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Hey there, internet. Did you miss me?
(… Don’t all answer at once.)

Well, I’m finished with school for good this year, and it’s about time. I have a lot to catch up on here — I still worked quite a few evenings at Massey Hall over the last month, so I have a bit of a backlog of reviews for you. Before that, though, quick news: Phoenix’s new record Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix is in stores today. All right! Check them out here. I’ll review it as soon as I get it.

Also in the news, the Calgary Folk Music Festival has revealed its full 2009 lineup! Highlights include The Decemberists, Bell Orchestre, Steven Page, Alejandro Escovedo, Sarah Harmer, Chad VanGaalen, and so many more … the list is fantastic. And of course, you’ll see reviews of all four days here.

So like I said, I’ve seen a fair number of shows that haven’t been reviewed here yet, so I think I’ll just condense them into this post — they’re all belated anyway and I’d rather not put them off any further. Going in reverse: I was a patron for the first time at Massey Hall (after seeing nearly fifty artists there since September) on Saturday, where Joel Plaskett made his seated venue debut accompanied by the Emergency, his father Bill, and songstresses Rose Cousins and the palindromic Ana Egge. The first set, a brief 45 minutes, was just the Plasketts and the two women, mostly acoustic — slightly twangy and very intimate. Ana and Rose both treated us to one of their own songs as well, and some tunes featured Joel and Bill by themselves in a father/son duet (like Ashtray Rock’s “Nothing More to Say”). We also got a bunch of great versions of songs from Three: particular highlights of the first set were “Deny, Deny, Deny”, “Rollin’, Rollin’, Rollin’,” and the incredibly John Prine-ish “Pine, Pine, Pine”.

The second set kicked off with the Emergency (Joel, Chris Pennell and Dave Marsh)’s one-two punch of “Work out Fine” and “Extraordinary,” both from 2003’s Truthfully Truthfully. After that it was just one big party. Peter Elkas joined the Emergency’s ranks and Bill, Rose and Ana returned to beef up the stage and sound. Lots of tunes from Three — including a fabulous second-set finish with “Wishful Thinking” — and old favourites too, sometimes in interesting new versions. The encore started off with Joel playing solo versions of the Hermit classic “Before You Leave” and his own “Love This Town,” whose lyrics he had changed a little after a good show in Kelowna … glad to see that city’s not taking too much Plaskett abuse these days!

If the crowd was any indicator — getting up and dancing, singing along with all of “Love This Town” (Joel left the mic and sang it from the edge of the stage, a testament both to Massey’s great acoustics and the attentiveness of the crowd), cheering for everything — the Joel Plaskett Emergency’s Massey Hall debut was a resounding success. And I have a feeling that “Wishful Thinking” might be prophetic — “Thank you, good night, we’ll be back in the fall”.

Also recently featured at the Hall were Christopher Guest, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer on the Unwigged & Unplugged Tour — you may remember them as the men behind This Is Spinal Tap, A Mighty Wind and Waiting for Guffman. This tour saw the three guys tossing aside costumes and assumed identities and playing their material mostly acoustic. I think they did everything from the Spinal Tap film: “Big Bottom” (walking bass, lounge style), “Sex Farm” (I don’t even know how to describe that one — McKean did a bit of a rap in the middle!), and, yes, “Stonehenge”, complete with Nigel Tufnel intro from Guest and a video of trolls dancing around a miniature Stonehenge piece projected onto the screen behind them. Hysterical. They also did a great deal of Folksmen material including the theme from A Mighty Wind (“It’s blowing peace and freedom, it’s blowing you and me!”) and the Folksmen cover of the Stones’ “Start Me Up”.

While it was hilarious to hear these acoustic versions of Tap songs (“The Majesty of Rock” on acoustic guitars?), even more fun were the between-song banter and the other segments of the show, including the “audience participation,” where they gave one man 3D glasses and made him stand in front of them for an entire song, promising that the song was written in 3D and it would “blow your mind”. They also told stories about the making of various films, including the fiasco when NBC wanted to show This Is Spinal Tap on television shortly after its theatrical run (Shearer: “Well, it wasn’t so much a run as a power walk.” McKean: “Ah, those were the day!”). The head of whatever department they were dealing with watched the film and made a list of everything he wanted to censor, which was pretty much the whole movie. Lines included things like “The lyrics to ‘Sex Farm’ are unacceptable.” “Hand on girl’s breast.” “‘Shit sandwich’.” Yup — totally unacceptable!

