Best Canadian Songs of the 2000s
- Posted by Joshua Ostroff
- Comments
After years as a pop-cultural punchline -- thanks, Celine! -- Canada's music scene exploded with such ferocity in the 2000s the whole nation basically became "the next Seattle." It's been an exciting decade to be a Canadian music fan as a seemingly endless series of eclectic acts poured forth from Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver as well as smaller scenes across the country.
What tied them together wasn't a shared sound, but a shared belief in community, in the power of music to bring people together -- be it in a concert hall, nightclub, backyard or bedroom -- and make a scary decade a little easier to bear.
25. Death From Above 1979, 'Blood on our Hands' (2004)
Hipster heavyweights DFA79 burned brightly, but broke up at the height of their dance-punk powers. No matter, this bass'n'drums duo left behind an enduring legacy led by this hip-shaking, fist-pumping and city-crushing monster. For sexier results, check the Justice remix.
24. New Pornographers, 'Mass Romantic' (2000)
While other Can-indie bands tentatively tip-toed around pop, the country's first indie supergroup to burst over the border felt no such qualms, delighting in confident confections like this charging title track off their debut which used hooks and harmonies to win hearts.
23. Buck 65, 'Wicked & Weird' (2003)
Maritime-raised rapper and drive-time CBC Radio 2 host Rich Terfry fulfils his hip-hop Tom Waits destiny on this evocative track mashing up a burbling beat, turntable scratching, indie rock soundscapes, Johnny Cash shout-outs and free-associative lyrics about life on the open road.
22. Crystal Castles, 'Crimewave (Crystal Castles vs HEALTH)' (2008)
Before they became better known for onstage freak-outs and copyright infringement, Toronto's electro-punk superstars cracked hipster skulls with anarchic eight-bit beats and distorted vocals. This, their most musical hit, sounds like future-pop as produced by Nintendo and fronted by a Decepticon.
24. Hidden Cameras, 'Ban Marriage' (2003)
Iconoclast Joel Gibb took the opposing position just as the gay marriage movement got going. Supported by an angelic chorus and lush orchestration, Gibb extolled the virtues of "fingering foreign dirty holes," arguing that while love may be grand, he'd rather "let 'coupledom' die"
20. Nelly Furtado, 'Maneater' (2006)
Former folk-pop princess hooks up with hip-hop hero Timbaland and morphs into the female Justin Timberlake -- not that there's anything wrong with that. Hall & Oates deserve to be angry about the snatched song title, but that sexy swing-for-the-fences synth line should have brought even them onside.
19. Baby Blue Sound Crew, 'Love 'Em All' (2001)
This sadly forgotten Can-hop banger didn't break any new lyrical ground -- it's all about the haters, yo -- but it didn't need to. The track's electro-xylophone boom-bap was basically perfect while Choclair and MIMS (later of 'This is Why I'm Hot') ride the beatscape's waves like adrenaline-jacked surfers.
18. Shad, 'The Old Prince Still Lives At Home' (2007)
Proof you don't have to be hard to be a great rapper, Shadrach Kabango brings the middle-class attitude and funny business of '80s-era Fresh Prince -- but adds better mic skills while making us understand why he still lives with his parents.
17. Tiga, 'High School' (2006)
When Montreal's Tiga moved from party promoter-slash- DJ to producer-slash-pop star, he broke big with cover songs of Corey Hart and Nelly. But this original cut was one of the finest to emerge from the electroclash era, mixing melancholy synths and dance beats with pointed haiku-style lyrics about teenage alienation.
15. Kardinal Offishall, 'BaKardi Slang' (2001)
Every hip-hop scene needs a hometown anthem and they don't come more pride-instilling than this crossover cut, which established Kardi's preeminent place in the northern rap pantheon, schooled outsiders on Toronto's Caribbean-influenced street lingo and popularized the city's nickname Tdot.
15. Caribou, 'Melody Day' (2007)
Dan Snaith won the Polaris Prize for this album, 'Andorra,' and no doubt the jury was swayed by its breakout single which offers the all-in sonic bacchanalia of psychedelic rock as seen from the perspective of a geeky mathematician with a bedroom studio and a broken heart.
