Phantogram (SCQ's Year-End Questionnaire Part I)

Eyelid Movies is among the few records in recent memory to take an overlong period of time (in this case, four years!) and then prove itself worth every minute. The brainchild of Phantogram (Josh Carter and Sarah Barthel) never overlooks or skims on a golden opportunity, and their resulting success looks likely to continue heating up over 2011. In a flash-interview, Carter and Barthel lay down the top picks and memories of a band on the rise.

SCQ: Every list-lover's favourite question: what are your top albums of 2010? Feel free to include any older yet worthy records you discovered this year.

Phantogram: Beach House - Teen Dream
Twin Shadow - Forget
Caribou - Swim
Oh No- Ethiopium
Baths- Cerulean

SCQ: What were you listening to a lot of while recording the excellent Eyelid Movies?

Phantogram: I remember listening to a lot of Snowden that year as well as Why? Madlib, and Flying Lotus. In Rainbows came out then as well and we analyzed the hell out of it.

SCQ: Be cocky for once in your life: what was the finest thing you did all year? That moment where you actually thought "shit, I nailed that..."?

Phantogram: We were pretty happy with the reviews that we got with the record. I remember opening up SPIN to check out what they gave us and was very proud to see they gave us an 8 out of 10. I grew up on reading SPIN so it was a huge honor for me.

SCQ: Effect and Cause: 'When I'm Small' first caught my attention ricocheting off of Ottawa's downtown buildings during what turned out to be the best soundcheck I've ever seen. Okay, your turn: confess a true tale that inspired one of the songs on Eyelid Movies.

Phantogram: Speaking of "When I'm Small" a lot of the metaphors we got for the lyrics were based on a rat infestation in our recording barn. They crawled all around our feet and above our heads. "Lucy" turned into being a character that was based off of a rat.

SCQ: If all the reasonable and implausible ideas in your head came to fruition in 2011, what would they be?

Phantogram: we would love to play some of the bigger well known festivals like Lollapalooza, Coachella and ACL next year. We also want to get the chance to make it out to Japan and Australia. thank you!

Gianna Lauren (SCQ's Year-End Questionnaire Part I)

One of the finest releases out of Halifax this year surely belonged to Gianna Lauren, whose new record Some Move Closer, Some Move On carried inspiration like fog covering streetlights. At first, nothing in the arrangements sticks out; Lauren’s vocals seem slightly detached from the structure and most every song ponders carefully plotted turns. And then a whole world opens up, one built of restraint – a sort of smoke-and-mirrors to slowly reveal her undeniable aura. Lauren brings a lot of character to this mini-interview, describing her musical journey across Canada and the terrifying tale behind a cozy SCQ favourite. (Photo by Scott Blackburn)

SCQ: Every list-lover's favourite question: what are your top albums of 2010? Feel free to include any older yet worthy records you discovered this year.

GL: I've always had really obscure taste in music and this year's selection definitely showcases my diversity of interests. In 2010 I was really impressed by the new releases from Ariel Pink, Rae Spoon, Richard Laviolette & the Oil Spills, Olenka & the Autumn Lovers, Jen Lane, Big Boi, Imaginary Cities, Liars, Circle vs. Square, Bill Frisell, Laura Veirs, Joanna Newsom, and Charlotte Gainsbourg.

I was introduced to Townes van Zandt's "Live at the Old Quarter in Houston, Texas". It has been a meaningful discovery, to say the least.

SCQ: What were you listening to a lot of while recording your excellent Some Move Closer, Some Move On?

GL: I made an eclectic record with Daniel Ledwell (In-Flight Safety, Jenn Grant) entitled Some Move Closer, Some Move On. At the time we were both listening to, and drawing inspiration from, Laura Veirs's "Saltbreakers", Midlake's "The Trials of Van Occupanter", Daniel Lanois, and Sigur Ros. We especially admired the production on recordings by Blonde Redhead and The Cardigans. You should hear Ledwell's solo stuff - it's awesome.

SCQ: Be cocky for once in your life: what was the finest thing you did all year? That moment where you actually thought "shit, I nailed that..."?

GL: Ha...that's cute. If I had to choose just one, hm...oh, kidding, This summer I toured across Canada by train, while performing on and off the train, with singer-songwriter Adam Fox aka Field Assembly (Toronto/Windsor). We were fans of each other's music from afar and spontaneously coordinated this collaborative project that would take us on the rails for one month. It was the most equally rewarding and challenging experience to date. There were a ton of awesome moments, like when we nailed a great sound, or met super interesting/strange people who we never would have met otherwise, and hanging out with friends who live all over the country....all the while witnessing the coast-to-coast scenery from the window of a train (although we DID get on and off to play city shows...it wasn't total captivity...but you could do it that way if you wanted, I suppose). It was tough at times - privacy is a rarity and you don't always have control over your own transportation or food or daily schedule. And, being attached at the hip with someone you barely know is a really wonderful way to get to know someone!

We would play a handful of 45 minute sets throughout the day in different parts of the train. Our last performance on VIA Rail between Edmonton and Vancouver was in the economy/coach section, and the train was just pulling into the Rocky Mountains. The car was packed to the edges with people who were singing and clapping along, smiling and laughing and looking out the window and genuinely enjoying the experience. It was such a pleasant surprise for everyone because the passengers were not expecting live music. Adam and I ended up meeting some of these people again at our following city shows in Vancouver and Victoria, BC.

A month gone by, everything said and done, Adam and I each took a vacation on the west coast, mostly enjoying being STILL. And, we are still good friends. I would do it all over again in a flash!

SCQ: Effect and Cause: Walking home from work listening to 'Cardigan', I realized how perfectly your songs evoke dusk. With autumn's sun setting earlier into night, everything from 'Be Nice' to 'Nightmares' stretches and casts light like downtown shadows. Okay, your turn: confess a true tale that inspired one of the songs on Some Move Closer, Some Move On.

GL: Well, it's funny you mention "Cardigan" because that little song has a big story behind it (it's also funny you mention dusk because I find dusk very stimulating). Two winters ago I moved to Halifax from Ottawa on a whim. I was intrigued by the music scene on the east coast and I knew a couple of people in the city, so that was enough for me - I packed my car and drove out. I moved into a quirky apartment above a Newfoundland grocery store with two other musicians and a visual artist. They failed to tell me that the room I would be renting had no heat. So, my second night in Halifax, I'm settling in and trying to stay warm with candles candles candles, all lit up around the room. My fuzzy gray grandfather sweater caught on fire and I went up in flames faster than the speed of light. My whole entire sweater was one big flame. It was SO SCARY. I threw myself to the ground and rolled around until the fire was gone. Even though I was pretty shaken up, I picked up my guitar and wrote "Cardigan".

SCQ: If all the reasonable and implausible ideas in your head came to fruition in 2011, what would they be?

GL: In my world or the real world? I guess they're both the same. In general, I think we'd all like to see better roads for cyclists, a sustainable industry for farmers, and cheaper ways to travel......in my immediate life I'd like to keep writing songs, collaborate more musically, introduce the populace to vegan donuts, travel south for a bit, and bring bikes to smaller communities.

Eluvium (SCQ's Year-End Questionnaire Part I)

For months I’ve tried in vain to decode Similes’ immersive qualities, what makes it so peacefully conflicted. And although the obvious answer waving to catch my attention - that the record’s emotional tide exists because of Matthew Cooper’s tireless songwriting efforts – is likely true, I preferred to believe that Eluvium’s latest was endowed with a particular set of circumstances (in the listener as much as in the songwriter) that helped it resonate so. After reading Cooper’s back-story for the Similes track ‘Weird Creatures’, however, I can’t kid myself any longer. Matthew Cooper's genius lies in his awareness of every small, earthly significance; realities that are far greater than our daily concerns. (Photo by Munaf Rayani)

SCQ: Every list-lover's favourite question: what are your top albums of 2010? Feel free to include any older yet worthy records you discovered this year.

MC: - i haven't really had much time to listen to new music this year
and it's getting a little overwhelming
but 3 releases have stood out to me thus far
Owen Pallett's "Heartland"
Arp's "The Soft Wave"
and Wild Nothing's "Gemini"
i wouldn't have expected to like something like the Wild Nothing record - but alas - it was in my car stereo for months.

SCQ: What were you listening to a lot of while recording the excellent Similes?

MC: -- i was pretty much exclusively listening to Similes - when i work on something i generally immerse myself in it.

