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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 19, 2005
Neal Block's Favorite Recordings of 2005
Neumu's Michael Goldberg writes: And the lists continue. Another longtime Neumu contributor with superb taste (actually, all Neumu writers have superb taste) is Neumu Contributing Editor Neal Block, who today offers up his fave albums of the year.
1. The Hold Steady, Separation Sunday (French Kiss): At the top of the heap two years in a row, Craig Finn's swaggering, staggering mix of the father, the son and the holy solo finds his characters getting religion, that religion getting mixed up, those mix-ups getting dangerous, and the plot getting way, way thicker. Boasting the best post-GBV live show around, the Hold Steady urge you to use your head, your heart, and your fists (raised, clenched, or otherwise) at all times.
2. Magnolia Electric Co., Trials and Errors (Secretly Canadian): Like you shave off your beard after a long, cold winter, Jason Molina did away with the Songs: Ohia moniker a few years back, simultaneously leaving behind the spare, minor-key song structure that dominated that band's sound. With MECo, Molina has embraced the extended jam and the promise of the epic; his bold new future is best heralded on this live record, which sees the band tapping their inner Crazy Horse, but never losing the introspection and sense of the desolate that made Songs: Ohia such a miserable joy to listen to.
3. Bruce Springsteen, Born to Run: 30th Anniversary Edition (Columbia): The record that made Bruce the Boss is given the royal treatment, but it's the songs — from the desperate growl of Springsteen's voice to the Phil Spector-worthy layers of instrumentation to the way you truly can picture Wendy's face at the end of "Born to Run" — that still make the album one of the best of this, or any, year.
4. The New Pornographers, Twin Cinema (Merge): Always good tide-me-overs until the next Destroyer album, New Pornographers records have, until now, been pretty catchy amusements; with Twin Cinema, they've somehow managed to use the same sound and same general philosophy to make something light years better — better melodies, better use of percussive keyboards, better band dynamic, better everything.
5. Silver Jews, Tanglewood Numbers (Drag City): Out of the dark and into the warm Nashville sunset comes David Berman's new musical express, a typically witty but atypically straightforward collection of songs that aren't really life-affirming per se, but somehow manage still to affirm life.
6. Okkervil River, Black Sheep Boy (Jagjaguwar): More murder balladry and vocab words from Austin's Will Sheff, this time loosely based on one of lost soul Tim Hardin's songs. Nobody does creepy like Sheff singing about killing folks and whatnot, but the album trades in excellent songwriting just as much as it does in really vivid, disturbing imagery.
7. The Evens, The Evens (Dischord): We've all seen the softer side of Ian MacKaye ("Guilty of Being White" was a real tear-jerker), but his work with Amy Farina in the Evens puts those Minor Threat waltzes and whispers to quiet shame. A soft record that still manages to be forceful.
8. John Vanderslice, Pixel Revolt (Barsuk): The V-man's softest and strongest and strangest release, equally interested in war and break-ups and analog production, but never stretching itself too thin.
9. Feist, Let It Die (Interscope): This album has more than two songs, but I can never get past "Mushaboom," the second track, easily the best single song of the year. Maybe the rest of the album is good, too, but I'll never know.
10. Neil Diamond, 12 Songs (Sony): To enjoy this semi-ridiculous album, you have to be over 50 or really, really into the myth of Neil Diamond. I am one of those.
The InsiderOne Daily Report appears on occasion.
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