CHARTattack:Features Feed

Fucked Up: Best Of 2008

Noah Love — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 13:20:35 -0600

It didn't matter if you watched Fucked Up perform on MTV Canada or were at Sneaky Dee's for one of their Halloween shows — if you could see and hear the group, it was enough to declare them the best live act of 2008.

Driven by the material from their watershed sophomore effort, The Chemistry Of Common Life, Fucked Up's live intensity was a story in itself. It landed them on magazine covers and drew the likes of J Mascis, Vampire Weekend and even Moby to share stages with them.

Singer Damian Abraham (a.k.a. Pink Eyes) was in the middle of it all. His voice — described by The Onion as a "glass-gargling roar" — and no-holds-barred performance ethos brought much of the attention that followed the group.

CHARTattack caught up with Abraham to discuss the making of Chemistry, the Canadian music industry and a new addition to his young family.

CHARTattack: Were there things you wanted to do with The Chemistry Of Common Life that you couldn't do when you recorded your full-length debut, Hidden World?
Damian Abraham: Yeah, like take our time. I think that was the big thing.

Hidden World was a real learning experience for us on how, for lack of a better word, big a label like Jade Tree operates. They need six months lead time between when you hand in the record and when they put out the record, and no label was willing to put out a record between November and January.

So with Hidden World, we had our backs against the wall. We had to get the record done in May to get it out in October, that was in 2006. So we really rushed it. We were in the studio doing these marathon sessions until 4 a.m., trying to get all the mixing and the art done.

And there's a lot of mistakes on it. There's no self-editing on that thing. It could have been recorded live off the floor for all intents and purposes. There's no one going, "Maybe we should cut down the five-minute instrumental song in that song." We were like, "All right! Here it is, it's done." Because we had also screwed up and didn't get our guitars [tuned properly] before we started recording, so we had to re-record all these songs because everything was out of tune. That's a rushed record.

So we knew this time we weren't going to do that. We took about six months to record, and not six solid months. We'd go off and do other stuff, listen to it, come back and do more stuff. It kind of allowed us to layer things a little more and self-edit. We were able to decide certain things shouldn't be on the record because they didn't fit.

Also with Hidden World, a lot of the songs were older songs that we had already recorded. This time, we started fresh, and we were writing all these songs for this LP, so everything was new and could actually write an LP as opposed to fit a bunch of songs on the record.

A lot of your recordings include female voices or melodic ones, which stand in pretty stark contrast to your own. Where did the idea to mix these two elements come from?
When I'm writing the vocal parts, there are things I can imagine it sounding like that I would not be able to replicate, given my incredible range. But definitely when I'm listening to the songs, I'm like, "It would be great to have a Dallas Green singing on this song," just to do the stuff I can't do. So it's more like who would fit.

That's why you're in a band, so you can meet all these different types of people and, if need be, you can put them on your recordings. People have critiqued it because there's not a lot of hardcore people on these records.

Are there other people you'd like, or you're planning to work with, on future recordings?
We just did the 12-hour show with [Dinosaur Jr.'s] J Mascis. He came and played some songs with us. I'd love to have him play on a record. I really wanted him to sing on this record, but he said only if I wrote the lyrics for him in Finnish. I didn't know if he was joking or not, so I decided not to pursue it. So someone like him, or Matt Sweeney, who we will probably work with on the David Valentine EP.

Any time you get to work with a new person, it offers — and I know this will sound totally cliche — a new perspective on what you're doing. When Owen Pallett [Final Fantasy] came in and wrote violin parts for Hidden World, we were like, "Whoa." We never really thought of it like that. That's the best way to be in a band, is to collaborate.

Because we're not really like a band with each other, anyway. Most of the time in this band we're like collaborators. When we recorded this record, I think Jonah [Falco, drums] was the only one who was in the studio kind of the whole time. The rest of us came and went to do our parts.

You guys were initially cagey about doing full-length records. What turned you around on that?
I think it was one of those things where we wanted to do a full-length, and then we'd get time to dedicate the songs for the LP and we'd go, "Nah, let's just do a seven-inch instead."

I think, given the time, I could name 1,000 classic punk seven-inches, but I could probably only name 100 essential punk LPs. It's so much harder with aggressive music to make a classic LP because it doesn't flow as well. You need downtime, et cetera, et cetera. Not that we did with Hidden World, but we didn't before Hidden World have enough confidence as a band to make an LP.

There's a Q&A on the Matador Records website where you described the "Canadian music industry" as a pet peeve. What in particular were you peeved about?
I think that was a particularly bad day when I filled that out. But I think it was more the fact that the Canadian music industry — and I'm certainly not talking about Canadian bands — it's an industry built on making sure that it's self-preservationist. Like, if you watch any of these award shows, it's the same sorts of people winning every year. And it's based on an establishment kind of thing. The same people get government grants every time they apply.

I was just kind of frustrated that we're insiders looking in, still. Here we are, this band that's getting incredible amounts of attention anywhere else, but can't get a break in Canada. But, you know, that's a first world problem if there ever was one. I'm happy we're in the position we're in, period.

I think I filled that out the day after the Junos, watching these people pat each other on the back and being like, "We did it again," and I was mad that Attack In Black didn't get nominated for an award when I thought they put out one of the best records of the year. So it was a lot of things building up and, unfortunately, I took it out on the entire industry.

By the way, congrats on your 768th day of marriage [there's an internet site with a running counter of the length of Abraham's marriage].
Thank you! And my wife's pregnant now. I heard the heartbeat today for the first time at the midwife.

We're, as of the end April, going to take a breather for a couple of months and then kind of just do festivals and work our way back into it in the fall. It's pretty insane. Who'd have thought Pink Eyes would be a dad? Son of Pink Eyes, Daughter of Pink Eyes will be the sequel.

Thank God my wife's responsible because I'd hate to see what I'd make that poor kid do. I'd be teaching him how to break bottles over his head in the way that you inflict the least amount of damage.

The Diableros: Comes A Time

Cameron Gordon — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 11:00:09 -0600

Shoegaze Rockers Change Their Sound For Second Album

It's common for a band to morph, extend and evolve between albums. But it takes a special kind of outfit to undergo an organ transplant during that time. That's just what happened to Toronto indie rockers The Diableros, and the move has had a huge impact on the band's sophomore full-length, Aren't Ready For The Country.

"We're using 50 per cent less organs this time out," says singer and ringleader Pete Carmichael. In recording the follow-up to the band's 2006 underground smash, You Can't Break The String In Our Olympic Hearts, The Diableros were forced to contend with the departure of Tara Huk, whose Farfisa organ was a defining characteristic of the band's debut. Luckily, fellow organist Matt Rubba remains, and The Diableros were able to soldier on like the brave little indie rockers they are.

The result is a more subdued, thoughtful affair that substitutes subtle arrangements for the key-based madness of Olympic Hearts. Aren't Ready For The Country was recorded over 10 days at Toronto's Halla Music, and Carmichael confirms that the lineup changes and a more involved recording schedule both had a large influence on the band's bottom line.

"Having the Baudelaire label behind us this time out gave us a bigger budget to work with so we could space things out. It definitely made things a lot less stressful by having more flexibility in the studio. Ten days still isn't a lot of time, especially considering those days were spread over three months. But seeing as we recorded the last album in less than a week, it seemed like a luxury to have more time to work through the songs the way we wanted to."

In spite of the album's title, there's definitely more of a country influence this time around. The Diableros effectively merge a wide range of styles, approaching what Gram Parsons once referred to as "cosmic country." Traces of the shoegaze movement and the British Invasion are still apparent, but overall the album is a closer reflection of the down-home nature of Carmichael and his bandmates.

"I'm a big fan of a lot of country acts, or at least musicians that are influenced by country music. Whether it be Blue Rodeo or Neil Young or newer bands like The Sadies or My Morning Jacket, that kind of music is always something that impacts my songwriting, even when it's not all that obvious to the end product."

Carmichael is a student of music in the literal sense, having studied composition at Toronto's York University when he first moved to the city from his hometown of Bowmanville, Ont. He was a veritable virgin within the Toronto music scene upon arrival, but the lure of Queen Street West was too tempting and before long, Carmichael's academic interests were put on hold in lieu of a career in rock ‘n' roll.

"By the time I ran out of money at York, I had moved downtown and hooked up with Thom D'Arcy (The Carnations, Small Sins), who was somebody I knew from back in Bowmanville," says Carmichael. "Eventually I moved into a house with a bunch of shoegaze fans and began putting together the band that would eventually become The Diableros. We had a really cool jam space in the basement where we could play any hour of the day, which is pretty much unheard of in downtown Toronto. I guess you could say the roots of The Diableros were basically sprouted from that basement."

bonus sidebar
Heart Like Mine

One of the highlights of Pete Carmichael's music career has been the chance to befriend and collaborate with Greg Keelor from Blue Rodeo. The fresh-faced upstart and the grizzled vet seem like an odd match, but Carmichael contends that he and Keelor became fast friends after he discovered Keelor lived next door to a friend of Carmichael's girlfriend. In fact, Carmichael helped care for Keelor's father Jim during his dying days in late 2003.

"Jim was a really unique character," recalls Carmichael with a sigh. "He had this full set of solid Christian values, but he was also an alcoholic and heavy smoker. That was an interesting time for me and an experience I learned a lot from, to
be sure."

