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[sportsandsongs]

Favourite Songs From 2020

My 110 favourite songs of the year - basically one song per artist and then I doubled up on songs from my ten favourite albums of the year - Taylor Swift, Pheobe Bridgers, The Strokes, The Killers, Porridge Radio, The 1975, The Weeknd, Fleet Foxes, Soccer Mommy PUP - rather than do a seperate albums list. So 100 artists total.

It was definitely a year that I listened to songs more than albums. Blame Spotify for shrinking my attention span or the lockdown for pushing me more towards short bursts of pleasure.

I think it was a great year for music though, this list is as strong as any in recent years. Dominated by indie rock for the most part, and in turn as heavy on female led acts as any year, as they have taken over the rock scene (for the better) over the past couple years.

1 - Phoebe Bridgers - Kyoto 2 - King Princess - Ohio 3 - Taylor Swift - exile (feat. Bon Iver) 4 - The Strokes - The Adults Are Talking 5 - U.S. Girls - 4 American Dollars 6 - The Killers - Imploding The Mirage 7 - Caamp - By and By 8 - Nathaniel Rateliff - And It's Still Alright 9 - Porridge Radio - 7 Seconds 10 - The 1975 - If You’re Too Shy (Let Me Know) 11 - The Strokes - Brooklyn Bridge To Chorus 12 - The Weeknd - Blinding Lights 13 - Bright Eyes - Mariana Trench 14 - The Killers - My Own Soul’s Warning 15 - Mt. Joy - Strangers 16 - Dayglow - Can I Call You Tonight? 17 - Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit - Be Afraid 18 - Phoenix - Identical 19 - Car Seat Headrest - Deadlines (Thoughtful) 20 - The Beths - Dying to Believe

21 - HAIM - The Steps 22 - Gus Dapperton - Post Humorous 23 - Holly Humberstone - Falling Asleep At The Wheel 24 - Phoebe Bridgers - I Know The End 25 - Hayley Williams - Simmer 26 - Tame Impala - Lost In Yesterday 27 - Harry Styles - Watermelon Sugar 28 - Fontaines D.C. - Televised Mind 29 - Yves Tumor - Gospel For A New Century 30 - Dawes - Who Do You Think You're Talking To? 31 - Taylor Swift - betty 32 - Partner - Honey 33 - Of Monsters and Men - Visitor 34 - Fleet Foxes - Can I Believe You 35 - The Shins - The Great Divide 36 - Jessie Ware - Spotlight 37 - DIIV - Blankenship 38 - The Districts - Cheap Regrets 39 - Riverby - Smart Mouth 40 - Beach Bunny - Rearview

41 - The 1975 - Me & You Together Song 42 - Miley Cyrus - Midnight Sky 43 - Deep Sea Diver - Impossible Weight (feat Sharon Van Etten) 44 - Fiona Apple - Shameika 45 - Waxahatchee - Fire 46 - Foo Fighters - Shame Shame 47 - Dogleg - Kawasaki Backflip 48 - Christine and the Queens - People, I've been sad 49 - Middle Kids - R U 4 Me? 50 - SAULT - Wildfires 51 - Ghostpoet - Nowhere To Hide Now 52 - The Darcys - Look Me in the Eyes 53 - Diet Cig - Night Terrors 54 - Westerman - Confirmation - SSBD 55 - Maxband - Unsaid 56 - Porridge Radio - Sweet 57 - The Backseat Lovers - Kilby Girl 58 - Royal Blood - Trouble’s Coming 59 - Soccer Mommy - circle the drain 60 - The Weeknd - After Hours

61 - Run The Jewels - walking in the snow 62 - The Hold Steady - Family Farm 63 - STRFKR - Dear Stranger 64 - PUP - Anaphylaxis 65 - beabadoobee - Care 66 - Soccer Mommy - yellow is the color of her eyes 67 - Destroyer - Cue Synthesizer 68 - Wallows - Are You Bored Yet? (feat. Clairo) 69 - Local Natives - Lemon (Feat. Sharon Van Etten) 70 - Bad Moves - Party With the Kids Who Wanna Party With You 71 - The Beaches - Want What You Got 72 - Wolf Parade - Julia Take Your Man Home 73 - Billy Nomates - Modern Hart 74 - The Dirty Nil - Blunt Force Concussion 75 - KennyHoopla - how will i rest in peace if i'm buried by a highway?// 76 - IDLES - Model Village 77 - Arkells - Quitting You 78 - Bombay Bicycle Club - Eat, Sleep, Wake (Nothing But You) 79 - Best Coast - Everything Has Changed 80 - Andy Shauf - Try Again

81 - Peach Pit - Shampoo Bottles 82 - Sorry - Perfect 83 - THICK - Bumming Me Out 84 - Trace Mountains - Lost in the Country 85 - Hum - Step into You 86 - Fleet Foxes - Sunblind 87 - Pinegrove - The Alarmist 88 - Lady Gaga - Rain On Me (with Ariana Grande) 89 - Kiwi jr. - Murder in the Cathedral 90 - The Chicks - Gaslighter 91 - Perfume Genius - On the Floor 92 - Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever - She's There 93 - Amanda Shires - The Problem (feat. Jason Isbell) 94 - Bon Iver - AUATC 95 - The OBGMs - All My Friends 96 - PUP - Rot 97 - Alanis Morissette - Ablaze 98 - Anyway Gang - I'm Just That Good 99 - Everything Everything - Violent Sun 100 - Julia Jacklin - Pressure To Party 101 - Grimes - Delete Forever 102 - Plants and Animals - Love That Boy 103 - Dua Lipa - Physical 104 - Cloud Nothings - Am I Something 105 - Wye Oak - AEIOU 106 - Sunflower Bean - Moment In The Sun 107 - Pale Waves - Change 108 - Bruce Springsteen - Ghosts 109 - Gord Downie - About Blank 110 - Dizzy - Sunflower

[sportsandsongs]

Best Songs of 2019

My annual list of favourite songs of the year. Apparently I haven’t published anything on this blog since last year’s list - should probably at least be backing up all my Petes columns here.

Anyway, as usual, a mostly indie rock centered list but it was a really excellent year for music, in my opinion. Great songs from some of my all time favourites like PUP, Spoon, The Hold Steady and Foals, continued huge signs of promise from newer bands like The Regrettes, Charly Bliss, Billie Eilish, Big Thief and of course the odd pop banger finds it way in here from Lizzo, Post Malone, Taylor Swift, Katy Perry and the like as well. Playlist below

1.     PUP - Scorpion Hill

2.     The Regrettes - I Dare You

3.     Vampire Weekend - Harmony Hall

4.     Sharon Van Etten - Seventeen

5.     Charly Bliss - Young Enough

6.     Big Thief - Not

7.     The Hold Steady - Blackout Sam

8.     Broken Bells - Good Luck

9.     Billie Eilish - bad guy

10.   Local Natives - When Am I Gonna Lose You

11.   Lana Del Rey - The greatest

12.   Foals - In Degrees

13.   Operators - Strange

14.   Eliza & The Delusionals - Just Exist

15.   Spoon - No Bullets Spent

16.   Lizzo - Truth Hurts

17.   Mallrat - Groceries

18.   Taylor Swift - You Need To Calm Down

19.   Bleached - Hard to Kill

20.   Tame Impala – Borderline

21.   Silversun Pickups - It Doesn't Matter Why

22.   Aldous Harding - The Barrel

23.   Post Malone - Circles

24.   Mallrat - Charlie

25.   Clairo - Bags

26.   Lana Del Rey - Fuck it I love you

27.   Bon Iver - Hey, Ma

28.   Alex Lahey - Don’t Be so Hard on Yourself

29.   PUP - Kids

30.   Vampire Weekend – Sympathy

31.   The New Pornographers - Colossus Of Rhodes

32.   The Strumbellas - Salvation

33.   FIDLAR - By Myself

34.   Operators - I Feel Emotion

35.   City and Colour - Strangers

36.   Coldplay - Orphans

37.   FONTAINES D.C. - Big

38.   HAIM - Now I'm In It

39.   The Head and the Heart - Missed Connection

40.   Cage The Elephant - Ready To Let Go

41.   The Raconteurs - Help Me Stranger

42.   Better Oblivion Community Center - Dylan Thomas

43.   Charly Bliss - Hard to Believe

44.   DIIV - Blankenship

45.   Foals - Exits

46.   Tones and I - Dance Monkey

47.   Lana Del Rey - Doin' Time

48.   PUP - Free At Last

49.   Stella Donnelly - Tricks

50.   Courtney Barnett - Everybody Here Hates You

51.   Catfish and the Bottlemen - Longshot

52.   Orville Peck - Turn To Hate

53.   Operators - Faithless

54.   Tame Impala - Posthumous Forgiveness

55.   Metronomy - Salted Caramel Ice Cream

56.   Sofi Tukker - Purple Hat

57.   Hollerado - One Last Time

58.   The Band CAMINO - Daphne Blue

59.   King Princess - Hit the Back

60.   Katy Perry - Never Really Over

61.   Charly Bliss - Capacity

62.   Bon Iver - Naeem

63.   The Beaches - Snake Tongue

64.   American Football - Uncomfortably Numb (feat. Hayley Williams)

65.   girl in red - bad idea!

66.   Carly Rae Jepsen - Want You In My Room

67.   Mannequin Pussy - Drunk II

68.   White Reaper - Might Be Right

69.   Craig Finn - Blankets

70.   The Black Keys - Shine A Little Light

71.   Sturgill Simpson - Mercury In Retrograde

72.   Two Door Cinema Club - Once

73.   Alex Lahey - Am I Doing It Right?

74.   Caroline Polachek - So Hot You're Hurting My Feelings

75.   The Coathangers - Bimbo

76.   Pinegrove - Phase

77.   The Highwomen - Highwomen

78.   The New Pornographers - The Surprise Knock

79.   Catfish and the Bottlemen - 2all

80.   Middle Kids - Real Thing

81.   The Mountain Goats - Sicilian Crest

82.   Cold War Kids - Complainer

83.   The Lumineers - Life In The City

84.   Dave Monks - Don't Go Falling To Pieces

85.   Lizzo - Juice

86.   Tegan and Sara - I'll Be Back Someday

87.   FKA twigs - Cellophane

88.   The Strumbellas - I'll Wait

89.   Stand Atlantic - Lavender Bones

90.   Hatchie - Stay With Me

91.   Wintersleep - Into The Shape Of Your Heart

92.   The Darcys - Better Days

93.   Big Thief - UFOF

94.   Jonas Brothers - Only Human

95.   The Glorious Sons - Kingdom In My Heart

96.   Jade Bird - I Get No Joy

97.   James Blake, Travis Scott - Mile High

98.   Wilco - Everyone Hides

99.   Sunflower Bean - King Of The Dudes

100. Jenny Lewis - Red Bull & Hennessy

[sportsandsongs]

Best Songs of 2018

My annual list of my favourite songs of the year. I usually listen to this as a Spotify playlist but they are in rough order. Year was dominated by female rock for me, more political songs than usual as might be expected as well.

1    -    IDLES    -    Danny Nedelko

Guy with a heavy English accent speak/sings/yells a very political song (pro-immigration) over massive punk guitars and drums as it slowly falls apart into some sort of European soccer chant. Except somehow even better than that sounds – yeah… this won’t be for everyone. YEAH YEAH YEAH YEAH.. EY EY EY EY.. DANNY NEDELKO!!!

2    -    Father John Misty    -    Mr. Tillman

I’m far past the point where I can pretend I’m not a Father John Misty fan. I never liked his public persona, picking fights on social media and the like. But he writes incredible piano ballads and with the passing of Scott Hutchison, he tops the list of lyricists who sings songs that are hilarious and sad and brilliant and occasionally hit a bit too close to home.

3    -    Lucy Dacus    -    Night Shift

Lucy Dacus has a beautiful voice and is on this list a couple more times as part of the superindiegirlgroup boygenius. This one builds and builds until it’s all high notes and fuzzy guitars. It’s brilliant and extremely my thing.

4    -    Mitski    -    Why Didn't You Stop Me?

It’s hard to pick a favourite song from this year’s Mitski album, that’s why there are several on this list and why her album will be near the top of my albums of the year. Ultimately the dark synths in this song win out over the other options.

5    -    Hop Along    -    Not Abel

I’m not sure what it is I love so much about this song. It definitely has a unique structure and Frances Quinlan has a very unique voice. It starts slow and builds and builds which is always one of my favourite qualities in a song, then it comes to a full stop and the second half is even better. Whatever it is, it’s fantastic.

