It's probably about time to start the list, right?
There were six that stood out, and a bunch more that I was very fond of.
<b> TOP SIX: </b>
-Campaign For Real Time: "Let It Rise"
<img src ="http://media.bestprices.com/content/music/70/540372.jpg">
Three feet high and let it rising.
-Evens: "Get Evens"
<img src ="http://www.punknews.org/images/covers/the_evens-get_evens.jpg">
Ian MacKaye and Amy Farina singing about war and fucking in equal doses. If you're down with Ian's ouevre, you know how jarring it is for him to do love songs.
-fi5e: "Straight Outta Compton (Explicit Version)"
<img src ="http://www.ni9e.com/nwa/NWA_cover_400px.jpg">
A triumph. Screw you, KKKramer!
-Jandek: "Glasgow Monday"
<img src ="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/99/Jandek0785.jpg/200px-Jandek0785.jpg">
Jandek's double live piano album. Seriously.
-Liars: "Drum's Not Dead"
<img src ="http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/B000CNFB0O.02.LZZZZZZZ.jpg">
"Metal Box" for the Myspace generation.
-Mission of Burma: "The Obliterati"
<img src ="http://images.buymusichere.net/images/muze/810/814753.jpg">
Usually, reunions earn accolades whether they deserve 'em or not (see: Pixies). Burma's two post-reunion albums are just as good, if not better, than the rest of their mighty catalogue.
<b> Honorable mentions: </b>
Channels: "Waiting For The Next End Of The World"
The Gris Gris: "For The Season"
Hold Steady: "Boys And Girls In America"
Long Winters: "Putting The Days To Bed"
Samiam: "Whatever's Got You Down"
Thom Yorke: "The Eraser"
1. Pounds Get Around - Dirty Digglers v. JD
2. Catch It! - Test Icicles Jitset's Catshit mix w/ Statik and Ruff Sqwawd
3. Throw Some D's - Rich Boy w/Polow Da Don
4. Love Me Or Hate Me - Lady Sovereign
5. DC '77 - C4RT Kurt Ballou mix
6. The Scrappy Chief - Diplo
7. Outkast v. Kanye - Atrak
8. Here I Come - The Roots
9. Mic Check - Kano remix w/Demon & Ghetto
10. Eye of The Storm - Visionary Underground Dr. Das Monster Dub mix
11. Bleeps, Bongos & Basslines - Zero DB/Everything Is Under Control - Cold Cut w/Mike Watt acapella
12. Sex-o-matic - Edu K w/Deize Tigrona
13. Melo Do Tabaco - Bonde Do Role
14. Buy It, Use It - Diplo
15. Technologic - Daft Punk Basement Jaxx mix
16. White Horse - Wonderland Avenue
17. E-40 & Keak Da Sneak v. Laid Back - Atrak
18. One Minute to Midnight - Justice
19. Let's Make Love & Listen to Death From Above - CSS Diplo mix
20. We Are Your Friends - Justice v. Simian
21. The Looks - MSTRKRFT
22. What's Your Damage - Test Icicles Digitalism mix
23. Death Disco - P.I.L. Monitor mix
Nice Pavement affectations on both of these long players: fantastic songs about cowboys and ascots, allusions to the Iliad and Minnie Driver, shaky frontmen, and terrible artwork. Couple candidates for songs of the year on these two as well: "More Drums," "The Iliad," "Cowbell" on the first "AAA Cowboy," "Julius," and "All Now" and on the second. "The Loon" was probably the album I listened to the second most this year.
4. "Alienoid Starmonica"/"The Happy Song" The Aliens
Cop out # 1 on this list. These six songs split over two EPs are completely <i>okay</i> without being great. The Aliens are made up of half the Beta Band, and aparently these EPs were the demos that got them signed to a major label (full-length debut dropping in two months). Consider me ready. All the Beta touchstones are here: Steve Miller fronting Parliament as played by Glaswegian hippies with a hint of country and sped-up voices. Standout include: "Only Waiting" a huge drone rocker that collapses into this sort of anti-rapping and the completely beautiful Floyd-robbery of "Ionas (Look for Space)."
