Lists are cool. Lists are fun. In the last 10 years, we’ve made a lot of lists, but never a ranked one. Until now.
With sincere thanks to Quick Before It Melts’ good friends Ryan Bresee, Jonathan Briggins, Louis Calabro, Mac Cameron, Tiana Feng, and Alex Hudson, we’ve endeavoured to compile a (totally subjective and up-for-debate) definitive list of the 100 albums that made the decade and have defined Quick Before It Melts. I think we did a pretty good job.
100 BELIEFS Beliefs
99 GRIMES Art Angels
98 THE RURAL ALBERTA ADVANTAGE Departing
There are moments on Departing, like “Barnes’ Yard” and “Under The Knife”, that jump out as examples of the band’s experimentation and playfulness. What The Rural Alberta Advantage has ultimately done is crafted another vibrant and electrifying record in the vein of their last, but with a life all its own. – Quick Before It Melts, March 1, 2011
97 DANIEL ROMANO Workin’ For the Music Man
96 WOMEN Public Strain
Even at my dirtiest, noise-loving best, Public Strain is not the kind of album I ever imagined liking, let alone loving. I’m hesitant to use such a hyperbolic as “love” because that suggests admiration and affection. Public Strain makes me apprehensive and slightly fearful; it’s the adrenaline rush it gives me that I’m truly hooked on. – Quick Before It Melts, October 16, 2010
95 PS I LOVE YOU Death Dreams
Death Dreams is so full of melodies that there’s barely enough room in these 11 songs to contain them all. The established wall-of-guitar-sound PS I Love You used for Meet Me at the Muster Station hasn’t been taken down, but it’s been bricked over and given a fresh coat of paint thanks to Paul Saulnier’s fretboard shredding fervor. Lyrically, they’re going to some very dark places (the album title refers to recurring dreams Saulnier was having while out on the road), but there’s a beacon of light off in the distance to guide us back from the brink. – Quick Before It Melts, May 8, 2012
94 DOOMSQUAD Kalaboogie
93 CATHERINE MACLELLAN Silhouette
92 SUUNS & JERUSALEM IN MY HEART Suuns & Jerusalem in My Heart
91 COOL TV Paint
90 CHAD VANGAALEN Shrink Dust
89 RUFUS WAINWRIGHT Release the Stars
88 TANYA TAGAQ Animism
87 JULIE FADER Outside In
Outside In is the kind of album you swear you’ve heard somewhere else before. Like a city that’s instantly familiar even though you have never visited it before, Outside In induces déjà vu-like in the listener as they travel down musical routes that remind you of roads previously taken… Fader layers her songs like warm pullovers over plaid flannel shirts. – Quick Before It Melts, September 26, 2009
86 RAH RAH The Poet is Dead
85 JUNIOR BOYS So This Is Goodbye
84 BRAIDS Flourish//Perish
With no guitar in sight until the very last track, Braids have set themselves at their computers and keyboards to translate their previous record’s free-flowing, amorphous sound patterns with technology. They manage that musical feat effortlessly. The fact that there is no guitars is such a non-issue that it almost doesn’t warrant mentioning. With talent like theirs, I suspect Braids could make their singular brand of music using pots and pans and common household twine. – Quick Before It Melts, August 20, 2013
83 COUSINS The Halls of Wickwire
82 YOUNG GALAXY Ultramarine
81 TEGAN AND SARA Heartthrob
Tegan and Sara’s evolution has been organic, and unapologetic; as sure as they’ll pick up new fans with Heartthrob, they’re bound to lose some long-time admirers who’ll feel alienated by the cool, synthetic sounds of new songs like “Shock to Your System”. It’ll be those disenchanted fans’ loss; Heartthrob will renew your faith in pop music and remind you that it can be much more than ‘typical’. – Quick Before It Melts, January 29, 2013
80 MARIE-PIERRE ARTHUR Marie-Pierre Arthur
79 DIANA Perpetual Surrender
78 SILKKEN LAUMANN Not Forever Enough
Not Forever Enough–a record of abandon, of surrender–arrives against the odds to clean the slate and reset the controls. Silkken Laumann started out as a re-imagining of one man’s musical trajectory, one Rolf Klausener, who alongside compatriot Pat Johnson set out to stake some new musical ground for themselves in the wake of The Acorn’s indefinite hiatus. Together, they began rediscovering what they loved about music in the first place, exploring new ways of exemplifying that love, and exorcising some of the demons from an annus horribilis: 2011. – Quick Before It Melts, January 7, 2014.
