HEY, REMEMBER 2006?

I meant to post this a long time ago, like weeks and weeks ago, but now is when it's happening, so that's that. Check out X-Ray Records (and tell Dave hi from Emmet!) on the right for a bunch of other lists somewhere down the line.
Here's my favourite albums from last year in no particular order. Keep in mind that I more or less stopped being on top of music like I had for the previous ten years around September, so I mighta missed some things, like maybe that new Black Keys, which I've only heard one song from, but that one song sounded like I'd like it.

1. Two Gallants - What the Toll Tells (Saddle Creek) - I first heard these guys on a 2005 Loose Music compilation called Start Your Country, which also featured faves like Parkas and Roger Dean Young, and sometime this year I became really addicted to "Steady Rollin'", the second track on this album. There's a sort of a jugband quality to that song, and the usual Two Gallants rightous throat bleeding.
2. Howling Hex - 1-2-3 (Drag City) - Another year, another 2 albums from Neil Hagerty and his band(s). I haven't really warmed up to the other one, Nightclub Version of the Eternal yet, but sometimes it takes me a while.
3. Hylozoists - La Fin Du Monde (Boompa) - I saw Paul Aucoin's mostly instro combo twice in Oh-Six. Once in Regina and once in Vancouver. The Regina was way better, for a variety of reasons. But the album is really, really amazing.
4. Rah Rah - Songs for Pasquala (self-release) - Oh how I love these kids.
5. Ghostface Killah - Fishscale (Def Jam/Universal) - Pretty much for "The Champ" alone, from which this blog got its name (via Rocky II, as well, long live Burgess Meredith).
6. Prototypes - Je Ne Te Connais Pas EP (Minty Fresh) - fun, dumb, French pop. This EP is a FREE DOWNLOAD at the Minty Fresh website.
7. Ray Davies - Other People's Lives (V2) - I don't know. I think I'm overrating this. There are some really brilliant songs, but I honestly haven't listened to OPL since, like, May. So maybe it doesn't belong here.
8. the Parkas - The Scars to Prove It (Little Records of Concrete) - not really an album, but another EP, and so far only available with the DVD A Life of Crime, which is REQUIRED VIEWING for anybody who wants to tour Canada with a rock band. The songs are absolutely killer, though, and the Parkas have already two newer tracks on their mySpace page. HUZZAH! The Parkas are sort of turning into a less fun band than they were on their debut record, Now This Is Fighting, which is too bad, but they're probably actually even better, and they're sorta really kick-ass and tough now. Like on their first record, they were sorta mouthy and cheeky punks, and then they got theirs (see the movie) and now they've become sort of what they where acting as if they were. I don't think that makes any sense. But, like, I think of the Parkas as a street gang. On their first record, they were a street gang from Grease. Now they're a street gang from, um, a Martin Scorsese movie. Anyway, the Parkas remain wickedly smart and terrific, and, little known fact: their drummer writes their lyrics! Just like, um, Mudhoney, I think.
9. Chad Van Gaalen - Skelliconnection (Flemish Eye/Sub Pop) - Another album I didn't hear was C Van G's Calgary buds The Cape May's new one. I should seek that out. I really liked their last one, Central City May Rise Again. Anyway, C Van G has a new album and it's real good. Favourite track: Wind Driving Dogs.
10. Various Artists - Congotronics Vol. 2: Buzz & Rumble from the Urb'n Jungle (Crammed Disc) - AWESOME.

Stuff I'm looking forward in 2007: new albums/music from RTX, Parkas, Goldenmile AND HOPEFULLY ANDREW VINCENT GODDAMNIT. And also picking up some stuff I missed last year.

A posting I found.

NEVER BEFORE PUBLISHED! A BLOG THAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN!
FROM EARLY JUNE, 2006, BEFORE THE EARTH COOLED.

