I finally had time to read that article "the soundtracking of America" and I agree in general with most of the criticism raised by you all, although I think if there was an effective means of communicating with Afica and Asia from Europe in Beethovens era, i am sure there would not have been cross fertilization of ideas... It would likely just have been the Europeans force feeding their own culture to the rest....as they still try to do today..

His main thrust for me is interesting....- music creates moods and induces merely feelings and emotions, rather then intellectual substance..( at least thats his gist)...he then goes on to argue that even here, music fails .... " we recognise that music claims to unleash emotion at its most primitive, (but) we understand it never will", which in turn has created the rise of irony or "musical ironists" of us all....

1) I agree with most of the first point, in that music of itself , though it can contain intellectual musical thought and ideas, there is no purely non musical intellectual thought dirctly given, ...much like his chess analagy.
2) Most of us can easily dismiss his second theme about it failing to unleash emotion at its most primitive form... Personally , I have been emotionally wiped after seeing a concert such as Arcade Fire at Lees Palace...it is a trancendental primal experience, not to mention musics emotive power in the bedroom, particularly in ones younger years....Clearly Bottum needs to be on the bottom more often.....ok that was bad....

However my beef is this:
If music is emotive rather then intellectual, that does not mean the two things are unrelated...
I think Bottum misses the whole point which is that music, like good film, like good literature supports intellectual thought. It is not in competition with it!

Anne Michaels novel Fuitive Pieces gives insight into todays situation in the middle east that makes literature just as essential a component in the intellectual developement of a perspective on that topic as a non fiction book provides.. Intellectual thought is developed through multiple means and literature and music and film are just some of them...
Who hasen't pondered the death of a friend without music putting you in the right frame of mind to think about mans realtionship to earth, religion , atheism, existentialism, etc... The music is perhaps only a soundtrack to intellectual thought, but without it would the big questions be raised to the surface so effectively? Its support role cannot be underestimated....

He is correct in that lesser music can make us imagine that we must be "having a deep thought because we feel it so". I put this under the guilty pleasure songs that I like... Not all music is significant, some is bubble gum no doubt....but he misses Alan Bloom's (The Closing Of The American Mind) point when he dismissively states that " it turned out to be only rock music that Bloom objected too...he even ended up mildly praising the effects of classical music")

Bloom's point was that a lot of pop music is mindless yet still capable of emotionally moving people easily ...so easily that it leads to a lack of drive for intellectual learning...but some music he correctly notes can be helpfull towards supporting intellectual thought, ie I read it as dont through out the baby with the bathwater...( I read the book decades ago so apologies to Bloom for bastardising his treatise to one badly written sentence, but I thing I have the essence of it.
Bloom is also of a generation that the concept of substantive pop music is beyond him)

Bottums' complaint regarding song lyrics has some merit but again he throws the baby out with the bathwater ...One only needs to hear The Band Played Waltzing Matilda once to get the ESSENCE of the tragic event....Reading newspaper accounts cannot get this close to the event, and hearing it, ( even almost a century after the event occurred, you are immediately there with the troops) , certainly affects ones intellectual position on war and human nature....

Finally I would say that although he raises an intersting topic, he is certainly not thorough and convincing . At one point Bottum states that " music stands fairly low on the traditional list of devices by which we try to understand human experience" ....so who's list is that???? To start an argument with such unsubstantialed bunk is weak at best....

ouch! still smarting from the smackdown, bri, so i put together one of those muxtapes from the site derek discovered. hope you enjoy. i imagine the site will be taken down in days for copyright infringement but enjoy for now.

Kyle, poppycock, hoohaa, and jiminy crickets. Moreover, harumph.

Myopic goof? Oh, snap! That J. Bottum just got served!

My take? Well, I found the first half of the article pretty compelling, largely because I'm more easily bothered by crappy pop music that I can't escape. I can't visit a movie theatre without bringing along an ipod to drown out the treacle foisted on the pre-screening captive audience.

Yes, he was a little selective in his choice of lyrics, Mike, but aren't compelling lyrics in music more the exception than the rule? While we could probably point out countless examples on the good and bad side of the equation, wouldn't you concede that really good lyrics in music are more of a rarity than the norm?

Agree w/ you both that ultimately I didn't think he proved his thesis that music is a secondary art. It's decadent? Irony is expressed? Shocking! So is most contemporary visual art, film, and literature. His conclusions are weak but I did enjoy some of the tangents, particularly the passage describing the 8-year old alternating between different versions of 'Ob-la-di Ob-la-da'.

As for your 30 emusic track suggestions, Brian, I notice that My Morning Jacket's last two discs are now finally available on emusic. Given our discussion on Friday and Derek's glowing reviews of same, which seem to become more pronounced with every listen, or at least every beer, I'd say they're a solid use of your downloads. I'm still not quite over the fact that I failed to use my last 20 downloads before they refreshed yesterday, thus costing me at least three to five jazz albums, or 3/4 of an Apples in Stereo disc. Arrgh!

I was going to write my impression of the article as well, but Mike, you have summed it up damned well. While some of his points were well made, and did prompt introspection on my part on the nature and role of music, the overriding theme, not to mention the didactic tone in creating very tenuous conclusions, were bloody annoying. The man is a myopic goof. The history and importance of music cannot be summed up by comparing Beethoven (the way he is thought of today) to Kurt Cobain....the article moved quickly from the provocative to the puerile. Kyle, your thoughts?

So I have 30 songs left in my monthly e-music batch, and would welcome some suggestions.

I read the article that Kyle posted, and like Derek, I had to take some time to consider it before commenting. It started off with a notion that it is easy to accept - the fact that we are bombarded with music on a near-continual basis. Fair enough, although it's not something that particularly bothers me. My particular pet peeve is not being forced to listen to snippets of songs that I don't particularly like, but rather being forced to listen to the same song repeatedly, whether I like it or not. But from there, the author expands his rant into something much more fundamental - the primary theme seems to be that the lack of a shared world and spiritual view diminishes everything, and music is simply the example that he's holding up. In this, I disagree wholeheartedly. The only reason that there was a shared world view in Beethoven's time was because they lacked any means of communicating with all of those people in Africa, Asia and the Americas who had decidedly different perspectives. But why should the variety and complexity of philosophical and theological viewpoints (even including apathy and agnosticism) damage music? Given his premise that music evokes emotions directly, rather than through any process of rational thought or meaning, why does the fact that you and I appreciate the same piece of music from fundamentally different perspectives somehow cause that enjoyment to become decadent instead of transcendent? And I must also say that I don't agree with his contention that music and message don't work well together. I don't think Leonard Cohen would agree that his poetry of a "lower class" simply because he put it to music. Nor do I think that the Ostrich song is the best example of a Lou Reed lyric. I've always gravitated to the lyric content in music, and the ability to intertwine meaningful words with evocative melodies and harmonies is what satisfies me the most. I think that the author is indulging in the all-too-common bemoaning of the present state of society as compared with some illusory ideal past. He's only using music as an example so that he can show off his admitedly impressive knowledge of pop culture and musical history.

Mike, I had heard that about the Verve song. Do Mick and Keith really need the extra royalty dosh? Kinda sad for them because it definitely improves upon the original riff from the Stones song. I'd forgotten that Eminem had 're-interpretted' the McClaren lyrics, but methinks Malcolm stole his lyrics from Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed.

Derek, the muxtape link looks like it could be a really fun waste of time. Am presently enjoying this mix, which could well have been crafted by you or Brian, given the artists and track choices. Methinks I'll have to play around w/ it soon.

Could be a cool weekly feature where we take turns uploading a 10-song mix? Any takers?

Don't have much to comment on at the moment although I would like to put something down on that 8 year old article from Atlantic but I still need some time to get my head around it.

Regardless I think this site, Muxtape, is pretty cool and makes for some fun leisure time listening. Also love that retro 1995 Internet look. Who among us will be the first to post their own block rockin beats?

Thanks for stepping up to the challenge of presenting some seminal dance tracks, Kyle. I've listened to all of those that you cited, and I don't recall hearing any of them before. However, I have heard some Eminem because my son has a couple of his discs, and I've seen "Eight Mile". What struck me when I was listening to "Buffalo Gals" was the "round the outside" hook that Eminem later applied to trailer park girls. It's interesting to me how these hooks work - I haven't paid great attention to Eminem, but I've heard a fair bit playing in the background as my son listens to it, and that phrase has somehow stood out and registered with me. When I heard Buffalo Gals, it jumped right out again, and I was able to make the connection. I guess identifying hooks from other songs and re-integrating them in new ways is a central part of the dance music culture, but I wonder what it is that makes some lyrical or musical phrase work as a hook. I suppose if I understood that better, I'd be a better songwriter!

Another example I recently came across was "Bittersweet Symphony" by The Verve - the whole thing is built around a very catchy phrase on the strings which was apparently lifted from some obscure orchestrial version of "The Last Time" by the Rolling Stones. Despite the fact that the two songs don't sound at all alike, because the string bit was from a licensed rendition of the Stones song, the publishing company that owns the Rolling Stones catalog (ABKCO Music) was able to successfully sue for 100% of the publishing rights to the song. Apparently the Verve reached out to Jagger and Richards personally, but those two refused to get involved, and so they lost what was by far the biggest revenue-generating hit that the band ever released.