6    -    U.S. Girls    -    Pearly Gates

First Canadian content on the list. This whole album is great but this is far and away the best for me. For one thing it’s a poppy rock song with a female singer and it still manages to remind me of Warren G’s “Regulators”. It’s another political song, fit for the #MeToo era but that isn’t why it’s great, it’s great because it’s great.

7    -    Kurt Vile    -    Loading Zones

I get a major Tom Petty vibe from Kurt Vile, if anyone is going to fill the massive void he’s left in terms of that amazing voice that is part Southern drawl and part just smoked a whole bunch of pot, it’s Kurt Vile IMO. And he has the songwriting abilities to back it up, even if this song is literally about not wanting to pay for parking.

8    -    Parquet Courts    -    Freebird II

First of all, this song is called Freebird II, how great is that. Second of all, it’s much better than the original Freebird. It is one singalong chorus after another over some great indie/art rock.

9    -    Courtney Barnett    -    Nameless, Faceless

Courtney Barnett is probably the best lyricist in the world right now. Everything she does is amazing. She’s literally never put out a song that hasn’t been close to brilliant.

10    -    The Beaches    -    T-Shirt

Another Toronto band, this one technically came out late last year but peaked in terms of popularity, airplay etc.. this year. Great aggressive song. Bonus points for “itty bitty titty committee”. Even more bonus points for how amazing she makes the “I’M NOT GIVING IT BACK” repetition sound as it become slightly more and more unhinged.

11    -    The Hold Steady    -    Confusion In The Marketplace 12    -    The Beths    -    Future Me Hates Me 13    -    Mastersystem    -    Old Team 14    -    Parquet Courts    -    Wide Awake 15    -    Superorganism    -    Everybody Wants To Be Famous 16    -    Phosphorescent    -    New Birth in New England 17    -    Everything Everything    -    Breadwinner 18    -    Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever    -    Talking Straight 19    -    The Dirty Nil    -    Bathed In Light 20    -    Snail Mail    -    Pristine 

21    -    CHVRCHES (f/Wednesday Campanella)    -    Out Of My Head 22    -    Middle Kids    -    Mistake 23    -    Mitski    -    Nobody 24    -    Let's Eat Grandma    -    Falling Into Me 25    -    Antarctigo Vespucci    -    Breathless On DVD 26    -    Courtney Barnett    -    Need A Little Time 27    -    The 1975    -    Love It If We Made It 28    -    Father John Misty    -    Please Don't Die 29    -    The Regrettes    -    Come Through 30    -    Charly Bliss    -    Heaven

31    -    Dizzy    -    Swim 32    -    FIDLAR    -    Can’t You See 33    -    Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats    -    You Worry Me 34    -    Arkells    -    Show Me Don't Tell Me 35    -    James Bay    -    Pink Lemonade 36    -    Half Waif    -    Silt 37    -    Tokyo Police Club    -    Simple Dude 38    -    Cherry Glazerr    -    Daddi 39    -    Hop Along    -    How Simple 40    -    The Regrettes    -    California Friends

41    -    Soccer Mommy    -    Your Dog 42    -    Born Ruffians    -    Forget Me 43    -    Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers, Lucy Dacus    -    Bite The Hand 44    -    Dear Rouge    -    Live Through The Night 45    -    Stars    -    Ship To Shore 46    -    Jade Bird    -    Uh Huh 47    -    The Revivalists    -    All My Friends 48    -    Cloud Nothings    -    The Echo Of The World 49    -    Wye Oak    -    The Louder I Call, the Faster It Runs 50    -    Jeff Rosenstock    -    Melba

51    -    Old Crow Medicine Show    -    Flicker & Shine 52    -    Mastersystem    -    Notes on a Life Not Quite Lived 53    -    Janelle Monáe    -    Make Me Feel 54    -    King Princess    -    Pussy Is God 55    -    Hot Snakes    -    Six Wave Hold-Down 56    -    Beach House    -    Dive 57    -    Sunflower Bean    -    Twentytwo 58    -    Neko Case    -    Last Lion of Albion 59    -    Wand    -    Pure Romance 60    -    Sloan    -    Spin Our Wheels

61    -    Mother Mother    -    Dance And Cry 62    -    Direct Hit!    -    Something We Won't Talk About 63    -    Parquet Courts    -    Almost Had to Start a Fight/In and Out of Patience 64    -    IDLES    -    Colossus 65    -    Manic Street Preachers    -    Distant Colours 66    -    King Tuff    -    Psycho Star 67    -    Your Smith    -    The Spot 68    -    Speedy Ortiz    -    Lucky 88 69    -    Screaming Females    -    Step Outside 70    -    Manchester Orchestra    -    I Know How To Speak

71    -    Born Ruffians    -    Fade To Black 72    -    Let's Eat Grandma    -    Hot Pink 73    -    The Glorious Sons    -    S.O.S. (Sawed Off Shotgun) 74    -    Amy Shark    -    I Said Hi 75    -    Sidney Gish    -    Rat of the City 76    -    Camp Cope    -    How to Socialise & Make Friends 77    -    Houses    -    Fast Talk 78    -    King Princess    -    1950 79    -    Young Fathers    -    In My View 80    -    Albert Hammond, Jr.    -    Muted Beatings

81    -    Suede    -    Life is Golden 82    -    The Wombats    -    Turn 83    -    Pinegrove    -    Darkness 84    -    David Byrne    -    Everybody's Coming To My House 85    -    The Wonder Years    -    Pyramids of Salt 86    -    Nana Adjoa    -    Late Bloomer 87    -    Beach House    -    Lemon Glow 88    -    Arctic Monkeys    -    Four Out Of Five 89    -    Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers, Lucy Dacus, boygenius    -    Me & My Dog 90    -    Rostam    -    In a River

91    -    Meg Myers    -    Numb 92    -    Sigrid    -    Sucker Punch 93    -    Carly Rae Jepsen    -    Party For One 94    -    First Aid Kit    -    Rebel Heart 95    -    The Coup, Tune-Yards    -    Hey Saturday Night (feat. tUnE-yArDs) 96    -    The Darcys, Leah Fay    -    Just Here with My Friends 97    -    Flasher    -    Skim Milk 98    -    Jay Som    -    Pirouette 99    -    Cloud Control    -    Panopticon 100    -    Mitski    -    Geyser

[sportsandsongs]

Scott Hutchison

Scott Hutchison’s body was found today, a little more than 48 hours after he was reported missing. His death hits me harder than any artist’s I can remember.

Scott was the lead singer and songwriter of Frightened Rabbit, a Scottish indie rock band who wrote some of the most relatable songs of the past decade. He sang in a genuine, truthful, witty, often self-deprecating way about real issues. Scott Hutchison was Frightened Rabbit. The group started as his solo project and eventually became a full band, featuring his brother as well but there was no doubt that the heart of the group was Scott’s lyrics.

That he sang so truthfully about his struggles was a major part of the allure of Frightened Rabbit. He WAS struggling with bad relationships and memories, with drinking, with depression but more often than not the songs about these struggles were uplifting, about carrying on, about acknowledging the darkness but finding the light.

Their 2008 album The Midnight Organ Fight is my favourite album of all time. I’m fortunate to have seen it played in its entirety just over two months ago in Toronto at the Mod Club. It’s an incredible album front to back full of some of the best lyrics anyone has ever written.  

His lyrics speak for themselves - so clever and so engaging while singing on tough topics including broken relationships (“I am armed with the past, and the will, and a brick… I might not want you back, but I want to kill him”), meaningless sex (“It takes more than fucking someone to keep yourself warm”), drinking his way through the pain (I'm working on erasing you / Just don't have the proper tools / I get hammered, forget that you exist / There's no way I'm forgetting this) and on the lyrics that will likely be examined most frequently given the circumstances of his death, on suicide (from ‘Floating in the Forth’) :

Am I ready to leap Is there peace beneath The roar of the Forth Road Bridge? On the northern side There's a Fife of mine And a boat in the port for me

Fully clothed, I'll float away (I'll float away) Down the Forth, into the sea I'll steer myself Through chopping waves As manic gulls Scream "it's okay"

Take your life Give it a shake Gather up All your loose change I think I'll save suicide for another year

The lyrics are bleak as all the struggles of the album come to a head in this moment but ultimately he pushes on, “it’s okay” for another year. Seeing this song live is an incredible feeling with hundreds jubilantly shouting that last sentence in a moment of triumphant will to overcome.

It’s this feeling of hope that I will continue to take away most from the music of Frightened Rabbit. Their most recent album was a little shorter on that hope. It was called Painting of a Panic Attack and included songs with the titles ‘Death Dream’, ‘Die Like a Rich Boy’, ‘I Wish I Was Sober’ and ‘Woke up Hurting’ but even still they were contrasted with ‘Still Want to be Here’ an anthem to perseverance.

Ultimately the song I think best embodies Frightened Rabbit and what Scott meant to me and so many people is ‘The Oil Slick’.

There is light but there's a tunnel to crawl through There is love but it's misery loves you There's still hope so i think we'll be fine In these disastrous times, disastrous times

Hearing these words today gives me all kinds of feelings. I’ve always found this song so uplifting, it acknowledges darkness, struggle, hard times but implies they can be overcome with light, love and hope. Not to be overly sentimental but this is how I choose to see the world, as a place full of light, love, hope and what better person to embody that than Scott Hutchison who was sharing his struggles but also the hope and light with so many people fighting through similar battles.

I am very thankful for Frightened Rabbit’s music, for the struggles, for the wit, the light, the hope but I’m sad selfishly that I won’t be able to experience their concerts that were a shared brother/sisterhood of emotion. Mostly I’m sad that the man who encouraged so many people to share his feelings, to fight, to search for that light is no longer with us.

Here’s my favourite Frightened Rabbit song of all time, The Modern Leper, this live performance of it captures his amazing personality, laughing and joking as he brilliantly sings of leprosy as a metaphor for his own disease.

 R.I.P.

[sportsandsongs]

Favourite 100 Songs of 2017

My favourite songs of the year, 2017. Spotify Playlist and the list below.

1    -    The National    -    The System Only Dreams in Total Darkness 2    -    Alvvays    -    Dreams Tonite 3    -    The New Pornographers    -    Whiteout Conditions 4    -    Phoenix    -    Fior Di Latte 5    -    Spoon    -    Do I Have to Talk You Into It 6    -    Lorde    -    The Louvre 7    -    St. Vincent    -    Los Ageless 8    -    Manchester Orchestra    -    The Gold 9    -    Paramore    -    Hard Times 10    -    Fever Ray    -    To The Moon And Back 11    -    The Hold Steady    -    A Snake In The Shower 12    -    Father John Misty    -    Total Entertainment Forever 13    -    Charly Bliss    -    Glitter 14    -    The Shins    -    Half a Million 15    -    Destroyer    -    Tinseltown Swimming in Blood 16    -    The New Pornographers    -    Avalanche Alley 17    -    Japandroids    -    No Known Drink Or Drug 18    -    Carly Rae Jepsen    -    Cut To The Feeling 19    -    The Killers    -    Tyson vs Douglas 20    -    LCD Soundsystem    -    tonite

21    -    Partner    -    Everybody Knows  22    -    Imagine Dragons    -    Believer 23    -    Stars    -    Wanderers  24    -    Spoon    -    WhisperI'lllistentohearit  25    -    Arcade Fire    -    We Don’t Deserve Love 26    -    Japandroids    -    Arc Of Bar 27    -    Arkells    -    Knocking At The Door 28    -    Portugal. The Man    -    Feel It Still 29    -    Jason Isbell    -    If We Were Vampires 30    -    Lorde    -    Homemade Dynamite 31    -    The Killers    -    Run For Cover 32    -    Cloud Nothings    -    Enter Entirely 33    -    Glass Animals    -    Agnes 34    -    Father John Misty    -    Pure Comedy 35    -    The Menzingers    -    Lookers 36    -    Selena Gomez    -    Bad Liar 37    -    Foxygen    -    On Lankershim 38    -    Queens of the Stone Age    -    The Evil Has Landed 39    -    Sundara Karma    -    She Said 40    -    Fast Romantics    -    Get Loved

