2006年 08月 22日 火曜日 17:20

As per MrModernRock, I present to you all my perspective regarding the music of the first half of 2006. However, and possibly much to the annoyance of some of you, I’ll be taking a few liberties with the format:

Firstly, I’ve always had a problem with the numerical assignment of scores for album reviewing, not so much with others doing it, but more so with empirically justifying the logic of how I arrived at slapping on a 5.4 or an 83% rating on a record, solely based on subjective notions and personal final impressions. I’m sure one or two of you have noticed by now, but that’s mainly why I tend to avoid tacking on any sort of rating at the end of my reviews (although I’m currently reconsidering the notion). So, at least for this first installment until the end of the year rolls around, there won’t be any scores appearing in this entry.

Second of all, in order to preserve some sort of element of surprise in what records I view as particular standouts or train wrecks until December (y’know, because you all care), I’ll disregard rank completely and just arrange each album I’ve heard this year roughly in order of their respective month of release.

Finally, as a peace offering for no numerical ratings, what you all receive instead is a (short) descriptor about how I feel about the album – I like to think that I’m at least versed well enough in the English language to convey and approximate my sentiments on a record accurately enough without the stone-cold, left-field absolutism of actual numbers. Incidentally, this will serve as a helpful companion when I need to reference a template thought in picking up the slack on some reviews I’ve missed out on this year.

Without further ado, let’s get to it.

JANUARY

1. The Cardigans – Super Extra Gravity
My first (import) purchase of the year. I actually snagged a torrent of it when it was prevalently floating around on mIRC channels late last year during its European release, but I feel that such a great, underrated album (and band) like this deserves additional mention again this year, especially now that it’s finally being slated for a stateside release in September.

2. Sia – Colour the Small One
This record actually saw a 2004 release in Australia and gradually made its way to parts of Europe; it wasn’t until after the season finale of HBO’s acclaimed drama, Six Feet Under (where her single “Breathe” was prominently featured) in 2005 that Sia started garnering hard-earned attention. The US release saw the addition of two pleasantly surprising bomb-ass B-sides and “Breathe” remixes. Another favorite of the year.

3. Tina Dico – In the Red
She shot her way into my heart with her captivating, self-assured delivery on “Home” with Zero 7, and her sparse, beautifully-under-produced Notes EP was, at the time, one of the greatest pieces of ear candy I’d heard in a long while. Cue acclaimed Richard Ashcroft producer Chris Potter to come in and fuck everything up to help Dico turn a vanilla, by-the-numbers feature debut. *shakes head*

4. The Strokes – First Impressions of Earth
This was my first serious entry with The Strokes – I probably should have started from the beginning. Production on this beast is more often murder for the record than not.

5. The Elected – Sun, Sun, Sun
I find it an utter travesty that Blake Sennett’s latest record only got a fraction of the fanfare it deserved in the midst of being released on same day as Rilo Kiley cohort Jenny Lewis’ solo outing. This is, by far, the superior record of the two and one of this year’s sunniest.

6. Jenny Lewis With the Watson Twins – Rabbit Fur Coat
I think most people know how I feel about this record: not terrible enough to pan completely, but not good enough to be more than almost middling.

7. Cat Power – The Greatest
This is indubitably Chan Marshall’s most consistent and compelling body of work.

8. Mozez – So Still
Another predominately electronic vocalist who accumulated exposure in Zero 7… it’s a better effort than former co-singer Tina Dico, but that’s not really saying too terribly much.

9. The Temptations – Reflections
I was really about this record, I really was. Then it got worse and worse; first I found out it was a covers album, then I heard it and found it was a terrible covers album…

10. Nellie McKay – Pretty Little Head
The most disappointing thing about this record is that I probably won’t be able to technically include it in my top ten records for the end of this year in the foreseeable future. Not until it gets an official release. *sigh*

FEBRUARY

11. Belle and Sebastian – The Life Pursuit
I don’t care what anyone says; this is my favorite album in the entire B&S repertoire. Deez nutz.

12. Artic Monkeys – Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not
At times lyrically brilliant but musically simplistic, this was “that” record to keep on the radar for the longest time. Unfortunately, a lot of critical emphasis has been placed on their admittedly derivative style as opposed to their actually solid musicianship. Still, it’s a good debut wounded substantially by a freakishly obscene amount of hype and woefully little amount of originality.

