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CJLO Top 100 of 2018

January 9 2019 //

Hear ye, hear ye! Gather round for CJLO’s top hundo of 2018!

OK, technically it’s the CJLO top 101 due to the tie at #100 but you get the point… I know it’s already a week into this so-called ‘new year’, but we mustn’t dismiss the past so soon as to commit cultural amnesia! Before we delve boldly into this strange future, let’s take a moment to reflect on the year that was in music at CJLO 1690 AM.

2018 was my first year as CJLO’s Head Music Director, and it’s been a privilege to serve. Happily, I am able to report that as a station we played tons of great music this past year. Our #1 record of 2018 by a landslide is ‘In a Poem Unlimited’ from U.S. Girls, aka Meg Remy. Her second record for 4AD captured the hearts of the indie world, flexing pop potency, lyrical depth, and righteous grooves. I had the good fortune of seeing U.S. Girls both at SXSW and Sappyfest in 2018, and they are perhaps an even more powerful force live than recorded; goosebumps and shakin’ rumps every time.

Our year-end chart can be seen to reflect a more general trend in 2018 of female artists and female-fronted bands coming to dominate campus and community radio, with women leading the way on 77% of the year’s NACC charts. It’s about time; Indie rock has been calling for this for a while now. The emergence of Riot Grrrl is now decades in the rearview mirror, and it's been 20 years since ally and luminary Jim O’Rourke sang: “women of the world take over, ‘cause if you don’t the world will come to an end; it won’t take long”. Certainly, much work remains to make the world a more inclusive and equitable place, but perhaps this shake up in college radio rulers is cause for optimism in these sordid times. I for one have always believed that underground art, music, and thought leads the way in cultural transformation, and that lasting change is just as likely to spring from the bottom up as it is to be imposed from the top o' the pops.

Of course, it wouldn’t be CJLO without staunch support for our incredible local talent: Ought, Helena Deland, Silver Dapple, Suuns, Tunguska Mammoth, Choses Sauvages, Jai Nitai Lotus, and Tess Roby were all in heavy rotation, just to name a few. This is not even to mention the shameless self promotion of our own ‘Burned In The Oven’ Compilation which landed at #2. Speaking of comps, stay tuned for a fresh one this year in honour of our 20th anniversary, which will feature 20 artists who have graced our studios! Also, a special shout-out to Spectral Wound at #4 – a truly killer black metal band featuring our outgoing production director Patrick McDowall. As an exceedingly enjoyable person to work with who expertly recorded literally hundreds of sessions, he will be sorely missed. To hear some of his work check out the aforementioned comps! I should mention also that the fact SW is #4 was not influenced by him personally - he’s a dude as humble as he is talented.

Without further ado here’s our 100 most played artists of 2018, along with an audible version via Spotify playlist that runs from #100 – #1. A few releases were left off the playlist if they were not on Spotify or date back to 2017. Kudos to Andrew W. for painstakingly amalgamating our chart data for the entire year, and Angelica C. for the stellar graphic!

*Our charts are compiled from actual airplay, broadcast live on 1690 AM in the Montreal region, as well as via our website at www.cjlo.com,  denotes Canadian Content

RANK           ARTIST                                                             ALBUM

1              U.S GIRLS                                                     IN A POEM UNLIMITED

2              VARIOUS                                                       CJLO 1690AM PRESENTS: BURNED IN THE OVEN: VOLUME 2

3              MITSKI                                                                 BE THE COWBOY

4              SPECTRAL WOUND                                     INFERNAL DECADENCE

5              OUGHT                                                          ROOM INSIDE THE WORLD

6              PEACH KELLI POP                                       GENTLE LEADER

7              TUNGUSKA MAMMOTH                               BREATHLESS

8              SUUNS                                                          FELT

9              CANCER BATS                                             THE SPARK THAT MOVES

10            MICHAEL RAULT                                          IT'S A NEW DAY TONIGHT

11            DILLY DALLY                                                 HEAVEN

12            PREOCCUPATIONS                                     NEW MATERIAL

13            YAMANTAKA // SONIC TITAN                      DIRT

14            THE GREAT SABATINI                                 GOODBYE AUDIO

15            HELENA DELAND                                         ALTOGETHER UNACCOMPANIED VOL III & IV

16            SILVER DAPPLE                                           MOODY BOOTS

17            NAP EYES                                                     I'M BAD NOW

18            SOCCER MOMMY                                                CLEAN

19            FUCKED UP                                                  DOSE YOUR DREAMS

20            CHOSES SAUVAGES                                   CHOSES SAUVAGES

21            GREBER                                                       CEMETERY PRESTON

22            ASTRAL SWANS                                          STRANGE PRISON

23            TESS ROBY                                                  BEACON

24            COURTNEY BARNETT                                       TELL ME HOW YOU REALLY FEEL

25            JAI NITAI LOTUS                                          AFFIRMATIONS

26            CLOUD NOTHINGS                                            LAST BUILDING BURNING

27            DIRT CANNON                                             WHAT EATS YOU

28            SLOAN                                                          12

29            CADENCE WEAPON                                   CADENCE WEAPON

30            IDLES                                                                 JOY AS AN ACT OF RESISTANCE.

31            HEATHERS                                                  MIDNIGHT IS A PLACE

32            PONCTUATION                                           MON HERBIER DU MONDE

33            BIRDS OF PARADISE                                 ESTO AMOR

34            OH SEES                                                            SMOTE REVERSER

35            VANTABLACK WARSHIP                           ABRASIVE PULMONIC SPEAK

36            BLACK MILK                                                      FEVER

37            FRIGS                                                          BASIC BEHAVIOUR

38            PARQUET COURTS                                          WIDE AWAKE!

38            LIE                                                               HOUNDS

40            KURT VILE                                                        BOTTLE IT IN

41            JENNIFER CASTLE                                   ANGELS OF DEATH

42            VALLENS                                                   DIMMED IN MY DISPLAY

43            WASHING MACHINE                                 WALK IT BACK

44            LA LUZ                                                              FLOATING FEATURES

45            LOOK VIBRANT                                        THE UP HERE PLACE  

46            HER'S                                                                INVITATION TO HER'S

47            FAITH HEALER                                          TRY ;-)

48            GRAND ANALOG                                      SURVIVIAL EP

49            SNAIL MAIL                                                      LUSH

50            CAULDRON                                               NEW GODS 

50            STRIKER                                                   PLAY TO WIN

52            HOT SNAKES                                                  JERICHO SIRENS

53            LONELY PARADE                                    THE PITS

54            CHANHAYS                                              THE CREEPY EP

55            LOW                                                                DOUBLE NEGATIVE

56            CHANHAYS                                              HERE

57            DEAD CENTURIES                                  RACE AGAINST TIME    

58            ALVVAYS                                                  ANTISOCIALITES            

59            HELENA DELAND                                   ALTOGETHER UNACCOMPANIED VOL I & II

60            SHEM G                                                   ONE OF MANY

61            TIM HECKER                                           KONOYO

62            GHOST                                                           PREQUELLE

63            BERNICE                                                 PUFF: IN THE AIR WITHOUT A SHAPE

64            WAAHLI                                                   BLACK SOAP

65            FREAK HEAT WAVES                            BEYOND XXXL

66            DUSTED                                                  BLACKOUT SUMMER

67            RITUAL MASTER                                    A HORRIFIC RETURN

68            SWEARIN'                                                      FALL INTO THE SUN

69            SHANNON SHAW                                         SHANNON IN NASHVILLE

70            KEN MODE                                             LOVED

71            MELLEVON                                            COVET

72            LITTLE JUNIOR                                      HI

73            KRISTIAN NORTH                                 THE LAST ROCK N ROLL RECORD

74            BORN RUFFIANS                                  UNCLE, DUKE & THE CHIEF

74            HOP ALONG                                                 BARK YOUR HEAD OFF, DOG           

76            WAKE                                                     MISERY RITES

76            JOCK TEARS                                        BAD BOYS

76            BOYGENIUS                                                BOYGENIUS

79            SHAD                                                     A SHORT STORY ABOUT A WAR

80            INTERPOL                                                   MARAUDER     

81            ANVIL                                                   POUNDING THE PAVEMENT

82            CHAD VANGAALEN                            LIGHT INFORMATION

83            JO PASSED                                         THEIR PRIME

84            DEVON WELSH                                   DREAM SONGS

85            CHANCE THE RAPPER                             FOUR NEW SONGS

86            ODONIS ODONIS                                NO POP

86            CHASTITY                                           DEATH LUST

88            THE DIRTY NIL                                   MASTER VOLUMES

89            CAR SEAT HEADREST                            TWIN FANTASY

90            ANDREW WK                                            YOU'RE NOT ALONE

91            ARTSON                                                    BRAVE STAR

92           JUDAS PRIEST                                          FIREPOWER

93           BEACH HOUSE                                         7

93           BASEMENT REVOLVER                    HEAVY EYES

95           NIGHTSEEKER                                   3069: A SPACE-ROCK SEX ODYSSEY

96           STEPHEN MALKMUS                               SPARKLE HARD

96           JESSICA MOSS                                  ENTAGLEMENT

98           DEVIN TOWNSEND                            OCEAN MACHINE - LIVE

98           RYAN PLAYGROUND                         16/17

100         JESUSLESFILLES                             DANIEL

100         CALVIN JOHNSON                                   A WONDERFUL BEAST

 

The Force Academy: Montreal’s Star Wars Themed Activity Centre

December 29 2018 //

 

As a child of the 80’s, let’s just say that I grew up surrounded by Star Wars products, be it school notebooks, shirts, coloring books, posters, trading cards and stickers, SW-related TV specials (yes, I saw the Ewok Adventure’s initial airing), or of course, the toys. I’ve always found the franchise wonderful, as it attracts diehard fans of all ages.

