Top 10 Albums For 2006.
First of all, lets point out the blatantly obvious.
It's fucking hot.
Secondly, it's been a while since I've posted, and I've been meaning to post my top 10 albums for 2006, so here I am doing just that. Hopefully if my memory serves me right I'll be able to post a top 5 concerts for 2006. I'm aiming to do a top 20 films for 2006 as soon as I've seen World Trade Center and made up my mind on that one. It probably won't even feature in my top 20, but I'm a sucker for Oliver Stone films and I don't know why.
Anyhow...
10. The Greatest - Cat Power
Best Track: Willie
Such a lovely sweet album this one. And downright depressing at the same time. It's a real groover at times and the theme throughout the album is easy to get stuck in your head for days on end. This used to sit atop of this list, but as the year went on, it got shafted down behind other albums which may not have been as great on first listen, but had some really great single songs that earnt many a rotation. Still, this is a great bluesy album and definitely one to look out for.
9. Hollywood - Little Birdy
Best Track: Bodies
I was a little worried of what Little Birdy's follow up would be like. Their a band whose first album I hated at first - after being a huge fan of their EP's and singles - and then grew to love. The songs off Hollywood had the same problem that bigbiglove had, and that was that immediately they weren't catchers. They weren't ones that stuck in your head for a while - although Bodies did stick in my head after their Come On, Come On gig at the Amplifier - and it did take a fair few spins for the album to become familiar and sound great. Whilst I didn't share the same view as Bernadette, it does try and sound like an 80's record with a few too many beeps and bops from some electronic whatever throughout. And on repeat listens, that does come quite annoying. Yet, the tunes do stick after a while and they are damn catchy after a while. Come On, Come On works great by opening ala Pixies style, flooding into Little Birdy territory for two minutes, then crooning into The Sleepy Jackson territory at the end. Bodies does play like a kid tampering with his new found electric piano - ala Piano Man. And as with bigbiglove, the album does tend to wane a bit at the end. But the gold that is there is great and very worthwhile.
8. ninteeneighties - Grant-Lee Phillips
Best Track: Under The Milky Way
Good old Grant-Lee. A regular on Gilmore Girls, a real enigma when it comes to music - supporting Paul Dempsey years ago, he was a great support act. The first time I heard the idea for this album, it blew me away. Sure, it's not the most astounding idea, but then again, songs from the 80's weren't exactly the most astounding songs either. What Phillips has done here is collected a heap of brilliant songs by some great bands and parred them down to something beautiful. Witness the laid back, uber-relaxed version of The Pixies Wave Of Mutilation. The Church's Under The Milky Way stands out as the best track on the album - although it does sound the most like the original - and it helps blow away that The Church VS Some Guy At Home With Mixmaster 7.2 remix released sometime around last year. Definitely one for the kids of the 80's.
7. The Life Pursuit - Belle And Sebastian
Best Track: The Blues Are Still Blue
When I was in Scotland I got a little hooked on these guys. I was never big on them, but they flooded the airwaves with The Blues Are Still Blue and I'll be damned if it's not the best song about laundry that there ever was. Look, it's a perfect A-Side/B-Side album and if I found it on vinyl, it'd be a must have. This is a real kicker of an album and a real swinger as well. The album would have appeared higher, if it didn't sound extremely similar to a lot of their other music. I'm opening a can of worms with that statement, but essentially a band can still stay great after many albums (which Belle And Sebastian have had) and create newer sounds for themselves. But that's another argument another day. This is a great album, that's that. Apparently these guys kick just a little ass live, and I'm sure that's the case, so if they ever came back to Perth I'd defintely give them a look out.
6. Personality: One Was A Spider, One Was A Bird - The Sleepy Jackson
Best Track: I Understand What You Want But I Just Don't Agree
This was probably my most anticipated album of 2006. And probably the biggest lesson I learnt in 2006 regarding music. An obvious lesson at that - don't get your expectations up. The pre-release info for this album foretold of what was to come - a troubled release, pushed back due to Luke Steele's request to layer the music himself. The cover art definitely took a lot to get used to, and the fact that Luke's B-Sides really haven't improved at all was a little worrying. And then God Lead Your Soul came out, and damn, what a single. Almost able to take out song of the year. And then the album came out. Well, it's surely got some damn fine tracks on there - God Lead Your Soul, I Understand What You Want But I Just Don't Agree, Miles Away, God Knows - but it's also got some really questionable tracks that could have worked as easily as a B-Side - Play A Little Bit For Love (a dig at the End Of Fashion boys, but so difficult to understand what the lyrics are that it plays like a mash of disco and rock, making little to no sense), Dream On, You Won't Bring People Down In My Town. Which is possibly what Luke wanted - because essentially that's all The Sleepy Jackson are, Luke Steele And Co. - and if played as a vinyl these songs would end up as B-Sides. But, as a CD, they just don't work. Let alone work live - Luke's choice to close all shows with Play A Little Bit For Love ends up just working out as an extreme explosion of energy.
