chumptastic dot org 23 Dec
05
end of year list-o-rama
well, it’s the end of the year, and i think i’m officially the last to post a best-of list. so, here’s my contribution to the blogosphere, after much consternation and additions and deletions. i was originally going to try to squeeze everything into top 10 lists, but frankly, this year was just too good. so i say screw arbitrary limitations, and if you haven’t heard any of the music below, you really have been missing out.
a couple notes: i bet i’ll look at this list in a week or so and wish that i’d ordered things differently, so consider this a guideline. as well, i’m sure something from 2004 has crept into my list. but hey, it’s my list, and i get to make the rules.
| favouritest albums | |
| 1. constantines – tournament of hearts | 14. broadcast – tender buttons |
| 2. spoon – gimme fiction | 15. clap your hands say yeah – clap your hands say yeah |
| 3. joel plaskett – la de da | 16. deadly snakes – porcella |
| 4. broken social scene – broken social scene | 17. novillero – aim right for the holes in their lives |
| 5. final fantasy – has a good home | 18. sparrow – the early years |
| 6. maximo park – a certain trigger | 19. city field – authentic city |
| 7. ladies and gentlemen – small sins | 20. okkervil river – black sheep boy |
| 8. decemberists – picaresque | 21. most serene republic – underwater cinematographer |
| 9. wolf parade – apologies to the queen mary | 22. caribou – the milk of human kindness |
| 10. sufjan stevens – illinois | 23. josh rouse – nashville |
| 11. new pornographers – twin cinema | 24. m. ward – transistor radio |
| 12. cuff the duke – cuff the duke | 25. stephen malkmus – face the truth |
| 13. national – alligator | |
| honourable mentions: jason collett – idols of exile, controller.controller – x-amounts, metric – live it out, chad vangaalen – infiniheart, bloc party – silent alarm remixed, thanksgiving – the river | |
| favouritest songs | |
| 1. broken social scene – 7/4 (shoreline) | 14. new pornographers – sing me spanish techno |
| 2. final fantasy – this is the dream of win and regine | 15. clap your hands say yeah – the skin of my yellow country teeth |
| 3. deadly snakes – gore veil | 16. sparrow – the early years |
| 4. decemberists – the sporting life | 17. bell orchestre – les lumieres pt 2 |
| 5. joel plaskett – nina and albert | 18. broadcast – michael a grammar |
| 6. ladies and gentlemen – stay | 19. wolf parade – dear sons and daughters of hungry ghosts |
| 7. constantines – hotline operator | 20. city field – pretenders |
| 8. long winters – blue diamonds | 21. thanksgiving – ageism |
| 9. jens lekman – sweet summer’s night in hammer hill | 22. lcd soundsystem – daft punk is playing at my house |
| 10. maximo park – apply some pressure | 23. okkervil river – for real |
| 11. islands – abominable snow | 24. cuff the duke – the future hangs |
| 12. metric – monster hospital | 25. novillero – laissez-faire system |
| 13. spoon – i turn my camera on | |
| honourable mentions: american analog set – immaculate heart 1, the national – waiting for astronauts, caribou – yeti, immaculate machine – phone number, m. ward – sweethearts on parade, hawaii – break you, russian futurists – paul simon, chad vangaalen – clinicly dead, jason collett – fire | |
| favouritest live shows | |
| 1. camouflage nights – horseshoe tavern, toronto, april 22 | 11. feist/apostle of hustle – harbourfront centre, toronto, july 1 |
| 2. joel plaskett/pete elkas/matt barber – hugh’s room, toronto, april 30 | 12. decemberists – phoenix concert theatre, toronto, may 21 and oct 13 |
| 3. arcade fire/final fantasy/wolf parade – danforth music hall, toronto, april 27 | 13. danny michel – rivoli, toronto, june 17 |
| 4. stars/gentlemen reg – grad club, kingston, january 28 | 14. spoon – opera house, toronto, june 5 |
| 5. broken social scene/stars/metric/apostle of hustle/jason collett/gentleman reg – bluesfest, ottawa, july 9 | 15. josh rouse – lee’s palace, toronto, april 5 |
| 6. inbreds – lee’s palace, toronto, march 11 | 16. sarah harmer/magali meagher/jason collett/andrew whiteman/gentleman reg/andre ethier/bob wiseman – bloor cinema, toronto, feb 18 |
| 7. final fantasy/torngat – music gallery, toronto, june 25 | 17. final fantasy/thanksgiving/holy fuck – music gallery, toronto, feb 26 |
| 8. joel plaskett/cuff the duke – elixir, kingston, january 25 | 18. apostle of hustle – grad club, kingston, feb 15 |
| 9. sufjan stevens – trinity st. paul church, toronto, sept 10 | 19. death from above 1979/lost cause – grad club, kingston, jan 21 |
| 10. jens lekman – music gallery, toronto, nov 5 | |
| favouritest movies | |
| 1. why we fight | 11. enron: the smartest guys in the room |
| 2. a history of violence | 12. the life and hard times of guy terrifico |
| 3. broken flowers | 13. kontrol |
| 4. crash | 14. batman begins |
| 5. syriana | 15. the squid and the whale |
| 6. mad hot ballroom | 16. 40 year old virgin |
| 7. grizzly man | 17. the constant gardener |
| 8. hotel rwanda | 18. the wild parrots of telegraph hill |
| 9. murderball | 19. rock school |
| 10. brokeback mountain | 20. star wars episode 3: revenge of the sith |
edit: in the interest of exercising a little revisionist history, i’ve altered my best-of movies list. i have no idea how i managed to omit a couple movies from my original list. shame on me.
