SONGS IN THE KEY OF F VOL. I

In news that I'm sure wont shock anyone, I've decided to throw my hat in the playlist game again. This will be a way to showcase new music I've enjoyed recently. The goal is twenty songs on the first day of the month, but depending on my schedule that may change. Check it out if you've got the time, and feel free to send songs my way to add if you feel like contributing. You can find it on Spotify here.

Brian

OWEN'S TOP 10 ALBUMS OF 2011

2011 marks a transitional time for me musically. A lot of the genres I was big into in the 2000s were dead. I moved out of Georgetown and to Waterloo, where I heard Lil Wayne and The Game play in my student house every morning, the streets were packed with frat boys and the wind carried dubstep to every corner of the town. I could look down on them from the roof of my trashed duplex throne, but it came from my house too. The album I listened to most this year was Destroy Rebuild Until God Shows by the Craig Owen's revival band, D.R.U.G.S. While I did have a great time with a few cinges re-listening to this album for nostalgia purposes, it did not make my list, for perhaps obvious reasons. I think 2011 makes me think of immaturity, naivety, and embarrassment. My list is composed of albums I've come to enjoy in recent years.

10. Foster The People - Torches

Almost didn't put this on, but there's so many bangers its hard not to. This band took a while to get into because of the edge 102 problem I spoke about in the last top ten... with Pumped Up Kicks never leaving the radio. I bet if you turn on whatever shitty Toronto "inde" radio station the kids are listening to, you'll have a chance of hearing it. Every song on this album is good. Big debut.

Bangers: Helena Beat, Don't Stop, Call It What You Want

9. Bayside - Killing Time

Lots of bangers on this album. This album starts so strong its crazy. The songs are super fun, and easy to listen to, despite a lot of cheese in the lyrics, "I wish upon a satellite..." thanks I want to puke... put on Already Gone again.

Bangers: Sick, Sick, Sick, Already Gone

8. Cloud Nothings - S/T

Second album by Cloud Nothings, certainly not my favourite album by them. Attack on Memory came out the following year and blows it out of the park, but none the less this album is still a good time. Can't go wrong with Cloud Nothings.

Bangers: Should Have, Understand At All

7. Ty Segall - Goodbye Bread

Ty stands on his own. He's recorded something like 50 albums. This one from his solo project, easy listening lofi tunes. Good for chillin on the beach and/or smokin blunts.

Bangers: You Make The Sun Fry, Goodbye Bread

6. King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard - Willoughby's Beach

Lots of firsts in this list. Another first from King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard, who would go on to release albums in many different genres and styles. Always fresh always slaps. These guys are so fun, and fresh in an often depressing industry, they bring a unique approach and its easy to hear in the music how much fun they have making it. This first album is a surfy lofi, one of their more generic albums but a still a good time, and in my top 10 King Gizz albums. Well there's 20...

Bangers: Dead Beat, Lunch Meat

5. Bass Drum Of Death - Gb City

Bass Drum of Death debut album! This album is such a good time. Super Lo-fi hard hitting west coast sounding tunes from this Mississippi DIY duo.

Bangers: Nerve Jamming, Young Pros

4. Protest The Hero - Scurrilous

Hmm what to say about this album. Well at the time of its release Protest The Hero was still probably my favourite band of all time. Scurrilous was the last album to be made by the four original members, and marks a fairly big change that would continue; shifting from lyrics written by bassist, Arif, to vocalist, Rody. This small change had a huge impact as Arif wrote dark epic concept albums, Rody wrote about his personal struggles and experiences with the music industry. To be honest this is a change I did not welcome and it was very hard to come to terms with it, but it did help the band grow in the end and to this day has some of my favourite Protest songs of all time.

Bangers: Hair Trigger, Dunsel, C'est La Vie

3. Citizen - Young States

Citizen's first album. This band continues to grow in amazing and surprising ways. I love everything they put out. Eight upbeat and punk emo songs. Great debut.

Bangers: Detached, Young States

2. La Dispute - Wildlife

Well a lot of you already know because I never shut up about it. The 2010 Touche Amore/La Dispute split Searching For a Pulse/The Worth Of The World (Damn, I can't even type that out without singing along) is one of my favourite albums of all time. These two bands together is just the perfect combo, the songs are so dynamic it blows my mind. Just listen to How I Feel, and tell that's not some absolutely insane songwriting. Anyway... So looking at 2011, both Touche and La Dispute have albums one year later. It's really cool to compare both albums to Searching For a Pulse, while Parting the Sea is fairly different, Wildlife feels almost like an extension of the album and you can see where they both were musically.. Wildlife was the last album produced by the band before Will Yip took up the mantle, who likes to bury the vocals for some reason, just listen to Panorama and you'll see what I mean. Why does he does this? It's baffling... (I'm sorry if you like that album, now you won't be able to unhear it)

Bangers: Edit Your Hometown, King Park

1. Touché Amoré - I'm Parting. The Sea. Between Brightness. And Me.

This album marks the beginning of a Touche trend that will carry on for all future albums; the dramatic pause in the middle of a word: "So I'll need your full atten...tion!" When it hits in The Great Repetition its huge, odd it happens again in the same album, but its so sick who cares. Though I will say now its losing its magic a bit 10 years later. The guitar work on this album is amazing, just listen to the intro of Art Official. I've always loved Touches ringing chords patterns that appears all over their music.