41    -    Broken Social Scene    -    Hug Of Thunder 42    -    Phoenix    -    Telefono 43    -    The National    -    I’ll Still Destroy You 44    -    Bleachers    -    All My Heroes 45    -    Portugal. The Man    -    Rich Friends 46    -    Lorde    -    Supercut 47    -    Middle Kids    -    Edge of Town 48    -    LCD Soundsystem    -    call the police 49    -    Nine Inch Nails    -    Less Than 50    -    Deaf Radio    -    Backseats 51    -    Wild Beasts    -    Punk Drunk & Trembling 52    -    Queens of the Stone Age    -    Fortress 53    -    The Glorious Sons    -    Everything Is Alright 54    -    Sorotity Noise    -    No Halo 55    -    Charly Bliss    -    Black Hole 56    -    Imagine Dragons    -    Thunder 57    -    The New Pornographers    -    High Ticket Attractions 58    -    Los Campesinos!    -    Here’s to the Fourth Time! 59    -    Craig Finn    -    God in Chicago 60    -    Phoenix    -    J-Boy

61    -    Charli XCX    -    Boys 62    -    Calvin Harris (f/Frank Ocean & Migos)    -    Slide 63    -    LCD Soundsystem    -    american dream 64    -    Japanese Breakfast    -    Machinist 65    -    Wolf Parade    -    You’re Dreaming 66    -    The Revivalists    -    Wish I Knew You 67    -    Fred Thomas    -    Brickwall 68    -    The Menzingers    -    Your Wild Years 69    -    Harry Styles    -    Sign of the Times 70    -    Said The Whale    -    I WIll Follow You 71    -    Mac DeMarco    -    My Old Man 72    -    Conor Oberst    -    Till St. Dymphna Kicks Us Out 73    -    Ryan Adams    -    Do You Still Love Me? 74    -    The Killers    -    The Man 75    -    Hollerado    -    Born Yesterday 76    -    Skating Polly (f/Louise Post & Nina Gordon)    -    Louder In Outer Space  77    -    The Dears    -    Of Fisticuffs 78    -    Grandaddy    -    Evermore 79    -    Arcade Fire    -    Everything Now 80    -    Fake Shark    -    Heart 2 Heart ‘mso-special-#8��w�’

81    -    Whitehorse    -    Boys Like You 82    -    Charly Bliss    -    Percolator 83    -    The Rural Alberta Advantage    -    Brother 84    -    Pale Waves    -    There’s a Honey 85    -    Said The Whale    -    Step Into The Darkness 86    -    Lorde    -    Green Light 87    -    Cherry Glazerr    -    Told You I’d Be with the Guys 88    -    The World Is A Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid To Die    -    Marine Tigers 89    -    Luis Fonsi (f/Daddy Yankee & Justin Bieber)    -    Despacito - Remix 90    -    The Courtneys    -    Minnesota 91    -    Future Islands (f/Debbie Harry)    -    Shadows 92    -    Alvvays    -    In Undertow 93    -    HAIM    -    Little of Your Love 94    -    Wild Pink    -    Battle of Bedford Falls 95    -    Matthew Good    -    Bad Guys Win 96    -    Jay Som    -    The Bus Song 97    -    Grouplove    -    Remember That Night 98    -    Fred Thomas    -    Mallwalkers 99    -    Waxahatchee    -    Never Been Wrong 100    -    BØRNS    -    Faded Heart

[sportsandsongs]

Best Albums of 2017

1.       Lorde – Melodrama

Looking back at the year, this is pretty clearly my favourite of 2017. A pretty diverse album – modern pop bangers next to lifting synthy 80s inspired songs, with some piano ballads more typical of her first album mixed in for good measure. Front to back, start to finish, the best album of the year.  Hard to even pick out highlights, but my favourites are ‘The Louvre’, ‘Supercut’, ‘Sober’ and Homemade Dynamite’. First time in a while my favourite has strayed too far from indie/rock but this is what I came back to the most.

 2.       LCD Soundsystem – American Dream

Their first album in seven years and it manages to cover all the styles they’ve hit so well in the past and then keep pushing things forward. The big single, “Tonite” calls back to their early singles and self-titled album. “American Dream” is a slow reflective song in the vein of “NY I love you”, “Call the Police would fit right in on Sound of Silver. From there they venture into new territory with more rock inspired songs like “I used to” and “oh baby”. In the centre of it all is the massive build and release of “how do you sleep?”

 3.       Spoon – Hot Thoughts

Spoon have been my favourite band of the past 15 years and this just another great album by them. So consistently great, Britt Daniel is a fantastic song writer. Spoon have a distinctive, signature sound but they still manage to change things up a bit on every record. On Hot Thoughts, there is more synth presence than any past album, particularly on the brilliant, “whisperi’lllistentohearit”. For their more straight forward indie rock songs, “Do I Have to Talk You Into It” and “Can I Sit Next to You” fits in well among their best. While the slowed down “I Ain’t the One” shows just how pretty their songs can be when they choose to go that direction.

 4.       Phoenix – Ti Amo

Phoenix are a truly global band. They come from France but sing mostly in English. This fall I had the chance to see them play in Germany. On this album they mix in some Italian influence but whatever language, it’s all fantastic pop music. Featuring the best pop slow jam of the year in “Fior di Latte” and songs that bounce around the club like “Ti Amo”, “J-Boy” and the catchy and fun as hell “Telefono”. Front to back, not a bad song on this album. They definitely continue to push in a more pop oriented direction from their early Strokes-influenced days of It’s Never Been Like That but it suits them well.

 5.       Charly Bliss – Guppy

Charly Bliss were a band I had never heard of before this year but I had the good fortune to see them open for Tokyo Police Club in Peterborough and again for Operators in Toronto early in the year. Their 90s influenced power grunge song won me over immediately. The vocals of the lead singer can take some getting used to but once you do, it’s an energetic burst of awesome. An example of why you always go see the opening band, this group came mostly out of nowhere and now this album and ‘Glitter’ are all over every music critics year end “best of 2017” lists all over the world... and ten months ago they were opening at the Red Dog. ‘Percolator’ and ‘Black Hole’ are great songs as well.

 6.       Stars – There is no Love in Fluorescent Light

Stars have been around for a long time now. They haven’t released a bad album in my books but their most recent is probably the best in my opinion. They’ve always been able to knock out a great club dance anthem (’Fluorescent Light’ being the best of the bunch here), with their combined male/female vocals and building synths. The difference with this album is the highs stay high throughout. No filler on the album. It all builds up to the great release of ‘Wanderers’, the final and best song of the bunch.

 7.       Japandroids – Near to the Wild Heart of Life

It feels like this album has been out forever to me. Probably because the lead single came out in 2016 and I saw them in Toronto in late 2016 as well. Nevertheless, it is an early 2017 release and the best straight up record of the year for me. You know what you’re getting with Japandroids, a 2-piece band. Huge guitars, soaring anthemic songs. They changed things up this year with the highlight of this album, ‘Arc of Bar’ a 7 minute song that dials back the guitars just a bit in favour of building fuzzed out synthesizers. The anthems are still here though, with “Near to the Wild Heart of Life” and “No Known Drink or drug” leading the way. It isn’t quite on the level of Celebration Rock (probably the best rock album of the decade) but it’s pretty great.

 8.       Father John Misty – Total Entertainment Forever

I don’t particularly care for FJM’s online asshole persona. The twitter wars and sticking his nose into every music topic there is wears me out. That said, I am a sucker for a great piano ballad and this album is full of them. Combine that with smart, funny lyrics and this is the best indie-folk album of the year in my books. The four song run that opens this album (‘Pure Comedy’, ‘Total Entertainment Forever’, ‘…Before the Revolution’ and ‘Ballad of the Dying Man’) is the best of any album released in 2017. While it drops off a bit from there, it remains one of the best of the year.

 9.       The New Pornographers – Whiteout Conditions

This may be the lowest The New Pornographers have been on one of my years end lists, which speaks to how consistently great they’ve been for the past 17 years and also to a somewhat uneven album, in my opinion. The highs here – ‘Whiteout Conditions’, ‘Avalanche Alley’, ‘High Ticket Attractions’ and ‘Play Money’ are some of the best songs of the year – but it does have its lulls in the middle.

 10.   Alvvays – Antisocialites

A bit of a change from their debut album, this one is a bit more polished, a bit more poppy and it took me a bit longer to get into it. The lead single ‘In Undertow’ is good but not as great as the best of their first album. That is quickly made up for by the pop-punk influenced ‘Plimsoul Punks’ and the beautiful ‘Dreams Tonite’, which I now believe to be their single best song.

  11.   The Shins – Heartworms

12.   Menzingers – After the Party

13.   Fast Romantics – American Love

14.   Queens of the Stone Age - Villains

15.   The Killers – Wonderful Wonderful

16.   The National – Sleep Well Beast

17.   Said the Whale – As Long As Your Eyes Are Wide

18.   Hollerado – Born Yesterday

19.   Fred Thomas - Changer

20.   Mountain Goats - Goths

21.   Los Campesinos – Sick Scenes

22.   Cloud Nothings – Life Without Sound

23.   Wolf Parade – Cry Cry Cry

24.   Paramore – After Laughter

25.   Bleachers – Gone Now

[sportsandsongs]

Wayhome 2017

Just as I did last year, a long sprawling post covering everything I loved and liked last weekend at Wayhome. Mostly for myself to look back on in time but also to share the love of great music. None of the videos linked here are mine – the photos are.

 Highs:

The People – This was only the third year of Wayhome, hopefully not the last (more on that later) but it seemed to me that people were starting to get the hang of the weekend camping festival this year. There were a lot more high fives, a fair bit of “Happy Wayhome”, evidence of neighboring campsites keeping an eye out for each other and just all around good vibes. This is even more so on our own campsite where with our camp mates from the US we had as much or more fun sitting around the campsite as there was in the festival grounds.

The Beer on our Campsite – This was mostly of our own planning and preparation  but it was one of my best weekends ever in terms of sampling new craft beers. I had made sure to get a few good/unique beers before we left, our American friends brought some great beers from the Buffalo area and we participated in an onsite craft beer exchange where we traded 10 of our own beers for 10 unique craft beers – mostly from the East Coast of Canada. There was a lot of beer to go around for sure but it was mostly being shared communally among our group of 4, so it went a pretty long way…

Cage the Elephant - Not necessarily my favourite band of the weekend heading in but they put on one hell of a show. Their front man is energetic, engaged and all over the stage. They have a lot of big singalongs and their folkier hits (“Trouble”, “Cigarette Daydreams”) really come across well in a large group setting. It wasn’t quite last years’ Foals revelation, but it was pretty close.

Justice – I’m obviously more of a rock guy than an electronic/dance fan but Justice straddles the line enough for me to be really into their set. This was the best “show” of the weekend, without a doubt. Big lights, epic sounds – they don’t come around much at all and it really felt like an “event” to me – much more than Frank Ocean, whose appearance actually was an event. It’s hard for me to imagine a better song from any band to open a concert than “Safe and Sound”.

The Darcy’s – I had seen them play last year at the ArtWalk at Wayhome and they were good but didn’t blow me away. Since then, I’ve come to realize that their 2016 album Centerfold is a really good synthy-summer in Miami style album. They played at 3:30 in the afternoon in the blazing sun, not far from a Bacardi tent. Sipping on my Lemonade (and Bacardi) in the blazing heat, listening to them play the likes of “Studio City”, “San Diego, 1988” and “Miracle” was everything I wanted to do in that moment. The lead singer had a broken arm and the sling was bright gold and bedazzled – what more can you want.

PUP – Their 2016 album The Dream is Over is just ridiculously good and I knew going in that this was going to be one of the highlights of the weekend. One of the very very few bands that gets me into the mosh pit, they’re just so high energy and so infectious, you just can’t help but get swept up in it. It was different than seeing them in a club – the security at Wayhome was a bit more uptight about the crowd surfing etc… but at the same time, you’re not going to see their lead singer climb to the top of the posts surrounding the stage at a club stage either. There is no better set closer than the “If This Tour Doesn’t Kill You/DVP” combination. “Resevoir” was pretty great too.

The Shins – Their setlist was exactly what I wanted it to be – lots from their first two albums, as well as “Simple Song”, “Australia” and “Phantom Limb”, and the obligatory songs from the new album, which are pretty strong in their own right. They sounded tight, had one of the best backdrops of the night and all in all just put in a really great festival set.

Imagine Dragons – Probably the surprise of the weekend for me. I knew their songs like everyone does but mostly shrugged them off as a headliner – after the likes of The Killers, Arcade Fire, Neil Young and LCD Soundsystem the past couple years, they just didn’t meet that level for me. That said, their set was every bit the headlining show. It was an hour and a half of singalongs, positivity and infectious happiness and it was fantastic. He never stops moving around the stage and he looks like an MMA fighter but it all works. Sure, there were possibly some religious undertones to it but as a diehard Killers fan, I can’t hold that against them too much – I’ll just chalk it up to them both being from Las Vegas. In any event, they made me a… Believer

Traffic Flow/Viewpoints – There were much fewer people there this year – fewer bands and smaller headliners will do that. There was one less stage as well. While those were negatives coming in represented less value for the cost of the ticket, it meant it was very easy to move from stage to stage to catch every act we wanted to see, and especially for the sets early on in the day, get very close to the front.

