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In This Issue:
Well, the time has finally arrived. It's the 2005 edition of the Year End Issue. It's been quite the year in music with some amazing concerts passing through Calgary and some even more amazing albums hitting store shelves.
Some people just had a lot to say about this year’s concerts and/or albums. So, instead of me condensing, the following are their full submissions: You've Heard the Best, Here's the Rest Written By: Nick Gouveia As is every holiday season, it’s time to drink yourself into a stupor. Writing this takes away from valuable drinking time so quickly now, here is my choice for album of the year and concert of the year. Album of the year: System Of A Down ~ Mezmerize It's hard to understand how SOAD wasn't invited to Live 8. With two great album releases this year, being the current King's of Metal and having ties to the middle east, it would have been interesting to see what they would have brought to the show. In any case Mezmerize was nothing short of being a masterpiece. Not very often does a band release an album where every track is amazing and the album flows perfectly. This is the album that the future metal bands are covering now, I can't wait to see what this environment will develop as far as future bands. Concert of the year: Queens of the Stone Age / Nine Inch Nails (Toronto, ON.) Okay I didn't go to many concerts this year. Working rotating shift conflicted with nearly every concert date in the big smoke. To be honest I didn't even catch this show, but I did get my paws on a bootlegged copy of this very show. To put it simply, the show sounded awesome. Both bands blew my mind on MP3, and after talking to one of my best concert sources, he confirmed this show was killer and easily best of the year here in the big smoke. New years revolution, see a damn show!!!! Nick has his own blog on MSN Spaces where you can read this and some of his other articles. Written By: Keri Rak Album of the year: After careful consideration, I have to say that the album I bought this year that received by far the most rotation has been the Foo Fighters In Your Honor. I've always been a small 'f' fan of theirs, but after this album, I've become somewhat obsessed, and a definite Fan with a capital F. I love both discs & like to listen to the rock one when I'm trying to get somewhere and the acoustic one when I'm on my way home. I also really dug Guero by Beck, Senor Smoke by the Electric Six, and Lullabies to Paralyze by Queens of the Stone Age. Keri hosts her own show on CJSW called Tombstone After Dark. It normally airs between 19:30-21:00 hrs Mountain Time on the fourth Tuesday of every month. The next scheduled show is January 3rd, 2006. Written By: Jason Cook Record of the Year: John Legend - Get Lifted. 2005's record of the year was actually released on December 28, 2004 - and in my expert (and humble) opinion would have come in second to Green Day's American Idiot were it eligible for 2004 voting. Thankfully for John Legend, it wasn't. Legend's Get Lifted proves what Will Smith has been telling us all along - that you don’t need to cuss to sell rap records. Not that this is really a rap record. What it is, is a genre busting fusion of R&B, Soul, Hip Hop, blues and rock that soothes and seduces anyone lucky enough to listen to it. Prior to this release, Legend was a behind-the-scenes player, producing work with Jay-Z and Kanye West, and playing piano on Lauryn Hill's 1998 Hit Record, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. Get Lifted features singles Let's Get Lifted and Used to Love U, but the record is one big consistent groove and has caught the eye of fans and critics everywhere, propelling Legend to Star status overnight. Honorable mentions: Buck 65 - This right here is buck 65. This counts because it is the American debut of everyone's favorite Maritime rapper (like there are any others!). Brilliant, Brilliant, Brilliant. You better believe he's $1.15 better than 50 cent. We saw him open for Moby in Los Angeles this spring, and David Bowie himself was beside us in the mosh pit. Yes, that David Bowie. Nuff said. New Pornographers - Twin Cinema. A perfect indie-pop record. Something like this comes along maybe once every five years. Plus, they're mostly Canadian. Another one of those bands that are way more popular south of the border than here (Arcade Fire, anyone?) Kaiser Chiefs - Employment. Uproarious tracks from hyperkinetic "next big thing" UK band. Two of the years top 10 singles are on this record. That alone puts it in the finals. Sufjan Stevens - Illinois. Ambitious project by Sufjan - creating an album for every state in America. He may have peaked early on with this roots-y, endearing effort. Universally loved by critics and ignored by the media. Perfect mix for success in my book. Sleater-Kinney - The Woods. Their angriest and some say, best work to date. This punk trio truly live the name "riot grrrl." Infectious hits and smart anti-Bush/anti Iraq lyrics. M.I.A. - Arular. Popping up on Top 10 lists all over the place. Sri Lanker trip-hopper and she's cute as pie to boot. The U.S. is taking notice big time, as M.I.A. was last seen opening for Gwen Stefani. Catchy, bass filled beats. Bring this on your next trip to Ibiza, and you'll be able to get any girl you want. My Morning Jacket - Z. If you thought 2003's It Still Moves was great, this takes them to the next level. Perfect