Been spending my time traveling all over Southern Ontario this past week, hence the lack of posting.
Hope you all had a lovely Xmas and celebrate New Years Eve in whatever fashion you enjoy most.
I still have a few days of pinging around before I make it back to Vancouver, so for now this is kind of how I feel…
Filed under holidays
Who doesn’t love a good list?
It’s one of my favourite times of year, reading year-end round ups and finding out what, and more importantly why, certain songs have made the list. I think this list is fairly predictable this year, and most of you will already have these songs, so I’m not going to upload them. If you can’t find them in a simple Google Blog search, you’re doing it wrong.*
Also, this is my first of the “year end song lists” – still to come; Top 5 local artists of the year and Top 5 album letdowns of the year. Honourable mention must go out to Foster the People (Helena Beats), Radiohead (Good Morning Mr. Magpie) and Low (Especially Me), who didn’t make the cut.
Now, without further ado… My Top 21 songs of 2011.
21. Young Galaxy (Shapeshifting) - We Have Everything
First, the video for this song is one of my favourite of the year. This was really the year of animation in music videos. More on that later. This song will get you to tap your foot, and wonder why these Vancouver indie rockers haven’t taken the rest of the world by storm.
20. Adele (21) - Someone Like You
She’s on nearly every list this year, isn’t she? I heard a few on her songs so much when I was England last December, I was certain it came out in 2010. Nope. This song reminds me of the summer and long bike rides. And in case you missed it, SNL did a funny skit about this song.
19. The Rural Alberta Advantage (Departing) – Barnes’ Yard
I went back and forth of choosing a favourite song from this album. I almost picked Tornado ’87, but the lyrics in Barnes’ Yard coupled with the upbeat tempo of this song won me over. Favourite part of the song is around 1.50 “Your parents they say there’s beautiful things in this whole place. Your parents they say there’s beautiful things in this whole place. Now your parents say there’s nothing for us in this old place. Don’t leave me to stay and dream of how you’re going…“ Click over here to hear a lovely acoustic version of the song.
17. We Are Augustines (Rise Ye Sunken Ships) - Book of James
I first heard about this band on KEXP and I just caught the end of their name, and thought they were that alternative band, Augustana my brother used to play, and was perplexed as to why KEXP were playing them.. Finally I heard their full name, and all was well. They kind of remind me of a rocker version of The National. Favourite lyric, “And here lies my green eyes, rolled back in my head, but they’re alive…”
16. Blind Pilot (We Are the Tide) - We Are The Tide
I was completely unaware of this band, and then all of a sudden they were all over the radio. I would describe them as a west coast Beirut meets The Head and the Heart. This was the first song I heard from them, and remains me favourite. Not only because of the handclaps. Well, that’s certainly a large part. Mainly, it’s just a get uplifting tune.
15. M83 (Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming) - Midnight City
This is one of those tunes that just gets lodged in your brain and you either love it or hate it. The beat wins me over more than the lyrics here. I’m a sucker for synth, what can I say. Favourite part of the song is just after 3 minutes in when there is a great saxophone break.
14. Tom Waits (Bad As Me) - Hell Broke Luce
There are always artists that you just never get around to listening to until late in the game. It happens. Sometimes it comes as a shock to others though (really? omg, how you you not have listened to…). Up until this past spring I’d never really listened to Tom Waits. I’d heard of him, but never really knew where to start. So after a recommendation to start with Franks Wild Years, I dove into his discography. After the introduction to his work, I was quite excited to listen to Bad As Me, which was released this fall. Hell Broke Luce was the stand out for me.
13. Dum Dum Girls (Only in Dreams) - Coming Down
This song had me from the first ”Woah, oh, woah.” I love the lyrics, and the music is quite soothing. My favourite lyrics are, “If you want to tell me something, you had better make it strong” and “You abuse the ones you love you, you abuse the ones who won’t. If you ever had a real heart, I don’t think you’d know where to start…” It reminds me of The Replacements Bastards of Young. And any song that can do that is tops in my book.
12. Beirut (The Rip Tide) - Santa Fe
Honestly, Zach Condon could sing my grocery list and it’d probably make this list. I just love his voice. I will admit, I’m partial to the live version of this song over the one that appeared on the album, which you can listen to over here. My favourite part of this song is near the end when he sings, “This day undone, the kind that breaks under. All day at once, for me for you. But I’m just too young…” Put me in a car, in the summer with the radio turned up.
