I just downloaded Chime off Steam for five bucks, and I can say without a doubt that it's one of the best purchases I made this year.

Chime is a musical puzzle game, kind of like Lumines, but you place the blocks down wherever you want to, they don't fall like in Lumines or Tetris. It's extremely relaxing, the music is sublime and it's only five bucks.

Plus, all profits go to the Save the Children and the Starlight Children's Foundation organizations. It's for a good cause!

Chime is available on Steam and XBLA.

My favorite track is For Silence. Watch someone play that level here :)

Beating Metroid Other M took me about 9 hours and a half. Getting all items and the secret ending took me about two more hours.

I enjoyed it, but I'd recommend a rental, at that length. And unlike other Metroid games, I won't feel bad about cashing it in for credit at Gamestop.

So yeah, Other M, very fun ride, but needs a bit more meat around the bones. Left me hungry for more, not in a good way :(

I bought some concert tickets today!

I'm so glad autumn is coming up, summer is always awful for shows in Montreal. In fact, summer is pretty awful for anything in Montreal. Except for ogling hipster chicks in short shorts. But I digress.

First up is Shonen Knife, a japanese punk band. I hear they have a great energy, and they were one of the first true japanese bands I discovered, so they hold a very special place in my heart!

Then the day after, Swans, the influential no-wave band. I really like their later albums, even though their first ones are more revered by critics and fans alike. They play songs from all over their career though, so everyone should be pleased.

Then Xiu Xiu, the... uh... weird-ass drama-goth-pop duo. Last album's really, really good, but I'm not sure I dig the new bandmate. I'll see.

All three back to back. Probably unhealthy, but I'll be the happiest sleep-deprived person on the planet!

A few days later I'm seeing Blonde Redhead. Tickets were a bit pricey, since they're getting more popular... I heard they'll be releasing a new album sometime soon, before the show. If the last two are of any indication, it's gonna be another instant cIassic!

Hey guys I have a dog now.

His name is Taz, he's a 6-month old Shih Tzu and he's very cuddly. Say hi to Gamespot, Taz!

A conversation I had on MSN with a friend who lives in Quebec city :

pA (13:42) : You know, I wouldn't have bought Bayonetta if I could've borrowed it from you
The friend trading system works

Alexis (13:42) :
man, if you lived in Laval or I lived in Quebec, we'd save so much f***ing money, it's not even funny

pA (13:42) :
Sylvain bought Darksiders / I bought 3D Dot Game Heroes
It works

Alexis (13:43) :
yeah, what would we have bought in common in the last few months? Dad Company 2 and Lost Planet 2, maybe, for multiplayer?
*Bad

pA (13:43) :
LOOOOL

Alexis (13:43) :
lol Dad Company

pA (13:43) :
Typo of the Week
BATTLEFIELD: DAD COMPANY

pA (13:44) :
"Hey son, look how cool I look with all my gear. Huh? Huh?"

":roll:"

Alexis (13:44) :
with his mustache and his fanny pack

pA (13:44) :
"Hey son, look, I'm pre-owning boons"

"It's pwning n00bs dad, you're such a dork"

Alexis (13:45) :
LOL

Someone call EA or DICE, now. We need to see this game.

Okay, let me get something off my chest : I ****ing love pop music. And I'm not just talking about "indie pop" like Darwin Deez, Los Campesinos or Dan Deacon. I love Prince, I love Michael Jackson, I even had a t.A.t.U trip once (it's over now, let us not dwell on the past)... As much as I have respect for the indie scene, I think pop music is the least deserving of all the crap it gets for being unoriginal and trite.

J-Pop though, now that's a whole other story. Sure it's cute, but it all sounds the same. It's completely insane. No one seems to really care though. That's probably why it's so surprising when a chart-topping band like the Tokyo Jihen (also known as the Tokyo Incidents) churns out great, funky, rocking pop albums one after the other every other year.

The album doesn't stray far from its predecessors, it keeps many of the same elements that made the band's success. First of all, lead singer Shiina Ringo's voice. It's powerful, it pleasing, but it's not pretty. I mean that in the best way possible. She's got an impressive vocal range, a very soulful voice, but it's got that incredibly cool, spine-tingling punk edge to it. It's even more noticeable on Tokyo Jihen records than it is in her solo albums.