13. Beth Orton – Comfort of Strangers
I quite enjoy this stripped back version of Ms. Orton a great deal, to be honest.

14. KT Tunstall – Eye to the Telescope
Although one of the better singer-songwriters to make a splash with near-instant mainstream success, I find her delivery lacking versatility and the ridiculous amount of prominence placed on her ability to multi-track herself during live performances to be a tad bit gimmicky. That, and most the left-field Dido comparisons are just blatantly asinine.

15. Ray Davies – Other People’s Lives
Yeah, I’m pretty sure I’m the only one who picked up this really solid record by ex-Kinks frontman.

16. Goldfrapp – Supernature
A fun and entertaining, if occasionally spotty, electronic dance record by one of my favorite sexy voices in the biz. Hoooot damn.

17. Mogwai – Mr. Beast
This was my first blind purchase of the year, and remains my only one. I should’ve been able to realize that this album had “Post Rock Snooze Fest 2K6” written all over it, solely based on the cover. This one got sold straight back to Hastings.

18. Bela Fleck & The Flecktones – Hidden Land
I never thought I would say this, but these guys desperately need to retire if they can’t establish a new, fresh musical direction by next album. Their style has not aged very well at all, and their bluegrass/electronic/jazz fusion just sounds campy as fuck these days.

19. Destroyer – Destroyer’s Rubies
I don’t like Dan Bejar’s voice, but this is surprisingly okay.

20. Cascada – Everytime We Touch
Goodbyyyyyye, electronic music – say hello to the death of vocal trance.

MARCH

21. Prince – 3121
I lied – this was also a blind buy, and one that I also sincerely regretted. I love Prince too.

22. Dilated Peoples – 20/20
I guess when compared to their stellar debut, I can understand why people think these guys have fallen off their rocker. But y’know what? – I actually quite like the record. The general disconnect of the album in-between songs is somewhat detrimental, though.

23. Neko Case – Fox Confessor Brings the Flood
It’s still clenching on to dear life for the #1 spot of my favorite record this year. Just barely. *smile*

24. Men Women & Children – Men Women & Children
Lead single “Dance in My Blood” was fetching enough, only to be offset by post-disco punk rock catastrophe. All flash and no substance; I really don’t see these guys going anywhere after their record fades from consciousness.

25. Ben Harper – Two Sides of the Gun
Fuck double-disc records. Really. A handful of solid tracks scattershot throughout a generally boring and exhaustive listen.

26. Band of Horses – Everything All the Time
I don’t remember giving so much as two shits about Carissa’s Weird, and I certainly can’t help but not give these guys the time of day, either. The lead singer voice grates like a motherfucker, and I really just can’t get over how emo all ten tracks feel.

27. Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Show Your Bones
It wasn’t until this record that I started to cozy up slightly to Karen O’s histrionic vocals – mostly because they were almost entirely absent this go. *smile* Not a bad effort; it sounds leaner and more refined than their debut, by far, although that may have put off some of the band’s core fanbase. But what do I know?

28. Ghostface Killa – Fishscale
It sounds petty, but the album is murdered by the sheer number of tracks on here. It’s not necessarily a long listen so much as there’s very little room to be able to step back and take a breather without Ghostface trying to shove his chaotic, anxiety-inducing flow down your throat. Lots of notably great tracks overwrought by aimless skits trying to cleverly reference (esoteric) pop culture.

29. T.I. – King
I still stand by this as, so far, the best rap album of the year. T.I.’s got solid beats being pounded out for him, irrevocable mic presence, and he has an elastic, well-enunciated flow. At sixteen tracks there are absolutely nothing but mostly muscular, rock-awesome songs and zero bullshit skits.

30. Mates of State – Bring it Back
Ooh, boy, the fanbase were up in arms over this one. So what if they added guitars and a bass line on this record? I can’t imagine them sounding very much more compelling as the drums-and-keyboards duo they were originally touted as, especially against the appalling bad harmonization on the end of that guy in the group. I mean, seriously, what the fuck?

APRIL

31. The Flaming Lips – At War With the Mystics
It’s hard to live in Oklahoma and tell people that you hate The Flaming Lips. It’s not even remotely forgivable that that sentiment was mostly catalyzed by this record, which was laughably atrocious.

32. Islands – Return to the Sea
A sometimes curiously engaging debut, but it’s mostly forgettable. I fucking hated The Unicorns, if you were wondering.

33. Pink – I’m Not Dead
Girl, there were so many things you did wrong on this record, I don’t even know where to begin. Lead singles based around exaggerated pop culture satires were birthed, refined, perfected, and ritualistically cannibalized by Eminem; in other words, the format is yesterday’s news, I don’t blame anyone for considering “Stupid Girls” a borderline career killer for you, at least here in the states.

