The staff of The Singing Lamb is being so kind as to offer you our insight throughout the last week of 2010 as to what albums, singles, and shows were the best of the year. First off, creator Melody Lau/Lamb shares her top 10 albums. Check it.

10) Janelle Monae — The ArchAndroid

9) Spoon — Transference

8) Hooded Fang — Album

7) The Wilderness of Manitoba — When You Left the Fire

6) Vampire Weekend — Contra

5) Arcade Fire — The Suburbs
If you were oblivious to The Suburbs this year you were probably living under the world’s biggest rock. The only words to describe the year this Montreal collective had this year are triumphant and big. The Suburbs brought back a more-grounded affair, in comparison to the band’s second record Neon Bible, and successfully paired stadium rock hits with the same earnest indie appeal we first saw on Funeral. This band did no wrong this year. 

4) Best Coast — Crazy For You
We can sit around and debate the logistics of chillwave but I think we can all agree that California lo-fi rockers Best Coast reigned supreme above all other surf/beach/whatever you want to call it bands this year. Crazy For You was more polished than their previous singles but its lackadaisical ease was the perfect soundtrack this summer.   

3) Robyn — Body Talk
Unabashed, empowering and catchy as hell. Robyn is the modern day role model everyone should look up to. “Dancing On My Own” and “Call Your Girlfriend” are some of the year’s best dance songs and Robyn’s ability to narrate one’s heartbreak is spot-on. (Do I know this from personal experience? Maybe.) The beats literally burst out of her chest as she sings “I’m givin’ it my all/ but I’m not the girl you’re takin’ home/I keep dancin’ on my own” and she even tells you not to fuck with her alongside Snoop Dogg. Nuff said.

2) Beach House — Teen Dream
Ambient pop music does many things of the ambient variety – swooning, daydream and sometimes a bit lethargic (in the good sense). But what Teen Dream did upon first listen was knock you over the head. One of the most gorgeous records of the year, Teen Dream weaves song after song of dream-like earworms that will haunt you for days, weeks, and clearly in this case, months. Year-end list aside, this is an album I can listen to for years to come.

1) Owen Pallett — Heartland
Pop perfection from beginning to end, Heartland is Owen Pallett’s best work to date. Pallett doesn’t compromise his musical visions here, enlisting a complete orchestra for the first time and in turn he created a record that’s able to intellectually grab your attention while making you tap your feet. A fine balance between a cerebral masterpiece and a straight-up pop hit, Pallett’s formula is one that very few people can attempt let alone excel at. I’m not shy when it comes to being very proud of the music Toronto produces but this year’s pride and joy all rested on one record. In the span of a year, Heartland has already grown into a classic. (Original review)

The Wilderness of Manitoba

The Wilderness of Manitoba are coming back for a homecoming show at the Horseshoe on November 25th and will be joined by the talented Olenka and th Autumn Lovers (solo set) and Leif Vollebekk and we’ve got a pair of tickets AND a copy of WOM’s debut album When You Left The Fire for you!

Follow any of the steps below for chance to win this awesome prize pack (the more steps you follow the more times you enter!):

1. Follow us on Twitter and then retweet the following:
   WIN TICKETS (& MORE) to see Wilderness of Manitoba (@wildofmanitoba) on Nov.25/10. Follow @TheSingingLamb and retweet! http://bit.ly/dvz5AO
2. Go to our Facebook Page and click the “Like” button on the contest post.
3. If you don’t have Twitter or Facebook, simply e-mail riley@singinglamb.ca and include :
   “WILDERNESS OF MANITOBA” in the subject title and then your full name in the subject section.

***Sorry kiddies, this contest is open to those of you 19 years of age or older.***

Contest will close at 12PM on Nov. 23/10. Winner will be contacted via e-mail, Personal FB Message or Twitter Direct Message.

Hymns of Love & Spirits

In a world where music is dominated by electronic instruments and computer generated instruments, it’s always refreshing to come across a band like The Wilderness of Manitoba (WOM), a band with a sound defined by layering banjos, cellos, vocals, and underlying sixties folk influences. Not many bands can do soft folk well, but, in their first EP since forming in 2008, WOM proves that they are one of the few who can.

The first thing that jumps out at me is how much WOM sounds like Bon Iver, Fleet Foxes, and Great Lake Swimmers –especially Bon Iver.  However, compared to Bon Iver, WOM sounds less melancholic and more hippie sounding.  There’s something quintessentially Canadian about their sound and their lyrics speak of the beauty of nature.

