Top Ten Records of 2005

One of my favourite things about this time of year are the numerous year end lists that populate local publications, but of these lists, it is the best records of the year category that grabs my attention. Sometimes the lists are infuriatingly mainstream, sometimes they are unbearably obscure. Most often though, they leave out key local releases that stand up to any release of the year. This list is not a local list for the sake of being local, it is a list of the best albums of the year that just happens to contain all local bands/artists.

10. New Pornographers- Twin Cinema (Matador) I am not a fan of these guys but I know a practically flawless pop album when I hear it. It would be pure music snob of me to dismiss this. Exclaim ranked it at #2 behind Sufjan Stevens.

"Sure, at their core, the songs of Twin Cinema have that catchy, melodic something that forces me to reach repeatedly for the p-word, but for Newman & co., instant hummability isn't the endpoint but the foundation. Whether it's weaving in opaque, double-meaning lyrics or sneaking a horn part way deep in the mix, the compositions on Twin Cinema are immediate yet multi-layered. They'd be great in their own right, but by comparison to the plagiaristic, closed-minded, infinitely repeating world of power pop, it's all the more special an accomplishment." -Pitchfork

9. Dandi Wind -Bait The Traps (Bongobeat) If you've ever seen a Dandi Wind performance then you already know. You don't have to read on. If you haven't, then there is this EP. (They just released a full length) One part Glass Candy, one part Numbers, one part Les Georges Leningrad.

"Bait the Traps fuses industrial, IDM and rock, striking a satisfying balance between unpredictable rhythms and delicious melodies. Dandi's vocal style flies above it all, reminiscent of 80s new wave greats like Lene Lovich, Kath Bush or Lora Logic." -Suzi Webb, Discorder

8. Tights/Winks- Split (Drip Audio) The Winks will be as big as Devendra Banhart and Joanna Newsome and all those new wyrd folk dudes and this split will be a gold coin in their treasure chest. With the addition of Paul Patko (Red Light Sting, d.b.s.) on drums, they've tightened up their sometimes sprawling always organic sound a wee bit. Cabaret style mandolin and cello arrangements offer just enough of a canvas for Tyr and Todd to sing poetic ramblings onto. They are painting something classical yet surreal, something twee and simultaneously dark like Marcel Dzama (Forget Beck and the Weakerthans, he should do a cover for the Winks).

"The Winks are from Vancouver but they ought to be from the secret Cloud Level on Super Mario. You know the one -- it's got crackles and pops, mandolin and cello, pipes you can walk into, question marks that sprout into forests. This is chamber pop with its strings cut: P:ano's lilt, The Unicorns' ADD and Sufjan Stevens' sweet smile." -from Said The Gramaphone

Tights are The Winks plus Andy Dixon of Secret Mommy. Organic electro acoustic fuzz and crackle peppered with staccato yelps and woodwind.

"The six songs blend together to form a colorful, thirty minute sound-collage that gives the ear everything it needs to have a good time. There are the low-end rumbles of heavily EQed laptop bass and distorted cello, the trebly screech of an effected mandolin, chopped-up vocals that say all sorts of things, as well as rhodes piano and more sounds that could be anything. The sounds are free-flowing and they stroll along at a leisurely and curious pace. It doesn't matter that all three of the players are doing different things at different times without really thinking about it. It's all good." -Scott Moore from Only Angels Have Wings

7. Cadeaux- Physical City (sound document) Panic stricken city dwellers dance the apocalypse as their bodies become all glass and wires, traffic jammed blacktop and broken dreams. This is the physical city. Heart beat pulsing through the nerve in your decaying tooth. Caffeine twitch muscle spasm as you fight to keep the frantic pace. Brainwaves stutter and start as neon lights flutter and flash.

Gergory Adams writes in The Georgia Straight "Cadeaux's vocal harmonies are by far the group's strongest asset. On "I Can Wait" Lapi's booming voice quivers with nervous tension, while the smoother-sounding Vachon suggests a young Nico fronting a modern Dischord act. Their strongest song, "Fiction and Blues", abandons the usually upbeat tempo for midpaced military drum rolls and early-'90s shoegazing keyboards before Andow's angular six-string work takes over. The combination of coiled-steel guitar lines and lush vocals cements Physical City as one of the best local releases of the young year."

6. You Say Party! We Say Die!- Hit the Floor (Sound Document) Recently blessed by the music gods at Pitchfork, these Abbotsford kids manage to crack the age old conundrum of making you move while making you think. They remind me of my old band GoGoStop but with a more refined death disco rhythm and tighter riffs. Exclaim says the record is "a jittery and hopelessly infectious collection of gritty keyboard disco-punk anchored by the dance floor handclaps of "Cold Hands! Hot Bodies!" and rock-stomp agitprop anthem "The Gap (Between the Rich and the Poor)".

