2006: A Retrospective

Jerome's Top Albums:

10. Georgia Anne Muldrow - Olesi: Fragments of an Earth
Singer/songwriter/poet/producer/rapper Georgia Anne Muldrow's debut full length is filled with melodies and vocal stylings that may be unpredictable and unconventional, but the music is fearless and strangely engaging.


9. Killer Mike - I Pledge Allegiance to the Grind
Balancing hustling anthems with biting social commentary, Killer Mike takes no prisoners on this double disc monster of an album. Utter frustration with the current state of the game (be it rap or politics) has Killer Mike heated and with PATTG, Killer Kill has finally put out the sort of passionate and brutally honest music to match his fire and intellect.


8. The Roots - Game Theory
The Roots album I've been waiting for (or perhaps am settling for) since Things Fall Apart. The music finally sounds urgent and focused. (Props for bringing Malik B back into the fold too).



7. El Michels Affair - Shaolin Series 1, 2
As if the XM Radio live performance earlier this year featuring the Wu backed by El Michels Affair wasn't enough, Truth and Soul records decides to press these gems featuring El Michels interpretation of Wu classics. Bottom line: absolutely face melting material here.


6. Clipse - Hell Hath No Fury
Though the beats don't quite knock as hard as they did on Lord Willin', Pusha T and Malice have finally added a layer of vulnerability and paranoia to the drug raps they do so well, rendering HHNF a compelling character study of two of the drug rap game's most revered kingpins.


5. Various Artists - Soul Jazz Records Presents Tropicalia: A Brazilian Revolution in Sound
A vibrant and informative anthology, Tropicalia exudes the blissfully anarchic spirit of Brazil's Tropicalia movement of the 60s. Also, props to Soul Jazz for including some reading material on the movement with the CD.


4. TV on the Radio - Return to Cookie Mountain
As epic as the album sounds, Return to the Cookie Mountain's highest achievement might just be the bits of pop hidden under all that heady atmosphere. Impressive AND likeable you say? Ditto.



3. The Game - Doctor's Advocate
Left for dead by damn near everyone from his circle, the west coast's veritable lone soldier The Game re-ups with a banger of an album. Name-dropping be damned, the beats knock while Game desperately hurls lyrics of fury at those spitting on his name and those prematurely shoveling dirt on his career (guilty).


2. Ghostface Killah - Fishscale
Sounding hungrier than ever, Ghost spits over fitting beats with the vivid soul and swagger to masterfully weave Fishscale's elaborate drug game narratives. This is the album that cements Ghostface as drug rap's proverbial slang operator. Fuck a Hip Hop Honors award show. Get on dini's level.


1. J Dilla - Donuts
A revealing and captivating look into the mind of a notoriously low-key beat genius in his last hours. Hip Hop, in all its youth has never, with the exception of perhaps 'Pac, quite captured these sentiments the way J Dilla has on Donuts.


Enoch's Top Albums:

10. Thermals - The Body, The Blood, The Machine
In comparison to 2004's Fuckin A, the music's more complex, the lyrics are smarter, and yet, they don't miss a beat with the punk intangibles. This is the "American Idiot" Green Day should've made.



9. TV on the Radio - Return to Cookie Mountain
If one were to strip this album to its basic elements and released both an instrumental album and an a capella album, either disc would still be stronger than most of the shit that came out this year. In its current, grand form, it should come as no surprise that Cookie Mountain is omnipresent in end of the year lists; it is simply amazing.


8. Ratatat - Classics
Classics may sound a bit too similar like their eponymous debut, but hell, if it ain't broke, why fix it? Plus, the riff in "Tropicana" sounds like it came straight out of the Beatles' White Album.



7. Cat Power - The Greatest
Regardless of what the title was intended to mean, calling one's album The Greatest tends to elicit fairly high expectations. Cat Power, with the help of the Memphis Rhythm Band, does not disappoint. There's something for everybody, too. If most of the album is too uncharacteristically cheerful, check out "Hate" for that classic flavor of Cat Power melancholia.


