2006 in retrospect...

WHAT A TERRIFIC YEAR FOR MUSIC!
(By S.M.)

(DISCLAIMER: If you know me at all, you'll know that my favourite band of 2+ years has been the Fiery Furnaces, the musical output of Matthew and Eleanor Friedberger. I feel as though I am incredibly biased towards this band and that it is pointless to try and rank their albums. Therefore, this year-end review does not include their album BITTER TEA-- which I have blasted on my stereo much more than any record below-- nor have I included Matthew Friedberger's two solo records, WINTER WOMEN & HOLY GHOST LANGUAGE SCHOOL. Thank you for reading and happy holidays.)

1. DESTROYER'S RUBIES Destroyer (Merge)
   
2. POST-WAR M. Ward (Merge)
3. BOYS AND GIRLS IN AMERICA The Hold Steady (Vagrant)
4. VESSEL STATES Wilderness (Jagjaguwar)
5. THE CRANE WIFE The Decemberists (Capitol)
6. 1968 Pajo (Drag City)
7. THE GREATEST Cat Power (Matador)
8. YS Joanna Newsom (Drag City)
9. EVERYTHING ALL THE TIME Band of Horses (Sub Pop)
10. GET LONELY The Mountain Goats (4AD)
11. MR. BEAST Mogwai (Matador)
    
12. I AM NOT AFRAID OF YOU… Yo La Tengo (Matador)
13. DREAMT FOR LIGHTYEARS… Sparklehorse (Capitol)
14. II Espers (Drag City)
15. AXIS OF EVOL Pink Mountaintops (Jagjaguwar)
16. THE LETTING GO Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy (Drag City)
17. SIX DEMON BAG Man Man (Ace Fu)
18. BEACH HOUSE Beach House (Carpark)
19. YELLOW HOUSE Grizzly Bear (Warp)
20. SHOW YOUR BONES The Yeah Yeah Yeahs (Interscope)

HONOURABLE MENTIONS

GULAG ORKESTAR Beirut
SHIPS Danielson
MODERN TIMES Bob Dylan
LET ME GO LET ME GO LET ME GO Jason Molina
MALAJUBE Trompe-l’oeil
BRING ME THE WORKHORSE My Brightest Diamond
CLASSICS Ratatat
THE INFORMATION Beck
BORN AGAIN IN THE U.S.A. Loose Fur
HE POOS CLOUDS Final Fantasy
PUTTING THE DAYS TO BED The Long Winters
THIS HARNESS CAN’T RIDE ANYTHING Chin Up Chin Up
AT WAR WITH THE MYSTICS The Flaming Lips
TO FIND ME GONE Vetiver
LET ME INTRODUCE MY FRIENDS I’m From Barcelona
MEEK WARRIOR Akron/Family
THE WARNING Hot Chip
SCALE Herbert
SO THIS IS GOODBYE Junior Boys

STILL GOTTA GET AROUND TO...

THE DRIFT Scott Walker
BLOOD MOUNTAIN Mastodon
WRITER’S BLOCK Peter Bjorn & John
RETURN TO COOKIE MOUNTAIN TV on the Radio
FOX CONFESSOR BRINGS THE FLOOD Neko Case
THE BODY, THE BLOOD, THE MACHINE The Thermals
ROOTS & CROWNS Califone
SOMEONE TO DRIVE YOU HOME The Long Blondes
THE LIFE PURSUIT Belle & Sebastian
SILENT SHOUT The Knife
DAMAGED Lambchop
DRUM’S NOT DEAD The Liars
WE ARE THE PIPETTES The Pipettes
BRIGHTBACK MORNING LIGHT Brightback Morning Light
NIGHT RIPPER Girl Talk
BE YOUR OWN PET Be Your Own Pet
REMEMBER THE NIGHT PARTIES Oxford Collapse
FADING TRAILS Magnolia Electric Co.
WAITING FOR THE TIME TO BE RIGHT The Brother Kite

The Decemberists' "The Crane Wife"

The Crane Wife
The Decemberists
Released October 3rd, 2006 (Capitol)
Written by S.V.

With all the symphonic flourish of Picaresque, this album one-ups its predecessor with sheer force of Capitol's production resources. Here is a compromise between Meloy's grandiloquent conceits and the key element nascent on the band's previous record - wider scope in sound; bigger instrumentation. Producers Chris Walla and Tucker Martine have a field day, though earlier Decemberist fans baulk at these perceived quislings. Whatever. Excepting perhaps "Yankee Bayonet" and "Summer Song" there's little of Meloy's loquacious folk poesy. However, the Decemberists keep the tone of their records pretty consistent and their tenebrous beauty is undoubtedly present, if wrought differently. For instance, a track pick of mine, "Perfect Crime" is easily the album's enfant terrible if you're listening for delicate harmonies and acoustic guitars; too bad alt-rock isn't made on the floors of the CBGB anymore. Capitol seems to see some merit in being lenient with their apprised troubador's proclivities for the histrionic and the literay. Note this is the band's longest LP, clocking in at an hour. Nearly half of the album is taken up by the eponymous three-part "Crane Wife" and the 12-minute Shakespearean prog epic "The Island", the latter sporting an intro that sounds like something off of Atom Heart Mother. The rest of the album is highly urbane indie pop. There's the band, and then there's how Capitol thinks an indie rock band should be marketed. Still, I find Meloy at his most lachrymose when the album delves into the title songs. That means there's plenty to get sad about, for all you loser scene kids reading this.

