Monday, January 08, 2007
2006
UPDATE: I've already been forced to correct a thing or two on the "top songs" list. My formerly bear-trap-tight mind is now a sieve.
Here's what I liked this year. A couple of caveats: I've yet to hear Lil Flip Scoldjah's latest cd, which should no doubt top this and every other such list. Also, I've let a couple of things I first heard in December 2006 slip onto the lists, namely the number one album and the number three single. Just a head's up. Yes.
Top Ten Albums:
1. Love Is All - Nine Times That Same Song
Love Is All's debut wins the prize with consistency and all-around excellence. There may not be a single truly amazing song on here, but no other album this year had as many good to great ones. I listened to Nine Times That Same Song a good two or three times more than any other album in 2006, and as of yet am not close to being tired of it. I think this technically came out in 2005, but was mostly unavailable 'til early this year, so I'm counting it. These Swedes are catchy, energetic, clever without being precious, and reminiscent of the best '70's/'80's post-punk (or whatever) without stooping to slavish imitation. They've got tons of potential (their best song isn't even on this record), and let's hope they can continue to realize it in the future.
2. Major Stars - Syntoptikon
Home to the best guitar freak-outs of the year, Syntoptikon picks up the psych-bombast slack left by the latest Oneida and Comets on Fire albums. Majorest Stars Wayne Rogers and Kate Village even out-play Ira Kaplan of...
3. Yo La Tengo - I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass
Still, Ira's pretty damn amazing. For the first time since '97 they once again split the difference between the noisy jams their fans expect and the quieter material they've largely drifted towards this century. Best YLT album in almost a decade.
4. Camera Obscura - Let's Get Out Of This Country
The best Belle and Sebastian album since If You're Feeling Sinister, and home to at least two of the year's best songs.
5. Oakley Hall - Gypsum Strings
The finest practitioners of psychedelic country rock around get extra points for releasing two great records in one calendar year; Gypsum Strings just slightly gets the nod over Second Guessing.
6. Liars - Drum's Not Dead
It's not quite as abrasive as 2004's They Were Wrong So We Drowned, and even sports a moment of true grace and beauty as the album-closer. The band's still rooting through all the right cellars to cobble together its contemporary take on experimental art-rock, though, as the various krautrock and noise influences remain at the forefront. Despite greater song-title cohesion, the "concept" is even more fluid and impregnable than They Were Wrong's.
7. TI - King
The relative lack of skits is appreciated. "What You Know", "I'm Talkin To You", "Why YOu Wanna", and "You Know Who" are even more appreciated. I don't know if I've ever listened all the way through this in one sitting; I do know that few other albums from '06 had even one song that got played as often as those four mentioned above.
8. Parts and Labor - Stay Afraid
Parts and Labor has been combining noise with pop hooks for years, and with Stay Afraid they've finally made a record that completely stays afloat from start to finish. If Surrender to the Night-era Trans Am covered New Day Rising in its entirety, it'd probably sound something like this.
9. Joanna Newsom - Ys
You can kinda disappear in this record. Not as listenable as The Milk-Eyed Mender, but richer and more engrossing. If you can get past the song-lengths, you'll be friends for life.
10. Sonic Youth - Rather Ripped
I really wanna give this to Still Flyin', but I just can't pick an ep over this record. SY's been on another one of their periodic rolls the last few years, putting out nicely subdued albums that still contain their trademark dissonance and discordant melodies. Rather Ripped is the most noteworthy of these three most recent records, and, with "Incinerate" and the sublime "Jams Run Free", it features perhaps their two best songs since 1995 or so.
Honorable Mentions:
Still Flyin' - Time Wrinkle ej
Excalibrah - Excalibrah & The Poon-Tang Clan Volume 1.9
Clipse - Hell Hath No Fury
Ghostface Killa - Fishscale
Dark Meat - Universal Indians
Oneida - Happy New Year
Top Songs of the Year:
1. Oneida - The Adversary
2. TI - What You Know
3. Ludacris, Field Mob, and Jamie Foxx - Georgia
4. Oneida - Up With People
5. Killers - When You Were Young
6. Gnarls Barkley - Crazy
7. Art Brut - Emily Kane
8. Camera Obscura - Lloyd, I'm Ready to Be Heartbroken
9. Still Flyin' - Rope Burn
10. Sonic Youth - Jams Run Free
11. Camera Obscura - Let's Get Out Of This Country
12. Futureheads - Skip To The End
Best Reissues:
Ariesta Birawa Group - Ariesta Birawa Group Vol. 1
Pavement - Wowee Zowee: Sordid Sentinels Edition
Chavez - Better Days Will Haunt You
Animal Collective - Hollinndagain
UPDATE: I've already been forced to correct a thing or two on the "top songs" list. My formerly bear-trap-tight mind is now a sieve.
