Tag: metric
Katuwapitiya.com’s Top 25 Albums of the Decade
by Shawn on Dec.18, 2009, under The Music That I Love
It’s list season! Lists everywhere about everything that you care/don’t-give-a-shit about! Honestly, I’ve had a lot of experience making lists. It does not shame me to admit that I used to make binders full of music countdowns as a child. Simple top-songs-of-the-moment lists, complete with fast-rising debuts and a weeks-on-chart column. That was before this decade. This decade, I decided to just listen and write about it at the end of 2009. So here we are. Surprisingly, Californication was actually released in 1999. I really had that pretty high on my list of the decade but I guess my memory isn’t as good as I thought it was. Hey, I was 13 at the time.
Katuwapitiya.com’s
Top 25 Albums of the Decade
25. Vampire Weekend- Vampire WeekendThis album was like a breath of fresh air to the whole indie scene. A sound so fresh that it came to define an entire summer for me. |
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24. Death From Above 1979- You’re A Woman, I’m A MachineThis album grabs you and kicks you in the face multiple times and I love that. |
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23. The Go! Team- Thunder, Lightning, StrikeHow can I describe Thunder, Lightning, Strike? If life were a video game, all music would sound like this. Cheerleader hip-hop mixed with indie rock? Awesome. |
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22. Franz Ferdinand- Franz FerdinandClassic british indie rock. |
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21. Sage Francis- Personal JournalsWhat I wish hip-hop would strive to be. Dark, poetic, beautiful, tragic. |
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20. Arctic Monkeys- Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m NotThe original MySpace Cinderella story. Went from nothing to everything in a few months. A hell of an album. |
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19. Sufjan Stevens- IllinoisSufjan’s masterpiece. With old folk tales and stories of horrifying criminals, Sufjan took us on a memorable journey. |
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18. Yeah Yeah Yeahs- Fever To TellLike DFA1979’s album, Fever To Tell kicks you in the face. However, this album had depth. One word: Maps. |
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17. Metric- Old World Underground, Where Are You NowTake the depth of Fever To Tell and multiply it by a factor of 1.5. That is this album. Emily Haines shines. |
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16. The New Pornographers- Twin CinemaTo me, this is one of the defining albums of Canadian indie rock. |
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15. The Postal Service- Give UpGive Up takes me back to my first year of university. We would share burned copies and would marvel at how cool it all sounded. Paired with the bips and bleeps were some great lyrics from Ben Gibbard. |
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14. The National- AlligatorThis album grows on you like a fine wine. Not everyone’s favourite but for me, the last third of Alligator cannot be beat. |
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13. OutKast- Speakerboxxx/The Love BelowDoes this need an explanation? |
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12. Madvillain- MadvillainyMF Doom and Madlib took hip hop and turned that shit upside-down and inside-out. So fresh, like nothing I had ever heard before. |
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11. Kanye West- The College DropoutNot only did this put Kanye on the map, but it also did so much for artists like Mos Def and Common. Now I understand if you don’t like him and Imma let you finish but Kanye West had one of the best albums of this decade. |
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10. The Killers- Hot FussNothing, and I mean nothing, gives me more nostalgia than blasting “Believe Me Natalie” and “Smile Like You Mean It” on my car stereo. Hot Fuss was that summer before university, hell, it was the summer after first year too. |
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9. The White Stripes- ElephantThis album blew me away. It was like Rock in its prime. Rock as it should be. |
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8. Bloc Party- Silent AlarmI have never listened to an album as many times consecutively as I have Silent Alarm. Period. |
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7. Radiohead- Kid AHow does a band follow an album that is widely-regarded to be one of the best albums of all time (OK Computer)? Change your style completely and knock it out of the park! |
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6. Arcade Fire- FuneralA step above Twin Cinema, this took Canadian music as a whole to an entirely new level. Awe-inspiring. |
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5. Kings of Leon- Aha Shake HeartbreakBefore they were all polished and pretty, Kings of Leon was a bunch of southern rockers with a weird-sounding lead-vocalist, nonsensical lyrics and awesome riffs. I miss that. |
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4. Broken Social Scene- You Forgot It In PeopleI’ve talked a lot about defining Canadian albums. This BSS album took some of the most talented Canadian musicians out there and put them all together to make a masterpiece. |
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3. Iron & Wine- Our Endless Numbered DaysSome folksy dude singing a bunch of songs that all sound the same. And it’s fucking incredible. |
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2. The Strokes- Is This ItThe album that introduced me to indie rock. |
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1. Coldplay- ParachutesHard to believe that Coldplay didn’t exist before this decade. The biggest band in the world had its humble beginnings in Parachutes, released in 2000. Simple songs about love and the world. No Gwyneths, no weird baby names, no multi-million dollar tours, no sexiest vegetarian awards, no making trade fair, no apple commercials, no frills. Just an awkward-looking dude singing about a colour, walking on a beach as the sun rose. Wonder who’ll start from such beginnings next year? |
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Honorable Mentions (a.k.a the reasons this list took so long):
Death Cab For Cutie- Transatlanticism, John Mayer- Continuum, The Shins- Chutes Too Narrow, D’angelo- Voodoo, OutKast- Stankonia, We Are Scientsts- With Love and Squalor, Coldplay- A Rush Of Blood To The Head, Amy Winehouse- Back To Black, Damien Rice- O, K-Os- Exit, The Strokes- Room on Fire, Feist- Let it Die, Stars- Set Yourself On Fire, All other Radiohead albums.
