2006 music
I couldn't let Dan have the last word on the songs of 2006, could I? No, of course not. So here's a CD's-worth of what I was listening to in 2006. A couple of tracks date from 2005 -- a couple are even 2007 songs, technically -- but most of it's music from the last twelve months. Enjoy.
01. Cavalry -- Delays
Delays' second album took a while to grow on me (and to be honest, if I want to listen to a cheery Delays track I still default to "Long Time Coming"), but eventually it got under my skin, odd rhythms and synthesisers and all. This is the album's opening track, with characteristically gymnastic vocals.
02. Hunting For Witches -- Bloc Party
Last year was the year Bloc Party clicked for me, and that's largely because I listened to their second album, A Weekend in the City. Silent Alarm (with a couple of exceptions, notably "This Modern Love") always felt a bit smooth to me, a bit passionless, as though they didn't really mean it. You can't say that about "Hunting For Witches".
03. Panic Attack -- The Sunshine Underground
I know next to nothing about this band, and I can't remember how I encountered them. I rather like them, though, in an indie-rock-dance way.
04. All The Pretty Faces -- The Killers
Why is it that bonus tracks always seem to eclipse what's actually on the album? Sam's Town has, admittedly, grown on me since I first listened to it, but it's still very much a mixed bag ("My List"? "Why Do I Keep Counting"? Oh dear.). This track from the Japanese release, all fuzz and a great thumping riff, is easily my favourite Killers track from 2006.
05. Skip To The End -- The Futureheads
I can thank Truck for introducing me to The Futureheads properly, by booking them as headline act this year. I immediately went out and got hold of both albums. It has to be said that they have a tendency to value noise over melody that means they're unlikely to ever be a favourite of mine, but at their spiky, poppy best -- as here -- you can't get their tunes out of your head.
06. Surrendered -- The Bluetones
The Bluetones' self-titled album is not their finest hour: it sounds too self-conscious, too much like an attempt to sound like themselves. But there are a couple of jangly gems, and this is one of them.
07. Paper Shoes -- Incubus
Much like The Futureheads, there are parts of Incubus' repertoire that are always going to leave me cold. But they have a wider range than you might suspect. This track, which sounds to me not unlike Radiohead meeting Interpol by way of the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, is a highlight of their 2006 album Light Grenades.
08. Intervention -- The Arcade Fire
The Arcade Fire: they're bonkers, aren't they? But brilliant.
09. Braille -- Ed Harcourt
Dan's right to say that 2006 was a year of numerous disappointing albums, and that The Beautiful Lie was one of them; but it's still far from being a bad record, and this great bruised ballad is one of the reasons why. It reminds me more than a little of the rich alt-country of Beck's Sea Change, which is no bad thing.
10. Safe In Your Arms -- Beth Orton
You can file Comfort of Strangers under 'disappointing', while you're at it. But keep the album's closing track -- and keep this one, too.
11. Black Swan -- Thom Yorke
On the other hand, there's nothing disappointing about The Eraser, at least not once you've let its skittering bleakness get under your skin. At the very least it's the most coherent album Thom Yorke's been involved in since, ooh, OK Computer, probably; and it's hard to imagine a more perfect soundtrack choice for A Scanner Darkly.
12. The Storm -- Seth Lakeman
Another Truck find, one I liked so much that I went to see him play again a few months later. But I find myself listening to his 2004 (Mercury-nominated) album Kitty Jay more than last year's offering, Freedom Fields; the sound is slightly less polished, the tunes slightly more memorable.
13. It Was Love -- The Elected
Even I balk a little at the tweeness of parts of Sun, Sun, Sun. But the first half-dozen or so tracks, including this one, are pretty much perfect.
14. Eyes -- Rogue Wave
Ah, the obligatory found-via-TV track of the year. Last year, of course, it was the Veronica Mars theme ("We Used to be Friends", Dandy Warhols). This year it's this acoustic gem, brought to you by Heroes.
15. Hoppipolla -- Sigur Ros
More pre-2006 music, but this was the year I was introduced to Sigur Ros. And this track was used in the trailer for Children of Men, so it's staying.
