27 posts from 2006

I usually start working on my year end lists the first time I hear a good new album, so that means in January, as was this case this year.  Looking at last year's list, it's not totally accurate, meaning I only listen to about half of what was on it still, but last year was a really good year.  This year, not so much.  But the first two make life worth living so I can't say it was bad overall.  Anyway, here are my favorite albums of 2006.

10.  The Dixie Chicks - Taking The Long Way Around

The Long Way Around

All the political fallout, corporate sponsorships, and drama aside, I never would've guessed the Dixie Chicks were actually good musicians.  I appreciated what they did, because they sacrificed a lot considering their background, by standing by what they said (that is after apologizing for it, then changing their mind again) but this album is just great.  There are a few tracks that it could've done without.  But the good definitely outweighs the bad.  They have a lot of gorgeous harmonies and what separates them from the majoriy of country artists today is that their music has depth.  Anyway, I hope they continue down this path as respectable musicians.  It's amazing what people are capable of when they don't have the pressure of trying to please everyone from their fans to their record executives.  Standout tracks: Silent House, The Long Way Around, Everybody Knows

9.  Cansei De Ser Sexy - CSS

Patins

Brazil's CSS had a kind of hit with "Let's Make Love and Listen to Death From Above" but it's surprisingly one of the weaker tracks from this album.  It's a simple, fun dance/rock record that crosses the line a couple times with songs like "Meeting Paris Hilton" but make up for it with the rest.  This is an album I found myself listening to over and over, and dancing crazily by myself to.  Standout tracks: Patins, Alala






8.  Nelly Furtado - Loose

Do It

It's a shame Nelly Furtado's last album got overlooked because it was really fucking good.  Loose is kind of a hybrid of her first 2.  The problem with Timbaland productions is that he does so many and he has such a distinct style that it all starts to bleed together and become repetitive.  But that doesn't happen here.  As with the others at the bottom of my list, there are a few tracks that make you stop and say wtf is this doing here.  But you'll find that on any Nelly album really.  Promiscuous is probably the most overplayed song of the year which will unfortunately cause the rest of the album to get overlooked.  Maneater should've been the single people paid attention to!  Anyway, standout tracks:  Do It, Glow, Wait For You



7.  Jenny Lewis - Rabbit Fur Coat

You Are What You Love

7, 6, 5 are really a three way tie...  But Jenny Lewis' solo album (well solo + the elusive Watson Twins) is very similar to a Rilo Kiley album but stands on its own quite well.  It has Jenny's trademark blend of indie country and some gutwrenching harmonies with the Watson twins, and a slightly out of place cover of "Handle With Care" that features everyone in the history of music on vocals.  Standout tracks: Born Secular, You Are What You Love, Rise Up With Fists!!!






6.  TV On The Radio - Return To Cookie Mountain

Wolf Like Me

Harmonies really seem to be my thing this year, eh?  TV On The Radio have a very unique style.  Add one of the best singles/videos of the year, guest vocals by David Bowie, and an amazing opening to the mix and you have Return to Cookie Mountain.  Every song is like an orchestra, even the ones that are a capella.  Standout tracks: Wolf Like Me, I Was A Lover, A Method






5.  Aco - Mask

不安なの･ (New Version)

Aco is a Japanese electronic artist with hints of pop and R&B.  I was really, really disappointed when I read that Mask was originally supposed to be half remix album half new songs and it got cut down to a 6 track EP.  But the fact that it still made my top 5 is telling of how much I like her.  The song to the left is one of her first singles, it was an extremely cheezy song, but this new version you would never guess is the same song.  Standout tracks: Basically all of them







4.  Pretty Girls Make Graves - Elan Vital

Selling The Wind

PGMG are one of those bands that just keep getting better with every album.  I honestly didn't like Elan Vital at first but the more I listened to it the more I appreciated it.  Seeing them live a hundred times helped (by a hundred I actually mean 3).  It's very polished and not as straight-forward as their previous albums, but all of the elements together work so well.  Standout tracks: Selling The Wind, Pictures of a Night Scene, Parade