And of course, I can’t forget to mention the Tragically Hip’s six-night run at the Old Lady of Shuter Street: May 11, 12, 14, 15, 16 and 19. I wasn’t there for all of them (thank goodness) but I experienced rather enough as it was. They did put on solid shows, although they were obscenely loud — I get it, you’re a rock band, but at least play to the hall a little! Downie was up to his usual madcap stage adventures, and while I’m not sure what the final mic stand casualty count was, there were certainly a few sent to their graves during the week. Their setlist changed around a fair amount from night to night, which was great for those of us who had to see more than one show; highlights included “Fireworks”, “Fiddler’s Green”, “The Bear” (apparently they’ve only played that one live a few times), “Yer Not The Ocean” and so on. The new album is okay — it’s no World Container, but the songs translated a bit better live than they did on record, I think.

In Hall news, recent announcements for summer shows include Sonic Youth (June 30), Steve Earle (July 11), Neko Case (July 14), Fleet Foxes (August 4), Tori Amos (August 10), John Prine (August 14), and Elvis Costello and the Sugarcanes (August 28). It’s going to be a good run! See you all soon — more posts on the way.

Last week (sorry, I’ve been a bit slow) saw the announcement of the East Coast Music Award winners, and boy … were there some real winners. Allow me – here are some highlights:

Recording of the Year: Joel Plaskett Emergency, Ashtray Rock
Group Recording of the Year: Joel Plaskett Emergency, Ashtray Rock
Single of the Year: Joel Plaskett Emergency, “Fashionable People”
Songwriter of the Year: Joel Plaskett, for “Fashionable People”
Rock Recording of the Year: Joel Plaskett Emergency, Ashtray Rock
Video of the Year: Joel Plaskett Emergency, Fashionable People (Randall Thorne)

I think I’m seeing a pattern here.

I guess there’s little to comment on, as the slew of awards speak for themselves. Joel is certainly well-deserving of attention, and lately he’s getting it in spades; the Polaris Prize nomination for this same album brought him a great deal of recognition that was, previously, sorely lacking. Not that the East Coast didn’t know about the Halifax native before, but I guess everyone can do with a few reminders.

Other notable award winners, though, include Prince Edward Island’s sweet foursome Two Hours Traffic for pop album of the year. Little Jabs was on my pick of the top 10 records of 2007, and while sometimes the sugar can grate a little, the album is tight and hooky and certainly deserving of the award. They seem destined for great things (and, coincidentally, opened for Plaskett for the final two nights of his Horseshoe residency); I wouldn’t be surprised if we heard a lot more about them in 2008.

There were few surprises at the East Coast Music Awards this year. George Canyon took the fan choice award for the fourth straight year, Classified came out with the best hip-hop recording, and the Rankin Family took the best DVD award (a category in which former Haligonians Sloan were also nominated, for a tour DVD filmed by Small Sins‘ Kevin Hilliard). Nothing came close to Joel Plaskett’s 6 awards, but quite frankly, not a whole lot came close to Ashtray Rock, either.

Next awards: the Junos, from my hometown of good old Calgary! Stay tuned.

… I solemnly swear not to post about the Joel Plaskett Emergency for the next little while. What can I say? He’s been a busy guy.

If you’re a fan of the Joel Plaskett Emergency, chances are you heard about his 6-night run at Toronto’s Legendary Horseshoe Tavern in mid-December. And if you live in Toronto, chances are you probably attended at least one show, or fought unsuccessfully for a ticket – five of the six shows were sold out.

Never mind that Winter Nationals had been a Rheostatics tradition since Joel was cutting his teeth in Thrush Hermit. Never mind that they had just broken up in March and the fans were still sulking over the loss – and the end of the formidable Nationals run. The fact of the matter was that the Horseshoe’s 60th anniversary was coming up, a giant party was in store, and suddenly … there were no Rheos. A slight dilemma.