To begin, I will admit that as fantastic as the phenomenon is, I am not a diehard fan of Star Wars: I am a Trekkie (yes, I know…). However, this never stopped me from watching anything Star Wars related. Us Trekkies love to explore, which was kind of the theme of Star Trek. And so, when I was offered a chance to review Montreal’s very own SW-themed activity center, The Force Academy, I was delighted.

I invited my co-worker along for the ride. He’s also seen all the movies, but is a casual fan. I didn’t invite a diehard fan to avoid a biased review.

The building itself seems unassuming. There are no land speeders or droids parked in the lobby. We really had to double-check to make sure that we were in the right place. When we made our way up to the venue, we were already pretty impressed. It’s a large dojo with plenty of room to move around. The space is slightly dark with some colored lights, giving it a somewhat cinematic feel.

So what did I think about the activity itself? 2 words : Innovative and awesome!

Not only did I find it cool to wield lightsabers (they make noises when swung), but you actually get a very complete workout. I, myself, am a person who frequents the gym 3-4 times a week and I even had a hard time keeping up with all the drills. The program starts with your Jedi-master/sensei teaching you the basics (feet position, how to hold a lightsaber, general house and safety rules). Once that is out of the way, welcome to Jedi-Bootcamp!

No, you do not have to do jumping jacks or jump through tires, but the exercises given to you are equally as challenging and difficult. You will have to simulate a fight, while constantly jumping up in the air (to avoid a leg strike) and dropping to your knees and the ground (in order to teach you that the fight continues even if your legs get cut off/injured in battle) and jumping right back up. I find that the fighting-style itself is a combination of different styles of fencing and martial arts, which is cool because the idea behind the whole activity is to introduce you to real combat. The saber itself is also a bit heavy, definitely not one of those cheap ones that you buy from Wal-Mart, so wielding one continuously for a good hour actually makes your arms sore (your dominant arm will definitely feel it). At the end of the lesson and drills, you and your partner will be instructed to come up with your very own battle choreography using the techniques that you’ve learned.

Once you’ve shown the choreography to the instructor, you will be told to fight your partner in a lightsaber duel. Not only do you use your weapons, but you are also allowed to use “The Force” to push your opponent back, which gives the training a bit of that sci-fi element to it. You are not allowed to hit your opponent harder than a soft tap, therefore, it is highly unlikely that you will be injured or even hurt via a blow from the saber. The duel is quite safe.

I love the idea and the resulting possibilities that can arise from this activity. The Star Wars geeks of my era were mostly out-of-shape people à la Kevin Smith. Enter The Force Academy: the one SW-themed activity where their uber-fanhood cannot save them. No matter how much Star Wars paraphernalia they own, how many obscure trivia questions they can answer, or how many times they’ve seen anything related to Star Wars in their lives, none of that will prepare them for The Force Academy.

I loved it and will definitely be back, however, I’ll be sure to eat a full breakfast on the day of my next booking. This is rather intense training, especially for those who sit in front of a computer all day. Come prepared and ready to sweat!

I hope that word of The Force Academy spreads like wildfire and that they eventually open more locations. If there is any wayy to lure the Star Wars uber-geeks out of their dens and pursue physical exercise/combat training, then this is it. In fact, it might actually be their only hope.

Mike Vo, or DJ Mister Vee, is the host of CJLO’s Beats from the East.

CJLO Best of 2018

December 22 2018 //

This incredibly long year is coming to an end. If you read any music publications, you've probably noticed it's list season. A season full of controversy, hot takes, safe choices. Just in time for last minute Christmas gifts, here is what the wonderful people at CJLO liked the most this year.

Francella Fiallos - Station Manager and Host of Superconnected, Monday 11 a.m.

Best Albums

  1. Hubert Lenoir - Darlene
    A beautiful, bouncy discovery for me early on in the year that has remained in constant rotation. Hubert Lenoir is a huge force to be reckoned with, so it’s hard to believe that he’s just getting started.

  2. U.S. Girls - In A Poem Unlimited
    It took a while for this album to grow on me, but sometimes genius takes a long time to travel back to you. Meg Remy successfully blended synthy no-wave, disco beats with lyrics about patriarchy and systemic oppression. For me, a winning combination.

  3. Booji Boys - Unknown Pleathers
    Pledging my forever standom to Halifax’s Booji Boys.

  4. Pusha-T - DAYTONA
    I’m not a fan of long (read: bloated) albums, so I was pretty excited to hear an eight-track LP from PUSHA-T. To me, it was a long-awaited antidote to the sprawl found in most modern rap music, most notably with Drake. Also, the first track “If You Know You Know” slaps so hard.

  5. Fucked Up - Dose Your Dreams
    Speaking of sprawling, the latest Fucked Up record is a beast. Complex and layered, while taking influences from several genres that often don’t come to mind when you think of Fucked Up. The last track alone features vocals from Lido Pimienta and Mary Margaret O’Hara, two of my personal high priestesses.

  6. Janelle Monae - Dirty Computer
    Still mad this record did not get Best New Music. To what end, Pitchfork?

  7. THE CARTERS - EVERYTHING IS LOVE
    This record convinced me that Beyonce may be a better rapper than her husband Jay-Z. My one critique of this record was that Beyonce and Jay-Z were not called THE KNOWLES-CARTERS.

  8. Cardi B - Invasion of Privacy
    It’s true that the record is a bit front-loaded, but who among us did not expect - even demand - to hear “I Like It” at any party during the summer? And then “Bodak Yellow.” And then “Bickenhead.” And at that point, you might as well just play the whole record and then hit repeat.

  9. Jeremy Dutcher - Wolastoqiyik Lintuwakonawa
    One of the most stunning records made in ages that confronts the listener with important issues such as language, colonization, and the connection between a people and its land. The 2018 Polaris Prize winner.

  10. Sloan - 12
    A strong offering from Sloan, a band that has never once made a bad record. Do they already have a song in which they tell listeners that if it feels good, do it? Yes. Does their new song about doing what feels good, feel good? Absolutely.

Honourable Mentions:

  • Salomé Leclerc - Les Choses Extérieures
  • S.H.I.T.? - What Do We Stand For
  • Mitski - Be The Cowboy
  • La Force - La Force
  • Brookside Mall - Brookside Mall
  • Jennifer Castle - Angels of Death
  • Bonjay - Lush Life

Best Songs

  1. Hubert Lenoir - “Fille De Personne I-III” - Darlene
    My Donna Summer meets Black Sabbath meets David Bowie dreams have come true.

  2. Ought - “Desire” - Room Inside the World
    Probably tied with Habit for the best Ought song to date.

  3. U.S. Girls - “Time” - In a Poem Unlimited
    It’s a cover, but U.S. Girls makes it entirely their own. My Talking Heads meets ABBA dreams have come true.

  4. Helena Deland - “Perfect Weather for A Storm” - From The Series of Songs “Altogether Unaccompanied”
    I love a good crunchy guitar riff.

  5. Bonjay - “How Come” - Bonjay
    Alana Stuart’s vocals are unbelievable in this song.

  6. Charlotte Day Wilson - “Doubt” by - Stone Woman
    Another vocal stunner showcase.

  7. Janelle Monáe - “Make Me Feel” - Dirty Computer
    If you don’t play this song and then not play Kiss by Prince right after, I don’t even know who you are.

  8. Amen Dunes - “Blue Rose” - Freedom
    My Simple Minds meets U2 dreams have come true.

  9. Jennifer Castle - “Crying Shame” - Angels of Death
    I never relished in shame as much as I have listening to this song.

  10. THE CARTERS - “APESHIT” - EVERYTHING IS LOVE
    I mean, have you REALLY seen a crowd going apeshit?

Best Discoveries of 2018*

*Not bands making records in 2018, necessarily.

  1. Hubert Lenoir
    Talented, brilliant, show-stopper, never-before-seen, once-in-a-lifetime.

  2. DEVO
    I long dismissed DEVO as a novelty band because “Whip It” is both notorious and ludicrous. But, I finally heard the first DEVO record, Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!, and was blown away by the pulsating, frenetic, nervous energy.

  3. The Clean
    A college rock band from New Zealand making music in the 1980s that’s more enjoyable to listen to than R.E.M. (a hot take, I know.) Their first record, Compilation, has such haunting, mesmerizing songs, such as “Tally Ho” and my personal favourite “Point That Thing Somewhere Else.”

  4. Mister Yellowman
    A reggae star best known for a song called “Zungunzungunzungunzeng,” but really shines through in his debut album, Mister Yellowman.

  5. The Nerves
    High-powered power-pop from L.A. The creators of the song “Hanging on the Telephone,” a song about being left on read with a crush, I think.

  6. Salome LeClerc
    One of the spookiest debut albums I’ve heard. A lush album with vocals that feel like heavy fog descending in the night.

  7. LIZZO
    The people’s rapper. The people’s flautist. The people’s Ursula. LIZZO for World Queen.

Best Obsessions of 2018*

*Not necessarily records or bands from 2018, not ranked either

  1. Queen
    Bohemian Rhapsody, the film, is infuriating because of how wildly inaccurate it is. “Bohemian Rhapsody”, the song, is forever dope.

  2. Metallica
    Covered Queen and won a Grammy! But, I revisited the band late this year after binging (but not purging) Metallica documentaries, of which there are several. I think I have listened to “Eye of the Beholder” off of ...And Justice For All 50,000 times in one night.

  3. Sloan - Twice Removed
    An album I asked my friends to listen to so that they can appreciate finer details such as the lyrics to the song “Penpals” and Jay’s vocals in “Snowsuit Sound.” Officially requesting this to be on my tombstone: “It’s not the band I hate, it’s the fans.”

  4. The B-52s - The B-52s
    “Rock Lobster” isn’t even the best song off the record. I would put my money on “Dance This Mess Around.”

