Toronto, Vancouver - It’s that time of the year again. Time to reflect on the years past, we here at the Panic Manual have decided to put out a compilation that reflects the year for us. It was a rather good year for music and I think this compilation is a good representative of that. We all chose 5 songs to put onto the cd and after some interchanging of songs (due to time restrictions), I am here to provide you with the Panic Manual 2007 compilation.

1. Tokyo Police Club - Your English is Good

Ricky says: This Toronto band has generated a massive amount of hype in the past year with their short and catchy
rock songs. While they might sound a bit like the Cribs, there is no denying the energy and fun that is this song. One
of my favorites of the year.

2. New Young Pony Club - Ice Cream

Josh says: Funked up indie club music from this 5 piece from London England.

3. Manic Street Preachers - Your Love Alone is Not Enough

Vik says: Cranking out the hits since 1986, the Manic’s are one of the only bands that consistently create fantastic albums. Richie Edwards must be lending a hand from up above, or from backstage. We may never know…

Ricky says: James Dean Bradfield has gained a lot of weight since his early days. I don’t know why I said that, its good to point out that this song features the Cardigans Nina Persson as the female voice, in case you guys thought it was Nicky Wire.

4. Matt and Kim - Yeah Yeah

Wade says: Saw these guys in Waterloo after I missed their Toronto show and they kicked. Spoke to Kim after the show and she was pretty awesome. It is a really great when you approach a musician that you admire and they aren’t a dick. I think they even gave me a free button. Double awesome.

Ricky says: If you ever watch this video, you will realize that these two people are too goddamn cheerful for their own good, i’d tell them that, but the drummer Kim would probably beat me up. Her biceps are about twice the size of mine.

5. Klaxons - Golden Skans

Ricky says: My most listened to band this year, also, my favorite song off my most listened to band. They also played one of my favorite shows of the year. So I guess I should include them. Did I mention they won the Mercury Prize? What does all this mean? I’ll probably ignore their second album. Haha.

6. Black Lips - O Katrina

Josh says: Guitar driven punk rock from this band from Atlanta Georgia.

7. Andrew Bird - Fiery Crash

Wade says: I delivered a lot of beer over the past year and this Andrew Bird CD was a nice surprise in my beer truck.
The entire CD is pretty catchy, with some pretty..umm…odd lyrics.

Ricky says: I drank a lot of Wade’s beer over the past year.

8. Sambassadeur - Subtle changes

Vik says: Unmistakably Swedish, the orchestral intro makes it sound like an intro for a 1960’s BBC drama

Ricky says: These guys have made my best of 3 years in a row. What a fantastic band, I don’t even know what they look like. I am hoping a bunch of dudes with turbans and 3 really hot latino chicks…but i have my doubts.

9. The Tough Alliance and Victoria Bergsmann - Taken Too Young

Ricky says: The Swedes ride high with this cheery song about crimes committed against altar boys by Catholic Priests. It’s probably not about that, but wouldn’t it be something if it was? Victoria Bergsmann is from the Concretes, and also was the female singer in the band Peter, Bjorn and John. Those three guys, Daniel and Henrik form the Sedin brothers, by the way.

10. Au Revoir Simone - Stars

Wade says: Caught the Simone girls at Sneaky Dees this past year and really only went to hear this one song. They
didn’t play it…however…they did pose in a picture with me

Ricky says: I remember Josh going to this show because he thought the chicks in Au Revoir Simone were really hot. In hindsight, it was pretty stupid to miss these girls because we were all at my place playing Guitar Hero. Then again, in hindsight invading Russia was a pretty stupid idea too. Bottom line, you can’t beat hindsight.

11. Club 8 - When I Come Around

Vik says: A jangly ballad that is so twee, it’s hard to believe it’s a song about cheating on ones significant other.

Ricky says: I thought this was a cover of the Green Day song..I was wrong.

12. Jens Lekman - Postcard to Nina

Ricky says: Considering this is probably his second language, Jens Lekman has done well in writing English lyrics. I know some rappers who can’t string together three proper sentences, and they were born speaking English. Jens Lekman’s album is one of the top albums of the year, in my opinion.

13. St. Vincent - Paris is Burning

Ricky says: Annie Clark is one talented woman, her debut album shows quite a range of music and her voice makes me want to curl up in a sleeping bag right beside a fire, and cook a nice tender piece of steak.

14. Those Dancing Days - Those Dancing Days

Josh says: This made me want to tour Scandinavia. So many great bands coming out of Sweden these days. Great indiepop track from these 5 ladies who signed to Wichita Records. Full album out soon hopefully.

Ricky says: Tiger Wood’s wife makes me want to tour Scandinavia.

