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=> GENERAL DISCUSSION => Topic started by: ggw on December 06, 2006, 03:01:00 pm
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NPR:
Music
The Best CDs of 2006
NPR.org, December 5, 2006 · All Songs Considered host Bob Boilen counts down NPR listener picks for the ten best CDs of 2006, with reviewers Robert Christgau, Will Hermes, Meredith Ochs and John Richards. They also share some of their own favorites from the past year and take comments from listeners.
Below are the top ten CDs of 2006 as chosen by NPR listeners in an online poll, with select comments from some of the listeners who loved them.
10. Regina Spektor
Regina Spektor: Begin to Hope
"Fidelity" from Begin to Hope
"Regina sounds like Regina. Her voice is unmistakable ?? gorgeous, lithe, far from timid. Her songs are richly textured with unexpected yet accessible arrangements, and the variety of moods begs for many repeat listens. Her playful and sometimes theatrical way of addressing the human condition is the best melding of sugar and medicine I??ve been served up since Nellie McKay. Thanks NPR for introducing us." -- Barbara
9. Tom Waits
Tom Waits: Orphans
"Bottom of the World" from Orphans
"Way back in 1972 The Rolling Stones released Exile on Main St. That album was a tour through various styles and genres: blues, country, gospel, etc., but with all of them filtered through the Stones' musical identity. Well, it's taken 34 years, but someone has finally created another record of equal breadth, stylistic adventurousness and power. There's something here for everyone, and yet it's unmistakably Tom Waits. Only real artists can pull something like this off, and Waits not only pulls it off, he makes it seem easy." -- Steve
8. Jenny Lewis
Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins: Rabbit Fur Coat
"The Charging Sky" from Rabbit Fur Coat
"It touches the soul. It is both irreverent and uplifting. Her version of 'Handle Me With Care' gives me goose bumps. And I can just listen to Jenny Lewis sing forever." -- Randal
7. Cat Ppower
Cat Power: The Greatest
"The Greatest" from The Greatest
"Chan Marshall follows through on the promise of earlier albums You Are Free and Moon Pix, which ?? no pun intended ?? only flirted with greatness. Her latest album, recorded in Memphis with a host of veteran soul and R&B musicians, is a giant leap forward for this ever-intriguing songwriter. Sad, hopeful, lovelorn, romantic, regretful, sweet ?? Marshall's voice and lyrics convey emotions and feelings that most songwriters only pay lip service to. Quietly but confidently -- and I mean that figuratively and literally -- Marshall indeed delivered the greatest album of 2006." -- Jake
6. Joanna Newsom
Joanna Newsom: Ys
"Emily" from Ys
"Joanna Newsom is definitely an acquired taste. But once you settle into her world, you become addicted. She may caterwaul and screech her schwas, but for my money she has the most emotive voice going in music... a voice you can fall into like a well worn chair. Ys makes me feel as if I??m being physically lifted into the air -- the first album in a long while to evoke 'real world' sensations." -- Chris
5. TV On the Radio
TV On the Radio: Return to Cookie Mountain
"I Was A Lover" from Return to Cookie Mountain
"Simply put, there is no independent rock/pop band emerging anywhere on the scene pushing the boundaries of sound in such an imaginable, intelligent and stylish way. They embody all that is good about popular music: uncompromising standards and a radical sound that neither overwhelms the listener, nor underestimates them." -- Nathan
4. M. Ward
M. Ward: Post War
"Poison Cup" from Post War
"M. Ward's Post War has a mysterious and seductive quality that never grow tiring. The songs are never too long, always a little elusive, yet insistent and memorable. Not only are the songs little gems in their own right, they are set perfectly against each other. The record has that rare quality that makes you feel as though you are in a conversation in which everything said came at just the right moment." -- Mark
3. Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan: Modern Times
"Spirit on the Water" from Modern Times
"This is a high point for an artist whose high points redefined modern music. There is no irony in this album's title if you view history in a panoramic sense as Dylan seems to do. Dylan takes literary modernism to its next level, interspersing the lyrics of a confederate poet among blues forms that are rooted in African American tradition. His voice is worn but dances through this album. The album begins with the voice of God on the mountain and ends with a proclamation that Dylan 'ain??t talking.' Brilliant. This is a no brainer." -- Chuck
