Best of 2006

[indie]

My quilty pleasures on rotation:
The Sounds - Dying to say this to you (amazing live show made me become a fan!) + CSS - Cansei De Ser Sexy

 

[SiennaInLondon]

I may be stuck in a timewarp but:

Johnny Cash: American V, A hundred Highways

Bruce Springsteen: We Shall Overcome, The Seeger Sessions

And I am still deciding on
Bob Dylan: Modern Times

 

[SiennaInLondon]

Ah Visconti! How are you from Ohio! There are so many electro-pop with helium voices horrors on your list, I could have sworn you were from Abba territory! I can't bear that scandinavian sound Each to their own huh But I have never minded Joanna Newsom as much as people would have expected me to. She is alright.

 

[visconti]

I'm so happy to see 'Adult' on the list! It was my most anticipated album of the year, and definitely one of my favourites as well. I cannot wait until February when Ringo will be back with a new solo album.

Oooooh. This makes my day. I hadn't been keeping up with the news. Have you heard anything about the direction/sound? I'm interested to see if she moves back toward the Karuki Zaamen Kuri-no-Hana sound.


Sienna- Yes, a lot of my friends think I was born on the wrong side of the sea (but thankfully pretty far north). I can't really explain why I like the synthy stuff. It gets "worse" every year. At this point I think I'm almost "allerigic" to acoustic guitars and heartfelt lyrics. For the time being I'm more comfortable with the distance that studio trickery and computers provide. That's what kept me away from the albums on your list--- despite hearing great things about them. Maybe next year....

Although my list doesn't really reflect it, I have an odd split in that I love lots of fey pop and brutal black metal/noise. The metal bands usually can't sustain my interest for entire albums, so often they don't make it in these lists. To my delight, when I was in Sweden/Norway I realized that (at least from my outsider's perspective), their pop culture was similarly split. Hmmmm.

 

[SiennaInLondon]

That is sooo wierd! Do you have any scandinavian influences in your background! I can understand why it is getting worse though. The sheer mediocrity of the acoustic indie scene has really sent me hurtling back to folk and the comparative integrity of the 60s/70s and its probably sent your further to the 80s or err Scandinavia

Anyway what you say about the 'distance' provided by studio trickery makes me think of something I have just read about on Jeanette Winterson's site where she is talking about her book Weight (a reworking of the Titan Atlas myth

"Right now, human beings as a mass, have a gruesome appetite for what they call ‘real’, whether it’s Reality TV or the kind of plodding fiction that only works as low-grade documentary, or at the better end, the factual programmes and biographies and ‘true life’ accounts that occupy the space where imagination used to sit.

Such a phenomenon points to a terror of the inner life, of the sublime, of the poetic, of the non-material, of the contemplative. "

Perhaps because I don't believe in the 'real' and because I don't really watch much TV anymore or listen to the radio, I have escaped this fear of the 'terrors of inner life'... maybe it is different for you. Maybe you are striving against this fear?

Or maybe I talk bollocks?

 

[deeth]

Oooooh. This makes my day. I hadn't been keeping up with the news. Have you heard anything about the direction/sound? I'm interested to see if she moves back toward the Karuki Zaamen Kuri-no-Hana sound.

Fourth full-length album from Ringo Shiina features collaboration with conductor Neko Saito and his 70-piece string and woodwind orchestra. Includes elements of jazz, classic, Latin, tango, and more for a whole new sound for Ms. Shiina. Includes five new songs, covers, and self-covers for a total of 13 tracks. Limited edition features deluxe cross-opening special package, three stickers, and a coaster.

She's doing new versions of some KZK songs (Meisai, Stem, Poltergeist). You can see the whole tracklist here: http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/detailview.html?KEY=TOCT-26211

I'm ridiculously excited.

 

[youarearockstar]

Figured that I would take the bait and play along with this discussion, though I can hardly think of taking the time to post album/record covers, so bravo to everyone before me so doing so, but I lack the patience necessary for such!

