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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, January 15, 2007
Jesse Steichen's Favorite Recordings Of 2006
Neumu's Michael Goldberg writes: In case you're wondering why things
slowed down to a crawl at Neumu last year, the answer, in a word (and in a web
site), is MOG (www.mog.com).
I've been spending most of my time working on MOG, the awesome music-focused
social networking site, and Neumu has suffered (if you haven't been there yet, check out my MOG: www.mog.com/Michael_Goldberg). Still, with 2006 over, I asked Neumu contributors and
friends to share some of the albums that rocked their world. Today, Neumu
contributor Jesse Steichen provides us with his faves of last year.
Current 93, Black Ships Ate the Sky (Durtro/Jnana):
More than half this album is taken up by an old Protestant hymn and versions
of the title track, but this self-limitation is just a ploy, an easy way to
lend continuity to what may be Current 93's magnum opus, a dark crawl
through all the layers of David Tibet's personal hell. Slow-paced folk
fingerpicking underneath haunted vocals, spooked-out and looped acoustic
guitar drones, Indian drone moving over Appalachian back-of-the-woods, and
repeating feedback assaults ebb and flow, dragging the past 15 years with
them, putting it all in place.
Swan Lake, Beast Moans (Jagjaguwar): Three of Canada's best songwriters vying for space, trying to outdo one
another and playing by undisclosed rules. It's all held together by a
violent haze of a production, where nothing is allowed to stick out for more
than a moment or two and everything shimmers with inspiration. You get the
feeling that they could do this in their sleep, and maybe that's where this
comes from.
Coil, The Ape of Naples (Threshold House):
The last Coil album, and one of their most concentrated attempts of the last
10 years. Chaos lurks underneath the surface of this album, which is full of
beautiful dread. Undeniably industrial influence is subjected to folk,
cabaret and sitcom (?!) forms, while John Balance feels prophetic,
especially in the opening: "Does death come alone, or with eager
reinforcements?"
The Residents, Tweedles (Mute U.S), The River of Crime (Cordless Recordings):
The Residents released a musical triumph and a conceptual triumph this year.
Too bad they didn't do both on the same album, but that's just life
sometimes. Tweedles sounds fantastic, running the gamut from creeped-out piano balladry to full-on guitars as sexual frustration. But the concept
behind it (a vampire that sucks emotions?) is weak, and nothing more than an
excuse to record in mother-fuckin' Transylvania. The River of Crime is
better, being a five-part, 70-minute serialized radio noir. The idea plays to
all of the Residents' better instincts and abilities and comes off as
humorous, creepy and surprisingly musical. When the incidental music is
called upon to reflect a Southern Baptist church, the scene comes alive in
your head, and the gospel of the Residents is powerfully clear.
Liars, Drum's Not Dead (Mute U.S.):
Liars continue down the path of total drum domination, moving past the
rhythm-as-melodic-surrogate of 2004's They Were Wrong, So We Drowned into
an
altogether more self-assured sound, almost totally dropping any hint of
disco (not that that's a great thing) and claiming a territory of their
own. Hidden deep within these monolithic caverns (cavernous monoliths?) is
a concept album about claiming that self-assurance from the clutches of
self-deception, and the ability to move ahead while standing still to admire
the view.
The InsiderOne Daily Report appears on occasion.
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