Royal Blood – I had heard they were very good live and they definitely lived up to that reputation. The songs were tight, loud and they were pretty good at getting the crowd feeling in – not always easy for a 2 piece band.

Vance Joy - Maybe somewhat similar to Imagine Dragons, I knew a lot of his songs and I have long loved “Fire and the Flood”. This seemed to be the most child/family friendly set of the weekend and also very heavily populated with screaming/swooning young women. And for good reason – a handsome guy with an Australian accent singing nothing but love songs. He definitely won me over – I was swooning myself (and sending love texts back home) by the time he was a few songs in. As far as love lyrics go, not much better than “Everything is fine, when your head’s resting to mine” in my books.

WayAway Stage – This stage isn’t new this year but it’s the first year I’ve seen a significant number of shows on it (probably many of these would have been on the WayBold stage which didn’t exist this year). Seeing the likes of PUP, Car Seat Headrest, Houndmouth and Haerts on a small stage surrounded by trees was a fantastic experience – if you didn’t want to be up front, you could lean against a tree or sit in the shade – though for most of these bands, up front was the place to be.

Houndmouth/”Sedona” – We were debating among ourselves what the biggest singalong song of the festival was this weekend. Was it “DVP” by PUP? For our group, probably but not for the masses. Was it “Ivy” by Frank Ocean? For many maybe but judging by the people leaving that set, maybe not. “Radioactive” or “Believer” by Imagine Dragons? Objectively, probably yes, but in the moment, tucked away on the WayAway stage with a small but very energetic crowd, “Sedona” by Houndmouth felt like the biggest song of the weekend. Everyone was belting it out for all they had, myself included. Their whole set was fantastic, but this was the moment.

San Fermin - This is a big band (8 members), with a lot happening on stage and two different singers playing a variety of different styles. There are a lot of ways it could not work but they really sounded great and pulled off both the more indie rock oriented and the poppier, electro-influenced tunes very well.

Tegan and Sara – I didn’t watch this whole set, they overlapped with Car Seat Headrest, but what I saw was really good. This is the second time I’ve caught the back half of one of their shows (when they played Peterborough MusicFest, I raced down after my baseball game). This show seemed better, probably because they have new songs like “U-Turn” and “Boyfriend” which are among the very best in their catalog. I did see both those songs, as well as “Nineteen” and “Closer” they were fantastic – need to see a full show soon.

Breakfast - This year we brought eggs for breakfast, which were scrambled and combined with a tortilla shell, sausage and salsa for a wonderful breakfast wrap every morning. The more camping festivals we go to, the better the onsite food preparation gets.

Mitski - She has almost no stage presence, it’s basically her and her bandmate playing songs, with little banter and nothing to draw you in. But the songs are just so damn good and they pop live. Her big guitars and sweet voice played very well for me, despite the lack of movement or banner  or engagement of any sort on stage.

BANKS – Because of Mitski’s show, I only caught the back half of this show and I was towards the back. Her stage presence and her songs are undeniable. The choreography and backup dancers make it a real show – I feel like I need to see her again, closer to the front and the full show to properly appreciate it.

Phantogram/Haerts/The Naked and Famous – All very solid, if not particularly memorable synth-pop-rock acts to get the weekend started on Friday. Haerts were my first show of the weekend and they were a great way to get things going in a positive direction. I had the highest hopes for Phantogram and it was a very good, if somewhat emotionless show. The Naked and Famous played the hits I wanted (“Young Blood”, “Girls Like You”, “Higher”). No complaints.

The Dirty Nil – Good hard rock band. This set was so short (30 mins) and we probably missed the first 5 minutes (or at least only heard it from afar as we entered the grounds). They were solid and one of the few true pure rock bands here this weekend.

Porta Potties – They were pretty clean, pumped regularly, no complaints

Food Lines – This was a complaint last year, so I have to give big ups here – no lines, great options for food – sure smaller crowds helped but still, props.

24 Hour Area – There were two of them and both had Pizza Pizza and poutine options. You’re basically only here after 1 AM and at that point, beggars can’t be choosers and let’s be honest, pizza or poutine is probably what you’re craving after a day full of beer.

  Lows/Disappointments

Death From Above – This was a pretty underwhelming set for me. I’d seen them in Toronto at Riot Fest in 2014, right around the time “Trainwreck 1979” came out and that show was amazing. This time around, they didn’t seem to have the same energy (maybe it was the smaller crowd?), didn’t have the best setlist and really didn’t compare favourably to fellow 2-piece rock band Royal Blood who played immediately after them.

Car Seat Headrest – It isn’t fair to call this a low, it was a very good set by a super talented guy – he even wrote a song called “Oro-Medonte” in honour of where the festival was being held – and his band. It just felt a little slow to me compared to the album versions of the songs. I get that the slacker vibe is part of their shtick but there really isn’t much to this show, which combined with the slowed down tunes and weak-ish playlist, didn’t live up to my expectations (this was probably my 2nd or 3rd most anticipated show of the weekend).

Value vs. Previous Years – It has to be said that we paid the same as last year for fewer bands, worse headliners, worse sub-headliners and one less stage. The shows each day started an hour later and ended an hour earlier. The overall value of the weekend for me is still there because I loved every second I was there, saw amazing bands and was in my element the entire time and there really isn’t a similar camping festival within a few hours of our area, so I will always go back, but it did feel like we were paying the same (more?) for much less in comparison to the first two years.

Canadian Content – Similar to the above, this means not to disrespect the bands that were there this year – as you can see above, PUP, The Darcy’s, Tegan and Sara were among my favourite acts, but 2016 alone had Arcade Fire, Arkells, Mac DeMarco, Wolf Parade, Stars, Half Moon Run, etc… and 2015 had Neil Young, Hey Rosetta, The Rural Alberta Advantage, July Talk, Alvvays, Yukon Blonde, Sloan, Metz, Dear Rouge, Chad VanGaalen and more. You would think the one area Wayhome would have a distinct advantage over it’s U.S. competitors is being able to book these Canadian bands that presumably cost less and are less impacted by the exchange rate but are big draws here north of the border – I just don’t get why they cut back in this area this year.

Crowd Size – The crowd size was a high when it was letting me get to the front of the stage to see a show and letting me move from one stage to another. It is a low in that it means the festival may not return for a 4th year. It also meant the singalongs weren’t as epic, the pits weren’t as bumping and it has to affect the performers to some extent. To say there were half as many people as there were in 2016 would be very generous – and that’s with them giving away a ticket to anyone willing to take one in the weeks leading up to the festival, which leads to...

Everyone and their brother getting a free ticket – I get it – they needed to get people on site to try to recoup some money from lost ticket sales in the form of people with free passes buying beer or food or merchandise but it still sucks that they gave literally anyone in Barrie/Orillia who wanted them free weekend passes and also held an “Everyone’s a Winner” contest in the weeks leading up to the festival through Hive. Maybe without these people on site, the festival doesn’t happen at all, but I paid a couple hundred dollars for my weekend pass and have all three years – it’s weak that the guy beside me likely got in for free.

Frank Ocean/Leaving Frank Ocean – I’ll preface this by saying that I like but don’t love Frank Ocean’s music, I respect him tremendously as a musician and I absolutely love “Ivy”, “Novacaine” and “Pyramids”.

The set was odd – he is not afraid to get halfway through a song, decide he’s unhappy with it and start over from the beginning. He spends a lot of time talking to someone in his headset? That none of us can hear or see onstage. The stage setup is minimal and it is an “unplugged” set up to the show. The visuals are being recorded through an old school device and are unique and different and disarming. We sat towards the back of the Wayhome stage, allowing the diehards the area towards the front of the stage. The songs mostly sounded pretty good. It is slow/minimal R & B so it can be hard to stay in it if you don’t really love the song. By about the halfway point of the show, from our perspective at the back, we saw a lot of people leaving the show. That took me out of it. Him restarting songs took me out of it. He played “Ivy” and that was enough for me – we’d seen an hour or so and seen my favourite and I was happy to go at that point – I’d seen his setlists and knew he wasn’t going to play “Pyramids” anyway and half our group had already left.

Then, walking back to the campsite, I heard the unmistakeable sounds of him playing “Pyramids”. It might have been my least favourite show of the festival but I feel like had I been into it more, closer to the big crowd, not seeing everyone else walking out on it and staying to the end, it could have been one of my favourites. Looking online after, it was a pretty polarizing set, you love it or hate it and I think I loved it and hated it as well.

Lack of Indie Rock – I wasn’t expecting them to match the 2016 trip of Arcade Fire/Killers/LCD but after that, and a sub card including Haim/Foals/Chvrches/M83/The Arcs/Arkells/Wolf Parade/Last Shadow Puppets/Nathaniel Rateliif/Kurt Vile/Stars and much much more, to take a hard left turn away from indie rock and towards more EDM type bands was pretty unexpected. I did not pre buy a “Midnight Madness” ticket before the lineup was announced but I really do feel for people who bought based on 2016’s lineup and then were handed Marshmellow, Flume and the like. The lineup still had lots to love and I like my share of pop and electronic influenced music but it wasn’t what I’d come to expect based on the lineups of the first two years.

Beer in Festival Grounds – I’ve whined about this the past two years as well where the only options were Coors Light, Canadian and Creemore Original. I mean, Creemore is fine in a pinch but there are so many good craft breweries within 90 minutes of this festival and it’s a young, indie rock, dare I say Hipster crowd who would soak up any craft beer options. Festivals like Bonnaroo bring in a craft beer tent with 30 different brewers and craft options at every beer stand. So what does WayHome do for 2017? They take away the Creemore option!? I guess Molson pays big money to sponsor and get that exclusivity, so congratulations Molson, you drove me to drink Somersby and Bacardi in the grounds all weekend. I hope you play no part in their distribution. In any case, they taste much better than Canadian or Coors Light.

All in all, a fantastic weekend, I hope they find a way to bring it back next year and get it back to where it was for year 2 in terms of the lineup and crowds. In terms of the logistics, spirit and people it keeps getting better. If not (and maybe even if so), perhaps 2018 is the year I finally get to Bonnaroo.

[sportsandsongs]

Canada 150 Playlist

I made my own #Canada150 playlist for the weekend. One song per artist, 150 different Canadian bands and singers. It’s missing some “classic” Canadian bands but that’s because I don’t like them. Sorry, Rush.

Playlist here and alphabetical list below.