Bangers: Art Official, Method Act

Thanks for reading!

JAMIE'S 2011 LIST

2011 - we've moved on from the glory of high-school on to the weirdness of whatever comes next. Okay, I'm 4 years late... Maybe 'what comes next' didn't happen at the same time for everyone... My 'what comes next' was not nearly what I was hoping it would be. In 2011 I had just barely graduated adult high-school, and made the cookie-cutter decision to move out west. Thinking I was bold, I got a Canadian Tire hiking backpack, packed all of my earthly belongings and went to meet Vince in Vancouver (where he'd recently arrived from a bike trip where he made it to Thunder Bay and hitched a ride to Vancouver). Life felt special, I felt special for what I'd done. Boy, was I wrong. Here's a list of albums that helped me come to terms with where I was at.

10. Marine Dreams - S/T

After Attack in Black broke up, Southern Ontario didn't know what to listen to anymore. Ian Kehoe made that a bit easier on everyone. This album is so solid. Hard to find a defining banger, but the album lightly fucks full-through.

Choice Nugs: No Face, Yet To See The Sun, Fold The Sky

9. Destroyer - Kaputt

This was a more difficult album to find time for, but when I did, I found myself appreciating it a lot. I do love how 'Vancouver' this record is. The album cover is Dan Bejar standing in Queen Elizabeth Park on a beautiful day. The vibe of the record is very 80's lo-fi.

Choice Nugs: Chinatown, Downtown, Kaputt

8. John McKiel - Tonka War Cloud

This list is starting to look pretty Canadian...John Mckiel...absolute beauty. Didn't find this one until a few years ago, but absolutely love it now. Beautiful songwriting, beautiful voice. He's got a very alluring way of writing bridges. Almost every bridge on this record pulls me in.

Choice Nugs: Strands, Death Van, Fist Fight, Iceman

7. Dogday - Deformer

Few a da by's making it happen. What a cool record. Not many tracks stand out, but the whole thing is just great. Great tones.

Choice Nugs: Eurozone, Bluish Grey, Day Dream

6. Bonnie Prince Billy - Wolfroy Goes To Town

Such a hard album to place on this list! I struggled with this placement for weeks! Some of Will Oldhams strongest writing. The arrangements are perfect and Angel Olsen makes quick work of perfect harmonies.

Choice Nugs: No Match, Time To Be Clear, New Tibet

5. Feist - Metals

Hurts to put this so low. This is my favourite Feist record. She absolutely hits everything shes going for here. Every song is so well written.

Choice Nugs: The Circle Made The Line, The Bad In Each Other, How Come You Never Go There

4. Raphael Saadiq - Stone Rollin'

Raphael Saadiq has an incredible catalogue and Stone Rollin' definitely doesn't sit at the top, but it's great in it's own ways. Production is off the charts. He clearly spent a lot of time on this.

Choice Nugs: Go To Hell, Good Man, Heart Attack

3. Bry Webb - Provider

This was Bry Webb's first album post-Cons. He clearly still had songs to write. So many strong songs on here, but I feel like 'Viva' takes the cake. It doesn't take long to realize here at Bry Webb doesn't need a band to be the best Canadian song-writer... Yeah, I said it....

Choice Nugs: Viva, Asa, Ex-Punks, Get You Up In Peace

2. James Blake - S/T

Wow. One of the best debuts of the past 30 years. Struggles to follow it up, but at least it exists.

Choice Nugs: Unluck, Limit To Your Love, Give Me My Month, I Never Learnt To Share

1. Chad VanGaalen - Diaper Island

I try not to ask anything of anyone reading this, but I would personally appreciate it if everyone reading this listened to this record front to back. In my opinion, it's the most beautiful Canadian record ever written. I don't know to analyze it, but I know that I love it a lot.

Choice Nugs: Peace On The Rise, Heavy Stones, Shave My Pussy, You Changed Your Name, Sara

BRIAN'S BEST OF 2011

THE LIST

1. M83 - Hurry Up, We're Dreaming

I fell in love with this album shortly before I moved to Toronto, and listened to it so frequently that it became the soundtrack to that first summer. While most would dismiss this album as hipster frivolity, I implore those naysayers to listen to the album in its entirety. It is a beautifully melancholic journey that I will never grow tired of taking.

