One thing that amazed me about this past year (and the last few years in general really) is how much Canadian music is breaking out and is in many ways hogging all the critical acclaim for itself. My top five albums of the year are Canadian and seven of the ten are also. This is something that wouldn't have some years back when everyone thought Canadian music consisted of Celine Dion and Bryan Adams.

Seven of the ten artists on this list are also on independent labels which shows to me how irrelevant the major record labels are becoming despite their insistence that they cultivate music for us and in return we should hand over control of our copyright laws to them. For anybody who is still stuck in mainstream music hell, do yourself a favor and get out and explore a bit.

However, I'll stop preaching now and get right into the list:

My Favorites of 2006

Destroyer - Destroyer's Rubies

This was my introduction to Destroyer, although I did have passing familiarity with Dan Bejar through his contributions to The New Pornographers. I can't remember what exactly spurred me towards picking this up, but I'm glad I did because it is by far my favorite album of the year and up there with my favorite albums of all time. It's very difficult to describe this album or Destroyer's works in general. Though I enjoy what I've heard of Bejar's past works, there is something about Destroyer's Rubies that is somehow transcendent and enables it to stand heads and shoulders above his other work, which it should be noted, is already quite good. Bejar has a way to weave inscrutable lyrics delivered in a laid back conversational style with an incredible yet totally unforced focus on melody. While this album takes some time to get into for many, and isn't exactly one that gets stuck in your head right away, once it does it becomes clear that Dan Bejar is one of the most brilliant songwriters around.

Sunset Rubdown - Shut Up I Am Dreaming

Sunset Rubdown is the "side project" of the weird(er) half of the most excellent Wolf Parade – the dramatic, warbling Spencer Krug. In many ways I'd say this album is better than Wolf Parade's Apologies To The Queen Mary, and that says a lot. Where Wolf Parade is loud and rocking, Sunset Rubdown is subdued and at times sparse. That is not to say it doesn't have loud numbers. Songs such as "Stadiums and Shrines II", "They Took A Vote and Said No", and "Snake's Got a Leg III" are examples of such, but they posses a distinctly different vibe than than Wolf Parade offerings. What differentiates this album however are the quiet and beautiful (though weird) tracks such as "Us Ones In Between" and the majority of the long pseudo-title track "Shut Up I Am Dreaming of Places Where Lovers Have Wings" until it explodes into cacophony. There are also some very strange songs with traditionally awkward elements such as the endless false endings in "The Men Are Called Horsemen There". This album is once again a weird one and takes some getting into, but it reveals itself as an amazing work of distinct haphazard beauty showing Spencer Krug to be a very important songwriter and one to watch.

Neko Case - Fox Confessor Brings The Flood

This one isn't really a weird one. If you're reading this list and you don't consider yourself musically adventurous, feel free to take this as a recommendation. Similar to Dan Bejar, this was my introduction to Neko Case besides her (amazing) vocal work with The New Pornographers. Neko's voice is one of the strongest voices I've heard in a long time. After a few listens this album stuck with me after listening to it on a long bus ride. There's a certain timelessness about songs such as standouts "Dirty Knife", "Star Witness" and the criminally short "At Last". The singing, song-writing and performances on this album all come together to create a beautiful collection of songs that will stick with you and make you come back to it again and again.

Swan Lake - Beast Moans

OK, back to the weird stuff. This band is a combination of three of the most interesting (some would say strange) songwriters in Canadian music – Dan Bejar (of the aforementioned Destroyer and New Pornographers), Spencer Krug (of the aforementioned Sunset Rubdown and Wolf Parade), and Carey Mercer (the maniacal front-man of Frog Eyes). Suffice to say, Beast Moans seems to take the weird and inaccessible aspects of each and mashes them together to create a dense, bizarre fabric of sound that makes the title of the album quite apt. This album hasn't received the same acclaim as the main projects of each member, but personally I think it is very much on the same level. This is an album that many people would probably find completely jarring and abrasive, but there are hooks in there that can sneak up on you even in strange sound collages like "City Calls" or the barely song-like "Shooting Rockets". It is likely that in order to enjoy this album you have to be a fan of some of the three members of this band or strange music in general, however, that does not negate the fact that for me it is a masterpiece.