For a late Sunday afternoon or early Monday morning read, a case against the omnipresence of music in contemporary culture.

Not sure if it was growing up in close proximity to Ontario housing or the lack of an older sibling with a penchant for Ozzy, but my formative music discovery years (from age 8 to 14) were more about funk, top 40 pop, disco and early rap than hard rock/metal. Don't think it's worthwhile listing any disco tracks, for obvious reasons (I'm not doing cardio, dancing at a wedding, or doing lines off Truman Capote's ass at Studio 54). If I were to list the top 5 seminal hip-hop recordings of this period (1978-84), to the forementioned Sugar Hill Gang track, I'd add:

• "Buffalo Gals" - Malcolm Mclaren (1983)
• "Planet Rock" - Afrika Bambaataa (1982)
• "The Message" - Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five (1982)
• "Beat Box" - The Art of Noise (1984)

The Malcolm McLaren video was not only the first video I recall ever seeing on tv, but also was the first breakdancing I'd ever seen. The use of scratching, loops, and samples are pretty much the building blocks of all future hip hop tracks. The Afrika Bombaata and Art of Noise tracks owe more to Kraftwerk and 70s German synth/electronica than they do perhaps to the music coming out of the emerging urban (black, inner city) American music scene but again, the sampling, and in the case of the former, the emphasis on black consciousness, mark the significance of their contributions to this genre. Grandmaster Flash's 'The Message', on the other hand, continues the trend of bringing the diy, rhyming over beats live performances and cassette recordings of the northeastern US 'street' into the mainstream, or at least mainstream enough for a late pre-teen, early teen in Scarborough, ON to catch wind of it.

Hope you enjoy the clips and sorry for not posting sooner. Three back-to-back west coast business trips, followed by catchup and prep for a mini vacay next week has left me w/ little spare time for posts. Will try to be a little more active here. Thanks to Mike and Bri for picking up the slack.

When I was in those formative headbanger years, I was attending an American high school overseas. There was also a strong contingent of Southern rock bands that I didn't mention because they weren't my particular favorites. These included Lynyrd Skynyrd, Molly Hatchet, REO Speedwagon (yes, they were a hard rock band before they turned into a bubblegum pop band) and .38 Special. The other large music camp was the disco camp, which was into things like The Commodores, Earth Wind and Fire and the Bee Gees. As I recall, the first rap song to make it big came out at that time - "Rappers Delight" by the Sugarhill Gang. And as Brian has admitted to discounting the heavy metal genre, I must admit that I have been guilty of doing the same with the disco/dance/rap/house/ genre(s). So perhaps somebody who has been tracking aqnd appreciating that music over the years can come up with the top 5 albums of that genre...

Wow, what a moribund blog we have these days. Mike, thanks for your input. I was always more into sixties music as a kid, so the "rock" was never as "hard" (though I could put together a pretty good list of acid/psych rock records), but you couldn't live in the 70's without hearing a lot of big assed rock. The two (OK three) that stick with me as absolutely essential aren't on your list, so I'll add them in there. (1) Led Zeppelin 2 was the one that I went back to time and again, learned all of the riffs on, postured to, etc...and in a lesser way (2) Led Zeppelin 4. (3) the other one that got a lot of air time was Deep Purple's Machine Head, you know, with Smoke on the Water, Highway Star, Lazy, Space Truckin' (OK, I have to go home and download this one now)....great record. I would probably add Black Sabbath's Paranoid in there as a fourth.

Interestingly, these are all British bands, which I'd never really thought about before.

My choices for the best hard rock albums of all time would be different now than they were then, I expect, and given that I was deeply into the genre at the time, perhaps my teenaged choices would be more significant. Looking back, the albums that I was fondest of at the time were probably (roughly ordered by descending preference):
Led Zeppelin - Physical Graffiti
Pink Floyd - The Wall
Rush - 2112
Black Sabbath - Volume 4 or possibly Sabotage
Boston - Boston
Aerosmith - Toys in the Attic
Blue Oyster Cult - Some Enchanted Evening
Deep Purple - Made in Japan
Van Halen - Van Halen
Ted Nugent - Double Live Gonzo
AC/DC - Back in Black

As I grew older, some of these bands lost their appeal rapidly, while there are others that I can still listen to happily. Also, I discovered The Who rather late for some reason, so although I didn't listen to them in my early years, they became my favorite band in university. And although I did consider Pink Floyd to be hard rock in those days, I would not include them in that category now. If I had to list the top 5 today, I would go with:

Led Zeppelin - Physical Graffiti
The Who - Who's Next
Blue Oyster Cult - Some Enchanted Evening
Boston - Boston
Aerosmith - Toys in the Attic

By the way, I realize that I'm omitting some of the usual suspects - Jimi Hendrix and Cream for example. I'm deliberately skewing this list toward my own personal favorites, rather than the albums that I think were most significant.

A couple of other emusic pop recordings to check out are Venice is Sinking, a moody full blown pop band, and Throw Me the Statue, who offer more of a quirky lo fi approach, emphasis on lyrics and melody (whom I'm thinking of checking out tomorrow night at the El Mo).  Also, looking back at a month on at my recommendations from a few weeks ago, Headlights seems to be the one that is getting the most rotation chez DoylePod.  Pure effervescent pop of a very high quality....check out "Market Girl".

So Mike, what are your nominations for best hard rock / heavy metal albums of all time. Say, top five?

I cut my musical teeth on the "hard rock" of the 70's. At the top of my list was Led Zeppelin, with my favorite of their albums being Physical Graffiti. I was also into Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Aerosmith, AC/DC, Ted Nugent, Blue Oyster Cult and Rush to name a few. I expect that you are familiar with the releases of all of those bands. I was just getting into some newer hard rock such as Judas Priest when I moved to a new high school and fell in with a different group of friends. Under their influence, my tastes started to soften, so I never really became familiar with the next wave of heavy groups – Iron Maiden, Motley Crue, Metallica, etc. My older son is now listening to some of that stuff – his favorites seem to be the older groups. Specifically AC/DC and Kiss. I think that you’re right to classify this genre as puerile; the demographic to which it appeals is almost exclusively teenaged males. But I remember a few scattered scenes from my youthful days strolling down the street with friends while “Paranoid” or “Sweet Emotion” blared out of the speakers of the ridiculously large ghetto blasters that we used to drag around with us. My connection to that music at that time was probably more primal and powerful than any other musical connection I’ve experienced since.

Pretty quiet in the blog-o-sphere, boys. Stuart's laid up, Derek's MIA, everyone else is therefore (using the distributive property) urgently in need of a blog thread. Stu and Derek do too, using the communicative property.

So here it is.

I was scanning the Allmusic best of 07 list recently, and one of the numerous concerns expressed by readers was that Allmusic had ignored the "great" metal records of the year, focusing on softer pop, which undeniably is more in vogue these days. To which I thought, bloody right.

Partially this is me being 43 now and slowly losing my appreciation for LOUD, partially this is that I've always found metal (or heavy metal as it was once called) largely puerile, with few exceptions. I would say in my defense that I loved early period grunge, as well as a lot (though certainly not all) of punk. I would tend not to include these in a discussion of metal though.

So I'm throwing open the floor to the more open-minded among you to suggest great (heavy) metal records - current or classic - that I need to hear. Feel free to open up the discussion to include the more palatable 70's category of "hard rock", though I (smugly?) feel like I know most of those already.

Hey Mike, maybe you could look at doing "Roscoe", by Midlake - I know you like that album, and the song meets most of the criteria (relatively simple musically, features a harmony throughout), and is a fantastic song.  Not sure if is familiar enough to the Tech Rocks crowd though  :).  What do you think? 

My company has entered "Tech Rocks", the local battle of the bands for high tech companies. The rules stipulate that each band must play an original song, a Canadian song and a third song that is unconstrained. Based on previous experience with this contest, I believe that the song selection is crucial. I think that the ideal choices are familiar but somehow unusual or unexpected. I'd appreciate any suggestions that this group might have. Our band has a very solid drummer and a very capable lead guitarist, but also a couple of relatively inexperienced players - one on rhythm guitar player and one on bass. Two of us are doing the singing, and something with nice harmonies always goes over well.

Kyle - well done. I was a huge fan of the G/harvas at one point, probably saw them five times in a six month period. They always put on a great show....ah the early days of alt/grunge.

I've heard from our convalescing amigo Stuart, who has asked that I post the following question (the spelling mistakes are mine....:)):

"What 5 movies to rent while laid up. Turns out my local video store has a wide range of classics old and new . Anything goes S"

I will make one suggestion, a little known but I believe classic piece of mid-seventies cinema, Elia Kazan's (in his final turn as director) The Last Tycoon, well suited to lying about, given its languid pace, this is a gorgeously observed study of early Hollywood, based on Scott Fitzgerald's last, unfinished novel of the same name. A huge, star studded cast headed up by Rober DeNiro (long) before he started making a movie every six weeks in a wonderfully quiet performance as movie mogul Monroe Stahr.