Standout Track: Soon, My Friend

2. Banner Pilot – Heart Beats Pacific

I sent Banner Pilot an e-mail once telling them that they should come to Toronto to do a show, and they sent me a sticker and t-shirt that was way too small for me. It was rad. This is easily my favourite release from these guys, and an album I still listen to frequently. I know pop-punk isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but this is how you do it right.

Standout Tracks: Spanish Reds, Intervention

3. True Widow - As High As The Highest Heavens And From The Center To The Circumference Of The Earth

This album takes everything I like about shoegaze, and mixes it with the one thing I like about stoner rock; the pacing. It’s also the only album on this list that I hadn’t heard before, which is as close to an endorsement as I’ve got in me.

Standout Track: Blooden Horse

4. Radiohead - The King Of Limbs

I had a difficult time giving this album the chance it deserved until I saw them perform the album live on Nigel Godrich’s From The Basement series. It’s incredible to see the process that goes into creating the individual elements of these songs. I’m always amazed when I’m convinced these guys are doing something electronically, only to discover I was mistaken.

Standout Tracks: Lotus Flower, Codex

5. Feist – Metals

This was the first Feist album that made me see her as an artist instead of a corporate bootlicker suckling at Apple’s teat. Also, my list desperately needed some Canadian representation.

Standout Tracks: A Commotion, Anti-Pioneer, Comfort Me

6. Iceage – New Brigade

An incredible first album that features a sound reminiscent of the SST-era punk bands from the 80’s. Also, the album is only 25 minutes long, which is punk as fuck.

Standout Track: Rotting Heights

7. Car Seat Headrest – Twin Fantasy

One of my favourite lo-fi releases. They re-recorded this album in 2018, but much like Streetlight Manifesto’s version of Keasbey Nights, it loses everything that made it special in the first place.

Standout Track: Sober To Death

8. Touché Amoré - Parting The Sea Between Brightness And Me

Both an album and a band that I decided to listen to well after the fact. Not my favourite release of theirs, but a solid offering that knows when to fuck, and when to make love.

Standout Tracks: Art Official, Amends

9. Radical Face – The Family Tree: The Roots

Ben Cooper has a way of painting a picture with his lyrics that is seldom accomplished anymore. This album is the first in a trilogy of concept albums that looks at the fictional history of a family from the 1800’s, and the hardships they endured from generation to generation. While this is not my favourite of the three albums, it is a strong foundation for this ambitious project.

Standout Tracks: Kin, Mountains

10. The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart – Belong

This album perfectly embodies the emotional rollercoaster of being young and in love for me. It’s also a great example of a band taking everything that was great about their first album and pushing it even further. These guys are essentially a twee pop version of The Cure, and that’s something I can fuck with.

Standout Tracks: Belong, Heart In Your Heartbreak

NOTABLE EP’S

1. Wavves – Life Sux
2. Good Night & Good Morning – S/T
3. Single Mothers – S/T

SONG OF THE YEAR

1. M83 – Midnight City

No brainer.

GLENNZO'S 2011 TOP TEN

Did this one a little bit different. I had a giant list of releases from 2011, gave most of them a good listen if I hadn’t in a while. What ended up happening was, I went through my iTunes and organized by most plays. That narrowed it down to 14 releases with over 100 plays. From there I narrowed it down to the list you have been graced with below.

Anyone with Anal Cunt anywhere on their list is my sworn enemy.

1. Joyce Manor - Joyce Manor
    Fav Tune: Leather Jacket
2. Bomb The Music Industry - Vacation
    Fav Tune: Vocal Coach

3. White Wives - Happeners
    Fav Tune: Spinning Wheels
4. Touché Amoré - Parting The Sea Between Brightness And Me
    Fav Tune: All Of 'Em
5. Direct Hit! - DOMESPLITTER
    Fav Tune: Monster In The Closet
6. Restorations - S/T
    Fav Tune: When You’re Older
7. Night Birds - The Other Side Of Darkness
    Fav Tune: Paranoid Times
8. Dead To Me - Moscow Penny Ante
    Fav Tune: No Lullabies
9. Banner Pilot - Hearts Beat Pacific
    Fav Tune: Forty Degrees
10. Luca Brasi - Extended Family
    Fav Tune: Like A Charm

1998 RESULTS + MOVING FORWARD

I hope everyone had as much fun with this one as I did. Here are the results:

1. Bright Eyes – Letting Off The Happiness (59 Points)
2. Neutral Milk Hotel – In The Aeroplane Over The Sea (32 Points)
3. Saves The Day – Can’t Slow Down (27 Points)
4. Catch-22 – Keasbey Nights (26 Points)
5. Refused – The Shape Of Punk To Come (17 Points)
6. Elliott Smith – XO (16 Points)
7. The Vandals – Hitler Bad, Vandals Good (16 Points)
8. Sunny Day Real Estate – How It Feels To Be Something On (15 Points)
9. The Offspring – Americana (13 Points)
10. The Tragically Hip – Phantom Power (12 Points)

Like last time, all ties were broken based on how highly they were ranked on people's lists. For your next task we are going back to the time where they finally got that pesky Osama Bin Laden, 2011. I took a quick look to refresh my memory, and there is an unbelievable amount of amazing releases to choose from. The oft-ignored deadline is April 16, 2021.

