Welcome

It’s December 2006, folks.

Another twelve months of music. And we are back here again: the annual list, studiously compiled, of my favourite twenty albums of the year. First, I should apologise for not changing the format of this page that much from last year – same dull background, same font etc etc (a few quick changes of colour fools nobody...). I’m afraid that this is just due to the fact that I have been quite busy of late, and it saves soooo much time in doing this if you just cut and paste everything from last time. Tough luck, folks, I might try to put more effort in next year…

In a similar vein, I’m not going to go through all of the rules and stuff in the detail I did last year – it’s silly for me to write it out again or even cut and paste it: if you want to see that stuff, just go here, and read it from the 2005 version. The basic point is that what follows is a list of my top twenty full length studio albums released during 2006, in ascending order. The side bar will let you navigate specific choices. There are some other bits at the end of the main list, like near misses, turkeys and ineligible albums (this year all of these are ineligible simply by virtue of being released before 2006; I just bought them in 2006 and wanted to highlight them). There is also a short round up at the end. Dip in to as little or as much as you wish. I didn’t get around to doing top films or gigs this year, sorry (though virtually all the gigs I have been to this year, I’ve reviewed on my main page, and film of the year was easily Superman Returns).

One final thing I want to say before we start: 2006 has been an awesome year for albums, in my view. I had far more trouble than usual preparing this list, and there have been far more genuine contenders. As you read through, you’ll find time and again that I’ll be saying, ‘this should really be higher, it’s amazing, but the standard is so high’. Indeed, when I think of some of the great albums that didn’t even make my ‘near misses’ list, it makes me wonder.

Right, let’s get on with it, shall we…

20.

Be Your Own Pet
Be Your Own Pet

A short sharp start, this. Be Your Own Pet kick a serious amount of bottom. The album crashes along without them really stopping for breath. Great female-voiced pop punk (with perhaps more emphasis on the ‘punk’ than many comparable bands). Lots of attitude, nothing to change anyone’s world, admittedly, but good fun from start to finish with no dud tracks. My personal favourite is the slight shift in gear of ‘October, First Account’ with its chorus’ off-kilter guitar sound. It was an odd choice, I feel, to leave their best track off the album (the awesome ‘Fire Department’, which made me buy the album in the first place). One can only wonder why on earth that gem didn’t make the record. Be Your Own Pet has endured all year (being one of my first 2006 purchases), and it creeps in at the bottom of the list based upon sheer feelgood factor, although when I want something with some substance, I’ll look elsewhere.

19.

Incubus
Light Grenades

A real late runner, I have only had this for about three weeks, and it has made a big impression. Light Grenades represents album two of the ‘new sound of Incubus’ project, and it is as successful, I would say, as its predecessor, A Crow Left of the Murder. This is not the incendiary band of the late 90s who took funk and metal and used crazed guitar noises and helped shaped my musical landscape so massively. They are older, calmer, and, it must be said, less willing to take risks. Incubus have grown up. Of course, I have grown up too (if S.C.I.E.N.C.E was released today would I fall in love with it as I once did?). Reflective and beautiful, and at times really quite poignant, when Incubus turn on their new ‘sun-kissed’ pop rock seeped in lazy guitar effects, it works wonders (see ‘Love Hurts’ or ‘Paper Shoes’). Indeed, it is when they do attempt to reproduce something akin to their old sound it all goes a little bit wrong (single ‘Anna Molly’ and ‘Light Grenades’ itself are both fine, I guess, but they did it better in ’97…). A quality album, though not the classic that the superbly atmospheric opener ‘Quicksand’ suggested it might be, and not a patch on any of their first three releases. But then, I think this album is generally different enough that it should be judged on other criteria altogether…

18.

