20. Thom Yorke "The Eraser"
Melanchotronic, in one word. "Black Swan" and "Harrowdown Hill" are two of the years best computer generated tracks. I overplayed this one a little, and it became repetitive, but a month later it was fresh again. If you were a fan of Radiohead's Kid A, this album will not disappoint.
19. Black Keys "Magic Potion"
Need an album to listen to at the gym? Try this classic-rock revival act. Black Keys walk the line somewhere between blues, rock, and light metal. Led Zeppelin is probably the easiest comparison, but I would say Muddy Waters and Robert Johnson are just as much of an influence. Magic Potion reaches its peak on tracks 8 and 9, which demonstrate how imitation in art is a necessary and sometimes beautiful evil. By the way, it's also not bad for mood music for poker night and a little nookie in the backseat, as long as you're driving a 77' Chevy Monte Carlo and sportin' your washed denim jacket with eagle wing insignia.
18. Camera Obscura "Let's Get Out of This Country"
For fans of Belle and Sebastian or The Sundays. If the Black Keys gave us the testosterone fueled album of the year, let me introduce you to the estrogen fueled album of the year. Lead vocalist Tracyanne Campbell sings about heartbreak, sleeping around in search of love, "Tears for Affairs", escapism, and independence in a way that is surprisingly not at all hackneyed, commonplace, or trite (I have always used these three words as a group ever since I was promised they would be on the SATs). Musically, there are no real weak spots on this Scottish group's 3rd album. Emotionally, the album seems ready to wilt the whole way through, in a manner most pleasant. Tea and crumpets anyone?
17. Bob Dylan "Modern Times"
I'll admit it, I have called this man washed up on several ocassions. I saw him at Farm Aid in Chicago in 1998, and couldn't wait for the next act to take the stage. I saw him again live at the beginning of the century, and judging by the sound quality of his vocals, was surprised to see he didn't have an oxygen tank and nurse by his side. Surprisingly enough, Dylan, at the tender age of 65, has released three excellent studio albums in the past 10 years. I rank Modern Times right up there with Time Out of Mind and Love and Theft. Where Van Morrison fell short this year trying to pull of his smoky club lounge act, Dylan sounds right at home. Modern Times is as American as it gets.
16. The Blow "Paper Television"
I've got to give props to my boy Spaulding from the great state of Indiana for turning me on to blow, The Blow that is. Thirty seconds into him bumping this album at the Wendy's drive through in Fayetville, Arkansas, I knew I couldn't get enough of The Blow, the band that is.
From Amazon.com
"The Blow's songs are light enough to sail easily through the air, landing simultaneously on the turntable of a London DJ, in your mom's car stereo, and in the iPod of a middle schooler in study hall. However, they're somehow heavy enough to stick around, laying in your mind long after their new album is over. No-wave and glitch-hop, club anthems, and doo-wop all party together in the architecture created by The Blow's sound. "
Make sure you check out track 10, "True Affection", my longest running MySpace profile jam of the year.
Amazon Omakase Banner
Sunday, January 28, 2007
Sunday, January 21, 2007
Top 25 Albums of 2006: 25-21
25. Islands "Return to the Sea"
from Pitchfork
"It turns out that, while Diamonds' Graceland references weren't just snarcastic pranks, Return to the Sea is a sprawling, gorgeous collection of pop songs that draws from disparate sources such as calypso, country, and hip-hop. The record also relies more heavily on organic sounds and structure than the Unicorns' LP did: Where Who Will Cut Our Hair rewarded listeners with unexpected eruptions in the middle of songs or flat-out rockers dropped off a sonic cliff into plaintive minor chords, Islands present a more linear approach in their arrangements. Songs like album opener "Swans (Life After Death)" propel forward, picking up steam to the point of bursting. Only after "Swans" has marinated for nearly seven minutes, for example, does Tambeur abandon his shuffling and stuttering beats for cathartic, straight-ahead drumming. Islands' charm, then, is all wrapped up in the richness of the production: unusual instrumentation and tiny flourishes create dense compositions that demand repeated listening."