For all you Gandharvas fans out there, and to commemorate today:

I'm always a sucker for a Radiohead cover so thanks for pointing me to Gillian Welch's take on 'Black Star', Mike. For those who haven't heard it, you can get it on emusic or check out the live clip on youtube.

Some of my favorite purchases and downloads from last year? What music fan could resist such an invitation? I don’t really have any theme or system to the music that I buy – I’m woefully ignorant of new artists, and so I rely on people like Brian to point me in the right direction (that’s one of the reasons that I was excited to join this blog). And the backlog of music that I expect I’d like but haven’t yet bought is so enormous that I don’t particularly focus on new music. Of the CDs I’ve recently bought, highlights would include Orphans by Tom Waits and Beauty and Crime by Suzanne Vega. I also bought We Shall Overcome by Bruce Springsteen last year and really enjoyed that. On the other hand, I bought Bone by Tim Booth (who was the vocalist in the band James), but it wasn’t as good as I’d hoped. Same great voice, but weaker songwriting. I’ve been a big Paul Simon fan for ages, and I bought his latest (Surprise). It was pretty good, I thought, with some nice lyrics, but it doesn’t match his best work. My downloading is almost entirely from emusic, which limits the field somewhat. Some of my favorites from there have been live albums - Near Truths and Hotel Rooms by Todd Snider, Karma to Burn by the Waterboys, Just an American Boy by Steve Earle and Live at the Bottom Line by Steve Forbert. I also really like Picaresque by the Decemberists and The Trials of Van Occupanther by Midlake (which was something Brian introduced me to). I’ve downloaded quite a lot of Janis Ian songs, some of which I like a lot, and others which don’t do much for me. I really like The Trumpet Child by Over the Rhine, which I’ve already mentioned once before. I also downloaded a cover of Radiohead’s Black Star by Gillian Welch and David Rawlings that I think is great.

A quick search of the metabeats blog for 2007 references yields no Do Make Say Think mention so you're the first. I didn't know they were still around....really liked their first two discs. Since it's available at emusic and is only 8 tracks, comes recommended by Brian, and has a great title, I'll have to pick it up.

New Destroyer disc out today....

Another great record from last year is/was Do Make Say Think's latest. I'm being lazy....did anybody peg it among their best of 07?

Hey Mike, any interest in rhyming off some of your favourite purchases/downloads from last year, since they will likely be pretty different from this incestuous bunch's?

Hey Stu, glad to hear you're re-visiting Mahler and enjoying it.    I don't know all of his symphonies, though I own recordings of many/most of them, but the ones I am drawn to are the 1st and the 5th (with the 6th coming next).    Incidentally, I do agree with you that he is a slow burn, and tries for many (many!) things in each of his symphonies.   If I said otherwise in the past, I must have been drunk.   

So, in the case of the 1st and 5th , my fondness is mostly for the grandness, the massive sweeping romanticism (which yes, could use a little reigning in at times), plus the integration of (what I've always assumed to be) traditional Austrian folk melodies into the slow and scherzo movements.   There are some pretty thrilling moments in both 1 and 5, so give them a try sometime if you haven't already....of course, it's Mahler, so allow appropriate time.    #1 isn't too long, but the fifth is more typically interminable at (I think) around 90 minutes.  

Derek, thoughts on the Big M?

Not Mahovlich.

i may have to eat my hat a little bit (once again ) brian.... I picked up a copy of mahlers 4th symphony as I was curious about there being a vocal component...(Rennie Fleming and Abbadio version)....am loving it....nothing like the typical Mahlerian everything and the kitchen sink about this symphony...very etherial, almost Sibelius like....do you know if there are any others in his file like this particular symphony?......
ps I am in to the hospital shortly and I cannot respond to blogs on my blackberry, but I can still read the posts....should I feel up for it, I will email (which i can do) to one of you yobs and perhaps you could clip and paste it for me...

I don't think artists ever did make money on the recordings - at least not most artists. I read an article on the Jayhawks at one point that made this claim - at that time, they had the biggest hit of their carreers with "Blue" and they were touring, but one of the band members commented that the roadies were making more money than they were. He said that all of the money that the record company had invested in creating and promoting their albums and videos had to be repaid from the band's share of the royalties before they would get any money from the recordings, and even with a big hit like "Blue", they couldn't forsee a time when that would happen. I heard a similar comment later on from one of the members of the Rheostatics (if memory serves). It was in response to a question about the impact of peer-to-peer downloading on his income, and he said that they didn't make any money from their recordings. They made money from playing shows.

I wonder if this is partly why the cost of concert tickets is so absurd now. I recall when I was in high school and even university, I could go to a major concert for a reasonable amount of money. The cost of an album was $12 or $13, and a concert ticket was 2-3 times as much. Now if you want to catch a major act, the cost of a ticket is 10x the cost of a CD or more. Maybe they're trying to recoup the cost of all that downloading with the concert tickets.

I cant see this monthly charge thing working for all of the reasons you all have mentioned.....in fact, I think its over for artists making money via album purchases in any form, at least for most artists, (perhaps Britney and the like will still add to their fortunes)... I think the future lies with alternate means of income, primarily touring.... This , may be a handicap to electronic bands and others more suited to the studio...

As we have pointed out in earlier blogs, many big bands have only a brief moment in the limelight, when they are young...Most bands (arguably) are focused not on saving money for your retirement, but , on the music itself, stardom, girls (or boys, whatever...), and having a good time, when they first start out, (and not necessarily in that order)..So......perhaps the future financial penalties won't affect things that much, in terms of emerging new young artists....

1) you still have the urges driving youth forward to create the music
2) you now have a wide market available online to have the artists get their message out
3) you still make decent money touring in an early career (at least enough that it seems like a lot to a typical teenager or early 20 something
4) you still get the girls, fame, party life

but it will mean you dont get to maintain the lifestyle for long because you dont have the serious money required to sustain it...

Mike, I knew you would fit right in. So all that being said, I think it's been a strange decade of music, in terms of pop history....I guess the major trend I'm hearing is the continuation and further development of lo-fi (which ties into fewer barriers to making music), and an even stronger return to melody and psych-pop and psych-folk music, often with an undercurrent of sixties song stylings.

And yes, I do fundamentally believe that pop (or folk-based rather than compositional) music is ephemeral. For me, if one is writing the history of music I think it gets a fairly brief chapter. Not to downplay its importance to us (obviously we adore the stuff) or its social power, which is where I think it is most meaningful.

Derek - where are you?

Kyle, re Pandora, you're right that I must have a US-based IP address at BMO. Strange indeed. And too bad for the rest of you, as it's a fantastic on-line service.

In terms of new (or newly discovered) music, I've found a few interesting items on emusic in recent weeks. On the indy-psych-folk front, I'm enjoying the Bo Iver disk (thanks Kyle), and also am liking Phoenix Foundation (from 06). More on the rock side, the Foundry Field Recordings, New Ruins (which Kyle - I think - put on a mix for me previously), The Whigs, and Maritime deserve a listen, and on the light side of pop, the Headlights, Liam Finn, and Oscar winner Glenn Hansard's record all sound worthwhile on the first couple of listens. On the jazz front, I unearthed a couple of great old George Wallington disks, plus a plethora of Joe Henderson (post Blue Note) which I'd never looked into before, and most intriguingly, a cool jazz fusion record by samba jazz guitarist Luiz Bonfa, who unexpectedly rocks out with a large group of fusion stars (Stanley Clarke, Randy Brecker, many others) on a 1973 record "Jacaranda". I guess I'm warming up to fusion, because I quite like this.

As to the role of the music critic, I've never spent too much time reading critic's reviews anyway. I like Abraham Lincoln's approach to reviewing, which was, "People who like this sort of thing will find this the sort of thing they like". What I've always found more useful was a trusted source - somebody whose tastes I knew and respected who could point me in the right direction. I've had several such friends over the years, the most long-standing and prolific of which has been Brian. There is no question that the Internet makes it possible for such people to spread their advice more readily, but it also creates a real challenge in sorting out the good information from the bad (the good being those people with whom I generally agree, and the bad being everybody else).

As for the "next great thing", I don't see a problem there. There is a natural evolution that goes on all the time as artists inspire each other. You couldn't keep it static if you tried. The challenge from my perspective is to find the artists that are creating things that I like amidst the enormous volume of stuff that is out there. emusic.com is a great example - I've never heard of most of the bands there, and I don't have time to sample them all. I do believe that the big companies played a role in this with their enormous marketing budgets. They helped artists get exposure and find their audience, but their work was limited to a relatively small number of carefully chosen artists. And they won't go away - regardless of how technology empowers independent musicians to create and release music, it will still be profitable for companies with bigger budgets to create and promote pop stars.

