Number 1!: Never Trust a Happy Song by Grouplove

Summer music for the fall, winter, and spring. This is a ridiculously good, immediately engaging album. Upbeat but with variable sounds, from dancy synth-soaked gems to songs to send you into melancholic introspection, there’s an amazing breadth of energy on this album. Track 11 is chants, “It’s a Cruel and Beautiful World, but I’ve got my girl” and the sentiment comes across throughout the album on an ultimately positive note. “Colours” might be the best intense indie rock song I’ve ever heard. Why is this number 1? Because if I made a list of the top 25 songs of the year, half, if not more, of this album would make the cut. It’s that good.

“Tongue Tied”

“Betty’s Bomb Bell”

Number 2: Bon Iver by Bon Iver

I am not going to try and describe this album, because I’d neeed a whole new langauge, and a lot more time, to do so. But if music was religion, Justin Vernon is a God among muscians. And his music just as ethereal, righteous, and untouchable. This album is … gorgeous. It is the soundtrack to your first yawn on a Sunday morning, if that makes sense.

“Holocene”

“Michicant”

Number 3: The King is Dead by The Decemberists

These guys have been a favourite band of mine for a decade now, so I was thrilled to see them put out their best album ever, as a follow up to 2009′s jarringly different (and not-my-favourite-of-theirs) The Hazards of Love. They’re right back on track, and Colin Meloy, a pioneer and one of our best living songwriters, has never sounded so comfortably at home and consistently bang on before. The “old Decemberists” (Castaways and Cutouts, Her Majesty, Picaresque) had a distinct sound, but here they’ve really melded alt country and that “old Decemeebrists” sound of theirs into something just slighty brand new enough to fell fresh and familair all at once. Indie country? Whatever it is, it’s full of hooks that compel you to sing along at red lights. Speaking of getting back to roots and keeping it simple and free, the album was recorded in a converted oregon barn.

There is no good reason why I am not making it number 1. There is no good reason at all. 

“Down by the Water”

“Don’t Carry it All”

Number 4: Everything is Saved by David Wax Museum

The best new voice in folk music of the year, although they descibe themselves as “Mexi-Americana” for the mexican vibe David Wax caught while in Mexico. He graduated Harvard and moved there to steep his folk sound in that of Mexico’s. He moved back to Boston, met up with a homeshooled girl, “raised on good music” named Suz Slezak, just as she was getting back from touring the world on a Watson Fellowship. David told her to track down a donkey jawbone (a traditional percussion instrument from Veracruz) and join his band. Voila. The best man-woman musical duo since Damien Rice and Lisa Hannigan. Whatever happen to Damien Rice after Lisa left?

“That’s Not True”

Dawes’ Second album Nothing is Wrong was one of the buzz albums of the year, and unlike most, it lives up to the buzz. It’s an album that grows better with every listen, has you picking a new favourite track each time, and is an album for “early Wilco” fans who need to listen to something other than Wilco already. They’ve mastered the catchy chorus and sing-along bridges throughout. They’re a band of brothers, yes, but their names are Taylor and Griffin Goldsmith, so I’m not sure why they’re called Dawes. Something about them cutting their old band name — Simon Dawes — in half, after a change in sound and bandmates. And I think they clipped the album title, too. I think Nothing is Wrong is short for Nothing is Wrong with this Album. (Har har.) Go get this album if you liek Americana, bcause it’s the best album of its pure genre in years. There’s some great lines there too, Goldsmith’s a wordsmith.

“Time Spent in Los Angeles”

“So Well”

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Number 6: Morning Comes by Cuff the Duke

2011′s been a great year for music. So many good bands have been raising the bar of what to expect from them. Like Cuff the Duke. There are some perfect songs on this album, and it was produced by Blue Rodeo’s Greg Keelor, and you can hear that: how this album is like Blue Rodeo for hipsters. It’s a fantastic sound, and a good mix of slow burners and infectious alt-country songs with catchy, sing-along choruses. It’s an album about the “change, confusion, and loneliness” that accompanies losing someone. This narrative will continue into their next album, as Morning Comes  is considered to be the first of 2 linked albums. “This album is the low and the next album will be the high.”

