We shall commence with some Lists:
Top 8 Albums of the year:
1. Game Theory - The Roots
It was a tough call, but I’m giving the number one spot to The incomparable
Roots, who have proven themselves to be one of the tightest bands out there,
making some of the most successful political music of the year. Like The Coup,
The Roots ground their commentary in the personal, bypassing the obnoxious traps
of much of the arrogant and trite “political” lyricists out there. “Don’t Feel
Right” should have been a monster single, I found myself constantly hungering to
hear it after my first listen. “Here I Come” is probably more exciting than any
song this year that wasn’t on Fishscale. The whole album is delicious,
the best thing The Roots have done since Things Fall Apart. It should
have been huge.
2. Yes, Virginia - The Dresden Dolls
You can see my review
here.
If “Shores of California” didn’t irritate me so much, it could have been #1.
Along with ?uestlove, Brian Viglione shows fools what drumming means. Amanda
Palmer is one of the strongest songwriters I’ve had the privilege to come across
in a long time.
3. Pick A Bigger Weapon - The Coup
It may not be fair that this is at #3. The only reason it’s not at #1 is that I
experienced Pick a Bigger Weapon as a bit of a let-down after hearing The
Coup grow and expand their sound magnificently with each album up through the
glorious Party Music--this is kinda Party Music part two. It’s a
fabulous album, full of Boots usual incisive analysis, expressed through tales
both hilarious and heartbreaking. However, there was no "Me and Jesus the
Pimp..." or "Nowalaters". Fairly or not, I expected Boots to impress the pants
off me with another epic, long narrative that neither feels pretentious
nor gets boring...and I wish it had been “Tiffany Hall”--the sad sad tale of a
fallen comrade (which, yet again, shows Boots to be one of the more on-point
feminist voices in music today,) which feels a little too slight at its actual
length. “Ijustwannalayaroundalldayinbedwithyou” is one of the more brilliant
pieces of protest music I’ve heard in a good long while--both comforting and
depressing to listen to on your way to work when you do not want to be going
there. It's also one of the few musical discussions of sexuality by a
heterosexual man that is both frank and completely
anti-misogynist.
4. Fishscale - Ghostface Killah
I may have spent more concentrated, obsessive time with the previous three
albums, but of all 2006’s releases, this is the one i have listened to the most
consistently. it’s rare for even a week to go by without me playing at
least a couple cuts--Ghost’s sonically propulsive coke tales reallying hold up
to repeated listening. After almost a year, I still haven’t unravelled half of
his intricate wordplay, and I haven’t grown tired of the glorious chorus of “Be
Easy”. In a world even slightly more just, this record would have been massive
instead of just providing a launch pad for Nee-Yo. There isn’t a boring cut on
here, even the stupid skits are amusing. In a slightly more just world, Ghost’s
skills for gripping, at times surreal narrative wouldn’t be constrained to the
potentially-lucrative subject matter to which Fishscale straps his flow.
That said, never has such a good coke-rap album made coke sound less fun.
5.Back To Basics - Christina Aguilera
I agree with all the criticism, save many (male) critics bemusement and
confusion at “Still Dirrty” (one of my favorite tracks, natch,) but I thoroughly
enjoyed the hell outta both discs. Primos beats blow my mind, and the Linda
Perry disc is ambitious diva pop at its finest. I know of no other pop star who
can deliver a whole (double!) album of a series of odes to marriage that
move me, and not to go vomit.
6. Gnarls Barkley- St. Elsewhere
It would feel more redundant to list this instaclassic were it not for the
Dangermouse backlash amongst the hipsterati, which began long before he even had
a commercial success. I’m sorry that he’s better than you + your G5. I’m also
sorry that the only time women surface in this spacey angst miasma is to annoy
Cee-lo or get bumped for purposes of necrophilia. Apart from nags and fuck buddy
cadavers, St. Elsewhere is strictly a boys town. That said, it is still a
deliciously fizzy summer tonic, whose cooler tones continued to feel appropriate
into the fall and winter. I just wish we were having an actual, old school
winter so I could walk around in the snow listening to Cee-lo croon while
Dangermouse spins those fantastically unexpected soundscapes into the weirdest
pop perfection this year.
7. Futuresex/Lovessounds - Justin Timberlake
I’m man enough to admit it when I’m wrong, and
I was wrong when I
initially dismissed "SexyBack" . After The Roots, this was the sound I
craved most this year--Timbaland was right, the song is advanced. Once I
heard the rest of the record, “Sexyback” made sense. The lyrics fall on the
right side of the just-bad/genius-bad divide, allowing me to enjoy lines like
“You cheated girl/my heart bleed-ed girl”. I’m still not sick of “My love”.
“What goes around comes back around” will be huge. But nothing for me holds a
candle to the better-than-Radiohead outro to the delectable confection that is
“Lovestoned”.
8. Golem - Fresh Off Boat
Jumpy, aggressive klezmer that I enjoyed very, very much.
Two albums that should have been halved and then combined to make the best album
of the year:
Nas- Hip Hop is Dead
Jay-Z - Kingdom Come
When I heard the title track of Jay’s return from “retirement” I was
convinced--convinced!--that we were in for the best album of the year, and maybe
the best of his career. I may have listened to a prerelease Hot 97 rip of that
thing more than any other single song this year. Unfortunately, that track’s
epic beat, word games and thrilling flow gave way to thoroughly unconvincing
tales of the strip club and Beyonce-squandering, fame-as-a-drug retreads. Then I
heard “Black Republican,” Jay’s track with Nas on the latter’s release--and my
hopes were raised way up high again. Unfortunately, no one told Nas not to
situate that exciting genius in between songs featuring funny accents and corny
“detective story” conceits and really disgusting, sexist sexual conquest war
stories. In fact, someone really needs to tell Nas that he is not allowed to rap
about sex ever, ever again.
other 2006 albums of note:
Ringleader of the Tormentors-Morrissey
Mo Mega-Mr. Lif
Hell Hath No Fury-Clipse
Best New Band- I am Biased, but The Shondes definately take the prize. You can download their new 3-song demo here for free. They are also extremely enjoyable to see live.
Misc. 2006:
Scandal-Lonelygirl15 is a fake!
OK, I had never even heard of “Lonelygirl15” til the scandal broke and then, as duty dictates, I watched some of her videos. They were really boring. And--I know it’s not totally fair for me to say this--obviously not the real video-LJ of some real girl. They watched like a webcam teaser for the kind of guys Sarah-Katherine Lewis (
Movie-Children of Men
I don’t get out to the movies nearly enough, so the pool was limited. I have a boatload of ish with this one (see my reply to louie_ludwig's post about the film,) but as I said there, there were more things that I loved in and about this movie than there was in every other movie I liked this year combined.
2nd place-Dreamgirls
I have to respect a film that provokes spontaneous audience applause. I was very impressed by the direction, editing, set and costume design and performances. This is one of my favorite kinds of movies (glitzy showbiz rise and fall, and a musical yet!) and they never, ever get made anymore If only I liked the songs better. Everyone already said it, but Jennifer Hudson rocked it--Effie slayed me and the entire audience.