34. Ani DiFranco – Carnegie Hall 4.6.02
I think this is pretty much her best live entry ever.

35. Massive Attack – Collected
One of the more convincingly-crafted greatest hits compilations put together in recent memory.

36. LL Cool J – Todd Smith
Really – Todd who? Talk about becoming culturally irrelevant.

37. Built to Spill – You in Reverse
I was never a considerable fan of theirs, but I really do appreciate the raw, organic energy bouncing around the record, especially during the highly kinetic and listenable first half.

38. Daniel Powter – Daniel Powter
This one was purely for shits ‘n giggles. And yeah, it’s as categorically bad as you all might have assumed.

39. Calexico – Garden Ruins
Attention all Calexico Super Fans – yes, I think this was a good album. See ya!

40. Gotan Project – Lunatico
Hands down, the most cohesive, ethnically-tinged electronic album this year. Not a beat is wasted on the record’s generally colorful and flourishing production.

41. Josh Ritter – Animal Years
I’m not sure how I would place this good record in my head, mostly because I’ve only listened to it once. Get back to me on this.

42. Tom Ze – Estudando o Pagode
Sweet Jesus; when did dirty Portuguese rock taste so good?

43. Fiery Furnaces – Bitter Tea
Makes few strides in purging the putrid aftertaste left behind by the offensively unlistenable Rehearse My Choir.

44. The Streets – The Hardest Way to Make an Easy Living
*sigh* Only three good songs before Mike Skinner jumps off a cliff.

45. Secret Machines – Ten Silver Drops
It hurt so bad to watch this one flop the fuck out.

46. Bubba Sparxxx – The Charm
The biggest shame about Bubba Sparxxx is that all three of his albums have been rather good. The only downside to that is that being “rather good” has nowhere near enough of a sway to distinguish him from his other white rapper peers, and “New Ms. Booty”, for as catchy and grind-worthy that it is, isn’t going to set him straight on the path to any sort of immediate stardom.

47. Bruce Springsteen – We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions
I’ve always had lukewarm thoughts about this man until this album. Springsteen has always had a substantial fanbase, even throughout a time period where he was vehemently pegged as nothing more than a second-rate Dylan imitator – with this record, I can see why. Springsteen delivers one of the most musically elastic albums of the year, and I’m more than happy with being able to get my foot in the door with his discography with The Seeger Sessions.

48. Babyshambles – Down in Albion
It only becomes more obvious just how much of an acquired taste Pete Doherty is. The Libertines were, eh, okay, sans their one-sided subject matter, and Doherty doesn’t really demonstrate much in the way of lyrical litheness out on his own either.

MAY

49. Gomez – How We Operate
The semi-consistent panning that this album received was a little head-scratching to me, at best; to me it was a perfectly catchy and acceptable rock album. Of course, I guess when that type of musical direction is stacked up against their previous bodies of work which more or less featured strong strains of experimentalism, focusing on things like hooks and sing-alongable choruses is critically frowned upon. Fuck you, guys.

50. Pearl Jam – Pearl Jam
I don’t ever remember any Pearl Jam album being run through the publicity hype machine as much as this one was. A very decent, although straightforward, effort to exemplify that they’re quite far from being as washed up as most may have previously thought. Unfortunately, whether or not that re-validates their place in cultural relevance in the current scheme of things remain to be seen.

51. Jewel – Goodbye Alice in Wonderland
Her best record since her debut.

52. Tool – 10,000 Days
Perhaps my ear isn’t as intuitive as I think, but I swear to God this record was horrible.

53. Paul Simon – Surprise
Very literally a surprise favorite record of the year for me. Brian Eno polishes the album up a bit with a distinct electronic feel, a la David Gray’s White Ladder, and boy, it’s good.

54. Gnarls Barkley – St. Elsewhere
I’m sorry, no, I just don’t buy into this. Danger Mouse is dangerously overrated, and the eccentric-for-the-sake-of-eccentricity production on this album does little to convince me otherwise.

55. Jagged Edge – Jagged Edge
Methinks it’s time to either break up or carve out a new musical niche, ‘cause this pretty boy shit doesn’t cut it in this day in age.

56. Red Hot Chili Peppers – Stadium Arcadium
It was nothing short of a nightmare to comb through this record. The worst part is that there are some really great songs on here too. Yet another instance where a particular band’s popular signature sound shows that it doesn’t age very well.

