Share" Chvrches

27. "All of Me" Tanlines

26. "Hold On" Alabama Shakes

25. "Hold On When You Get Love And Let Go When You Give It" Stars

24. "Chained" The xx

23. "Sixteen Saltines" Jack White

22. "Anna Sun" Walk The Moon

21. "Runaways" The Killers

Check out the rest of my best of posts

My favourite songs: Awesome and cool songs of 2012: My best of list: Top 60 songs: #60-41

It's been a great year for indie-alternative music. Maybe it's because I've been putting more emphasis on seeking out great music for the blog, or maybe it's just intergalactic forces. Whatever it is, I'll take it.

Just to avoid consistency of any kind, I've abandoned last year's idea of doing 2 year best of posts, like doing "The Best of 2011-2012".

Here's post number one featuring songs 60-41 of my favourite 60 songs released in 2012.


60. "Dollar Chills" DZ Deathrays

59. "We Were Children" Tribes

58. "Anxiety" Ladyhawke

57. "My Girl" Yukon Blonde

56. "Youth Without Youth" Metric

55. "Awakenings" The Junction

54. "Tomorrow" Parakeet

53. "It's Time" Imagine Dragons

52. "Sleep Alone" Two Door Cinema Club

51. "Blood for Poppies" Garbage

50. "Radio" Nude Beach

49. "45" Gaslight Anthem

48. "Settle Down" Kimbra

47. "What Makes A Good Man?" The Heavy

46. "Follow Baby" Peace

45. "Savage" Hacienda

44. "Met Before" Chairlift

43. "Took a Walk" Passion Pit

42. "Lets' Boot and Rally" Iggy Pop and Bethany Cosentino

41. "Two Feet Stand Up" Cookie Duster

Check out the rest of my best of posts.

Can't get enough of The Joy Formidable

I saw The Joy Formidable when they came through Toronto to promote The Big Roar. Then I saw them opening for The Gaslight Anthem. While they were in town for that gig, they put on a headlining, win-to-get-in show at The Mod Club. I was lucky enough to get some passes for myself and some friends. What an amazing night!

Local Toronto band Always opened the show. Unfortunately they have a terrible band name for search engine optimization, leading to lots of sites featuring feminine hygiene products and none featuring a band. I've since been turned on to their web presence: here, here and here. They put on a good show, letting us know that they live just up the street and that they've got some cool, easy-to-listen-to music. They seemed to be happy to be playing to a large audience and were charming in their manner and their music. Chromewaves points out some more about their lineage, "Frontwoman Molly Rankin had/has a burgeoning solo career in addition to being part of Nova Scotia’s most famous musical family, and guitarist Alec O’Hanley toured across the country countless times as part of Two Hours Traffic before departing last year."

The Joy Formidable hit the stage and did what they do best. They bring more bombast, energy and melody than three people have any right to make. It was wonderful. The band were in fine form, the audience was enthusiastic, the sound was superb and the venue was, as always, about as close to perfect as you can get. It was, without a doubt, one of my favourite live show experiences. Ever.

Their set covered much of The Big Roar, a reach back to their A Balloon Called Moaning EP, plus 4 songs from the upcoming Wolf's Law - "Cholla" "This Ladder is Ours" "Maw Maw Song" and "Silent Treatment". Wolf's Law is out January 21-22 and I'll give an early prediction that Wolf's Law will score high on my favourite albums of 2013. I'm sure that some of the new tunes will even make it on this year's list.

"The Greatest Light is the Greatest Shade"

"Ostrich" from A Balloon Called Moaning

"Cholla"

"Austere"

"This Ladder is Ours"

"Whirring"

They opened their encore with the quiet "Silent Treatment". What a stupendously gorgeous song with a beautifully composed and delivered melody. Here's a fan-filmed version from a show in London. Breathtaking.

"Silent Treatment"

If you like this band at all and have a chance to see them live, go do it. It will turn like into love. They mentioned that they'll be back to Toronto in the spring to promote Wolf's Law. I'm looking forward to it.