“Standing on the Edge”

“You Won’t Look Back”

Number 7: El Camino by The Black Keys

Every time I get sick of hearing and hearing about The Black Keys they release another outrageously good album. There aren’t many contemporary straight-up rock and roll bands, and there doesn’t need to be when these guys are putting out front-to-back great albums like this. I said “Holy shit” out loud when I first heard “Sister.” I really did.

“Lonely Boy”

“Sister”

Number 8: Seeds by Hey Rosetta!

Hey Rosetta!’s seeds is a very accomplished album, musically. The song structures are both ambitious and catchy; two very different and often opposing feats. They’re not just throwing songs down for the sake of an album. These are multilayered, meticulously crafted songs. Even Baker’s lyrics. It’s not something you see much of these days, these sort of epic songs with pre-choruses and post-verses and outros and the like. If I didn’t even like the music (but I do!) I’d till see the merit in peoples’ outcry that they never won this year’s Polaris Prize. because they should have. It’s the trajectory of their career. Their first CD had them take over Newfoundland. Their second had them take over Canada, and with Seeds, they’ve taken over the world — From WLT takeaways in London to the fact there’s even an Australian wine named in their honour (Red Heart). They’re the contemporary band that finally made it out of Newfoundland. God knows there’s been many in the past who should have, like Fur Packed Action.

“Young Glass”

“Welcome”

Number 9: Mysterious Power by Ezra Furman & The Harpoons

Furman’s Voice, and this music, was so reminiscent of the movie, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, I had to double check there was no conenction. There’s not. Ezra Furman isn’t even 25. Young and bursting with life, and it comes off in his ripe, rich rock songs, bleeding with life the way The Pixies did. Love this album, can’t believe it didn’t get more attention in Canada this year.

“My favorite thing in all of rock ‘n’ roll is that pleading, eager voice full of sweetness and pain,” Furman says. “You can hear it in the Smiths, in Jonathan Richman – the personality is right there in their songs, and is open-hearted and is asking you to open your heart. I want every minute of all of our records to be about that.” – Ezra Furman

“Mysterious Power”

“I Killed Myself but I Didn’t Die”

Number 10: Days into Years by Elliott Brood

It was the tragedy of death that breathed new life into Elliott Brood, for Days into Years. On their first European tour, Elliott Brood tried for a shortcut between venues, and accidentally stumbled on what inspired this album: the band’s collective reaction to driving through a Military Cemetery in northwestern France.

“We were taking back roads to avoid the toll roads in France, which can be brutal. We’d been passing by these historical war places and we decided to pull over and take this one in. The cemetery had a huge effect on us. We decided then and there we’d make a record about it one day. One of things that struck us was the fact young Canadian men were lured to enlist with the promise they’d get a free trip to Europe, get to meet some girls, then be back in Canada in a few months. [But] thousands didn’t return and many were still stuck in those trenches four years later. I knew all about it from reading books, but when you actually visit a place where the battles were, it hits you a lot harder. “

Among the 11,500 soldiers buried there, more than 1,000 are Canadians from the First World War. Using historical events in their songwriting is nothing new to Elliott Brood; they’ve always been rootsy music rooted in storytelling, but this is the first time a theme runs through an album front to back. And that thematic consistency also imparts more of a consistency in sound than is found on their other albums. This is an album with a story, an album that’s about something, and an album of the year. Their frenetic “death country” energy is more pronounced than ever. Days into years is a step in a new direction, with new instruments like piano and electric guitar, and yet altogether familiar.  And really, a new direction was the only way to follow their 2008 fresh take on folk. That hoe down for hipsters sound. The sound here still has that full-bodied rockin’ stomp vibe, but while their previous albums have been defined by a handful of standouts like “Write it all down for You,”  this one is defined by a consistency, front to back, and a sound they’ve been evolving towards, naturally, for years.

“Will They Bury Us?”

“West End Sky”

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Number 11: Magic by Sean Rowe

Leonard Cohen for the new generation? Something like that. He’s definitely a poet and unique musician. I love this stuff, and thought I’d make it the best album of the year for a while there. Sophisticated songwriting and a truly unique sound. He’s also a naturalist, fascinated with Native American culture, and has “gone on solo survival quests, carrying little more then the clothes on his back and a pocket knife.” He recorded Magic in a studio above an old Italian restaurant his grandfather used to run.