57. Snow Patrol – Eyes Open
Contrary to popular belief, Mr. Lightbody, your indie credibility is not boosted by name-dropping last year’s Indie Music Hero, nor does that allow your band to take steps to leave the category of “The Poor Man’s Coldplay” that you got shoehorned into years earlier. An absolute pop disaster.

58. Art Brut – Bang Bang Rock & Roll
Occasionally amusing lyricism doesn’t make trying to absorb these guys’ talk-sing style any easier.

59. Ane Brun – A Temporary Dive
Another talented entry in the severely lacking realm of killer female singer-songwriters, although the often times overtly boring nature of half her record will cause some difficulty in allowing her to turn heads, at least here in the states.

60. The Raconteurs – Broken Boy Soldier
I think I like this album okay, but I haven’t quite resolved how I feel about The Raconteurs indefinitely, since I’m still trying to sort out how I feel about The White Stripes in general…

61. DMC – Checks Thugs and Rock & Roll
Not even worth seeking out a leak.

62. The Wreckers – Stand Still, Look Pretty
I like Michelle Branch and there is very, very little anyone can do anything about that fact.

63. The Walkmen – A Hundred Miles Off
I don’t feel particularly compelled to explain why I find this album to be stale as fuck.

64. Phoenix – It’s Never Been Like That
Without a doubt the group’s brightest pop record yet. It’s a completely solid summer jaunt for a lean half-hour plus.

65. Dixie Chicks – Taking the Long Way
Rick Rubin needs to be assassinated for becoming the most worthless contemporary American producer on the planet. Not to mention this album was no bueno.

66. Asobi Seksu – Citrus
I’m no considerable fan of shoegaze, but there’s something endearing about English lyrics with Japanese-inflected accents. A pleasant blind-buy.

67. Johnny Cash – Personal Files
What more is there to say? – for as immense as Cash’s catalogue is, I can testify that most it seems to be straight quality listening. Even the shit he never intended for public release.

JUNE

68. Zero 7 – The Garden
Electronic music really is dying.

69. Laura Michelle Kelly – The Storm Inside
She might be the product of pure pop manufacture – what with her clean-cut image and ear-candy vocals – but she turns in some killer covers on Sia, The Cardigans and Nick Drake, and has a couple of standout original songs. I feel obliged to keep a lookout for her.

70. Psapp – The Only Thing I Ever Wanted
This isn’t too unlike Imogen Heap’s Speak for Yourself in that it’s a harmless, generally accessible exposure into the world of pop-based electronica.

71. Katie Melua – Piece By Piece
I still think the Norah Jones comparisons are pretty unfounded at best, but this was a pretty decent follow-up to her head-turning debut.

72. Camera Obscura – Let’s Get Out of This Country
I saw them in concert over a month ago, and I still don’t find their somber, slow-burning brand of indie pop very appealing.

73. Regina Spektor – Begin to Hope
To me it seems like Spektor tried so hard to demonstrate versatility that she sacrificed every facet of album consistency to realize that intent. What you end up here is an almost appallingly schizophrenic record that invariably alienates the fanbase. I’d even take Jenny Lewis over this mess.

74. Sonic Youth – Rather Ripped
I swear every goddamn track sounds the same.

75. Busta Rhymes – The Big Bang
It sucked. I’m getting really tired of this.

76. Nelly Furtado – Loose
I’ll save this for a review when I get around to it.

77. Utada Hikaru – Ultra Blue
Definitely her worst entry so far. At around thirteen or fourteen tracks with 5 of them being completely new songs, this blatant attempt at trying to cash in on previously-released J-Pop chart-busters fails to impress. The record lacks the cohesion of her previous three.

78. India.Arie – Testimony: Vol. 1, Life & Relationships
Anyone who says that no one even remember who India.Arie is a filthy liar; her first-week sales managed to move over 100,000 units to snag that #1 slot, even though she’s maintained a considerably low profile, not to mention the promotion for the record was minimal at best. It’s not too drastically different from your typical India.Arie tunes, but middling Arie is still better than much of the current output of this year.

79. Diana Ross – Blue
I’m overjoyed someone managed to dig this up out of those Motown vaults so that this superb album could see the light of day of release. Doo wop Ross is great, but jazz and blues-inflected Diana is a whole different ballpark.

80. Allison Moorer – Getting Somewhere
Hooray for good country music.

81. Eamon – Love & Pain
I’m not gonna lie; I didn’t even bother to search for this one like I thought I wanted to.

82. LeAnn Rimes – Whatever We Wanna
A fanfare-less release of a Japan-only record? Uhhhh…

I quit.