Listen to some tunes from Dirty Ghosts new EP Cataract

I really dug Dirty Ghosts' 2012 album Metal Moon. It appeared on my best of lists for Albums, Top Canadian Songs and Top 20 Songs of 2012. They've got a new EP called Cataract out now. You can check out the official video for "Cataract" as well as the tunes "Witch Hunt" and "Quicksand Castle" below.

They're stopping in Toronto on an awesome bill with Diiv, No Joy and Sunflower Bean at The Danforth Music Hall on October 11. I hope to be there and I'll definitely be getting there early to see Dirty Ghosts rock out.

Pic from Facebook by Liz Caruana.

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.

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.

Dirty Ghosts

Dirty Ghosts are true to their name in the dirty, gritty sound they produce. Not sure if they're ghosts.

Here are a couple of tracks from Metal Moon. 

"Katana Rock"

"Ropes That Way"

And yes, the song "Eyes of a Stranger" on the "Katana Rock" single is indeed the 1982 track by The Payolas.