Fer realz kidz. Well, okay, so I haven't updated my music blog in about 5 or 6 months. That doesn't mean I haven't enjoyed the buttloads of music released this year that were totally awesome. In all honesty, this does not consider EVERY album made this year. I made a "shortlist", so to speak, of the 65 albums released in 2006 that I listened to from beginning to end. Out of these, I whittled down the 10 best albums of the year and the 10 biggest disappoinments. So, kids, observe and prepare to be dazzled.
THE TOP 10 ALBUMS OF 2006-
Album Of The Year: Ghostface Killah-Fishscale
There was tons of great hip-hop released this year that was criminally neglected so as to carry on the only occasionally true theory about the genre: that the good ol' days are gone and mainstream hip-hop is nothing more today than a parade of money, cars, and booty. Before 2006, I felt mainstream hip-hop was going by that wayside. That was until Wu-Tang Clan legend Ghostface Killah released his awesomely crazy yet still deliciously accessible album Fishscale. From the surprisingly listenable radio fare of
Back Like That, to the loopy cocaine funk of Kilo and Shakey Dog, and even to the glorification of child abuse in Whip You with a Strap and the immersive dream landscape that is Underwater, Ghost has effectively taken a conscious look at the lifestyle of a straight gangsta rapper, wowing the nerds with his wordplay and appeasing the thugs with his message. This transcendence went purely unmatched in 2006.
2. TV on the Radio-Return to Cookie Mountain
Coming off the enjoyably krautrocky Desperate Youth, Bloodthirsty Babes, Tunde Adebimpe & Co. knew that all they needed to do to advance their songsmanship was to tighten & elaborate their sound, so they did just that. Displaying a multidemensionality that's a pleasant suprise to the ears from every angle, Return to Cookie Mountain follows through on the hype and the anticipation beautifully.
3. Clipse-Hell Hath No Fury
Whoever decided to shelve this album for 3 years was nuts. The Neptunes unleash a few more of the firestorm beats they became famous for in their heyday, long before Pharell made In my Mind. MCs Pusha T and Malice are still on point and at roughly the same level as they were on their landmark debut album, Lord Willin'. And check that harp on Ride Around Shinin'. Oh lawdy.
4. Destroyer-Destroyer's Rubies
Dan Bejar of The New Pornographers delivers his flamboyantly sinister wit without the jubilant motif of the Pornos taking the macabre elements out of his songwriting. Kinda sounds like Steely Dan's registered-sex-offender evil twin.
5. Prefuse 73-Security Screenings
Look out world, here comes instrumental hip-hop. It's not his masterwork (That's still One Word Extinguisher), but one listen to a glitch patchwork like With Dirt and Two Texts-Afternoon Version and two things become clear: One, this is Guillermo Scott Herren, and two, it is indeed impossible to turn off.
6. The Decemberists-The Crane Wife
A Capitol Records contract cannot stop the Decemberists' prog-pop brigade. Its predecessor, Picaresque, was my 3rd best album of 2005, and Colin Meloy's crew stakes their claim in my top 10 once again with a set that is much more ambitious. For example, 13-minute epic The Island: Come & See/The Landlord’s Daughter/You’ll Not Feel The Drowning strongly channels, and perhaps even exceeds the work of the legendary early lineup of Genesis that featured Peter Gabriel.
7. Grandaddy-Just Like The Fambly Cat
It's sad when a band as essential as Grandaddy breaks up, but at least they left us with a record that can stand as one of the top achievements of their career. The group's top attractions, Jason Lytle's childlike voice and their ironically tacky electrodynamics, work together beautifully onElevate Myself, Where I'm Anymore, and Disconnecty.
8. Girl Talk-Night Ripper
The most pleasant surprise of the year. On this mashup record, there is one point where the iconic verses of The Notorious B.I.G.'s Juicy bounce in synergy with Elton John'sTiny Dancer. If you think that's crazy, the entire album is based upon such juxtapositions.
9. Band of Horses-Everything All the Time
When I heard the album's lead single, The Funeral, I was quick to dismiss them as emo My Morning Jacket ripoffs. However, their riffs are so strong and the album so persistient that it proved an apt replacement for MMJ in my year-end list.
10. Belle & Sebastian-The Life Pursuit
In the past, B&S' wispy indie pop had made for a wonderful backdrop to the life of a hipster. But now that they've tried different sounds and more immediate melodies on this record, it's the band that's put themselves on the forefront this time around.
THE 10 BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENTS OF 2006-
1. The Killers-Sam's Town
The Killers turned a synthalicious dance party into a rythmically deficient amateur hour novelty act that steals ideas from other people and claims it's the greatest thing yet. The regression is painful. They are now the Oasis of Las Vegas.
2. Snow Patrol-Eyes Open
Since towering indie-pop with an ability to muscle it's way through other wussy bands just became too boring for them, Snow Patrol traded that for the sound of a neutered U2, a display of sappy balladry so bleak it probably pissed even Tears for Fears off. The payoff? Heavy rotation on VH1! Shock horror...
