December 19, 2006
another year ends. i am getting old.
So this is a strange moment. It is time for me to pick my top picks for albums this year. I guess when you a) are older and b) have amassed a moderately decent record collection you start thinking about things in a wider context and questioning the relevance of what you hear more. But its probably me beginning to sound like my old man saying, "music isn't as good as it used to be."
The thing is. It might not be. Or at least not as original as it seems. But that is a little unfair.
Best evidence in this are the reissue of seminal works by This Heat. Their albums This Heat and Deceit (1979-1981), sound more modern than any current modern rock band. I have been hearing this evidence a lot lately. A respected musician and record store owner told me that he hasn't heard anything new since Throbbing Gristle and I am beginning to understand. Granted nothing is ever as black and white as I am stating but then I did just hear Grauzone's Die Sunrise Tapes and its beginning to get hard arguing otherwise. Or Monoton's Monotonprodukt 07, or Musica Dispersa's Self Titled, or...
Then of course you see how excited I get when I start talking about the Liars (This Heat and Throbbing Gristle) or Dead Meadow (Black Sabbath and Pink Floyd). Nothing really new. Then there are my rants. (Black Dice's Beaches and Canyons being a complete rip off of Boredom's Vision Creation Newsun). I guess it is more how a band is marketed --ie. don't ever take yourself seriously. People who listen to music can be as passionate as those who make it. I know you have to make money here but don't treat me like an idiot. Rock Stardom died 20 years ago -- with Regeanomics.
So the best I can do now is review what I have heard this year that I really enjoyed. I think it is fair to split it between what came out this year and what came out previously. It is up to you to decide to compare the lists. I think this is a better way to review your year.
I am getting old.
FRAN'S FAVORITE NEW ALBUMS OF 2006:
15: AWESOME COLOR - AWESOME COLORBasically a three piece that loves the Stooges. Only the energy of the Stooges actually comes across. Not many points for originality but I have to admit I blasted this often, and hey, its my list and I'll rock if I want to.
14: MAJOR STARS - SYNTOPTIKONThey well deserved my top spot last year and they mixed things up a bit since then. I am absolutely fully aware that I am a fan boy, but I am going to say it: This record was misunderstood. Drink a few sips of whiskey and head dive into the feedback. err, your choice of many at any given time. Glorious cacophony. Like the old free jazz masters. Think about it.
13: BOOKA SHADE - MOVEMENTSGranted there hasn't been much progress in electronic dance music since Ricardo Villalobos' Alcacholfa, these guys did an admirable job in 2006. This is a solid record though and its not a top 10 because it is not a fresh standout like Isolee's We Are Monster was. I would recommend this over the undewhelming Orchestra Of Bubbles.
12: MATMOS - THE ROSE HAS TEETH IN THE MOUTH OF A BEASTOne of two of the more traditionally artistic records on my list. Matmos brings us 10 sonic portraits of some very interesting people in their own right. There really is not much more I can say about it. Each is a strange and beautiful creature in its own way with different rules and methods used.
11: ESPERS - ESPERS IINicely done dark, brooding, psychedelic folk rock music. They head towards Radiohead-ish post-rock prog on this album. It is rather lovely.
10: HERBERT - SCALESSee my comments for my best of for last year. Mr. Herbert and I compromised and met halfway. The result is a top 10 record. I can't imagine even someone in a big music school submitting a project this good.
09: YO LA TENGO - I AM NOT AFRAID OF YOU AND I WILL BEAT YOUR ASSMy pick for best pop record of the year. This "comeback record" is a comeback from something better than most bands could do. But if it wasn't obvious enough after over 15 years, Yo La Tengo are here to stay. Lets just promise not to start doubting them again any time soon.
08: SCOTT WALKER - THE DRIFTThis year's Kate Bush tour de force return album of the year award goes to Scott Walker, one of the greatest living male vocalists. Much like his last record, Tilt, this is extremely dark, moody, and visceral. A true work of art. It is still incredible to contrast the range of this man's career and a song like Jesse with one like Jackie. Nice to know Drew Daniels (Matmos) agrees!!