6. Emilie Simon - Vegetal
While simultaneously squeezing out the score to the original French version of March of the Penguins, Ms. Simon turned Air's "Playground Love" into a full-length album and turned the sensuality up to 11. The beats and vocals are so fucking sexy that Vegetal should have a parental advisory sticker on it.


5. The Walkmen - A Hundred Miles Off
The Walkmen, one of the most bitchin' rock bands to emerge in the last five years, is consistent in one sense: they haven't written a bad song yet. Thankfully, the guys have moved out of the garage to make a serenely beautiful album that sounds perfect under a Tahitian moon.


4. We Are Scientists - With Love and Squalor
First, they get the easiest riffs. Then, they get the catchiest hooks. Then, the rest, as they say, is Scarface. Joke-album or not, With Love and Squalor has been one of the most enjoyable albums of the year. Plus, these guys have a wickedly funny website (warning: it can evoke a few WTF's along the way).


3. Pretty Girls Make Graves - Elan Vital
Is it possible to make a follow-up that is both more pretentious and more fun? PGMG invented the Kool-Aid martini, so suck on that.




2. J Dilla - Donuts
One expects to begin listening with a heavy heart, but the only word that can be used to properly describe this 44-minute experience is joy. If this is Jay Dee's legacy to the world, then he's already guaranteed to live forever.



1. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Show Your Bones
At least four songs have be argued for as being the next "Maps." Five were considered to be the follow-up to "Y Control." Eight have been seriously contentioned for their universal appeal as radio singles, and that's only because the other three are too gangsta. That's just how they roll.


Juliet's Top Albums:

In no particular order... [Sidenote: As I'm writing this, most of my cds were stolen. I still have two of the following cds so it's helped to have them to listen to; the other three I will pull out of my ass from what I remember of them.]

Cursive - Happy Hollow
I'm grateful they have kept so many instruments in the wonderful Saddle Creek Records fashion. Hell, after reading about them going on indefinite hiatus, I'm just glad they're back. For me, the song to put on repeat was "Bad Sects" (can you say an awesome, twisted, indie rock ballad?); I just love Tim Casher's crooning.


Brazilian Girls - Talk to La Bomb
Dance, dance, dance, strip! Honestly, I didn't like this album when I first heard it, but it slowly grew on me. It's edgier and jazzier than their other albums. "Never Met a German" and "All About Us" are my favorite songs.



Blood Brothers - Young Machetes
These guys blow me away when I see them live. Young Machetes is an awesome follow up to Crimes (my favorite Blood Brothers album of all time), as they continue to experiment with rhythm along with dizzying lyrics. Think of really good hip-hop gone screech super fast in young white guys (I understand that is a really bold statement to make, so hip-hop elitists, feel free to school me). I never know what to expect with these guys, and if you were to listen to their albums in the order they were produced, it's amazing how these guys continue to grow musically.


TV on the Radio - Return to Cookie Mountain
My newest infatuation, I can't get enough of track 5, "Wolf Like Me." It's soulful, experimental and has wonderful beats that makes me want to learn how to play the drums (or go and buy a drum machine). The lead singer's stage presence reminds me of Saul Williams' live energy. They were one of the bands people talked about but took me forever to finally listen to, and I hate myself a little more every time I think about that.


Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins - Rabbit Fur Coat
I have been obsessed with this CD since it's been out. Thanks to my friend Doreen, I am a HUGE Rilo Kiley fan so when I heard she was doing a solo album, I was a little hesitant to hear it (I can only think of bad examples in both pop and indie bands that have disappointed me). The album has the right amount of songs that do Jenny's voice great justice. It's one of the few where everyone at my work (the coffee one) can agree to listen to. Jenny and the Watson Twins' voices are a match made in heaven and I look forward to more music by the trio.


