Without a Yard

So this year was, erm, interesting.  Thankfully there were loads of fantastic LPs/EPs & shows to lift our collective spirits, right guys? Right?

Like every year, a virtual tip of the hat is directed Waub’s way for starting the best annual tradition among our crew.  Extra thanks go out to everyone who contributed to those list emails or posted lists on their respective sites.

I have been agonizing/procrastinating for over a month.  Had a Top 20 list burning a hole in my draft folder & I think I have whittled it down properly…So in no particular order, I give you:

Zeus - Sounds Like Zeus EP - Tho last year’s promise of a full-length won’t materialize til February, this tiny perfect pop confection arrived just in time for Zeus’ pint-sized, yet triumphant, takeover of the Arts&Crafts NXNEshowcase.  Neil’s tune ‘Marching Through Your Head’ is my personal fav, but the Phil Collins cover of ‘That’s All’ is a guaranteed crowd-pleaser!

Joel Plaskett - Three - 3xs the usual amazing JP output but surprisingly (unlike almost every other concept album in the history of rock music after Sgt Pepper’s) strung together with a cohesive theme, both lyrically and melodically, featuring beautiful guest vocals and insane hooks.  This undertaking stands on par with Down at the Khyber

Gentleman Reg - Jet Black - He’s Reg.  He can do no (faux)albino wrong.

Cats On Fire - Our Temperance Movement - Frosty Finnish climate makes for toasty warm indoor fireworks.  I am entirely biased because they are Finnish. (Insert Kayne interruption joke *here*)

Sprengjuhöllin - Bestu Kveðjur - What can I say?  I love Scandinavian dudes.  These psych pop lads are what The Coral would sound like if they were fronted by Sondre Lerche - borderline saccharine-sweet, but genuinely heartfelt. Now that they’re penning English-language lyrics, they’ll hopefully have 2010 North American success to match their string of homeland #1s.

Do Make Say Think - Other Truths - This record makes me wish I was still in school so it could be my go-to-instrumental background writing s/t. If you have a chance to catch DMST/Happiness Project on tour - PROMISE ME you will attend.  Happiness Project is such a phenomenal experience live, I cried. (& I only cry for Rufus or when someone drops a delicious gooey cookie from Le Gourmand)

Bahamas - Pink Strat - This record is more of a ‘07-09 souvenir for the zillions of treks to the Magpie for Paso Mino or some other brilliant indie incarnation of Afie Jurvanen (here I go again with the Finns…).  I can promise with a clear-conscience that this record will make you smile - it’s perfect.

Dan Mangan - Nice, Nice, Very Nice - This is the only album that overlaps with the year-end list by almighty music guru Frank at Chromewaves.  So I’ve got that going for me…Although it’s ridiculously earnest/shockingly adorable, Dan’s gravely voice balances it out & it turns into this laddish singer-songwriter masterpiece.

PJ Harvey & John Parish - A Woman A Man Walked By - Pretty sure if I had to pick a #1 that this would be it…not necessarily due to its musical merits, but mainly because I’m a *little* stubborn.  I’ve been so disappointed that throughout the year, & especially now, this LP hasn’t gotten any love.  People take PJ for granted! I’m convinced if some new YouTubeing/Twittering waif in Portland put this haunting, sexy, gutsy, intense, raw, intelligent record out, you’d hear it in every pseudo bohemian cafe from here to Timbuktu.  But what the hell do I know?

Noah And The Whale - The First Days Of Spring - Every couple years you need a new ‘break glass in case of sad bastard emergency (heartbreak, boredom, general malaise, crap manager who accuses one of job hunting whilst on medical leave, etc)’ record.  This is your new one if you get sick of your old Belle & Sebastian LPs.