F'r realz,

It's Friday night, and whattayaknow, things're totally lousy! Awesome! The weekend belongs to misery! Woo hoo!
Regardless, in 14 hours, I return to the airwaves on a semi-regular basis. For the month of June, I'm going to be filling in on the 2 to 4 p.m. slot on 91.3 FM, CJTR. If I was a more "together" person, I'd have something really wild and awesome planned, but, um, YU KNOW YU KNOW.
I've got a whole SCHWACK of new (and new to me) musik that I'm going through AT THIS VERY MOMENT, and since I'd rather not talk about me (then why the blog, bub?), let's talk about MUZIK.
Classical Classics, Vol. 1 - Emmet continues his half-assed attempt to GET Classical Musix. Those of you IN THE KNOW already know that I've sorta got halfway down with the fourth volume in this intrepid series, so why not go back to the orginal. THE ONE THAT STARTERED IT ALL. First up, Tchaikovsky: big whoop. Nutcracker music. Mozart "Eine Kleine Wittgenstein" sounds pretty good. But I'm sure that's only because I'm familiar with it from TV. Still not down with Vivaldi, despite my inclination to BE DOWN WITH VIVALDI. I figure I've give two seasons a shot, and unless Winter is totally Next Level Shit, me and Viv are DONE.
Mixtape presents: UK Garage: the Next Step - I think there's a pun in the title, but I don't think I'll ever get it. This sounds like Dance Dance Revolution music, and I suppose, y'know, in a way, IT IS. There's a notable version of Bel Biv Devoe's "Poison", but otherwise, pffffffffff. The thing about Dance Dance Revolution music is that when I hear it, I'm either dancing or I know I'm going to be dancing soon, so, y'know, pavlovian whatchamacallit. Dawg. True story: the Windows Media Player thinks this CD is Tori Amos.
The Very Best of Alfred Apaka With The Hawaiian Village Serenaders - this un's still in the cellowrap, with a Tempo pricetag no less. THIS IS GAS STATION MUSIC. I kinda don't want to open it, because, y'know, MAGIC. But then again, do I want a collectible or a listenable? Eff it, let's listen. IT'S OPEN. It's in the drive. Hmmm, sort of a South Pacific Bing Crosby, which is what I expected, but not what I hoped. Just goes to show ya. Still, the instruments are MY-T tasty, and, like, whew, that's just about enough for me. Suffice to say, it's no Tau Moe Family. Actually, it's pretty dull.
Strange Lights and Resolutions by Kobayashi - Montral triphopjazzensemble. Totally mellow, totally "chill" oh snap, there's the horns. Totally Tim Weisgarber music. I was listening to Tim's show on the radio-radio tonight. He played the entire As It Happens theme. Oh, nuts, there's vocals. Not bad vocals, pretty appropriate vocals, but I was like, totally into hearing this ALA INSTRUMENTAL, as the music snobs say. Song 2, "Midnight Ambulances" has a wicked groove. This is late night music. Can I make it work on a summery Saturday afternoon? DO YOU HAVE TO ASK? I think these guys are coming through with the Jazz Festival. Should be a deadly show. Yeah. I'm there.
La Fin Du Mone by the Hylozoists - I saw these guys live a bout a month or so ago and they were pretty amazing. Picked up the CD they had out at the time, and was pretty so-so about it. I think if I had heard that CD BEFORE I'd seen 'em live, I'd have been able to form a more meaningful relationship with it. This new one--so new it's not even new yet. It's pre-new--naturally seems much more in tune with what I saw. A little more together, and little more, um, filmic (cuz i think "cinematic" is a wrong word to use to describe music: "It's cinematic" "Oh, you can see it?"), or better still Morricone-ish. Or BIG, GRAND. Yeah, this is really good.

Well, that's it for this week/month/whatever.

Pat, You Fat Cat

Pat Fiacco, the darling mayor of Regina, seems more disappointed that someone is pointing out that North Central has HUGE problems than he is that there are, you know, ACTUAL PEOPLE IN HIS CITY living in horrible conditions.
From the Leader-Post: MAYOR COMPLAINS MAGAZINE STILL WRONG.

"Well, at least it's not the Detroit Ghetto," the L-P sighs in their editorial, before suggesting a Liberal Media Anti-Fiacco Conspiracy.

I grew up in Regina, and I currently work in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, which formerly held the title of "Canada's Worst Neighbourhood" (and still does to most of the world). I've never been to THE DETROIT GHETTO, but I'd imagine it's pretty similar to the DES, or was in its heyday, give or take a few thousand guns. There's poor people, there's drugs, there's violent crime. But it's still "a neighbourhood like every other" with people who go to work, raise their kids, pay taxes, etc. That doesn't stop it, or Regina's North Central, from being home to people who live in pretty abject misery. For Fiacco to complain that the national media didn't highlight his boxing school, or his bungled housing projects in the face of such horrors as child prostitution is, as someone once said, "small town cheap."

For what it's worth, here's the original Macleans story by Jonathan Gatehouse. It's actually really good.
EDIT: Okay, that link's dead. Sorry.
EDIT AGAIN: That link works again.

As a bonus: Ode To Pasquala mp3 by Rah Rah.

NEXT YEAR IN METROPOLIS

That's right folks. NO ONE has asked me to do a top ten/year's best list at all this year, but I'm doing one anyway. I might even do two! I'm not making any promises, but what the heck, maybe we can even squeeze a third list out these old steam-powered branez before the sun comes up.