"The Everchanging Spectrum of a Lie"

The photos in this post are original pics by me. Not the usual professional pics stolen from some other web site. You can tell the difference original art makes.

Gaslight Anthem with Joy Formidable at Sound Academy

It was a busy concert weekend for me. Highly unusually so. Saturday night seeing Stars and Metric at the ACC, Sunday night seeing Gaslight Anthem with Joy Formidable at Sound Academy and Monday night seeing Joy Formidable at the Mod Club for their win-to-get-in headlining night in Toronto. Makes me tired thinking about it, but I had a great time.

I saw Joy Formidable earlier this year at Lee's Palace and they cemented themselves as one of my absolute favourite bands. Although I will try to avoid shows at Sound Academy in the future, I thoroughly enjoyed the opening set by the trio from Wales. Their show at Mod Club the following night would blow it away, but that's tomorrow's post.

They rocketed through an always-energetic set highlighting many awesome tracks from their 2011 full-length The Big Roar along with new songs "Cholla" and "This Ladder Is Ours" from their forthcoming album Wolf's Law. Singer and guitarist Ritzy Bryan and her rhythm section of bassist Rhydian Dafydd and drummer Matt Thomas worked hard to make an impression on a crowd that I felt was mostly there to see The Gaslight Anthem. Well, that's the job of an opening band and I think they won over some new fans.

"The Greatest Light is the Greatest Shade"

"I Don't Want To See You Like This"

"The Everchanging Spectrum of a Lie"

"Whirring"

"This Ladder Is Ours"

I got to see The Gaslight Anthem as they were coming up the ranks of popularity, when they played The Opera House in 2009, just after the release of The '59 Sound. Then, they were the new band winning over fans on the road. This time, The Gaslight Anthem took to the stage to unbridled enthusiasm from a sold-out crowd. Hitting up tunes from their breakthrough album The '59 Sound early in the set brought a smile to my face. They faithfully recreated highlights from their entire discography, from 2007's Sink or Swim, through 2008's Señor and the Queen EP, 2008's The '59 Sound, 2010's American Slang and their most recent, Handwritten, plus a Misfits cover and the opening chords to an Asia classic mixed in for good measure.

"Great Expectations"

"The '59 Sound"

"American Slang"

"The Spirit of Jazz"

"45"

"Handwritten"

"Here Comes My Man"

While I don't enjoy Sound Academy as a venue, both bands did a great job of their performances, leaving the audience well-satisfied. Great show!

The photos in this post are original pics by me, taken from well back in the venue, not the usual professional pics stolen from some other web site. You can tell the difference original art makes.

Great blues from Alabama Shakes

Here's another great soulful blues tune from Alabama Shakes. This one's called "I Ain't the Same" and it's from Boys and Girls. I really should have made it out to their show when they came through Toronto in October.

Here's another one called "Always Alright" from the film Silver Linings Playbook.

Lyrical Snippet of the Moment: Odds

"Try on your lipstick, try on your clothes
I wanna be you for a little while, and
I'm freaked out enough to bloody my own nose."

Odds, "Oh Sorrow, Oh Shame" from 1995's Good Weird Feeling.

Royal Teeth with Wild

A friend whose musical taste I respect highly mentioned that he was grooving on this track "Wild" by Royal Teeth. Indeed, it sounds plenty cool and catchy.

"Wild"

"Heartbeats"

Their EP, Act Naturally, is out now.

Metric with Stars at the ACC

On November 24, Metric and Stars put on a great Toronto show at the ACC. It's a huge venue for these Canadian indie darlings and demonstrates just how popular these two bands have become. I saw Metric on their last tour when they stopped by Massey Hall.

Unfortunately, this is the first time I've seen Stars live. It's unfortunate because I really tend to enjoy shows in smaller venues, like Lee's Palace, The Horseshoe, The Mod Club and The Phoenix more than shows at bigger venues like Sound Academy, Koolhaus, Massey Hall, Rogers Centre and the ACC, and Stars are now beyond the days of playing at the intimate venues I prefer. Good for them, bad for me.

Both bands put on great sounding sets, and both were highly thankful for the success that has allowed them to play such huge venues.

