Guest post: RENegade

(Ed. note: today's guestpost comes courtesy of Ren from CKCU FM's RENegade. Many thanks to her -- and to Quick Before It Melts and Herohill -- for helping me out while I was on my honeymoon!)

With the Polaris Prize winner just days away from being announced, I’ve been giving another listen to some of the albums still in the running, and considering what I might have done with my (totally non-existent) ballots at each stage of the contest. Given that Leonard Cohen has been my favourite Canadian artist since I was 11, I might have been guilty of casting a vote his way, despite the small controversy it caused when his live album was long-listed. And yet, on second thought, my love for independent music and my belief in all the great stuff that’s been coming out of Canada in the last year would probably have swayed my ballot in a different direction, regardless of my everlasting adoration for Mr. Cohen.

So, while Matthew is away, I've decided to fill this little space he’s kindly given me on his blog with a quick nod to my own top five Canadian records of the year. To the wonderful artists below: I might not have had a Polaris ballot to give you, but man, I'm going to mention you on the best music blog in Canada! It's practically the same thing!


Marie-Josée Houle, Monsters

I've raved about this album online and offline since the moment I first heard it, and that was before I met MJ in real life and discovered that she's even better live! While I strongly encourage anyone who's lucky enough to be in range of one of her concerts to check her out while she's still playing small venues, if you can't see the real deal, her studio albums are also nothing short of magnificent. The lady who's on a mission to make the accordion sexy has succeeded time and again on Monsters, with nine tracks of steamy (and bilingual!) Parisian-influenced gypsy-jazz. This is an album that's laced with passion, perfect for hot summer nights but even better for warming up the chilly ones as we descend into the darker days of autumn.

(Download "Hush")


The Burning Hell, Baby

Right from the opening song, this album won my heart, and it's definitely one of my favourite Canadian albums in a long time. In fact, I don't think the disc has left my car since I bought it after frontman Mathias Kom's solo show at Zaphod's a few months ago (naturally I already had it in mp3 format, so I didnt even need to bring it upstairs to transfer it to my computer!). Mathias' songwriting is nothing short of genius, and his slightly twisted sense of humour shines through on every track. Not only is the music some truly excellent folk-rock, but the element of storytelling adds so many rich layers to this album that you're still catching new things twenty listens in.


Library Voices, Hunting Ghosts (& Other Collected Shorts)

Technically, this six-track EP wouldn't have had enough songs to be nominated for Polaris, but since this vote is 100% imaginary and my own special rules apply, I'll let it slide through on the basis that at least two of the songs are good enough to count double! Light and poppy melodies intertwined with some really clever lyrics make this little disc a mainstay in my playlist, and with song titles like "Step off the Map and Float" and "Things We Stole From Vonnegut’s Grave", you don't have to look further than the album cover to figure out that this big band (ten members!) has an equally big imagination. Let's hope a full-length release from them isn't too far off.


Andrew Vincent, Rotten Pear

When he parted ways with the Pirates after several great releases, I waited with curiosity to see what Andrew's first solo record would be like. Rotten Pear didn't disappoint, and has quickly become my favourite Andrew Vincent album yet (sorry, Pirates!). Of course, I tend to like my songs a little darker and a little more introspective, and those just happen to be the two words that have been bandied about to describe Rotten Pear as compared to his earlier recordings. Yet to describe the album as "darkly introspective" might be painting it in a bit too serious of a light –- there is definitely an undercurrent of hope throughout the album, and the more upbeat tracks like "Under Your Thumb" and "Canadian Dream" will remind you that Andrew doesn’t take himself too seriously. While Andrew can sadly no longer be counted among the Ottawans since he absconded to Toronto to study for his Ph.D., he hasn't forgotten us –- he's graced us with several live shows since the album came out and he promises to keep coming back for more.


Giant Hand, Coming Home

I've got i(heart)music to thank for enlightening me to the fact that Giant Hand is not a band, but is in fact the solo project of local singer-songwriter Kirk Ramsay. I'd heard two or three of Giant Hand's tracks separately around the time his full-length debut came out, and I'll admit that I wasn't immediately won over by his offbeat, freak-folk sound. But after seeing Kirk play all the songs together at his CD release show, I suddenly "got it", and there was no doubt that I would love the album. Coming Home is a weird and wonderful record that paints a picture in little pieces, and when taken as a whole the songs take on new meaning. Despite its slow start in climbing my personal charts, Coming Home has not only earned its berth in my top five, but garnered at least one totally real Polaris vote! (Good choice, Matthew!) After hearing an amazing sample of Kirk's new material at the i(heart)music festival last month, I can't wait for this story to continue.

(Ed. note, continued: I should use this opportunity to remind people that Giant Hand will be the middle part of a very good bill happening next Friday (September 25th) at Café Dekcuf...



Kirk will be joined by Toronto Little Girls, who will be playing songs off their forthcoming Paper Bag Records debut Concepts, as well as Centretown Cripplers (who, I should note, will be opening up this year's i(heart)music showcase at Pop Montreal!)