  5. The Replacements
    I read Trouble Boys by Bob Mehr and I fell very much in love with these frustrating, obfuscating weirdos from Minneapolis. Every Replacements record to me is perfect, even All Shook Down.

  6. Ringo Starr
    The Beatles, ranked:
    1. Yoko Ono
    2. Ringo Starr
    3. John Lennon
    4. George Harrison
    5. Pete Best
    6. Billy Preston
    7. Paul McCartney. (Don’t @ me.)

  7. Prince
    Another weirdo from Minneapolis who made incredible records. I once had to DJ an art gallery drag show and my instructions were to play “artsy, quirky, oldie, contemporary songs.” So naturally, I played a lot of Prince.

  8. Steely Dan
    People around CJLO (read: Allison and Zach) are starting to know me as The Steely Dan Person, which is such an honour.

  9. Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
    Celebrated its 20th anniversary this year and its quirkiness still lives on in the hearts of outcasts in high schools everywhere. When I first heard this album in 11th grade, I didn’t really understand the appeal. But upon further reflecting on the time that was 1998, a (kind of) pre-internet, post-grunge world, it’s bizarre to me that here was this album with a bagpipe jam, lyrics about Anne Frank, and loving Jesus Christ. I’ve thought a lot about this record, maybe more than any of the records listed here.

Allison O’Reilly - Program Director and Co-Facilitator of the CJLO Women’s Collective

Top 15 Releases

  • American Pleasure Club  - A Whole Fucking Lifetime of This

  • Soccer Mommy - Clean

  • Booji Boys - Unknown Pleathers

  • Jeff Rosenstock - POST

  • BBQT - ALL FOR SHOW

  • Rotten Column - Are We Not Bags

  • Cloud Nothings - Last Building Burning by

  • Swearin’ - Fall Into the Sun

  • IDLES - Joy as an Act of Resistance

  • SOPHIE - Oil Of Every Pearl’s Un-Insides

  • Superchunk - What a Time To Be Alive

  • Mitski - Be The Cowboy

  • Deafheaven - Ordinary Corrupt Human Love

  • The Body - I Have Fought Against It, But I Can’t Any Longer by

  • JPEGMAFIA - Veteran

  • Iceage - Beyondless

  • FRIGS - Basic Behaviour

TOP 15 SONGS OF 2018 AKA SONGS I PUT ON REPEAT A LOT

  • SOPHIE -  “Immaterial”

  • The 1975 - “TOOTIMETOOTIMETOOTIME”

  • Cloud Nothings - “Leave Him Now”

  • Kurt Vile - “Check Baby”

  • Nap Eyes - “Every Time the Feeling”

  • Ryan Hemsworth - “Four Seasons”

  • Washing Machine - “Saint Rita’s Baby”

  • Mineral - “Aurora”

  • Playboi Carti - “Shoota (ft. Lil Uzi Vert)”

  • Parquet Courts - “Almost Had to Start a Fight/In and Out of Patience”

  • Motherhood - “Pick of the Pugs”

  • Frankie Cosmos - “Accommodate”

  • U.S. Girls - “Incidental Boogie”

  • Car Seat Headrest - “Bodys”

  • Camp Cope - “The Opener”

TOP 10 BEST SHOWS OF 2018

  • Radiohead at Bell Centre

  • Martha at The Clocktower (Ottawa Explosion Weekend)

  • Rotten Column and Washing Machine at the Sackville Legion (Sappyfest)

  • Hubert Lenoir at La Sala Rossa

  • Fiddlehead at La Plante

  • Yaeji at Centre Phi

  • Mitski at Club Soda

  • Superchunk at Bowery Ballroom

  • Thou at Saint Vitus

  • The Breeders at Theatre Corona

Most Memorable CJLO Moment of the Year

A three-way tie between the zine launch for SCORNED, our outrageously chaotic Big Shiny Tunes cover show, or my favorite metal band Pallbearer (!!!) doing a live session in the Oven. Every moment at CJLO is memorable!

Zakary Slax - Music Director & Host of Slax Trax, Monday 6 p.m.

10 LPs

  • Daughters - You Won't Get What You Want

  • Kamasi Washington - Heaven/Earth

  • La Luz - Floating Features

  • Lonely Parade - The Pits

  • Low - Double Negative

  • Noname - Room 25

  • Sleep - The Sciences

  • Stephen Malkmus - Sparkle Hard

  • Tim Hecker - Konoyo

  • Yo La Tengo - There's a Riot Going On

5 Trax

  • Bernice - "He's The Moon"

  • Rotten Column - "I'm a Bag"

  • Rick White - "Tomorrow"

  • Sick Thoughts - "Black Leather Glove"

  • Yee Grlz - "S.A.D."

Best CJLO Memories

Interviewing Jean-Hervé Peron of Krautrock legends Faust, Meeting the drummer of 60's garage rock obscuros 'The Zakary Thaks' and having him call out my stage name, and getting a photo with Nardwuar the Human Serviette

Andrew Wieler - Metal Music Director and Grade A Explosives, Sunday 4 p.m.

Best Albums

10. Ghost - Prequelle
Though I joke that this is by far the greatest 80's stadium rock record of the year, Ghost seems to be perpetually pulling a case of giving people what they didn't even know they wanted. Catchy, dark, and full of Satan, this album has is great though it does fall a bit flat at places.

9. The Ocean - Phanerozoic I: Palaeozoic
Oh those crazy Germans and their superbly done albums about another one of the geologic periods of Earth's history. What will they perfect next?

8. A Perfect Circle - Eat the Elephant
A Perfectly solid album that feels like a logical progression. Not as good as their first two records, but it holds its own. But really "The Doomed" makes this record glorious and cannot be denied.

7. Mantar - The Modern Art of Setting Ablaze
Despite the bad grammar in the title, this record rocks hard the way Mantar has come to be known. A heavy, sludgy, and ultimately awesome record delivered by just two people. Oh Germany, what can't you do?

6. Pig Destroyer - Head Cage
Pig Destroyer make a truly ugly record that in its ugliness shows us great beauty. Sure it's slower than previous albums, but being a sludgy, Southern influenced bit of grime is really the shining part of this record.

5. Author & Punisher - Beastland
As an industrial kid, I always hold out hope that it will make a triumphant return, and Beastland reinvigorates my hope that new artists want to jump into the industrial realm and innovate. This record is Skinny Puppy in 2018, and nothing is wrong with that.

4. Dirt Cannon - What Eats You
Southern metalcore still lives and it is embodied by the fine gentlemen in this Quebec group. A bit short, but it makes up for its length with catchy hooks. If you're looking for a bit of a throwback or the second coming of Every Time I Die's The Big Dirty, look no further.

3. Harakiri for the Sky - Arson
Still one of the best "post black metal" bands releasing things today, Harakiri for the Sky is able to produce a heavy, haunting record. Again, this is just two guys, and between them and the fine NYC gents in So Hideous, whatever post black metal is sits in good hands. Deafheaven wishes they could make songs like this.

2. Coheed & Cambria - Vaxis I: The Unheavenly Creatures
After a dismal record about family, Claudio Sanchez finally puts out a record about space bullshit and it's pretty solid. Able to have great jams like "Walk Among Us" and "The Dark Sentencer" next to Prize Fighter Inferno-esque things like "Unheavenly Creatures" really shows the varied ability of the band, and they are better off for it.

1. Zeal & Ardor - Stranger Fruit
It's hard to be original, and Zeal & Ardor is doing more original things than anyone has any right to. Mixing elements of black metal and Southern slave spirituals to a sound that I am calling "Blackened gospel," this second record somehow manages to still sound original even as it gives us more, albeit with more polish, of the first. It even manages to throw in some social commentary starting with the album title. If you slept on this and the last record, you need to get on it, because it is great.

Honorable Mentions

Gost - Garruth
Do you like black metal vocals in your harsh electronica? Then Detroit's Gost has you covered.

CJLO Presents: Burned in The Oven: Volume 2 - It felt wrong of me to put this in the top 10 since I worked on it, but I would be remiss if I didn't take another opportunity to push a record that we at CJLO made thanks to so many bands coming in and rocking out in our recording studio. You can judge how much you love it by going to CJLO's Bandcamp and downloading it for free dollars.

Most Memorable CJLO moment:

A tie between CJLO bringing Destroyer of Light to play at Piranha and Pallbearer stopping by and doing a session in the Oven.

DJ Lady Oracle - Hip Hop Music Director and Co-Host of The Limelight, Saturday at 6 p.m.

Best Albums

  • The Internet - Hive Mind

  • Jai Nitai Lotus - Affirmations

  • Aiza - Adieu

  • Anderson .Paak - Oxnard

  • Bas - Milky Way

  • J Cole - KOD

  • Shad - A Story About War

  • Marco Polo Masta Ace - A Breukelen Story

  • Black Thought - Streams of Thought

  • Stimulator Jones - Exotic Worlds and Masterful Treasures

Favourite Single

  • Childish Gambino - “This is America”
Best Shows

  • Rapsody at Female Hip Hop Showcase SXSW

  • Jai Nitai Lotus Album Launch at Espace Knox

  • H.E.R. at MTELUS

 

Holden Carroll, Electronic Music Director and Host of Multiple Tabs, Wednesday at 11 a.m.

Great Releases of 2018:

Assorted Trax of 2018:

Mixlist 2018:

* denotes hosted by Multiple Tabs

Autotuned Soundcloud Single of the Year:

Alexandre Denis - Mag Editor & Host of Transmission, Tuesday 11 a.m.

