Top Stuff

It's that time of year again. Is it just me, or do I seem way off in some bizarre left field...
Top 10 albums
Burial Untrue (Hyperdub)
Ghislain Poirier No Ground Under (Ninja Tune/Outside)
Tinariwen Aman Iman (World Village)
Mavado Gangster for Life (VP)
Vieux Farka Toure self-titled (Modiba)
Arcade Fire Neon Bible (Merge/FAB)
Andy Palacio & the Garifuna Collective Wátina (Combancha)
Skream Rinse 02 (Rinse FM)
Sdunkero Edladleni Vol. 1 (House Afrika)
King Jammy’s Selector’s Choice Vols. 1-4 (VP)

Bottom 3 albums
Bunny Rabbit Lovers and Crypts (Voodoo-Eros)
Sinead O’Connor Theology (Koch)
Shaggy Intoxication (VP)

Best song: Teddy Afro, “Abebeyehosh”/Mutya Buena and Groove Armada, “Song 4 Mutya” (tie)
Worst song: Natasha Bedingfield, “I Wanna Have Your Babies”
Best show: Ghislain Poirier, la Tulipe, Nov. 2
Worst show: Benga and Hatcha, Death of Vinyl, Oct. 27

“My cheerleading of Ghislain continues. Heaps of fun as always, his launch demonstrated just how much fun an audience crammed with Montrealers can be. Benga and Hatcha came out swinging, but the crowd was far less than stellar. It’s pot, not coke, that goes with dubstep, kids! If that’s my biggest complaint though, things seem to be quite all right. Now, if only I could convince someone to launch a kwaito/2-step night, this city would be perfect.”

Yeah, I'm behind the times, but I'm Canadian...

...so how can I keep up with the goings on in dance music around the world? Yes, bassline house has been around for quite some time, but it's not being played here. Yay for vocals! Even though I'm sure it's been done to death across the pond, "Heartbroken" by T2 is pretty terrific. The North of England seems all friendly like, and it appears that they make dancefloor-friendly songs to match.

It other related cute-girl-singing tunes that make me want to dance, there's the wonderfully precocious Rye Rye from Baltimore.

Both tracks also make me wish I had that radio show I used to have.

One More Colour

Interviewed Issa (formerly Jane Siberry) last week. Haven't done this for a while, but I'll post a director's cut of the interview after it's published this week. Jane Siberry was and Issa still is simply fantastic.

I'll dance to anything

Snow is everywhere right now. 30cm of it is blowing all around. I haven't gone outside yet today. Maybe I'll go for a little slog at dusk (which, in this part of the world will be at around 4pm). Anyhow, I liked Untrue when I first heard it last month, but today I love it.
I have to say, however, that all the folks who've written that it's headphone music, not meant for dancing, just might be wrong. I have found myself unable to focus on the writing I'm supposed to do because it's just so darned danceable. A track like "Archangel" is basically spooky Justin Timberlake--it almost begs for a full choreographed treatment with Usher-styled footwork. And I would have been much more likely to get up on my feet for "Near Dark" or "Ghost Hardware" or "Raver" than anything Benga and Hatcha played at that Hallowe'en thing at Death of Vinyl.
Tash just emailed to say she wants to hear it loud. So do I. Headphones just won't do it for too much longer.