I take umbrage at your suggestion that pop music is ephemeral. Going back to Kyle's point of the subjectivity of music, on what basis can you condemn such an enormous volume and variety of music? Within the banner of pop music there is stunning musicianship, deeply insightful commentary, innovative arrangement and production - and a whole lot of drivel, of course. But what makes music great? I have a friend who is into superb acoustic guitar playing, and who sends me links like this. Jaw-droppingly good playing, but I don't have any desire to sit and listen to a whole album of it. Is that superior in some fundamental way to "Don't Wait for Tom", which is the song that most recently really got me going? Some of this pop music is going to last for ever (or at least for as long as people are recording and saving music).

Finally, the value of the album. I think that a song in isolation is more limited than a song in the context of a larger work. Within the context of that larger work, the artist can explore musical and lyrical themes more effectively. It doesn't have to be an "album" of course, and I think that we'll see more experementation with form and structure in the future. And with that, I must go and cook dinner....

Mike - welcome to the blog! And look at you, already linking in web articles on your first post. That took Stuart and me seven years to learn.


Good articles on rev share and technology, and the shape shifting that's going on in the industry. Personally I think it's nonsense to think that the role of the music critic is on the wane; if anything, (to your point Kyle) with the dispersion of music that's happened with the veritable collapse and therefore influence of the traditional recording industry, and the availability of technology to record and distribute music, there is an enhanced role for someone to navigate you through all of the (inevitable) dreck. Let's not confuse the ability to post an opinion on the web with a compelling discussion of music's merits. If there is no value, then why the rise in popularity of Pitchfork. And let's face it, in the end the economics for this sort of endeavour justify themselves or they don't.

And in a way, this leads to my next point....it's interesting that we're all talking in negatives (ie what didn't happen this decade, what we don't see trend wise), as if that is a good thing. Playing the devil's advocate for the moment, where is the momentum to change music, move it forward, find the next great thing? And while I am as small a fan of traditional record company oligopolies as anybody you know, is there a case to be made that their tight-fisted control of the role of hitmaker helped pop music? They had programs to "develop" artists, push them for bigger and greater (mostly measured in sales, I grant you), and there was a holy grail (mostly measured in dollars) that successful artists could strive for. Many of these things are changing and will continue to change in the new world.

Keeping in mind that pop music is, in my view, a pretty ephemeral (read:minor) genre in any big scheme discussion of music (though we love it dearly), the question is, where are we headed? Is the impact of the collapsing music company infrastructure still playing out, and will it lead to better music, more excitement, through access on all fronts (to create, distribute, sample, buy), or will a "random" factor dominate and render the whole thing listless. I hear an element of this comment in all of your synopses of the decade so far, and crystal balls into the future.

This ties into the point about albums versus singles. Albums as an art form have only really existed since the fifties (and early on, serious albums were really only made in jazz music) and who's to say that it is a more exalted form of pop music? Surely with the breaking up of record labels there's an opportunity to re-consider the standard tried-and-ture packaging of songs as well? The next generation likely won't care as much, I can tell you that.

I'll lob this one out and write a bit more later.

Welcome, Mike. Believe it or not, your first of what I hope will be many posts already puts you at the top of the list of most frequent posters at this site. Well done!

I'm not sure if the Canadian songwriters association thought through their proposal thoroughly (3 points for alliteration). I saw one of its members being interviewed on CTV a few days ago and he seemed pretty vague about the mechanisms for distributing revenue based on what's being traded/downloaded online. I'm guessing the pool of money will be large enough, given the number of internet subscriptions across the country but I'm not sure they're able to adequately address the other questions you've raised. Also, would we have to add another $5-10 per month to compensate artists from other countries? Would Sympatico/Rogers/Shaw etc. customers who don't download music be willing to fork out another $60+ annually for services they don't use?
Will be interesting to see if this proposal goes anywhere...I suspect it will die a quiet death, at least for the next year or so.

As for the trend towards single downloads...yeah I'm seeing that happening as well. I've kind of resisted it myself (90 emusic monthly downloads--older, grandfathered plan--makes it easy for me to just take the whole album) but cherry picking songs here and there seems to be the order of the day. I haven't noticed a shift on the part of artists to abandon the album concept, at least not yet, or not for the bands to whom I listen. But it may be coming....

I'm sensing you think this is a bad thing, Mike, and I agree. Even though I enjoy and use the shuffle feature, especially when on the go, there's nothing more satisfying than relaxing at home and listening to an album in its entirely. Often the in-between, non-hit tracks are more interesting than the big singles. With a lot of the albums from emusic, I don't even know what songs are the 'hits' until 3 or 4 listens. Case in point, the Bon Iver disc, which I heard the first time yesterday while reading the paper. Reminiscent of Sparklehorse and Baxter Drury, perhaps with a simpler, traditional folk-rock arrangement, each new track offers variations on a dreamy, intimate space, with gentle guitar strumming, sweet falsetto harmonies, the odd violin serving as constants. While I did sample a few tracks before getting the whole thing, I don't think a few tracks on their own would have been as enjoyable.

Another recently available disc on emusic, that I think I mentioned in a previous post, is Atlas Sound's Let the Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel , which I previewed at Soundscapes on Friday. For those of you who like Panda Bear, this should scratch you where you itch.

Hello all. My good friend and perennial hockey pool adversary Brian invited me to join this group, and I’m delighted to be here. Kyle submitted a one-liner last week about the songwriter’s association proposal of a monthly music fee which I think bears further discussion – and which ties into the other theme of just-what-is-the-personality-of-the-decade. I think that one of the big trends in music at the turn of the century (“the aughts”?) is the trend away from album-oriented music consumption to singles-oriented music consumption. With so many people listening to music on mp3 players in shuffle mode, I think the notion of the album is in danger of disappearing. But back to the proposed fee - I currently pay $10 per month on emusic for 40 songs, which I consider to be good value. But I’m not willing to pay $1 per song in general – that strikes me as too much. $5 per month for all you can eat seems too little; how can that approach generate enough money to sufficiently compensate everyone involved? And which artists will be compensated? Will this cover only Canadian artists, with other additional fees later imposed for international artists? How about indie bands – will their music be tracked and compensated from the same pool of funds? The existing system for calculating and sharing revenues is pretty complicated, and not entirely equitable. It should be possible to create something simpler and fairer online, but it will probably also be hard to monitor and maintain it because the technology changes so rapidly.

An interesting essay that I came across last night, arguing for the end of pop music critics. Much food for thought. I actually should get some work done today so I'll add my comments next week but thought it would be an interesting read for you all since the essay touches on what we do here (blogging about music) and what we like to do elsewhere (read music reviews).

i agree with stuart agreeing with me. had also forgotten about the trend for bands like the white stripes and led zeppelin to return to rootsier fare, at least in collaboration w/ acclaimed country singers from years gone by (in the case of the loretta lynn project) and the present (allison kraus album). also hadn't considered the caribou disc, which was one of my faves from last year. hopefully no one tries to bandy about terms like 'folktronica'.

also, in an effort to spur more activity/posting here, i've decided to try to include regular (daily may be too much of a promise) links to free music. today's freebie is a complilation from the adult-cartoon network 'adult swim', featuring bands like tv on the radio, broken social scene, adobi seksu and (egads) les savy fav.

I agree w Kyle that its a little difficult and maybe "what its not" helps... I also think it is very difficult to describe a style or intellectual movement or direction, which one is actually in it...I find you really need to distence yourself from something to see it clearly, so this discussion is perhaps premature, however that said , I see there is a return to folk influences and analogue like realness in music (of course I may be reading "the rest is noise" to much) , but if you look at that whole folk sych movement and even Carabou returning to natural sounds and instrumentation... Fiest with a world music type of sound....also the simple rock realness of the strokes, the white stripes going back to rural blues influences, led zepplin returning to critical aclaim...etc,...

btw...interesting idea from the songwriter's association of canada on a monthly music fee....i'm on board....

first of all, how is it that you are listening to pandora? are RBC's server's located in the US? has a canadian version of the site been created (if so, pandora.ca is not the correct url, as it leads to an online fiction store)? when i try to connect to their site, i get this message.

as to your questions, hard to say how i'd define this decade, or even what i'd call it. the 'zeros' is slightly preferable to the 'two thousands', but both don't seem a little awkward. what's really defined the decade for me is the increasing number of releases each year, in an expanding number of genres and sub-genres, that make it extremely difficult to identify a broad trend. the popular music scene is diversifying more each week, it seems. there have been cross-over artists, as there always are, Feist and Kanye West are two that come to mind for this decade, but these seem fewer than in the past.

maybe the best way to proceed is to figure out what this decade definitely isn't about and that is 'modern rock' or any of the 'grunge'-like or -lite sound that typified the 1990s. musical acts that came to prominence during the last decade have forged a new sound with their releases of the last 8 years, either by embracing electronic sampling and collage (radiohead, the flaming lips) or by adopting a more acoustic singer-songwriting direction (beck). other than coldplay, i can't think of a really big name alt rock band of this decade, and i'd say they've pretty much faded from view over the last couple of years. does anybody give a shit about the red hot chili peppers or the latest chris cornell or billy corgan side project? hard to even find in in the mini-story ap/reuters section of arts pages these days (though to be fair, they may be getting bumped by important updates on the downward trajections of ladies winehouse and spears).

the only trends i'm noticing in my own music purchases over the last couple of years are:

-25% hip hop and electronica
-25% jazz and classical
-25% folk-influenced acoustic guitar based music
-25% all other electric guitar indie music

but i'm not sure that i'd be willing to extrapolate a trend from my own experiences.

as for your earlier question regarding 2008 releases, i've been enjoying:

-There Will Be Blood soundtrack
-Adele - 19 - bit too much of the same throughout but strong arrangements, vocals
-Dengue Fever - Venus on Earth - kind of growing on me

Has anybody purchased the new British Sea Power album? If so, is it worthy of the critical praise?