Best Albums (in no particular order)

  • Brockett Parsons - The Brockettship

  • Kamaal Williams - The Return

  • U.S. Girls - In a Poem Unlimited

  • Ought - Room Inside the World

  • Yonatan Gat - Universalists

  • Jon Hopkins - Singularity

  • Shopping - The Official Body

  • Superorganism - Superorganism

  • Lydia Kepinski - Premier Juin

  • Knife Knights - 1 Time Mirage

Best Reissues and Rediscoveries (in no particular order)

  • Ayalew Mesfin - Hasabe (My Worries)

  • John Coltrane - Both Directions at Once

  • The Beatles - The Beatles

  • Bob Dylan - More Blood, More Tracks

  • Amnesty - Free Your Mind

Best Concerts

  • Yonatan Gat/TEKE::TEKE at Distorsion Psych Fest

  • Ought/Snail Mail at Theatre Fairmount

  • Shopping at Bar Le Ritz PDB

  • IDLES at Theatre Fairmount

  • Bush Tetras at Pop Montreal

  • Femi Kuti & The Positive Force at MTELUS

  • !!! at Montreal Jazz Festival

  • Tough Age at Brasserie Beaubien

  • LCD Soundsystem at Place Bell

  • Lady J and the Jazz Cigarettes at Casa Obscura

Angelica - Host of BVST, Wednesday at 7 p.m.

This year, I'm flipping my list on its head a little bit. Instead of favorite albums and tracks to taste, I'm picking my favorite tracks (in no particular order) in hopes that you might like them enough give the rest of the record a try! I've even made it easy for you - you can listen to (almost) all of my song picks on a playlist.

  • Andrew W.K. - “Music is Worth Living For" from You're Not Alone
    I heavily considered just making this squealing, synthy insanity, repeated ten times over, the entirety of my list for this year, mostly  ̶a̶s̶ ̶a̶ ̶j̶o̶k̶e̶ because it's such an epic, over-the-top ode to persevering by the king of partying (and positivity).

  • Ghost - "Pro Memoria" from Prequelle
    Upping the ante with full-on 70s style piano-heavy pomposity, this song has everything I fundamentally hate: keys, strings and clean vocals. That said, I can't not include a song whose chorus is "Don't you forget about dying / Don't you forget about your friend Death / Don't you forget that you will die". Inspirational.

  • Zeal & Ardor - "Ship On Fire" from Stranger Fruit
    Once again combining black metal elements with Satanic spirituals, this song adds a dancehall stomp to the mix to great effect. By the time the monastic chants chime in, intoning spells from a 15th century grimoire (!), you'll be a believer.

  • Nashville Pussy - "Testify" from Pleased to Eat You
    This is about as Southern-fried as it gets... organs, church choir choruses and finger-lickin'-good guitar melt together in a high-energy handclapper that'll have you rolling in the pews.

  • Nightseeker - "Thunder and Lightning" from 3069: A Space-Rock Sex Odyssey
    This song sounds like it straight up time-traveled from the early 70s directly into my life, and transcends its FUBAR joke band origins as well as the mostly cock-rock bombast of the rest of the record (which is still excellent). Slot this one in between "Radar Love" and "(Don't Fear) the Reaper" for the roadtrip of your life.

  • Monster Magnet - "When the Hammer Comes Down" from Mindfucker
    Faint shades of T. Rex's "Children of the Revolution" tinge this colossus, which is fitting for Monster Magnet's signature 70s spacemetal sound. Packed wall-to-wall with swagger, Dave Wyndorf knows the key to rock is to not fix what ain't broke, and this song, and the album it's pulled from, is working just fine.

  • Le Kraken - "Orgue" from De paille et d'or
    An extremely late entry to the list, these Montrealers are back with their first new record in six years, and it's a monster. Their signature super-heavy post-metal sound is back, and I forgot how much I missed the dueling vocals, which absolutely pummel this track.

  • ASG - "Lightning Song" from Survive Sunrise
    Bringing desert rock to the Wilmington, NC coastline since 2001, I've always loved this band's shining, soaring stoner sound, polished to perfection on this track. Unrelenting riffs with a sunbleached haze, this will bring a bit of summer to your coldest days.

  • Dirt Cannon - "Hire Consciousness" from What Eats You
    This year's list seems to have collected quite a few motivational tracks, and this one is perhaps the granddaddy of them all. "Today, if I'm busy doing / I won't get caught thinking / And I'll thrive", scream the lyrics, over Southern metalcore breakdowns that hearken back to simpler times, when skinny jeans and circle pits were all that mattered.

  • Spectral Wound - "Slaughter of the Medusa" from Infernal Decadence
    Living up to its album's name, this song manages to sound majestic and terrifying in equal measure. This is black metal without the bullshit, a pure distillation of the genre with riffage for days. Listen to it here.

In honorable mentions, plenty of other bands had great releases this year, including Clutch, High on Fire, High Priestess, Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats, King Witch, Behemoth, Psychedelic Witchcraft, and Zeke!

Most Memorable CJLO moment

Without a doubt, my most memorable CJLO moment of the year was our live broadcast from the Heavy Montreal site. In a picturesque garden surrounded by flowers, we talked about our experiences at the festival while bands stumbled in and out to be interviewed live on air. There's no better way to spend a Sunday afternoon! On a personal note, after attempting (and failing) to see Monster Magnet live for the better part of a decade, it finally happened for me this year, and it was everything I had hoped for!

Alex - Host of Ashes to Ashes, Tuesday 1 p.m.

Top Albums of 2018

  1. Lydia Képinski - Premier juin

  2. Kali Uchis - Isolation

  3. Bagarre - CLUB 12345

  4. For Esmé - Righteous Woman

  5. Fanny Bloom - Liqueur

  6. Cam Maclean - Wait for Love

  7. Buddy - Harlan & Alondra

  8. Let's Eat Grandma - I'm All Ears

  9. Ragers - Raw Footage

  10. Cadence Weapon - Cadence Weapon

Honourable Mentions

  • Ariane Moffatt - Petites mains précieuses

  • Choses Sauvages - Choses Sauvages

  • George Clanton - Slide

  • Kacey Musgraves - Golden Hour

  • Metric - Art of Doubt

  • Yes Mccan - OUI (tout, tout, tout, toutttte)

Top EPs of 2018

  1. Helena Deland - From the Series of Songs "Altogether Unaccompanied", Vol. I-IV

  2. LaF - Hôtel délices

  3. Bad Nylon - Bébé t'es unique

  4. Marie-Gold - Goal : Une mélodie

  5. Dylarama - Certified Cutie

Sylvain Verstricht - Host of The Rest of Us, Tuesday 7 p.m.

Top Pop Albums

  1. Hatchie - Sugar & Spice

  2. MorMor - Heaven’s Only Wishful

  3. Half Waif - Lavender

  4. Kacey Musgraves - Golden Hour

  5. Florence + The Machine - High as Hope

  6. Helena Deland - From the Series of Songs “Altogether Unaccompanied” Vol. I & II

  7. Rae Morris - Someone Out There

  8. Mistki - Be the Cowboy

  9. AURORA - Infections of a Different Kind (Step I)

  10. MGMT - Little Dark Age

Top Pop Singles

  1. Mitski - “Nobody”

  2. Kacey Musgraves - “High Horse”

  3. Florence + The Machine - “Hunger”

  4. AURORA - “Forgotten Love”

  5. Hatchie - “Sugar & Spice”

  6. MorMor - “Heaven’s Only Wishful”

  7. Taylor Swift - “Getaway Car”

  8. Flower Face - “Baby Teeth”

  9. ATTLAS - “Want”

  10. The Goon Sax - “We Can’t Win”

Top Concerts

  1. Beverly Glenn-Copeland at La Sala Rossa

  2. Limp Wrist at  La Sala Rossa

  3. Let’s Eat Grandma at Bar Le Ritz PDB

  4. Jessica Moss at Casa del Popolo

  5. Hatchie at Bar Le Ritz PDB

  6. Kraus at l’Escogriffe

  7. Moses Sumney at La Sala Rossa

  8. Girl Ray at Théâtre Plaza

  9. Drip at Bar Danse Entre-Nous

  10. Cheap Wig at Casa del Popolo

Sarah Boumedda - Host of Hallyu Central, Wednesday 2 p.m.

Top 10 Albums of 2018

  1. NCT- NCT 2018 EMPATHY
    NCT’s concept, as a group, is fascinating: while all (eighteen!) members belong to the supergroup NCT, they are then divided into smaller performing units, or groups of themselves, according to a variety of criteria and exploring a wide range of genres, from cheerful teen pop to intricate urban hip-hop. While subunits such as NCT Dream or NCT 127 have put out great music this year as well (the latter’s first full album also being included in this list), it is NCT 2018 EMPATHY that takes the cake for me as best album of the year, as it regroups all eighteen members in all their various units to explore NCT’s skills both in musicality and performance potential. To be fair, the rest of this list might be stronger in terms of music—but NCT’s strength as a group goes far beyond their talent as singers, rappers, and performers; it also takes root in their wondrous versatility, and NCT 2018 EMPATHY couldn’t have been a better way to prove it.

  2. DAY6 - Shoot Me or DAY6 - Unlock
    It’s impossible to choose. As I’m writing this, DAY6 is set to release yet another EP, titled Remember Us, and it definitely would have made this list if I had had the chance to hear it beforehand. There’s an undeniable pull to each and every DAY6 song there exists that always speaks of honesty and raw talent, and the tracks on both Shoot Me and Unlock are no exception. I find it hard to have just one favourite band, but if I had to choose, DAY6 would take the title, no questions asked.

  3. Coeur de Pirate - en cas de tempête, ce jardin sera fermé.
    Béatrice Martin. Queen of music. Queen of being a woman. Queen of being French-Canadian. Queen of turning herself into a meme on the Internet, owning up to that image, and still remain a socially aware and outspoken individual, using her platform to talk with people while also shining light on issues that are dear to her heart and important to discuss. The album is a masterpiece and includes Béatrice’s most honest lyrics to date—and the best music, too. What a woman. I’m in love with her. You should be, too.