24. John Mayer "Continuum"
A cheesy poem review of Continuum:
There's a lot of Mayer haters out there,
but I'm puttin him in my top 25 cuz I just don't care.
Don't hate the player, hate the game,
or else you'll be waitin' on the world to change.
He's got the chops, got the licks, but most importantly he's got the riffs,
homeboy even covers Axis: Bold as Love in tribute to Hendrix.
My punk rock buddies cringe at this review,
but secretly play air guitar alone in their rooms to Track #2,
I Don't Trust Myself (With Loving You).
I left Mastodon's Blood Mountain off the list to put this one on,
mostly to please all the Myspace whores who still think he's the bomb.
23. Grizzly Bear "Yellow House"
The truth is, I wanted this to be the album of the year before I even heard it. Perhaps it was the cover art, which reminded me of the top floor of my grandparents' Massachusetts home. Come to find out the album was actually recorded at band leader Edward Droste's mothers' house near Cape Cod. After discovering their debut Horn of Plenty several months before the album was released, my expectations for the highly-acclaimed follow up were high. Since it was not available at Best Buy (nothing ever is) I decided to test out BestBuy.com and ordered it off the website, to see how they stacked up to Amazon. The truth is, they really didn't. It took a couple weeks to arrive, and by that time, the anticipation was too much. After the first listen, all I thought was "That's it?" Initially, nothing really stood out. It was a quiet album. I don't think I made it all the way through. I tried it again, and I made it all the way through. The next time, I started to like it, but I still didn't get it. Eventually, the banjos, pianos, waltzes, hushed vocals, and atmosphere of the album began to have an effect. And then I really listened to track #3, Knife, for the first time, and it hit me. There actually is something beautiful and special about this album. Although I still haven't got it completely figured out, I suspect that by the end of next year, Yellow House will have grown on me even more, and I will look back and say it was one of the Top 5 of the year. For now, I'll just put it at #23.
22. Danielson "Ships"
In my overview of the year, I mentioned that I left a few albums that were too experimental or artsy off my top 25. If it didn't have a few good singles, I rarely gave it a spin on the old stereo. Danielson's Ships was an exception. Initially, I was turned off, repulsed even, by the vocals, but once I began to explore the lyrics, I was absolutely willing to put up with them, and began to understand their purpose alongside the instrumentation, which I respected immediately. Most Christian bands I hear bore me. While I respect the message much more than most hip-hop (make money, exploit women, treat them poorly, sell drugs), I would much rather blast T.I. from my car stereo than "I Could Sing of Your Love Forever" or "I Can Only Imagine". It seems to me that most contemporary Christian music tries to imitate popular music, and ends up not sounding authentic, at all. Danielson's lyrics are spiritual and encouraging, without being preachy or boring. Bloodbook on the Halfshell boasts my favorite lyrics of the year (though not overtly spiritual at all). "Stacking/organizing/filing/piling way up high and rising/dewey dusty/decimalizing/sorting/tracking/systemizing." Sounds like a day in my life, in my basement, with my books. The music rocks too, with sing-along choruses, blaring trumpets, and crashing cymbals. The more I listen to Ships, the more I look forward to going through Danielson's back catalog.
21. Beck "The Information"
Beck's Guero was hands down my favorite album of 2005. Unfortunately, The Information barely made the top 25. Let me get one thing straight, Beck still makes better music than 98% of the rest of the world, in his sleep. I have no doubt that he will be remembered as a pioneer who combined rock, hip-hop, electronic, and folk music to create his own brand of music that is always enjoyable. My main issue with The Information was that it sounded like a B-sides album put together from the Guero, Sea Change, and Odelay sessions. Except for "Elevator Music," one of my favorite singles of 2006. "Dark Star" sounds like this year's "Paper Tiger," but not quite as good. "Movie Theme" also would have sounded more at home on Sea Change. "1000 BPM" showcases Beck's intelligent white-boy freestyling skills, but doesn't really hold a candle to "Hotwax." And then there is the repetition of Herbie Hancock's Headhunters beat in "Cellphone's Dead". I'm not sure about this yet,whether I consider it a sacrilegous sample, or a bold homage. The spoken word piece that closes the album, and seems to refer to it, borders on idiotic. While The Information keeps my interest and will continue to receive heavy rotation throughout my lifetime, I'm pretty sure I'd most likely opt for another Beck album. Again, I'm not trying to trash Beck, as he's still one of the best, I just hold him to a higher standard now. Another list he did make #1 on this year was for Best Album Insert. My copy came with a sheet of colorful stickers to be placed on the insert to create your own unique cover art. While it may seem like a ploy to get you to buy the actual CD instead of burning it or getting the music in MP3 format, it is tons of fun nonetheless.