11. PJ Harvey (Let England Shake) – The Words That Maketh Murder
This is a clear standout on the album for me. The chorus is the definition of an earworm. I don’t even need to listen to the song as I’m typing this to remind me of my favourite parts, I think that speaks volumes.
10. Handsome Furs (Sound Kapital) - Repatriated
The first I listened to this record I loved it, then that faded quickly, and when I revisited it in the summer I realized there were great little gems within the record that just needed some room to grow. I was really disappointed I miss seeing them when they played Vancouver. Favourite part of the song is around 3.40 “I’ve seen the future and it’s coming in low…”
9. Cave Singers (No Witch) – Black Leaf
I went to see the Fleet Foxes this past April and Cave Singers were the opening bad. They blew me away (and honestly put on a better show than the Fleexes). I’d never listened to any of their music before, so it was great to hear everything live for the first time. They have great stage presence. Favourite part of the song is around the 1 minute mark, “My mind wakes me up every night…”
8. Wilco (The Whole Love) - Dawned On Me
This song had me from the first verse, “…I been lost, I been found. I been taken by the sound of my own voice. Voices in my head…” Saddest upbeat song of the year. Includes whistling, too.
7. Radical Face (Family Roots) - Ghost Towns
Can Ben Cooper and Zach Condon do a duet? I think that would be a handclap explosion and would satisfy my music needs for at least a year. Radical Face has always been about the lyrics for me, I find the music to be very similar in most of the songs, but that doesn’t necessarily bother me, which is why I keep going back to it. Favourite parts of the song are just before the 1 minute mark, “I see the world from the world from rusted trains, and always know I won’t be back because all my life is wrapped up in today…” and around the 2 minute mark “It ain’t the truth we chase, no it’s the promise of a better place. And all this time I’ve been chasing down a lie, and I know it for what it is, but it beats the alternatives, so I’ll take the lie…” Nomadic anthem or something.
6. Fleet Foxes (Helplessness Blues) - Grown Ocean
They may not have blown me away with their live performance, but this record was one of my most played this year. I went back and forth when trying to figure out a favourite song on the album and even though this is the last song on the record it still had me hitting repeat, not wanting the record to end. Favourite parts of the song are at 1.45 “In that dream moving slow through the morning time…” and 2.35 “All these voices I’ll have someday have turned off them. And I will see you someday when I’ve woken, I’ll be so happy just to have spoken, I’ll have so much to tell you about…” I read a great article in Uncut where Robin went through the tracklist, giving insight on each song and I wish I could find it online, but he said this song had to do with friendship and that’s always how I heard it.
5. Timber Timbre (Creep On, Creepin’ On) - Woman
This song grips you from the opening bars and then the piano drags you further into the spin. I love the video, and my favourite lyric is “Do you forgot what you try to remember, and do you remember what try to forget?”
4. Crystal Stilts (In Love with Oblivion)– Through the Floor
Shoegazy earworm if I ever heard one this year! I love the low-fi pop sound (similar to The Black Keys) but a bit darker.
3. Of Monsters and Men (My Head is an Animal) - King & Lionheart
Who doesn’t love a bit of Icelandic folk music? Actually, before this band I wasn’t really a fan of many things that were coming out of Iceland (sorry!). The first song I heard was “Little Talks” and I eagerly awaited the full album. Not since Arcade Fire’s Funeral have I been this excited about a debut album. Favourite lyric, “And in the sea that’s painted black, creatures lurk below the deck, but you’re a king and I’m lionheart. And as the world comes to an end, I’ll be here to hold your hand, as you’re my king and I’m your lionheart. A lionheart.”
2. Black Keys (El Camino) - Lonely Boy
Best video of the year? So simple, yet so addictive. At first listen I must have pressed the repeat button at least 10 times. “I got a love that keeps me waiting…” There are definite other gems on this record, but I’ve still played this one the most. Kick it!
1. Papercuts (Fading Parade) - Do What You Will
Papercuts are one of those bands I’ve somehow become very protective over. I’ve introduced them to a few people who haven’t taken to them, and that’s honestly bummed me out a bit. So be gentle…
*if you really can’t find a particular song send me an e-mail
Instead of finishing off my year-end song list, I’ve been making a gingerbread house. It’s turned into an annual tradition, and I think this is the best one yet. Although it does lack a bit of an overall story. I had wanted to do a house set in two different universes but then decided on a brownstone-like structure with neighbours of varying tastes.
