tRAMPOLINE sPARKS

1) Wilco / Wilco (The Album)

Hands down, the best American band of the decade with a string of perfect albums. Wilco (The Album) is exactly what my ears want to hear when a new record comes out. From start to finish, it has the perfect dose of pop, experimentation, jams, musicianship, simplicity…oh yeah, and there’s a friggin’ camel in a party hat on the cover!! You’ll want to rip the shrink wrap off in record time with this one.

2) Danger Mouse & Sparklehorse / Dark Night Of The Soul

Special guests on this one feature lead singers from The Strokes, Grandaddy, Flaming Lips, The Shins, Super Furry Animals, The Cardigans, not to mention Iggy Pop & David Lynch (yes you read correctly, David Lynch). If you’re not going to purchase (or download) this whole album, do yourself a favour and get track 1. It features Wayne Coyne (Flaming Lips) and is probably the best song & production of 2009.

3) Phoenix / Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix

Kind of a predictable one. Probably number 1 on lots of top ten lists this year. And rightfully so. As much as the formulaic three word/phrase repeat in EVERY SINGLE SONG (i.e.: “this is showtime, this is showtime, this is showtime” , “fall in, fall in, fall in!!”) kind of annoys me, I must admit that this is perfect pop music. The tunes are so good and perfectly written, you really couldn’t care less what Thomas Mars was singing about.

4) Bon Iver / Blood Bank EP

Ok, so this one isn’t a full length. However, I challenge anyone and everyone to listen to Blood Bank and not consider Justin Vernon’s delicious EP as a best album of the year. Most artists can’t write a song this good in an entire career.

5) Handsome Furs / Face Control

Electro-indie-trashy-pop duo from Montreal. Call them what you will, I’m just glad these guys are sticking around and not stamping this one a side project. Yes. That is Dan Boeckner from Wolf Parade. And yes, he sings like he’s going to rip your guts out.

6) Blakroc / Blakroc

One of the biggest surprises of the year. The Black Keys kick out the blues rock soul jams and invite top notch hip hop kings to do whatever they god damn please! Mos Def, RZA, Billy Danze, Q-Tip, Raekwon amongst others join in and spit the rhymes like they just don’t care. Watch the YouTube webisodes. Very cool and fun to see how they produced it.

7) Charlotte Gainsbourg / IRM

Only a week old and on constant repeat. Beck + Charlotte. Need I say more? Heaven Can Wait (directed by Keith Schofield) has to be the best video of the year.

8) Mos Def / The Ecstatic

Musical, classy, artistic, soulful, this is top quality hip hop. The way it should be in the long run. Mos Def delivers a gem that will surely go unnoticed by listeners who claim to love hip hop music so much. Same goes for Blakroc.

9) Metric / Fantasies

I actually thought I was done with this band. I want to hate them. And I kind of wanted to put the Raveonettes in this #9 spot. After seeing Metric for 8$ at Petit Campus in Montreal opening for Stars before 200 sweaty bodies back in 2003, I knew Emily Haines & Co would become huge. Everyone did. My ex girlfriend would play both albums on repeat in her car and it became overkill. I quit. Then came the solo album. It was so good. So I decided to wait before quitting. Then I heard this new album. Still waiting. Sorry Raveonettes!

10) Dan Auerback - Keep it Hid

Lead singer from the Black Keys. Just a classic sounding blues rock album. I missed the show a few months back and am still kicking myself. With the Black Keys, Blakroc and now this, one tends to kind of question his/her work ethics. Did someone say “prolific”?

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Other albums that could have made this list but absolutely didn’t:

The Dead Weather, Grizzly Bear, Jarvis Cocker, Flaming Lips, Jay-Z, Camera Obscura, Franz Ferdinand, Jason Lytle, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Miike Snow, Julian Casablancas, Pete Yorn & Scarlett Johansson, Antony and the Johnsons, The Lemonheads, The Dead Weather, Modest Mouse, Animal Collective

Snowmen fall from heaven… unassembled.

Not quite. But I still feel like I should feed Trampoline Sparks with some thankful goodness. I believe Twitter has taken over and crushed my blog’s aspiration of becoming the be-all end-all of my creative focus.

There’s nothing wrong with a little hindsight and recap action so here goes.

Thank you so very much for making 2009 an important and successful year for me. Sometimes I feel like things are never moving fast enough, but in retrospect, I’ve actually never been busier.

The year kicked off quite delightfully with the Martha Wainwright & Joseph Arthur tours. The album release & launch. Our massive cabaret show in February with the epic “Wall of Lights”. Playing CBC Q with Jian Ghomeshi, being invited to play 2 nights at the Montreal International Jazz Festival to a sold out audience, CMJ in New York City, opening for the Lemonheads, the cross Canada tour with Pilot Speed, Wooden Sky & David Usher, Halifax Pop Explosion, Quebec City’s Summer Festival, Toronto International Film Festival, Osheaga, the multiple video shoots and working with Teqtonik, Ghetto Future & Anton Josef and of course playing to a sold out Metropolis opening for my friend Dumas.

I’m sure I’m forgetting tons of information and moments. But I truly want to thank everyone and anyone who was instrumental in me still playing and singing my broken heart out and filling my head & life with great memories and achievements I couldn’t have accomplished without your smiling ears.

Here’s to your happiness, health & love.
JB xo

Hello blog.

Sorry, I’ve been away.

Don’t worry, all is well.

Been recording home demos.

New songs, old songs.

Kind of backing away from the web in general.

It’s not just you.

xo.

now she’s gone and love burns inside me

Twelve hour train ride. I’m in the Apple, sitting at Dom’s place in Harlem. Tonight we’ll be having a grand ol’ time (or at least I hope we will) at Lit Lounge for my first ever CMJ showcase. Pretty exciting stuff. October hasn’t calmed down so far and I just want to thank everyone who came out to the shows so far. From Victoria to Halifax to small towns all over Quebec. Met so many wonderful folks on the Pilot Speed + David Usher tours. It really reminds me that music is about connecting with one person at a time. Night after night, you made me feel like old songs were new again.

Anyways, all that to say…giant hugs to all of you out there. Can’t wait to do it all over again.

ps: Hometown show in the works kids xo

Well, I’m sitting in my hotel room in Edmonton after playing the Starlite Room with Pilot Speed. It’s rough out here. My good friend Patrick Krief brings it up every once in a while and he’s right. The touring life. Canada’s vastness. Selling music to a non-buying public. Hanging on our guitars for dear life and singing our little hearts out. Hurry up and wait. Whip out the show-stoppers. Play Gutterwaltz for the thousandth time. It’s brutal out here man. But do we really know how/want to do anything else?

Goodnight xo

Never ever ever check into a smoking room at the motel again. Ever.