77 JON MCKIEL Tonka War Child
76 BRAIDS Native Speaker
75 THE DEARS Gang of Losers
74 AIDAN KNIGHT Small Reveal
73 THE REST Seesaw
In the year 2525, they’ll still be telling the story about how SEESAW came to be, albeit probably punctuated with a chuckle at the primitive technology The Rest‘ had to use to retrieve the album from a defective hard drive. In 2012, the story is hardly funny at all. – Quick Before It Melts, May 7, 2012
72 SHOTGUN JIMMIE Transistor Sister
71 ABSOLUTELY FREE Absolutely Free
They are, in essence, the musical equivalent of an Esther Williams “Aquamusical”, and I for one am happy to drown in Absolutely Free’s wake. – Quick Before It Melts, October 14, 2014.
70 THE ACORN Glory Hope Mountain
69 MICHAEL FEUERSTACK & ASSOCIATES Singer Songer
68 DRAKE Nothing Was the Same
67 THE WOODEN SKY Every Child a Daughter, Every Moon a Sun
Perhaps they’re more confident in their playing and songwriting, or maybe it’s because of new experiences gained on the road, but whatever it is, The Wooden Sky have truly come into their own. – Quick Before It Melts, February 29, 2012.
66 ZAKI IBRAHIM Every Opposite
65 LITTLE GIRLS GIRLS Concepts
There was an exciting moment in 2009/2010 when lo-fi home recordings were trendy. All you needed to make a great album was the built-in mic on a laptop, which was really democratizing. Concepts is one of my favourites from that era. – Alex Hudson
64 ARCADE FIRE Reflektor
63 WARS Pacey From Mighty Ducks
Goofy pop-punk that is silly, funny and curiously touching. Very humble pop songs that are full of puns, local shoutouts and great hooks. – Alex Hudson
62 MATTHEW GOOD Hospital Music
The power of this album is undeniable to me. Written after the dissolution of his marriage and the diagnosis of his bi-polar disorder, it’s Good’s most meaningful piece of work. It’s raw, personal, heart breaking, political and savagely underrated. – Mac Cameron
61 BUFFY SAINTE-MARIE Power in the Blood
With the vigor and gusto of someone half her age, Sainte-Marie rallies a new generation on Power In The Blood’s closing song, “Carry It On” to keep the legacy she has established alive: “Look right now / and you will see / we are only here by the skin of our teeth / as it is, so take heart / and take care of your link with life / and carry it on.” – Quick Before It Melts, May 11, 2015.
60 JENNIFER CASTLE Pink City
Pink City beckons listeners to join Jennifer Castle on a barefooted journey through subdivisions of the sublime, decomposing districts, and cross bridges over chaotic chasms. The landmarks are familiar, but through the lens of Castle’s music, you’ll see this city n a whole new light. – Quick Before It Melts, September 29, 2014
59 SAID THE WHALE Hawaii
When I first got involved in the local music scene in 2006/2007, Ben and Tyler of Said the Whale were the first peers I met who wrote what sounded like “real” songs. That really changed the way I thought about local music. This album came out years after that, but it’s their best. – Alex Hudson
58 LIFESTORY: MONOLOGUE Drag Your White Fur Make It Grey
Lifestory: Monologue occupied a strange place in the Southern Ontario Hardcore scene in the mid-2000s; not quite hardcore, almost post-rock and consistently excellent. Drag Your White Fur Make It Grey is the band’s lone full length but it proves that Lifestory was one of the only bands in the scene that was able to mature gracefully out of it. This album is criminally underrated, proving that people are really scared of interesting and original rock music. Their loss. – Mac Cameron
57 RAE SPOON Superioryouareinferior
Its roots are in folk and country, but there are inspired moments where computerized beats and sampling adds an unexpected–but very welcomed–twist. Rae Spoon’s lyrics are like a mini-geography lesson, traversing this country from sea to sea. Along the way, you not only visit physical landmarks and historic sites, but you get to see a soul laid bare, and a life not many of us could ever expect to experience. – Quick Before It Melts, September 8, 2008.
56 HUDDLE All These Fires
55 THE NEW PORNOGRAPHERS Brill Bruisers
The New Pornographers are perhaps my favourite band ever, but I had pretty much given up on them after a couple of so-so albums. Brill Bruisers is their return to form. – Alex Hudson
54 PROPAGHANDI Supporting Caste
I was a latecomer to Canada’s most enduring and outspoken punk band and although it may be blasphemous to longtime fans on the band I think more recent Propaghandi is far superior to the old stuff. Case and point, the all out thrash metal meets punk meets post hardcore masterpiece Supporting Caste<span style="font-we