Damn right, she's cool.

Yes, that’s right. There’s no question that Ms. Swift would get top honours on my list. And yes, Fearless came out in late 2008, but the Platinum Edition was released this past October. With six new songs, I deem it capable enough to make it in for 2009. Key tracks: Untouchable, The Other Side Of the Door

1. Taylor Swift – Fearless (Platinum Edition)

2. Magneta Lane – Gambling With God

3. LIGHTS – The Listening

4. Tegan & Sara – Sainthood

5. Alexisonfire – Old Crows/Young Cardinals

6. A Fine Frenzy – Bomb In A Birdcage

7. Silversun Pickups – Swoon

8. La Roux (Self-Titled)

9. John Mayer – Battle Studies

10. Die Mannequin – Fino + Bleed
Also, to continue with last year’s tradition, here’s my top played artists on Last.fm:

1.) Taylor Swift (1,674)

2.) Magneta Lane (754)

3.) Stars (607)

4.) City and Colour (582)

5.) Alexisonfire (464)

6.) LIGHTS (422)

7.) Metric (383)

8.) Tegan & Sara (379)

9.) Arkells (370)

10.) Lenka (359)

Honourable Mentions also go to She & Him (353), A Fine Frenzy (344), and Explosions in the Sky (329).

Magneta Lane Busking For Change (Photo Credit: Jerry Vo)

I caught up over lunch with Magneta Lane’s Lexi Valentine (vocals), Nadia King (drums), and French (bass) shortly after they played on the streets of Downtown Toronto for Busking For Change, a fundraising event hosted by War Child Canada, who helps kids in war-torn countries around the world.

***

The Singing Lamb: You guys were doing the War Child Canada thing today. How did you get involved with this great cause?

Lexi Valentine: Well, we actually got an email and they said that they would be happy to have us. When an organization like War Child approaches you and says “Do you wanna help out with this cause” – especially because it’s such a big and important thing, right? And for them to pick you out of a group of god knows how many bands and tells you “We’d be honoured to have you”, that was an amazing thing. And we’re like “Of course, we’ll come play for you guys and support the cause” – so, that’s how it all started. And from there, it became what it was today. Good times!

Cool! And so, you also just put out your new album, Gambling With God, on September 15th…?

Lexi: Was it? I don’t even remember!

Haha. Yeah, it was a couple weeks ago or so. It’s been about three and a half years since your last album, Dancing With Daggers–

Lexi: Three and a half years?! Are you kidding me?

Nadia King: Was it really?

Lexi: OK, we’ve go to do the math. That sounds really bad!

Nadia: Yeah, it was three and a half years.

Lexi: That’s such bullshit! Ugh, that’s terrible! OK, whatever. MOVE ON!

Hah. So, from then ’till now, how have your lives changed, both musically and personally?

Lexi: Um, yes. Everything’s changed. It’s not even a bad thing – I think it’s an excellent thing because for a couple of years – I don’t know if maybe you guys [the fans] felt the same way, but one thing I always mention is that it always felt like we were living two different lives. And sometimes, to be happy in your personal life and to be happy where your career is musically – that’s probably the hardest balance to find in this world. I’m sure you can ask any musician and they’ll be like, “If one thing is going great, the other thing is going shit. And if one thing is going shit, the other thing is going great.” So yeah, I find, speaking personally for myself, that I finally feel comfortable with where I am in my life, and we’re kind of in a more personal place than just these people in a band. We don’t let it take over everything as much anymore and it’s just a part of who we are. It doesn’t define who we are. Everything in our personal life is good, and this [music life] is starting to become what it is, which is also good. We’re just taking every day as it comes, but the big change is being able to accept things as they come and just being happy with what we have and actually finding that balance and that happiness.

Right! Now, onto the album itself. This time around, you guys went back to Jon Drew [The Constant Lover EP] as a producer as opposed to MSTRKRFT [Dancing With Daggers]. Was there any reason for that?

Lexi: No, it’s funny because people will assume and say “OH MY GOD, What happened?!” – but it really has nothing to do with that. We felt that every album had to be a personal growth, so we wanted to take more of a part in the production side of things. Who better to approach than somebody who knows you well, somebody who’s going to let you fuck around in the studio? Jesse and Al [of MSTRKRFT], they’re awesome, and they totally are great producers, but they’re the kind of guys who like to be hands-on and say “OK, you know what, I think this really works,” because they want to get that sound that they want for their records. With Jon, it was more of having the freedom to get in there and be like, “Well, if you guys want to try this, I’ll help you guys record it, but you guys can layer it and stuff.” Obviously we’re getting his input, but there was definitely more freedom and I think that’s what we wanted. We wanted to get to a place where we could sit behind a mixing board and record something, you know?

Which leads me onto the next thing – what kind of sound did you want to bring to this album?

Lexi: French, you wanna elaborate?