“Surprise”

“Wrong Side of the Bed”

Number 12: Last Night on Earth by Noah and the Whale

The band name is an homage to a fantastic movie The Squid and the Whale, and its director Noah Baumbach. The increasingly popular folk favourite Laura Marling (Number 90-something in my list this year) was in the band … until a break up with head man Charlie Fink. They’re a very unique and unpredictable band, with a nuance of Mumford & Sons meets indie rock, and were off to a dashing start with their 2008 debut, Peaceful, The World Lays Me Down.  It’s an amazing blast of fun music … but then Charlie and Laura broke up. The 2009 follow up The First Day of Spring, was a very raw, melancholic break-up album. It was morose, really. A damn good break-up album. Laura left the band to go solo, which included a project/EP with Mumford & Sons. In March, they came back with a fantastic album, Last Night on Earth,that has a laid back and nostalgic optimism, and a sound clearly crafted from blending the sounds on the first two albums. So, the break-up wasn’t for nothing. The finer qualities of the sound on The first Days of Spring have clearly become part of their new unique new sound. Buy this album.

“L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N”

“Give it All Back”

Number 13: The Place I Left Behind Deep Dark Woods

There are perfect songs on this album. It’s called The Place I left Behind and that blatantly reflects the mood and lyrical focus of the album: longing, throbbing introspection, and a search for things abandoned that only held significance in hindsight.

“Mary’s Gone” is the best Done-My-Woman-Wrong Hurtin’ Tune since Willie Nelson’s “Always on My Mind,” and a far better song.

The Deep Dark Woods, for years, have been one of the best contemporary folk-country acts in North America, but with The Place I Left Behind there’s an authenticity that marks them as modern musical pioneers, and a solid sound and that catapults them past anything that they’ve done. Musically, it’s like a mashing together of the two most anticipated albums of the year: Fleet Foxes meets Ryan Adams. They’ve taken the best of old and new country, old and new folk, and woven them together into a perfect album, with a sound that is somehow orchestral, full, and yet minimalistic and, at its best, haunting.

Here’s the title track, and one of the best songs of the year, “The Place I Left Behind”

Number 14: Rumble Shake and Tumble by Wagons

The new Wagons record is called Rumble, Shake, and Tumble, and that about sums up the wild twang, big rock sound of it … It’s like Johnny Cash came back to life as a talented, witty hipster. And the best ridiculous song you’ll ever hear is on here, “Willie Nelson.” I meant to interview Henry Wagons to confirm if Willie really “likes some salt and pepper with his evening meal.”

“Moon into Sun”

“Willie Nelson”

Number 15: Wild Country by Wake! Owl

Number 15 is pretty generous for an EP, but that’s kind of why I am putting it here, it’s an EP as good as most LPs. I’ve had this album on for three days straight as I recover from the haze of the holidays, and I’m not tired of it.

“Wild Country”

“Gold”

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Number 16: KMAG YOYO by Hayes Carll

If you like Dylan’s “Subterranean Homesick Blues” and John Prine’s duet with Iris Dement, “In Spite of Ourselves,” you’ll love this album. Who said derivative can’t be fantastic? This album is fantastic; it’s song after song solid alt country…

“KMAG YOYO”

“Another Like You”

Number 17: A Different Kind of Fix by Bombay Bicycle Club

What a cool sound. Fresh, full, and engaging. These guys have been playing together since they were 15, so they’re already miles ahead of their ages. NME have called them one of the best bands out of London “in quite some time.”

“Shuffle”

“How Can You Swallow So Much Sleep”

Number 18: Man of Many Moons by Danny Schmidt

I don’t pay much attention to those “If you like X then you’ll like X” things on most websites. But I love Joe Pug and Josh Ritter, and keep hearing Danny’s name mentioned alongside theirs. Glad I looked into it. Chicago Tribune listed him in their 50 Most Significant Songwriters in the Last 50 Years. Agreed. Unassuming, unadorned, original folk music. He’s even bagged the Kerrville New Folk award.

