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1)Empire of the Sun – Without You

A stone-wall classic. In recent years, there haven't been many songs that have evoked the sound of the 80s with such modesty and confidence. But this commonplace connection with the New Romantic era isn't the only aspect that justifies a number one spot; the music is rich in every one of these emotions: heartache, requited love, apprehension, regret, obsession, jealousy, selfishness, and self-pity. It only takes a second of the music, and you're drawn into a wistfully contemplative reflection. The chorus is the heart of the song, as Steele belts out with full emotion and honesty: "I get the feeling when we're apart / I get the teaching that I can't be without you". The song is essentially about love, and could easily be imagined at the end of a wedding disco as the chills are felt through the kindred spirits, or the broken-hearted. 80s throwbacks aren't uncommon in music today, but this feels like more of a synth pop song for the 'teens' (2010-20)…

Dudes! This was the last Tuesday Electron as we're moving to Wednesday night. So starting April 1st Electron will be on Wednesday nights at the Soda.

Gorillaz - O Green World
Orgy - Blue Monday
Mannequin Depressives - Erase It (Minimal)
Colony 5 - Black (Single Edit)
Apoptygma Berzerk - Kathy's Song (Come Lie Next To Me)
Seabound - The Promise (Club)
Fixmer/McCarthy - Look To Me
Mannequin Depressives - Reach (original demo)
She Wants Revenge - Written In Blood
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Zero
La Roux - Quicksand
Thom Yorke - Skip Divided (Modeselektor Remix)
Squarepusher - Dedicated Loop
Richard Devine - Patelle
Eight Frozen Modules - My Tawdry Efforts Lurk Inside the Finger of a Pusherman
Kid Koala - Strut Hear
DJ Donna Summer - Rock Rock Rock (The Scandals-Excessive Post Rave Mix)
M83 - run into flowers (midnight fuck remix)
Vitalic - La Rock 01
Robert Miles - Children (1996)
Ellen Allien - Trash Scapes (Raz Ohara remix)
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What a difference a month makes, eh? I don't know about you but 2009 has been quite the shit year so far; if it's not personal upheavals at home/work, then it's another natural disaster, civil uprising or celebrity succumbing to cancer flooding the news. This alongside having to contend with intellectually reprehensible Reality TV shows that, in spite of all of their horribleness, remain compulsively watchable. And if I even begin to start on American Idol, I'll never finish, so... It was also, of course, awards season too, one which saw Coldplay, Duffy and A.R. Rahman (with the rather fabulous Slumdog Millionaire score) in particular hoover up the competition and leave the full bag outside for the crows to slowly rip apart. With all this in mind, I'm keen to treat the end of February as the unofficial start to the new year, complete with a brand new iPod Classic and thirty albums to listen to. Those brave enough to read what I have to say can find the critiques below for their sleep-inducing pleasure... you have been warned!
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Contrived - blank, blank, blank

Another Canadian band that released a new album last November without me being made aware. On Friday morning the daily listing of city events came across my Google Reader with the highlight being a Bluenoser act I hadn't thought of in awhile. Contrived released Dead Air Verbatim in 2005 and then supported Wintersleep on tour, which makes sense since they share four of the five members with the suddenly popular act. Since they took off, the pre-Wintersleep formed Contrived was tossed to the wayside with an intention of the hiatus not becoming a break-up.

So Blank, Blank, Blank re-introduces their indie rock to the Canadian landscape. Produced by David Newfeld (Broken Social Scene, Los Campesinos!), this album finds increased diversity over its predecessor which was chock full of the crunchy riffs. While there's still Fugazi post-hardcore aggression, moody tremolo on "firing squad" and…