2006 Year In Review
Now that 2006 is actually over, it is time for the End of Year Review. Hooray. So, what musical joys did 2006 bring us? The slow, painful death of the post-punk revival (see: The Rapture's second album. Or rather, don't), the Great Pub Rock Revival and the return of macho idiocy in mainstream indie rock - thanks Arctic Monkeys, Fratellis etc etc. It wasn't all bad though.
Top 10 Albums of 2006
1. Burial - Burial
I was going to make this album of the month a while back, but recoiled from writing about it simply because I thought it was too much out of my normal field. It doesn't matter though, because the album speaks for itself. Muffled noise and fragments of conversation drift over lopsided beats to create an album that is immediately bold and adventurous yet with instant and clear emotional impact. I've never heard anything like it, which means it easily deserves the number 1 spot.
2. The Knife - Silent Shout
Everyone's favourite Swedish electro-pop duo return, but darker and nastier. 'Silent Shout' is the sound of the sinister undercurrents to 'Deep Cuts' taking centre stage, as a nightmarish cast of ghoulish characters clamour to be heard. But remarkably, The Knife keep their pop instincts intact, never once faltering. Dark, sensuous and terrifying, this record is at least as good as its excellent predecessor.
3. Scritti Politti - White Bread Black Beer
I always thought the odds on Scritti returning were pretty low, so it was great just to have them back. But to have them produce an album this good, and then return to touring and give some of the best gigs of the year, was truly special indeed. 'White Bread Black Beer' finds Green Gartside with some of his most personal and gorgeous songs to date.
4. The Organ - Grab That Gun
Maybe The Organ were always doomed to failure, but their only album is still magical. The all-girl quintet from Canada took on The Smiths and, perhaps inevitably, lost. There are moments on this album where they come so close, but that makes their heroic failure all the more bitter-sweet, which is probably how Katie Sketch wants it.
5. Wolf Eyes - Human Animal
Wolf Eyes have succeeded in making noise music fun and bringing it to a surprisingly large audience. Fortunately, they refuse to rest o their laurels, making possibly their best and most forward-thinking album yet.
6. Erase Errata - Night Life
As the post-punk revival congeals into a collection of turgid cliches, Erase Errata fight valiantly on. Where the other revivalists ignore the sonic and political approaches that made the original records so enduring, EE have made yet another sonically adventurous and politically driven album. Compare this to The Rapture's second album for lessons in how and how not to do it.
7. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Show Your Bones
"It's not as good as Fever To Tell!" Yeah whatever. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs still deliver, proving that , unlike many of their lesser peers (*cough*Strokes), they are able to change and develop, whilst still keeping everything that made them exciting in the first place.
8. Kode9 and The Spaceape - Memories of the Future
Bizarre, futuristic and engrossing, if again slightly outside my remit. This is a fantastic, challenging and truly forward thinking record.
9. Welcome - Sirs
This record sounds so out of place. It sounds like Syd Barret's shade kidnapped Sonic Youth and took them to his acid hell. Swirling sixties psychedelia clashes with atonal guitar noise and scratchy punk dissonance to produce a baffling but engrossing debut. The fact that it's sonically so hard to pin down probably earns it a mention here anyway.
10. The Long Blondes -Someone To Drive You Home
Blondie meets Pulp. But done very very well. This is the perfect antidote to the Arctic Monkey's pedestrian indie-rock by numbers. The Long Blondes steal from very obvious sources, but do so with real charm, wit and vitality. The tunes are fantastically catchy, the lyrics are sharp without being clever-clever. A well needed reminder that you need both style and substance to succeed
Bubbling under: Belle and Sebastian, Current 93, CSS and others.
Top 10 Reissues of 2006
1. This Heat - Out Of Cold Storage
These records are absolutely essential, and now you can get them without bankrupting yourself over ebay or wasting nights over file sharing networks.