This feature is from the November 2007 issue of Chart Magazine. You can purchase the issue in the Chart Shop.

Blah Blah Blah — October 2008

Mon, 05 Jan 2009 08:36:52 -0600

People like letters. So we're reprinting the letters page from our October 2008 issue. You can purchase the issue at the Chart Shop.

We're deep into fall now, kids. It's all leaves changing colour and cold winds and you want to write some gloomy poetry or something. There are better things to do with your time, though. Namely, writing us a letter.

You can send letters to "Blah, Blah, Blah" ~~c/o Chart Magazine, 34 Britain St., Second Floor, Toronto, ON, M5A 1R6~~. You can also use this fancy "Inter-net" and contact us at www.charattack.com. Make sure you include your full contact info.

THE UNKNOWING EYE
What is it with Inward Eye? They are being asked to open for The Who on 8 dates in North America; a tour many bands would give their left nut for, but they haven't released so much as a single in North America. These guys are a great band that have been signed with a major US label for two years, but still no release. What the fuck is wrong with their label? They have been in the studio off and on for the last two years, have opened for some great bands, including Social Distortion and Seether. Some people in "the know" love these guys, but their label keeps hoding them back. Is there a story here? —ptphalifax@

Yes, there is a story there. We presume it's record label fuckery.

LOLLA, WHERE ART THOU?
where are the lolapalooza pictures??? —steed midable@

We've got a kadrillion photos on www.chartattack.com. Just search "Lollapalooza 2008." We also did a photo spread in the Sept. '08 issue of the mag.

EDDIE VEDDER FAN WRITES
I dont think the Vedder review even remotely covered the feeling of the show at Massey Hall. To say Liam Finn nearly stole the show is not even close. Didn't even mention how emotional "man of the hour" was. The best way I can think to describe the feeling was something that was sent to me by another jammer: "something special going on night one i thought....felt like old friends getting together...(the laughing, the interaction, trading shots)" —Jennifer Murphy@

You can find out what this letter's about by going here.

TOM VS. NEIL
Isn't is strange how Stompin' Tom got more votes as the greater Canadian and yet when you compare chart listings of the two artists over the years Stompin' Tom gets no airplay compared to Neil Young. I wonder why that is. Do you know?? Your expert opinion would be interesting to hear. —Tony@

We ran a daily poll on the website asking who the greater Canadian was,
Stompin' Tom or Neil Young. Tom won. Our guess is that radio programmers don't understand what a gumboot cloggeroo is, and it makes them nervous.

CUFF THE DANCERS
Kate Harper, I was absolutely thrilled to read your cuff the duke review for the night of aug. 22 at the horseshoe. I was especially excited because on a whim I figured I'd look on line to see any mention of my wife's antics. Sure enough you didn't disappoint. That night will forever go down as one of my wife's all time great moments even though she cringes with regret and utter embarassment of any mention of it. She even had a hard time listening to cuff the duke the following week as it was a reminder of her drunken self at a show for a band she "really" enjoys. Anyways, I want to make her something really special so she will never forget that night and was wondering if you have a picture of her stage antics. —Jason Czeban@

That was an interesting show. You can read about it here.

NO THORNLEY?
rockstock review featuring THORNLEY & TREWS?? (you guys are always so on top of these events... surprised not to see any coverage) —dolly B@

Sorry, Dolly. We can't be everywhere. You should, however, check out the reviews section of the newly revamped ChartAttack.com, where we've got fresh reviews daily.

Dandi Wind Electrocuted In China

Sarah Kurchak — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 15:58:39 -0600

It's not often that a western band get a chance to play in the far east, and it's probably even less often that you get to talk to one of those groups about the experience.

So when CHARTattack interviewed electronica and multimedia artist Dandi Wind about her latest release, Yolk Of The Golden Egg, we couldn't help but ask her a few questions about her Asian tour with musical partner Szam Findlay. Here's what she had to say about the adventure:

CHARTattack: You toured China, Taiwan and Japan pretty extensively last spring. What was that like?
Dandi Wind: It was like the best time of our lives, pretty much. It was amazing. They treated us really well and everything was so well-organized and the shows were really well-attended and the sound systems were good. They did a really good job. It was awesome.

It's such a unique opportunity. How did it come about?
MySpace. They saw footage of our show and, because we work as a duo, they were able to fly us there and it wasn't as expensive as bringing a five-person band. And we flew from city to city, so it was easier to organize. Like, we don't have much gear, so it was easy for us to fly from city to city.

And also for the promoters, there's been hardly any acts from the west who have come to China, so they wanted something exciting and different to come. We're one of the only bands who have toured all of China. Like, all of these weird cities I didn't even know existed, so it was pretty amazing.

I think we took 3,600 photos. And we made a music video on the Great Wall Of China for the track "Lifetime," which is the second track on Yolk Of The Golden Egg. We also did one for "Powerball," which was done in Chengdu.

You also shot a documentary while you were there, right?
Yeah, but it never really got edited. The guy, our friend Nathan, who came to film it, got drunk every night, so he didn't take very much footage. But I shot a mini-documentary that doesn't have anything to do with Dandi Wind in the market, and I'm going to put it on my MySpace soon.

I understand that you suffered a pretty serious performance-related injury during the tour. What happened?
While we were on stage, someone threw a massive glass of beer on the stage, which I slipped into and the cord hit the beer and I got electrocuted. It was a really intense electric shock.

I actually saw my life flash before my eyes. I saw images of when I was like six years old. And it happened really fast and it was a really strong pain and afterwards I was so relieved that I wasn't dead that I kept performing.

An hour-and-a-half later, I suddenly felt really, really bad and my stomach bloated up so massive that it looked like I was pregnant and I felt so awful. They took me to the hospital in Taiwan, checked me out and gave me some muscle relaxants, painkillers and stuff. I had a weird purple bruise running up my arm, but, after that, I was OK. But that was one of the most intense experiences.

Hedley Reflect On 2008

Sarah Kurchak — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 15:47:24 -0600

CHARTattack sat down with Hedley's Jacob Hoggard and Dave Rosin and went over some of the highlights that led to them being named Chart magazine's artist of the year. Here's what they had to say about 2008:

You won four MuchMusic Video Awards.
Jacob Hoggard: Yeah, that's a lot. That was really exciting because we never win anything. So it just felt cool to be on the other end of the win stick... the other end of the lose stick, which would be the winning end. I guess it's not a winning stick or a losing stick so much as, um, the stick of celestial selection.

You were nominated for group of the year at the Junos.
JH: It was cool. I think there's a group of people that sit around and drink chai tea and then pick who's going to be nominated. And when they know who's going to win, they pick sacrificial lambs, like, "Who else can we throw in for the nomination?" So we always kind of get tossed in there. And that's fine.

"Who's going to lose to Blue Rodeo?"
DR: That's alright. It's kind of like losing to my uncles. I grew up listening to Blue Rodeo and Finger Eleven and stuff, so it sounds trite and kind of... it sounds like a manufactured thing to say, but it's nice to get nominated. It's great to get nominated with bands you have a fun time hanging out with. We played shows with all of those guys. It really is a neat thing just hanging out and being part of it.

JH: Those awards are for the largest, most accomplished bands in the country. That's who win these awards. So it's just an honour to be included in those types of things. We never expect... I always get bummed out because I'd love to win a Juno just because I'm a Canadian musician. Maybe one day I'll pay someone off enough and we'll do business and politicize my way into winning a Juno. But until then, I'm really content with being there. It's a really great environment. It's a lot of fun.

You also went to Barbados and, among other things, shot a video and communed with nature in various states of undress.
JH: Oh, really. How did you know that?

I watched video of it on MuchMusic.
JH: Oh, in Barbados. I thought you meant, like, living in the woods and stuff. I didn't think anybody knew about that.

Oh, have I uncovered something here?
JH: No, no, no. After Barbados we came back from tour and I went and lived in the woods for a while by myself. It was pretty exciting.

So yes, to answer your statement, I agree with all those things. Those were a lot of fun. We got to make a music video on a boat. It was a two-day shoot. It was the biggest video we did with the smallest crew. And it took two days and we put a lot of work into that video.

DR: A lot of sunscreen went into that video, too.

JH: We made it identical to Duran Duran's "Rio." To the best of our abilities, we made it identical. That was really important for us, to do it justice and not just kind of cop it out. If we were going to do it, we wanted to make sure that we did it. So we were so happy. That's kind of one of the points of my, if you want to call it a career, where I was like, "Wow, I really feel like I did something cool there."

That was really exciting. We got to travel somewhere exotic for work. It's sort of quite high up on what I wish I could do for a job. And we were very lucky to do it. And I feel that we worked really hard. It wasn't a vacation, by any means. We were up every morning by seven. It was a lot of work.

DR: it was a long day.

JH: But it was enjoyable. We live to work. Not many people can say that. A lot of people work to live.

What were your personal highlights of 2008?
DR: You know what was really neat, actually? We played a democratic rally in Halifax. It was a free show outside of City Hall to celebrate 200 years of democracy.

JH: We smoked a doobie in City Hall.

DR: Yeah, probably the oldest government building in all of Canada.

JH: We smoked a doobie in it.

