OTHER CITIES: 
My 2005 Pile of Music - Part 1
- Posted by
- Filed in Music
- January 2, 2006
I tried coming up with a list of CDs that I'd consider the best albums of the year, but let's be honest here; "Best Of" lists are respected about as much as the Grammy award is post-Milli-Vanilli. The average lists tend to be overly intellectual tributes to the writer's sense of self-importance and include nothing but albums from the big labels, or nothing but albums that are on today's hip "indie" labels. The average critic needs to keep up a consistent facade of "cool" after all. I don't pretend to be cool, and I'm sure that fact will make itself plain with some of my more... eclectic picks. Plus I don't work with lists... my music CDs tend to exist in a largish, constantly evolving pile on the floor. This is one of the reasons I like listening to MP3s; less clutter that I can trip over.
What follows is the first installment in what's looking to be a short series of articles on the music I'm most happy to have found in 2005. For my pile, I'm going to make it even more about me than your average list maker; I'm picking the top bunches of albums that I've bought at shows, in stores, received as a comp, or picked up on iTunes, but not all of these recordings were released in 2005; merely made it into my hands in that calendar year.
So; on with part one...
Other pieces of the pile:
Part 2
Rebel Spell -- Days of Rage 2005
Vancouver political punks singing stories about war, anarchy, and animal rights, The Rebel Spell really pulled things together on this disc; you can hear the vocals this time around. It may not be the best album of the year, but this is a tight group of radicals, and they put on a great live show. Check out the MP3 of Hacksaw from the band's MySpace page.
Clinic -- Clinic 1999
A couple years ago there was this commercial in relatively heavy rotation that had crazed sheep, riding lawnmovers over a sheepdog to this frenetic tune that isn't easy to. Short, crazed, and with lyrics that can only be nonsense, this one song lead me on a bit of a quest to find out who or what this was. Much Googling later, I discovered the band was Clinic and the song was D.P. (courtesy of Derek Kenny).
Well, I finally found a CD that collects three EPs worth of songs from this English art rock band; it's a bizarre collection of songs, and I'm not sure if I'm more happy to have found that the band really did exist and that they produced more work in a similar vein. I get the impression that they were more popular in the UK than they were on this continent.
The Chick Magnets -- Girl Crazy 2001
I was lucky enough to attend Vancouver's Chick Magnets' reunion / farewell show at The Columbia and acquire this excellent album. From tongue-in-cheek, emo-style lyrics like "Why doesn't Nikki like me?" to songs like "Anarchy is Neato" and a cover of The Dead Milkmen's Serrated Edge. It's a fun album, and a bit of a shame that we might have to wait another ten years before these boys get together again for a nostalgic final money-grab.
Removal -- the Strong Silent Type 2004
Strong and silent only in the sense that this band is without a vocalist. Oh, they have guest vocalists on their 7" releases and the odd vocal effect on some other tracks, but the live lineup is made up of a guitarist, a bassist, and a drummer; without vocal mics. The live show is simply amazing, and the CD recording doesn't really do them complete justice.
Various Artists -- Vancouver Complication 2005 (CD Re-Release)
How can you go wrong? This is the long-overdue re-release of 1979's legendary underground punk record Vancouver Complication. Only a couple thousand of the original vinyl were released, and the album was quite the collector's item for the twenty years it stayed out of print. This album provides a pretty good snapshot of a music scene as it existed at one specific point in space and time, featuring popular local 70s acts The Subhumans, D.O.A., The Pointed Sticks, and The Dishrags in addition to others.
Years ago, I found a copy of 1991's Last Call: Vancouver Independent Music, 1977-1988 which features a pretty decent overlap of talent. In many ways I prefer the double CD package for Last Call, as it's a much broader field and it showcases a much more diverse group of people that Complication was able to do on one LP. However, Zulu Records' didn't do one thing that Joey Shithead did; Joey convinced the Dishrags to pick up instruments and perform a couple songs at the CD Release Party. The memory of standing in a sold out show listening to a rendition of I Don't Love You that was just as energetic and ice-cold as the version on the record; that's worth gold.
Einstuerzende Neubauten -- Grundstueck 2005
German noise pioneers Einstuerzende Neubauten put on one of the most impressive shows I've ever seen when they appeared at the Commodore Ballroom in May, 2004. I signed up with the band's Supporter Program as part of writing a piece on them, and followed the band's interaction with their fans as they practiced, toured, and recorded thanks in part to the patronage of fans. This CD is the end result of this project; along with any number of side projects, an optional DVD companion, net videos, bulletin board chatter, exclusive concerts and collaborations, bonus downloadable concerts, and much more.
On first glance, 40 Euros is a bit much to pay for what would appear to be a single CD, but this is a work that you can't purchase in a store, or from the band. The price averaged out a bit lower, as they sent three copies of the album to supporters; with a note inviting us to give the extras away or sell them as we wished. Still, it's an interesting experiment, and it's one that I would personally repeat; it was an intimate look into the process of creation that one band goes through. It was as much an piece of performance art as it was the creation of a CD.
The band has created a different series of experimental subscription-only music in their Musterhaus project. There's definitely something to be said for music that can be purchased and downloaded and enjoyed immediately; just look at iTunes.
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Clinic!
(you just put on one)