1. BATHS – Apologetic Shoulder Blades
Chicago, circa this past summer: Watching Baths at a music festival, it was WAY too hot to dance, but I couldn’t not. There was no messing with this heat. Roy Halladay couldn’t pitch in it, and I went through two barf bags on the flight home the next day as I recovered from over-exposure to this heat. Some other things may have weakened my gag reflex too, but it was definitely hot out there. And Will Wiesenfeld, a.k.a. Baths was a sweaty mess over a laptop and what looked like some sort of sampler. Pushing buttons usually isn’t this fun to watch, and his unquantized beats had all our sweaty asses shaking in the park. Had to snap up this album after seeing it.

2. OWEN PALLETT – Keep The Dog Quiet
Some folks have been drawn in by his virtuosity with a looping pedal, and some others have been swayed by his subversive writing and deft studio arrangements. A lot of music lovers have fallen for one, if not the other. I was one of those who was more enamoured with his solo live performances, and I was a bit late coming to the Heartland party (there was a party, wasn’t there?), but the architecture of the music on this album goes way beyond straight up virtuosity. Pallett does have considerable press and fan support, but I don’t feel like enough people know how great this record is.

3. TORTOISE – Gigantes
There are a couple of somewhat embarrassing aspects to my obsession with Tortoise:
1) I’m not terribly proud of this, but I play air drums to this song virtually ever time I hear this song — which is a lot — and I can almost get through the whole thing without screwing up, which is pretty good (try it, it’s harder than you think).
2) I’m almost constantly on the verge of auto-refreshing their website for any update on any forthcoming activity. But the front page of their site continues to tell me that Beacons of Ancestorship is OUT NOW, as it has been for the last two and half years. And they have a whopping 2 dates planned for the first half of 2012. One of which I’m strongly tempted to attend, even though it’s in Chicago.

4. SUUNS – Arena
Suuns’ music sucker-punched me when I was aimlessly passing by a side-stage at a music festival this past summer. I wasn’t “abiding”, but I found myself looking over at a friend of mine that was, and we engaged in the time-honoured wordless look of exasperation where you’re like: Is this the coolest music I’ve ever heard, or have I been standing in the sun for too long? I’ve seen them again since, and I just love their music’s danceable, dark chaos.

5. JUNIOR BOYS – The Reservoir
I’m generally an “album guy”, and admittedly haven’t actually spent a lot of time listening to the recent Junior Boys album, but “The Reservoir” is such a texturally compelling song. The song is simple enough in it’s construction, but the over-all aesthetic of it is really beautiful, and I just love how it shimmers through my headphones.

6. SANDRO PERRI – Changes
It’s difficult for me to be the least bit objective, or sane, with regards to Sandro Perri. I’ve spent more time listening to his music, and thinking about his music than I’d comfortably admit. And he probably regrets the day that I got to meet him (it was at a bar, through a mutual friend), where he was subjected to an epic amount of gushing alternated with prodding by me. Adding to the Sandro Perri mythology I’d been harbouring, he turns out to be the nicest, most accommodating dude ever.

7. GIL SCOTT-HERON – I’m New Here
Gil Scott-Heron was still alive when I first heard this piece, and I found it beautiful and heartbreaking even then. I’ll admit to not being fully appreciative of his influence on contemporary music until recently. It would be a farce for me to try to sum it up here. Listen to the The Revolution Will Not Be Televised. Read this piece in the New Yorker, published less than a year before he died. Fill in the blanks; his is a compelling story. And this is one of my favorite songs from the last year or so. It’s a very cool album, but this song is particularly moving. I’m glad he had a comeback left in him while he was still alive. The unfortunate thing is that he’ll probably be even better appreciated by more people now that he’s gone.