Best video of the year?

It's late, but these videos by prolific Guelphenite Mitch Fillion are simply remarkable. I want to copy the style of all them.

Here we have the equally prolific Olenka & the Autumn Lovers, a breakout band of 2009 and one of my favourites. Here's a new song.

OLENKA AND THE AUTUMN LOVERS - No Coins from Mitch Fillion on Vimeo.

Parler vous la musique excellent?

Another winner at the Bucky's was Coeur de Pirate, an obviously French band who took home the prestigious "Best Reason to Learn French" award. Indeed. I went to see them with an incredible line-up at NXNE. But, of course, the place was sold out.

I waited in line for an hour but once Jian Ghomeshi arrived and walked straight in, I had enough.

Best lyrics ever: "Through and through and through"?

This track just won best lyrics at CBC Radio 3's Bucky Awards. I don't think they're amazing, but Plaskett is one of my favourite Canadian musicians right now, and he has been since I heard his live performance podcast on Radio 3.

If you rent that Joshua Jackson movie, you can see him there, too.

Grateful Dead and Animal Collective

What can I say? After a crazy album got released, these boys stepped up and put one of the most amazing EPs I've ever heard, which you can hear on MySpace. It's the first ever Grateful Dead!

This particular song is one of my favourites from an old album. Quite personal but so strange, so you can't tell it's just an emo song in disguise.

Who likes guys that are handsome!

One of the greatest lyricists and voices I've heard, Handsome Dan is significantly handsomer than most musicians I know, and quite the musician too.

He used to be called Dan the Boy, but after growing up and becoming handsome, he changed his name to reflect his new handsome appearance, which was less boyish. He also added some of the best musicians in town, like two of the best guitarists, a great drummer, a hip bassist and even an Korg organist. The result?

THE RESULT

The Next BEST

I blog a lot about indie bands in London because so many of them are so amazing. The scene here is thriving right now, no doubt.

Part of that scene is the Whipping Wind, a mysterious group with not much information anywhere. No pics, no bios, no MySpace wall to write on. Apparently it's all about the music, and what kind of music is it.

GO LISTEN TO THE SONG "OUT"

Great Scott! It's the Great Bloomers

I saw these dudes at Call the Office tonight opening for Olenka & the Autumn Lovers. They're a loud group using the kind of genre splicing that's quite popular today, especially hopping from rock to folk mid-song, tempo-changing and using extreme pop to make the toe tap while grounding it in favourable aesthetics like plaid.

It's basically part of the "legit" pop music scene right now where bands are popular because they make catchy songs and work very hard to counter their own poppiness with the appearance of legitimacy. I like it.