Albums Of The Year 06

Thomas H Green runs down of the best, worst and weirdest of the year

Once again we arrive at Top 50 list central, the time of year every trainspotter greets with glee. But we won’t hang about surmising 2006 and pub-philosophising about the state of the music biz. There are plenty of other bits of the Beatmag that do that. Instead, after predictable soul-searching and heated debate, here are the good, the bad and the oddball of the last 12 months:

1. Nathan Fake
Drowning In A Sea Of Love (Border Community)

Who is Nathan Fake? A young man from Norfolk, UK, who “isn’t doing online press” hence we never talked to him, but we won’t hold that against him. How could we when his album is the most perfect realisation of rustic electronica ever. The sleeve snapshots of Brit country life set against a backdrop of garish wallpaper only hint at what lies within. Mr Fake has Boards Of Canada’s technical suss and but runs off with it into gorgeous fuzzy instrumentation recalling My Bloody Valentine at their most blissed out. Such a description hardly does ‘Drowning In A Sea Of Love’ justice, however, for it’s an album that somehow evokes lost moments from dreams, staring out over green vales as the sun rises, a head full of hope. It’s lovely, imaginative, faintly cosmic and sets the bar high for any future attempts at such wide-eyed electronic reverie.

THE REST OF THE TOP 20

2. Amy Winehouse
Back To Black (Island)

She’s got an attitude, she’s an addled harpy with a foul-mouth, she’s a gaudy flamboyant nutter, but who cares – we need more of that in these media-trained times. And what’s more, Amy Winehouse can sing the hind legs off any of the placid identikit R&B divas that flood our airwaves. Her lyrics have an open, in-the-moment sensibility, laced with raw sensuality and she’s accompanied by the production of Mark Ronson and Salaam Remi which is impeccably contemporary but marinated in Motown and old time jazz. There’s something very punk about Amy Winehouse, sassy and couldn’t-give-a-damn. Now put that weight back on, woman…

3. Silicone Soul
Save Our Souls (Soma)

Their last album ‘Staring Into Space’ was an object lesson in creating a whole album of primarily instrumental house-based music, and it was Beatmag’s Album of 2005. ‘Save Our Souls’ continues the journey and would once again be No.1 were it not for the fact that its lusciousness has been made familiar by its predecessor. Nonetheless, the hot chocolate warmth of Glaswegian duo Craig Morrison and Graeme Reedie’s oeuvre is unlike that of any of their contemporaries. Ignoring minimalism, electro-rock and indeed all vagaries of fashion, they’ve created something timeless once again.

4. Toy
Toy (Smalltown Supersound)

The sound of retro children’s TV themes filtered through the brain of a cheerful computer loon. Two computer loons, truth to tell, as Toy is the work of Briton Alistair Stirling and Norwegian Jorgen Traeen from the ever-prolific town of Bergen. Upon initial listening it’s bizarre novelty can jar but sustained exposure proves it to be a melodically addictive post-easy listening delight.

5. Hardkandy
Last To Leave (Catskills)

Creeping out without fanfare in the Spring, the second album from Brighton-based band Hardkandy left behind the sunny retro-funk of their debut in favour of a brilliantly observed set concerned with the dark underside of hedonism. Songs such as ‘State Of You’ and the Terry Callier-sung ‘Advice’ are heart-wrenching modern soul songs, all partied out, peering shakily into the abyss.

6. Pet Shop Boys
Fundamental (Parlophone)

The term ‘return to form’ doesn’t really apply to the Pet Shop Boys as they’ve been delivering quality sets of their witty, lyrical pop for many years, but ‘Fundamental’ certainly sees them re-embrace shiny immediacy via the production of Trevor Horn without sacrificing a jot of their precise pin-sharp poignancy. Their most accessible set since ‘Very’ in 1993.

7. Scissor Sisters
Tah-Dah (Polydor)

I know, I know, but they do it so well. Their unselfconscious, unstudied Vaudeville disco party is studded with pithy New York self-awareness and carries the day yet again. Yes, it’s a pastiche of much ‘70s awfulness but they’ve spiced it into something irresistible, like turning yesterday’s cold leftovers into a mouth-watering feast. What’s more they’re proper pop stars. They make the effort. And it shows in the music.

8. Arctic Monkeys
Whatever You Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not (Domino)

What sets this young Sheffield band apart from their contemporaries, apart from their utter disregard for celebrity, is the extraordinary lyrics of singer Alex Turner. Spat out in a morose Yorkshire sneer, his dissection of drab suburban mores is both astute and viscerally poetic, leaving his peers burbling in the shade. Nifty spiked guitar pop too.

