MY FAVOURITE ALBUMS of 2013

Here's my list! Who cares, right?!?!?!? Ahhhhhh, FUCK IT! I'm going for it anyway!

Before I get into it, let me just say that 2013 was pretty great for TSTAT. Significant events? I DIE SMILING finally stopped living on my hard drive and came into fruition as my first official (and unofficial, unless there's something I don't know about) full-length release! Not only that, but 2 amazing music videos (one by PHIL OSBORNE and the other by DAVID HALL), a couple of spots on some nifty compilations, a guest-spot on the aforementioned MERDARAHTA release and a nice collection of reviews and writeups. The lion's share of the time spent "working" on I DIE SMILING can really be chalked up to waiting very patiently for amazing people to pull out some huge favours for me. These are some (hopefully all, actually) of those people - DAVID HALL, TOPON DAS, ELENA PALANZA, GARY THIBERT, SCOTTY ROONEY, CORY SOURAL, BLAKE JACOBS, and PHIL OSBORNE. Thanks guys! You made my year!

Ok, onto the list. As usual, these are in no order. Except to say that there are quite a few so I'll start with the ones that really, truly blew me away...

1) ALTAR OF PLAGUES - TEETHED GLORY AND INJURY "When I first heard this, I was like 'Oh.....THIS is what TSTAT should sound like! Shit.'"

2) SHAHMAN - SOUNDS THAT LOOK LIKE US "I've gone on about this band at length before and I won't stop now. This album is incredible. It sounds broken and wrong in all the best ways."
http://shahman.bandcamp.com/album/sounds-that-look-like-us

3) WINDHAND - SOMA "How did I find out about these guys? An ad in that stupid Facebook sidebar thingy! Who says Big Brother is all bad, huh?"

4) BIIPIIGWAN - SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE; NOTHING FOR ANYONE "Check yourself for bruises after listening because this will seriously pummel the shit out of you."
http://biipiigwan.bandcamp.com/album/something-for-everyone-nothing-for-anyone

5) THOSE GULLS - ON OUR OWN/FRIDAY NIGHT/THE OUT (SINGLES) "A fantastic combination of indie rock, emocore and dreampop. 2 vocalists (a guy and a girl), keyboards...it's all there!"
http://thosegulls.bandcamp.com/

6) CAVE - THREACE "A goddamn wonderful modern take on the psychedelic krautrock of yesteryear."

7) DOMOVOYD - OH, SENSIBILITY "Psychedelic doom from Finland! Isn't that enough to peak your interest? No? Ok, it's also weird as hell. Like, constantly weird."

8) GARBAGEFACE - BARRAGE OF CERTAINTY "Irresistibly catchy noise-rap from the hands and mouth of one seriously intense and funny dude."
http://garbageface.bandcamp.com/album/barrage-of-certainty

9) FUCK THE FACTS - AMER "This band always, always adds new elements with every new release and this one is no exception. Atmospheric grindcore? You betcha!"
http://fuckthefacts.bandcamp.com/album/amer

Ok, now here's "the rest" bleeeeeeeeeehhhhh...

10)  BLOOD CEREMONY - THE ELDRITCH DARK "I laugh everytime I hear the singer/flautist singing along with her own flute playing as she plays the flu....what was I saying?"

11) MY BLOODY VALENTINE - M B V "The long-awaited new release from MY BLOODY VALENTINE sounds like....the older releases by MY BLOODY VALENTINE! I'm cool with that."

12) KEN MODE - ENTRENCH "Another damn fine effort from these Canadian noise-rockers. Extra props for one of my favourite song titles in recent memory: NO; I'M IN CONTROL. Excellent use of the semi-colon, fellas!"

13) KYLESA - ULTRAVIOLET "I'd decided a few of these guys albums ago that they weren't for me. Glad I decided to give em one more go!"

14) PALMS - PALMS "ISIS + DEFTONES = some reeeeal good stuff! (sorry, it's late and I'm already sick of these stupid descriptions)"

15) JESU - EVERYDAY I GET CLOSER TO THE LIGHT FROM WHICH I CAME "I really love this album although it's kind of a bummer that it's nowhere near close to the unassailable perfection of SILVER or the SELF-TITLED. I'm not usually one to complain..."