2. Neko Case
Neko Case: Fox Confessor Brings the Flood
"Margaret Vs. Pauline" from Fox Confessor Brings the Flood
"Neko Case has made another album shrouded in dark beauty. Fox Confessor's music sounds the way old black and white celebrity stills look. Confessional lyrics like, 'The most tender place in my heart is for strangers / I know it's unkind, but my own blood is much too dangerous,' make Case perfect for late night listening. She restrains herself from the melodrama that her popular country counterparts can't seem to avoid. She's content with making music that is truly entrancing. This is what modern country should sound like: thoughtful, evocative, all wrapped in a package that sounds oddly like home." -- Bertha
1. The Decemberists
The Decemberists: The Crane Wife
"The Crane Wife 3" from The Crane Wife
"The Decemberists manage to do something completely new from their previous album while retaining all the wonderful thigns that make them unique: Colin Meloy's fantastic storytelling, the ability to be incredibly creepy and yet entirely beautiful at the same time, not to mention the use of fun words. I'm torn between 'dirigible' and 'parallax' as my favorites, though I??m not sure either competes with 'palanquin' from their last album. Even if you put all that aside, this is just wonderful music, that makes me laugh, cry, join arm in arm with my fellow man." -- Felicity
"First, the music is phenomenal: the band moves away from its older, quieter sound into an eclectic, bold style. They veer from folk-rock to prog rock to funk to hard rock and back around again with ease, and it all sounds excellent. 'The Crane Wife' song cycle stands out, but so do the epic run-on 'The Island,' the Led Zeppelin-esque 'When the War Came,' and the mournful 'Yankee Bayonet.' Second, despite the range of genres, the album comes together as a cohesive whole. There's no filler on the album, and from the opening chords of 'The Crane Wife 3,' to the closing chants of 'Hear all the bombs, they fade away,' the album flows together perfectly. In short, one of the best bands producing music today outdid itself in spectacular fashion and nothing else quite matched it." -- Evan
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NME - Albums
50 The Kooks - Inside In / Inside Out
49 Absentee - Schmotime
48 Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly ?? The Chronicles of A Bohemian Teenager
47 Wolfmother ?? s/t
46 Semifinalists ?? s/t
45 Bob Dylan ?? Modern Times
44 Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan ?? Ballard of The Broken Seas
43 Beck ?? The Infromation
42 The Automatic ?? Not Accepted Anywhere
41 The Gossip ?? Standing In The Way of Control
40 Midlake ?? The Trials Of Van Occupanther
39 The Young Knives ?? Voices Of Animals and Men
38 Metric ?? Live It Out
37 Be Your Own Pet ?? s/t
36 Datarock ?? Datarock Datarock
35 Forward Russia ?? Give Me A Wall
34 Albert Hammond Jr. ?? Yours To Keep
33 The Bronx ?? s/t
32 Lily Allen ?? Alright, Still
31 The Sunshine Underground ?? Raise The Alarm
30 Cat Power ?? The Greatest
29 The Spinto Band ?? Nice and Nicely Done
28 Morrissey ?? Ringleader of The Tormentors
27 Clap Your Hands Say Yeah! ?? s/t
26 Jarvis ?? That Jarvis Cocker Record
25 Mogwai ?? Mr Beast
24 Secret Machines ?? Ten Silver Drops
23 The Knife ?? Silent Shout
22 The Flaming Lips ?? At War With The Mystics
21 The Raconteurs ?? Broken Boy Soldiers
20 The Streets ?? The Hardest Way To Make An Easy Living
19 The Longcut ?? A Call And Response
18 The Rapture ?? Pieces of The People We Love
17 The Futureheads ?? News and Tributes
16 Amy Whinehouse ?? Back To Black
15 Thom Yorke ?? The Eraser
14 TV On The Radio ?? Return To Cookie Mountain
13 Panic! At The Disco ?? A Fever You Can't Sweat Out
12 The Killers ?? Sam's Town
11 Howling Bells ?? s/t
10 My Chemical Romance ?? Welcome To The Black Parade
09 Kasabian ?? Empire
08 The Strokes ?? First Impressions of Earth
07 The Long Blondes ?? Someone To Drive You Home
06 Gnarls Barkley ?? St. Elsewhere
05 CSS ?? Cansei De Ser Sexy
04 Hot Chip ?? The Warning
03 Muse ?? Black Holes and Revelations
02 Yeah Yeah Yeahs ?? Show Your Bones
01 Arctic Monkeys ?? Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not
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man, that is one hella fauxhemian list.
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<img src="http://www.catbirdseat.org/catbirdseat/sep06/cheatsheet.jpg" alt=" - " />
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SO glad that my 3 favorite records of the year aren't on either of those lists.
