Choosing 25 albums from the past year proved to be a difficult task. 2011 produced a whole whack load of great music and it was tough to come up with and order the list below. Other than the albums below, there were a bunch that I couldn’t fit in my top 25. Those albums include Lykke Li Wounded Rhymes, Adele 21, Fleet Foxes Helplessness Blues and The War on Drugs Slave Ambient.

2011 proved to be another fantastic year for Canadian music. Leading the way was Drake with his second album Take Care. Other Canadians with good albums this year include City And Colour with Little Hell, Austra with her debut Feel It Break and Arkells with Michigan Left.

Hope you enjoy these albums as much as I did and as always if there was an album you really liked that I didn’t mention, please let me know!

Posted by: alberto
Posted on: December 29th, 2011
Tags: arctic monkeys, beady eye, bon iver, cults, destroyer, dum dum girls, florence and the machine, foo fighters, fucked up, girls, iron and wine, jay-z, kanye west, m83, mastodon, noel gallagher, pj harvey, portugal the man, the antlers, the black keys, the horrible crowes, the weeknd, watch the throne, wavves, white lies, wu lyf, year in review
Categories: Music
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Similar to 2010, this year has been a fantastic year for music. We saw debut albums from both Gallagher brothers, Cults, and Grouplove. We also heard some of awesome singles from M83, Lana Del Rey, and The Weeknd. Mixed in with these catchy singles and debuts were a bunch of solid albums. Some of those include Foo Fighters’ Wasting Light, Fucked Up’s David Comes To Life and Girls’ Father, Son, Holy Ghost.

As is the case with every year there is always this one song that gets to me that becomes my guilty pleasure. This year that award goes to Katy Perry. Her single ‘E.T.’ was so catchy and was played everywhere I turned that it got tattooed in my head. Also on my playlist are two tracks from Canadian rockers The Sheepdogs. Although their album ‘Learn & Burn’ was released in 2010, they really hit it big this year thanks to winning the Rolling Stone Magazine contest.

The 80 songs below is pretty much a soundtrack to my year. From songs that were released in January right up until December every song on here was played countless amounts of time. Hope you enjoy the list and let me know if there were any songs you really enjoyed that I should check out. Happy Holidays!

Posted by: alberto
Posted on: December 23rd, 2011
Tags: 2011 playlist, bon iver, cults, dreamers, dum dum girls, foo fighters, fucked up, girls, lana del rey, m83, mastodon, playlist, the sheepdogs, year in review
Categories: Music
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Back in February I wrote about a Toronto based hardcore/metal band, Dreamers, that covered Wiz Kahlifa’s smash hit ‘Black And Yellow’. Well last week I finally had the chance to see them at the Hard Luck bar in Toronto. Opening the night for a Roadrunner Records showcase, Dreamers set the the tone early and only got better as they went through their six song set.

Opening their set with the lead off track from the independently released EP ‘Shenanigans’ was ‘Your Outcry’ followed by ‘Dreameater’ and ‘Shadows Burn’. Not only was their set great but their intensity and energy on stage is fantastic! With their mix of hardcore and good old fashioned metal, Dreamers bring a fresh new sound and energy to the hardcore genre.

Their next show is tomorrow night (November 4th) in Hamilton at Doors Pub in Hess Village. If you get a chance go out and catch one of their shows, well worth it!

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Posted by: alberto
Posted on: November 3rd, 2011
Tags: dreams, hard luck, hard luck bar, hard luck bar in toronto, hardcore, metal, roadrunner records, toronto
Categories: Music
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The past couple of weeks have been quite eventful for the beautiful and talented British songstress Ellie Goulding. Late last month the most talked about wedding between Prince William & Kate occurred and they both had asked that Ellie Goulding perform at their reception. This is huge considering the amount of media this wedding attracted and definitely helped Ellie get her name out there. With her name now floating around in the media it came to no surprise that she was the musical guest on this past weekend’s Saturday Night Live. Ellie performed her hit ‘Lights’ and ‘Your Song’ from her 2010 album Bright Lights. Check out her performances below and after the jump, enjoy!

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Posted by: alberto
Posted on: May 9th, 2011
Tags: ellie goulding, Music, royal wedding, saturday night live, snl
Categories: Music, TV
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With the end of the week approaching, this week has proven to be a great week of music for myself. With that I’ve decided that the following five tracks are ones you should give a listen to. They have been on a constant repeat all week and hope they do the same for you. Enjoy!

