chpkns

[chpkns]

BEST ALBUMS 2020

Some albums I enjoyed during quarantine.

Hon Mentions: Campfire Chords - Arkells, A Written Testimony - Jay Electronica, All In One - Jaunt, Punisher - Phoebe Bridgers, Alfredo - Freddie Gibs and Madlib, Thats What They All Say - Jack Harlow, Western Swing & Waltzes and Other Punchy Songs - Colter Wall, This Place Sucks Ass - PUP, Only For Dolphins - Action Bronson, Black Habits - D Smoke, What’s Your Pleasure - Jessie Ware, 3.15.20 - Childish Gambino, Dedicated Side B - Carly Rae Jepsen, Dark Lane Demo Tapes - Drake, After Hours - The Weeknd, color theory - Soccer Mommy, Circles - Mac Miller, Womb - Purity Ring

10) Future Nostalgia - Dua Lipa

One of the lesser, although still significant, tragedies of the 2020 COVID era was that weddings and sweaty club basements the world over were robbed of Dua Lipa’s prolific output this year. Future Nostalgia is hit or miss in places, but the hits come hot and heavy delivering banger after 80′s-disco-inspired banger. Dominant summer jams “Don’t Start Now” and “Break My Heart” are the highlights here, along with “Levitating” (equally good with or without DaBaby). Sleeper tracks “Cool” and “Hallucinate” round out the year’s best pure pop album.

Highlights: Don’t Start Now, Break My Heart, Levitating, Physical, Cool, Hallucinate

9) Women In Music, Pt. III - HAIM

The third album from LA’s sister act rock trio HAIM delivers consistency and growth for the band. There’s plenty of retro heartbreak rock on Women In Music, Pt. III to satisfy fans of HAIM’s first two albums, but lots of new on offer as well including the jazzy Lou Reed inspired sax of “Summer Girl” and Danielle Haim sounding positively Joni Mitchell-esque on “Man From the Magazine”. The auditory production flourishes of erstwhile Vampire Weekend member Rostam are noticeable throughout and help stretch the bounds of the HAIM sisters’ signature Wilson Phillips meets Fleetwood Mac summer rock sound into something more of the moment.

Highlights: The Steps, Summer Girl, Don’t Wanna, Man From the Magazine, FUBT

8) My Turn (Deluxe) - Lil Baby

I’ve almost given up on trying to enjoy or understand most “new rap” but every now and then something breaks through that I connect with for some reason. Atlanta rapper Lil Baby’s My Turn was that album for me this year. There are many reasons I feel I should not like Lil Baby’s music, from his liberal use of autotune to his mumbling delivery, but something always drew me back to it and, listen after listen, it grew on me. Lil Baby’s flow is persistent when he locks in, with matching driving trap production from Quay Global, Tay Keith and others, mirroring in sound the story of Baby’s rise from the streets to prison to the studio. The standout track is late addition “The Bigger Picture”, Lil Baby’s protest anthem on race in America, policing and the turmoil following the killing of George Floyd by police, a political statement from an otherwise apolitical artist, showing that Lil Baby has much more to offer than bravado and autotune.

Highlights: Grace (ft. 42 Dugg), Forever (ft. Lil Wayne), No Sucker (ft. Moneybagg Yo), Social Distancing, The Bigger Picture

7) Miss Anthropocene - Grimes

The third major studio release from Montreal native Claire Boucher, better known as Grimes, doesn’t reach the same highs as its predecessors - 2015′s electro-pop masterpiece Art Angels (which rated number 1 on this list for that year) or 2012′s Visions, the synth-laden fever dream that introduced Grimes to mainstream notoriety (number 2 on this list for 2012) - but it’s still very much worth the time. The vibe of Miss A falls somewhere between Grimes’ previous two albums, and a little darker and messier to boot. Grimes sounds a bit like she’s playing a concert for the end of the world, which feels a bit prophetic for an album released just before a global pandemic took hold. As always, Grimes is out to flex her muscle as a technician and across the album’s ten tracks she mixes diverse sounds ranging from rave synths to banjos showing how far her craft has come since making Visions on Garageband in her Mile End apartment.

Highlights: So Heavy I Fell Through The Earth, Violence, Delete Forever, 4ÆM, You’ll miss me when I’m not around

6) evermore - Taylor Swift

Spoiler alert, this isn’t the highest ranked Taylor Swift album on this list. Surprise released in December, evermore was an early Christmas present to fans of Swift’s surprise summer album folklore (more on that later). evermore continues Swift’s reinvention from pop star to indie singer-songwriter, assisted by songwriting partner Aaron Dessner of The National and a variety of indie darling guest stars - this time around featuring HAIM, The National’s Matt Berninger and another stunning guest turn with Bon Iver. Speaking of Justin Vernon, the album capping title track might be the single best song on either folklore or evermore. And for fans of Taylor’s earlier catalogue like me, the return to country music on “no body, no crime” is like reconnecting with an old friend. evermore is a little messier and less consistent thematically than its sister album, feeling a bit like folklore’s b-sides. But when your b-sides are better than most artist’s a-sides, why not release another album’s worth?

Highlights: ‘tis the damn season, no body no crime (ft. HAIM), coney island (ft. The National), cowboy like me, evermore (ft. Bon Iver)

5) RTJ4 - Run The Jewels

Walking the streets of my neighbourhood with the first listen of RTJ4 in my earbuds, I found myself actually crying at the thought that I would not get to see Killer Mike and el-P perform these songs live in the summer of 2020. The memories of RTJ festival sets past came rushing over me in a wave. That was my first “damn, I miss live music moment” of the pandemic. The fourth instalment of Run The Jewels’ historic rap partnership is more of the same in the very best way. Like the dynamic duo’s previous three instalments, RTJ4 is in your face, moves at a frenetic clip, and takes no prisoners. There’s even another album highlighting collaboration with Rage Against The Machine’s Zack De La Rocha. The politics of RTJ4′s tirades against inequity and the police state feel even more imminent in 2020 against the backdrop of George Floyd, the ensuing protest movement that gripped America, and the 2020 presidential election. I really hope we get a chance to see Mike and el-P tour these songs in 2021, the world needs it.

Highlights: ooh la la (ft. Greg Nice and DJ Premier), goonies vs. E.T., walking in the snow, JU$T (ft. Pharrell Williams and Zack de la Rocha), a few words for the firing squad (radiation)

4) Saint Cloud - Waxahatchee

The majestically twangy folk-Americana of Saint Cloud, the fifth solo album from Katie Crutchfield (stage named Waxahatchee after Waxahatchee Creek, Alabama, where the singer grew up), is a nostalgic cure for the ails of 2020. The soft bluesy rhythms of Crutchfield’s songs feel like a lazy long summer day spent by the water. That was something we needed this year. The songwriting is just as beautiful. The standout track, “Fire”, speaks to Crutchfield’s journey finding sobriety and reconnecting with her southern roots. It also speaks to a longing feeling “give me something / it ain’t enough / it ain’t enough”.  On “Arkadelphia”, Crutchfield croons: “We try to give it all meaning / Glorify the grain of the wood / Tell ourselves what's beautiful and good”. In the chaos of 2020, the calm oasis of Saint Cloud is certainly something beautiful and good worth enjoying.

Highlights: Can’t Do Much, Fire, The Eye, Arkadelphia, St. Cloud

3) Suddenly - Caribou

Suddenly was my first genuine pandemic listen and, in the early days of lockdown, I found myself going back to it again and again. So much so, that the opening haunting notes of “Sister” became a kind of touchstone as I adjusted to a weird new work-from-home lifestyle. The chilled out weirdness of Caribou was an extremely welcome presence in 2020. It had been long enough since 2014′s Our Love (2014′s number 1 on this list) that I’d forgotten how enjoyably quirky Dan Snaith’s floaty pseudo-house tunes could be. Suddenly is a little more laid back than the club ready Our Love, which maybe suits it more to a world where dancefloors are closed. The tunes are also tighter, more economical in their length and soundscape. The lead single “Home” sounds downright commercial (in a good way) with it’s motown sampled chorus. Other parts of the album, like the closing “Cloud Song” venture into more experimental territories. All throughout, however, are Caribou’s signature warm chord progressions inviting you to lose yourself in them. Whether you’re looking for a guided meditation or an at-home dance party, Suddenly was the perfect 2020 album for it.

Highlights: Sister, Home, Lime, Never Come Back, Ravi

2) Cuttin’ Grass, Vol. 1 : The Butcher Shoppe Sessions - Sturgill Simpson

2020 was full of unexpected things, many bad but some surprisingly delightful. Firmly in the latter category is Cuttin’ Grass, Sturgill Simpson’s surprise double album made up entirely of bluegrass covers of his own catalogue. A true product of 2020, Simpson recorded the album with a murderer’s row of contemporary bluegrass artists after recovering from COVID-19 and challenging his fans to raise funds for charity in exchange for recording a new album. That album became Cuttin’ Grass, a traditional bluegrass re-imagination of the greatest hits and hidden gems of a country artist who has always strived to avoid being labelled as a country artist. The songs feel effortlessly at home and are given new life amid the frenetic guitar and mandolin picking, flying fiddles, and twangling banjos. If Simpson’s ode to the revelatory experience of psychedlic drug use “Turtles All The Way Down” felt revolutionary on 2014′s Metamodern Sounds in Country Music, it feels like an old standard here with its tempo pitched up and enveloped in the cacophony of the bluegrass ensemble. There is some good old fashioned heartbreak to slow things down too. Mandolin player and backup vocalist Sierra Hull shines on “I Wonder” (a cover of a song originally recorded by Sturgill’s former band Sunday Valley) as she joins Simpson on the chorus: “Tell me am I the only one / drinking and cursing your name?” The juxtaposition of Simpson’s unconventional country catalogue with the most traditional of country music styles just works and the entire hour can be listened and relistened for days. And if you’re still not satisfied, the companion “Volume 2: the Cowboy Arms Sessions” released in December brings back the same supporting cast to explore more of Simpson’s catalogue.

 Highlights: All The Pretty Colors, Breakers Roar, Time After All, Turtles All The Way Down, Voices

1) folklore - Taylor Swift

Well, I told you there’d be more Taylor Swift on this list, and here it is. Your number 1 album of 2020 is folklore, the surprise release pandemic project in which the world’s biggest country star turned pop star reinvented herself again as an indie artist. Unlike anything else Swift has put out since RED, nothing on folklore is designed to be played in a stadium. Rather, it’s all more at home in a cabin by the fire, or in your earbuds on a fall walk... basically, it’s music meant for 2020. Like its companion evermore, folklore is the product of Swift’s songwriting collaboration with The National’s guitarist Aaron Dessner. The melding of songwriting styles seems like an odd match at first but sounds like a match made in heaven. Lyrically, Swift’s songwriting makes an evolutionary leap, almost leaving her primary auto or semi-autobiographical comfort zone behind completely (other than, perhaps, in heavily veiled metaphor) in favour of invented stories and semi-historical world building. After a few listens, you discover that the same characters appear in different songs like the imagined history of Rebekah Harkness, the real life former inhabitant of Swift’s Rhode Island home, on “the last great american dynasty” or imagery of “battleships” that “sink beneath the waves” in the ghost story of “my tears ricochet”. In the so-called “teenage love triangle trilogy” of “betty”, “cardigan”, and “august”, Swift tells different parts of the same story from the perspective of different characters. Each song stands on its own, but the discovery that the pieces fit together is wonderful. “betty” is the standout track for me, as a long suffering fan of “country Taylor”. In style, it harkens back to her earlier work, but in substance it’s something new entirely as Swift sings from the perspective of James, the boy who has done wrong by his lover and is seeking forgiveness. The pinnacle of the album is “exile” Swift’s collaboration with Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon. The call and response interaction of Swift with Vernon’s true to for emma form baritone is chill inducing. Like so many of the unexpected good things in 2020, folklore came from throwing plans out the window and doing what felt right for the moment. This is Taylor Swift making the music she wanted to make. In Dark Knight fashion, it’s the album we needed, if not the one we deserved. It’s the best album of the year.

Highlights: cardigan, the last great american dynasty, exile (ft. Bon Iver), my tears ricochet, epiphany, betty, peace

[chpkns]

BEST ALBUMS 2019

One last time for the decade...

Hon. Mentions: CASE STUDY 01 - Daniel Caesar; IGOR - Tyler, the Creator; Bandana - Freddie Gibbs and Madlib; Pony - Rex Orange County; MAGDALENE - FKA twigs; So Much Fun - Young Thug; Jaime - Brittany Howard; The Big Day - Chance the Rapper; CrasH Talk - Schoolboy Q; Nothing Great About Britain -slowthai; thank u, next - Ariana Grande; uknowhatimsayin¿ - Danny Brown

10) I Am Easy To Find - The National

 Highlights: Light Years, Hey Rosey, I Am Easy To Find, So Far So Fast

9) The Lost Boy - YBN Cordae

Highlights:  Bad Idea (ft. Chance the Rapper), Broke As Fuck, RNP (ft. Anderson .Paak), Nightmares Are Real (ft. Pusha T)

8) Dedicated - Carly Rae Jepsen

Highlights: Julien, No Drug Like Me, Now That I Found You, Feels Right (ft. Electric Guest)

7) Norman Fucking Rockwell! - Lana Del Rey

Highlights: Norman fucking Rockwell!, Fuck it I love you, Cinnamon Girl, hope is a dangerous thing for a woman like me to have - but I have it

6) The Highwomen - The Highwomen

Highlights: Redesigning Women, My Name Can’t Be Mama, Don’t Call Me, Wheels of Laredo

5) ZUU - Denzel Curry

Highlights: RICKY, AUTOMATIC, CAROLMART (ft. Ice Billion Berg), SHAKE 88 (ft. Sam Sneak)

4) Young Enough - Charly Bliss

Highlights: Capacity, Camera, Young Enough, Chatroom

3) Lover - Taylor Swift

Highlights: Cruel Summer, Lover, Paper Rings, Cornelia Street, False God

2) Father of the Bride - Vampire Weekend

Highlights: Harmony Hall, This Life, 2021, We Belong Together (ft. Danielle Haim), Jerusalem, New York, Berlin

1) Morbid Stuff - PUP

Highlights: Kids, See You At Your Funeral, Scorpion Hill, Closure, Bare Hands

[chpkns]

BEST ALBUMS 2018

Ok here we go again for 2018, shall we?