DR: We got to party with the Trailer Park Boys this year. That was pretty cool. They were rad dudes.

JH: I grew up a trailer park boy. I didn't live in a trailer, but...

DR: I've got that covered for you.

JH: ...but that was how you did things.

DR: Yeah, four o'clock in the morning and who walks through the door but Julian. Julian and his buddy, and they've got beer. That was really funny and kind of surreal for a second.

JH: We're really blessed guys. We've done a lot of things and seen a lot of things that I didn't think I was ever going to get a chance to do in my life. And it's opened doors for me to be able to take steps that I didn't even fathom in my lifetime.

All of a sudden, from here where I am now, there are so many more opportunities that I feel like I can push myself to achieve as a result of having done something that I didn't think I could do.

DR: There are way more city halls in Canada than just one.

Snow Patrol Change It Up

Kate Harper — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 15:40:15 -0600

When it came time to write and record their fifth album, A Hundred Million Suns, Snow Patrol wanted to do a few things differently. The end of the tour cycle for 2006's Eyes Open, which turned them into rock stars, made them wonder what to do next.

The result was an album which drummer Jonny Quinn says is very different from previous releases. The band consciously and unconsciously changed the songwriting process, which resulted in an album that's much happier than their last few releases.

CHARTattack spoke to Quinn about how those changes came to fruition and Snow Patrol's slight change in direction.

CHARTattack: Can you tell me a bit about the writing and recording process for A Hundred Million Suns?
Jonny Quinn: It was very difficult and very stressful. We don't quite know what we're creating until we're in the studio, and then it becomes what it is. We decided not to go the route of "Chasing Cars" and "Run," and we wanted to take the strings out of it and put in brass and other instruments instead.

You guys are known over here for your ballads. I don't know about over there. Why did you want to steer away from them this time around?
Well, we just didn't want to do the same thing again. We realize we're known for "Chasing Cars" and "Run." It's interesting for us to explore new ways to get people to be interested in Snow Patrol.

I know you worked with Jacknife Lee again. What's so great about him? You've worked with him since Final Straw, right?
I think he does the job better than anybody. The first album that he ever produced was Final Straw, and then he went on to produce R.E.M., U2, Bloc Party, Editors... We just sort of grew up with him, and every time we do an album he'd come back with ideas, and we just felt comfortable working with him again. He kind of works every time, and we don't want to change it, but maybe next time we will.

In trying to make the record a little bit different than the last one, do you think you were successful in the end?
I think we just tried different ways of playing and we had some drum lessons and some guitar lessons and we had sort of tried to use different instruments than we had before and experiment a bit more. Normally, we'd done just traditional guitar, bass, drums, keyboards kind of things. We tried to mix it up a bit and bring different influences in.

It's not really late in the game for you guys to be successful, but is it strange having success now as opposed to when you first started?
Oh, yeah. It's really strange because when we started, no one cared. We were waiting for the phone to ring. A lot of our ideas haven't changed, but we just got a bit more organized. We're still the same band. Even if this album doesn't do what Eyes Open does, like if it doesn't sell a few million, we don't care. What we want to do is make something we're really proud of and, if it happens, it happens. We just need to be hard on ourselves and progress.

CHARTattack Staff Top 10s Lists

Tue, 23 Dec 2008 15:00:37 -0600

Here are the top 10 (or five) album lists from individual CHARTattack staff members and contributing writers and photographers:

Edward Skira, Publisher
JASON ANDERSON The Hopeful And The Unafraid
THE APPLES IN STEREO Electronic Projects For Musicians
THE BLUE SEEDS The Blue Seeds
THE CLASH Live At Shea Stadium
COLOURMUSIC F, Monday, Orange, February, Venus, Lunatic, 1 Or 13
DARK MEAT Universal Indians Expanded Edition
ELLIOTT BROOD Mountain Meadows
THE GREEN HOUR BAND The Green Hour Band
SARA MELSON Dirty Mind
SERENA MANEESH S-M Backwards

Aaron Brophy, Managing Editor
1. PORTISHEAD Third
2. THE LAST SHADOW PUPPETS The Age Of The Understatement
3. D-SISIVE The Book
4. CANCER BATS Hail Destroyer
5. GRAVEYARD Graveyard
6. DAVID VANDERVELDE Waiting For The Sunrise
7. THE MOONDOGGIES Don't Be A Stranger
8. LYKKI LI Youth Novels
9. THE DEARS Missiles
10. SAM ROBERTS Love At The End Of The World

Steve McLean, News Editor
1. FOXBORO HOT TUBS Stop Drop And Roll!!!
2. GARFIELDS BIRTHDAY Let Them Eat Cake
3. GENTLEMAN JESSE AND HIS MEN Gentleman Jesse And His Men
4. THE ONE NIGHT BAND Hit & Run
5. THE BASEBALL PROJECT Volume 1: Frozen Ropes And Dying Quails
6. CARBON/SILICON The Last Post
7. LOS CAMPESINOS! Hold On Now, Youngster...
8. RAYGUN COWBOYS Raygun Cowboys
9. HAYES CARLL Trouble In Mind
10. DRIVE-BY TRUCKERS Brighter Than Creation's Dark

Kate Harper, Associate Editor
1. ARKELLS Jackson Square
2. RYAN ADAMS & THE CARDINALS Cardinology
3. ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS Forest Of Tears
4. MARTHA WAINWRIGHT I Know You're Married But I've Got Feelings Too
5. LIGHTSPEED CHAMPION Falling Off The Lavender Bridge
6. MICHAEL FRANTI & SPEARHEAD All Rebel Rockers
7. HEY ROSETTA! Into Your Lungs (And Around In Your Heart And On Through Your Blood)
8. VAMPIRE WEEKEND Vampire Weekend
9. JUSTIN RUTLEDGE Man Descending
10. JUSTIN TOWNES EARLE The Good Life

Jen White, Associate Editor
1. PLANTS AND ANIMALS Parc Avenue
2. BORN RUFFIANS Red, Yellow & Blue
3. WILL CURRIE & THE COUNTRY FRENCH A Great Stage
4. ELLIOTT BROOD Mountain Meadows
5. LOS CAMPESINOS! Hold On Now, Youngster...
6. KAISER CHIEFS Off With Their Heads
7. SLOAN Parallel Play
8. MY MORNING JACKET Evil Urges
9. FLIGHT OF THE CONCHORDS Flight Of The Conchords
10. DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE Narrow Stairs

Chris Burland, Charts Editor
1. VAMPIRE WEEKEND Vampire Weekend
2. THE NOTWIST The Devil, You + Me
3. HOPEFUL MONSTER Metatasking
4. MOTORPSYCHO Little Lucid Moments
5. ELLIOTT BROOD Mountain Meadows
6. HILOTRONS Happymatic
7. DAMIEN JURADO Caught In The Trees
8. ELIZABETH SHEPHERD Parkdale
9. THE BICYCLES Oh No, It's Love
10. SEUN KUTI & EGYPT 80 Seun Kuti & Eygpt 80

Danielle Holke, Interactive Producer
BECK Modern Guilt
VEDA HILLE This Riot Life
FLIGHT OF THE CONCHORDS Flight Of The Conchords
THE NOTWIST The Devil, You + Me
STEREOLAB Chemical Chords
ANI DIFRANCO Red Letter Year
DAVID BYRNE & BRIAN ENO Everything That Happens Will Happen Today
BEN FOLDS Way To Normal
BON IVER For Emma, Forever Ago
THE SMITHS The Sound Of The Smiths

Richard Beland, Contributing Photographer
1. ROBERT PLANT AND ALISON KRAUSS Raising Sand
2. AC/DC Black Ice
3. THE RACONTEURS Consolers Of The Lonely
4. THE CURE 4:13 Dream
5. ROMNEY GETTY Ramblin' Girl
6. MY MORNING JACKET Evil Urges
7. METALLICA Death Magnetic
8. THE ROLLING STONES Shine A Light Soundtrack
9. THE BLACK CROWES Warpaint
10. COLDPLAY Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends

Scott Bryson, Contributing Writer
1. ADAM & THE AMETHYSTS Amethyst Amulet
2. THE KILLS Midnight Boom
3. DR. DOG Fate
4. CONSTANTINES Kensington Heights
5. JENNY LEWIS Acid Tongue
6. DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE Narrow Stairs
7. DEERHUNTER Microcastle
8. OLD MAN LUEDECKE Proof Of Love
9. LONGWAVE Secrets Are Sinister
10. SEBASTIAN GRAINGER & THE MOUNTAINS Sebastian Grainger & The Mountains

Keith Carman, Contributing Writer
1. TOXIC HOLOCAUST An Overdose Of Death
2. LORDS Fuck All Y'All Motherfuckers
3. CURSED III: Architects Of Troubled Sleep
4. ARSON ANTHEM Arson Anthem
5. MOTORHEAD Motorizer
6. OUTLAW ORDER Dragging Down The Enforcer
7. D.O.A. Northern Avenger
8. HANK WILLIAMS III Damn Right Rebel Proud
9. FUCK THE FACTS Disgorge Mexico
10. THE SUPERSUCKERS Get It Together!