14. Holy F---, 'Lovely Allen' (2007)
Who needs lyrics when your instruments convey this much meaning and personality on their own? Brian Borcherdt's organic-electronic experiment goes full-on pop with this impeccably paced indietronica track that pulses with analogue life and delivers added depth with Final Fantasy's violin assist.
12. Tokyo Police Club, 'Your English Is Good' (2007)
TPC brought a much-needed youthful exuberance to the Canadian indie scene with this impossibly catchy sing-along brimming with bouncy drums, excitable guitars and unbridled optimism as the suburban escapees cheerfully boast, "your future's with us." Who are we to argue?
13. D-Sisive, 'Nobody with a Notepad' (2008)
Former funny-man MC D-Siggy returns from the wilderness with a self-deprecating song about pain, loneliness, becoming an orphan and finding salvation in his rediscovery of rhyming. He may have left the one-liners back in his past life, but D-Sisive is not nobody no more.
11. The Weakerthans, 'One Great City!' (2003)
Songs don't get much more bittersweet than John K. Sampson's ambivalent ode to his prairie hometown, which belies its sarcastic civic-pride slogan with Guess Who disses and that indelible "I Hate Winnipeg" chorus. Yet, the beauty he imbues in the finger-picked guitar and heartfelt vocals hint at why the Weakerthans never left.
10. Rufus Wainwright, 'Going to a Town' (2007)
Montreal's baroque-pop star struck back at the global and sexual politics of his father's homeland with this brilliant, beautiful spurned-love song about Bush-era America, summing up the world's then-POV with piano, strings and a sad weary croon.
9. The Dears, 'Lost in the Plot' (2003)
During an era when nearly every male indie-rocker "sang" like they were fronting Pavement, Dears Leader Murray Lightburn boasted some of the best pipes in the game -- and put them to good use on this paranoid pop noire masterpiece that warned unnamed enemies "don't mess with our love."
8. Thunderheist, 'Jerk It' (2008)
This electro banger was circulating Toronto's hipper dancefloors long before it became a blogger fave and landed on 'The Wrestler' soundtrack. Beatsmith Grahm Zilla initially hated his "simple" synth-line, but rapper Isis knew better, stepping up with a how-to flow that coalesced into a club classic.
7. Feist, 'Mushaboom' (2004)
Sure, '1234' was wonderful, and one of the 2000s biggest hits thanks to that iconic video and ubiquitous iPod ad, but Leslie Feist's mid-decade breakthrough about wanting to return to rural Nova Scotia is one of the prettiest ever depictions of hipster malaise. Fittingly, the song's success helped her escape second-floor living without a yard.
6. The Constantines, 'Nighttime/Anytime (It's Alright)' (2003)
Canada's most underrated indie rockers -- and one of the decade's best live acts -- hit the apotheosis of their propulsion with this barn-burner combining jaw-dropping guitars, heart-pounding proclamations and even left space for audience participation. Turn it up, indeed!
5. Stars, 'Elevator Love Letter' (2003)
Waving their flag for an incongruous "soft revolution," this tearstained love song from Stars breakthrough album 'Heart' laced its uplifting synth-pop and sweet-sounding boy-girl harmonies with stark imagery of self-hating lovers, nuclear shows and an empty night sky.
4. k-os, 'Man I Used to Be' (2004)
Seemingly sung from the reflective perspective of an aged Michael Jackson, released during his child molestation trial and aping the beyond-awesome 'Billie Jean' disco beat, the Toronto rapper-singer's sympathetic single is arguably the best-ever MJ-influenced track. Sorry, Usher.
2. Arcade Fire, 'Rebellion (Lies)' (2004)
In some cultures, funerals are a time for celebration, not mourning -- apparently that includes Montreal. Not that the strings-laced 'Rebellion' isn't rife with melancholy, but as it powers along, the crowded chorus swelling joyfully with the music, it becomes the decade's greatest argument for railing against the dying of the light.