Something else that hasn't changed : every song is instantly catchy and accessible, but reveals minutia and musical ideas you wouldn't expect from pop music. Maybe it's the very deliberate, very innovative use of auto-tune in the first track's intro's back vocals, the flamenco-styIe guitar strumming on the album closer... The songs are just full of cool ideas you don't necessarily notice at first, and that makes the album something very rare, very special and very sought for : a pop album that gets better with time.

Now that I'm thinking about it, not hmuch has changed since the band's second album (released in 2004 I think, don't take my word for it...). Of course the songs still sound as fresh, but the overall formula has stayed the same, it's just put to better use than it ever has been on Sports. The Tokyo Jihen aren't inventing anything, but they've got an incredible talent for taking seemingly obsolete musical tropes and mashing tem together to make them sound new, fresh and exciting again. Kind of like the first guy who figured out peanut butter + chocolate.

If I have one thing to say against it, it'd be about the lyrics. Most songs are in japanese, so hey, Shiina could be singing about the ramen she had for dinner and I wouldn't know. I heard she used some complicated, ancient kanji in her songs though, so I'd say she's an accomplished lyricist... in Japanese. Some songs are in english though, and it really shows that it's not her first language. Her accent is surprisingly mild, considering how hard it is for japanese speakers to get some english sounds right (the opposite is also true), so that's not a problem. The issue here is that while she knows enough english to maintain a conversation, she's not fluent enough to come off as anything more than cliché and a bit tepid in her writing.

It still doesn't ruin the english songs, there's not a single dud on the album, I'm merely nitpicking here. It's easily my favorite album from the band, and you'd do well to check it out if you're looking for some funky, inventive pop to go with those warm summer days.

Listen to Active 3 Minutes, which is very representative of the album's overall sound.

Download the album here if you're a cheapskate (it's okay, so am I)

♫ Whooooa oh oh ♫

So yeah, I had an interview today for a job at Montreal's water plant and they must have liked what I said because they want me in. That's pretty cool!

It's far though... I live in Laval, which is just north of Montreal. It's just above an hour of bus/subway to get there... But it pays well, and the people there seem nice. I'm still not exactly sure what I'll be doing there, it'll involve optimizing pH levels and stuff... I'm gonna science the hell out of that stuff.

That also means I can get myself a Wii without worrying about being broke all year. 3DS too, when it comes out. The initial game library is very promising so far, including what looks like a port or a side-story of MGS3.

So yeah, album of the year blogs resume tomorrow. It's been a while since the last one. Sorry. Next album is Tokyo Jihen's Sports. Tokyo Jihen are a japanese superband fronted by j-pop's most interesting singer, Shiina Ringo. They make a mean blend of j-pop, jazz and funk.

Peace out, guys.

Joanna Newsom's latest effort would really feel like it belongs in the '70s, weren't it for the superb production values (mixed by the great Jim O'Rourke!). First there's that beautiful cover that just can't be contained by a CD cover (much less a 300x300 jpeg file), it's really meant to be enjoyed as an LP cover, with all the little details. It's simply beautiful (but then again we got a lot of beautiful album art this year, check out my first two nominees...).

Then there's the fact that while this is a triple album, it's not an especially dauting one. This is not the Smashing Pumpkins' Mellon Collie or the Red Hot Chili Pepper's Stadium Arcadium, both great double albums hindered by the sheer length of both discs. Have One On Me's three discs all run for about 35-45 minutes, each over six songs, each being its own pretty, self-contained (but not too much), more easily swallowable pill.

Stylistically, Have One On Me doesn't stray too far from its predecessors. It's still mostly harp and voice. In fact, it feels even "purer" than the last two albums, in that way. While some songs feature piano, strings, percussions and trumpet, they're almost always playing second fiddle to Joanna's voice and harp. Considering how pretty that voice and that harp sound, that's far from a bad thing.

If your first impressions of Joanna were on her debut, The Milk-Eyed Mender, I would say this new album is worth a try even if you didn't like her earlier work, especially if what put you off was her voice. She still sounds unique, but her timbre is definitely softer. The perfect showcase for this evolution would probably be "In California", on which she sounds breathy, almost ethereal.

Lyrically, this album really shines. Joanna's songs are (in)famous for being insanely long, leaving you wondering just how she can remember every lyric live. I mean, just the title track is more than 700 words long, and I don't even think that's the longest one. For a lot of people I know, that's off-putting. Daunting, even. Please don't let it be. Joanna Newsom is one of the most accomplished writers I know. Please note, I didn't say "songwriter", but "writer". If she ever got tired of making music, this woman would be just as famous writing short stories for children, young and old. Don't think of those as long songs, but rather as small fables.