A Tribe Called Red - Sila Alanis Morissette - You Oughta Know Alexisonfire - Accidents Alvvays - Adult Diversion Andy Shauf - Quite Like You Anne Murray - Snowbird Arcade Fire - Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels) Arkells - Leather Jacket Austra - Future Politics Avril Lavigne - My Happy Ending Bachman-Turner Overdrive - You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet Bahamas - All The Time Barenaked Ladies - Light Up My Room Basia Bulat - Gold Rush Bif Naked - Moment Of Weakness Big Sugar - The Scene Big Wreck - That Song Billy Talent - This Is How It Goes Blue Peter - Don't Walk Past Blue Rodeo - Diamond Mine Born Ruffians - Badonkadonkey Braids - Taste Bran Van 3000 - Drinking in L.A. Broken Social Scene - Anthems for a Seventeen Year Old Girl BRONCHO - Señora Borealis Bruce Cockburn - Lovers In A Dangerous Time Bryan Adams - Run To You By Divine Right - Come for a Ride Caribou - Melody Day Carly Rae Jepsen - Cut To The Feeling Chad VanGaalen - Peace On The Rise Chantal Kreviazuk - In This Life Chromeo - Fancy Footwork City and Colour - The Girl Constantines - I Will Not Sing a Hateful Song Crystal Castles - Celestica Dan Mangan - Race To The Bottom Dear Rouge - Black To Gold Death From Above 1979 - Romantic Rights Destroyer - Dream Lover DILLY DALLY - Desire Doughboys - Shine Dragonette - I Get Around Drake - Hotline Bling Elliott Brood - Oh, Alberta Eric's Trip - Anytime You Want Evening Hymns - Oh Man You'll Walk Again and Again Fake Shark - Something Special Fast Romantics - Why We Fight Fefe Dobson - Ghost Feist - I Feel It All Fucked Up - The Other Shoe Gordon Lightfoot - The Circle Is Small Great Big Sea - When I'm Up Great Lake Swimmers - Your Rocky Spine Grimes - Flesh without Blood Half Moon Run - Consider Yourself Handsome Furs - What about Us Hey Rosetta - New Sum  - Nous Sommes Hollerado - Born Yesterday Holy Fuck - Red Lights Hot Hot Heat - Middle Of Nowhere I Mother Earth - Used To Be Alright Islands - Creeper Jann Arden - Could I Be Your Girl Japandroids - The House That Heaven Built Jason Collett - Lake Superior Jessy Lanza - Never Enough Joel Plaskett Emergency - Harbour Boys Joni Mitchell - Free Man In Paris July Talk - Strange Habit Junior Boys - Hazel Justin Bieber - Sorry Kathleen Edwards - Oil Man's War KAYTRANADA - WEIGHT OFF Killjoys - Dana K'NAAN - 15 Minutes Away K-OS - Sunday Morning Leonard Cohen - Famous Blue Raincoat Library Voices - Generation Handclap Limblifter - Tinfoil Mac Demarco - My Old Man Majical Cloudz - Downtown Malajube - Montréal  -40 Martha & The Muffins - Echo Beach Matthew Good Band - Hello Time Bomb Melissa Etheridge - Bring Me Some Water Men Without Hats - The Safety Dance Metric - Dead Disco Metz - Get Off Mother Mother - Monkey Tree Neil Young - Unknown Legend Nelly Furtado - Say It Right Odds - Someone Who's Cool Operators - Cold Light Ought - Habit Our Lady Peace - Starseed Owen Pallett - Lewis Takes Off His Shirt Plants and Animals - Bye Bye Bye Preoccupations - Silhouettes PUP - Sleep In The Heat Rah Rah - Prairie Girl Rheostatics - Claire Said The Whale - Out On the Shield Sam Roberts - The Gate Sarah Harmer - Escarpment Blues Sarah McLachlan - Possession Serena Ryder - What I Wouldn't Do Shad - Keep Shining Sloan - Penpals Spirit Of The West - Home For A Rest Spoons - Romantic Traffic Stars - Take Me To the Riot Strange Advance - We Run Sum 41 - In Too Deep Tegan and Sara - Where Does the Good Go The Band - It Makes No Difference The Besnard Lakes - Albatross The Courtneys - Minnesota The Darcys - Studio City The Dears - 5 Chords The Guess Who - No Sugar Tonight / New Mother Nature The Lowest of the Low - Salesmen, Cheats and Liars The New Pornographers - Bleeding Heart Show The Pack a.d. - Sirens The Payolas - Soldier The Rankin Family - You Feel The Same Way Too The Rural Alberta Advantage - Muscle Relaxants The Russian Futurists - Hoeing Weeds Sowing Seeds The Sadies - Oak Ridges The Stills - In The Beginning The Strumbellas - Lakes The Super Friendz - 10 Lbs. The Tragically Hip - Ahead By A Century The Unicorns - I Was Born (A Unicorn) The Weakerthans - Civil Twilight The Weeknd - High For This The Wooden Sky - Swimming in Strange Waters The Zolas - Get Dark Tobias Jesso Jr. - How Could You Babe Tokyo Police Club - Tessellate Treble Charger - Red Two Hours Traffic - Backseat Sweetheart White Lung - Face Down Whitehorse - Sweet Disaster Wintersleep - Drunk On Aluminum Wolf Parade - You Are A Runner And I Am My Father's Son You Say Party - Monster Young Galaxy - We Have Everything Yukon Blonde - Saturday Night

[sportsandsongs]

In Praise of our Local Stouts

In honor of St. Patrick’s Day, I thought I’d take some time to write a love letter to stout – particularly the various amazing stouts we have in the Central/Eastern Ontario area.

When most people think of a stout, they think of Guinness, an Irish dry stout. Guinness is one of the most popular beers in the world, so it’s not surprising to see such a strong connection between style and brand – particularly among less craft-oriented beer drinkers. Still, I think there are still misconceptions about Irish dry stouts, mainly that they are “heavy” or “filling”.

An irish stout will usually be a very dark red or black in colour and have a thick, foamy head. It is this combination that gives the perception of them being a richer or heavier sitting beer than your average golden lager. In fact, a 12 ounce serving of Guinness has 125 calories and is just 4% alcohol. By contrast, Coors Banquet has 149 calories in a 12 ounce serving, while Bud Light comes in at 110 calories. Because calories in beer correlate more with alcohol content than anything else, Guinness and Irish stouts in general are lower in alcohol and come in closer to the light beer range in terms of calories.

Two other common types of stout are the Oatmeal Stout – as the name implies, a more full bodied, smoother tasting beer and the Russian Imperial Stout - usually a somewhat sweet, even boozy beer that tends to be very high in alcohol content. It’s my contention that the very best examples of each of these styles can be found not far from Peterborough, so with all that out of the way, let’s talk about some great local stouts.

With it being St. Patrick’s Day, we have to start with the Irish Stout and there is no better Irish Stout going that Olde Stone Brewing Company’s Or Dubh Stout. Perhaps they have a slight advantage as the only way to drink this beer is as intended – on a nitro tap at the brewery/restaurant. That said, it is perfect every single time – creamy head with tons of chocolate and coffee flavor. In recent years I’ve been less inclined to spend St. Paddy’s at the bars (a gathering at somebody’s house suits me much better) but every year I make sure I get down to the Olde Stone at some point to enjoy an Or Dubh Stout. It is the Irish stout to which all others must try to compare.

In terms of Oatmeal Stouts, one of the very best examples of this beer is found in Eastern Ontario as well – a bit of a hike east on the 401, but it’s worth it to enjoy Ships in the Night Oatmeal Stout by Stone City Ales. Compared to the Or Dubh, this one is a smooth, thicker tasting, more nut/roasted oats influenced stout. There are a few examples of readily available Oatmeal stouts at the LCBO (St. Ambroise being the most notable) but this one rises above all them in my books. I have to say, this is probably my favourite “fancy” beer glass in my collection as well.

In terms of Russian Imperial Stouts, my favourite comes from the Durham area – Whitby to be exact, where 5 Paddles’ Midnight Paddler is the gold standard. This is a sweeter stout, coming in at 9.9% ABV. There are a few variations on this one (a barrel aged version, a sour version) but for my money the original is the best. More hops come through in this stout but it’s very well balanced with a strong roasted malt flavor. Because it comes in a 750ml bottle and has such a high alcohol content, this one is great for sharing or sipping over an extended period of time. I chose Midnight Paddler as my drink on the afternoon of Christmas Day, opening it up at the start of “Love Actually” and making it last throughout. This beer shouldn’t be drank ice cold either, as it sits and warms a bit, even more flavor comes out.

While these are my favourite examples of each style of stout, each has its limitations in terms of regularly drinking them – the Or Dubh is only available at the brewery with no cans/bottles/growlers available to take it home, Ships in the Night is readily available in Kingston at the brewery but that’s a 2 hour drive from Peterborough and Midnight Paddler is fantastic but it’s only so often you want to drink an almost 10 percent beer. That in mind, at this time of year, more often than not I reach for the O’Leerie Stout by Publican House Brewery. O’Leerie is the winter seasonal at the Publican House, so it’s only available for a few months each year. I always look forward to its arrival and make sure to grab a few extras at the end of the season. O’Leerie, as the name suggests, is another Irish stout. It’s easy drinking at 4.6% and is dominated by a rich chocolate flavour.

The other Irish stout I reach for often is Mill Street Cobblestone Stout. In their marketing of this one, Mill Street make it very clear that their aim is to make a local/craft version of a Guinness-style stout - and they succeed. Mill Street has always been a “big” craft brewery (and now they are owned by Labatt/ABInBev) and they benefit from their size by being the only craft stout with the widget to nitrogen infuse their beer when poured from the can. This allows the drinker to have the wonderful creamy stout head at home. Plus it’s fun as hell to watch the head cascade to the top. On top of that, Mill Street has fantastic distribution of their products – I can pick up Cobblestone Stout at the Sobey’s around the corner. For a great pub-like Irish stout at home, it’s hard to top Cobblestone.

It’s not just me who loves these beers, in The Ontario Craft Beer Guide by Robin Leblanc and Jordan St. John (GO BUY IT RIGHT NOW!), Cobblestone, Ships in the Night and Or Dubh Stout are ranked as the top 3 stouts in Ontario. Amazing beer fairly readily available in the area surrounding Peterborough.

There are other great stouts in the area as well. One of my my very favourite area breweries is Northumberland Hills Brewery in Cobourg. Their Lights Out Stout isn’t as easy to classify (too strong to be an Irish Stout, not strong enough to be an Imperial and not a strong oatmeal flavour) - sometimes a stout is just a stout, but it is fantastic – really well balanced with a strong coffee flavour.

Haliburton Highlands Brewery has recently undergone a huge expansion and have a new Irish Dry Stout. I haven’t had it near as often as the others on the list but first impressions were very good. In Minden/Carnarvon, Boshkung Breweries’ King Kung Imperial Stout isn’t as strong (in alcohol or flavour) as the Midnight Paddler and was a bit sweet on my first taste of it but while I was at the brewery, the brewer mentioned they may look to increase the hops in this one to offset some of that sweet flavour that overrides it right now.

One last Irish Stout I have to give some love to is Duggans Number 7 Irish Stout. This beer isn’t easily accessible in Peterborough, both times I’ve had it have been at Duggans Brewery itself on Queen West in Toronto but if you’re in that area, it is 100% worth a stop – very smooth, easy drinking Irish stout.

Any thoughts on stouts? Any favourites I haven’t mentioned? This is the first blog post on beer I’ve done, any feedback in that regard, let me know with a comment or even better on Twitter (mattcampbell9). 

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

[sportsandsongs]

Best Songs of 2016

My favourite songs from the year. Some of them, including the #1 came out in late 2015 but it is definitely the song I’ll associate most with this past year. Spotify playlist below.

1-Foals-What Went Down

2-Car Seat Headrest-Drunk Drivers/Killer Whales

3-Operators-Space Needle

4-Tokyo Police Club-Not My Girl

5-Cymbals Eat Guitars-Wish

6-PUP-DVP

7-Hot Hot Heat-Kid Who Stays in the Picture

8-Wintersleep-Spirit

9-Frightened Rabbit-I Wish I Was Sober

10-Modern Baseball-Just Another Face

11-Wolf Parade-Mr. Startup

12-Operators-Cold Light

13-Against Me!-333

14-Parquet Courts-Human Performance

15-Japandroids-Near To The Wild Heart Of Life

16-We Are Scientists-Buckle

17-of Montreal-it's different for girls

18-The Big Moon-Cupid

19-M83-Go! (feat. Mai Lan)

20-Metronomy-Old Skool

21-A Giant Dog-Sex & Drugs

22-The Strokes-OBLIVIUS

23-Tokyo Police Club-My House

24-Mitski-Your Best American Girl

25-Hamilton Leithauser + Rostam-Rough Going (I Won't Let Up)

26-Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats-I Need Never Get Old

27-Tegan and Sara-U-Turn

28-Car Seat Headrest-Fill in the Blank

29-The Rural Alberta Advantage-White Lights

30-Martha-Ice Cream and Sunscreen

31-Yeasayer-I Am Chemistry

32-The Hotelier-Goodness Pt 2

33-Angel Olsen-Shut Up Kiss Me

34-The Dears-We Lost Everything

35-Cymbals Eat Guitars-Have a Heart

36-Bat For Lashes-Sunday Love

37-Iggy Pop-Paraguay

38-Parquet Courts-Dust

39-Death Cab for Cutie-Good Help (Is So Hard To Find)

40-Arkells-My Heart's Always Yours

41-Tegan and Sara-Boyfriend

42-The Strumbellas-We Don't Know

43-Car Seat Headrest-(Joe Gets Kicked Out of School for Using) Drugs With Friends (But Says This Isn't a Problem)

44-Jeff Rosenstock-Festival Song

45-Half Moon Run-Consider Yourself

46-Eric Bachmann-Mercy

47-The 1975-Somebody Else

48-Cloud Nothings-Modern Act

49-BRONCHO-Senora Borealis

50-PUP-Doubts

51-Guy Garvey-Open The Door

52-Hamilton Leithauser + Rostam-In a Black Out

53-Wintersleep-Amerika

54-Cymbals Eat Guitars-4th of July, Philadelphia (SANDY)

55-Kings of Leon-Waste A Moment

56-Emeli Sandé-Hurts

57-Fake Shark-Something Special

58-Drake-One Dance

59-The Avett Brothers-True Sadness

60-Skepta-Man

61-Silversun Pickups-Circadian Rhythm (Last Dance)

