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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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Wednesday, January 18, 2006
Sean Fennessey's 'Best-Of' 2005
Neumu's Michael Goldberg writes: Well, our series of "Best-of" lists is coming to an end. Just a couple more after this one, which is by Neumu contributor Sean Fennessey, who is now music editor at Stuff magazine.
1. Kanye West, Late Registration (Rocafella):
I'd prefer it if less was said about this album rather than more, which sounds like cold comfort. But, as an unabashed fan and chronicler, it's been fun to watch West rise above the crowd and deliver the best rap album of the year. Again. Flexing ingenuity with a smirk and expanding his vision thanks to help from co-producer Jon Brion, West's relentless derring-do and tightrope walk with pop, rhythm-and-blues, electro and symphonic grandiosity profoundly congeal. Plus, he's a far better rapper than he's given credit for.
2. Clipse, We Got It 4 Cheap Volume 2 (none):
Perhaps diametrically opposed to West in terms of sensitivity, but not in intensity. Never that. Virginia's major-label castoffs, in search of a record deal that allows them the room to grow while still selling records, punished audiences with what is easily the finest mixtape of the year. Clever, vicious, and ever expanding the swirl of the drug-dealer metaphor.
3. M.I.A., Arular (XL):
I was just telling someone (an admitted hater) about my thoughts on this album.
They do not reflect Sri Lankan politics or art-school swag contests. Tamil Tigers
might as well be Cowardly Lions to me. But there's an animosity and power to
the beats and a glee in M.I.A.'s voice that is better felt than read about, despite
all the damn print spent on her. An obvious of-the-moment record, and a damn
good one.
4. Sufjan Stevens, Illinois (Asthmatic Kitty):
Another titanic hype-swell. Justified in its ideas, bloated in its execution, but actually poignant in places, in a time when nothing ever feels poignant in music. No snarling, no irony, probably too much historicism. But a beautiful, measured work by a sincere songwriter.
5. Beanie Sigel, The B. Coming (Rocafella):
The saddest, most sweeping album of the year, recorded by a man generally considered a grimacing pit bull, on the eve of a yearlong prison term. It took that kind of desperation to get Sigel to deliver this kind of desperation.
6. Fiona Apple, Extraordinary Machine (Jon Brion Version):
Still wonderfully husky and sharp with words, but she really should have let Brion ride shotgun. Their relationship, musically, still has legs. Even if it can get long-winded. Drum machines are for hacks anywho.
7. Various Artists, Run the Road (679):
Grime, bah. This is all that'll be left behind. It could do worse.
8. Maximo Park, A Certain Trigger (Warp):
The best rock record of the year, truly, from a band that couldn't avoid the Gang of Four comparisons, but found a way to subvert them by writing devastating love songs. Lead singer Paul Smith's wicked, ritualistic contortionism might get him hurt some day. Not now though.
9. Young Jeezy, Let's Get It: Thug Motivation 101 (Def Jam):
A natural star whose ad-libs and iconography may have more to do with his success than anything else. Not a superb songwriter or lyricist, but a presence, completely aware of what he should and shouldn't say. "I'm emotional, I hug the block." Hardy-har.
10. Juelz Santana, Back Like Cooked Cracked Volume 2 (dipsetmixtapes.com):
The most fun I've had all year. Usually mindless, occasionally mindful of his predecessors and their graces, Juelz is a joke-cum-genius. Another mixtape, too, which speaks to the freedom and verve on these illegal entities, but also to the quality of albums released this year.
The InsiderOne Daily Report appears on occasion.
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