#18

Dark Meat
Universal Indians
(Cloud Recordings)

It’s a good rule of thumb to be wary of any group that gets press because they’ve got 26 members and are “crazy”. Usually it just means a core of untalented clowns padding the impact by surrounding themselves with people who can dick around long enough to distract to the task at hand – the core of the song. Well, the beacon of goodness that is Cloud Recordings strikes Athens, GA gold here again with a great rock band and an ecstatic group of blowers. (Loosely) think a more polite Stooges but maxed out with 10 more saxes and trumpets going full-on. And that’s just “Freedom Ritual”.

#19

Clipse
Hell Hath No Fury
(Startrak)

The fact that Clipse were held back for 4 years is a travesty. Buy this album – support quality art. Dense, disturbing, dilating, and incredibly impressive.

#20

Fucked Up
Hidden World
(Jade Tree)

I’ve had a ban in spouting profanities on this space for a few reasons. One, it’s lazy. Two, it’s unnecessary. Three, what if my boss/parents read this? Honestly, I’m gonna keep it up, but when you have a band like Fucked Up, I’m not gonna be a huge wimp and “*” and “$” their name up. After all, these are a group of people who stick to their morals as unusual, non-mainstream, and, yeah, quite possibly as fucked up as they are. They’re true-blue punk rockers here giving good old hardcore a lift out of straight-edge stagnation. Aside from Clockcleaner (who I didn’t hear until last week – unreal), I can’t really think of hardcore as brutal and uncompromising that I want to hear on a regular basis. Loud and screamy is one thing, it’s their arm-raised triumphant-ness and self-righteousness that makes me want to throw Molotov cocktails at Verizon stores, convert my car to vegetable oil and replace my entire library with Zinn and Chomsky. High fucking recommendation.

#21

Pearls & Brass
The Indian Tower
(Drag City)

Mountain/Cactus/etc.-esque boogie rawk finally gets it’s due. Another in a long line of unreal rock releases this year. Pearls and Brass aren’t so much classic rock revivalists as breathing new life into music that never should’ve disappeared.

#22

Robert Pollard
From a Compound Eye
(Merge)

Viewed through the lens of Bobby Pollard’s discography, FaCE must seem like it came out 20 years ago. He’s pretty much put out about 6 or 7 albums since this was released about a year ago in January of 2006, but you’d probably be hard pressed to find a better power-pop release in that time. Pollard’s Who affectations are on full display along with an incredible knack for the pacing of an album. Often times, a Guided By Voices or Pollard record just seems like a 16+ songs threaded together for an “album”. Here we finally get a glance back to the good old days of the double album – 2 records, 4 sides, hard rockers and ballads. Viewed as such, this is a paramount record – windmill guitars, verbose lyrics, and a much too short 75-minute playtime.

#23

Burial
Burial
(Hyperdub)

Dubstep? Whatever. Bored journos and scenesters make up genre names on the minute in our hyper-connected times all out of the need to fit something somewhere. I guess it’s so you can organize your iPod? This still sounds like trusty drum and bass, slowed down like a 45 on 33, with plenty of eerie space and industrial winds blowing over the collapsing drums. It’s the sound of gray cities at dark – strange, seedy and dangerous.

#24

Flying Canyon
Flying Canyon
(Soft Abuse)

Dependent on who you ask, folk music either had a banner coming out year or a deluge of half-baked ideas and crap singer-songwriters wearing Indian Guides outfits. Either way, when the originators come through it’s best to listen and pay attention.

Notable for their interesting recording techniques (often open air, in caves, etc.) and homemade instrumentation, the Jewelled Antler-associated folks here Shadye Sartin, Glenn Donaldson and frontman Cayce Lindner released one of the finest quiet and introspective collections of the year. Self-promoted as “doom-folk” perhaps jokingly, the melodies here are, in fact, heavy and downtempo, but a certain natural ease emanates from the record giving the Californian in all of us a place to rest our weary head.

#25

The Roots
Game Theory
(Def Jam)

No need for crack rap tales here. Illadelph’s finest heed the call when Jay needs ‘em to. And to actually have a balls to take a Radiohead sample and make it nearly better than the original? You(se) earned it.