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Amazon Editors' top 100 (http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?ref%5F=amb%5Flink%5F3959122%5F8&docId=1000031031&plpage=1)
1. Neko Case - Fox Confessor Brings the Flood
2. Bob Dylan - Modern Times
3. The Decemberists - The Crane Wife
4. KT Tunstall - Eye to the Telescope
5. Gnarls Barkley - St. Elsewhere
6. John Mayer - Continuum
7. Silversun Pickups - Carnavas
8. Los Amigos Invisbles - Superpop Venezuela
9. Sparklehorse Dreamt for Light Years In The Belly of a Mountain
10. Belle & Sebastian - The Life Pursuit
11. Pet Shop Boys - Fundamental
12. Drive-By Truckers - A Blessing and a Curse
13. Sondra Lerche and the Faces Down Quartet - Duper Sessions
14. The Wreckers - Stand Still, Look Pretty
15. Beck - The Information
16. Gotan Project - Lunatico
17. TV on the Radio - Return to Cookie Mountain
18. Destroyer - Destroyer's Rubies
19. The Black Keys - Magic Potion
20. Wolfmother - Wolfmother
21. Ali Farka Toure - Savane
22. Alejandro Escavado - The Boxing Mirror
23. The Who - Endless Wire
24. Toumani Diabate Symmetric Orchestra - Boulevard de l'Independance
25. Rodrigo y Gabriela - Rodrigo y Gabriela
26. The Hold Steady - Boys and Girls in America
27. Badi Assad - Wonderland
28. T Bone Burnett - The True False Identity
29. Band of Horses - Everything All The Time
30. Justin Timberlake - Futuresex/Lovesounds
31. The Flaming Lips - At War With the Mystics
32. Corinne Bailey Rae - Corinne Bailey Rae
33. The Ark - State of the Ark
34. Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I am, That's What I'm Not
35. My Chemical Romance - The Black Parade
36. Alexi Murdoch - Time Without Consequence
37. The Raconteurs - Broken Boy Soldiers
38. Pearl Jam - Pearl Jam
39. Gomez - How We Operate
40. Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoffs - Under the Covers, Vol 1
41. Jamey Johnson - The Dollar
42. The Go Betweens - That Striped Sunlight Sound
43. Soul Jazz Records Presents Tropicalia: A Brazilian Revolution in Sound
44. Badly Drawn Boy - Born in the U.K.
45. Weird Al Yankovic - Straight outta Lynwood
46. Jerry Lee Lewis - Last Man Standing
47. Todd Snider - The Devil You Know
48. CSS - Cansei de Ser Sexy
49. Mark Knopfler and Emmylou Harris - All the Roadrunning
50. Kieran Kane - Lost John Dean
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I figured NME would go with the Monkeys, or Muse, as #1. Only niggling point is that it came out so long ago, and their star has seemed to fall a bit as Alex Turner gets more and more cranky.
So, what will the grumpsters at Pitchfork call #1? I'll bet its Clipse -- PF always falls all over itself trying to be street. Gnarls is another one that will surely be very high on their list.
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Originally posted by ggw?:
9. Sparklehorse Dreamt for Light Years In The Belly of a Mountain
That's a refreshing choice.
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That NME list is pretty terrible. As for Pitchfork, my guess is that they'll go with the Hold Steady for number one.
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Id say Joanna Newsom. Didn't that, the Holdy Steady and the Clipse all tie for the highest ratings of the year? 9.4, maybe?
Originally posted by thingsfallapart:
That NME list is pretty terrible. As for Pitchfork, my guess is that they'll go with the Hold Steady for number one.
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Looks like I need to put together a year end best of list as very of the albums I was excited enough to buy and listen to made any of these lists....
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catbirdseat image
This has a few of my top ten pegged, but most of the albums on here that don't make mine are albums I REALLY don't like/get (Newsom/Furnaces/Liars).
I can't believe anyone has had enough time to absorb those Waits albums to put them on a list.
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Send in your personal favs of 2006 to brightestyoungthings.com, we have a little contest going on, details:
BYT Best of 2006 (http://www.brightestyoungthings.com/cale/2006/12/06/byt-readers-choice-best-albums-of-2006-contest/)
PS. we just do this web site for fun and don't make any money off it, and certainly don't care about using your email or personal info in any way.
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The Catbirdseat.org
Tier Three
Modest Mouse - We Were Dead....
Cleary a 2007 album thrown in to establish cred. Stupid.
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Originally posted by vansmack:
The Catbirdseat.org
Tier Three
Modest Mouse - We Were Dead....
Cleary a 2007 album thrown in to establish cred. Stupid.
i think it's supposed to be mocking someone who would throw a 2007 album in to establish cred :roll:
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Originally posted by BookerT:
man, that is one hella fauxhemian list.
i half expected to see edie brickell on there
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Here's the top 10 list of that great music writer (heck he's even written some books) Stephen King:
In 1957, I was 10 years old and my mother worked at a laundry in Stratford, Connecticut. She came in one afternoon while I was watching American Bandstand. The kids were dancing to something by Chuck Berry ?? maybe ''Roll Over Beethoven.'' She watched in silence for a while, then said: ''The man singing that is a Negro.''
''How do you know, Mom?'' I asked. I had simply assumed that Chuck Berry must be as white as...well, Pat Boone.
''Because,'' she said, ''he swings too hard to be white. Come here, Stevie.''
And then, with her feet almost certainly yelling for her to take a load off after her eight-hour shift, she taught me the basic bop-turn-and-dip step that I still use, when the music moves me.
