Best Band and LP of the Decade

The Deadly Snakes - Porcella

Regardless of what the critics over a Pitchfork say, it really comes down to taste. Personally, having read through a few ‘Best of The Decade’ lists recently I have come to believe that most of the albums listed don’t have legs. Seriously, I just can’t see myself listening to Animal Collective or Grizzly Bear five years from now. Can you, honestly?

But I still listen to The Deadly Snakes, often. In fact it’s safe to say they never really leave the ipod.

The Snakes were local boys, from right here in Toronto, Canada, with a knack for gritty blues soaked garage rock. Around these parts they are kinda local hero, in part due to live shows that, with as many as 6 or 7 members on stage, were known to shake the pillars of heaven.

Greg Cartwright of The Oblivians produced the band's first two albums and briefly joined the band on the second LP, I'm Not Your Soldier Anymore, playing guitar and singing on such songs as West Texas Sound.

Those first two albums and their third, Ode to Joy, are all rip roaring rock ’n’ roll gems. But it was on their last album, Porcella, that the Snakes truly achieved existential greatness.

Porcella takes garage rock and raises it to the level of art, an achievement few bands outside of the Velvet Underground can claim. The album is like a painting; creative, rich, dramatic, while still maintaining its bluesy garage core. You can listen to it over and over and always find a new place to hang your hat. It comes at you from so many directions it really takes a while to soak it all in, perhaps a decade. The long and short of it is it’s just a fucking great album. Case closed.

So there you go. If you didn’t know it, now you do. Enjoy.

The Deadly Snakes Discography

Love Undone (Sympathy for the Record Industry,1999)
I'm Not Your Soldier Anymore (In the Red, 2001)
Ode to Joy (In the Red, 2003)
Porcella (Paper Bag Records, 2005)
Porcella Vinyl Only Tracks (In The Red, 2006)


Buy Porcella here.