Hottest Bands in Canada, 2010 edition

Once again, I was honoured to be asked to participate in i(heart)music's annual "Hottest Bands in Canada" poll. Within the loose parameters given,¹ I scanned through my past year's blatherings and pulled out my yarrow stalks and came up with the list below.

Just a note on method: As with last year, I basically was totally subjective with my list. I didn't construe "hotness" as the bands that have generated the most buzz or popularity. Instead, I had two key qualifications for my list: a live show that moved me and a 2010 release of consequence. I guess I was thinking about bands that felt, to me, to be really in their moment, which is why their live presence was probably the most clinching factor. I have seen all of the bands on my list live in 2010 — and almost all of them more than once. So that was the highly unscientific ordering principle I was using.

So anyway, without further ado, my list as sent to Matthew. For each artist, I've tossed in one of my recordings from the band's recent work to bolster my argument. #1 is the top and working down from there:

1. Anagram

Anagram aren't going to go out of their way to please you. Like a maniac sitting in the corner giving you a look, their music will sit in one brooding spot — like that guy staring at you until you start to wince. And then there's a spasm of action. And then there's blood on the floor. Purveyors of a low-slung post-punk frenzy, you're as likely to find them playing under a bridge or in someone's basement as in a formal venue, but now with the release of Majewski, their third full-length, you can really get a taste of their raw power.

Listen! Anagram - What a Mess

2. Diamond Rings

Has it only been a year? From the outset John O'Regan's alter ego impressed with his ace 80's flavoured dance-pop singles, but he's managed to expand the persona without diluting his fierce impact. It risks sounding like empty hype or crass flattery to suggest that the trajectory seems ever-upward, but O'Regan keeps bringing more confidence and swagger to his sets, which in turn give him the room to lay out more depth and vulnerability in his songs. With the release of the full-length Special Affections serving as the culmination of this last year's effort, it feels like the next stage in O'Regan's world domination plan (main weapons: rainbows, unicorns) has begun.

Listen! Diamond Rings - It's Not my Party

3. The Hoa Hoa's

One of Toronto's best live bands is staying on top of their game by never resting on their laurels. Even with their latest album Pop/Drone/Pedals less than a year old, the band keeps unveiling new songs at their shows, and a new release should be forthcoming in early '11. The standard-bearers of the Optical Sounds record label/scene are playing increasingly far-flung gigs, and every time they take a trip it causes a net increase in the number of psychedelic journeys wherever they play.

Listen! The Hoa Hoa's - Falling

4. Forest City Lovers

The ever-delightful Kat Burns has put together her strongest set of tunes (on this year's Carriage) and the strongest lineup of the band to date. Live, the band can bring a powerful rock'n'roll energy when required, but never too much to distract from the shy smile at the centre of it all.

Listen! Forest City Lovers - Constellation

5. Hooded Fang

Hooded Fang are a positive force, whether in the bright pop tunes that they deliver on their debut full-length, or in the many community-spirited projects the members have going on the side. And at the same time, they've really managed to get things right musically. What could have been a too-giddy, overstuffed sound has been confidently modulated — mature, but not too grown up.

Listen! Hooded Fang - Laughing

6. Bonjay

Dance-based music is kinda out of my sweet spot, and I don't know from dancehall, but I know kick-ass star quality when I see it. Alanna Stuart brings an electric presence to the stage, but it wouldn't mean much without songs to back it up. Along with beat provider Pho, Stewart does just that on the pair's new EP Broughtupsy, making them as appealing to listen to in their recorded incarnation as they are live.

Listen! Bonjay - Frawdulent

7. The Sadies

Well, what can I add about The Sadies that isn't already widely known? Famed for their powerhouse live shows, the country-surf-twang purveyors have taken longer to get respect for their recorded output, but this year's Polaris-shortlisted Darker Circles seems to have answered that. The Sadies have slowly become an institution, but with their work ethic they don't have a gear where they could just cruise on their rep, meaning that this powerful engine is gonna rev onwards.

Listen! The Sadies - Strange Birds

8. Daniel Romano

This slot could have gone almost as easily to Daniel, Fred and Julie, the folk-revivalist trio that Romano founded with friends Julie Doiron and Fred Squire. But I'm going to take some of the praise I have for that group and add it to this nod to the understated Romano, who has put out of the year's finest albums. His Workin' For The Music Man is filled with been-wronged anger and lonesome yearning, but he won't write a losin' song about it. Instead, he's put on his troubadour hat and headed out into that ever-loving world. Bonus points for his work with You've Changed Records, which has quietly been putting out a string of winning albums.

Listen! Daniel Romano - She Was the World to Me

9. P.S. I Love You

Singer/guitarist Paul Saulnier of Kingston duo PS I Love You fills the stage with guitar and bass (courtesy of foot pedals), bringing a hard-edged rock attack with DOR attitude, suitable for those who want to hoist their beers up in the air but not alienating those who want to dance. The full-length Meet Me at the Muster Station captures the sonic onslaught in a tidy package.