Hon. Mentions: Negro Swan - Blood Orange; Singularity - Jon Hopkins; Elsewhere - Ryan Hemsworth; Scorpion - Drake; Diplomatic Ties - The Diplomats; Some Rap Songs - Earl Sweatshirt; FM! - Vince Staples; Rally Cry - Arkells; I’m All Ears - Let’s Eat Grandma; Be The Cowboy - Mitski; Kamikaze - Eminem; Ye - Kanye West; KIDS SEE GHOSTS - Kanye West and Kid Cudi; Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino - Arctic Monkeys; Black Panther: The Album - Kendrick Lamar, et al; KOD - J. Cole; Culture II - Migos; Hive Mind - The Internet; God’s Favorite Customer - Father John Misty; Blood - Rhye; Both Ways - Donovan Woods; Songs of the Plains - Colter Wall

10) Swimming - Mac Miller

This one was tough. Malcolm James McCormick’s fifth studio album was barely out three months before he left us. It’s hard to evaluate Swimming in isolation of Miller’s untimely death at age 26. Especially since, in my mind, the album represents something of a turning point for the former frat rapper. Recorded in the wake of Miller’s high profile breakup with Ariana Grande and in the midst of public struggles with addiction, Swimming is full of heartache and soul bearing self-reflection. Sonically, Mac’s airy raps and crooning vocals float over jazzy beats and orchestral accompaniments, with help from Thundercat and Dev Hynes. There’s room for fun as well amid the melancholy - the more upbeat Ladders and What’s the Use? are sure enough to keep a dance floor moving. The worst thing about Swimming is really how good it is, and how it felt like Mac Miller was on the cusp on something great we’ll now never see. 

Highlights: Self Care, What’s The Use?, 2009, Ladders

9) QUARTERTHING - Joey Purp

Chance the Rapper’s Savemoney compatriot Joey Purp is like a breath of fresh air. QUARTERTHING’s 14 tracks, most clocking in at under 3 minutes, come fast and furious like Purp’s (mostly) un-autotuned flow. Joey’s full throated, almost Meek-Mill-esque, delivery gives the album a mixtape-like authenticity - notwithstanding the varied and expert production from the likes of RZA, Knox Fortune and frequent Chance collaborator Nate Fox. The opening 24k Gold/Sanctified, and Hallelujah just two tracks later, feel downright celebratory pairing Purp’s flow behind a blaring big band sound. Others, like Look At My Wrist and Paint Thinner, are Chicago Drill and house inspired, feeling like they’d be right at home in a sweaty club basement. Lyrically, Purp is a classic hip-hop storyteller and street documentarian, drawing from experiences in a former life selling drugs and the violence of his home city. This impressive studio album debut is more than enough to solidify Joey Purp’s place among an exciting new generation of Chicago rappers.

Highlights: 24k Gold/Sanctified (ft. Ravyn Lenae & Jack Red), Godbody (ft. RZA) [Pt. 2], Hallelujah, Look At My Wrist (ft. Cdot Honcho), Karl Malone

8) Golden Hour - Kacey Musgraves

Kacey Musgraves is clearly in the pantheon of artists that can’t release an album without it making this list (I rated Pageant Material #8 in 2015 and Same Trailer, Different Park #9 in 2013... both criminally underrated in retrospect). Musgraves continued to be a revelation with her third album. There was a great Ezra Koenig quote last year, where he talked about seeing Musgraves’ concert and being inspired by the clarity of her music: “from the first verse, you knew who was singing, who they were singing to, what kind of situation they were in”. On Golden Hour, she maintains that clarity, stretching a little more outside the traditional country sound into pop and disco-inspired melodies. I do miss the dry humour and rebellious spirit of the previous two Musgraves outings, I’ll admit. You won’t find any overt weed references here, but Kacey finds plenty of ways to remind us how few fucks she gives about the Nashville country establishment. Golden Hour also shows off some of Musgraves’ strongest songwriting to date - the sprawling Space Cowboy stands out as one of the best singles of the year in any genre. I’m probably in the minority in thinking Golden Hour is not my favourite Kacey Musgraves album, but it’s still one of my favourite albums of 2018.

Highlights: Slow Burn, Space Cowboy, High Horse, Love is a Wild Thing

7) Lush - Snail Mail

It’s about to become clear that there is a “women in indie rock” movement happening on this year’s list. The debut album from 18 year old singer-songwriter Lindsey Jordan is one of the most aptly titled records of 2018. Lush’s indie rock soundscapes are just that. Loud, full and richly textured. Jordan’s crystal clear vocals soar and float above her ringing guitar chords and riffs. The songwriting is perhaps what you’d expect from an 18 year old, full of heartbreak, confusion and teen angst. She does it well though. As the first chorus builds on Heat Wave, Jordan’s voice builds: “And I hope whoever it is Holds their breath around you, 'Cause I know I did”. The album’s standout track for me is Full Control which crescendos to a refrain of: “I'm in full control, I'm not lost, Even when it's love, Even when it's not.” At the same time, Lush exudes a maturity and a nostalgia that hearkens back to Snail Mail’s spiritual predecessors like Cat Power or Fiona Apple. Snail Mail was one of many reasons that 2018 gave me hope that there’s a future for indie rock and “guitar music” generally. I’m very much looking forward to seeing what’s next.

Highlights: Pristine, Full Control, Deep Sea, Heat Wave

6) boygenius EP - boygenius

The only thing that ever held me back from including boygenius on this list was my long held view that “an EP is not an album”. Well, since Kanye decided that 7 songs can be an “album” why not 6? Any album that has 6 songs as good as the 6 on boygenius EP would make this list! boygenius is the indie “supergroup” made up of Phoebe Bridgers, Lucy Dacus and the holder of last year’s #3 album on this list, Julien Baker - all accomplished solo acts in their own right. Predictably, the whole is something greater than the sum of its parts. boygenius EP’s six songs are a tour de force amalgam of indie, country and folk (owing to the band’s cross-genre Nashville and Viriginia roots) full of raw emotion and grit. Dacus, Bridgers and Baker seem made to perform, and sing, together. The harmonies on this record make boygenius sound like an indie rock iteration of Destiny’s Child or an edgier, less twangy version of the Dixie Chicks. The songs do not hold back, with high highs and low lows. On Me & My Dog, the soaring chorus evokes an escapist dream: “I wish I was on a spaceship, Just me and my dog and an impossible view”. The emotional highpoint of the record might be Baker and Bridgers’ chorus on Salt in the Wound apexing with: “I’m gnashing my teeth, Like a child of Cain, If this is a prison I’m willing to buy my own chain”. I can’t stop watching live videos of these three - they seem so at home onstage together. As excited as I’d be to see boygenius become more than a side project, I’m equally excited to see what’s next for Bridgers, Dacus and Baker on their own.

Highlights: Me & My Dog, Stay Down, Salt In the Wound, Ketchum ID

5) DAYTONA - Pusha T

YUGH! Amid Kanye’s unhinged tweets, messy, disorganized projects, and Oval Office visits, DAYTONA, the 7 track album he entirely produced for G.O.O.D. Music veteran Pusha T, was one thing that gave us hope that Kanye hadn’t completely lost his touch (or his mind) in 2018. DAYTONA showcases both producer Kanye and King Push at the absolute peak of their talents. It’s amazing, in this era of Xanax-fuelled mumblerap, to think how long we’ve been listening to Kanye and Push do their thing. Lord Willin’ introduced the world to Pusha T in 2002 (alongside his brother Malice, as he then was, as the iconic rap duo Clipse). The College Dropout came out two years later. I still remember buying the CDs and wearing out my discman with both of them. It’s easy to forget that Kanye and Terrence “King Push” Thornton are both 41 years old! There’s something refreshing about two guys in their forties still being able to make a banging rap record about selling drugs and buying expensive shit. Push said DAYTONA was made “for my family...high taste level, luxury, drug raps fans.”  Those fans are well served by DAYTONA. After the beat comes in on album opener If You Know You Know, Push sounds like he’s speaking directly to his day one fans, raising a styrofoam cup to: “This thing of ours, oh, this thing of ours”. The album exudes the bravado of an MC on top of his game confident in the knowledge that he’s spitting bars on a classic. And we can’t forget the incendiary Infrared, the song that touched off a vicious beef between Pusha T and rap’s biggest star, Drake, ending after Push revealed in a diss track that Drake was hiding his son from the world. Almost 20 years on, Pusha T is still ready to go war, still “clickin’ like Golden State” and still wearing the crown as King Push. Long may he reign.

Highlights: If You Know You Know, The Games We Play, Hard Piano (ft. Rick Ross), Infrared

4) Honey - Robyn

I found myself slightly disappointed in Honey at first, largely because my expectations for Robyn’s first album in eight years were based on the high energy electro-pop brilliance of 2010′s Body Talk. What I should have realized is that, if Robyn were going to make another Body Talk, she wouldn’t have kept us waiting this long. Honey is not Body Talk - you won’t find another Call Your Girlfriend or Dancing on My Own among its nine silky smooth tracks. But it is no less brilliant. If I can forget that Beach2k20 exists for a second, it feels pretty darn close to a perfect album. Honey betrays a lighter touch for Robyn, perhaps more in tune with the sound of the moment. A little more euro house and disco tinged, Honey furthers the Swedish songstress’s long evolution away from the pop idol of her late 90′s past. Honey still embodies Robyn’s signature juxtaposition of electronic dance rhythms alongside themes of sadness, loneliness and heartbreak. And songs like Honey and Missing U can still light up any dancefloor. The highlight for me is the slow-building Send to Robin Immediately, which just swells over its Lil Louis sample as Robyn urges the listener into action: “If you got something to say, say it right away. If you got something to do, do what's right for you. If you got somebody to love, give that love today. Know you got nothing to lose, there's no time to waste”. In between albums, and while writing Honey, Robyn lived through the death of a longtime collaborator and a breakup and reunion with a romantic partner. The emotional toll of these experiences seem to shine through. Robyn told the BBC’s Annie Mac earlier this year: “When I wrote this album I think I was quite tired of myself writing sad love songs, but I did anyway and looking back on that now, I think it's OK for things to be sad. Combining it with something that's bright and strong and powerful is a way of finding your way out of the sadness.” 

Highlights: Missing U, Human Being (ft. Zhala), Send to Robin Immediately, Honey

3) Clean - Soccer Mommy

Clean, the impressive debut album from 20 year old Nashville singer-songwriter Sophie Allison, was the first album I heard this year that I 100% knew would be on this list. By the time Your Dog hits at the third track, I was completely enthralled. That song is so goddamn rock and roll with Allison sparing no mercy for the subject shitty boyfriend of the opening verse: “I don't wanna be your fucking dog, That you drag around, A collar on my neck tied to a pole, Leave me in the freezing cold”. Elsewhere, on Still Clean, Allison plays with gruesome animalistic imagery singing of an ex-lover picking her “out your bloody teeth”. There is a warmer side to Clean as well. Scorpio Rising, with it’s “bubbly and sweet like Coca-Cola” softness and lyrics about meeting up after dark and missed calls from your mother definitely remind you that Allison is a self-professed devotee of Taylor Swift’s early work (which should give you another idea of why I love this album). Speaking of T-Swift, the rollicking Last Girl almost mirrors You Belong With Me in describing the crushing insecurity of comparing oneself to a new partner’s ex, somehow pulling off lyrics like “I want to be like your last girl, She's the sun in your cold world and, I am just a dying flower, I don't hold the summer in my eyes” as if that were a totally normal thing to say. Beneath the upbeat riff of Cool, where Allison idolizes the cool girl “with a heart of coal, She’ll break you down and eat you whole” is the understanding that being that person won’t bring her the happiness she seeks. Acceptance of one’s emotions and insecurities is the core theme of Clean - that “You gon’ be like that” (as Allison put it to the Fader) and you’ll be happier once you accept you for you. In many ways, Clean evokes a similar vibe to the Snail Mail and boygenius entries further up this year’s list, as a scrappy “girl with a guitar” indie record and a tongue-in-cheek stage name. That sense of charming honesty is what, I think, makes Clean stand above the other entries on this list.

Highlights: Cool, Your Dog, Last Girl, Scorpio Rising

2) Lamp Lit Prose - Dirty Projectors

The first of our top two is another repeat offender on this list (a previous incarnation of the Projectors’ Swing Lo Magellan had #7 back in 2012 and last year’s eponymous Dirty Projectors was my 2017 #8). I loved every minute of Lamp Lit Prose - it’s almost a 1B for me on this list and was pencilled in at 1 for a time in the drafting process. This album has everything that was good about last year’s DPs record but is, ultimately, tighter, more fun, less weird and less sad. Dave Longstreth appears to have moved on (at least musically) from the emotions he was working through on Dirty Projectors, which was essentially an extended meditation on the breakup of his relationship with Amber Coffman and the band’s upheaval. With Lamp Lit Prose, his “new look” Dirty Projectors (with help from friends like Syd, Rostam and HAIM) have put together something a little more traditional (by Dirty Projectors standards) and a lot more listenable. Longstreth told Exclaim that this album, compared its morose predecessor, “is really about feeling hope again, finding the things that give us hope, that make us feel optimistic and joyful.” Lamp Lit Prose falls somewhere between the twangly, jam band atmosphere of the Projector’s Swing Lo Magellan and Bitte Orca heyday and the more experimental, electronic-infused vibe of the Dirty Projectors released 18 months prior. Longstreth’s guitar riffs are again front and centre, but the voice modulation and distorted electronic sounds are still there, albeit in a more subtle way. Four part harmonies bounce over the jazzy melodies and hopeful lyrics. Where he was mourning a lost love on the last record, here we see Longstreth “in love for the first time ever” on I Found It In U (a salvaged beat from his work on Solange’s last album). On Break Thru, the un-named romantic subject is held up as “an epiphany” with comparisons in quick succession to Archimedes, Fellini and Julian Casablancas. The horn-backed chorus on What Is The Time is the high point of the record for me - the kind of song that makes you want to raise your voice and join in on the hook. All in all, it’s just great to hear this band making fun music again. Lamp Lit Prose is upbeat, creative and simply a joy to listen to. I absolutely loved this album... but just not quite enough to edge out our number 1.