Update [2:50pm] For all you emusic subscribers out there, they have a pretty good feature on some of the albums that were released yesterday (February 19th), with some interesting sounding bands to whom I've yet to listen. Downloaded the Raveonettes but will have to wait until March and my download refresh to get the others. Atlas Sound, No Kids, Ben Benjamin, Pete & the Pirates, Headlights, and Bon Iver contain some interesting tracks.

And another thought, likely to spark an equal amount of activity:

It's 2008 now, less than two years from the end of the decade and the beginning of the next one. This one has gone by especially quickly, for me.

Musically we tend to group styles and memories into decades - one thinks of the 90's very differently from the 80's, for example - and the continuum of time is thus organized into discrete, framed periods. Partially this is due to writers, critics, historians, etc, partially this is just the way the human brain works.

And so my questions are these - how will we look back at the muic of the "0's" the "noughts"? How will it be summarized? What will be its top few defining musical moments? And who will emerge to lead music into the 10's?

As an aside, I'm listening to Pandora (I'm sure you all know this on-line "music genome" site, but if you don't it is amazing for programming music while you work...www.pandora.com), and I'm running a Hayden mix in honour of my question...since he's a guy who has straddled the last two decades, though still sounds very "90's" to me (which means what?). Anyway, I'm getting a nice mix of mid-late 90's sounds, and loving it in a largely nostalgiac way.

Hi!

Time for a new blog trail: What's been purchased or downloaded since 08 kicked off that you like or think you might like?

In my opinion it's a pretty consistent record.....I think the problem with music like this, so chock full of ideas - rhythmic, harmonic, structural, etc - is that the listener hits saturation pretty quickly. It's like, stop fucking around and play a normal beat, OK? And does each song have to have eighteen bloody separate parts!! For my two cents, I (think) I like the second half of the record more than the first. But each song is so epic in terms of pop craftsmanship that it's hard to say, I also find it hard to single out a particular number as a standout. It's an obvious comparison, but there's a lot of XTC in here. Just listened to songs 7 and 8 ("In Context" and "A Gap has Appeared") and they are both very strong.

On my top 10 albums of 2006 list I posted the following on this blog:

"Field Music - self-titled - another disc from 2005 that I came late to. Really the only true indie pop record that appears on my list. Fans of the Shins, High Llamas, Apples in Stero should give them a spin."

I purchased Field Music's first album on CD and then in short succession I went out and downloaded their "Tones of Town" album from e-music early in 2007 and perhaps it's just that they are a band that from song to song tends to keep things pretty similar I never did get in to their sophomore release with any great conviction. I just gave the record another spin tonight and granted tracks 1, 2 and 3 are pretty brilliant but the rest of the album falls off rather quickly for me after that early zenith.

Also, important Monday web-browsing here.

Never listened to their 2007 release. Downloaded and enjoyed their 2006 collection of b-sides but never thought to pick up their latest. An oversight on my part?

On a related note, did anyone buy The Field's much-ballyhooed 'From Here We Go Sublime'?

Hey did anyone mention Field Music in their best of 07?  I've been listening to it for a couple of days ("Tones of Town") and it is outstanding.

thanks for the input on peterson... I too have Night Train and have not listened to it for a while... i will dust it off... seems like we are all sort of on the same page here...
thnaks for the tiop on Andrew Bird.. I picked up his album "the mysterious production of eggs"
back a few years ago... it was critically raved about and it sounded interesting, but after repeated listens it just never really clicked home...since then I have steered clear of him, but I just sampled this new album and it sounded pretty good so i will pick it up...I wonder how many times I have stayed away from a band just because one album ( the first one I bought)never worked out for me, while they may have done 3 more after that one that I might have loved if I had tried them...

While equally unfamiliar with the work of Oscar Peterson, allow me to second the recommendation for downloading the Andrew Bird disc. Think I put 'Fiery Crash' on many a mixed disc last year and find that the songs on the album as a whole suit an evening of quiet reading, contemplation, and scotch consumption.

Like the two of you I've never had a great connection with Oscar Peterson, despite my inordinate fondness for jazz piano. For me the reasons are largely, but not entirely, around style; Peterson's remarkably light-fingered playing, inspired primarily by be-bop in terms of harmonic structuring, is not really in my wheelhouse - my stable of fave piano players starts with Bill Evans (and there couldn't be two more different players). OP was more from the Art Tatum school of flashy "look-at-me" stylists. And he was certainly incredibly skilled. Some would say the best ever.

So style is a big part of it, but not all. Because arguably some of my favourite pianists, Bud Powell for ex, come from the same school. But Bud Powell has an emotional connection with me that OP never has. He is a very different player, but he does have the same full-of-flourishes approach. Perhaps, as Derek says, it has to do with Bud being one of the all-time romantic jazz self-destructers which makes each note seem more imbued with pathos and melancholia. Whereas OP was seting aside the royalties for a bigger swimming pool. Yes, I may be that superficial, but I hope not.

I have a number of really nice recordings on which his trio is backing up a jazz great (Stan Getz, and Anita O'Day come to mind), and I don't think I'm taking any risks when I say that the OP trio was one of the great backing bands of all time. In terms of recording session as a leader, I only have a couple, and the better of them is "Night Train" from 1962. Not in the regular rotation though....probably overdue for a listen.

The sad truth is I can't really comment on whether I think Oscar Peterson deserves to be up there in the pantheon or not because I am woefully unacquainted with his body of work. I'm thinking that I haven't given his music the time it deserves for the following reasons:

1) He was Canadian. How easy it often it is to take for granted, at least where jazz is concerned, those that are in our own backyard. I'm sure if he was an American I would have at least a half dozen of his CDs in my collection.

2) I might be wrong on this count but I always had the feeling that Oscar was a man who played the standards and was not known for his own inspired jazz creations. Please set me straight if this isn't the case. As such my interest in him, an interpreter as opposed to an innovator, was significantly lessened.

3) Crazily enough Oscar led, what by jazz standards was, a pretty normal, controversy free life. And this actually makes him less appealing in a bizarre sort of way. Not as an individual because I've always enjoyed listening to the man speak but as an artist I feel the need to discover, it does somehow diminish the appeal.

Anyway if anyone has a particular album to recommend I'm ready to have my eyes and ears opened.

By the way Stuart if you're looking for a beautiful song from 2007 that falls right in the Kozelek/Red House Painters wheelhouse check out "Scythian Empires" on Andrew Bird's "Armchair Apocrypha" from last year. I've always been a fan of many of the man's songs but have yet to commit to an album but after hearing this I think it's time. It is available on e-music for those who subscribe.

I have noticed that occasionally when some music great dies, famous or obscure, one of us will wright a small obit on metabeats, and so I note with interest, no one has commented on the late oscar petterson. Perhaps this is an oversite or you are all too busy, but I was hoping one of you would have because I dont get what all the fuss is about him . He is noted as the most significant pianist in jazz quite often and even though that term gets used a lot especially in obituarys, he is at the very least near the top... I love jazz piano but I have never really been wowed by anything of his, but perhaps one needs to be a muscician to get the art of his craft....it always seemed a bit emotionless to me.. comments would be greatly appreciated to enlighten the unenlightened...

Hey gents, what say we get together for some jazz at the Rex next Wednesday or Thursday. Both nights have good line ups - a trio featuring David Braid (wonderful pianist) on the 16th, and Dave Young's quintet - which has Kevin Turcotte on trumpet and Kelly Jefferson on sax - on the Thursday.

Who's up for it?

Stuart, how's the new Lekman disc?

Sorry Stu, I was just trying to be funny. In fact, I thought I was pretty funny.

Though perhaps I shouldn't have had those two pints at lunch. Or perhaps I should have had more.....

I guess I have to be a bit neater in my writing.....and maybe use spel;lcheck, but I shall restate;
1) I only mention you Brian because I thought I had a discussion with you specifically about the National (not with the cranky Scot).
2) I was never referring to your vocals, I was only referring to the guy who sings for the national...
the "his" being the guy from the national......not the guy from the Egolillys( whos vocals I love by the way)
3)When I refered to "his " vocals ( the National singers) being affected, this is similar to dishonest, so we agree thats what you dont like......
so in short :

I think that Brian ( not cranky Scot) doesnt like the vocals of the guy from the National ( not the guy from the egolillys) because the vocals sound affected (read dishonest) ......and Jans Lekman is crap..