Without these records, I wouldn't be seeing 2007:
Regina Spektor: Begin To Hope
The Sounds: Dying To Say This To You
Emily Haines: The Knives Don't Have Your Back
Arctic Monkeys: Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not
Silversun Pickups: Carnavas
The Gossip: Standing In The Way Of Control
Dirty Pretty Things: Waterloo To Anywhere
Yeah Yeah Yeahs: Show Your Bones
Cat Power: The Greatest

Without these records, I couldn't fill meaningless playlists:
Damone: Out Here All Night
Under The Influence Of Giants: Under The Influence Of Giants
Phoenix: Its Never Been Like That
Gnarls Barkley: St. Elsewhere
Hard-Fi: Stars Of CCTV
Lady Sovereign: Vertically Challenged

Without these records, I couldn't be this embarassed:
Danity Kane: Danity Kane (I secretly love the little brunette)
Justin Timberlake: FutureSex/LoveSounds
Pink: I'm Not Dead!
Pussycat Dolls: PCD (I blame Buttons)

 

[MulletProof]

^

 

[Schneller]

oooh I remember reading the best of 2005 last year when I was a pesky lurker I must say Tfs has changed my music taste

New friends of my eardrums :

Uffie ( of course )
Gotan Project - Lunatico
Bitter:sweet
Nouvelle Vague - Bande a Part
Scissor Sisters
The Rapture


there's more to add....

 

[MulletProof]

Lunatico!...such an amazing album, isnt it?.

 

[Schneller]

It is the BEST! although I wish I could understand the lyrics hehe

 

[youarearockstar]

^

Ha, thanks, I thought that was fairly clever for being posted at like 5:00am! I'm still embarassed to have admitted to enjoying Danity Kane on TFS. Alas, I stand by my guilty pleasures.

 

[AlexN]

^I like Danity Kane, too. I skip around songs on their album, though.

Nelly Furtado and Justin Timberlake

 

[visconti]

That is sooo wierd! Do you have any scandinavian influences in your background! I can understand why it is getting worse though. The sheer mediocrity of the acoustic indie scene has really sent me hurtling back to folk and the comparative integrity of the 60s/70s and its probably sent your further to the 80s or err Scandinavia

Anyway what you say about the 'distance' provided by studio trickery makes me think of something I have just read about on Jeanette Winterson's site where she is talking about her book Weight (a reworking of the Titan Atlas myth

"Right now, human beings as a mass, have a gruesome appetite for what they call ‘real’, whether it’s Reality TV or the kind of plodding fiction that only works as low-grade documentary, or at the better end, the factual programmes and biographies and ‘true life’ accounts that occupy the space where imagination used to sit.

Such a phenomenon points to a terror of the inner life, of the sublime, of the poetic, of the non-material, of the contemplative. "

Perhaps because I don't believe in the 'real' and because I don't really watch much TV anymore or listen to the radio, I have escaped this fear of the 'terrors of inner life'... maybe it is different for you. Maybe you are striving against this fear?

Or maybe I talk bollocks?

No. It makes sense. I tried to respond earlier, but it turned into a rambling mess. Hopefully this'll be more concise.

First, I don't have any Scandinavian blood, but my grandfather lived near the German/Danish border, so there's always been that sense of "home" there. Also, my father went to Iceland when I was very young and through a combination of what he brought back, my love for frigid weather and Bjork, the far north has always fascinated me. Movies, music, culture. I almost made it to Iceland this year for spring break, but it was too difficult to convince anyone to go. So I ended up going on a longer summer trip to Scandinavia proper.

As far as 'reality' in media goes, I don't believe in it either. Although it would horrify my parents, one of the major points that stuck with me after college was the fact that no matter how effortless it may appear, every shot/sound/action/choice in film or any other art is the product of a choice or some process. Some forms are more controlled, but other than live performances, pretty much nothing is the product of chance or reality any more (if ever). A neo-realist film may not look polished or reality tv may look spontaneous, but someone, somewhere chose to make it that way.

Since everything has some level of artifice, I prefer to partake in things that don't even pretend to be natural. I've always gravitated toward abstraction or at least some sense of ambiguity. I don't need to listen to common place concerns on my iPod while heading out for the day. I'd rather listen to an Eno-esque production or some shallow pop confection than suffer through a supposedly heart-felt ballad that was written with hopes of landing a scene in a middle of the road "indie" movie. At least there is a chance that I'll hear something sonicly interesting.