Highlights: Break-Thru, That’s a Lifestyle, I Found It In U, What Is The Time

1) ASTROWORLD - Travis Scott

IT’S LIT!!! I would have never predicted that a Travis Scott album would land here at number 1, but here we are. And I feel good about it. ASTROWORLD dominated my listening from its mid-summer release onward and, with each spin, I became increasingly convinced of its greatness. Travis is an artist that I’ve long found perplexing. Insanely popular among his legions of young fans, he embodies so much of the “new rap” ethos, the first genre of music where I’ve started to feel like I might be ‘too old’ to enjoy it. It was clear on his prior outings, Rodeo and Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight, that the talent and creativity was there, but the overall product always seemed messy, disorganized, unpolished. With ASTROWORLD, Scott finally has made his Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. The album is named for a former Six Flags theme park in Scott’s hometown of Houston that was torn down a decade ago and still sits vacant. Previewing the title of the album, Scott told GQ last year: "They tore down AstroWorld to build more apartment space. That's what it's going to sound like, like taking an amusement park away from kids. We want it back. We want the building back. That's why I'm doing it. It took the fun out of the city." True to his word, the album’s 17 tracks are tied together by an overarching creepy, grimy sound. Listening to ASTROWORLD feels like walking through an abandoned theme park. Even more impressive is how Travis, as curator of the album’s varied guest list, bends the star studded guest appearances to his will, fitting them in perfectly to his dank sonic menagerie. The likes of Frank Ocean, the Weeknd, Swae Lee, Tame Impala and James Blake don’t overpower Scott’s vision but blend into the scenery, their talents employed perfectly by Travis in the role of ringmaster. Newcomers get some shine too, like Scott’s Cactus Jack labelmate Sheck Wes who gets a guest verse on NO BYSTANDERS and a shoutout to his ubiquitous single from Travis on 5% TINT: “We did some things out on the ways that we can't speak, All I know it was "Mo Bamba" on repeat”. And then, there’s SICKO MODE. Why is it that the best Drake song each year invariably comes from someone else’s album, even in a year where Drizzy himself releases a double album? The ASTROWORLD track list, at least initially, left out the featured artists, so hearing Drake’s voice over the opening notes of the album’s third track was the first time most listeners had any indication that the 6ixgod himself would be making an appearance. What a wonderful surprise it turns out to be. SICKO MODE, the album’s best track, feels like three or four different songs as the beat changes form and Travis and Drake pass the mic back and forth. The song’s Tay Keith produced final act (the “out like a light” part) is for my money the best two minutes of hip hop music made in 2018. ASTROWORLD succeeds on its grandeur, vision and consistency. Travis Scott set out to build something big and from the moment the bass kicks in on STARGAZING through to the mellow, string backed denouement of COFFEE BEAN, he succeeds at every turn. ASTROWORLD was 2018′s biggest, most creative, most sonically consistent and most fun album in hip-hop. In my estimation, it’s the best album of the year.

Highlights: STARGAZING, CAROUSEL (ft. Frank Ocean), SICKO MODE (ft. Drake, Swae Lee and Big Hawk), WAKE UP (ft. The Weeknd), CAN’T SAY (ft. Don Toliver)

That’s all folks. Thanks for reading and see ya in 2019.

[chpkns]

BEST ALBUMS 2017

2017. Great year for music. Weird/terrible year for mostly everything else. You know how this works... let’s go.

Hon. Mentions: Mura Masa - Mura Masa; Everything Now - Arcade Fire; Teenage Emotions - Lil Yachty; Antisocialites - Alvvays; Ti Amo - Phoenix; Humanz - Gorillaz; Harry Styles - Harry Styles; Good for You - Amine; All American Made - Margo Price; This Old Dog - Mac Demarco’ Pleasure - Feist; Life Without Sound - Cloud Nothings; Big Fish Theory - Vince Staples; Aromanticism - Moses Sumney; Culture - Migos; More Life - Drake; Something To Tell You - HAIM; Hug of Thunder - Broken Social Scene; City of No Reply - Amber Coffman; Ctrl - SZA; Now That The Light Is Fading - Maggie Rogers; Blue Chips 7000 - Action Bronson; The Wild - Rural Alberta Advantage; American Teen - Khalid; Reputation - Taylor Swift; Run The Jewels 3 - Run The Jewels; Process - Sampha; Japandroids - Near to the Wild Heart of Life; Rainbow - Kesha

10) Half-Light - Rostam

Two things pushed the former Vampire Weekender’s debut solo album into my top ten, despite its shortcomings (that garbled dialogue section on ‘When’ almost lost it for me)... (1) I’m an all time sucker for Vampire Weekend, and this album at its best moments sounds like the very best parts of Modern Vampires, (2) BIKE DREAM. The glimmering centrepiece of a lead single might be the single best song of 2017. Although the rest of the album doesn’t quite match Bike Dream’s energy, it is airy and delightful in its own way. While Half-Light misses the boldness of a frontman like Ezra Koenig (busy with his own vanity projects at the moment) or any of the superstars that Rostam Batmanglij has worked with since parting ways with VW (Frank Ocean, Hamilton Leithauser, Carly Rae Jepsen, among others), there is an undeniable charm to the tentativeness of Rostam’s voice as he takes centre stage for the first time. A worthy solo debut.

Highlights: Bike Dream, Gwan, When, Wood, Thatch Snow

9) Funk Wav Bounces, Vol. 1 - Calvin Harris

Funk Wav Bounces Vol. 1 is the Scottish DJ’s first Post-Swift album and the closest thing 2017 had to an official summer soundtrack. Harris reinvented himself, trading in the club for the beach and teaming up with a cadre of collaborators from established hip-hop stars (Migos, Pharell, Nicki Minaj) and rising stars (Khalid, Lil Yachty and Toronto’s own Jessie Reyez). Harris displays his talents as curator on Funk Wav Bounces, matching each track to just the right combination of guest artists with often inspired combinations (Frank Ocean and Migos on Slide, Kehlani and Lil Yachty on Faking It). And despite the varied cast, it maintains a consistent sound throughout -much moreso than its chief rival and closest contemporary in the summer collaboration album field this year, DJ Khaled’s wildly inconsistent and gloriously self-indulgent Grateful. FWB sounds exactly like its title - a collection of tropical jams sure to keep any backyard BBQ bumpin’.

Highlights: Slide (ft. Frank Ocean and Migos), Rollin (ft. Future and Khalid), Prayers Up (ft. Travis Scott and A-Trak), Faking It (ft. Kehlani and Lil Yachty)

8) Dirty Projectors - Dirty Projectors

2017′s self-titled Dirty Projectors release could not be more different from 2012′s Swing Lo Magellan. Most notable, of course, is the absence of Amber Coffman. Not just for her vocals, but for the fact that Dave Longstreth seemingly crafted the entire album around her breakup with him and the band (although he swears it isn’t as autobiographical as it sounds). There’s almost a chutzpah to Longstreth titling the Coffman-less album “Dirty Projectors” as if to put his own stamp on the meaning of the band (as he quotes KISS’ Gene Simmons: “a band is a brand”). Listening to the album, you can hear Longstreth working through the emotions of the breakup in real time, from bitterness, to regret, to resignedness and ultimately, resolution. Longstreth seems to have evolved the Projectors’ sound in his years since Swing Lo, having spent time collaborating with more mainstream pop and hip-hop artists. Dirty Projectors the album sheds the acoustic jam band aesthetic for tightly produced, electronic beats and vocal distortions. The result is a complex and eminently enjoyable album that delivers surprises on every track.

Highlights: Keep Your Name, Up In Hudson, Little Bubble, Cool Your Heart (ft. Dawn Richard)

7) Melodrama - Lorde

It’s amazing to think Ella Yelich-O’Connor is only 21 years old. Whereas Pure Heroine, released when she was 16, was a quintessential teen pop record, Melodrama, her second album, is a testament to newfound maturity. The New Zealander has done some growing up since she sang about “getting on [her] first plane” on Heroine, and it shows through the lyrical and musical diversity of this album. Melodrama ranges from anthems (Supercut, Green Light), to bangers (the Tove Lo co-written Homemade Dynamite) to ballads (Liability) all the while retaining an authenticity and unique weirdness to its songwriting. The lead track, Green Light, stands out as a particularly ambitious piece of songwriting. In less skilled hands, it might collapse under its own weight, but Lorde makes it work. The refrain on Liability of “you’re a little much for me, you’re a liability” and the image of “one girl, swaying alone, stroking her cheek” is just so good. Melodrama is a beautiful, complex pop album that solidifies Lorde’s place well above the majority of mainstream mass produced blandness. 

Highlights: Green Light, Homemade Dynamite, Liability, The Louvre

6) Freudian - Daniel Caesar

Toronto’s own Daniel Caesar’s debut album, Freudian, quickly became one of my most played records of 2017. Caesar’s mix of jazz, gospel and R&B is such easy listening I’ve often put it on while working and forgotten to change playlists before the album loops several times over. No one will accuse Freudian of being a high energy party record, but damn is it ever chill. Caesar’s silky smooth vocals, slipping effortlessly in and out of falsetto and floating effortlessly over the instrumental arrangements, are reminiscent of early Frank Ocean with a coolness harkens back to Love Below era Andre 3000. Freudian’s bucking of trap-influenced R&B trend for a more traditional sound comes out sounding modern and innovative. The obvious gospel influences make Caesar sound closer to Chance the Rapper than his fellow 6-natives Drake and the Weeknd. If Freudian is any indication, Daniel Caesar will be helping define Toronto’s sound for a long time to come.

Highlights: Get You (ft. Kali Uchis), Best Part (ft. H.E.R.), We Find Love, Transform (ft. Charlotte Day Wilson)

5) DAMN. - Kendrick Lamar

New Kung Fu Kenny! It’s even a shock to me that there ended up only being one true hip-hop record on this top ten (and we’re not really counting Calvin Harris as a rap album, are we? I didn’t think so.) But if there had to be only one, it had to be Kendrick Lamar. Kendrick is in rarefied, Kanye West type company in being able to say both that DAMN. might be his worst album, but still a bona fide classic. DAMN. embraces more of a mainstream hip-hop sound (complete with the faux mixtape DJ ad libs) than either of his last two offerings, To Pimp a Butterfly and untitled, unmastered. And while it fails to match the thematic unity of Good Kid, m.A.A.d. City, it still bangs. My first impression of DAMN. was that it sounded like if Kendrick made a Drake album (and made it look sexy)... and that ain’t a bad thing. Under the more commercially tuned exterior is the same incendiary social commentary we’ve come to expect from Kendrick. Turning his sights on Fox News critics, flexing about his friendship with Obama, and somehow making U2 seem cool in 2017 are all things that Kendrick does on DAMN. Another entry in K-dot’s epic canon.

Highlights: DNA., LOYALTY. (ft. Rihanna), HUMBLE., GOD.

4) Colter Wall - Colter Wall

My favourite country record of 2017. Speedy Creek’s own Colter Wall (the son of soon-to-be former Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall) is only 22, but you wouldn’t know it listening to this album. Wall’s deep, gravelly voice, layered over a stripped-down accompaniment feels as classic country as it gets. The starkness of the songs creates a barroom feel and leaves you to focus on the storytelling in his lyrics. Thirteen Silver Dollars tells the tale of an unfortunate drunken encounter with an RCMP officer. Kate McCannon is a classic western murder/love ballad. You Look To Yours rattles off a series of rejections by women in bars (and warns the listener “don’t trust no politicians”, showing that Colter Wall isn’t just a chip off the old block). Nashville producer Dave Cobb, who also worked on recent albums from the likes of Sturgill Simpson, Jason Isbell and Chris Stapleton - all leading disciples of the neo-traditionalist movement in alt-country - lends his talents to Wall’s debut release. The increasingly unlistenable quality of mainstream radio country may make one want to pour out a bottle of Thunderbird on music row, but Colter Wall shows us that the saving grace may come in the form of a prairie kid from up north.

Highlights: Thirteen Silver Dollars, Motorcycle, Kate McCannon, You Look To Yours

3) Turn Out The Lights - Julien Baker

The sophomore record from Tennessee singer-songwriter Julien Baker is not exactly a “feel good” album. At times, it feels downright depressing. The visceral quality and the rawness of the emotion in these songs just kept me coming back to this album. There is a realness and an intimacy that runs deep through the album. Turn Out The Lights deals with weighty stuff - addiction, mental health, loneliness, self-doubt - but with an undeniable beauty to the way Baker’s voice and lyrics layers over the piano and guitar. Woodwinds and violin accompaniments add to the richness on a few tracks but for the most part, the sparse palette of Baker’s voice, guitar and piano is enough to get the devastating point across. Baker’s voice, especially, has a haunting and beautiful quality that helps convey the gut wrenching emotion in her lyrics. There’s a hope, too, shining out behind the darkness. On Hurt Less, Baker moves from not wearing seatbelts because “I didn’t see the point in trying to save myself” to finding a reason in someone else to start buckling up. On another standout song, Appointments, Baker closes on a refrain of “Maybe it's all gonna turn out all right / Oh, I know that it's not, but I have to believe that it is.” Moments like that show that Turn Out The Lights isn’t the collection of sad songs it seems at first blush, but a celebration of the little moments of hope that help us get through the darkness.

Highlights: Appointments, Turn Out The Lights, Televangelist, Hurt Less

2) A Deeper Understanding - The War On Drugs

One word to describe this album: Big. I first listened to A Deeper Understanding on a float plane ride crossing the Georgia Strait from Vancouver island to the mainland on a sunny day. I can’t think of a better soundtrack for that than this. A Deeper Understanding is all soaring guitar, wailing synths and beating drums, perfect for tearing down a highway on a summer day, windows open to the wind. The War On Drugs’ Adam Granduciel has perfected his 80′s rock sound from 2014′s epic Lost In The Dream, tuning it perfectly to his Dire Straits-meets-Springsteen vocals. Every part of A Deeper Understanding feels finely tuned and crafted - you can feel the obsessiveness of Granduciel’s arrangements as the songs unfold. The songs themselves, mostly dwelling on loss and longing but against an undeniably upbeat musical background, are a strange contradiction that somehow never sounds wrong. It’s impossible to get through the guitar or organ riff sections on Nothing To Find without nodding a head or tapping a foot. The sonic grandeur, the “bigness”, of A Deeper Understanding is ultimately its greatest strength. Granduciel is painting landscapes here, not portraits. The influences are clear: Springsteen, Petty, Knopfler. If you think rock and roll is dead, you’re not listening to The War on Drugs.

Highlights: Up All Night, Holding On, Nothing To Find, Clean Living

1) American Dream - LCD Soundsystem

I never understood the backlash that LCD Soundsystem faced for coming out of retirement. Sometimes, an honest intention to hang up your skates is what it takes to bring out your best work (see, for example, Jay-Z’s The Black Album). American Dream, my favourite album of 2017, should solidify LCD’s comeback as a “good thing” once and for all. It would be one thing if a band kept churning out new, increasingly mediocre material (like later seasons of The Simpsons), but with American Dream, James Murphy and co. have done something truly great. American Dream is a brilliant, electric, synth-pop odyssey from start to finish. Recurring LCD themes like commentary on the state of popular music (lamenting on tonite that ‘everybody’s singing the same songs’) are prominent, but Murphy ruminates on personal topics like his divorce, missed opportunities (Black Screen lingers on Murphy’s failed chance to work more closely with David Bowie on his final album) and friendships lost. The most stunning track on the album, how do you sleep, is a pulsating, 9 minute take down of Murphy’s former collaborator Tim Goldsworthy - essentially a diss track - and it’s savage. The ‘drop’ at around the 3:30 mark is right about where I realized this album was something special. What finally sold me on American Dream as my album of the year was seeing it played live. LCD are probably one of, if not the, best live acts we have and this album truly bangs in person. At the centre of it all is Murphy, the unlikeliest front man, unshaven and drinking expensive wine in a grubby t-shirt. A rockstar with a dad bod. A bizarro light-side-of-the-force version of Steve Bannon. The American Dream incarnate if there ever was one. James Murphy is all of us, and none of us at the same time. Normal, but exceptional at the same time. This album is all exceptional. It’s the best of 2017.