SCQ: Be cocky for once in your life: what was the finest thing you did all year? That moment where you actually thought "shit, I nailed that..."?

MC: i'm not really a big "shit, i nailed that" kind of guy - some chickadees moved into a birdhouse i put up this past spring - i guess i was pretty pleased with myself about that - not sure why, since the birds did most of the work - - i also beat my wife at ping-pong several times over the summer... that was fun - - "finest" thing really translates to a collective of "finer" things for me - which would include reading on the back porch, riding my bike around town, and just generally soaking in the day.

SCQ: Effect and Cause: Over Easter's long-weekend, some friends and I met up in Montreal and I brought Similes, knowing that it would act as an ideal comedown record when we'd need it. Little did I know that we'd end up playing it front-to-back during the most chaotic hour of our weekend, listening carefully as each note unfurled from the speakers. Your record struck a powerful chord in each of us that night. Okay, your turn: confess a true tale that inspired one of the songs on Similes.

MC: -- there is a large tree that towers over everything across the street from my house - while writing Similes - i spent a lot of time sitting on my front porch looking at it. watching it's leaves flutter in the breeze, i would contemplate much so, eventually losing focus of everything -- usually when this happens to humans, depending on the lighting, these things called "floaters" appear in your vision, or rather, we take notice of them - my father is a neuroscientist, his focus on the eye - and i asked him what they were called - when i learned they were just simply called floaters - i was a little disappointed - i think i was perhaps hoping for something more unique and scientific sounding- i then learned that they aren't actually on the eyes but behind them - for some reason i had always assumed that they were little amoeba living on the vitreous humor or something of that sort - at any rate - this is where the song Weird Creatures was born - the moment of contemplation where you go deep, leave everything behind, and these weird creatures appear before you.

SCQ: If all the reasonable and implausible ideas in your head came to fruition in 2011, what would they be?

MC: --maybe humans would become pure energy, but still retain the ability to consider and recognize it
or otherwise - if that doesn't work out
i would release a few eluvium related albums - start a few other projects outside of eluvium,
and travel the world with my wife (while getting to stay in each place for more than a day)
scoring another full length film would be enjoyable also.

Super Visas (SCQ's Year-End Questionnaire Part I)

James Hicken (also of Wallscenery Demos) is one of those overly prolific, under-the-radar artists who release so many songwriting incarnations of himself, you gradually begin to love the entire repertoire. Speaking of his Super Visas moniker, Hicken discusses how READ (I Found Out) organically came together as spare parts from many recordings yet to be announced. Yes, 2011 is looking predictably busy for James Hicken…

SCQ: Every list-lover's favourite question: what are your top albums of 2010? Feel free to include any older yet worthy records you discovered this year.

JH: le noise. this album sounds so alive... the production is great, and the record sounds so fresh. it's one of those albums that provides me with relief. I haven't been listening to a whole lot of newer albums lately. I've mostly been digging through older albums...

SCQ: What were you listening to a lot of while recording your excellent Super Visas' debut READ (I Found Out)?

JH: I was going back through albums and artists that have had a lasting effect on me and my ideas about music. some of my staples are guided by voices, lee scratch perry, neil young, art blakey, king tubby, real estate, thrush hermit, galaxie500, gangstarr... I'm a little all over the place, but these artists were in heavy rotation.

SCQ: Be cocky for once in your life: what was the finest thing you did all year? That moment where you actually thought "shit, I nailed that..."?

JH: I would have to say this ablum (READ)... I didn't plan on doing it. I was working on the 3rd wallscenery demos album, and realized I had a bunch of recordings that made more sense to me as something stand alone. It gave me an escape from thinking too much while making an album. I recorded a lot of it with an internal mic on a computer and just had fun doing things the way your not supposed to...

SCQ: Effect and Cause: Having exiled myself to some patchwork pastures in New Hampshire this Summer, I became lost while listening to gauzy tracks like 'Anonymous Props' and 'Keep On Doin' It'. Okay, your turn: confess a true tale that inspired one of the songs from READ (I Found Out).

JH: Hands down duly noted projections. hugh oliver. I recorded an album for hugh and rosie, and hugh recited his poem projections as the album closer. I had a demo that I recorded at home and for some reason it made me think of projections. I put the two together, tweaked a few things and it made sense to me. Working with hugh, rosie and marco on that album was amazing. we recorded Hugh reciting projections at marco difelice's studio in the lobby- which is massive and has great natural reverb. the recording sessions were fun, and it felt invigorating being a part of the record.. Hugh is a great creative spirit.

SCQ: If all the reasonable and implausible ideas in your head came to fruition in 2011, what would they be?

JH: label support. my albums are all self financed, recorded, manufactured and promoted. I'm not even playing shows now. It would be a relief to have some portions of what goes into releasing an album removed from my plate so I can focus on important stuff. My main priority is to continue writing and releasing material frequently. 2011 will hold another super visas album- I've started ear marking some recordings. I should start playing some shows as well.

Foxes In Fiction (SCQ's Year-End Questionnaire Part I)

Warren Hildebrand packs some serious scope into just about everything he does. For one thing, the twenty-two tracks of his successful full-length Swung From the Branches permitted Hildebrand’s slow blossom from ambient-composer into indie-electronic songwriter. How about another; the man behind Foxes In Fiction also runs his own cassette label Orchid Tapes which has unveiled six records since, um, September. And finally, Hildebrand gives plenty of scope to SCQ’s year-end questionnaire, explaining his top album choices as well as the super-nostalgic/weirdly-touching back-story behind Swung From the Branches’ title. (Photo by Rachel Renda)

SCQ: Every list-lover's favourite question: what are your top albums of 2010? Feel free to include any older yet worthy records you discovered this year.

WH: I don’t usually find myself keeping up to date with a lot of the music that is released throughout the year, as most of the time I’m tied up with sifting through a lot of older musicians and records. It’s not rare that it’ll be three or four months (or even years) after a record is released that I’ll finally get around listening to it. My timeframe for digesting new music is even slower (the ones that take the longest are usually the ones that I end up loving the most) and it can sometimes take me even longer to write about why I like certain music (but I discovered if I change my font to Futura in Microsoft Word I’m more inclined to write more because everything looks nice in this font and it doesn’t remind me of doing schoolwork). But anyways, here are a few albums that I really ended up adoring during 2010 (so far, and in no particular order).

1. Coma Cinema – Blue Suicide (2010)

One of the nicest things that happened to me in 2010 was not only meeting Mat Cothran of Coma Cinema and being able to start a collaborative side project with him called Coma Foxes, but also discovering the albums that he makes. His ability to wrap pop songs with insightful and dark lyrics has made this and his other albums some of my favourite ever.

2. Deerhunter – Halcyon Digest (2010)

The amazing thing about being a fan of the Atlas Sound / Deerhunter cannon is that there are never huge gaps between releases, and everything they do release is incredibly good. Earthquake, the airy and chilling opening track, is probably my favourite song of 2010. Even as I write this Bradford has just posted his third free album as Atlas Sound in three days. I think I’m gonna cry.

3. MGMT – Congratulations (2010)

I can understand how critics and old MGMT fans would have dismissed this album right away, as there isn’t anything like the immediate catchy pop stuff of their first album on it that grabs you right away. But the magical thing about this album is that the more you listen to it (according to my iTunes which I’ve had running since Sept. 2009, this is my most listened-to album) the more it opens itself up to you and reveals what is really is: a beautiful written psychedelic nod to the experimental pop music of the 60s and 70s. I really hope that anyone who initially wrote this off will go back and listen to it again.


4. RxRy – RxRy (2010)

There’s already almost a year between now and when I first came across this album. Listening to it now brings me back to a morning when I walked home from my best friends house in the early hours of the morning in the suburbs of Toronto. The air was cold and fresh and there was fog settling on the frosted grass everywhere. Every now and then the sun would peak out between the rows of houses and I kept on wishing to myself that I had a camera with me to help document this incredibly beautiful private moment. But instead I had this album playing on my headphones and listening back to it produces a mental document of that morning more vivid than any photograph.

5. Gold Panda – Lucky Shiner (2010)

I have little understanding as to how Gold Panda was able to put together such a warm and complete album of what is essentially electronic music. I think a big reason why this appeals to me so much is its’ obvious influence from minimal techno stuff like The Field. I’m not saying that’s a bad thing that his influences are so apparent sometimes; I of all people should know that.