Broken Social Scene

Broken Social Scene

A great record, this was the first clear number one of the year (was number one until sometime in February). Broken Social Scene is made up, in part, of members of Canadian post-rock masters Do Make Say Think. Whilst they sound absolutely nothing like that band (and are, to be frank, not as good), the Canadian influence is clearly present. There are elements of Arcade Fire or Bright Eyes here, although Broken Social Scene are their own band. At times this record is grandiose and sweeping, at others, it is understated and simple. Similarly, they range from loveliness to discord. This is their major label debut (a fact they both celebrate and self-lambaste in ‘Major Label Debut’), though it is far from commercial or compromised. An album that takes a while to fall in love with, admittedly, but one that will last longer than most.

17.

Ben Kweller
Ben Kweller

This is the first time I’m going to say this, but, I’m sure, not the last – the fact that an album of this quality is so low in the list says volumes about the overall standard of the albums released in 2006. I cannot think of a post-millennial year that has produced so many great albums. This is Ben Kweller’s best release, and by some distance. It makes up for the great disappointment of its predecessor, On My Way, which was nearly poor enough to make me ignore this, his third solo album. Thankfully, I got it anyway, and was rewarded with eleven sweet pop gems, all coated in sugar and masterful songwriting. ‘Back to basics’ would be a fair description, I think. Every track is easy to love, and you somehow get the feeling that this is because it has been loved so much in the composition. Kweller played every sound on this disc, and as such, it must be seen as a work of real skill. At times, uplifting, as with the wonderful ‘Penny on the Train Tracks’, whilst at others, beautifully melancholic (see my personal highlight, ‘Until I Die’). A career best, I think. If he tops it next time out, he’ll have made the big league.

16.

Gomez
How We Operate

Amazingly, after so many years, I think this may be Gomez’s best ever release (though, admittedly, I don’t own them all…). How We Operate opens with a brilliant acoustic guitar motif (‘Notice’), which evokes some of their earlier work. ‘See the World’ then takes on a Dylan-esque folky journey (complete with Vedder-like vocals), but it is the third track that really changes things: the title track pulls the rug out from under us totally by offering up a spooky banjo intro (yes, that’s what I said, spooky banjo), and then explodes into a soaring chorus which somehow incorporates a wholly inappropriate guitar overlay seamlessly. Over the course of the album Gomez move from style to style with ease (‘Girlshapedlovedrug’ is purest pop, my favourite ‘Woman! Man!’ is cheesy Americana, complete with unashamed ‘sha-la-las’, and then the closing two tracks offer a much more ‘grown-up’ reflective sound). All in all, too eclectic to be a true classic, but a superb album from a band that long since indicated that they were past it.

15.

Rocco Deluca and The Burden
I Trust You to Kill Me

I got into Rocco and Co. through a documentary about how they were the first band signed to Kiefer Sutherland’s private label. Of course, any band endorsed by Jack Bauer must be amazing. Anyway, Rocco Deluca offers, I suppose, something in the Jeff Buckley mould (though obviously not quite that good): a straight (as in uncomplicated, not heterosexual) impassioned singer/songwriter. He is a superb guitar player and has a great voice. The songs are strong, simple, and based on a classic template of verse chorus verse. Rocco will not change your world (this has all been done before, by many others) but he does do it all so damn well. His particular penchant is slide bar work, at which he is an utter master (surpassing even Michael McCarrick). My biggest criticism is that, as with Be Your Own Pet, the band’s best track by some distance doesn’t appear on the album. This fact is even more anomalous here, though, as it is the album’s title track ‘I Trust You to Kill Me’ that is notably absent – so far as I can tell, this can only be found on ITunes. Download either version (acoustic or live electric) for a great taster. Why did they leave it off? Utter madness. As for the album, the rockier tracks sit nicely with the slower acoustic numbers, and the wholly thing swaggers with style, confidence and skill. Rocco’s bassist (whoever he is!) was a super choice too, but Rocco is rightly seen as the star. His solo show, which I saw a couple of days ago, was astounding, and demonstrated nicely his pure natural talent.

14.