Between Chuck Berry and Nirvana, I had a passionate 40-year love affair with the kind of music my mother called ''hard swing.'' I fell out of touch for a while, during that time when all the pop singers on the radio ?? female as well as male ?? had started to sound like Michael Jackson, and guitars were banished in favor of synthesizers.
What brought me back were two radical innovations: satellite radio (my brand happens to be XM) and iTunes (also my iPod, but for me that came later still). These were digital honky-tonks where I found ?? to my joy ?? that hard swing was alive and well. I've been listening, usually with the volume turned up to 11, ever since. These are the tracks that moved me in 2006...quite often enough to get up and shake my increasingly elderly ass.
10. ''Drunk All Around This Town,'' Scott Miller & the Commonwealth/''My Drinkin' Problem,'' Hank Williams III (tie)
I no longer drink, but I love songs about boozing, and these are beauts. The Hank III album is called Straight to Hell, and I imagine the Nashville establishment wishes young Mr. Williams would go there, posthaste. Me, I hope he sticks around. This is the real country: hollow of eye, pale of face, and bursting with the rhythm of the damned. Also, check out Hell's ''Low Down.''
9. ''Over My Head (Cable Car),'' The Fray
Old-school pop; for me, there's nothing better. Another of its ilk is ''Rudebox,'' by Robbie Williams.
8. ''Face the Promise,'' Bob Seger/''Real Mean Bottle,'' Bob Seger and Kid Rock
Not all of Seger's new album is great ?? ''Wait for Me'' is schmaltz ?? but these tracks are magnificent. They're part of a specific hard-swing genre; see below.
7. ''I'm a Rat,'' Towers of London
There is something to be said for straight puke-on-your-Dingo-boots rock & roll. Towers of London are mostly a joke, but this track ?? beginning with the shrieking air-raid siren ?? is, like those two priceless tracks on the Seger, the real deal.
6. Snake Farm, Ray Wylie Hubbard
Hubbard, an alt-country Southern rocker (his most memorable tune is called ''Screw You, We're From Texas''), is one mean motorcycle. Snake Farm is a double-wide load of blues guitar and sly humor, your basic old-school boogie. Best tracks: ''Heartaches and Grease'' and ''Live and Die Rock and Roll.''
5. Zoysia, The Bottle Rockets
The Bottle Rockets are often categorized as alt-country ?? by people who need categories ?? but what they really are is America's premier bar band. Zoysia (I don't know what it means either) is their best album ever ?? tuneful, soulful, and best of all, loud. Primo cuts: ''Better Than Broken,'' ''Feeling Down.''
4. ''Chasing Cars,'' Snow Patrol
Call me a sloppy sentimentalist if you want; I love this song. In fact, I never met a Snow Patrol song I didn't like (runner-up: ''You're All I Have''). If that makes you want to call me a sap, I can take it; that's why they pay me the big bucks.
3. ''Hey Valerie!'' The Derailers
The best country single of the year (from the album Soldiers of Love), but of course it got no airplay on the Top 40 country stations (duh). Country runner-up: a gorgeous love song, ''Would You Go With Me,'' by baritone Josh Turner.
2. ''God's Gonna Cut You Down,'' Johnny Cash
You could argue that Cash saved the best for last and get no disagreement from me. This is the voice of an Old Testament prophet on his deathbed, eerie and persuasive, full of power and dust and experience. The entire album (American V: A Hundred Highways) is a masterpiece, but this and ''Like the 309'' are the ones I keep coming back to.
1. The Animal Years, Josh Ritter
The best album of the year in a walk, and maybe the best album I've heard in the last five. Mysterious, melancholy, melodic...and those are only the M's. Songs like ''Girl in the War'' simply do not leave the consciousness once they're heard, but the album's real gem is the strange and gorgeous ''Thin Blue Flame.'' This is the most exuberant outburst of imagery since Bob Dylan's ''A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall,'' in 1963. The Animal Years is an amazing accomplishment.
That's my list of the best ?? all of it legally downloadable. My mother might have winced away from Towers of London, but as for the rest, I think she'd approve. After all, most of it swings hard ?? turns out that white people (everyone on this list is, in case you hadn't noticed) can do that after all. It only took us 50 years, but hey...we're gettin' there.
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I don't understand the obsession with Chasing fucking Cars. It's far from the best song on that album, even. Jesus H.
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Originally posted by you be betty:
I don't understand the obsession with Chasing fucking Cars. It's far from the best song on that album, even. Jesus H.
its on the radio though, isnt it? that means its the song that even people who dont actually have the album know.
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Originally posted by HoyaSaxa08:
i think it's supposed to be mocking someone who would throw a 2007 album in to establish cred :roll:
I agree - my statement was half tongue in cheek. Of course I would have included it in the "place these three anywhere category" but teir three is acceptable.
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A bad case of laryngitis forced Abraham Lincoln to lip-sync the Gettysburg Address. The speech was actually delivered by an aide hidden beneath the stage.
