Best of 2006

THE D MAN’S BEST OF 2006

Unlike the past several years, when my number one album was easy to identify (Illinois, Seven Swans, Elephant, Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, etc), there was no obvious favorite in 2006.  It is likely that none of these albums will slip into my all-time top ten.  Indeed, this year’s list should be noted for its lack of clear differentiation among the rankings, especially within the top ten—several could just have easily been number one.  But being a true gamer, I still made the hard decisions for your listening benefit.

With that being said, there are many records here that have become lasting favorites. Upon close examination, this year’s grouping seems to have few threads running through it that would connect the music together in any meaningful way.  In 2006, no new genres emerged; rather, artists seemed to expand into familiar territories while making us listen to things we may have overlooked the first time around. 
 

Of course (attempting to find at least one common thread!), you may notice some interesting guitarwork: from The Band of Horses’ swirling indie pastures to The Brother Kite’s chimey dreaming, from Human Television’s short pop-noodling to Built To Spill’s expansive melodies, from The Whitest Boy Alive’s minimal precision to Sparklehorse’s fuzzy obscurity, from Annual’s messy near-ideas to John Mayer’s full-blown blues arrangements, it is apparent that I enjoy guitar-based music and storytelling.  But if I had more disposable income this year, I would have ventured further into an exciting crop of electronica, which showcased a vast number of great singles and fine records from the likes of Junior Boys, Hot Chip, Herbert, Lindstrom, and Booka Shade.  Finally, you’ll still notice (once again) a dearth of hip-hop—I’m still boycotting the genre until the median album I.Q. is raised and the power-brokers that be confess to the soft bigotry of low expectations.

*As always, I include the following disclaimer: Due to limited funds, I was unable to purchase several albums that would likely have been somewhere on this list.  The albums on this list are all ones I actually own and have listened to repeatedly.

1.  Everything All The Time, Band of Horses

A stunning debut, these Horses run in the sonic pastures somewhere between My Morning Jacket and The Shins.  The strength of their sound, while familiar (swirling, wall-of-sound guitars alongside high-pitched anthems), is that it’s not merely derivative of their peers, but rather a distinctive flourish all of their own.  More country than The Shins, less space-hued than recent MMJ, this album’s wide-open guitar exploration does not obscure its lyrical heft, but fortifies it with ringing atmosphere.  Plus, this was about the only concert we saw this year—and they delivered—so it receives bonus points.

2.  And the Glass-Handed Kites, Mew

A dark fantasy kingdom that offers musical pageantry for everyone.  Epic guitar lines.  Swirling keyboards.  Strange lyrics with awesome, overdramatic song titles—see “Circuitry of the Wolf,” “The Seething Rain Weeps for You,” “Apocalypso.”  Even soaring melodies sung in the highest of male registers.  (“The Zookeeper’s Boy” may be the best falsetto rock song of all time).  Metal heads, indie rockers, and shoegazers can all rejoice together.  Finally a band that delivers everything in one sweeping musical saga.  Kind of like a sound track for “Lord of the Rings” on ice.  Black magic, sorcerers, imps and fairies.  Does it get any better than this?

3.  The Avalanche, Sufjan Stevens

This album collects the outtakes from Steven’s Illinois sessions, and includes three new versions of “Chicago” (“the adult contemporary version!”).  While a few of these songs were wisely left off his previous masterpiece, which originally began as a double-album, there are six or seven songs here which are deserving of being considered for canonization in Steven’s already lofty canon.  One comes away with the feeling that the past few years Stevens has been operating on an entirely different creative level than all of his peers, especially when considering that this is merely the debris that tumbled down his mountain.

4.  Putting the Days to Bed, The Long Winters

Pop-rock.  Indie-rock-pop.  Power classic rock.  It doesn’t matter.  John Roderick writes crazy-great songs.  And he sings them with a dry yelp that enhances all their bittersweet wit and confrontation.  So many “indie” or “alternative” artists try to make records with all kinds of whistles and bells, which generally belie their lack of talent.  Indeed, many creative embers pale in comparison with Roderick’s fiery energy and showmanship.  He takes over a song, direct and to the point.  “It’s a departure.”

5.  At War With the Mystics, The Flaming Lips
  
This album is a clash of disparate sounds: from crushed-out cosmic disco to crunchy space funk, from lush, overwrought melodies to strumming, star-gazed soliloquies.  It is not the seamless, holistic listening experience that was Yoshimi.  In fact, it takes several listens to start putting the songs in their rightful place.  In addition, Mystics is not as heavy as Yoshimi or The Soft Bulletin, two preceding masterworks which overwhelmed with existential profundity, but is more in harmony with some of The Lips earlier efforts of splashed-on-the-canvas weirdness.  However, freed from the limitations of a loose concept album and its attendant drama, they are able to expand and explore, and have some crazy fun again.  That is not to say there aren’t some serious moments—The Lips just happen to color most of them with sunbeams.

