Hottest Bands in Canada 2008

Oh hello blog. You thought I forgot about you, didn't you? Sure, I may have been devoting my attention elsewhere, but you still hold a special place in my heart. And I promise to pay more attention to you in the next little while.

Helping me break the silence was another round of the Hottest Bands in Canada poll. For those who didn't follow my post last year, iheart music - an insightful and perceptive Canadian music blog - releases a yearly list of the "Hottest Bands in Canada". It's actually a meta-list, since iheart solicits lists from dozens of bloggers coast-to-coast. Everyone sends in their top ten hottest bands (with the definition of "hot" and "canadian" up to the individual blogger) and iheart compiles the result into a 33-band round-up.

Like the bloggers it polls, the list is a tad biased towards English indie rock (especially from Eastern Canada), but it's a pretty decent snapshot of what's happening in Canadian music this year. We could debate who made the cut (or who didn't), but ultimately the list is more useful when used as a way to discover a few talented domestic acts that may have escaped our ears this year.

The full list is here and well worth a read (as is the list of bands who got votes but didn't make the top 33).

And finally, here's my top ten, with honourable mentions.

Honourable Mentions (i.e. bands that were hot but I didn't pay enough attention to: Radio Radio, tUNE yARDS, Two Hours Traffic, Black Hat Brigade, and Holy Fuck)

10. Céline Dion
Between Carl Wilson's book (Let's Talk About Love: A Journey to the End of Taste) and the big Quebec City anniversary bash, it's hard to keep Céline off this list. Although it goes against any kind of indie aesthetic the "Hottest Bands in Canada" list may be trying to cultivate, starting off with Céline is probably ok now that Wilson has explained our culture's troubled relationship with her. And hey, maybe mainstream is the new indie.

9. Mother Mother
I had heard snippets from this West-coast crew's debut album, but it wasn't until seeing them live at this year's Pop Montreal festival (promoting their follow-up) that I felt they deserved a spot on this prestigious list. Great energy, great harmonies and a batch of songs that stick in your head like gum.

8. Women
Women's debut album took me a while to get into. In fact, I thought I hated it for the bulk of 2008. I'm glad I stuck with it though. There's some insane guitar work in their tunes and the lo-fi production on it actually makes Women sound different than a lot of current Canadian indie-rock.

7. Shad
Rapping about being broke and otherwise inadequate is awesome. Other people have tried it (Andy Samberg, Jon Lajoie I'm looking at you) but Shad nails it.

6. Tokyo Police Club
As far as critical acclaim goes, TPC weren't hot this year. Their album was tepidly received at best, frigidly at worst. Despite being pumped about their previous EP, journalists and bloggers turned on TPC faster than Sarah Palin can say the word "maverick". People wanted TPC to be the next great saviours of rock. But what got lost in the midst of all the talk about how they weren't is the fact that Elephant Shell is a damn good, tight rock album.

5. Karkwa
Karkwa - who walked away with 3 GAMIQ awards this year - are usually referred to as the French Radiohead. I think that's just what Anglos say to convince other Anglos that it's ok to listen to francophone music. Take two or three listens to their beautiful Le Volume du Vent and you'll realize that they don't need to be compared to anything to convince you they are worth the time.

4. Born Ruffians
The opening notes and words of this album make me immensely happy. I start marching around the house, singing the national anthem of a country that only exists in my imagination. I thought this band was a one-trick pony; I owe them a beer for my mistake.

3. Land of Talk
This vote may reflect a bit of recency effect, since Some Are Lakes was just released. Still, I can't stop singing the title track. The other songs on the CD aren't as sing-a-ble, but producer Bon Iver has helped LOT craft an honest, straight-up exercise in no-bullshit rock.

2. Chad Van Gaalen
Chad Van Gaalen is a weird dude. I doubt his latest album will change that perception, since Soft Airplane is obsessed with death and other depressing and odd topics. Still, the album is one of his most complex to date; a lonely trip into Chad's head and basement studio.

1. Plants and Animals
Fuck Caribou. Not really. I mean, you shouldn't do that to animals and Andorra is actually a decent disc. I just don't think it deserved the Polaris. Parc Avenue, on the other hand, did. I can barely count the number of times I listened to this album this year.