Listen! P.S. I Love You - Facelove

10. Minotaurs

I thought I knew what to expect from Nathan Lawr, once the original drummer for the seminal Royal City, who on his own had crafted three albums of likable, well-written rootsy pop-rock. But as "Nathan Lawr and the Minotaurs" has slid into just Minotaurs, the band is now not just a vehicle to present some well-hewn songs so much as a fearsome groove machine, powered with afrobeat horns and percussion. Pretty good as heard on the new album The Thing, but you gotta see these guys live to feel the project's full force.

Listen! Minotaurs - Pink Floyd

Those interested in checking out the results of the whole exercise can see the big list here. And just to wrap up some loose ends, here's some bonus list action:

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Honourable mentions:

• Lisa Bozikovic
• Broken Social Scene
• Eiyn Sof
• Fucked Up
• Mantler
• Owen Pallett
• Rat Tail
• Maylee Todd

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Keeping an eye out for:

I've seen all of these bands put on kick-ass shows in the past year — now I'm waiting for an album to go with it.

• Action Makes
• Canadian Wildlife
• Castlemusic
• Deloro
• Doldrums
• Ethio Stars Band
• METZ
• Snowblink
• $100
• Ostrich Tuning

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No thanks:

Released a dud album and/or played concerts priced out of my range

• Arcade Fire
• Caribou
• Stars

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¹ The guiding principles were:

The only criteria to follow in making your list are

1) the bands/artists must be Canadian (however you want to define that); and

2) you feel the bands/artists were "hot" in 2010 (however you want to define that).

Hottest Bands in Canada, 2009 edition

Somewhat unexpectedly a few weeks back, I found a message in my inbox from Matthew — in charge over at the always well-informed i(heart)music — soliciting my opinions for his annual "Hottest Bands in Canada" poll. I spent some time thinking over the loose rules¹ and resolved to let it percolate a bit, so I could articulate a thoughtful list. Then, of course, I pretty much forgot about it until right before it was due and threw something together with as much haste as possible. I plagiarized myself pretty ruthlessly in coming up with some blurbs and sent out my list.

That list (or the top-ranking bands, anyways) are now posted, and of course, I immediately started combing through to see how the big list looks compared to mine. It's interesting, of course, to feel the push/pull of groupthink at work — that tension between not wanting to be the odd kid out, looking like I'm not in touch with what's, y'know, hot. But then there's that countervailing force of taste as distinction, where you want to be cooler than all the other list-makers — "oh, I see you still think so-and-so is hot. How quaint."

As it turns out, almost totally unsurprisingly, I'm not the avant-garde ahead-of-the-pack genius I might think I am, nor the the deluded outcast that I fear I am even more often. Six of my ten bands were in the top-ranking group, putting me firmly in the hive mind consensus — although only one of my bands was in the top five, proving, maybe, my deft hand at picking fellow misunderstood geniuses.²

Just a note on method: I basically went totally subjective with my list. I didn't construe "hotness" as the bands that have generated the most buzz or popularity. In that regard, I'm sure Arcade Fire could twitterize about what they had for breakfast and garner more attention in a morning that some of the bands I care about in a whole year. Instead, I had two key qualifications for my list: a live show that moved me and a 2009 release of consequence. Thus, bands that have been bringing it live and to ever-growing crowds but are still working older material (Rural Alberta Advantage, Kemer Yousef); bands collecting awards and plaudits (Fucked Up – 2009 Polaris Prize, catl – Toronto Blues Society Talent Search Award); or bands that brought it live but still have new releases in the pipeline (The D'Urbervilles or The Disraelis) ranked lower in my consideration. I guess I was thinking about bands that felt, to me, to be really in their moment, which is why their live presence was probably the most clinching factor. As it turns out, I have seen all of the bands on my list live in 2009 — nine of them more than once. So that was the highly unscientific ordering principle I was using.³

So anyway, without further ado, my list as sent to Matthew. Out of kindness, I suppose, I managed not to include any footnotes in my list. #1 is the top and working down from there:

1. Ohbijou

Releasing an album as good as Beacons — a compendium of all the warm hugs you've been missing compressed into musical form — would be enough to place Ohbijou highly on this list. But add to that stellar achievement their formidable live presence where they can bring it solemn-like or party-like as the situation dictates. And then add to that their principled community-building, putting out the Friends in Bellwoods 2 compilation with a little help from their friends as a fundraiser for the Daily Bread food bank and you get the full picture of this band as a fully-engaged force.

Check out my live recordings of Ohbijou here and here.

2. Gentleman Reg

Reg Vermue is having the sort of year that his fans have been wishing on him for awhile now. It's been a long gap and a lot of water under the bridge since '04's Darby and Joan so it's no surprise that Reg hit the ground running once he had a solid new album (Jet Black) to promote. Playing plenty shows and working some choice opening slots, the fabulous thing is that his crack band quickly surpassed the songs' recorded versions. Between all that, Reg has also had some time for collaboration, debuting a new dancefloor project with Woodhands' Dan Werb.

Check out my live recordings of Gentleman Reg here, here, and, urm, here. (So much Reg!)