“Man of Many Moons”

“Guilty By Association Blues”

Number 19: Ego by Freedom or Death

Freedom or Death’s name comes from an “I want to make a living making music, or die trying” sentiment. I think. It’s two guys who quit their in-industry job, of making hits of other peoples’ songs, to make their own, non-hit-seeking music. Its an authentic and original take on Indie Electronic, with some very cool twists. It’s an album for anyone who spun Postal Service for a year back in 2004 … or anyone who likes Broken Bells more than The Shins. As a big fan of both Postal Service and Broken Bells, I’d actually say this Freedom or Death album has a broader range and a little more depth than either, if only because of all the guitar and drums.

Check out the back and forths between between and imaginary Virginia Woolfe and her husband in “Virginia Woolfe”

“Elefant”

Number 20: Departing by Rural Alberta Advantage

Their drummer is crazy. He’s in his own world, going mad on the drums for songs that aren’t calling for such intense and melodramatic drumming, and yet it works so much it’s their trademark sound. That and the unique vocals. All their songs are so impassioned, so good. Happy to see them getting so much love on CBC 3 this year, and the Polaris Prize nod.

“Tornado ’87″

“Barnes’ Yard”

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Number 21: Oh Fortune by Dan Mangan

There’s taking a new direction, and then there’s taking a whole new road. And much like the above photo, he seems fearless, comfortable, and unapologetic with regards to this new direction. He’s buried himself under lead guitars, big new sounds, and some seriously impressive percussion. On his last two albums, Mangan served up a barebones version of himself, with just his acoustic and a basic backing band. On Oh Fortune, that core Mangan sound is nothing more than the stage on which more guitars, drums, and often orchestral arrangements are laid. His characteristic tamed-lion-roar voice comes through just fine, but there’s little evidence of his last album here, and that’s okay, because there’s no way to have followed up Nice, Nice, Very Nice with Nice , Nice, Very Nice … Volume 2. Whether that’s what Mangan was thinking or, if he just naturally evolved, I don’t know. But, befitting of his evolution in sound on Oh Fortune, track 2 is called “How Darwinian.” Maybe Dan was taking a cue from Darwin’s book — Change is Good, and Only The Strong Survive. Oh Fortune clearly favours a sophistication in sound over the catchy chorus of songs like “Robots” or the endearing barebones delicacies like “Basket” and “You Silly Git” off his last album. These are big, impressive songs, not as readily accessible as the songs he’s best known for. The songs on Oh Fortune are songs that bloom brighter with every listen, and the album as a whole plays through like one long song that leaves you hitting replay, like you’ve missed something, and liking each track twice as much with each successive listen. Those kinds of albums are ultimately the ones that end up epic and timeless. The kind of album you’ll never get sick of or burn out on.

And they’re not all unfamiliar. “Post-war Blues” feels in the same vein as “Road Regrets.”

“Trees, Leaves, Forest”

Number 22: Michigan Left by Arkells

Best straight up Indie rock and roll album of the year.

“Where U Goin”

“Coffee”

Number 23: My Head is an Animal by Of Monsters and Men

What is Arcade Fire and Fleet Foxes hailed from Iceland, joined forces, and got jacked up on Mumford and Sons? This amazing sound should have gotten way more recognition than it did this year. If only the hipsters didn’t need to be tipped off …

“King and Lionheart”

“Little Talks”

Number 24: Mountaintops by Mates of State

These synth pop superstars nailed it this time. It’s unmistakably and absolutely this married couple’s best album. It’s also literally their most electrified release in their nearly 15 years together. They’ve ditched the keys and organs so prominent on their last album to force themselves to stay fresh and craft a new sound, and what came out is amazing and immediately engaging. When you’re a duo, trying for a fulsome sound, you’ve got to dig deep to fill that space, and they always have, but here, they’ve outdone themselves. They wrote Mountaintops over the course of a year at 5 or 6 hours a day, and Kori claims she can “hear a lot of seasonal change in the record.” A lot of their new sound is thanks in part to Kori’s stumbling on to a new instrument, the Juno-G Synthesizer.

“Palomino”

“At Least I Have You”

Number 25: Graduation Ceremony by Joseph Arthur

Dude’s got soul. And substance. And a cool approach to crafting a song. I like a lot of the guitar, and the subtle symphonies at work in the backgrounds of most of the songs.

