20in2006.
my top 20 albums of 2006.
01 Joanna Newsom | Ys
For all the big names (Van Dyke Parks, Jim O’Rourke, Steve Albini) and big words (hydrocephalitic, diluvian, spelunking) attached to this record, the one thing ‘Ys’ did, consistently and completely, was make me forget all that. Despite the perfect O’Rourke mix and the sweeping string arrangements of Parks, what this record truly highlighted and underscored was Joanna’s pure, angelic songs. The weight of her voice and the resonance of her harp conjure more - more imagery, more feeling, more excitement, more wonder, just simply more - than any other songwriter currently breathing. If she is not already, then she surely will be in the future, as iconic as the prolific names that fill her liner notes. Yet again, Ms. Newsom has changed my life.
02 Keith Fullerton Whitman | Lisbon
Although Whitman claims that he has “decided to relax, not sweat the details, and let mistakes be mistakes without my normally prescribed 3-year gestation cycle of incessant editing, re-mastering, tinkering” in reference to ‘Lisbon’ being released as an unedited live set, I would be hard-pressed to find any mistakes, flaws, or blemishes. This record accurately captures many of the ideas Whitman has been exploring since he began creating music under his birth name some eight years ago, albeit in a refreshingly new format for him. With sine waves, time-stretched ambiences, and guitar-elicited drones creating the basis of sound for this record, Whitman also explores welcomed tangents in real-time room processing, distorted guitar hazes, and blasts of synthesizers. ‘Lisbon’ only further proves that his perfect ear for pacing, dynamics, and structure far outstrips any of his peers making him perhaps the most consistently engrossing and utterly remarkable man to sit behind a laptop today.
03 Mountains | Sewn
Released within ten months of their debut (and my favorite record of last year), Mountains drop another gem of an album. Though nothing they release may ever top their first glorious stroke of genius, ‘Sewn’ is an ambitious, worthy follow-up. With twice as many tracks as their debut, Mountains create a completely different type of record with more emphasis on bare, acoustic guitar melodies and succinct structures. What is evident here, though, is that Mountains seem more like listeners than musicians as the patience and serenity they exude outstrips many of their peers. It is as if they are capturing the sounds from the ether and that ‘Sewn’ simply and exquisitely exists and was never quite written or recorded.
04 Liars | Drum’s Not Dead
So addictive and so simple - and I still don’t know how they did it. It’s really little more than a few stuttering chords, repetitive percussive rhythms, and a few odd effects coupled with untrained falsetto and a low, howling voice. None of the songs really make sense - least of all when they go full-blown pop on the magnificent album closer - yet its ritualistic nature and weird approaches make this a thoroughly refreshing, enlightening, and enjoyable experience again and again. The fearless and uncompromising character of this band is virtually unparalleled.
05 Chihei Hatakeyama | Minima Moralia
Another great Kranky release that sees Hatakeyama creating a composite of aerosol-like ambience from processed vibraphone, acoustic guitar, field recordings, and violin. A wholly immersive record that sounds so effortless it is almost maddening.
06 Chris Herbert | Mezzotint
After following his demos over the past year, I was expecting something of high quality from Chris, but nothing nearly as striking as ‘Mezzotint.’ Assembled from out-dated equipment, a plethora of field recordings, and looping software, the completed album is one that hangs in the air like a night’s fog as these sound collages exude a certain space and atmosphere that has not been heard in a long while.
07 Grizzly Bear | Yellow House
The best pop album of the year. Although, this is pop the way it should be made - which means it’s skewed with erratic harmonies, meandering structures, outlandish textures, and a truck load of acoustic instruments. I wish I could make music like this.
08 Phill Niblock | Touch Three
A three disc set of monolithic drone pieces from an overlooked minimalist master. Enough said, really.
09 James Blackshaw | O True Believers
This solo acoustic guitarist may be living in the wake of the masters of who pioneered this form of music 40 years prior, but ‘O True Believers’ is so consistently enchanting and intriguing that it could be placed in any time period and still be stunning.
10 Benoit Pioulard | Precis
Equally interested in melody and song as in texture and experimentation, Benoit Pioulard’s debut full-length fits perfectly into those early morning hours when you would rather be asleep. With an intricately woven fabric of dulcimers, guitars, handheld percussion, and bells that become shrouded in a hazy, dream-like state, ‘Precis’ is a wonder that keeps surprising me.
11 Comets on Fire | Avatar
Comets finally try to create a record of rock songs that actually make a little bit of sense and, who knew?, they can write a hell of a song. It may be less adventurous than previous efforts, but they more than make up for that in their manic, destructive take on classic rock.
12 Six Organs of Admittance | The Sun Awakens
Yet another great record by Ben Chasny. This time equipped with broader, band-style arrangements and a penchant for drone, he still retains a wonderfully matured sense of pacing, melody, and darkness to his songs. Perfect for those late night drives.