3. Japandroids

Youth and energy are great rock'n'roll currency, and these lads have it in spades. This Vancouver duo (guit/vox/drums) are garage rock maximalists, filling up their songs with a young man's frenzy that owes as much to "Working For The Weekend" as to any punk antecedents. Their album (Post-Nothing) is filled with shaggy, buzzing charm, but live they really won me over, finding a sweet spot between sounding rough and sounding tight, and rolling somewhere between swagger and modesty. By the end of the set's end, first time I saw 'em, I was a convert, and the deal was sealed on the last song when guitarist Brian King lurched behind the drum kit, and then, while attempting to step out, tripped backwards over the monitor, and ended up sprawled out, still playing. As the song ended, he shouted, "we're going up the CN Tower, and you guys should come with us!"

Check out my live recording of Japandroids here.

4. Great Lake Swimmers

From one coldly analytical perspective, GLS have moved from being a nearly solo folk project to a fleshed-out rootsy, MOR band — the sort of stuff that Canadian A.M. playlists were filled up with a couple decades ago. But that overlooks the fact that main swimmer Tony Dekker continues to write incredible songs, each a little roadmap of closely-held desire that seems so recognizable. And when those songs delivered in his aching croon, he even makes the boys a little bit weak in the knees.

5. Julie Doiron

Her new album I Can Wonder What You Did With Your Day follows on the heels of '07's Polaris shortlisted Woke Myself Up, but exchanges that album's dark explorations for musings on domesticity and gladness. It's considered, in some quarters, to be Higher Art to write about misery as opposed to happiness, which might account for this one getting a few less accolades, but it's not a lesser album. And add to that an enchanting stage presence — a ramshackle, figure-it-out-as-we-go-along spirit combined with her uncalculating, plainspoken sincerity, and you might float out of one of her gigs instead of walking.

Check out my live recordings of Julie Doiron here and here.

6. Kids on TV

A couple short years ago, Toronto's Kids on TV were a little easier to put in a box — something like hardcore rap meets General Idea. After some quiet time, they re-emerged this summer as something the same but different, suddenly re-establishing themselves as a dancefloor-ready pop unit. With a passel of new songs (some of which have now come out on the Shape Shifting Mutants digital EP) including two bona fide smashes in "Poison" and "Dazzler", KoTV have re-positioned themselves to catch some new ears while staying true to their art-queer roots. Out of the bathhouse and into your ears!

Check out my live recordings of KoTV here and here.

7. The Hoa Hoa's

The winner of this year's "let's take a trip" citation, garage-psych explorers The Hoa Hoa's have focused their sound and songwriting on a batch of new songs that figures to anchor one of the fall's most-anticipated releases (the perfectly named Pop/Drone/Pedals, forthcoming on Optical Sounds). Live, the band brings a rewarding mix of immediacy in their hooks and psychedelic drift in their layered extended excursions.

Check out my live recordings of The Hoa Hoa's here and here. Update: Also here!

8. Spiral Beach

This band's presence on my list would have surprised me a year ago. Perhaps a case of too much, too soon, I wrote this crew off when they started turning heads back in '06, finding their songs unfocused and undercooked behind an overexcited veneer. Catching them this year at NXNE it turns out that they've grown up some, found their sound and come up with solid songs, playing with a far darker, more psychedelic edge than I remembered. With songs that sound like Piper at the Gates of Dawn hooked up to a primitive drum machine, they've got something that suggests, "even if I'm dancing the Rock Lobster, I'm still in the middle of a bad trip".

Check out my live recording of Spiral Beach here.

9. Diamond Rings

How far can eyeliner, a fabulous video, a split single and a pocket full of songs take you? Surpisingly, giddily far, it turns out. It probably helps that Diamond Rings (aka John O'Regan of The D'Urbervilles) was something of a known quality — but managed to turn his persona on its head as his glammy rainbow-and-unicorn bearing alter ego. With a growing setlist of hummable, remember-the-eighties dance-pop confections, that rumoured album is looking to be stacked. And in the meantime, check him out live for an antidote to the dreary gloom in your heart.

Check out my live recordings of Diamond Rings here and here.

10. The Diableros

Don't call it a comeback etc. etc. The current lineup (containing only Pete Carmichael and guitarist Ian Jackson as long-time holdovers) has apparently stabilized this band and has led to a fine EP (Old Story, Fresh Road), five songs that are a logical extension of their signature sound — like all of us, growing less fuzzed-out and sound-saturated with age, but still powerful nonetheless. And still a knock-'em-dead live band. Maybe this will herald a productive next act for The Diableros. Whatever, we'll still have rock 'n roll.

Check out my live recordings of The Diableros here and here.

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¹ The guiding principles were:

The only criteria you need to follow in making your list are:

1) the bands must be Canadian (however you want to define that); and

2) they had a good 2009 (again, however you want to define that).

² And, in another measure of how in/out of touch I am, I was mostly conversant with the names that other people had put on their list — there were only three artists that I'd cold not heard of yet, and a bunch in that vague category of 'know the name, haven't heard anything'.

³ And, lest anyone should happen to think I am immune from the selection bias of a short attention span, I should point out that I had seen, like, two of the bottom three bands that I filled out my list with in the previous week or so before I threw it all together, which was probably the tiebreaker that put them there instead of several other nearly equally worthy potentials.