Sure, why not?

p.s. I did NOT know they were friends!

p.p.s. After rewatching, I like how many of the puppies have a look on their face that says "I feel uncomfortable in my new responsibilities. I don't think I have the experience necessary to bail out the markets from this global financial crisis!" Check it out! Not ONE of those puppies looks at ease.

What would title this post?

Have you ever been listening to a favourite song, perhaps singing along with it's lyrics, only to have someone say "That's not even remotely accurate"? So you look up the lyrics and see that what you've been singing all along, either out loud or in your head, is something completely different than what the artist intended. Ever feel like your version is better?

I'm in conflict with a song at the moment. It is "Live for the Sounds" by Brooke Waggoner. This is the lyric as I hear it:

Why do you ask do you ask me why?
I live for the sad, sick, kingly wisdom

And the real lyric is this:

Why do you ask do you ask me why?
I live for the sounds and gain their wisdom

Maybe it's part of the King Lear obsession I've been dealing with recently. Either way, I kind of like my version better. Which is kind of silly, really. Brooke Waggoner is much more talented than I am. I could never write a song, let alone enough songs to comprise an album. I guess I likes what my brain makes up.

And now you know that. You watched it! You can't UN-watch it!

What does YOUR family do at Thanksgiving?

BELair

I saw this young lady tonight!

It's that time of year again...

Time to avoid this post, because it is of interest only to me. Also, time to see which songs have been played most on ol' Meg, my beloved purveyor of electronic music files. How I love this little smaller-than-a-deck-of-cards device, and it's ability to provide me with 3+ years of listening enjoyment.

For reference, here is last year's (2007) list:

1. "Anthems for a Seventeen Year Old Girl" from You Forgot It In People - Broken Social Scene (116 plays)
2. "Kid A" from Kid A - Radiohead (86 plays)
3. "Bukowski" from Good News for People Who Love Bad News - Modest Mouse (82 plays)
4. "Pink Moon" from Pink Moon - Nick Drake (75 plays)
5. "Maps" from Fever to Tell - Yeah Yeah Yeahs (75 plays)
6. "The View" from Good News for People Who Love Bad News - Modest Mouse (74 plays)
7. "Inside and Out" from Let It Die - Feist (73 plays)
8. "Tick" from Fever To Tell - Yeah Yeah Yeahs (72 plays)
9. "Ibi Dreams of Pavement (A Beter Day)" from Broken Social Scene - Broken Social Scene (68 plays)
10. "I'll Believe in Anything" from Apologies to the Queen Mary - Wolf Parade (68 plays)
11. "Jezebel" from Woman King EP - Iron & Wine (67 plays)
12. "Friend of the Night" from Mr. Beast - Mogwai (66 plays)
13. "Words So Leisured" from Franz Ferdinand Bonus Disc - Franz Ferdinand (63 plays)
14. "Dear Sons and Daughters of Hungry Ghosts" from Apologies to the Queen Mary - Wolf Parade (63 plays)
15. "7/4 (Shoreline)" from Broken Social Scene - Broken Social Scene (62 plays)
16. "The Engine Driver" from Picaresque - The Decemberists (62 plays)
17. "Finish Your Collapse and Stay for Breakfast" from Broken Social Scene - Broken Social Scene (61 plays)
18. "Marching Bands of Manhattan" from Plans - Death Cab for Cutie (60 plays)
19. "Upward Over the Mountain" from The Creek Drank the Cradle - Iron & Wine (60 plays)
20. "Road" from Pink Moon - Nick Drake (60 plays)
21. "Untitled 1" from ( ) - Sigur Ros (59 plays)
22. "When I Was a Young Girl" from Let It Die - Feist (58 plays)
23. "Stella Was a Diver and She was Always Down" from Turn On the Bright Lights - Interpol (58 plays)
24. "Horn" from Pink Moon - Nick Drake (58 plays)
25. "Parting Gift" from Extraordinary Machine - Fiona Apple (57 plays)

And here is this year's (2008) list:

1. "Anthems for a Seventeen-Year old Girl" - Broken Social Scene (123 plays)
2. "Pink Moon" - Nick Drake (97 plays)
3. "Kid A" - Radiohead (92 plays)
4. "Our Hell" - Emily Haines (88 plays)
5. "Bukowski" - Modest Mouse (85 plays)
6. "Inside and Out" - Feist (82 plays)
7. "Jezebel" - Iron & Wine (79 plays)
8. "The View" - Modest Mouse (79 plays)
9. "Maps" - Yeah Yeah Yeahs (77 plays)
10. "Ibi Dreams of Pavement (A Better Day)" - Broken Social Scene (76 plays)
11. "I'll Believe in Anything" - Wolf Parade (75 plays)
12. "Tick" - Yeah Yeah Yeahs (75 plays)
13. "Untitled 1" - Sigur Ros (73 plays)
14. "Road" - Nick Drake (72 plays)
15. "Pink Bullets" - The Shins (72 plays)
16. "7/4 (Shoreline)" - Broken Social Scene (71 plays)
17. "1234" = Feist (71 plays)
18. "Upward Over the Mountain" - Iron & Wine (71 plays)
19. "Friend of the Night" = Mogwai (70 plays)
20. "Finish Your Collapse and Stay for Breakfast" - Broken Social Scene (69 plays)
21. "Dear Sons and Daughters of Hungry Ghosts" - Wolf Parade (69 plays)
22. "The Engine Driver" - The Decemberists (68 plays)
23. "Honey Honey" - Feist (68 plays)
24. "Place to Be" - Nick Drake (68 plays)
25. "Horn" - Nick Drake (68 plays)