Final Fantasy - He Poos Clouds

This was a late arrival on my list and in the last few weeks since I got it, it has jumped way up in my esteem. This is an incredibly enthralling piece of work and well deserving of the Polaris Prize win, even though I wasn't rooting for it at the time. Owen Palette's string based songs are difficult to classify. Are they classical? Is it classical pop? Classical experimental pop? It doesn't really matter though, since it's just plain enjoyable.

The Decemberists - The Crane Wife

This album is quite adventurous for the Decemberists, especially considering it is their debut on a major label. Epic tracks such as the three part title track suite and prog-folk adventure "The Island" combined with beautiful traditional Decemberists fare like "O Valencia!" and "Sons & Daughters" make this an unbelievably enjoyable listen. Some of the experimentation with new sounds such as "When The War Came" doesn't work as well as others, but it doesn't tarnish the quality of the majority of the tracks.

Phoenix - It's Never Been Like That

Plain and simple this is a great pop rock album from this English-singing French band. I'm not ashamed to like good pop rock, and neither should you be. This album feels great and is catchy as hell. Try to count how many times the singer intersperses a rhythmic "huh" sound between his lines.

The Tragically Hip - World Container

I know it's not trendy for people to like The Tragically Hip in Canada. The Hip are enormously popular, and even though many regard their older albums as their best work, the band consistently sells out gigantic live shows (rightfully so, as the Hip's live show is one of the best I've seen). People might hate the Hip because they're old and worn out or maybe it's the selection of beer-swigging-go-Canada-frat-boy crowd they sometimes attract, or maybe they think all their songs sound the same. Despite this, I've always loved the Tragically Hip and count them among my favorite bands. Look past the radio hits and their mainstream success, and you'll see a band that has produced consistently excellent and furthermore intelligent music while staying in the mainstream and gaining commercial success. It could be said that the Hip's last few albums have perhaps not been their best, but in my opinion World Container is the return of form that In Between Evolution almost was. World Container is just a fantastic Hip album full of catchy hit-like songs such as "In View", "The Lonely End of the Rink" and "Fly" and also a great selection of in-your-face rocking tunes such as "The Drop Off" and "The Kids Don't Get It". The songwriting on this album is some of the most consistent of the Hip's career and the in-your-face sound was a pleasant surprise after hearing that Bob Rock was producing. There are a few over-produced slip-ups such as Pretend, but for me this album will go down as one of the best albums of their career.

The Raconteurs - Broken Boy Soldiers

I am a strong admirer of Jack White, one of the biggest Rock Stars who manages have his cake and eat it too, being both popular and having the ability to do whatever the hell he wants. Combined with Brendan Benson, Jack Lawrence and Patrick Keeler, there was no doubt that Broken Boy Soldiers would be a good album. As it turns out, it is a fantastic album with a great, though short, selection of somewhat classic rock sounding tunes. I love the album and can't wait for their next release, especially after listening to recordings of the Raconteur's live show in which it is clear that the Raconteurs have gelled into a much better band. The songs are fleshed out to the point that you wish they played them like that in the first place. The extended guitar solos played live on songs like "Blue Veins", "Intimate Secretary" and "Level" are especially missed. The band has also shown an amazing ability to reinterpret their own songs into something completely different such as a slow piano, acoustic guitar and voice based version of Broken Boy Soldiers played for a radio session. That said, Broken Boy Soldiers is still an excellent album, and if the Raconteur's live show is any indication, their next effort should place higher on year-end lists.

Islands - Return To The Sea

I don't have much to say about this besides the fact that it's an incredibly enjoyable pop rock album with some dark twists. Songs such as Rough Gem are pure pop sound while others such as the long opener "Swans (Life After Death)" or "Where There's A Will There's a Whalebone" have a darker edge and other musical influences. My only complaint is that the second half of the album is considerably weaker than the excellent first half.

Honorable Mentions

Tokyo Police Club - A Lesson In Crime

Catchy, rocking and just plain good. If this was more than an EP it might have made the top ten.

Gnarls Barkley - St. Elsewhere

Hate the radio stations and forgive Gnarls Barkley for the overplayed "Crazy". This is an incredibly creative and diverse genre-bending work that I was surprised to find myself enjoying so much.

