Overall, I’d say that my list of 2010 albums is pretty vanilla, and that I don’t think any one album really stood out to me in any special kind of way. I spent a lot of time writing this year, especially the latter half, so I didn’t get so into new music as I usually do, and I overall listened to a lot of older music. But this is about 2010 albums, and so, here’s my really boring list.
1. Arcade Fire – The Suburbs
Sure, I think I’ve burned this one out for a while, but it’s a totally solid record through and through. Why else would I have seen 4 Arcade Fire concerts this year?
2. Sufjan Stevens – Age of Adz
I think this record divided a lot of people, but personally I loved it, and the electro-rock sound he’s on now has really hit a sweet spot for me.
3. The National – High Violet
Not my favourite album of theirs, but it’s still amazing. Totally dark, sometimes funny, and a return to “rocking” form.
4. Wolf Parade – Expo 86
Shame I didn’t get to see their last show ever, because this album is another “classic” from these guys, who have never written a bad song.
5. Shad – TSOL
After getting into TSOL this year, I’ve gone back into his discography, and I enjoy “The Old Prince” a lot more. With that said, I do enjoy a few tracks here, especially “Ya I Get It.”
6. LCD Soundsystem – Is This Happening?
I think this may be my favourite LCD Soundsystem ever.
7. Teenage Fanclub – Shadows
This is a really “new” band to me, and I was won over when I saw them perform on a late-night show. “When I Still Have Thee” is my favourite song of the year.
8. Mogwai – Special Moves
In some ways I think this might be the best Mogwai album ever, as it combines many, many “loud” parts, while maintaining an intensity that you don’t usually get all the way through one of their studio records.
9. Sun Kil Moon – Admiral Fell Promises
At first I found this one really boring, especially considering it was so sparse with just the nylon string guitar, compared to the older Sun Kil Moon records, like their masterpiece, “April.” But the songs slowly revealed themselves to me, and it stayed with me a lot more than I thought it would.
10. Broken Social Scene – Forgiveness Rock Record
I keep going back and forth on this one, because for all the fun songs on here, like “Art House Director,” there’s a pile of really repetitive tracks that just seem like filler. I just can’t shake the feeling that this is the “slick” BSS record, and I miss the band when it was at it’s “Self-Titled” heights.
Here’s a live performance of Teenage Fanclub doing “When I Still Have Thee”:
Here’s the lyrics for “When I Still Have Thee:”
From the western isles to the tasman sea
There’s a world of men and machinery
But the birds still sing and the sun shines free
No, I don’t need much when I still have thee
Well, the rolling stones wrote a song for me
It’s a minor song in a major key
But the stars still shine, the museums free
No, I don’t need much when I still have thee
It’s a modern hymn for the you and me
For the go between and the red army
Long as I still breathe and the air’s still free
No, I don’t need much when I still have thee
But the birds still sing and the sun shines free
No, I don’t need much when I still have thee
For the rolling stones and the red army
No, I don’t need much when I still have thee
Instead of copying CDs that end up being used once for burning, and sit on the shelf, I thought for this release I’d put together something a little more unique, and could be used more like a keepsake. So for “Iceland,” I’m only going to be releasing the album on a super-limited run of audio cassettes, which you can see above here. The album is also streaming online at my basecamp, and if you buy the cassette, you’ll also get a download of “Iceland” as well.
The new album is coming soon, I’ll let you all know about it in a few days. In the meantime, check out the redesigned “GravenRecords” page, and listen to the entire “Silver Speakers” discography (including obscure instrumental albums and the Christmas EPs), which is also available for purchase here on Bandcamp.
I’ve never been to PRIDE before in Toronto, and while I skipped out on the parade, I took a quick walk down Church before checking out Diamond Rings and Katie Stelmanis (with her new band) at the “Alterna-Queer” stage. I felt too voyeuristic to take any photos, and considering that I don’t drink or enjoy house music and overall dislike hot summer weather, I didn’t get a whole lot out of it personally. But the primary reason I went down there, two see these two performers, was well worth it. Diamond Rings had a great set of his moody electro rock… and finished his set without doing “All Yr Songs.” As if! He relented and looked a little bored doing it to close out his set. Katie Stelmanis and her awesome band were up next, and they were so awesome. Katie has made leaps and strides in terms of on stage confidence, and is growing into being a consummate performance, and the trio of musicians backing her up must give her that boost — including her drummer, which hands down is one of the best drummers I’ve heard in a while. Her new material is fairly dark and gothic, but is still pretty uptempo… I’m really curious to hear what the new record is like. P.S. Did you see her on the cover of Xtra? I couldn’t believe it was her it the glittery bodysuit.
