I couldn't find any year-end topics here. Why not? Doesn't anyone get the "list madness" and check out goodies they might have missed?
1. TV On The Radio * Return To Cookie Mountain (4AD/Interscope)
2. Mastodon * Blood Mountain (Reprise)
3. Yeah Yeah Yeahs * Show Your Bones (Interscope)
4. Kassin +2 * Futurismo (Video Arts Japan)
5. The Hold Steady * Boys And Girls In America (Vagrant)
6. The Knife * Silent Shout (Rabid/Mute)
7. Fujiya & Miyagi * Transparent Things (Tirk)
8. Neko Case * Fox Confessor Brings the Flood (Anti)
9. Joanna Newsom * Ys (Drag City)
10. Hot Chip * The Warning (DFA/Astralwerks)
11. Benoît Pioulard * Précis (Kranky)
12. Tony Allen * Lagos No Shaking (Honest Jon1s)
13. Junior Boys * So This Is Goodbye (Domino)
14. Cappablack * Facades and Skeletons (Scape Germany)
15. Lansing-Dreiden * The Dividing Island (Kemado)
16. Various * The World Is Gone (XL)
17. Milanese * Extend (Planet Mu)
18. Espers * Espers II (Drag City)
19. The Horror The Horror (Tapete Records)
20. Tokyo Jihen * Adult (EMI Japan)
21. Asa * Terveisiä Kaaoksesta (Julkaisuvuosi)
22. Ellen Allien & Apparat * Orchestra of Bubbles (Bpitch Control)
23. Nathan Fake * Drowning in a Sea of Love (Border Community)
24. Barbara Morgenstern * The Grass Is Always Greener (Monika)
25. Tom Waits * Orphans: Bawlers, Brawlers & Bastards (Anti)
26. OOIOO * Taiga (Thrill Jockey)
27. Britta Persson * Top Quality Bones and a Little Terrorist (Bonnier Amigo)
28. The Futureheads * News And Tributes (679)
29. The Dirty Pretty Things * Waterloo To Anywhere (Universal)
30. White Flight (Range Life)
31. Ali Farka Touré * Savane (Nonesuch)
32. Thomas Mapfumo * Rise Up (Realworld)
33. Herbert * Scale (!K7)
34. Yo La Tengo * I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your *** (Matador)
35. The Roots * Game Theory (Def Jam Left)
36. Toumani Diabaté Orchestra * Boulevard de l'Independance (Nonesuch)
37. Shack * The Corner Of Miles And Gil (Sourmash)
38. Built To Spill * You In Reverse (WB)
39. Thom Yorke * The Eraser (Capitol)
40. CSS * Cansei De Ser Sexy (Sub Pop)
41. Mission of Burma * The Obliterati (Matador)
42. The Mars Volta * Amputechture (Umvd)
43. Caetano Veloso * Cê (Universal)
44. Miho Hatori * Ecdysis (Rykodisc)
45. Ornette Coleman * Sound Grammar (Sound Grammar)
46. Mordant Music * Dead Air (Mordant)
47. J. Dilla * Donuts (Stones Throw)
48. Matmos * The Rose Has Teeth In The Mouth of A Beast (Matador)
49. Enslaved * Ruun (Candlelight)
50. Kieran Hebden & Steve Reid * The Exchange Session (Domino)
51. The Rapture * Pieces Of The People We Love (Universal)
52. Spank Rock * Yoyoyoyoyo (Big Dada)
53. Subtle * for hero: for fool (Astralwerks)
54. The Radio Dept. * Pet Grief (Labrador)
55. Kode9 & The Spaceape * Memories of the Future (Hyperdub)
56. Burial (Hyperdub)
57. Belbury Poly * The Owl's Map (Ghost Box)
58. Radio Citizen * Berlin Serengeti (Ubiquity)
59. Acoustic Ladyland * Skinny Grin (V2)
60. Cold War Kids * Robbers & Cowards (Downtown/V2)
61. The Fratellis * Costello Music (Umvd UK)
62. Clark * Body Riddle (Warp Records)
63. Longcut * A Call & Response (Deltasonic)
64. Horse Feathers * Words Are Dead (Lucky Madison)
65. Ad Astra Per Aspera * Catapult Calypso (Sonic Unyon)
66. Phoenix * It's Never Been Like That (Astralwerks/Source)
67. Isis * In The Absence of Truth (Ipecac)
68. The Melvins * A Senile Animal (Ipecac)
69. Ojos de Brujo * Techarí (Six Degrees)
70. The Ark * State Of The Ark (EMI)
71. Squarepusher * Hello Everything (Warp)
72. Final Fantasy * He Poos Clouds (Tomlab)
73. Sonic Youth * Rather Ripped (Geffen)
74. Joan As Police Woman * Real Life (Reveal)
75. Amp Fiddler * Afro Strut (Genuine UK)
76. Cornelius * Sensuous (WEA)
77. Man Man * Six Demon Bag (Ace Fu)
78. Om * Conference Of The Birds (Holy Mountain)
79. Ekkehard Ehlers * A Life Without Fear (Staubgold)
80. Annuals * Be He Me (Ace Fu)
81. Asobi Seksu * Citrus (Friendly Fire)
82. Love Is All * Nine Times That Same Song (What's Your Rupture?)
83. Mew * And The Glass-Handed Kites (Sony)
84. Ladyfuzz * Kerfuffle (Transgressive/WEA International)
85. Lilly Allen * Alright, Still (Regal)
86. Sunn 0))) & Boris * Altar (Southern Lord)
87. The Sword * Age Of Winters (Kemado)
88. Jesu * Silver EP (Hydra Head)
89. Booka Shade * Movements (Get Physical)
90. Rhymefest * Blue Collar (Allido/J)
91. The Coup * Pick a Bigger Weapon (Epitaph)
92. National Trust * Kings And Queens (Thrill Jockey)
93. The Ranconteurs * Broken Boy Soldiers (XL)
94. Wolfmother (Modular/Interscope)
95. The Ludes * The Dark Art Of Happiness (Double Dragon UK)
96. LCD Soundsystem * 45:33 (Nike/iTunes)