The Flaming Lips - At War With The Mystics

This is another excellent work from The Flaming Lips. It's not quite top-10 material, but still highly recommended.

The Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not

Once again, catchy, rocking and just plain good. They got the hype and it may have tarnished them in the eyes of many snobby critics, but The Arctic Monkey's show that you can make a great rock album without being too serious and just having some fun.

Emily Haines & The Soft Skeleton - Knives Don't Have Your Back

A bunch of pretty piano songs showing the softer side of Emily Haines.

The Beatles - Love

I don't know if this counts as a new album since it's technically using (almost) all old recordings. Regardless, the new very creative arrangements of Beatles songs given by "fifth-Beatle" George Martin and his son are in some cases downright incredible.

I humbly suggest that anyone who is a Leafs fan or is interested in hockey might find this to be an interesting listen. Here are the show notes for this week:

Today we kick off A Foot In The Crease with our first episode wrapping up the week of August 26th. In this episode we preview some segments we hope to return to every week including Who's Hot, Who's Not, On The Bubble and Rigamarole. Topics covered include big new deals under the new NHL collective bargaining agreement, a preview on potential Leaf Carlo Colaiacovo, and all that rigamarole over Heatley and Hossa.

This week's music included "Lost Weekend" by Brother Love and "143" by Stingray - both of which can be found at the Podsafe Music Network.

You can listen to it directly from the website by downloading the mp3 or subscribe to the RSS feed in your podcasting program of choice including iTunes. I have submitted the podcast to the iTunes podcast directory and it can be found here (link opens iTunes). Unfortunately, iTunes is being very frustrating and for some reason is listing my email address in the Artist field when it should really say "Jeff Hume, Dave McCarthy" like it says under the name of the podcast. I don't know why this is happening and I'm hoping to solve the problem by getting all traces of that email address out of the RSS feed. I've done that, but it will probably take time for iTunes to update with the correct information.

Update: iTunes is now listing the proper author in the directory and has stopped listing my email address. It actually updated faster than I thought it would.

Last Wednesday I went to see Robert Plant and his band The Strange Sensation live at the Molson Amphitheater here in Toronto. I was very excited about seeing one of the greats of rock and roll play live despite the lack of the rest of the members of Led Zeppelin

Moreover, I had listened to Plant's new album Mighty Rearranger and was very impressed by it. The songs all have a musicality and soul to them which many classic rockers who continue on cannot capture anymore. On this album Plant experiments with more modern sounding keyboard elements and many of the songs have a distinct (to my uneducated ears) eastern sound and influence. He does this without losing the classic rock core which has made him famous. Tin Pan Valley is the best example of this melding of styles. The song starts with an eerie modern sounding keyboard part and builds with Plant half-whispering, half-singing the lyrics until the song suddenly explodes into something very Zeppelinish and maybe a little heavier.

Now, onto the concert.

Plant and his band played a set balanced nicely between old Zeppelin songs and new Plant & Strange Sensation material. From my memory I have recorded the setlist as follows:

No Quarter
Shine It All Around
Black Dog
Freedom Fries
Morning Dew
That's The Way
Hey Hey, What Can I Do?
Heartbreaker (It was somewhere in here)
Tin Pan Valley
Gallows Pole
Mighty Rearranger
When The Levee Breaks

Encore:
Babe I'm Gonna Leave You
The Enchanter
Whole Lotta Love

True to this different take on the Zeppelin classics, the show opened up with a very different version of No Quarter. At first I couldn't figure out what was being played until Plant started singing. "Close the door turn out the light." This uncertainty happened a lot during the night followed by a euphoria at realizing that I was hearing these great songs in a different context.

Black Dog was another Zeppelin classic which I didn't recognize at first. Mostly this was because the characteristic riff was heavily modified. I think in this case it might be because the classic riff is ridiculously hard to play and you need to be Jimmy Page to nail it. The Strange Sensation guitar player was very good, but I don't think it's insulting to say that he's no Jimmy Page.

The introduction of Freedom Fries got some chuckles from the audience, but sadly it seemed that many people didn't know the new songs (understandably) and weren't as into them as they could have been.