62-Beyonce-Daddy Lessons (f/Dixie Chicks)

63-Carly Rae Jepsen-Higher

64-Everything Everything-I Believe it Now

65-Elbow-Magnificent (She Says)

66-PUP-Pine Point

67-Los Campesinos!-I Broke Up in Amarante

68-The Killers-Peace Of Mind

69-Parquet Courts-Berlin Got Blurry

70-The National-Morning Dew

71-Nada Surf-Rushing

72-The Jayhawks-Quiet Corners and Empty Spaces

73-City and Colour-Runaway

74-Dan Mangan-Race To The Bottom

75-Butch Walker-Record Store

76-Hot Hot Heat-Pulling Levers

77-Mystery Jets-Bubblegum

78-Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds-I Need You

79-The Tragically Hip-In A World Possessed By The Human Mind

80-Public Access TV-In Our Blood

81-The Zolas-Get Dark

82-Frightened Rabbit-Death Dream

83-Pkew Pkew Pkew-Mid 20's Skateboarder

84-Wet-All the Ways

85-Mudcrutch-Dreams of Flying

86-Night Riots-Pull Me Down

87-Islands-Charm Offensive

88-The Head and the Heart-All We Ever Knew

89-Augustines-Are We Alive

90-Blossoms-Charlemagne

91-Hamilton Leithauser + Rostam-A 1000 Times

92-Justin Bieber-Love Yourself

93-Tove Lo-True Disaster

94-Blossoms-At Most A Kiss

95-Red Hot Chili Peppers-Dark Necessities

96-Plants and Animals-No Worries Gonna Find Us

97-Reuben And The Dark-Heart In Two

98-DIIV-Under the Sun

99-White Lung-Hungry

100-Garbage-Empty

[sportsandsongs]

Best Albums of 2016

2016 was a great year for rock music. This is probably one of the less diverse year end lists I’ve had, there wasn’t as much in the pop/rap/r&b landscape that grabbed me, and even the ones that were most highly regarded (Beyonce, Solange, Kanye, Kendrick, Rihanna, etc...), I appreciated more than I actually listened to more than a couple times. The albums below though I came back to again and again all year long. 

I’ll put up a list of my favourite songs of the year next week that will see a lot of these same bands highly represented (and in the era of Spotify, probably more and more the full album is getting pushed aside in favour of songs/singles/playlists).

I’m posting a few Youtube links for each album here, so anyone interested can listen to a couple songs and see if you think the whole album is worth checking out.

1.       Car Seat Headrest – Teens of Denial

I only heard of Car Seat Headrest for the first time last year when their song “Something Soon” was on my list of favourite songs of the year. That album last year was a compilation of everything he (Will Toledo) had done to that point and Teens of Denial is the first proper album… and it’s fantastic. It’s over 70 minutes long with a lot of long sprawling but never even remotely boring songs, in terms of the length and style it reminds me of Lonesome Crowded West era Modest Mouse. Catchy as hell with great guitars and sing a long choruses.

Best Songs: Drunk Drivers/Killer Whales,    Fill in the Blank,      (Joe Gets Kicked out of School for Using) Drugs with Friends (But Says This Isn't a Problem).

 2.       Cymbals Eat Guitars – Pretty Years

As I said, this list is going to be pretty indie rock heavy here at the beginning. I haven’t seen this album get a lot of hype which is too bad because it is really really good.  Similar to CSH above, Cymbals Eat Guitars had a song I loved before, in “Jackson” but never a full album that grabbed me like this one. There’s a strong Springsteen influence on this one, complete with saxophone and all. It’s a concept album about the death of a friend of the band but it’s a joyful celebration, not a funeral.

Best songs: Wish,     4th of July Philadelphia (Sandy),         Have A Heart    

  3.       Operators – Blue Wave

Operators is the solo project of Dan Boeckner, a member of Wolf Parade, Handsome Furs and Divine Fits. This one sounds most like Handsome Furs, the synthiest of those groups. If you haven’t heard Handsome Furs’ Sound Kapital it’s one of my favourite albums ever. Like that album, this has a strong 80’s synth sound, with a mix of eerie, dark synths and lighter, more danceable synths. The whole album makes you want to move but also has an overall paranoid/foreboding feeling to it. Their show in Peterborough at the Red Dog in February was really really good and criminally under-attended (if you’re one of the 5 people actually reading this blog posts, you should come to concerts with me more often).

Best songs: Space Needle,        Cold Light,       Control

 4.       Parquet Courts – Human Performance

Parquet Courts have had a strong run of great albums the past few years and this is the best one of them all. My introduction to them was ‘Stoned and Starving’ a great slacker anthem for sure but they’ve come a long way from there to here. Smart, funny lyrics are all over this, as are pianos, organs and of course lots of guitars.

Best songs: Human Performance,      Dust,        Berlin Got Blurry

 5.       Hamilton Leithauser + Rostam – I Had a Dream That You Were Mine

Hamilton Leithauser is the lead singer of The Walkmen and Rostam is a founding member of Vampire Weekend. The pairing of the two of them works very well but Leithauser’s voice (which I love) might take some getting used to. This has a classic 50s/60s crooning and doo-wop sound to it in a lot of places, as that was the basis for the partnership but it’s at the same very modern sounding. This album also got some pretty massive exposure from one of the songs being used in an Apple commercial.

Best songs: Rough Going (I Won’t Let Up),      In a Black Out,         A 1000 Times

 6.       PUP – The Dream is Over

A little detour from the indie stuff here while ROCK THE F@!# OUT! PUP are a Toronto pop-punk group who are about to be huge. Their first album is really good, this one is great. The best 1-2 song combination of the year (If This Tour Doesn’t Kill You/DVP) opens this album up and then after 9 songs of pummeling you with riffs and singalongs, they make a left turn and close it out with the surprisingly beautiful closer ‘Pine Point’. Crank the whole album and scream things like “Why Can’t Everybody Just Chill” and “Three beers and I'm so messed up, get drunk and I can't shut up”. They’re the second band in this list to have played an amazing show at the Historic Red Dog this year. The DVP video below is so good (80s/90s video game references abound) as well.

Best songs: DVP,       Pine Point,        Doubts

 7.       Wintersleep – The Great Detachment

The band best known from ‘Weighty Ghost’ off their 2007 Welcome to the Night Sky album released their best album since that one this year. Wintersleep share a lot in common with Arcade Fire. Lots of building songs, big choruses and a range from acoustic to electronic. The best songs on this album are as good as anything else on this list but there are a couple songs in the middle that are skippable, where the 6 albums above it are almost flawless front to back. Seeing them at the tiny Grad Club in Kingston was a concert highlight of the year.

Best songs: Spirit,      Amerika,       Territory

 8.       Modern Baseball – Holy Ghost

Modern Baseball get grouped into the “emo-revival” characterization, which as far as I can tell just means emotional lyrics over indie rock music with some pop-punk influence mixed in for good measure. That describes their sound pretty well but it’s also maybe way better than that sounds. This album is basically split in two with each of the bands lead singers taking a side on lead vocals. This album builds and builds to the best closing song of the year, “Just Another Face” a great uplifting release.

Best songs: Just Another Face,      Wedding Singer,      Note to Self

 9.       Public Access TV – Never Enough

70s influenced rock band from New York that writes big rock and roll anthems, so naturally they are always compared to The Strokes. It fits a bit but they’re a bit glossier (think The Cars) than that. In either case, not a terribly original band but man is this album loaded with fun songs.

Best songs: In Our Blood,      End of an Era,      Evil Disco

 10.   Frightened Rabbit – Painting of a Panic Attack

This album is very good front to back but not quite up to the heights of their best albums. Frightened Rabbit is one of my absolute favourite bands and so I listened to this album probably as much as any on this list and enjoyed it every time but I guess I penalize it a bit for not being The Midnight Organ Fight, an album that might be in my all time top 10. That said, there is everything you want from a Frightened Rabbit album here in spades – sad Scottish lyrics, songs about drinking, uplifting anthems about not dying – the highs and lows just seem to give way to more time than usual spent in the middle – this album was produced by Aaron Dessner of The National, which only added to my already sky-high expectations.

Best songs: I Wish I Was Sober,      Woke Up Hurting,      Death Dream

  11.   Preoccupations – Preoccupations

12.   Arkells – Morning Report

13.   The Tragically Hip – Man Machine Poem

14.   Okkervil River – Away

15.   The Hotelier – Goodness

16.   The Coral – Distance Inbetween

17.   Iggy Pop – Post Pop Depression

18.   Mudcrutch – 2

19.   David Bowie - ★

20.   Butch Walker – Stay Gold

21.   Hot Hot Heat – Hot Hot Heat

22.   Brian Fallon – Painkillers

23.   Wild Beasts – Boy King

24.   Night Riots – Love Gloom

25.   Plants and Animals – Waltzed in from the Rumbling

 EP’s

1.       The Big Moon – The Road EP

2.       Tokyo Police Club – Melon Collie & the Infinite Radness Pt. 1

3.       Wolf Parade – EP 4

4.       Tokyo Police Club – Melon Collie & the Infinite Radness Pt. 2

[sportsandsongs]

My “Fantasy” Tragically Hip setlist

In honour of seeing The Tragically Hip on Wednesday for the fourth and likely (hopefully not) last time, I decided I’d put together my own fantasy setlist for the show. I know this is not what they will play, hell, if they play half these songs, I’ll be happy. Looking over their setlists for the shows they’ve played so far, they are very diverse. They are playing songs from all albums. They are playing deep cuts as well as hits. Even if it was strictly the hits, we’re talking about a band who released a compilation album in 2005 called Yer Favourites that had 37 songs on it. They have released 4 new albums since then, and they are consistently playing several songs from their latest album Man Machine Poem on this tour – it is after all officially the Man Machine Poem Tour, even if it feels like the Gord Downie farewell tour.

With all that in mind, I’ve tried to put together a setlist that matches my favourite deeper songs with the big hits they need to play and a few from the new one, so it’s “realistic” but still unlikely for a lot of them. In the end, no matter what they play, I’ll be so happy to have seen them (at least) one more time. I’ve seen them play ‘Bobcaygeon’ in Bobcaygeon, I’ve seen them play ’38 Years Old’ in their Kingston, they certainly don’t owe me a thing, but if I were the one scripting the set, here’s what it would be.

*In almost every show they’ve played 8 songs, had an intermission, played 12 or 13 more followed by their first false ending, then a 3 song encore, then a 2 song encore, so I’ve followed that format.

There’s a spotify playlist at the end of the post as well.

1. Blow at High Dough (from Up to Here, 1989)

You need to get the party started right. Everyone in the building will know what’s happening when they start with the indelible line, “They shot a movie once… in my hometown”.

2. Gift Shop (from Trouble at the Henhouse, 1996)

One of my very favourite Hip songs, the first minute is just atmospheric noise and Gord Downie’s voice, from there, it just builds, and builds and…

3. Vaccination Scar (from In Between Evolution, 2004)

I appreciate this song more now that I did when it was first released as the lead single from In Between Evolution. It’s a somewhat straight up rock song – Rolling Stones influenced for sure. It’s great.

4. Love is a First (from We Are the Same, 2009)

Big choruses, speak-singing in the second verse, layered vocals and god knows what that siren is in the back half of the song. This song is strange and really comes to live on stage.

5. Scared (from Day for Night, 1994)

After a couple more recent singles, it’s time to bring the mass audience in with a Day for Night classic.

6. Three Pistols (from Road Apples, 1991)

Road Apples is a great album, this song is the easy choice from it for me. I loved ‘Little Bones’ and ‘Twist My Arm’ but have heard them butchered one too many times at Puck and Pint karaoke back in the good old days.

7. In a World Possessed by the Human Mind (from Man Machine Poem, 2016)

The Hip are pretty consistently closing their first 8 song set with a few songs from the new album. This is the lead song, and one of the two best songs on it, so it’s a likely, safe and good choice.

8. Machine (from Man Machine Poem, 2016)

Again, this song is being played regularly, so it’s a very realistic choice here. Also, OMIGOD THIS SOUNDS LIKE THE HIP DECIDED TO WRITE A MODEST MOUSE SONG. No seriously, this is really really good. There’s only sort of a chorus, there’s all kinds of strange noise happening, best song on Man Machine Poem.

--------------------------------Break 1 -----------------------------------

Alright, everyone got a fresh beer? Presumably Gord loaded up on vitamins or pot or whatever he’s using to medicate through these shows while also fighting cancer… here we go.