Gil Scott-Heron & Jamie XX – Take Care Of You [listen]

Yuck – The Wall [listen]

The Pains of Being Pure At Heart – Belong [listen]

Manchester Orchestra – Simple Math [listen]

Fucked Up - Ship Of Fools [listen]

Posted by: alberto
Posted on: April 28th, 2011
Tags: 5 songs you need to listen to, fucked up, gil scott-heron, jamie xx, manchester orchestra, the pains of being pure at heart, yuck
Categories: Music
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There is a lot of talk going around right now about the new Foo Fighters album ‘Wasting Light’. Scheduled to be released on April 11th we have heard the official single ‘Rope’ and ‘White Limo’, with a guest appearance by Motorhead’s Lemmy in the video. And now today we are blessed with yet another new Foo Fighters track! Brace yourself because this is AWESOME! Have a listen and when you’re done pick up your melted face from the floor because this track will, well melt your FACE!

LISTEN HERE

Posted by: alberto
Posted on: March 30th, 2011
Tags: bridge burning, foo fighters, rope, wasting light, white limo
Categories: Music
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The Strokes are taking over my life and I for one don’t mind! After releasing a video for ‘Under Cover of Darkness’ and performing a killer set on Saturday Night Live we are treated to more goodies from the New York rockers. Two more tracks from their upcoming album ‘Angels’ have been leaked and you can listen to them here.

The two tracks ‘Machu Picchu’ and ‘Taken For A Fool’ have a refreshing sound to them and are a little more “poppy” than their older stuff but are still great. From the catchy hooks to the guitar work of Albert Hammond Jr. & Nick Valensi these two tracks, along with ‘Under Cover of Darkness’ and ‘Life is Simple in the Moonlight’, is an indication that ‘Angels’ is going to a solid album cover to cover!

Posted by: alberto
Posted on: March 9th, 2011
Tags: angels, life is simple in the moonlight, machu picchu, taken for a fool, the strokes, under cover of darkness
Categories: Music
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British rockers Arctic Monkeys released a new video today to a single of theirs titled ‘Brick By Brick’. It is believed to be the single of their yet to be named fourth album that is rumored to be released this spring/summer. The track has a slightly different sound from their previous work but it still is catchy and good! Have a listen below!

Not only did they released a new song/video but they also announced a summer 2011 tour that kicks off May 17th in Washington DC and ends August 21st in the UK. The lads are scheduled to appear in Toronto May 21st at the Kool Haus and in Montreal the following night at L’Olympia. Those are the only Canadian dates on this tour. If you’re in town and want to see a good show check these guys out live as it is one hell of a show!

For now enjoy their latest ‘Brick By Brick’.

Posted by: alberto
Posted on: March 7th, 2011
Tags: arctic monkeys, brick by brick, Music
Categories: Concerts & Events, Music
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This past Saturday (March 5) The Strokes capped off a busy week. It started one week ago when a 30 second preview of each track from their upcoming album ‘Angels’ leaked online, listen here. Then they released ‘You’re So Right’, which is scheduled to be part of the b-side that is going to be included in the release of ‘Under Cover of Darkness’, listen here. Following that they released the video for their single ‘Under Cover of Darkness’ where we see frontman, Julian Casablancas on his way to meeting up with the rest of the band and performing what looks to be in a opera house. The video itself is well done and fits the song, watch here.

Following three straight days of releases the guys stayed quiet until Saturday. The guys performed their single ‘Under Cover of Darkness’ and an unreleased track ‘Life Is Simple In The Moonlight’ from their new album. Their performance was great! Seeing these guys back together and playing their music was great to watch, even better was how good they sounded. Check out their SNL performances below and let me know what you think!

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Posted by: alberto
Posted on: March 7th, 2011
Tags: angels, life is simple in the moonlight, saturday night live, snl, the strokes, the strokes on snl, under cover of darkness
Categories: Music, TV
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We are about three weeks away from the release of the brand new album from New York rockers The Strokes. ‘Angles’ is the fourth album from the guys but the first since 2006. Since the start of the year we have slowly seen tiny bits of new Strokes material which was followed by the lead single ‘Under Cover of Darkness’. Following the release of the single, The Strokes have posted a few small videos of the making of their new album (videos are posted at the end of this post).

Watching those videos and hearing some of the new material this early before the album is released is a blessing considering we’ve all waited so long for new Strokes songs. Then came today.
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Posted by: alberto
Posted on: February 28th, 2011
Tags: album preview, angels, making of angles, the strokes, under cover of darkness
Categories: Music
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