Hottest Bands in Canada

So this was kinda fun.
For the last three years, iheartmusic, one of the better mp3 blogs out there (and Canadian too), has been compiling a list of the hottest Canadian bands. Earlier this month, I got asked to be part of the loosely formed panel of 30 plus bloggers that gets brought together (virtually) to nominate artists for the list. Each voter gets 10 suggestions; the definition of what counts as hot and what counts as Canadian were up to the individual reviewer.

iheart then had the good heart to sift through the hundreds of nominees and rank them. The result is a top 33 list of bands you may know or maybe should know. Like any list of this sort, its not perfect. And it definitely skews to English indie crowds. But it's a pretty good summary of who's been kickin' musical ass in the last year and a testament to how much good music there is in Canada right now (especially when you consider the dozens of bands that could have just as easily made the cut).

I could spend this post doing a meta commentary on the influence (or lack thereof) of mp3 blogs in the critical chain. But that would probably be boring. Instead, I'll share with you my top ten (which may also be boring), and the reasons I included them.

A few notes: I didn't vote for the Arcade Fire, since I knew they'd make the list without my help. I'm a bit sad that the Most Serene Republic and Do Make Say Think didn't make the cut, since their 07 albums are easily as good or better than anything else on the list. And if someone can explain to me what everyone sees or hears in Basia Bulat, please do. She reminds me of a female Kermit the frog.

10. Patrick Watson
Overrated? Maybe. Hot in 07? Undeniably. One of my favourite musical memories in 2006 was randomly stumbling upon Watson and co. playing in a tiny outdoor park on the corner of St. Laurent and Rachel, Watson's voice soaring over the twilight traffic. For that show alone, I'm glad 2007 was good to them.

9. David Myles
This may be a throwaway vote, but David Myles had a good year, racking up a few songwriting awards and an ECMA "rising star" nomintation. His raspy blues-folk may be a bit too saccharine for the indie blogosphere, but if his next album is as solid on guitar plucking and storytelling as Things Have Changed, then 2008 should be a good year too.

8. Rock Plaza Central
After getting rave reviews from the Pitchfork gods for their equine-themed 2006 album (Are We Not Horses), Rock Plaza Central spent most of 2007 touring and spreading their twisted rock/folk goodness to fortunate citizens. I don't know if that qualifies as hot or not, so I've left them at #8.

7. Miracle Fortress
If there was a summer album for the sunny days of 07, it's Five Roses. Graham Van Pelt's solo project beams with shiny sounds. If you put this album on, and fail to smile, there is something wrong with your central nervous system.

6. Oh Bijou
I think this band just missed the cut on your list last year. So I'm pushing for their inclusion this year. I think I'm a sucker for strings. In 07, you could find Oh Bijou showing off their beautiful debut Swift Feet for Troubling Times (2006) and previewing songs from, what sounds like it will be, a stunning follow up. Oh Bijou makes songs that help the moon go to sleep at night.

5. Great Lake Swimmers
There must be something in the water. Great Lake Swimmer's contribution to 2007, Ongiara, is as vast and scenic as the country it describes. Tony Dekker's metaphors run deep. The album sounds like it came from the ground.

4. Feist
In a year of incredibly mediocre highly anticipated followups (Arcade Fire, Bloc Party) it's refreshing that Reminder is not only solid the whole way through, but even more enchanting than Let it Die. Her voice still reigns supreme. "1 2 3 4" is so catchy it may even be able to withstand the unbelievable overplay it's getting from iPod commercials.

3. Do Make Say Think
Who needs lyrics when you make music like this? Not only did DMST put on some monumental shows in 07, their album, You, You're a History in Rust, crashes my iTunes with its awesomeness. Post-rock and hot don't usually go together, so why don't we just call DMST post-hot.

2. The Most Serene Republic
This band is too all-over-the-map to ever be a really hot band. But their latest album has massive, messy moments that deserve your attention. They will be the new mayors of broken social scene ville, should BSS continue splintering off solo albums.

1. Chad VanGaalen
Even Patrick Watson thought Chad VanGaalen should have won the Polaris. But, CVG has been under appreciated for years, particularly here in Montreal (his shows at small clubs rarely come close to selling out). Hopefully the polaris nomination (and his stunning performance at the award show) brings this haunting and oddball signer-songwriter some much deserved respect.

Honorable mentions (or bands that were hot but I never got into enough to talk about with any credibility on this list: Plants and Animals, Besnard Lakes, Sunset Rubdown, Julie Doiron)