...damn that was fun.....

Now Stuart....please replace "Brian" in your previous blog with "Brian and his more vociferous, cranky, and yes, insightful, friend Derek".

And it's been a long time since you heard my vocals, so how do you know what they sound like???!

And...I'm rolling now.... I would argue (though Derek would probably put it better) that it is the (what seems to me as) dishonesty that I don't like, not the "honesty". I have no real problem with honesty. Bah.

And, Stuart, you liked Jens Lekman?? Wow. Because I've heard (can't remember where) that it's CRAP.

Kyle you have nailed exactly what it is that i love about the National, Boxer is probably my favorite disc of last year and the band is definately my favorite for the year... I know Brian doesnt buy into the honesty of it because of his affected vocals, and I agree there do seem not entirely natural, but like Brian Ferry, I think its that the vocals being a bit removed ( read ironinc) somehow works for me...I know , I know, I am always blasting bands that hide behind Irony, but b3ecause the music here is so heart on sleave the ironiv vocal stance works in a way similar to the vastly underated Beck album Sea Change...as for Jans lekman , its crap, I brought it to the club, but have since given it ( in the words of the late Ray Curtis) "frisby Status" ..
its totally crap, did I mention its crap?

Yeah, I'm bad about starting posts, then abandonning them after I get busy or have to return to one of the other 20 windows I have open on my computer at any given time.

I'll go on record as defending The National, enjoying their past two records quite a bit. I'm a little surprised that you both (Derek and Brian) aren't into this band. I dig the clever, tongue-in-cheek lyrics ('I'm the great white hope...I used to be/carried in the arms of cheerleaders', Mr. November and 'Karen sit in a chair/fuck me and make me a drink', Karen, both from Alligator), the slow build of percussion that anchors many of their livelier tracks, and the quieter moments that have an understated grace. Is it the lead vocals that grate? His almost bored delivery may come across as contrived in an aching for hip kind of way but I like the contrast between the urgency of the lyric or the music and his delivery.

Perhaps a Les Savy vs. The National segment at the upcoming Feb. 1st meeting would be fun, where we advocate/defend each band with a few choice tracks. I'm certainly willing to be persuaded but am as yet unmoved by 'Let's Stay Friends' by the former, which has too many tracks that remind me of Reel Big Fish's 'Never Had to Knock on Wood' (and in so referencing, apologize profusely for putting this in your head).

As for Jens Lekman, didn't somebody bring his first disc to a cd club? Was it Marc? Just want to know who I'm pissing off with this one. Other than 'Black Cab' off that disc, which managed to sound more like Stephen Merrit than the man himself, I haven't really enjoyed any of Lekman's stuff. I like Belle and Sebastian, Magnetic Fields, and Beirut and these are obvious influences, at least when it comes to the 'sound'. But there's so much earnest romanticism in every second of every one of his songs that I find it a little difficult to take. Every moment is, to quote the slimy Golum from Lord of the Rings, 'Precious'. And if everything is beautiful then nothing is beautiful, to quote somebody else, I think.

Just downloaded Sia, which, 9 days into 2008, is the early frontrunner for worst album cover of the year. Will let you know whether it's trash or treasure in the coming weeks.

A quick 2007 footnote on jazz, specific to emusic. First off, the David Murray Black Saint Quartert record "Sacred Ground" is outstanding, peak-period Murray with all of the amazing expressiveness, mood dynamics etc that he offers at his best. Derek, you may already have this (plus a few of the others listed below)....but a heads up for the rest of you.
Other recent favourites of mine, all available on emusic are:

(tenor sax) Grant Stewart's "In the Still of The Night"
(tenor sax) Jerry Bergonzi's "The Tenorist"
(pianist) Enrico Pieranunzi's "Ballads" (gorgeous, quiet player)
(trumpeter) Wallace Roney's "Jazz"

On a non-emusic note, the latest, highly-touted Herbie Hancock record "River - The Joni Letters" is indeed filled with beautiful musical moments, but for my taste suffers from some poor vocal performances (and poor choices) from pop/jazz singers, particularly Nora Jones, Tina Turner. I don't love the Leonard Cohen spoken piece either. The non-vocal tracks are quit sublime though, Wayne Shorter continues to amaze at 74.

I'll be bringing one or two of these to our next gathering, so don't y'all rush out and sample them this week.

(look at me...I posted!)

Consider it downloaded then. Just need to wait until tomorrow when my quota gets replenished on e-music.

Kyle how come when I look at the Dashboard almost every week I see a partial comment from you that shows as draft and then nothing further? Is it something that you mean to post and then just cannot be bothered or is there some sort of technical glitch? Just wondering as I was interested to see you complete your thoughts where Jens Lekman was concerned.

And just in case your looking for some free music to start off 2008 on the right note.

I agree with you re the National. Somebody (perhaps Stuart) needs to help me with them.

Les Savy Fav (nothing like National, at least) are an eighties-indy-punk inspired band with lots of energy and angst, hints of but thankfully not dripping with irony, and although they will sound somewhat familiar if you've been around long enough (sadly, we all have), they are channelling a sound that I lived/loved at the time, and to my ear make it sound very fresh.

All of this to say, that if you're looking for a reason to download them, the answer is clear. Because I told you to.

I'm all for keeping the blog alive. I don't post as often as I should /like to but I check in regularly. Still a better forum than the e-mail route.

Can someone tell me why I should (or should not) download Les Savy Fay. They're not the new National are they? I find the National an incredibly overhyped and underwhelming musical force. They're not musically similar in any way are they. Speaking of overhyped what's up with the drooling over Jens Lekman?

Personally I say keep the blog running. I still check in often, though like you, Kyle, am aware of the drop-off with more kids in the picture and Marc working 7 days a week. Not sure of Stuart's excuse :) Nevertheless I enjoy having it around, and am always thinking of (though typically not acting on, mea culpa) posts. I have also mentioned it to a few people (my music-obsessed nephew for one) to see if they'd like to join in.

Having said all that, it is really your blog, and your inspiration that keeps it going...so your call.

Two questions:

1) Who the hell is Taylor Swift and why does she keep appearing at the top of the emusic charts. Granted, she's kind of hot, if perhaps in a little bit of a creepy, lovechild of Brook Shields-Christopher Atkins circa Blue Lagoon kind of way, but is she talented? I realize I could listen to a sample but I have a hard time willing any part of my body to attempt to listen to music labelled Country.

2) Is it time to shut down this here bloggy thing for good and share our (very) occassional thoughts the old-fashioned way (group email)? I know I've had less time to devote to updating with any insightful comments or thoughts in a long time (okay, ever but...) and I suspect that all your pro-creatin', workaholics out there have little time as well. We could just scrap it, come up with a rotating weekly, bimonthly post/question from each person, or we can just keep it as is.

Let me know what you think...or remain silent.

Also, still not loving Les Savy Fav....sorry Bri.

i'll be brief for now...
albums on the top 10
national - boxer
Julie Doiron- woke myself up
feist- my moon my man
Soundtrack- I'm Not There (bob Dylan covers)
Peter Bjorn & John -Writers block
Patty Griffin- Children running through
Robert plant / Alison krauss- Raising sand

also not bad.....

Shins - Wincing the night away (deserves better recognition)
Andre Either - on blue fog

there is other stuff I have forgotten about Im sure.....I will

Sorry Kyle. You don't get Les Savy Fav? That shows unacceptably bad taste on your part. You're white and born between 1960 and 1980...this music should speak to your thinly veiled fear of death, or worse, poverty. Or something. Besides, Pitchfork (infinitely wise as we all agree) had it at No 44 for the year. Yeah!

Hadn't had a chance to read any of the pitchfork lists yet but loved the worst album covers link. Knew the Eagles had a new album out but didn't realize it had such a fitting cover: bland, boring, predictable, inconsequential.

Even better was the Pop Matters link. I've been looking for a few tracks to fill out the christmas discs and the Youtube videos of each featured song are fantastic. Gracias.

I'd be hard pressed to come up with a top 10 album list for 2007 never mind top 20 so for this year at least I'll restrict it to my favourite tracks of the year. In no particular order:

Feist - My Moon, My Man
Julie Doiron - I Woke Myself Up
Radiohead - All I Need
Arcade Fire - Intervention
The Stars - Take Me to the Riot
Caribou - Melody Day
Luna - You Turned My Head Around
Rihanna - Umbrella
Dr Dog - My Old Ways
Band of Horses - The General Specific
Miracle Fortress - Have You Seen in Your Dreams
Battles - Atlas
brakesbrakesbrakes - Mobile Communication
St. Vincent - Now, Now
Au Revoir Simone - Fallen Snow

Have to agree with Kyle that the Wilco CD was a disappointment and am surprised to see it on several year end best lists. The Okkervill River, Dino Jr and The Sadies all had records this year that despite the hype never made much of an impact on my listening time.

Don't know if you guys are checking out Pitchfork's year-end lists but I did enjoy their worst album covers of the year.

Other sites with some interesting year-end lists include Pop Matters and Dusted Magazine

Thanks for the contrib, Mr. Doyle. Everyone else, bah humbug!

