Here goes the top 10, AKA the biggest pain in the ass to decide. Most of these have slid back and forth in number throughout 2006. They're all great albums that should be checked out, regardless of rank.
#10 Sonic Youth - Rather Ripped
How many bands started over twenty years ago can say that they've not only remained active but also maintained their popularity and importance? Sonic Youth does not simply exist to play "Teen Age Riot" over and over and over again as a sad, self-parody, in fact they've put out some of their most critically acclaimed albums in this decade, including Rather Ripped. Rather Ripped finds the Youth turning out one of their more accessible albums here, meaning you don't have to be a Sonic Youth fan to enjoy the warm, driving guitar sounds that sound like they could be the soundtrack of a movie about the career of a fake band modeled after Sonic Youth.
#9 Wilderness - Vessel States
This was a very difficult album at first, in fact, it didn't really grab me until one day it all clicked and went on repeat. The instruments and singing on this album seem to go in all different directions, but if you listen carefully, they're extremely cohesive, moving around each other deftly and occasionally converging in an atomic fashion. What may sound discordant is actually a complex structure of mesmerizing tones and raw emotion. This is a band with energy, attention to detail and something to say. Vessel States is a forceful album, but also a cerebral one. It may take a few listens, but overall I think Wilderness' second album is not only better than their debut, but also better than it received credit for in the press this year.
Link To Wilderness - "Emergency"
#8 Icy Demons - Tears of a Clone
Wow. Icy Demons haven't been talked about much on music sites, but for what reason I have no idea. On their album, they take jazz, indie rock, pop, and experimental sounds, fuse them together into their own sound and create charming songs that are hard to categorize, but are nonetheless exciting and fun to listen to. Bands that create material that doesn't immediately recollect ten other similar albums are my favorite kinds of bands. For an example of their uniqueness, the second song about a snake called Mr. Squeezy combines bouncy strings, a jazz-ish acoustic guitar, and vocals reminiscent of XTC. As a bonus, the cover of the album is just as awesome as the music.
Link to Icy Demons' MySpace
#7 Chad VanGaalen - Skelliconnection
VanGaalen plays almost all the instruments on his song experiments and also does the album art and videos. I have no idea what else he's capable of, but as far as his songs go, I'm a huge fan. VanGaalen doesn't often repeat the same song idea twice, so his albums can generally cover all sorts of territory, but that's okay since almost everything he creates is worth hearing. VanGaalen journeys throughout the lo-fi experimental pop wilderness and collects another album's worth of delicious sounds. I'd rather he never puts together a focused album or concept album and just continually retreats to his isolation chamber/studio, exploring whatever musical inspiration grabs his fancy at the moment.
#6 Snowden - Anti-Anti
A lot of songs off Snowden's first album immediately hooked me and made me very grateful that I had stumbled upon the title track of this Atlanta band. It would be very easy to lump Snowden in with the New York Strokes-type band category, though Snowden doesn't appear to speak to the pretentious art-school hipsters, rather they come off as legitimately inspired by a lot of the same bands but build on the sound rather than rehash it. Great bass lines, riffs, and enthusiastic singing help lift the songs above so many similar bands, but thankfully the lyrics are actually saying something and aren't there to be cheekily ironic or give the singer something to do. A great debut that hopefully doesn't get lost amongst the next round of hipster iPod contestants.
#5 Asobi Seksu - Citrus
Bands inspired by the shoegaze sound are becoming more common, which is bringing back awareness of a genre that never got its due and most importantly the sound. Asobi Seksu released a lush, dreamy album in early 2006 and have been touring almost non-stop in support (hell, they even came through Costa Mesa!) The guitars, keyboard, and sugary vocals mix together in an instantly engaging dream pop that never loses its charm. All the songs on the album, including my favorite song of the year "Thursday", are beautiful examples of a band that takes its roots and combines them to form something as strong as their influences without merely mimicking them.
#4 Liars - Drum's Not Dead
I've been a fan of the Liars for a long time. It seems to strange to me that the music press would embrace Drum's Not Dead when it's along the lines of their last, great album, but I'm just happy that a band that makes music this unique is getting the credit it deserves. Drum's is a concept album, loosely, more of a movement that builds to something through each song and releases at the end. The recording process itself was experimental, recording in multiple studio environments to give each song a different texture. The tribal percussion and haunting vocals seem to indicate sinister conflict brewing, but the last song on the album washes away all the strife in a contrast I don't think I've ever had the pleasure of hearing before. The Liars have created an enigma that must be listened to from start to finish multiple times to truly appreciate the artistry of every song as it relates to the whole.
#3 TV on the Radio - Return to Cookie Mountain
TV on the Radio are another band that sound little like other bands, not in an eccentric way, but in a "goddamn, how do they pull off such awesomeness in each song" kind of way. There is not a bad or even slightly worse than great song on the whole album. From mainstream to music blogs, TV on the Radio has been featured on almost every best of 2006 list because their sound isn't gimmicky, it's universally solid.
#2 Fleeting Joys - Despondent Transponder
Seems like recently if you make something that recalls The Arcade Fire's Funeral, you're instantly the next big thing. If you make a spiritual successor to My Bloody Valentine's Loveless, you're mostly ignored? Fleeting Joys hasn't been mentioned on a lot of year-end lists, and that's a shame. Despondent Transponder is a phenomenal resurrection of the classic shoegaze and My Bloody Valentine sound, even more so when you realize they got it so right on their first, self-produced album. Highly recommended for anyone who is still waiting for Kevin Shields to get the band back together.
#1 Sunset Rubdown - Shut Up I Am Dreaming
Spencer Krug is quickly becoming one of the most important people in music today. Sunset Rubdown is the second album he's been involved with that's been superlative from start to finish. When he says things like "I'm sorry that anybody dies" on "Stadiums and Shrines II", he convinces me of his sincerity. Spencer's vocals aren't the only draw, as the album also contains song structures that are accessible but complex, with lots of keyboards, guitars, and xylophones employed in the creation of stunning melodies that propel vivid images of myths and childhood fears within. If there's any album from last year that I'd happily put on almost any time of day for any reason, it's Shut Up I Am Dreaming, and I can't say that about most music. I greatly anticipate the next Spencer Krug project.
And that's it - thanks 2006! Next up, I'll be discussing my most anticipated albums of 2007, including whatever links I can dig up to set the hype fires.
No comments:
Post a Comment