Shawn Despres, Contributing Writer
1. FUCKED UP The Chemistry Of Common Life
2. GIRL TALK Feed The Animals
3. BORIS Smile
4. THE ROOTS Rising Down
5. CONSTANTINES Kensington Heights
6. BRENDAN CANNING Something For All Of Us...
7. VAMPIRE WEEKEND Vampire Weekend
8. MASS OF THE FERMENTING DREGS Mass Of The Fermenting Dregs
9. THE DEATH SET Worldwide
10. GUNS N' ROSES Chinese Democracy

Evan Dickson, Contributing Writer
1. SEBASTIEN GRAINGER & THE MOUNTAINS Sebastien Grainger And The Mountains
2. GIRL TALK Feed The Animals
3. THE DODOS Visiter
4. EL GUINCHO Alegranza
5. JAY REATARD Singles 06-07

Moya Dillon, Contributing Writer
1. THE RACONTEURS Consolers Of The Lonely
2. ADELE 19
3. COLDPLAY Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends
4. JACK JOHNSON Sleep Through The Static
5. KINGS OF LEON Only By The Night
6. VAMPIRE WEEKEND Vampire Weekend
7. ERIC HUTCHINSON Sounds Like This
8. DUFFY Rockferry
9. THAO We Brave Bee Stings and All
10. THE VERVE Forth

Aaron Foster, Contributing Writer
1. DEERHUNTER Microcastle
2. BRIAN BORCHERDT Coyotes
3. BON IVER For Emma, Forever Ago
4. TV ON THE RADIO Dear Science
5. GLASVEGAS Glasvegas
6. SIGUR ROS Með Suð Í Eyrum Við Spilum Endalaust
7. WOMEN Women
8. M83 Saturdays = Youth
9. BRITISH SEA POWER Do You Like Rock Music?
10. THE DEARS Missles

Cameron Gordon, Contributing Writer
1. LIL' WAYNE Tha Carter III
2. MOGWAI The Hawk Is Howling
3. NICK CAVE AND THE BAD SEEDS Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!
4. CONOR OBERST Conor Oberst
5. CONSTANTINES Kensington Heights
6. GIRL TALK Feed The Animals
7. FUCKED UP The Chemistry Of Common Life
8. NO AGE Nouns
9. BLACK MOUNTAIN In The Future
10. R.E.M. Accelerate

Caitlin Hotchkiss, Contributing Writer
1. KILL HANNAH Hope For The Hopeless
2. TORCHE Meanderthal
3. INNERPARTYSYSTEM Innerpartysystem
4. BAUHAUS Go Away White
5. THE FAINT Fasciinatiion
6. DIE MANNEQUIN Unicorn Steak
7. PORTISHEAD Third
8. HAWKSLEY WORKMAN Los Manlicious
9. BLACK MOUNTAIN In The Future
10. MOTLEY CRUE Saints Of Los Angeles

Shehzaad Jiwani, Contributing Writer
1. PORTISHEAD Third
2. YOUNG WIDOWS Old Wounds
3. BLACK MOUNTAIN In The Future
4. HARVEY MILK Life… The Best Game In Town
5. CRYSTAL ANTLERS EP
6. CLOUDS We Are Above You
7. THESE ARMS ARE SNAKES Tail Swallower & Dove
8. THE SEA AND CAKE Car Alarm
9. LADYHAWK Shots
10. DEERHOOF Offend Maggie

Aisha Khan, Contributing Writer
1. BORIS Smile
2. PORTISHEAD Third
3. TV ON THE RADIO Dear Science
4. NINE INCH NAILS Ghosts I-IV
5. THE DEARS Missiles

Sarah Kurchak, Contributing Writer
1. D-SISIVE The Book
2. THE WAKING EYES Holding On To Whatever It Is
3. THE DEARS Missiles
4. LIGHTS Lights
5. DANKO JONES Never Too Loud
6. SANTOGOLD Santogold
7. LADYTRON Velocifero
8. BODIES OF WATER A Certain Feeling
9. CSS Donkey
10. WOVENHAND Ten Stones

Jill Langlois, Contributing Writer
1. WINTER GLOVES About A Girl
2. PLANTS AND ANIMALS Parc Avenue
3. CONSTANTINES Kensington Heights
4. FOALS Antidotes
5. KINGS OF LEON Only By The Night
6. SAM ROBERTS BAND Love At The End Of The World
7. THE BLACK KEYS Attack & Release
8. THE STILLS Oceans Will Rise
9. THE COAST Expatriate
10. MOTHER MOTHER O My Heart

Erik Leijon, Contributing Writer
1. WOLF PARADE At Mount Zoomer
2. LIL WAYNE Tha Carter III
3. PLANTS AND ANIMALS Parc Avenue
4. COOL KIDS The Bake Sale EP
5. CUT COPY In Ghost Colours
6. HERCULES AND LOVE AFFAIR Hercules And Love Affair
7. WINTER GLOVES About A Girl
8. CRYSTAL CASTLES Crystal Castles
9. TV ON THE RADIO Dear Science
10. COEUR DE PIRATE Coeur De Pirate

Jessica Lewis, Contributing Writer
1. PLANTS AND ANIMALS Parc Avenue
2. FOALS Antidotes
3. CUT COPY In Ghost Colours
4. TIM FITE Fair Ain't Fair
5. SHE & HIM Volume One
6. THE TING TINGS We Started Nothing
7. GIRL TALK Feed the Animals
8. SAM ROBERTS BAND Love At The End Of The World
9. WOODHANDS Heart Attack
10. THE DANKS Samples

David Leyes, Contributing Photographer
1. BECK Modern Guilt
2. RUN WITH THE KITTENS Cad Gold, Jr.
3. DAVID WILCOX Boy In The Boat
4. M.I.A Kala
5. KATIE PERRY One Of The Boys

Matt Littlefair, Contributing Writer
1. TV ON THE RADIO Dear Science
2. WOLF PARADE At Mount Zoomer
3. DEERHUNTER Microcastle/Weird Era Cont.
4. BORN RUFFIANS Red, Yellow & Blue
5. M83 Saturdays = Youth
6. NO AGE Nouns
7. PORTISHEAD Third
8. DEPARTMENT OF EAGLES In Ear Park
9. VIVIAN GIRLS Vivian Girls
10. PLANTS AND ANIMALS Parc Avenue

Noah Love, Contributing Writer
1. DEERHUNTER Microcastle/Weird Era Cont.
2. WOLF PARADE At Mount Zoomer
3. FUCKED UP The Chemistry Of Common Life
4. NICK CAVE & THE BAD SEEDS Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!
5. PORTISHEAD Third
6. BORN RUFFIANS Red, Yellow & Blue
7. JAY REATARD Singles '08
8. BLACK MOUNTAIN In The Future
9. VIVIAN GIRLS Vivian Girls
10. NO AGE Nouns

Sheena Lyonnais, Contributing Writer
1. THE STILLS Oceans Will Rise
2. ALKALINE TRIO Agony And Irony
3. MGMT Oracular Spectacular
4. THE TING TINGS We Started Nothing
5. THE CREEPSHOW Run For Your Life
6. DEF LEPPARD Songs From the Sparkle Lounge
7. JASON COLLETT Here's To Being Here
8. GOLDFINGER Hello Destiny
9. DIE MANNEQUIN Unicorn Steak
10. SEMI-PRECIOUS WEAPONS We Love You

Natalia Manzocco, Contributing Writer
1. ENTIRE CITIES Deep River
2. THE DRESS WHITES My God, The Shame!
3. BORN RUFFIANS Red, Yellow & Blue
4. THE BICYCLES Oh No, It's Love
5. THE SUPERFANTASTICS Choose Your Destination EP
6. SLOAN Parallel Play
7. NADA SURF Lucky
8. BEN FOLDS Way To Normal
9. LOS CAMPESINOS! We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed
10. LAURA BARRETT Victory Garden

Jason McLoughlin, Contributing Photographer
1. WEEZER The Red Album
2. CITY AND COLOUR Bring Me Your Love
3. COLDPLAY Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends
4. PINK Funhouse
5. KATY PERRY One Of The Boys
6. HELLO BEAUTIFUL Soundtrack For Scenario
7. SAM ROBERTS BAND Love At The End Of The World
8. JACK JOHNSON Sleep Through The Static
9. DIE MANNEQUIN Unicorn Steak
10. PORTISHEAD Third

Andre Mihsin, Contributing Writer
1. NACTMYSTIUM Assassins: Black Meddle, Part 1
2. OPETH Watershed
3. GOJIRA The Way Of All Flesh
4. GUNS N' ROSES Chinese Democracy
5. MESHUGGAH ObZen
6. SAHG SAHG II
7. THE SWORD Gods Of The Earth
8. HELLHAMMER Demon Entrails
9. ARSON ANTHEM Arson Anthem
10. HANK WILLIAMS III Damn Right Rebel Proud

Erik Missio, Contributing Writer
1. TV ON THE RADIO Dear Science
2. THE DEARS Missiles
3. SONS AND DAUGHTERS This Gift
4. ENTIRE CITIES Deep River
5. THE STREETS Everything Is Borrowed
6. DANKO JONES Never Too Loud
7. THE WEEK THAT WAS The Week That Was
8. THE RACONTEURS Consolers Of The Lonely
9. GLASVEGAS Glasvegas
10. VAMPIRE WEEKEND Vampire Weekend

