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Year in Review 2005 By None None While M.I.A. puts the global into groove, our best of the year coverage highlights the political punk of Propagandhi, the geographical pop of Sufjan Stevens, LCD Soundsystem rocking the dance floor, Canadian hardcore heroes Cursed, Common’s hip-hop confections, the collaborative spirit of Calexico and Iron & Wine, and the Congo chaos of Konono #1. Pop & Rock - Top 20 Funk, Soul & Outernational Vibes - Top 10 Hip-Hop - Top 10 Electronic - Top 10 Punk - Top 10 Metal & Hardcore - Top 10 Experimental & Avant-Garde - Top 10 Folk, Country & Blues - Top 10 Film & DVD Video Games Comics


Funk, Soul & Outernational Vibes Year in Review 2005 Maya Arulpragasm, aka M.I.A., brought the world to its feet this year by connecting the dots between West London grime and Southern crunk, NYC electro and Indian bhangra, baile funk and Public Enemy politics. In the process, she became one of the most interesting crossover successes of the year; her album, Arular, tops our Groove best of the year list. By Joshua Ostroff...Read More

Film & DVD Year in Review 2005 The Meta-Comic Movie The year’s crucial adaptations weren’t just based on comics, they were about comics. Batman Begins examined what makes a costumed vigilante, doggedly forcing a rationale for the character’s heroics. For once, the hero had to explain his motives; for once, he was asked to earn the right to punish sinners....Read More

Punk Year in Review 2005 PROPAGANDHI Potemkin City Limits (G7 Welcoming Commitee) Propagandhi don’t really write songs or make records so much as they write essays and release them as collected works set to music. Since their 1996 sophomore release, Less ...Read More

Hip-Hop Year in Review 2005 COMMON Be (Geffen) Common’s poetic lyricism, clever wordplay and distinctive, raspy voice, along with his willingness to expose his own flaws and vulnerabilities, have distinguished the Chicagoan amongst a sea of mic-wielders ...Read More

Folk, Country & Blues Year in Review 2005 Fans of Calexico and Iron and Wine were expecting wonderful things from this union; no one was disappointed. As the Iron and Wine EP Woman King implied earlier this year, Sam Beam’s sombre folk songs are well served by fleshed-out instrumentation. Beam’s apparent itch to work with a band couldn’t have been soothed by a more accomplished ensemble than Calexico....Read More

Pop & Rock Year in Review 2005 SUFJAN STEVENS Illinois (Asthmatic Kitty) When informed earlier this year that pre-orders for his Midwest epic Illinois had reached 40,000, Sufjan Stevens responded innocently, “Is that good?” It is perhaps only fitting that som...Read More

Experimental & Avant-Garde Year in Review 2005 KONONO #1 Congotronics (Crammed) Kinshasa, Congo’s Konono # 1 hits with waves of electric thumb pianos, distorted call and response vocals, and shards of scrap metal percussion, producing an irresistible assault at every frequency...Read More

Electronic Year in Review 2005 LCD SOUNDSYSTEM (Geffen) Though he came across as an aging, know-it-all hipster whose status was slipping away in 2002’s “Losing My Edge” single, James Murphy comes across so modest over the phone from his New York studio it’s almost suspicio...Read More

Metal & Hardcore Year in Review 2005 CURSED Two (Goodfellow) “I think hardcore has gotten really cryptic and empty,” says Cursed vocalist Chris Colohan. “I think cynicism used to mean a lot more. Now it just seems like a social defence to be cryptic and above everythin...Read More


Empire - Get It Get It, the long-delayed debut from Toronto, ON mixtape veterans Empire, is a blast from the past, in the best possible way. In a hip-hop landscape increasingly dominated by ringtone music, Empire come through with an album full of hard-charging beats and menacing, hot-spitting, cipher-bred lyri... Full Review


Tegan & Sara - Sisters of Mercy "For people to trust you and believe you, they have to see you a little bit. I'm not afraid to expose myself in that way," says Sara Quin, of sibling duo Tegan and Sara. The petite brunette has just led me into the heart of the east Vancouver jam space where she and her identical twin Tegan are rehearsing for upcoming tours. The room we're in is expansive, chilly and draped in darkness aside from a single strip of light in the middle of the room; she drags a sofa under the wimpy illumination and offers it to me, taking a straight-backed chair opposite for herself. "If we were a genre film," she continues, "we'd be a documentary."... Read More


New and Forthcoming Release Dates In Canada - All information is tentative and subject to sudden change Check out the hottest new releases in Canada this week, including: 50 Cent Before I Self-Destruct, Boris Japanese Heavy Rock Hits #2 7", Kid Sister Ultraviolet, Norah Jones The Fall, Stereophonics Keep Calm and Carry On... Read More





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