My Top 5 Albums of 2012

Everyone's got a year-end list of highlights and memories. I'm keeping it simple with naming my favourite albums of the year, with a couple of songs from each.

Check 'em out & let me know what you think.

(Email subscribers, click here to see the full post with videos)

1. Matt Mays, Coyote
I've been a Matt Mays fan for a while. I liked the self-titled Matt Mays + El Torpedo in '05. I liked Terminal Romance (2008) even more. Coyote beats them all, hands down.

2. Jack White, Blunderbuss

When I first heard this album, I thought it was going to be my album of the year. Though it's edged out by Matt Mays above, it is still a great album and a must-have.

3. Big Wreck, Albatross
Big Wreck's In Loving Memory Of... (1997) remains one of my favourite albums of all time, so this one might slide in here on sentimental value...or it may not: it's a great album, with or without sentimental reasons. I was one of many people  uber-excited to see Ian Thornley team up again with guitarist Brian Doherty for a reincarnated Big Wreck.

4. Japandroids, Celebration Rock
By far the most 'fun' album I added in 2012. Love it. It deserves to be played loud. One of my main memories of working in Niger in early December will be cranking this up on my headphones to drown out the call to prayer over the loudspeaker on several occasions.

5. Gary Clark Jr., Blak and Blu
Mad guitar skills, rocking blues. What more can you ask for? A great album, start to finish.

Honourable Mentions:

Ross Neilsen, The Shack Up Sessions
Any blues fan absolutely needs to have some of Ross Neilsen's albums in their collection. The Shack Up Sessions are an acoustic companion to some of Ross's hard-rawking blues albums.

To see the full performance of the show previewed below, click here.

Crooked Saws, Mo'Fi
Dirty. Whisky-chugging. Bar-brawling. Greasy. Blues.

'nuff said.

Friday Post of Randomness

This one's covering a lot of topics, so grab a coffee, sit back and relax.

I'll do y'all a favour & put the music first, so you can click that on to enhance to your reading pleasure.

Without further ado...

The Dirtiest, Greasiest Blues I've Heard in a Long Time Award goes to...

...A band called Crooked Saws.

It was love at first listen for me, as you can see below:

I came across them in Field & Stream's Hook Shots video blog (which happened to be on fly fishing for redfish in Louisiana...double-win for me).

You can go to Crooked Saws's Bandcamp site to listen their album...and buy it for $5, which I did, because it's awesome.

Here's a track off their album:

You can follow along with the band on Facebook here.

The 'Roommate in the Desert' Update

Since I introduced my roommate to the blogosphere earlier this week ("My roommate is tougher than you"), he's been what we call "givin' 'er shit" in the Jordanian desert.

The first day & a bit were pretty rough, with his teammates having difficulty acclimatizing to the heat and all three of them having jet-lag issues.

Unfortunately, both of his teammates withdrew from the race on day 2, early in the stage, leaving the roommate to compete alone.

And compete he has. He's moved up approximately 50 positions in the race over the past few days and just completed the 89-kilometre-long fifth stage. All that remains is Stage 6, which is a relatively minor 10-kilometre hike to the ancient city of Petra.

Congrats, Capital O. You've done well, and the city of Fredericton is really proud of you...well, maybe it's just a dozen or so of us, but either way...good job!

I know your success is due to my recommendation to get a Katy Perry song stuck in your head, over & over again.

The Unofficial Blog of the Aluminum Bastard

Three trailer tires: $204.51

Having a truck awaiting parts & repairs, resulting in not being able to tow the aluminum bastard: priceless.

(*writer sticks face into crook of elbow and swears repeatedly*)

Moving

Though I often mention my desire for living simply and all that other shit, fly fishing gear provides you with a solid nut-shot of reality to counter those claims.

Sure, I can move all my clothes & books & most worldly possessions in one load of my '03 Sport Trac. And I am able to pull off day-to-day life with a pair of 'casual' Carhartts, a pair of newer/cleaner 'dress' Carhartts and my awesome Prana shortpants (don't judge me...).

But when you're looking at 11 fly rods & their reels (and spools), waders, boots, jackets, accessories & several milk crates full of tying material, a half-dozen or so fly boxes, stripping baskets...the word hypocrite comes to mind.

Then again, we're am moving to a small downtown apartment that will:
a) allow my lovely girlfriend & I to walk for groceries, coffee, restaurants, etc.
b) require all of one candle to heat comfortably in the wintertime.
c) allow us to pay off student loans & save some money for future adventures due to lower rent.
d) allow me to bike 10 minutes to go fishing.
e) put me at the boat ramp in 6 minutes...if I'm ever able to put the Magnificent Basstard in the water.

At least I'm doing better than the McMansion crowd.

Fishing

Yes, this is a fly fishing blog, but you wouldn't really know it of late. That's because I was stuck within a degree of latitude of the Arctic Circle for four weeks and came back to boats & trucks requiring maintenance and an apartment that need moving into.

I'm hoping to remedy this lack-of-fishing situation tonight.

(*writer clasps hands, looks at the ceiling and mumbles something about needing to go fishing interspersed with a lot of swearing*)

More music

If you made it all the way through this dribble, you deserve some more music.

It's Friday, after all. Enjoy your long weekend, Canada!