Another year come and gone. Here are the albums I listened to the most in what we called "2006".
Mastodon - Blood Mountain
On paper, it's almost laughable: a prog rock/metal concept album about
climbing a mountain. Sounds like it could be Rush. But unlike Rush,
listening to these guys won't make you want to pour Drano in your ears.
Heavy and fast, but strung along with mind-blowing guitar melodies and
mystic lyrical tales. A conceptually perfect album from probably the only
band that can pull that kind of thing off.
Tool - 10,000 Days
Tool's great cuz, like, they can make you think with your brain AND your
ears! And if you're lucky enough, they're a treat on the eyes too. I flew
back to the shores of Lake Ontario from the Prairies just to see their
show. This new one definitely isn't their best material, and it's probably
the first Tool album that could classify as "same old Tool", but it's
still light years beyond most other music out there.
Eagles of Death Metal - Death by Sexy
Party tunes that get back to the basics of what rock n' roll should be. I
find whenever these guys come on at a party or something, things get a
little livelier. Good times all around. Stripped down and raw, kinda like
an ideal Saturday night!
The Bronx - The Bronx
Proof again that there are still valiant efforts at laying down solid rock
n' roll this day in age. A killer set of tunes from start to finish with
little tastes of metal and hardcore scattered throughout. This album is
just plain kickass. If it doesn't make you want to challenge the mighty
Bison to an armwrestle, you're a lost cause.
The Flaming Lips - At War with the Mystics
I didn't like this album at first because I thought it was "too trippy"
and "not poppy enough". Then I realized saying that made me old, so I wept
in my pillow that night, mourning a youth long gone. To reconcile that,
the next day I "burned some incense" and gave it another spin. It was GREAT
SUCCESS.
Ghostface Killah - Fishscale
This one came highly recommended and I hadn't listened to a
"Wu-tang"-related album in many years. A little on the dark side both
musically and lyrically. When most popular hip-hop albums these days are
just attempts at singles squeezed together, it's nice to hear something
that has a real consistent flow throughout.
Slayer - Christ Illusion
It's Slayer. Check out "Jihad" if you don't believe.
Joanna Newsom - Ys
I don't know whose stash this chick got into. Pretty bizarre epic ballads
about talking animals and medieval times and mythical lands, played on
medieval instruments like harps and lutes and shit like that. But it's
beautiful music, and each song tells a really cool story that's so well
articulated you can really visualize it. Nothing like I've ever heard
before - it has me constantly scratching my head, but I totally dig it.
Pearl Jam - Pearl Jam
From here on out I think these guys are gonna stick to the formula, but
that's cool with me. I quite enjoy their brand of rock music, and they're
one of the only bands from my youth that's still around. Nostalgia aside,
they're still legitimately awesome and consistently put on one of the best
live shows you can see.
The Raconteurs - Broken Boy Soldiers
Anyone who's ever been into The White Stripes has always wondered what
they'd sound like as a full band. This album is kinda the answer to that,
but to put it that simply would be doing it a disservice. Yes, it is Jack
White lighting it up with a great band (and more importantly, a drummer
with actual talent), but he's just one element of many that make all these
songs great. Brendan Benson does most of the singing - better than JW in a
lot of cases.
Honourable mentions this year go to the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Gnarls Barkley, Sonic Youth,
Wolfmother, and The Roots.
Happy Holidays and all the best in 2007.
W.
Posted by waub at December 19, 2006 10:31 PM