Best of 2009

If anyone asks you to do anything related to the Olympics, you politely say, "No." Before the year is out and I disappear until April or so...whenever the fallout from the Winter Games is over...I wanted to post a brief "best of..." for what I've been using to keep myself sane over the past year. I wouldn't say that 2009 has been a watershed year for music, but there still has been quite a bit of new material worth noting. I think the largest bands releasing anything new that caught my notice were U2's No Line on the Horizon, Green Day's 21st Century Breakdown, Pearl Jam's Backspacer and Weezer's Raditude. Canadian acts, The Tragically Hip and Our Lady Peace both put out decent efforts this year on We Are the Same and Burn Burn, respectively, always nice to listen to every once in awhile. None of them would be on my top ten, though, if that says something. This has been more of a year of those bands that aren't necessarily household names, but continue on apace releasing album after album, creating sonic delicasies for those of us with ears to listen.

They didn't make the list, but I should give honourable mention to Matthew Good's Vancouver, which has some of his best songs in years, Epica's Design Your Universe, Within Temptation's An Acoustic Night at the Theatre, Behemoth's Evangelion, Nile's Those Whom the Gods Detest, Karl Sanders' own Saurian Exorcisims, Paradise Lost's Faith Divides Us - Death Unites Us, Mastodon's Crack the Skye, Mesh's A Perfect Solution -- which makes an amazing use of the interstitials between songs to create one long cohesive piece of music -- and Current 93's Aleph at Hallucinatory Mountain. All of which are decent releases from this year, worth a listen or two. Depending on the day, any of these may have made the list instead.

Them Crooked Vulture's self-titled debut should probably be on the list, but isn't. It's a hands down fun album, well-crafted with a nice groove, but for some reason it just hasn't fully clicked with me yet. I like it, but it feels like something's missing. I'll probably revisit the album in a few months, see if I can figure out why I can't get past a few listens.

10. THIS IS WAR - 30 Seconds to Mars (December 4)

A squeaker onto the list, this album almost didn't make it. Basically, it was between this album and Chevelle's Sci-Fi Crimes. I'm a fan of Jared Leto as an actor, his performance in Darren Aronofsky's Requiem for a Dream is still haunting, and by extension, I have grown a fondness for his band. I think I probably liked their self-titled debut more than A Beautiful Lie, but both were good, strong albums. This is War is a slightly different creature, more vulnerable than the other two, and it adds a sincerity and heart that I think was missing from the earlier albums. The soft-loud-soft-scream dynamic is still here, so if you didn't like that on previous releases, you still won't, but I can't help but find myself humming some of the tracks. I think "Hurricane" is probably the best track on the album. The version that made it, without Kanye West's collaboration, is better without it, somehow more atmospheric. Other stand outs are "Search & Destroy", "Night of the Hunter", "Kings and Queens" and the song that I almost swore could have been an homage to The Cure, "Alibi".

9. TWO SUNS - Bat for Lashes (April 7)

I find new things, new sounds on this album each time I listen to it. Natasha Khan herself makes me think of a musical love-child of Peter Gabriel, Kate Bush and Tori Amos.

8. THE CROWN OF WINTER - Forest Stream (August 11)

Think epic, grandiose music; symphonic black metal at its finest. Although very different, Russia's Forest Stream are the first band in a very long time to remind me of black metal gods, Emperor, if, of course, you mixed in some British-styled doom. The music itself is gorgeous and lush, the only problem ever comes with Sonm's clean vocals which tend toward the pedestrian, but otherwise, this is flawless. The title track is a near twelve-minute sonic assault that throws in just about anything possible, mixing darkness and light, beauty and depression. I couldn't help but be overwhelmed when I first heard this song. Things only get better from there, soaring guitars, complex polyrhythms, and excellent use of harsh vocals -- layered one upon the other to an interesting effect. Standout tracks include the title track, "Mired" and "Autumn Dancers".

7. ABOVE - Samael (March 6)

6. PRIVILEGIVM - Secrets of the Moon (October 6)

5. SING ALONG SONGS FOR THE DAMNED & DELIRIOUS - Diablo Swing Orchestra (September 22)

4-tie. OLD CROWS/YOUNG CARDINALS - Alexisonfire (June 23)
4-tie. BILLY TALENT III - Billy Talent (July 10)

You may say that they just keep releasing the same album over and over again. I think they just keep refining it, honing their sound to precision, with each subsequent release. Benjamin Kowalewicz's vocals are still an acquired taste, but they fit Billy Talent's brand of alterna-punk perfectly. This album also allows Ian D'Sa to open up a bit more with his guitar work, leading to some nice hooks on "Rusted From the Rain" and the Muse-inspired fuzz to "Saint Veronika". Originally, I rated this one lower, but relistening to it while writing this list, I realize that there is not a single bad track on the disc. From start to finish, this album is an engaging experience. My favourite tracks on this album kept changing over the course of the year, but what still really stands out are "White Sparrows", "The Dead Can't Testify" and "Turn Your Back".

3. SKYFORGER - Amorphis (May 29)

2-tie. WAVERING RADIANT - Isis (April 21)
2-tie. MONOLITHS & DIMENSIONS - Sunn O))) (May 26)
2-tie. WHAT WE ALL COME TO NEED - Pelican (October 27)
2-tie. GENEVA - Russian Circles (October 20)


1-tie. C IS FOR [please insert sophomoric gentilia reference HERE] - Puscifer (November 10)

1-tie. NIGHT IS THE NEW DAY - Katatonia (November 10)

"Departer" is probably the best song written this year.

