Dan Bejar is my least favorite component of The New Pornographers. Twin Cinema was my #3 last year, but I don't like the new Destroyer album. I wish I did - I like Neko Case, A.C. Newman...

I have to admit, I hadn't listened to Band of Horses until I saw it getting a lot of votes on the final lists thread.

I love it! If you haven't heard it, I highly recommend checking it out.

I have my top 20, so now I can start working on the order.

Asobi Seksu - Citrus
Boris - Pink
The Brother Kite - Waiting For The Time To Be Right
Neko Case - Fox Confessor Brings The Flood
Roseanne Cash - Black Cadillac
Clipse - Hell Hath No Fury
The Decemberists - The Crane Wife
Bob Dylan - Modern Times
Howe Gelb - Sno Angel Like You
Destroyer - Destroyer's Rubies
Herbert - Scale
The Knife - Silent Shout
Joanna Newsom - Ys
The Roots - Game Theory
Serena Maneesh - Serena Maneesh
Sonic Youth - Rather Ripped
The Thermals - The Body, The Blood, The Machine
TV On The Radio - Return To Cookie Mountain
Scott Walker - The Drift
Yo La Tengo - I Am Not Afraid Of You And I Will Beat Your Ass

Honorable mentions:
Ali Fraka Toure - Savane
Islands - Return to Sea
Love Is All - Nine Times The Same Song
Subtle - Wishingbone
The Hold Steady - Boys And Girls In America

quote:

Originally posted by BContrat:
Dan Bejar is my least favorite component of The New Pornographers. Twin Cinema was my #3 last year, but I don't like the new Destroyer album. I wish I did - I like Neko Case, A.C. Newman...

I thought his contributions on Twin Cinema were some of his best yet. That said, his album left something to be desired, though I'm interested in exploring his back catalogue. I always get this glimmer of genius from Bejar, like he could be amazing if he stopped being so drunk.

1 – Malajube – Trompe l’œil (amazing montreal french band)
http://www.myspace.com/malajube
2 – The Hold Steady – Boys and Girls in America
3 – Islands – Return to the Sea
4 – Hot Chip – The Warning
5 – Xiu Xiu – The Air Force
6 – Beck – The Information
7 – A.F.I. - Decemberunderground
8 – TV On The Radio – Return to Cookie Mountain
9 – Harvee – Sink or Swim (new montreal band, sounds like broken social scene and arcade fire!)
http://myspace.com/harveeband
10 – Tokyo Police Club – A Lesson In Crime (EP... but their forthcoming LP will be my most anticipated cd for 2007)
http://www.myspace.com/tokyopoliceclub
11 – Cursive – Happy Hollow
12 – Love Is All – Nine times that same song
13 – The Black Heart Procession – The Spell
14 – The Knive – Silent Shout
15 – One-Two – Love Again (electro/pop band from paris)
http://www.myspace.com/powerpopuptothetop
16 – The Blow – Paper Television
17 – Patrick Watson – Close to Paradise (montreal singer... sounds like patrick wolf a bit)
http://www.myspace.com/patrickwatson
18 – Joanna Newsom – Ys
19 – Decemberists – The Crane Wife
20 - Lullabye Arkestra – Ampgrave (soul + metal + rock = one of the best records on Constellation ever!)
http://www.myspace.com/lullabyearkestra

Hope you'll discover some new music from Quebec and Canada!!!!

Hey, some nice sounds there, Sloop, thanks for the links. Any female vocalists (solo or fronting bands) from Quebec and Canada you'd care to recommend?

quote:

Originally posted by crazed:
Hey, some nice sounds there, Sloop, thanks for the links. Any female vocalists (solo or fronting bands) from Quebec and Canada you'd care to recommend?

