quoperative

1. Band of Horses – Cease to Begin (Sub Pop)
   Perfect mix of psychedelic, indie and southern-fried rock. Seeing them opening for Beck sealed the deal.
2. RFTC – R.I.P. (Live) (Vagrant)
   Just discovered this CD and DVD documenting the band’s final show on Halloween 2005 in Portland last week.  Self-proclaimed best live band in the universe and after seeing them in Montreal a few years back I must agree.  Rest in peace indeed.
3. Spiritualized – Songs in A&E (Sanctuary)
   Jason Pierce nearly died of pneumonia and spent a year in hospital.  This is the album he made when he got better.
4. Black Mountain – In the Future (Jagjaguwar)
   Lost out to Caribou for the Polaris Music Prize.  BULLSHIT.  I haven’t heard Caribou’s record, but I’m pretty sure this is better.
5. The Jolts – Haute Voltage (Independent)
   Turbonegro and Electric Frankenstein make sweet love on the floor of the Commodore ballroom. The Jolts are their illegitimate love child.  
6. Starvin Hungry – Cold Burns (Signed by Force)
   Mmm… this rawks.  More of the same quirky punk that made their Damnesty debut so damn good.
7. Black Lips – Good Bad Not Evil (Vice)
   Sloppy-drunk-party-good-time garage rock from the masters.  A little more polished and produced than their earlier albums, but not so much that it takes away from the lo-fi charm.
8. MGMT – Oracular Spectacular (Sony)
   Seriously catchy to the max. The only major label release in the bunch.  Weird, no?
9. Gorilla – Rock Our Souls (Go Down)
   Stoner rawk masterpiece that fuses classic Blue Cheer with ballsier Motorhead street punk.  And the bass player is a chick.  Yes, guy.
10. Graham Day & The Gaolers – Triple Distilled (Damaged Goods)
    Mr. Day’s garage rawk resume consists of playing drums with Thee Mighty Caesars and bass with The Buff Medways.  Not surprising, his debut effort kicks some serious contemporary garage ass.
11. Wolf Parade – At Mount Zoomer (Sub Pop)
    The album that almost didn’t get made between all the side projects is the perfect balance of twang, pop, rock, electronica and glam. 
12. The Dears – Missiles (Maple Music)
    Murray Lightburn stripped the band down (or everybody quit) and starts again pretty much from scratch.  So I guess you could call this a bit of a comeback record.  Either way, it’s good… but to be fair you need to listen to it about 15 times until you realize how good it is. ”Quel album fantastique.”

Ok, so by best 10 I actually meant best 12.  

Happy New Year buds, family and friends.

This track will be queued up on the iPod (if I’m paying attention) as we hit Portland en route to San Francisco next week on our road trip.  It’s a duet with Jack White from her 2004 album Van Lear Rose.  White produced and played on the album and it features 2/3 of the Greenhornes supplying the bottom end.  Patrick Keeler and Jack Lawrence also happen to be the rhythm section for White’s other (and much more famous) band The Raconteurs but I gotta give props to the Greenhornes when I can.  Dual Mono is one of my desert island discs.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.