With a few runners-up:

26. "When I Was a Young Girl" - Feist (67 plays)
27. "Between the Bars (Elliot Smith cover)" - Emily Haines & James Shaw (66 plays)

Well, "Anthems for a Seventeen-Year Old Girl" is still the reigning champ! Three years and counting! No arguments here. It is a completely solid song that deserves multiple listens. Strange that in a whole year I've only listened to it 7 times. It's lead has weakened slightly, now only 26 plays above #2, as compared to last year's 30 play lead.

I'm also glad to see "Our Hell" and "Untitled 1" steadily climbing the ladder. I am a little surprised to see how many of the songs are within striking distance of each other. A three way tie for 16th place, and a four way tie for 22nd! This might be exciting if it didn't happen only once a year!

Gone from the list this year are "Parting Gift" (previously #25, now #36), "Marching Bands of Manhattan" (previously #18, now #29. ouch), "Stella Was a Diver and She Was Always Down" (previously #23, now #30), "Words So Leisured" (Previously #13 , now #28. ouch again).

New additions are "Place to Be," "Honey Honey," and "1234." Nick Drake's Pink Moon makes an impressive showing with four entries (from a total of 10 tracks on that album. 40% placement!), and Feist features on vocals for four songs.

Predictions for next year: If any song is going to make a charge for the list, I think it's going to be "Reckoner" by Radiohead (currently #248). Let's just see how much that climbs in a year. Also, any number of songs by Joanna Newsom (the current highest being "Cosmia (live)" at #56).

I don't care how geeky this is, I totally love it.

Andrew's Polaris Impressions

The Polaris Prize!

A celebration of Canadian music, the best and brightest, without regard to sales! What a refreshing concept! I get very excited about the process when it comes about every September, and it always introduces me to some great new bands. When I was growing up, in terms of Canadian music, I only knew about the Barenaked Ladies, and Sloan. Obviously things have expanded exponentially since then, and the Polaris is a great opportunity to go even further. I've got a list on my iPod of Polaris winners, and I always enjoy a spin through there. Three albums so far!

1) He Poos Clouds - Final Fantasy
2) Close to Paradise - Patrick Watson
3) Andorra - Caribou

Which means that technically, He Poos Clouds is "better" than Broken Social Scene, Live it Out and Apologies to the Queen Mary.

Technically, Close to Paradise is "better" than Neon Bible, The Besnard Lakes are the Dark Horse, and The Reminder (which is kind of insane).

And technically Andorra is "better" than LP, Asking for Flowers, and Parc Avenue.

So you can see where there might be some issues. I do not envy the 2006 judges. Who wants to pick from that list? And in fact pretty much everyone will admit that they never saw Final Fantasy coming. In my personal opinion, Final Fantasy is the only winner thus far to have some real staying power. Has Patrick Watson done anything else to date? No offense to the guy, but I know nothing about him. And it's been over a year! Just checked out the ol' Wiki, and nope! No albums since Close to Paradise. I haven't really listened to Andorra enough to have it make a lasting impression, but I don't think it's too much to ask that the "Best Canadian album of the year" have something that grabs you (for an outstanding example, see "This Lamb Sells Condos" from He Poos Clouds).

And I will say this: I think it is a crying shame that Island's Arm's Way got shut out of the 2008 shortlist while Stars In Our Bedroom After the War made it. I have issues with Stars. I was so infatuated with them until I saw them live at Lollapalooza in 2006. Ever since then, I have barely given them a listen. I haven't listened to Set Yourself on Fire since February. They were so hammy. Torquil Campbell, I would be looking in your direction if your ridiculous stage presence didn't make me cringe. Makes me think that he's listed as a member of Broken Social Scene only because he showed up with Amy Milan one day and refused to leave. Bleah...

Moving swiftly on...

There is bound to be some contention in the ranks of music fans when these kinds of prizes are brought out (see Pitchfork Media's hilarious announcement of Patrick Watson's 2007 victory. "Guess Canadians like this guy?" heh heh heh), and I will jump on the bandwagon by saying that Feist not winning in 2007 is just about as mental as it gets. The Reminder is classic indie pop. It's one of those records that you get out and play for your kids. It's hard to believe it's just an album because it plays like a greatest hits compilation. I'm not saying Close to Paradise was "bad" or "worse," just that The Reminder is so inconceivably awesome that it's nothing less than shocking that it didn't win.

Anyway, I'm glad for this opportunity to expand my musical library. And it's kind of cool that whenever I mention a new cool band, I can throw in "They're Canadian."







p.s. You know what blows my mind? Owen Pallett arranged the strings for The Last Shadow Puppets The Age of the Understatement. Which means that the guy from Final Fantasy and the guy from Arctic Monkeys have worked together. Ka-pow.

Question of the day

Is it geekier to love Final Fantasy, the video game, or Final Fantasy, the musician?

In other words, who's geekier, Liz or me?



VS.