Therapy?
One Cure Fits All

This placing is a bit low for the mighty Therapy? Two reasons: firstly, this year the albums are so good, blah blah. The second: this is the worst Therapy? release for five years or more. There are snapshots of utter genius, placed here and there just to, I suppose, remind us (or, at least me; does anyone else still pay any attention to them?) that Therapy? have been the most consistently good rock band of the last 15 years. Opener ‘Sprung’ is classic Therapy? and paves the way for an album to rival their numerous classics. Sadly, One Cure Fits All never quite meets its targets. 2004’s Never Apologise, Never Explain, for example, spat fire. This album is cut from the same musical cloth, but it simply doesn’t share that fervour. It has plenty of good songs, and still (again, in a top year) achieves a respectable position in the top 15 on pure merit. But, a year ago, I would have expected this album to make top 5 as a minimum, so it has to be classed as a disappointment. Single ‘Rain Hits Concrete’ is bloody brilliant, but I have a feeling that in a few years time, it will be the only track from here that anyone would remember, and the only one Therapy? would even consider playing live. Plus, ‘Heartbreak Hits’ is the most rubbish Therapy? tune since 1988. Utterly brilliant, of course (it is a Therapy? album, after all), but they can do so much better.

13.

The Fratellis
Costello Music

The only album on the list that I didn’t buy; I copied Costello Music from my flatmate, not really knowing what it was, other than hyped. It turned out to be a superb feelgood indie rock album, which never fails to get me bouncing. Of course everyone knows ‘Chelsea Dagger’, which is a super tune, but it is the masterful ‘Flathead’ that is the best track here, and a clear runner for track of the year. This is the kind of album that makes you want to sing along and move. I like every single track, and have listened to it loads, though I am not sure of the kind of longevity this album will be able to command. Still, it has made me burst into spontaneous song to embarrassing effect on more than one occasion (whilst well away from speakers or headphones), something which must be seen as a solid endorsement. ‘Vince was a loner, a lovable stoner, ah-haaah…’ An album to make a person smile.

12.

Secret Machines
Ten Silver Drops

Ten Silver Drops essentially takes the floaty progressive ‘indie-grunge’ (using grunge in it most loose sense) of Secret Machines’ (still rather excellent) debut Now Here is Nowhere and streamlines it. Gone are the wasteful expanses that flawed its predecessor. This is now a band with direction and poise. Nonetheless, Secret Machines could still be described as somewhat progressive. Certainly, one of the great joys of Ten Silver Drops is that it explores areas that many comparable bands wouldn’t even consider. However, there is a focus on the tune, and the development of songwriting skills in the band is stark. Plus (and Mars Volta would do well to consider this) there is a realisation that progressive music cannot be forced. Thus, when simple rock is what is required, Secret Machines show that they can deliver with aplomb (see the hit single in waiting, ‘Lightening Blue Eyes’). Equally, the band easily turn their hand to orchestral dalliances that sound wholly natural (see opener, ‘Alone, Jealous and Stoned’). ‘I Hate Pretending’ marries these elements, and as such is the starting point for the uninitiated. A real coming of age – one wonders whether they take the final step and become immortal.

11.

Dirty Pretty Things
Waterloo to Anywhere

Finally! Carl Barât got off his moping arse and reminded us what all the fuss was about before the circus started. Waterloo to Anywhere, much like last year’s Babyshambles debut, is, quite simply, another Libertines album. As such, there is little to distinguish Dirty Pretty Things from Babyshambles in terms of style. However, in terms of quality, Barât has left his drugged-up former cohort for dead. This is not simply a Libertines album, it is easily the best Libertines album since that band’s genre altering debut, Up the Bracket. Barât has, somehow, emerged intact from the aftermath of The Libertines, and has produced one of the best indie rock albums of the year. The songwriting is exceptional, the swagger is back, and the whole thing is so easy for him. This is what I fell in love with, way back when. ‘Bang Bang, You’re Dead’ provides a quality sing-a-long amongst many, ‘Gin & Milk’ kicks ass by way of a funky bass riff and ‘Last of the Small Town Playboys’ plays with my expectations every time I hear it (in addition to these highlights, a mention should go to the minute and a bit of unadulterated punk that is ‘You Fucking Love It’). Blindin’.

10.

