Shanies: Album of the Year

Here we go again... hit me back with your list from this crazy, fuggin' year.

10. A Tribe Called Quest - We Got it From Here... Thank You 4 Your Service
A sad year to lose Phife Dawg, but an incredible year to watch your idols from eons ago prove that they can still kick it.

9. PUP - The Dream is Over
Fuck yeah, Canadian punk is alive and kicking. Through trials and tribulations, PUP has survived against all odds and their sophomore album shows their struggle and growth.

8. White Denim - Stiff
Once again, the epic White Denim returns with another guitar tour-de-force. The incredible, frantic guitar work is only topped by the catchiness of these tracks.

7. Tax the Heat - Fed to the Lions
Fall slave to the riff and worship these new UK players as they march onto the scene. Watch for them to blow up in 2017.

6. Fantastic Negrito - The Last Days of Oakland
This album came out of nowhere for me but quickly became one of my most played of the year. It's depth, soul, and experimentation make it a full end-to-end listen at least a few times.

5. Chance the Rapper - Coloring Book
Third try was a charm for Chance - he showed growth leading up to this album but Coloring Book has become his opus, gaining both critical and popular success. He is redefining hip hop with heavy influences of gospel, soul, and R&B, but in a way that feels authentic.

4. Monster Truck - Sittin' Heavy
I don't know how the hell these guys keep producing album after album of wall-to-wall, riff-heavy hits, but Sittin' Heavy shows that they have no plans of slowing down. Once again, I'd have trouble identifying a weak track on this album and, while it definitely has that stereotypical Monster Truck sound, they continue to produce tunes that are fresh and engaging.

3. Public Animal - Palace Arms
What? Blurton and crew produced another album and Shane lost his shit? No one could possibly have seen that coming. The only reason this album didn't take spots 1 through 10 is that this is a band that is best experienced live - the albums are but a reminder of what you're missing.

2. The Temperance Movement - White Bear
This sat for nearly the entire year as my album of the year. It is without question one of the most solid, complete, and interesting rock albums I've heard in the past decade. TM proved that they well overcame the 'sophomore slump' by completely outdoing themselves and making an album that shows serious range across the whole of the sonic spectrum.

1. Childish Gambino - Awaken, My Love
However, my rock album of the year would not be my album of the year. In fact, I don't even know how to categorize this album. I'll level - I wasn't previously a fan of Gambino; liked a few tracks, but generally his style never really meshed with mine. Then Awaken dropped... and I lost my shit. I've listened to this album nearly every day since it was released and I keep finding things buried beneath this strange fusion of soul, R&B, hip hop, jazz, funk, and god knows what else he stuffed in here. This album didn't simply defy genres, it re-wrote them.

Shanies: Album of the Year

Yup... it's that time again... time for the big one, or should I say... the big 10. 2014 was a huge year for music, especially heavy music. There were so many incredible releases from acts like Band of Skulls, Jack White, The Barr Brothers, D'Angelo, and Rival Sons didn't even make the cut... but sometimes, hard calls have to be made, and I'll be damned if I'm going to second guess myself.

10. Michael Cera - True That

I hated myself a little bit for enjoying this album as much as I did, but you know what... I was eventually able to divorce Michael Cera the actor (save his part in The End...brilliant) from the musician. This creepy album feels at times like it's dredging up the Ghosts of the Beatles, not just because it kinda sounds late-Beatlesque, but also because it's really gloomy and weird. But I like it.



9. Baptists - Bloodmines

And now for something completely different. What blows my mind the most about this album isn't how drivingly heavy it is, nor is it even Nick Yacyshyn's monsterific drumming, but the fact that Bushcraft was only realeased a year before in 2013. This is how you do loud music... thanks again BC!



8. Death From Above 1979 - The Physical World

10 years between albums? Did waiting suck? Yes. Was it worth the wait? No. This album could have easily been released in 2007, but that doesn't stop it from still being one of the best releases of 2014. What do we get after waiting 10 years? Likely a lot less anger and a lot more groove, but that really works for this gritty two-piece's sound.



7. Black Jesuses - Black Jesuses

Who? A random side-project of one of my favourite bands, The Parlor Mob, Black Jesuses' release was met with a bit of a whimper, but it still contained an album full of incredible hard rock tunes, especially for a two-piece (though I feel like that excuse doesn't hold weight anymore after the incredible history of rock duos we've seen now). Either way, go listen to 7 to 3 right now.



