Top Five Tuesday Two

Five Fave Albums (this week, anyway)

Today is all about the tunes, friends.  They've been saving our sanity when we're around home, because if we didn't have a pretty colossal collection to choose from to occupy our ears all day, this is what we'd be dealing with:

That little ditty was from just after 7am this very morning.  That's why the following five albums have been playing loudly and in heavy rotation as of late.  In no particular order:

Ray La Montagne - Gossip in the Grain

http://www.raylamontagne.com/ca

Just the first song on this album alone, You Are the Best Thing, makes it all worth it, but the whole thing is super.  I adore his husky voice, so filled with character and warmth and feeling, whether he's belting out the tune or slowly crooning it.  Each song on this record is great - in fact I happen to think each song on all his albums are great!  Oh and ladies, he's not too hard on the eyes either, eh?  Am I right?  You Are the Best Thing, for your listening and viewing pleasure:

The Rolling Stones - Goats Head Soup

http://www.rollingstones.com/

Nevermind the weird and somewhat creepy cover, the stuff inside is gold.  From 100 Years Ago, a bluesy little tune about not wanting to grow up, to Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker), a story about the NYPD shooting a 10 year old boy because they mistakenly thought he was a bank robber, and a little girl who died alone in an alley from a drug overdose, to Angie, clearly a sweet yet sad little  love song, the album is so interestingly varied and rocks to high heaven.  Angie:

Joel Plaskett - La De Da

http://joelplaskett.com/

And speaking of love songs, how about this guy's Love This Town?  Joel is from Dartmouth, across the harbour from Halifax, and makes no bones about his pride for it.  Every time I've ever seen him play and this song comes on, you can feel a swelling of honor in the room as everyone sings along.  Great stuff.  The rest of the album is awesome too, like Natural Disaster and Happen Now, and it all really showcases the musicianship of Plaskett, a real talent.  Here's Happen Now (so good!):

The Rebirth Brass Band

http://www.rebirthbrassband.com/

BF and I have been watching the amazing HBO show Treme and it has really influenced our Taz Records trips lately.  Treme is about New Orleans in the aftermath of Katrina, how it's people fought hard to come back despite terrible odds and how strongly the culture - the music and food especially - played a part in the city before the storm and it's rebirth after.  Funnily enough, the Rebirth Brass Band formed about twenty-three years before Katrina, but they're music is the kind of thing you here a lot of on the show.  They mix the traditional brass band/second line style with new styles of music.  If this stuff doesn't get you up and moving you don't have a soul.  Like, no offense or anything.  :)  Here they are playing in the street in the French Quarter: 

The Tragically Hip - Now For Plan A

http://www.thehip.com/

It should be every good Canadian's duty to see this band live, at least once in their lives, but preferably every time they tour.  They are, I think, the quintessential Canadian band, always writing about us, for us, to us.  In fact, the last song on this album is called Goodnight Attawapiskat, about the Attawapiskat First Nation, which has been in the news here everyday for the last year for a variety of different reasons.  The Hip are playing here on Saturday and BF, my bro D, and I are totally stoked to be going. Here they are playing a gig at a tiny bar in Kenzington Market in Toronto.  Cause that's how they do.

So those are my choices this time around.  They'll be different soon enough, but these are putting the smiles on now-a-days.  Hope they get you going too!

Till next time, friends!