9. Courage (for Hugh MacLennan) (from Fully Completely, 1992)

So, the last time I saw the hip was on the Fully Completely tour, so I’ve seen that album front to back… even still it will likely be the most represented album here. This is everything great about the Hip. Deep lyrics, mass appeal, unique, even better live, and that’s before the extra meanings with Gord’s disease (Courage… it couldn’t come at a worse time).

10. Fiddler’s Green (from Road Apples, 1991)

Easily one of their most beautiful songs, purely acoustic. Get your lighters out.

11. World Container (from World Container, 2006)

I really like the entire World Container album. Realistically, they’re not playing more than one song from it, I’d be just as happy with ‘Family Band’ or ‘In View’ (which may just be the poppiest song they’ve ever written). I chose this one because I love the piano and the indie music storyline.

12. Poets (from Phantom Power, 1998)

This song and ‘My Music At Work’ are as close at the Hip get to just straightforward rock songs. They need to play one of them, it will be a big dumb singalong and it will be great. I’d be happy to hear ‘Fireworks’ (but there are a couple other hockey referencing songs to come) or ‘Escape is at Hand for the Travellin’ Man’ as well from this album, and of course one other song from this album is an absolute must.

13. You’re Everywhere (from In Between Evolution, 2004)

I first heard this as a love song, and it was instantly added to my ever growing “favourites” playlist of songs. I later learned it’s actually about his father, giving it even greater meaning to me and making me love and connect with it even more. They last played it on December 5, 2004 according to setlist.fm. I will not hear this song but it’s my fantasy setlist and this needs to be on it.

14. Grace, Too (from Day for Night, 1994)

This by contrast is their third most played song ever, so it very likely will be played. One of those songs that’s a hit for good reason and really represents how this band can be so strange and so accessible at the same time. “I can guarantee, there’ll be no knock on the door.”

15. Streets Ahead (from Now for Plan A, 2012)

A recent straight ahead rock song that comes off better live than it does on the album.

16. 38 Years Old (from Fully Completely, 1992)

Great storytelling, great singalong. It looks like this one has fallen out of their setlists on their most recent tour. At one point this was probably my favourite Hip song. I can’t say that’s still the case but I’d still love to hear it one more time.

17. Lake Fever (from Music@Work, 2000)

I have no problem admitting I largely forgot this song existed until recently making a pretty big run through the Hip’s entire catalogue. This is one of my least favourite albums of theirs, but damn, this song is good. The layered vocals at the end, the way it starts out so composed and becomes a bit unhinged.

18. Wheat Kings (from Fully Completely, 1992)

And with this song, we signal that there is no more (messing) around. It’s time for the home stretch and the heavy hitters. I saw that recently “late breaking story on the CBC… a nation whispers ‘We always knew that he’d go free’” is the most Canadian lyric of all time, tough to argue. Another acoustic gem.

19. New Orleans is Sinking (from Up to Here, 1989)/Nautical Disaster (from Day for Night, 1994)

So, they haven’t been playing this combination on this tour (they have played NOIS on its own) but once again, this is my fantasy and these two songs played together have been a staple for years. In my world, it’s in.

20. It’s a Good Life if You Don’t Weaken (from In Violet Light, 2002)

So, this is the “last song” of the concert (obviously encored to follow). I’m going with this one for a number of reasons. First and foremost, it’s an amazing song and absolutely one of their best (in fact In Violet Light in entirety is just a fantastic album). Also, it seems like a fitting closer given the reason this is likely The Hip’s last tour.

------------------ Encore #1 ----------------------

21. Fifty-Mission Cap (from Fully Completely, 1992)

This concert is happening in the Air Canada Centre, home of the Leafs. There is a good chance this song, with it’s Leafs and hockey references, will get the biggest reaction of the night. It’s not the song I want to hear the most but it may be the one I want to experience in Toronto the most, if that makes sense.

22. Locked in the Trunk of a Car (from Fully Completely, 1992)

My very favourite of The Hip’s all out rockers. Probably one of the hardest rock songs they’ve ever wrote. Those two sentences aren’t coincidental. Still the first minute of this song is pretty calm and then bit by bit it becomes frantic, until we’re all screaming “LET ME OUUUUUUUUUUUUT”.

23. Bobcaygeon (from Phantom Power, 1998)

So we’ve come to the end of encore #1. You can make a pretty good case for Bobcaygeon as the Hip’s very best song. Even people who aren’t generally fans recognize it’s greatness. Add to that living half an hour from Bobcaygeon. Add to that having seen them play it in Bobcaygeon. Add to that seeing them this time in Toronto and the incredible “That Night in Toronto” line. Add to that how many times I’ve had “that night in Toronto”.

---------------- Encore #2 -----------------------

24. The Dark Canuck (from In Violet Light, 2002)

“This one is for you… it goes on and on and on”

Anyone who has read this far, thank you, and I’m sure you’re confused. This is my favourite Tragically Hip song. It was never a single and it’s from a post-’98 album. It’s likely on the tip of no one’s tongue when it comes to The Hip, but nevertheless, it is my favourite. Like so many of my favourite songs, it builds and builds and then you think the song is over, but it becomes a completely different song and keeps on building until finally everything lets loose. It’s about drive-in movies and Jaws and almost certainly politics and it is so damn good. Seriously, listen to this song. And I’m not completely on an island as this being my favourite song. Last week TSN’s Bob McKenzie, a lifelong fan and friend of the band wrote a touching tribute to them and he also singled out ‘The Dark Canuck’ as his favourite song. He has never seen it live. Setlist.fm says they last played it in September of 2002, but Bob Mckenzie will be at a Toronto show and I’m holding out very faint hope…

25. Ahead by a Century (from Trouble at the Henhouse, 1996)

This is pretty close to a perfect song. My love for ‘The Dark Canuck’ aside, concerts are all about the incredible communal experience. 20, 000 people in one place because they love a band so much. Hanging off every word, every riff, every beat. I want to come away from this concert having just sang at the top of my lungs with an arena full of my new closest friends. Everyone knows this song, everyone loves this song, this is a phenomenal song. If this is the last time I see them, I want my lasting memory to be singing this song.

[sportsandsongs]

Wayhome 2016

This post is very long and largely for my benefit, to write down the weekend memories down while they’re fresh in my mind so I can look back on this weekend forever. None of the videos linked here are mine.

Highs:

The people – same as last year, everyone was having a great time, helping each other out, generally just being a kind, friendly crowd, which when there are 40, 000 people in relatively tight quarters, is far from a sure thing. Specifically, our camping partners were fantastic and the group adjacent to us helped make a great weekend better. We spent almost as much time on the campgrounds sipping on beer, listening to music and just hanging out. Also, massive shout out to the guy who brought me my flip flops when I got caught up in a moment and found myself in a pit. WayHome last year and this year, is a great reminder that people are generally good. Nearby campers, strangers beside you at a concert, all friendly and just like last year, I didn’t see a single fight or major incident.

Foals – The toughest conflict of the weekend for me was whether to see Foals or Chvrches, whose sets were parallel to each other. It weighed on me to the point that I actually had a dream a week or so before the festival that I saw Foals and had a great time. I chose to take that as a sign and they were my choice for Friday evening. The show more than exceeded my expectations, the crowd was absolutely fantastic, I was able to get near the front, and yes, this is where some moshing took place. I lost my sunglasses (cheapies, thankfully) and my flip flops (which were returned to me) and had an absolutely amazing time rocking out. It was chaotic but never remotely unsafe (again, can’t overstate how good the crowd was) and the show that I will come away from thinking about most often and likely telling everyone I see about just how great it was. These videos catch the mood pretty well. There’s a reason these guys are headliners in the UK.

Wolf Parade – Like Foals, another really good rock band with some extended sing a longs and awesome jam sessions. They were actually the band I saw before Foals, coming on at 6:15 before Foals at 8:15. We were in the 2nd row for this one and when the camera pans right at the :34 second mark in this video you can see my Jays hat (blue and white w/tad beak).

Arcade Fire – I’ve seen Arcade Fire twice before, so it wasn’t quite life changing moment for me that it was for people seeing them for the first time, but it was still pretty special. They smashed the time clock, letting everyone know it was going to be a long, full show. Their ending run of songs was very heavy on Funeral tracks, including Rebellion (Lies), Power Out, Tunnels before finishing with Wake Up. Win Butler is a great showman, Regine’s voice was better than I remember and the setlist in general was flawless. This was one of only a handful of shows they are playing this year and was pretty obviously the band most were there to see and the biggest crowd of the weekend. And the fireworks display at the end of their set was ridiculous.

The Killers- All 3 headliners this year were so good. Big fun arena rock singalong songs again and again and again. The Killers played the Sunday night headline spot and as a result had a bit smaller crowd than Arcade Fire as some people chose to head back to the real world Sunday night (admittedly, we did this last year when Sam Smith closed out Sunday). We took the opportunity to get as close as possible, ending up in the 2nd GA row (about a half dozen rows back including VIP). This was my 4th time seeing The Killers, in addition to seeing Brandon Flowers solo last year. Both last and this year I was struck by how much he was enjoying himself on stage. Again, the setlist here was very strong, starting the night with Mr. Brightside, finishing with When You Were Young and mixing in covers of Joy Division and Elvis Presley, and even playing a couple songs I haven’t seen live before (This is Your Life, Glamourous Indie Rock & Roll). All in all a prefect ending to a great weekend – our friends who stayed for the concert but weren’t huge Killers fans also came away impressed by just how many hits they have to draw from. Tell your friends

LCD Soundsystem – Without repeating myself and dragging this post out all day, again, they played all the hits, had some amazing, euphoric singalongs, huge moments, and closed with their best “All My Friends”. This one had the added bonus of being a massive dance party as well.

Porta Potties – Yes, this is a high point. Maybe it was my good fortune but I arrived shortly after they were cleaned on many occasions, they were plentiful with no lines and in shockingly good condition.

Festival Grounds- It really is a beautiful, well laid out space. The one nitpick would be to have more shade but that’s tough to do when you need open space for so many people. The stages are so easy to move between and no sound bleed at all between stages when multiple bands are performing at the same time.

M83 – Playing Saturday night on the main stage, the new songs were very good live, with Mai Lan travelling with the band to play “Bibi the Dog” and “Go!”. Everyone uses the word “epic” to describe M83 and when they play songs like Steve McQueen and Midnight City, you can’t argue. They need to play more Saturdays = Youth, in my opinion.

Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats- They played on Friday at 4:30, perfect time for some good beer drinking music. Opening with my favourite “I Need Never Get Old” and finishing with their biggest hit “S.O.B.” transitioned into a cover of “The Shape I’m In” (The Band cover), it was the first show of the weekend and a great way to start.

The Arcs- I missed the first couple songs from The Arcs but made it in time to see my favourites, “The Arc” and “Outta My Mind”. Lingered more towards the back for this lazy Sunday afternoon show, but they are a very tight band with a sound pretty similar to the lead singer’s primary band The Black Keys.

Third Eye Blind- Newly relevant after their Republican party trolling, they were far from the best band musically this weekend but you better believe everyone there belted out every word to “Never Let You Go”, “Graduate”, “Deep Inside of You”, “How’s It Gonna Be”, “Jumper”  and “Semi-Charmed Life”

Arkells – Thanks to their love of Peterborough, I’ve seen Arkells more than any other band. Their set here was something different though. I’m used to seeing them in smaller venues like The Venue or The Red Dog. Here they were one of the biggest draws of the weekend, they played the “second” main stage and were likely the largest crowd I saw there all weekend – impressive considering the number of people who had already moved over the get a good spot for Arcade Fire at that point. Their set included never before played song “Drake’s Dad” plus a couple others from their upcoming album, plus the required hits and equally required at an Arkells show cover – including parts of “My Girl”, “Higher and Higher” The Jackson 5 and a full cover of The Hip’s “Music At Work”. With the new songs, covers and shortened set, it was a little less “hit” heavy than most of their shows but more than made up for it by bringing a full horn section to truly emphasize their Motown influence. Plus, the Leather Jacket singalong was one of the best of the weekend and makes me wonder if they’re far from headlining major Canadian festivals.

Beirut – Horn heavy, lots of great harmonies, very well suited for Sunday afternoon in the blistering heat. The next best thing to being on the beach in Mexico listening to a Mariachi band.

Lucius – I had no intention of seeing them and haven’t listened to them much, but sitting on the grass on the hill with everyone who’d been camping together all weekend, they were a fun way to spend Sunday afternoon.

Half Moon Run- They are very good live, bringing an even higher level of energy than on their albums. I actually saw these guys In 2013, when they opened for July Talk (who themselves were just breaking out) and Billy Talent for a $10 Lac-Megantic charity show at The Venue. With Half Moon Run also blowing up now, it’s fun to think about what it would cost to see that trio of bands these days.