Highlights: oh baby,  how do you sleep, tonite, call the police

SPECIAL RETROSPECTIVE

Now that I’ve been doing this a few years, I wanted to look back at my top albums of the decade so far...

2010: The Suburbs - Arcade Fire

2011: Take Care - Drake

2012: Channel Orange - Frank Ocean

2013: Yeezus - Kanye West

2014: Our Love - Caribou

2015: Art Angels - Grimes

2016: Coloring Book - Chance The Rapper

2017: American Dream - LCD Soundsystem

All in all a very solid and defensible selection of albums. I don’t want to second guess myself too much, and I would still ride or die for any of these choices, but if I’d change one or two, it might be to flip Yeezus for Modern Vampires in the City in 2013, or swap the Caribou for RTJ2 in 2014... which are just albums that have stuck with me more over time. 

[chpkns]

BEST ALBUMS 2016

2016 may have been awful in many other respects, but it was a really great year for music. This year’s list has been one of the hardest yet. I truly loved each one of the albums that made the top ten and many that didn’t. I have to apologize once again to Drake, who was one of the final cuts from the top ten for the second year in a row. There’s always next year, Drizzy! Apologies as well to James Blake, July Talk, Radiohead, Rihanna, the Hip and Anderson .Paak. All strong entries, just not quite strong enough to crack the top ten. This really was an awesome year for albums. So without further adieu, let’s get into my best albums of 2016.

Honourable Mentions: VIEWS - Drake; Touch - July Talk; The Colour in Anything - James Blake; Man Machine Poem - The Tragically Hip; Konnichiwa - Skepta; Cleopatra - The Lumineers; A Moon Shaped Pool - Radiohead; Walls - Kings of Leon; ANTI - Rihanna; Malibu - Anderson .Paak; E•MO•TION B Sides - Carly Rae Jepsen; Atrocity Exhibition - Danny Brown; We Are The Halluci.Nation - A Tribe Called Red; I Told You - Tory Lanez; Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight - Travis Scott; Lemonade - Beyonce; Genesis - Domo Genesis; Full Circle - Loretta Lynn; In My Mind - BJ The Chicago Kid; Indigo - River Tiber; Jeffery - Young Thug; California Sunrise - Jon Pardi; Starboy - The Weeknd; Blank Face LP - Schoolboy Q

10) Hero - Maren Morris

I’ve always got room on this list for a rebellious female country artist that isn’t afraid to swear (see: Kacey Musgraves’ last two albums). Maren Morris fits that mould, but that’s about the only mould she fits. Hero, Morris’ debut album, pushes the limits of country music, while at the same time hearkening back to its roots. The country radio friendly single My Church is the best mainstream country song of the year (even if the idea of hearing Hank Williams or Johnny Cash on the radio is slightly incredible). My Church is not really about religion but finding spirituality outside of traditional religious spaces. That most country radio listeners probably don’t notice or care is part of the song’s charm. Throughout this great album, Morris plays to Nashville’s sensibility just enough to get radio play while subtly pushing back between the lines. She takes cues from pop, hip-hop and R&B without it ever seeming forced or awkward (like so many Sam Hunt or Florida Georgia Line singles). The soulful How It’s Done sounds like it could just as easily have been recorded by Rihanna. Country radio is in a sad state, but Morris might just be the Hero it needs.

Essential Tracks: My Church, How It’s Done, Drunk Girls Don’t Cry, I Wish I Was

9) untitled unmastered. - Kendrick Lamar

First and foremost, I guess I need to thank Lebron James for making this album happen. Thank you Lebron! Kendrick Lamar’s 2015 opus To Pimp A Butterfly was so good, even its cast offs made for a hit record. Stripped of cover art, an album title, song titles or any of the hype surrounding an official release, untitled is Kendrick unplugged. We hear him jamming and bantering with collaborators on several tracks. Those collaborators include Kendrick’s TDE label mates Jay Rock and SZA as well as Cee-Lo, Thundercat and Bilal. The album has a rawness to it, like a peek behind the curtain of Kendrick’s creative process. From untitled 02′s “get Top on the phone!” to untitled 07′s “levitate, levitate, levitate” and all the jazz inspired beats in between, untitled’s 8 tracks don’t just feel like Butterfly’s b-sides, but fully formed masterpieces on par with K dot’s best.

Essential Tracks: untitled 07 | 2014-2016, untitled 02 | 6.23.2014., untitled 05 | 09.21.2014.

8) 99.9% - Kaytranada

Many have admired Montreal-based producer Kevin Celestin, aka Kaytranada, over Soundcloud for years. On 99.9%, his first full length LP and winner of 2016′s Polaris Prize, Kaytranada showed us he’s more than just an internet DJ (although, like his previous music, 99.9% was entirely produced in mom’s basement). 99.9% is an electronic album that walks a thin line between genres, at times part hip-hop, part R&B, part jazz or funk. 99.9% is 100% fun. Features from Anderson .Paak (Glowed Up), Craig David (Got It Good) AlunaGeorge and Goldlink (Together), among others, lend some star power. But the real star is Kay himself, whose beats, with or without features on top, tie the album together with a distinct sound, funky and unrelenting. The drums throughout this album are just insane. Celestin’s Haitian-born father apparently remarked after hearing 99.9% for the first time: “Now I understand that he didn’t forget Haiti!” There’s a real dancehall vibe. Put it on. You won’t stop dancing.

Essential Tracks: Lite Spots, Glowed Up (ft. Anderson .Paak), You’re The One (ft. Syd), Drive Me Crazy (ft. Vic Mensa)

7) Morning Report - Arkells

Arkells are becoming one of those bands where every album is a good bet to make this list (I checked - High Noon made my 2014 list and Michigan Left, my least favourite of their records, was in the “Top 15″ I did in 2011... who does a top 15? If I was doing lists in 2008, Jackson Square would have definitely been a contender. What can I say? I like this band.) They’ve earned their keep this year with Morning Report. Still full of hook-heavy, live friendly jams ready for the concert hall (or Strombo’s house), the boys from Hamilton expanded their horizons on this album with a newer sound. The product of four different producers, Morning Report has a variety of different sounds for Arkells from the soaring “Hold you!” chorus of gospel inspired Drake’s Dad (actually about meeting Drake’s dad) to 80′s rock ballad My Heart’s Always Yours. At the centre of it all is frontman Max Kerman, who is beginning to cement his place alongside Gord Downie, Chris Murphy and Steve Page as one of Can rock’s truly distinctive voices. In year that saw the Hip release their final album (a late cut from this list), Arkells were a welcome reminder that Can rock is alive and well.

Essential Tracks: Drake’s Dad, And Then Some, Come Back Home, My Heart’s Always Yours

6) A Sailor’s Guide To Earth - Sturgill Simpson

A Sailor’s Guide To Earth reminded me this year why it’s important to go back and make sure you didn’t miss or dismiss a record unfairly the first time around. I did that with Sailor’s Guide. I loved the hell out of Metamodern Sounds in Country Music, despite being late to the party on it. When I first listened to Sailor’s Guide, I was hoping for more of the same “vintage/alt country, but with hallucinogens” vibe, and instead got something completely different: an expansive, genre non-conforming record full of strings and horn sections that, but for Simpson’s distinct voice, sounds almost nothing like Metamodern Sounds at all. I guess that’s part of Sturgill’s genius as an artist. He always keeps you guessing. I’m glad I gave Sailor’s Guide a second look as I was making this list. Because what I found after relistening to it a few times is that I couldn’t put it down. Conceptually styled as a letter to his newborn son, with the nautical theme serving as a metaphor for Simpson’s touring keeping him away from home, Sailor’s Guide a beautiful, earnest, optimistic album that’s hard to label. Plus, there’s a Nirvana cover. He’s a Nashville outcast (self-exiled if we’re being honest), but Sturgill Simpson may be their best hope whether Music Row wants him or not.

Essential Tracks: Welcome To Earth (Pollywog), Sea Stories, Brace For Impact (Live a Little), In Bloom

5) The Life of Pablo - Kanye West

Put aside the erratic behaviour, the “Steve Jobs mixed with Steve Austin” egotism and the questionable political views and just respect Kanye West’s artistry. Whether you love Kanye, hate Kanye or just miss the old Kanye, it’s hard to deny that The Life of Pablo was one of the year’s best albums. It’s a far cry from the dialled in perfectionism of My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, but that’s besides the point. The messiness of Pablo and Kanye’s constant tinkering, both prior to its release (with its ever changing title and tracklists) and afterwards, as it was slowly released and updated on streaming services, is better seen as innovative than indecisive. When albums can “live” on streaming services, do they ever really have to be “finished”? Throughout his career, Kanye has been one of the great innovators in modern hip-hop. Kanye’s latest experiment with Pablo is just another example of the mad scientist at work. Musically, Pablo is full of the same oddball humour and bravado, deft sampling and star studded features that we’ve loved about Ye’s music since College Dropout (controversial opinion: Dropout is still Kanye’s best album). What’s different here is the scattered nature of the album and lack of thematic consistency. I’m willing to forgive that because the end product is still a certified banger. It’s hard to deny how good most of this album is, for all its minor flaws. Kanye described Pablo as “a gospel album, with a lot of cussing.” If that is true of any part of it, it’s the standout opening track, Ultralight Beam, where Kanye doesn’t so much get shown up by his Chi-town prodigy Chance the Rapper, as he passes him the torch (more on Chance later). Pablo may betray the instability of Kanye’s genius... but even Van Gogh cut his ear off for love. As Ye says himself on the record: “Name one genius that ain’t crazy!” 

Essential Tracks: Ultralight Beam (ft. Chance the Rapper), Famous (ft. Rihanna), Father Stretch My Hands Pt. 1, Waves (ft. Chris Brown), No More Parties in LA (ft. Kendrick Lamar), Real Friends (ft. Ty Dolla $ign)

4) Blonde - Frank Ocean

Blonde will always be stuck in a debate over whether it was “worth the wait” or how it compares to Frank’s near perfect 2012 album Channel Orange. After four years, and multiple rumoured release dates missed, Ocean "surprise” released Blonde on a hot Saturday afternoon in August. Thankfully, Blonde (not the weirdly ambient visual album Endless released a day prior, apparently to satisfy label commitments and free Ocean to self release Blonde) was the new album we were waiting for (the rumoured Boys Don’t Cry turned out to be a zine). And despite the frustration of the wait, all I could think about as I listened to Blonde was how good it was to hear Frank’s voice again. It is both helpful and unhelpful to view Blonde in comparison to Channel Orange. The comparison is ultimately unavoidable. It risks setting the listener up for disappointment because this album is not Channel Orange. It is more subdued, more experimental and entirely devoid of the bangers that made Channel Orange so much fun. Still, on Blonde, it feels like Ocean is flexing his creative muscle and spreading his wings. Think of it like the To Pimp a Butterfly to Channel Orange’s Good Kid, m.A.A.d. City (extending the analogy a bit, I also like the idea of Nostalgia Ultra as Frank’s Section.80). I might not enjoy Blonde as much as I did its predecessor, but I have to recognize its artistic superiority. Frank’s strength has always been his songwriting and it’s here in spades. The opening lines of Nikes might be my favourite lyrics of the year: “Said she need a ring like Carmelo / Must be on that white like Othello.” And then, a few bars later, after eulogizing A$AP Yams and Pimp C, he sings: “RIP Trayvon, that n---- look just like me”, packing more political punch into one line that most full albums had this year. The ballad Godspeed is like a perfect mirror image to Channel Orange’s Bad Religion - the earlier song focusing on the pain of unrequited love and the newer on the freedom of letting go. The standout on this album is Solo, a rumination on loneliness, self-love and self-medication, laid on top of spare church organ tones. It culminates in this amazingly powerful chorus: “It's hell on Earth and the city's on fire / Inhale, inhale there's heaven / There's a bull and a matador dueling in the sky / Inhale, in hell there's heaven.” That chorus (with the “inhale” / “in hell” double entendre) knocked me off my feet in a way that I remembered Channel Orange doing four years ago. That’s when I knew Blonde was a worthy successor.

Essential Tracks: Nikes, Ivy, Solo, Self Control, White Ferrari, Godspeed

3) The Dream Is Over - PUP

In a year with major releases from many of my favourite artists, I did not expect that a band I’d never heard of in a genre I don’t really listen to could wind up as my third favourite of the year. But here it is, overcoming the odds. Defying fate is a familiar theme in The Dream Is Over, the second album from Toronto punk rock outfit, PUP. The amazing true story behind the album title is that, after shredding his vocal cords, lead singer Stefan Babcock was told by his doctor: “the dream is over” and advised to stop singing or risk losing his voice entirely. Clearly, the doctor was either wrong or Babcock just didn’t care to heed his warning. That triumphant stance - laughing in the face of misery - runs throughout the album’s tight half-hour of anthemic rock, replete with heavy guitar riffs and sing-along (scream-along?) choruses. The Dream Is Over reminded me something of a cross between all the old Blink-182 and Green Day that I grew up on and still go back to frequently and Japandroids’ epic 2012 record Celebration Rock (another album outside my usual listening habits that I found and loved anyway). One of PUP’s biggest strengths on The Dream Is Over is their  humour, which is employed throughout the album as a type of coping mechanism in their commentary on the shittiness of everyday life. The album’s opening track, If This Tour Doesn’t Kill You, I Will, is a laugh-out-loud ode to the strains that an intense touring schedule puts on a band. The tongue in cheek sentiment (“I'm trying not to let you get in my head, but every line, every goddamn syllable / That you say makes me wanna gouge out my eyes with a power drill”) is relatable for anyone who has been annoyed after spending too much time with a friend, but still recognizes the deeper bond. The other standout track is DVP, a raucous anthem about resisting adulthood that feels like a modern day version of What’s My Age Again. It was a friend’s posting of the excellent DVP music video (surely the video of the year) that first twigged me to PUP. The Dream Is Over came out of nowhere this year to be an album I listened to over and over. It’s a pure, high-energy rock trip from front to back and definitely worth your attention.