6. Chihei Hatakeyama – Ghostly Garden (2010)

I obviously partition a lot of my time listening ambient music, so I’m really thankful that someone so graceful and prolific as Chihei Hatakeyama exists. He’s the creator of some hauntingly beautiful tonal landscapes that I understand is made up mostly of treated acoustic instruments. These songs can fill the air around my apartment at any time and feel fitting.

7. Benoit Pioulard – Lasted (2010)

I have nothing but praises to sing about this record. There’s a cohesiveness and refined nature to this album that’s a lot more present than on his first two records, and it’s overall autumnal feel fits pretty perfectly with this time of year. Benoit Pioulard was likely my favourite musician throughout this whole year.

8. iamamiwhoami

None of these song exist as a complete physical release (yet?) but ever since these videos began showing up on the elusive iamamiwhoami YouTube channel earlier this year, I’ve been captivated by the weirdness and beauty behind them. Not only are the song that go with them some of the most exciting electronic music I’ve heard in song time (remember how everyone thought they were secret productions of The Knife? Stylistically, it’s not far off and the team behind them are also Swedish) but the visuals that go along with them are as disarming as they are cryptic. I’m really excited to see what becomes of this whole project.

9. Memoryhouse – The Years / Choir of Empty Rooms (2010)

Despite this only being a four song EP, the overall effect of this release can’t be understated; an incredibly graceful home-recorded collection of beautifully written lamentations that is easy to fall in love with multiple times over. Also being from southern Ontario, I feel a bit of a kindred spirit with their music and their process and doing a style of music that is very much removed the stylistic norm of where we’re both from. Memoryhouse’s ‘other’ release from this year, Choir of Empty Rooms is a perfect collection of some gorgeous ambient compositions that Evan makes

10. Mount Kimbie – Crooks & Liars (2010)

After attending a few dubstep shows in Toronto and New York over the summer that were mostly populated by fucked up teenagers and junior club kids, finding something that’s much more of a return to stuff like Burial is a breath of fresh air from the synth-bass heavy club production-bangers stuff that dubstep has deviated into. I don’t know if I’m really boring or lame but I like to be able to listen to electronic music in a context that doesn’t involve seeing it live and/or being on a lot of chemical drugs.

SCQ: What were you listening to a lot of while recording your excellent album Swung From the Branches?

WH: That’s really kind of you to say, thank you. Laurie Anderson’s Big Science, Broadcast’s Broadcast and The Focus Group Investigate Witch Cults of the Radio Age, Casino Versus Japan’s self titled album, the soundtrack to Mysterious Skin by Harold Budd and Robin Guthrie, J Dilla’s Donuts and Arthur Russell’s World of Echo are the main ones that come to mind.

It’s been a year since I started recording Swung from The Branches, which seems crazy, but I can remember at the time that I started on it I was in a state of rapid-shifting emotional flatness, agitation and depression and I was still getting used to living by myself in the city and going to a new school. I think this was reflected in a lot of the music I was listening to at the time, which was either very minimal in nature or very dark or came from people with dark stories or circumstance behind them; J Dilla and Arthur Russell both died or descended into illness shortly after making those records, and there’s something about that that shows in their albums. Having dealt with the effects of death so closely over the months freshly past, those sort of ideas fit in with how I was feeling and inspired me to use creativity to push through my own emotional bullshit. It sounds really melodramatic but I was taking a lot of baths at like 5 in the morning while listening to all this music in the dark and just absorbing them and really letting them get to me. I listen back to Swung From The Branches now and it strikes me as a very dark album. Even the happier songs are actually about really sad things like desperation or confusion. It makes sense to me now though. I was trying to make something to purge a lot of pain and sadness that I had in my life and I guess you could say it worked. I have different things to worry about now but I’ve literally never been happier than I am at this point in my life.

SCQ: Be cocky for once in your life: what was the finest thing you did all year? That moment where you actually thought "shit, I nailed that..."?

WH: I don’t think the effect of everything that’s happened this year truly hit me until I went to CMJ Fest in New York this past October. I think up until that point everything seemed very wild and surreal but in a distant and abstract way, but being there and actually having people come out to my performances who knew my music and meeting all the great people I’d been talking to over the internet for the past half a year or so was one of the greatest experiences I’ve ever had. Playing my first show for CMJ at Glasslands right after being on a bus for 12 hours and not having gotten any sleep the night before because of a Deerhunter concert and still having people come up to me and tell me how much they liked my set was probably one of the coolest things that’s ever happened to me. Also, roadtripping with Benoit Pioulard from Toronto to Montreal was really cool.

SCQ: Effect and Cause: Ottawa suffered a weeklong heatwave in early July that pushed people without A/C, like myself, into public places. Wandering the cool aisles of a local supermarket, I relaxed through the seventy-one minute entirety of your record in what felt like a gentle twenty minutes. Okay, your turn: confess a true tale that inspired one of the songs from Swung From the Branches.

WH: This is a great question and that is an even better story. A lot of the songs were written in the moment and didn’t have much of a story behind them, but everything that did I’ve written about at length on a post in my MySpace (http://www.myspace.com/foxesinfiction/blog/530623918). However, I’ll explain the story behind the title of the album, which I haven’t done before. Actually, I only told someone this earlier tonight for the first time.

The album title (and lyric ‘swung from the branches’ in Jimi Bleachball) comes from a memory I have of when I used to live in the house that my mom and brother lived in after we moved back to Oakville, Ontario in 2005 after living on a farm in rural Ontario for three years. When it was nighttime my brother and I would sneak out of the house through the backdoor and through the backyard to get over the fence to go meet up with friends to smoke pot or whatever. To get to the other side where the sidewalk was, you have to climb up and swing yourself over the fence using the branches of an overhanging tree that was right in front of it. I thought that that image worked as a good overall idea for what I wanted this album to be for myself and to people to heard it; a point of leverage to help get oneself to the other side.

SCQ: If all the reasonable and implausible ideas in your head came to fruition in 2011, what would they be?

WH: 1. Finding a way to repay all the amazing bloggers and writers who had nothing but kind things to say about my music.

2. Assembling a cast of friends and fellow musicians for the Foxes in Fiction live band and ensuing tour in 2011.

3. Complete recording the multiple releases I have planned in my mind, hopefully without any more gear breaking down on me.

4. Get back on a regular sleeping schedule.

5. See more of my close friends and family.

6. Refine my ability to play both the piano and the drums that I have sitting in my basement at home.

Grey Kingdom (SCQ's Year-End Questionnaire Part I)

If you’ve missed the rise of Grey Kingdom throughout 2010, don’t fret – you’ve arbitrarily landed upon the perfect moment to check out his EP The Grey Kingdom. Although first heard amid summer’s heat, these acoustic but richly produced four songs sound even more stately and bittersweet in December’s rare moments away from the consumerist’s rush. Spencer Burton, the songwriter behind Grey Kingdom, refers to the silence of nature in this mini-interview, sharing his muse and favourite records.

SCQ: Every list-lover's favourite question: what are your top albums of 2010? Feel free to include any older yet worthy records you discovered this year.

SB: oh my. there are so many different things I have been listening to. bands like baby eagle, Diamond Rings, shotgun jimmie, the lovely Fred Squire. I have also been listening to some older records. patrick sky, Elizabeth Cotten, Goblin. too many to list really!

SCQ: What were you listening to a lot of while recording the excellent The Grey Kingdom?

SB: I was listening to a lot of older albums released many years before the current. Artists like Patrick Sky and Elizabeth Cotten. Some more recent releases include baby eagles "dog weather" and shotgun Jimmies "still jimmie"

SCQ: Be cocky for once in your life: what was the finest thing you did all year? That moment where you actually thought "shit, I nailed that..."?

SB: Cocky? well I don't know how cocky it is but... I went on a hike the other day. I love the woods. I love the smell of trees and rotting leaves. I love the silence. I love the rushing of distant falls and the wind blowing through the trees like some kind of enchanting lullaby. I wandered for hours, just me and the wind. I stumbled across the most beautiful mushroom. It was so tall, it stood with a few others like it. It was white and flakey. It was perfect. I brought it home with me to study it. I found out it was called Coprinus Comatus or as some people refer to it as "shaggy mane". I found out this mushroom was edible. Although edible I still found it rather terrifying to attempt to eat it. after a few tests and some more reading, I was almost certain icould handle it. I ate it. I ate it and lived! That was pretty fine.

