Best of: Top 10 Canadian Bands from 2014

Another great year for music? Check

Another great year for Canadian music? Check

Here's a list of the 10 awesome Canadian artists that appear on my Favourite 60 Songs of 2014 list and my Favourite 25 Albums of 2014 list.

Public Animal "Careful" and "High Pony"

The Balconies "Boys and Girls", "The Slo" and "Do It In The Dark"

Lowell "The Bells", "Cloud 69" and "Palm Trees"

Little Foot Long Foot "Woman" and "Mess"

Mounties "Headphones" and "Pretty Respectable"

The New Pornographers "Dancehall Domine" "Brill Bruisers"

The Pack A.D. "Big Shot"

The C'Mons "Only Ghost" They're currently on hiatus, but they're one of two great discoveries at 2013's Indie Week (along with Little Foot Long Foot). I love their EP Places and am hoping for great things from them upon their return.

Death From Above 1979 "Trainwreck 1979"

Stars "From The Night"

Best of: My favourite 60 songs of 2014

It's the time of year for reflection. I say it was another great year for music. I think I saw more bands this year than any other year in my life. I had a great time taking pics of shows. Most of all, I loved the music. It's always about the music. And so without any further ado, here is my list of my favourite 60 songs of 2014.

60. Stars "From the Night"

59. The War on Drugs "Red Eyes"

58. Interpol "All the Rage Back Home"

57. Royal Blood "Come on Over"

56. Lowell "Palm Trees"

55. Blood Red Shoes "An Animal"

54. Band of Skulls "Asleep at the Wheel"

53. Elbow "New York Morning"

52. Temples "Mesmerise"

51. Alex Clare "Never Let You Go"

50. Split Single "Never Look Back"

49. Bob Mould "Hey Mr. Grey"

48. The New Pornographers "Brill Bruisers"

47. Death From Above 1979 "Trainwreck 1979"

46. Mounties "Pretty Respectable"

45. Ex Hex "Don't Wanna Lose"

44. PAWS "Tongues"

43. The C'Mons "Only Ghost"

42. Drowners "Luv, Hold Me Down"

41. Little Foot Long Foot "Mess"

40. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart "Simple and Sure"

39. Dum Dum Girls "Rimbaud Eyes"

38. The Pack A.D. "Big Shot"

37. Augustines "Weary Eyes"

36. Elbow "Charge"

35. The Districts "Funeral Beds"

34. Dinosaur Pile-Up "Peninsula"

33. The Both "Milwaukee"

32. The Balconies "Do It In The Dark"

31. Band of Skulls "Nightmares"

30. Royal Blood "Little Monster"

29. Lykke Li "Gunshot"

28. Spoon "Rent I Pay"

27. Kasabian "Eez-Eh"

26. Jimi Goodwin "Oh! Whiskey"

25. The Jezabels "The End"

24. Lykke Li "No Rest for the Wicked"

23. Bob Mould "The War"

22. Kasabian "Bumblebee"

21. Owl John "Red Hand"

20. The Balconies "The Slo"

19. Public Animal "High Pony"

18. The Hold Steady "I Hope This Whole Thing Didn't Frighten You"

17. Blood Red Shoes "The Perfect Mess"

16. St. Vincent "Birth In Reverse"

15. The New Pornographers "Dancehall Domine"

14. Augustines "Cruel City"

13. Split Single "Monolith"

12. Lowell "Cloud 69"

11. Haerts "All The Days"

10. St. Vincent "Digital Witness"

9. Mounties "Headphones"

8. Little Foot Long Foot "Woman"

7. Strand of Oaks "Goshen '97"

6. Lowell "The Bells"

5. Royal Blood "Out of the Black"

4. Bob Mould "I Don't Know You Anymore"

3. The Balconies "Boys and Girls"

2. Public Animal "Careful"


1. Augustines "Nothing to Lose But Your Head"

Check out my Favourite 25 Albums of 2014 list, too.

Riot Fest Toronto 2014: Day 1 Summary

I've finally finished posts for all 13 bands that I saw on Day 1 of Riot Fest Toronto. Lots of pictures and lots of tunes and lots of great memories. Here are links to all the posts, all in one place.

The Cure

The Flaming Lips

Death From Above 1979

Paul Weller

Broncho

Awolnation

Afghan Whigs

Citizen

Manchester Orchestra

The Beaches

Circa Survive

Rubblebucket

Mounties

Riot Fest 2014 Day 1 Band 1: Mounties

I've tried to check out Canadian supergroup Mounties live before and failed, so when I saw them on the Riot Fest line-up, I wanted to make sure I made it out. And I did. And it was good.

Mounties is Steve Bays of Hot Hot Heat, Ryan Dahle of Limblifter and Age of Electric, and Hawksley Workman. They're joined live by a bassist, second guitarist and percussionist. These guys have so much talent to bring to the performing and song-writing sides of the band, it's kind of unreal. Each of their instrumental and vocal personalities shine through while forming a unique and unified whole. I hope they keep going up and up in their success.

Mounties played a solid set for an early day crowd. They covered much of their début Thrash Rock Legacy. Bays expressed his surprise that so many folks were out so early to see them. The audience got a great show for their venturing out early in the mud to hear Mounties live. Of course, they closed with their big hit "Headphones". Great song. Great set.