What could be a really negative review is stemmed from that lesson I learnt, don't get your expectations up too high.
5. How We Operate - Gomez
Best Track: See The World
Defintely one of the best breakthrough albums that any band could ask for. Certainly not as good as some of their previous work, but still very high up there, How We Operate helped smash Gomez through that difficult American market. They played on Leno! (Well, I think it was Leno). They've had two songs feature on Grey's Anatomy. They had sell out shows again. Look, this band just goes from strength to strength - although behind the scene's talks hinder that theory - and with this album they'll just keep soaring. However, this is the third Gomez album I've found which the track listing has hindered the appreciation of the album a little. But, that's just me being nitpicking. This is a truly great album and I've found that it's the one I go to when I'm stuck for something to listen to in the car - either that or Desert Lights. Sure, being a major Gomez fan does help that a little, but having your favourite band release a cracking album does make your day. And as was touted on the Gomez forum, 2006 really was year of the Gomez. (Although, not entirely with them only making No. 5 on my top 10 for 2006 - I blame that on Charley Patton Songs).
4. The Crane Wife - The Decemberists
Best Track: The Island: Come And See/The Landlord's Daughter/You'll Not Feel The...
Whoa. What an album. Truly, this is just something that doesn't happen often. A band releases their best effort a year before and seriously sets themselves up for either a shot in the foot or continuation of that success with their follow up album. Luckily, for The Decemberists, they've created an album which equals Picaresque. Where Her Majest and Castaways And Cutouts had cracking tunes and the filler was less than impressive, they've taken both Picaresque and The Crane Wife and eliminated the filler and created, well, music to my ears. It's got disco - Decemberists style, it's got rock - Decemberists style, it's got opera - Decemberists style, it's got everything dammit. O Valencia! burns up the dancefloor - not the disco dancefloor but my style of dancefloor. The Crane Wife Pt. 1 & 2 blows The Mariner's Revenge Song out of the water. At first I was worried, but this album just keeps on getting better. A definite must have.
3. Moo, You Bloody Choir - Augie March
Best Track: Just Passing Through
Look past the odd title and you've got another brilliant break through album. This time from small Australian act Augie March. Stamping their name on the Australian music scene with (sadly) one of the most overplayed songs of 2006 - One Crowded Hour. Sadly, in my opinion, the rest of the album didn't get much of a look in as one song became the image for one band. It's happened before and it'll happen again, and Augie March seem like a strong enough band to pull through this. Whilst it's a great thing to happen to them, it's also a daunting task for their follow up album - which is due at the start of 2008 according to reports.
2. Suburban Songbook - Bob Evans
Best Track: Nowhere Without You
This is essentially equal to Something For Kate's Desert Lights. You'll be hard pressed to find a sweeter, more harmonic, loveable album from 2006. This is truly the love album for those silly indie kids. I'm lost for words at simply how great it is and how much of a departure it is from Kevin Mitchell's Jebediah. It's been an insane year for Kevin Mitchell and it's only going to get better. Just superb.
1. Desert Lights - Something For Kate
Best Track: A Fool's History Pt. 1
The reception for this album has been disapointing. You'd think a band like Something For Kate would at least get a pointless ARIA nomination for what is essentially their best work. This is what Australian music should be about - not the shenningan's of Jet or Bernard Fanning but the pure lyrical genius of Paul Dempsey. Look, I can't say much more than this album is seriously one of the best albums I've heard in a long time and it's one hell of a live album as well. If - according to a Sydney reviewer for Something For Kate's last album The Official Fiction - Something For Kate is a prime example of what is wrong with Australian music, then damn, I'd really like to see what is right with Australian music because it's hard to fault such an album and such an act as Something For Kate.
I'll write up my top 5 live acts sometime next week alongside my top 20 songs for 2006.