Trevor Morelli, Contributing Writer
1. TOKYO POLICE CLUB Elephant Shell
2. THE HOLD STEADY Stay Positive
3. THE RACONTEURS Consolers Of The Lonely
4. DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE Narrow Stairs
5. KINGS OF LEON Only By The Night
6. RISE AGAINST Appeal To Reason
7. COLDPLAY Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends
8. GIRL TALK Feed The Animals
9. ARKELLS Jackson Square
10. MGMT Oracular Spectacular

Alyssa Noel, Contributing Writer
1. VAMPIRE WEEKEND Vampire Weekend
2. THE HOLD STEADY Stay Positive
3. KINGS OF LEON Only By The Night
2. ELLIOTT BROOD Mountain Meadows
5. BON IVER For Emma, Forever Ago
6. BORN RUFFIANS Red, Yellow & Blue
7. HOT CHIP Made In The Dark
8. JASON COLLETT Here's To Being Here
9. SAM ROBERTS Love At The End Of The World
10. DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE Narrow Stairs

Quinn Omori, Contributing Writer
1. THE HOLD STEADY Stay Positive
2. CHAD VANGAALEN Soft Airplane
3. BLACK MOUNTAIN In The Future
4. WOMEN Women
5. MARNIE STERN This Is It And I Am It And You Are It And So Is That And He Is It And She Is It And It Is It And That Is That
6. SHE & HIM Volume One
7. NO AGE Nouns
8. LAND OF TALK Some Are Lakes
9. VAMPIRE WEEKEND Vampire Weekend
10. TV ON THE RADIO Dear Science

John Papamarko, Contributing Writer/Photographer
1. WOLF PARADE At Mount Zoomer
2. BON IVER For Emma, Forever Ago
3. PORTISHEAD Third
4. FLEET FOXES Fleet Foxes
5. LOS CAMPESINOS! We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed
6. M83 Saturday = Youth
7. OKKERVIL RIVER The Stand Ins
8. PLANTS & ANIMALS Parc Avenue
9. CONSTANTINES Kensington Heights
10. TV ON THE RADIO Dear Science

Brian Pascual, Contributing Writer
1. THE WALKMEN You & Me
2. DEERHUNTER Microcastle
3. VAMPIRE WEEKEND Vampire Weekend
4. BORN RUFFIANS Red, Yellow & Blue
5. SHE & HIM Volume One
6. NO AGE Nouns
7. TOKYO POLICE CLUB Elephant Shell
8. RA RA RIOT The Rhumb Line
9. LOVE IS ALL A Hundred Things Keep Me Up At Night
10. CRYSTAL STILTS Alight Of Night

Michelle Singerman, Contributing Writer
1. BOB DYLAN Tell Tale Signs — The Bootleg Series Vol. 8
2. AC/DC Black Ice
3. B.B. KING One Kind Favor
4. GUNS N' ROSES Chinese Democracy
5. CONSTANTINES Kensington Heights

James Tennant, Contributing Writer
1 R.E.M. Accelerate
2 KINGS OF LEON Only By The Night
3 FLEET FOXES Fleet Foxes
4 BORIS Smile
5 BON IVER For Emma, Forever Ago
6 MARDEEN Read Less Minds
7 THROW ME THE STATUE Moonbeams
8 METALLICA Death Magnetic
9 AFTERNOONS IN STEREO The City Is Sleeping
10 CINDERPOP A Lesson In Science

Cheryl Thompson, Contributing Writer
1. NOEL GOURDIN After My Time
2. SEUN KUTI & FELA'S EGYPT 80 Many Things
3. ERYKAH BADU New Amerykah: Part 1 (4th World War)
4. JENNIFER HUDSON Jennifer Hudson
5. KARDINAL OFFISHALL Not For Sale
6. Q-TIP The Renaissance
7. DWELE Sketches Of A Man
8. MARIAH CAREY E=MC²
9. RAPHAEL SAADIQ The Way I See It
10. THE ROOTS Rising Down

Phil Villeneuve, Contributing Writer
1. CUT COPY In Ghost Colours
2. ARIANE MOFFATT Tous Les Sens
3. FLEET FOXES Fleet Foxes
4. JASON COLLETT Here's To Being Here
5. JAMIE LIDELL Jim
6. PLANTS AND ANIMALS Parc Avenue
7. PORTISHEAD Third
8. THE RUBY SUNS Sea Lion
9. JAZMINE SULLIVAN Fearless
10. DUFFY Rockferry

Josh Visser, Contributing Writer
1. GUNS N' ROSES Chinese Democracy
2. LOS CAMPESINOS! Hold On Now, Youngster...
3. SIGUR ROS Með Suð í Eyrum Við Spilum Endalaust
4. PLANTS AND ANIMALS Parc Avenue
5. THE HOLD STEADY Stay Positive
6. BLACK MOUNTAIN In The Future
7. MY MORNING JACKET Evil Urges
8. GIRL TALK Feed The Animals
9. FLIGHT OF THE CONCHORDS Flight Of The Conchords
10. NINE INCH NAILS The Slip

Zack Vitiello, Contributing Writer
1. CUT COPY In Ghost Colours
2. HERCULES & LOVE AFFAIR Hercules & Love Affair
3. FLEET FOXES Fleet Foxes
4. GIRL TALK Feed The Animals
5. BRENDAN CANNING Something For All Of Us…
6. WOLF PARADE At Mount Zoomer
7. DEPARTMENT OF EAGLES In Ear Park
8. FUCKED UP The Chemistry of Common Life
9. HOT CHIP Made In The Dark
10. M83 Saturdays = Youth

Shannon Webb-Campbell, Contributing Writer
1. FLEET FOXES Fleet Foxes
2. RAE SPOON Superioryouareinferior
3. TANYA DAVIS Gorgeous Morning
4. HEY ROSETTA! Into Your Lungs (And Around In Your Lungs And On In Your Blood)
5. SARAH SLEAN The Baroness
6. JILL BARBER Chances
7. HAYDEN In Field And Town
8. STOLEN MINKS High Kicks
9. BRIAN BORCHERDT Coyotes
10. STEREOLAB Chemical Chords

Shannon Whibbs, Contributing Writer
1. FLEET FOXES Fleet Foxes
2. ELLIOTT BROOD Mountain Meadows
3. BON IVER For Emma, Forever Ago
4. FRIGHTENED RABBIT The Midnight Organ Fight
5. DESTROYER Trouble In Dreams
6. THE BUTTLESS CHAPS Cartography
7. THE WEAKERTHANS Reunion Tour
8. R.E.M. Accelerate
9. LAMBCHOP OH (Ohio)
10. SUN KIL MOON April

Jen Zoratti, Contributing Writer
1. DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE Narrow Stairs
2. WOLF PARADE At Mount Zoomer
3. LADYHAWK Shots
4. CADENCE WEAPON Afterparty Babies
5. SEBASTIEN GRAINGER & THE MOUNTAINS Sebastien Grainger & The Mountains
6. STEPHEN MALKMUS & THE JICKS Real Emotional Trash
7. MY MORNING JACKET Evil Urges
8. THE HOLD STEADY Stay Positive
9. TAPES 'N TAPES Walk It Off
10. MGMT Oracular Spectacular

Jag Tanna Serves It Raw

Trevor Morelli — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 14:40:56 -0600

Watch enough reality television and you'll soon realize people tend to act differently when cameras are around.

Former I Mother Earth guitarist Jagori Tanna knows this all too well, and is doing something about it. He's created a series of documentaries titled The Rawside Of..., with the goal of showing the world just how interesting, unusual and difficult a real career in the music industry can be. The show is currently airing on the Independent Film Channel.

I catch Tanna engrossed in the riffs he's recording for J.D. Fortune's new solo record. Luckily, CHARTattack rang him up at the right time and managed to catch him with the headphones off. He's super-excited about the TV show and feels it's important for people to tune in.

CHARTattack: What made you want to make the transition from being a musician to a filmmaker?
Jagori Tanna: I think I need a little more on my resume to consider myself a filmmaker. It's kind of a natural evolution, really. You think of ways to diversify your own creativity. I find it no different than putting a record together.

After IME winded down, I kept my hands in a lot of different things. As a band, we never had a show where you could just sit and talk about what was going on. On tour, there were times when we looked at each other and thought, "Ah, I wish someone was filming this." There's so many areas of other people's lives that I wish people could witness.

So how did you decide which bands and artists you wanted to feature?
The music is one thing, but the real reason I have to hook up with certain bands is because they have something interesting about them.

For instance, Matt [Drake, lead singer of Dodger] is a repo man during the day. He gets off work and rehearses with the band at night. He never sleeps. He comes home from rehearsal and just keeps writing. He has this existence that I just don't understand. You see him by the end of the show and it's three days of no sleep.

What surprised you the most about any bands that you featured on the show?
Nothing. Every band is so different and they wouldn't be there if there wasn't something interesting about each one of them. But nothing shocks me because I've already lived it. All of these things they're going through, I had to go through. It's interesting because every artist has all of these problems in common.

Have you had any feedback on the show so far?
The feedback has been awesome just because it's a real thing. There's no fluff and you're learning things about these artists that you won't see on any other network. People watch it and go, "You know, I didn't listen to this band before, but I want to listen to them now."

