AWmusic

1. Wolf Parade – We Built Another World
2. Arcade Fire – Cars and Telephones
3. Avril Lavigne – Girlfriend (you didn’t think I was serious?)
3. Feist – Lonely Lonely
4. Lovesuit by Hilotrons
5. Milkshake by Holy Fuck
6. Metric – Soft Rock Star
7. New Pornographers – Bones of An Idol
8. Broken Social Scene – Stars and Sons
9. Cadence Weapon – Do I Miss My Friends
10. Black Mountain – Stay Free

1. No One’s Gonna Love You by Band of Horses
Such a misleading title but have you ever felt the need to say to your lover “no one is ever gonna love you like I do” because that perfectly describes how head over heels you are?

2. I Don’t Love Anyone by Belle & Sebastian
One of my favorite songs and one that makes me feel good about being alone and single.

3. Lover I Don’t Have To Love by The Bright Eyes
This song is dedicated to those who aren’t looking for a relationship but are just looking for flings and not being emotionally tied to someone.

4. First Day of My Life by The Bright Eyes
Arguably one of the best love songs out there.

5. Crown of Love by The Arcade Fire
One of my favorite Arcade Fire tracks. Mainly about the inability to love just one person and usually involving moving on to the next person and the next.

6. Everyday I Love You Less and Less by The Kaiser Chiefs
Sometimes love does wave and this song perfectly describes it an upbeat manner.

7. Song For A Sleeping Girl by the Devics
This song describe the feeling of sleeping next to someone and really the sheer enjoyment of watching someone sleep. It’s one of my favorite love songs.

8. Modern Girls & Old Fashioned Men by The Strokes and Regina Spektor
Needed an excuse to include this awesome song, it’s about love so it fits.

9. What I’m Trying To Say by Stars
Saving you love someone is harder then it looks (when you whole-heartedly mean it).

10. Girl Inform Me by The Shins
This one goes for us guys who don’t really “understand” women and just sometimes need to be told!

11. I’m Leaving You Because I Don’t Love You by Jens Lekman
Pretty self-explanatory.

12. You Were Meant For Me by Jewel
I love this song, not ashamed heh.

13. Strange Powers by The Magnetic Fields
Some people just hypnotize you.

14. Love Astronaut by Murder Mystery
I like the line “I go looking for love but is it looking for me?”.

I actually hated doing this list…not that it was subpar but I think I would’ve felt better doing a review today. Just no writing quality in putting out this list though it’s great for traffic bait.

25. She’s a Rejector by Of Montreal (link)
24. Patty Lee by Les Savy Fav (link)
23. Open Doors by Josh Ritter (link)
22. White Dove by John Vanderslice (link)
21. Handsome Furs Hate This City by The Handsome Furs
20. Weekend Without Makeup by The Long Blondes (link)
19. Meat Market by Everybody Else (link)
18. 1234 by Feist
17. Wolf and Crane by Siberian (link)
16. Walcott by Vampire Weekend
15. Fluorescent Adolescent by The Arctic Monkeys
14. Apartment Story by The National (link)
13. Red Rabbits by The Shins
12. Impossible by The Shout Out Louds
11. Right Moves by Josh Ritter (link)
10. Up On Your Leopard, Upon The End of Your Feral Days by Sunset Rubdown (link)
9. (Antichrist) Television Blues by The Arcade Fire (link)
8. Bunny Ain’t No Kind of Rider by Of Montreal (link)
7. Unless It Kicks by Okkervil River (link)
6. Back in Your Head by Tegan & Sara
5. The Mending of the Gown by Sunset Rubdown
4. Oxford Comma by Vampire Weekend
3. Once and Never Again by The Long Blondes (link)
2. Mistaken For Strangers by The National
1. Our Life Is Not a Movie or Maybe by Okkervil River (link)

I am not going with the generic Christmas songs but I think going with happier type songs. I do have a favorite Christmas song (by The Raveonettes). Anyway I found this list hard to do…who knows maybe it’s the selection I have on this blog or just that most songs are depressing or angry and have nothing to do with being cheerfully happy? Enough ranting.

