Best of 2011: THE DOUBLE CROSS

I just wanted to make a brief post highlighting one of my favourite albums of 2011: Sloan's THE DOUBLE CROSS.

Sloan is a Canadian band from Halifax, NS (they now live in Toronto). Four guys, four voices, making power pop in a generally 60s/70s mold. In the early 90s they were signed to Geffen along with some other Halifax bands – Halifax was "the new Seattle" for a minute there. Then they got dropped, and since then they've forged their own indie path. In the late 90s, they were arguably the biggest band in Canada. They also launched a bunch of other minor greats on their indie label Murderecords.

I've been a Sloan fan since (only!) 1996 and they've had their ups and downs since then, but I think "Double Cross" is one of their best records ever and it's certainly my overall favourite since 1999′s "Between The Bridges". It's their tenth album in a 20-year career and it's a dense 35 minutes of Sloany goodness. Hell, it got an 8.1 from Pitchfork!

Check out Sloan's website for info and purchases/downloads, or get it in mp3 format on Amazon (U.S.) for $4.99.

Two of my very favourite songs of the year came off this album…

UNKIND:

LAYING SO LOW:

(Scott Pilgrim fans probably know that Chris Murphy of Sloan was a very important advisor on the movie set, coaching the actors on their instruments and rock band swagger!)