07: BARGE RECORDING ARCHIVE - INNATUREA perfect primer of the state of post rock in 2006. Barge Recording Archive collects new work from the likes of fantastic acts Circle, Polmo Polpo, Tim Hecker, and the equally impressive up-and-coming Geoff Mullen and The Fun Years. You've gots your dones. You've got your rumbles. And some feedback in there for good measure. With special sauce.
06: LIARS - DRUM'S NOT DEADAnother fuck you to the doubters. (See Top 10 of 2004). This one further progresses the escapades of the Liars. Talking about confidence is a strange way of describing the band as they seem to be about the lack of the need for it. Percussion seem to have something to do with this one somehow... It is even touching at points as there is a pop song in there about moving away to a new city and leaving your loved ones. I can sympathize with that. Though I wish I were in Berlin too. Watching it as a video in the dvd format is very well done and a great experience. [EDIT] I just read pitchfork's "but even their staunchest champions couldn't have anticipated the avant-rock masterstroke of their third album, Drum's Not Dead." Um, I think we all did.
05: RICARDO VILLALOBOS: ACHSO EPRicardo is currently the greatest thing going in electronic dance music according to this guy. This double 12" EP consists of 4 stylistically "variations" per se of um, something. Each of the 4 sides runs at least 12 minutes making this an long player if judged by time. It is avant, silky, slinky, shape-shifting, bubbly, and any other 10th grade adjective you can throw at it. How I have yet to see this on any other year end list thus far is beyond me. It seems a pretty easy pick. I guess Playhouse didn't do as much to promote this as EMI did t to push the new Hot Chip to the kids. This is the complete opposite of that lazy record. For shame.
04: GHOSTFACE KILLAH - FISHSCALE"You ain't been hungry since Supreme Clientel!" He is now.
03: TIM HECKER: HARMONY IN ULTRAVIOLETBasically this is a craftsman further honing in his skills. You can hear the command and confidence building in each release. This is especially impressive when it is enigmatic drone music, which is mostly based on the communication of feeling.
02: JAMES BLACKSHAW: O TRUE BELIEVERSTake my word, this boy will be a legend one day. The acoustic guitar seems to be in good hands these days. John Fahey and his compatriots would be happy to know that the path they cleared is still being traveled on today. He's fucking 24!
01: JOANNA NEWSOM - YSNumber one by at least two miles. Not only a stunning leap forward for Joanna, which separates her from a growing group of fantastic female singer songwriters, but arguably the best album released this year. Recorded and produced by two of the top in the business, these are 5 epic baroque-tinged suites of seemingly simple moments of life and contemplation with the saturated depth and feeling of relationships, passion, and lust interwoven throughout it all. There is wide-eyed wonder in the young milk-eyed mender. She's fucking 24! The songs and lyrics are incredible in their flow and delivery and they will leave you spellbound. The interplay between her and the extremely lucky, yet deserving, Bill Callahan provides me with infinite amounts of jealousy.
All my bones they are gone, gone, gone
Take my bones, I don't need none
Cold, cold cupboard, lord, nothing to chew on!
Suck all day on a cherry stone
Dig a little hole, not three inches round
Spit your pit in the hole in the ground
Weep upon the spot for the starving of me!
Till up grow a fine young cherry tree
Well when the bough breaks, what'll you make for me?
A little willow cabin to rest on your knee
What'll I do with a trinket such as this?
Think of your woman, who's gone to the west
But I'm starving and freezing in my measly old bed!
Then i'll crawl across the salt flats to stroke your sweet head
Come across the desert with no shoes on!
I love you truly, or I love no-one.
God fucking damn. Bill is definitely an older man than I, but it just takes a girl to breathe her youth into him. Ain't that the truth.
-------------------------
Stay tuned for the compilations, reissues and seminal work that I heard for the first time that made up 2006 in music for me. (As well as my State Of The Union)
Posted by Fran at December 19, 2006 09:15 AM