They played 2 old songs (“Lover’s Spit” and “Looks Just Like the Sun”) and 3 new ones. I was first in line and sat right at Kevin Drew’s feet. It was amazing!
Sure, I haven’t written yet about the latest artwork I’ve had punched into my skin, but I’ve already decided on my next. Not exactly sure where it will go yet, but I’m already pretty excited! I’ll probably get somebody to do a (slightly) better drawing job. Or maybe not.
This song, maybe one of my favourite songs of all time, has been sitting with me lately. It’s comforting. It’s one of those beautifully written songs that sounds so effortless, like it wasn’t even “written,” just somebody giving the truth to you, straight. The song is called “El Paso,” the first song on the album “The Hopeful and the Unafraid” by Jason Anderson. Jason is a Springsteen-type, but plays it off as a genuine tribute like the Gaslight Anthem do, much like Springsteen does when he’s doing Sam and Dave in his own concerts. But back to the song. “El Paso” is an epic which follows Anderson hearing about the dusty Texas border town from a friend, his eventual travel there on tour, and an epic explaination of his life on the road to his depressed brother. Here’s an excerpt of the part that really sticks to me. Listen to it (click here to download), and get the whole album from iTunes here.
my brother telephoned from new york state
and he told me about a disastrous date
he said i know there’s lots of fish in the lake
but sometimes it seems like they hibernate
and some nights i get so bored i cut my hair
other nights i just stand in front of that tall hall mirror and stare
until my gaze gets soft and my reflection turns weird
and when i think of my life i feel so unprepared
he said, “man, how can you live like a tramp out on the road
you know
bouncing like a tetherball
here and there
to and fro
chasing the highway like a dirty gravel rainbow
do you ever get release
let alone a pot of gold?”
and i said, “dude, chill, remember last summer those books i would read
about the history of greece and philosophy
well they say maybe when we die there’s peace
or at least just rest from these tiresome lives we lead
and either way, that makes so much sense to me”
besides, who cares until they’re deceased
and the clergy weeps
and the family grieves
and the tombstone proclaims R. I. P.
and they wrench the fillings out of of your poor old teeth
and they cover your corpse in a snow white sheet
and they hang a tag from your ice cold feet
and they pray for your soul over a couple of weeks
and they say, he was a pretty, the newspapers say he was a pretty
oh they claim he was a pretty good guy
and they let the body lie
yeah they let the body lie
oh they let the body lie
yeah they let the body lie.
well, everyone must die
it’s true,
but first we get to live
don’t ever ever forget to live
Lately, in my quest to sleep better, I’ve started listening to the album “Delta Sleep System” by Dr. Jeffrey Thompson, which is two half-hour tracks that you listen to while you’re asleep, and as they loop over and over again, sometimes demonstrating amazing results.
Around 20 years ago, Dr. Thompson developed this audio as a technique to increase the levels of delta wave activity in your brain (the deepest form of sleep). Apparently embedded in the music are tones and pulses and frequencies which, which stimulate this kind of sleep, so listening requires a decent pair of headphones, or a decent set of speakers on either side of your bed, in order to sleep inside the stereo image.
Apparently a “2.0″ version has been recently released, but it hasn’t drawn the same kind of reviews that the original “album” has earned. As for the music itself, it’s very relaxing: percussion free, it’s a deep, dense drone full of synth tones across the musical spectrum. The changes in tone move slowly and carefully, with the occasional “nature sound” filling in the background.
As for my own experiences, I’ve found the music to be unobtrusive enough, that at the very least it serves as a great form of white noise, blocking out the sounds of my apartment neighbors. I enjoy the dense, relaxing nature of the music, and I find it comfortable wearing my earbuds when sleeping. Interestingly, when I “wake up” while listening to music, I actually won’t notice it’s on until I move my head or move around the bed, almost like it’s gotten inside my head.
So would I recommend the “Delta Sleep System” to others? It depends… if you’re dealing with sleep issues, this treatment won’t hurt you, and there’s lots of people out there who have found relief through it. If you don’t have sleep issues, you won’t really gain anything by listening to this while you sleep at night. But, if you’re an apartment dweller like myself, you’ll appreciate it as a nice distraction from things that go bump in the night.
If anything, the world of Psychoacoustics is fascinating, and it just again reminds me of the power of music on the human brain. You’ll find an interesting online discussion of Delta Wave here if you want to find out more.