15. The Mary Onette - Lost

Vik says: A perfect song to listen to while speeding down the 401 to Pearson Airport trying to catch the person you never had the guts to say you love them (a la every teen drama out there).

16. Miracle Fortress - This thing about you

Wade says: Why do musicians make the last song on their CD the best one? Miracle Fortress missed out
on the Polaris Prize this year. Although I predicted the Besnard Lakes to take the prize, I was really pulling for Mr. Fortress. This CD was an impulse buy. It was on the listening station at the record shop down the street and after I had a listen, I bought it. Hey, those things work.

17. Silversun Pickups - Lazy Eye

Josh says: Nice grungy indierock track from this Los Angeles based band.

Ricky says: Is this song about Tracy McGrady?

18. The Ladybug Transistor - For No Other

Swaying rhythms and Gary Olson’s trademark baritone will make you want to listen to this song and sip a warm cup of cocoa by the fireplace. But don’t fall asleep to close to the fire, there are some terrible statistics about that.

19. Groove Armada - Get Down

Josh says: Reggae tinged club anthem that had me grooving all year long.

20. Young Galaxy - Swing Your Heartache

Wade says: This song may not fit in with the rest of the compilation, but give it a chance, it just might make
you cry. If you can get past the slow build and are a little bit drunk, you might just be surprised.

Grab the compilation here

Battle of Alberta starts and ends here.

Lets compare:

On their site, Spreepark has two free CDs available, The Gaysian Invasion and We’re Reinvinting Music. I had a listen to them both and found some pretty catchy tunes. As a band, they seem to be all over the map. Instrumentals, some almost techno tracks, band banter inbetween songs and some pretty good pop tunes. A double LP worth picking up.

So go, grab some tunes, and make a donation. They need it more than Radiohead does.

 

 Spreepark - Spreepark Jetzt! (030-533-350): Play Now

Similar to many bands I discovered back in the day, I just happened to come across Paul Weller on MP3.com as he was listed as an influence for a lot of my favourite bands at the time (I subsequently ‘happened’ to come accross his entire collection on audiogalaxy, man that site was awesome). Hard to believe I had no idea who he was considering The Jam, The Style Council and his solo material have made it to the UK Top 10 more than 15 times since 1978.

Not many artists can manage such dramatic transitions in their sound and still be successful. The Jam were an integral part of the punk phenomenon and at the height of their fame, Weller decided to disband and take a route of ingenuity by experiementing with many different styles (soul, jazz, funk, rap and rock) and formed The Style Council. Moderately successful, they released a few chart topping tracks like “Long Hot Summer” and “Walls Come Tumbling Down!”. TSC disbanded in 1989 after their popularity began to slide in the UK. Weller disappeared from the public eye for a couple of years, before returning to prominence as one of the major influences of the mid 1990s and hasn’t stopped since.

It’s easy for me to say I like or love alot of bands, but rarley do I say I respect an artist. Paul Weller is a man I respect.

I had the pleasure of seeing Paul live at Massey Hall back in 2005 and I gotta say, if you like Britpop, you must check him out. If you want a taste, here’s a recording of an entire acoustic show in Amsterdam with Steve Craddock thrown in to give it a little more Mod flavour.

Toronto - We reached into the 2006 vaults for this weeks video review. The video this week is The Raptures’ Woo Alright Yeah Uh Huh (WAYUH). This was one of my favorite songs last year and was a pretty popular tune in ze clubs, I think.

Ricky says

New York hipsters doing New York things. This video reminds me of those hip hop party videos you see, only its with white boys. The dance sequence is quite awesome. To me, this video just reeks of NY hipness. I want to have a party on top of an apartment complex now, with the pool and stuff. Great video, captures the song quite well.

Vik says

Appropriately New York, by that i mean hip hop influence, graffiti, rooftop parties and hoochie mama’s. The dance sequence at the 1:22 mark is awesome. I’d definitely act out the lyrics if I ever heard this in a club…

Wade says

A skinny white guy, who took his shirt off on a roof in one of those blow up pools, then he got drunk on some free beer “cus a party aint great ‘less the the beer is free”, and then a dance-off happened….all on top of some cheap ass Sesame Street inspired graphics…sounds like the perfect Saturday to me. This just in.. El Caminos are cool again. I liked it.

Verdict: Thumbs up.

Agree? Disagree?

Finland

Vs.

Russia

One would expect to Russia to beat the Fins hands down seeing as they invented the game, but they can’t even get a vertical drop on the blocks. I gotta give bonus points to the Russians just for production value. This event must have taken place within the past year but it looks like it was filmed back in the 80’s - pure comedy.