Perhaps the most strikingly unique aspect of this EP are its sixties influences.  This is especially apparent in the track, “Evening”, which was originally written by band member Will Whitwham’s mother in 1968.   While staying true to the original version, the band’s version of “Evening”, is by far the best track of the album due to its simplicity and the well-arranged vocal interplays.

All in all, Hymns of Love and Spirits is a great EP that is definitely worth listening to if you like Bon Iver and/or Fleet Foxes or just like soft folk in general.

By Athena Ngai

No Shame promoter Lauren Schreiber shares her favourite songs of 2009!

Think About Life – Johanna

This song was on repeat the entire 6 hour drive back from Pop Montreal. The addition of Caila to the band was brilliant – that girl has pipes like whoa and gives 100% every time. TAL has gone from my favourite live band to my favourite much music video dance party; I’m regressing, and I love it.

Thunderheist – Jerk It

What can i say? Isis is young, sexy and the song is catchy as shit. It’s like peaches, only I feel really hot listening to it, instead of just dirty.

Green Go – Put Your Specs On Boy

GG are old hat to me – I feel like this album has been out for about twelve years. But the fact that I’ve heard their songs for ages shouldn’t touch the fact that they are great… really really great songs from a really really great album. Get a drink in me and put this on, and I still squeal THEY’RE PLAYING MY SONG! Every time.

Everything All The Time – Lazy Days

Britney and Beyonce move over. Catchy as fuck quality pop has a new face, and it’s EATT. Welcome to the only indie pop band I know who has a real singer. Plus I love each and everyone of them… just delightful people.

Sports The Band – Castlots

Between the harmonies and the basslines and the interband drama, I always forget just how good Sports are. Until I walk into a room where they’re onstage and all I can do is beam.

Dirty Projectors – Remade Horizon

I had to move to the front of the sold out room to understand exactly what the hell was happening. Is it a keyboard? A guitar? No… its vocals. Wait, what?! Motown in a meatgrinder – groundbreaking.

Gentleman Reg – You Can’t Get It Back

Either you like his voice or you don’t, but there’s no denying guy can write a song. It’s like I couldn’t pick between my favourite frontman, and my favourite front woman, so I got both. Reg is sassy like a pop diva, he’s the best of all worlds.

Pick A Piper – Rooms

You’re a summer festival, you’re a boy with slight B.O., you’re a joint rolled in cinnamon rolling paper. I love you, let’s stare at the stars.

Akron/Family – Everyone is Guilty

I drove to Hamilton to see these guys because I’m didn’t grab tickets to their sold out 2 night stand at Sneaky Dees with Born Ruffians. Worth It.

Animal Collective – Brother Sport

Every time Fez from Green Go spins this at a party, I get all ‘This is great! Who IS this?’ And it’s always Animal Collective. I actually bought this album in a store. This is significant.

Patrick Watson – Beijing

When his first album came out, I described my heart school heartthrob as creating music that sounds like Montreal. Cinematic, decadent, urgent and idiosyncratic. And endlessly romantic. Somewhere between the pots and pan percussion and the lush string arrangements is my hometown.

Portico – The Battle of Duck Lake

My favourite songs of the 90s are reborn in this CBC radio 3 hit.

The Darcys – The CN Tower Belongs To The Dead

Sure it’s a cover, but what a cover! This is how you do covers, people, pay attention. Just listen to that guitar solo! This is a cover enough to build an entire tour around… which is exactly what they did. I expect big things from The Darcys in 2010.

Great Bloomers – Speak of Trouble

Full disclosure; I manage these guys. But there’s a reason – they are The Band as arranged by Queen, epic twangy roots rock with charm and soul for miles. The album is a slow burn – I like it more with each listen, and young frontman Lowell Sostomi will be writing songs for the rest of his life. I can’t wait to see where he goes from here.

Evening Hymns – Dead Deer

I had to wait a year from the first time I heard these songs until the album was released. They almost didn’t make the 2009 cut off… Jonas! Way to build suspense. As expected, you were worth the wait.

Peter Wolf Crier – Down Down Down

A last minute discovery and one I’m still digesting. But the Minneapolis duo’s superlative Inter-Be may be my favourite album of the year.

Wooden Sky – Oh My God (It Still Means A Lot To Me)

For petty personal reasons, I REALLY didn’t want to love this album. But I do, and how. My opinion of Gavin Gardiner remains the same as the first time I heard him open his mouth… it’s a crime he’s not famous worldwide yet – every teenage girl should be mooning around her bedroom to this.

