the best things i've heard in 2006

so i thought the first thing to do was a "best of 2006" list. it'll kinda catch everyone up on what i think they need to hear. note: its the best of 2006 in the sense that its the best things i heard in 2006. so if its something older (as in not released in 2006) i still included it. i am not the new york times, so i don't feel i need to be that accurate...

ok here goes

RECORDS:
Aux Sources Du Rai-Cheikha Remitti

I've always like Algerian rai music. I first bought Chaba Fadela in like 93 or 94...i read a review in Alternative Press, which was still cool at the time and a huge source for cool music recommendations. [It has since become the home of every Blink 182 soundalike band and actually recommended an Ashlee Simpson record...a long way from Diamanda Galas, who i learned about and purchased from AP]. If I ever DJ'd out i'd play "Hana Hana" by Chaba Fadela in a second...totally infectious party music. Cheika Remitti is considered the grand dame of Algerian rai, i believe, and her music is much more mournful and sad. But stunningly beautiful. She died this year in Paris. Whats kinda interesting about her is that she sang songs about sex & drinking which were traditionally not sung by women in public...so she caused a great deal of controversy, i believe.

Aerial-Kate Bush

If I did the Grammys, which i loathe, this would be Record of the Year. Its rather shocking in how good it is...basically Kate takes 12 years or so off, then comes back with a double CD with no obvious singles, birdcalls and other strange samples and affects. The songs: she singsa bout her washing machine, child and motherhood, among other things. Its pretentious, but like most things pretentious, when they succeed, they are remarkable. And this is remarkable. First time i heard it, i was at the gym getting ready to work out and i was in a horrible horrible mood. I put it on and just laid in the yoga room and listened to the first disc straight through. At the end, i was happy. Very few artists can actually write a joyous song and pull it off...Kate's done it numerous times in her career (Hounds Of Love is astonishing...Eat The Music....The Big Sky). This whole record is the sound of joy.

Ys-Joanna Newsom

Speaking of pretentious. How about a record with 12-minute songs from a harpist? With lyrics such as

"And all those lonely nights down by the riverBrought me bread and water, water inBut though I tried so hard my little darlingI couldn't keep the night from coming inAnd all those lonely nights down by the riverI was brought my bread and water by the kith and the kinNow in the quiet hour when I am sleepin'I cannot keep the night from comin' "

Yeah, she says kith. Its beautiful, intimate and latenight. I love it

It's So Hard To Tell Who' Going To Love You The Best-Karen Dalton

This got reissued this year, so i guess it falls in 2006. But it was actually recorded in the early 70's. Its a very Sunday morning record--she only released 2 cd's before ending up homeless and crazy. Very beautiful and fragile at times...she shoulds like Billie Holiday doing folk.

Fox Confessor Brings The Flood-Neko Case

This is on everyone's list, i know. But its a great CD. At first i was a bit underwhelmed...i felt some of the songs were actually too short and not as immediate as Blacklisted, which is fantastic. After a few listens, i was hooked. And not many in pop/country/rock music have a better more expressive voice than Neko Case.

The Avalanche-Sufjan Stevens

And these are the other 20 or so songs that DIDN'T make Illinois. Wow, his castoffs are better than 95% of other artists originals. Endlessly interesting and entertaining.

The Warning-Hot Chip

Cool cool cool pop music.

The Greatest-Cat Power

She could record anything and i'd put it on my best-of list. This is very soulful and has a Memphis-sounds. Ever since Moon Pix i've dug her smoky dark voice. Favorite song: Good Woman off of "You Are Free"

Silent Shout-The Knife

Their last record featured quite a few great songs, including one of the best singles i've heard in the last 5 years, Heartbeats. Then Karin Dreijer added her voice to "What Else Is There" by Royksopp, which has to be one of the best remix packages of the year (most notably the Trentemoller mix). This is a brother-sister duo from Sweden...very young and intense. She has a wraith-like voice...somewhere in the Bjork family, but slightly gothic and very scary. This CD is much darker than the stuff they've done in the past...very industrial soundscape-ish. Serious brilliance.

So This Is Goodbye-Junior Boys

Know how everyone raved about the Postal Service record, but were actually talking about the two fantastic singles. This is the CD they wanted "Give Up" to be...quirky, different, beautiful and charming all the way through.

Another Thought-Arthur Russell

Arthur Russell was a member of the NY "downtown" scene and had two famous tracks...."Is It All Over My Face" as Loose Joints and "Go Bang" as Dinosaur L. In the last few years more of his music has come out. Its amazing and so ahead of its time (sometimes its unclear what "time" its from). This has a classical bent...very echoey and underwater. He was famous for editing his tracks over and over and these tracks have lots of loops and are sometimes very dense. I read once that he had very bad skin and was always very shy about going out to the NY gay bars because of it. He died of AIDS very young. To me his music always sounds very sad and fragile and beautiful.

IBM 1401: A User's Manual-Johann Johannsson

This is considered "modern classical" whatever that means. The first track is a huge orchestral number---very sweeping and vast and sounds like a score to a movie. The whole record is astonishingly good. Somebody described this to me in the store as ambient, which is way off. Even if you didn't like any of the first 4 cuts on the record, this is worth it for track 5, "The Sun's Gone Dim And The Sky's Turned Black". This has an actual IBM 1401 computer talking...it sounds like a sad lovesong sung by the computer in 2001: Space Odyssey. Remarkable.

Melody Mountain-Susanna & the Magical Orchestra

Beautiful quiet late-night folk music via Norway. Very sad and eerie in spots. Also weird--its all covers. Most inspired choice "crazy crazy nights" by KISS. Yeah, that KISS. Sung as an elegy.

Through The Windowpane-Guillemots

I initially resisted this--it was raved about in the British music magazines and they are kinda a Next Big Thing in England. Often the next big thing from England is the risible Oasis or the way-overrated Arctic Monkeys or a band like Mansun or the Manic Street Preachers. When i heard it i was floored. I dont know how to describe it...i read somewhere it sounds like Jeff Buckley and Brian Wilson singing the songs of Bjork. Accurate...i don't know. But close. But that brilliant and sweeping and courageous. Its genius. Debut of the year for sure. A work of remarkable beauty.

SINGLES
We Share Our Mother's Health-The Knife (Original & Trentemoller mix)
My Love-Justin Timberlake
Hung Up-Madonna
In Silence-Pet Shop Boys
C'mon-A Sunny Day In Glasgow
All This Love-The Similou
I Will Follow You Into The Dark-Death Cab For Cutie

MOST EMBARASSING GUILTY PLEASURE OF THE YEAR
Unwritten-Natasha Bedingfield

AMAZING LIVE EXPERIENCES
Jose Gonzalez
Magnet (Leslie...Carlos and I know what you did, despite having 8 whiskeys apiece
Stars
Diamanda Galas (on Valentines Day no less!!!)
Sigur Ros

OK--thats it, i think. I am sure i am missing something but i'll put it in here on another day. This is a good start i think. A