9. The Pipettes
We Are The Pipettes (Memphis Industries)

Gwenno, Rose and Riotbecki have no time for the boys club of rock’n’roll, in fact they’ve got not time for a lot of the music since 1963, or so they say. In fact, their attention-grabbing polka dot Phil Spector girl band schtick is just the wooden horse with which The Pipettes sneak their firebrand playground feminism and chewy punk-pop into the modern profile machine. The title tracks’s especially lethal.

10. Shooter Jennings
Electric Rodeo (Wrasse)

Primal Scream’s return was a welcome and entertaining piece of faux-southern US rock’n’roll but for the real deal Waylon Jennings’ son Shooter is our man. Pure Lynyrd Skynrd Texan honky-tonk country rock with the emphasis on sweaty ol’ rock. Includes song titles such as ‘Some Rowdy Women’, ‘Gone To Carolina’ and ‘Little White Lines’ and, thankfully, no irony. An acquired taste.

11. Gnarls Barkley
St Elsewhere (Warner Bros)

In 2005 Dangermouse took Gorillaz to the top of pops as well as top of critical hit-lists such as this. A year on, teamed with Atlanta maverick Cee-Lo Green, he did the same with an even more eclectic stew of hip hop, R&B, funk, rock and pop. It’s invigorating when populism, experimentation and sheer well-honed craziness crash into each other so effectively. Bravo!

12. The Sleepy Jackson
Personality: One Was A Spider And One Was A Fly (Virgin/EMI)

Still touting a voice like David Bowie in a particularly fey mood, Luke Steele reappeared without any of his former band-mates but with a new set of lavishly opulent pop. The mood is one of magnificent melodrama played out against a backdrop of guitars, sweeping strings and cooed vocal harmonies, like Brian Wilson mutated into a show-tune queen.

13. The Knife
Silent Shout (Brille)

The mysterious Swedish brother-sister duo specialise in electronic songwriting that’s cold and enigmatic but also human and emotional. The sounds they use veer far from the usual ‘80s electro-pop blueprint and songs such as the epic gothic duet ‘Marble House’ stand grandly apart from the normal run of things.

14. The Lotterboys
Animalia (Eskimo)

Terranova, the German electronic duo who achieved much European success with their throbbing electro-rock, combine with Detroit Grand Pubah, Paris the Black Fu, for an album of party-centric disco-electro. Tongues are in cheeks but feet firmly on the dancefloor, especially on a cracking version of Black Sabbath’s ‘Iron Man’.

15. Netsayi
Chimurenga Soul (Militant Prince)
Raised in London and Zimbawe, Netsayi Chigwendere melded her experiences in her uncle’s African ‘mbira’ band with a European singer-songwriter sensibility. The result is an album that’s imbued with soul’s raw hurt, a dose of social politics, and chants and laments in the Shona language. Netsayi is unique new talent who deserves much greater exposure than she’s had.

16. Motor
Klunk (Novamute)

Taking a leather-clad Stooges approach to dance music, Motor consist of Parisian Mr No and Minneapolis Prince engineer Bryan Black. Their techno kicks in the door with a pair of biker boots and stomps all over the ‘Now That’s What I Call Dance’ lightweights.

17. Mina Agossi
Well You Needn’t (Candid)

Still utilising just a drummer and a double bassist, sexy Parisian jazz vocalist Agossi moves on slightly from the Spartan experimentalism of her last album for a more approachable outing. She still laughs, purrs, roars, emotes and lets her boundaries drop like no other female singer around. Catch her live.

18. Ghostface Killah
Fishscale (Def Jam)

In a truly terrible year for hip hop Ghostface returns with an album that achieves instant classic status. While other rappers have forgotten how to make albums rather than just 17 fillers around two hot singles, Ghostface actually delivers with depth, humour and, above all, consistently solid tune-making. It’s the sound of an MC with all the hunger of a prize fighter who knows it’s his last shot at the title. Hot beats, machine gun delivery and childish (rather than just faux-hard) skits.

19. Amy Millan
Honey From The Tombs (City Slang/Arts & Crafts)

Taking time out for her dayjob as singer for the plush Canadian indie outfit Stars, Amy Milan reinvents herself as late-period Johnny Cash. Confident unrefined country & western songwriting with sharp wit and an open heart. READ AMY MILAN INTERVIEWED

20. Trabant
Emotional (Southern Fried)

Icelandic nutters who are as happy hurling glam rock into the hip hop-electro blender as they are howling power ballads. Over-the-top and not a little crazed, Trabant’s music is a thoroughly unpredictable tonic.