6.  The Crane Wife, The Decemberists

In recent years, various artists have attempted to make a new breed of concept album, with broad aesthetic gestures and loosely-tied-together themes.  And while a few succeed (Radiohead, Stevens, and The Lips come to mind) most of these records are mere artifice, attempting to cover up a lack of individual ideas and strong musical moments.  Such is not the case here.  The Crane Wife weaves a loose narrative about a strange Japanese myth, while at the same embellishing other hyper-literate stories with a post-modern, post-Civil War sound.  Strange?  Perhaps.  But this album’s strength comes from its fully-realized pop songs, each standing alone on its unique merit.  As their major label debut and fourth album, this record showcases their tight playing and high-level musicality more than their past efforts—finally, the music has caught up to the stories.

7.  Waiting For the Time to be Right, The Brother Kite

Dream pop bliss.  I’m a sucker for shiny guitars, and these shoegazers deliver the multi-layered goods.  If anything, these chimey guitars lift your gaze from the ground and move your head into the clouds.  Far too many reviews of records that contain slickly-produced vocals and dreamy pop sensibility refer to Pet Sounds, but I’m inclined to make my bad Beach Boys analogy anyway.  If Brian Wilson had grown up listening to The Cure and My Bloody Valentine, he may have produced a small-label album that sounds something like this.

8.  Dreams, The Whitest Boy Alive

Even discounting the band’s totally awesome name, this is still a great record.  Originally conceived as a full-on electronic record, Erlend Oye (one-half of the Norwegian duo Kings of Convenience) scrapped the idea and reconfigured the songs for guitar, bass, and drum treatment.  Great move.  While still influenced by Oye’s electronic/dance sensibilities, this album becomes a breezy, funky treatise in vocal and guitar minimalism.  Oye has a great sense of space and time, and this record is stripped to its bare, propulsive elements, exposing his precision guitarwork and enhancing his floating vocals.

9. Speak For Yourself, Imogen Heap

My wife’s favorite record this year.  Thus, a top ten appearance.  Of course, I also find Heap’s singular, expressive voice instantly enjoyable.  The spacey blips and programmed beats provide a sparkled atmosphere that gives her unique vocal delivery a place to play.  The delightful dichotomy between her natural/synthetic pipes is on display throughout every song on the record.  “Headlock” is her bouncy, funk-infused affair.  “Just For Now” her starry-eyed, wintry ditty.  And in the hymn-like “Hide and Seek,” Heap’s synthesized, amplified, and multiplied voice is never more vibrant and beautiful.

10.  Strays Don’t Sleep, Strays Don’t Sleep

Music for middle-of-the-night walkers and early-morning drivers, pondering either the sweet repose of their relationships or their portending collapse.  Moving through plaintive songs of devotion or loss, the Nashville duo of Neilson Hubbard and M. Ryan (who trade off lead-vocal duties) create a dark and delightful record.  With subtle keyboard flourishes and programmed loops, each song is underpinned by minimal instrumentation and juxtaposed with their rasp of vocals.

11.  Dreamt for Light Years in the Belly of a Mountain, Sparklehorse

Indeed, many of these songs sound as if they were composed in the belly of a mountain, dew-eyed from ages of Van Winkle dreaming and obscured by the depths of the earth.  Mark Linkous has been called reclusive, and there is a hermit-like quality to his music that echoes from forest hollows—intimate, unsettled, lonely but cautiously hopeful.  And perhaps it is the few streams of hope that bubble up to the surface, through the static, which makes this record so fresh and vital—unlike past efforts, Linkous seems slightly reborn after sleeping for so long.

12.  Descended Like Vultures, Rogue Wave

Off-kilter, buzzy, almost anthemic riffs are placed alongside pensive strummers in this lively, yet delicate indie-guitar affair.  Several songs buzz with melodic guitars, creating spacious rock hooks with soaring buildups—only to come back down and simmer again—without using the clichéd dynamics of soft verse/loud chorus.  Other songs embellish Zach Rogue’s gentle melancholia, allowing his fine songwriting a chance to breathe.  My band that I should have formed in high school would have sounded like this.  We would have blown away kids at the talent show.

13.  Continuum, John Mayer

So Mayer decides to go all adult on us, slowing down and getting serious with R&B influenced songs concerning relationships, the loss of youth, and even world affairs.  What saves the record from being a bad Eric Clapton release (and he has had many lately) is the fact that Mayer’s songwriting is sharper and his vocals far more capable.  And, although blasphemous to classic rockers who are still hanging on to Cream, Mayer’s guitar-work is more fresh and varied than anything Slowhand has released in years (and for that matter, more enjoyable than anything Stevie Ray Vaughan has done, one of Mayer’s guitar heroes).  Ultimately, its Mayer’s superior pop craftsmanship that gives all of his records a gratifying appeal which translates into repeated listens.