SCQ: Effect and Cause: The echoes and ambience that stir 'Haunted' satisfied a melancholic longing for good wintry folk that has gone largely unanswered this year. Okay, your turn: confess a true tale that inspired one of the songs on The Grey Kingdom.

SB: Songs, not all songs, but most, I believe are inspired by love. Love for anything. Good weather. Sunshine. A perfect piece of pie with an even more perfect cup of coffee. The love of fear. The love of going on hikes alone or with another. The love of a good woman. I could never tell you the truth about a song. I want each song to mean something different to everyone. If people know what they are all about. It leaves nothing to the imagination.

songs are about love.

SCQ: If all the reasonable and implausible ideas in your head came to fruition in 2011, what would they be?

SB: If all my ideas come to fruition. The ideas I consider reasonable and or implausible. Everything would change. We would wake up in the morning not to our jobs but to wild, rolling fields filled with tall silver grass and golden birds. We would fight not with each other but with our enemies. Enemies of mankind. Demons, creatures of the night. We would never struggle (but for the last piece of pie!) and love would run like water down a never ending stream of cool calm hopes. Life would be much different, yes. We would live in homes we made ourselves and eat the foods we grew and gathered. There would be no restaurants or fast food chains, only taverns and fine gatherings. There would be no guns or tanks. There would only be swords and cold steel. Battles would ring with the sound of metal on metal, no bangs or explosions. Music would echo through the lands and be looked upon as magic. Above all things the artists would rule and because of that love would be stronger than all emotions.

Hammock (SCQ's Year-End Questionnaire Part I)

The Nashville-based duo tend to let their epic instrumental scores speak for themselves, typically remaining faceless and quietly proud behind each release. So it was refreshing to get some opinions out of Marc Byrd and Andrew Thompson, including their top releases of the year and recent projects they’re proud of. If you’ve heard even a track off their Chasing After Shadows… Living With the Ghosts, you’ll want to read on…

SCQ: Every list-lover's favourite question: what are your top albums of 2010? Feel free to include any older yet worthy records you discovered this year.

Hammock: The National‹High Violet
Brian McBride‹The Effective Disconnect
Olan Mill‹Pine
Greg Haines‹Until the Point of Hushed Support
Rafael Anton Irisarri‹the North Bend
Arcade Fire‹The Suburbs
Max Richter‹Infra
Fabio Orsi‹Winterreise
Federico Durand‹La siesta del cipre's
Matthew Ryan‹Dear Lover (acoustic version)
Chihei Hatakeyama‹A Long Journey
Olafur Arnalds‹And They Have Escaped the Weight of Darkness
Marcus Fischer‹Monocoastal
Clouwbeck‹From Which the River Rises
Johann Johannsson‹And In the Endless Pause There Came the Sound of Bees
Murralin Lane‹Our House Is On the Wall
Rafael Toral‹Violence of Discovery and Calm of Acceptance
Nils Frahm‹Unter I Uber
Loscil‹Endless Falls
Goldmund‹Famous Places
The Sight Below‹It All Falls Apart
Pausal‹Lapses
Eluvium‹Static Nocturne
Nest‹Retold

Singles:

Tim Hecker‹Apondalifa
Grouper‹Hold/Sick
Foster the People‹Pumped Up Kicks
Blackbird and the Fox‹the Twilight Singers
(featuring Ani DiFranco)

Rediscovered:

the Stooges‹Funhouse

SCQ: What were you listening to a lot of while recording your excellent Chasing After Shadows... Living With the Ghosts?

Hammock: Tim Hecker—An Imaginary Country
William Basinski—92982
William Basinski—Vivian and Odine
Last Days—the Safety of the North
Jonsi and Alex—Riceboy Sleeps
TU M’—Monochromes vol. 1
Heather Woods Broderick—From the Ground
Anything from Stars of the Lid, the Church, the Cure, Joy Division, the Smiths, Psychedelic Furs, New Order
The Church #23

SCQ: Be cocky for once in your life: what was the finest thing you did all year? That moment where you actually thought "shit, I nailed that..."?

Hammock: Several things—the BT reinterpretation that we did of his song called, Every Other Way. We definitely took it somewhere different. Also, working with Tim Powles from the Church—we had the start of some great creative moments when he came over to Nashville for a few days to jam. Also, working with Matthew Ryan—that was magic, almost effortless. I also think this last ep for the year, especially the work we did with Matt Slocum came about rather organic.

SCQ: Effect and Cause: Every Spring I get a craving for good post-rock but typically have to reply on classic Mogwai, Tortoise and Fridge records. So you can imagine how excited I was when your new album emerged in time for Spring and challenged the best of post-rock with tracks like 'Tristia'. Okay, your turn: confess a true tale that inspired one of the songs from Chasing After Shadows... Living With the Ghosts.

Hammock: Well we usually make a lot of our music in the winter all the while hoping for a winter release. It’s our most inspiring time of the year. The song, You Lost the Starlight In Your Eyes started as a piece that was just written on the organ. We had our doubts but Andrew was a strong advocate for it. So we kept working and developing. The finalized piece with the vocals became one of our favorites on the record. The strings, horns and mix/productions moves that Tim Powles did brought it over the top.

SCQ: If all the reasonable and implausible ideas in your head came to fruition in 2011, what would they be?

Hammock: We would release another great record that we feel good about. Get picked up in some films that we like. Go on tour with Sigur Ros or others that we love, know and have respect for. Not suck…

Future Islands (SCQ's Year-End Questionnaire Part II)

The trio of William Cashion, J Gerrit Welmers and Samuel T Herring made such a stirring, sudden impression on me with their undeniable “In Evening Air”, I’m still playing catch-up four months later. With this mini-interview, Cashion connects some welcoming dots (their admiration for Former Ghosts, for example) while peeling back some of Future Islands' intoxicating mystique.

SCQ: Every list-lover's favourite question: what are your top albums of 2010? Feel free to include any older yet worthy records you discovered this year.

WC: Veelee “The Future Sight”
Javelin “No Mas”
Double Dagger “Masks”
Quiet Hooves “Saddle Up!”
Lower Dens “Twin-Hand Movement”
The Texas Governor & The Starlight Orchestra “Angels to Sleep” single
Beach House “Teen Dream”
Former Ghosts “New Love”
Abe Vigoda “Crush”
The Sisters of Mercy "First and Last and Always" (just heard this for
the first time this year and I can't stop listening to it)

SCQ: What were you listening to a lot of while recording the excellent "In Evening Air"?

WC: As a band, we were all really heavily diggin the OMD "Dazzle Ships" album... I remember listening to Brian Eno's "Ambient 2" and Paul Simon's "Graceland" during those sessions as well.

SCQ: Be cocky for once in your life: what was the finest thing you did all year? That moment where you actually thought "shit, I nailed that..."?

WC: I'm not sure if I can pinpoint one moment. This year has been really good for us - we've stayed really busy and released a good deal of music in one year. I think the one thing that I'm most proud of was our first ever acoustic performance at the Metro Gallery in Baltimore... It was at an art opening that I had some work in (my first time showing work since I graduated college in 2006!). Also, we were all curious to see how our songs would turn out when done acoustic, if it would even work, and I think it sounded beautiful. The experience was really exciting, to bring in some friends and teach them our songs and figuring out how to re-arrange things. It was all very new and refreshing. We have a recording of that show that I'm sure will be properly released at some point down the road.

SCQ: Effect and Cause: On the first morning of my New England vacation - the kind of late summer dawn where you wake up early just to bask in it before the world catches up - I first sampled your LP next to a drizzly window view. The experience required just shy of five minutes; 'Walking Through That Door' immediately hijacked my heart-rate into believing it was 1am on a Saturday night, and a few hours later I was buying the disc in downtown Manchester, N.H. Okay, your turn: confess a true tale that inspired one of the songs on "In Evening Air".

WC: Before Sam & Gerrit moved to Baltimore, they'd come up and stay at my place before we went off on tour. The first time Gerrit came up, he wrote this instrumental piano piece he called "Detour" - it was the first song he wrote while in Baltimore... On tour, he would play various songs he had worked on and when "Detour" came on, Sam was immediately like "This is the kind of instrumental piece that I'd love to have on the album!" - I'm pretty sure that was in Brooklyn. So we decided it should be called something else - we made it the title track, "In Evening Air". Chester and I sent the song through this home-made tape machine that he has, which gives the song this really nice antique warble... There's a good handful of layers of the same song run through the tape machine to get it to sound the way it does on record. Also, Sam really wanted to have sounds of rain on the record, so we recorded rain in our backyard during the IEA sessions, which were added to the end of "In Evening Air" as a segue to "Swept Inside". So, in a way, all three of us created & manipulated this song in subtle ways. And there you have the story of "In Evening Air" (the song).

