Michael

Favourite Albums of 2024

Posted on January 1, 2025 by Michael

5. The Libertines – All Quiet On The Eastern Esplanade: Truth be told, this is not the fifth best album of 2024 hence why I always title these lists as “favourite albums”. As a fan for over 20 years, The Libertines were welcomed back with their first album since 2015. With all their troubles, the tabloid headlines and the “highs and the lows”, this band should not still exist today but here we are. First single “Run Run Run” has Pete Doherty and Carl Barat’s classic knees-up sound while “Shiver” is full of graceful beauty in a modern rock song. A now classic British rock band.

4. Idles – TANGK: Others jumped on the Idles train long before I did. Their hard edge sound wasn’t quite for me but I always enjoyed the introspective interviews with singer Joe Talbot. Finally in 2024 the band released an album with slightly softer edges that drew me in. The attention grabbing video for single “Grace” was mesmerizing and the album would later get plenty of spins on car rides home from work. The band haven’t gotten better, I just started to pay more attention. Time to investigate the back catalogue….

3. Jessica Pratt – Here In The Pitch: The American singer-songwriter’s fourth studio album came out to universal critical acclaim in the late spring. The dreamy, atmospheric country lounge sound is timeless. Starting with the wonderous single, “Life Is”, the short album is the perfect length in which to float into the listeners conscious before disappearing again into the ether. A truly unique talent.

2. Fontaines D.C. – Romance: Since appearing on the international scene in 2019, this Dublin band has made frequent appearances on this blog’s year end lists. For their 2024 album Romance, the band’s appearance has taken on a look of a Nu Metal band from 1997. For other bands it would be the moment that they jumped the shark, however, on Romance the band sound as vital as they did on their debut. Songs like “In The Modern World”, “Favourite” and “Starburster” rank among their very best. Ones to really believe in, they don’t make rock bands like this very often anymore.

1. English Teacher – This Could be Texas: The young band’s debut album won the prestigious Mercury Music award in the fall of 2024. Five of the album’s tracks were released as singles and showcase singer Lily Fontaine’s unique generational voice and lyrics. However, this is a true band as each of the four members shine throughout on tracks like “The World’s Biggest Paving Slab” and double time beat of “Nearly Daffodils”. Each song inhabits it’s own world on this brilliant debut album.

Listed

10 Favourite Songs of 2024

Posted on January 1, 2025 by Michael

10. Marshmello and Kane Brown – Miles On It: The cheese factor gets ratcheted up to 10 on this club ready country track. The country style verses of double entendres while singing about a truck gets cranked up when the beat kicks in on the chorus. I probably heard this about 20 times while driving the family around Nova Scotia on a family vacation and every time it came on, the radio got turned up a little bit louder.

9. Shaboozey – A Bar Song (Tipsy): When this track first started getting airplay in the spring, I was shocked that it was a new song and not something that’s been around for 10 years. After really listening, its easy to hear why. The song incorporates J-Kwon’s 2004 hit “Tipsy” and the acoustic guitar strumming sounds very similar to Oasis “Wonderwall”. Another country song about drinking is not what the world needed but Shaboozey takes all these influences and makes it his own on the infectious single.

8. The Smile – I Quit: The downtempo track appears towards the end of The Smile’s second album, Wall of Eyes. I first heard the lyrics “I quit/This is the end of my trip” shortly after abruptly quitting a new job that did not work out as expected. I heard it while out walking on a gloomy wintry day that was more wet than cold. To hear that in that moment was exactly what I needed. I started a terrific new job just a few weeks later.

7. Vampire Weekend – Capricorn: A lyrically unique song tipping it’s cap to those born late in the year. Ezra Koenig’s vocals sound echoey that give the song a dreamy quality over a bed of music that is percussion heavy but with pretty piano lines and deep bass. It’s a really well crafted, terrific single from a solid album.

6. Travis – Bus: Somewhere along the line I lost track of Scottish band Travis. They’ve continued releasing albums while I had moved onto other things. While listening quite a bit to their second album, The Man Who this year, I decided to give their newest album The L.A. Times a try. A fine record that starts with this classy single. It’s a wistful track that sounds lovely with the mournful string section. Travis is back and for the first time in ages, I was back with them.

5. The Libertines – Shiver: The Libertines returned in 2024 with their first album in 9 years. Released early in the new year, “Shiver” is a look back over the majesty of the Albion empire. It’s a classically, elegantly wasted track that is one of their finest.

4. English Teacher – R&B: An updated version of a song the band originally released in 2021, Lily Fontaine’s sings of writing songs for others and not herself on this fiery anthem. The grungy bass of Nicholas Eden gives the track an edge of menace that really bursts into life in the final outro. Listening to Fontaine makes me feel how I felt the first time I heard Poly Styrene from punk band X-Ray Spex. A vital new voice in indie rock music.

3. Idles – Grace: One of the eye catching images in 2024 was seeing Coldplay’s video for “Yellow” on the screen while Idles’ single “Gossip” played over top. The song has a strong low end while singer Joe Talbot sings of “make me pure” and “love is the thing”. It’s a mantra tailor made for these times before it all ends with a snippet that sounds like The Beatles’ “A Day In The Life”.

2. Jessica Pratt – Life Is: The first song on her latest album, “Life Is” sounds like a country song beamed in from another planet. The dreamy vocal makes it sound timeless. While the music doesn’t change too much throughout the tune, it’s Pratt’s voice that swirls around and captures the emotion. It’s a song that can be listened to again and again and discover something new in every repeat.