Enter Joel Plaskett. With his popularity on an exponential rise, a song in a Zellers commercial, recent tours with the Tragically Hip … well, he seemed like a pretty reasonable candidate for the ‘Shoe and a big anniversary bash. When he was approached by the head honcho of the Horseshoe, he gamely accepted – but decided that damn it, he was going to put a twist on things. For one, it was a milestone birthday; for another, a lot of people were probably not going to take a different artist playing Winter Nationals very lightly. So it was up to Joel to make it worth their while.

Being one part excited musician and one part sly businessman, Plaskett decided that he was going to play one of his albums every night (totalling five), and play the sixth night as a wild-card themeless Emergency set. Of course, this ensured attendance at multiple nights for people who “just couldn’t miss” certain albums; some crazy fans even went all six nights, this writer included. Sneaky.

Herein lies the genius of naming Plaskett the successor to Bidini, Tielli et al. There are few artists who could rehearse a repertoire of over sixty songs, play a full set each night (ramping it up a notch each time, as you’ll hear about) of almost completely different material, draw sellout crowds for an entire week, and still come away with fans who are not sick of seeing them. I’m still trying to come up with any other bands that are currently active who could do the same for me. Who on earth would I want to see six times in a row? Is there anyone?

Interesting: with these six Horseshoe Tavern shows, the Emergency has tied for most times I’ve seen a band live (nine) with Sloan, but I don’t think I’d ever voluntarily see Sloan that many times in such a ridiculously short period of time. Well, unless they played four album shows, Twice Removed through Between the Bridges – that would definitely get me out. But I digress.

The point is, Joel has a stage presence and a way about performing that is always, and I do mean always, fun and exciting. He does all the right things: engaging with the audience, making jokes, messing up every once in a while, having extended harmonica duels (Elkas playing “Low Rider”? Golden). Oh yeah, and bringing up a set of guests a la The Last Waltz didn’t hurt either.

If you’re curious, you can check out the complete setlists of his six-day residency at the ‘Shoe. If you’re not so into looking through them, allow me to impart the list of his guests:

• Tara S’Appart (Elevator)
• Gordie Johnson (Big Sugar, Grady)
• his father, Bill Plaskett
• Taylor Knox & Neil Quin (Major Grange, The Golden Dogs)
• Andrew Scott (Sloan)
• Mr Chill
• Gord Downie (Tragically Hip)
• Sarah Harmer
• Ian McGettigan (Thrush Hermit, former Emergency, Camouflage Nights)

Seeing Plaskett, McGettigan and Marsh on the same stage was certainly cause for quite a lot of celebration (especially their performances of “Light of the Moon” and “Down at the Khyber,” as well as unexpected Clayton Park favourites “Oh My Soul!” and “From the Back of the Film”. Let’s just say I picked that as one of the best shows of the year for a reason, mmhmm? There are few things more excellent than that.

Anyway, without going into excessive detail about each night, I’m going to say that there was no one week better than the reborn Winter Nationals at the Legendary Horseshoe Tavern. Everything from seeing Joel play with his father to Gord Downie singing on “Love This Town” to the Hermit to “In a Town This Size” and “The Lakes of Pontchartrain”. Ladies and gentlemen, Canada mourns the Rheostatics, and we will for a long time; but in their absence, it sure is nice to have a guy like Joel.

OK, to get this whole show on the road, I’m reposting my top albums of 2007 (originally posted at my old haunt, the Rblog). With added “honourable mentions,” because I’ve already discovered more stuff I liked. The year just isn’t long enough!

10. Amy Winehouse, Back to Black
Island. March 13 (USA)

(This might be fudging a little, since Back to Black was released in the UK in late 2006, but didn’t make it across the pond until this year. I hope you’ll forgive me.) This album surprised me; all the hype, the screaming fangirls, and Winehouse’s tabloid fodder did not an interested Ruhee make, but when I finally listened, it was nothing like I expected. Instead of trashy dance-pop R&B, Winehouse has crafted a vintage soul album with serious throwbacks to Motown, tied together with one remarkable set of pipes. Whether or not this album is your cup of tea, there is no denying the girl can sing. Some of the songs are a little take-or-leave, but “Rehab” … oh man. A catchier single there never was. This album is a bit of a guilty pleasure sometimes, but it is a good one.