THE NEXT 30

21. Cursor Miner
Danceflaw (Lo)

22. Neil Young
Living With War (Reprise)

23. Akira The Don
When We Were Young (Something In Construction/BMG)

24. The Long Blondes
Someone To Drive You Home (Rough Trade)

25. Primal Scream
Riot City Blues (Columbia)

26. Coldcut
Sound Mirrors (Ninja Tune)

27. Rodrigo Y Gabriela
Rodrigo Y Gabriela (Rubyworks)

28. Jhelisa
A Primitive Guide To Being There (INFRAcom)
READ JHELISA INTERVIEW

29. TV Personalities
My Dark Places (Domino)

30. Mark Pickerel and His Praying Hands
Snake In The Radio (Evangeline)

31. Subtle
For Hero (LEX)

32. Muse
Black Holes & Revelations (A&E)

33. Infadels
We Are Not The Infadels (Wall Of Sound)

34. The Black Angels
Passover (Light In The Attic)

35. Dan Sartain
Join Dan Sartain (One Little Indian)

36. TV On The Radio
Return To Cookie Mountain (4AD)

37. Quasi
When The Going Gets Dark (Domino)

38. The Kilimanjaro Dark Jazz Ensemble
The Kilimanjaro Dark Jazz Ensemble (Planet Mu)

39. The Russian Futurists
Me, Myself And Rye (Memphis Industries)

40. Planningtorock
Have It All (Chicks On Speed)

41. Matmos
The Rose Has Teeth In The Mouth Of The Beast (Matador)

42. Peaches
Impeach My Bush (XL)

43. Jarvis Cocker
Jarvis (Rough Trade)

44. Fink
Biscuits For Breakfast (Ninja Tune)

45. C-Mone
The Butterfly Effect (Son)

46. The Mules
Save Your Face (Organ Grinder)

47. Liars
Drum’s Not Dead (Mute)

48. Orange Blossom
Everything Must Change (Wrasse)

49. The Lights
Grand Union (Seeca)

50. Ali Farka Toure
Savane (World Circuit)

TOP 5 REISSUES AND OLDIES OF 2006

1. Brian Eno & David Byrne
My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts (Virgin/EMI)

Truly a seminal work, Eno & Byrne’s 1981 album seems more and more ahead of its time as the years pass. Based on tribal rhythms and seamless sampling from a range of sources, it laid down a pointer to the future at a time when new wave was still new-ish and the post-acid house generation were still at junior school.

2. The Beach Boys
Pet Sounds (EMI)

They re-released it with a velveteen cover, a booklet and a CD of extras for its 40th birthday. But even all that couldn’t spoil this definitive ‘60s masterpiece.

3. Louie Ramirez
Ali Baba (Fania/V2)

All the re-releases from Fania, the New York label which introduced the post-‘60s, pre-disco generation to salsa, are life-affirmingly red-blooded party juice and ‘Ali Baba’ is a particular peach.

4. Mark Stewart & the Maffia
Learning To Cope With Cowardice (On-U Sound/EMI)

After he left the Pop Group Mark Stewart hooked up with Adrian Sherwood and the On U crew for this opening salvo of politico-punk-industrial-dub punchiness which, while messy in places, is constructed like no other album from the same era and provided a blueprint for what On-U were about.

5. Nancy Sinatra
The Essential (EMI)

Kitsch and cute, Sinatra’s sweet voice sits joyously amidst a multitude of arch pop confections that could only have been dreamed up in the 1960s, including her many hook-ups with the great Lee Hazlewood such as ‘Some Velvet Morning’ and ‘Jackson’.

THE NEXT 5

6. Wire
Chairs Missing + Pink Flag + 154 (EMI)

7. Labi Siffre
Best Of Labi Siffre (EMI)

8. Billy Bragg
Volume 2 Box Set (Cooking Vinyl)

9. Al Stewart
A Piece Of Yesterday – The Anthology (EMI)

10. Tina Britt
Blue All The Way (EMI)

TOP 5 COMPILATIONS AND MIXES OF 2006

1. Kitsune Maison Compilation 2 + Compilation 3
(Kitsune)

Label of the year, run from Paris by a French Japanese team who also oversee a fashion business. The sound of 2007 arriving early. MSTRKRFT, Simian Mobile Disco, The Whip, Boys Noize, Digitalism, Klaxons, Soulwax’s version of The Gossip’s ‘Standing In The Way Of Control’ – what more could anyone want? Great bandtronic parties that are also so ‘now’ they’re in danger of breaking the laws of physics.

2. The DFA Remixes – Chapter One
(DFA/EMI)

This is how DFA made their name. Piled together on one CD it’s convincingly impressive – Gorillaz, Chemical Brothers and, best of all, ‘Mars Arizona’ by the Blues Explosion.

