Because I can’t help myself

10 Albums I Listened to the Most This Year

Destroyer – Kaputt
The Vaccines – What Did You Expect From The Vaccines
The Horrors – Skying
Hooded Fang – Tosta Mista
Wild Beasts – Smother
Young Galaxy – Shapeshifting
Black Lips – Arabia Mountain
Washed Out – Within and Without
British Sea Power – Vahalla Dancehall
The Rapture – In the Grace of Your Love

10 Songs

M83 – Midnight City
Girls – Vomit
The Vaccines – Post Break Up Sex
Austra – Lose It
The Rapture – How Deep Is Your Love
The Horrors – Still Life
Cut Copy / Architecture in Helsinki – Need You Now
Foster The People – Pumped Up Kicks/Houdini (inescapably catchy)
Young Galaxy – Cover Your Tracks
Adele – Someone Like You (Buffet Libre Remix) *don’t really like original

10 Eating Experiences

Cinc Sentits
Guinea Pig
Alpaca Tenderloin
Squid Black Ink Paella, BOMBAS! aka Everything in Barcelona
Legit Kofte
Sugar Mamma‘s Mini Donuts
Pide / Turkish Pizza
GUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU
Salt Lick / Iron Works / Everything in Austin

Top 10 Travel Memories

Pulp, Primavera
Hiking Machu Picchu
Amazon Rainforest
Istanbul’s Bosphorous
Familia Sagrada, Barcelona
Blue Mosque / Sophia Hagia / Basilica Cistern
Freezing ass off skating down Ottawa Canal
Going to Sam Adams brewery..when it was closed
Crashing coworker’s wedding and err, high school concert in Istanbul
SXSW

Top 10 Panic Manual Writers

Paul – what a tank, traveled the world, reviewed shows from Austin, Guelph, Barcelona, Paris and Denmark among others. Shaved his sideburns into a star for Halloween.

Brian – Fringe/Theatre MVP, Writes Jazz pieces and also produced a baby.

Wade – Jack of all trades will be coming with you with an insanely brilliant album review series next year, and also, provided us with endless donuts throughout the year.

Mark – Covers Jazz and Worldly music like no one else, also, will go to whatever NXNE show I tell him to go to. Interviewed someone.

Allison – Eighties music experts went to more 80s bands this year than one could imagine, while constantly lamenting about how hot and fit those fifty year old singers were. Managed to not piss off an entire local band’s fanbase this year too.

Sarah – Our only writer with Elite status on Air Canada. Sarah was too busy mimicking George Clooney’s character from Up in the Air to delight us with too many show reviews but she still listened to more Canadian music than all of us (minus Wade) combined.

Stacey – Our newest casual Toronto writer has true appreciation for local and cancon music and is the only member of the Panic Manual team that could legitimately save your life (she’s a doctor). Also, compared an RAA show to sex.

Halley and Celeste – The youngest and brightest writers on our blog, the sisters of destruction listen to all the hip and new music I used to listen to. They’ll provide you with insight on boatloads of new bands and songs next year, while the rest of us sit around in our rocking chairs reminiscing about the nineties.

Gary and Derek – Our two resident photographers, Gary moved himself onto the set of the Wire / Baltimore last year and has since become a nutjob who dedicates his year end article to the occupy movement. Still, he takes amazing pictures. Derek not only took amazing pictures at SXSW, he took them while being completely inebriated. Also, provided us with the minibooth for our 90s party.

Vik – Our graphics and layout guy Vik had the pleasure of making this site look pretty this year. Also, has a really cute kid and let me borrow Red Dead Redemption for half a year

Verdict

Overall, just like Tori Amos said.. “Pretty Good Year”

2012

It’s coming.
Be ready to rock.
Be ready to roll.

2011 was an interesting year for music, yet while there were quite a few albums that I enjoyed and admired, there were only a few that really stuck with me. That said, here are a few albums I enjoyed.

Childish Gambino – EP

While he made a bit of a splash with the recent release of Camp, this 5 song EP from earlier in the year got a lot more play from me.  There’s a few reasons why I like this, among them the instantly likeable melodies, clever lyrics, and the fact that I have a short attention span, but of course the reason I listened to begin with was of course the fact that Gambino is the alter ego of Community star Donald Glover and I am, of course, totally obsessed with that show.  Gambino is a mastermind.

The Decemberists – The King Is Dead

2011 will go down in music history as the year that REM broke up (and the year that cynical internet douchebags cracked wise about how they should have split up years ago) but with The King Is Dead, Portland’s Decemberists showed their willingness to take up the torch with an album that definitely evokes the glory days of their Athens forebears and even recruited Peter Buck to play on a few songs.   

