SOUND BITES

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:

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 MOTORLEAGUE Failsafes From: Acknowledge, Acknowledge Released: June 11 Here at the blog, I try to keep things as universal as possible; as such, I don't usually mention "local" bands (not even my own ... oops) unless they've done truly impressive. It's not that I'm not proud of my region, I just never wanted this to be a region specific blog. Anyway, I'm a New Brunswicker, and I do feel quite a bit of pride that a band from Moncton released a really good record this year, and then topped it off with an awesome video for that album's best track.