3.  The Thermals - The Body, The Blood, The Machine

Returning To The Fold

The Thermals are a power-punk/indie rock trio from Portland, OR.  This album was recorded entirely by the only 2 original members Hutch & Kathy, taking turns playing instruments.  You couldn't tell listening to it.  It sounds like something that was done completely raw, in one take.  The album is an imagined, cautionary tale of what the world would be like if it were over-run by christian fundamentalists.  Every song is sincere, urgent, desperate.  It successfully captures that feeling of fear, and the current state of things in the world.  It's a very exciting album, and at its core, just a great punk album.  Standout tracks: Returning to the Fold, St. Rosa and the Swallows, Power Doesn't Run on Nothing



2.  The Gossip - Standing In The Way Of Control

Yr Mangled Heart

This is the album I was referring to that was the first to make my list in January.  It might've been December actually because I had a promo before it was released.  I love the Gossip, they're one of my favorite bands, but this album just blew me away.  I had heard a few of the songs live in the past couple years and I knew it would be huge but was not prepared in the least bit for how huge it was.  From the opening beat to the quiet closer it's got all the makings of a classic album.  They are finally starting to get some recognition, and rightfully so, it's just long overdue.  This is easily my most played album of the year, and one of the last several years.  The addition of drummer Hannah Billie completed the sound and took them in a whole new direction.  I really hope they stay together long enough to pop out a few more of these babies because DAMN.  This album fucking rocks.  Standout tracks: Yr Mangled Heart, Keeping You Alive, Coal To Diamonds, Standing in the Way of Control

1.  The Knife - Silent Shout

One Hit

I first heard the Knife sometime in the summer, on Myspace of all places.  Heartbeats was the song that played when I clicked on their page, intrigued by their user picture.  My first reaction was omg, the beat and synths sent me into a frenzy.  When Karin started singing I melted.  I listened to it over and over.  I would think about it at work, wondering who they could be.  I eventually gave in and downloaded Deep Cuts and I had barely made it through Pass This On when I decided I had to have it.  It was extremely scary how fast I fell in love with them.  Everything was perfect.  They had every element I love in musicians.  Every.  One. 

We were in Louisville, KY for one of Sleater-Kinney's final shows when I stopped at a record store to pick up Silent Shout, which had just come out.  I didn't think it was possible but it was even more amazing than Deep Cuts, and basically anything else I've ever heard.  You can hear influences in their music at times, but for the most part it's so new and refreshing and completely restored my faith in music, which I desperately needed at the time.  Silent Shout is so dark and haunting, ethereal, chaotic, epic.  It's so hard to describe.  Every single song on the album is totally relevant.  Silent Shout is hands down the best album of the year, and easily one of the best albums I've ever heard in my life.  I can not begin to give it justice.  You just have to listen.  Then it will all make sense. 

What were your top 5 TV shows of 2006?

Ugly Betty takes the top 3 spots.  Then the Simpsons.  Tied for 5th would be Project Runway, Amazing Race, and I guess Lost just because I watched it even though it sucked.

What's your favorite holiday movie?

I don't want to think about how many hours of my life have been spent watching the Nightmare Before Christmas.  That's not to say it wasn't worth it, but it's just a lot of god damn hours.  For a movie about two holidays, it really transcends a typical holiday movie.  It's done so well, the stop-motion animation, the voices fit the characters perfectly.  And I mean Danny Elfman + Tim Burton what more could you ask for.  I first saw it when I was 10 years old and it's still one of my favorites. 

A movie I'm more inclined to watch around the holidays would be a close second, Black Christmas.  I guess I should specify now that there's a remake that I mean the 1974 Canadian version with the best cast ever.  A movie that takes place in a sorority house around Christmas while people are mysteriously disappearing?  Sounds pretty bad.  But it's not.  It's violent without being excessive, it's campy without being cheezy, it's suspenseful and seriously disturbing.  BILLYYYY.
 

December Will Be Magic Again [live]

Kate Bush

Who would you like to kiss under the mistletoe?
Submitted by EmmyAngua.

My new iMac.  Mmmm.

Glittering Cloud

Imogen Heap

What's the most klutzy thing you've ever done?
Submitted by Jecka.

I'm sure there have been worse but I can't think of any.  This one is recent though so I'll go with it.

