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Tuesday, January 16, 2007
Jim Connelly's
Favorite Recordings Of 2006
Monday, January 15, 2007
Jesse Steichen's Favorite Recordings Of 2006
Friday, January 12, 2007
Bill Bentley's Favorite Recordings Of 2006
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
Tom Ridge's Favorite Recordings Of 2006
Thursday, January 4, 2007
Lee Templeton's Favorite Recordings Of 2006
Tuesday, January 2, 2007
Anthony Carew's 13 Fave Albums Of 2006
Monday, March 27, 2006
SXSW 2006: Finding Some Hope In Austin
Tuesday, February 28, 2006
Letter From New Orleans
Saturday, February 18, 2006
Jennifer Przybylski's Fave Albums of 2005
Tuesday, January 31, 2006
Music For Dwindling Days: Max Schaefer's Fave Recordings Of 2005
Wednesday, January 18, 2006
Sean Fennessey's 'Best-Of' 2005
Thursday, January 12, 2006
Lori Miller Barrett's Fave Albums Of 2005
Wednesday, January 11, 2006
Lee Templeton's Favorite Recordings of 2005
Thursday, January 5, 2006
Michael Lach - Old Soul Songs For A New World Order
Wednesday, January 4, 2006
Found In Translation — Emme Stone's Year In Music 2005
Tuesday, January 3, 2006
Dave Allen's 'Best-Of' 2005
Monday, January 2, 2006
Steve Gozdecki's Favorite Albums Of 2005
Tuesday, December 20, 2005
Johnny Walker Black's Top 10 Of 2005
Monday, December 19, 2005
Neal Block's Favorite Recordings Of 2005
Thursday, December 15, 2005
Jenny Tatone's Year In Review
Tuesday, December 13, 2005
Dave Renard's Fave Recordings Of 2005
Monday, December 12, 2005
Jennifer Kelly's Fave Recordings Of 2005
Thursday, December 8, 2005
Tom Ridge's Favorite Recordings Of 2005
Tuesday, December 6, 2005
Ben Gook's Beloved Albums Of 2005
Monday, December 5, 2005
Anthony Carew's Fave Albums Of 2005
Thursday, November 10, 2005
Prince, Spoon And The Magic Of The Dead Stop
Monday, September 12, 2005
The Truth About America
Monday, September 5, 2005
Tryin' To Wash Us Away
Monday, August 1, 2005
A Psyche-Folk Heat Wave In Western Massachusetts
Monday, July 18, 2005
Soggy But Happy At Glastonbury 2005
Monday, April 4, 2005
The SXSW Experience, Part 3: All Together Now
Friday, April 1, 2005
The SXSW Experience, Part 2: Dr. Dog's Happy Chords
Thursday, March 31, 2005
The SXSW Experience, Part 1: Waiting, Waiting And More Waiting
Friday, March 25, 2005
Final Day At SXSW's Charnel House
Monday, March 21, 2005
Day Three At SXSW
Saturday, March 19, 2005
Day Two In SXSW's Hall Of Mirrors
Thursday, March 17, 2005
Report #1: SXSW 2005 And Its Hall Of Mirrors
Monday, February 14, 2005
Matt Landry's Fave Recordings Of 2004
Wednesday, February 2, 2005
David Howie's 'Moments' From The Year 2004
Thursday, January 27, 2005
Lori Miller Barrett's Fave Recordings Of 2004
Thursday, January 20, 2005
Noah Bonaparte's Fave Recordings Of 2004
Tuesday, January 18, 2005
Kevin John's Fave Albums Of 2004
Friday, January 14, 2005
Music For Those Nights: Max Schaefer's Fave Recordings Of 2004
Thursday, January 13, 2005
Dave Renard's Fave Recordings Of 2004
Wednesday, January 12, 2005
Neal Block's Top Ten Of 2004
Tuesday, January 11, 2005
Jenny Tatone's Fave Albums Of 2004
Monday, January 10, 2005
Wayne Robins' Top Ten Of 2004
Friday, January 7, 2005
Brian Orloff's Fave Albums Of 2004
Thursday, January 6, 2005
Johnny Walker (Black)'s Top 10 Of 2004
Wednesday, January 5, 2005
Jennifer Przybylski's Fave Albums (And Book) Of 2004
Tuesday, January 4, 2005
Mark Mordue's Fave Albums Of 2004
Monday, January 3, 2005
Lee Templeton's Fave Recordings Of 2004
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Monday, December 12, 2005
Jennifer Kelly's Fave Recordings Of 2005
Neumu's Michael Goldberg writes: Neumu Senior Editor Jennifer Kelly is
one of Neumu's most prolific writers. Over the past year she has not only provided
many excellent reviews, but profiled many interesting bands and solo artists.
She seems to hear just about everything worth hearing. Today we feature her best-of-2005
list. Cool stuff.
1. Oneida, The Wedding (Jagjaguwar): Utterly different from
last year's Secret Wars, Oneida's seventh full-length puts fragile,
the Left Banke-inspired chamber pop ("Charlemagne") alongside weirdly
beautiful staccato string songs ("Run Through My Hair") and metal-head
onslaughts ("Did I Die"). Album-making cuts like "Spirits" and "Lavender"
somehow bring all the elements together in triumphant, mind-blowing psyche,
a hurricane's roar with unexpectedly gorgeous calm at its center. No one
else is taking chances like this, and no one else is making music as
unpredictably wonderful.