Amazingly, even though this was a larger structure it held together the easiest of them all. That royal icing, I tell you.
Photos are a bit blurry, too lazy to find my actual camera amidst the luggage. I’ll upload better ones later.
Front of the house. Some of you might recall the address, which was my address when I lived in England.
Communal ice rink in the middle of the pathways.
The “Blue Raspberry” side. Inspired by watching Christmas Vacation. Snowman who don’t melt, hence the sunbathing on the shreddie roof.
More colour coordinated neighbours, cinnamon hearts and mints with a poppy-seed roof.
Green fondant siding…
Red fondant siding…
The backside, oh, and the window lining is the only non edible part of the house – used paper for that.
Filed under food and such, geekery, holidays
I’ve been back in Ontario just over 24 hours now and I’m feeling very discombobulated.
I had a wonderful time out with friends last night, but today was spent mostly doing errands, which stressed me out a bit. Malls aren’t my favourite place on a good day, near the holidays, insanity.
I can’t put my finger on it, but I just don’t feel like myself right now. I have an extremely short fuse and I’ve found myself snapping quite a bit today, which is really not like me.
Although putting up the tree and hanging my favourite ornament did calm me a bit.
I’m tell you, it’s those twinkle lights…
Filed under Uncategorized
I dislike writing in pen, especially at work, so I go through pencils like mad.
Look what one of my co-workers made me for Xmas. Pencils, with text from Jane Eyre (which I recently read).
We always give crafty gifts around these parts. I will be stealing this idea for future gifts.
Filed under craft this
one of the first things i did in my university dorm room was hang coloured twinkle lights from the ceiling.
to this day, some of my favourite memories are of that year. mostly in the winter when we’d gather on the window sill, or huddle into my tiny single bed and look out at the freshly fallen snow, talking well into the wee hours of the morning about nothing and everything. ours was the biggest room, so it was a natural gathering place. a room with a view.
whenever it’s the first snowfall of the year, i think about that year and midnight snowball fights. too drunk, or happy, to feel the cold night air. time stood still in the silence of it all.
i think that’s what i miss the most, the silence. the silence you can only appreciate when you’re being loud.
now everything is loud, but through external forces.
work. expectations. the grocery list. bills. life.
it gets so loud, piling worlds on top of each other, not to mention the promises.
i want the silence to scream through.
even then, i’m not sure you’d listen.
I was waiting in the check-out line today at the market, and overhead this snippet of dialogue from the couple in front of me.
Him: I was looking everywhere for you, I even went to customer service and asked a manager. He suggested that I page you over the intercom, but I said to him, ‘We can’t, she’s practically deaf and not wearing her hearing aids. She won’t hear it!’
Her: (howls with laughter)
Him: I’m glad you find this so funny. I was worried.
Her: Well, if you had turned yours on, you would have heard me say I’ll be by the eggs.
Him: What?
Made my day.
Filed under stuff and things
Years ago I read Kafka’s Letters to Milena, which I implore you to read if you’re a fan of his writing.
I woke up this morning, with plans to pen a few letters. As I was getting to the end of the first one, about sign my name and write xo, a line of Kafka’s started circling around my head. While I was searching out the exact phrasing, I came across this page, which gives you a taste of selected letters if you’re interested. Yet the line I was looking for is below, and also expanded on in the page I’ve linked.
Writing letters is actually an intercourse with ghosts, and by no means just the ghost of the addressee but also with one’s own ghost, which secretly evolves inside the letter one is writing…Written kisses don’t reach their destination, rather they are drunk on the way by the ghosts…The ghosts won’t starve, but we will perish.
Those last two lines especially always resonated with me.
What do you think? And do you still write letters? I find myself writing more “note length” letters these days.
Filed under writing
The National performed two new songs on Q today. If you’re a fan, you’ll like these. I Need My Girl is my favourite.
I do hope however that their next album contains a few more upbeat tunes. Their ballads are always earworms that pluck at your heartstrings, but they have great strength in more up tempo tunes as well. I’m hoping for a mix of Alligator and Boxer. One thing is for sure, I think they are one of the few modern bands writing songs that will still be relevant in 20 years.
Also, their pictures on Twitter crack me up.
Something that made you laugh today?
Filed under new music