SCQ: If all the reasonable and implausible ideas in your head came to fruition in 2011, what would they be?

WC: We would play SNL and hopefully open for the Flaming Lips. Maybe even tour Japan & Australia.

A Weather (SCQ's Year-End Questionnaire Part II)

2010 was a great year for A Weather fans, as the Portland-based indie-folk outfit released the wonderful Everyday Balloons. Speaking of future plans and a place in Maine I definitely have to visit, Aaron Gerber and Aaron Krenkel live up to their band’s quiet reflections as they ponder the year gone by. (Photo by Mary Gerber)

SCQ: Every list-lover's favourite question: what are your top albums of 2010? Feel free to include any older yet worthy records you discovered this year.

AK: Hmmm... in terms of new music... I really like the National's record, High Violet. I haven't listened to a ton of new things. The Vetiver record, Tight Knit, really grew on me, but I don't even know what year that's from. A friend's band, Roofwalkers, from DC self-released a really great record. Otherwise I've gotten really into a lot of older African music, reissues of Nigerian jazz/rock fusion things and stuff like that, which is kind of funny because it's not really much related to music we play. I read Pitchfork and a few other sites a lot and like a lot of the music they review, but have a hard time deciding what to really pay attention to.

SCQ: What were you listening to a lot of while recording your excellent album Everyday Balloons?

AG: I didn’t listen to anything specific while the actually recording was happening, as I usually find it best to insolate myself from other music while working on my own. I do remember listening to some stuff in the months before going into the studio including some old stand bys: Leonard Cohen, The Vaselines, Nick Drake, and some newer Portland bands: Point Juncture WA, Laura Gibson, Chores.

SCQ: Be cocky for once in your life: what was the finest thing you did all year? That moment where you actually thought "shit, I nailed that..."?

AG: Aaron (Krenkel) urged me to mention a roasted pork loin with a rosemary and garlic crust that I prepared last winter. I’ve become proficient at cooking large chunks of meat this year.

SCQ: Effect and Cause: I picked out an engagement ring in early August and found your album waiting in the mail for me when I returned home. That night, I spun songs like 'No Big Hope' and 'Lay Me Down' on repeat as if I was thirteen years old playing mix-tapes of radio favourites. Okay, your turn: confess a true tale that inspired one of the songs from Everyday Balloons.

AG: The song “Giant Stairs” sprung from revisiting a place in Maine called (surprisingly enough) Giant Stairs. It’s a formation of huge slabs of rock that form steps down to the ocean. It’s a place I often go when I return to Maine and the song is, in part, about this idea of returning. None of my music is overly biographical or narrative so this is the best I can do to answer your question.

SCQ: If all the reasonable and implausible ideas in your head came to fruition in 2011, what would they be?

AG: Hmm. I’d like to record another record at some point, as I have amassed a fair amount of new songs. There are some non-band related plans that I am interested to see develop. We have been on a hiatus for the past few months so I look forward to reconvening as a band again and hearing new things happen between us. (Could I be more vague?)

The Depreciation Guild (SCQ's Year-End Questionnaire Part II)

Although 2010 saw The Depreciation Guild continue to affix shimmering modern ideas to indie’s retro-obsession with Spirit Youth, it wasn’t enough to hold the Brooklyn outfit together. Alongside his candidates for album-of-the-year, vocalist/guitarist Kurt Feldman divulges the end of The Depreciation Guild and his post-band plans. This revelation, as far as I’ve gathered, might be an exclusive but on behalf of every DG fan: Kurt, don’t quit music altogether! (Photo by Drew Reynolds)

SCQ: Every list-lover's favourite question: what are your top albums of 2010? Feel free to include any older yet worthy records you discovered this year.

KF: San Serac - "No Twilight"
Serena Maneesh - "No. 2: Abyss In B Minor"
Games - "That We Can Play"
Toro Y Moi - "Causers Of This"
Hooray For Earth - "Momo"

SCQ: What were you listening to a lot of while recording the excellent Spirit Youth?

KF: according to last.fm:
Gangway, Scritti Politti, Wild Swans, Babel 17, Brighter, Microdisney, The Ventures, The Passions, Swing Out Sister...

SCQ: Be cocky for once in your life: what was the finest thing you did all year? That moment where you actually thought "shit, I nailed that..."?

KF: I really didn't "nail" anything actually. In general, 2010 wasn't really all that great and things kind of fell apart for me and the band. I'm looking forward to moving on and seeing what the future has to offer.

SCQ: Effect and Cause: As 2010 continued to exploit the last of the 80s' resonance, I took solace in your record's vital mix of retro and modern songwriting, which culminated on the gorgeously ethereal 'Blue Lily'. Okay, your turn: confess a true tale that inspired one of the songs on Spirit Youth.

KF: haha, actually, i'm pretty sure we just exploited the 80s too. I thought up the main melody line for "My Chariot" on a plane heading from sweden to new york. It came to me over the sound of the cabin drone. I remember at the time it was an A, but somehow in the process of writing the song, the key changed to B. That's really all i remember about writing this album. Some of the other songs on that album are up to 4 years old.

SCQ: If all the reasonable and implausible ideas in your head came to fruition in 2011, what would they be?

KF: probably to quit music altogether and go teach elementary school so i could pay off my student loan.

No Joy (SCQ's Year-End Questionnaire Part II)

Montreal-based rockers No Joy (Laura Lloyd and Jasamine White) popped up on SCQ’s radar completely unannounced last month and quickly sent me deep into Ghost Blonde’s hazy swoon of disaffected guitars. On short notice, White recently set aside some time to talk about the duo's favourite records (both new and old), plus that time they were a song short for their full-length…

SCQ: Every list-lover's favourite question: what are your top albums of 2010? Feel free to include any older yet worthy records you discovered this year.

JW: In absolutely no particular order, some albums that made 2010 totally rad were: Lower Dens 'Twin Hand Movement', Tamaryn 'The Waves', Best Coast 'Crazy for you', The Besnard Lakes 'Are the Roaring Night', as well as Britney Spears' 'In The Zone' and Blink 182's 'Enema of The State' which we recently rediscovered and are just as great as they were in high school.

SCQ: What were you listening to a lot of while recording the excellent Ghost Blonde?

JW: We weren't really listening to anything in particular while we were recording, other than what we were recording!! So I guess while recording Ghost Blonde we were listening to...Ghost Blonde?

SCQ: Be cocky for once in your life: what was the finest thing you did all year? That moment where you actually thought "shit, I nailed that..."?

JW: One of our prouder moments as a band was when Laura drank two 4-loko's before we played a show in California and then strategically transformed those 4-loko cans into shoes and then we played the craziest, shortest set of our career.

SCQ: Effect and Cause: I developed a fever on the cusp of a three-day weekend and fell headlong into the icy cocoon of songs like 'Pacific Pride'. Nothing but tea, Christmas lights and No Joy got me back to health at my own pacing. Okay, your turn: confess a true tale that inspired one of the songs on Ghost Blonde.

JW: It's gonna be hard to top that story, I like hearing we bring people back to health (as opposed to making people sick)

Not one event or thing inspired any song, they are all collections of thoughts and ideas--so its hard to pinpoint. But the title track "Ghost Blonde" was written in a panic when we realized we didnt have enough songs written for the album. I had found a cool delay effect using a combination of pedals. We just kind of jammed around that sound and pressed record...we didn't even really know the structure of the song or how long it would go on for, it was really just written on the spot. Now that's one of our favorite songs on the album. Ok, your story is better.

SCQ: If all the reasonable and implausible ideas in your head came to fruition in 2011, what would they be?

JW: There aren't that many of them I can think of, but I'm pretty sure they all involve Jon Wurster.

André Obin (SCQ's Year-End Questionnaire Part II)

Forget his impressive touring schedule, which witnessed him opening for the likes of Phantogram, Tycho, and Matthew Dear; André Obin’s also responsible for one of 2010’s finest EPs. Front Runner presents a songwriter compounding sinister songwriting and detailed synth-pop into a tantalizing dark alley you can’t help but drunkenly explore. Little did I know, André Obin’s own nightlife explorations sought to expose precisely those venomous veins of rave-up violence as divulged in the interview below...