1. Fontaines D.C. – Starburster: The first single off the band’s 2024 album sounds exactly like it’s title. The track sees singer Grian Chatten spitting out words like a champion rapper on a song that always keeps the kick drum kicking until the relief of the breakdown. It’s a genre smashing track that is an anthem, the chaotic lyrics will have listeners wishing for a new salamander and feel like they can take on the world, burstering some stars along the way. The appearance on Jimmy Fallon was my go to listen as it captures the band in full flight. Iconic.

Listed

Favourite Distant (Re)Discoveries of 2024

Posted on January 1, 2025 by Michael

5. Pink Floyd – Set Controls for the Heart of the Sun (Song): Early in 2024 I had a job that required me to regularly travel on wintry roads in rural Manitoba. One of the few highlights of those trips was listening to this Pink Floyd song from 1968’s A Saucerful of Secrets album. The spacey, atmospheric track is both eerie and calming at the same time. On my travels, blowing snow and passing cars would light up the starlit night while white knuckling it home.

4. Air – Moon Safari 25th Anniversary Edition (Album): Through it’s 25th anniversary release, it was a treat to get to go back and re-listen to Air’s 1998 debut album over and over and over again. While I travelled through Europe in 1999, the modern sounding retro album was still regularly being played in hostels and pubs across the continent. The singles “Kelly Watch The Stars” and “Sexy Boy” still make the skin tingle with their greatness. The 25th anniversary edition adds another disc of odds and sods to this essential 90s album.

3. David Bowie – Station to Station (Album): Working through the catalogue of David Bowie is a labour of love. His tenth studio album is one I had been looking forward to as it is critically acclaimed and favoured by a few knowledgeable friends. Incorporating some of the soul and funk sounds he had been exploring on past albums, this one adds a cocaine European sheen to it. The 10 minute title track takes up 25% of the album’s run time and keeps shifting it’s sound while “Golden Years” is one of his best songs. Another classic Bowie album just before the Berlin years start.

2. Bob Marley & The Wailers – Legend (Album): I’ve had this album for years and had never played it. The songs on this greatest hits set are ubiquitous – they will appear on the radio, TV, youtube, etc all throughout the year. To actually fully listen to these songs one after another is staggering. Each person will have their own favourites as each one is a classic. The work of a genius with his stellar band.

1. Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band (Concert): Not the typical item we would write about in this yearly blog post but the Bruce Springsteen concert at the Canada Life Centre in Winnipeg on November 13 was extraordinary. One of my top bucket list performers to see, Bruce and the band did not disappoint. Barely stopping for breath between songs, they tore through 27 songs over approximately 3 hours. While I didn’t know many of the songs and there were a few tracks I would like to have heard, the performance was virtually flawless. Absolutely inspiring.

Album Reviews

Air – Moon Safari (25th Anniversary Deluxe Edition) (2024)

Posted on December 31, 2024 by Michael

For a brief moment in the mid 90s, electronica was being touted as the next big sound. Both The Prodigy and The Chemical Brothers scored big hits with their alternative rock take on the sound that resonated with US audiences. Soon to be eclipsed by Nu Metal and boy bands, it was into this environment that the French duo Air released Moon Safari in 1998. The album was a modern sounding retro take on the downtempo sound, mixing 60s lounge pop with 70s prog and funk.

Nicolaus Godin and Jean-Benoit Dunckel welcome the listener in with “La Femme D’Argent” and it’s warm bath of synthesized sounds. At seven minutes, it’s the longest song here that picks up gentle steam at the end that incorporates handclaps for a light beat. Two songs feature Beth Hirsch on vocals adding acoustic guitar onto the tracks folktronica sound while “Ce Matin La” is the sound of a sunrise, the come down after a night at the club complete with a trombone.

The album had two big singles. “Sexy Boy” includes a more typical pop structure but with French sung verses and an English chorus. The robust beat and squiggly synths made it dancefloor ready as it went top 20 in the UK. Reportedly about Jaclyn Smith’s character from Charlie’s Angels, “Kelly Watch The Stars” is like a celestial dream with a funk groove and easy listening piano lines, the hook being the repeated vocals of “Kelly watch the stars”. The track is a mesmerizing standout on one of the truly great albums of the 90s.

The extras on this 25^th anniversary edition include an extra disc of rarities and remixes. Particular highlights include the three demos. “Dirty Hiroshima” pushes the beat to the forefront while “New Star” and “Ce Matin” include elements of their album versions but enough differences to make them unique songs. “Sexy Boy” and “Kelly Watch The Stars” appear from a BBC live performance with the latter getting the full rock treatment with electric guitars. Also included is the tour documentary by filmmaker Mike Mills – Eating Sleeping Waiting & Playing. The black and white film follows the band around on several tour stops showing the banal moments of touring – hotel rooms, backstage, awkward interviews, etc.

Moon Safari – 10/10

Extras – 8/10

Paper Chase

Herta Muller – the fox was ever the hunter

Posted on December 30, 2024December 28, 2024 by Michael

the fox was ever the hunter by Nobel Prize winner Herta Muller is set in Romania where Muller is from during the reign of Nicolae Ceausescu. The book focuses on a group of friends and how they go about their daily lives. It is not written in straightforward manner and is instead quite poetic and beautiful.

However, that style also makes the story a bit hard to follow. While reading, I’m not certain I would have been able to say exactly what is going on in the story but even with that, it never failed to hold my attention and keep reading. This was another find through the Winnipeg Henderson library that is a always a welcome resource into other worlds than the usual internet reading lists.

6/10