1. Feist – It’s Cool To Love Your Family
2. Jens Lekman – Your Arms Around Me
3. The Beatles – Come Together
4. The Elected – Would You Come With Me?
5. Of Montreal – On the Drive Home
6. Josh Ritter – Real Long Distance
7. Arcade Fire – No Cars Go
8. The New Pornographers – Sing Me Spanish Techno
9. Lily Allen – Everything’s Just Wonderful
10. The Postal Service – Sleeping In

I am going to go on a blogging break due to exams so look out for the top 30 songs of the year when I come back. This blog has made some huge strides in the last two months and while it seems hard to keep on rolling with taking a huge break.. we’ll see what happens.

# 10 Tegan & Sara – The Con
Original Rating: 5 out of 5
I still love this album after posting a very generous review of The Con. Granted it’s probably not that cool to have this in my top 10 but I just can’t do that. From top to bottom this is the perfect pop record in my opinion. It arguably had me singing (not a sigh to see) along whenever I had the album playing on my computer. Sure stylistically this is NOT for everyone but it’s still very enjoyable with good lyrics and overall catchiness despite rather depressing lyrics. Overall this album produced some great tracks and while they may not bring anything new to the table, music isn’t always about that.
Back In Your Head by Tegan and Sara
The Con by Tegan and Sara
Burn Your Life Down by Tegan and Sara

#9 John Vanderslice – Emerald City
Original Rating: 5 out of 5
Other then Pitchfork hating on this record. This album was praised by most as being a great record and upon listening to it I agreed. It is just soothing all the way throughout and I call it the perfect album to fall asleep to (not due to boredom). The lyrics are rather complex and do I understand what it all means? No but do I have to? I’m not that good at interpretations anyway. Artistically just how it’s put together the contrast of singing “White Dove” about a seemingly depressing story of a kidnapped and raped 8-year really had me amazed and thus the high ranking.
White Dove by John Vanderslice
Kookaburra by John Vanderslice
Numbered Litograph by John Vanderslice

#8 Les Savy Fav – Let’s Stay Friends
Original Rating: 5 out of 5
Les Savy Fav simply just rocks and they are the type of band I’d love to see live. While this album may not be something original/unique I could care less. From song to song it feels like they switch up stylistically and nothing is quite the same back to back. This band had the best intros to each song and really backed it up with strong bridges and really didn’t disappointed despite a strong intro to each song. I really want to see them live the more I listen to this album.
Scotchguard the Credit Card

#7 The Long Blondes – Someone To Drive You Home
Original Rating: 5 out of 5.
This album DID come out in the UK in 2006 but it only caught my attention when it was released over here. Wanting to see them live but couldn’t due to not having turned 19 (I was pretty bummed out). This album is another of the pop-rock variety but hey I love this album from top to bottom and maybe they should be a guilty pleasure but it has that catchiness that reels you in and doesn’t let go. This album does have longevity with me unlike a lot of poppy albums. It is almost 6 months since I’ve reviewed it and I am still quite high on this album if that says a lot. This album has spawned my two favorite songs of this year “Weekend Without Makeup” and “Once and Never Again”. I may decide to use the line of “You’re only 19 for godsakes, You don’t need a boyfriend” on a few girls on my age .
Weekend Without Makeup by The Long Blondes
Once And Never Again by The Long Blondes

#6 The White Stripes – Icky Thump
Original Rating: 4 out of 5
4 out of 5 is the lowest original rating I gave on both lists. It just says that I severely undervalued this album. This album SHOULD’ve been a 5 out of 5. Not that it was the White Stripes best effort but they took some major risks and went all over the place when in terms of style and still managed to have the songs addictive though the songs were definitely were complex compared to their “minimalist” style. Revisiting this album now makes me regret my original review but hey I can say I was wrong. Anyway I believe this album has the strongest 2nd half of album, most bands place their best stuff at the start but I start really loving this album surprisingly after the song “Conquest”. Icky Thump is proof that The White Stripes are one of the best bands of this decade.
I’m Slowly Turning Into You by The White Stripes

#5 Of Montreal – Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?
Original Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Of Montreal IS my favorite band if I forced to only pick one. HFAYTD is arguably not one of my favorites by them. It is still good though. I had a tough time adjusting it and it was a lot more complex in my opinion (at the time I really shied away from it). Being an Of Montreal fan I gave it as much time as I could and I was able to take it for what it is. While it may not rank high with me compared to their previous work, in comparison to other albums released this year, it’s still top 5 material so it says a lot about my love for Of Montreal doesn’t it? I still enjoy the simpler stuff by Of Montreal but this album is great from top to bottom and catchy despite being quite depressing.
Gronlandic Edit by Of Montreal
She’s a Rejector by Of Montreal