from Pitchfork
"It turns out that, while Diamonds' Graceland references weren't just snarcastic pranks, Return to the Sea is a sprawling, gorgeous collection of pop songs that draws from disparate sources such as calypso, country, and hip-hop. The record also relies more heavily on organic sounds and structure than the Unicorns' LP did: Where Who Will Cut Our Hair rewarded listeners with unexpected eruptions in the middle of songs or flat-out rockers dropped off a sonic cliff into plaintive minor chords, Islands present a more linear approach in their arrangements. Songs like album opener "Swans (Life After Death)" propel forward, picking up steam to the point of bursting. Only after "Swans" has marinated for nearly seven minutes, for example, does Tambeur abandon his shuffling and stuttering beats for cathartic, straight-ahead drumming. Islands' charm, then, is all wrapped up in the richness of the production: unusual instrumentation and tiny flourishes create dense compositions that demand repeated listening."
24. John Mayer "Continuum"
A cheesy poem review of Continuum:
There's a lot of Mayer haters out there,
but I'm puttin him in my top 25 cuz I just don't care.
Don't hate the player, hate the game,
or else you'll be waitin' on the world to change.
He's got the chops, got the licks, but most importantly he's got the riffs,
homeboy even covers Axis: Bold as Love in tribute to Hendrix.
My punk rock buddies cringe at this review,
but secretly play air guitar alone in their rooms to Track #2,
I Don't Trust Myself (With Loving You).
I left Mastodon's Blood Mountain off the list to put this one on,
mostly to please all the Myspace whores who still think he's the bomb.
23. Grizzly Bear "Yellow House"
The truth is, I wanted this to be the album of the year before I even heard it. Perhaps it was the cover art, which reminded me of the top floor of my grandparents' Massachusetts home. Come to find out the album was actually recorded at band leader Edward Droste's mothers' house near Cape Cod. After discovering their debut Horn of Plenty several months before the album was released, my expectations for the highly-acclaimed follow up were high. Since it was not available at Best Buy (nothing ever is) I decided to test out BestBuy.com and ordered it off the website, to see how they stacked up to Amazon. The truth is, they really didn't. It took a couple weeks to arrive, and by that time, the anticipation was too much. After the first listen, all I thought was "That's it?" Initially, nothing really stood out. It was a quiet album. I don't think I made it all the way through. I tried it again, and I made it all the way through. The next time, I started to like it, but I still didn't get it. Eventually, the banjos, pianos, waltzes, hushed vocals, and atmosphere of the album began to have an effect. And then I really listened to track #3, Knife, for the first time, and it hit me. There actually is something beautiful and special about this album. Although I still haven't got it completely figured out, I suspect that by the end of next year, Yellow House will have grown on me even more, and I will look back and say it was one of the Top 5 of the year. For now, I'll just put it at #23.
22. Danielson "Ships"
In my overview of the year, I mentioned that I left a few albums that were too experimental or artsy off my top 25. If it didn't have a few good singles, I rarely gave it a spin on the old stereo. Danielson's Ships was an exception. Initially, I was turned off, repulsed even, by the vocals, but once I began to explore the lyrics, I was absolutely willing to put up with them, and began to understand their purpose alongside the instrumentation, which I respected immediately. Most Christian bands I hear bore me. While I respect the message much more than most hip-hop (make money, exploit women, treat them poorly, sell drugs), I would much rather blast T.I. from my car stereo than "I Could Sing of Your Love Forever" or "I Can Only Imagine". It seems to me that most contemporary Christian music tries to imitate popular music, and ends up not sounding authentic, at all. Danielson's lyrics are spiritual and encouraging, without being preachy or boring. Bloodbook on the Halfshell boasts my favorite lyrics of the year (though not overtly spiritual at all). "Stacking/organizing/filing/piling way up high and rising/dewey dusty/decimalizing/sorting/tracking/systemizing." Sounds like a day in my life, in my basement, with my books. The music rocks too, with sing-along choruses, blaring trumpets, and crashing cymbals. The more I listen to Ships, the more I look forward to going through Danielson's back catalog.