1-tie. THE RESISTANCE - Muse (September 14)

Answers from a magic 8 ball

Am I a putz?

Does everything I touch naturally turn to crap?

Is there any hope for me at all?

Gee, thanks, Magic 8 Ball. You're a real help.

House Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

Damn good writing.  I actually like this concept for the show more than the previous set-up, and as it was House was probably my favourite show on television.  Sadly, though, given the nature, it probably only works as a one-off with the occasional continuing element and then it's "back to normal".

Most times the hardest part is asking for help.

Then let the havoc choose to shape us all, push us to invent

Somtimes you need something sweet.  Something to leave a nice taste in your mouth; like a bottle of Coke (and I know that the American bottles of Coke with your silly corn syrup pale in comparison to the taste of the cane sugar used just about everywhere else, so you don't necessarily know what I'm talking about) or a mandarin orange.  Other times, you need something bitter, maybe a little salty; like chocolate peppered with chilis.  Some days, you may feel like something tart or sour; like a gin and tonic.

Now, you may be wondering why I'm going on about flavours, especially in what is ostensibly a review of an album.  Well, I'm currently suffering through a certain amount of pain in my mouth; the second of my upper wisdom teeth is coming in.  I know, I could just go to the dentist and get it pulled, however, as he's said previously, there's enough room on my upper jaw to hold it, and sometimes I'm just stubborn.  To weather out the pain, I've been listening to the new Chevelle album, Sci-Fi Crimes.  I picked it up earlier this month, but until now, really haven't paid it much attention.  I needed something to listen to that could be aggressive, but wasn't necessarily the level of napalm that much of the black or death metal to which I listen.  I needed something that had a certain undulating rhythm and bite to it; but I wasn't in the mood for Agalloch or something as pretty as Nest.  I didn't want doom or drone.

I'm an unabashed fan of Tool, and sometimes it's just too long between albums.  Unlike their cookie-cutter clone, Earshot, Chevelle manages to sound a wee bit like Tool -- certainly in Peter Loeffler's vocals, but different enough that it has a flavour of its own.  With Sci-Fi Crimes, I think I've finally figured out what the other influences -- aside from the obvious in Tool and Helmet -- might be; late 80's/early 90's grunge.  Especially a band like Pavement.  Coming from me, that's a compliment.  It also dawned on me the overlap that exists also with bands like the Deftones and The Mars Volta.  Strange to come to that conclusion just listening to this album.

Grr Arg

Someone in our neighbourhood got themselves a shiny new router.  They're probably down at the end of the street or something, but their signal is blanketing the neighbourhood.  It's also unsecured.  This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but they're currently using a) the same frequency as the network in my house, b) the same channel which is messing with my network adapter, and c) they keep bogarting bandwidth.  If it weren't easy enough to just change everything on my end, I'd almost be tempted to just password protect their router and connection.

Random Amusements

This month sees the release of several different albums that have grabbed my attention.  With all the buzz surrounding this week's release of the two remastered Beatles' box sets, the Beatles Rock Band compilation and more Beatles, Beatles, Beatles, other things may have flown under the radar.  Tuesday sees the release of Muse's new album, The Resistance, while later in the month we see new releases from Pearl Jam, AFI and Alice in Chains.

I've heard the entirety of both new Muse and Pearl Jam albums and am suitably impressed by both.  AFI's first single, "Medicate" is equally impressive, while I think AiC really should have died with Layne Staley.  I'll probably post full reviews of the Muse, Pearl Jam and AFI discs when they come out.

The fifth-season prmiere of Supernatural was awesome.

That is all.

I Love You, But I've Chosen Darkness

You could definitely say that I'm a strange man.

Eccentric. Odd. Weird. Any of those apply.

I'm afflicted with an eidetic memory. I make connections between things that would take other people years to try and figure out. I have incredibly diverse tastes, equally at home with Daylight Dies or Rachmaninoff, the WWE or Yevgeny Zamyatin's We. [I don't know where this Russian theme is coming from, but it's neat]. I can ramble on ad infinitum about books, comics, music, film, television, history, philosophy, theatre, magick, or food at the drop of a hat, weaving in and out of other disciplines while I'm at it. Usually either confounding or capturing, often a combination of both, the listener. I'm a little obsessive compulsive. It's not out of hubris when I say that I sometimes scare people with my intelligence.

...and for many years, I've hidden. I'm not entirely sure what happened, but some part of me got broken, fell into patterns of "normal" life, got broken again, and has been trying to piece itself together ever since. One step at a time.

You could say that I've been to hell and back, and met myself somewhere along the way. I've been torn down; bent, spindled, mutilated. I've had what I thought was my identity ripped away from me, some deep seated beliefs shown to be empty, and yet, somehow some thing survives. Persistence of self is an interesting phenomenon. An aggregate of ideas, thoughts and experiences clutching on to existence with every last inch.

The one thing that I know is true: I'm a writer. Writing has been the one constant through it all, the only difference is that for quite some time, I haven't written anything public. [Ooh, writing about writing, how very meta of you]. It takes a special kind of misanthrope to continue doing an activity that results in a faulty liver, pale pasty skin, and an inability to react appropriately in social situations. It's also odd when you think about the sheer level of ego one must possess to believe that anything that they write is even worth reading by one person, let alone publishing things for many people to read.

It'd be nice to sit and stare at the Sun. Feeling the warmth on my face. But the formulae of the dead and dying god are past and I must persevere on.