Back when I was studying to become a computer engineer in Grimstad and was working on my graduation project, I heard a song titled “Hello Time Bomb”. It was from a compilation called “Big Shiny Tunes 4” that Hallvard had downloaded shamelessly off of the interweb. This was pre-broadband-at-home-times so he had to bring a laptop computer - with the processing power of a present day mid-range mobile phone, I might add - to school to download stuff.

He didn’t only download music, it’s Hallvard’s fault that Terje played The Sims instead of reading for his final exams one semester and that I had the chance to go postal inside the virtual hotel in Hitman: Codename 47 instead of in a real hotel.

But I digress, let’s get back to “Hello Time Bomb”.

For me it was an instant classic. The song was by a band called Matthew Good Band, a Canadian band fronted by lead singer Matthew Good. That you name your band after yourself might be one of many signs that you’re having a minor God complex, but when the music is so good, I’ll look the other way. Since “Hello Time Bomb” was released on the album “Beautiful Midnight”, the band released another album and an EP before Good dissolved his band in 2002 to go solo.

Now Matthew Frederick Robert Good is about to release his sixth solo album. After an excellent album (“Avalanche”, 2003), a so-so album (“White Light Rock & Roll Review”, 2004), a compilation with a few new, decent tracks (“In A Coma: 1995-2005”, 2005), a really good album with a few songs that I can repeat again and again (“Hospital Music”, 2008) and a live album that I’ve only played through a couple of time (“Live At Massey Hall”, 2008), it sounds like Good will be releasing an album as good (or at least almost as good) as Avalanche.

The album, titled “Vancouver”, has been available on www.matthewgood.org for everyone to preview since Saturday and you can listen through the whole thing on the website. Unfortunately, it’s not possible to jump to a particular track, you have to start on the beginning of the album and listen through to the end.

Unless you have a look in the HTML code, that is. The album preview is actually just a large MP3 file, and the URL is available in the code. This means that you can download the entire album without much effort, use some MP3 splitter to split it into tracks (I used iTunes) and you’re ready to go. It’s not the most legal thing to do, perhaps, but I’m buying the album when it’s released, so I’m sure Mr. Good won’t mind that I jumped the gun a little.

I’ve been listening almost non-stop since Sunday morning, and “Vancouver” is just getting better and better. There are some songs that just hits you immediately, like “Us Remains Impossible” and “Fought to Fight it”, and some that keeps on growing on you, like “Empty’s Theme Park”. Even the weaker tunes is gaining strength. My personal album of the year? It could very well be.

Be sure to have a listen yourself on www.matthewgood.org.