14.  Eyes Wide Open, Snow Patrol

Even with the now overplayed “Chasing Cars” (a song that has lost its original luster), this album is still worth listening to.  As one critic put it, this is a self-assured band paying more than lip service to the notion of rock as a vital form of pop music.  Ironic, then, that Snow Patrol already did that on their previous album, the superior and more rock-oriented Final Straw; and while that album should have been a huge-selling success (which suggests the sorry state of our popular rock music), it is likely that Eyes Wide Open will out-sale its predecessor in the States.  But that is still a good thing for heart-on-your-sleeve rockers such as “All I Have” and “It’s Beginning to Get to Me,” as well as disarmingly sincere torches such as “You Could Be Happy.”

15.  FutureSex/LoveSounds, Justin Timberlake (Edited Version)

This could have been higher on my list, but I didn’t start feeling its groove until late in the year.  I was in need of some serious booty-shaking—and this album is as high-brow as booty shaking gets.  Flawless production, cutting edge beats, smooth arrangements, and some serious white soul.  Yes, it is true—he is the new King of Pop.  Get over it haters—he is cooler than you—and more talented.

16.  The Information, Beck

If you buy this album just for the do-it-yourself cover, then it is already worth your hard-earned cash.  Arrange the stickers however you want and make your own artistic statement!  Oh, and if you want, listen to the music too—it is pretty darn good.  In fact, you’ll notice that Beck is still more creative than you, no matter how well you have arranged his stickers.

17.  Look At Who You’re Talking To, Human Television

Seemingly effortless guitar-pop sketches.  Jangled, warm, and fun (yes, fun!).  My favorite summer album this year—perfect for driving home relieving the stress of studying for a bar exam.  And it makes you want to grab a sno-cone.  Tiger’s blood.  Mmmmm.

18.  Be He Me, Annuals

Adam Baker is barely 20 years old.  But this North Carolina native has more musical ideas than most indie-wannabes will ever have—it’s almost ridiculous to be this good so young.  The songs seem to be bursting from Baker’s muse, with a strange, earthworn quality to them, as if brewed by some magical elixir from the thickets.  Gushing guitars, blipping keyboards, and snapping drums give life to Baker’s toppling vocals, which move through an assortment of skewed world-rhythms.  While there are a few misses, it is still an interesting and enjoyable brew.  “Brother” may be the best album opener this year—starting with a gentle hike among the chirping crickets, it turns into something fiercely exciting.  And my other favorite, “Bleary-Eyed,” seems to be falling out of Baker’s back pocket as he stumbles down the street.

19.  Yellow House, Grizzly Bear

Imagine walking down a dirt road somewhere, the sun still scattering light among the fields, leaves dying all around.  You find an old house, boarded up, abandoned.  You sense at one time this was a place to be reckoned with.  So you break in, pulling away cobwebs.  The rooms are empty.  But some old black and white pictures still hang on the wall.  And then this music starts playing . . .

20.  You In Reverse, Built to Spill

Epic, pyschadelic guitar rock.  Although (I’ve been told) best listened to in basements with mind-altering drugs, even people without doobies and beards may enjoy this sprawling set.  Its weakness lies in a lack of immediate hooks and direction; its strength in the meandering nature of the songs.  One thing is clear—Doug Martsch, hailing from Boise, Idaho, can play some meticulous, melodious, and mean guitar.  And in an age where every two-bit axeman thinks he can start an indie band and hide his lack of talent in noise, reverb, or crappy two-minute songs, Martsch assures you there are still interesting guitar heroes to be found.

Special Recognition
Songs For Christmas, Sufjan Stevens

Via the Asthmatic Kitty website:
“Forget the 50 States. Christmas is a bigger concept. As some of you may or may not know, for the past few years, as a holiday tradition, Sufjan has embarked on an extraordinary experiment to record an annual Christmas EP.  It started in 2001, the year of Epiphanies, and continued onward (skipping only 2004), culminating into an odd and idiosyncratic catalog of music that has only existed in the Asthmatic Kitty archives (and on a number of file sharing sites).  The recording process took place every December, for one week, usually at home, provoking collaborations with friends, roommates, and musical peers.  Armed with a Reader’s Digest Christmas Songbook (and a mug of hot cider) Sufjan & friends concocted a musical fruit cake year after year, implementing every musical instrument they could find lying around the house: banjo, oboe, Casiotone, wood flute, a buzzy guitar, hand claps, sleigh bells, Hammond organ, and some tree tinsel.  Did we mention sleigh bells? It doesn’t take much to capture that Creepy Christmas Feeling, does it?  Recorded, mixed and mastered at home, the EPs themselves were often assembled in the kitchen, stapled together, and sent out with stickers and stamps to loved ones across the globe, year after year, with little Christmas cards that read: “Merry Christmas.  You are something special. Santa Claus loves you. And so do I.”

Enough said!  My Christmas this year (and for years to come) has been blessed by this inspired box-set of traditional and original songs—in special ways that only the banjo can create!   Enjoy!

Sweet.