Okay, let's start with something easy. Let's start with my favourite 10 comics of the year.
EMMET'S TOP TEN COMIC BOOKS OF 2006

10. Green Lantern Corps (DC) - While I'm pretty much at the breaking point as far as the main Green Lantern series goes, the spin-off has been loads of fun. Lots of aliens, lots of crazy ideas, great art from Patrick Gleason and Dave Gibbons and even new (fill-in?) writer Keith Champagne (best known as the former inker for JSA, and writer of one of the dullest JSA stories ever, and that's saying something!) has managed to keep this series worth reading. Also of note in the DC sci-fi team books category is the new Omega Men series, where Flint Henry is doings some boffo Bisley/Sienkiewicz-esque art.
9. Marvel Tales Spider-Man (Marvel) - Despite the awesomeness Adam Beechen (2007's Dan Slott???) and covers by Ty Templeton, DC's line of superhero comics for kids are too dependent on being Saturday morning tie-ins, and thus being a little too overtly FOR KIDS. Marvel's Marvel Tales line of books don't tie in to anything. They're just fun comics. Kids (hopefully) know when they're being pandered to. (I know, this entry is more of a dis on something else than accolades for MASM, but just go get the Fing Fang Foom issue, okay!)
8. 52 (DC) - It's not actually 52 itself that endears DC's weekly comic to me. It's the weekly format, which has more or less been my only reason to visit the comic shop most weeks, and Douglas Wolk's fantastic companion blog 52-Pickup that makes 52 fun.
7. Superman Archives (DC) - I'm not even sure if this came out in 2006, but I'm including it anyway. This full-color reprint of the first year or so of Superman and Action Comics was nothing less than a revelation to me. The raw energy of the early Man of Steel is exhilerating and almost foreign to someone who grew up with the tail-end of the Curt Swan Era Superman.
6. Tales Designed to Thrizzle #3 (Fantagraphics) - Michael Kupperman's humor mag flops as often as it soars, but that's part of the fun of comedy. He's willing to flop, he's trying out ideas. It's never boring and it's usually savagely hilarious.
5. Absolute DC: The New Frontier (DC) - I spoiled myself with this de luxe edition of Darwyn Cooke's masterpiece. I couldn't help myself. It's oversized and has annotations and sketchs and NEW PAGES OF STORY!
4. "Up, Up and Away" in Superman and Action Comics (DC) - As you've already seen and as you're about to further witness, I got WAY into Superman this year. I daresay that with this storyline, and Kurt Busiek's subsequent stuff in the Superman mag, this is the best the mainline Superman comics have been in my lifetime.
3. Showcase Presents Superman Family (DC) - All of the wackiness unearthed in 2005's Showcase Presents Superman pales (okay, not quite) when Jimmy Olsen takes centre stage in these reprints. After reading this 500+ page tome, I finally understood why Lex Luthor sees Superman as nothing more than an extraterrestrial interloper hindering humanity's maturation from cosmic adolescents and keeping them (us) from being captains of their (our) own destiny.
2. All Star Superman (DC) - OH YEAH! I LOVES ME SOME SUPERMAN! Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely infrequently present some of the most glorious ideas about Superman. Issue #5, where Clark Kent visits Lex Luthor in prison and goes to SUPER lengths to conceal his dual identity just might be the most beautiful Superman comic ever.
1. Action Philosophers! (Evil Twin) - THE GREATEST THING SINCE SLICED BREAD. Sassy & irreverent, but also concise and informative. It's like Mad Magazine meets Classics Illustrated. Fred Van Lente and Ryan Dunleavy are awesome. GET YR COPY NOW!

Merry Christmas

Christmas is here, and so am I! A totally useless post on my otherwise uruseful blog. Enjoy the season, whatever season it might be.

Things To Do In Vancouver When You're Wet

PART ONE: COMPOSED NOV. 23, 2006
Early this morning, as I mopped the hallways in one of the West Coast's most exclusive hotels, I felt the urge to blog. But after sleeping all day, and then getting soaked in the perpetual downpour, I can't remember what it was that I wanted to say. So I'm going to write anyway, because I'm out of practice, and because I might eventually say what I was thinking I wanted to say.

Anyway, it's been, like, 3 months in Vancouver, and what do I think? First of all, don't ever move to Vancouver at the end of August. It's absolutely gorgeous here in the late summer/early fall, and that serves nothing but to set you up for a torrential disappointment come the second week of October, which is when the rain starts.