SCQ: Every list-lover's favourite question: what are your top albums of 2010? Feel free to include any older yet worthy records you discovered this year.

AO: I haven't had enough time to engage full albums this year which is unfortunate because I consider myself an album guy. Here’s a list of tracks from the past year that I adore...

Serena-Maneesh – "Reprobate!"
Crystal Castles featuring Robert Smith - "Not in Love"
Pantha Du Prince - "Behind the Stars"
Class Actress - "Journal of Ardency"
Coralcola - "Egggirl"
Depreciation Guild - "Dream About Me"
Avoxblue - "A Place Without Time"
Tamaryn - "Mild Confusion"
Steve Moore - "Saturnalia"
Lookbook - "Over and Over"

a few "older" tunes that were on repeat all year...

Byetone - "Plastic Star"
Jesu - "Hard to Reach"
Bauhaus - "In the Flat Field"
Spiritualized - "Let it Flow"
Radiohead - "Go Slowly"

SCQ: What were you listening to a lot of while recording the excellent Front Runner EP?

AO: William Basinski - El Camino Real, David Bowie - Low, GAS - Nah und Fern, NIN - Pretty Hate Machine, lots of Slowdive, The Knife - Silent Shout, Horace Andy - In The Light Dub, My Bloody Valentine - Loveless, Carbon Based Lifeforms "Betula Pendula", Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five "The Message"

SCQ: Be cocky for once in your life: what was the finest thing you did all year? That moment where you actually thought "shit, I nailed that..."?

AO: I think I know the feeling you are speaking about and that I may have experienced it. I'm not sure it happened this year. Either that or it happened a lot. I can't tell. What I can tell you is that I’m excited to be releasing a new vinyl 12” called “Soft Rain” on Trouw Records in Amsterdam soon. There is a sequence in the track that I love. I usually can write a melodic line a lot faster than getting the color/texture for the synthesis right and it all happened almost simultaneously this time. Synthesis is an arduous process for me and it felt really good to have a component of the song finished almost instantly. It might seem like a small detail but the little things are just as important to me as "achievements".

SCQ: Effect and Cause: Leaving a friend's apartment to catch my route's last bus, I found that construction had temporarily blocked service to all nearby bus-stops. My ensuing dash, which lasted six blocks, was paced to 'Golden Hair' and complimented all that's cosmopolitan and sketchy about downtown late at night. Okay, your turn: confess a true tale that inspired one of the songs on Front Runner EP.

AO: A few years ago I found myself in Berlin. I was outside of a club in Alexanderplatz late at night and had had quite a few vodka tonics. I was looking for more fun. I tried to buy some stuff from two hoods. A minute after the transaction I realized they had taken me. Rather than just let them have my money, I chased them for a mile, confronted them in an alley way and ended up trying to fight them both. I was a mess for the rest of the trip and honestly I'm lucky to be alive. The chorus of "Valencia" is directly related to this incident. No regrets by the way.

SCQ: If all the reasonable and implausible ideas in your head came to fruition in 2011, what would they be?

AO: I have roughly 50 unfinished songs/tracks/ideas that I’d love to sink my teeth into. If I can get 10 of those songs finished in 2011, I would consider that a huge accomplishment. Most of the music I produce takes a long time to complete and I'm fine with that. It's important to have a strong concept at the start of each project. I’d also love to continue performing live on a regular basis. 2010 was really good to me in that respect. I'm in search of passion, intensity and meaning in life. Ultimately, I want to make timeless music and tour the world.

The Robots (SCQ's Year-End Questionnaire Part II)

By the time I’d first heard their muscular debut Hey Buddy, Dummy, The Robots had already disbanded. This distressing news arrived from Peter Rankin himself after the vocalist/guitarist saw Skeleton Crew Quarterly’s glowing review. Disappointing, yes, but Rankin offers a few silver-linings in terms of his recollections from recording as well as the potential for some new songs on the faraway horizon. (Photo by Chris Doiron)

SCQ: Every list-lover's favourite question: what are your top albums of 2010? Feel free to include any older yet worthy records you discovered this year.

PR: To be honest, I don't always do the best job of keeping up with new music. I don't know if that speaks to my opinion of the indie rock being made today, or just to my own laziness, but my favourite "new" albums are often several years old. I guess there's just a certain satisfaction in listening to a really cool old album that you've never heard of before. I imagine it's the same satisfaction Nicholas Cage's character in those "National Treasure" movies must feel whenever he finds a neat hat worn by a secret president. So, with that in mind, I've divided my "Favourite Album" list into two smaller lists, one of my favourite old albums that I discovered this year, and one featuring my favourite albums released in 2010.

Favourite Old Albums
5. The Girls - Reunion (1986)
If you like crude old Devo, then you'll probably like this crude old Boston punk band (not the Girls of "Lust for Life" fame). "Methodist Church" and "Jeffrey I Hear You" are keyboard-addled punk anthems, while "Doggie Auto" is a song about dogs driving cars.
4. Space Art - Play Back (1980)
French synth goodness. The album's centrepiece "Love Machine" is one of the best songs I've heard in years, and might very well be the basis for Air's entire career.
3. Nirvana - The Story of Simon Simopath (1967)
I guess before they got into the whole grunge thing Kurt and the boys cut this, a gentle, vaguely psychedelic concept record about a kid who wants to fly but instead dies. Not sure how they got from here to Bleach, but it's definitely worth checking out regardless!
2. Chakra - Satekoso (1981)
One of my favourite albums from the Japanese new wave scene, the wacked-out, funhouse mirror version of its American counterpart. A great mixture of chugging electronics, cartoon bass, Frippish guitars, and playful, Deerhoof-presaging vocals from lead singer Mishio Ogawa.
1. After Dinner - Paradise of Replica (1989)
A beautiful, ornately-arranged album by a Japanese prog/art-rock group from the 80s. One listen to the opening title track, a repeated swell of strings, horns and lead singer Haco's amazing vocals, will probably be enough to convince you. The rest of the album is just as good.

Favourite New Albums
5. Arcade Fire - The Suburbs
I was afraid that this album might not be very good. Thankfully, my fears were unfounded. It's sonically tasteful and emotionally poignant, without any of the songwriting inconsistency and forced catharsis of Neon Bible.
4. Boxer the Horse - Would You Please
Our buddies from PEI have been getting quite a bit of attention for this album, and for good reason: the songs on Would You Please, informed by the Kinks and Brighten the Corners-era Pavement, are uniformly excellent. "Sketch Me a Glove" and "Mary Meets the Pilot" are flawless Malkmus-style rockers that sort of point to a reinvention of "classic" indie rock tendencies. Very cool stuff.
3. Milks and Rectangles - Troubleshooter EP and Dirty Gold EP
My friend and fellow Islander Chris Ledwell is a very, very talented songwriter. These two EPs from his band Milks and Rectangles include, in my opinion, some of the best songs written by any Canadian indie band this year. "Unring a Bell" from Troubleshooters is like a British Sea Power cover of "Total Trash", while the phenomenal "Welcome Home You Noisy Bastards" from Dirty Gold is all hazy languor routinely interrupted by sharp spikes of white noise and epic guitar pomp. The band is offering these EPs free of charge on their website (http://milksandrectangles.bandcamp.com/). For the love of God, check them out.
2. Deerhunter - Halcyon Digest
If I were to go on about Halcyon Digest, I'd just be regurgitating what many people have already said about the album over the last few months. It's really good. I find it amazing that in a few short years Brandon Cox has gone from slightly overhyped Pitchfork darling to one of the better young songwriters making music today.
1. Wolf Parade - Expo 86
Hands down my favourite album of the year. Krug and Boeckner, in my opinion Canada's two most talented songwriters, have excelled in creating a collection of songs that recall the band's previous highpoints while offering new idiosyncracies to the Wolf Parade canon. It also doesn't hurt that tracks like "In the Direction of the Moon" (my favourite song of the year), "Ghost Pressure," and "Oh You, Old Thing," are among the best the band has ever written. I may be a bit premature in saying this, but I think it's now appropriate to consider this band within the context of all-time great Canadian bands.

SCQ: What were you listening to a lot of while recording the excellent Hey Buddy, Dummy?