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Originally posted by you be betty:
I don't understand the obsession with Chasing fucking Cars. It's far from the best song on that album, even. Jesus H.
I know exactly what you mean. I haven't really listened to the radio in years, but for different reasons I've been exposed to it more than usual recently. I love the new Snow Patrol and like that song, but I am getting extremely sick of hearing it. Songs getting played to death is one of the reasons I mostly gave up on radio, and hearing "Chasing Cars" (a song I like) played so many times I'm beginning to almost dislike it is a good reminder of that.
I'll probably include a Snow Patrol song on my 2006 songs list, but it most definitely won't be that one.
I like a lot of the albums on these lists, but probably at least half of the ones in my top ten are nowhere to be found on them. Interesting. Kudos to King for putting Josh Ritter at #1, though, that was unexpected.
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Serious question: How many 2006 releases has everyone listened to? I would estimate I've listened to about 30 so far this year and I'd like to absorb The Knife and Ornette Coleman before before 12/31.
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Originally posted by renton007:
Serious question: How many 2006 releases has everyone listened to? I would estimate I've listened to about 30 so far this year and I'd like to absorb The Knife and Ornette Coleman before before 12/31.
75-100.
However, I have only heard six of NME's top 20.
There was a lot of music released this year.
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Originally posted by renton007:
Serious question: How many 2006 releases has everyone listened to? I would estimate I've listened to about 30 so far this year and I'd like to absorb The Knife and Ornette Coleman before before 12/31.
more than I have ever listened to before....I'd say about 60-80 at least....I sometimes wonder if this is a factor in my thinking its a 'down' year musically, if I'm giving albums less time to sink in....
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Originally posted by ggw?:
Originally posted by renton007:
Serious question: How many 2006 releases has everyone listened to? I would estimate I've listened to about 30 so far this year and I'd like to absorb The Knife and Ornette Coleman before before 12/31.
75-100.
However, I have only heard six of NME's top 20.
There was a lot of music released this year. [/b]
I own 24 of the NME top 50, and have heard something from almost all of them, but I'm one of the few who likes NME and uses it as one source for learning about new bands. I find the Amazon and NPR lists mostly boring.
I listened to a lot of new stuff this year, and bought close to a hundred new-release discs. Not sure why, just did. In past years, I tried to stay current on new stuff while also indulging my obsessions with older music from Bowie, Maiden, Roxy, Steely Dan, etc. This year, I didn't really have a nostalgia act, so I was mostly on the new stuff.
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Yeah, I guess I'm below par in the amount of 06 releases I've heard.
I too was disappointed in the NPR list. However, it's the listener's list. I think they do their own list culled from the staff pics so there's that to look forward to.
Sometimes it becomes a chore for me to plow through releases looking for something inspirational. More work than fun let's say, and music should always be fun.
Nothing hit me this year like Howl for example did last year. I'm the target audience for The Hold Steady release but it hasn't moved me yet.
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Originally posted by renton007:
Nothing hit me this year like Howl for example did last year. I'm the target audience for The Hold Steady release but it hasn't moved me yet.
You are not alone... (http://www.930.com/cgi-bin/ubb-cgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=014119)
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I REALLY REALLY dig the Walkmen's album. I think its their most complete to date. Surprised it didnt get more pub....
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I need to figure out how many new CDs that have been listened to this year... Kinda like Brennser, using eMusic and lala is a bit like drinking from the firehose, and it's hard to keep track of the total.
The thing is unlike last year when the Sugarplastic CD was the clearly the best thing I heard all year, 2006 has yet to produce a CD that completely did my head in start to finish. Middle Distance Runner, Mew, Alice Smith and a couple others came close. The Girl Talk album maybe the closest to "wow is truly amazing" but due to the fact it's more a feat of great sampling puts in a different category.
This year produced a number of really great singles from Camera Obscurs, Gnarls Barkley, Voxtrot and Van Hunt.
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Originally posted by renton007:
Serious question: How many 2006 releases has everyone listened to? I would estimate I've listened to about 30 so far this year and I'd like to absorb The Knife and Ornette Coleman before before 12/31.
about 70, but a lot of those are just first listens
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Originally posted by brennser:
more than I have ever listened to before....I'd say about 60-80 at least....I sometimes wonder if this is a factor in my thinking its a 'down' year musically, if I'm giving albums less time to sink in....
yeah, i have a similar feeling ... but i keep reading about new albums that i want to hear, and it kind of snowballs from there ... i've been going through rolling stone's 500 greatest albums list, and pitchfork's 100 greatest of the 70s 80s and 90s this year, so i think that's contributed to not really letting the new stuff sink in that much
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Originally posted by Steny Hoyer, Pubic Destroyer:
1. The Animal Years, Josh Ritter
The best album of the year in a walk, and maybe the best album I've heard in the last five. Mysterious, melancholy, melodic...and those are only the M's. Songs like ''Girl in the War'' simply do not leave the consciousness once they're heard, but the album's real gem is the strange and gorgeous ''Thin Blue Flame.'' This is the most exuberant outburst of imagery since Bob Dylan's ''A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall,'' in 1963. The Animal Years is an amazing accomplishment.
this is on emusic, if anyone's interested
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I dig Arctic Monkeys and all, but they're hardly the rock revolution everyone's crossing their fingers for. It sounds too much like the Hives, who sounded too much like the Stooges. Not a bad album, just ok.