  4. Jorja Smith - Lost & Found

  5. Shawn Mendes - Shawn Mendes

  6. NCT 127 - Regular-Irregular

  7. EXO - Don’t Mess Up My Tempo

  8. Daichi Miura-  Sphere

  9. Khalid - Suncity (EP)

  10. Troye Sivan- Bloom

Top 10 Songs of 2018

  1. NCT U - “Baby Don’t Stop”

  2. DAY6 - “Falling”

  3. EXO - “Ooh La La La”

  4. Coeur de Pirate - “Combustible”

  5. NCT 127 - “Fly Away With Me”

  6. DEAN - “instagram”

  7. TEN - “New Heroes”

  8. DPR LIVE - “Action!” Featuring GRAY

  9. Red Velvet - “Bad Boy”

  10. Jorja Smith - “The One”

Honourable mentions (albums)

  • Colde - Wave (EP)

  • Milk & Bone - Deception Bay

  • Roosevelt - Young Romance

  • SALTNPAPER - More Than Just Circles

  • Jung Ilhoon - Big Wave (EP)

  • EXO-CBX - Blooming Days

  • Now, Now - Saved

  • YESEO - Damn Rules

  • divin’ - The Puzzle of Time (EP)

  • Deepshower - COLORS (EP)

Omar Sonics - Host/Producer of Hooked on Sonics, Thursday  6 p.m.

Top albums  

  1. Fiddlehead - Springtime and Blind

  2. Soccer Mommy - Clean

  3. Low - Double Negative

  4. IDLES - Joy as an Act of Resistance

  5. Grouper - Grid of Points

  6. Culture Abuse - Bay Dream

  7. Kelly Moran - Ultravolet

  8. Pusha T - Daytona

  9. Soft Moon - Criminal

  10. Spiritualized - And Nothing Hurt

  11. Mariah Carey - Caution  

  12. Beach House - 7

  13. A Place to Bury Strangers - Pinned

  14. Drug Church - Cheer

  15. Fucked Up - Dose Your Dreams

  16. Ovlov - Tru

  17. Tinashe - Joyride

  18. The Beths - Future Me Hates Me

  19. mewithoutYou - [Untitled]

  20. Superchunk - What a Time to Be Alive

Honourable Mentions

Nick Schofield, Failure, Deafheaven, Slow Mass, Playboy Carti, Jeff Rosenstock, Chastity, Hot Snakes, Daughters, Cardi B, Sumac, Spectral Wound, Janelle Monáe, Glenn Jones, Frigs, Kali Uchis

Favourite Tracks

  1. Soccer Mommy - "Your Dog"

  2. Fiddlehead - "Lay Low" & "Poem You"

  3. Tinashe - "Stuck With Me" featuring Little Dragon

  4. Let's Eat Grandma - "Hot Pink"

  5. Iris - "Away"

  6. Chastity - "Children"

  7. Culture Abuse - "Calm E"

  8. IDLES - "Colossus"

  9. Mariah Carey - "Giving Me Life" featuring Blood Orange & Slick Rick

  10. Our Girl - "Being Around"

  11. Low - "Poor Sucker"

  12. Mitski - "Nobody"

  13. Cigarettes After Sex - "Crush"

  14. A Place to Bury Strangers - "Never Coming Back"

  15. Ella Mai - "Boo'd Up"

  16. Slow Mass - "Suburban Yellow"

  17. FRIGS - "Talking Pictures"

  18. Carly Rae Jepsen - "Party For One"

  19. Cloud Nothings - "The Echo of the World"

  20. Snail Mail - "Heat Wave"

Favourite Shows  

  1. Fiddlehead at La Plante

  2. Afghan Whigs at Danforth Music Hall

  3. Grouper at Sala Rosa

  4. IDLES at Fairmount

  5. A Place to Bury Strangers at Fairmount

  6. Radiohead at Bell Centre

  7. Wolf Parade at Sala Rosa

Most Anticipated Record of 2019   

Chromatics - Dear Tommy

Paul Lafond - Contributor, Hooked on Sonics, Thursday  6 p.m.

Top albums  

  • Coombes, Gaz - World's Strongest Man

  • Low - Double Negative

  • Mastersystem - Dance Music ( MOST LISTENED)

  • Failure - In The Future Your Body Will Be The Furthest Thing From Your Mind

  • Thom Yorke - Suspiria Soundtrack  

Favourite Shows

  • Moses Sumney at La Sala Rossa (2018-07-03)

  • Foo Fighters at Festival D'été De Québec (2018-07-09)

  • Beck at Place Bell (2018-07-10)

  • Radiohead at Centre Bell (2018-07-17)

Favourite Films  

  • Suspiria

  • The Night Comes For Us

  • Upgrade

  • Annihilation

  • You Were Never Really Here

  • Chuck Steel: Night Of The Trampires

Dr, Nana Dawson-Andoh - Contributor, Hooked on Sonics, Thursday  6 p.m.

Top albums  

  • Kamasi Washington -  Heaven and Earth

  • Khruangbin - Con Todo El Mundo

  • Tune-Yards - I can feel you creep into my private life

  • Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever - Hope Downs

  • Saintseneca - Pillar of Na

  • Phosphorescent - C’est La Vie

  • Robyn - Honey

Honourable Mentions

  • Unknown Mortal Orchestra - Sex & Food

  • Santigold - I Don't Want: The Gold Fire Sessions

  • Meshell Ndegeocello - Ventriloquism

  • La Luz - Floating Features

Favourite Tracks

  • Childish Gambino - “This Is America”

  • Neko Case - “Last Lion of Albion

  • Parquet Courts - “Almost Had to Start a Fight/In and Out of Patience”

  • Kamasi Washington - “Fists of Fury”

  • Young Fathers - “In My View”

  • Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever - “Talking Straight”

  • Saintseneca - “Frostbiter”

  • Robyn - “Honey”

  • Father John Misty - “Mr. Tillman”

  • Khruangbin - “Evan Finds the Third Room”

  • Meshell Ndegeocello - “I Wonder If I Take You Home” (cover of Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam)

  • Cat Power - “Woman”

  • The Decemberists - “Once In My Life”

Simon Howell - Contributor, Hooked on Sonics, Thursday  6 p.m.

Top albums  

  1. Tropical Fuck Storm -  A Laughing Death in Meatspace

  2. Rolo Tomassi - Time Will Die and Love Will Bury It

  3. The Amazing - In Transit

  4. Natalie Prass - The Future and the Past

  5. Low - Double Negative

  6. Arctic Monkeys - Tranquility Base Hotel and Casino

  7. Foxing - Nearer My God

  8. Zeal and Ardor - Stranger Fruit

  9. Mournful Congregation - The Incubus of Karma

  10. Let's Eat Grandma - I'm All Ears

  11. Donovan Wolfington - WAVES

  12. Pianos Become the Teeth - Wait for Love

  13. Kero Kero Bonito - Time n' Place

  14. Hot Snakes - Jericho Sirens

  15. The Armed - Only Love

  16. Tomb Mold - Manor of Infinite Forms

  17. Drug Church - Cheer

  18. Yob - Our Raw Heart

  19. Joyce Manor - Million Dollars to Kill Me

  20. The Beths - Future Me Hates Me

Favourite tracks

  • The 1975 - "I Always Wanna Die (Sometimes)"

  • Sarah Mary Chadwick - "Sugar Still Melts in the Rain"

  • Cupcakke - "Quiz"

  • Lana Del Rey - "Venice Bitch"

  • Fucked Up - "Normal People"

  • Hop Along - "Prior Things"

  • Lonnie Holley - "I Snuck Off the Space Ship"

  • Kitten - "I Did It!"

  • Loma - "Black Willow"

  • Mitski - "Between the Breaths" ft. Xiu Xiu

  • Kacey Musgraves - "Space Cowboy"

  • Meg Myers - "Numb"

  • Protomartyr - "Wheel of Fortune" ft. Kelly Deal

  • Rae Sremmurd - "Powerglide" ft. Juicy J

  • Marc Ribot - "Bella Ciao" ft. Tom Waits

  • Jeff Rosenstock - "USA"

  • Screaming Females - "I'll Make You Sorry"

  • SOPHIE - "Faceshopping"

  • Andrew WK - "Music is Worth Living For"

  • YG - "Suu Whoop"

Sarah Velk - Host of Sunglasses Inside, Wednesday 12 p.m.

TOP TEN ALBUMS OF 2018:

  • King Krule – The OOZ  

  • Helena Deland – From The Series of Songs "Altogether Unaccompanied" Volumes I-IV

  • Puma Blue – Blood Loss

  • Mac Miller – Swimming

  • Mitski – Be The Cowboy

  • Peach Pit – Being So Normal

  • Her's – Invitation to Her's

  • Beach House – 7

  • Jorja Smith – Lost & Found

  • Snail Mail – Lush

Most memorable CJLO moment of the year

Big Shiny Tunes 2018

Aviva Majerczyk - Host of The Alley, Wednesday 4 p.m.