09. Spiral Beach, Ball
Sparks. October 16

I’ve been waffling back and forth on this band for a while. I saw them open for Sloan twice near the beginning of this year; one of the shows was really excellent and the other left me fairly ambivalent. Their first album, self-titled, was good in places and a little grating in others, and I expected the same from Ball when it was released this fall. However, it was definitely not so. This record is full of spacey dance-rock numbers, all short and flashy, and much tighter than the last album. “Made of Stone” sounds a thousand times better than it did live, months before this record hit the shelves, and “Kind of Beast” and “We Saw Ghosts” are particularly enjoyable. Spiral Beach has their own distinctive sound (love it or hate it), and they’re becoming more comfortable with it here. At this rate, their third album will be a real treat.

08. The Acorn, Glory Hope Mountain
Paper Bag. October 1

This is another album I’m glad I managed to hear before the year was out, or my list of “belated top albums of the year” would have been remarkably long. The Acorn are a band that are certainly well rooted in folk and country, but who put a remarkably fresh spin on the whole package. Glory Hope Mountain is very similar to Cuff the Duke, but in a less rock, more laid-back sort of way; particular favourites are “Oh Napoleon” and “Low Gravity,” the former quiet and sweeping, the latter energetic and danceable. This is a band who know what they want and how to go about creating it, and the end result is equal parts hoedown and slow dance.

07. Cuff the Duke, Sidelines of the City
Hardwood. October 23

Speaking of Cuff the Duke (I didn’t do that on purpose, I promise!) … the third full-length album from Ontario country-rock favourites is just what we were hoping for. The album is very cohesive and the songwriting strong, although sometimes the lyrics feel a little contrived, namely “Long Road”. Standout tracks include “Failure to Some” (a track I had no idea was 7 minutes long until I looked at it in my iTunes just now!), which features a now-classic Cuff the Duke build-up ending; “If I Live Or If I Die,” which has shades of BRMC’s “Shuffle Your Feet”; and the closing track, “Confessions from a Parkdale Basement”. There are numerous references to suburbs where members of the band grew up (such as in “Rossland Square”) and to Toronto itself, which makes the entire album feel rooted somewhere, like it belongs somewhere. I’m not sure if I would say it’s their best album, but it is a solid one that I’ll be listening to for a while.

06. Rufus Wainwright, Release the Stars
Geffen. May 15

I hadn’t heard a single track off this album until I saw Rufus perform a large handful of them live in July. Wearing lederhosen. If ever there was a way to sell a Rufus album, that was it. Wainwright’s newest effort is a complex, beautifully-executed piece of work, much of it about traveling, different cities, and being discontent with staying in one place. That theme lends a whole lot of interest to the record, since it does much the same thing musically; it never stays in one place very long, preferring to veer around and tell stories in different ways, although never going too far from Wainwright’s familiar lilting style. Particular favourites: “Going to A Town” (especially the cheeky I’m so tired of you, America), “Sanssouci,” and the title track. This album makes me want to just hop on an airplane and tour the world with not much except a change of clothes, a camera and some music for the road.

05. Two Hours Traffic, Little Jabs
Bumstead. July 24

A messy-haired, power pop foursome from the East Coast … no, there were no new Sloan records this year; instead, Joel Plaskett protégés Two Hours Traffic’s brand new full length, full of smiles and singalongs. There are no skipable tracks on this album, although their style is streamlined enough that they all bleed together a little. The band is extremely tight, live and on record, and their joyful brand of pop-rock is pretty infectious. Little Jabs is full of standout tracks, including the single “Stuck for the Summer”, “Nighthawks”, and “Jezebel,” although if the list went on long enough it would include the whole record. Sometimes the lyrics get a little too cutesy, but overall, this is an excellent album from a band I’m sure we will be hearing from often in the new year.

04. Nathan, Key Principles
Nettwerk. March 20

Nathan are such darlings. This album is cute and folky and full of really well written songs that get stuck in your head, all the time, with a delicious amount of banjo (courtesy Shelley Marshall). One thing they are sure not to do, though, is get too stuck in the folk mentality; there is plenty of pop here, with horns and handclaps everywhere you turn, and it balances everything out perfectly. Songs like “The Wind” and “Terrible Way to See Omaha” conjure up images of the sweeping prairie, while “Daffodils” is one of those that would make little toddlers bop around in the living room. Key Principles is sunny and warm on first listen, but its solid songwriting and excellent vocals (Keri Latimer, with Marshall) make it complex enough to not get tossed by the wayside. It’s an album that feels like home, down to the hand-stitched album art; listening to it is akin to curling up with hot chocolate in your favourite blanket and watching the clouds go by.