It's fucking hot.
Secondly, it's been a while since I've posted, and I've been meaning to post my top 10 albums for 2006, so here I am doing just that. Hopefully if my memory serves me right I'll be able to post a top 5 concerts for 2006. I'm aiming to do a top 20 films for 2006 as soon as I've seen World Trade Center and made up my mind on that one. It probably won't even feature in my top 20, but I'm a sucker for Oliver Stone films and I don't know why.
Anyhow...
10. The Greatest - Cat Power
Best Track: Willie
Such a lovely sweet album this one. And downright depressing at the same time. It's a real groover at times and the theme throughout the album is easy to get stuck in your head for days on end. This used to sit atop of this list, but as the year went on, it got shafted down behind other albums which may not have been as great on first listen, but had some really great single songs that earnt many a rotation. Still, this is a great bluesy album and definitely one to look out for.
9. Hollywood - Little Birdy
Best Track: Bodies
I was a little worried of what Little Birdy's follow up would be like. Their a band whose first album I hated at first - after being a huge fan of their EP's and singles - and then grew to love. The songs off Hollywood had the same problem that bigbiglove had, and that was that immediately they weren't catchers. They weren't ones that stuck in your head for a while - although Bodies did stick in my head after their Come On, Come On gig at the Amplifier - and it did take a fair few spins for the album to become familiar and sound great. Whilst I didn't share the same view as Bernadette, it does try and sound like an 80's record with a few too many beeps and bops from some electronic whatever throughout. And on repeat listens, that does come quite annoying. Yet, the tunes do stick after a while and they are damn catchy after a while. Come On, Come On works great by opening ala Pixies style, flooding into Little Birdy territory for two minutes, then crooning into The Sleepy Jackson territory at the end. Bodies does play like a kid tampering with his new found electric piano - ala Piano Man. And as with bigbiglove, the album does tend to wane a bit at the end. But the gold that is there is great and very worthwhile.
8. ninteeneighties - Grant-Lee Phillips
Best Track: Under The Milky Way
Good old Grant-Lee. A regular on Gilmore Girls, a real enigma when it comes to music - supporting Paul Dempsey years ago, he was a great support act. The first time I heard the idea for this album, it blew me away. Sure, it's not the most astounding idea, but then again, songs from the 80's weren't exactly the most astounding songs either. What Phillips has done here is collected a heap of brilliant songs by some great bands and parred them down to something beautiful. Witness the laid back, uber-relaxed version of The Pixies Wave Of Mutilation. The Church's Under The Milky Way stands out as the best track on the album - although it does sound the most like the original - and it helps blow away that The Church VS Some Guy At Home With Mixmaster 7.2 remix released sometime around last year. Definitely one for the kids of the 80's.
7. The Life Pursuit - Belle And Sebastian
Best Track: The Blues Are Still Blue
When I was in Scotland I got a little hooked on these guys. I was never big on them, but they flooded the airwaves with The Blues Are Still Blue and I'll be damned if it's not the best song about laundry that there ever was. Look, it's a perfect A-Side/B-Side album and if I found it on vinyl, it'd be a must have. This is a real kicker of an album and a real swinger as well. The album would have appeared higher, if it didn't sound extremely similar to a lot of their other music. I'm opening a can of worms with that statement, but essentially a band can still stay great after many albums (which Belle And Sebastian have had) and create newer sounds for themselves. But that's another argument another day. This is a great album, that's that. Apparently these guys kick just a little ass live, and I'm sure that's the case, so if they ever came back to Perth I'd defintely give them a look out.
6. Personality: One Was A Spider, One Was A Bird - The Sleepy Jackson
Best Track: I Understand What You Want But I Just Don't Agree
This was probably my most anticipated album of 2006. And probably the biggest lesson I learnt in 2006 regarding music. An obvious lesson at that - don't get your expectations up. The pre-release info for this album foretold of what was to come - a troubled release, pushed back due to Luke Steele's request to layer the music himself. The cover art definitely took a lot to get used to, and the fact that Luke's B-Sides really haven't improved at all was a little worrying. And then God Lead Your Soul came out, and damn, what a single. Almost able to take out song of the year. And then the album came out. Well, it's surely got some damn fine tracks on there - God Lead Your Soul, I Understand What You Want But I Just Don't Agree, Miles Away, God Knows - but it's also got some really questionable tracks that could have worked as easily as a B-Side - Play A Little Bit For Love (a dig at the End Of Fashion boys, but so difficult to understand what the lyrics are that it plays like a mash of disco and rock, making little to no sense), Dream On, You Won't Bring People Down In My Town. Which is possibly what Luke wanted - because essentially that's all The Sleepy Jackson are, Luke Steele And Co. - and if played as a vinyl these songs would end up as B-Sides. But, as a CD, they just don't work. Let alone work live - Luke's choice to close all shows with Play A Little Bit For Love ends up just working out as an extreme explosion of energy.