The goal is that even if you're not a fan of the music, you'll be a fan of the artist after you watch it. You'll be rooting for them and you want them to do well.

Damn you, basic cable. Any chance this is coming out on DVD?
Oh, yeah. I don't know exactly how that works, but that's the idea for sure.

Why should people check this out?
I think it's important because it's another vehicle that's good for bands. Any music fan can connect with this. And it's important for artists in general to have a solid artistic vehicle they can be proud of, almost like their own album.

The biggest thing for me, too, is that the band is happy. They're like, "This is cool because it's something we get to be more a part of," as opposed to music videos and things. I loved that, to be able to foster a partnership between awesome directors and awesome bands. There's a lot of room for creativity.

What's next for Jag Tanna? More TV? More music?
I've got a million ideas. It's hard to pinpoint. Most of them are music-based, like writing songs.

I'd love to get a second season of this going for sure and develop more ideas. CDs are one thing, but to see bands in this way is different. I also get to score the music, so I'm getting to stretch my legs by playing, too. Producing albums has been a bit of a maze, but it's all really exciting.

Christmas Records Time Forgot

Dan "The Mouth" Lovranski — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 14:06:46 -0600

Do you want to make a fast buck? There's nothing better than taking a hot musical fad and mixing it with everybody's favourite holiday, Christmas. While this marriage of pop music and Xmas has existed for decades, most of the records rarely last past their initial season of release. Some end up becoming iconic, like the ones by Elvis Presley and Bing Crosby, but those are the exceptions.

Since Christmas is about giving, I want to offer these fallen warriors the recognition they deserve for striking while the iron is hot during the only real season of the year you can get away with it. You don't see Brian Setzer doing Easter records, do you?

Here are 10 Christmas records that time forgot:

10. MIRROR IMAGE Disco Noel
What better way to start our Christmas cash-in countdown than with Disco Noel, supposedly recorded by Mirror Image, who, in fact, were probably nothing more than a cheap synthesizer and a lonely programmer.

Take a little wah-wah, some female background singers, a collection of Xmas standards and you're ready to pump that booty up and down that tree covered in glitterballs. This is the classic example of the type of record that would be marketed to parents to buy for their kids in attempt to look somewhat cool. It didn't work.

9. THE WAIKIKIS Merry Christmas In Hawaii
While there's no doubt this one was cashing in on the Hawaiian music fad of the early '60s, it's not a bad record at all, considering The Waikikis were actually a Belgian studio band who released a single in 1964 called "Hawaii Tattoo" that was a top 10 hit.

What's even crazier is the sound leans more to a country pedal steel rather than the Hawaiian. It works great, though, on tracks like "Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer" (originally done by country singer Gene Autry) and "O Tannenbaum," as well originals like "Snow In Hawaii." It's definitely worth the $1.49 you'll pay when you find it at your neighbourhood Goodwill.

8. SY MANN Switched On Santa
In this case, Christmas was used to cash in the Moog synthesizer, which was a pretty big deal in the late '60s since it could make so many bizarre sounds. The first record to really capitalize on this was Switched On Bach by Walter Carlos (who later got a sex change, became Wendy Carlos, and did the soundtrack to A Clockwork Orange). Santa soon jumped on the bandwagon, or, rather, Sy Mann did.

Unfortunately, Switched On Santa is a rather disappointing effort. For an instrument that was so new and radical sounding, this record is pretty tepid. But Mann would find future work. After this record, he did a rip-off soundtrack to Shaft under the name Soul Mann And The Brothers.

7. JACOB MILLER & RAY I Natty Christmas
What Canadian wouldn't like to spend the occasional winter in Jamaica? Natty Christmas can at least get you in the spirit, as Jacob Miller and DJ Ray I lay down the island grooves on this 1978 release. "We Wish You A Merry Christmas" is probably the most trad Xmas number of the bunch, but they definitely have fun with some of the standards like "Silver Bells" and "All I Want For Christmas." And just in case you don't know what Miller is referring to when he wishes for "collie herb," the front cover says it all.

6. A Midnight Christmas Mess
Midnight Records has been a mail-order company that's specialized in vintage garage and psychedelic rock for 30 years. Back in 1984, they released the first of three pretty cool Christmas records that definitely need to be reissued. Side one of A Midnight Christmas Mess was power pop, while side two had the garage rockers.

There are tons of great highlights, including The Tryfles marrying "Angels We Have Heard On High" to garage classic "Gloria," Johnny Rabb's rockabilly "Gotta Get Lucky For Xmas" and even the legendary Screamin' Jay Hawkins with the piano boogie of "It's Xmas." Just don't stare at the cover too long.

5. THE YOBS The Yobs Christmas Album
This 1980 album is the one to put on when you want to clear mom, dad and the rest of the family from the room. This is scuzzy punk rock, and probably the most disgusting Christmas has ever sounded. While their pornographic version of "The Twelve Days Of Christmas" is quite funny with all its talk of whores, masturbating and vibrators, other tracks like "Silent Night" accompanied by Hitler speeches are incredibly tasteless... even for punk. The Yobs, by the way, were actually The Boys (clever, eh?), a power-pop-punk band of the time.

4. THE SPIRIT OF CHRISTMAS Lies To Live By
This one isn't technically a Christmas record, but I couldn't pass up including a band stupid enough to name themselves Christmas and then not play any Christmas music.

These guys were Canadian prog rockers from the early '70s and were simply called "Christmas" to start. But they changed it to The Spirit Of Christmas by the time of this album just to make it even more confusing. The music is great, but the name totally killed them, and it wasn't until Mannheim Steamroller that we got a prog Christmas record. Unfortunately, they've totally overdone it with nine of them, including their latest, Christmasville.

3. SPINAL TAP "Christmas With The Devil"
While promoting This Is Spinal Tap in May 1984, the band appeared on Saturday Night Live. Instead of doing a song that was featured in the film, they debuted this magnificent ditty. It features some of the best Christmas lyrics ever, including "The rats ate all the presents and the reindeer ran away." This ultra rare 45 (since it only went out as a promo to radio stations) features a scratch mix version on the reverse that begins with a record being scratched.

2. ROTARY CONNECTION Peace
This is my all-time Christmas fave.

Rotary Connection were a mixed group with an R&B base, but encompassed a lot of rock and psychedelic elements. Peace was their third album, released in 1968, and is often readily dismissed as just another Christmas record. It's far more, though, and this is an amazing collection of original tunes (plus a blistering rock version of "Silent Night") that covers the typical ideals of the time — peace and love.

It might sound somewhat naive to some of you who are more jaded, but if I'm going to listen to a song about the Christ child, I'll pick "Christmas Child," with its funky beat, over "Away In A Manger" any day of the season. It also features the best Christmas song ever, "Peace At Last," which finally explains why Santa comes down the chimney rather than through the front door (he's high as a kite on mistletoe).

1. THE BEATLES The Beatles Christmas Album
Since the theme of this little piece has been to focus on people taking advantage of the Christmas season to make a fast buck, it's completely unfathomable that this record has still never had an official release almost 40 years after it was put together. It may not be a traditional Xmas record, but it's an amazing document.

Starting in 1963, the Official Beatles Fan Club issued a special 45 every year that was exclusive to members. It featured the Fab Four giving a special greeting. When the band broke up, they collected them all on one album that only went to club members.

Besides being pretty funny (many of the pieces are elaborate, absurd skits in the style of The Goon Show or Monty Python), it brilliantly illustrates The Beatles' career in a way that no documentary could. It moves from the early camaraderie (making fun of the bad copy they've been given to read) on the first tracks to the latter discs where they all hate each other and they do their bits individually. It's an amazing document if you can find it.

23 Things I Learned About Life By Watching Nardwuar The Human Serviette's New DVD, Welcome To My Castle

Logan Broger — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 10:50:05 -0600

Special Intern Assignment!

23 Things I Learned About Life By Watching Nardwuar The Human Serviette's New DVD, Welcome To My Castle

1. I am welcome to Nardwuar's castle… which seems to be a tree stump on the edge of a forest that his band plays beside.
2. Repeating the line "welcome to my castle" for two minutes qualifies as both "music" and "song."
3. Dope is for dopes.
4. People don't like Vox organ schematic diagrams.
5. Robert Plant is one of the nicest men in the world, according to Alannah Myles.
6. You can meditate to punk music.
7. If someone licks a microphone, and then you lick it, it's the same thing as if you've licked that other person.
8. Guys who wear toques in clubs don't get any.
9. Gymnastic instructors make horrible money.
10. Chocolate pudding + corn = believable fake poop.
11. Back in Nardwuar's day, magazines only cost a dollar.
12. If you're a drummer now, you might end up being a drug addict later.
13. Teen Screen magazine is perfect for pedophiles.
14. People don't like random kids coming to their door asking questions about their daughters.
15. Not believing in God is ignorant.
16. Vancouver girls like old men.
17. Drawing on Nardwuar's face with a marker is funny.
18. Standing up in a convertible is apparently not dangerous nor against the law in Vancouver.
19. Jimmy Pattison, the sixth richest Canadian, likes to show off his mansion security system to teenagers at Halloween.
20. Led Zeppelin, The Who and The Beatles are all Sonic Youth clone bands.
21. Americans have respect for Canadians, at least according to former U.S. president Gerald Ford.
22. Nardwuar looks like Mark David Chapman, the guy who killed John Lennon.
23. Led Zeppelin have high intellects, as high as Picasso.