Enjoy some great Mounties tunes:

"Headphones"

"If This Dance Catches On"

"Pretty Respectable"

"Tokyo Summer"

"Made Up My Mind"

Contest / Giveaway: Win a pair of passes to Riot Fest in Toronto!

Wanna go to Riot Fest? Tickets are on sale now for the two-day fest on September 6 and 7 at Downsview Park in Toronto. They're doing a cool "ticket layaway" thing for those of you who want to go but don't have all the funds today. You can buy now and pay for the tickets over the months between now and the show. Details are at riotfest.org. Cool idea.

I've got a pair of weekend passes to give away courtesy of Riot Fest. Here's how to enter:

• Send an email to contests AT oneintenwords.com OR 
• Follow me on Twitter and retweet one of my tweets about the contest and you'll be entered. 

I'll pick one random winner next Sunday, June 15. Contest closes Saturday, June 14 at 11:59pm Eastern time. Include your name and contact number in the body of the email and "I wanna Riot!" in the subject line. Winners will be contacted through email or Twitter and must provide full name and contact number to win. If you don't provide the required info, another winner will be picked.

Check out just 10 of my favourite bands out of the many, many amazing acts who are going to be rockin' Riot Fest. I know I'm looking forward to it!

The Cure

The National

Death From Above 1979

Stars

The New Pornographers

Bob Mould

Mounties

Pup

Radkey

Say Yes

The Top 50: The best songs of 2013, according to me. The year's most awesome and cool pop, indie, and alternative songs.

As the year progresses, I'm usually not aware of whether it's a great year for music or not. By about mid-year, I'm thinking that I have no idea what I'd put on a "best of" list. iTunes certainly helps by letting me see my top rated songs released in any given year.

Overall, it felt like more of a year of pop than anything else. We got tons of great pop melodies, and I love it. There's lots of other stuff in here too, including lots of loud guitars, which I also love.

Check out the list of my 50 favourite tunes of 2013.

50. "California" Mazzy Star
49. "Silent Treatment" The Joy Formidable
48. "Tendons" The Joy Formidable
47. "Fantasy" MS MR
46. "Out of My League" Fitz & the Tantrums
45. "Me & You & Jackie Mittoo" Superchunk

44. "Empathetic People" Telekinesis

43. "Maze" 1984

42. "All The Days" Haerts
41. "Tennis Court" Lorde
40. "I Kill Giants" The Naked And Famous

39. "Middle Sea" Yuck

38. "New Summer" Young Galaxy
37. "Hurricane" MS MR
36. "Lies" Chvrches
35. "Spider X" California X
34. "Power Lines" Telekinesis
33. "All The Time" The Strokes
32. "Black Chandelier" Biffy Clyro
31. "Let The Day Begin" Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
30. "Little Blimp" The Joy Formidable
29. "Ways To Go" Grouplove
28. "Mind Your Manners" Pearl Jam
27. "Change" Mikal Cronin
26. "San Francisco" The Mowgli's
25. "Pretty Boy" Young Galaxy
24. "Gun" Chvrches

23. "Sex" The 1975

22. "Man" Neko Case
21. "You're Not The One" Sky Ferreira
20. "Loud Like Love" Placebo
19. "Backyard Skulls" Frightened Rabbit
18. "Forever" Haim
17. "Climbers" Mansions
16. "Bitter Rivals" Sleigh Bells
15. "Too Many Friends" Placebo
14. "I Love It (feat. Charli XCX)" Icona Pop
13. "Royals" Lorde
12. "High Road" Cults
11. "Hearts Like Ours" The Naked and Famous

10. "Sea of Love" The National

9. "I Can Hardly Make You Mine" Cults

8. "Headphones" Mounties

7. "Holy" Frightened Rabbit

6. "Cholla" The Joy Formidable

5. "Dead Now" Frightened Rabbit

4. "Plain Sailing Weather" Frank Turner

3. "The Mother We Share" Chvrches

2. "The Woodpile" Frightened Rabbit

1. "This Ladder is Ours" The Joy Formidable

This year, I've linked out to YouTube for checking out most of the tunes. I've even made a playlist of this year's list. Previous years' lists took too long to load and often caused flash to crash.

New song by Mounties: If This Dance Catches On

Back in January, I posted the ridiculously catchy song "Headphones" by Mounties. They've released another track called "If This Dance Catches On". It's pretty groovy, too.

Mounties: Something cool and Canadian, in the form of a supergroup

According to the authority of the internet age, Wikipedia, "In the late 1960s, the term supergroup was coined to describe 'a rock music group whose performers are already famous from having performed individually or in other groups'." I'd say that a new project by Hawksley Workman, Steve Bays from Hot Hot Heat and Ryan Dahle of Limblifter (pictured above) and Age of Electric would qualify for supergroup status.

They're called Mounties and they've put out a cool track called "Headphones". You should click below to listen.

And just so I can really justify sticking all those bands' names in the Topics section, here are a handpicked bunch of tunes by those artists.

Hawksley Workman "Striptease"

Hot Hot Heat "Bandages"

Limblifter "Tinfoil"

Age of Electric "Remote Control"