I like the Broken West disc as well and might have put it in my top 20. The Les Savvy Fav has yet to do it for me, though. Haven't heard of The Teeth and I didn't know that Imperial Teen had a new disc out so I'll have to check these out.

[Note: was going to put links to all these discs/tracks but this would have made the page awful to look at and you gents are all tech savvy enough (yes, even stuart) to know how to find these on your own so i'll spare you a screen of bright blue hyperlinks].

Others that would have definitely been in spots 20-11 on my list include:

• Panda Bear - Person Pitch (great disc, perhaps a little one note and only 7 tracks)
• The National - Boxer (first three tracks are great, but it kind of wanes at times, still pretty great)
• Blonde Redhead - 23 (great shoegazer homage, remiscent of Lush and Curve at times)
• MIA - Kala (the mash of sounds and samples can be a bit much at times but at other times, the result is exciting, magical, etc)
• The Comas - Spells (fantastic hooks and rock out moments make this the most well-rounded pop record of the year)
• New Ruins - The Sound They Make (another emusic discovery that panned out well)
• Amon Tobin - The Foley Room (a return to form after a couple of mixed-bag releases)
• Apparat - Walls (for downtempo, atmospheric electronica, I'm digging this one more than the much-balleyhooed 'Untrue' by Burial)
• Brightback Morning Light (after awhile, every one of the Spirtualized-meets-Zero 7-sounding tracks sound the same but I tend to like that sort of thing)
• Beirut - The Flying Club Cup (quite beautiful music, reminiscent vocally of Stephen Merrit, but compositionally more like some of Rufus Wainwright's stuff, but more eclectic instrumentation)

Disappointments: Wilco - Sky Blue Sky (soporific), Bjork - Volta (Timbaland-produced tracks are the only ones that stand out, the other collaborations seem to drizzle away into the ether), Animal Collective - Strawberry Jam (this is supposed to be their most accessible disc? je ne pense ca), The Sea and Cake - Everybody (the followup to the fantastic 'One Bedroom' fizzles out from track one on. think this is a band where you buy every other album).

My favourite songs of 2007:

-Atlas - Battles (hattip to Derek, for forwarding the video link for this most original song of the year and one that at first seems jarring but quickly becomes what pop writers like to call 'infectious'. probably the best song for running, as well)
You Know I'm No Good - Amy Winehouse (sorry, Guardian, we North American scum didn't get this disc until early 2007, and if you're going to be sticklers, "Young Folks" is definitely 2006)
-Icky Thump - The White Stripes (best lyrics of the year: "White American, what/Nothing better to do?/Why don't you kick yourself out?/You're an immigrant too")
-Double Vision - The Ponys (dreamy 60s-inspired jangly, swirly rock in a year of mostly 60s inspired jangly, swirly pop)
-She's a Rejector - Of Montreal (though it's a minute or so too long, still delivers)
-Our Life is Not a Movie Maybe - Okkervil River
-I Am Taking the Train Home - The Twilight Sad
-Have You Seen in Your Dreams - Miracle Fortress
-Mistaken for Strangers - The National
-Don't You Evah - Spoon
-Window Bird - Stars
-I've Seen it All - Feist (can't wait for that Bell Lightbox to be built! -filmfest goer inside joke)
-Paper Planes - M.I.A. (didn't really hear this track until i had my ipod on shuffle a month ago and it popped into the mix. will figure on several of your christmas discs, which will be handed out on friday at bettys lunch or mailed if you can't make it)

All for now. Looking forward to reading your posts. Don't be like Eye Magazine and come out with your list in late January, after reading hundreds of other publications who have already put out their lists and then just adding one or two obscure bands/artists that don't appear on any of the lists in order to seem really with it. I'll be linking to some of these sites over the next few days so do keep checking back here for updates.

While you busy yourselves assembling your year-end lists, some lighter reading, from my favourite link source, the onion av club. This time, a collection of Worst Band Names of 2007.

Kyle, interesting list. Derek and Stuart, cool lists too. Thanks. Marc, wow, I didn't know you were into that type of music. Neat.

My pop/rock faves for 2007, tempered by the fact that I haven't heard many of the albums being pegged as best of the year, which in itself is moderated by the fact that I probably won't like a bunch of them anyway, are:

Broken West - I Can't Go On I'll Go On
The Earlies - Enemy Chorus
His Name is Alive - Sweet Earth Flower (tribute to Marion Brown) - this is really a jazz record by a pop band.
Apples In Stereo - New Magnetic Wonder
The Besnard Lakes - Dark Horse
Les Savy Fav - Let's Stay Friends (just started listening to it, but me likey)
The Teeth - You're My Lover
Imperial Teen - The TV, the Baby, etc etc

As a sidebar, I tend to find that pop music is filling the "lighter" space in my musical spectrum (unlike say anytime prior to about 2000 or so) and I look to jazz and classical for deeper heavier stuff.

Good timing, Bri. This was going to be my next post.

Here's my top 10 of 2007, along with 5-year probability of staying power.

10. Amy Winehouse - Back to Black 40%
9. Explosions in the Sky - All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone 70%
8. Lewis & Clarke - Blasts of Holy Birth 80%
7. Caribou - Andora 80%
6. The Besnard Lakes - The Besnard Lakes are the Dark Horse 60%
5. Feist - The Reminder 60%
4. Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga 70%
3. The Arcade Fire - Neon Bible 70%
2. Radiohead - In Rainbows 80%
1. Miracle Fortress - Five Roses 70%

Albums I have not listened to yet but I've heard good things about so don't give me crap cause they aren't on my list:

New Pornographers-Challengers, The Most Serene Republic-Population, Stars of the Lid-And their Refinement of the Decline

No time for commentary right now but will expand a bit on these later and will add the top songs of the year as well.

Best albums of 2007?

Or, how about this one, albums you are most likely to be listening to in five-ten years.

I own both "Low" and "Heroes". The reason I didn't dish out more dough for "Lodger" is that neither of the first two discs in the trilogy has wowed me all that much. Fairly noodly and new agey for the most part there really aren't that many songs from either disc that are standouts for me. I suppose if I had to pick a few "go to" tracks (other than the two mentioned by Kyle) they would be "Always Crashing in the Same Car", "Warszawa" and "Weeping Wall" from the Low album and "Sons of the Silent Age" from the Heroes record. The first two tracks on Heroes may be the most annoying beginning to a so called classic album that I know of.

They are available to be borrowed for anyone who wishes.

Having just listened to "Exile on Main Street" tonight I know what a truly classic album sounds like and neither of the Bowie discs comes close regardless of how innovative they may have been at the time and I'm not sure I buy that anyway.

i haven't listened to any of those albums. just familiar with a few of those tracks ('heroes', obviously, 'sound & vision'). anybody have these and willing to lend them to me?

For me this gets back to our earlier debate about artists who have a later period of artisitic creativity (ie paul Simon, Robbie Robertson etc...) vs artists who only put out good stuff for a brief period of time when they are young..
I cant really claim to know much of Bowies 90's music and it may be possible that he has some great stuff in there, but there is so much other music that is great during the 90's that it seems a waste of time putting in the effort to find out...If it really was that great my guess is we would know about it....considering that the 6 of us probably spend more time perusing reviews checking stuff out online etc... then say.... most medium sized cities in North America...
PS Anyone who does not own Hunky Dory and Ziggy Stardust is simply befeft of some of the finest music of the 70's...( not to mention the slightly weaker - diamond dogs...alladin sane...)
Does anyone own any of his Berlin trilogy......I have heard some love those too.....

Orleans, schmorleans. Why no love for Tino?

Back to music, is there any reason at all for a David Bowie box set of his output from the 1990s? Is this being released solely for the purpose of appearing on the Onion's annual least essential list? 'Little Wonder' was a catchy enough, drum-n-bass-like hit, but the rest? Can't think of a potential box set that could rival it for 'inessentiality', other than, say, 'The Paul McCartney Collection (1980-present)'.

I believe that the guys on the Orleans cover really are actually straight, and that that look was to get the girls all hot and bothered... It simply boggles the mind....was this a 70's look for the babes are did these guys completely miss the boat? (or maybe they are gay and they hit their target audience...)

It's true he has great legs just like me......but unfortunately he can't match my gorgeous skin tone.

the resemblance is uncanny. this guy reminds me more of you, brian.

Wow Stuart, I never realized that you were the lead singer for Orleans back in the 70's! (you're so modest). Who are all your nice-looking friends on the album cover?

Kyle i forgot to respond to your post....but you had it wrong, the album I love the most is this one..

You've obviously confused that woman with the one I was clearly smitten with.

sorry Derek i just

dont see how you think she is hot...

You guys are killing me. Stuart, thanks for all of the fascinating questions. Isn't blogging cool?

Scarlett was laughing at Derek's post. Then she wondered if Stuart failed to click on the 'Accept terms of agreement' box required to upload images. Then she went back to thinking about Kyle and pleasuring herself.