TRACK PICKS:
"The Perfect Crime No. 2"; "Summersong" -S.V.
"Yankee Bayonet (I Will Be Home Then)"; "Shankill Butchers" -S.M.
IDEAL LISTENING SETTING:
Right before heading across the ocean to fight a war, except not in present times because modern weaponry could pwn yr muskets.
BE SURE TO CHECK:
Neutral Milk Hotel, Belle & Sebastian, The Shins, The Magnetic Fields

Broken Social Scene's "You Forgot It In People"

You Forgot It In People
Broken Social Scene
Released October 15th, 2002 (Paper Bag/Arts & Crafts)
Written by S.M.

I knew I was destined to be into this record before even hearing it. Typically when one is given a copy of an album by their significant other-- in my case, my girlfriend of two years by that point, packaged alongside a Weakerthans t-shirt and a ticket to go see the Microphones-- they can expect to get into the piece of music simply by a lovely association. The track "Lover's Spit" some time later appeared on a mellow mix she made for me; she also used select tracks to create atmosphere in a high school theatre production. We may've listened to it in a bedroom, dazed in some post-party afterglow... and all that stuff is lovely, but it any case it didn't matter about all these after-the-fact tidbits. You Forgot It In People reminded me of my lover before I unwrapped the plastic.

Before one can argue that I'm taking a completely subjective stance in this critique, I'll also say I was immensely drawn by the tacked promotional sticker, which exclaimed, "The last record was constructed for lovers in bathrooms... this is for the ones who leave their homes looking for hope." What a triumphant setting! I didn't know anything about the band, nor was I familiar with the subdued Feel Good Lost, but all that didn't matter because this was the story of the band coming into the light. This was the breakthrough. The fact that the tracks were divided into two sides on the back cover, just like in the golden age of vinyl, only made me giddier.

Well you can imagine how I felt when I heard the fucking thing. Within the first twenty seconds of "Capture the Flag," the listener is first brought back to those acid bathtubs and lipstick-stained mirrors the band explored in FGL, but this time the main character doesn't pass out in the corner. The majority of the LP's first half examines-- from the epic riot of "KC Accidental" to the wandering "Looks Just Like the Sun"-- our young hero lifting the window sills, swinging open the doors, and finding love in a club. Up until "Pacific Theme," we're into the happy and exciting thrill of life spent in the fast lane, but right before we can forget the sublime silence of solitude, we drop into arguably the record's centerpiece, "Anthems for a Seventeen Year-Old Girl," a heart-felt lament that would elevate me to nirvana if I could only forget that Emily Haines would go on to be the panties-flashing front woman of bloody Metric.

Barring the second-side opener and single "Cause = Time," the rest of YFIIP is spent driving home, or trying to fall asleep while your roommates downstairs are blaring their rave favourites. It is here that I desire to add to that slogan on the promo sticker. The one-two punch of the instrumentals "Late Nineties Bedroom Rock for the Missionaries" and "Shampoo Suicide" seem to meander back into the comfortable dark, rather than traverse outside in search of hope. This tone remains the same to the end of the record, where "Anthems..." is modestly reprised in "Pitter Patter Goes My Heart."

After being released just over four years ago, it isn't hard to see why this record shook up the independant rock scene, let alone my homecity of Toronto, and went on to be on numerous best-of and favourites lists. Although the band do sound fuller and more realized on their next self-titled release, as well as in their debut and as KC Accidental-- when you're in the mood-- this is the release that showcases the band in their most admirable incarnation: a delicate balance of chaotic rock and burnt-out symphonies.

TRACK PICKS:
"Stars and Sons"; "I'm Still Your Fag" -S.M.
"Pacific Theme"; "Lover's Spit" -S.V.
IDEAL LISTENING SETTING:
At sunset, on the way home.
BE SURE TO CHECK:
Akron/Family, Do Make Say Think, Apostle of Hustle, The Arcade Fire

Welcome to nowhere fast

Hello there, my name is David Clarke. There are countrymen, journeymen and fellow travelers. Those rootless, in-between types, (gypsies - GASP!) live in the cracks workman once filled with the cares and delusions of this world. Defying definitive despondency (and all conventions of alliteration) these whom-so-evers and stand-alones cry smiling. So why listen? There's a marketplace of wonders and inventions at your doorstep, dear reader!

There are friends and enemies of modern music. The lines on the map are drawn - though this doesn't mean some aren't guilty of....espionage? Our wares and worries are your best intentions. And what may those be? The pulse of the dragon; you can feel it on the speaker.

We are hesitant to commit our slacker-selves to any sort of timetable from which one could expect regular blogilicious bootycalls. However, we know that you're all hungry and barely stop for a bite - so we'll say, "Once in a while? How's that sound, Spencer?" His counterpart mumbles into the ruddy surf of a cup of coffee.

Let's say every couple of weeks, approximately, you should be able to see us in fine form as we discuss, dissects and derange all of your most jealously guarded assumptions about listening to people like us. With regards to, uh, you know, rock LPs from the last thirty years or so. You know, Ian Curtis' suicide, Greg Ginn (!) - nothing before the last New Wave. In each vaunted entry, we will showcase, triumphantly, a record from yesteryear or today. Maybe we'll even feed you a track'r'two to fully illustrate selected arguments.*

Let the games for May commence and the daisy chains concatenate! Stay here for awhile, dear, 'til the radio sings something familiar! HURRAH!


*You can also rest assured that none of our reviews will be as jarring and jam-headed as this so-called 'mission statement'. We're just a little giddy, thas' all.