Lost In Thought

2009 In Review: My Favourite Songs of 2009

2010-01-02T13:45:00.000-08:00

My 25 favourite songs of 2009:

Heartless, Heartless, Heartless - Joel Plaskett (Three)
Lonesome Highway - Jacksoul (SOULmate)
Don't Let The Darkness In Your Head - Blue Rodeo (The Things We Left Behind)
Give Me Sympathy - Metric (Fantasies)
Little Bird - Eels (End Times)
Plain Jane - Chantal Kreviazuk (Plain Jane)
Head Full of Doubt / Road Full of Promise - The Avett Brothers (I and Love and You)
This Tornado Loves You - Neko Case (Middle Cyclone)
Help I'm Alive - Metric (Fantasies)
Flowers On Your Grave - Catherine MacLellan (Water In The Ground)
Brake - Melissa McClelland (Victory Day)
Relator - Pete Yorn & Scarlett Johansson (Break Up)
On, & On & On - Joel Plaskett (Three)
Old Perfume - Amy Millan (Masters of the Burial)
You and I - Wilco / Feist (Wilco (The Album))
Who Says - John Mayer (Battle Studies)
Heavy Like Sunday - Leona Naess (Thirteens)
Let It Last - Hayden (The Place Where We Lived)
Chasing Pirates - Norah Jones (The Fall)
Promises - Cuff the Duke (Way Down Here)
Fireflies - Owl City (Ocean Eyes)
1901 - Phoenix (Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix)
Bruised Ghosts - Amy Millan (Masters of the Burial)
I and Love and You - The Avett Brothers (I and Love and You)
You've Got The Love - Florence And The Machine (Lungs)

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A list of my favourite albums of 2009 can be found here!

2009 In Review: My Favourite Albums of 2009

2010-01-01T12:20:00.000-08:00

My top 10 favourite albums of 2009:

10) Cuff the Duke - Way Down Here

An impressive album filled with heartfelt lyrics and powerful acoustic melodies, but just when listeners think the band has settled into a swinging country rock rhythm, it throws in an electric guitar solo.

9) Great Lake Swimmers - Lost Channels

Lost Channels has a more robust feel to it than the GLS' last album, Ongaria. Lost Channels is bolder and, while still carrying the iconic sound of sparse isolation, merges it with a more rounded, if slight, pop sound.

8) Neko Case - Middle Cyclone

Middle Cyclone is the kind of record that grabs you by the throat from the first strum of the guitar on This Tornado Loves You - her most fearless and arresting record to date - and does not let go until it is over.

7 ) Hayden - The Place Where We Lived

Hayden continues his mellow amalgam of country, folk, pop and rock on The Place Where We Live. With its twangy guitar, gentle drums and piano, which he interweaves with his nostalgic lyrics with conviction and warmth flows throughout the whole album.

6) Amy Milan - Masters of the Burial

Building on the delicate, intimate, folk-based foundations of her debut solo album, Milan creates a fuller and more complete sounding album.

5) Melissa McClelland - Victoria Day

A very different sound from her previous recordings, Victoria Day is a wonderful slice of Canadian twang as a foundation for the album, with an infusion in 50’s goodness, dreamy melodies, tender piano and surprisingly heavy guitar work. Evidently, touring and recording with husband Luke Doucet has had a fruitful impact on her new album.

4) Catherine MacLellan - Water In the Ground

Full of warm and engaging songs which melt into each other, including one of the most heartbreaking songs Flowers On Your Grave. As an added bonus, Water In The Ground is accompanied by her debut album Dark Dream Midnight, previously only available by mail order.

3) Blue Rodeo - The Things We Left Behind

This double album includes perhaps some of Blue Rodeo's best work. My only complaint is that several of the songs sound much like the are part of a Jim Cuddy or Greg Keelor solo album, which might be a result of bringing in Cuff The Duke's lead signer Wayne Petti to sing background on several tracks, rather than Jim and Greg sharing backing duties. However, where the album works best is on those songs that sounds like true Blue Rodeo collaboration.

2) Metric - Fantasies

There's nothing small or careful about Fantasies - it's a full-on bid for pop glory and it's a smashing success. Every song has the great hook of pure pop perfection!

1) Joel Plaskett - Three

On Joel Plaskett's triple record (Yes, I said triple disc!), he decides to have a wonderful conversation with the listener about the intimate nature of family and self-contemplation of life in Nova Scotia (and beyond). And Rose Cousins and Ana Egge seem to beautifully harmonize our response back into that conversation. Three is not only Joel Plaskett's most defining moment, but it may be one of Canada's all-time top 10 most defining recorded statements.

Honourable mentions: k-os - Yes!, Jacksoul - SOULmate, Wilco - Wilco (The Album), Leona Naess - Thirteens, Pete Yorn & Scarlett Johansson - Break Up, Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs - Under the Covers, Vol. 2

The Ghost Of Ray Brower

2009-06-09T17:54:00.000-07:00

I happened to be clicking through the channels on the weekend, only to stumble on an old favourite of mine - Stand By Me. I was amazed at how this movie still holds up (you know, when Rob Reiner made good movies).

For those of you not familiar with the story, it is about a kid named Gordie Lachance, who is unable to grasp the fact of his brother's death. When Gordie hears about a kid their age who had gone missing and presumed dead, he and three close friends set out on an adventure to find the body as a way to confront the guilt and fears he has over his brother's death.

The movie is based on Stephen King's Short story "The Body".

Anyway, these 4 kids wander the countryside for 2 days, on their own, looking for the body. And as they progress through their quest, this is where the movie seems dated, in so much that would we ever see kids out on a quest like this today? I would think that most parents, with all the nutjobs and whatnot out there, would be more aware / concerned of where their kids are for 2 days.

And that got me thinking about my childhood, how I was free to roam all day long (and into the evening) on my bike, regardless of whether it was when we lived in the country (and you literally had to bike 10k to get to the corner store), or after we moved to Montreal. That is not to say my mother was an irresponsible parent, it was just a very different world 25 years ago. No Internet stalkers, not as much gun violence, etc...

I was lucky enough to have a freedom. I was able to imagine, explore and discover things about myself, to understand consequences and responsibilities, to figure out things on my own. Kids just can't do that anymore.

I have had the opportunity for the last 10 years to hire and / or work with people as come into the job market for the first time – whether though internships, summer jobs, etc… I am consistently amazed at the deterioration of vision or creativity or even basic problem solving skills these people have (there are the few exceptions). How are these people going to build a career if they do not have basic building blocks by the time they hit the job market? Forget that - how are these people going to build a life?

I just get the feeling that this phenomenon is somehow linked to kids rarely getting the chance to just “be a kid”, to dream, to explore, to discover. To learn who they are on their own anymore.

I had a hard enough time growing up in the early to mid 80s; yet I would never want to be a kid today. Kinda glad I grew up when I did, because I doubt I would be the person I am today.

Even if that makes me “old”…