10. Georgia Anne Muldrow - Olesi: Fragments of an Earth
Singer/songwriter/poet/producer9. 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.
No comments:
Post a Comment