Top Albums

  1. IDLES - Joy As An Act of Resistance.

  2. KIDS SEE GHOSTS - Kids See Ghosts

  3. HMLTD - Hate Music Last Time Delete EP

  4. Blood Orange - Negro Swan

  5. Courtney Barnett - Tell Me How You Really Feel

  6. Corey Gulkin - All Things I’ll Forget

  7. Against All Logic - 2012 - 2017

  8. SOPHIE  - The Oil of Every Pearl’s Un-Insides

  9. Tony Molina - Kill The Lights

  10. Denzel Curry - TA13OO

Top Tracks

  1. IDLES - “Danny Nedelko”

  2. boygenius - “Me & My Dog”

  3. Kids See Ghosts - “Feel The Love”

  4. Courtney Barnett - “Need A Little Time”

  5. Hop Along - “One That Suits Me”

  6. Helena Deland - “Claudion”

  7. Car Seat Headrest - “Sober to Death”

  8. Hatchie - “Sugar and Spice”

  9. Iceage - “Pain Killer”

  10. Look Vibrant - “Numb Your Spirit”

Honourable Mentions

  1. Mitski - Be the Cowboy

  2. Hinds - I Don’t Run

  3. Waahli - Black Soap

  4. Let’s Eat Grandma - I’m All Ears

  5. Look Vibrant - The Up Here Place

  6. U.S. Girls - In a Poem Unlimited

  7. Kali Uchis - Isolation

  8. The Marias - Superclean Vol. 1

Favourite Show:

Albert Hammond Jr. with The Marias @ L’Astral

Chris the Frog - Host of Sewer Spewer, Monday 12 p.m.

Best Montreal Albums

  • The Great Sabatini - Goodbye Audio
  • Chemical Way - Chilling Spree
  • Spectral Wound - Infernal Decadence
  • Vantablack Warship - Abrasive Pulmonic Speak
  • The BCASA - I Don’t Friggin Give a Heck!
  • Grimskunk - Unreason in the Age of Madness
  • Dopethrone - TransCanadian Anger
  • Tunguska Mammoth - Breathless
  • Mountain Dust - Seven Storms

Hood Rats - Trash Party

Best Canadian Albums (outside of Montreal)

  • KEN Mode - Loved
  • Cancer Bats - The Spark That Moves
  • Fucked Up - Dose Your Dreams
  • Greber - Cemetery Preston
  • Sinner - Sanity In the Mouth of Hell

Best International Albums (outside of Canada)

  • Author & Punisher - Beastland
  • Cult Leader - A Patient Man
  • Skating Polly - The Make It All Show
  • Pagan - Black Wash
  • Pig Destroyer - Head Cage

Most Memorable CJLO Moment

Performing an industrial noise cover of Kid Rock’s “Only God Knows Why” with Sean of Sublime State of Doom for Big Shiny Tunes 5 Fundraiser

Hunter Walwaski, Co-Host of The Iron Club, Monday 2 p.m.

Top 10 Albums of 2018

1. Ripped to Shreds - 埋葬
2. Tomb Mold - Manor of Infinite Forms
3. Taphos - Come Ethereal Somberness
4. Ulthar - Cosmovore
5. Torture Rack - Malefic Humiliation
6. Hyperdontia - Nexus of Teeth
7. Skeletal Remains - Devouring Mortality
8. High on Fire - Electric Messiah
9. Diabolic Force - Praise of Satan
10. Extremity - Coffin Birth

Top 10 non-album singles, EPs, demos, and splits of 2018 (artist-album):

1. Bog Body - “Through the Burial Bog”
2. Coffin Rot/Molder - Split
3. Snorlax - Splintering Demo
4. Tomb Mold - Cerulean Salvation
5. Undergang/Gorephilia Split EP
6. Sleep - "Leagues Beneath"
7. Crurifragium/Abysmal Lord - Crurifragium/Abysmal Lord
8. Draghkar - The Endless Howling Abyss
9. Cadaveric Fumes/Skelethal - Heirs Of Hideous Secrecies
10.毒蠱  - Demo II

Most Memorable CJLO Moment

This was my first year at CJLO, as we started our show in November. I'm still pretty new at this, but my favourite moment has to be running my first "show" with Allison and getting to press all the buttons and move all the faders and such. So much power!

Phil Aveline - Host of Turn On The Darkness, Wednesday at 2 p.m.

Top 10 Albums of 2018

  1. Haken - Vector
  2. Mellevons - Covets
  3. Steven Wilson - Home Invasion (Live at Royal Albert Hall)
  4.  Architect - Holy Hell
  5. Between the Buried and Me - Automata
  6. Obscura - Diluvium
  7. Tesseract - Sonder
  8. Palm Reader - Braille
  9. Ghost - Prequelle
  10. Slugdge - Esoteric Malacology

Best shows of 2018

  1. Wintersun at Club Soda
  2. Steven Wilson at Olympia
  3. Insomnium at Foufounes Electronique
  4. Revocation + Rivers of Nihil at Foufounes Electronique
  5. Tesseract at Club Soda
  6. Heavy Montreal 2018
  7. The Contortionist, Palm Reader and The Dali Thundering Concept at O'Sullivan's in Paris
  8. Nightwish at Metropolis
  9. Any of Ashbreather’s shows this year
  10. Mellevon's Memorial show

Jacob Carey - Co-Host of Trappin’ in Traffic, Tuesday 5 p.m.

Best Albums

  1. Travis Scott - Astroworld

  2. Various Artists - Black Panther: The Album

  3. Lil Baby & Gunna - Drip Harder

  4. J. Cole - KOD

  5. Pusha T - Daytona

  6. Post Malone - Beerbongs & Bentleys

  7. Drake - Scorpion

  8. Cardi B - Invasion of Privacy

  9. Lil Wayne - Tha Carter V

  10. XXXTentacion - ?

Best Artists

  1. Drake

  2. Travis Scott

  3. Post Malone

  4. Cardi B

  5. Lil Baby

  6. Kanye West

  7. Swae Lee

  8. Gucci Mane

  9. Young Thug

  10. Offset

Rookie of the Year

  1. Trippie Redd

  2. Juice WRLD

  3. Lil Baby

Biggest Disappointment

  1. Kanye West & Kid Cudi - Kids See Ghosts

  2. Playboi Carti - Die Lit

  3. A$AP Rocky - Testing

Most memorable moment of CJLO

Unexpectedly starting my own hip-hop radio show with an awesome classmate and co-host.

Louis Pavlakos - Co-Host of Trappin’ in Traffic, Tuesday 5 p.m.

Best Albums:

  1. Kids See Ghosts - Kids See Ghosts

  2. Saba - Care for Me

  3. Pusha T - Daytona

  4. Travis Scott - Astroworld

  5. Mac Miller - Swimming

  6. Tierra Whack - Whack World

  7. ODIE - Analogue

  8. Blood Orange - Negro Swan

  9. Brockhampton - Iridescence

  10. Kali Uchis - Isolation

Honorable Mentions

  • Vince Staples - FM!

  • Smino - Noir

  • Earl Sweatshirt - Some Rap Songs

  • THE CARTERS - EVERYTHING IS LOVE

  • Cardi B - Invasion of Privacy

Best Songs

  1. Kids See Ghosts - "Reborn"

  2. Childish Gambino - "This is America"

  3. Pusha T - "The Games We Play"

  4. Travis Scott - "Stargazing"

  5. ODIE - "North Face"

  6. Drake - "Nice for What"

  7. Saba - "Life"

  8. Cardi B - "I Do (feat. SZA)"

  9. Kali Uchis - "Just a Stranger (feat. Steve Lacy)"

  10. Daniel Caesar - "Who Hurt You?"

Best EPs

  1. Lou Val - Lonely in Paradise

  2. Black Thought  - Streams of Thought Vol. 1

  3. Curren$y x Freddie Gibbs - Fetti

  4. Young Thug - On the Rvn

  5. Zach Zoya - Misstape  

  6. Jack Larsen - Push-Ups

  7. Cautious Clay - Blood Type

  8. THEY. - Fireside

  9. Ravyn Lenae - Crush

  10. Lucky Daye - I

Remi Caron - Host of At The Movies, Tuesday 9 a.m.

Best albums of 2018 (In No Particular order)

  • Arctic Monkeys - Tranquility Hotel & Casino

  • Beach House - 7

  • THE CARTERS - EVERYTHING IS LOVE

  • Death Cab for Cutie - Thank You For Today

  • Gorillaz - The Now Now

  • J. Cole - KOD

  • Jack White - Boarding House Reach

  • Pusha-T - Daytona

  • Lily Allen - No Shame

  • Kids See Ghosts - Kids See Ghosts

Discovery Album of the year

  • The Walker Brothers - Night Flights

Most Anticipated Records of 2019   

  • Kanye West - Yhandi
  • Vampire Weekend's new album

Best Soundtracks and Scores (In No Particular order)

  • Anna Meredith - Eighth Grade

  • Colin Stetson - Hereditary

  • Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper - A Star is Born

  • Matthew Herbert - Disobedience

  • Jonny Greenwood - You Were Never Really Here

  • Cliff Martinez  - Game Night

  • Daniel Pemberton - Oceans 8

  • Cody Carpenter, Daniel Davis & John Carpenter - Halloween

  • Hans Zimmer - Widows

Favourite Track

Colin Stetson - “Reborn” - Hereditary OST

Best Films

The year is not over yet but these films are the best so far. If I can find a thematic element for this years list it is the tenacity and perseverance of these characters.

10. A Quiet Place Dir. John Krasinski
9. Roma Dir. Alfonso Cuarón
8. Isle Of Dogs  Dir. Wes Anderson
7. Mid 90’s Dir. Jonah Hill
6. Won’t You Be My Neighbour? Dir. Morgan Neville
5. Sorry To Bother You Dir. Boots Riley
4. BlacKkKlansman Dir. Spike Lee
3. Hereditary Dir. Ari Aster
2. You Were Never Really Here Dir. Lynne Ramsay
1. Widows Dir. Steve McQueen

Nicholas Di Giovanni - Host of CJLO Sports, Monday at 3 p.m. and The Calcio Guys, Tuesday at 2 p.m.