#26

Witch
Witch
(Tee Pee)

2006 was finally the year where hard MF-ing rock finally made it back into the underground in spades. These dudes really aren’t leading any kind of charge or organized scene to be honest. Shoot, most of them are from Vermont -- they’re probably nothing more then shop class burnouts. But having the Dinosaur Jr. blessing with J Mascis playing drums means that things are most likely gonna be fine. Foregoing all the bad hesher ideas like black jeans and long hair and bad attitudes Sam Ash dudes all seem to be drawn to, Witch rips the hell outta some old fashioned rock and roll, Ozzy vocals, shredding leads and all.

#27

Tim Hecker
Harmony in Ultraviolet
(Kranky)

Sound-sculptor? Sounds kinda pretentious, kinda art-school lame, no? For better or worse, pretty much everything I’ve read of him includes that description. Maybe I’m just lazy, maybe my self-imposed deadline is already way over, but the PR people that approved that one pretty much hit the nail on the head. Hecker gathers granular, static-filled noises into seamless pieces, approximations of the most beautiful moments in time. Yet with each triumphant moment of utter beauty, comes a back end of melancholy which understands that the moment may not last. That sense of un-ironic self-awareness makes each breathtaking sweep even more incredible.

#28

The Knife
Silent Shout
(Mute)

At a glance my list will pretty much ensure the fact that I’m not a dance music fan. Not altogether true though, as, for the most part, great dance music just doesn’t appear in 12-song, 45-minute installments. Dance music has (and still does) play to the idea of the single. That makes it all the more fascinating when an icy, sci-fi disco record like Silent Shout appears. I won’t begin to pretend that I know anything earth-shattering about the Knife, but one thing – if they can keep this shit up, rock and roll will die, and dance music will kill it.

#29

Akron/Family
Meek Warrior
(Young God)

Scores of bands come out of seemingly nowhere these days to release incredible records, but none have the accomplished musicianship and ingenuity of Brooklyn’s Akron/Family. Riding on the coattails of their astonishing self-titled debut and Angels of Light split, their new full-length shows just how virtuosic the family is. Flipping easily between free-jazz ecstasy, captivating (and thankfully not freak-crunchy like thousands of crap ’06 albums) folk, and old fashioned rock ‘n roll, Meek Warrior is a success any other band would call their masterpiece. And these hotshots are just getting started.

#30

Built to Spill
You In Reverse
(Warner Bros.)

Doug Marsch and friends kind of just disappeared for about 5 years, maybe justifiably, after their overproduced flop, Ancient Melodies of the Future. Rather then reprise their entire back catalogue like every indie critic seemingly wants, we get the Idaho boys coming out of the gate with guns blazing and maybe their best song ever, “Goin’ Against Your Mind”. You In Reverse furthers their gritty, jammed out blues and, of course, Neil Young-indebted sound, bringing back the glassy eyed slackerisms that have unfortunately disappeared from college rock.

#31

Grizzly Bear
Yellow House
(Warp)

Most of us know the story by now – used to be an Animal Collective cover band, recorded in a, uh, yellow house that Grandma or Aunt Henrietta or Christian Bale owned (just like the Band at Big Pink!!!), etc. They’re definitely shaking the AC tag – where the Collective has branched out in more tangled and sometimes difficult areas, Grizzly Bear takes a few cues from the Beach Boys’ sonic canvases. Yet we’re not talking trading in one set of influences for another. Naw, Grizzly Bear tackle beautiful sunshine melodies, without sounding trite or whimsical like so much of the wimpy “freak-folk” floating around. Their sepia-toned pop doesn’t recreate the idealistic ‘60s sound, but blows the stale smoke out of the room while echoing the timelessness (doo-wop, surf, chamber pop) with some much needed updates.