13 Growing | Color Wheel
An odd move from one of my favorite bands for many different reasons, not the least of which is that I expected to see Color Wheel resting at the top of this list. An enlarged sonic palette and a palpable sense of rhythm didn’t quiet manifest itself into Growing’s sound like I thought it would, but the bursts of unearthly fuzz on “Green Pasture” and the glorious drone of “Blue Angels” kept me returning again and again.
14 Beirut | Gulag Orkestar
Before hearing it I expected a mere aping of Eastern European folk styles, but this set of twelve songs more than holds up on its own. Excessive and urgent while also being pensive and poetic, this album is simultaneously fit to be played at a wedding as well as a funeral.
15 Rosy Parlane | Jessamine
Altogether different than his debut album that landed high on my list a couple years ago, yet ‘Jessamine’ is satisfying in its boldness and sheer audacity. Here Parlane creates darker and noisier terrain that sees his crystalline laptop drone being sifted through washes of white noise and immersive amplifier feedback.
16 Yeah Yeah Yeahs | Show Your Bones
‘Show Your Bones’ contains some of the best pop arrangements and melodies I heard all year; now if they would just shed their lame rock exterior for good. I would listen to Kiss if I wanted cheap guitar theatrics and an alter-ego shtick.
17 Geoff Mullen | Thrtysxtrllnmnfstns
A strange, peculiar record that was very refreshing to these ears. Equal parts distorted feedback, folk melodicism, and textural drift, Geoff Mullen’s debut is a study of compiling opposites into a powerful whole.
18 Sonic Youth | Rather Ripped
The last few Sonic Youth records have been great and this one just adds to their legacy, albeit in a completely different way with this set of finely crafted pop songs. I still miss Jim O’Rourke’s contributions though.
19 Skullflower | Tribulation
One of the most definitive statements of 2006. Essentially a wall of endlessly tangled feedback and massively distorted amplifiers, ‘Tribulation’ was, of course, criminally overlooked as Sunn O))) and Boris continue to gain notoriety by stealing Skullflower’s two decade-old sound.
20 Charalambides | A Vintage Burden
The perfect time for a new Charalambides record. Utterly quiet and brooding, this long-running duo craft an album of six elongated folk songs that only need a handful of notes and few lines of lyrics to be achingly effective.
01 Joanna Newsom | Ys
For all the big names (Van Dyke Parks, Jim O’Rourke, Steve Albini) and big words (hydrocephalitic, diluvian, spelunking) attached to this record, the one thing ‘Ys’ did, consistently and completely, was make me forget all that. Despite the perfect O’Rourke mix and the sweeping string arrangements of Parks, what this record truly highlighted and underscored was Joanna’s pure, angelic songs. The weight of her voice and the resonance of her harp conjure more - more imagery, more feeling, more excitement, more wonder, just simply more - than any other songwriter currently breathing. If she is not already, then she surely will be in the future, as iconic as the prolific names that fill her liner notes. Yet again, Ms. Newsom has changed my life.
02 Keith Fullerton Whitman | Lisbon
Although Whitman claims that he has “decided to relax, not sweat the details, and let mistakes be mistakes without my normally prescribed 3-year gestation cycle of incessant editing, re-mastering, tinkering” in reference to ‘Lisbon’ being released as an unedited live set, I would be hard-pressed to find any mistakes, flaws, or blemishes. This record accurately captures many of the ideas Whitman has been exploring since he began creating music under his birth name some eight years ago, albeit in a refreshingly new format for him. With sine waves, time-stretched ambiences, and guitar-elicited drones creating the basis of sound for this record, Whitman also explores welcomed tangents in real-time room processing, distorted guitar hazes, and blasts of synthesizers. ‘Lisbon’ only further proves that his perfect ear for pacing, dynamics, and structure far outstrips any of his peers making him perhaps the most consistently engrossing and utterly remarkable man to sit behind a laptop today.
03 Mountains | Sewn
Released within ten months of their debut (and my favorite record of last year), Mountains drop another gem of an album. Though nothing they release may ever top their first glorious stroke of genius, ‘Sewn’ is an ambitious, worthy follow-up. With twice as many tracks as their debut, Mountains create a completely different type of record with more emphasis on bare, acoustic guitar melodies and succinct structures. What is evident here, though, is that Mountains seem more like listeners than musicians as the patience and serenity they exude outstrips many of their peers. It is as if they are capturing the sounds from the ether and that ‘Sewn’ simply and exquisitely exists and was never quite written or recorded.