Concert season in Toronto: Metric and The Stills at Massey Hall (October 20, 2009)
by Shawn on Oct.21, 2009, under Concert Reviews
“This isn’t a TV screen, this is MASSEY HALL!“- Emily Haines
Emily Haines of Metric
I asked a question long ago about whether Karen O was the most electric lead singer of a band that I have ever seen. I was unsure because I felt like Emily Haines might be better. Having seen Emily while I was young and naive, I needed to see Metric in their current state to make up my mind.
I’ve just come home from seeing Metric at Massey Hall and I’ve made up my mind. Emily Haines is the best. Hands down.
Emily Haines rocking the mic
Openers The Stills are a band that I’ve never quite understood. To me, they sound a little too mundane, too middle of the road.
The Stills keeping the crowd relatively still -rimshot-
Needless to say, I was bored out of my mind waiting for Metric to start. Their two recent singles were the only bright spots of what was a mediocre setlist. But that’s just me.
My analysis may be a bit harsh but compared to Metric, most bands sound like crap. Once Metric came on, it was like a blast of energy.
Metric hits the stage at Massey Hall
They completely rocked the sold-out venue. They mixed in a lot of old and new and were able to add a few new touches here and there to keep things truly fresh and engaging. Sick Muse had a few of these touches and had the crowd going mental. Stadium Love also had the same effect. Overall, Emily Haines was the same bottle of energy that I first encountered in an 8 dollar concert at The Wave on Western’s campus in 2005.
Talk to the hand
I love it.
The only negatives (besides The Stills) were due to the venue itself. 8 dollar beers? Come on Massey Hall, I see indie bands for 10. I’m also not used to everyone around me not jumping around bumping into one another. The seated venue, while amazing acoustically, left a bit to be desired in terms of a raucous atmosphere. Finally, there was a douche security guard on our side of the room who seemed to be on a power trip. He went around telling people to stop recording (while there were clearly others on the left side of the room going nuts with their cameras). I managed to get a video of Gold, Guns, Girls and also pushed my luck with the final encore of Combat Baby (acoustic) (which was an amazing sing-a-long). The Combat Baby video was filmed after a warning so I tried to hide my camera behind someone’s head. It didn’t work for the whole song as you’ll see the security guard’s bald head at the end as I was turning my camera vertically and stuff to pretend that I was taking pictures. Haha, it was worth it.
From memory, I think the setlist was:
1. Twilight Galaxy
2. Help I’m Alive
3. Satellite Mind
4. Handshakes
5. Poster of a Girl
6. Gold, Guns, Girls
7. Collect Call
8. Empty
9. Gimme Sympathy
10. Sick Muse
11. Dead Disco
12. Blindness
13. Stadium Love
Encore:
14. Monster Hospital
15. Combat Baby (Acoustic)
Metric using Radiohead's cool screen technique
They’ll be playing Massey Hall tomorrow night and there should be tickets at the door. They’ll also be in London, Ontario on Friday!
Emily Haines with Broken Social Scene- Anthems For A Seventeen Year Old Girl (live @ The Sound Academy)
by Shawn on Dec.01, 2008, under The Music That I Love
Emily Haines, lead singer of Metric, makes a surprise appearance at Broken Social Scene’s last concert of 2008 (November 28th, Toronto, at The Sound Academy). Here she is performing Anthems For A Seventeen Year Old Girl:
Pics from the Broken Social Scene Concert at the Sound Academy, November 28th 2008
by Shawn on Dec.01, 2008, under Concert Reviews, The Music That I Love
Broken Social Scene sure know how to put on a concert. Wrapping up their 2008 tour with one last show in Toronto at the Sound Academy, they pulled out all the stops. Featuring special guest appearances by Isaac Brock from Modest Mouse, Emily Haines (who was unexpected to say the least) and several great highlights during their set, this was one of the best concerts that I’ve ever been to. The Beauties opened the night on a solid note as well. Here are the pics:
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