Wilderness of Manitoba – Evening

I wasn’t expecting to find one of my favourite albums in a backyard shed on Delaware street north of Bloor, but I did. And even though the music was coming from people I already knew and loved, I never could have predicted the delicate beauty of this album. Wilderness of Manitoba give me hope.

Timber Timbre – Demon Host

His Halifax pop showcase was legitimately frightening. Taylor’s talent is otherworldly…

NOTES

I would have included the Rural Alberta Advantage, Olenka and The Autumn Lovers, Tune Yards and Parlovr, but though they really saw acclaim this past year, their albums were originally released in 2008. And I would’ve included Bruce Peninsula, but I doan’t think the recording of Mountain is a Mouth , lovely as it is, reflects how magnificent they really are.

The Wilderness of Manitoba

The Singing Lamb: You have a new drummer! So you’ve moved from a four piece to a five piece?

Everyone: Yeah!

But he doesn’t sing, so it’s still four part harmonies.

Will: Yes. We can do four part shows but when we have him it’s nice! It adds kick!

Awesome! Well let’s start with the name of the band. Where did that come from?

Scott: A friend of mine is doing her masters in curatorial studies; she was in New York and she went out to do her masters in Vancouver and curated an instillation called The Wilderness of Manitoba which was coming to Toronto last summer. They were casting dudes to sit in this bubble and they needed to have long hair and they needed to be generally gaunt and the whole premise was them sitting inside of this bubble, going about their daily life for eight hours as images are being projected on the outside so people would walk by and juxtapose the images of the wilderness against the bubble. Anyway, she was looking for people and she asked us if we’d be interested in sitting in this bubble and I really liked the name so…

Will: And Scott, the way we live together and all that because we play in another band, would see me and we’d be sitting there in the backyard and I’d have my shirt off and maybe in boxers and he’d be like, “Hey, if you want to sit in boxers with your shirt off and just go about your daily life, you can be part of an art project and get paid to sit in a bubble and put forth an eight hour shift and go about your day!”

So The Wilderness of Manitoba is actually a meeting of art and commerce?

Will: I guess so; in that sense. Scott was saying ‘This is an Art Instillation’ would also a great band name because we’re always dicking around with great band names. And my dad actually went to the University of Manitoba, I’ve always wanted to go there, I wore his winter jacket for years…I had a lot of weird connections to it which I’ve never been to! So…

Scott: My interpretation was the ability to go about your daily life and get paid for it!

Very nice! So did you create the music to match the name or did you pick the name to match music that was like already there?

Will: We didn’t have a name before we had music.

But you had music.

Will: We had music but that sort of progression was kind of effortless because we were doing different kinds of songs and stuff like that, we were just messing around with different band names and that one just kind of worked; it just kind of clicked effortlessly with what we were doing; him and I were already doing some things that were not part of Provincial Parks.

Which is your other band! Which ones here are in that band?

Stefan: Scott and Will; and they were just not part of that theme.

Scott: Wilderness of Manitoba actually came first before we decided to change our names to Provincial Parks from Howl because Howl sucked.

So there’s a theme going…

Will: Scott and I had a running competition when we started out. I was like, “Okay I just recorded some shit downstairs, now it’s your turn, you go write a song!”

Scott: That’s kind of how we did it; it was a song-writing competition. We just realized we were writing songs that didn’t have a home and so we decided to just make a band for this.

So who’s the songwriter for this project?

Will: Now it’s everybody but that time, it was Scott and I because they weren’t in the band yet.

Right; and so in what order did people get brought in?

Scott: Well we had seen Melissa play her solo stuff and then we wanted that voice!

Well I don’t blame you!

Melissa: They robbed my voice!

And then Stefan came to you…

Stefan: I met them at the Rock Lottery!

And what is the Rock Lottery for people who don’t know?

Scott: Oh, best fucking day of the entire world!

Will: It’s where they basically compile 20-25 people from in Toronto, from different bands and you all pick a name out a hat in the morning…

And they create five different bands to play five different songs!

Will: Yeah, they put all the 1s together, all the 2s…And they rehearse in a space together and perform it later that night at Sneaky Dee’s!

That’s how you met Stefan! And so you guys became friends, then bandmates and you’re also housemates!

Stefan: Yes!

So who are housemates here?

Will: Scott and …and now Stefan!

Melissa: Not me!

And Pete, who’s also in Provincial Parks!

Will: It’s like a community!

Yeah, and speaking of community, you have your whole full-grown community here with…

Everyone: The Delaware House!

Yes, which is the name of this house! And what is it?