#32

Wolf Eyes
Human Animal
(Sub Pop)

Naturally, most consider music to be melodic, structured, and maybe even vaguely reminiscent of something else. Pop music has been marketed and ingrained in our minds as something consumable and perfected – something that we can easily put our finger on. So what would an “I-like-all-types-of-music-oh-yeah-except-country” fan seriously think of the blood-soaked and brutally punishing Wolf Eyes? There’s no justifying their music, it’s not for Sunday morning, it’s not for rainy afternoons – it’s for deep night, 3 am, maybe lying in a coffin, maybe considering the possibility of a killing spree. It’s music taken to a completely illogical extreme, stripped of melody, and unbelievably terrifying. Metal ducts are banged, saxophones are strangled like innocent victims, electronics malfunction. Put on Human Animal and you can’t hide. You can shut your eyes, clog your ears with tissues, but it’ll creep into your pores, penetrate the ear plugs, and completely obliterate every conception about formalized, sellable music you’ve ever considered.

#33

Man Man
Six Demon Bag
(Ace Fu)

Initially, I didn’t want to, couldn’t like this album. Too rambunctious, too over the top (but not cool like Sly Stallone). I think I was finally reacting to all that ADD-core that was put out the past few years – my brain just kind of doesn’t accept it anymore and shuts down at the sound or inkling of overtly genre-hopping music. Add to that a ridiculous and horrible sounding show at the First Unitarian Church in Philly (one of the worst venues ever) that just left me confounded and totally turned off.

Fast-forward a few months and an open-minded trial run and I can’t stop “FEE, FIE, FOE, FUM, I SMELL THE BLOOD OF AN ENGLISH MANNN!” bouncing off the sides of my brain. Six Demon Bag is tight front to back, with incredible arrangements and choice instrumentation. But the thing I missed, the most important thing, is the songwriting. It succeeds on every level with attention to detail you’d be hard pressed to find in most indie bands’ catalogues (e.g. “Van Helsing Boombox”).

And yeah, it’s over the top, full of weirdly trendy gypsyisms, on and on. But like Stallone’s other character and fellow Philadelphian, it’s full of arm raising glory.

The Top 33 Albums of 2006

And so it begins again. This is something like the fifth time I’ve done this type of thing, first while I was on the radio at Wake Forest, then here, in this space. Must say I miss the radio quite a bit and the opportunity to choose a song and play it for everyone (and by everyone, I mean 3 people in my girl’s dorm), but having a chance to sit down with each album and write something credible and intelligent is good. But usually doesn’t happen. And it reaches the same audience, ‘cept she’s my fiancée now and she just keeps reloading the page. Whatever.

So, yeah, I obviously have a proclivity to independent music. Some, probably consider it obtuse, heavy-handed and pretentious. But, shoot, J-Tim and Timbaland/Gwen and the Neptunes wouldn’t be singing/yodeling over bombed out, grainy and dirty soundscapes if it wasn’t for the torchbearers. Not to mention, the stuff’s necessary for the development of art in general and just plain interesting in how sound is approached. And while 2006 wasn’t a banner year for astounding music, there were many, many gifts from innumerable artists. You’ll probably get a sense of how I listen and what floats my boat best, but like every critic who thinks they’re “well-rounded”, there’ll be a few curveballs that I may not like 13 days after I write about them. In essence, just enjoy the wonderful sounds of the semi-above and underground – there’s a lot waiting for you.

Enjoy and feel free to send naked pictures of yourself (brett.baxter gmail com). The top 33 will fall over the next few weeks, most likely into the New Year.

Caught With My Pants Down

As I mentioned before, I'm attempting to get my list whittled down to something more manageable, both for the writer and the reader. Seems as though I've - once again - been caught behind the eight ball. With 14 days left in the year I've finally sliced the original 70+ albums down to 33 (the speed of a record!). That doesn't mean I've written a single word or decided the order (if at all), but I do promise that I'm working on it.

Unfortunately, some fantastic records that deserve your attention had to be eliminated. If you have a chance, please check out the new ones from Kaki King, Annuals, Charalambides, Espers, M. Ward, Six Organs of Admittance, Band of Horses, Om, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Sonic Youth...

Check back soon!

