The (less than) definitive guide to all things listable in 2009.

Thursday, December 20, 2007

Adam Says!

Adam Says!

Top Seven Albums 2007

1. Jens Lekman - This is the only album of the year that I can play
over and over and not be bored. This was also the only concert I saw
in 2007. He's so awesome.
2.The Tough Alliance -awesome
3. Band of Horses - awesome
4. Rilo Kiley - awesome
5. Okerville River - awsome
6. Iron & Wine - almost awesome
7. Ryan Adams - Just for fun!
8. ?????? The soundtrack to Dewy Cox is pretty funny.
9. ?????? Panda Bear Sucks!
10. ?????? It has not been my favorite year for music.

Top Three Skoro Sightings of 2007

1. March @ 331 Club - It was the last Sunday living in NE before
Nicole and I moved to Stillwater, so we decided to take advantage of
the discounted Bloody Marys. I had two of them and then decided to
break the hard news to Skoro. He seemed to understand the significance
and was sorry that I had to go.

2. March @ 331 Club - Later that evening, Robert Williams and I
decided to beat the crap out of everyone at 331 bar trivia. We won a
bar tab which allowed us the extra confidence to bullshit with Skoro.
He asked for my ID claiming to have forgotten me from 4 hours
previous. Rob asked if we could trade the bar tab for a copy of
'Proof'. That didn't fly, so he made us his favorite drink, the
Sidecar.

3. July @ Afton - After swimming at Afton State Park, Nicole and I
were driving home and stopped at a roadside garage sale. Skoro and
friends pulled up and looked around too. A friend of his purchased an
ice cream sandwich at a nearby gas station. He looked as though he
recognized me. I made no such look.

Top Six Lines from the Great American Novel

1. Justin tossed the bit of Internet in Mickey's cage.
2. His strokes were wild and free. His golf cart was fast and
careless. He was laughsterbating into a Nepali ornamental headdress.
3. "So they sent the message, a $10,000 bill upon which Rob had
supposedly written "Let's Party," then drawn some breasts upon
one-time Secretary of the Treasury Salomon P. Chase, before signing it
simply "Rob!"
4. "Mr. President," said Private Boline, "if he isn't ready, I didn't
graduate from college."
5. The man had flashed the gorgeous ocular magnets again, thrown the
frisbee out of bounds to lose the game, and sashayed away.
6. Kyle's scrotum had returned to human size, but Billington was
running up and down the shoreline, playing with Kyle's pants.

Top Four Ways to Get the Final Point in Settlers

1. Build the longest road by stealing it from someone else
2. Play a victory point card after just having bought it
3. Build a City for the first time and still win
4. Lay down the third soldier card to get the Largest Army

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Friday, December 7, 2007

Mickey's Short and Sweet (relatively) Lists!

Mickey's Top Ten Albums of 2007

1 - Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
2 - Jens Lekman - Night Falls Over Kortedala
3 - Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
4 - The Shins - Wincing the Night Away
5 - The New Pornographers - Challengers
6 - Feist - The Reminder
7 - Beirut - The Flying Club Cup
8 - Okkervil River - The Stage Names
9 - Fog - Ditherer
10 - Menomena - Friend and Foe


Honorable Mentions
Panda Bear - Person Pitch
Radiohead - In Rainbows
St. Vincent - Marry Me
Laura Veirs - Saltbreakers
Dr. Dog - We All Belong
Handsome Furs - Plague Park
Liars - Liars
The National - Boxer

Top Sparhawk/Parker Sightings
1 - Starfire Sceen Printing, Random October afternoon -
2 - Duluth Zoo, Boo at the Zoo -
3 - TrailFitters/Fitger's Complex, multiple occasons -
4 - Chester Creek Park, early July -

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The best of 2007 starts now!

Let's do it again! The same rules still apply as last year, so go nuts!

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Monday, January 29, 2007

Grant's Top Ten

Grant's Top Ten

 

Here are the albums that I listened to and enjoyed the most in '06.

 

1)     Sonic Youth – Rather Ripped

2)     Neko Case – Fox Confessor…

3)     Cat Power – The Greatest

4)     The Strokes – First Impressions…

5)     The Decembrists – The Crane Wife

6)     Pearl Jam – Pearl Jam

7)     Thom Yorke – The Eraser

8)     Built to Spill – You In Reverse

9)     Graham Coxon – Love Travels…

10) Morrissey – Ringleader…

 

Honorable Mention (good, but I didn't listen to them all that much for some reason):

Joanna Newsome – Ys

Yo La Tengo – I Am Not Afraid…

Hot Chip – The Warning

 

Over-Hyped:

The Hold Steady – Boys and Girls… (hasn't The Boss already done this?)