The following Grist story was from our December 2007 issue. To purchase the issue, head on over to the Chart Shop.

Sunset Rubdown Understanding Their Gloom Takes Effort

Alyssa Noel — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 10:46:03 -0600

They say you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, but that adage clearly doesn't apply to album art.

On the back of Random Spirit Lover, the new Sunset Rubdown disc slated to be released Oct. 9, there's a photo of a devil-like beast with a green wrinkled sneer, curled horns and twisted claws. This terrifying creature speaks volumes about the songs within the jewel case.

"There's definitely some dark moments," admits guitarist Michael Doerksen. "There was a lot of talk of horror movies when we were recording it, so we were in that zone."

In "The Courtesan Has Sung," one of the strongest tracks, Spencer Krug's unmistakable yelp surmises, "Morticians must have took you for a whore."

But characteristically for Krug, the unsettling lyrics are delivered with such deadpan that you hardly notice their morbidity.

Darkness aside, the album is wholly inaccessible to the average listener who plans to jump through it on their iPod. It takes work to enjoy and Doerksen is proud of that.

"I think it's a little demanding, a little grating," he says. "A record like that is my favourite kind... It takes a little effort on the part of the listener."

This Listen Up article is from the October 2007 issue of Chart Magazine. You can purchase the issue in the Chart Shop.

Stars Place Their Bets On Humanity

Scott Bryson — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 09:43:28 -0600

Montreal's pop romantics herald the end of their war

As far as wars go, this one was a particularly bloody affair. Murders were committed. Fascist soccer hooligans fell in love while beating people. Drug addicts rioted and spent the night in jail. Though it seemed for a while like humanity might be irredeemable, the battle eventually ended peacefully in a bedroom.

Stars' fourth full-length, In Our Bedroom After The War, may seem like a political statement on the surface, but it's more a declaration of the way the altruistic five-piece feel about humanity. Sure, we're violent, vindictive and generally apathetic towards others' feelings, but Stars are betting we'll all wake up one day and find we've become better people.

"After a very personal war you've had with someone else or even with yourself," bassist Evan Cranley says, "you're left alone in a room with four white walls to kind of look at yourself again and to be born again. That was the idea of the record."

Like the disc's title, the music on In Our Bedroom carries a double-edged sword. Stars make just about the prettiest songs you'll find in pop today, but the lyrics they weave throughout the album's 13 tracks are mostly sad, scary or downright perverse.

"I would say there's definitely some intense darkness," Cranley elaborates, "but also some intense joy and light to the record… I think we're getting better at being dark and then letting go and being joyful and then letting go."

Though their lyrics would suggest Stars are an especially literary bunch, it turns out it's the music that's their paramount concern. Over the course of their last two releases, Heart and Set Yourself On Fire, the pop-romantique warriors have been honing a sound that's growing increasingly grandiose and becoming the focus of their efforts. In Our Bedroom was mapped out musically before words were even a consideration.

"It starts with the music and builds from the music and then the lyrics are added," Cranley explains. "Myself and Chris Seligman and Pat McGee pretty much scored the record and demoed the record in its musical form. Torq [Campbell] and Amy [Millan] write lyrics on their own time and come in, and I think are sometimes inspired by the music that we make, and sing over top of those musical ideas.

"Everyone in the band really has a very specific function as to what they bring to the band. It's never just one person — it's really an artistic democracy."

When they had In Our Bedroom mixed and mastered, the Stars' democracy decided to immediately put it up for sale on the internet, handing it to iTunes and other online vendors a scant four days after completion. While deterring theft and leaks was partly behind the decision to go with an early digital release, Cranley likes to look at it from another perspective.

"We wanted to do something unconventional and maybe shake things up and shake up the industry a bit," he says. "It got the people that like us excited about the new record in a way that seeing a commercial on television or seeing a poster on the street could never do… It made it special for people…

"I think in this day and age that the power of making music has actually gone into the hands of the artist in a way that hasn't happened in a long time. You can make a record and just throw it out on the internet and see if it sticks, and I think that's a really powerful place to be as a musician right now."

bonus sidebar
War Stories

Stars had kooky author Daniel Handler (a.k.a. Lemony Snicket) pen a short story for In Our Bedroom After The War's liner notes. While writing fiction is Handler's primary occupation, this isn't his first foray into the world of music. He played accordion for The Gothic Archies and also lent a hand to the Magnetic Fields' 69 Love Songs.

The following feature is taken from the December 2007 issue of Chart Magazine. To purchase the issue, head on over to the Chart Shop.

Stompin' Tom: Rebel With A Cause

Steve McLean — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 09:32:44 -0600

When asked who Canada's biggest punk stars are, many would say Billy Talent or Alexisonfire. They'd be wrong. Canada's top punk is a 72-year-old with a song called "Lady Slipper" on his new album: Stompin' Tom Connors.

Why? He's done things his own way over more than 40 years and 50 albums, and he still won't take any shit from those who don't like it. Connors is fiercely nationalistic, so much so that he returned his six Juno Awards and retired at the height of his popularity to protest the Americanization of the Canadian music industry. He was finally convinced to come back in 1988, but his patriotic views haven't wavered — and don't get him started on how much he hates anti-smoking bylaws. On top of that, he still parties harder than people a quarter of his age.

I get a cold beer for myself and a less cold brew for Connors (because that's the way he likes them) when I sit down to talk with the living legend at his kitchen table in early October. He tells me that every province but Manitoba and Saskatchewan are represented on his new EMI Music Canada album, The Ballad Of Stompin' Tom, and that he re-recorded fan favourite "The Hockey Song" for the LP because he thought that the original sounded too thin. But despite it being the most obvious choice to become the new Hockey Night In Canada theme, and the fact that he would have been honoured to have it used, Connors didn't enter it in the public contest held to find a successor to Dolores Claman's familiar anthem.

"I haven't had any overtures or fuck-all," he says of the silence from Canada's national broadcaster. "If the CBC doesn't know that Stompin' Tom has a song called 'The Hockey Song,' then what planet are we livin' on?

"I'm not a new guy startin' on the block. I'm not goin' to say, 'Oh, by the way, CBC, I have a song out here called "The Hockey Song," would you like to hear it?'"

A new version of "My Hockey Mom" also appears on The Ballad Of Stompin' Tom, but Connors doesn't want to entertain any thoughts about U.S. Republican vice-presidential candidate and self-professed "hockey mom" Sarah Palin adopting it as her theme.

"I don't give a fuck about Sarah Palin or any of them down there," Connors says between sips of Moosehead and puffs of the cigarette that's never too far from his lips.

That "any of them" applies to American performers, and Canadians who've gone south of the border to find fame and fortune.

"I can't listen to radio anymore because they don't play any songs that are identifiably Canadian," explains Connors. "I'm interested in my country.

"So if I can hear somethin' in the media that relates to Canada, I'm interested. Why should I be interested in another country before I'm interested in Canada?"

Connors' music has struck the right note with Canadians of all ages. Despite getting rid of his Junos, his trophy room is full of plaques, awards, honorary degrees and other mementos from a remarkable career that includes such instantly recognizable songs as "Bud The Spud" and "Sudbury Saturday Night." Next year, Canada Post will issue a Stompin' Tom stamp.

Connors likes to keep his music simple so that his innate storytelling ability can shine through. It's almost impossible not to smile and stomp along when he works up a head of steam on "Big Joe Mufferaw" or "Red River Jane" and vivid images run through your brain. He wouldn't want it any other way.

"My music is all about the lyrics," Connors explains. "Let's face it, I'm no fuckin' Einstein in the music industry. I'm a three-chord man."

Stompin' Tom Connors Likes Beer

A lot.

When I told him I was friends with Bruce Eaton, who used to deliver kegs of Upper Canada to his house, he replied, "Bruce is a good guy. He'd bring several kegs, because he knew one wouldn't last too fuckin' long around here."

Connors' son, Tom Jr., explained his dad's brand loyalties over the past 20 years while I sat at the house's impressive bar.

Here's the chronology:

1. Molson Golden, before it seemed to slightly change its recipe and switched to green bottles, which often resulted in "skunky" product.

2. Labatt 50 in the early '90s.

3. Upper Canada after that, because he had an Upper Canada keg fridge in his house.

4. Moosehead today, even though it also comes in green bottles. He likes it so much that he'll even risk up to "six skunky beers" per 24, an effect he says comes from where light shines through at the handle holes, spoiling the beer.

The following feature is taken from the October 2008 issue of Chart Magazine. To purchase the issue, head on over to the Chart Shop.

James Brown's Best Screams

Dan "The Mouth" Lovranski — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 13:09:18 -0600

Although Christmas should be a happy time for all of us, those in the music world will always feel just a bit sadder since one of the greatest soul legends and the man who brought us the funk, James Brown, died on Christmas day two years ago.

And while he's missed by all, he'll never be forgotten because of his bigger than life personality and incredibly powerful voice. Even though he's been dead for two years, the sound of his maniac screaming will never leave our collective heads. It's like he's screaming from beyond the grave, but not in a scary way... more of an oddly comforting one.