I think the problem is somebody gave you access to a computer.

so if I hit the little icon that says upload image, and I browse my directory and select the jpeg file and then hit upload, and it takes a few moments to do the upload, why does the image not show up on the metabeats site...does anyone know what I am doing wrong...

well its better then the stuff you listen too like these...

stuart, i thought you only listened to music like this...
i don't know what it sounds like but i love the cover.

Hi, For those of you who forgot me, I am a music fan who only likes Neil yonge and wussy music...apologies for being so absent of late, life is very busy...
1) Although I still buy cds, i agree with Brians summary exactly, ths classical and jazz cds I also still reread the liner notes regularly re who plays whatetc... whereas w pop I a) can remember or b) dont care ie...who the drummer of the clientelle is for example...
2) I have never done the great ep game, but I have often done the weak double record that could have been a great single disc...ie Fleetwood Mac Tusk, Smashing Pumpkins -mellon choly...., springsteen - the river.....Electric ladyland zeppelin-physical grafitti, u2 -rattle and hum
some of you will wrongly say some of these are great albums, but my point is that most are arguably just good albums, maybe even very good, but most of these would have been great single albums ranking alongside the best of there recorded output..

Hey I kind of like that game. Good not just for holly Mondays, but for a man-the-Leafs-suck-and-I'm-too-sleepy-to-read Thursday too. I could probably think of a whack of good 'uns with a bit of time, but what immediately comes to mind are The Clash's Sandanista, which may win the award for the most music you have to cut to create a decent record, if pared down to Hitsville, Somebody Got Murdered, Police on My Back, and the Call Up, is a pretty bitching EP (and a travesty really in its natural state); secondly, The Breeders Last Splash - with Cannonball, Invisible Man, Divine Hammer, and Saints definitely takes it from good (and era-defining) album to great great EP.

Beck's Odelay is a great example of that too. One of the best. And I would argue that (since you bring up Pavement) Wowee Zowee is a strong candidate as well - very good in its full form, but man, if it had been released as a five-songer with We Dance, Rattled, Grounded, Father to a Sister, and Kennel District, how amazing is that.

You could probably make a good case for the White Album - even if you just eliminated Revolution #9.

I could do this all night. But I'm tired. Good night, sweet blog.

An interesting exercise for a dreary, rainy, Monday afternoon. Come up with your own 'good album that could have made great EPs' a la this article.

I'd go with...

Beck's 'Odelay'. The EP becomes: 1. Devil's Haircut 2. Hotwax 3. The New Pollution 4. Novacane 5. Where it's At
I always end up skipping to these tracks whenever I listen to this album, finding the rest either too abrasive, silly or both.

Stereolab's 'Mars Audiac Quintet', which becomes: 1. Wow and Flutter 2. Ping Pong 3. International Colouring Contest 4. Three Longers Later 5. Fiery Yellow
Really love this album but the sound can get a little repetitive. These five tracks are not only the best of the bunch but a nice representation of the band's range, from the shoe-gazer-like drone featured on 'Wow..' and 'Three Longers' to the 60s space lounge of 'International Colouring Contest' to 'Ping Pong', an improbably dancable socialist critique of the foundations of capitalism.

Pavement's 'Terror Twilight', which becomes: 1. Spit on a Stranger 2. Cream of Gold 3. You are the Light 4. Major Leagues 5. Speak, See Remember 6. The Hexx

Am I missing some obvious choices?

Hey great list. Only a couple of additional thoughts off the top...

Hands in the Snow (the song) - Saturday Looks Good to Me (the band)
Open Eyes - Apple in Stereo (couple of other goodies on this very strong record)
Suffer for Fashion - Of Montreal
Ghost Town - The Bicycles (an 06 record but an 07 thing for me)
Rally - Phoenix (ditto above)
Stay With Us - New Buffalo
Rides the Rails - Besnard Lakes
You Can Build an Island or Down in the Valley - Broken West (On the Bubble also a goody)
Fallen Idol - Imperial Teen

Wow, there's a fair bit of 60's inspired frilly pop in this collection.

Thanks for the suggestions Kyle. I don't know of about half the tracks you've listed here. Gives me a good headstart for coming up with a nice soundtrack to finish off the year. Might suggest that "Smile" more rightly belongs in 2006 but is a good song regardless. Anyone else out there have any ideas?

I actually spent half an hour in HMV yesterday and was quite pleased to see that they've marked down a lot of discs in jazz and classical by about $5 on average presumably to adjust for the very strong loonie. While in the jazz section they were playing the latest Jarrett / Peacock / DeJohnette disc. I have a few of their live albums already and what I heard of their latest was extremely beautiful.

http://wc10.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:f9fixz9hldje

Some suggestions for 2007 singles to put on a playlist:

Nude - Radiohead
Icky Thump - The White Stripes
Tonight I Have to Leave It - The Shout Out Louds
Our Life is Not a Movie Maybe - Okkervil River
On the Bubble - The Broken West
Double Vision - The Ponys
Boyz - M.I.A.
Arcadia - Apparat
Mistaken for Strangers - The National
Melody Day - Caribou
Burn 2 Ash - Chad Van Gaalen
Ships - New Ruins
Stronger - Kanye West
I Know I'm No Good - Amy Winehouse
Smile - Lily Allen
Been There All the Time - Dinosaur Jr.
I am Taking the Train Home - The Twilight Sad
Disaster - The Besnard Lakes
She's a Rejector - Of Montreal
Comfy in Nautica - Panda Bear
Neo-Plastic Boogie-Woogie - Mahogany
Have You Seen in Your Dreams - Miracle Fortress

I'm sure there are a few that I'm forgetting or can't see readily in my itunes...

Re purchasing music, I feel similarly though not the exactly the same. I'm far more inclined to purchase a CD of classical music, and somewhat more inclined to do so with jazz. Pop (once again) comes in last. Though it seems about every six months, perhaps less frequently than that this year, I'll go to Soundscapes, sample a bunch of music, and buy a few things . Not a great investment, as much of it ends up on the once-a-year playlist, but it's something I've been doing for my entire life, just with less frequency.


I still seem to find an excuse to go to Gregorian every few months and scour the shelves for new classical music. For me, the reason that I'm tending to buy the hard copies of the softer stuff is that I listen to my stereo (read: CDs and records) after hours as I'm reading (read: falling asleep) so the quiet melancholic stuff tends to fit best. For pop, it's all about the subway and music to walk to, so digital works well. No, this is not a good evolution.

When are we going to have our next gathering? The pre-Christmas calendar is filling up a bit.

I'm with you Kyle when it comes to the need to own the actual CD with packaging. It's not like I'm 15 and plan to sit down and sing along with the music for hours on end. Half the time these days the bands don't even include lyrics anyway. It's still nice to own the actual disc for me at least as it probably means I'll give the album at least 5 or 6 spins before consigning it to the scrap heap or elevating it to the status of a disc that gets repeated plays over many years.

Case in point is this past weekend when I threw on Richard Buckner's first album. I'm not sure that if I had it stored somewhere deep in a computer folder that I'd be looking it up, throwing it on the iPod and connecting it to my stereo. By that point the mood that struck me to listen to it in the first place might have passed. What I find with digital music is that if something doesn't strike me fairly quickly I might never go back to it and that might be after only listening to the first few tracks on the way to or from work. I should really take the Doyle approach to e-music and download a select few tracks from any given album and take them for a spin and then go back for the rest if it strikes a chord. But again that takes time and energy that I don't always have.

Speaking of single tracks anyone have any faves from 2007 that might go well on year end comps? Figured we can beat the December/Pitchfork rush and I need some cool playlists for my iPod.

The availability of downloads and their attractive price point is a huge disincentive to going out and purchasing those silver discs, which only clutter up living space, break easily, are far too expensive, and whose contents will likely still have to be ripped to digital form in order to be played on the devices that we use every day (no longer a cd player). Why would I want to own or buy a cd? The album art? Not sure it's worth the premium.

Sure there are those who would argue otherwise. Radiohead hasn't released sales figures for the enhanced box set version of In Rainbows, available for pre-order for 40 pounds, but I'm guessing there are quite a few fans who opted to purchase this version instead of just downloading the album for as little as a few pounds. But I'm happy with my 3.50 pound purchase of the digital only version.

My only complaint at this point is that maybe I have too much new music and need to pare down my consumption of it so that I can better appreciate (or at least listen to) what I already have. In addition to the 90 tracks (roughly 6-7 albums) I get from emusic, I usually get another 2-5 from other sources, legit or otherwise. Even with all the time I spend travelling, which affords me extra listening time each month, I still find I'm a little overwhelmed by the selection of new music from which I can choose. And yet...I don't want to miss out on any potentially new or interesting music so paring down doesn't appear to be the answer either.

As for concerts...though children should be apportioned far more blame in this society, I'd have to lay the blame at just not having enough time in the day to schedule a concert, get a decent amount of rest/sleep, and still meet family and work obligations. I'd like to see more bands that come into town, as well as more operas, plays, dance troupes, etc...but alas, even when I'm making an effort to book tickets and arrange my schedule accordingly, I still find it incredibly difficult.