“Out on a Limb”

“Love never Asks You to Lie”

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Number 25: Ashes & Fire by Ryan Adams

It’s his most naked, intimate album yet. And while most of his records have had their own flavour, this one plays like a best of collection of what’s been common to all of Adams’ records.  “Come Home,” for example, has the magic of “How Do You Keep Love Alive?” and “Dirty Rain” feels like a Dylan-esque outtake from Gold. But one marked difference is, since his marriage to Mandy Moore, the guy’s more positive than ever. Ashes & Fire is the man’s honeymoon album, and his Phoenix from the Ashes album, all in one. It sounds like Heartbreaker written by a happier man.

“Lucky Now.”

“Come Home”

Number 26: Feel it Break by Austra

The last few years, indie artists have been borrowing danceable electro-beats from the radio and recontextualizing them into their own, original sound that the cool kids can not only dig and dance to, but covet and love. And then it went a few steps further. What Austra has crafted here is a haunting, mellow sound that her soul-stiring vocals stand on to shine. The Russians, or maybe it’s the Japanese, have a word for “The Beauty in Darkness.” I don’t even remember the word, but this album is a soundtrack to the concept. I had this picked to win the Polaris this year. It deserved it. Katie Stelmanis is my new favourite female vocalist.

Here’s their big break-out song that tore up CBC 3, “Lose It”

And here’s a song with an eloquently racy chorus, “The Future”

Number 27: Kiss Each Other Clean by Iron & Wine

Sam Beam is like a rare plant that started out as something simplistically beautiful, and bloomed into something ever more complex with each album since the barebones acoustic debut, The Creek Drank the Cradle. The musical adventurism on this album is commendable. Yeah, I loved him more when he was writing amazing guitar and perfect, mellow songs (Our Endless Numbered Days, The Sea and the Rhythm) but what he’s up to with The Shepherd’s Dog, and now Kiss Each other Clean, is amazing. I’m more impressed by Sam Beam than any other musician I can think of.

Outro of the year happens here: “Your Fake Name is Good Enough for Me”

“Rabbit Will Run”

Number 29: Your Kiss by Mark Bragg

Mark is one of the most absolutely original musicians making music in Canada today. No one’s got the frenetic energy of his albums and live shows, and  Your Kiss, his third album, is his liveliest yet, if that’s possible. It’s like he stuck a stick of dynamite up Tom Waits’s ass and recorded the sound of the explosion. Your Kiss is nine songs worth of  mesmerizing, intoxicating music that’s over before you know what hit you. Even on the second listen. Especially the last half of the album. The first three songs prove he’s likely the most original songwriter in the country, and the last 6 are plain great. I think The Independent called the album a “Jazzy Carnival Ride,” and it’s exactly that. An Experience. Hop on it, it’s only 8 bucks on iTunes. You’ve probably got that in change in your pocket. Few musicians deserve your money as much as this guy, and it’s been 5 long years since he released an album (that wasn’t a film soundtrack for a Joel Hynes book).  There’s good songs, and then there’s Nobody Else Could Have Written That Song songs.

“You Be the Boy”

“Your Kiss”

Number 30: Summer of Lust by Library Voices

Over the course of 2 albums and 1 fantastic EP, no band has made as many references to writers and their characters as Library Voices have, often in the song titles themselves, like “Kundera on the Dancefloor” and “Things We Stole from Vonnegut’s Grave.” They’ve even been featured in The New Yorker and the books section of The National Post for their literary love and dancy homages. They’re a 7-piece indie pop band from Regina, notable since they’ve been mugged twice and lost all that gear (7 people!) twice. Like a good novel, this album strikes a chord, is full of clever turns of phrase (there’s even a song called “Que Sera Sarah”), and features an alienated protagonist longing for something more. “I miss Paris 1949 / it was love in a better time / before Photoshop hips/ and collogen smiles / when longing meant more than a drunk dial.” And again, like a good novel, there are some biting lines on the human condition. “Generation Handclap” chants, “We stand for nothing, sugar / this is generation drunk text.” The band’s songs are catching like a good book cover, but when you crack the spine and look a little deeper, it’s Dawson’s words that stand out and stay with you.