Essential Tracks: DVP, If This Tour Doesn’t Kill You, I Will, Can’t Win, Familiar Patterns, Pine Point

2) We got it from Here... Thank You 4 Your service - A Tribe Called Quest

We got it from Here... Thank You 4 Your service, the sixth and final album from legendary rap group A Tribe Called Quest, was released three days after Donald Trump was elected President of the United States. Whether intended or not, the timing could not have been better. We got it from Here is the first and most important protest album of the Trump era, tackling political issues ranging from racism to gentrification to the excesses of unequal wealth distribution. On The Space Program, Tribe builds an extended sci-fi metaphor for the lack of upward mobility in America: “There ain’t a space program for n----s / Yeah, you stuck here, n----”, only to tear it down: “Imagine if this shit was really talkin’ about space, dude.” On We The People..., Q-Tip  parrots the darker parts of Trump’s stump speech: “All you Black folks, you must go / All you Mexicans, you must go / And all you poor folks, you must go / Muslims and gays, boy, we hate your ways.” Coming so soon after Trump’s win, the whole thing feels oddly prophetic. The protest aspect of We got it from Here, however, is just one hat among many that the album seems to wear. It is equal parts a celebration of Tribe’s legacy and place in the hip-hop pantheon as well as a tribute to fallen member, Phife Dawg, who died in March from complications with diabetes. Phife must have spent enough time in Q-Tip’s studio before then to cement his presence on the album. He appears on every track and the album seems to have avoided being a posthumous stitching together of old recordings. The album is rooted in hip-hop history. It feels distinctly like the basement party vibe of old Tribe and Wu-Tang albums, likely owing to the fact that the entire album was recorded in Q-Tip’s home studio. The reunion of Tip, Phife and Jarobi White after nearly two decades apart is a thing to behold. They don’t miss a beat, trading the mic back and forth with the same ease as their younger selves did on Midnight Marauders and The Low End Theory. Q-Tip, Tribe’s reluctant frontman, is in particularly fine form. While the three MCs from Queens remain the focus, We got it from Here features an incredible range of collaborators including Jack White, Kendrick Lamar, Anderson .Paak, Talib Kweli and Andre 3000. Busta Rhymes sounds better on this record than he has in a long time. (Can we talk about the mini-moment that Busta is having these days? The Busta-aissance?) Tip acknowledges Tribe’s place in hip-hop history with the torch passing line on Dis Generation: “Talk to Joey, Earl, Kendrick and Cole, gatekeepers of flow / They are extensions of instinctual soul / It's the highest in commodity grade / And you could get it today.” It’s a poignant end to Tribe’s legacy and an anointment of a new generation as inheritors of the culture (with Joey BadA$$, Earl Sweatshirt, Kendrick Lamar and J. Cole, apparently, at the vanguard). For now, at least, we’ve still got We got it from Here as a modern, relevant Tribe album that stands equal alongside their classics. Tip, Jarobi and Phife, thank you for your service. 

Essential Tracks:  We The People..., Dis Generation, The Space Program, Solid Wall of Sound, Conrad Tokyo

1) Coloring Book - Chance the Rapper

From its early summer release, I had little doubt that Chance the Rapper’s Coloring Book would end up in the number one spot on this list. Coloring Book is Chance’s third “mixtape” (a term used only because Chance insists on giving his music away - let’s be honest, this thing is an album) and the official title for what was long known as “Chance 3″ (Sidenote: 2016 was the year of the changing album title. “Chance 3″ became Coloring Book. “Views From The 6″ became just VIEWS. “Boys Don’t Cry” became Blonde. “So Help Me God” became “SWISH” became The Life of Pablo.) With Coloring Book, young Chancelor Bennett fulfilled the promise from his tour de force guest spot on Kanye West’s Ultralight Beam to do a good ass job with Chance 3 and there ain’t one gosh darn part you can’t tweet. If it was not already obvious, Coloring Book cemented Chance’s place in the upper echelons of rap, with the likes of Kendrick, Kanye and Drake. There is no bigger talent in hip-hop at this moment. Where A Tribe Called Quest’s We got it from Here recalled the history of hip-hop culture, Coloring Book is firmly oriented toward the future. It represents hip-hop’s continued evolution. Chance’s eschewing record labels and traditional profit models is in itself evolutionary and revolutionary. Like all of Chance’s releases to date, Coloring Book was self released and he hasn’t asked a cent from fans for his music, focusing instead on touring and merchandise. He reminds us on Angels that he’s “only ever sold merch” and issues a shot across the industry’s bow in No Problem: “If one more label try to stop me / It's gon' be some dreadhead n----s in ya lobby, huh huh.” (And if you have not watched the performance of No Problem on Ellen, you really should.) Is there a better artist to have joined Chance in his joyful rebuke of the industry than Lil Wayne, himself engaged in a nasty legal dispute with Cash Money that has kept “The Carter 5″ unjustly under wraps? Weezy’s inspired guest verse here is among his best work since The Carter III. The contributions from Coloring Book’s other collaborators are similarly outstanding. Young Thug and Lil Yachty, fellow representatives of new and evolutionary sounds in modern rap, are transcendent on Mixtape, Yachty in particular. Justin Bieber is here too, following up on his guest appearance with Chance on the Social Experiment’s Surf album last year (their ongoing collaboration is perhaps a nod to one of Chance’s big breaks being his appearance on Biebs’ single Confident). Coloring Book takes the listener to church with an expansive, gospel-inspired sound, Biblical references and choirs on choirs on choirs. The Chicago Children’s Choir joins Chance and Kanye on the opening track, All We Got, and the album closes with Finish Line / Drown and the reprise to Blessings, each of which feature a choir of guest artists including T-Pain, BJ the Chicago Kid and Anderson .Paak. Chance’s spirituality on display has irked some more agnostic listeners. But, even if you don’t share it, the inspiration Chance draws from his faith is inspiring. You too may feel compelled to “give Satan a swirly.” Plus, if the Bible references don’t do it for you, there are multiple references to millenial America’s other sacred text: the Harry Potter series. Chance is joined, as always, by the Social Experiment - his band consisting of Donnie Trumpet, Peter Cottontale, Greg Landfair Jr. and Nate Fox. Coloring Book is proof positive that SoX and Chance have perfected the live jazz / hip-hop fusion they have been working on for years. In addition to SoX, there are some amazing guest producers providing Chance with a palette for his lyrics on Coloring Book, including Kanye’s aforementioned work on All We Got and Kaytranada’s banger of a beat on All Night. The highlight, though, is Francis & The Lights’ reworking of his own song Friends into Coloring Book’s Summer Friends. Summer Friends is a reminiscence on Chance’s youth spent in West Chatham on Chicago’s south side and a commentary on the city’s gun violence epidemic. The chorus (“summer friends don’t stay around”) is a reference to the spike of shootings that occur every summer when school lets out. It’s a eulogy and a call to action for the city he loves and still calls home. Ultimately, the tone of Coloring Book is a hopeful one. Chance’s optimism and earnestness stand in stark contrast to the negativity and darkness that prevailed in 2016. That’s why Coloring Book is so important. It’s that little shining light in the dark, a lightning bug in a bottle. It’s the best album of 2016.

Essential Tracks: No Problem (ft. Lil Wayne and 2 Chainz), Summer Friends (ft. Jeremih and Francis & the Lights), Same Drugs, Mixtape (ft. Young Thug and Lil Yachty), Angels (ft. Saba), All Night (ft. Knox Fortune)

That’s it. Looking forward to some great music in 2017!

[chpkns]

BEST ALBUMS OF 2015

Hello, friends. Let me begin by quoting the great Aubrey Graham (who does not appear on this list), and say “what a time to be alive!” This was one tough year to put a list together. I agonized for a long time over the final two to three spots. Then some more over the final ordering. At least four of the Honourable Mention albums below was, at one point or another, in an earlier draft of this list (with regrets to Mac Demarco, Corb Lund, Alabama Shakes and the aforementioned Aubrey Graham). But there comes a time to make decisions and now is that time. I give you, the best albums of 2015 (according to me)...

Hon. Mentions: Mr. Wonderful - Action Bronson, B4.DA.$$ - Joey Bada$$, Mr. Misunderstood - Eric Church, Traveler - Chris Stapleton, The Blade - Ashley Monroe, All We Need - Raury, Young Rich Nation - Migos, AT.LONG.LAST.A$AP - A$AP Rocky, Purpose - Justin Bieber, Sremmlife - Rae Sremmurd, Lantern - Hudson Mohawke, Policy - Will Butler, I Don’t Like Shit, I Don’t Go Outside: An Album By Earl Sweatshirt, 25 - Adele, Beauty Behind the Madness - The Weekend, Fetty Wap - Fetty Wap, Compton - Dr. Dre, Things That Can’t Be Undone - Corb Lund, If I’ve Only One Time Askin’ - Daniel Romano, 1989 - Ryan Adams, How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful - Florence and the Machine, Sound And Color - Alabama Shakes, Another One - Mac Demarco, If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late - Drake

10) Sour Soul - BADBADNOTGOOD and Ghostface Killah

Until you consider that Toronto jazz trio BADBADNOTGOOD first came together working on ensemble covers of Gucci Mane and Odd Future, their collaboration album with Wu Tang member Ghostface Killah might seem odd. But this odd couple is a match made in Shaolin. BBNG’s cinematic instrumentals provide the perfect backdrop for Ghostface’s barking narrative flow - like a shiny new suit for rap’s Tony Stark. Some of the album’s brightest spots are when Ghost puts the mic down and let’s BBNG jam out (Stark’s Reality, Experience). 

Essential Tracks: Six Degrees (feat. Danny Brown), Mind Playing Tricks, Gunshowers (feat. Elzhi)

9) Summertime ’06 - Vince Staples

Summertime ‘06 feels like the coming out party for hip-hop’s next big thing. There are shades of Kendrick and Kanye in Staples’ studio debut - the follow-up to 2014′s much celebrated EP “Hell Can Wait”. Like Kendrick, Staples’ uses his gifted lyricism to paint a hyper realistic, often bleak portrait of life. And like Kanye, he does it through catchy hooks and blockbuster production. It shouldn’t surprise that the production has a Yeezus-like feel since most of the album was produced by Ye’s mentor No I.D. The only downside is the length of the double album, which tends to drag on through a lot of repetitiveness. It could’ve been tightened up. That said, Summertime ‘06 is one hell of a debut and I can’t wait to see what Staples’ future has in store.

Essential Tracks: Norf Norf, Lift Me Up, Señorita, Surf (feat. Kilo Kish), Jump Off The Roof (feat. Snoh Aalegra)

8) Pageant Material - Kacey Musgraves

With Pageant Material, Kacey Musgraves continued to be everything that country music needs - tight songwriting, vintage sound and modern, relevant, honest lyrics. And no painful attempts at EDM/“rap” crossovers. The album opens with “High Time”, a song that sounds like Patsy Cline and is more or less about getting stoned and forgetting about all the bullshit. And that pretty much sets up the rest of the album perfectly. Musgraves may not be Pageant Material (as she sings on the title track, “the only Crown is in my glass”) but she’s deserved a spot among country music royalty.

Essential Tracks: Biscuits, Dime Store Cowgirl, Die Fun, Somebody To Love

7) E•MO•TION - Carly Rae Jepsen

I’ve got to tell you something. I really, really, really, really, really like this album. After one listen, I was ready to declare E•MO•TION “the best pop album since 1989″ (the Taylor Swift album, not the year). It’s even better than her criminally underappreciated 2012 album “Kiss” - better known as “the album Call Me Maybe was on”. E•MO•TION is an hour of 80′s pop synth bliss assembled by Jepsen with help from the likes of Sia and Dev Hynes. The songs are catchy, emotional and incredibly fun. One of the most instantly enjoyable albums of the year.

Essential Tracks: Run Away With Me, Boy Problems, Your Type, LA Hallucinations, I Didn’t Just Come Here To Dance

6) Surf - Donnie Trumpet and the Social Experiment

It speaks volumes to the humility of Chancelor Bennett that he insisted on giving his trumpet player and band top billing on his first major outing since the success of “Acid Rap”. Despite the byline, Chance is clearly the star of this incredible, hope-filled record that blends hip-hop, funk, R&B, gospel and more into one. The uncredited guests bring their A game too. Busta Rhymes is in vintage form on “Slip Slide”, the unexpected arrival of Quavo from Migos at the end of “Familiar” might be the album’s highlight. Heck, even Big Sean sounds great! We’ve already talked about Sunday Candy (scroll down to Best Songs of 2014) and the promise of that excellent song is delivered with this record.

Essential Tracks: Slip Slide, Wanna Be Cool, Familiar, Sunday Candy, Windows

5) Barter 6 - Young Thug

For almost too much of 2015, I firmly held the opinion that Young Thug’s Barter 6 (originally titled “Carter 6″ until Lil Wayne threatened to sue days before the planned release) was the best hip hop album of 2015. As will be clear in a second, I no longer hold that opinion. But damn. This album is FIRE. Thugger is one of the most singular voices in rap today and on Barter 6 he is on his game. Thug’s sing-songy, sometimes near unintelligible drawl just seems to float effortlessly over the beats. His constantly shifting flow on “Halftime” is particularly breathtaking. Silly Birdman verses aside, Barter 6 is a hip hop classic.

Essential Tracks: Halftime, Knocked Off (feat. Birdman), Can’t Tell (feat. T.I. and Boosie Badazz), Amazing (feat. Jacquees)

4) In Colour - Jamie xx

The emphatic genre-bending banger “I Know There’s Gonna Be (Good Times)” is worth the price of admission, but you’ll stick around for the airy vibes xx lays down over the course of this epic electronic record. A far cry from the demureness of xx’s work with the band sharing the second half of his solo moniker, it’s virtually impossible to not want to dance as Jamie lays down one space age dance beat after another. The Romy-featuring “Loud Places” is especially fun. Put this one on, and you know there’s gonna be good times.

Essential Tracks: I Know There’s Gonna Be (Good Times) (feat. Young Thug and Popcaan),  Loud Places (feat. Romy), Gosh, Hold Tight

3) I Love You, Honeybear - Father John Misty

Are you drained by the meaningless of your white privileged suburban existence? Did they give you a useless education? A subprime loan? A craftsman home? Do the malaprops make you want to fuckin’ scream? Well save me President Jesus, this is the album for you! Whether he’s entirely serious or not doesn’t really matter. Josh Tillman’s semi-tongue-in-cheek character study solo act, Father John Misty, puts together one hell of a postmodern dystopian folk album. I Love You, Honeybear plucks a lot of the same strings as Arcade Fire’s canonical album The Suburbs, which puts it in lofty company in my books. If you’re the type to laugh more than cringe at dark humour, this one’s for you.

Essential Tracks: Holy Shit, The Night Josh Tillman Came To Our Apartment, Bored In The USA, I Went To The Store One Day, Chateau Lobby #4 (in C for Two Virgins)

2) To Pimp a Butterfly - Kendrick Lamar

Allow me to be the biggest hypocrite of 2015 and begin with an UNPOPULAR OPINION ALERT: I don’t think this is Kendrick’s best album or, as you’ve figured out by now, the best album of 2015. Maybe it’s the most “important” album of both categories, but that’s not what we’re counting down here. The reason being, I can listen to Good Kid m.A.A.d. City straight through, over and over again. I can do the same for many of the other albums on this list. And while there are tracks on TPAB that I will say that about, and which are truly instant hip hop classics (see below), there are tracks on this album I will consistently skip. But skipping through “u” to get to “Alright” or “For Free?” to get to “King Kunta” is fine by me any day of the week. And is it just me, or is the album version of “i” so much better than the underwhelming single release? Okay, enough negativity, here. I really love this record. Kendrick is a legend. The album is beautiful. I have to respect Kendrick’s artistry on this even if I wish, in my heart, it were front to back bangers.