What tied them together wasn't a shared sound, but a shared belief in community, in the power of music to bring people together -- be it in a concert hall, nightclub, backyard or bedroom -- and make a scary decade a little easier to bear.
25. Death From Above 1979, 'Blood on our Hands' (2004)
Hipster heavyweights DFA79 burned brightly, but broke up at the height of their dance-punk powers. No matter, this bass'n'drums duo left behind an enduring legacy led by this hip-shaking, fist-pumping and city-crushing monster. For sexier results, check the Justice remix.
24. New Pornographers, 'Mass Romantic' (2000)
While other Can-indie bands tentatively tip-toed around pop, the country's first indie supergroup to burst over the border felt no such qualms, delighting in confident confections like this charging title track off their debut which used hooks and harmonies to win hearts.
Maritime-raised rapper and drive-time CBC Radio 2 host Rich Terfry fulfils his hip-hop Tom Waits destiny on this evocative track mashing up a burbling beat, turntable scratching, indie rock soundscapes, Johnny Cash shout-outs and free-associative lyrics about life on the open road.
22. Crystal Castles, 'Crimewave (Crystal Castles vs HEALTH)' (2008)
Before they became better known for onstage freak-outs and copyright infringement, Toronto's electro-punk superstars cracked hipster skulls with anarchic eight-bit beats and distorted vocals. This, their most musical hit, sounds like future-pop as produced by Nintendo and fronted by a Decepticon.
24. Hidden Cameras, 'Ban Marriage' (2003)
Iconoclast Joel Gibb took the opposing position just as the gay marriage movement got going. Supported by an angelic chorus and lush orchestration, Gibb extolled the virtues of "fingering foreign dirty holes," arguing that while love may be grand, he'd rather "let 'coupledom' die"
20. Nelly Furtado, 'Maneater' (2006)
Former folk-pop princess hooks up with hip-hop hero Timbaland and morphs into the female Justin Timberlake -- not that there's anything wrong with that. Hall & Oates deserve to be angry about the snatched song title, but that sexy swing-for-the-fences synth line should have brought even them onside.
19. Baby Blue Sound Crew, 'Love 'Em All' (2001)
This sadly forgotten Can-hop banger didn't break any new lyrical ground -- it's all about the haters, yo -- but it didn't need to. The track's electro-xylophone boom-bap was basically perfect while Choclair and MIMS (later of 'This is Why I'm Hot') ride the beatscape's waves like adrenaline-jacked surfers.
18. Shad, 'The Old Prince Still Lives At Home' (2007)
Proof you don't have to be hard to be a great rapper, Shadrach Kabango brings the middle-class attitude and funny business of '80s-era Fresh Prince -- but adds better mic skills while making us understand why he still lives with his parents.
17. Tiga, 'High School' (2006)
When Montreal's Tiga moved from party promoter-slash- DJ to producer-slash-pop star, he broke big with cover songs of Corey Hart and Nelly. But this original cut was one of the finest to emerge from the electroclash era, mixing melancholy synths and dance beats with pointed haiku-style lyrics about teenage alienation.
15. Kardinal Offishall, 'BaKardi Slang' (2001)
Every hip-hop scene needs a hometown anthem and they don't come more pride-instilling than this crossover cut, which established Kardi's preeminent place in the northern rap pantheon, schooled outsiders on Toronto's Caribbean-influenced street lingo and popularized the city's nickname Tdot.
15. Caribou, 'Melody Day' (2007)
Dan Snaith won the Polaris Prize for this album, 'Andorra,' and no doubt the jury was swayed by its breakout single which offers the all-in sonic bacchanalia of psychedelic rock as seen from the perspective of a geeky mathematician with a bedroom studio and a broken heart.
Who needs lyrics when your instruments convey this much meaning and personality on their own? Brian Borcherdt's organic-electronic experiment goes full-on pop with this impeccably paced indietronica track that pulses with analogue life and delivers added depth with Final Fantasy's violin assist.