“If Raymond Carver Were Born in the 90′s”

“Generation Handclap”

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Number 31: Flux Capacitor by The Burning Hell

The Burning Hell is Mathias Kom, backed by a variety of more than a dozen other musicians spread out across Canada and Europe. Mathias Kom’s trademarked bittersweet wit makes him a serious contender for the most notable and charming lyricists of our musical generation. You’ll smirk, and like his songs all the more for the lyrics, which is a rarity in itself. Also a rarity: this kind of distinct sound, where you can hear any Kom song and know with certainty it is a Burning Hell song. This guy’s a storyteller, and sets it to his very own blend of music.

“Flux Capacitor is like an all-ages dance party in a hall that doubles as a viewing room for a wise-cracking undertaker who still thinks about the dog he had when he was 10.” – Globe and Mail

“My Name is Mathias”

“Like an Anvil”

Number 32: Torches by Foster the People

Like lemonade and beachballs, Torches is for the summer. An upbeat, feel good, dancy gem of an album that was, in fact, the album of the summer in 2011 according to Paste (I think). They owe it all to one song, “Pumped up Kicks,” that went from being a favourite in the small clubs they played, to getting them a record deal. And then it crossed over and landed on many a radio top 40. It is a universally infectious song, adored first by hipsters, and then, to their dismay, everyone.

“Pumped Up Kicks”

“Don’t Stop”

Number 33: The Harrow & the Harvest by Gillian Welch

Gillian Welch, and her partner David Rawlings, release nothing but gold folk-country. Sparse, dark, and blugrassy as always, this is their first release in eight years. There were high expectations and subsequent high praise.

“The Way it Goes”

“The Way it Will be”

Number 34: Yuck by Yuck

Seems like every summer there’s a lo-fi sensation for the hipsters to keep like a secret. Seems like this summer it was Yuck. There’s a 90s throwback in this album; it really sounds like a lost 90′s treasure someone like Sub Pop found and released.

“Get Away”

“The Wall”

Number 35: Middle Brother by Middle Brother

The best supergroup output of the year. Middle Brother is J McCauley (Deer Tick), Taylor Goldsmith (Dawes), and Matt Vasquez (Delta Spirit). Over the years, they’d all played together in some capacity, started jamming, and liked the way they all pushed each other, in terms of songwriting. They were informally calling themselves MG&V before deciding to record an album. There’s a great alt version of Dawes’ Million Dollar Bill on here too. And a more subdued McCauley than you’ll find on a Deer Tick album.

“Daydreaming”

“Middle Brother (Feat Jonny Corndawg)”

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Number 36: Sleep Beneath the Willow by Daniel Romano

AM country gold, is what this is. Sleep Beneath the Window is the best twang album of the year. Genuine, perfect AM Country music. Every song on here is great, but here’s two that grab right away. Especially the choruses.

“Time Forgot (To Change My Mind)”

“Helen’s Restaurant”

Number 37: The Big Roar by The Joy Formidable

Neither Metric or Stars put out a new album in 2011. So these guys stepped in as a substitute, blending the sounds of both of those bands together. And they’re much more than a readymade substitute: this album shows a lot of range, a lot of ambition, a lot of authenticity, and like any good sophomore effort, growth and passion and and their own direction. I first read about them in The Guardian, who praised their “Darkly joyous soft-loud racket.”

“Austere”

“Whirring”

Number 38: Kaputt by Destroyer

Destroyer’s Kaputt is a soft and saxy reinvention of the 80s. Dan Bejar — also a member of Canadian super group, The New Pornographers, as well as Swan Lake — is one of the most original musicians in Canadian music today. He’s been recording music under the Destroyer moniker for more than a decade, and is long over due for the recognition he’s been getting these last few years. I’m glad someone finally told the hipsters he’s cool, because his 2001 album, Streethawk: a Seduction is one of the top 50 Canadian albums of this century in my books. And while there’s a consistent feel from album to album, every one of them feels like a brand new sound. On Kaputt he’s channeled and re-crafted sounds from the 1980s. He’s recontextualized it for 2011. You probably won’t love it right away though, like I did. So let Chinatown play through before making any hasty decisions. Dan doesn’t care about being easy to like, and that sui generis thing he has going is what has earned him a cult following.