PR: We recorded the album well over a year ago, so it's kind of hard to remember, but I think we pretty much listened to the same bands that we had always listened to together, probably Wire and Devo most of all (the only two bands that we ever really covered). Other than that, we would have been listening to a lot of Eno, Wolf Parade, XTC, King Crimson, the latest Portishead album, the Microphones, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, old Japanese new wave stuff, and I'm sure many other bands. Also, I vividly remember driving to the studio in Halifax on the hottest day of the year, with The Fall's This Nation's Saving Grace blasting out of the speakers. In retrospect, The Fall is a pretty fitting musical representation of five sweaty men spending a nauseatingly humid day indoors.

SCQ: Be cocky for once in your life: what was the finest thing you did all year? That moment where you actually thought "shit, I nailed that..."?

PR: Well, we haven't really done anything musically this year aside from a show this summer back on PEI, so to answer this question I guess I'd have to go back to 2009 when we were recording the album. As an album, Hey Buddy Dummy has its fair share of flaws, both in composition and execution, but there were definitely a few moments during the recording process when we all rose up from our chairs and gave each other furious, endlessly repeated high-fives. Specifically, I remember listening to some early mixes of the album while driving back from Halifax with Keith (the keyboardist and current prescription-abusing med student) and his younger brother. After each song, we sort of made mental notes of what needed to be tweaked, or what parts needed work, etc. Pretty much every song needed work, but then "The Cape" came on, and we just sort of started listening, and eventually realized that what we were listening to was pretty much exactly what we had imagined the song sounding like when we pryed it from our brains over a year ago. I dunno, making music is hard sometimes, but moments like that make the whole process very satisfying.

SCQ: Effect and Cause: 'I Didn't Know What I Was Saying' and 'Shutterboxin' ' provided the visceral dose of adrenaline I needed this past Spring, helping me push through the work-week one shift at a time. Okay, your turn: confess a true tale that inspired one of the songs on Hey Buddy, Dummy.

PR: Oh man...I dunno. To be honest, a lot of my lyrics are pretty stream-of-consciousness...they usually have more to do with the inner workings of my semi-functional brain than any single personal experience. But if I had to pick one example of a song with its roots in a true story, I guess that I'd have to go with "Tiny Paws." A long time ago, I think when I was in high school, I was hanging around outside of the Dairy Queen in Charlottetown with some friends (presumably after having shared some hot eats and cool treats), and I remember seeing this group of kids, who couldn't have been older than 9 or 10, sort of roaming the perimeter. They were all banging on the windows, and cursing in their tiny, gravelly voices at the patrons inside. One of them turned around, and looked at me with these weird eyes that were far too old and dull to be in that child's small skull. It seemed like he was going to start running at me, but then one of them sort of tripped and fell down in the bushes next to the window. I'm certain that these kids were either drunk or messed up on some sort of crazy kid drug. The experience freaked me out, and the fear of high, disheveled young children I got from it was probably the thematic genesis of "Tiny Paws," a song (sort of) about freaky, uninhibited kids gone to seed way to early.

SCQ: If all the reasonable and implausible ideas in your head came to fruition in 2011, what would they be?

PR: I'd be playing music in a band again! Unfortunately, the Robots don't get a whole lot of time to play anymore. Keith and the bassist Chris are both in med school, while Phil is back on PEI doing school and playing drums for the awesome Danks. I am currently in Toronto, and hope to get a new project going shortly. Literally, my expectations do not go beyond that. My experience with the Robots taught me that creating and playing music with your friends is a lot of fun, and can be a pretty satisfying end in and of itself.

Oh, and I want to go on a world tour with Lit.

Xiu Xiu (SCQ's Year-End Questionnaire Part III)

Despite arriving late for both La Forêt and The Air Force, Skeleton Crew Quarterly has long admired Xiu Xiu and was ready to pounce at the release of the duo’s latest LP. It must’ve been kismet; Dear God, I Hate Myself is arguably their finest recording yet and here Jamie Stewart discusses aspects of its creation alongside some personal 2010 favourites. (Photo by Huy Ngo.)

SCQ: Every list-lover's favourite question: what are your top albums of 2010? Feel free to include any older yet worthy records you discovered this year.

JS: Ethnic Minority Music of Southern Laos
Molam: Thai Country Groove from Isan
Princess Nicotine: Folk And Pop Music Of Myanmar (Burma) Vol.1
Siamese Soul: Thai Pop Spectacular 1960s-1980s vol.2
Ethnic Minority Music Of Northeast Cambodia
Sounds of North American Frogs: The Biological Significance of Voice in Frogs
Highway to Hassake: Folk and Pop Sounds of Syria

SCQ: What were you listening to a lot of while recording the excellent Dear God, I Hate Myself?

JS: years of refusal by morrissey
over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over

SCQ: Be cocky for once in your life: what was the finest thing you did all year? That moment where you actually thought "shit, I nailed that..."?

JS: taking a shower, an incredible shower and incredible clean, magnificent clean, whorishly clean.

SCQ: Effect and Cause: Arriving just as winter's stranglehold was tiring, Dear God, I Hate Myself was vulnerable yet ready to lash out, and became my go-to record for embracing/dispelling seasonal depression. The vinyl-only bonus track 'The Ropes Have Pulled Tight' ended up being my first favourite, an honour that has subsequently reached just about every other song on your new record. Okay, your turn: confess a true tale that inspired one of the songs on Dear God, I Hate Myself.

JS: you are very nice!!!!!!!
all the true tales behind these songs are so depressing. and would i think dim the tone of this interview in an unpleasing way.
so then, the only one that is worth hearing about is from the other bonus track "cute pee pee"
a woman from poland wrote to tell me that xiu xiu (at least how it is pronounced) in polish means "cute pee pee." i have been obsessed with piss sex for years although have only gotten to participate in it maybe 4 times in my life. so it was wonderful to find out that my band's name was what i have always wanted.
as well someone who i have had a filthy and unfulfilled sexy crush on once told me that she wanted me to piss in her mouth and then she would kiss tears of pee down my cheek. it will never happen but it drives me insane to think about it.

SCQ: If all the reasonable and implausible ideas in your head came to fruition in 2011, what would they be?

JS: see above.

Loscil (SCQ's Year-End Questionnaire Part III)

Scott Morgan hardly requires an introduction at this stage of his career; with a number of singular electronic albums under his belt, including this year’s Endless Falls, Loscil remains an elusive talent forging new territory. As the following interview argues, however, Morgan still hasn’t found “that moment”; the sound that will complete – and thus likely end - his musical vision. Although his points of view regarding Loscil’s recording process and 2010’s best albums are fascinating, I wish I’d asked him a few extra questions about beer. If you follow Morgan on Twitter, you should know that he’s quite the connoisseur.

SCQ: Every list-lover's favourite question: what are your top albums of 2010? Feel free to include any older yet worthy records you discovered this year.

SM: Landings - Richard Skelton - only learned of Richard's works this year. Bought Landings and really enjoyed every minute of it.
Ritual - Solo Andata - I love what these guys do. Haunting, textural soundscapes. This is a great follow up to their 12K release.
The Art of Dying Alone - bvdub - a rich, moody record. Beautiful.
The North Bend - Rafael Anton Irisarri - a fellow Cascadian and incredibly talented composer.
Monocoastal - Marcus Fischer - another fellow Cascadian from Portland who's blog is ultra-inspiring and who's 12K release is really good.
The Effective Disconnect - Brian McBride - label-mate and old pal Brian with another brilliant creation. This time in soundtrack form honouring bees. Brilliant.
Shoals - Taylor Deupree - this record made some positive impressions on me mostly for its sound palette comprised of a lot of Gamelan samples... I studied Gamelan while in University so I have a soft spot for these sounds.
The Road (Soundtrack) - Nick Cave & Warren Ellis - I love what these guys do when they get together to do soundtracks. Clean, transparent and beautifully simple recordings with a lot of emotional depth.
Double Sextet / 2x5 - Steve Reich - Classic Reich. the eighth blackbird performance is so tight.

SCQ: What were you listening to a lot of while recording your excellent album Endless Falls?

SM: Nothing. I tend to go into hibernation when working on a record and don't really explore other music. I like to do that in bursts when I'm not working on things. It's about balancing input and output I suppose. Plus, when you spend that much time actively listening to something, it is a good idea to give the ears a rest.

SCQ: Be cocky for once in your life: what was the finest thing you did all year? That moment where you actually thought "shit, I nailed that..."?

