HOLIDAY MUSIC BUYERS GUIDE -- CANADIAN EDITION. Here's a quick and dirty rundown of notable music releases from 2003. Any of them would make for perfect stocking stuffer fodder for your fave music nut. And since I'm harbouring a bit of anti-American sentiment as of late, this petite buyers guide will feature CANADIAN!! releases only.
Polmo Polpo -- Like Hearts Swelling. Ignore the Alanis-esque heavy-handed title. This album is superior to last year's "The Science of Breath" not least because the slate of influences have been wiped nearly clean. This record sounds like Polmo Polpo more than it sounds like anyone else.
Aidan Baker -- I Fall Into You. It emerges gradually, like slowly opening a pop-up picture book. Not as engaging as last year's drone-tastic "Letters", but if you don't like this release, Aidan's recently put out another 582 for you to choose from instead.
Do Make Say Think -- Winter Hymn Country Hymn Secret Hymn. Really jazzy, really loose, and really good. As overall statements go, DMST's albums keep getting better. Having said that, as time goes by it becomes more obvious to me that the mercurial twelve minutes of "Goodbye Enemy Airship" was the pinnacle of their career, and I doubt that they will ever top it.
The Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band with Choir -- This is Our Punk Rock, Thee Rusted Satellites Gather + Sing. The band names and titles are getting ridiculous. Really, it's time to stop with it already. The overwrought, be-pompously-arty-at-all-costs lyrics are a drawback as well, but the long (and I do mean LONG) tracks will eventually reward the patient listener. SMZ albums always take extra time to sink in.
Sixtoo -- Antagonist Survival Kit. Nothing mind-blowing as far as (mainly) instrumental hip-hop goes, but a healthy source of phatness nonetheless.
Plastikman -- Closer. It must be hard being Ritchie Hawtin. Or more specifically, it must be hard being a legend. Even more specifically it must be hard being a legend for almost his entire adult life, and having to live up to the mountainous expectations that his formidable reputation demands. On one hand, there's continued adulation if you succeed, but if you fail, there's the spectre of being weighed down by your past and relegated to being over the hill at the ripe young age of 33.
But true genius finds a way to stare down those expectations and deliver the goods again and again. "Closer" is a fucking astounding album. Dare I say it is even darker than its Joy Division namesake. It's so good it puts much of Hawtin's already astounding back catalogue to shame. It's full of frightening and mysterious sounds whose existence you can't begin to fathom without hearing the album. It's essential like oxygen is essential.
Tim Hecker -- Radio Amor. I want to love this album more than I actually do, but I've been stuck in a rut with it for months now. I press play, it grabs me, I marvel at it, but about halfway through I forget that I'm listening to it. Toward the end I remember it's there again and it roughs me up a bit more before it finishes. Anyhow, when it does command my full attention, it's strikingly beautiful, like sitting next to a still lake, water glistening in the moonlight, while alternately shifting glances between a pretty girl and the starry sky. You can only count on Tim Hecker to provide that exact mood with absolute certainty.
Desormais - I Am Broken And Remade. Like Fennesz played with real instruments. Chaotic, organic, lo-fi chillout stuff. And a drastic change from their claustrophobic debut.
