SOUND BITES

It's that time again, where we rest up after another long year but take a beat to peek into the crystal ball and wonder about the things to come. So, for the fourth year, let's throw down swami style! In terms of success rate, last year wasn't so great; of the 13 artists I gave greater than a 50% chance of releasing albums, only 7½ did (Incubus only made good on the first half of their promised double EP). The under 50% category was much better, correctly predicting 11 of 12 would not release records (only Baroness managed to do so, and at pretty much the last possible moment by releasing Purple on December 18). That said, here's hoping for better luck on the upper categories this year, as these are all artists I'd really like an album from in 2016. Let's go!

For as dry as the last couple months of 2015 were, I'd have expected to be looking at a slew of exciting releases to ring in 2016. As it stands, though, not a lot has been confirmed as of yet. Still, what the release schedule is lacking in certainty is more than made up for in its possibilities for the coming twelve months. Before we head into the murky waters of speculation, let's check out some of 2016's sure things:

H ea d i ng i nt o B a r o ness' f ou rth a lb u m, I h a d c e rt ai n e xp e ct a t io ns f o r th e s o ngwr i t i ng a nd e x e c u t io n; a ft e r all, Y e ll o w/Gr ee n w a s my r u nn e r- u p f o r A lb u m o f th e Y ea r i n 2012, a spr a wl i ng a nd m a j e st i c p ai r o f pl a tt e rs th a t s a w th e b a nd t u rn a c o rn e r styl i st i c a lly a nd br ea k fr ee o f a ny c o nstr ai nts th a t m a y h a v e b ee n pl a c e d u p o n th e m a s a m e t a l a ct. H a pp i ly, P u rpl e s ee s B a r o n e ss i mpr o v e o n wh a t th e y w e r e d oi ng o n Y e ll o w/Gr ee n i n a lm o st e v e ry w a y. I t a v oi ds p o t e nt ia l f a t i g ue by str ea ml i n i ng th e r e c o rd t o ei ght s o ngs pr o p e r a nd a sh o rt i nstr u m e nt a l, c u tt i ng th e r u nn i ng t i m e by o v e r a h a lf h ou r a nd th e r e by l ea v i ng l e ss r oo m f o r f i ll e r (l i k e i t o r n o t, Y e ll o w/Gr ee n d i d h a v e...

Before we get around to handing out awards, I wanted to take a minute to say how much I appreciate you reading this. As a project I work on in my free time and without compensation, it's sometimes difficult for me to find the ambition required to generate content for Sound Bites; however, knowing there are people like you who like to stop by from time to time, I know the effort is that much more worth it. When this site launched a little over four years ago, I never would have guessed that it would ever amass 40,000 pageviews, much less so soon. With your support, though, it recently did just that; while numbers like this likely don't mean much to the bigger sites that pay people to churn out posts, it's damn sure a big deal to me. So thanks again for making Sound Bites a rousing personal success for me, and I hope I can continue to keep you all entertained and informed for many years to come. Okay, enough mushy talk, let's crown some champs!

To understand what it is that makes me the staunch music lover I am today, one needs look no further than a list of past Album of the Year winners. Through the years, my life has been not just enhanced by my favourite records, but indeed shaped by them to a certain extent. A great song can get me revved up or emotional, but a great album is capable of so much more. The best albums are more than the sum of their parts, creating a story or journey for our hearts and minds to explore. Through these records, we can apply our personal experiences to those of the creators and, in turn, create a new experience that's ours and ours alone. Winning an Album of the Year award from me has never changed the lives of any recipient, and the artists' Wikipedia pages will never list it as a credential. Still, I feel it's an important thing to do, as it marks another year of my life and credits the album that, more than others released that year, helped me through it. Just for fun, I...