Honourable Mentions:
St. Vincent - Actor
Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It’s Blitz!
Bruce Peninsula - A Mountain Is A Mouth
The Wooden Sky - If I don’t come home you’ll know I’m gone
Bon Iver - Blood Bank EP
Julie Fader - Outside In
M. Ward - Hold Time
Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest
Robert Francis - Before Nightfall
Neko Case - Middle Cyclone

Before I spam my entire FB peeps’ update stream with ‘Meghan favourited a YouTube video’ notices, I’ll give massive official blahg shout out to Fader magazine (who throws the BEST sxsw parties, BTW) for their inspired new web campaign sponsored by Southern Comfort.  ‘At the Bar with Southern Comfort‘ is weekly series of YouTube videos has filmed bands in their favourite hometown bars & asks them to perform acoustic covers - & the choices by the bands are just - wow.

Dunno if Fader approached SoCo or if this just came out of their existing advertiser/publisher arrangement, but IMHO this is a great campaign.  Fader said in July that an upcoming SoCo tour with Polyphonic Spree (meh) & The Hold Steady (yea) is happening along these all-cover-song-lines….

As anyone knows from most major music fests, absorbing some sponsorship/logo/branded stuff is a given to book decent acts & turn a profit.

Here’s a sample of the vids - Daredevil Christopher Wright in Madison, Wisconsin covering Megafaun’s Drains. & to all the pristine prissies who accuse musicians of selling out for doing stuff like this…don’t even get me started…

p.s. Canuck <3s’ll go aflutter for Born Ruffians‘ Luke Lalonde covering the Boss at the best mojito joint in TO, Souz Dal.

Caught Gonzales at the Mod Club.  He was, as usual, absolutely stunning.  Caught a couple songs from his too-brief duo interlude with Feist.  Wanted to share with y’all, my bffs

Oops Oh My (Tweet Cover)

Where Can I Go Without You?

H/T to dooflop01 for the video.

My long weekends begin & end with an epic trek to the Sound & involve spending overdue time with the fam.  Despite the gorgeous clear skies, fresh rural Ontario air & infinite opportunities to sing ‘Save a horse, ride a cowboy’ at karaoke, I usually end up splitting this free time 50/50:  sleeping in & nerding out.

This weekend was no different - nerdery included a docu-binge, interesting new client/sector reading, and indulging in a thorough leisurely read of the Pew Internet & American Life Project report on The Internet & Civic Engagement, which was released just last week.

If the impact of the internet on political participation is at all of interest, download the entire report - it’s less than 70 pgs (incl. big’ol’graphs!) - not a massive undertaking, I swear

A gem gleaned/interpreted from the report is that once someone becomes involved in politics online - not necessarily partisan - they are on a slippery slope to nerdsville.  Posting a blog comment is practically a gateway drug for full-on civic engagement - next thing you know they’re signing petitions, writing their local representatives, writing & posting material themselves…& even donating cash.  Who knows what they’re doing in the streets to get this money to pass on to organizations & campaigns.

• 19% of Americans online had posted material about political &/or social issues or used a social network for civic/political engagement
• This crew was disproportionately young, of course, & also don’t show as much of an old/rich/educated socio-econo slant compared to other engagement measures such as donations & volunteering.
• 61% of politically active online Americans signed petitions (vs. 32% of all adults)
• 50% of online politicos have contacted an official directly.  (Very cool to note that satisfaction rates for contacting political officials was equal online/offline)

The authors posit that social media could alter the vast majority political participants being well off/educated.  The catch is ensuring that newly recruited online politicos start affecting change IRL.  We all know how easy it is to comment on a Facebook/blog post, or ping off a petition - but ratcheting up the free-time donation to include face-to-face canvassing, volunteering & other vital parts of being a ‘real’ citizen are tougher to nail down.

Now this is usually the part of the blog post where I complain about not having similar report from a Canadian thinktank or pollster, but that’d be unfair.  In April’09 Elections Canada published a Working Paper on ‘Youth Electoral Engagement in Canada.’ Thankfully I CAN complain about the age of the data - most recent year in the report was 2006.  The authors have similar conclusions regarding age/income/education as being the three determining factors in political participation as Pew.  The highest engagement levels create this familiar demographic combo: Older religious married born-in-Canada men who earn more than $40K with post-secondary education in rural communities.  Of these factors, being born in Canada was the #1 influencer, with post-secondary education a close runner-up.

