It's very early, but already I've nominated a number of great songs for inclusion on SLS15. SLS15 won't be finalized until late June, but here are my early submissions.

• Use It - The New Pornographers
• I'll Believe In Anything - Wolf Parade
• 7-4 Shoreline - Broken Social Scene
• The Bridge - Elliott Brood
• Out Of Exile - Audioslave

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We've finally unveiled the cover for SLS14. SLS14, of course, was unveiled over a week ago.

In addition to maintaining the official Smells Like Sour home page, I also keep a list of every SLS song ever as part of this site. Submissions for SLS15 are now being accepted. There are already several nominations.

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Now that SLS14 is in the bag, it's time to deconstruct the 19 tunes that made the final cut. How much of SLS14 is CanCon? How many artists are making their first appearance on SLS? Find out the answers to these questions and more below.

• Canadian Content - 7 (Arcade Fire, Death From Above 1979, Metric, Custom, Stars, Matthew Good & Hot Hot Heat)
• Making Their SLS Debut - 4 (Death From Above 1979, Death Cab For Cutie, Stars & Gorillaz)
• Artists That Also Appeared On SLS13 - 10 (Arcade Fire, Audioslave, Custom, Foo Fighters, Franz Ferdinand, Hot Hot Heat, Metric, Nine Inch Nails, System of a Down & The White Stripes)
• Providing a Female Voice - 2 (Metric & Stars)
• Songs In My MP3 Collection - 16 (Everything except The Strokes and Custom which are not yet released and Disturbed.)
• Longest Current SLS Streak - 4 (Franz Ferdinand)
• Longest SLS Drought Ended - 6 (Matthew Good)

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It is with great privilege and honour that I unveil to you the final song list for SLS14. For an SLS primer, go here and to see what appeared on SLS13, go here.

We listened to hours and hours of new rock before deciding upon these 19 tracks totalling more than 78 minutes. We've played the cards we were dealt and below is SLS14.

1. Wake Up - Arcade Fire
2. Hypnotize - System of a Down
3. Romantic Rights - Death From Above 1979
4. Soul Meets Body - Death Cab For Cutie
5. Juice Box - The Strokes
6. Monster Hospital - Metric
7. Stricken - Disturbed
8. Fuck Off - Custom
9. Only - Nine Inch Nails
10. The Denial Twist - The White Stripes
11. DOA - Foo Fighters
12. Doesn't Remind Me - Audioslave
13. Ageless Beauty - Stars
14. Girl - Beck
15. Jesus of Suburbia - Green Day
16. Do You Wanna - Franz Ferdinand
17. Oh Be Joyful - Matthew Good
18. Dare - Gorillaz
19. Middle of Nowhere - Hot Hot Heat

I just updated The Complete SLS Database. Look for SLS15 in late June, 2006.

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The SLS charter is clear, only one song per artist per edition. If we like "The Denial Twist" for SLS14, which we do, then "My Doorbell" has to be left on the cutting room floor. That's the rule. Another rule is that a song may only appear on one edition of SLS. We may love System of a Down's "Hypnotize", but once it appears on SLS14 it can't also appear on SLS15. Duh.

Death From Above 1979's "Romantic Rights" is a virtual guarantee to make SLS14 but we're also loving the "Romantic Rights" remixes on You're a Woman, I'm a Machine Remixed. There's the Phones Lovers remix, the Erol Alkan Love From Below Re-edit, the Marczech Makuziak remix and the Dahlback remix. They're all sensational, but the Phones Lovers remix could easily have the legs to appear on SLS15. What's uncertain at this point is whether this is permitted.

Do remixes counts as a new song and are they disqualified because the original appeared on a previous edition of SLS? Covers of songs are treated as new songs, but they're always from a different artist. These remixes of "Romantic Rights" are still Death From Above 1979.

We need a ruling!

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We're about a month away from the unveiling of SLS14. SLS, as you know, releases an edition twice a year and contains what we deem to be the best new rock from the six month period.

I spent some time on the weekend listening to your nominations and paring down the potential tracklisting. There are 19 songs in strong contention, totaling a little over 78 minutes. With a month to go it's same to assume one or two new songs will rise to the occasion, but here are the 19 I've whittled the list down to thus far.