21. Beck "The Information"
Beck's Guero was hands down my favorite album of 2005. Unfortunately, The Information barely made the top 25. Let me get one thing straight, Beck still makes better music than 98% of the rest of the world, in his sleep. I have no doubt that he will be remembered as a pioneer who combined rock, hip-hop, electronic, and folk music to create his own brand of music that is always enjoyable. My main issue with The Information was that it sounded like a B-sides album put together from the Guero, Sea Change, and Odelay sessions. Except for "Elevator Music," one of my favorite singles of 2006. "Dark Star" sounds like this year's "Paper Tiger," but not quite as good. "Movie Theme" also would have sounded more at home on Sea Change. "1000 BPM" showcases Beck's intelligent white-boy freestyling skills, but doesn't really hold a candle to "Hotwax." And then there is the repetition of Herbie Hancock's Headhunters beat in "Cellphone's Dead". I'm not sure about this yet,whether I consider it a sacrilegous sample, or a bold homage. The spoken word piece that closes the album, and seems to refer to it, borders on idiotic. While The Information keeps my interest and will continue to receive heavy rotation throughout my lifetime, I'm pretty sure I'd most likely opt for another Beck album. Again, I'm not trying to trash Beck, as he's still one of the best, I just hold him to a higher standard now. Another list he did make #1 on this year was for Best Album Insert. My copy came with a sheet of colorful stickers to be placed on the insert to create your own unique cover art. While it may seem like a ploy to get you to buy the actual CD instead of burning it or getting the music in MP3 format, it is tons of fun nonetheless.
Sunday, January 14, 2007
2006- Musical Year in Review
In 2005 I welcomed inventive and groundbreaking albums from Sufjan Stevens, Animal Collective, Beck, Antony and the Johnsons and Kanye. This year in music, I was more reluctant to let the more experimental, yet critically acclaimed, albums find time in my stereo. For me, 2006 was more about the discovery of a catchy tune or album, “what can I put on my friends new mix tape?” year. A riveting 12 minute ballad from Joanna Newsom didn’t have much of a chance, nor did nearly anything from Scott Walker’s Drift or the Liars Drum’s Not Dead. As much as I appreciate their efforts as artists, I didn’t have the patience to let the art have much of an affect on me.
In many ways, it was also a bit of a throwback year. Bands like Black Keys and Wolfmother channeled Led Zeppelin, Man Man sounded a bit like a modern day, early unpolished Tom Waits, who released a notable 3 CD set himself. Band of Horses and Silversun Pickups’ albums could have been released to much acclaim in the early 90’s alternative scene. Bob Dylan released another grammy worthy album, 5 years after I saw him in concert and called him washed up. Cat Power put aside her indie-rock roots for the moment to write a memorable blues album. Perhaps she realized there would be enough indie-rock to go around everywhere else. Call it the OC effect; it has certainly given some excellent bands plenty of exposure. I constantly hear The Decemberists major label debut while walking through Barnes and Noble. TV On the Radio’s “Return to Cookie Mountain” was prominently showcased at Urban Outfitters. Death Cab for Cutie is no longer the band your little sister would never care about. My local Starbucks played M. Ward on heavy rotation. Indie-rock seems poised to overtake hip-hop as MTV’s newest product. I see it as more of a Long Tail effect, in which there will be less mega blockbuster number one hits, and more quality bands getting some deserved airplay for a change. Radio stations, and hopefully television, will become personalized to uniquely suit the tastes of the individual viewer. While this newfound exposure of quality music probably won’t be on TRL, it will continue to grow in your local coffee shops and bookstores, and probably has been in most college towns for some time. I lead a sheltered and uncultured existence here in Wichita.