Stars- Also played tribute to The Hip, with a “Doing It Fir Gord” T-Shirt. This was a really good show, heavier on their synthy material, which I love – I only wish WayHome had scheduled them differently, as this would have been a fantastic late night show and suffered a bit, in my opinion, for being at 3:30 in the afternoon on the last day of the festival. Interestingly, when I saw them at Riot Fest in 2014 they played an afternoon set as well, so the late night Stars party still has to wait.

Mac DeMarco – did play late night on Friday night and was excellent. Hard to describe his sound (slacker rock?), but very good.

Water- was plentiful enough on day one for me, and they added more stations over the course of the weekend – no complaints from me here.

Preparation – From year 1 to this year, a lot was learned. Having our own eggs and burgers, plus a shade tent on our camp site saved a lot of money and likely heat stroke.

Dirty Hippiness- I pretty much completely gave up on shaving/changing/staying remotely clean early on. There was so much dust (because it hasn’t rained all summer), it seemed like a lost cause.

JP’s Barbecue 3 Meat Poutine- About $5 more than it should have been, but wow, it was tasty.

 Disappointments/Nit-picks

There’s not a lot of negative to come out of a weekend like WayHome, but in the interest in fairness, here’s what I would like to see improved for future years:

Food Selection/Lineups- It seems like compared to last year, there was a lot less selection in terms of food. There was tons of poutine, lots of pulled pork but not too much else. The lines at peak time were awful, almost an hour long. Long lines meant going wherever was the shortest line – inevitably a poutine place.

Last Minute Policy Changes – Set the limits for what people can bring into the campgrounds at whatever you want but don’t change it the Tuesday before the event starts – I’m sure we weren’t the only ones who did our preperatory shopping on the weekend before, only for what we bought to no longer be allowed in.

“24-Hour” Area – For starters, on Sunday night Pizza Pizza was already closed, leaving only the burger/fries joint open. I’m sure the food was fine, but it takes a lot longer to serve it that it does to whip out premade pizza fast and furious. When Pizza Pizza was open here earlier in the weekend, lines and services were fine, but like in the grounds, it would be nice to have a different option than Pizza or fries.

Beer Selection- I’m a beer geek, so it was always going to be tough to satisfy me here, but having only 3 options in todays world of so many well made varieties of beer is crazy. It’s obviously because Molson throws a ton of money at them (and who could deny those Canadian cans are beautiful), but come on Molson, Coors Light and Creemore Original? Mix in a pilsner. Or a wheat beer. Or something from one of the 25 brewers in the greater Toronto/Barrie area. Thankfully we brought lots of our own to sample on the campsite.

My voice – It was gone by Saturday. It’s now Wednesday afternoon, it still hasn’t completely come back.

FIDLAR – Okay, it’s not fair to them, I get it, people get sick and when you rock as hard as these guys, a throat infection isn’t something to mess with. That said, I was really looking forward to seeing them, so it was still a bummer that they had to cancel their show.

The Struts- Their mix of Queen/Rolling Stones sounds seemed like it would play well at a festival environment, but after heading into to see them Friday, they just didn’t sound good. I read elsewhere it was a mixing issue that was corrected once they got a few songs in, but I had already moved on by that point – on the plus side, this made it easy to get a very good spot for Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats.

Friday Late Night - This one is all on me, but some combination of the long day, the heat and the beer had me ready to pack it in at 1 AM. That of course sounds perfectly rational, but Matt & Kim played at 1 AM and would have been perfectly suited to that time – I would have liked to seen it.

Sunday Burritos- Both this year and last year when I went for a burrito on Sunday, they were sold out of almost everything but a cheese/ground beef/bean burrito. Veggies in general were hard to come by in the festival grounds. On the plus side, a post-festival weigh in shows I gained almost no weight this weekend.

Prices - Beer and food were both expensive ($10.50/beer, $12 burrito), the cashless system costs $5 to get your balance back, showers were $9.50 – all adds up over the weekend.

Merchandise – I was able to get a nice Wayhome shirt on Saturday, I heard they sold out later on and if they ever had posters, they were gone before I could get one. I went back on Sunday to get a Foals shirt I’d seen earlier but they were gone as well. Beirut shirts gone as well. In general it seemed lacking, at least for what I was interested in.

[sportsandsongs]

Round 1 Playoff Predictions

Kathryn Jean - Twitter - msconduct - North Bay in 6 - http://www.draftbuzzhockey.com/#!ohl-playoff-preview/cfwy

David Foot - Twitter - FootyOntheAir - North Bay in 6 - http://aroundtheohl.com/2016/03/25/aohl-playoff-preview-battlion-vs-petes/

Daniel Nugent-Bowman - Buzzing the Net - North Bay in 7 - https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/blogs/jrhockey-buzzing-the-net/ohl-playoff-preview--first-round-matchups-in-the-eastern-conference-165803497.html

Mike Mackey - Twitter -  Macker61 - North Bay in 6 - https://prospectshockey.wordpress.com/2016/03/22/ohl-playoff-preview-north-bay-battalion-vs-peterborough-petes/

Brock Otten  - Twitter - BrockOtten - North Bay in 6 - http://ohlprospects.blogspot.ca/2016/03/2016-ohl-playoff-predictions-round-one.html

Dominic Tiano - Twitter - dominictiano - North Bay in 6 - http://ohlwriters.me/2016/03/23/ohl-playoff-preview/

Gene Pereira - Twitter - GenePereira1 - North Bay in 7 - http://www.thebarrieexaminer.com/2016/03/23/veteran-barrie-squad-takes-on-youthful-mississauga-team-in-first-round

Brian Thiel - Twitter - BryanThiel_88 - Peterborough in 6 - https://acrosstheohl.wordpress.com/2016/03/24/quick-pix-2016-ohl-playoffs-first-round-picks/

Steve Clark - Twitter - SteveClarkMedia - North Bay in 7 - http://steveclarkmedia.blogspot.ca/2016/03/ohl-playoffs-round-1-predictions.html

Robert Nasso - Twitter - TodaysSlapshot - Peterborough in 7 - http://www.todaysslapshot.com/nhl-prospects/ohl-first-round-playoff-predictions/

Jamie May - Twitter - JamieMay3 - North Bay in 6 - http://overtimesportsnation.com/2016-ohl-playoffs-preview-round-1/

[sportsandsongs]

Best Albums of 2015

1. Courtney Barnett

2. Chvrches 

3. Brandon Flowers

4. Maccabees

5. Wolf Alice 

6. Car Seat Headrest 

7. El Vy 

8. Beach Slang 

9. Yukon Blonde 

10. The World Is a Beautiful Place... 

11. Craig Finn 

12. Carly Rae Jepsen 

13. Death Cab for Cutie 

14. The Wonder Years 

15. Tame Impala 

16. Grimes 

17. New Order 

[sportsandsongs]

The Killers Christmas Songs

The Killers release their latest Christmas single this week. It’s a great tradition. with all money  raised from the sales of the song going to the (RED) charity. The latest song is called “Dirt Sledding” - the third in a series of songs where Santa is gunning for Brandon Flowers (the first two being “Don’t Shoot Me Santa” and “I Feel It In My Bones”) and it has little bit of everything. Spoken word section? Check. Country-Influenced Intro? Check. Elvis-inspired gospel? Check. References to past Killers Christmas singles? Check. Cheap Trick choruses? Triple Check. And don’t forget the crazy video with a Richard Dreyfuss cameo.

Anyway, with the release of the new singles, I saw that NME had ranked all 10 of the Killers Christmas songs, with “Dirt Sledding” coming in at #1, just edging out “Don’t Shoot Me Santa” and “Boots”. Fair enough, but then when I went to find the article a day or two later, I stumbled upon the same list from a year prior, with that year’s new release “Joel, the Lump of Coal” sitting in the #1 spot. Recency bias or trying to push some extra sales to the new song? Doesn’t really matter to me, like I said, the money from these singles goes to charity - I even bought it myself, rather than downloading it elsewhere. I recommend going to either of those links to watch all the Killers Christmas music videos.

Now, for the record, here’s the correct order:

10. Joseph, Better You Than Me (2008) - The Killers + Elton John & Neil Tennant (Pet Shop Boys) should be right up my alley, but this doesn’t really go anywhere. Being the most overtly religious likely doesn’t help.

9. Christmas in LA (2013) - Generic country ballad

8. The Cowboys Christmas Ball (2011) - One of the nice things about these annual songs is the band uses them to try out genres they wouldn’t normally go to for a proper Killers album. This one’s fun, but not great.

7. Happy Birthday Guadelupe! (2009) -  Again, a fun sounding experiment, (this one teams them up with a mariachi band), nothing wrong with mexican Killers, but it’s not one of their best and also likely the least Christmas-y.

6. Joel, The Lump of Coal (2014) - Story wise, falls somewhere along the lines of an updated Rudolph. Works well as a children’s song with a (perhaps bizarre) message.

**** The Top 5 are obvious to me, and all very, very good songs ****

5. Boots (2010) -  Another ballad but this one hits the mark perfectly.

4. I Feel It In My Bones (2012) - This one came out a few months after Battle Born and shares some of the 80s influence of that album - only it’s dark brooding keyboards 80s, rather than bright sparkly keyboards 80s.

3. Don’t Shoot Me Santa (2007) -  This seems to be most people’s favourite Killers Christmas song, and I can’t argue too much, it’s a ton of fun, kicks off a great trilogy of songs as mentioned above and it’s a great song.

2. A Great Big Sled (2006) - Bruce Springsteen influenced Killers (a.k.a. Sam’s Town era) is my favourite Killers. I love big guitars and bigger choruses. NME describes this as "a ‘When You Were Young’ with snowman references” and I think they mean it as a slight, but it sounds pretty damn perfect to me.

1. Dirt Sledding (2015) - Maybe I’m just as bad as the NME and I’m putting this at the top because it’s the newest one but I love this song. It hits all the right buttons for me - it’s fun, it’s a great song and once again it’s The Killers experimenting with a new genre but this time it’s one I love - POWER POP! Anyway, “Pretty girls, Christmas lights. Mistletoe, holy nights. Don't it sound like heaven on a cloud!“

[sportsandsongs]

Petes Vets leading Charge up Standings

Click here to read on Peterborough Examiner website

In the middle of an extended winning streak, the Petes are looking more and more like a true contender in the OHL Eastern Conference.

In my last column, I brought up the Petes' positive even strength goal differential as a sign that the team was better than its record but was being held down by poor special teams and failure to win in overtime or the shootout.

Over the past few weeks, the Petes have maintained their strong even strength play, while correcting those areas of weakness, all leading up to the current six game winning streak, which has propelled them to where they sit now – just two points out of first place in the Eastern Conference.

The Petes turnaround occurred simultaneously with the trade for overage forward Daniel Nikandrov and the return of veteran defenceman Kyle Jenkins from injury. Jenkins has contributed 10 points in nine games since his return, while Nikandrov has settled in on a scoring line while also contributing on the penalty kill.

Offensively, overage forward Hunter Garlent leads the team and sits just outside the top ten in league scoring, with fourth year player Eric Cornel and fellow overage Greg Betzold not far behind. Betzold for his part sits tied for third in the OHL in goals. Steven Lorentz joins these three players to give the Petes four 10 goal scorers already at this early point of the season.

In net, Matt Mancina has taken the lion’s share of starts as of late and has been exceptional, with a .954 save percentage and only ten goals allowed in his last six starts. Dominik Masin, is tied for fourth in the league in plus-minus, at +22.

The Petes have been winning thanks to all of the contributions above. It has been a very well rounded, balanced attack, but there is something else in common amongst all the names I’ve just highlighted. Each of those players is in either their last year of junior eligibility or their overage season.

Coming into the season, I was unsure of whether the Petes should be making a major push to win this year. I wasn’t sure they were going to be good enough and I believe there are some good young players who were to benefit from getting more ice time.

The combination of where the Petes are in the standings and the fact that they are such a veteran led team makes it clear that they must continue to focus on winning and improving the team for this season.

In many ways, everything is coming together for the Petes. It’s the teams 60th anniversary, the fans are starting to show up in greater numbers, and the team is playing better hockey and is in a better situation at this point in the season that they have been in a very long time.

The Christmas trade freeze is fast approaching and the trade deadline not long after. The time to bolster the roster is now. The Petes have shown they can stay with the top teams in the league, they may only be a player or two away from rising above them – and they certainly have the future draft picks to deal.