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Mngwa

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Andrew Franey

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Alex Cuba

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Tri Nguyen

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Defend The Rhino

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Talltale

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Kiwi Jr.

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Plaster

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Hyness

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Black Suit Devil

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Yamantaka // Sonic Titan

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The Pack A.D.

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Chad VanGaalen

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Potengowski Anna Friederike

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Todd Rundgren

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Old 97's

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Needles//Pins

!earshot year-end picks 2005

Jeff Friesen

I'm Jeff Friesen from umfm in Winnipeg and I host The New Decay and The Alberta Report.

Top Records of the year
a.) Animal Collective - Feels (Fat Cat)
Probably one of the most misunderstood albums of the   year.  Feels is not so much the Animal Collective going  soft and accessible, as a continuation of their mosaic-like 
approach to song writing.
 b.) Final Fantasy - Has a Good Home (Blocks)
A beautifully awful amalgamation of Pallett's work with Les Mouches, his love for the Smith's and Xiu Xiu, and  his background in classical composition.  Final Fantasy  offers us pop music with some teeth.
 c.) Jon Rae and the River - Old Songs for the New Town (Permafrost)
Jon Rae Fletcher adds the River to sing some good  old-fashioned country-gospel music with startling results, especially the soulful covers of Joy Division's 'Disorder' and Townes Van Zandt's 'Two Hands'.

Most under-rated album
Smog - A River Aint too Much to Love
Why is nobody talking about this record.  This is Callahan's best effort since Knock Knock.  Songs like 'The Well' and 'I Feel Like the Mother of the World' offer something new with each listen.

Most over-rated album
Broken Social Scene - S/T (Arts and Crafts)
This is far too slick an album to deserve all the praise it's getting.  Broken Social Scene have got the 'indie' thing down pact.  So down in fact that they've become far to place-able and predictable to receive all the glory they have had.

Most anticipated album for 2006
Destroyer's Rubies (Merge)
From what I've heard, Rubies is looking to be a culmination of Destroyer's work thus far, combining the fake verses real dialectic of Your Blues and combining it with the all-out rock of This Night.
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