With that in mind, here are 10 prime examples of JB at his screaming best:

10. Dick Hyman "Give It Up Or Turn It Loose" from The Age Of Electronicus
This one isn't even a Brown scream. But sometimes you have to step outside the man.

When jazz pianist and organist Dick Hyman began to play around with the Moog synthesizer in the late '60s, he covered JB's "Give It Up Or Turn It Loose" on The Age Of Electronicus. He explains in the liner notes that that he simulates Brown's vocals "electronically by the synthesizer in swooshes, sweeps and explosions of what engineers call, ironically, white noise."

It's a brave attempt, but it was already well-proven by 1969 that no machine could ever duplicate anything about the hardest working man in show business.

9. "Smokin' & Drinkin'" from Soul Syndrome
While it was quite common to hear Brown start off a track with a spectacular scream, he only ever started or ended one coughing his lungs out.

JB made a career out of letting the youth of the world know that he believed they should stay in school and away from bad influences like drugs. Classics like "King Heroin" and "Public Enemy" were hard-hitting raps on these dangers. But by 1980, the message seems somewhat diluted with "Smokin' & Drinkin.'"

He starts off by coughing and exclaiming, "I need some Listerine!" He also hacks his way out, too. Ironically, Brown found himself becoming exactly what he had preached against for so long in the '90s when he fought with wives, shot up bathrooms and had wild car crashes with the cops due to some mighty bad drug abuse.

8. "Down And Out In New York City" from Black Caesar
JB isn't really remembered for his soundtrack work like contemporaries Isaac Hayes and Curtis Mayfield, but he did some that still stands up and, of course, features lots of crazed screaming.

"Down And Out In New York City" was really a bit of a departure for JB, since it sounded like something Mayfield might have done for Superfly, the only soundtrack in history to do better than its film. Check out things from the three-minute mark as JB opens the floodgates for about 24 seconds, letting loose all the pain of being down and out.

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7. "I Got Ants In My Pants (And I Want To Dance)" from Motherlode
The studio equivalent of JB screaming like the proverbial banshee has got to be "I Got Ants In My Pants (And I Want To Dance)."

It kicks off with a scream and, by the middle of the track, there are both short bursts and elongated yelps all over the place. This one even stops a few times just so they can start it all up again with another belt from the master's molten larynx. I guess ants in the pants would make anybody scream, but only JB can pull it off for eight minutes.

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6. "Mother Popcorn" from Sex Machine
Every once in a while, there wasn't much in the way of singing at all, just unadulterated sonic blasts straight from the man's gut. A lot of the time these moments came in the frenzy of the live experience.

So you should experience the recorded live version of "Mother Popcorn," which was released in an edited version on 1970's Sex Machine. The full version appeared on the Foundations Of Funk - A Brand New Bag: 1964-1969 compilation, and the last two minutes of the song is JB constantly shouting.

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5. "I Can't Stand Myself (When You Touch Me)" from Foundations Of Funk - A Brand New Bag: 1964-1969
When JB really got working, he'd have all these elements mixed together in one classic, like the immortal "I Can't Stand Myself (When You Touch Me)."

This one has it all, from the first scream clocking in at the three-second mark to one of the craziest riffs to lock down a funk tune. In its complete unedited form (available on Foundations Of Funk), it runs more than seven minutes and features one of JB's famous workout sessions with the band (the inevitable Part 2 of the 45).

He gets the band to come in all at once when he screams, or as he explains it, "When I say 'OW!' and I say 'OW!' again, and I say 'now!'" How many guys could record band practice and turn it into a hit? And if all this wasn't enough, the original album has a photo of some sweet young things checking out Mr. Dynamite's package!

4. "Brother Rapp" from Slaughter's Big Rip-Off
JB sometimes wouldn't even wait for a song to start before he began screaming.

One of his biggest hits ever, "I Got You (I Feel Good)," starts and ends with a holler. "Give It Up And Turn It Loose" begins with the audio equivalent of sitting on a tack. When he redid "Sex Machine" in 1975, he started it off with a heavily processed disco-electro yelp.

But the best of the thunderbolts that started songs has to be in "Brother Rapp." The title might suggest someone with something to say, but JB quickly establishes that even though he might have something to say, he still feels he has to scream to get our attention. As he became more of a legend and had the world's respect, the screaming seemed to die down.

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3. "Lost Someone" from Live At The Apollo
Live At The Apollo was the record that brought JBrown to national attention and is considered by many to be one of the greatest live albums of all time. The 1962 record includes a lot of screaming from both Brown and the ladies in the crowd.

During his super-extended version of "Lost Someone," JB feeds off the crowd so much that he tells them he has to hear them scream. "Don't just say 'ow,' say OWWW!," he exclaims, "and I believe my work will be done." And you can tell he means every word of it. Again, this became a constant JB device, heard to a frantic degree on Sex Machine during "It's A Man's Man's Man's World."

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2. "Shout And Shimmy"
You can't do much better than "Shout And Shimmy" for screaming intensity. Brown has the rest of the band yelling with him right out of the gate. Ten seconds in, he's already in mid-scream. And while it may get lambasted as being a rip-off of The Isley Brothers' "Shout," this was the one that got covered by The Who and influenced countless other garage bands.

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1. "Baby, You're Right" from Think
Brown began his career in the R&B era of the '50s before moving more towards soul and eventually creating funk. But that doesn't mean he wasn't already screaming his fool head off.

There are countless examples from this period (check out Roots Of A Revolution), but the winner for sheer intensity is "Baby, You're Right," which was written by Joe Tex and recorded in September 1960. The song is almost a dirge with a bit of a swagger, and JB's screaming for a lost love. It's also a great example of a trick Brown used throughout his career: if you can't come up with lyrics, just scream the titles of your past hits.

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Serj Tankian: One Man Army

Andre Mihsin — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 11:48:15 -0600

System Of A Down's frontman has gone solo and not even he knows when his band's getting back together

Serj Tankian, the dynamic frontman of System Of A Down, has just released his Elect The Dead debut solo effort. During the second day of a short but busy promotional tour, Tankian found time to relax with Chart in the intimate confines of Toronto's Opium Room to lay back and shoot the shit.

Chart: When you were planning this solo record, did you ever try singing in another language?
Serj Tankian: I sang a song with a band called Les Rita Mitsouko from Paris. I sang the English version, but I also sang backgrounds on the French version. There's one song I play in Armenian on acoustic guitar, but generally don't sing it out. My mom just loves that. Otherwise, I don't think so.

I think it would be interesting if you wrote an Armenian song and performed it in your own unique style.
I've heard that from other Armenians. It's cool if I write Armenian songs and the six million other Armenians might understand them, but if I write it in another
language I can communicate it to the whole world.

People listen to black metal sung in Norwegian even if they don't understand it.
Even when they sing it in English you're not going to understand with black metal. [laughs]

You're right. You have a song on the record called "Praise The Lord And Pass The Ammunition." It seems that religion and warfare always get mixed up together.
I know exactly what you mean. Religion is never the reason for war, but it's what motivates the masses to do things that they wouldn't normally. Religion is used as a tool for war, even with genocide. The Armenian genocide they always say was a religious thing with the Christian minority, and the holocaust Jews were the minority in Germany. When you really think about it, it wasn't about religion. Most genocides have very strong economic undercurrents usually at a time where the government is suffering from another giant setback, or currency is low and they're able to take these riches from these minorities. It's kind of like gaining this huge revenue stream. Of course, the people are not going to go to war for that purpose, to give money to the government.

So they fight for God.
Yeah.

Your grandfather passed away a couple of months back. How did all the things that he went through influence you?
Him and my grandmother were both genocide survivors and they always told me the story of what happened in their lives and families and why I was never able to complete my family tree because of the genocide. They didn't necessarily politically motivate me, but personally motivated me to find out more, and it made me more active.

Years ago I had this organization called the Genocide Project, and I interviewed survivors of genocides and holocaust. We came by and set up audio cassettes in an interview format and it was a six- or seven-hour session and I held my own video camera. I literally held it in my hand for six hours and taped and kept and made DVD copies and gave them to all my uncles. I haven't even watched them since then, to be honest. Maybe I should.

Other bands have taken breaks from each other to work on separate projects with not nearly as many break-up rumours as the ones surrounding System Of A Down. Why do you have to always remind people you're just on hiatus?
People make their own stories, I guess. We decided to take an indefinite hiatus, which means we have not decided what we are going to do with each other in the future. We've been a band for 11 years. We put out five records. People think we should be a brand like Pepsi and should be putting out stuff every year, but we're not. We're not a corporation, we're a group of artists and friends. When we want to say something with each other and to the world, then we will. And when we don't have anything to say through each other to the world, then we won't. It's as simple as that. We don't want it to be a brand that is completely used all the time to generate us money and other people money. That would be abusive.

To me, we needed time to prioritize other things in our life. The band was a priority for 11 years and everything else was secondary. We needed time to prioritize our own projects, our own lives, and then come together and see if there is room to do stuff in the future or not. Nothing is decided. We're all friends and the door's always open and the possibility is always there.

This feature article is from the November 2007 issue of Chart Magazine. You can purchase the issue in the Chart Shop.