 

Biggest Disappointments:

The Electric Six – Switzerland

Basement Jaxx – Crazy Itch Radio

 

Favorite Songs:

The Strokes – 'Red Light'

Pearl Jam – 'World Wide Suicide'

Sonic Youth – 'Pink Steam'

Thom Yorke – 'Cymbal Rush'

 

Favorite Live Shows:

1)     Art Brut at the Entry

2)     Electric Six at First Ave

3)     Neko Case at First Ave

 

Most Disappointing Live Show:

The Strokes – not only did I feel like an old man amongst all the high schoolers, but the band seemed a little small on the Orpheum's big stage (both in sound and concept).

 

Dust Offs/Reissues/Compilations:

Sam Cooke – Portrait of a Legend

Talking Heads – Speaking In Tongues

REM – And I Feel Fine…

 

Other Thoughts for The Top Tens (since I am too lazy to post comments):

1)     The Current – the only DJ I like is Bill DeVille (Mark Wheat is literally worse than Hitler) but I think we are lucky to have a high quality FM radio station broadcasting so much variety in Minneapolis.

2)     Justin Timberlake – he's not Michael Jackson for sure and 'Losing My Way' is pretty painful, but I liked a lot of the songs on FutureSex. Plus, I think it is great that some of the 4.6 million people who have bought the album may really get into 'What Goes Around' or 'Damn Girl' after they forget to put 'My Love' on repeat.

3)     Dylan – I believe Dylan said he didn't think anyone had made an interesting sounding record in 20 years (referring more to the recording process and not the musicianship or songwriting).  I'd have to agree with him that most new pop music is way overcompressed ( i.e. Strokes) and sounds terrible when compared to Dylan's best recordings from the '60s and '70s. I also agree with Mickey though, Dylan talked shit and then didn't really deliver with his own album.   I though Modern Times was good, but Joanna Newsome's albums sound waaaaay more interesting than Modern Times, both from a recording standpoint and the quality of the music.  David Byrne has posted here about how recording techniques have changed music and whether or not we should even care if studio compression and mp3s are degrading the sonic quality of the music that is consumed.

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Sunday, January 14, 2007

Bryan's top ten

Bryan's tops of 2006

 

I have one lame caveat to my top 10.  There was one album in particular that I really wanted to get, Destroyer's Rubies. I put it on my Christmas wish list, dropped hints to family members and ta-da, it never came.  I also looked for it repeatedly at the downtown B&N so that I could purchase with a gift card I had.  Clearly, I expect too much from B&N because it was never stocked. I am certain that this album would have made my top 10 based upon the one song that received radio play.  However, since I never heard the album in its entirety it holds a question mark spot on my list.

 

1. The Strokes – First Impression of Earth

            Song of the year easily goes to “you only live once”

2. Built to Spill - You in Reverse

 

3. French Kicks - Two Thousand

 

4. Pearl Jam - Pearl Jam

 

5. Sonic Youth - Rather Ripped

 

6. Joanna Newsom - Ys

            The first song alone is enough to place it on the list

7. Basement Jaxx - Crazy Itch Radio

 

8. Camera Obscura - Let's Get Out of This Country

 

9. The Rapture – Pieces of the People We Love

 

?. Destroyer - Destroyer's Rubies

 

Most Embarrasing moment in music 06. 

Grant might remember me complaining about how, “so many bands sound like Blink 182 these days.”  Well, two of those bands, +44 and Angels and Airwaves, turned out to be members of Blink 182 who formed new bands separately after Blink broke up.  Boy is my face red!

 

Other albums I should have listened to but never got around to it.

Sufjan Stevens – the Avalanche

The Hold Steady – Boys and Girls in America

Badly Drawn Boy – Born in the UK

TV on the Radio – Return to Cookie Mountain

Cat Power – The greatest

 

Overrated

Tapes n Tapes – The Loon. If I put this on my top ten I would only be doing so because its local and I thought I would be more relevant by doing so.  Don’t get me wrong, I like this album, but I do think that it is overrated.

 

89.3 the Current – I stopped listening to this station very early in the year.  Maybe its different now, but it just seemed to lengthen my workday and give me headaches at the same time.  I’m pretty sure it made me less productive too.

 

Dave Dahl – Does this guy ever get the weather correct? I think we’re cutting him WAY too much slack.  And he does it all with such a smirk on his face.