Best Concordia University Sports Moments of 2018

  1. Women's hockey: Wins RSEQ championship; finishes third at nationals.

  2. Men's rugby: wins second-straight championship and goes undefeated for two years.

  3. Men's hockey: Anthony Beauregard sets Concordia record with 60 points in season.

  4. Men's hockey: Captain Philippe Hudon carries Stingers on his back in playoffs.

  5. Women's basketball: Team ranks third in the country after going 4-12 last season.

  6. Football: Offensive lineman Maurice Simba ranks among top prospects in the country.

  7. Wrestling: Team finishes second at nationals.

  8. Women's hockey: Former captain Marie-Joëlle Allard drafted by Les Canadiennes; second captain in a row drafted by them.

  9. Men's basketball: Stingers make finals for first time since 2012, lose to McGill

  10. Women's soccer: Imane Chebel plays for Algerian national team in April

Image + Nation: Mapplethorpe

December 20 2018 //

To kick off its ciné-création section, the LGBTQ film festival of Montreal presented the new biopic Mapplethorpe, shining a light on the photographer’s rise to fame last Friday December 1st, at L’impérial.  It also marked the first collaboration between the MAC and Image+Nation.

Although the movie’s intentions are very noble, it miserably fails to achieve anything, with the exception of a good performance by leading actor Matt Smith in the role of Robert Mapplethorpe. Odi Timoner’s first feature film has some interesting aspects, but mostly fails to live up to the public’s expectations.

Instead of focusing on one aspect of the photographer’s life, it goes through almost all his years as an artist, and by doing so, overlooks many important issues and characters. The movie feels fabricated, plastic. The edginess of Mapplethorpe’s photos isn’t, by itself, a good enough reason to make a film. But Timoner’s work doesn’t suggest anything else.

Since the very beginning of the film, I immediately knew it wouldn’t work. It starts with an awkward montage of archival images of New York (probably from the 40’s), even though the rest of story is set 30 years later. And after seeing a young Mapplethorpe in military uniform at the Pratt Institute, we quickly move on to his friendship with punk singer and poet Patti Smith, as they are taking a stroll down Washington Square Park. This is where the movie becomes problematic for me. 

I’m a great fan of Patti Smith. I read her autobiography Just Kids a few years ago. It was written, in part, to honor Mapplethorpe’s legacy. She mentions how they grew to love one another, and how they struggled their way into the art scene of 1970’s New York. In Just Kids, Smith emphasizes how they almost died of hunger and sickness at a young age, trying to make it big.

In Timoner’s biopic, however, it all seems too easy. Instead of being portrayed as the badass that she was, Patti Smith, played by Marianne Rendon, looks like a naïve and innocent little girl. Her relationship with the photographer isn’t convincing. It’s no secret that Smith and Mapplethorpe had a passionate relationship, but there doesn’t seem to be much chemistry between the two in the movie. 

When Mapplethorpe meets his first (male) lover and is introduced to “gay culture”, he immediately drifts away from the singer. We only see her again at the very end of the film, when he’s on his death bed. This seems very unlikely. It’s a well known fact that even after they separated, Smith and Mapplethorpe corresponded and saw each other regularly. Their love never really faded, according to Patti Smith’s account in Just Kids.

The other problem I have with this film is its inability to understand Mapplethorpe’s work. It is as if his bdsm and flower pictures just appeared, simply because he thought they were cool. There’s no real explanation of his artistic intention or process, nor is the movie interested in anything but the subversive aspect of his work.

Timoner’s aesthetic decisions are also questionable, as she couldn’t really convince us that we were in 1970’s New York (we see, for instance, a strange décor of the Twin Towers being built). The grainy retro images all shot on super 8 don’t necessarily add anything to the story either. 

Despite Matt Smith’s great performance (he is particularly convincing in the end, when the protagonist becomes all the more narcissistic and self-obsessed, afraid of death) and the rapid but moving ending, Mapplethorpe has unavoidable flaws. Even if it might be enjoyable for someone who knows nothing about the photographer, I think a biopic has a responsibility to tell the truth as it was, without sensationalism. I hope that for her next film, Timoner doesn’t miss the mark. 

Olivier Du Ruisseau hosts Friday Franco Show which airs Friday at 1:00 p.m

Lesser Evil Throw Caution to the Wind on Debut EP

December 15 2018 //

Photo: Caroline Désilets

When thinking of uses for a RV, it’s natural to picture families on vacation travelling across the country to visit various national parks and tourist destinations. That’s not what Montreal’s Lesser Evil had in mind, however. Instead, the duo recorded their self-titled debut EP in a RV secluded in the woods, without any electricity, running water, or the most precious of resources in today’s world, Wi-Fi.

“Being in the woods, outside with no neighbours, very alone and so calm – it feels like the home you never had,” says Christophe Lamarche-Ledoux, one half of Lesser Evil, about the experience.  “He was actually living in a RV in the middle of the woods and he had transformed it into a studio, so that was very appealing to me as well, because I was like ‘no phones, we can actually do that,’ [and] bang out tunes and we don’t know what they’ll become,” adds Ariane M., Lesser Evil’s other half.

The pair were actually neighbours growing up in Sherbrooke, but it was only years later when they were in Montreal that they connected through mutual friends in the city’s music scene.  What began two years ago as Ariane M. seeking out Lamarche-Ledoux to produce a project of hers evolved into a fruitful partnership, which they realized didn’t belong solely to one member or the other.

“Even though at that moment it wasn’t said that we were a band, it was still like that. Christophe was not [less] engaged because it wasn’t his project. We were like troopers the both of us,” Ariane M. says.

The end result of the pair’s collaboration is a four song debut EP that avoids easy classification. The first single “Caution” begins with sinister keyboards shrieks and no-wave saxophone skronks, but ends with gently cascading piano lines. The duo then jumps straight into the pulsating synth groove of “Sight Of”, demonstrating the versatility the two musicians possess throughout the EP.  According to Lamarche-Ledoux and Ariane M., that eclecticism is intentional to an extent, even if it subverts the necessity of listeners and critics assigning genre labels to music.

“We all do it, we do it when we listen to something, it’s just a normal reflex.  You can see with the four tracks that are pretty distinct that we’re trying to mindfuck that [laughs], meaning that we try to not get categorized, but if we do that’s life,” Ariane M. says.

“People ask ‘what’s the etiquette you would place your music under,’ and mostly people aren’t very satisfied by something broad,” Lamarche-Ledoux adds.  “I’ve been in a rock band, and just saying it’s rock is not satisfying, people want to be specific.”

 

If Lesser Evil’s songs themselves are diverse in style, their accompanying music videos are all united in their unsettling use of Super 8 slice-of-life Americana footage, achieved by projecting the footage onto a wall and then recording the results on VHS.  Behind the videos was a team of 5, including Guillaume Langlois (who’s also the owner of the 12 hours of source material for the videos), Felix-Antoine Boutin, and Odile Gamache, alongside Lamarche-Ledoux and Ariane M. themselves.

Originally Lamarche-Ledoux and Ariane M. planned on a traditional video shoot, but watching the footage intertwined with their music convinced the pair not only to use the available footage for “Caution,” but for all four of the EP’s songs. Even after trying to superimpose other music onto their footage, including Lamarche-Ledoux’s other project Organ Mood, the duo realized only Lesser Evil’s music would fit right with what they were seeing.

“We just put the EP on repeat and we watched the whole five of us for five hours, the rest Guillaume did,” Ariane M. explains.  “But we watched five hours with our EP on repeat, and then we were going crazy. After a pause I was like ‘can we put something else [on]?’  Then we put something else, and after 15 minutes I was like ‘this is not working, can we put something else?”. 

Despite just releasing an EP, Lamarche-Ledoux and Ariane M. are not intent on their collaboration being a one-off. The duo are already well on their way to completing an album as Lesser Evil and are working out how to bring their project onto the stage.

“We’ve worked on a lot of music in the past, and this project we’re really proud of” says Lamarche-Ledoux.  “It keeps on giving, in the sense that we have many other really good songs that are already finished. It’s not getting ambitious in the sense that we want to make money and be big about it, we just feel like we can invest our time in this. It keeps on giving all the time, so we’re gonna push this project.”

“It’s super challenging in a good way,” adds Ariane M.  “We’re both very ambitious in terms of trying to do the best, tap into what we can give at the moment and trying to be the best artists we can be. That sounds very absolute, but that’s the eternal quest.”

Lesser Evil is out now (Cult Nation)

Image+Nation: Postcards From London

December 13 2018 //

25 years after Postcards from America, director Steve McLean brings queer cinema further with his new film tackling the relationship between male prostitution and art. Postcards from London was shown at L'Impérial Thursday November 30th for the LGBTQ film festival Image+Nation.

Mea culpa, when I saw its trailer beforehand, I was expecting a cliché remake of every coming of age film, filled with gay stereotypes. The movie itself was, however, completely different. Postcards from London turned out to be one of the most original films I had seen in a long time.

It tells the story of Jim, an 18-year-old boy from Essex (played by Beach Rats’ Harris Dickinson), who moves to London, as he doesn't really fit in with his conservative family. Once in London, he gets recruited by a group of five young men, self-proclaimed "raconteurs”, who admire him for his intelligence and good looks. Their job basically consists of sex work that specializes in "post coital intellectual stimulation". Desperately looking for a job and a place to stay, he joins them in their mysterious endeavours.

In order to survive in their world, Jim has to learn about art to please his sophisticated clientele. They’re not only looking for sex, but also good conversation about literature and painting. So he becomes acquainted with artists such as Caravaggio, Pasolini, and Francis Bacon. But as soon as he sees their work, Jim faces a new tragedy.

He learns that he’s suffering from a rare disease called the Stendhal Syndrome, which makes him hypersensitive to beautiful works of art. Whenever he faces a chef d’oeuvre at an art gallery, he immediately faints, overwhelmed by the beauty of the work.

Jim ends up having to cope with his disease while learning about art and doing his new job as best as he can.