Pete Yorn, Butch Walker, Regina Spektor, the Dresden Dolls, Billy Talent and the Rapture released some bitchin' albums.
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Originally posted by Coke-addled moron:
5. Zoysia, The Bottle Rockets
The Bottle Rockets are often categorized as alt-country ?? by people who need categories ?? but what they really are is America's premier bar band. Zoysia (I don't know what it means either) is their best album ever ?? tuneful, soulful, and best of all, loud. Primo cuts: ''Better Than Broken,'' ''Feeling Down.''
this album is almost unspeakably bad
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Sasha "Stephin Merritt is a Rockist Cracker" Frere Jones's top 29 Albums of 2006
ALBUMS
1. Scritti Politti ??White Bread, Black Beer? (Nonesuch)
2. Ghostface Killah ??Fishscale? (Def Jam)
3. Joanna Newsom ??Ys? (Drag City)
4. Clipse ??Hell Hath No Fury? (Re-Up/Zomba)
5. Arctic Monkeys ??Whatever People Say I Am, That??s What I??m Not? (Domino)
6. T.I. ??King? (Atlantic)
7. Deftones ??Saturday Night Wrist? (Warner Bros.)
8. DJ Drama & Lil Wayne ??Dedication 2? (Gangsta Grillz)
9. Grizzly Bear ??Yellow House? (Warp)
10. Shrift ??Lost In A Moment? (Six Degrees)
11. The La??s ??BBC In Session? (Universal Polydor)
12. Allison Moorer ??Getting Somewhere? (Sugar Hill)
13. Beyoncé ??B??Day? (Sony Urban Music/Columbia)
14. Brazilian Girls ??Talk To La Bomb? (Verve/Forecast)
15. E-40 ??My Ghetto Report Card? (Reprise)
16. Earl Greyhound ??Soft Targets? (Some)
17. Cat Power ??The Greatest? (Matador)
18. Trentemøller ??The Last Resort? (Poker Flat)
19. The Duke Spirit ??Cuts Across The Land? (Star Time)
20. Jennifer O??Connor ??Over The Mountain, Across The Valley And Back To The Stars? (Matador)
21. Love Is All ??Nine Times That Same Song? (What??s Your Rupture?)
22. Justin Timberlake ??FutureSex/LoveSounds? (Jive)
23. Sibylle Baier ??Colour Green? (Orange Twin)
24. Frida Hyvönen ??Until Death Comes? (Licking Fingers/Secretly Canadian)
25. Malajube ??Trompe-L'Oeil? (Dare to Care)
26. Goldfrapp ??Supernature? (Mute)
27. The Mountain Goats ??Get Lonely? (4AD)
28. Growing ??Color Wheel? (Troubleman Unlimited)
29. The Concretes ??In Colour? (Astralwerks)
http://www.sashafrerejones.com/2005/12/best_of_2006.html (http://www.sashafrerejones.com/2005/12/best_of_2006.html)
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Originally posted by vansmack:
Originally posted by HoyaSaxa08:
i think it's supposed to be mocking someone who would throw a 2007 album in to establish cred :roll:
I agree - my statement was half tongue in cheek. Of course I would have included it in the "place these three anywhere category" but teir three is acceptable. [/b]
actually, i saw that months ago. think the modest mouse record was supposed to be out this year at some point
in other words ancient.gif
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Allmusic's 25 Most crushworthy bands (http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=61::6%3CHP)
lots o'links to myspaces pages and a couple bands that are worth checking out!
Atari
The Bicycles
Aloe Blacc
Blood Red Shoes
Fake Problems
Firefox AK
Georgie James
Get Set Go
The Golden Dogs
Joan as Police Woman
Land of Talk
Les Breastfeeders
The Loved Ones
The Matinee Orchestra
Moneybrother
Montt Mardie
Oh No
Ponies in the Surf
Prototypes
Sambassadeur
Takka Takka
Those Transatlantics
Tigarah
White Shoes & the Couples Company
William Elliott Whitmore
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I downloaded a few Sambassadeur tracks, from emusic I think. Poppy fun tunes.
Originally posted by kosmo vinyl:
Allmusic's 25 Most crushworthy bands (http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=61::6%3CHP)
lots o'links to myspaces pages and a couple bands that are worth checking out!
Sambassadeur
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Originally posted by Tom Servo:
I downloaded a few Sambassadeur tracks, from emusic I think. Poppy fun tunes.