That's not to say that I'm not looking for an emotional reaction to music. It's just that I'm faced with harsh realities in day to day life (indigent clients etc.), so I'd rather listen to a song about a model set on fire while the photographers worry about getting the perfect shot than a simple tale of heartbreak. I guess this is a means of escape, but it's also a doorway to discussion/thought.

I like the chance of subtext. In straightforward songs or "reality television" there's not much chance to read under the surface. As your quote mentioned, I think a lot of people are terrified of the poetic or inexplainable. Maybe more troubling is the fear of having differences of opinion at all. If we were watching a TV dating show together there'd be argument about whether or not contest C was kicked off or that the suspect was arrested at the mall on 6:53 on the 15th on some real cop show. But if we were watching Claire Denis' "L'Intrus" (to name one of the more impenetrably poetic movies of the last year or two) or listening to Joanna Newsom singing
a 10 minute track, there'd be a reasonable chance that we'd have differing interpretations. This is healthy, but for one reason or another it seems like a lot of people would rather just have the hard facts that "reality" offers.

Going back to the albums that you first mentioned, Dylan et al. DO offer these things, but I guess I've grown so tired of middling acoustic/folk that I end up shying away from the whole field.

Eh, I guess that wasn't so concise. I hope it's somewhat coherent.


Deeth- Count me exited too! I hope it isn't ridiculously difficult/expensive to find around here, but it'll surely be worth it.


To those who've listened to the whole Danity Kane album- Is it worth it? I enjoyed their Showstopper single, but only because it gave me the sense that they were like unwilling slaves to Puff Daddy's whims. They sound so disinterested and worn out. I love how people found the following lyrics glamorous:

"[Diddy]
Ya'll wanna be stars ?
I'll make you a star
Check this out [the girls]
We in the car
We ride slow
We doin things that the girls don't do
The boys stare
We smile back
All my girls in the rainbow cadillacs, yeah

Bet you ain't never seen (hey!)
Chicks ridin this clean (hey!)
Louis Vitton seats (oh, oh, oh!)"

 

[youarearockstar]

To those who've listened to the whole Danity Kane album- Is it worth it? I enjoyed their Showstopper single, but only because it gave me the sense that they were like unwilling slaves to Puff Daddy's whims. They sound so disinterested and worn out.

Yes, I think its worth it if you're looking for some meaningless, pump you up, pop/R&B/funk. Its really only good when you're getting ready to go out. For me, I wasted away countless hours of my life (and countless packs of cigarettes and bottles of beer) watching Diddy drag me over the coals while he prolonged making this damned "group." For that reason alone, I found it necessary to at least partake in this group. Would I buy this CD for someone? No. Would I put it on when I was too wasted to do anything but dance around like I'm still on Spring Break? Yes.

Also, visconti good to see someone else from Ohio on here

 

[youarearockstar]

sh*t, meant to add this one to my list of records I couldn't live without!

Heartless Bastards - All This Time

 

[kiddokiddo]

My list:
-Talk to la bomb-Brazilian girls
-The eraser-Thom Yorke
-Supernature-Goldfrapp
-Marie Antoinette soundtrack
-American V-Johnny Cash
-The information-Beck
-Whatever people says I am, that's what I'm not-Artic Monkeys
-Drawing restraint 9 soundtrack
-Cansei de ser sexy-CSS
-Pet grief-The Radio Dept.
-The science of sleep soundtrack

 

[johnnys_girl09]

John Mayer - Continuum Amazing album. Could listen to it all day.

 

[pandinha]

Forgot to mention The Decemberists - Picaresque!

 

[bleuFunk]

I remember when this came up last year, i could easily rattle off my favorite releases of the year. I was looking for this thread wondering if i'd been missing something, because i could hardly think of anything this year. It doesn't seem so though.

The only release that has really excited me has been "Yellow House" by Grizzly Bear.

I also liked, for the most part:
"Rabbit Fur Coat" by Jenny Lewis
"Comfort of Strangers" by Beth Orton
"Begin To Hope" by Regina Spektor
"Post War" by M Ward
"Springtime Can Kill You" by Jolie Holland
"The Greatest" by Cat Power