Here's what I liked this year. A couple of caveats: I've yet to hear Lil Flip Scoldjah's latest cd, which should no doubt top this and every other such list. Also, I've let a couple of things I first heard in December 2006 slip onto the lists, namely the number one album and the number three single. Just a head's up. Yes.
Top Ten Albums:
1. Love Is All - Nine Times That Same Song
Love Is All's debut wins the prize with consistency and all-around excellence. There may not be a single truly amazing song on here, but no other album this year had as many good to great ones. I listened to Nine Times That Same Song a good two or three times more than any other album in 2006, and as of yet am not close to being tired of it. I think this technically came out in 2005, but was mostly unavailable 'til early this year, so I'm counting it. These Swedes are catchy, energetic, clever without being precious, and reminiscent of the best '70's/'80's post-punk (or whatever) without stooping to slavish imitation. They've got tons of potential (their best song isn't even on this record), and let's hope they can continue to realize it in the future.
2. Major Stars - Syntoptikon
Home to the best guitar freak-outs of the year, Syntoptikon picks up the psych-bombast slack left by the latest Oneida and Comets on Fire albums. Majorest Stars Wayne Rogers and Kate Village even out-play Ira Kaplan of...
3. Yo La Tengo - I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass
Still, Ira's pretty damn amazing. For the first time since '97 they once again split the difference between the noisy jams their fans expect and the quieter material they've largely drifted towards this century. Best YLT album in almost a decade.
4. Camera Obscura - Let's Get Out Of This Country
The best Belle and Sebastian album since If You're Feeling Sinister, and home to at least two of the year's best songs.
5. Oakley Hall - Gypsum Strings
The finest practitioners of psychedelic country rock around get extra points for releasing two great records in one calendar year; Gypsum Strings just slightly gets the nod over Second Guessing.
6. Liars - Drum's Not Dead
It's not quite as abrasive as 2004's They Were Wrong So We Drowned, and even sports a moment of true grace and beauty as the album-closer. The band's still rooting through all the right cellars to cobble together its contemporary take on experimental art-rock, though, as the various krautrock and noise influences remain at the forefront. Despite greater song-title cohesion, the "concept" is even more fluid and impregnable than They Were Wrong's.
7. TI - King
The relative lack of skits is appreciated. "What You Know", "I'm Talkin To You", "Why YOu Wanna", and "You Know Who" are even more appreciated. I don't know if I've ever listened all the way through this in one sitting; I do know that few other albums from '06 had even one song that got played as often as those four mentioned above.
8. Parts and Labor - Stay Afraid
Parts and Labor has been combining noise with pop hooks for years, and with Stay Afraid they've finally made a record that completely stays afloat from start to finish. If Surrender to the Night-era Trans Am covered New Day Rising in its entirety, it'd probably sound something like this.
9. Joanna Newsom - Ys
You can kinda disappear in this record. Not as listenable as The Milk-Eyed Mender, but richer and more engrossing. If you can get past the song-lengths, you'll be friends for life.
10. Sonic Youth - Rather Ripped
I really wanna give this to Still Flyin', but I just can't pick an ep over this record. SY's been on another one of their periodic rolls the last few years, putting out nicely subdued albums that still contain their trademark dissonance and discordant melodies. Rather Ripped is the most noteworthy of these three most recent records, and, with "Incinerate" and the sublime "Jams Run Free", it features perhaps their two best songs since 1995 or so.
Honorable Mentions:
Still Flyin' - Time Wrinkle ej
Excalibrah - Excalibrah & The Poon-Tang Clan Volume 1.9
Clipse - Hell Hath No Fury
Ghostface Killa - Fishscale
Dark Meat - Universal Indians
Oneida - Happy New Year
Top Songs of the Year:
1. Oneida - The Adversary
2. TI - What You Know
3. Ludacris, Field Mob, and Jamie Foxx - Georgia
4. Oneida - Up With People
5. Killers - When You Were Young
6. Gnarls Barkley - Crazy
7. Art Brut - Emily Kane
8. Camera Obscura - Lloyd, I'm Ready to Be Heartbroken
9. Still Flyin' - Rope Burn
10. Sonic Youth - Jams Run Free
11. Camera Obscura - Let's Get Out Of This Country
12. Futureheads - Skip To The End
Best Reissues:
Ariesta Birawa Group - Ariesta Birawa Group Vol. 1
Pavement - Wowee Zowee: Sordid Sentinels Edition
Chavez - Better Days Will Haunt You
Animal Collective - Hollinndagain