See you in the pit.

JAMIE'S 1998 LIST

I always tell people the first CD I got was Chronic 2001, but in actuality it was Americana. Chronic 2001 was just the first CD I bought for myself. I got Americana as an Easter gift from my dad, because it had that amazing song 'Pretty Fly, For A White Guy'. I listened to that song a million times before I got to anything else on the album.

I finally decided to listen to the whole thing, and was shocked. It was what I assumed was death metal. It was so fast and sounded nothing like the one song from the radio.

Although this record didn't make my list, I feel like it showed me a window into music that wasn't Spice Girls or Collective Soul and paved the way for being a bit more adventurous with what I listen to.

(Taken in 1998)

10. Barenaked Ladies - Stunt

So many hits on this, but the ones that aren't hits are absolute duds. Tough to listen to full-through and not get sick of it after you pass 'Call and Answer' - exception 'Some Fantastic'. Also, watch the Bathroom Sessions on Youtube with Ed Robertson and Steven Page - they turn 'Some Fantastic' into the best song on this record.

Hits: Call and Answer, It's All Been Done, One Week, Some Fantastic

9. Shellac - Terraform

Such a perfectly laid out record. Without hearing this record before the first track seemingly aims to set a slower tone for the rest of the record, but it gets better. This record still hits, but really find a way to bury the harder crescendos into layers of tracks.

Hits: Disgrace, Canada

8. Cake - Prolonging The Magic

One thing I came to when thinking of how to review this record was 'what genre is Cake?'. It's kind of like a Samba/Rock/Funk hybrid. Wasted too much time considering genre to write something meaningful. This record is lots of fun, quite a few hits buried in there too.

Hits: Hem of Your Garment, Satan Is My Motor, Never There

7. Alkaline Trio - Goddamnit

Gave this a chance in high school, but could never fully buy in. Shame, because old me loves it. Hits hard and although it's got some sappy emo themes, the punk influence is clear.

Hits: Cringe, Cop, San Francisco, Clavicle

6. Don Caballero - What Burns Never Returns

Such a great listen through. As far as instrumentals of this type go, it's miles ahead of the rest of the pack. It can be a bit spacey at times, but never boring.

Hits: Whole thing!

5. Bright Eyes - Letting Off The Happiness

Feels weird to have this so low, but I guess I like other albums more now... 18 year old me would be pissed. I remember playing this CD in the car with my dad the full way through. Few CD's hes hated more than that. Doesn't hold up quite like it used to, but still really love a few songs on here.

Hits: Contrast And Compare, June On The West Coast, Pull My Hair

4. The Tragically Hip - Phantom Power

Nothing like throwing this bad boy on and hearing the pop of the snare as 'Poets' starts up. Lots of sneaky hits here, but also carries one of my favourite Hip songs ever in 'Escape Is At Hand For The Travelling Man'. This album is a whole is just so fluid to me. Each song flows perfectly and although the themes and emotion vary through these songs, it all works together so well.

Hits: Something On, Escape Is At Hand For The Travelling Man, Fireworks, Poets

3. D'Angelo - Live At The Jazz Cafe, London

At this point in his career D'Angelo has only released 'Brown Sugar'. So a popular recorded live performance seems a bit bold, but it really gives such a different vibe to each of these songs. I also normally don't like crowd noise during live records, but this record has a way of making you feel like you're there.

Hits: Lady, Me And Those Dreamin' Eyes Of Mine, Brown Sugar

2. Duster - Stratosphere

Please listen the whole way through. Couldn't think of what to write, this record is just really good.

Hits: Whole thing!

1. DMX - It's Dark And Hell Is Hot/Flesh of My Flesh, Blood of My Blood

This is really gonna piss of the editor, but I couldn't choose which one I liked more #yearofthedog. Debuts and drops two #1 rap records in the same year.. talk about running the game. Earl Simmons is a violent and crass man. He's unfiltered and probably has one of the best vocal tones in rap history.

Hits: Get At Me Dog, Damien, Bring Your Whole Crew, Ruff Ryders Anthem

Spotify Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/31iFfEzVmFzw3wYhcXudyH?si=6227e702bea54d92