03. The New Pornographers, Challengers
Matador. August 21

You might remember a review of this I did earlier, which ended up fairly lukewarm. And it’s true, Challengers is the most mellow and cohesive of all of the Pornographers’ albums, but the more I listened to it throughout the rest of the year, the more I grew to love it. My favourite tracks still remain the first two (“My Rights Versus Yours”, which was the first single, I believe, and “All the Old Showstoppers”), but there’s a lot of hidden goodness after that. “Adventures in Solitude” is extremely sparse and perfect, and “Entering White Cecilia” is quirky and fun. Challengers is nothing like Mass Romantic’s craziness, where it seems they tried to fit in as much as possible; here, they have grown up a little and focused on one direction. That’s not to say it’s not a classic New Pornos album, because it is. There’s still the weird Dan Bejar material, the singalongs, and the remarkable amount of melodica-fueled riffs; they’ve just learned to channel it a little more, and out of that comes a commendably mature but totally enjoyable record. There’s not much they’ve done that I don’t like, and that trend still continues.

02. Joel Plaskett Emergency, Ashtray Rock
Songs for the Gang. April 17

This is listed as #2, but for all intents and purposes, the top two albums of this year are a tie. And so, the first top album of 2007: Ashtray Rock, the Joel Plaskett Emergency’s third effort (Plaskett’s fifth as a solo artist post-Hermit). It would be impossible to say everything about this album in a paragraph, but Ross has conveniently done most of the talking about it; my two cents, though, would include praising the excellent transitions between songs – it makes you want to always listen to the whole thing, top to bottom, which is quite a feat – and the repetition of ideas throughout (I like the instrumentals, for example). And lately, I’d have to argue that one of the best moments of the record is in fact “The Instrumental,” complete with the letter, and the roller coaster it takes you through in just three minutes – a concise summary of the entire story of Ashtray Rock with almost no words at all.
     Plaskett’s crafting of a ‘concept album’ has worked wonderfully here, and by the end of Ashtray you become completely attached to the characters whose stories he tells. I loved the record from the get-go, but the more I listen to it, the more I become attached – even, yes, to “Fashionable People”, which I think is a hilarious and quirky addition to the otherwise more streamlined album. Plaskett is never afraid to do something a little silly when he feels like it, and dammit, he will; and from falsetto to “Face of the Earth,” the end result is one of his most enjoyable albums yet.

01. Field Music, Tones of Town
Memphis. January 22

That’s right. An album released just barely three weeks into the new year is topping my list. Unheard of, in the short term memory world of music blogging and downloaders, but not impossible … and this year, the honour goes to a band hailing from Sunderland, England, on their sophomore release that really sounds like nothing else I’ve ever run into. Certainly comparisons can be drawn to the Futureheads (unsurprising, as they have shared members) – think that sound, but brighter, cleaner, and as tight and quirky as can be. Field Music are, underneath, really prog-rockers, but not in the sense of Rush or Floyd; they do rip off Yes a lot, though, and their sound is particularly poppy. Tones of Town is an incredibly well-crafted record that flows together in a particularly satisfying way. “Give It Lose It Take It”, the opening track, features an excellent use of open strings; “Working to Work,” the first track that I heard from the album, is maddeningly catchy (I’m serious; I think it’s been stuck in my head since April).
     My favourite track, though, is the final one, “She Can Do What She Wants”. Meter changes, possibilities for air-drumming, and an excellent opportunity to sing along in earnest English falsetto. There’s not much better. Tones of Town is, as far as I’m concerned, the best record to come out of 2007 (or tied for it, anyway), and one that will stand up for a long time to come. It’s tight, it’s layered, it’s hard to pin down completely; Field Music, if they come back from their projected hiatus, is going to have a hell of a time following this act.

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Albums I wish I had heard in time for this list
Thurston Moore, Trees Outside The Academy
The Bad Plus, Prog
Stars, In Our Bedroom After The War
Basia Bulat, Oh, My Darling
Caribou, Andorra

Albums I wish I liked a little better
Small Sins, Mood Swings
Nick Lowe, At My Age
Paul McCartney, Memory Almost Full
Rush, Snakes and Arrows