blend of fuzzy feed backed blues/rock/country. Is that a genre? It is now. Most overrated: Anything at all by Bright Eyes. Don't believe the hype. Borrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrinnnnnnnng. It’s interesting how 2004 was a little thin on quality releases, yet it took me quite some time to decide on the Rock Against Bush compilations. This year, the worthy crop I had to choose from was considerably larger yet the choice was glaringly clear. Before I get to my choice for album of the year, I want to speak briefly about the short list entries. I’ll start first with a handful of albums that didn’t make the short list but are worthy of mention. Trent Reznor returned with Nine Inch Nails’ With Teeth. The album is great, and combines a good mix of his old edge with excellent production. I wish the Arcade Fire’s Funeral had been released in 2005 as it would have would have definitely made the top three. It’s just unbelievable. The Mars Volta returned with Frances The Mute. The disc takes their out-of-this-world trip-rock formula to another level altogether. Meanwhile, cKy continue to develop their sound and this year’s an Änswer can be found was an impressive example. Metric’s Live It Out an Hot Hot Heat’s Elevator were both impressive, but couldn’t get me as excited as the short list or album of the year. Both are worthy of recognition though. Although there was much hype behind the release of Coldplay’s X&Y and The White Stripes’ Get Behind Me Satan, they fell significantly short in my opinion. Don’t get me wrong, these two albums are good, but are inferior to their enormous predecessors. I will say this though; the Stripes album may have taken me a while to get into, but there is much more in …Satan that excites me than in X&Y. Looks like I just sold me soul to the devil, or Jack White. Local and indie talent from around the country made a mark this year too. From Calgary (and the surrounding areas), we saw releases from The Rocky Fortune (Sway), The Cranston Foundation (Communicate) and The Turrettes (Each It And I) . Although each band is worlds apart in style, they finally delivered new material to their fans to hold them over until their next gig. Edmonton’s Whitey Houston added to the two-man-band foray with their self titled release and proved that, well…they rock. Regina’s Sylvie released An Electric Trace while Milton, Ontario’s The Most Serene Republic delivered Underwater Cinematographer which impressed many established bands and music lovers alike. Finally, Bucket Truck took over two years to get this album to hit the streets, but Favour The Bull finally arrive in 2005 and didn’t disappoint their fellow Newfoundlanders or metal fans. Nova Scotia’s Wintersleep is the first of the three short-listed albums. Their self-titled album should be heard by many because of it’s moving melodies and excitement building crescendos. This album definitely benefits from two factors; the fact that I got my hands on it late in the year so it’s still fresh in my ears and the live show which enforced it’s quality. If you can’t tell from the frequent articles, I have a shameless thing for Queens of the Stone Age, so the release of Lullabies To Paralyze was an exciting event for me. Although the album doesn’t quite live up to the enormous success of Songs For The Deaf or any of their earlier work, it was still one of the year’s best. With songs like Little Sister, and the epic Someone’s In The Wolf, this album simply shows an attempt at a slightly different angle on their music while keeping the crucial elements of the band intact (minus bassist Nick Oliveri unfortunately, albeit completely necessary.) The final short-listed album that came closest to taking the Album of the Year title was the Foo Fighters’ In Your Honor. From the perfectly placed opening track of the same name, through all the equally ripping electric songs and (surprisingly) even including all the acoustic songs of fantastic quality, this double disc is quite possibly their best work since the self-titled debut. I still remain a huge fan of that disc from 1995, but Dave Grohl wasn’t too far off when he promised this would be the ultimate Foo album; the one you’ll tell young ones to get in the future that encompasses the band. Which leads me to my choice. If you haven’t already figured out that it’s System of a Down, then you haven’t been paying much attention at all. Once again, the album of the year is actually two albums, but much more so this year than last, these two discs really are a single entity. Mezmerize dropped back in May with about three months lead in with the leaking Cigaro and the monstrous hit B.Y.O.B. We only had to wait six months to get our hands on Hypnotize, and just when I thought it couldn’t get any better, I am completely blown away. The two albums musically and physically come together like no others before them and the experience is enormous. The songs shift from political to downright absurd, all while delivering a rarely paused assault. This year’s choice was easy, and I’m definitely not alone (as you can see some of our reader’s choices.) My choice may surprise more than just a few of you, but I have good reason. Let’s first talk about some notable performances. 