3. Thievery Corporation – Versions
(ESL Music)

Not currently very fashionable in the UK, the kind of laid back succulent tech-dub Washington DC’s Thievery Corporation deal in is, nonetheless, both soothing and meaty. They attend to everyone from The Doors to Bebel Gilberto during their classy after-after-party.

4. Tackhead
Tackhead Sound Crash (On-U Sound/EMI)

Doug Wimbish, Keith Le Blanc and Skip MacDonald are lethal funk-rock machines. Combined with Adrian Sherwood’s industrial dub production in the mid-‘80s they made a groundbreaking earthquake of a racket. This Sherwood mash-up of their finest is a hefty treat.

5. Nick Rhodes & John Taylor present Only After Dark
(EMI)

Two Durannies revisit their times at Barbarellas, Birmingham’s new romantic haunt of the late ‘70s and early ‘80s. They haul in a heist of gems from Bowie, Iggy, Roxy, Numan, Foxx and the rest of the we’re-glam-robots gang.

THE NEXT 5

6. Collectors Series Pt.2, Danse Gravite Zero: Kaos & Sal P
(Faith)

7. El Barrio: Gangsters, Latin Soul and the birth of Salsa
(Fania)

8. Discotheque Volume 1: The Hacienda
(Gut-Active)

9. What The World Needs Now… Is Burt & Hal
(Rhino)

10. Liam Prodigy – Back To Mine
(DMC)

ANGRIEST RECORD OF THE YEAR

Watchmaker
Erased From The Memory Of Man (Willowtip/Earache)

That’s Beatmag Angriest Record two years running. You may not have head of him but lead singer Brian Livoti also gave one Beatmag’s most candid substantial interviews of the year. They should be legends – legends of extraordinary livid speeding noise, that is.

BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT

Lostprophets
Liberation Transmission (Visible Noise)

Never a critics’ favourite Pontypridd’s Lostprophets came good with 2004’s ‘Start Something’ album. Jam-packed with attitude-soaked high-speed melodic rock, it stuck up two fingers to sniping London media trendies and sold a bundle. This follow-up, produced by Bob Rock, made them sound like Def Leppard on +8. Damn.

SO BAD THEY’RE GOOD (OR AT LEAST PASSINGLY AMUSING)

1. Poison
Best of Poison (EMI)

There are few more ridiculous songs than ‘Every Rose Has It’s Thorn’, the ultimate you-can’t-really-be-serious power ballad. The rest of this ridiculous album is packed with testosterone-addled nonsense that’s so silly and, well, just bad, that it brings a smile to the face.

2. Blackmore’s Night
The Village Lanterne (SPV)

Richie Blackmore, one of the great rock guitarists of his or any other generation, left his Rainbow/Deep Purple years behind him in 1997 to concentrate on a new age-medieval project doing lute-laden covers of ‘Streets Of London’ and wearing clothes that make him look like a portly extra from ‘Robin Hood’. The most unintentionally funny group of all time.

SO BAD – WORST OF THE YEAR

1. The Freelance Hellraiser
Waiting For Clearance (Ugly Truth)

A terrible misjudgement or just showing his true colours? Richard X seemed to be aiming for ‘Screamadelica’ but gave us members of Snow Patrol ‘getting down’. The millennial bootlegs were passable fun but that was years ago and everything since suggests he was co-opted by ‘the man’ long before anyone suspected. A horrible, horrible mess.

2. Snow Patrol
Eyes Open (Polydor)

People always leave obvious targets alone. Like the best-selling records of the year. Last year it was James Blunt, this year this. What was it Sid Vicious said? Oh, yes – “I’ve met the man in the street and he’s a cunt.”

3. Oakenfold
A Lively Mind (Maverick)

With their legendary Ibiza trip coming up to its twentieth anniversary the original acid housers have to find new purpose. Rampling’s quit DJing and started a restaurant so good luck to him. Oakey and his producer-du-jour are cranking out LA rave-rock with dollar signs in their eyes. Like this bilge. Compare his new ‘heavy’ version of Grace’s ‘Not Over Yet’ to the Klaxons one and, finally, it is all over for Oakey.

4. Louise Setara
Still Waters (EMI)

Big voice, young, malleable – another Joss Stone? That’d be bad enough but instead we have a new Celine Dion.

5. The Kooks
Inside In/Inside Out (Virgin)

The end of indie. Cheerful bland strummy tunes. Major label. The most unthreatening music ever made.

Albums for review should be sent to…

Thomas H Green, Beatmag, PO Box 4653, Worthing, BN11 9FG, UK

Filed under: Music, Reviews - Albums by Flexmaster Nylon
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