Will: It’s for bands to come and use as anything they want whether it be a rehearsal or a set up for a show or just to getaway!

And how many people can you fit in there?

Will: Anywhere from 30-50.

Which is about how many people are here tonight! But anyway, you guys have a new album coming out!

Melissa: Yeah, August 21st!

What’s it called?

Melissa: Hymns of Love and Spirits!

And you’re putting the release show together by yourself?

Will: We are; we just thought of all the venues in Toronto and we decided to release it out of our barn because we recorded it here.

Scott: Some of our favourite bands have played here and want play again so we’re going to have them play again because we love them.

And so when is that?

Scott: August 21st with Snowblink and Maylee Todd, so far!

So you have the new record coming out and it’s a six song EP and then the plan for it is to do a house show tour, I hear!

Scott: The first week of September, I think the 30th, we’re playing Wavelength in Toronto, with Maylee actually which is completely random and then we’re driving east and we’re going to do a series of shows as far as we can go and then get back before we have to work the next week!

So obviously there’s this community, grass roots, acoustic, basically real qualities is really important to you not only in the music that you’re creating because I think it shows in the songs that you write and it’s reflected in the music but also in the way that you’re approaching running your band.

Scott: I think we’ve met a lot of people just through the house and through the bands where we now have the opportunity to network with other houses who do similar things in other communities and that is the brilliant thing. Like, now we can tour fucking cheap because we can bring a tent and a guitar…

Stefan: And it’s fun, it’s not like people come and drink it’s not like going to a bar to see just one band and leave.

Will: I think we’d all rather play to 30 people in a room than 30 people in a giant bar.

But yet, you have a big show coming up!

Will: We do, but only in our hometown!

Scott: Before we get to the big show, the whole idea of this is fostering relationships and getting sort of in touch with people who, for a lack of a better work, really give a shit about the process rather than the “I’m just going to go out tonight and I don’t really care about the music going on.” This is 100% on the music and you notice that with the people coming here.

Well the people coming to your house are the people who’s intentions are on the music being played rather than the event itself and being seen.

Scott: That was the whole intention of the place when it started a year ago. I mean great songs are great songs on acoustic guitar, regardless of how they are performed on a big stage.

If you can strip down a song to its basic elements and it’s still successful then that’s how you know it’s a great song.

Will: Exactly.

Scott: And we realized that there were a lot of people around us who wrote great songs and how do we showcase their abilities?

Will: And often I would love to hear that song that way, let’s ask them to play our house and that’s how the big show came around too, because The RAA played our house and they did a stripped down thing and they really enjoyed their time…

And so they’re bringing you to the big times! And the big show is when?

Scott: Next week, the 30th at the Horseshoe! It’s The RAA CD re-release show with us and Hooded Fang!

So there’s obviously a connection between you and the music you’re playing and the kind of music they’re playing like even the names.

Will: Regionalism!

It’s very Canadian and Canada can be kind of unforgiving to tour because there’s ten hour stretches between the major cities and so when you can break it down and put in a house show that’s sort of the saving grace and that’s what makes it friendly and that’s what you guys are doing.

Scott: The name similarity was actually considered when we came up with the name.

Because The RAA came first?

Scott: Oh, totally. We knew them and have seen them play many times.

So would you say it’s a kind of homage?

Stefan: Well we thought it wouldn’t matter because we never thought we’d get this far!

Will: You know why? Because he writes a lot of songs that kind of pertain to his heritage; we don’t really write songs that relate to Manitoba. I believe in a lot things in artwork just signifiers; if you see something it should feel a certain way, it doesn’t necessarily have to make literal sense. So we don’t actually write songs about Manitoba. Yes, we have a lot of songs that are nature-based but I think it’s more of a Canadian theme.

It may be more just wilderness than Manitoba?

Will: It’s not geographically limited, that’s all I’m saying!

And so people can catch you at your CD release and they can catch you at the Horseshoe and then they can look you up at MySpace! So finally, if you were all singing animals, what would you be?

Stefan: A dodo! I like The Dodos and I just thought dodo because I thought it was a singing bird but maybe it’s not…

Will: I want be a singing cheetah because then I can also run really fast!

Melissa: I want be a singing reebok so I can outrun will!

Will: You can’t outrun cheetahs!

Scott: I’ve always liked Caribou…

So you’d be a singing caribou?

Scott: I think so!

For more Wilderness of Manitoba,
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/thewildernessofmanitoba

Don’t forget to catch the Wilderness of Manitoba at the Horseshoe tomorrow night and on August 21st for their CD release party!

Interview By Lauren Schreiber