3. The Futureheads-News & Tributes
The XTC comparisions went to their head. XTC are amazing,yes, but the Futureheads are no XTC. Although they both started their careers with stripped down punk rock, XTC were smart and melodic enough to expand. The 'Heads were in the business of being loud, primitive, obnoxiously harmonic, and most importantly, decadently fun. When they are as ponderous as they were in this record, it's weak and generic.
4. The Fever-In the City of Sleep
Their debut album, Red Bedroom, was a thoroughly enjoyable piece of fast and glamourous electro-punk. Trying to pull off a cabaret style was a mistake.
5. Graham Coxon-Love Travels at Illegal Speeds
The latest from the godlike Blur guitarist and the man behind last year's second best album, Happiness in Magazines, LTAIS finds Coxon without all the experimentalist fury that spawned his solo career in the first place, leaving nothing but a sludgy anony-rock backdrop upon which to project his now repetitive songs of lost love and a hate for Blur which now seems a bit unjustified.
6. The Strokes-First Impressions of Earth
As much as the blame for this blatant bluder was placed upon former Sublime producer David Kahne, he would disprove his respnsibility for the stinkiness of this record with his stellar work on Regina Spektor's Begin to Hope. That leaves the apparent loss of sharpness on the band's part as the catalyst for the record's misfired attempts at ecclecticism.
7. She Wants Revenge-She Wants Revenge
When I bought this album, I thought the themes addressed on singles Tear You Apart andThese Things kicked major ass. Today, I express regret at falling victim to the combination of a bad Paul Banks impressionist rapping and the overwrought, plasticine work of an untalented producer.
8. DJ Shadow-The Outsider
Granted, I loved Enuff, the vicious instumental Artifact, and the album's two best tracks,Erase You and You Made It, which feature obscure power-pop vocalist Chris James. But 75% of this album is hyphy, and this album says DJ Shadow on the front. Something's gone awry in the mind of Josh Davis, and this time it wasn't much good.
9. The Buzzcocks-Flat-Pack Philosophy
It's a hoot listening to singles going steady and then watching those same people performing Lipstick on the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson wearing golf shirts and sporting receding hairlines at the age of fiftysomething. But it's just way too self-deprecating of them to write songs so ridiculously bad and gussy up what's left with tragically glossy production.
10. John Mayer-Continuum
Mayer's voice and refeshingly meditative wisdom hold a special place in my heart, but the latter's just completely gone on this record. Plus, the sharp production that served as a surprise perk on Heavier Things is absent, and the music and I are feeling the withdrawal symptoms.
See y'alls in 2007!
THE TOP 10 ALBUMS OF 2006-
Album Of The Year: Ghostface Killah-Fishscale
There was tons of great hip-hop released this year that was criminally neglected so as to carry on the only occasionally true theory about the genre: that the good ol' days are gone and mainstream hip-hop is nothing more today than a parade of money, cars, and booty. Before 2006, I felt mainstream hip-hop was going by that wayside. That was until Wu-Tang Clan legend Ghostface Killah released his awesomely crazy yet still deliciously accessible album Fishscale. From the surprisingly listenable radio fare of
Back Like That, to the loopy cocaine funk of Kilo and Shakey Dog, and even to the glorification of child abuse in Whip You with a Strap and the immersive dream landscape that is Underwater, Ghost has effectively taken a conscious look at the lifestyle of a straight gangsta rapper, wowing the nerds with his wordplay and appeasing the thugs with his message. This transcendence went purely unmatched in 2006.2. TV on the Radio-Return to Cookie Mountain
Coming off the enjoyably krautrocky Desperate Youth, Bloodthirsty Babes, Tunde Adebimpe & Co. knew that all they needed to do to advance their songsmanship was to tighten & elaborate their sound, so they did just that. Displaying a multidemensionality that's a pleasant suprise to the ears from every angle, Return to Cookie Mountain follows through on the hype and the anticipation beautifully.
3. Clipse-Hell Hath No Fury
Whoever decided to shelve this album for 3 years was nuts. The Neptunes unleash a few more of the firestorm beats they became famous for in their heyday, long before Pharell made In my Mind. MCs Pusha T and Malice are still on point and at roughly the same level as they were on their landmark debut album, Lord Willin'. And check that harp on Ride Around Shinin'. Oh lawdy.
4. Destroyer-Destroyer's Rubies
Dan Bejar of The New Pornographers delivers his flamboyantly sinister wit without the jubilant motif of the Pornos taking the macabre elements out of his songwriting. Kinda sounds like Steely Dan's registered-sex-offender evil twin.
5. Prefuse 73-Security Screenings
Look out world, here comes instrumental hip-hop. It's not his masterwork (That's still One Word Extinguisher), but one listen to a glitch patchwork like With Dirt and Two Texts-Afternoon Version and two things become clear: One, this is Guillermo Scott Herren, and two, it is indeed impossible to turn off.