Essential Tracks: King Kunta, The Blacker The Berry, Alright, i, Hood Politics

1) Art Angels - Grimes

In the end it wasn’t even a question. From the first time I heard Art Angels, Grimes’ first album since 2012′s Visions put her on the map, I knew that when all was said and done it would be number 1 on this list. Art Angels is a fucking triumph of will. From secluding herself in a cabin in BC to reportedly scrapping an entire album because it wasn’t up to snuff, Art Angels ended up having as much of a genesis story as the nine day adderall binge in a Montreal apartment that produced Visions. But Art Angels is not Visions, and despite the latter’s greatness, that is where it succeeds. While Visions was, in many ways, defined and limited by its circumstances - an electronic album produced on short notice using basic equipment (Macbook and Garage Band) - Art Angels is Grimes, fully formed. Her new-age pop auteurism is let loose with all the fancy equipment her newfound fame and Roc Nation deal can buy, and the time to work through complex ideas, even learn new instruments for the album (at least five of them). Boucher likes to remind us every chance she gets that she did everything on this album from the production, to the insruments, to the album art. And who can blame her, when the assumption today with “pop” music is that artists are little more than a vehicle for some middle aged Swedish songwriter to launch his latest retread radio hit? Grimes proved here she doesn’t need anyone’s help. She can do it all on her own. Well, mostly on her own - there are pretty sweet guest spots from Janelle Monae and Taiwanese rapper Aristophanes. I love this album. It’s catchy, it’s weird, it’s fun, it’s interesting. It’s surprising and different, yet somehow everything we hoped for from Grimes. It’s the best album of 2015.

Essential Tracks: California, Flesh Without Blood, Kill V. Maim, REALiTi, Easily, Venus Fly (feat. Janelle Monae), World Princess, Pt. II

That’s all folks! See ya next year! 

[chpkns]

BEST SONGS OF 2015

Another year gone by, it must be time for my annual posts recapping my favourite songs and albums of the year. Here we go.

Hon. Mentions: Cheerleader - Omi, Holy Shit - Father John Misty, Norf Norf - Vince Staples, Hello - Adele, The Hills - The Weeknd, I Can’t Feel My Face - The Weeknd, Dirt - Florida Georgia Line, John Cougar, John Deere, John 3:16 - Keith Urban, Love Yourself - Justin Bieber, Biscuits - Kacey Musgraves, Baby Blue - Action Bronson ft. Chance the Rapper, Hotline Bling - Drake, Burning House - Cam, Shutdown - Skepta

10) Only One - Kanye West ft. Paul McCartney

Just a few seconds into 2015, Twitter started buzzing about Kanye dropping a new track featuring some young British upstart (who is this McCartney guy anyway?). What we got wasn’t Yeezus redux, but maybe one of Ye’s most heartfelt and mature songs to date. 

9) Ryderz - Hudson Mohawke

This song jacks me up. I want this to be my entrance music, walk up music, whatever. When the drums first come in, it’s just so good. Pure elation.

8) Sadr City - Corb Lund

Inspired by stories related to Corb over beers by Iraq War veterans, Sadr City tells the story of an American soldier caught on one too many tours in the later years of the Iraq War as sectarian violence flared up in the suburbs of Baghdad and is probably the only time the Mahdi Army has been mentioned in a country song.

7) Where Are Ü Now - Jack Ü ft. Justin Bieber

The singles from “Purpose” will likely be more remembered, but this song was the one that touched off Bieber’s 2015 comeback story. Combining with producer supergroup Jack Ü (aka Skrillex and Diplo), Bieber found the new sound and new audience he needed to build his return to the top.

6) Trap Queen - Fetty Wap

This spot could’ve easily gone to the other “Song of the Summer” contenders - The Weeknd’s “Can’t Feel My Face” or Omi’s “Cheerleader” - but Trap Queen stands above those other infectious 2015 summer jams for many reasons, not the least of which is the fact he made a song so overtly about crack production and still got mainstream appeal.

5) Bored In The USA - Father John Misty

An ode to the same genre of cynical, white-privileged malaise that inspired Arcade Fire’s “The Suburbs”, Josh Tillman’s alter ego Father John Misty brings a twist of dark humour to the subject on “Bored in the USA”, even adding a canned laugh track as the narrator laments his “useless education.” Save me, White Jesus.

4) Know Yourself - Drake

It’s tempting to go to Hotline Bling as “the” Drake song of 2015, but the slow build of this standout track from “If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late” is what stands out for me. Not much compares to the raw energy of that first drop into “RUNNIN THROUGH THE SIX WIT MY WOES”. And people, the lyric is “You know how that should go” - if you’re still saying “that shit go” you’re ironically not living up to 6god’s words.

3) Kill v. Maim - Grimes

According to Claire Boucher (aka Grimes), who as we know wrote, produced and did basically everything to make this song happen, Kill v. Maim is written from the perspective of Al Pacino’s Michael Corleone in The Godfather Pt. II, if he were a space travelling vampire who could switch genders. It’s also her favourite song on the new album and an absolute banger.

2) Alright - Kendrick Lamar

“Alright” is a song of hope. Although not explicitly about police brutality, Alright was taken up by the Black Lives Matter movement this year, the refrain chanted at protests and Kendrick himself addressing the subject through imagery in his BET Awards performance and the song’s epic music video. Ultimately, the song’s message is both defiant and optimistic - despite it all, “we gon’ be alright.”

1) I Know There’s Gonna Be (Good Times) - Jamie xx ft. Young Thug and Popcaan

The real Song of the Summer 2015 and best song of 2015. This song is just pure fun. You can’t not bounce to this. Jamie xx’s production makes perfect use of the diverse talents of his collaborators, dancehall king Popcaan and the second coming of Weezy, Young Thug. Like the song directly above on this list, “I Know There’s Gonna Be (Good Times)” is buoyant and reassuring in its optimism. But more than that, it feels like the promised “good times” area already upon us.

That’s it for top songs. Best albums coming soon.

[chpkns]

BEST ALBUMS 2014

We did the songs. Now we rank the albums. Here are my Best Albums of 2014.

Honourable Mentions: Ultraviolence - Lana Del Rey, FKA Twigs - LP1, Aquarius - Tinashe, Wonder Where We Land - SBTRKT, My Everything - Ariana Grande, My Krazy Life - YG, Broke With Expensive Taste - Azealia Banks, Black Portland - Young Thug and Bloody Jay, Neon Icon - RiFF RaFF, The God Complex - Goldlink, Year of the Caprese - Cherub, This Is All Yours - Alt-J, Alvvays - Alvvays, The Pinkprint - Nicki Minaj, Black Messiah - D'Angleo and the Vanguard

10) Oxymoron - Schoolboy Q

The second major release from the Black Hippy crew following Kendrick Lamar's "good kid m.A.A.d. city", Quincy Hanley's "Oxymoron" solidifies his place as a hip hop mainstay with an album full of arena-worthy club bangers ("Studio", "Gangsta" and "Man of the Year") balanced with higher concept hip hop tracks teaming with the likes of Raekwon ("Blind Threats"), Tyler the Creator ("The Purge") and fellow Hippy, Kendrick Lamar ("Collard Greens"). 

QUOTABLE QUOTE: "I see hands in the crowds / See whites, blacks blazing a pound, j-jumping around / Tits, ass bump out her gown / Bounce from the ground, h-hype for the sound" - Man of the Year

9) High Noon - Arkells

When all is said and done, Hamilton, Ontario's Arkells will have a place alongside Can-rock royalty like Sloan and the Hip. "High Noon" is their third strong album in a row. With help from the producers of Phoenix and M83, Arkells 2014 offering gave us a bigger, more contemporary sound ("Leather Jacket" and "Come To Light" are particularly strong tracks), while keeping true to the catchy pop melodies and relatable themes that has made their music so accessible in the past. Nelly's "street sweeper baby" and Ja Rule's "baby put it on me" get dropped casually in mid-verse on "Dirty Blonde". "Never Thought That This Would Happen" tells the tale of an unexpected romantic encounter with a friend while on a Northern Ontario camping weekend. If that's not what being young and Canadian is all about, I don't know what is.

QUOTABLE QUOTE: "And those Oakville moms / They stick up their nose / Those Burlington dads / Keep their daughters at home" - Cynical Bastards

8) Salad Days - Mac Demarco

Mac just makes it all look easy. "Salad Days" is an almost too perfect title for this laid back collection of new age beachy chillbro tracks that seem to just float happily into one another over the course the album's 35 minutes. Salad Days is sun-drenched and cigarette-stained slacker rock layabout of an album and it is a delight. A highlight is the pragmatic breakup anthem "Let Her Go" - supposedly Mac's response to the label's demand for an "upbeat" single. Contrast that with "Let My Baby Stay", where Demarco croons with genuine fear that his longtime love may be lost while he's out on tour. I hope he lives up to his album-ending promise to see us again soon.

QUOTABLE QUOTE: "So tell her that you love her / if you really love her / But when your heart just ain’t sure / let her go" - Let Her Go

7) Piñata - Freddie Gibs and Madlib

A lot of people started to question if "Real Hip Hop" still existed in 2014. Thankfully we had MadGibbs' collaborative effort, Pinata, a 17-track tour de force to remind us what real hip hop sounds like. Freddie and Madlib are often enough on their own - but still find time to connect with old heads like Scarface ("Broken") and Raekwon the Chef ("Bomb"), and young up and comers Earl Sweatshirt and Domo Genesis ("Robes"). The companion Knicks and Lakers tracks mirror Gibbs' own pilgrimage from East to West coast, from drug dealer to recording artist. In a strange way it took the more esoteric Madlib to bring out the classic gangsta rap album Gibbs always had in him. "I’m not MF Doom," Gibbs told Red Bull about the challenge of adapting to Madlib beats, "I don’t take mushrooms. I don’t do all that weird stuff, you know what I mean? For me to get with Madlib, I can’t go weird. I’ve got to keep it gangsta." And keep it gangsta he did. In Freddie's own words "Pinata" is a "Blaxploitation film on wax." A hood classic.

QUOTABLE QUOTE: "G.I. until I die, but bitch L.A. is where I lay at / My children gon' be raised at where they gon' place my grave at / Since Magic bought the team, he brought new meaning to that L.A. hat" - Lakers

6) STN MTN / KAUAI - Childish Gambino

Admittedly, I slept on last year's Childish Gambino opus "Because The Internet". I wasn't about to sleep on the follow-up mixtape. STN MTN transcends it's identity as just a mixtape. It feels more like a concept album masquerading as a mixtape. On the opening track, Donald Glover narrates about a daydream where he runs Atlanta, "I fire all the cops in Cobb county. Chick-Fil-A will be open on Sundays. I bring back LaFace Records ... and I'd have my own Gangsta Grillz mixtape." STN MTN is Glover's love letter to Atlanta, the DJ Drama mixtape he always dreamed of making. As a nod to his home city, he borrows beats from Atlanta artists ranging from Ludacris to Maceo to Future to K Camp - he even croons a little Usher. And then there's the b-side, companion EP "Kauai", where things get a little jazzier. "Pop Thieves (Make It Feel Good)" (ft. Jaden Smith!!) is a snappy triumph. And the easter egg "Secret Track" has a nice "full circle" feeling to it. Don Glover (comedian, actor, writer, producer) is more than just a rapper and this album is more than a mixtape, but on its simplest level it's enjoyable.

QUOTABLE QUOTE: They want the old Bino so they try to rewind / The new Bino too ahead of his time / In a couple of years, they'll have to say I birthed a couple careers / Chances are I get your boy a couple of ears, you know it" - Candler Road

5) 1989 - Taylor Swift

For the record, I have been a fan of T Swizzle since day one. And as much as I have loved Taylor the country artist with pop-crossover capabilities, it was inevitable that she would eventually take the plunge and leave banjos, twin fiddles and Nashville behind. What wasn't inevitable was that, in doing so, she would be taking her place as the biggest pop artist on the planet. People laughed when Tay wrote, in the Wall Street Journal of all places, that the secret to saving the music industry was "love"... then she went and sold 1.2 million albums in 1989's first weekend (more than any album in the last 12 years). And she deserves it. 1989 is just a great pop album, plain and simple. Anchored by four legitimately great songs -  "Style", "Blank Space", "Out of the Woods" and the inescapable ubiquitous pop song of the latter half of 2014, "Shake It Off" - the album has no shortage of singles. It's also fun to see where Swift's inspiration comes from. Songs like "Out of the Woods" and "I Know Places" sound like they could be recorded by Swift BFF Lorde. "I Wish You Would" sounds like a poppier version of a HAIM song... and look who showed up at Taylor's 25th birthday. In 2014 Taylor Swift took the throne over the music industry. Say what you will, but she's just gonna shake it off. Haters gonna hate.

QUOTABLE QUOTE: "Screaming, crying, perfect storms / I can make all the tables turn / Rose garden filled with thorns / Keep you second guessing like / "Oh my God, who is she?" / I get drunk on jealousy / But you'll come back each time you leave / 'Cause, darling, I'm a nightmare dressed like a daydream." - Blank Space

4) Mended With Gold - The Rural Alberta Advantage

Not much has changed from 2008's "Hometowns" to 2011's "Departing" to this, the RAA's third studio album. And that's okay. Nils Edenloff's high nasally wail still sounds like the second coming of Gord Downie and Billy Corgan. Paul Banwatt (who somehow finds time to be COO and general counsel of a successful startup 3D printing company) still drums with a fury reminiscent of Neil Peart and Travis Barker. Amy Cole still needs more airtime (my one critique of the album and one made by many). And RAA are still a Toronto band that sings longingly about small Alberta towns. "Mended With Gold" brought me everything I came to expect from this band. And that's just fine with me. RAA kept us waiting three years for this album but still delivered my favourite indie rock record of the year.

