canadian lover
Matthew over at I (Heart) Music has once again polled a whole bunch of Canadian bloggers, asking them for their top 10 "hottest" Canadian music makers. It was supposed to go up today, but apparently their were stragglers. In the mean time, here was my ballot this year:
1. Spencer KrugI'm sure the Spencer Krug vote was a pain for Matthew to tabulate (sorry dude), but it really was the sum of his achievements that made 2006 his year, if you ask me.
Maybe picking him is cheating, I dunno. Seriously though, between Wolf Parade, Frog Eyes, Sunset Rubdown, and Swan Lake, it was Spencer's year. He's Canada's musical MVP, no doubt.
2. Cadence Weapon
Rollie didn't put out anything new in 2006, but he had no trouble riding the strength of his debut through a year's worth of live shows. It seems like he's just getting started, too. I saw him three times this year, and he's been better and better each time. And those new songs he's doing live are some serious next level shit.
3. Final Fantasy
Great records and stunning live shows aside, Owen deserves massive props for getting national recognition for an album that has the word "poo" in the title.
4. Land of Talk
They are the band that I heard for the first time this year that I'm most excited about. I actually find it hard to explain why, but see them live and you'll get what all the fuss is about.
5. Ladyhawk
If it were possible to cram everything I love about Vancouver onto a single 38-minute CD, it would sound something like Ladyhawk's self-titled debut.
6. Nelly Furtado
Before Loose invaded the airwaves on both sides of the border, when was the last time one of our Top 40 exports hasn't been at least a bit embarrassing? (I bet Aaron Wherry knows the answer). If "Promiscuous" and "Maneater" don't make you want to dance you're either devoid of rhythm or a snobby bore, maybe both.
7. Destroyer
It wasn't as though Dan Bejar did anything all that exceptional for Dan Bejar with Rubies, but an average Destroyer record is still leagues ahead of what most musicians are putting out.
8. Emily Haines
Strip away all of Metric's bells and whistles and you realize that Emily's making the poet in her father pretty proud.
9. The New Pornographers
This year they proved that they could not only exist, but excel without Neko when they played live. To be perfectly honest, I actually prefer Kathryn Calder. Neko's a greater part, but Kathryn helps make a better sum.
10. The Paper Cranes
I have no idea what having an almost completely new line up is going to mean for the Paper Cranes. But whatever happens, they will always have "I'll Love You Until My Veins Explode," which is one of the finest pop songs I've heard this year or any.
They Shoot Horses, Don't They? are indeed playing with Love is All and Hot Loins tomorrow at Pat's. Don't miss this one.
Redman, Raekwon, and some other people are at Plush on December 12th for the Rock the Bells Tour. Tix are $35 right now, and go up to $40 later (both +charges). That's a touch pricey, especially considering the penchant of high profile rappers at club shows to play 20-minute sets that consist of them barking over their backing tracks with five other dudes. But it is Raekwon the Chef.
Dandi Wind returns "home" for an all-ager at Video-In on December 9th with the Doers, Hot Loins, Cheerleader Camp, and Fun 100.
Speaking of all-ages shows, Golden Family United has started throwing them every other Wednesday at the Other Space (right above the Media Club). And you big kids out there will be happy to know, that it's all-ages, but there's a bar with ID. Peep their MySpace for the shows, because I'm too lazy to list them right now.
Here is a question for those more technically adept than I am...
So DVD Jon has apparently cracked iTunes DRM, allowing companies to sell their own copy protected files that will play on iTunes. Which, I suppose, is novel for companies selling music. But didn't Hymn (and then QTFairUse6) already strip away the DRM, making iTunes files completely unprotected .m4a files? In which case, why is the online community feeding the buzz around this?
Oh, and the Joanna Newsom show is now advertised as "with Bill Callahan." I have no idea what difference this makes. Isn't Smog just Bill and whomever he decides to collaborate with anyhow? Also, Joanna is now listed as "playing with a full band" rather than a "large ensemble." Again, depending on the size of the band and your subjective measure of "large," those two things are exactly the same.
now playing: Shellac - Squirrel Song
6 Comments:
Oh Quinn, I still don't understand your love for the Paper Cranes. As someone who's seen them so many times I can't even count, I still think they're not that great at all.
The only thing now they have going for them is the fact that Duncan and Zack from Cobras Cobras Cobras are in the band. And those guys can do better.
I think the buzz is just because Jon Johansen has started a company with an interesting business model.
BTW, programs like hymn and QTFairUse6 exist thanks to Jon's original work. He was the first to break the iTunes decryption scheme. See this wikipedia entry on the history of FairPlay circumvention
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayFair#DeDRMS.2C_PlayFair.2C_QTFairUse.2C_and_Hymn
(Note: from my understanding, the original QTFairUse and QTFairUse6 don't really break the encryption scheme but rather circumvent it - they use iTunes to play the files (forcing iTunes to decrypt the files first), and then somehow get access to the decrypted data and then copy it another location.)
Part of what's new with Jon's company is he is now offering a way for companies other than Apple to add FairPlay DRM to their files. His previous work was just about removing FairPlay DRM.
By 
, at
8:44 p.m.
I spoke to Chris-a-riffic today and he said that their opening slot fell through. Are you sure They Shoot Horses will be opening?
By , at
12:56 a.m.
List: tabulated and posted!
Thanks for your help Quinn...even if you did have the quadruple vote for Spencer Krug, messing everything up.
By , at
9:25 a.m.
You just made my year. I've wanted to see Redman for years and to hear that he's coming here the day I write my last exam of the semester made me happier than anything has in months. You're lucky this is the internet or I would have kissed you straight on the lips.
By , at
4:04 p.m.
For those of you who cannot get enough Wu, the Rock The Bells film (about RTB 2004) will play Nov. 18th at ResFest this year. As will a Radiohead video retrospective.
By 
Aleksandra, at
4:57 p.m.