6. The Decemberists-The Crane Wife
A Capitol Records contract cannot stop the Decemberists' prog-pop brigade. Its predecessor, Picaresque, was my 3rd best album of 2005, and Colin Meloy's crew stakes their claim in my top 10 once again with a set that is much more ambitious. For example, 13-minute epic The Island: Come & See/The Landlord’s Daughter/You’ll Not Feel The Drowning strongly channels, and perhaps even exceeds the work of the legendary early lineup of Genesis that featured Peter Gabriel.
7. Grandaddy-Just Like The Fambly Cat
It's sad when a band as essential as Grandaddy breaks up, but at least they left us with a record that can stand as one of the top achievements of their career. The group's top attractions, Jason Lytle's childlike voice and their ironically tacky electrodynamics, work together beautifully on
Elevate Myself, Where I'm Anymore, and Disconnecty.8. Girl Talk-Night Ripper
The most pleasant surprise of the year. On this mashup record, there is one point where the iconic verses of The Notorious B.I.G.'s Juicy bounce in synergy with Elton John's
Tiny Dancer. If you think that's crazy, the entire album is based upon such juxtapositions.9. Band of Horses-Everything All the Time
When I heard the album's lead single, The Funeral, I was quick to dismiss them as emo My Morning Jacket ripoffs. However, their riffs are so strong and the album so persistient that it proved an apt replacement for MMJ in my year-end list.
10. Belle & Sebastian-The Life Pursuit
In the past, B&S' wispy indie pop had made for a wonderful backdrop to the life of a hipster. But now that they've tried different sounds and more immediate melodies on this record, it's the band that's put themselves on the forefront this time around.
THE 10 BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENTS OF 2006-
1. The Killers-Sam's Town
The Killers turned a synthalicious dance party into a rythmically deficient amateur hour novelty act that steals ideas from other people and claims it's the greatest thing yet. The regression is painful. They are now the Oasis of Las Vegas.
2. Snow Patrol-Eyes Open
Since towering indie-pop with an ability to muscle it's way through other wussy bands just became too boring for them, Snow Patrol traded that for the sound of a neutered U2, a display of sappy balladry so bleak it probably pissed even Tears for Fears off. The payoff? Heavy rotation on VH1! Shock horror...
3. The Futureheads-News & Tributes
The XTC comparisions went to their head. XTC are amazing,yes, but the Futureheads are no XTC. Although they both started their careers with stripped down punk rock, XTC were smart and melodic enough to expand. The 'Heads were in the business of being loud, primitive, obnoxiously harmonic, and most importantly, decadently fun. When they are as ponderous as they were in this record, it's weak and generic.
4. The Fever-In the City of Sleep
Their debut album, Red Bedroom, was a thoroughly enjoyable piece of fast and glamourous electro-punk. Trying to pull off a cabaret style was a mistake.
5. Graham Coxon-Love Travels at Illegal Speeds
The latest from the godlike Blur guitarist and the man behind last year's second best album, Happiness in Magazines, LTAIS finds Coxon without all the experimentalist fury that spawned his solo career in the first place, leaving nothing but a sludgy anony-rock backdrop upon which to project his now repetitive songs of lost love and a hate for Blur which now seems a bit unjustified.
6. The Strokes-First Impressions of Earth
As much as the blame for this blatant bluder was placed upon former Sublime producer David Kahne, he would disprove his respnsibility for the stinkiness of this record with his stellar work on Regina Spektor's Begin to Hope. That leaves the apparent loss of sharpness on the band's part as the catalyst for the record's misfired attempts at ecclecticism.
7. She Wants Revenge-She Wants Revenge
When I bought this album, I thought the themes addressed on singles Tear You Apart and
These Things kicked major ass. Today, I express regret at falling victim to the combination of a bad Paul Banks impressionist rapping and the overwrought, plasticine work of an untalented producer.8. DJ Shadow-The Outsider
Granted, I loved Enuff, the vicious instumental Artifact, and the album's two best tracks,
Erase You and You Made It, which feature obscure power-pop vocalist Chris James. But 75% of this album is hyphy, and this album says DJ Shadow on the front. Something's gone awry in the mind of Josh Davis, and this time it wasn't much good.9. The Buzzcocks-Flat-Pack Philosophy
It's a hoot listening to singles going steady and then watching those same people performing Lipstick on the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson wearing golf shirts and sporting receding hairlines at the age of fiftysomething. But it's just way too self-deprecating of them to write songs so ridiculously bad and gussy up what's left with tragically glossy production.
10. John Mayer-Continuum
Mayer's voice and refeshingly meditative wisdom hold a special place in my heart, but the latter's just completely gone on this record. Plus, the sharp production that served as a surprise perk on Heavier Things is absent, and the music and I are feeling the withdrawal symptoms.
See y'alls in 2007!