With such a perfect curriculum, it's hard to really say which Joanna Newsom is the best. Ys is probably the most representative of the artist, but Have One On Me still shines because it innovates on her standard formula on plenty of small details, most of which can't even be described through words. So I suggest you start listening, instead.

Listen to the first single off the album, Good Intentions Paving Company (strangely devoid of harp, but still incredible)
Listen to Kingfisher, my favorite song off the album

When a band releases its first album, it usually has been years in the making. Not because the band actually started working on it years ago, but because all the experiences they have had, all the crummy bars they played in, all the self-issued CD-R's they handed their friends, all of that is taken into account and it all culminates into that very special, very personal first LP.

Sophomores are the true test though. So your first album was well-received by critics and fans alike, you played shows all over the world, now what? Obviously they all want more, think you can arrange something?

There's a lot of pressure in making that second album. Los Campesinos took a different approach. They followed their frenetic, poppy 2008 debut, "Hold On Now Youngster", with a mini-LP, or an extended EP, called "We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed". The album was familiar but didn't hold back from going into uncharted territory, darker atmospheres. In a way, LC were testing the fans, trying to see how far they could innovate. The critical and fan response was positive, so they went all out with "Romance is Boring".

This is still an indie pop record at heart, mind you. You can still hear '90s indie influences in the guitars, the lyrics are as quirky as ever, but something has changed. This record is a little more bitter and a little less sweet than their earlier material. The best example of this is "The Sea Is A Good Place to Think of the Future". A far cry from anything the band has done before, it's a heart-wrenching song about a friend in need, something all of us can relate with.

There's still cIassic Campesinos to be found in there, mainly in tracks such as There Are Listed Buildings, We've Got Your Back and Straight In At 101, but the band's focus has clearly changed. From a musical standpoint, it's hit-or-miss (mostly hits). Some songs feel tacked in, and the tracklist has some questionable song placement. From a lyrical standpoint, it's practically unmatched. Gareth Campesinos is this decade's Morrissey; his writing has the wit of a scholar and the campiness of a confused teenager, the stories he tells are immediately relatable.

"Romance is Boring" confirms Los Campesinos' slow but sure descent in bitterness. In rock music, that would be terrible. In pop music, it's fantastic and encouraged. The band's happy-go-lucky beginnings will not be forgotten, but they will not be missed either. "Romance is Boring" is a milestone.

Listen to The Sea Is A Good Place To Think Of The Future

See them perform the title track

Starting the early nominations for album of the year 2010 with the debut album from Oono Yuuki, a post-rock band with folk influences from Tokyo, Japan. It's called Stars in Video Game, and it's available on iTunes.

Stars in Video Game starts with the stellar track Haruno, giving us a glimpse of what's to come in this mostly instrumental album. In fact, many aspects of this first track, such as a prominent bass line, overlapping melodies in different rythm and upbeat flute melodies are used in their other instrumental songs.

It should come as no surprise that this album comes from the land of the rising sun, because it manages to capture all the emotions and impact of the best morning you could ever have. The songs start slow, they ease you in, they have an amazingly comforting aspect. And yet, once Oono Yuuki have eased you in, the songs culminate to a dramatic, beautiful high, mandolins strumming as fast as possible and drums suddenly roaring at a perfect pace. You thought you were getting in a carousel and suddenly you're in a rollercoaster, without even knowing it. And it's fantastic.

It's a shame then, that the non-instrumental songs fail to evoke the same feelings. They are well-written and powerful in their own way too, but definitely more stripped down, featuring only one or two instruments. A full album of those would have been superb, but among the bombastic instrumental songs, they honestly fall a bit short.

That is, except the album's final track, Wonder World. The superb closing track proves that Oono Yuuki can perfectly blend the emotional urgency of their instrumental pieces with the intimacy of their songs with vocals. Admittedly, it takes a bit to get going, but it builds up quite nicely, and it's the best thing a closing song can aspire to be : fitting with the album's musical themes yet showing leads of innovation, getting us eager for the next album.

I cannot recommend Stars In Video Game enough. Among the pile of acoustic radio-pop crap that passes as "indie" in Japan, this is a pure gem, and I feel it's my duty to share it.

For those who didn't bother reading all this... Basically it's like Mono except it doesn't make you feel like crap. There you go.

Listen here

Live version of Haruno, my favorite song on the album. Studio version is better though.

Download on iTunes by clicking here.