 

Dust-off

Somewhere in the middle of 2006 I got really, really sick of contemplative, paranoid, crybaby, wallow in my misery music (see Thom York’s “Eraser”).  Green Day seemed to be an excellent solution to my ailments.  I especially found their easily accessible, almost adult-contemporary albums (Warning and Insomniac esp.) to be the most fun to listen to.  I think this phenomenon might be defined in the music dictionary as “losing one’s edge” but I don’t really care.

 

Skoro Sighting

After Mason Jenning’s concert at the Orpheum I bumped into Skoro who was swimming upstream the crowd going out the door.  He was wearing camouflage and blaze orange at the same time.  Is he doing alright?

 

Most disappointing

Beck’s “the information”.  It held so much promise--white boy rapper is my favorite type of Beck.  Sadly this album ended up being unfocused and uninspired.  Overall it is just plain forgettable.  Also disappointing was the double album by the red hot chili peppers.  With so much material you might think there would be at least a FEW gems…okay, well, more than just a FEW gems…

 

That’s it!  Thank you to everyone for sharing their tops! 

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Monday, January 8, 2007

Keely's Lists

Keely's Top 10 of 2006
01 - Neko Case - Fox Confessor Brings the Flood - I knew this album was going to be #1 from the first time I heard it.
02 - Band of Horses - Everything All the Time - These guys remind me of Guster in that they're nice and fun to listen to. Hopefully they won't start sucking like Guster.
03 - Old Crow Medicine Show - Big Iron World - Yes, Kyle, it does sound like their last album, but since I loved their last one, I love this one too. Plus, there's no equivalent to "James River Blues" on the last one.
04 - Belle & Sebastian - The Life Pursuit - While at work before Finn was born I used to alternate listening to Neko and Belle & Sebastian all day long. I haven't listened to this album a lot lately, but I still love it.
05 - Peter Bjorn & John - Writer's Block - I love these guys. If you haven't taken Kyle's advice and watched the video for "Young Folks" - do it.
06 - Calexico - Garden Ruin - Not much to say here. I just think it's a fun album.
07 - Amy Millan - Honey From the Tombs - Amy's great, but I don't think the cover "art" on the cd matches the music style.
08 - M. Ward - Post-War - I went back and forth about including this because I listen it to it a lot and really, really love the faster paced songs. I could take or leave some of the slower songs, but still think it's worthy of the #8 spot.
09 - The Hold Steady - Boys & Girls in America - I really like this album, which I guess makes me a frat boy.
10 - Destroyer - Destroyer's Rubies - This may be deserving of a higher place, but for now it's at #10.

Honorable Mentions
TV On the Radio - Return to Cookie Mountain
The Decemberists - The Crane Wife
My Brightest Diamond - Bring Me the Workhorse
Sufjan Stevens - The Avalanche
Wooden Wand & The Sky High Band - Second Attention
Micah P. Hinson - Micah P. Hinson & The Opera Circuit

Overrated
Beirut - Gulag Orkester - I like the song "Postcards from Italy," but not the rest. Maybe I just don't get it.
Joanna Newsom - Ys - Am I the only one who doesn't find it pleasurable to listen to a pre-teen sounding elf "sing" while randomly plucking strings on her harp? Joanna, I have one word for you: chorus. Try it.
Regina Spektor - It's ok.


Missed the boat in 2005
Jens Lekman!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! - You're So Silent, Jens
Iron & Wine - Our Endless Numbered Days
Iron & Wine/Calexico - In the Reins
Clap Your Hands and Say Yeah - S/T

Other Media
Lost
Inconvenient Truth
Little Miss Sunshine

Books
What is the What - Dave Eggers - For those of you I haven't told, this is the best book I have read in a long, long time. Buy it and read it now.
The Keep - Jennifer Egan

Stay tuned for more books - I'm on a lot of waiting lists at the library.