Originally posted by kosmo vinyl:
Allmusic's 25 Most crushworthy bands (http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=61::6%3CHP)
lots o'links to myspaces pages and a couple bands that are worth checking out!
Sambassadeur
[/b]
If you like Sambassadeur than you should check out my friends, Hearts Of Black Science. One of the guys from Sambassadeur is in HoBS. Personally, I think HoBS is much, much better.
In fact, they just left today (from Gothenburg) to go to London to mix their first full length album on a label I helped set them up with.
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snipped from coolfer (http://www.coolfer.com):
Apple Announces iTunes' Top Sellers Of 2006
For the first time, Apple announced its best-selling singles and albums for a year (read article at Billboard.biz). The trends are easy to see (they're evident in any given week). Singles are half middle-of-the-road pop rock and beat-driven R&B or hip hop. Albums are mostly rock and not at all urban.
The album list in particular shows American's digital music divide. Some of the top-selling albums of 2006 -- Carrie Underwood's Some Hearts, Mary J Blige's Breakthrough, Rascal Flatt's Me & My Gang -- did not make iTunes' Top 10.
Top Albums
1. The Fray: "How To Save A Life"
2. John Mayer: "Continuum"
3. Jack Johnson & Friends: "Curious George"
4. James Blunt: "Back To Bedlam"
5. Justin Timberlake: "Futuresex/LoveSounds"
6. Red Hot Chili Peppers: "Stadium Arcadium"
7. Dixie Chicks: "Taking The Long Way"
8. High School Musical: "Soundtrack"
9. Panic! At the Disco: "Fever You Can't Sweat Out"
10. Gnarls Barkley: "St. Elsewhere"
Top Tracks
1. Daniel Powter: "Bad Day"
2. Nelly Furtado: "Promiscuous"
3. James Blunt: "You're Beautiful"
4. Gnarls Barkley: "Crazy"
5. Sean Paul: "Temperature"
6. Justin Timberlake: "Sexyback"
7. The Fray: "Over My Head (Cable Car)"
8. Shakira: "Hips Don't Lie"
9. Natasha Bedingfield: "Unwritten"
10. Chamillionaire: "Ridin'"
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Pitchfork's top 50
http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/feature/40007/Staff_List_Top_50_Albums_of_2006/page_1 (http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/feature/40007/Staff_List_Top_50_Albums_of_2006/page_1)
Apparently, I'm no longer cool, as I only own 19 of the 50, and the list includes almost a dozen albums I've never even heard of.
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Apparently, Pitchfork is still not cool, as they didn't include the Neko Case album. I'm proud to day I only own four of them, and one only because I got it for 25 cents at Tower.
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It says a lot that it took until 4:05pm for someone to post Pitchfork's list on the Forum.
A few years ago it would have been posted within seconds.
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Aren't we all more concerned with Beyonce's boob?
Originally posted by allmy$to930:
It says a lot that it took until 4:05pm for someone to post Pitchfork's list on the Forum.
A few years ago it would have been posted within seconds.
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Originally posted by Steny Hoyer, Pubic Destroyer:
Aren't we all more concerned with Beyonce's boob?
If I was her, I'd wear more sweatshirts.
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Tiny Mix Tapes (http://www.tinymixtapes.com/spip.php?article571)
1. Joanna Newsom
2. Liars
3. TV on the Radio
4. Ghosface Killah
5. Juana Molina (need to check this out, good?)
6. Yo La Tengo
7. Grizzly Bear
8. Scott Walker
9. Califone
10. Josephine Foster
11. Magik Markers
12. Carla Bozulich
13. Keith Fullerton Whitman
14. Wolf Eyes
15. Herbert
16. Tim Hecker
17. J Dilla
18. Neko Case
19. OOIOO
20. Junior Boys
21. Cat Power
22. Boris
23. Comets on Fire
24. Spankrock
25. Beirut
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If you get a 1 year subscription to Magnet, you can choose that album for free. Haven't received my copy yet.
Originally posted by ggw?:
Tiny Mix Tapes (http://www.tinymixtapes.com/spip.php?article571)
5. Juana Molina (need to check this out, good?)
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Originally posted by ggw?:
Tiny Mix Tapes (http://www.tinymixtapes.com/spip.php?article571)
5. Juana Molina (need to check this out, good?)
Yes, very much so.... She is absolutely amazing.
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I hadn't seen the tinymixtapes list. Wow. Not that there are a lot of surprises, and to a certain extent I respect what a lot of those bands/artists are doing, but there's maybe two or three albums on there I would enjoy listening to.
Joanna / Liars as the top two? That's a list only a critic could love.
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the liars are awesome. they put up one of the best live shows ive ever seen. its just a solid wall of thunderous drums and guitar wailing.
joanna newsom...now thats a whole 'nother bag of worms. she just sounds so awful; i cant get past her voice.