Although I whinge about the age of the Elections Canada data, (even Pew study authors admit that without cell-phone owners included in their survey they’re not getting a true glimpse of the younger cohort) there’s a great section on ‘Why is youth turnout so low?’ that has a fantastic summary of previous political science theories on declining engagement.  Citing Cart & Eagles, among many other political scientists, the authors state:

“…the way election campaigns are run may be partly responsible for the turnout decline…traditional door-to-door canvassing has a powerful impact on turnout…evidence that direct candidate contact with voters has been decreasing over time, as parties have devoted more attention to the media…may have contributed to lower turnout, although it is not clear why this should have affected the youth more than older people.”

I couldn’t agree more.  Although online content is a great source for spreading information/sparking discussion/priming donations about politics & social issues, until the user becomes engaged with an issue to the point of ponying up volunteer-time - online engagement is a series of soon-forgotten empty gestures (green avatars, anyone?).

This ends tonight’s nerdcast - I’ll be online less this week because of an especially short work week for less than awesome reasons.  Heartfelt thanks to everyone who’s helped thus far (whether you know it or not ).  Equal gratitude goes out to a flexible employer & helpful IT crew who’re eager to lend wireless routers, webcams & laptops during a time of coccooning.

Wisdom handed down from the blog oracle advises against writing when upset, which is probably the same futile logic that propelled legislation against road rage, but in the world of ‘current affairs’ online - delaying a post 18 hours seems prudent enough, this barely qualifies as current anymore, even.

Of course I couldn’t really keep my online mouth shut this long - after receiving emails about the tragic death of a Toronto cyclist and the sad circumstances of the accident, I started posting thoughts and reflections on Twitter.

For non-Torontonians unaware of the online rubbernecking, review the national newspapers or television stations to find a breathless breakdown in hour-by-hour bullet points of assumed/alleged actions.  Don’t forget to watch videos from the various eye witnesses, the arrest scene itself, and the sadly-reminiscent-of-an-AG-press-conference car-towing.

Until officials fully review security tapes and statements from witnesses, there is no point speculating  culpability.  What was most stunning, and poorly articulated in my blurbs under 140 characters, was last night’s stark contrast to the fortunes of Ted Kennedy.

Today’s politicians live in a virtual fishbowl, many, like Bryant, tried to embrace it - speaking directly to constituents or stakeholders through YouTube channels, attempting to connect with new online audiences, and presenting a personal ’self’ in media interviews.  Unfortunately, the hyper connected/accessible/affordable means to capture and publish media online tears down as well as it builds up.  The enthusiasm and momentum embracing a ‘viral video’ is equally powerful when packaging and distributing mass amounts of information, teasing it out under the guise of objective news and judging a case before a court date is booked.

Today’s newscycle illustrates that the impressively productive career following Kennedy’s tragic fatal mistake cannot be reproduced by allegedly erring politicians today.  Even the tone of Kennedy’s statement released after the investigation - less an ‘apology’ than a fierce rebuttal - seems completely opposite to the bleary eyed press conferences staffed by scrubbed-clean family members, or the vaseline-lensed ‘exclusive’ interviews to ’set things straight’ after a scandal.

The Toronto Twitter community, at least the fraction in which I choose to participate, has a very large cyclist crew.  Reviewing their comments, I was immensely impressed with the respectful and sombre tone as they reflected on the sad news and awaited substantiated facts.

Most encouraging of these commentators was Mark Kuznicki, spearheader of ChangeCamp, TransitCamp organizer and now a force behind BikeCampTO.  Follow @bikeunion for more information & hopefully road-sharing/transit/infrastructure becomes an ongoing conversation with all Torontonians, unprovoked by a tragedy.