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Friday, January 5, 2007

Sam's list of 10 entertainment related items

10. best tv show is the office. but my favorite new one is Studio
60. keely and mickey don't like it. but me and nicole do.
9. Movie-wise, I liked Wedding Crashers the best (i think that was in
2006). If it was, then sorry, but i cant think of that many great
movies i've recently watched
8. few disappointments were XMEN 3, the TV show heroes, theisman on
monday night football
7. Best concert: I only went to one real one, (I went to one with
my parents at the Rendevous II in Grand Rapids), but Me First and the
gimme gimmes with dead to me and off with their heads at the triple
rock was alot of fun. after, i took out $100 cash and went to play
in a poker game with fat mike of nofx, joey cape of foo fighters, and
a bunch of minneapolis punks, but the band never showed.
6. natalie portman gangsta rap and the box song were both very funny
5. best youtube video was denny green's press conference after the
cardinals lost to the bears, or one of a 13 yr old hockey phenom from
canada doing breakaway moves.
4. best sing-along is a tie, both at adam and nicoles wedding...like
a prayer and don't cry by guns and roses.
3. best hockey move was ovechkin's behind the back goal.
2. Second best album: Me first and the gimme gimmes love their
country. Goodbye Earl is the best song, closely followed by Sunday
Morning Sidewalk. They don't play their own songs, but it doesn't
matter to me.
1. Best album: Wolves in wolves clothing by NOFX. Good punk rock
sung hard and fast and mean to people who aren't like them, because
everyone knows that they should be.

not a very good top ten.
sam

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Micah's Lists

Micah's Drippingly Sentimental Top Ten

01. Yellow House - Grizzly Bear (9.5.6) On a Neck On a Spit, Easier, Knife
02. Hand On String - Michael Andrews (2.14.6) Hand On String, Tracings, Orange Meet Lemon
03. Destroyer's Rubies - Destroyer (2.21.6) - Rubies, European Oils, Painter In Your Pocket
04. Fox Confessor Brings The Flood - Neko Case (3.7.6) - John Saw That Number, Star Witness, The Needle Has Landed
05. Everything All The Time - Band Of Horses (3.21.6) - Funeral, St. Augustine, Wicked Gil
06. Return To Cookie Mountain - TV On The Radio (9.12.6) - Wolf Like Me, Hours, Things You Can Do
07. Son - Juana Molina (5.23.6) Rio Seco, Micael, Malherido
08. Passover - The Black Angels (4.11.6) Better Off Alone, Bloodhounds On My Trail, Black Grease
09. Bring Me The Workhorse - My Brightest Diamond (8.22.6) Something of an End, Dragonfly, Workhorse
10. eponymous [EP] / Shut Up I Am Dreaming - Sunset Rubdown (1.16.6/5.2.6) A Day In The Graveyard, Three Colours, Stadiums & Shrines II
Key: rank. album - band (release date) 3 tracks to check out to see if it's up yer alley

In depth analysis:
YELLOW HOUSE - Grizzly Bear
Released on Benjamin's birthday! Probably his top pick also ...unless music boxes count. So mesmerizingly produced (as if Pet Sounds has crashed into Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes) that as it starts on both of our eyes grow wide & ears prick up. The memories of waltzing around the kitchen floor in my socked feet with my baby boy in my arms will be unforgettable.
HAND ON STRING - Michael Andrews
A very close second & perhaps another sentimental favorite. I listened to this almost exclusively as I painted the nursery. So charmingly unobtrusive I had it on repeat even - something I never do. Heard it for the first time on headphones yesterday & heard an entirely differently album.
DESTROYER'S RUBIES - Destroyer
Erika said it beautifully: "If this album consisted of the title track alone, it still would have made #1" Though I'd adjust it slightly it to say: "If this album consisted of any single one of it's tracks, it still would have made #3" A triumph.
FOX CONFESSOR BRINGS THE FLOOD - Neko Case
Garth Hudson - 'nuff said. I thought this was a sure thing at number one for a long time. Neko didn't know what hit her - I didn't even see 1, 2 or 3 coming.. Strangely nearly all of my picks are dripping with a thick atmospheric ambiance & FCBTF is up to it's pretty neck in it.
EVERYTHING ALL THE TIME - Band Of Horses
Was in quite a fist fight for the 4th spot. Whereas FCBTF seems to drag a bit (I think it'd be just a little better if she'd whittled it down maybe about 2 songs & made em b-sides) this is simply a sharp, excellent, classic pop album. I'm still stunned by the amount of affection folks from all walks & tastes are giving this record.
RETURN TO COOKIE MOUNTAIN - TV On The Radio
The most impressive band operating today. The first time I remember being in a car without an adult somebody's big sister was driving me to see Dave Sitek's high school band play - it was my first ever "rock concert". The excitement I was feeling was unparalleled at the time & the show absolutely blew my mind wide open to music... all these years later he still continues to do so. The exuberance I felt as a prepubescent teen in that nearly empty auditorium I felt again at First Ave's packed show this summer. To quote the cliché: must be played at maximum volume.
SON - Juana Molina
If I said the title had nothing to do with it's appearance in my top ten I'd be lying. Initially wrote off this album pretty quickly (if it's not in English it can't be that great, right?) but returned to it for a closer listen just a couple of weeks ago - a welcome new arrival. I dig the steel drum drum'n'bassey breakdown in Micael. My highschool had a steel drum band... man those kids thought they were the shiznit in their sunglasses, shorts, & caribbean shirts... Meanwhile the rest of those orchestra nerds were stuck in their white buttonup shirts & black slacks... suckers.
PASSOVER - The Black Angels
When I first heard "Better Off Alone" on the car radio at 3am I nearly went right off the road. "A drugged-up Sean Ryder (Happy Mondays) fronts a drugged-out John Cale led Velvet Underground -- just what I've always wanted!!!" Since hearing the rest of the album that's obviously not what's going on (but add that to my "wants for 2007" list, Mickey) Instead this is just really nice to play loud. What I'd put on in the garage this summer when I wasn't blasting Cookie Mountain & how I think I'll be listening to Entrance next summer. Great stuff for swinging a hammer over your head.
BRING ME THE WORKHORSE - My Brightest Diamond
Beth Gibbons (Portishead) replaces Antony & leads The Johnsons in selections from Mellon Collie & the Infinite Sadness. Along with FCBTF I could use this album a little shorter too but fairly alluring stuff.
SUNSET RUBDOWN / SHUT UP I AM DREAMING - Sunset Rubdown
Cull tracks from both of these albums & you've got yourself a genuine masterpiece. I'm partial to the EP but SUIAD is here because hearing the Casio SK1 beat beginning "I'm Sorry..." nearly brought me to tears (am i the only feller old enough to instantly recognize that?) Another sentimental choice I guess.
...SO Now, all that said I still haven't heard a lick of Bob Dylan's Modern Times, The Root's Game Theory & Thom Yorke's Eraser (among hundreds of other albums) but it's been rare that any releases by any of these folks didn't land somewhere in my tops. So, I suppose the fact that I was passive & unenthusiastic for all three albums says something - but the truth is that I can't imagine these three not knocking out some of the above (No matter how much Dylan shoots his mouth off)