Muse
Black Holes and Revelations

Into the top 10, and we find ourselves reverting once again to the mantra of, ‘so many good albums’. This is, for me, the second best Muse album (far superior to their massive selling Absolution, but not as good as their masterpiece, Origin of Symmetry). I adore Muse, and, as such, think that the fact that their second best record barely makes the top 10 speaks volumes. Muse have all the elements of a great band, and seamlessly join mass appeal with genuine artistic merit (seriously, how many bands can you say that of?). Black Holes and Revelations is filled with vast ideas and sweeping melodies. Muse are visionary, no question. ‘Map of the Problematique’ always gets the nape of my neck tingling. ‘Assassin’ goes for the jugular (albeit in an odd manner), and ‘Knights of Cydonia’ shows that Enrico Morricone, stoner-rock-riffage, ELO and a retention of credibility are not only all simultaneously possible, they are a wonderful combination. To top it off, of course, ‘Supermassive Black Hole’ is probably the single best track of the year (being as it is like Prince, but, er, somehow, Muse). And yet... ‘Starlight’ and ‘Invincible’, whilst good, are both too cheesy for my tastes, and seem to me lazy on an album full of so much invention. These tracks alone have dropped this album a number of places. In any event, the best mainstream band of our time march on.

09.

The Killers
Sam’s Town

I loved The Killers’ debut, Hot Fuss, far more than I was expecting to. They are (and remain, essentially) a pop-indie band of a type I can happily enjoy, but never get too excited about. In spite of the quality of Hot Fuss, I wasn’t really expecting that much from its follow up. More of the same but slightly poorer, was my expectation. I was so wrong. Sam’s Town takes the blueprint of Hot Fuss and shifts it to another level entirely. Every track demonstrates a complete understanding of how to make a pop song appealing, whilst retaining substance and, importantly, passion. ‘When You Were Young’ blew me away the first time I heard it, and it remains fantastic, but there are other - more valuable - treasures here. ‘Uncle Jonny’ has a great guitar riff, and ‘Bling (Confessions of a King)’ sounds like it is ready made for their live shows. However, the masterful ‘Bones’ is the best track on the album, and is everything one could want in a single (what a video!!!). I sing it to myself all the time. It owns my head. The haunting ‘enterlude/exitlude’ round off a borderline pop-rock classic.

08.

Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly
The Chronicles of a Bohemian Teenager

This really is a masterful album. The band is actually one guy, Sam Duckworth. He plays (‘creates’) everything on the album. Whilst Sam comes from Stoke, his sound has much in common with current trends in music in the mid-west of America and Canada (you know: Arcade Fire, Bright Eyes, The Hotel Alexis, Sufjan Stevens, Broken Social Scene, etc etc). There is a mixture of folk, laptop effects, and piano led pop. Every track brims with ideas and passion. Sam’s lyrics are brilliantly polemic and directed, but never preachy or excessively overt. The music does the talking, but the messages are there if you want to find them, and they are all positive. It sickens me that this man is still only 20. Highlights are the track ‘Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly’ (a very soft attack on globalisation) and the superb ‘Call Me Ishmael’, but, in reality, that amounts to picking gold out from a bag of gold. Wonderful, and, again, would be a top three contender most years.

07.

Wolfmother
Wolfmother

Damn this rocks. Goddamn. Wolfmother focus that primal energy and make good old fashioned rock ‘n’ roll. This is an album that feeds on the classics without shame, and yet, sounds crisp and fresh today. One can hear Zeppelin, or Sabbath or Purple, or any number of those kinds of bands. Yet, you can also hear the White Stripes, or Franz Ferdinand. A rock album of the highest order, Wolfmother has stayed with me all year (though at one point it was easily my number one). Hammond organs are cool again, it’s official. I adore every track, and feel this album links my music of today to the music that informed my entire taste. A bridge to the old world, as it were. Exceptional musicianship is here in abundance, and is highly important, but there is something else at work too. Wolfmother simply know how to rock. They don’t care if you think their hair is silly (or that their faux-fantasy album cover is a step too far), they are too busy rocking.