Wild Flag – Wild Flag 

Seeing as how this band features two thirds of Sleater-Kinney, that automatically qualifies it for this list.  Add Mary Timony and Recca Cole into the mix and you’ve really got something.  These ladies know how to rock.  “Nuff said.

Chelsea Wolfe – Apokalypsis

I discovered this album sometime late last summer and was hooked immediately.  It may have been the brief moment of gurgling, demonic black metal vocals that opened the album that snagged me, but after that I was drawn right in by Wolfe’s “doom folk.”   Her vocals and the overall musical vibe probably remind me most of PJ Harvey (if she was American and into black metal).  This is definitely one of the most sonically interesting albums  to be released this year.

Ghost – Opus Eponymous

Technically a 2010 release, but it got rereleased stateside by Metal Blade Records this year so while it’s a bit of a cheat, I say that’s enough to qualify it as a 2011 release.  Simply put, there was no album that caught my imagination more than this one.  Over the top Satanic hard rock/metal made by a bunch of “nameless ghouls” who may or may not be members of a well known black metal band, these guys are a lot of fun.  Like cheesy 1970s horror movie fun – kind of scary, but also ridiculous. 

Everyone likes awards right? Especially when they are random and whimsical..right? Here’s the rest of my favorite concert moments. Since it’s my blog, I’m just going to call these awards The Panickys. I would call it the Rickys, but that oozes of ego boasting.

2011 Panicky for Concert Where I Saw the Most Friends

Sloan, December, 2011 – The Great Hall
Before I joined this cultish indie blogger group I am now apart of, I rarely knew anyone at concerts. Since that fateful day, I seem to run into at least a few people at shows. While I’ve seen a lot of friends at a lot of shows, the Sloan show was by far, the one I went to with the most amount of people I knew there. I didn’t talk to most of the people I knew there, because I had a good spot. It helps that the show was phenomenal, and a nice cap off to a phenomenal concert year.

Sloan – Everything You’ve Done Wrong (live 2011-12-21) by panicmanual

2011 Panicky for Concert with the best backdrop/environment

The National, Llevant Stage, Primavera Sound, June, 2011
Brooding band, sun setting, beautiful weather and the Mediterranean Sea at my back. Even Matt Berninger mentioned how amazing it was for The National to play a set at that particular time at that particular place. Pure magic. Second best sunset show I’ve seen (after Coachella 2004, where Belle and Sebastian played a sunset show).

2011 Panicky for Concert where I formally gave up on a band

Interpol, Llevant Stage, Primavera Sound, June ,2011
I used to love Interpol, their brooding, atmospheric debut was one of the better records from the past decade. Sadly, the band has failed to consistently improve/expand on their sound and seeing the band go through the motions and play their inferior new tracks was a tough pill to swallow. Maybe Carlos D left at the right time, but I’m pretty sure that the sixth time I saw these guys was my last, until of course, the Interpol reunion in 2019.

2011 Panicky for Best Unexpectedly Great Concert

Erasure, Sound Academy, September 2011
The 80s synth-pop band put on one of the best shows I saw in Toronto this year, delivering a hits filled set at their show in September. The track selection for this set was perfect, building momentum slowly and then exploding in an outburst of color, melody and hook filled choruses, instantly transforming yours truly into a big time Erasure fan.

2011 Panicky for Best Unexpectedly Great Local Concert

Allie Hughes, NXNE, Wrongbar, June, 2011
Given the amount of large shows I go to, it’s probably not fair to group them with the smaller, more intimate local shows. So Allie Hughes gets the Panicky for the local version of best unexpectedly great show. Catching her on a whim at NXNE, I wasn’t expecting too much but came away awfully impressed by Allie’s theatre meets indie music mashup. Fun, original and filled with good music. A definite highlight of NXNE.

NOT THE STARS by AllieHughes

2011 Panicky for Best 1 Song Show

The Walkmen, Primavera Sound, June 2011
I only caught the tail end of the Walkmen (who Allison confuses with the Watchman, 9 times out of 10) set at Primavera Sound, but they sang the only song I would ever want to hear – The Rat. Seriously, listen to it. It’s one of the best tracks from the past decade and should have launched the band into the stratosphere. It didn’t, but that doesn’t make it a great moment to hear that song live.