Though this might look like a very strange, unpromising and maybe pretentious proposition, McLean’s film manages to create its own charming surrealist universe and imagery. Instead of relying on the clichés of sex work, Postcards from London is more intellectual and makes us think (a little).

Toward the second half of the film, the young sex worker becomes a “muse” and poses for artists around London as he fascinates everyone with his beauty. Rather than being superficial, this plot twist calls for meaningful conversations about art between different characters. It also allows for Jim to question himself about his own relationship with his body and about how the artist’s gaze affects it.

Throughout the movie McLean constructs a retro neon aesthetic that suggests a nostalgia for the Soho of the 60’s and 70’s, when Francis Bacon was at the peak of his career. He also recreates many of Caravaggio’s paintings. The 16th century artist is always present in the film, as Jim and his new friends even pose for Caravaggio in his dreams.

All of this is, of course, very much absurd. But McLean knows it. His film is self-aware, often sarcastic and ironic, playing the audience with stereotypes of gay men and queer films.

Another original aspect of the film is its constantly moving camera and colourful scenes. It also shows great attention to detail in costumes, wallpaper, and everyday objects, all vibrant and flashy, adding to the retro aesthetic and dynamism of the picture.

Even if Postcards from London is sometimes predictable and has a few disappointing outcomes (the final scene, for example, is a little too dramatic and has no real connection to the rest of the story), it is still enjoyable. McLean’s first picture in a quarter of a century stands out by its clever use of stereotypes, art history, and art direction.

Olivier Du Ruisseau hosts Friday Franco Show which airs Friday at 1:00 p.m

Film Review : 24 Frames

December 12 2018 //

Photo: myhotposters.com

Montreal is welcoming the latest addition to it’s cinema family, Cinema Moderne: located in Mile End, and born just this year on September 17th 2018. When walking through its doors, there is an irrepressible feeling of a dream coming into reality. The cinema is comprised of a 50+ seat theatre with a bistro and bar, with promises of many cultural events to come. The cinema’s mission is inclusive and innovative, with an aim to incorporate series into their programming featuring directors from indigenous populations, women and local artists.

Their mission also includes the integration of family friendly events, in hopes to make this cinema accessible to all. The theatre is exciting, new and above all, “moderne”. There seems to be endless possibilities emerging from the space, and I am personally looking forward to their future programming. Last Saturday I saw Abbas Kiarostami’s latest and final work, a meditative and minimalistic piece that seemed to counterbalance the roaring new cinema.
​24 Frames is the last work of the irreplaceable cinema auteur Abbas Kiarostami. With it, he leaves the audience with his last expression, a few frames that perhaps summarize the intent of his career and of his minimalistic style.
​The film begins with an excerpt explaining the concept of his film. Kiarostami was fascinated by the idea that a painter can only capture one moment in their work.  His curiosity then lead him to wonder, what happened just seconds before or after this moment. It is with this speculation that the director began creating his film. Drawing from his past photographic works, Kiarostami used animation to bring these stills to life and to express what could have happened if mere seconds had passed.
​All the scenes have a sense of playfulness to them, as if we were exploring the thought process of the director’s mind. It is almost as if there is a dialogue throughout the film, as invisible as one’s own thoughts, but still deeply present. This film is yet another example of the most prominent theme of his work, the concept of the creation of reality. Here, he creates a reality based in the real world and then heightens it with the hand of imagination and computer animation.
​With great sadness, with the completion of this film, we realize that we have lost a great artist. The final frame is in fact the last one gifted to us, but there remains a comfort in his enormous body of work. He was a true artist, and up until his last days was re-creating his vision in a new, innovative style. He gave us one more reason to be grateful for the work he has given us.

RALLY FOR CLIMATE CHNAGE IN MTL, NOVA SCOTIA REGULATIONS, COP24

December 10 2018 //

Hosted by Erdene Batzorig

Stories by Erdene Batzorig

 

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LOCAL

On Saturday, Montrealers joined a worldwide march to bring awareness to climate change during the COP24, the United Nations Climate Change Conference.

 

The rally in Montreal included citizens, environmentalists and Indigenous leaders who were protesting the Trans Mountain Expansion pipeline.

 

According to the Montreal Gazette, since its inception in 1950s the Trans Mountain pipeline has been bought by Kinder Morgan and more recently by the federal government.

 

Protesters said they want the government to actually consider the environmental impact if the federal government decides to   expand the pipeline.

 

NATIONAL

Could Nova Scotia’s new alcohol regulations create a domino effect in the rest of the country?

 

According to Global News, the Maritime province’s decision to remove limits on how much alcohol can be brought into the province for personal consumption has come as a result of a controversial debate at the Supreme Court.

 

Executive director of the Canadian Constitution Foundation, Howard Anglin believes the move could be good for the whole country, “Every province that … moves to reduce friction at our internal provincial borders should be applauded for that and, hopefully, will be an example to other provinces.”

 

Business owners in other Maritime provinces also believe this move could be a positive change.

 

INTERNATIONAL

U.S., Russia, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait oppose a special report on climate change at this year’s United Nation Climate Summit.

 

The report which was commissioned three years ago as part of the Paris Agreement, details what would happen if average global temperatures rise by 1.5 C, and how to ensure they don't go higher.

 

The CBC reports that nearly all of the 200 countries present were ready to welcome the special report, except the US, and the three other delegates who refused to endorse it.

 

Alden Meyer of the Union of Concerned Scientists said, ”I think it was a key moment, the fact that a group of four countries were trying to diminish the value and importance of a scientific report they themselves, with all other countries, requested three years ago in Paris is pretty remarkable."

 

The four-oil exporting countries objections maybe linked to the suggestion in the report that the use of fossil-fuels be phased out by 2050.

 

Playboi Carti at MTELUS, Dec. 1 2018

December 7 2018 //

Playboi Carti made a stop in Montreal on Saturday night as part of his Neon Tour, and an eager crowd awaited the artist’s much-delayed performance at MTELUS.

Atlanta native and long-time A$AP Mob affiliate Playboi Carti is on the last stretch of his tour,  continuing to promote his debut studio album Die Lit that dropped in May 2018.  The album came after the success of Carti’s eponymous debut mixtape, featuring his breakout single “Magnolia” that put eyes on the 22-year-old trap rapper. 

With an expected start time of 8:45PM, Carti only got on stage at a late 10:45PM to an impatient, and perhaps slightly annoyed, crowd. However, all tension left the room as the performer walked on stage to “R.I.P Fredo (Notice Me)”. Immediately, the venue erupted into complete carnage as the audience was bulldozed closer and closer to the stage by aggressive fans that were eager to catch a front row view.

The rapper went on to play an unreleased song titled “Cancun” from his recently teased upcoming Whole Lotta Red album. Yet, it was not until the beginning of the third song that Carti demanded everyone open up the crowd and chant along to his “MOSH PIT! MOSH PIT!” request. As the crowd split in two, fans waited for the music to drop as they heard the introduction to “wokeuplikethis*”. From there, anyone that was sucked into the audience had no luck of being reunited with the friends that they came with. Shirts began to come off as men in the crowd could not take the heat that came along with hundreds of aggressive, very sweaty, Carti fans bopping to his greatest hits. 

The rapper played a multitude of fan favourites, both old and new. Several tracks were those that featured Lil Uzi Vert verses such as “Shoota” and “Of Course We Ghetto Flowers”. Carti played some of his earliest tracks that put him on the hip hop radar such “Fetti” and “Broke Boi”. For many songs, he played only short snippets as they were tracks assisted by other rappers, such as “Mileage” featuring Chief Keef and “Lean 4 Real” featuring English grime artist Skepta.

While the crowd may have found itself calming down at one point in the night, it was surely due to a sheer depletion of physical energy. Regardless of one’s place in the audience, various different pockets of mosh pits found themselves scattered throughout. Whether it was a group of 10 or a group of 40, one misstep and you may get lost in the chaos with no guarantees of coming back.
As expected, Carti saved the best for last. “Telephone Calls” from A$AP Mob’s Cozy Tapes Vol. 1 led into “Lookin” and of course, “Magnolia” to finish off the night. As dozens of people left throughout the show because they could not keep up with what was to come, the crowd gathered their last remaining energy to rage to the rapper’s  2x platinum hit. 

When Carti wrapped up his final track, he ended the night by paying homage to one of 2018’s hip hop martyrs. As he exited the stage, “Take A Step Back” by Ski Mask the Slump God featuring the late XXXTentacion began to play as Carti greeted the fans farewell.

Although a slight delay may have frustrated fans in the beginning, it can only be assumed that the energy Playboi Carti gave out in his hour long set was met with forgiveness by his loyal fans.

Jacob Carey is the host of  Trappin' in Traffic, CJLO's newest hip-hop show, every Tuesday at 5:00 p.m.

 

Energy East pipeline, Gender Biased Violence, Co2 Emissions

December 7 2018 //
Stories by Luca Caruso-Moro
 
 
 
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Local
Quebec will have no part in the Energy East pipeline. 
 
The newly proposed pipeline, which would transport unrefined oil from Alberta to New Brunswick for refinery, is being backed by New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs. 
 
The project was originally drafted to be built in late 2017, but it was trashed after the $16 billion  price tag was deemed too high for the oil market. 
 
Legault told reporters that pipelines are not a priority for his government on Thursday. 
 
National
The Liberals are doubling their spending to reduce gender-based violence across Canada.
 
The new $50 million pledge will fund 60 projects which support LGBTQ+, Indigenous and immigrant peoples. 
 
International
In 2018, global Co2 emissions have been higher than ever. 
 
The BBC crowns China as the biggest driver of the increase due to it's coal-based economy, while vehicle emissions rise around the world.
 
By the end of this year, 2018 emissions are projected to have increased 2.7 per cent from last year.
 
That's nearly double 2017's increase rate.

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