New Gear

The most recent in internet time-crushers for me the ridiculously absorbing last.fm. I'm transfixed at how simple an idea this is, yet how right-on it is. Essentially, for heads into radical music, pretend you're driving through Williamsburg in Brooklyn. (This is still the coolest zip code in America, no? I digress...) You got a booming sound system, windows are rolled down and your cranking the new Lightning Bolt record. Or John Fahey. Or Eddie Murphy's "Party All The Time". Whatever. You're driving that car straight into a block party, some people are turning their noses, but others (trannies?) are jumping in your car psyched to see what else you might play. They have a chance to view not only your favorite stuff that week, but in the past few weeks, months, years? Pretty fun stuff, especially if you're fascinated at how people listen to music like I am.

My only gripe at this point is that it seems to favor listening to single songs rather than whole albums. It actually goes as far as not really even showing an album's name on the chart, solely focusing in on the song title.

All in all, a fun time and pretty nifty if you want to share your listening habits with the world and prove once and for all that Panic! At The Disco or Dream Street is your favorite!

---------

Also: still getting through a whole backlog of records...really hoping to get the list done by year's end, but it's hard to cross lots of great records (Band of Horses, Om, Roger O'Donnell) off my list. I'll get there soon -- please stay tuned!

I'll be real irregular for the duration of the year (as I have been all year). It's coming down to crunch time for me listening to music and making my choices for my favorite 25 (30?) of the year. And yeah, all lists are detritus, but they're good rubbish, fun to read. Good news for me is that I've listened to a million albums in the last few weeks. Bad news is that I'm trying to process them all and have something intelligent to say about them all...

Anyways, some discoveries this year that won't make the list, had they been released in '07, or weren't live reissues. In alphabetical order (iTunes!):

• Alan Braxe and Friends: The Upper Cuts -- Here's an something that describes this album: holy sh*t. Had all dance music been made like this, like forever, we'd be eating ice cream in Iraq right now and have 10x the population on the globe.
• Animal Collective: Here Comes the Indian -- I've sung the praises of this guy before, but really got turned onto it again due to circumstance. I drove down a weird, empty back highway in South Jersey this year, passing farms, creepy towns with dysfunctional train stations and kids in Misfits shirts, and, no joke, Cowtown Rodeo.
  
• Beanie Sigel: The B. Coming -- Kick my own ass for not getting this one earlier. Unbelievable lyricism. Philly too.
• Boredoms: Vision Creaton Newsun -- Incredible psych -- huge and triumphant and visceral stuff that comes at you from every angle.
• Burning Airlines: Mission: Control -- Rediscovered this one, my copy was destroyed. Great not-quite-emo punk by the dude that used to front Jawbox.
• Dinosaur Jr.: Without A Sound -- Major label indie is usually watered down, but in Dinosaur's case, it kinda made sense. Their classic rock sensibility is on 11 here, while J.'s stoned drawl is never more perfect.
• Drunks With Guns -- Don't really know if the songs I downloaded are an album or not, but this is what a punk bands supposed to sound like. The St. Louis boys are detached degenerates, playing stupidly drunk and brutal hardcore, slowed down like a 45 going 33 just so you can get a quick view of the split seams and buckling supports just before it collapses.
• Grateful Dead: Fillmore West 1969 -- Really wild stuff, right around the time that it looked like the Dead were going to veer straight off into the deep end. Perfect tension between structure and chaos and 100x better than their 80's watered down pap.
• The Jesus Lizard: Goat -- Again, this is how heavy punk should sound. Disenchanted, hard and pretty damn funny ("Mouth Breather").
• The Magnetic Fields: 69 Love Songs -- Perfect. Incredible genius.
• Marah: Kids In Philly -- Who needs Bruce Springsteen when "Point Breeze" outdoes most of Born to Run? Seriously.
• Pedro the Lion: Control -- This may really be one of my favorite albums ever. Not a dull spot in this album (maybe "Priests and Paramedics", but it follows "Second Best" which is the best song ever -- right now.) David Bazan has an unfortunate stigma as a dude who loves JC, scaring off all people that are too cool or disenfranchised by the whole scene. But, hell, this is a devastating, incapacitating record that just gets better on each listen.
• Sleater-Kinney: The Woods -- Oops. Missed this one last year. Gonna miss this band -- talk about power...
  
• Todd Rundgren: A Wizard, A True Star -- For "Just One Victory" alone? Possibly. Dude's a pretty rad songwriter though.