QUOTABLE QUOTE: "I saw you rushing to the fire / Balanced on the bones with a darkness in your eyes / Our thoughts were crippled by desire / Suddenly gestalt just colliding in the light" - Runners in the Night

3) In The Lonely Hour - Sam Smith

Sam Smith proved in 2014 that there is still room for an old school crooner in pop music. Breaking into the scene as the hook guy for EDM hits like Disclosure's "Latch" (which gets a silky smooth acoustic version on Smith's album) and Naughty Boy's "La La La" (a bonus track on the deluxe version), Smith completely transcended that with the mainstream success of "Stay With Me". The thing about Smith, which I wrote about in my best songs post, is that the dude actually sounds like that live. This is not enhanced. Sam is a generational vocal talent. And his talent is put to great use on this debut album. While he's comfortable on upbeat dance anthems like "Money On My Mind", it's the ballads where he really shines. For a guy that had apparently never been in love before, dude sounds pretty convincing belting out the gut wrenching notes on "Lay Me Down", "I've Told You Now" and "I'm Not The Only One". Smith said "I wanted to write an album for people who have never been in love. I want to be a voice for lonely people." While maybe the universality of that experience is what made "In The Lonely Hour" a hit, I've got a feeling Smith's next album won't be about loneliness.

QUOTABLE QUOTE: Your touch, your skin, / Where do I begin? / No words can explain the way I’m missing you / Deny this emptiness, this hole that I’m inside / These tears, they tell their own story" - Lay Me Down

2) Run The Jewels 2 - Run The Jewels

Run The Jewels is made up of Brooklyn-based producer and MC El-P and Atlanta rapper Killer Mike. Forming together like Voltron for a second time since last year's RTJ mixtape, Jaime Meline and Michael Render saved hip-hop in 2014. RTJ2 is a grimy breath of smokey fresh air in an industry that's become all too clean and commercial. Mike and El are the lyrical heirs of Public Enemy and NWA on this one, pushing a no bullshit aesthetic that's largely missing from modern day rap. No one is spared their collective wrath - Donald Sterling, the prison-industrial complex, the police, and the general gang of fuckboys running the rap scene in 2014. Put that on top of El-P's vicious production (which I want to call Yeezus-esque but in reality it's more likely that Ye ripped off El) and add in a healthy dose of bravado and braggadocio and you've got the year's best hip hop album by far.

QUOTABLE QUOTE: "Fuck the law, they can eat my dick, that's word to Pimp / I don't fuck with or talk, like all these fuckin' imps / Style violent, give a fuck if you deny it, kids / You can all run naked backwards through a field of dicks." - Oh My Darling, Don't Cry

1) Our Love - Caribou

From the first time I heard "Our Love", I knew it would be a contender for number one. In past years, there have been no shortage of albums that grab you immediately with the feeling that you're listening to a classic. In 2012 you had Kendrick, Frank Ocean and Grimes. In 2013, Yeezus, Arcade Fire and Vampire Weekend. But this year, we seemed to float through most of the year without an "instant classic" feeling album. I began to feel like it might be a lost year. That all changed in late August when "Our Love" (which would not be officially released until October) leaked. I knew right away it was a great album. What makes a great album? Tight production, thematic consistency, lack of filler, a unique sound. "Our Love" has all that. And it's fun as hell to boot. At it's heart, "Our Love" is a barn burning dance record that's sure to set off a sweaty dance party anywhere you throw it on. "Our Love" stands apart, though, from the bass-heavy womp-womp-womping and rah-rah-rah-ing of so much mainstream electronic music, instead embracing the softer, subtler and more complex possibilities of the genre. It's the consistency of the sound, as well, that sets "Our Love" apart. There hasn't been an electronic album that felt this much like a proper "album" since Disclosure's "Settle" (itself a modern day classic). There are many, many highlights: the Jessy Lanza collaboration "Second Chance", the steady driving title track, the head bobbing "All I Ever Need" and the trippy "Dive" are all stand out tracks. But the pinnacle of Dan Snaith's production is "Can't Do Without You" - a steady, rising swell of crescendo anchored by a Marvin Gaye sample and Snaith's repeated echoing vocals. As Dwayne Carter once said, "now that's how you let the beat build, bitch." "Our Love" is, from start to finish, a fun, smart, interesting and incredibly likeable album and that's why it is my number one album of 2014.

QUOTABLE QUOTE: "I was wrong / All these years / To be with you is all I ever need / All this time / I've just been / Waiting for you, waiting for you / Can't you tell / Now I'm gone / It's all I ever need / Take me back / Where I belong / To get you back is all I ever need" - All I Ever Need

And that's it! See y'all in 2015.

-ch

[chpkns]

BEST SONGS 2014

Counting down the top ten songs of 2014. Here we go.

Honourable Mentions: Talk Dirty - Jason DeRulo ft. 2 Chainz, Turn Down For What - DJ Snake ft. Lil Jon, 0 to 100 / The Catch Up - Drake, Girl in a Country Song - Maddie and Tae, Sanctified - Rick, Ross ft. Big Sean and Kanye West, West Coast - Lana Del Rey, Blue Suede - Vince Staples, Move That Dope - Future ft. Pusha T, Pharrell and Casino, Rude - MAGIC!, Chimes - Hudson Mohawke, Tuesday - iLoveMakonnen ft. Drake, Leather Jacket - Arkells, Go - Grimes ft. Blood Diamonds

10) Style - Taylor Swift

Shake It Off may have been the ubiquitous, inescapable pop song of the year and Blank Space may be the definitive song to flip the script on Tay's "crazy ex girlfriend" persona, but when all is said and done, mark my words, "Style" will be remembered as the strongest track on the album that turned the corner for Taylor Swift. Not only as a mainstream pop artist, but the biggest pop artist of a generation. It is catchy. It is timeless. It is like nothing else she's done before. This is the T-Swift song that will never go out of style.

9) No Flex Zone - Rae Sremmurd

I don't want to throw around a term like "this year's Migos" lightly, but that's exactly how I feel about Rae Sremmurd. "No Flex Zone" combines an infectious MikeWillMadeIt produced beat under the inimitable vocals of Mississippi brother duo Swae Lee and Slim Jimmy as they opine on such topics as wearing five chains like Kool Mo Dee and drinking lean like H20. This song was like nothing else this year and just makes you want to jump up and down. It even inspired a viral Solange wedding dance routine. Can't go wrong with that.

8) Close Your Eyes (And Count to Fuck) - Run The Jewels ft. Zach De La Rocha

Moving from new hip hop to something a little more classic with the eighth entry in our countdown we have this little joint from Run The Jewels. For those who thought rap was losing its soul in 2014, RTJ was a breath of fresh air. Killer Mike and El-P sound like the rightful heirs of Public Enemy on this one and are appropriately joined by Zach De La Rocha to bring their rage fully against the machine in this driving, lyrical assault. Real hip hop. It aint' dead.

7) 2 On - Tinashe ft. Schoolboy Q

It takes something extra for a song to become a catch phrase - "2 On" was that. This banger from Tinashe almost deserves to make the list just to recognize the contribution made to music this year by the undisputed producer of the year, DJ Mustard (nee Dijon MacFarlane). But 2 On is more than that; it's an unrelenting party anthem with a strong feature verse from Black Hippy member Schoolboy Q. You can't help but get 2 on to this one.

6) Vulcan AB - Rural Alberta Advantage

Sometimes a band doing the same thing over and over again just works. In the case of the (Toronto-based) Rural Alberta Advantage, it's writing songs about Alberta towns. In the tradition of Frank AB, Edmonton, Tornado '87 and other odes to the home province of lead singer Nils Edenloff, Vulcan AB feels like a nostalgic longing for a home left behind. Plus it's got Star Trek references. Make it so. 

5) Can't Do Without You - Caribou

(important note: the above clip, while from Q, is post-firing and completely Jian-free, so please enjoy fruvously)

This song just speaks for itself. Caribou owned 2014 with a near-perfect album. "Can't Do Without You" is the standout track from that album with its steady, foot-tapping, head-bobbing build up. You simply cannot do without this song.

4) Hot N*gga - Bobby Shmurda

Bobby Shmurda's Hot N*gga wasn't so much a song as it was a phenomenon. It's a sign of the social media era we live in when a Brooklyn teen can come out of nowhere laying three unbroken minutes of verse over a forgotten 2012 Lloyd Banks beat and suddenly, overnight, everyone's doing the Shmoney Dance, tossing their hat in the air  and wondering if Mitch really caught a body 'bout a week ago. Bobby Shmurda could be the next 50 Cent, or the next Jay-Z, or he may be forgotten this time next year. One thing is for sure - he had everyone's attention for a moment in 2014. And it felt real. Watching Shmurda and his boys was gritty and "real" in a way that so much of the contrived music dominating hip hop airwaves just can't emulate. That's why this is the defining song of the Vine era.

3) Stay With Me - Sam Smith

Not only "Stay With Me" surely the most beautiful song written about one night stands, it's also just a fucking great song, period. Over the summer, this song turned Sam Smith from "that guy from Latch" into the singer that everyone and your mom was obsessed with. I had the distinct pleasure of seeing Sam live at the Mod Club this year where he, with faux confidence, made the bold statement that it would be the "last time he did a tour where everyone didn't know the words." It seemed boastful at the time. Now I know it's true. Next time he performs this one, it'll be to an arena of fans, singing along.

2) Two Weeks - FKA Twigs

The only confusing thing about FKA Twigs is how to pronounce her name. Other than that, she, and the brilliant "Two Weeks", are just a refreshing combination of familiar elements forming something new and unique. Her voice, and the melody, is reminiscent of R&B predecessors like Aaliyah and Mariah. The beat, a pulsating EDM tour de force, is dripping with enough  sexual energy to complement the rawness of the lyrics ("my thighs are apart for when you're ready to breathe in"). Altogether it's enough to make a thug cry. It quenches that thirst.

1) Sunday Candy - Donnie Trumpet & The Social Experiment

Who says the number one song of 2014 can't be a soundcloud preview of a 2015 album? I am pretty confident I'll be the only one to list "Sunday Candy" by Chance The Rapper's upcoming Social Experiment project (and released under the byline of SoX's trumpet player, the aptly named Donnie Trumpet) in the number one spot of 2014. SoX is maybe best known at this point for their amazingly great cover of the theme song from Arthur - so we should not be surprised that the preview track released for their upcoming album "SURF" is jazzy and warm and uplifting as hell. With an assist from Jamila Woods, Chance and co. have put together a track that is happy, soulful, classic and modern all at the same time. I absolutely love this song and have been listening to it on repeat since the internet was blessed with its presence in November. Chance has without doubt, been one of the most exciting new artists on the scene and Sunday Candy makes me excited for what the future has in store. And what's more 2014 than that? Let's face it. It's been a bit of a down year, and we need a pick me up and a reminder that, hey, it's still a wonderful kind of day, come in out of the rain and warm up, because the best is yet to come.

And that's your top ten songs of 2014! Coming soon... the best albums.

[chpkns]

THE TOP TEN DOPEST SONGS OF 2013 ACCORDING TO ME

With fun videos!! :)

The Honourable Mentions: Work Bitch - Britney Spears, Hannah Montana - Migos, Trying To Be Cool (Remix) - Phoenix ft. R. Kelly, Wild For The Night - A$AP Rocky ft. Skrillex, Number 1 Party Anthem - Arctic Monkeys, Summertime Sadness - Lana Del Ray, BasedWorld - Ryan Hemsworth, 25 Bucks - Danny Brown ft. Purity Ring, Sunday - Earl Sweatshirt ft. Frank Ocean, Nosetalgia - Pusha T ft. Kendrick Lamar, Attracting Flies - AlunaGeorge, Treasure - Bruno Mars, Favorite Song - Chance the Rapper ft. Childish Gambino

10) Control - Big Sean ft. Kendrick Lamar and Jay Electronica

(BUT REALLY JUST KENDRICK'S VERSE BECAUSE WHO CARES ABOUT BIG SEAN AND JAY ELEC FOR REAL THO...)

9) Mirrors - Justin Timberlake

8) Unbelievers - Vampire Weekend

7) Hold On, We're Going Home - Drake ft. Majid Jordan

6) Afterlife - Arcade Fire

5) Get Lucky - Daft Punk ft. Pharrell

4) Royals - Lorde

3) Blood On The Leaves - Kanye West

2) White Noise - Disclosure ft. AlunaGeorge

1) We Can't Stop - Miley Cyrus

You know this is the right choice for number one. Look inside your heart.

[chpkns]

THE TOP TEN BEST ALBUMS OF 2013 ACCORDING TO ME

The Honourable Mentions: Overgrown - James Blake, The Bones of What You Believe - CHVRCHES, Long.Live.A$AP - A$AP Rocky, Old - Danny Brown, AM - Arctic Monkeys, Acid Rap - Chance the Rapper, Shaky Dream - Dinosaur Bones

10) Doris - Earl Sweatshirt

WHY: Odd Future's young padawan became the lyrical master and undisputed number one MC in the G-O-L-F-dub-A-N-G with this long awaited debut. Earl is a master wordsmith and it was a pleasure to hear him string multi-syllabic rhymes together on this complex thoroughly enjoyable album. Worth the wait.

DOPEST TRACKS: WHOA (ft. Tyler the Creator), Sunday (ft. Frank Ocean), Chum, Molasses (ft. RZA)

FAV LYRIC: "Bruising gimmicks with the broom he usually use for Quidditch" - WHOA

9) Same Trailer, Different Park - Kacey Musgraves

WHY: This album made me love radio country again. Kacey is classic and modern country at the same time, with lyrics about heartbreak and teen angst taking their place alongside joint rolling and the similarity between a cigarette habit and a dead-end job. She's out-Tayloring the Swift on this one.

DOPEST TRACKS: It Is What It Is, Stupid, Follow Your Arrow, Silver Lining, Blowin' Smoke

FAV LYRIC: "When the straight and narrow gets a little too straight, roll up a joint, I would, and follow your arrow wherever it points" - Follow Your Arrow

8) Days Are Gone - HAIM

WHY: HAIM is an all sister 80's style pop rock ensemble. There is nothing more that needs to be said. And the Deluxe Edition has the dopest remixes. I think I've decided Este is my fav Haim sister but this changes from day to day.

DOPEST TRACKS: Falling, Don't Save Me (original and Cyril Hahn Remix), The Wire, If I Could Change Your Mind

FAV LYRIC: "But if I was to say I regret it / Would it mean a thing? / Cause every time I think, think about it / Memories take me back to all of the wildest times" - If I Could Change Your Mind

7) Random Access Memories - Daft Punk

WHY: The French robots returned to earth in summer 2013 to make the people dance. The duo's offering of an eclectic mix of Pharell-assisted pop hits and futuristic house vibes did not disappoint.

DOPEST TRACKS: Get Lucky (ft. Pharell), Lose Yourself To Dance (ft. Pharell), Doin' It Right, Giorgio By Moroder (ft. Giorgio Moroder), Contact

FAV LYRIC: "We've come too far, to give up who we are / So let's raise the bar and our cup to the stars" - Get Lucky

6) Nothing Was The Same - Drake

WHY: We can debate all we want the merits of Aubrey's definition of "the bottom" and if he really started there but the kid from Degrassi was undoubtedly on top of the game this year. We saw a more refined, edgier Drake on NWTS. And he reps Toronto more than ever, from references to Eglinton, Morningside and Markham Road to the Canadian spelling on "Worst Behaviour", which gets respect from me.