Mid-way through the set Hey Hey What Can I Do? had everyone tapping their foot and singing.Tin Pan Valley had me very excited and I hope it showed off the new Plant material to many in attendance.

At the end of the main set they launched into a very different and very cool version of When The Levee Breaks. It started out acoustic and laid back and built itself up into an incredible groove. Once again I couldn't figure out what was being played until Plant sang. "If it keeps on raining the levee's going to break." The crowd was very into this one and it was probably the best adaptation of the old Zeppelin material to be heard that night. It was very different but at the same time thrilling. It got everyone riled up just in time to cheer Plant and the band back on stage for a spectacular encore.

The encore began with the sad and powerful Zeppelin classic Babe I'm Gonna Leave You. I thought it to be a strange song to play in an encore, but obviously Plant knows far better than me in picking his setlists, as this song was unbelievably well done and really hit home with the crowd. With The Enchanter, the audience was finally getting into the new material. I liked this song on the ablum, but this live performance was just downright awesome. This trippy song was extended to allow a lot of soloing and craziness which I can't describe well enough.

This led into the last song of the night -- the classic Whole Lotta Love. This once again featured a long extended solo section complete with Plant's trademark wails and vocal improvisations. Plant's voice and his range is a legend of rock. In one song he may sing soft and tender while in the next he blasts it out full of energy and sexuality. I was apprehensive, but I can now attest that Plant's voice is still a legend and has not been diminished by his age. His wails in this last song of the night penetrated right into your head and proved why he has the ability to last this long still writing and playing excellent music. He doesn't just go through the motions to reap the success he's earned. No, for Robert Plant the feeling and the music comes first.

First off, I was in an elevator going down from a hopefully successful job interview. Another man was in the elevator going down to ground floor as well. The elevator stopped at a floor somewhere in between and a courier got on pulling a cart with boxes on it. The conversation proceded as follows:

Elevator Man: How's it going?
Courier Man: Not bad, if I could have half an hour more in the day I'd be much better - not so much running around and stress.
Elevator Man: *noise of approval*

Elevator reaches ground floor and Courier Man rolls away with his cart.

Elevator Man: See ya later.

Why do people say "see ya later" to others when they will likely never see again in their lives? People seem to say it on reflex and don't even think about whether the expression is relevant or not for the situation at hand.

Next up we have the rant-worthy abomination known as the driving billboard. I think a lot of people who live in a big city know what I'm talking about when I say that, but I'll explain regardless. These are trucks which instead of having a place for cargo on the back, boast a giant obnoxious billboard. They proceed to drive around all day for the sake of advertising. The one which I have seen a few times driving around here is advertising a family pack Lasagna. I don't know what company is advertising this, but next time I see it I'll find out and never buy their product.

These driving billboards should be illegal. Not only as trucks, no less, do they unnecessarily pollute the air for the sake of obnoxious advertisements driving through your neighborhood, but they also needlessly clutter up the road with a big unnecessary vehicle. Now, I'm not talking about vans or cars which are painted with logos or advertisements -- that's fine. In those cases the vehicles are carrying people for purposes other than simply driving around to advertise. The painted advertisements are a secondary benefit for those vehicles.

If you want to advertise your product please do it in a way that isn't in the form of an obnoxious truck driving around, getting in people's way and polluting the air. That is the height of arrogance.

See ya later.

Thanks to my good friend Posté for this exclusive picture of Pope 'Eggs' Benedict XVI greeting the assembled crowds in St. Peter's Square through the traditional ceremony commonly known as "raise the roof."

It is likely that nobody will actually end up reading this as it clocks in at 16 pages and I don't expect anyone to. I am mostly uploading this for archiving purposes.

If you expressed your support to Terri Schiavo and her parents fight to keep her alive, you may begin to receive a steady stream of solicitations, according to a Local 6 News report.

Terri Schiavo's parents have agreed to sell their list of supporters to a direct-mailing firm, Local 6 News reported.

The company, "Response Unlimited" pays about $150 a month for 6,000 names and $500 a month for 6,000 e-mail addresses.

A spokesperson for the Schindlers confirmed that they had agreed to sell the information, but won't say for how much.

What the hell?