Jerome's Top Singles (in no particular order):

Killer Mike "That's Life"
Lil Wayne "Stuntin' Like My Daddy"
Flying Lotus "1983"
Gnarls Barkley "Crazy"
The Game "One Blood"
E 40 feat Keak Da Sneak "Tell Me When to Go"
Snoop, Dre, D'angelo "Imagine"


Enoch's Top Songs:

10. Emilie Simon - Opium
9. Nine Black Alps - Cosmopolitan
8. The Pipettes - Your Kisses Are Wasted on Me
7. Dresden Dolls - My Alcoholic Friends
6. My Chemical Romance - Welcome to the Black Parade
5. Tapes 'n Tapes - Jakov's Suite
4. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Dudley
3. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Cheated Hearts
2. Pretty Girls Make Graves - Pyrite Pedestal
1. We Are Scientists - Textbook


Bobby's Top YouTube Videos:


I swear I decided to compile this list before Time featured YouTube on their person of the year cover and I admit that what made me decide to post today was a Boingboing writer's top 5 picks (the Maury pickle clip??). Though YouTube has been around for close to 13 months already, it's already hard to remember what the internets was like before it was around. Anyway, here they are:

10. 12 Days of Christmas just slipped in at 10 a couple nights ago when it was featured at the end of a boingboing year-end list (go figure). Just passing on the message.


9. A Special Christmas Box made it in in the eleventh hour. You can thank Enoch for this one. And NBC, for the uncensored version that was set loose on YouTube.


8. Noah Takes a Photo of Himself Every Day for 6 Years arguably isn't much about music and more about one guy who (if this is for real) is seriously bad ass. All the others who also did this (but posted later than him) must have been seriously pissed off when he beat them to YouTube.


7. Cop Ghost Rides the Whip had me scratching my head the first time I saw it on James' blog... and laughing on the floor after I finally understood what ghost riding was. Just wikipedia it if you need to.


6. Asian Backstreet Boys consisted of two guys lip-syncing in a dorm room. Their outfits matched and the third guy playing counterstrike in the back never once turned around.


5. Little Superstar is an awesome clip from a Tamil movie featuring a shirtless dude dancing for the amusement of a reclining man and a bunch of amused children. He even does the move Fatlip uses in his "What's Up, Fatlip" video when he's trying on clothes.


4. The Best Guitar Hero Video Ever is close to being the best video ever -- of 2006. Pizza suit, double-neck guitarhero controller, superfluous effects pedal, star power, go.


3. Canon Rock by Funtwo is video of a guy in a baseball cap playing a super clean version of Pachelbel's Canon in D that was arranged for electric guitar by a Taiwanese dude named Chris C. While other Canon Rock YouTube videos might contain performers with twice this guy's feeling, you'd be hard pressed to find one that is as smooth as this one.


2. Canon Rock 2 is an adaptation of the Chris C arrangement that Funtwo used. It is clear that this young asian man was sent to YouTube by the gods of shred in order to rip Canon to bits and give him a seat in the Canon Rock Hall of Fame.


1. Lazy Sunday was hailed as a glimmer of hope for a dying SNL when it first aired and later was hailed as a new benchmark for viral marketing. If you missed seeing or hearing about this video, you just about missed 2006.


Enoch's Hall of Fame (The Inaugural Class):

Ash - A Life Less Ordinary
Spiritualized - Ladies and Gentlemen, We Are Floating in Space
Buzzcocks - Ever Fallen in Love?
Weezer - Across the Sea
Elliott Smith - Say Yes

Expect these songs on every single compilation I make for everybody.

RIP, Mr. Dynamite

James Brown, 1933-2006

There was a badass BMW Films video involving James Brown renegotiating his contract with the devil, to whom he was said to have sold his soul early in his career. Here ya go:

...With the Words "Justin Timberlake" Six Times for Some Reason

Following the grand tradition of such SNL Digital Shorts as "Lazy Sunday" and that one with Natalie Portman cussing up a storm comes the newest installment of "Not Ready for Primetime" (re: sophomoric) badass-itude: A Special Box, starring Justin Timberlake and, as always, Andy Samberg.

In other Justin Timberlake news, early Monday morning Pitchfork Media released its Top 100 tracks of the year, and Justin Timberlake sits atop the list with his boy, T.I. Is the song that good? Listen for yourself:

Justin Timberlake & T.I. - My Love

UPDATE: Want to win a chance to sing a duet with Justin Timberlake at the Grammy Awards in February? Read all about it here.

Justin Timberlake.