2. Denim - Back In Denim
Felt failed to make Lawrence a star, so he quit, went to New York, and thought up Denim: a post-modern Glam Rock group who should have brought him the fame and fortune he desired. It didn't, but Back In Denim is fantastic: clever, fun, ironic. Pulp stole their sound whole-sale, and its meta-pop anthems are a clear influence on LCD Soundsystem's caustic world view. And 'I'm Against The Eighties' has never sounded more pertinent.
3. The Fall - The Infotainment Scan
The best Fall album of the nineties, with electro, glam, drum and bass, and swipes at everything and everyone from Bono and Suede to nostalgia and old age. Obviously a masterpiece.
4. The Au Pairs - Stepping Out Of Line
Seminal but sadly overlooked post punk group. I was hoping this would get them the respect they deserve, but press indifference and liner notes talking about Franz and Hard Fi would suggest not. Ho hum.
5. Josef K - Entomology
It has come to my attention that the excellent Josef K reissues on LTM, which included between two discs everything the band ever did, is criminally out of print, so this compilation will have to suffice for those of you not cool enough to have them already. Whatever. Great band, Franz owe obvious debt, etc etc etc. Just get it.
6. ESG - Come Away With ESG
New York dance-punk pioneers. Have been sampled uncountable times in rap music. This really could have come out yesterday, only if it had, it probably wouldn't be as good and as innovative.
7. The Triffids - Born Sandy Devotional
The great 80s aussie band that wasn't The Go-Betweens or The Bad Seeds. This is a much neglected classic.
8. The Cocteau Twins - Lullabies to Violane
Now you can have all the Cocteau Twins EPs without the bother of trawling the net and second hand record shops for beaten up vinyl. Rejoice
9. Ut - In Gut's House
Post No Wave noise classic. Still sounds singular, bizarre and powerful. Kind of like a clinically unhinged Sleater Kinney. Which is good.
10. Delta 5 - Singles and Sessions
Delta 5 should have released this instead of their patchy debut. Contains all the classic singles and superior versions of album tracks.
Musical Low Points
Hmm. Arctic Monkeys, deaths of Syd Barret, Grant McLennan, Arthur Lee, James Brown....
Top 10 Albums of 2006
1. Burial - Burial
I was going to make this album of the month a while back, but recoiled from writing about it simply because I thought it was too much out of my normal field. It doesn't matter though, because the album speaks for itself. Muffled noise and fragments of conversation drift over lopsided beats to create an album that is immediately bold and adventurous yet with instant and clear emotional impact. I've never heard anything like it, which means it easily deserves the number 1 spot.
2. The Knife - Silent Shout
Everyone's favourite Swedish electro-pop duo return, but darker and nastier. 'Silent Shout' is the sound of the sinister undercurrents to 'Deep Cuts' taking centre stage, as a nightmarish cast of ghoulish characters clamour to be heard. But remarkably, The Knife keep their pop instincts intact, never once faltering. Dark, sensuous and terrifying, this record is at least as good as its excellent predecessor.
3. Scritti Politti - White Bread Black Beer
I always thought the odds on Scritti returning were pretty low, so it was great just to have them back. But to have them produce an album this good, and then return to touring and give some of the best gigs of the year, was truly special indeed. 'White Bread Black Beer' finds Green Gartside with some of his most personal and gorgeous songs to date.
4. The Organ - Grab That Gun
Maybe The Organ were always doomed to failure, but their only album is still magical. The all-girl quintet from Canada took on The Smiths and, perhaps inevitably, lost. There are moments on this album where they come so close, but that makes their heroic failure all the more bitter-sweet, which is probably how Katie Sketch wants it.
5. Wolf Eyes - Human Animal
Wolf Eyes have succeeded in making noise music fun and bringing it to a surprisingly large audience. Fortunately, they refuse to rest o their laurels, making possibly their best and most forward-thinking album yet.