All the things I liked about the city when I first got here seem kinda moot now. All the places I wanted to go to, all the things I wanted to do...meh, maybe in the spring. For now, all I really feel like doing is going to work and hanging around home, which is pretty much all I did in Regina, only I paid A LOT less for the honour of having a roof over my head.

BUT I'M NOT HERE TO WHINE ABOUT THE WEATHER OR THE COST OF LIVING!

well, maybe just a little bit.

I recently spoiled myself with a very chi-chi comic book called Absolute DC: The New Frontier.
It's Canadian artist Darwyn Cooke's reimagining of DC Comics' Silver Age of Superheroes in their proper historical context. In a lot of ways, this is like an antidote to Alan Moore's Watchmen, which, of course, was the SENSES-SHATTERING 86/87 miniseries that (brilliantly) deconstructed the tropes of superhero comics. Watchmen framed costumed crimefighters against the cold war paranoia of the 80s, tugging on their capes to reveal the flawed humans who wore them (or didn't wear them, as only Ozymandias even occasionally wore a cape). Cynically ambivalent, Watchmen, along with Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns of the same years, began an era of DIMINISHING FUN.
In a recent issue of Wizard Magazine, Grant Morrison (discussing his late-80s run on Animal Man) described Watchmen and other "realistic" takes on superheroes of that era as a "dead end". To a degree, those works cast a long shadow over superhero comics that remains imposing to this day, in terms of a paradigm (or perceived paradigm) that superhero comics that aren't filled
with flawed antiheroes and existential angst CAN ONLY BE mindless pap for emotionally-stunted mouthbreathers. All too often, the stock revamp of a pre-existing superhero comic concent is to darken it up. To insert previously incongruous elements of sex and violence. To prove that, indeed, comics aren't only not just for kids, but not for kids at
all. NOT EVEN REMOTELY. And not just because they deal with mature subject matter, but because they deal with it in an UNIMAGINATIVE AND CREATIVELY BANKRUPT MANNER. Identity Crisis, for example.

THIS PART COMPOSED ON DECEMBER 7th, HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD
What the hell is the point of frothing milk? I just made some chai latte things, and frothed milk for them, and now I've gulped down the chai part, but there's this frothed milk at the bottom of my mug, and, like, I don't know what to do with it. I kind of thought the milk would unfroth into the chai solution, but it hasn't. It remains. Like snow on the prairies. Like Ensure on your shoes. Like something you thought was going to be something different, but instead it's just something different again.

This is a song I really like right now: "Thieves of Memory" by the Parlour Steps - It's sort of got elements of Arcade Fire (which I'm indifferent about, but maybe appreciate more, considering this song, which isn't them, but is like them, in a fashion, and thus allows me to like "that kind of thing" with out liking "that thing" whatever that's worth) and Morphine (which I love), which makes for an interesting sound. The Parlour Steps have another song, that I've only ever heard once, but it's an amazing song, and they should put it on their next album and it will be a hit.

Speaking of hit records, my man Andrew Vincent (who isn't in any way or fashion "my man", except that I bought his t-shirt--a t-shirt with his name on it, not the t-shirt he was wearing--like four years ago when he played in Regina) has a new song that's featured in ad for the place I got my spiffy new winter coat. Check it out here (the song, not the coat).

I bought a new winter coat last week, when it was winter. It's kind of a badass coat, only I don't really look that badass in it. See, for some reason, whenever my hair gets to be a little too long, and unpleasant, I start buying new clothes. Because I'm unhappy with the way I look, but I find going to the barbershop something of an ordeal. Maybe I'll get into that sometime. Anyway, I start buying a bunch of new clothes, because I know that I'm not looking the way I want to look. So I buy some clothes, and I like them, but then I own up to the fact that what I really need is a haircut, so I go get a haircut. Then I realize that all the clothes I bought, that make me look so badass and awesome, only suit a shaggy-haired Emmet. Neat and trim Emmet is incongruous with these badass threads.

And that's why I always look goofy.

Baby, How'd We Ever Get This Way?

I can't believe it's been 2 months since I've posted. That probably tells you something, huh?
Saw Bonnie "Prince" Billy the other night (thanks Skye!). It was pretty cool. I was kinda tired and grumpy and not really that into going to a show, but Will Oldham, I mean, come on!
And opening act the Human Bell, or possibly Helium Bell?, from Baltimore, was really awesome. Just two guitars (and a trumpet on one song), no voice, no hijinks. Really, really resonant, especially in the hall, which is also a church. They sort of reminded me of Slayer, but they weren't heavy metal.