16) RUSSIAN CIRCLES - MEMORIAL "I've always liked this band but this release in particular is just extra good somehow."

17) MELVINS - TRES CABRONES + EVERYBODY LOVES SAUSAGES "If the MELVINS put out an album (or two), chances are I'm gonna love it. At least, that's been the case so far."

18) DEAFHEAVEN - SUNBATHER "Heavy metal crybabies hate this band cuz nerds with hipster haircuts show up at their shows and freak the fuck out. Like I care about that shit."

19) ENSEMBLE PEARL - ENSEMBLE PEARL "Some real tasty drone/doom care of a supergroup of sorts."

20) BOARDS OF CANADA - TOMORROW'S HARVEST "The OTHER band to release an album in 2013 after years of anticipation and speculation (I don't include DAFT PUNK in this and I'll explain why below). I have no idea if it ended up satisfying their fanbase's expectations or not but I sure like it!"

21) JUCIFER - THE RUSSIAN ALBUM "These two are almost always good for a solid release but this one in particular is a serious crusher. All the brutality of THRONED IN BLOOD but with much more depth."

22) YEAR OF NO LIGHT - TOCSIN "Loved these guys for awhile now. They sound like a new band on every release. I'm so down with that."

23) TOY - JOIN THE DOTS "I know absolutely nothing about this band. A quick google could probably change all that."

24) LONGMONT POTION CASTLE - LONGMONT POTION CASTLE 10 "Where humour is concerned, I think one of the hardest things to do is to be funny without being at all vulgar or profane. This guy is the master."
http://noisetent.com/ducat.html

25) MIKE JOURGENSEN - MOODEITY "The very same man responsible for the release discussed directly before this one is also a one-man band of sorts. Thrash-metal Dinosaur Jr. type stuff that old people like myself would go nuts for."
http://mikejourgensen.bandcamp.com/

26) UMBERTO - CONFRONTATIONS "Moody, synth-driven, nighttime, electro, 80s-style, space disco....I like describing this album as much as I like listening to it."

27) LIFE COACH - ALPHAWAVES "Yet another modernized take on Krautrock type stuff. Very cool indeed."

28) SKINNY PUPPY - WEAPON "Ever since they got back together, each album has been better than the last and this one keeps the pattern going. Very old school and very awesome."

29) CLOUD RAT - MOKSHA "Stop giving your albums away for free, you lunatics!"

30) MOTHS & LOCUSTS - MISSION COLLAPSE IN THE TWIN SUN MEGAVERSE "Sometimes it's like HAWKWIND and sometimes it's super-mellow post-rock. I love things that are lots of different things."
http://mothsandlocusts.bandcamp.com/music

31) SUB ROSA - MORE CONSTANT THAN GODS "This was a real grower for me but ultimately proved to be a total asskicker. In a much more subtle way than their last album. Basically, it's a little bit boring but that's not always a bad thing."

32) PISSED JEANS - HONEYS "You don't often hear such grinding brutality from pop songs, do you?"

33) KARL BARTOS - OFF THE RECORD "A solo album from a KRAFTWERK dude. That should be enough for you to at least give it a listen."

HONOURABLE MENTIONS

EVILE - SKULL
PURLING HISS - WATER ON MARS
DARKTHRONE - THE UNDERGROUND RESISTANCE
KANYE WEST - YEEZUS
PORTAL - VEXOVOID
IRON REAGAN - WORSE THAN DEAD
IRON LUNG - WHITE GLOVE TEST
NINE INCH NAILS - HESITATION MARKS
TEETH OF THE SEA - MASTER
M.I.A. - MATANGI
CHVRCHES - THE BONES OF WHAT YOU BELIEVE
ROSE WINDOWS - THE SUN DOGS
STEVE MOORE - POSITRONIC NEURAL PATHWAYS
MELT-BANANA - "FETCH"
GIGANTIC BRAIN - OUR DAM/BRUNETTE (SINGLES)
http://giganticbrain.bandcamp.com/

WORTHLESS ALBUMS

QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE - LIKE CLOCKWORK
ALICE IN CHAINS - THE DEVIL PUT DINOSAURS HERE
YEAH YEAH YEAHS - MOSQUITO
JAY Z - HOLY GRAIL
DAFT PUNK - RANDOM ACCESS MEMORIES