6. Erase Errata - Night Life
As the post-punk revival congeals into a collection of turgid cliches, Erase Errata fight valiantly on. Where the other revivalists ignore the sonic and political approaches that made the original records so enduring, EE have made yet another sonically adventurous and politically driven album. Compare this to The Rapture's second album for lessons in how and how not to do it.
7. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Show Your Bones
"It's not as good as Fever To Tell!" Yeah whatever. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs still deliver, proving that , unlike many of their lesser peers (*cough*Strokes), they are able to change and develop, whilst still keeping everything that made them exciting in the first place.
8. Kode9 and The Spaceape - Memories of the Future
Bizarre, futuristic and engrossing, if again slightly outside my remit. This is a fantastic, challenging and truly forward thinking record.
9. Welcome - Sirs
This record sounds so out of place. It sounds like Syd Barret's shade kidnapped Sonic Youth and took them to his acid hell. Swirling sixties psychedelia clashes with atonal guitar noise and scratchy punk dissonance to produce a baffling but engrossing debut. The fact that it's sonically so hard to pin down probably earns it a mention here anyway.
10. The Long Blondes -Someone To Drive You Home
Blondie meets Pulp. But done very very well. This is the perfect antidote to the Arctic Monkey's pedestrian indie-rock by numbers. The Long Blondes steal from very obvious sources, but do so with real charm, wit and vitality. The tunes are fantastically catchy, the lyrics are sharp without being clever-clever. A well needed reminder that you need both style and substance to succeed
Bubbling under: Belle and Sebastian, Current 93, CSS and others.
Top 10 Reissues of 2006
1. This Heat - Out Of Cold Storage
These records are absolutely essential, and now you can get them without bankrupting yourself over ebay or wasting nights over file sharing networks.
2. Denim - Back In Denim
Felt failed to make Lawrence a star, so he quit, went to New York, and thought up Denim: a post-modern Glam Rock group who should have brought him the fame and fortune he desired. It didn't, but Back In Denim is fantastic: clever, fun, ironic. Pulp stole their sound whole-sale, and its meta-pop anthems are a clear influence on LCD Soundsystem's caustic world view. And 'I'm Against The Eighties' has never sounded more pertinent.
3. The Fall - The Infotainment Scan
The best Fall album of the nineties, with electro, glam, drum and bass, and swipes at everything and everyone from Bono and Suede to nostalgia and old age. Obviously a masterpiece.
4. The Au Pairs - Stepping Out Of Line
Seminal but sadly overlooked post punk group. I was hoping this would get them the respect they deserve, but press indifference and liner notes talking about Franz and Hard Fi would suggest not. Ho hum.
5. Josef K - Entomology
It has come to my attention that the excellent Josef K reissues on LTM, which included between two discs everything the band ever did, is criminally out of print, so this compilation will have to suffice for those of you not cool enough to have them already. Whatever. Great band, Franz owe obvious debt, etc etc etc. Just get it.
6. ESG - Come Away With ESG
New York dance-punk pioneers. Have been sampled uncountable times in rap music. This really could have come out yesterday, only if it had, it probably wouldn't be as good and as innovative.
7. The Triffids - Born Sandy Devotional
The great 80s aussie band that wasn't The Go-Betweens or The Bad Seeds. This is a much neglected classic.
8. The Cocteau Twins - Lullabies to Violane
Now you can have all the Cocteau Twins EPs without the bother of trawling the net and second hand record shops for beaten up vinyl. Rejoice
9. Ut - In Gut's House
Post No Wave noise classic. Still sounds singular, bizarre and powerful. Kind of like a clinically unhinged Sleater Kinney. Which is good.
10. Delta 5 - Singles and Sessions
Delta 5 should have released this instead of their patchy debut. Contains all the classic singles and superior versions of album tracks.
Musical Low Points
Hmm. Arctic Monkeys, deaths of Syd Barret, Grant McLennan, Arthur Lee, James Brown....
posted by Jonathan Thornton at 4:22 pm
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