“Chinatown”

“Savage Night at the Opera”

Number 39: Smoke Ring for My Halo by Kurt Vile

Every now and then a Bob Dylan or an Elliott Smith comes along and you don’t even have to like them to get the hype. Kurt Vile’s his own man with his own sound, and I love the guitar on this album: nothing flashy, just impressive, good. Like the opening riff in “Peeping Tomboy.”

“Society is My Friend”

“Puppet to the Man”

Number 40: We’re All Dying to Live by Rich Aucoin

Rich Aucoin gets 10 out of 10 for ambition and innovation and danceability. These twenty-two tracks bleed one into the other, and not just outros becoming intros, but, for example, the catchy chorus of “It” makes a cameo or two in the song that follows it. These songs lack structure, too. And the album’s not just amazing for its musicality and craftsmanship: it’s a plain great album. Immediately infectious. I stumbled into a Rich Aucoin show by accident once, a few years ago, when he played after a friend’s band. No one knew the guy. Within minutes the tiny bar was literally bouncing, like, up and down, for real. Any filler on this album is there to serve the grander accomplishment of the album in being, essentially, a single song serving as a soundtrack for a certain kind of late night party. The kind you see in movies where people change and cry and laugh and and get their hearts broken and glued back together by the perfect stranger, and all of that … where you end up lying in the wet grass of someone’s backyard, drunk, with eyes full of stars, holding some girl’s hand, and you don’t even know her last name yet … or whatever.

“It”

“Brian Wilson is A.L.I.V.E”

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Number 41: Bad as Me by Tom Waits

Waits’s 17th studio album is among his top 5 albums, and, showcases all of Waits’s signature sounds: from honkin’ horn psycho-jazz to bar room piano  chorales. It stands out by showing such depth and range by a man who’s outrageously distinct in a world where more than 10,000 albums come out every year. Even more impressive: Being so on top of his game this far into his career. And what a Goddamn poet. He can, in a line like, “I want you to kiss me like a stranger, once again,” what a novelist needs 300 pages to say.

“Chigago”

“Last Leaf”

Number 42: Honeymoon Punch by Jenn Grant

Honeymoon Punch started out as January’s X3 Artist of the Month. The whole X3 thing is a very cool collaboration between CBC3, Exclaim! and AUX TV that heavily promotes an artist all month long between the three of them, and it was a nice boost for a nice album.  Ten days after the album was released, Jenn was up for 3 ECMAs for previously work (workhorse!), and by the end of the month, “How I Met You” was #1 on CBC3. In March The Coast and the people of Halifax crowned her best local female songwriter … just after they’d run an article where Buck 65 / CBC’s Rich Terfry declared she had one of the best voices in music today. She’s even had a song play on an episode of Grey’s Anatomy. In July, Jenn played to Royalty and 300,000 people on Parliament hill for Canada. This album is fantastic and sounds like the cover looks. It’s unique, authentic, and has more gems than a rapper’s ring finger.

“How I Met You”

“Getcha Good”

Number 43: Eureka by Mother Mother

One of the most innovative indie rock bands of the century. Ryan Guldemond crafted a cool new sound in the mid-2000s and asked his sister Molly and a college friend to assist on the vocals. The band, now a five-piece BC act, grew out of that, exploding quite quickly on the west coast scene. A Toronto Star article, “The Mother Grows Up Quickly” helped them conquer the country shortly thereafter, including a 4-record-deal with Last Gang Records (Metric, Death from Above). With Eureka, they’re three records in, and trying to live up to the massive success of Oh My Heart.

“Simply Simple”

“The Stand”

Number 44: Helplessness Blues by Fleet Foxes

There’s actually a new genre of music, or another adjective-salad musical descriptor anyway:  “Post Fleet Foxes.” As far as that label-this foolishness goes, they’ve earned the honour. It’s arresting, affecting stuff. Even if this isn’t my favourite work of theirs, even if I need to be in the mood for it, it’s a musical feat. And one that made most peoples’ top 10s.