Rather than space these out and repost most of the videos from my Song of the Year nominees, I thought it best to condense the following five categories into one post and take it on faith that you know how to find a song without the video being embedded directly next to it. Also, a reminder that next Monday (December 14) is the day I make my Album of the Year nominees, so be sure to come back then and find out which ten records made it to my final proving grounds in 2015. Without further ado, presenting nominees in the following categories:

As our look back on the year that was catches up to the present (and peeks ever so slightly into the future), it becomes clear that the vast majority of rock artists preferred to avoid the last two months of the year; though it's typically the stronghold time of year for pop superstar stocking stuffers, I still find it just a bit odd to see that two month gap emerge after mid-October with no nominated songs. In fact, that's almost as odd as two established bands deciding to release their albums one week before Christmas. Regardless, our last batch of nominees runs the gamut: here we find new artists to look out for, home grown Maritime talent hitting its stride, and no less than three bands with multiple Album of the Year nominations. Song of the Year nominees #41-50 are:

Surprising turns from established heavy bands. New heights for critical darlings. Up and coming artists making strong first impressions. The back half of summer saw all of this and more, as even the dog days saw some worthwhile releases that begged our attention. The fourth collection of Song of the Year nominees are:

Usually, as spring gives way to summer album releases dry up. In 2015, however, it didn't really feel like the case. Sure, there were less albums released than in the spring but pretty much every week in June and July saw something worthwhile hit the shelves. Plus, there are a couple from July 10th, which is the date all new releases shifted from Tuesdays to Fridays. This batch of nominees also represents a nice cross section of new and emerging bands, established acts and long dormant bands breaking long silences. Our third set of Song of the Year Nominees are:

Spring 2015 saw some big albums released that were kind of disappointing (isn't that right, Mumford & Sons?), but it also saw some really good work by bands that typically fly under the radar. Some of this batch of nominees have been around for a long time, some are relative newcomers, and a couple of them made welcome returns from very long absences. The next group of Song of the Year nominees are:

Typically a chance to take a breather from the year that had just passed and resolve to get through the winter while looking forward to some great albums in the spring, 2015 bucked that trend in grand fashion. From established artists releasing highly anticipated albums that met or exceeded expectations to hungry new artists looking to make their mark, the first quarter of 2015 provided an abnormally high amount of quality songs and albums. The tone was also set early with female-fronted projects that hit with force and built momentum for women in rock that carried through the rest of the year (I wrote about that here in April). The first batch of Song of the Year nominees are:

Song of the Year Nominees November 2 - 30 New Artist, Solo, Comeback, Canadian, Heavy Nominees December 7 Album of the Year Nominees December 14 Awards Announcements December 21 As the weather turns cooler and the clocks get set to go back, thoughts of the dreaded winter to come start to materialize. Well, that, and Year in Rock. As an annual rundown of what happened in rock music, Year in Rock is one of my proudest traditions. From its initial inception as a double CD compilation I'd make for my friends to its current incarnation on this blog, Year in Rock has been my way of recapping rock's history, one year at a time, since 2000. Over the past fifteen years a lot of trends have come and gone, so many bands have formed and run their course, and the state of the music business itself has changed in dramatic ways. Likewise, the way I present Year in Rock has changed; from a kickass mix CD to painstakingly writing out the recaps here, Year in Rock ha...

With 2013's Acknowledge, Acknowledge , The Motorleague made good on years of hard work and heavy touring with an energetic, punk-leaning record with a few surprises; splashes of acoustic east coast flavour ( Oh, How the Mighty Have Fallen ), groove-heavy rock ( We Are All Going Directly to Hell ), and even a little indie rock ( Burned in Effigy ) found their way into the core sound of the record. However, for me it was the incendiary post-grunge screamer Failsafes that hit hardest; given a few spins, that song stuck out from the pack thanks to its intensity and its catchiness in equal measure. More than any other song on that record, Failsafes married melody and force in a way that made it a clear favourite of mine, for not just the album but indeed the year itself. Having earned a higher national profile thanks to Canadian major distribution and more hard miles on the road, The Motorleague went into Holding Patterns sessions with a higher profile producer in Eric Ratz (the man...

The list of current bands who have made careers out of grand, conceptual storytelling is very small, and Coheed and Cambria arguably sits atop the heap in terms of overall commitment and success. Over the course of their previous six albums (I count 2012/2013's Afterman double shot as one), they dedicated their craft to the telling of The Amory Wars , an incredibly complex narrative that only the most ardent fans have sought out understanding of. Some of those fans were apprehensive about The Color Before the Sun , the first Coheed and Cambria record to step away from the main saga and instead showcase a more personal side of Claudio Sanchez lyrically. It may be perceived as a risky move, but in actuality it turns out pretty much the opposite. By focusing on the songs and not the story, there's a far more inclusive hue to The Color Before the Sun . Sure, it's risky in the sense that the band have taken a breather from the story that's driven their entire career, but...