DOPEST TRACKS: Too Much (ft. Sampha), Worst Behaviour, Hold On We're Going Home (ft. Majid Jordan), From Time (ft. Jhene Aiko), Started From the Bottom

FAV LYRIC: "This is nothin' for the radio / But they'll still play it though / Cause it's that new Drizzy Drake and that's the way it go" - Tuscan Leather

5) Pure Heroine - Lorde

WHY: The first time I heard "Tennis Court" I remember thinking 'this is the future of pop music, everyone needs to be listening to this' and then moments later 'OMG SHE'S ONLY SIXTEEN'. Lorde (aka Ella Yelich-O'Connor) is one talented young kiwi with an amazing ability to write songs that sound more mature than what artists ten years older than her are singing. It's not just about Royals, either. Every song on Pure Heroine is gold (and I'm not talking about gold teeth, grey goose, cristal, maybachs etc.). Bow down. Lorde is here to reign over the alt-pop scene for years to come.

DOPEST TRACKS: Buzzcut Season, Royals, Tennis Court, Team, White Teeth Teens

FAV LYRIC: "I remember when your head caught flame / It kissed your scalp and caressed your brain / Well you laughed, baby it's okay / It's buzzcut season anyway" - Buzzcut Season

4) Settle - Disclosure

WHY: Daft Punk may have been the highest profile and most anticipated EDM record of the year, but the year's best belonged to the debut album from the UK based Lawrence brothers, better known as Disclosure. The album is so strong, start to finish, with a unifying sound running through it that you don't often hear on other more scattered EDM albums. It's a grungy, housey, R&B infused throwback with enough pop influence and catchy hooks to make it instantly accessible. The fire has started to burn.

DOPEST TRACKS: When a Fire Starts To Burn, White Noise (ft. AlunaGeorge), Latch (ft. Sam Smith), You and Me (ft. Eliza Doolittle), Grab Her!

FAV LYRIC: "I'm hearing static / You're like an automatic / You just want to keep me on repeat and hear me crying" - White Noise

3) Modern Vampires of the City - Vampire Weekend

WHY: I just love this band so much. Maybe it's some kind of affinity for the idea of a bunch of well-heeled preppy kids from a good school playing around with cultural appropriation and "world music" and drinking horchata, but for whatever reason (probably just that the music sounds good) I have loved everything these guys have made from day one, and this album especially. Modern Vampires of the City is without a doubt Vampire Weekend's best album. Which (debut albums aside) is not something I'm sure I can say about most of the other albums on this list, the next two included.

DOPEST TRACKS: Ya Hey, Unbelievers, Hannah Hunt, Diane Young, Don't Lie

FAV LYRIC: "I'm not excited / But should I be? / Is this the fate that half of the world has planned for me? / I know I love you / And you love the sea / But what holy water contains a little drop, little drop for me" - Unbelievers

2) Reflektor - Arcade Fire

WHY: Arcade Fire has achieved "world's best rock band" status. 2010's "The Suburbs" is already an epic, once-in-a-generation type album that we will all tell our kids about. When a band like this puts out a new album, it's big. When they do it with James Murphy, it's really big. Reflektor is not only great, it's evolutionary. It sounds like nothing Arcade Fire has done before. The LCD Soundsystem and David Bowie influences are clear and the result is awesome. You have to respect a band that is this big and still feels the need to grow and adapt new sounds. It's not quite the Suburbs but it's another classic.

DOPEST TRACKS: Afterlife, Normal Person, Reflektor, Here Comes The Nighttime, It's Never Over (Oh Orpheus)

FAV LYRIC: "I'm so confused. Am I a normal person? / You know, I can't tell if I'm a normal person, it's true. / I think I'm cool enough, but am I cruel enough? / Am I cruel enough... for you?" - Normal Person

1) Yeezus - Kanye West

WHY: He is the nucleus. A Black Skinhead. Mr. Kardashian. A God. I will admit readily, the first time, even the second time I listened to Yeezus all the way through, I was not feeling it. I thought Yeezy had finally lost his marbles on this one. But after a third time through, I knew it was pure, self-proclaimed genius. The beauty of Yeezus I think is you're not really supposed to be comfortable with it right away. It's hard to do that because it's so gritty and so jarring it ends up feeling unsetting. But therein lies the beauty of it. With Yeezus, Kanye has given something of a middle finger to the music industry with its emphasis on radio ready singles and grammy-friendly albums. He's removed himself from contention for grammies and chart-topping radio singles and decided to make the music he wants to make on his own terms. There wasn't much from Kanye short of another College Dropout that I thought could top Dark Twisted Fantasy, but this album ultimately made it look weak in comparison. This was a great fucking year for music but in the end 'Ye stood above the competition. They were ballin' in the D-league, he was speakin' Swaghili.

DOPEST TRACKS: New Slaves, Can't Hold My Liquor (ft. Chief Keef and Justin Vernon), Blood On The Leaves, Bound 2, I Am A God  

FAV LYRIC: "They throwing hate at me / Want me to stay at ease / Fuck you and your corporation / Y'all n----s can't control me" - New Slaves

and of course...

"In a French ass restaurant / Hurry up with my damn croissants!" - I Am A God

... coming soon "THE TOP TEN DOPEST SONGS OF 2013 ACCORDING TO ME".

[chpkns]

Who's ready for my first post in over a year?

[chpkns]

Top Ten Songs of 2012

Here we go.

10) The House That Heaven Built - Japandroids

A triumphant, unhinged ode to fading youth. Pure rock.

9) Die In Your Arms - Justin Bieber

Young biebs coming of age.

8) Obedear - Purity Ring

A song that succeeds at sounding creepy and making you want to dance.

7) Swing Lo Magellan - Dirty Projectors

Because we needed a slow jam.

6) Super Rich Kids - Frank Ocean ft. Earl Sweatshirt

Is it wrong to have two Frank Ocean songs in the top ten? I submit that it's not. And I'm putting this one in for Earl, anyway.

5) Backseat Freestyle - Kendrick Lamar

Cutting to the core of the album's concept, Kendrick takes on the persona of his younger self, unleashing freestyle bravado in the backseat of his mom's minivan which for whatever reason has an insane hit-boy instrumental in the tape deck. 

4) Call Me Maybe - Carly Rae Jepsen

Don't act like you don't love it.

3) Oblivion - Grimes

Music video of the year. 

2) Pyramids - Frank Ocean

A song of epic proportions taking its rightful place in the 7+ minute R&B pantheon right alongside The Party and the Afterparty and Trapped in the Closet. The idea that there can be a legitimate debate between the first four minutes and the second the four minutes of the song. The believability of Frank spending hours re-recording that opening "oh oh oh ohhhhh". By all rights it could be song of the year except...

1) Youth (Adventure Club Remix) - Adventure Club/Foxes

Is it crazy to put a remix at number one? Not in 2012.

[chpkns]

The Best Albums of 2012

In case no one was wondering, these are the definitive ten best albums that came out this year. I'm as shocked as anyone that Taylor Swift, Carly Rae Jep and the Biebs failed to make the cut - what can I say, it was a tough year. 

10) Jennah Barry - Young Men

One of the best voices and songwriting talents I've heard in folk music. If this is the album on the list you've never heard of, do yourself a favour and buy it. 

9) Grizzly Bear - Shields

Thematically and musically complex, an album you can listen to over and over again.

8) Japandroids - Celebration Rock

Pure unadulterated triumphant rock and roll.

When they love you, and they will, tell em all they'll love in my shadow. And if they try to slow you down, tell em all to go to hell.

7) Dirty Projectors - Swing Lo Magellan

Swing Lo is just a big old jam session of a record that makes you want to be in the room with the band.

6) Big Boi - Vicious Lies and Dangerous Rumors

Too bad 3k was too busy with his "Gillette shit" to join Sir Lucious in the studio. Still, Antwan's second solo effort has some pretty epic genre-pushing collaborations with the likes of Phantogram and Little Dragon.

(Still waiting for that new OutKast tho...)

5) Of Monsters and Men - My Head is an Animal

Don't even try to tell me this one came out in 2011 in Iceland.

4) Purity Ring - Shrines

Ears ringin, teeth clickin, ears ringin, teeth clickin, ears ringin, teeth clickin...

3) Kendrick Lamar - Good Kid, m.A.A.d. City (a short film by Kendrick Lamar)

I can relate to this album because Kendrick and I both apparently spent a lot of our youth rolling around in our mom's Dodge Caravan. Other than that I think we had pretty different childhoods. 

2) Grimes - Visions

I'm as in love with Claire Boucher as I am with this album. Grimes, will you be my manic indie dream synth electro pop pixie girlfriend?

(also this was undeniably the video of the year)

1) Frank Ocean - channel ORANGE

Oh, oh, ohhhhhh... set the CHEETAHHHH on the loose...

Obvious pick. Frank dominated this year from Channel Orange's early summer release on and didn't look back. The best song wasn't the single. Even if not for the hype from the letter, musically the album stands on its own as a classic. 

If you disagree with these picks, you're probably wrong. But I'll hear you out. Air your grievances in the comments.

[chpkns]

It's Bieber's World, We're Just Living In It

It's not hyperbole to say that All Around the World (herein "AATW"), the fourth single from Justin Bieber's hotly anticipated third studio album "Believe," is Bieber's best and most important song to date. Having listened and relistened to AATW a few times since it's release - at least a few of those while careening around Toronto in a friend's Mazda 3, windows open and speakers blaring - I'm convinced this is true.

Biebs has been slowly teasing out the release of Believe, slated for June 19th, by unleashing one single after another on iTunes, the hype rising to a rolling boil in the twittersphere with each new track. The hip hop influenced Boyfriend and the doo-woppy Jackson 5 throwback Die in Your Arms are both reasons to get excited for the new album (the other single Turn To You being a touching but ultimately forgettable tribute to his single mom Patti Malette, aka @studiomama, that was put out for Mother's Day to a deafening chorus of "awwwwww"), but with AATW Bieber has raised the bar to a new height once again.

Some observers have referred to the "Timberlaking" of Justin Bieber (see: Rembert Browne at Grantland and/or my friend Ian). Whether J.Biebs is copycatting J.Timbs or not, what we're witnessing right now is nothing short of brilliance on the part of Bieber and his handlers, not the least of which is his prescient manager Scooter Braun.

"All Around the World" succeeds because, to borrow a phrase from Bieber's favourite sport, the song skates where the puck is going not where it is or has been. Recognizing the rising mainstream popularity of dubstep and the other sub-genres that make up the umbrella of "Electronic Dance Music" (EDM), Bieber has created, in AATW, his own pulsating, ecstasy-fueled dance anthem that sounds as if it could have been produced by Calvin Harris (the song was actually produced by Canadian duo The Messengers, who worked on Bieber's "My World 2.0" and noted felon Chris Brown's grammy winning "F.A.M.E." album). The original AATW more than stands on its own, but imagining the remix possibilities staggers the mind. Is it too much to ask the likes of Skrillex, Avicii or Adventure Club to take this song and remake it in their own tweaked out image?

And then, of course, those lyrics. Bieber's minimalist refrain of "All around the world / People want to be loved / Cause all around the world / They're no different than us" is reminiscent of Michael Jackson's Black or White in a hands-across-the-world kind of way. The hook cuts right to the deepest desires of all humanity with its simple message of our shared need to love and be loved. But, in a subtly selfish way, it also reminds us of Bieber's now firmly entrenched global relevance - people all around the world are listening, dancing, vibing to this song by a Stratford, Ontario teenager who made it big on the internet. It begs the question... is love the universal language or music... or is Bieber?

By the time featured rapper Chris "Ludacris" Bridges shows up to offer his 16 bars the song has already succeeded and Luda's cameo feels like an added bonus. The deliberate reminder of Cris's appearance on Bieber's first big hit Baby - Luda humbly suggesting the "dynamic duo" is back together - serves as a not so subtle reminder of the differences between the two songs. On Baby, Luda seemed a little out of place, a little like he was doing Biebs a favour by lending his hip-hop cred to this new Canadian tween pop sensation. But on AATW, Luda's appearance evokes an entirely different reaction. Not only does his appearance seem completely appropriate (let's not forget Justin also just released an unironic remix of Boyfriend featuring relevant MCs 2Chainz, Mac Miller and Asher Roth) but the tables have turned - on AATW, it finally feels Justin is doing Luda the favour. He was after all recently dubbed the third most powerful celebrity in the world by Forbes. It's very clear who's playing Batman in this dynamic duo.

AATW is, quite simply, a fucking triumph. Stratford, your native son is growing up before the eyes of the world. And we can't wait to see what he does next. Believe drops June 19th.

[chpkns]

Top Ten Songs of 2011

Last day of 2011 and I am counting down my personal, non-scientific and shockingly Bieber-free top songs of the year list. Here we go. Please feel free to call me an idiot in the comments.

10) Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.) - Katy Perry

Upbeat and catchy as hell. Best top 40 song of the year.

9) Calgary - Bon Iver

So much better than the city of the same name.

  8) Lose It - Austra

If Opera and Electro had a baby and the baby was into indie music. That's Austra.

  7) We Have Everything - Young Galaxy

Incredibly catchy indie song and one of the tweakiest videos I've ever seen.

  6) Niagara - Ohbijou

The airy, floating vocals, the slowly building guitar, the imagery of niagara falls layered throughout the song... had me hooked from the start.

  5) Marvins Room - Drake

Only Drizzy could make a drunk dial from the club sound this good.

  4) The Morning - The Weeknd

If the money is the motive... why is the Weeknd giving out his music for free? So mysterious.

  3) Stamp - The Rural Alberta Advantage

My top played song of the year on iTunes.

  2) N----s in Paris - Jay-Z and Kanye West

"No ones what it means but it's provocative." Just 'Ye and Jay goin gorillas on the beat. Please, gentlemen, feel free to get into your zone.

  1) Yer Spring - Hey Rosetta!

No. 2 on my iTunes plays for the year, but no. 1 in my heart. The best song on one of the best albums of the year. I'm ready to call 2011 the year of the sparkler. Newfoundland represent.

[chpkns]

Top 15 Albums of 2011

Or at least, these are the ones that I liked.

15) Hooded Fang - Tosta Mista

14) Young Galaxy - Shapeshifting

13) Lights - Siberia

12) Arkells - Michigan Left

11) Ohbijou - Metal Meets

10) Childish Gambino - Camp

9) Florence and The Machine - Ceremonials

8) Austra - Feel It Break

7) Bon Iver - Bon Iver

6) Feist - Metals

5) The Weeknd - House of Balloons

4) The Rural Alberta Advantage - Departing

3) Jay-Z and Kanye West - Watch The Throne

2) Hey Rosetta! - Seeds

1) Drake - Take Care

Feel free to make use of the comments to disagree.