I met some people from Chicago my last trip to Portland at the last Sleater-Kinney shows ever.  We spent a loooot of time together waiting in line and talking and realizing we were at other shows together and we'd actually spoken to eachother on message boards.  We exchanged Myspaces (eek!) and decided to hang out sometime.

Time passes... we make plans to go out for drinks.  Even though we had hung out, and seen eachother all sweaty and teary, it still felt like a first impression.  One lives in NY now but was back visiting, and the other lives in Chicago.  We meet up, and stop at her apartment.  Two of us go outside to smoke while waiting for the other.  It was dark, and it had been raining that week.  There were a few chairs on the balcony.  There's one of those fold out chairs, they're made of some nylon-mesh-ish material,  you know what I'm talking about.  So I sit down.  And about 2 seconds later I realize that I am sitting in a pool of water.  Not a puddle, at least a few inches deep.  I jump up and my ass is completely soaked.

BUT it gets worse.  After debating the options, I was convinced to use her blowdryer to dry my pants.  I was in the bathroom for about 10 minutes, blowdrying the ass of my pants, in a friends apartment whom I was going out with for the first time.  It was still noticably wet but we went out anyway.  Yeah it was hilarious, but totally out of character for me and I was beyond embarassed.

COLLEEN:  Let me set yours up.  DISCO MAMA!!!! 

What are your top 5 CDs/albums of 2006? 
Submitted by eliz. s.

I start working on my best of lists sometime in January... of that year.  I'm an obsessive list maker.  I can't control it.  Anyway, here's what I have so far for my top 5 of 06.  You can trust that I'll be posting a complete, elaborate list next month.

1.  The Knife - Silent Shout
2.  The Gossip - Standing In The Way Of Control
3.  The Thermals - The Body, The Blood, The Machine
4.  Pretty Girls Make Graves - Elan Vital (finally, no "The"s!!)
5.  Aco - Mask

Neverland

The Knife

What were you afraid of as a child that seems silly to you now?
Submitted by navelgazer.

Power Lines

Just look at them!  They look like an army of robots waiting for you.  Not to mention the buzzes and crackling when you get closer.  I pass some now every day to and from work so obviously I'm over it.  But I still think about that.  What an odd thing to be afraid of.

Station To Station

David Bowie

What's your favorite music for a Sunday morning?
Submitted by Nick.

Sundays for me usually mean sleeping at least 10 hours, waking up around noon with a major headache from sleeping too much, and sitting around doing nothing but drinking coffee, smoking, and listening to music.  I'll listen to whatever I feel like, but I think a good artist for Sundays would be Aco.  Specifically her album Absolute Ego.  She started out as total J-pop, a little R&B influence.  Not bad, just kind of cheezy.  I can appreciate some of her older stuff.  But she kind of progressed into a more electronic sound starting with Absolute Ego in 1999.  That, and Material, have become 2 of my favorite albums ever.  Anyway, so yes, Aco is someone I would probably be more inclined to listen to on a Sunday, because she makes all right with the world.

Aco - Yorokobi ni saku hana

Aco - Hoshino Kuzu

What comedian makes you pee your pants laughing?
Submitted by pookieb.

Margaret Cho first and foremost.  She's just fucking hilarious.  No, really.  I love Foghat.

Margaret Cho

French & Saunders.  Possibly the most brilliant comedy duo ever?  Or even just ique-ique...

French & Saunders - I Hate Normality

Wanda Sykes also makes me pee a little but her special on HBO was kind of... not that great.  I also love Mo'nique, she is so witty and smart.  I like Janeane Garofalo, but I think the only funny thing she ever did was that Fiona Apple skit.  My boyfriend can make you disappear.  She's really a better activist and/or actress.  Sweethearts much?

What's your method for calculating a tip?

I always do at least 20% but it depends on where I'm at.  I often go out just for coffee at a restaurant, so the bill will be 3$ but I'll still tip 3-5$.  If the service is REALLY really bad I'll do 10-15%.  But even that makes me feel guilty.

We actually ate at this restaurant yesterday that was gross and the waiter was a jerk, so I left 3$ and the bill was 22$.  I still feel like an ass :| 

TV On The Radio - Wolf Like Me