My favourite ten records from the past twelve months.
Playlist
20.
Niina — Honestly, does this smell off to you?
This English producer/singer/rapper’s debut record is varied, surprising and fun as hell. Her self-deprecating humour and confident production lend depth to her multi-genre dancefloor record
19.
No Beauty — No Beauty Will Remain
A lovely and heartfelt collection of indie-folk songs from Hamilton. No Beauty often reminds me of Canadian legends like The Weakerthans and the Rural Alberta Advantage. Singer Helena Alexandra’s twangy, breaking vocal sets a meditative and lovely mood.
18.
Kaeto — INTRO
Kaeto makes weird pop – unusual sounds and samples, mellow melodies and dancefloor beats. Her live performance of many of these songs gave them a completely different context. INTRO is deeper, more complex and more repeatable than other records in the genre.
17.
Math Club — Sleeping in the Sun
Wade Morrison has been releasing heart-on-sleeve emo songs for more than 10 years. Sleeping in the Sun lands somewhere between The Weakerthans and Dashboard Confessional, loaded with references to failed and failing relationships, redemption and small-town life.
16.
Kat Koan — Cocoon
Kat Koan’s Bandcamp-only release is sultry and alluring eur0pop, reminiscent of ’90s sounds of Morcheeba, Hooverphonic and Garbage. The vocal and production are unusually intimate. It’s the first album I ever purchased on Bandcamp.
15.
Bassvictim — Basspunk
Bassvictim is an electropop(ish) duo from London, who makes tracks that are carefully calibrated chaos. Basspunk is the genre title they concocted for their music, and it couldn’t me more apt. It’s vulgar, funny and electifying.
14.
Kee Avil — Spine
Kee Avil’s second album is experimental, noisy, melodic and exhiliarating. Every song is moody, cinematic and filled with sinister details that demand multiple close listens. It’s like the lost sountrack to a David Cronenberg film.
13.
No Sunshine Collective — Nothing Personal
Toronto punk rock band’s debut is 20 minutes long. It’s filled with fast, short, melodic, no-frills punk rock songs. Almost every song has a chorus that’d make a great audience sing-along. It’s loud, fun and over too soon.
12.
Days on Parade – The Point
From St. Catharines, Ontario, Days on Parade makes psychedelic punk rock, or hard psychedelia, maybe. Riss Nixon’s voice is evocative of Grace Slick, and complements the band’s incredible musicianship and ferocious pacing. The Point‘s catchy riffs and melodies make it a perfect road trip record.
11.
Miss Mae — Transit Jungle
Miss Mae takes all kinds of classic rock influences and reinvents them as their own. Singer Marissa Monk’s range, character and charisma is woven through every song. Transit Jungle feels like listening to a classic rock station playing deep cuts that you’ve somehow never heard before.
10.
Dead Anyway — Tough, Listen
I wrote about (and with) Dead Anyway a lot lately, so their inclusion on this list is a n0-brainer. I had two to choose from (or three, depending on what you think of compilation albums), but this one is the most adventurous and well-developed. It’s weird and terrific spoken-word, trip-hop, genre-bending stuff.
9.
Vitesse X — This Infinite
The second album from Vitesse X is soothing and endlessly replayable. She blends personal themes with warm and cathartic guitar/electronic combinations for a record I’ve been playing weekly since its release
8.
NEW YORK — Rapstar*
The London duo’s second record is full of risky and wild creative choices that all pay off. This record couldn’t be more of-the-moment. I couldn’t help but recall the first time I heard DJ Shadow’s …Endtroducing.
7.
Kid Tigrrr — Stoned + Animald
Jenna Fournier’s debut album is assured and confident. The gentle and dreamy sound is offset by lyrics about addiction, fear and being overwhelmed. Once it got its claws into me it hasn’t let me go.
6.
Aluminum — Fully Beat
Aluminum’s first full-length record is stylistically all over the map, touching on all kinds of 90s alt-rock moments. A couple of songs are instant classics, and even a couple months in, it still reminds me of Mass Romantic.
5.
moondoggy — Changing Seasons, Breaking Even
This Toronto band is a perennial favourite. Changing Seasons, Breaking Even is full of midtempo indie rock meant for long nights after the pub closes. It’s the retroactive soundtrack to my 20s.
4.
Sham Family — A Deaf Portrait of Peace
Sham Family’s fierce and hard post-punk is dark, aggressive, and addictive stuff. The album’s themes of media manipulation and political nihilism are especially on-the-nose in light of this week’s election.
3.
En-vitro — En-vitro
En-Vitro is a wildly talented punk-ish band from LA. Toronto heads will hear a musical similarity to local heroes Good Kid. I don’t think I’ve gone 48 hours without playing at least one song from this album since I heard it.
2.
Been Stellar — Scream from New York, NY
“Manhattan Youth” from their debut EP is what hooked me on this band, and their sound is perfect NYC indie rock. Their new record is a classic in line with Turn On the Bright Lights.
1.
SPRINTS — Letter to Self
The Irish punk band’s debut has been played more than any other album in the last year. It came out before I was writing dedicated artist posts, so there’s not much to link to. It’s flawless.