Certain genres had better years than others in 2006. While my all-time favorite musician, Van Morrison, disappointed me with his uninspired (I can’t believe I’m saying this about him) country cover album Pay the Devil, there was a slew of excellent coke-rap albums from T.I., Clipse, and Ghostface Killah there to pick up the slack. Add to that a dash of danceable doses from Junior Boys, Hot Chip, Herbert, and Basement Jaxx, and it’s enough to make me forget about Van for another year altogether. And finally, what would 2006 have been without the releases of albums from Camera Obscura, Neko Case, Cat Power, The Blow, and Beach House. In many ways, 2006 was the year of the intelligent and attractive female vocalist. You see, you don’t just have to choose one or the other. I’ll spare any parting shots at Britney, as The Flaming Lips took care of that for us.
My top 20 favorite albums will follow in the next several days, 5 at a time. The criterion for ranking them was simple: which albums did I listen to the most at home, on the road, and in my sleep? There will also be a few other end of year lists. Feel free to remind which albums I forgot to include, and which you think I should have left off. You can purchase some of the albums that made the list at my website. As always, if you don’t enjoy your purchase, I will buy it back from you.
To close, here are a few artists releasing highly anticipated albums in early 2007: The Shins, Wilco, Norah Jones, Bloc Party, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Modest Mouse
In many ways, it was also a bit of a throwback year. Bands like Black Keys and Wolfmother channeled Led Zeppelin, Man Man sounded a bit like a modern day, early unpolished Tom Waits, who released a notable 3 CD set himself. Band of Horses and Silversun Pickups’ albums could have been released to much acclaim in the early 90’s alternative scene. Bob Dylan released another grammy worthy album, 5 years after I saw him in concert and called him washed up. Cat Power put aside her indie-rock roots for the moment to write a memorable blues album. Perhaps she realized there would be enough indie-rock to go around everywhere else. Call it the OC effect; it has certainly given some excellent bands plenty of exposure. I constantly hear The Decemberists major label debut while walking through Barnes and Noble. TV On the Radio’s “Return to Cookie Mountain” was prominently showcased at Urban Outfitters. Death Cab for Cutie is no longer the band your little sister would never care about. My local Starbucks played M. Ward on heavy rotation. Indie-rock seems poised to overtake hip-hop as MTV’s newest product. I see it as more of a Long Tail effect, in which there will be less mega blockbuster number one hits, and more quality bands getting some deserved airplay for a change. Radio stations, and hopefully television, will become personalized to uniquely suit the tastes of the individual viewer. While this newfound exposure of quality music probably won’t be on TRL, it will continue to grow in your local coffee shops and bookstores, and probably has been in most college towns for some time. I lead a sheltered and uncultured existence here in Wichita.
Certain genres had better years than others in 2006. While my all-time favorite musician, Van Morrison, disappointed me with his uninspired (I can’t believe I’m saying this about him) country cover album Pay the Devil, there was a slew of excellent coke-rap albums from T.I., Clipse, and Ghostface Killah there to pick up the slack. Add to that a dash of danceable doses from Junior Boys, Hot Chip, Herbert, and Basement Jaxx, and it’s enough to make me forget about Van for another year altogether. And finally, what would 2006 have been without the releases of albums from Camera Obscura, Neko Case, Cat Power, The Blow, and Beach House. In many ways, 2006 was the year of the intelligent and attractive female vocalist. You see, you don’t just have to choose one or the other. I’ll spare any parting shots at Britney, as The Flaming Lips took care of that for us.
My top 20 favorite albums will follow in the next several days, 5 at a time. The criterion for ranking them was simple: which albums did I listen to the most at home, on the road, and in my sleep? There will also be a few other end of year lists. Feel free to remind which albums I forgot to include, and which you think I should have left off. You can purchase some of the albums that made the list at my website. As always, if you don’t enjoy your purchase, I will buy it back from you.
To close, here are a few artists releasing highly anticipated albums in early 2007: The Shins, Wilco, Norah Jones, Bloc Party, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Modest Mouse
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