What could be a really negative review is stemmed from that lesson I learnt, don't get your expectations up too high.
5. How We Operate - Gomez
Best Track: See The World
Defintely one of the best breakthrough albums that any band could ask for. Certainly not as good as some of their previous work, but still very high up there, How We Operate helped smash Gomez through that difficult American market. They played on Leno! (Well, I think it was Leno). They've had two songs feature on Grey's Anatomy. They had sell out shows again. Look, this band just goes from strength to strength - although behind the scene's talks hinder that theory - and with this album they'll just keep soaring. However, this is the third Gomez album I've found which the track listing has hindered the appreciation of the album a little. But, that's just me being nitpicking. This is a truly great album and I've found that it's the one I go to when I'm stuck for something to listen to in the car - either that or Desert Lights. Sure, being a major Gomez fan does help that a little, but having your favourite band release a cracking album does make your day. And as was touted on the Gomez forum, 2006 really was year of the Gomez. (Although, not entirely with them only making No. 5 on my top 10 for 2006 - I blame that on Charley Patton Songs).
4. The Crane Wife - The Decemberists
Best Track: The Island: Come And See/The Landlord's Daughter/You'll Not Feel The...
Whoa. What an album. Truly, this is just something that doesn't happen often. A band releases their best effort a year before and seriously sets themselves up for either a shot in the foot or continuation of that success with their follow up album. Luckily, for The Decemberists, they've created an album which equals Picaresque. Where Her Majest and Castaways And Cutouts had cracking tunes and the filler was less than impressive, they've taken both Picaresque and The Crane Wife and eliminated the filler and created, well, music to my ears. It's got disco - Decemberists style, it's got rock - Decemberists style, it's got opera - Decemberists style, it's got everything dammit. O Valencia! burns up the dancefloor - not the disco dancefloor but my style of dancefloor. The Crane Wife Pt. 1 & 2 blows The Mariner's Revenge Song out of the water. At first I was worried, but this album just keeps on getting better. A definite must have.
3. Moo, You Bloody Choir - Augie March
Best Track: Just Passing Through
Look past the odd title and you've got another brilliant break through album. This time from small Australian act Augie March. Stamping their name on the Australian music scene with (sadly) one of the most overplayed songs of 2006 - One Crowded Hour. Sadly, in my opinion, the rest of the album didn't get much of a look in as one song became the image for one band. It's happened before and it'll happen again, and Augie March seem like a strong enough band to pull through this. Whilst it's a great thing to happen to them, it's also a daunting task for their follow up album - which is due at the start of 2008 according to reports.
2. Suburban Songbook - Bob Evans
Best Track: Nowhere Without You
This is essentially equal to Something For Kate's Desert Lights. You'll be hard pressed to find a sweeter, more harmonic, loveable album from 2006. This is truly the love album for those silly indie kids. I'm lost for words at simply how great it is and how much of a departure it is from Kevin Mitchell's Jebediah. It's been an insane year for Kevin Mitchell and it's only going to get better. Just superb.
1. Desert Lights - Something For Kate
Best Track: A Fool's History Pt. 1
The reception for this album has been disapointing. You'd think a band like Something For Kate would at least get a pointless ARIA nomination for what is essentially their best work. This is what Australian music should be about - not the shenningan's of Jet or Bernard Fanning but the pure lyrical genius of Paul Dempsey. Look, I can't say much more than this album is seriously one of the best albums I've heard in a long time and it's one hell of a live album as well. If - according to a Sydney reviewer for Something For Kate's last album The Official Fiction - Something For Kate is a prime example of what is wrong with Australian music, then damn, I'd really like to see what is right with Australian music because it's hard to fault such an album and such an act as Something For Kate.
I'll write up my top 5 live acts sometime next week alongside my top 20 songs for 2006.