#4 Siberian – With Me
Original Rating: 5 out of 5.
I did my review last month after reading an e-mail from frontman Finn Parnell. This album was just off the charts amazing. I’ll promote them like crazy because they were one of the first bands to e-mail me about checking out their work and nothing else has really compared – seriously. What makes this album great? Well from top to bottom this album is amazing, great lyrically and musically solid. Currently a relative unknown but look out for them. I STRONGLY recommend you check out my past review and the tracks below and you should be changed into a fan of them. After listening to this album I keep pushing it higher and higher.
Airship by Siberian
O Orien by Siberian

#3 Okkervil River – The Stage Names
Original Rating: 5 out of 5
Okkervil River’s The Stage Name simply just rocks and can get you out of your seat dancing but the lyrical depth they display is just amazing. Almost every song on this album could make it on my top 30 songs on the year list but the only thing stopping this from being #1 or #2 is the lack of more songs… only 9 songs to set our hearts on. It is quality over quantity in the end but when you can get quality in quantity you definitely take it. I really like the mix of softer acoustic songs (A Girl in Port) and harder songs (Unless It Kicks). I already uploaded Unless It Kicks so I’ll upload Our Life Is A Movie or Maybe.
Our Life Is A Movie or Maybe by Okkervil River

#2 The Arcade Fire – Neon Bible
Original Rating: 5 out of 5
Neon Bible isn’t as good as Funeral. I tend to go back and listen to Funeral over Neon Bible any day. However, I really believe this effort is as good as it gets when it comes to a follow-up. Instead of songs about love, death and growing up you have something more serious on Neon Bible. It’s the grown up version of Funeral where we ponder god, politics, the effect of television and overall it gives off a more serious vibe. A much different album then Funeral but I enjoyed it immensely.
(Antichrist Television Blues) by The Arcade fire

#1 Sunset Rubdown – Random Spirit Lover
Original Rating: 4.75 out of 5
After listening to this album over a period of time, with the artistry, how could I not put this #1? I asked myself this and I couldn’t give an answer. I didn’t rate it perfect because I felt this album wasn’t for everyone and was difficult to like. I think that put it over the top for me. It won’t be everyone’s cup of tea but after sitting through it a few times… it has left me speechless. I probably will never understand the randomness that is this album but it fulfills what I would call a piece of art. Both ambiguous yet adding carnivalesque elements that my brain thinks is crack. This album takes a LONG time to really start liking but if you give it a chance you probably will see why some have rated this album so highly. I don’t think this has the best songs but as a collective whole this album just blows everything else away. This album has gotten reviews from across the spectrum but I really believe this is one of the most amazing things I’ve heard in my life!
Setting vs. Rising by Sunset Rubdown

The path to me finding indie rock is a little strange but I think I’ve narrowed it down when looking at the past. Pretty much growing up in the “ghetto” area of Toronto, hip-hop and R&B were and still is a huge musical influence for children growing up. This pretty much dominated my “young” adult years before entering high school.

Then came the rise of this band Linkin Park that mixed both rap and rock elements into their music. Right now it probably wouldn’t be very cool to say that I like Linkin Park and I’ve grown from the mainstream style of rock. But I do have to give credit where credit is due. I would have never started listening to rock if it was for them. Here’s my favorite song my them:
A Place for My Head (download)

The next period followed into liking mainstream rock like Queens of the Stone Age, Radiohead, Foo Fighters, Blink 182, Green Day and much more. There was nothing wrong with liking songs that garnered a lot of radio and television airplay. Eventually like most people, the media outlets base their promotion on ever seeming young audience and I just seemed to outgrow radio/television and needed to find music that was out there but just didn’t get the respect it deserved.