In french:

Ariane Moffatt (electro/pop)
http://www.myspace.com/arianemoffattmusique
Anik Jean (pop/rock)
http://www.myspace.com/anikjean
Les Breastfeeders (try "Funny Foniculaire")
http://www.myspace.com/lesbreastfeeders65

In English:
The Camaromance (28 Balloons is amazing after few listenings)
http://www.myspace.com/thecamaromance
Feist (Broken Social Scene)
Emily Haines and Metric
Lullabye Arkestra
http://www.myspace.com/lullabyearkestra
(try: y'make me shake)

And another interesting canadian artist is Chad VanGaalen (from calgary)
http://www.myspace.com/chadvangaalen

Enjoy!

so far...

1. The Hold Steady
2. Yo La Tengo
3. Joanna Newsom
4. TV on the Radio
5. Subtle
6. Liars
7. The Decemberists
8. Neko Case
9. Girl Talk
10. Band of Horses
11. Peter Bjorn and John
12. The Knife
13. The Thermals
14. Belle & Sebastian
15. Tim Hecker
16. Junior Boys
17. Tapes 'N' Tapes
18. Built to Spill
19. Sufjan Stevens
20. Oxford Collapse

quote:

Originally posted by Sloop:

quote:

Originally posted by crazed:
Hey, some nice sounds there, Sloop, thanks for the links. Any female vocalists (solo or fronting bands) from Quebec and Canada you'd care to recommend?

In french:

Ariane Moffatt (electro/pop)
http://www.myspace.com/arianemoffattmusique
Anik Jean (pop/rock)
http://www.myspace.com/anikjean
Les Breastfeeders (try "Funny Foniculaire")
http://www.myspace.com/lesbreastfeeders65

In English:
The Camaromance (28 Balloons is amazing after few listenings)
http://www.myspace.com/thecamaromance
Feist (Broken Social Scene)
Emily Haines and Metric
Lullabye Arkestra
http://www.myspace.com/lullabyearkestra
(try: y'make me shake)

Only artists here I hadn't heard before are Anik Jean and The Camaromance. I didn't realize Ariane Moffatt had a newer album out (I only have Aquanaute). Coo, now I have yet more albums to hunt down.

20 – indian jewelry – invasive exotics (monitor)
19 – grizzly bear – yellow house (warp)
18 - girl talk - night ripper (illegal art)
17 – om – conference of the birds (holy mountain)
16 - the no-neck blues band and embryo - embryonnck (staubgold)
15 - ladyhawk - s/t (jagjaguwar)
14 - drones - gala mill (ATP)
13 - wooden wand and the vanishing voice - gipsy freedom (5RC)
12 - clogs - lantern (brassland)
11 - beach house - s/t (carpark)
10 - comets on fire - avatar (sub pop)
09 - destroyer - destroyer's rubies (merge)
08 - parts and labor - stay afraid (jagjaguwar)
07 - band of horses - everything all the time (sub pop)
06 - boris - pink (southern lord)
05 - neko case - fox confessor brings the flood (anti)
04 - bonnie 'prince' billy - the letting go (drag city)
03 - wooden wand and the sky high band - second attention (kill rock stars)
02 - liars - drum's not dead (mute)
01 - the hold steady - boys and girls in american (vagrant)

quote:

Originally posted by crazed:

quote:

Originally posted by Sloop:

quote:

Originally posted by crazed:
Hey, some nice sounds there, Sloop, thanks for the links. Any female vocalists (solo or fronting bands) from Quebec and Canada you'd care to recommend?

In french:

Ariane Moffatt (electro/pop)
http://www.myspace.com/arianemoffattmusique
Anik Jean (pop/rock)
http://www.myspace.com/anikjean
Les Breastfeeders (try "Funny Foniculaire")
http://www.myspace.com/lesbreastfeeders65

In English:
The Camaromance (28 Balloons is amazing after few listenings)
http://www.myspace.com/thecamaromance
Feist (Broken Social Scene)
Emily Haines and Metric
Lullabye Arkestra
http://www.myspace.com/lullabyearkestra
(try: y'make me shake)

Only artists here I hadn't heard before are Anik Jean and The Camaromance. I didn't realize Ariane Moffatt had a newer album out (I only have Aquanaute). Coo, now I have yet more albums to hunt down.

Yeah, Le coeur dans la tête is even better than Aquanaute!

