Monthly Archives: December 2006
Doesn’t anyone stay in one place anymore?
Okay, after all that, I promise not to write about music for a while. It’s my last night in South London – tomorrow I strike out on my own, and I have a room in a flat in Kensington to call my own. I’m excited and I’m anxious. It’s going to be cold, it’s going […]
Top 10 of 2006: 1. Bob Evans – Suburban Songbook
1. Bob Evans – Suburban Songbook Album of the year. This album has soundtracked my year, all my ups and downs, left and rights, the laughs, the dancing, the silliness, the sadness, every moment. I’ve had it just about all year. It only really hit me in March, when the first song, Don’t You Think […]
Top 10 of 2006: 2. Darren Hanlon – Fingertips And Mountaintops
2. Darren Hanlon – Fingertips And Mountaintops I only barely got this record before I left Australia. And it only just missed out on being number one. It’s got everything, beautiful songs, insightful lyrics and also one of the last Australian musicians who to write about Australia. The towering highlight is Elbows, a simple story […]
Top 10 of 2006: 3. Belle And Sebastian – The Life Pursuit
3. Belle And Sebastian – The Life Pursuit I’m a recent convert to Belle and Sebastian. This is the first B&S album I’ve bought as it came out, and it’s not really what I expected. This sounds more like a glam rock Bowie album. Two things make this record better their best since If You’re […]
Top 10 of 2006: 4. Youth Group – Catching And Killing
4. Youth Group – Catching And Killing The last Youth Group album, Skeleton Jar, was such a big record for me. It was the soundtrack to some big years in my life. And it’s so often you wear out a band by doing that. So, I wasn’t that excited about a new Youth Group record. […]
Top 10 of 2006: 5. You Am I – Convicts
5. You Am I – Convicts For a band renowned for being a great rock band, it could be argued that they haven’t really rocked out in years. So after a break, You Am I release an album that’s almost nothing but rockers, with some of their shortest, sharpest, heaviest work. No ballads here. There’s […]
Top 10 of 2006: 6. The Sleepy Jackson – Personality – One Was A Spider One Was A Bird
6. The Sleepy Jackson – Personality – One Was A Spider, One Was A Bird In Barney Hoskins book Hotel California, photographer Nurit Wilde has this to say about Neil Young: “I thought that the ones whose lyrics I loved must be really smart. And I found out that some of them weren’t smart, they […]
Top 10 of 2006: 7. Paul Simon – Surprise
7. Paul Simon – SurpriseI get annoyed when artists like Bob Dylan, Neil Young etc make these sorts of lists. Modern Times was good, but is it realy one of the best albums of the last 12 months? The most interesting musical work? Relevant? Will we look back at 2006 and think of Modern Times? […]
Top 10 of 2006: 8. Old Crow Medicine Show – Big Iron World
8. Old Crow Medicine Show – Big Iron World Okay, this is probably the most obscure record of the bunch, and these lists are nothing if not indie wankfests. So, some background. OCMS are five Canadian guys who supported Gillian Welch a few years back. Casey lent me a DVD of them once and I […]
Top 10 of 2006: 9. Beth Orton – The Comfort of Strangers
9. Beth Orton – The Comfort Of Strangers I figured this album would be a loyalty purchase. I loved Beth’s 1999 album, Central Reservation, with all my heart, but only liked about 2 tracks from her follow-up, Daybreaker. I didn’t really cared to see her live anymore and barely put her records on anymore. I’d […]