It COULD Ever Be This Good Again

In 1997, the Foo Fighters released their second full-length album, The Colour and the Shape. At the time, I thought it was fucking brilliant, except for one extremely overrated sore spot. One song was overplayed, was way overrated, and quite frankly, bugged the living shit out of me. The song I'm referring to is "Everlong."

Nine years later, six of which was sans radio, I've been hit with an epiphanous hammer. This song is really fucking good! To be fair, though, it is a lot easier to appreciate a piece of art when one isn't being inundated by its ubiquitous presence via the logic behind "heavy rotation." Anyway, not only is the album version great, it sounds great acoustic, it sounds great live, it sounds great in a house, it sounds great with a mouse...

Anyway, Dave Grohl, you win this round, you bastard.

Dave Grohl - Everlong (acoustic on Howard Stern)

Kinda Secret Snow Patrol Pre-Sale Info

If you're going to be in Los Angeles on Friday, March 2nd in the year Anno Domini 2007, you might want to check out Snow Patrol at the Gibson Amphitheatre (formerly Universal Amphitheatre) in Universal City.

Taking that one step further, if you're planning to be at the show and want to get tickets, like, super-fucking early, i.e. Wednesday morning, click this Ticketmaster link. The password is "EYESOPEN." It's without the period, but that's grammatical correctness for you. The presale starts at 10 am.

It's going to be exactly like this for about an hour before the midgets come out and dance around Stonehenge.

How Hippies Celebrate Christmas

Just about every year between 1990 and 2006 (the only exception being the absence of a 2005 album), KROQ's Kevin & Bean have released a charity Christmas album filled with crappy Christmas covers and hokey-ass schtick. The 2001 album was more or less the same shit with two notable exceptions. First, the cover had porn stars. Yay.


More importantly, though, the album included a beautiful rendition of "Someday at Christmas" by Remy Zero. The song was particularly apt considering the compilation was released only three months after September 11. I don't think I've ever heard a song that so flawlessly captured both the heartache and the subsequent hope that emanated at the time.

What I didn't realize until a bit later was that this song was originally released as a single by Stevie Wonder in 1966, right before hippie culture's climactic "summer of love" the following year. Did Stevie Wonder invent the hippie anthem? Well, no, because first of all, he didn't write the song, and "Blowin' in the Wind" preceded it by about four years. I just mention this as a weak transition to the following: read Chuck Klosterman's article about Ali and rap.

Remy Zero - Someday at Christmas

Stevie Wonder - Someday at Christmas

Oreo coo-meh....

I'm trying to throw up as many entries before I subject myself to corporate purgatory and self destruct like F150's forthcoming album...speaking of which, Fiddy had the following choice words for Oprah in a recent Elle magazine interview:

"(She) started out with black women's views but has been catering to middle-aged white American women for so long that she's become one herself. I think the idea of being publicly noted that she's a billionaire makes [black women] interested in seeing her views. But it's even more exciting to the demographic of white American women she's been aiming at to see that she has the exact same views that they have."

Wait a minute? Oprah a jiggaboo but not fiddy? Isn't this the same dude who's music caters to suburban white kids in America (albeit through a veil of "street" cred, but come on...all that is out the window especially when you do interviews for Elle magazine)? Isn't "Get Rich or Die Trying" all about selling out by any means necessary?

And well...I was going to spend this entry pointing out why: 50 cent=Oprah=Oreo cookie. But I'll just leave at this: do the math, son.

Besides, its a celebration bitches: Prince Paul is producing the next Souls of Mischief album.

The Beatles, remixed by the ...Beatles?

The surviving Beatles members have gone back to the master tapes and put out "new" versions of many of their hits. The album is called Love. Intriguing. Check the website for audio clips. What makes this different from a remastered best of album? Boingboing says that the tracks are mashups of the originals, including elements from other tracks... but personally (and this could be because I'm listening to 15sec samples) most of the tracks just sound like remastered versions of the same old songs. Maybe after I get the album and listen to it in its entirety, the new bits will be easier to spot/more obvious?

Notable and awesome exceptions: Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise) and Drive My Car, which are gold. Don't suppose they'd be putting out instrumentals of these?

Flying Lotus "1983"

Hate to keep beating a dead horse but...Flying Lotus "1983". Peep it. Cop it. Thank me later.