Regardless of your politics or opinion on this controversy, I think this is incredibly slimy and insulting. By doing this, Schiavo's parents are exploiting for gain the very people who supported them. I'm hoping that there's some mistake or nuance here that I'm missing.

Today I read that the big record companies are wanting to raise the prices on music downloaded from online music stores.

What is there really to say? There are plenty of ways to refute this. Here are a few:

• The record companies make 65 cents off the 99 cent price point for each track. This already represents a huge profit margin.


• Downloads should be cheaper than CDs and other media since the cost of delivery to the consumer is effectively zero.


• They should be promoting this new method of distribution against rampant piracy through good prices. If prices are raised, it wont be a good deal and more people will be enticed to pirate

The list goes on and on. Anyone with any sort of common sense should be able to realize that this is a boneheaded idea. This and all the other boneheaded ideas of the record companies show more and more that, indeed, the people running the show are out of touch.

If this were another industry customers could just say 'screw them' and another provider would rise up and take their place or at least compete. However in this case the big record companies and the RIAA as their representative have a stranglehold on popular culture and music distribution. If you as a band want to get heard, you have to go through the system. If you as a record store want to make money, you have to go through the system. If you as a radio station want to get listeners, you have to go through the system. If you as a listener, want to hear the music your friends are listening to, you have to go through the system.

Or you could pirate the music online.

But then of course the record companies blame all their failings on piracy and new technologies which need controlling. Then they sponsor their lobby groups who start the whining process. This results in the government (the apparent representative of the people) being suckered in into passing laws which benefit the record industry and them only. The proposed Induce act in the US and blank media levies in Canada are examples of this. There is no mention of their restrictive business practices, their boneheaded economics, the lack of worthwhile content or the fact that they treat their customers as criminals.

It is really a sad thing that the music industry has such control on an area where culture and art should be made and celebrated for what it is. This whole situation is disrespectful to music and culture in general and it shows just how commercialized things have become. We can't even listen to music we like anymore without supporting an industry that disrespects us, the very people who support them.

And it is not as if the music industry is doing us any sort of favor in return. Why do we even need the music industry? A hundred years ago people were making music and enjoying music without any record companies. If the system of the record companies was to collapse today people would still make and enjoy music because music is part of our lifestyle. The record companies would claim that they serve as an agent to get good music out there and into our ears. Yet, with the Internet and it's distributed interconnectedness, we as a culture could do this distribution on our own. The Internet takes word of mouth to a whole new level - people can tell other people on a large scale what music is good. A whole new system could emmerge which would actively support music, creativity and enjoyment of it while at the same time allowing artists who gain popularity based on merit rather than manufactured popularity to make more money off of their work.

Oh, to dream.

The Razzie awards, held the night before the Oscars honor the worst in movies over the year. In this case Halle Berry 'won' for her apparently awful performance in Catwoman. For obvious reasons, people don't really show up to accept these awards, but in this case Halle Berry did, showing a great sense of humor.

She thanked everyone involved in "Catwoman," a film she said took her from the top of her profession to the bottom.

"I want to thank Warner Brothers for casting me in this piece of shit," she said as she dragged her agent on stage and warned him "next time read the script first."

It is rare for a Razzie winner to show up at the spoof awards held on the night before Oscars -- but Berry did, saying her mother taught her that to be "a good winner you had to be a good loser first." She received a standing ovation.

I was nervous about the procedure and I told the surgeon this when he asked how I was doing when he put the IV needle in my arm. He then said that they're giving me medicine to fix that. Moments later I felt calm and good. I hadn't a care in the world. I didn't care that there was a needle in my arm, my teeth were going to be cut and yanked out and that I had electrodes on my body. Nope, I just felt nice. I remember wanting to ask a question during this nice peaceful time while I was still awake, but I couldn't make my body actually form words and ask the question, I could just think about it on another plane. It was a weird experience

The next thing I remembered was two nurses walking me to another room to lie down. I don't remember actually waking up. For some time afterwards and still to some extent right now I felt kind of out of it both physically and mentally. It felt like my whole body was tired and I couldn't wake it up. Most of what I said was probably very stupid as well.