04 Liars | Drum’s Not Dead
So addictive and so simple - and I still don’t know how they did it. It’s really little more than a few stuttering chords, repetitive percussive rhythms, and a few odd effects coupled with untrained falsetto and a low, howling voice. None of the songs really make sense - least of all when they go full-blown pop on the magnificent album closer - yet its ritualistic nature and weird approaches make this a thoroughly refreshing, enlightening, and enjoyable experience again and again. The fearless and uncompromising character of this band is virtually unparalleled.
05 Chihei Hatakeyama | Minima Moralia
Another great Kranky release that sees Hatakeyama creating a composite of aerosol-like ambience from processed vibraphone, acoustic guitar, field recordings, and violin. A wholly immersive record that sounds so effortless it is almost maddening.
06 Chris Herbert | Mezzotint
After following his demos over the past year, I was expecting something of high quality from Chris, but nothing nearly as striking as ‘Mezzotint.’ Assembled from out-dated equipment, a plethora of field recordings, and looping software, the completed album is one that hangs in the air like a night’s fog as these sound collages exude a certain space and atmosphere that has not been heard in a long while.
07 Grizzly Bear | Yellow House
The best pop album of the year. Although, this is pop the way it should be made - which means it’s skewed with erratic harmonies, meandering structures, outlandish textures, and a truck load of acoustic instruments. I wish I could make music like this.
08 Phill Niblock | Touch Three
A three disc set of monolithic drone pieces from an overlooked minimalist master. Enough said, really.
09 James Blackshaw | O True Believers
This solo acoustic guitarist may be living in the wake of the masters of who pioneered this form of music 40 years prior, but ‘O True Believers’ is so consistently enchanting and intriguing that it could be placed in any time period and still be stunning.
10 Benoit Pioulard | Precis
Equally interested in melody and song as in texture and experimentation, Benoit Pioulard’s debut full-length fits perfectly into those early morning hours when you would rather be asleep. With an intricately woven fabric of dulcimers, guitars, handheld percussion, and bells that become shrouded in a hazy, dream-like state, ‘Precis’ is a wonder that keeps surprising me.
11 Comets on Fire | Avatar
Comets finally try to create a record of rock songs that actually make a little bit of sense and, who knew?, they can write a hell of a song. It may be less adventurous than previous efforts, but they more than make up for that in their manic, destructive take on classic rock.
12 Six Organs of Admittance | The Sun Awakens
Yet another great record by Ben Chasny. This time equipped with broader, band-style arrangements and a penchant for drone, he still retains a wonderfully matured sense of pacing, melody, and darkness to his songs. Perfect for those late night drives.
13 Growing | Color Wheel
An odd move from one of my favorite bands for many different reasons, not the least of which is that I expected to see Color Wheel resting at the top of this list. An enlarged sonic palette and a palpable sense of rhythm didn’t quiet manifest itself into Growing’s sound like I thought it would, but the bursts of unearthly fuzz on “Green Pasture” and the glorious drone of “Blue Angels” kept me returning again and again.
14 Beirut | Gulag Orkestar
Before hearing it I expected a mere aping of Eastern European folk styles, but this set of twelve songs more than holds up on its own. Excessive and urgent while also being pensive and poetic, this album is simultaneously fit to be played at a wedding as well as a funeral.
15 Rosy Parlane | Jessamine
Altogether different than his debut album that landed high on my list a couple years ago, yet ‘Jessamine’ is satisfying in its boldness and sheer audacity. Here Parlane creates darker and noisier terrain that sees his crystalline laptop drone being sifted through washes of white noise and immersive amplifier feedback.
16 Yeah Yeah Yeahs | Show Your Bones
‘Show Your Bones’ contains some of the best pop arrangements and melodies I heard all year; now if they would just shed their lame rock exterior for good. I would listen to Kiss if I wanted cheap guitar theatrics and an alter-ego shtick.
17 Geoff Mullen | Thrtysxtrllnmnfstns
A strange, peculiar record that was very refreshing to these ears. Equal parts distorted feedback, folk melodicism, and textural drift, Geoff Mullen’s debut is a study of compiling opposites into a powerful whole.
18 Sonic Youth | Rather Ripped
The last few Sonic Youth records have been great and this one just adds to their legacy, albeit in a completely different way with this set of finely crafted pop songs. I still miss Jim O’Rourke’s contributions though.
19 Skullflower | Tribulation
One of the most definitive statements of 2006. Essentially a wall of endlessly tangled feedback and massively distorted amplifiers, ‘Tribulation’ was, of course, criminally overlooked as Sunn O))) and Boris continue to gain notoriety by stealing Skullflower’s two decade-old sound.
20 Charalambides | A Vintage Burden
The perfect time for a new Charalambides record. Utterly quiet and brooding, this long-running duo craft an album of six elongated folk songs that only need a handful of notes and few lines of lyrics to be achingly effective.