culture
The Sound Advice Top 10
The best local albums this year, in review
Sound Advice covered 50 albums in 2011, and in the interest of jumping on the end-of-year list bandwagon separating the best from the rest, we bring you the top 10 local EPs, LPs, and “digital 45s” of the year—in no particular order—as selected by Robin Hatch and Chris Dart. Click through the gallery below to read their comments.
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- Recently signed to Arts & Crafts, the Darcys’ self-titled debut full-length is reminiscent of popular Canadian indie acts like Broken Social Scene and Arcade Fire, as well as excitingly akin to Radiohead albums like OK Computer and Kid A. The melodies are beautiful, with gorgeous vocals backed up by a band who clearly know their prog-rock history. We loved “Shaking Down the Old Bones” and “Glasnost.” The album was expertly mixed by Dave Schiffman, whom the band credits with saving the album from artistic self-implosion. (RH)
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- To say that The Weeknd’s debut mixtape, House of Balloons, changed the face of R&B as we know it would be rather premature. It’s impossible for even the most talented of artists to change an entire genre with one release. That said, if 10 years from now, modern R&B has been divided into pre- and post-Weeknd eras, we won’t be too surprised. In a genre that’s traditionally equal parts vocal gymnastics, love, sex, and good times, House of Balloons only features two of the four, and even then, only sort of. There’s no love in The Weeknd’s world; the vocal gymnastics have been replaced by an understated, haunting quality; and the sex and partying are only there to distract from Abel Tesfaye’s profound sense of unhappiness. Throw in a healthy serving of dubstep-influenced beats, and the result is an album that is beautiful, disturbing, challenging, and sexy all at the same time. (CD)
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- Local psych-rock-cum-doom-metal group Blood Ceremony wooed us hardcore with their 2011 LP, Living With The Ancients. Their highly technically skilled songs still manage to do so, while they poke fun at themselves through their often goofy, funny, occultist lyrics. Former Sound Advice contributor John Semley best summarized the album in the closing line to his original review: Living With The Ancients is “music as ideal for your next mushroom trip as your seasonal pagan ritual party.” (RH)
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- Alternately bleak and funny with an average of roughly 2.7 pop-culture references per minute, Jonestown 2 is probably Toronto rapper D-Sisive’s best work to date. Whether he’s waxing nostalgic on “Derek from Northcliffe” or giving the music industry a well-deserved kick in the shins on “If” and “#1 Record,” Derek Christoff’s wordplay is consistently razor sharp and complex as a Rubik’s Cube, while producer Muneshine’s beats mix classic boom-bap hip hop with unorthodox sample choices. In a just world, Jonestown 2 would have been a hit record that sold like crazy but, sadly, we don’t live in a just world. (CD)
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- For the Skeletones Four’s first official full-length, singer/songwriter Andrew Collins recruited pals John Merritt, Jordan Howard, and Evan Gordon to bring his catchy, soulful songs to life. Gravestone Rock is both eerie and fun, with elements of both psychedelic and classic rock, and chock-full of sultry ’60s-sounding R&B singles like “Empty Eyes” and “Rotten to the Core.” We also liked the extended jam at the end of “Night Terrors.” (RH)
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- Bo Jackson/Kelly Gruber—a digital 45, whatever that is—was the first release from Scarberian punk-soul fusionists The Carps in almost three years and, thankfully, it was well worth the wait. “Bo Jackson” is a remarkably full-sounding track considering that there are only two members in the group, with vocalist Jahmal Tonge giving us his best plaintive wail over a steadily building instrumental. “Kelly Gruber,” on the other hand, is a high-intensity stomp that would be well suited as the score for a Hollywood chase sequence. Bo Jackson/Kelly Gruber was both a brilliant record and 2011′s biggest tease; two genius songs from a band whose full-length debut has been a half-decade in the making. (CD)
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- Arguably one of the most popular albums of the year, both nationally and locally, Austra has received a lot of press, most notably when she swept the recent CBC Radio 3 Bucky Award Nominations. Feel It Break combines songwriter Katie Stelmanis’s classical technical skills with knowledge of both avant-garde contemporary music and pop. The result is a highly accessible, catchy album. We liked “Shoot the Water” and the lo-fi “Lose It.” (RH)
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- Snotty, stupid, and high-energy, the first official release from Stark Naked and the Fleshtones—overlords of Toronto’s early ’80s punk scene—is pretty much everything one could want out of a pop-punk album. That said, these guys weren’t just Ramones clones; they added healthy doses of rockabilly and surf-rock influence to their fast and furious sound. Filled with buzzsaw guitars, simple, fast drumming, and hilariously absurd lyrics delivered in a nasal whine, the self-titled release is sort of a weird time capsule from a time when punk rock was about rebellion rather than marketing. (CD)
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- Local folk singer/songwriter Tamara Lindeman blew minds earlier this year when her band, the Weather Station, released its sophomore full-length album, All Of It Was Mine. The gentle, soulful performer displays a newfound confidence on this record. Her vulnerability in the album’s emotionally charged lyrics is contrasted by vocals with such conviction that All Of It Was Mine comes across as truly sublime. Just wait till the drums kick in on the truly haunting country banger “Know It To See It,” our favourite track of the album. The album was recorded expertly by Daniel Romano, who worked on the album with Lindeman in Welland, Ontario, earlier this year. (RH)
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- The phrase “hotly anticipated debut album” always sounds kind of like an oxymoron, doubly so when the album in question is coming from a garage punk band that’s on a tiny, independent label, but it would be hard to call the first full-length album from Action Makes anything else. After a slew of local shows, several mini-tours of Ontario and Quebec, and a trip to South by Southwest, the band’s fanbase was eagerly awaiting their album. Unfortunately, it took them the better part of four years to release it; fortunately, it was worth the wait. Loud, fuzzy, and obnoxious—it includes a song about masturbating in a cemetery—Action Makes’ debut grabs you by the lapels and shakes you violently and unrelentingly for 35 minutes. Listen to “Pleasant Hymn Pt. 2” and try not to walk around singing it for the rest of the day—we dare you. (CD)