Honorable Mention/Album That Makes Me Wish I'm Something I'm Not
I'm completely with Mickey on the Hold Steady-alternate-universe-thing. Therefore Boys & Girls in America gets an honorable mention in the Album That Makes Me Wish.../Honorable Mention section cos if I were a burgeoning fratboy at the U I'd be all over this album. I'm quite sure of it. I'm not though. Instead it just seems kinda like the The Replacements were re-Born In The USA to this dad. Nice record but if it weren't for the local flares which tickle me to no end I could probably leave it... so anyway, onto Album that Makes Me Wish I'm Something I'm Not (aka Honorable Mention) ...my heavens we have a TIE!
Begin To Hope - Regina Spektor
Ahh, to be a 13 year old girl. I'm sure this album would have me absolutely levitating. I picture myself laying stomach down on a sunken bed & listening to "On The Radio" over and over again in a wood-paneled basement bedroom. My hot pink socked-feet up in the air behind me and wiggling about, flipping the pages of Sassy magazine & staring at the dust caught in a hazy sunny beam of light streaming in through a small window at the top of the room. Oh, the buoyant joy.
eponymous - Brightblack Morning Light
I'd have no idea BUT I would imagine this the greatest stoned album of the year. I've never been one much for strictly trip albums - however I can be quite lazy so this release does have some real appeal.

Missed the Boat in 2005
Perspectives - Mt. Egypt
Openers for BOH this summer in the Entry. Less Bright Eyes-y than "Battening The Hatches" & now Lambchoppy enough to keep me satisfied.
All Rise - Inara George
When it's at it's best it's sounds like Astrud Gilberto has moved to Laurel Canyon; still delicious bubblegum when it's at it's worst.

Biggest Disappointments
I don't think there any big disappointments this year - I was a pretty pleased top to bottom. Well, cept for the new Yeah Yeah Yeahs' album, Show Your Bones - I spit on that lameass follow-up shit. Oh, & I was fairly down on that mess Beck released I guess. Okay some but I wouldn't say this was another year of discontent... As for rockshow disappointments it'd be seeing Islands/Frog Eyes/Sunset Rubdown at First Ave. I'm not putting this on FE or SR though - this is entirely on those bastards, Islands. SR ; FE were simply out of their element - they needed an "intimate" setting to shine. Instead they were stuck playing to a small, uninterested crowd who were there to see Islands in a big cavernous venue. I've been On Carey Mercer's tip for what seems like forever & was quite down about the lackluster showing. I nearly drove down to Carlton to the Cavern the very next night (where SR & FE were playing without Islands) because I'm sure they'd tear the place apart (& sounds like from Erika that they did) Islands ARE the steel drum kids I mentioned above all grown up. Still just as obnoxious & smug too.