2005 saw some monster shows come through Calgary and it made this year’s choice quite difficult. Pearl Jam finally returned to our fair city delivering a performance that was just what you’d expect from this Seattle act. Unfortunately, with the caliber of shows we saw this year, it was hard to move this up the ranks. Consider that Audioslave hit the very same Saddledome about a month later and surprised me with a show nearly as fantastic as their 2003 Lollapalooza performance. Even the Doors of the 21st Century surprised me! Death From Above 1979 delivered a blistering set at the Warehouse while Rise Against and Alexisonfire proved that they could share a stage while their respective fans could share the mosh pit (actually, that’s a blatant lie since the crowd became significantly shorter after the former handed over the stage to the latter.) Then there was Anti-Flag blowing us away when opening for the horribly mixed Bad Religion show at Mac Hall. Bad Religion may have played as tight as any band who’s played together for around 25 years, but their sound tech’s apparently have no clue what they’re doing. I was finally able to witness Queens of the Stone Age in concert at Mac Hall in April and it was almost everything I thought it would be. They played a great mix of old and new and it was a show I won’t soon forget. Four months later, I attended my fourth Foo Fighters show in their first big arena tour and just like every other time, I couldn’t have been more excited. When Dave Grohl and company play live, I seem to forget about the people I arrived with and the fact that I’m not 18 anymore, but that doesn’t stop me from ripping up to the front. Both of these shows provided me with pure musical delight. The Arcade Fire’s show at Mac Hall was most impressive if not for the cackling idiots who wouldn’t shut up in mid-show. The only thing I can thank them for was driving me away from their general area which afforded me the opportunity to witness the band march right by me, out the venue and into the UofC halls to continue playing unplugged. Now, here’s the surprise. Although System of a Down were fucking awesome at the Saddledome in September, I have to give the Concert of the Year nod to the DFA1979/QOTSA/Nine Inch Nails concert at the same location in November. Although the L.A. quartet played for about two hours without a break, the concert as a whole could not live up to NIN. First, the crowd control was excessive for SOAD, forcing floor ticket holders into their own ridiculous line that lasted nearly an hour in the rain causing me to miss over half of The Mars Volta’s set (plus, their sound tech must’ve gone to the same school as Bad Religion’s.) System’s sound thankfully didn’t suffer the same unfortunate reality. The NIN show was preceded by two excellent shows both in sound and performance which is especially surprising as far as DFA1979 goes for being at the Saddledome. Their half hour set was great. QOTSA’s tight one-hour set only left me and many others begging for more, but we only had to wait a half hour (less a few minutes) for Trent Reznor to arrive with his band. The music was fantastic, the sound was impeccable and the visual display stunning. Although I’m about as big a fan of SOAD today as I was NIN ten years ago, Reznor was able to top the previous three times I saw NIN back when they were enormously popular. I will say this though; I was extremely tempted to make this year’s choice a tie simply because both shows left me in awe and wanting to find a way to go see the show in the next city on the tour. However, once you add all the factors into the mix and I had no choice. Before I finish, I want to recognize some local shows and bands that I saw in 2005. I never tired of seeing The Rocky Fortune and The Turrettes, whom I had attended several times this year. I finally turned myself on to Hot Little Rocket and discovered Sylvie and Wintersleep, both of which have made quick fans of me. I highly recommend seeing any of these bands in the coming year as they are well worth the time and price of admission. If 2006 is even just half the year 2005 has been in terms of live shows, we will be in for another great year. Chart Magazine’s Top 15 Records Of The Year I can’t ignore this Canadian magazine’s list since I provide them with a spot in each week’s newsletter. Some of these choices are interesting and may provide you with a different musical perspective than what I bring to you. So, here’s their list, and make sure to read their comments and how they came to it [http://chartattack.com/damn/2005/12/2310.cfm].
The third time around for The Strokes should prove to be interesting. Their first album, Is This It, contained the horribly infectious Last Nite (I seriously have had enough of that song) which catapulted them onto the spotlight. The song fooled many into thinking that they were a one-hit-wonder, but oh how wrong they were. Their sophmore effort, Room On Fire, dropped in 2003 with lead single 12:51, and songs like Reptilia and Automatic Stop kept their newfound critical darling status rolling. Now The Strokes will start 2006 off with their new album titled First Impressions of Earth. For fans of the band, it could prove to be the perfect way to start the new year. Juicebox, the lead single, has been out for well over a month now and you'll finally be able to get it and the rest of the album when it hit stores next Tuesday, January 3rd.
~~ kMNR v2005.099 ~~ If you would like to hear about or if you have any information on a particular band or artist, please email and I will do my best to cover them.
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