Stars started off the night with their wonderful tunes. They went back as far as 2006's Set Yourself On Fire album and performed songs from 2007's In Our Bedroom After The War, 2010's The Five Ghosts and their most recent, The North. I was going to name some personal highlights, but as I reviewed the setlist, I realize there are too many favourite tunes to pick highlights. I only wish they played for an additional hour and were able to reach further back in their catalog to songs from Heart like "Elevator Love Letter", "Heart", "Death to Death" and "Romantic Comedy", and "My Radio" from Nightsongs. Torquil Campbell's emotional speech was certainly a highlight, in which mentioned T.O. as a home town for the band alongside Montreal,  he threatened to start crying, and he implored us to always make room in our lives for art, because art makes our lives beautiful. True words for sure.

"Elevator Love Letter"

"Your Ex-Lover is Dead"

"Take Me To The Riot"

"Hold On When You Get Love And Let Go When You Give It"

Metric are consummate professionals on stage, putting on a highly polished show. However, for me, that polish does tend to somehow leave me a bit cold. Not that I didn't have fun. I did. Just not as much fun as I would have if Stars had been headlining, or if Metric showed a bit more spontaneity, even if it was just for show.

Metric played a variety of tunes from across their discography, only leaving out their little-known first album, 2001's Grow Up and Blow Away. I guess I should be happy that they included "Dead Disco" from Old World Underground, Where Are You Now, but I would have liked to hear more from those earlier, more guitar-driven albums, including more than two songs from Live It Out. I can't blame them for spending most of their time on 2009's Fantasies and their most recent release, Synthetica, while including "Black Sheep" from Scott Pilgrim vs. The World.

Overall, great show from Metric, including some nice stories from Emily about her high school activist days at Etobicoke School of the Arts. Good message for their increasingly younger audience.

"Combat Baby"

"Dead Disco"

"Gimme Sympathy"

"Sick Muse"

"Gold Guns Girls"

"Youth Without Youth"

The photos in this post are original pics by me, taken from far, far, far, far away from the stage, not the usual professional pics stolen from some other web site. You can tell the difference original art makes.

Gaslight Anthem almost cover 1982 Asia classic

The other week, I went to see The Gaslight Anthem here in Toronto. I may post more show details and totally crap pictures another time, but for now I wanted to share what I thought was a highlight from their show. It was when they teased us with the opening chords to Asia's "Heat of the Moment" from their 1982 self-titled first album. I wonder how much of the audience was alive when that album came out. I only wish they tried playing the whole song.

Punk attitude: Fuck You and Fuck You

What are the chances that two classic punk bands would both put out new songs in 2012 called "Fuck You"? I'm not an odds maker, but I suspect on one hand it's pretty rare, since the bands in question haven't put out new material in the past couple of years, but it might not be unexpected, since "Fuck You" is not an entirely un-punk thing to say. I guess the wheel can be invented twice.

Rancid, the band that brought you suck classics as "Time Bomb" and "Ruby Soho" from 1995's ...And Out Come the Wolves (both songs posted here), has just put out this new track:

Rancid - "Fuck You"

And Bad Religion, who were part of the California punk scene in the 80's, who have been putting out albums consistently ever since, and who probably had their biggest hit with "21st Century (Digital Boy)" from 1994's Stranger Than Fiction, have put out this new track from their new album True North, which is coming out on January 22.

Bad Religion - "Fuck You"

Um, both are NSFW for language, as is this post. Natch.

The Pollies

Here's a band that just crossed my radar. They're called The Pollies and they invoke all kinds of classic rock music with their soulful harmonica, roots-y growled vocals, reverb-y slide guitar and solid back beat. Their album is called Where the Lies Begin. Unsurprisingly, they've been touring with Alabama Shakes.

"Song For Carter"

"Something New"

You can check out their whole album, and buy it for the always reasonable $5, here.

Lyrical Snippet of the Moment: Stone Temple Pilots

"Where ya going for tomorrow?
Where ya going with the mask I found?
And I feel, And I feel
When the dogs begin to smell her - will she smell alone?"

WTF?