• Wake Up - Arcade Fire
• Hypnotize - System of a Down
• Romantic Rights - Death From Above 1979
• Soul Meets Body - Death Cab For Cutie
• Juice Box - The Strokes
• Monster Hospital - Metric
• Stricken - Disturbed
• Fuck Off - Custom
• Only - Nine Inch Nails
• The Denial Twist - The White Stripes
• DOA - Foo Fighters
• Doesn't Remind Me - Audioslave
• Ageless Beauty - Stars
• Girl - Beck
• Jesus of Suburbia - Green Day
• Do You Wanna - Franz Ferdinand
• Oh Be Joyful - Matthew Good
• Dare - Gorillaz
• Middle of Nowhere - Hot Hot Heat

Nominations are still be accepted. We'll release the final list just before Christmas.

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SLS, of course, stands for Smells Like Sour and is the name of a new rock mix CD a friend and I compile twice a year. There's an official site and everything. It's a pretty big deal, attracting thousands of visitors daily.

We already sell official Smells Like Sour t-shirts, but now I'm thinking we should branch out into coasters. Perhaps something like this would catch on with the kiddies.

We're on the ball!

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I haven't written about Smells Like Sour in quite a while, so it's time for an update. SLS13 was unveiled on Canada Day and SLS14 will be "released" by Christmas which is a mere two months away.

It hasn't been a particularly good period of music thus far, but there's a bunch of new material hitting the airwaves these days and I suspect we'll have numerous quality submissions over the next month or so. As it stands today, the following tracks are looking good...

• Hypnotize - System of a Down
• Wake Up - Arcade Fire
• My Doorbell - The White Stripes
• DOA - Foo Fighters
• Doesn't Remind Me - Audioslave
• Girl - Beck
• Middle of Nowhere - Hot Hot Heat
• Ageless Beauty - Stars
• Romantic Rights - Death From Above 1979
• Only - Nine Inch Nails
• Soul Meets Body - Death Cab For Cutie
• Custom - Love Letter
• Jesus of Suburbia - Green Day

We've got 80 minutes to fill, so you know the final list will look quite different when unveiled in late December. If you're a newcomer to SLS, or simply in need of a refresher course, you'll find the following links useful.

• The Complete SLS Directory
• Your Guide to SLS
• The Official Smells Like Sour Home Page
• The SLS Nominations Page

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It's hard to believe, but SLS14 will be "released" at the end of this year. If you're wondering what this SLS thing is, read the guide, check out my SLS database and visit the official site.

I try and write an entry here every time I submit a song there, but I've been neglectful of late. To catch up, here's what I've submitted for SLS14 thus far...

• Arcade Fire - Rebellion (Lies)
• Beck - Girl
• Audioslave - Doesn't Remind Me
• Stars - Ageless Beauty
• Death From Above 1979 - Romantic Rights
• Our Lady Peace - Where Are You
• The White Stripes - My Doorbell

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I can't think of a better way to celebrate Canada Day than by unveiling the songs that make up the thirteenth edition of SLS. The negotiations were a little stickier than usual, but at the end of the day the committee agrees that these songs make the cut. Without further delay, I present to you, with great honour and pride, the SLS13 twenty.

1. The Mars Volta - The Widow
2. Arcade Fire - Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)
3. System of a Down - B.Y.O.B.
4. The White Stripes - Blue Orchid
5. Foo Fighters - Best Of You
6. Audioslave - Your Time Has Come
7. Queens of the Stone Age - Little Sister
8. Custom - USA
9. The Killers - All These Things That I've Done
10. Hot Hot Heat - Goodnight, Goodnight
11. Kaiser Chiefs - I Predict A Riot
12. Beck - E-Pro
13. Doctor - What Makes You Think He's Lucky?
14. Franz Ferdinand - The Dark Of The Matinee
15. Louis XIV - Finding Out True Love Is Blind
16. Metric - Dead Disco
17. Modest Mouse - World At Large
18. Weezer - Beverly Hills
19. Billy Talent - Nothing To Lose
20. Nine Inch Nails - The Hand That Feeds

Mark insisted that Nine Inch Nails make the cut, despite my insistence that it wasn't worthy. During the negotiation process I gave up my NIN resistance in order to preserve the Weezer and Billy Talent tracks. Audioslave's "Be Yourself" ended up on the bubble but "Your Time Has Come" rose to the challenge and made it a moot point as there can only be one track per artist on each edition of SLS. Another late comer to make the cut was Kaiser Cheifs' "I Predict A Riot", leaving Jakalope, Garbage and The Marble Index on the cutting room floor.

What do you think of SLS13? Share your thoughts!

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