My Dad left me in the lobby of the building in a chair and went to get the car. When I got in the car he was putting some change away in the change bin. I then asked him, "did you pay for parking?" For some reason, my mind was thinking on one level that I was actually at the parking lot with him and he forgot to pay, when in reality I was sitting in the lobby.

Right now I'm taking T3s with codeine so I'm still a bit uncoordinated and light headed. The pain is relatively minor, just kind of an aching jaw, but I imagine it would be worse if I stopped the pain killers.

Back to eating soup and jello.

The basic concept is that magic has been dormant in England for hundreds of years and relegated to simply a scholarly historical study when Mr. Norrell, with his library full of old books of magic appears to return magic to England. Norrell is secretive and protective of his magic and tries to control how magic is brought back into England, when his pupil, Jonathan Strange, rivals him and pursues magic that Norrell despises.

Clarke has created a version of England with magicians, fairies (the real non-Disneyfied ones) and lost Kings, where magic and realism come together to form a detailed and exciting tale. It's an enchanting story, and I highly recommend it.

This is a very interesting development, and will most likely lead to a great deal of speculation concerning Google's motivations. This, of course, will lead many to the conclusion that Google may produce their own browser based on Firefox.

Whatever Google might be doing, if anything, with the Firefox technology, this is a clear signal that they are supporting the Mozilla project.

Is this creative? Is this cool? I think so. The copyright goons will probably disagree though.

O.J. was fun. Monica Lewinsky was fun. "America's New War" was fun - there was a war at the end of that rainbow. But "We All Totally Fucked Up" is not fun. You can't make a whole new set of tv graphics for "We All Totally Fucked Up." There is no obvious location where Wolf Blitzer can do a somber, grimacing "We All Totally Fucked Up" live shot (above an "Operation We All Totally Fucked Up" bug in the corner of the screen). Hundreds of reporters cannot rush to stores to buy special khakis or rain slickers or Kevlar vests in preparation for "We All Totally Fucked Up." They would have to wear their own clothes and stand, not in front of burning tanks or smashed Indonesian hovels, but in front of their own apartments.

I find it interesting that in Canada, our media, which is generally superior to that of the US, hasn't given this story much time either. However, there is a difference - most Canadians knew from the beginning that the US fucked up.

Yes, you heard me right, lawyers are suing over the portrayal of a character in a movie.

The lawyer leading the campaign, Yannis Varnakos, said the impending suit is not an attack against gays, but rather a demand to make the film historically accurate.

"We cannot come out and say that President John F. Kennedy was a shooting guard for the Los Angeles Lakers basketball team and so Warner cannot come out and say Alexander was gay," Varnakos told Reuters.

Although Varnakos had not yet seen the film, he claimed there was enough evidence to point to the film's inaccurate references.

There are so many things wrong here. First of all, why are they demanding that the film be made historically accurate? Since when are films based on a historical premise required to be historically accurate? Most, if not all, historical movies take many liberties with the plot and characterizations to adapt a historical story into a film context or even add things to it. People are allowed to adapt history in whatever way they want to make a film. People may not like the film because of it, but filmmakers are allowed to do whatever they want regardless of historical accuracy. Of course, this argument is even more ridiculous because they ignore the fact that many historians and scholars do think that Alexander the Great was indeed bisexual. Will they also sue any other historians who disagree with them

As to their point that people couldn't come out and say that JFK was a player for the Lakers, I have one thing to say - bullshit. I have a reality check for these lawyers - in our society there is a thing called free speech which allows people to say whatever they want, regardless of what others think. (I am not sure what exactly the specifics are on speech laws in Greece, but I'm pretty sure that it would be similar.) I could write a book which claims that JFK played for the Lakers and claim that it's true and nobody could justifiably sue me over it. People would just think that I'm full of it. Nobody can stop me from claiming whatever I want; they can only disagree.

As an aside, I think a movie about JFK being a pro basketball player would be a cool concept. Somebody should make it just to piss these Greek lawyers off.

Lastly, this whole thing is taken to an even higher level of ridiculous irrelevance because they haven't even seen the movie they are complaining about.

So, to the twenty-five Greek lawyers I say this - do your homework on Alexander and more importantly on free speech.

[Thanks to Posté for the link]