A chill in the air; “Feliz Navidad” on the mall intercom; fat, demanding children assaulting their parents’ ears, as well as our own… yes, it’s that time again. You might know it as Christmas, Hanukkah or Kwanzaa, but I only know it as Year End List Season, the start of which is heralded this year with I Heart Music’s roundup of the Hottest Bands In Canada. The assembled bloggers, print and radio critics and photographers (don’t scoff, they go to more shows than you do) ranked 33 bands from the ubiquitous (Crystal Castles, 11) to the obscure (Black Hat Brigade, 30).
Unsurprisingly, and maybe inevitably, the list largely mirrored this year’s Polaris Music Prize nominees, but the big shocker came with the poll-topper: Calgary homebody Chad VanGaalen, whose choir-boy voice and unassuming folk-rock beat out all comers. This isn’t the first time VanGaalen’s found love from CanCritics — he was a Polaris nominee in ’07 and graced the cover of Exclaim! in September (not to mention the cover of EYE WEEKLY back in ’05). But if you’re looking for an early bellwether of surprise candidates for year-end laurels, this might just be the one to, er, heart.
GANG GANG GONE
It’s still not clear why Gang Gang Dance cancelled their opening slot on the Toronto date of the Of Montreal tour, or why they announced and then pulled out of a last-minute replacement gig the same night. For a more reliable experience, check out this intensely psychedelic (but high-quality) video of their gig at Paris’ Fleche d’Or.
MP3 OF THE WEEK
Kanye West, “Heartless”: Remember in Face-Off when Nicholas Cage is forced to pretend to be the dastardly John Travolta, only he eventually sort of redeems Travolta’s evil deeds and goes on to save the world? That’s this song, if T-Pain were Travolta, Kanye were Cage and “evil deeds” = “stupid autotune overuse.”