06.

Arctic Monkeys
Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not

Every year I have a cut off point in writing the list. There are the albums that define the year, and then there are ‘the rest’. The elite 2006 definitional club takes the form of a top six. The first member might come as a shock to some of you, I don’t know. For me, this album has been the ‘grower’ par excellence. I was dubious of the hype, of course. I eventually got a copy foisted upon me by a mate. I played it a bit, and then softened my view. It was ok. Overrated by far, but ok. That was April. I’ve not stopped playing it since. I have to now admit that the Monkeys have made a classic (like every band in the top six this year). The hype is wholly justified. I eventually bought it because I had to have a CD copy. The detail and realism and wit of the lyrics, the simple hooks of the riffs, the rousing nature of the choruses all chipped away at my mind, and, despite not really liking it at first, I kept coming back for more. Far better than Oasis ever managed. Far better. The fact that I fell in love with an album I had decided to hate on principle long before I got it attests to its quality. It really does do what it says on the tin. It’s been often argued that the manner of their rise has changed the way music will be distributed. Hardly. And, so far as that is true, it was going that way anyway.

They make great music. Everything else is irrelevant.

05.

Amplifier
Insider

The second album from Amplifier was inevitably a disappointment after their flawless debut. It is still a truly exceptional album, though, and should really be judged on its own merits. Instrumental opener ‘Gustav’s Arrival’ is a superb statement of intent, striking the perfect amplifierian balance between power and intricacy. Damn, they rule. The second track, ‘O Fortuna’ is perhaps my favourite, and would sit easily amongst the greats from the debut. Yet, it also is the first sign of a shift by the band. There is a change in approach here, with a slightly heavier sound being employed, and the overlay of a number of guitars on the verses being used to ‘bump up’ the sound. Such little changes (the vocal approach of the chorus to ‘Insider’ for example) show an ability to develop which is really reassuring (especially following last year’s somewhat dodgy ep). ‘Hymn of Atem’ is a slow-build progressive masterclass, whilst the grungy stomp of ‘Procedures’ charts new punky ground for the band.

Insider is (as would be expected) brilliantly inventive, highly accomplished and rocks bloody hard. Amplifier can make eight or nine minutes fly by without you even noticing how long their tracks are, and not once in all of the long progressive songs that make up Insider do they repeat themselves or sound stale. Having said all of this, like living in the shadow of a highly successful older sibling, it is an album that will never be good enough. It is still a classic album in its own right, though. They continue to be very special indeed.

04.

Tool
10,000 Days

At times, this album is untouchable. If it was all of the same high quality as tracks such as ‘Vicarious’ or ‘The Pot’ this would be one of the best albums ever made. As it is, it is merely exceptional. One could make a good case for it being the best of Tool’s albums. It is certainly the most ambitious, and for a band like Tool, that is saying a lot. I suppose this counts as the first metal album to make it on to this list, but Tool move so far beyond the constraints of the traditional metal framework that I’m not sure if that term ‘metal’ actually applies to them. They have always been uncompromising. No publicity (or as little as they can manage). The music is all that matters. But, then, their music is uncompromising too. If they want to do something they will, and to hell with whether people like it. This holistic creative freedom approach has led to, in my view, this band being responsible for two of the best (if not the two best) metal albums ever.

With 10,000 Days, Tool have moved still further from the mainstream, and, I would say, the album represents their least accessible work. The plus side to this is the fact that you could listen to this album a hundred times, and hear something different every time. There is so much going on, so many routes to choose. It is a gold mine, or, as with so much progressive music, a journey. The trouble is that people get lost on journeys sometimes. There are parts of 10,000 Days that I still don’t fully understand (I’m not sure if I like or dislike them: I simply have not comprehended them). When this album is good it is better than anything else going. But the freedom that makes that possible comes at a price, and that price is, it would seem, quality control. This album has the potential for me to return to it in ten years and realise that it was the best album ever made. At the moment, though, I see it as a flawed masterpiece.

03.