16. Together We Will Live Forever -- Clint Mansell
The Fountain isn't even out over here yet, but already I've fallen in love with the soundtrack, which I think I like even more than Mansell's work on Requiem for a Dream. This piano melody is the album's closing track.
01. Cavalry -- Delays
Delays' second album took a while to grow on me (and to be honest, if I want to listen to a cheery Delays track I still default to "Long Time Coming"), but eventually it got under my skin, odd rhythms and synthesisers and all. This is the album's opening track, with characteristically gymnastic vocals.
02. Hunting For Witches -- Bloc Party
Last year was the year Bloc Party clicked for me, and that's largely because I listened to their second album, A Weekend in the City. Silent Alarm (with a couple of exceptions, notably "This Modern Love") always felt a bit smooth to me, a bit passionless, as though they didn't really mean it. You can't say that about "Hunting For Witches".
03. Panic Attack -- The Sunshine Underground
I know next to nothing about this band, and I can't remember how I encountered them. I rather like them, though, in an indie-rock-dance way.
04. All The Pretty Faces -- The Killers
Why is it that bonus tracks always seem to eclipse what's actually on the album? Sam's Town has, admittedly, grown on me since I first listened to it, but it's still very much a mixed bag ("My List"? "Why Do I Keep Counting"? Oh dear.). This track from the Japanese release, all fuzz and a great thumping riff, is easily my favourite Killers track from 2006.
05. Skip To The End -- The Futureheads
I can thank Truck for introducing me to The Futureheads properly, by booking them as headline act this year. I immediately went out and got hold of both albums. It has to be said that they have a tendency to value noise over melody that means they're unlikely to ever be a favourite of mine, but at their spiky, poppy best -- as here -- you can't get their tunes out of your head.
06. Surrendered -- The Bluetones
The Bluetones' self-titled album is not their finest hour: it sounds too self-conscious, too much like an attempt to sound like themselves. But there are a couple of jangly gems, and this is one of them.
07. Paper Shoes -- Incubus
Much like The Futureheads, there are parts of Incubus' repertoire that are always going to leave me cold. But they have a wider range than you might suspect. This track, which sounds to me not unlike Radiohead meeting Interpol by way of the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, is a highlight of their 2006 album Light Grenades.
08. Intervention -- The Arcade Fire
The Arcade Fire: they're bonkers, aren't they? But brilliant.
09. Braille -- Ed Harcourt
Dan's right to say that 2006 was a year of numerous disappointing albums, and that The Beautiful Lie was one of them; but it's still far from being a bad record, and this great bruised ballad is one of the reasons why. It reminds me more than a little of the rich alt-country of Beck's Sea Change, which is no bad thing.
10. Safe In Your Arms -- Beth Orton
You can file Comfort of Strangers under 'disappointing', while you're at it. But keep the album's closing track -- and keep this one, too.
11. Black Swan -- Thom Yorke
On the other hand, there's nothing disappointing about The Eraser, at least not once you've let its skittering bleakness get under your skin. At the very least it's the most coherent album Thom Yorke's been involved in since, ooh, OK Computer, probably; and it's hard to imagine a more perfect soundtrack choice for A Scanner Darkly.
12. The Storm -- Seth Lakeman
Another Truck find, one I liked so much that I went to see him play again a few months later. But I find myself listening to his 2004 (Mercury-nominated) album Kitty Jay more than last year's offering, Freedom Fields; the sound is slightly less polished, the tunes slightly more memorable.
13. It Was Love -- The Elected
Even I balk a little at the tweeness of parts of Sun, Sun, Sun. But the first half-dozen or so tracks, including this one, are pretty much perfect.
14. Eyes -- Rogue Wave
Ah, the obligatory found-via-TV track of the year. Last year, of course, it was the Veronica Mars theme ("We Used to be Friends", Dandy Warhols). This year it's this acoustic gem, brought to you by Heroes.
15. Hoppipolla -- Sigur Ros
More pre-2006 music, but this was the year I was introduced to Sigur Ros. And this track was used in the trailer for Children of Men, so it's staying.
16. Together We Will Live Forever -- Clint Mansell
The Fountain isn't even out over here yet, but already I've fallen in love with the soundtrack, which I think I like even more than Mansell's work on Requiem for a Dream. This piano melody is the album's closing track.