97. The Thermals * The Body, The Blood, The Machine (Sub Pop)
98. Scritti Politti * White Bread Black Beer (Rough Trade)
99. Rachid Taha * Diwan 2 (Wrasse)
100. Scott Walker * The Drift (4AD)
I can’t see how anyone would feel confident in their year-end list before the year is up. I spend the entire month of December tracking down albums I missed earlier in the year, and revisiting ones I hadn’t heard in a few months. No matter how hard I try, there are always another handful of albums I discover in the following years that would have made my top 50 and usually at least one that cracks the top 10. Having stuffed over 200 new albums into my brain this month in addition to re-listening to another 50, I’m drunk with music, eyes swirling, balance and grammar compromised. So let’s do this, shall we?
It seemed 2005 was doomed to be the nadir of the decade. I felt it was the weakest year in music since about 1992. There was no where to go but up, and 2006 was definitely an improvement. Opinions will differ widely, because tastes are more fragmented than ever. The age of consensus is gone, and this is largely a good thing. No single artist can define an entire generation’s cultural zeitgeist. How could they, when music flows around us more than ever. Wherever there is air, it vibrates with music. Contrary to what some think, the abundance of music via the Internet does not cheapen it. Without air, we die. Many of us breathe in music like air every day, and while we wouldn’t die without it, quality of life would certainly feel like it’s taken a dive. The difference is that our tastes are more individualized, segmented into personalized MP3 playlists. The era of corporate media colonizing our minds with their focus-group researched to lowest common denominator tripe is, if not effectively over, greatly diminished. Some may still yearn to belong to a larger community like the Beatles/Stones/Dylan generation. But the direct effect of filesharing, music blogs and customizable Internet radio (Pandora, Last.fm, Rhapsody) is that many artists have increased their audience. This decade, new artists who hadn’t even released a full length album have been selling out small venues. This is in sharp contrast to the 80s and 90s, when many touring indie artists took it for granted that they would often play in front of a handful of people and not always earn enough to eat that night. A good show with a happy crowd of 100 to 500 is plenty of community for me.
Without a doubt the band of the year was TV On The Radio. No other artist right now can remotely touch their mix of originality, passion, and showmanship. They may not top all the polls, as they are not all things to all people, but a lot more would get them were they to see their fiery live performances. David Letterman smirked when he read the title, Return To Cookie Mountain while introducing the band. But it’s no joke, Dave, that’s the best album you’ll hold in your shriveling hands for years to come. What makes them so great is that while their excellent lyrics touch on political rage, they don’t have a messianic savior complex like some artists we know. They don’t drown the audience with pious, sentimental ballads, or bore us by twiddling knobs and fussing with their complex layers of experimental textures. Instead, they do what they did on Letterman’s show, rock the **** out with crazed sexual energy.
Mastodon and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs also released stellar albums. Rivaling TV On The Radio for best live band in the world, Brazilian group Kassin +2 released the third in a sort of trilogy, Futurismo. Oddly, it’s currently a Japanese import. The Hold Steady hit the jackpot by sweetening Craig Finn’s literate storytelling with melodies and some actual singing. Sweden’s The Knife, while almost oppressively creepy, developed a brilliantly unique sound. Fujiya & Miyagi aren’t the first band to pay homage to Krautrock, but they’re the best of this year’s crop. Neko Case continues to refine her music until it’s so exquisitely out-of-time it will certainly haunt the past and the future. Björk may be laying low this year, but her influence can be heard in two very different artists – avant-folky harpist Joanna Newsom and Miho Hatori, formerly of the fabulous Cibo Matto. Who knew that shibuya-kei J-pop influenced pomo pop and “freak folk” would have a common thread...
Continued (see rest of summary, Genre Lucky 13 Lists, including concerts, books and movies.
See what over 500 people thought of the year in music, and a list of 1,300 albums! --
The Idolator 2006 Jackin’ Pop Critics Poll
How to use end of year lists