2011 Panicky for Best Show I Do Not Remember

Yeasayer, Microsoft Party, Austin, March 2011
As chronicled in my article here, the PM crew indulged a bit too much at the free booze fest and as a result, I missed/forgot what happened at the Yeasayer show. Still, this was better than my performance at the Woodhands show in 2010. I didn’t have to review the Yeasayer show, I kinda had to review the Woodhands show and instead ended up making references to Fast and Furious in the article.

2011 Panicky for Show with the Highest Dancing Crowd/Collapsed Floor Potential

Sheezer, Sneaky Dees, NXNE, June, 2011
While they didn’t dress up as Spice Girls aka their Halloween show, Sheezer’s Sneaky Dees show was the perfect storm of great music, amazing crowd and really small space. The crowd was more than amped to see the Weezer cover band at 2 am at the height of NXNE and the result was a venue long mosh pit which was literally floor shaking. Great show.

Sheezer – Only in Dreams (Live) by Pop Montreal

2011 Panicky for Best Concert

Pulp, San Miguel Stage, Primavera Sound, June 2011
Was there any doubt? Favorite Concert Ever.

As another year draws to a close, it’s time for Panic Manualers old and new to contemplate what has just happened. For many of us, it’s an opportunity to reflect on the music released in 2011. For others, it’s an opportunity to reflect on just about everything else.

This year was the whirly-windiest yet. While I can’t say I saw as much live music as I would have liked, there were certainly some moments worth mentioning. The Panic Manual hosted another successful 90’s party at the Boat in Kensington Market, and that was the most exciting DJ experience I’ve had to date. It’s amazing to think how we’ve grown from a blog that used to cover a few shows in Toronto to covering some amazing festivals both near and far.

Here are some on the 2011 list: Canadian Music Week, NXNE, SXSW, Guelph Hillside, the Toronto Jazz Festival, Primavera (Spain), as well as a host of European festivals during Paul’s epic Lord of the Rings-esque trek to the mother land. We’ve also got some great writers stationed in Chicago, Washington and Baltimore heading up our Canada-U.S. relations. All in all, it was another great year for the Panic Manual. Thanks to Ricky for running this hot mess and thanks to all of our writers. You rock.

So without further ado, here are some things:

Best Show – Branford Marsalis & Joey Calderazzo

Easily the most transcending show of the year; Branford Marsalis and Joey Calderazzo played Koerner Hall for the debut launch of their album Songs of Mirth and Melancholy. These are my two favourite contemporary musicians. As much as I love Branford Marsalis’ quartet, hearing the two of them play in intimate duet format was out of this world. I could not dream up a better show. It’s almost as if the mind-control device I implanted in Toronto Jazz Festival Artistic Director Josh Grossman’s brain actually worked!! Mwuhuaha!

Honourable mention goes to Empire of the Sun. I won’t attempt to one-up Ricky’s description. It really was “the carnival meets space travel meets Thundercats”.

Best Podcast – Panic Manual Rogue Podcast

While our fearless leader Ricky was hiking the Himalayans or some shit, he left the keys to the proverbial Benz in the hands of Paul and myself. Enter Operation World Metal. While we didn’t cover as much heavy metal and world music as we would have liked, we did rogue podcast it up. The craziness of 2011 meant that we didn’t do as many of these as we’ve typically done in years past. However, we did discover that my apartment is just as echo-y as Ricky’s cavernous living room. Go figure.

Best Symphony – Bugs Bunny at the Symphony

The Toronto Symphony is in its 90^th season this year. It recently hosted rock-star pianist Lang Lang for a residency last November. In the new year, they will be hosting both Itzhak Perlman and Yo-Yo Ma in what will inevitably be fantastic shows. I’ve often made the case that tsoundcheck is one of the best programs to catch live Classical music for super duper cheap.

That being said, what stole the show for me this year was seeing Bugs Bunny at the Symphony. Bugs is the reason I love Classical music in the first place, so seeing a live symphony play along to my favourite Looney Tunes cartoons was both nostalgic and awesome. Prior to the show, I had the opportunity to interview conductor George Daugherty, making the entire experience that much more special

Best New Dictator – Kim Jong-un

In last year’s review, I mentioned North Korea’s dictator-in-waiting Kim Jong-un. With the recent passing of his father, “Dear Leader” Kim Jong-il, it’s only fitting we re-tread on this soil. The rubber truly hits the tarmac now as North Korea’s military leaders scramble to stabilise what is already an inherently unstable country. Last year Jong-un was named the “Great Successor” and now it’s his turn to lead. Let’s hope that cooler heads can prevail and real reform can happen in this broken country.

Have a safe holiday everyone! Stay tuned in 2012 for more fun from the PM.