Sometimes, when reviewing an album, you have to take your time. Usually, I can form a pretty solid opinion on a record given two or three spins, and within a few hours of the music meeting my ears for the first time, you're reading my thoughts on it. Not the case with Clutch, whose formidable discography and consistent quality demand the increased scrutiny that comes along with increased respect. Given a steady diet of Psychic Warfare over the course of a week and a half, I'm happy to be just getting around to this now; had I published a review a week earlier, I may have offered a version of the review that felt incomplete. That review would have also been less favorable; my knee jerk reaction to the album was that it offered a bit too much in the way of repetition in comparison to 2013's Earth Rocker . Not to say it outright cribs from any kind of formula (and really, to accuse Clutch of adhering to a formula is a fool's errand), but a few moments on Psychic Warfa...

  Considering how long her star has been rising, it's kind of a headscratcher that Meg Myers is just releasing her debut album now; depending on how much street cred you have in the vault, you may have been talking about her for over three years (she posted her first video, the hipster-ridiculing Tennessee , to YouTube in May 2012). Of course, heads really started to turn last year when she released her second EP Make a Shadow ; in addition to holding fans over for her full length debut, it spawned a moderate hit in Desire . Three of Make a Shadow 's five songs are included on Sorry , though curiously Go and Heart Heart Head didn't make the cut despite also being singles (and my two personal favourites from the EP). This leaves seven "new" songs for the LP, three of which saw release leading up to the album. The title track is one of Myers' most blatantly pop-leaning singles to date, though it still manages to strike a powerful chord. Lemon Eyes , meanwhile...

Since rising through the indie ranks close to a decade ago with their debut Carnavas (and, more to the point, its epic and intense hit Lazy Eye ), Silversun Pickups have made it a point to strafe away from comparisons to a certain '90s alt-rock band that also carries the initials S.P. On their last album with Dangerbird Records, the dark and layered Neck of the Woods in 2012, they brought new wave influences on board. While guitars still roared and songs still had a flair for the intense, keyboards were starting to take on a larger role. It seemed that SSPU wanted nothing more than to shake those pesky comparisons aside and be recognized as their own band. Now that they've started their own label, it's not all that surprising that fourth album Better Nature dives deeper into that electronic sea of sound; put plainly, if you thought Neck of the Woods was a departure from their rock roots, you haven't learned the true meaning of the word departure. Guitars still have ...

By now, any lingering sadness that resulted in the dissolution of Matthew Good Band should have subsided for most; their last album, The Audio of Being , came out nearly fifteen years ago and was almost immediately expressed dissatisfaction with the record (for what it's worth, I still think its tension and nervous energy make it his best full band record). The thing is, where most artists embarking on a solo career in the wake of a successful band run would flame out or slowly fade, Matthew Good has quietly built a solo career that's vibrant and important within the spectrum of Canadian artists. For as much as those four MGB records accomplished in terms of popularity, the seven solo records that have surfaced since have established Good as so much more than the snarling, difficult voice of an admittedly great alt-rock band. That said, I haven't always latched onto Good's solo records the way I did The Audio of Being , but that's on me; fortunately, I've ha...

  Zipper Down  is Eagles of Death Metal's first record in nearly seven years; spearheaded by Jesse Hughes and Josh Homme (the latter of which from Queens of the Stone Age if you're oblivious to all of this), EODM has long been regarded as Homme's fun party rock side gig. As technically true as that is, there have been some truly great songs to come out of the Hughes/Homme partnership; as a result, the original trilogy of EODM albums are worthy records that by and large rise above any air of novelty. That their fourth record doesn't stray far from the bawdy roots of the band shouldn't come as a shock to anyone; this is good time rock n' roll, and if you've listened to any of their previous records, you've pretty much gotten all the primer you're going to need going into this one. There are a few laughs, particularly on the hipster-baiting  Silverlake (K.S.O.F.M.) , though the majority of the record revolves around Hughes' incessant need to boogie....