2. Akron/Family/Angels of Light Split (Young God): A
quasi-live album, recorded to document the unusual partnership between
Brooklyn's art/prog/folk collective and Michael Gira's ever-evolving solo
project, ups the stakes for both artists. It bumped Akron/Family's
excellent self-titled debut off this list based on "Raising the Sparks"
alone, its cathartic multi-voiced chorus representing as pure a joy as can
be had on record, though nearly every song is a highlight. Gira's five
songs are less ornate, stripped to essence really, but allowing dark-toned
flourishes like the feedback squalls of "The Provider" or the buoyant
harmonies of "One for Hope."
3. Animal Collective, Feels (Fat Cat): All four members of
this far-flung quartet joined together for this follow-up to the acclaimed
Sung Tongs, and the result is a denser, more rhythmic and
celebratory album that flirts with pop, but slips the leash for pure
shimmering mood ("Banshee Beat," "Loch Raven") and occasional bouts of
happy anarchy ("The Purple Bottle"). The sensations come thick and fast in
this super-saturated album, like colors painted so brightly that they
vibrate at the edges.
4. The Hold Steady, Separation Sunday (French Kiss): Craig
Finn's parallel universe continues to expand, as his second album follows
the Charlemagne character first introduced on Almost Killed Me,
along with an equally vivid Hallelujah, through a blighted landscape of
hoodrat girls, parties that get druggy, and unlikely redemption. Finn
quotes from the Bible, pop culture, literature and himself ("Hard drugs are
for bartenders... I think I might have mentioned that before"), while
bandmates led by Tad Kubler rifle through the classic-rock riff book,
stealing licks and communal memories from 1970s FM radio. It jells together
in a poetic tale of dangerous characters and dubious alliances, and an art
that is larger than the sum of its components.
5. The National, Alligator (Beggars Banquet): The sleeper
album of the year, Alligator gets its hooks into you slowly, listen
after listen. Matt Berninger sounds nonchalant as he tosses off lines like
"I had a secret meeting in the basement of my brain" and "Out among the
missing sons and daughters of the Soho riots" in his deep confidential
voice, but he must know how these phrases and melodies will burn themselves
into your brain. Slow songs like "The Geese of Beverly Road" have the slow
shimmer of poetry, embellished by sparse but lovely string and woodwind
arrangements, while book-learned rockers like "Lit Up," "Mr. November" and
"Abel" offer plenty for body and brain.
6. Spoon, Gimme Fiction (Merge): This is masterful pop, pared
to its core and laced with tension-filled silences. Daniel's voice has
never been smoother, more soul-inflected, nor his songs more elusive and
hard to pin down. There's more going on in the interstices of "My
Mathematical Mind," than most bands could fit into whole records, and still
a feeling of less is more. And for those who like their musical pleasures
uncomplicated, "Sister Jack" is the ultimate feel-good indie-rock anthem.
7. Mahjongg, Raydoncong (Cold Crush) : Live, Mahjongg's "Hot
Lava" is a funk-stomping highlight, with its hot-wired guitars, unstoppable
beat and Karyl Czientzar up front, hands in the air, hair everywhere,
rocking out the chorus. Raydoncong, a big step up from last year's
promising Machinegong EP, comes very close to the live show's
volcanic energy, while cleaner recording allows the band's
multi-rhythmic, electronically-powered experimental side to shine.
8. Devin Davis, Lonely People of the World Unite! (Mousse):
The astounding self-recorded debut of a major songwriting talent. Davis
recorded this album at night in the Chicago studio where he worked, playing
all the instruments. He edited his songs ruthlessly, cutting out the fat
until songs like the Who-esque "Giant Spiders," the sardonically folk
"Cannons in the Courthouse," and the beautiful "Sandie" are nearly perfect
avatars of two- and three-minute pop.
9. The Heartless Bastards, Stairs and Elevators (Fat Possum): Erika Wennerstrom has a voice that comes along once in a generation,
a big, heartfelt, blues-worthy, hard-rocking voice that might remind you of
Janis Joplin or Grace Slick. She and her band put out one of this year's
best straight-up rock records in Stairs and Elevators — and
contributed a killer track to the Junior Kimbrough tribute.
10. French Toast, In a Cave (Dischord) : This duo, comprising
DC mainstays James Canty and Jerry Busher, made one of this year's
creepiest and most foreboding post-rock albums, with sharp angular edges
and eeriely floating vocals. In a Cave has the hard-edged drumming
you might expect from guys who have done time in Fugazi, the Make-Up and
Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, along with a sense of space and
mystery. Killer cuts include the hard-rocking "Lion's Den" and the slow,
trippy menace of "Seen Me."
Twelve more really excellent albums:
Mazarin, We're Already There (I & Ear)
The Dirtbombs, If You Don't Already Have a Look (In the Red)
Nick Castro & the Poison Tree, Further From Grace (Strange Attractors)
The Deadly Snakes, Porcella (In the Red)
Constantines, Tournament of Hearts (Sub Pop)
Skeleton & the Girl Faced Boys, Git (Shinkoyo)
Vashti Bunyan, Lookaftering (DiCristina)
Paula Frazer, Leave the Sad Things Behind (Birdman)
Jana Hunter, Blank Unstaring Heirs of Doom (Gnomonsong)
Calla, Collisions (Beggars Banquet)
Chris Brokaw, Incredible Love (12XU)
Alec K. Redfearn & the Eyesores, The Quiet Room (Cuneiform)
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