5. Book of Lists- Red Arrows (Gloabl Symphonic) Evoking 90's british shoegazers and post punks Ride, Felt, and Jesus of Mary Chain the Book of Lists stand up to anything coming out of London, Montreal or New York City. It is dancey and it is dark and it is warm and it is cacophonous. With their jangling guitars and deadpan vocal delivery, Vancouver has produced another world class band. Featuring members of Destroyer, Radio Berlin, Cowbell, and the T.A.L.A.band.

"A feedback-drenched echo chimes a vaguely unnerving circus theme as "Through Stained Glass" begins, until guitars pound out a steady beat over which Chris Frey's coked-up Bowie vocals float: "If I wasn't here alone I'd be somewhere else not talking for forever/There's really nothing left to say the colour said it any way." And to top it off: a howling Brian Eno effect-box guitar solo that makes you wonder what year it is. There isn't a lot of room for wanking or mistakes on a debut EP, and the Book of Lists avoid most pitfalls with a Brit-pop punch-up ("Pacifist Revolt"), some angular post-rock ("Becoming Forgettable") and a sloppy Strokes sock-hop rhythm track with some Iggy Pop crooning ("Sweet Malady")." -Vue Weekly

4. Black Mountain- s/t (Scratch) An obvious choice for any top ten list, this stoner sludge masterpiece catapulted the band onto a tour with Coldplay and a taste of indie rock stardom. The only reason this collection of krautrock pysch jams didn't make it to number one on my list is because it would've been too obvious and besides, they don't need MY help. And whenever there is so much press about a band it interferes with the listeners tastes for better or worse. I'm not saying that they are sell outs by any means, I'm just saying that sometimes an album is better when you know you've stumbled upon it. Nevertheless in this case all hype is justified and well deserved for a band that has been around "the scene" for ages, reinventing and perfecting their brooding black retro rock.

"Black Mountain's new album is a rock and roll dreamscape: eight swelling tracks in forty seven minutes suffused with talent, depth, and dancability. From start to finish, the record reeks of hard work and solid production, but still maintains that signature sense of Black Mountain whimsy. While each track is different from the next, the record flows with exquisite ease. Memorable tracks include "Modern Music," the clever pop-rock ballad that starts the album off, the super-catchy "Druganaut," and the similarly effervescent "No Hits." Amber Webber's inspired and delicate vocals are put to intoxicating use in "Heart of Snow," vacillating from vocal solo to hard rock hymn." -Sasha Webb, Discorder

3. Bend Sinister- Through the Broken City (Storyboard) Through the Broken City is a prog romp through the mean city streets, flexing its metal muscle at times, flittering away into the neon lit sky at others. Dramatic and operatic, it thunders its way through the rubble of seventies prog-rock kings Queen and Yes, rescues Supertramp from an abandond building, and joins Mars Volta in an epic emergency airlift.
"Bend Sinister's music has taken the best elements of seventies prog and modern independent rock, and twisted them into something fresh that is pop pleasure on the surface and a challenging rhythmic, melodic puzzle under closer examination. With their definitive sound and commanding stage presence it's no wonder they have been receiving such praise for what they love most." -from the Storyboard Website

2. Secret Mommy- Very Rec (Ache) Following the success of last year's EP Hawaii, a concept album that fused various elements of Hawaiian life into one anxious pina colada, Very Rec sees Andy Dixon continue to create some of the most satisfying experimental lap top IDM in the world. The record is based entirely on field recordings of various rec centres in Vancouver and sports themed samples.

"This is not concept for the sake of concept. It's the byproduct of an addiction to sound- or more specifically, the searching, the documenting, and the manipulating of sound. Vancouver's Secret Mommy spent half a year invading public space, equipped with hidden hand-made condenser microphones. He visited his former high school to record a basketball practice; he visited a martial arts demonstration, a children's day care, a squash court, and a dance studio. He then spent another half a year obliterating this sound collection, cutting it into particles, blowing it up, and sucking it in, all with the spastic glee of a child kicking a tin can across a gravel field, furthering his reputation as a 'hellbound cruise director' (Splendid E-zine) in the sound design world." -From Ache Records website.

1. P:Ano- Brigadoon (Mint) Although they just released their second record of the year, Ghost Pirates Without Heads, I have spent the whole year with Brigadoon, with its many ups and downs like a dark and angry sea, and with its calm breaks and smooth sailing. "Dark Hills" is the best song of the year with its carnival march to the mountains, and you can tell that to Jian Gomeshi and his national playlist. Keving Howes writes in The Straight: "The album's landscape is pure pop. Nick Krgovich, Larissa Loyva, Justin Kellam, and Julia Chirka take the listener through baroque fields, garage rock, kitchen jamborees, and synthesized new wave in a search for the perfect song. Utilizing goosebump-inducing harmony vocals and a wizard's sleeve of percussion, in addition to an arsenal of eclectic music machines, the sophisticated material on Brigadoon never falls prey to everything-but-the-kitchen-sink foibles. These are well-crafted tunes, yet the band's much-talked-about youthful charm is still intact".