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These lists always entertain me. They always omit bands such as Tool but never fail to slob the knobs of RHCP, et al. I would love for one of the bands on any of these lists to attempt to replicate a set list from a Tool performance let alone an album. I do not get it and I suppose I never will.
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"Showbiz Tonight" Executive Producer Dave Levine picks Keane's "Under the Iron Sea" as one of the year's top albums, singling out the song "Hamburg" as particularly noteworthy. "If there is one cut on this CD that will give you goosebumps it is 'Hamburg,' with lyrics of longing of what could be, with the person you could give unrequited love to," he says.
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Having not determined mine yet( must remember to do that), here's one of the better lists I've seen, compiled by the owner of rednailmusic :
1 natural snow buildings - the dance of the moon & the sun
two discs, each nearly 80 minutes, not a second of filler.
beautifully amazing drone folk from french/argentinian duo.
don't just take my word for it, go here:
http://www.digitalisindustries.com/foxyd/reviews.php?which=1738 (http://www.digitalisindustries.com/foxyd/reviews.php?which=1738)
or here:
http://www.animalpsi.com/index.php?entry=entry061111-150413 (http://www.animalpsi.com/index.php?entry=entry061111-150413)
2 horse feathers - words are dead
best folk pop album since "pink moon", the violin and cello are
tasteful inclusions. great vocals, solid lyrics. a very close
second place.
3 phelan sheppard - harps old master
experimental ambient goodness from members of state river
widening. the last few minutes of "broken in the wrong places"
are of an untouchable quality.
4 titan - s/t
lysergic space rock of the highest order from brooklyn (yet with
german song titles, go figure!). 3 long songs that really should
never end.
5 valley of ashes - cavehill hunters attrition
fantastic 3 LP release of lo-fi acid freak folk from kentucky
6 wooden wand & the sky high band - second attention
another fine release from the wand. every song is a winner,
though the best wand track this year was "war star days" from
the "horus of the horizon" LP on three lobed.
7 various production - the world is gone
cream of the dubstep/grime/uk garage crop. confusing name, but
the music and vocals speak beautiful volumes
8 ashtray navigations - four more raga moods
best of all the 2006 ashtray releases (5 or 6 total, I think).
intense psychedelic drone and noise.
9 six organs of admittance - the sun awakens
not my favorite chasny release, but ben never disappoints. great
stuff from start to finish.
10 andrew douglas rothbard - abandon meander
fantastic california one-man psych folk. a late entry, but
well-deserved.
11 titan - pilzmarmelade
again, lysergic space rock of the highest order from brooklyn.
with 2 releases in my top 11, i'd have to call them my "band of
the year" though it's probably a tie between them and natural
snow buildings
12 cloudland canyon - requiems der natur
bizarre yet very cohesive experimental free-folk-psych.
13 entrance - prayer of death
high intensity acid rock with pop sensibilites. catchy, but
still mindfucking.
14 birchville cat motel - our love will destroy the world
campbell kneale does no wrong. ever. this one is a killer.
noisy, psychedelic drone rock.
15 the loosers - bumba meu boi
lo-fi free psych mayhem released on cassette only! awesome!
16 residual echoes - mfi-gbsp
more great spacy headfuck krautrock from california.
17 graumahd - cheru
beautiful german apocalyptic neo-folk
18 the king khan & bbq show - what's for dinner?
loud nasty garage soul punk... and a side of beans!
19 kode9 & the spaceape - memories of the future
another great electronic dubstep release with fantastic mr.
eko-like vocalisms from the spaceape.
20 daniel higgs - ancestral songs
frontman of lungfish does the folk drone thing very, very well
21 sala arhimo - pelko pois
twisted forest psychedelia from finland
22 gorch fock - thriller
take equal parts jesus lizard, cows & butthole surfers (pre-sell
out days). mix well. serve. repeat.
23 kill the vultures - the careless flame
lo-fi hip hop/rock. noisy samples, loud as fuck percussion and a
pissed off mc who reminds me of gil scott heron.
24 porlolo - storm & season
fantastic female folk pop from austin, tx.
25 nalle - by chance upon waking
more free-folk-type stuff. beautiful, charming and disturbing at
the same time.
26 scott h. biram - graveyard shift
another fantastic album from the "dirty old one man band". only
artist on bloodshot that truly interests me these days.
27 om - conference of the birds
two long songs from ex-Sleep in the "early pink floyd meets vol.
4-era black sabbath" realm
28 skygreen leopards - disciples of california
the re-birth of cosmic american music. best album yet from this
band.
29 mountains - sewn
cool acoustic ambience with some great field recordings
throughout
30 l.e.o. - alpacas orgling
a tribute to ELO without any ELO songs! some perfect 70's Top 40
orchestral psych-pop for the modern age
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birchville cat motel fucking rocks! oh yeah baby!