BONUS TOP-TEN MAINSTREAM SINGLES/SONGS I-PLEAD-NOT-GUILTY-TO-PLEASURE LIST

1) BONNIE MCKEE - AMERICAN GIRL
2) USS - THIS IS THE BEST
3) MOTHER MOTHER - LET'S FALL IN LOVE
4) GROUPLOVE - WAYS TO GO
5) PHOENIX - ENTERTAINMENT
6) SERENA RYDER - MARY GO ROUND
7) GASLIGHT ANTHEM - 45
8) DRAKE - STARTED FROM THE BOTTOM
9) AWOL NATION - THISKIDSNOTALRIGHT
10) couldn't come up with a tenth. I really hate that Phoenix band. Every band, even the worst band, is usually good for at least one decent song. I assume when I hear songs like these that there's no point investigating any further into the artist in question's catalogue but I thought maybe THE GASLIGHT ANTHEM album might be worth a try and it's not that there aren't very many good songs on the respective album other than the song 45 but it's more the kind of thing where it's THE ONLY GOOD SONG ON THERE!!! The same actually goes for most of the albums on the worthless pile which is why they ended up there.

Happy New Year.

MERDARAHTA ETCETARAHTA

Did I say it was cold before? That was a balmy paradise compared to the week or however long that followed. Fucking Old Man Winter. Bring it on, asshole. I'm what you'd call a warrior as I walk to and from work in -30C windsqualls (ok, it's only a 20 minute walk, but still...let's see you do it!!!). Much more of that shit to come. Might as well get cozy with a steaming cup of tea (I'm a bit of a dandy when it comes to beverages) and some killer tunes, brah...

A new MERDARAHTA release was unleashed last week! The first one in a really long while. I love being involved in this project for many reasons. The first and foremost that I get to collaborate with a number of other musicians for whom I have nothing but good things to say - TOPON DAS of FUCK THE FACTS being at the top of that heap. Also because when I finally get to hear the finished product, I usually have an almost impossible time picking out my own contributions. Something pretty cool about that. It's available for digital download via BANDCAMP for a measly dollar (but you'll pay more cuz you're not a skint prick). CLICK HERE!

I DIE SMILING is featured amongst an amazing collection of albums in FOREVER CURSED's best-of-2013 year-end list. The coolest thing about this is that, somehow, this blog slipped past my radar and, as a result, they did not receive a pestering email from myself begging them for some press coverage. No idea how my shit managed to come across their desk but I love it. The other cool thing is the list itself is pretty great and doesn't feature all the "usual suspects" which we're all probably sick of reading in the deluge of lists that come out this time of year. Anyways, huge props to those guys! Here's the writeup: CLICK HERE!

FOREVERISH

It's winter now and I'm in Canada. Cold but not even that cold yet. The real shitcold is still to come. Nothing to do but GRIM and BEAR IT. It's kind of pretty, at least. I look out my window at night and understand everything there is to know about TRVE KVLT BLACK METAL. Then I go out the next day and step in a puddle of brown, freezing slush. All those dark, romantic musings can take a dive right down the toilet bowl. Get obsessed by that, nerds!

Here's a great review that was posted on the UK-based (I think??) music blog ECHOES AND DUST. They do a nice roundup of all the tracks. Very cool. CLICK IT!

Looks like I came in at number 3 on the CKCU FM (Carleton University Community Radio) CHARTS last week! Thanks are in order to the following programs who were incredibly helpful in throwing me a bone and playing a track or two off of I DIE SMILING: THE NIGHT WATCH, CROSSING BOREDOM, and e.V.'s UNDERGROUND. I've loved this radio station since high school so I'm always secretly giddy whenever I manage to worm my way onto it's airwaves.

This OVERKILL article that was posted on INVISIBLE ORANGES a few weeks ago is awesome. Their discography may be spotty as all hell but the fact is THE YEARS OF DECAY is possibly the finest thrash album there is next to REIGN IN BLOOD. Here's the article. CLICK IT!

2013 is almost done. I'll post my favourite albums of the year pretty soon. Lots of good stuff. 2014 should be fun. I have an EP mostly written and ready to go. Recorded my drumkit using my cell phone. I'll be remembered for all this someday probably.