In order, 1-20:

Tom Waits, Orphans...
Centro-matic, Fort Recovery
Los Lobos, The Town and the City
Black Keys, Chulahoma
Built to Spill, You in Reverse
Robert Pollard, Normal Happiness
Drive-by Truckers, A Blessing and a Curse
Rhett Miller, The Believer
Johnny Cash, American V: A Hundred Highways
The Keene Brothers, Blues and Boogie Shoes
Sparklehorse, Dreamt For Light Years in the Belly of a Mountain
Solomon Burke, Nashville
Band of Horses, Everything all the Time
Semion, Help Me I Work in an Office
Yo La Tengo, I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass
Black Keys, Magic Potion
Steve Wynn and Miracle Three, Tick... Tick... Tick
The Takeovers, Turn to Red
Radio Birdman, Zeno Beach
Cracker, Greenland

The Hold Steady - Boys and Girls in America. It's one of the best albums I've heard in a long time. I can't stop listening to it.

Another of my favorites is Todd Snider - The Devil You Know. But, I don't see any pub for Todd on metacritc. Why? He's made seven great albums, and his last two have been classics.

If you've never heard of him, check him out. You wont be sorry.

I got really into Hold Steady for a few weeks, then it dropped down again. It's kind of the thing you have to be in the mood for, I guess. When I'm in the mood for it it sounds amazing, but the rest of the time I get kind of bored. (Or at least bored enough to be bothered by the lyrics of 'You can make them like you' suggesting that independence is a negative trait for women.)

Yeah, sexism sucks.

quote:

Originally posted by Art Vandelay:
(Or at least bored enough to be bothered by the lyrics of 'You can make them like you' suggesting that independence is a negative trait for women.)

I think you're once again missing the point of the Hold Steady's lyrics, Art.

My take on it is that it's about a girl who's hiding her problems behind the facade of relationships. The drug use, etc. is her boyfriend's doing, since he's the one that "deals with the dealers". The last verse contains the lines "They say you don’t have a problem until you start to do it alone. They say you don’t have a problem until you start bringin’ it home. They say you don’t have a problem until you start sleepin’ alone." The girl believes that as long as she's doing this stuff with someone, it's not sad, when in fact it is. I don't get the impression that Craig Finn is telling women they should forego being independent and find themselves a good man.

quote:

Originally posted by ericg75:
I don't get the impression that Craig Finn is telling women they should forego being independent and find themselves a good man.

DAMN!

quote:

Originally posted by Musicalifragilistic:

quote:

Originally posted by ericg75:
I don't get the impression that Craig Finn is telling women they should forego being independent and find themselves a good man.

DAMN!

I know, sorry to disappoint. However, Musicalifragilistic, if you're interested, I think there are a couple of Two Live Crew albums from the late 80s/early 90s that drive home that point.

quote:

Originally posted by ericg75:
[QUOTE]I think you're once again missing the point of the Hold Steady's lyrics, Art.

My take on it is that it's about a girl who's hiding her problems behind the facade of relationships. The drug use, etc. is her boyfriend's doing, since he's the one that "deals with the dealers". The last verse contains the lines "They say you don’t have a problem until you start to do it alone. They say you don’t have a problem until you start bringin’ it home. They say you don’t have a problem until you start sleepin’ alone." The girl believes that as long as she's doing this stuff with someone, it's not sad, when in fact it is. I don't get the impression that Craig Finn is telling women they should forego being independent and find themselves a good man.

Great post, Eric. "You can make her like you" is one of my favorites from the album, and you've summed it up perfectly.

It does not glorify her lifestyle, it exposes it as being pretty sad. As the song says "You can cover yourself like a bruise." Not a pretty analogy.

One of the things I've grown to like about "Boys and Girls in America" is the lyrics. I said a few months ago, after my first listen, that it seemed altogether too centered around the party lifestyle. If you give a closer listen to the lyrics, though, you can see that a lot of the time they're showing just how hollow that lifestyle can be.

And then there are a couple of songs like "Southtown Girls" and "Massive Nights" that remind me just why we do live that lifestyle sometimes.