6. Obliterations - Poison Everything

Just when you thought Baptists were going to have the hardest album of the year, you could not have been more wrong. As a huge Black Mountain fan, I remember being very excited with the early news of Stephen McBean's new loud-as-shit side project. To add to that excitement, after producing a couple of mind-blowing EPs, the crew went into Grohl's Studio 606 to lay down Poison Everything. Throw 'em on Southern Lord and you've got a recipe for sexy.



5. Napalmpom - The Unconditional Love of Napalmpom

In addition to winning the award for greatest band name ever, Napalmpom was a band I stumbled upon a couple of months ago thanks to Public Animal. This Calgary 5-piece is a great reminder of what rock n roll is... not just in sound, but in spirit, effort, and fun! You can hear their massively contrasting influences in their debut LP, yet somehow, these Westerners manage to pull it together into a record that rocks, inspires, moves, cries a little, hugs you, bitch slaps you in the mouth, dumps a beer on your best friend, punches your girlfriend in the left tit and drops the mic and leaves this dimension. But in a really fun, cool way.



4. Destrage - Are you Kidding Me? No.

I'VE BEEN LISTENING TO THIS ALBUM FOR ALMOST A YEAR AND I STILL DON'T UNDERSTAND WHAT THE HELL IT IS OR HOW THE HELL THESE CRAZY ITALIAN BASTARDS DO WHAT THEY DO. WHAT I HAVE LEARNED IS THAT I ENJOY IT IMMENSELY AND THEREFORE WILL NOT FURTHER QUESTION THE ITALIAN MADNESS-NOISE.



3. Alert the Medic - The Phantom Moves

From the moment I heard the opening drone of this album, I was hooked. While I would nearly wear out the first two tracks on the record, the entire album would become a place of comfort and solace that I would return to whenever I wanted to feel good about myself. These easterners know how to write exceptional, harmonically layered rock that can in one moment bring a crowd to their feet, and in another, bring a tear to your eye.



2. Public Animal - Habitat Animal

The live shows, while amazing, are simply not frequent enough to keep my inner animal satiated. Fortunately, this disc unleashes the beast with great volume. Who would have ever thought that a supergroup formed of some of my favourite bands of all time could come together to produce another of my favourite bands of all time who would make one of my favourite albums of all time? Funny that, huh?



1. Royal Blood - Royal Blood

Granted this British duo are sweeping up awards and acclaim across the globe at an unprecidented rate. Their meteoric rise to fame is ridiculous given the recent state of the music industry, however, when you listen to their self-titled debut, you understand why: this album is near perfection. Nearly each of the 10 tracks could have stood alone as a single and may still - 5 of them already have, with each breaking the UK top 50 and 2 hitting the #1 spot. Yes, look at me raving about this album just like everyone else... aren't I so unoriginal? Shouldn't I be focusing more of obscure music?

Deal with it. Sometimes there's a reason shit gets insanely popular, and if you can't hear it, I don't understand how you hear the world... you and I just got different ears, son.



Thanks for reading! It was fun as always to spout my musical tripe all over the internet... see you in 2015!

-Bow down to my thick cerebral cortex, don't let logic get in the way

Shanies: Artist of the Year

This year, as are most now that I think about it, was a no-brainer. The number of times I saw this band live, the anticipatory salivation that would hit my mouth each time news broke about a new recording they were slated to release, the excitement I would have before every show, the rock that would be rolled every time I listened to I Ain't Gonna Live, or Vault Doors. It all heralded one thing: Blurton was back... as though he ever left.

And he came back with his latest foray into sonic madness, Public Animal. Granted, the Animal got started in 2013, however, 2014 was the year that they hit their stride, with the release of their full-length, Habitat Animal, and the opportunity to open for countless great bands as a go-to in their local Toronto. You could ask me to try to explain or define why I gave the nod for artist of the year to Public Animal, but at the end of the day, the only good answer I could give is the way I feel when I hear Blurton's sweet tone fading into the powerful drone of Dacey's keys, alongside the smooth lines of Larock's bass, and all the while driven forth by a monster known as Ryan Gassi on drums.

