In no particular order:
Arcade Fire - The Suburbs
Arcade Fire's Funeral is one of my all-time favourite albums and I was worried - after Neon Bible being good (but not great) that The Suburbs would be part of a continuing slide from greatness for the huge band. Fortunately, I was wrong.
The Suburbs is a story about urban life and decay, fleshed out through lyrics, musical talent, and big sound. I'm a sucker for strings in a band, and Arcade Fire's got them in spades. It took a few listens, but I think The Suburbs is now my top Arcade Fire album.
If you haven't seen it yet, fire up a copy of Google Chrome and visit The Wilderness Downtown, the "music video" for "We Used To Wait". It's a showcase for what HTML5 can do for the interactivity of the web and it really sets the mood for the song.
The thing that really pisses me off the most about Arcade Fire is that Edmonton never seems to be on the list of stops for their Canadian tours before they bugger off to Europe for dates in countries I've never heard of.
Bedouin Soundclash - Light the Horizon
I almost bought this album about six times, from the day it came out and over the following weeks. I finally just picked the damn thing up and I've been wondering since what my problem was.
It's Bedouin Soundclash's best work to date. The whole disc is catchy enough to sing along to - it may not be "pure" reggae and sound like Bob Marley, but I think that this is what the modern evolution of the genre ought to sound like.
As a side note, Jay Malinowski (the lead singer) released an album of his own, Bright Lights & Bruises. I haven't heard the whole thing, but the single "There's a Light" may as well have been on Light the Horizon.
Stars - The Five Ghosts
So, I saw Stars live twice in 2010 - first, on my birthday (May) in the small, sweaty venue that is The Starlite Room. I had never heard (or even heard of) The Five Ghosts and was surprised to find out that the concert was actually a release party for the disc - they played through most of the album in order and only then did they get to their older songs.
Five Ghosts is part hopeless romantic, part frantic dance party, and part bone-chilling ghost story, and yet somehow it all works together. A review of the album on iTunes comments that Stars may be losing some of their charm by "moving to" an electronic sound, but I'd argue that they're just returning to their roots - their 2001 Nightsongs is very much electronic, but the new songs feel more filled-in and complete than their earlier electronic sounds.
Oh, and speaking of older songs and hopeless romantics: I have no idea how I'd never heard "The Aspidistra Flies" from the 2001 Comeback EP. Torquil Campbell and Amy Millan's call-and-answer vocals are heart-wrenching in person... and she's just so damned cute.
I liked Five Ghosts enough that I saw Stars again at the Winspear Centre on Halloween. Edmontonians: if one of your favourite bands has a show at the Winspear, just go. Don't think about it. The acoustic engineering of the place is friggin' magic. Nothing like ghost stories on Halloween either - and for me there was no creepy girl hitting on me and my girlfriend like at Starlite!
(I think she was just trying to steal my wallet.)
Hawksley Workman - Meat and Milk
Speaking of performances at the Winspear Centre... I've seen Hawksley Workman there twice and I would go again in a heartbeat. His personality, stories, and just pure variety of styles mean each live show is interesting and can sound totally different from the last (and what's on the studio recordings). Wigs, piano, overdriven zany guitar solos, ballads with touching lyrics, prison-escapee style overalls, toy drum kits... he's got it all.
I'm not going to say either Meat or Milk were earth-shattering albums, but both contain solid tracks for Workman fans and candidates for pop radio singles. Next time though? Please don't release the whole album in the USA and then trickle it out to Canada one single at a time via digital download services. Fans start to get agitated!
I'd like to compliment the guy for being able to remember all the words - and get them out without passing out from lack of oxygen - to the song "We'll Make Time (Even When There Ain't No Time)".
John K. Samson - City Route 85 EP
Technically I bought this on the very last day of 2009, but I saw John K. Samson live at the Haven Social Club in early 2010. The club was crammed full and I was sitting maybe ten feet from John, the lead singer of the Weakerthans (he really is 98% of that band). By candlelight he sang material from old Weakerthans songs to tracks from his new City EP.
You'd figure another song about how terrible Winnipeg is would start to get a bit old, but the songwriting in "Heart of the Continent" is brilliant (like every other song of his). Hearing the stories behind the songs just solidified John K. Samson/The Weakerthans position as one of my all-time favorite artists.
There were a few letdowns in 2010 too; Forgiveness Rock Record from Broken Social Scene had a heck of a lot of hype but I'm afraid it just didn't do anything for me. There were a couple good tracks, but overall... meh. Jason Collett released Rat a Tat Tatt / To Wit To Woo; I couldn't get into that one either, even after a few listens. Year of the Black Rainbow by Coheed and Cambria tried to be harder and grittier than previous Coheed albums. Unfortunately, it just alienated me as a fan of their established prog style... I'm not looking for a thrashy noise-fest but that's what Year felt like to me.
Anyway, I'm sure there will be plenty of new music for 2011 to add to my ever-growing collection. (Hooray!) So far, the biggest learning experience here is that I'm really terrible at writing about music... but I shall try again anyway. See you guys later.
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