SM: Seriously, I don't think in those terms with music. Honestly, I am rarely satisfied with my creative output. That is what drives me to continue. I am self-critical and cannot stand listening to my own work once it has been released due to the pain it causes me not to be able to change any of it. I don't think I have ever thought to myself "I nailed that" regarding music. I do enjoy the process of searching for that moment but I've never achieved it and I suspect that if I do I will quit.

SCQ: Effect and Cause: Released on the cusp of Spring, I welcomed songs like 'Fern And Robin' into my life no differently than the season itself, taking it on longwinded detours through the drizzle of my new Ottawa neighbourhood. Okay, your turn: confess a true tale that inspired one of the songs from Endless Falls.

SM: Well, Fern and Robin is a good place to start. Those are my daughters' middle names (their first names being Sadie and Clara). They are a big inspiration to me. They bubble with creative spirit and as you might already know, Sadie is responsible for all the photos used on the Endless Falls cover. So I get a lot of inspiration from them.

SCQ: If all the reasonable and implausible ideas in your head came to fruition in 2011, what would they be?

SM: I would be living with my family on a hobby farm in rural BC separated from the need to be employed, living half off the land and half off the meagre income I get from music. I would brew beer and write music. I would fly to Prague to record with an orchestra and make a new record from it and then I would make waffles for my kids for breakfast. That last one is not that implausible I suppose.

Glass Graves (SCQ's Year-End Questionnaire Part III)

If bands like Arcade Fire were the stars of independent music in 2010, Gaby Graves was at least one of its faraway glimmers, hard to ignore and promising great things. Much of that potential can be heard on Glass Graves’ debut Architecture, of which Gaby outlines some history here.

SCQ: Every list-lover's favourite question: what are your top albums of 2010? Feel free to include any older yet worthy records you discovered this year.

GG: This year has brought many aural delights. The new Grinderman record and every gorgeous remix of its contents that the internet has delivered to me; Soviet League's debut LP; U.S. Girls' Go Grey. Just generally, I've loved so much on Sacred Bones and Siltbreeze this year. As for older records newly unearthed, I spent a lot of time in 2010 with the first few Chameleons UK records. In a magical synergy, I saw Mark Burgess play at a little club in San Francisco at the height of my obsession. It was lovely to hear him play the songs that I've grown so close to -- but even moreso, it was wonderful to see him having so much fun playing those songs.

SCQ: What were you listening to a lot of while recording your excellent album Architecture?

GG: I tend to cycle into specific albums and listen to them continuously for months. During the time I recorded Architecture, I was listening to Barry Adamson's As Above So Below (especially the song "Can't Get Loose" on terminal repeat); Curve's Gift; GZA's Liquid Swords; Bark Psychosis' Codename:Dustsucker; Afghan Whigs' Gentlemen; and Throwing Muses' University.

SCQ: Effect and Cause: Following our Cure-inspired conversation, I lay down with Architecture between my headphones expecting a sound loosely attached to the band's seminal Faith. Any fragility I expected in songs like 'Parachutes' and 'Corrine' was countered with a trembling alarm that evoked The Cure's Pornography more than anything. Okay, your turn: confess a true tale that inspired one of the songs from Architecture.

GG: I spent some time in Prague a few summers ago. I wrote The Twin in the bathtub at my hotel. I couldn't speak Czech and I was broke, so spent a lot of time at the Jewish cemetery, which was scattered with yellow wildflowers between the broken, stacked graves. I did read Kafka's journals when I was 19, as the song suggests -- I was obsessed with diaries then -- it started with Anais Nin and went straight through Plath, Camus, Kafka. When I got to Prague, the city felt heavy with Kafka's presence - I felt him with me on those cobbled stone streets, a hobbled Golem beside me. I felt marked there - I've never felt more Jewish, not even in Israel or the dusty upstate NY backroads near Canada where I grew up. The song carries that tension, and intention.

SCQ: If all the reasonable and implausible ideas in your head came to fruition in 2011, what would they be?

GG: You're not implying that it's unreasonable to hope Nick Cave will call me for an opening spot on the Grinderman tour, right? Other plans for 2011 include releasing a covers EP in the spring and starting to play lots of shows ... I'm also hoping to finish rewatching the entirety of the X-Files. The truth is out there...!

Northcape (SCQ's Year-End Questionnaire Part III)

2010 was a momentous year for Northcape (aka Alastair Brown), who released his excellent full-length Captured From Static on Sun Sea Sky Records. Chatting here with SCQ, Brown revisits how that album likewise captures his songwriting through times of pressure and isolation – unique experiences that benefited his craft.

SCQ: Every list-lover's favourite question: what are your top albums of 2010? Feel free to include any older yet worthy records you discovered this year.

AB: In alphabetic order…
Boy Is Fiction – ‘Broadcasts in Colour’. Superb album, and not just because it’s on the same label as Northcape (Sun Sea Sky)! This is classic electronica in my opinion.
Carbon Based Lifeforms – ‘Interloper’. I love nearly everything that Ultimae records release, but Carbon Based Lifeforms have to be a favourite. Absolutely superb deep and chilled progressive electronica.
Caribou – ‘Swim’. Caribou have taken a great direction on this release, again excellent tunes, reminiscent in places of the new wave of Swedish warm electronic house from artists such as Plej (I’m a big fan) but with their typically slightly more experimental approach. It’s impressive how they continue to reinvent themselves with every new album.
Four Tet – ‘There is love in you’. Has Four Tet’s trademark clean precision of sound, but I find the more straightforward melodic approach more emotionally powerful than his previous releases.
Lights Out Asia – ‘In the Days of Jupiter’. I’m also a big fan of Lights Out Asia since hearing ‘Garmonia’ through Sun Sea Sky. Their new album is (as normal) amazing, and up there with their debut, a powerfully atmospheric fusion of post-rock and ambient.
A recent discovery rather than a release this year is Melodium and in particular his album ‘Flacana Flacana’. This is beautifully simple melodic music, as you can tell I’m a fan of tunes and the tracks on this album are vastly more than the sum of their parts.

SCQ: What were you listening to a lot of while recording your excellent Captured From Static?

AB: It took over a year to record, and some tracks date from earlier than that, so quite a lot! I wouldn’t say anything in particular inspired the sound on the album, but I’m sure what I listen to does have an effect though most of my influences are unconscious, rather than conscious attempts to get a particular artist’s sound. Long-time favourites are Boards of Canada (this probably can be heard in places!), and I’ve also been listening to a lot of music from Ultimae, over the last few years, but also a wide range of other stuff, melodic electronica, ambient and IDM, shoegaze, and some indie rock as well as a variety of unsigned music.

SCQ: Be cocky for once in your life: what was the finest thing you did all year? That moment where you actually thought "shit, I nailed that..."?

AB: I think it must have been finishing the last few tracks of the album. Sun Sea Sky had already said they were interested and for the first time I felt under some self-imposed pressure to actually complete the album! I can have trouble finishing tracks off (perfectionism…) but the impressive thing was the way the last few tracks on the album just dropped into place. ‘Pastoral’ and ‘Static Theme’ both were completed relatively quickly, but I’m very pleased with both, it was the first time I actually managed to complete tracks to a level I was happy with without too much struggle.

SCQ: Effect and Cause: Your new album arrived just as I was breathlessly waiting for Summer to end, and chilled-out tracks like 'Shinkansen To Kyoto' contain the icy disposition to carry me into Autumn's cool breezes. Okay, your turn: confess a true tale that inspired one of the songs on Captured From Static.

AB: Strange how some people have thought the album sounds warm and others cool, which is great actually! Just picking one is difficult, but my tracks tend to be inspired by moments and situations that I have experienced rather than stories as such. I was lucky enough to work in Japan for a few months and ‘Shinkansen To Kyoto’ is inspired by that, just an attempt to put the listener in a certain moment in time. I was by myself for quite a bit of the time and I suppose the fact that the environment felt so foreign really gave me time to think, wandering around temples in Kyoto was one of the highlights, I expect Air’s brilliant ‘Alone In Kyoto’ was inspired by a similar experience.

SCQ: If all the reasonable and implausible ideas in your head came to fruition in 2011, what would they be?

AB: Reasonably I’d like to release more music. I’ve been struggling to find time to put releases together but it’s something I’ll keep working on. I’d also love to find someone who is interested in putting images together with one of my tracks.
More implausibly, a dream is to spend a few months in the mountains, in a house with a fully-equipped, state-of-the-art studio, rather than in my spare bedroom.