3. "BITTER TEA" Fiery Furnaces
Cop out # 2 on this list. I actually find "BITTER TEA" one of the Furnaces' least interesting albums. But, I discovered them this year and am using this forum to say with absolute sincerity that their first two are nothing short of essential. "Gallowsbird's Bark" is a stunning collection of sloppy rag-time blooze stompers sung in a can-do spirit by the tomboy next door. "Blueberry Boat" is a bit bloated, pretentious, and kind of unlistenable at first, yet channels the first record through serious ADHD songwriting (a crazy quilt of tin-pan alley, lullabies, techno, blooze, showtunes, ringtones, metal, psychedilia, and musique conrete to name a few). Their third go-around featured their grandmother as lead vocalist. So by the time they got to "BITTER TEA"
the only "interesting" concept left was to play things backwards. It's quaint, but really anyone remotely interested in this act should check out the first two.
2. "Straight Outta Compton (Explicit Content Only)" Fi5e
Probably has more social commentary in roughly 3 minutes than most albums shoot for in around 40. Endlessly entertaining parody that (un)fortunately renders listening to the original moot.
1. "Making Dens" Mystery Jets
Anyone who knows me knows I'm a sucker for this sort of stuff. Accomplished overachieving power/psych/prog pop that sounds like the band had the time of their lives making the damnfool thing. Sure, it takes a couple of tracks to get to the really good stuff. But there's this sort of tug-of-war feeling going throughout all the songs where the 50-something is telling the 20-somethings "no, no, no, you're doing it all wrong," while the 20-somethings are telling Dad the same thing. Everything and the kitchen sink is thrown in here culminating in a live show that boasts a comical amount of equipment that makes C4RT's look puny in comparison. Choice tracks: "The Boy Who Ran Away," "Horse Drawn Cart," and "Diamonds in the Dark."
#5 MOJO Magazine Comp - Trash: The Roots of Punk
Cop out, I know - old stuff, but so many good tunes from "lesser" bands. Come on: The New York Dolls, Jook, Kilburn and the High Roads, Hawkwind, Iggy? Plus, I never knew how much I liked T-Rex, and I've listened to Mott the Hoople's "Thunderbuck Ram" more than any other song this year.
#4 Thom York - The Eraser
At times it just seems like pretty beats with overdubbed guitars & synth, but some of the tunes are truly haunting especially when everyone playing seems to get lost in the jam, yet never too long. It's always felt like a Lennon solo "White Album". Big words I know.
#3 C4RT - Let it Rise
Not as complete as "Yes... I mean No", but more abstract and dance-able due to the remixes. You guys should really check them out
#2 Dert - Sometimes I Rhyme Slow
A gem of remixes from Common, Kanye West, Talib Kweli, MF Doom, Nas, and Aceyalone, all blended with Jose Gonzalez tunes. I saw Jose open for The Books at the MFA, and I immediately knew <a href="http://www.rideside.net:8080/2006/06/best_video_advert_since_the_honda_ad">he was on to something</a>. There are times when one person singing and playing guitar can leave you crying. Cheesey and nostalgic I know, but these remixes combine the best of hip-hop and folky guitar. Not an area of DJing that needs to, nor should be explored much further, yet there are moments listening to this that made me feel like it was 1989 and I was hearing Tribe Called Quest or De La Soul for the first time.
#1 TV on the Radio - Return to Cookie Mountain
Layers of music. I instantly get lost after any 3 tunes. I don't like saying it, but there is an "urgency" to all of it. No, it's not perfect, and no you can't dance to it, but it is absolutely art. I don't think they had a great time recording it, but it is raw and cannot be categorized. Sit on it.
Nya, Nya.
I have no idea what I listened to last year.
Lately it's been Steely Dan, The Violent Femmes (Hallowed Ground), and The Band The Band The Band.
Listening to a couple stolen tracks right now, on my own Making Monday Tuesday, for the first couple tracks I thought "Yeah, I like me my White Stripes". Then I checked iTunes™ to see what tracks and it was the Arctic Monkeys. It's enjoyable, I'll give 'em that.