The first actually indie band I started to like was the Stills. I think this was in grade 10. Thankfully the Edge had to keep up with CRTC rules and had to play Canadian content so some of the Canadian content were from independent sources. The “Still in Love Song” exemplifies my exact thoughts on the the Stills. I was compelled by their other songs such as “Lola Stars and Stripes” and “Love and Death”. Liking so many songs I was interested in downloading “Logic Will Break Your Heart” and at that time it was probably the best album I have EVER heard at that time. I was in love with that album but there was really no one else it seemed who were also fans of them (except maybe Xulander). Here’s one song off the album:
Let’s Roll by The Stills (download)

At this point I liked mainstream rock mainly with some independent bands I stumbled across that got some airplay. The big band that really set off my romance with indie rock was the Arcade Fire. There is just something with substance that I enjoyed so greatly the first time I heard “Rebellion (Lies)”. “Funeral” ended up being on the best albums ever and this is without reading a single internet publication. Like the Stills, it was an album I seemed to like myself.
“Neighbourhood #1″ perfectly describes my relationship with indie rock and what the Arcade Fire did for me:
“You change all the lead
sleepin’ in my head,
as the day grows dim I hear you sing a golden hymn.”

If you have never heard this song I suggest you download it or listen to it below:
Neighbourhood #1 (Tunnels) by The Arcade Fire (download)

This really set off me looking for different styles of music as I seemed to like the Arcade Fire religiously and was confused as why there was poor airplay after a lot of talk about Rebellion eventually died down after some time.I really think everyone starts with mainstream music because it’s only main outlets that you know to have “cool” music when you’re young. So everyone should have a pathway to why they what they like. What’s your story??

If you visit the Neon Bible website and you end up clicking a few times, it leads you to a section of the site where a person’s eye is closed and opens when you navigate close to it. The eye opens and says “b ONline B October 6th) and leads you to this site called “Arcade Fire presents…” with October 6th written all over it.

This one is worth checking out and one can only speculate what is coming. Are they releasing some cool songs, a big announcement perhaps? Pitchfork claims it is good as they say they know what it is but can’t say. Wikipedia has also locked the Arcade Fire entry.

No idea… but I am excited. I’ll be checking this out on Saturday!

Anyway I just figured out that be ONline B = Neon Bible (had to know about the extra B) in an anagram so it must be a release of something related?

Here is “Cold Wind” a track found on Six Feet Under’s soundtrack:
Cold Wind by the Arcade Fire
Here’s a performance of my favorite Arcade Fire song (Neighbourhood #1):

The Handsome Furs came out to a small crowd and I was a bit disappointed because according to YouAintNoPicasso via Pitchfork, it was supposed be Wolf Parade and I really started to dig the song “I’ll believe in anything” (listen below). The Handsome Furs are a side project of Wolf Parade and they weren’t a bad duo with their synthesizer.
The crowd was packed when it was time for the Arcade Fire to get on the stage. Almost the whole crowd was standing the whole time, clapping, singing along and cheering. The atmosphere was great as it looked like two times the Arcade Fire was going to leave and the applause lasted for so long that they came back twice for two encores.

The lighting was superb, they have these light poles that was in synchronized with the beat of each song. The interpretive dancing by Regine was very sexy and just the fact that each member switched to a different instrument for a new song was impressive. It was a great first show and I’m no longer a concert virgin! My ears are still recovering, my hands and legs were sore from clapping and standing for so long!!

“I’ll Believe in Anything” by Wolf Parade (Link)

One of my favourite Arcade Fire songs “Cars and Telephones” (Link)

Okay for the special edition that I received I got the album, as well as these booklets that were made by the band artists. I really didn’t like these booklets and I was over them in about 30 seconds. I did get a Neon Bible posters and a Merge Records sticker that is currently decorating my crappy room.

Onto the album, some of the reviews on MetaCritic were solid but some of them referred to Neon Bible as not being as good as Funeral. Yes Funeral was a great album but I’ve had a chance to listen to Black Mirror, Keep the Car Running, Ocean of Noise, Antichrist Television Blues etc. for over a month to know this is just as good of album as Funeral and even better. I think this album requires time to listen to and most who review albums can only give very little of their ears.

This album mixes in the vast array of instruments they use like they always do. In addition their songs lacking more of a sad tone have more a stronger, soothing and more intelligent tone. The spiritual lyrics involved on Neon Bible (obviously) really have given me something music has never really done before. It preaches god in an emotional manner. I feel like I’m discovering something new about the album each and every day and I’m glad I dished out the money to buy this album even if I shouldn’t have bought the special edition. 5 stars out of 5.

All the songs are the album are great but here is a random song I’ll upload so you can have a listen. All the songs are my favourites but I really love the lyrics:
“I don’t want to live with my father’s debt
You can’t forgive what you can’t forget
I don’t want to live in my father’s house no more”
Have a listen here: