CBC Radio 3 Recap of 2006

CBC Radio3 has published on their blog a collection of Canadian indie music nods from across the entertainment spectrum, including Amy Millan's spot in Rolling Stone's 100 Best Songs and The Wailin' Jennys CD success on the Folk Alley Top 10. A few other favourites posted on this blog right here have also made some noise internationally including Emily Haines' Metric and the Golden Dogs - which just goes to show you all I have excellent taste in music! And if you doubted it, why not try out some Les Breastfeeders for size. This Quebec band left a permanent mark when they headlined the Lamplighter back in Vancouver last March and did an equally impressive job here in Toronto performing hits from their latest CD Les Matins de Grands Soirs. So if you haven't been paying attention to the music tracks I've painstakeningly posted and raved about on this blog, click the "indie music" label at the bottom of this post to get a showcase of the who's who of the Canadian indie scene and stay tuned for more in the new year!

The CBC Radio 3 Top 94 of 2006 and the first annual Bucky Awards are fast approaching; but Canadian artists are already hitting 2006 best album lists around the world.

Tokyo Police Club and Amy Millan have both made it into Rolling Stone's 100 Best Songs of 2006. Of Millan's song "Skinny Boy", they write, "Singer from Canadian indie-pop outfit Stars applies angel-voiced cynicism to delicious Mazzy Star-style tune. Best line: You've got lips I could spend a day with.'"

Meanwhile, Tokyo Police Club get a whole new word made up for them in the description of their great song, "Cheer It On": "They're not from Tokyo, they're not cops and the only club they could get into is probably the Strokes Fan Club -- but these mods score with a gloriously dumb garage-punk thrash-terpiece."

Destroyer's latest CD, Destroyer's Rubies, is number 9 - and the only Canadian pick - on Metacritic's 30 Best-Reviewed Albums of the Year, which tallies its results based on major critics' reviews from around the world. The Vancouver band beat out internationally acclaimed releases by groups including The Roots, Arctic Monkeys, Neko Case, The Decemberists, The Hold Steady and even The Beatles.

Right now, NME's Top 50 Albums Of The Year is only out on newsstands, but Metric's Live It Out, which was released in the UK in July this year, is ranked at number 38, above Beck, Bob Dylan, and Wolfmother.

The Wailin' Jennys recent CD, Firecracker, is number 1 on the Top 10 list of Folk Alley, a national NPR radio program. On the show's website, they rave: "Wailin' Jennys' award-winning Ruth Moody, Nicky Mehta and Annabelle Chvostek combine their individual songwriting talents, spine-tingling harmonies and rootsy folk-pop arrangements for a stunning follow-up to their 2004 debut."

Three Canadian bands have received a slightly different kind of honour: The Bicyles, The Golden Dogs and Les Breastfeeders have made it onto Allmusic.com's 25 Most Crushworthy Bands of 2006 list.

Of Toronto's The Golden Dogs, Allmusic's Margaret Reges writes: "The Golden Dogs are Canadian, they sound a little like Arcade Fire, they wear cute outfits, and gosh darn it, I want to put them in my back pocket! I wanted to buy a t-shirt, but they aren't selling any! Damn you, Golden Dogs! Damn you for making me love you!"

Hear Les Breastfeeder's Pas Sans Saveur from Les Matins de Grands Soirs