For as prolific as Jack White is renowned for being, his rate of output as of late has slowed a bit. Following a period of intense productivity that saw the release of a new record every year between 2006 and 2010 (split between The White Stripes, The Raconteurs and The Dead Weather), White's two solo albums were the only high profile releases bearing his name from 2010 until the release of Dodge and Burn . Those solo albums established White as a formidable solo artist, to be sure, but the playful and exploratory nature of his bands' records was tempered somewhat. Hallelujah, then, for Dodge and Burn ; this, the third Dead Weather record (and first in five years, it should be noted), finds the group embracing all the weird urges that they've pursued to a certain extent previously, albeit without venturing too far off course. It's a well-rounded set of tunes, and the most consistent record they've created yet. It should come as no surprise that The Kills...

  The Stanfields explored their roots on their third album  For King and Country  in 2013. Ably performed but lacking the raucous Maritime energy of their first two records, I found myself not going back to it very often. Now, that record feels kind of like a stopgap release, as fourth record  Modem Operandi  charges from the gate;  White Juan  is a quick, furious blast of punk-inspired mayhem that acts as a jarring intro to the album. The majority of  Modem Operandi  splits the difference between the traditional east coast leanings that came into full fruition on  For King and Country  and the Dropkicks-inspired pure rock fury that endeared them to fans from day one. There's a fair amount of new ground to the band to cover as well; they recently swapped out two members, so changes were expected. Granted, they still sound like The Stanfields, so no need to worry. Perhaps the greatest departure is  The Marystown Expedition , an ...

His stature as a vocalist is undisputed; Chris Cornell, for anyone who's paid even a passing glance to rock music over the last quarter century, is one of the genre's defining singers, just like other distinctive voices like Eddie Vedder and Maynard James Keenan. Whether belting out rage hymns with Soundgarden, digging for radio gold with Audioslave or presenting one of his intimate solo acoustic performances, you never confuse Cornell with someone else. For whatever reason, Cornell's solo records have had to endure harsher criticisms than those of his bands over the years. The first, Euphoria Mourning (I altered the spelling on it because he's done so himself on the newly reissued version of the album), dropped in 1998 (after the original split of Soundgarden) to initial excitement but eventually lived on only in the memories of card carrying fans. This was followed post-Audioslave with Carry On in 2007, which received mixed results. By far his most scrutinized so...

Can I be honest in my feelings about Slayer for a moment without inviting blind rage from people who regard them as an infallible institution, immune from criticism and tirelessly defended by a legion of fans who would rather shout down the naysayers than admit that what they're defending might not be as worthy of their defense anymore? Probably not, but if we approach this band from a rational standpoint, they've kind of been coasting for the better part of the last 25 years. That might be hard for fans to take, but by the same token I seriously doubt a high percentage of fans who are asked to name their favourite Slayer album will name one that came out after Seasons in the Abyss . That trilogy of Rick Rubin-produced records (starting with 1986's indisputable landmark metal masterpiece Reign in Blood ) was a clear period of domination commercially and artistically, and the six albums that have followed have experienced varying degrees of failure in comparison. With ...

  As brash, playful and thrilling as their debut single  Cheap Beer  was, I personally found FIDLAR's first record to be a bit of a chore to get through; once the shtick started wearing thin and the songs kept exploring the same territory ad nauseum, the album became less humourous and more annoying. Naturally, with a couple of years to grow as a band and hone their chops, their second record is a vast improvement; this much is apparent from lead track (and first single)  40 Oz. On Repeat , which refines their young and reckless sound and uncovers one of the year's most infectious songs while maintaining much of the brashness that made some of the previous record so endearing. There's more muscle on display too, perhaps most notably on  Punks . A cynic would degrade it for tinkering with the same bluesy hard rock style that other current bands like Royal Blood have conquered the world with, but damn if  Punks  isn't one of the most fun and furious take...

For their fourth record overall (and second for a major label), Foals expand on the panoramic ambitions of previous release Holy Fire with a set of tunes tailor made for entertaining the larger and larger crowds they've been pulling in. You can practically see the light show that builds in intensity alongside the gnashing title track, while Snake Oil brings a rock n' roll payoff akin to Kasabian's more edgy material. Closing track A Knife in the Ocean , meanwhile, finds them at their most majestic and bombastic. The bulk of the album plays more into the group's traditional gifts of thick rhythms and bright melodies, as evidenced by current single Mountain At My Gates . That's not to say it's as infectious or poppy (read: divisive) as a track like My Number , just as there isn't anything on What Went Down that's as clearly designed as single material; Night Swimmers comes closest, but stays far enough off the beaten path to diffuse any serious p...