book of lists
As anybody who's seen High Fidelity knows, music geeks love to meticulously list things, and then assign numbers to them. This is probably why Information Leafblower's list of The Top 40 Bands in America Today is getting so much blogosphere attention. (see Brooklyn Vegan, Chromewaves, Product Shop, among others). Kyle polled 40 music bloggers, getting them to list their own top 10, and compiled the results. Sufjan takes home the #1 spot. When you think back to all the hype around Illinoise's release (and then recall, and then release), it's not surprising. Interesting that the National come in at the runner-up position though... must be that live show of their's. Not to be outdone, Matthew, over at I Heart Music is running his own poll of Canadian music bloggers, and will compile the canuck equivalent next week. I'm still playing around with my own list (which is currently the bulk of the Arts and Crafts roster), so any suggestions are welcome.
Speaking of I Heart Music, Matthew's most recent post mentions Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin, who have been getting a bit of a buzz lately (in fact, they're #29 on the Information Leafblower list - take that Clap Your Hands Say Yeah!). I finally got around to checking out their music, and I've gotta say, it's impressive. Is it groundbreaking or "forward looking?" No. But it's a pretty damn fine little indie pop album. If you're a Shins/RogueWave/NewPornographers/oldSloan fan, you'll probably find something to like on their debut, Broom. They're labelless right now, but you can pick up the record direct from the band, here. For now, check out this .mp3 of "What'll We Do," which is my favourite from the album after a couple of spins.
download: Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin - What'll We Do
Mark Gardener, who you may remember from his old band, shoe-gaze legends Ride, will be playing at the Media Club on Decemeber 16th.
Supergrass play the Commodore on February 26th.
And... Nada Surf plays the day before. They're at Richard's again.
Last but not least, thanks to P for posting the acoustic version of "Maps" in the comments of the last post (go look, you can still find it). While I'm quite fond of the performance, it doesn't quite live up to the original. In fact, it illuminates the fact that "Maps" is very much the sum of its parts. In that vein, check out this Diplo live mix of the tune. Same deal. It's nice that you can rock it on a dancefloor now, but it just doesn't have that same unnameable thing that the original does.
download: Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Maps (Diplo's live mix)
now playing: Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin - I Am Warm + Powerful
13 Comments:
is it just me or is that list total shite?
without nitpicking over order... i would concur with:
the National,Kanye, LCD, S-K, the Hold Steady, Decemberists, Bright Eyes, Animal Collective, Ryan Adams, Okkervil River, Doom, Gwen, Andrew Bird, Wilco... and maybe Out Hud, based purely on how great they were live.
ok, so after looking at the list again, i can agree with a bunch of the stuff on there, though perhaps not the order. like sufjan, s-k, lcd, spoon, juan, bright eyes, death cab, doom, antony, fiery furnaces, and well, ok, gwen. but the order's just completely incoherent ... and missing a tonne of shit from all sorts of genres...
as for a Canadian list, there are obvious choices (BSS, NewPornographers, Stars, Black Mountain, Arcade Fire, Cons), but I'd also give love to stuff like Final Fantasy and Buck 65 and maybe something like Ladyhawk. Rap wise, love must be given to Cadence Weapon (though I still think he should hang up the mic), Josh Martinez, as well as the more obvious picks of lke Kardinal and kos.
Shit, I almost forgot about Metric and Frog Eyes too. That's like 14 right there.
"Their labelless"
They're labelless?
Come on, four years of education at a world class liberal arts university and you can't do there/their/they're ? I expect more from you my friend.
Also, make sure you include Sean Desman on your list of top Canadian acts. He's wicked. And I love his hair.
By 
, at
5:08 p.m.
I was just about to e-mail you to find out whether you were participating in the poll, so now I don't have to. Thanks very much! Don't forget to 1) rank your picks, and 2) include as many comments as you want.
And Graham, if you want to participate, I'd love to get your list, too (my e-mail address is in my blog). The more people I can get involved, the better the list will be...
By , at
9:22 p.m.
"four years of education at a world class liberal arts university and you can't do there/their/they're ?"
it's called a typo.
Matthew: I was just about to email you to ask if you wanted comments or not, along with the list. Looks like I have something to do in class tomorrow... yknow, other than learning.
By 
Quinn, at
10:14 p.m.
That list was pretty bad in my opinion. Some great artists on there, but on the whole, shows how far up their asses some bloggers heads are.
No offence to anyone here of course!
By , at
11:18 p.m.
for a canadian list, can't you pretty much just close your eyes and flip to any page in the fall issue of under the radar?
i'd probably have a good list of a&c artists on my list, too. i'd also make sure i include tegan & sara and wolf parade.
i think after next week's stars concert, i'll compile my own list of top 10 concerts i went to this year. i'm impressed that i actually went to so many concerts this year that i have to pick and choose which ones make/don't make my list.
By , at
11:49 a.m.
There's something about the introduction to Maps that rips my heart out every time. I feel like in forty years, it will start playing on some adult-contemporary station and we'll all pull over in our Volvos and tear up.
By Jackie, at
12:40 p.m.
MF DOOM is in Seattle in December! It's after exams, so it seems like a no-brainer... except for the fact that since it's a hip-hop show, it will end at 2am, which means getting home at 6am, which means high likelihood of death by tiredness via car crash.
of all the obscure american bands I don't know why sunn made it to that list. who knew they were so popular with popsters?!
kp
vote for tim hecker.
By , at
11:24 a.m.
29 has leaked
By , at
4:10 p.m.
sure has.
it's also streaming on scenestars.net