Diamond in the Rough
Lambchop - Damaged
Yup, I'm picking the whole album. It's exquisitely produced, brilliantly played but still somehow seems to totally miss the mark. Throughout the album however there are tiny little sonic flourishes that I think are just wonderful (A Day Without Glasses 1:34-3:06, Beers Before the Barbican 3:47-4:20, are two of my favorites) the rest doesn't seem to be engaging in it's entirety though. Or maybe it's just that first song rubs me the wrong way & soils the rest of the album ...then ends on a sour note too... I dunno. Perhaps I just need to invest a lot more time into Damaged. It took ages for me to fall for Is A Woman. Now its' collection of sparse-blue-midnight piano tunes have since made it one of my greatest loves of all time.
'07 Wishlist
Charlie Wadhams.
Charlie Wadhams, Born 1978, Los Angeles, California

Best Live Shows
Dirty On Purpose, 7.22.6, 7th St. Entry (which would get my Venue of the Year award. Nearly EVERY SINGLE ONE of the folks in my top ten played there this year - that's not a bad turnaround from being shut down last year) After learning Ericka Foster (singer/keys) quit the band I nearly turned around before it started. Boy did they make a believer out of me - turned my frown right around & then absolutely blew the fucking roof off the joint. I was so impressed that I even chatted them up after the show (something else I never do) The friendliest bunch of fellas too. That George is a guitarist to watch - The reincarnation of Kevin Shields (if he were dead) Unfortunately, pathetically, their debut LP doesn'tcapture an ounce of thrash, excitement, mayhem from their live act & is so ill mixed that it doesn't even come anywhere near my top ten. (hmm, add Hallelujah Sirens to my few disappointments) Shameful

Dusted-offs
I wasn't sure how to approach this category considering I primarily listen to the oldies but goodies... so instead I've picked my top 6s from past 6s.
1956
Midnight At Mable Mercer's - Mable Mercer
eponymous - The Art Tatum/Ben Webster Quartet
Three Ragas - Ravi Shankar
Ella & Louis - Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong
Sings the Cole Porter Song Book - Ella Fitzgerald
eponymous - Elvis Presley
1966
Pet Sounds - The Beach Boys
Revolver - The Beatles
Blonde On Blonde - Bob Dylan
...Dictionary Of Soul - Otis Redding
eponymous - Love
Boom - The Sonics
1976
eponymous - Ramones
A New World Record - Electric Light Orchestra
Musical Massage - Leon Ware
Coney Island Baby - Lou Reed
eponymous - Blondie
On The Track - Leon Redbone
1986
Tinderbox - Siouxsie & the Banshees
License To Ill - The Beastie Boys
London 0 Hull 4 - The Housemartins
The Queen Is Dead - The Smiths
Graceland - Paul Simon
Deep Breakfast - Ray Lynch
1996
The Sound Of - McAlmont & Butler
Being There - Wilco
Black Love - The Afghan Whigs
Traveling Without Moving - Jamiroquai
Illadelph Halflife - The Roots
Drop The Roof - Out Of My Hair

Genre Sucker
I've always listened to a healthy amount of Classical music but this year it really was on full force - even prior to baby's arrival - unstoppable afterwards.

Over-hyped?
Beirut - Gulag Orkestar
Another triumph for Peter Gabriel's Real World label... but wait! the tricks on you - It's not! No seriously, it's an amazing story - really. It's a technical feat. An amazing debut. I'd even say a very delightful, enjoyable listen. HOWEVER I strongly question if this this isn't an album essential to know the backstory to really appreciate & love. Only because that question perpetually lingers in my mind does this end up here.

Other Media Does Exist
My favorite film of the year had to be Pride & Prejudice.
But again I primarily watch old movies...
1926 - Faust
1936 - Fury
1946 - It's A Wonderful Life
1956 - The Killing
1966 - Alfie
1976 - All The President's Men
1986 - Hannah And Her Sisters
1996 - Waiting For Guffman

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Monday, January 1, 2007

Addendum

Addendum:

As I am listening more and more to this Peter, Bjorn, and John album, it is rapidly becoming my favorite of last year. 

Just say no to Tub Girl.

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