“Helplessness Blues”

“The Shrine / An Argument”

Number 45: Metals by Feist

The laid back lady formerly known for her dancy, brightly lit music videos seems steelier on Metals. In 2008, feeling burned out from the massive success of her last album, 2007′s The Reminder, she took a break from her musical career altogether, even letting Amy Millan (Stars) and Elizabeth Powell (Land of Talk) move into her  role with supergroup Broken Social Scene. It wasn’t just success at home. It was topping the charts worldwide. It was America throwing Grammys at her, and it was one of those rare cases of the hipster cool kids loving her even though everyone else was loving her too. But she’d bought a house in Paris, and didn’t get to live there, having spent 7 years touring instead of enjoying it. Until she, apparently, collapsed next to her suitcase “and let the ivy grow over me.” And then she did nothing but grow tomatoes, walk dogs, and travel for 2 years. She took a break, saying she wasn’t going to return until the timing was right. The timing must have been right. Because everything about this album is right.  It washes over you like the realization life isn’t perfect, but we all share in its imperfections, and there’s something unifying and calming about embracing the truth: love won’t always last, time will change virtually everything, etc. There’s a different Leslie Feist at work here.The poppy, glossy veneer of her past hits like “1234″ and “Mushaboom” is all worn off, exposing a much more sophisticated songwriter and worldly woman. The effort and craft put into these songs is unmissable, and her untouchable voice is put to use as an instrument itself. She’s not just singing here, she’s conducting the music with it, or playing it off the layered musical arrangements. There’s a good range of sounds and tempo here, and she skips between them so gracefully its not jarring, but impressive. Most of the songs on here build and end big, as if to stave off any gloom or sleepiness. Not that it’s not a downer, it’s just honest, and washed over by the wisdom she’s acquired from giving herself time off to reflect, grow, and come back better than ever.

“How Come You Never Go There”

“Cicadas and Gulls”

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Number 46: Several Shades of Why by J Mascis

J Mascis, best known as the guy from Dinosaur Jr., still, despite 4 or 5 solo albums, released his first album in 5 years or so this year. It’s great, mainly acoustic stuff.

“Listen to Me”

“Not Enough”

Number 47: The Rip Tide by Beirut

The fact Zach Condon was only 23 when he started recording his complex, worldly sound is pretty amazing. The guy quit school at 16 or 17 and travelled Europe, where he discovered Balkan folk music. And from there he melded “world music” into something of his own. He recorded The Gulag Orkestar in his bedroom, and took it to Jeremy Barnes at Ba Da Bing! Records, and Beirut was borne from there. Jeremy (formerly of Netral Milk Hotel and Hawk and a Hacksaw) joined the band. At 23, in 2006, he was one of the most original, gifted, well-balanced musicians in the world. Since 2006, he’s only gotten bigger and better. The Riptide is not only his best album yet, it’s also his most accesible.

“Santa Fe”

“Goshen”

Number 48: Sound Kapital by The Handsome Furs

I think the album cover is a statement. Of what, I have a few vague ideas. Married hipster duo Dan Boeckner and Alexei Perry have declared Handsome Furs is more than Dan’s (of Wolf Parade) sideband when they released this, theird third album. Wolf Parade’s been shelved, and to force himself into new territory, Dan also shelved his guitar to use keyboards as the primary instrument, the idea being that would force him to forge a new sound. It worked, magically, as Sound Kapital blows their last two CDs away. I’ve been going out for jogs lately … this album had me jog-dancing up Mayor Avenue.

“Cheap Music”

“When I Get Back”

Number 49: Last Smoke before the Storm by Benjamin Francis Leftwhich

The kid’s, like, 22. And he’s been playing since he was 10. He’s going to be a big deal by 25. He already is, really, as there’s dozens of recorded, and, YouTube covers of his stuff, and his own videos have amammoth number of hits. And that’s how I heard of him. His soulful, sincere, mellow cover of Arcade Fire’s Rebellion (see it here). That acoustic sound he crafts. I Love it.

“Pictures”

“Atlas Hands”

Number 50: No Witch by The Cave Singers

Wild Americana, Americana with a feral edge, like you’d expect from a band called The Cave Singers, who keep a pretty awesome photo blog of outdoor adventures: http://cavesinging.blogspot.com/ No Witch is their third album. Came out in February. Go ahead and get it.

“Swim Club”

“Black Leaf”

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