12. Tokyo Police Club, 'Your English Is Good' (2007)
TPC brought a much-needed youthful exuberance to the Canadian indie scene with this impossibly catchy sing-along brimming with bouncy drums, excitable guitars and unbridled optimism as the suburban escapees cheerfully boast, "your future's with us." Who are we to argue?
13. D-Sisive, 'Nobody with a Notepad' (2008)
Former funny-man MC D-Siggy returns from the wilderness with a self-deprecating song about pain, loneliness, becoming an orphan and finding salvation in his rediscovery of rhyming. He may have left the one-liners back in his past life, but D-Sisive is not nobody no more.
Songs don't get much more bittersweet than John K. Sampson's ambivalent ode to his prairie hometown, which belies its sarcastic civic-pride slogan with Guess Who disses and that indelible "I Hate Winnipeg" chorus. Yet, the beauty he imbues in the finger-picked guitar and heartfelt vocals hint at why the Weakerthans never left.
10. Rufus Wainwright, 'Going to a Town' (2007)
Montreal's baroque-pop star struck back at the global and sexual politics of his father's homeland with this brilliant, beautiful spurned-love song about Bush-era America, summing up the world's then-POV with piano, strings and a sad weary croon.
9. The Dears, 'Lost in the Plot' (2003)
During an era when nearly every male indie-rocker "sang" like they were fronting Pavement, Dears Leader Murray Lightburn boasted some of the best pipes in the game -- and put them to good use on this paranoid pop noire masterpiece that warned unnamed enemies "don't mess with our love."
This electro banger was circulating Toronto's hipper dancefloors long before it became a blogger fave and landed on 'The Wrestler' soundtrack. Beatsmith Grahm Zilla initially hated his "simple" synth-line, but rapper Isis knew better, stepping up with a how-to flow that coalesced into a club classic.
7. Feist, 'Mushaboom' (2004)
Sure, '1234' was wonderful, and one of the 2000s biggest hits thanks to that iconic video and ubiquitous iPod ad, but Leslie Feist's mid-decade breakthrough about wanting to return to rural Nova Scotia is one of the prettiest ever depictions of hipster malaise. Fittingly, the song's success helped her escape second-floor living without a yard.
6. The Constantines, 'Nighttime/Anytime (It's Alright)' (2003)
Canada's most underrated indie rockers -- and one of the decade's best live acts -- hit the apotheosis of their propulsion with this barn-burner combining jaw-dropping guitars, heart-pounding proclamations and even left space for audience participation. Turn it up, indeed!
5. Stars, 'Elevator Love Letter' (2003)
Waving their flag for an incongruous "soft revolution," this tearstained love song from Stars breakthrough album 'Heart' laced its uplifting synth-pop and sweet-sounding boy-girl harmonies with stark imagery of self-hating lovers, nuclear shows and an empty night sky.
4. k-os, 'Man I Used to Be' (2004)
Seemingly sung from the reflective perspective of an aged Michael Jackson, released during his child molestation trial and aping the beyond-awesome 'Billie Jean' disco beat, the Toronto rapper-singer's sympathetic single is arguably the best-ever MJ-influenced track. Sorry, Usher.
3. Metric, 'Hustle Rose' (2003)
Synths and programmed beats may now be de rigeur amongst indie bands, but few still understand as well as Metric how to make electronic rock that moves hearts as well as bodies. Though not their most popular or politics, 'Hustle Rose' is the Toronto quartet's most emotional epic.
2. Arcade Fire, 'Rebellion (Lies)' (2004)
In some cultures, funerals are a time for celebration, not mourning -- apparently that includes Montreal. Not that the strings-laced 'Rebellion' isn't rife with melancholy, but as it powers along, the crowded chorus swelling joyfully with the music, it becomes the decade's greatest argument for railing against the dying of the light.
1. Broken Social Scene, 'Anthems for a 17-Year-Old Girl' (2002)
What better song to announce the arrival of Canada as an indie superpower than Broken Social Scene's empathetic, Emily Haines-assisted arms-up anthem. Unabashed in its pure pop biss, the song politely-but-firmly demanded we park that car, drop that phone and dream together.
- Filed under: The Hit List, Canada
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