Cloud Nothings' self-titled album was one of my favourites of 2011, but the recent Attack on Memory? I'm still not quite sure. It sounds huge, and there are still a few catchy moments that make it worth the price of admission, but, as I wrote about for The Tyee, I'm not quite sure I buy songwriter Dylan Baldi as a mopey grunger.
Below is the video for "No Future/No Past." Bummer, man.

 

Lana Del Rey just might end up having one of the shortest career arcs in recent memory. Everyone loved her just a few months ago, but then she bombed on Saturday Night Live and everyone seems to hate Born to Die (the title of which seems to sum up Lana's career). All good things must pass. I just didn't know it would pass quite so quickly.
Below is the title track from "Born to Die," which really is a pretty awesome song. Let's remember Lana like this! With hooky choruses, dead-eyed melancholy and fucking tigers sitting next to her fucking throne.
I've written a few Exclaim! stories about Lana in the past few months.

 

When I first started writing about music, I reviewed albums for Discorder, and consequently spent a bunch of time hanging around the CiTR 101.9 FM station at UBC. That's why it gives me a bit of a thrill to see that the Evaporators and Andrew W.K. filmed a music video in the station. A couple of years ago I could have theoretically been one of those kids (is that the singer of Thee AHs?) dancing around in the lounge.
It's pretty amazing to see a music video when you're so familiar with the surroundings, especially one as fun as this bubblegum punk party.

 

Drake has so many feelings! Yes, the lyrics of Take Care are littered with alcohol and strip clubs, but these are all just distractions from the fact that he spends most of the hour-plus runtime rapping and singing about how he just wants a lady who will love him as much as his crew does. Life is hard.
Hey, but the production is rad and the album is great, so long as you're in the mood for pining over unrequiteds.
Below is the uncharacteristically hedonistic (but still tear-in-beer sensitive).

 

I've been waiting to hear a recorded version of this Prairie Cat song for a couple of years now, ever since I heard him play it during a live show in 2009. It's called "Bad Storm," and it's a heartrending breakup tune that he previously described as being about Scattergories. Sure enough, there is a line about starting the clock and rolling the dice, adding a bit of levity to this otherwise poignant song and reminding me why Prairie Cat is one of my favourite Vancouver artists.
Watch a video below, which plays out like a day in the life of Prairie Cat songwriter Cary Pratt (yes, pun), who evidently wakes up very early.

 

I've posted a remix of this song, but it's only now that the best song from The Suburbs by Arcade Fire has finally been released as a stand-alone single. As you hopefully already know, "Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)" is a gorgeous, synth-spiked banger that sounds a bit like "Heart of Glass" with some added rock muscle.
The clip isn't exactly essential, but who cares? I'm just glad that one of the best tunes from 2010 finally has a video (even if it is about a year late).
There's also an interactive video, but again, this is really all about the song.

 

If you're a Vancouverite with a penchant for getting freaky on the dance floor, chances are good that you've done just that during a set of electro-infused tribal jams from Basketball.
The band recently put out the album Maw through the Broadway to Boundary. Below, watch a video for the thumping world fusion track "Suspiros de Chile." You might not get the point if you listen to this one through your laptop speakers.

 

Déjà vu! If it feels like only a few months ago that Cass McCombs released an album and went on tour, that's because it is. Hot on the heels of this spring's Wit's End, his new album Humor Risk is out now. Cass will be coming to the Electric Owl in Vancouver tomorrow night (December 5).
Below, watch the video for his bleary, folk rocking recent single "The Same Thing."
If you're going to show tomorrow, say hi to me. I'll be the one wearing glasses.

 

My designer friend Mike Withers (who created this website) and I both agree that Sound Kapital by Handsome Furs is the best album of 2011. What we disagree on, however, is the song "Serve the People." While he thinks it's the album's low point, I think it's a majestic, power-to-the-people anthem that encapsulates the ragged glory and Springsteen-esque politics that mark much of Boeckner's best work. It's a powerful 'fuck you' to world leaders who don't, ahem, serve the people.
Watch the song's recently unveiled music video below.
I wrote about Sound Kapital for year-end features by Exclaim! and BeatRoute.

 

On every album, the Black Keys manage to deliver one awesome song. I haven't actually heard El Camino in full yet, but it's got at least one tune that's a total banger. "Lonely Boy" contains traces of the band's signature gritty blues rock sound, but it's mostly a straight-up pop rock stomper with a fucking mammoth chorus that's guaranteed to be played at a million of those tacky indie rock nights at dance clubs.
Hey, the guy in the video below would go to that night.
Go to Exclaim! for more about El Camino.