The way I feel when I hear that music is what matters... and nothing else.



-Everything can be alright when everything can never be wrong

Shanies: Concert of the Year

Always a tricky award as so many factors can go into making the perfect night, the concert of the year is typically awarded to the show from the past 12 months that absolutely blew my mind. Some years, I have highlighted the epic glory of an entire night and others I have locked in on one specific set that left me grinning ear to ear.

While the entire night was a blast when I stepped into Adelaide Hall for the first time back in November, this year, it's one band alone who's making off with the prize. Few things are better in my world that stumbling upon an amazing new band and to do so in a live setting is the cherry on top. Thus, when I was introduced to the opening line from Alert the Medic, I knew I had stumbled across something special.

In the unfamiliar (but fucking awesome) surroundings of Adelaide Hall, I watched as the quartet of Nova Scotians ripped through high-energy song after song. Polished, harmonic, playful and emotive, one could see the markings of a band who had spent some time in front of the monitors. A reluctant crowd who, like me, probably didn't know much of this band began as arm-crossed skeptics, however was won over by AtM's infectiously catchy, upbeat and fun tracks. By the end of their set, the whole place couldn't help but bounce and sway at least a bit to some of the more well-written live tunes I've ever heard.

Add these boys to my list of must-sees.



-Calm your head to the wind of tomorrow

Wordless Gunk

It seems that every NXNE unveils a new band or two for me to drool all over. While this was a rather light year of concert-going (relatively speaking), that didn't stop me from stumbling across a few new gems. There's the obvious answer of The Public Animal who I will impatiently await to release anything - mp3s, CDs, vinyls, 8-tracks, a tin cup with a string and someone screaming into the other end - and subsequently give them all of my money.

However, sometimes there's too much ground to cover, too much rock to be rolled and to much love to give. For situations like this, I've got people like my coworker Jayar who introduced me to one of his picks of the festival, Saskatchewan's own Shooting Guns. This instrumental 5-piece generates a massive wall of slow-moving, grimy, distorted stoner metal that feels heavy enough to stop a bull moose in it's tracks. This stuff is kind of like the rock n roll version of molasses, if molasses were as hard as fucking nails and cooler than all of your friends put together.

And yes, to answer your next question, said molasses would make the most badass gingerbread cookies ever.

Their debut 12", Born to Deal in Magic: 1952-1976, made the Polaris prize long list and is VERY much worth the $5 to pick it up here.

  -Surround yourself in a layer of hope to keep you warm at night

NXNE: Here for a Good Time

I'm old now. I'm busy with work. I love music, but I've become picky and jaded with time. But fine... I still do a bit of NXNE this year. However, not for the conference's sake, but for the bands... for the music.

Even if it means I'm paying $15 a venue to see the bands that I could see for $5 on any other night since I'm refusing to brand myself with a bracelet.

I digress... while a tame night from my perspective (and by comparison to my previous NXNE outings), the sound emanating from the bands I saw was anything but tame.

After basically drooling all over The Blue Stone's album last fall and coming just short of proposing to them, it became a damnable shame that I would miss every TO show they had for the longest time due to work, travel or some other asinine thing. However, finally, I was able to descend upon the Windsor duo at the Hard Luck bar.  I'll get the negatives out of the way first - the evening's sound guy was apparently a deaf man mid-seizure and I was sad to see the guys only play 1 or 2 songs from the album which I coveted so. HOWEVER, for a 2 piece, these guys still churned out a solid set of groovy, sexy-infused, heavy blues tracks that had an early night, sober Toronto crowd still nodding their heads in elated satisfaction.

Immediately following, Little Foot Long Foot took the stage. While once again pushing through sound tech issues, it was good to hear how LFLF's sound had evolved since the edition of Jeff Heisholt on the keys. I had some initial concerns about the new lineup, however, it's just taking time for the new 3 piece to find their sound together, write together and evolve together.

However, my evening was made when I sprinted up to Lee's to see the inaugeral show of Sir Blurton's new project, Public Animal. An unholy combination of C'Mon, Tricky Woo, Bella Clava and the Lying Cheats - Public Animal may have become my favourite new band within about 3 minutes of having my eardrums pounded by a wall of sound.  I won't say anymore - just go see them tonight at the Bovine at 1am.

-May my ears ring forever