French: <coughs; laughter>

(French was feeling quite under the weather today)

Lexi: She needs more Benadryl or something, haha. I think we just wanted it to be a representation of where we were. The first album [The Constant Lover] was this poppy kind of thing, and if you listen to Dancing With Daggers it was SO dark. And I even thought to myself, “What the fuck was wrong with me?” to write stuff like that. We didn’t think it was a bad record, but it was dark-sounding. [For Gambling With God] We decided to go back to our roots. When things start looking up, you start writing happier music. When things aren’t so good, you start writing darker things.

In the three years between DWD and now, did you guys record Gambling With God in one shot, or did you prolong the process, [taking your time]?

Lexi: It took a long time! We took about a year and a half on and off. A good chunk of that was spent recording. We moved through a total of four studios for this one album. That’s part of why it took so long!

Are there any tracks on the album that each of you have a particular attachment to–

French: I hate them all.

Wait, which one do you like?

French: I like Bloody French, that’s why it’s called Bloody French, it’s my favourite!

Lexi: Because it’s bloody good! Actually, that’s probably my favourite one. If you listen to the lyrics, it’s the one that hits closest to home.

Nadia: I like Gambling With God.

Lexi: Yeah, Nadia is weird. She’s so happy. Like LALALALA!

Nadia: Yeah, I’m the happy one.

Haha. So now that the album is out, what are the plans? You guys are shooting a video soon, I hear?

Lexi: Yeah, we’re shooting the video for Lady Bones on Thursday in Detroit. So we’re doing that, and next month we’re going to be playing something for Breast Cancer. We didn’t get around to doing a CD release party, so maybe we’ll get a video release party going down or something. But everything is developing slowly because we’re trying to get settled into college radio for now, and after that we’ll do the Canada rounds and the whole thing.

What are you guys listening to lately?

Nadia: Uncool: Taylor Swift!

No, that’s alright, me too!

Nadia: Are we going to sing it?!

Lexi: What do I listen to?! I can’t remember. We don’t like any cool indie rock anymore. I wish I could say something where everybody would be like “Oh yeah, that’s a great record!” but I’m going to say absolutely nothing that people are going to love.

French: I like Kid Cudi a lot!

Lexi: He’s cool, eh?! Yeah, Kid Cudi’s badass. Oh, and that new Jay-Z and Alicia Keys song, it’s so good!

French: That new Jay-Z album is SO good. I really, really like it.

Lexi: Yeah. I DO like the new Dave Matthews album. I’m just gonna put that out there.

French: She says that in the same breath: “I really like Jay Z and Dave Matthews.” Jay-Z was on Oprah and taught her how to rap. He was writing some rap with her and there was this “Go Oprah” chant and he was like “Hey, Hey”–

Lexi: That’s amazing. “I’m really listening to Oprah Right now.” Imagine if that was actually an option? “Yeah, I totally bought the new Oprah Album.” I WOULD buy that too. And it’ll have cooking recipes in the back.

And a free membership to her book club?

Lexi: Yeah! Dude, I would LOVE to be on that show for ‘Oprah’s favourite things’!

French: We would be worse than those car people.

So, on to our final question: If each of you could be a singing animal, what would it be?

French: Peacock.

Lexi: I’d be a wolf.

Nadia: A llama. I like llamas.

Lexi: Wolves are badass. Like She Wolf. Like Shakira!

Nadia: Wait, how does she go? <Howls>

Lexi: I love Shakira. Go Shakira!

***

For more Magneta Lane:

MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/kissingiseasy

Website: http://www.magnetalane.com

Dallas Green a.k.a. City and Colour

2008 wasn’t a year where I had a crazy *quantity* of new music, but from what I did get to hear, I’m super happy. It’s also a year where I didn’t shoot as many shows as I had wanted, mainly due to day-job obligations and branching off into other forms of photography. 2009 is going to be a year where a lot of my favourite bands will be releasing new material: there should be releases from the likes of Metric, Magneta Lane, and Stars (maybe?), among others. Bring it on!

TOP ALBUMS:

• 10. Jason Mraz – We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things.
• 9. Duffy – Rockferry
• 8. LIGHTS EP
• 7. Marie Digby – Unfold
• 6. Tokyo Police Club – Elephant Shell
• 5. Kings of Leon – Only By The Night
• 4. Uh Huh Her – Common Reaction
• 3. Stars – Sad Robots EP
• 2. Fleet Foxes (self-titled)
• 1. City and Colour – Bring Me Your Love

In addition, I figure I would also include another list outlining my top listened-to artists for 2008:

TOP PLAYED:

1. City and Colour (1,570 plays)
2. Magneta Lane (1,109 plays)
3. Stars (1,048 plays)
4. A Fine Frenzy (751 plays)
5. Alexisonfire (659 plays)
6. Attack in Black (614 plays)
7. Tokyo Police Club (602 plays)
8. Metric (510 plays)
9. Marie Digby (504 plays)
10. Rilo Kiley (436 plays)

Cheers,
Jerry