The Blood Arm
Lie Lover Lie

What a revelation. I only bought this album in mid-November, not really knowing what it was. I was going to visit a friend, and she wanted us to go and see them live, so I thought I’d check them out beforehand (first via MySpace, and then soon after via HMV). I think, barring a few exceptions, I have listened to it more than once a day, every single day, since. Knocking both Tool and Amplifier down a place in less than a month is an astounding feat, but, if anything, this album is still growing in my estimation.

The Blood Arm are perhaps the most inappropriately named band I can think of. They sound like they should be some kind of death metal band, or failing that, an emo band with a fondness for self-mutilation. As it is, the Californian quartet are actually joyously uplifting indie pop. There are elements of bands like Franz Ferdinand or the Kaiser Chiefs in here, but there are also elements of something comparable to the Scissor Sisters (minus that band’s annoying aspects). Lie Lover Lie is a flawless example of how to make a pop album: simple and catchy but different to the usual. There is lots of emphasis on the keyboards here, which is one thing that separates The Blood Arm’s sound from that of their indie contemporaries. More notably, though, there is none of the pretension of bands like Franz, who, whilst great, clearly see themselves as pioneers (a ridiculous idea).

The Blood Arm know what they are and what they do, and they revel in it. Sing, dance, stomp and be happy! I could start listing the great tracks, but that would actually be all of them, so I won’t bother. This is a band that has the capacity to be more popular than air. Here’s hoping: they deserve it. Maybe a change of name, though….? It should help their cause that their camp simian-like singer has buckets of charm, and that their keyboardist is sex on legs (man, she is hot), but the songs should be enough on their own for world domination. I simply can’t think of an album of this kind that is this good.

‘I like all the girls, and all the girls like me!’

02.

Mastodon
Blood Mountain

Only the second metal album I bought that came out this year, Blood Mountain is also the second metal album in my top four. Mastodon are more recognisably ‘metal’ at first glance than Tool, but, like Tool, they take the genre so far beyond its boundaries and in so many directions that I wonder if they should better be classed as something more neutral, like ‘guitar-based heavy music’. Yet, unlike Tool, Mastodon never even come close to disappearing into a world of their own creation (or, in the case of Mars Volta, up their own arses). This is progressive metal of the most exciting and dramatic kind. After 2004’s exceptional Leviathan, I was unsure how they could improve. They have certainly done that.

Every track is full of brilliant ideas, and the album is, like Leviathan, a twisting beast, a journey that must be digested as a whole (piecemeal, admittedly, Mastodon are far less impressive). What is important is that they have changed – thus, there is a mixture of traditional shouty vocals, as on Leviathan, but this is coupled with singing (Brent Hinds has a great voice, which complements Troy Sanders’ howl brilliantly). They have gone for more guitar harmonies, and more complex solos, but shorter songs overall, something which gives the album a leaner, meaner quality than its predecessor. ‘Crystal Skull’ is based around an infectious looping guitar track, whereas ‘Sleeping Giant’ is a chunky rumbling song (a sleeping giant indeed): the metal grind is laced with acoustic guitar and haunting pinched guitar – and, as such, the song takes on a whole new, textured dimension. ‘Colony of Birchmen’ sounds like a more metal Queens of the Stone Age (but then, Josh Homme is on the track, so I guess that’s not surprising), and my personal favourite ‘Circle of Cysquatch’ shows how riffing should be done in a way that Metallica once managed, circa Master of Puppets.

It is not all plain sailing: one has to take the album title, the awful goat/wolf-man artwork and the idiot lyrics with a pinch of salt, or, perhaps, ignore them entirely. Such cliché metal features do little to separate a band whose music has elevated them way beyond the generic grime of the metal scene and into a completely different orbit. Still, these elements in themselves can be entertaining, and I don’t for a second think Mastodon take their lyrics or whatever too seriously (surely they can’t: eg, ‘changeless moonshines circle Cyclops image, a race of one-eyed beings all feared and shunned.’ I mean, what the fuck?).

A brilliant, brilliant album nonetheless. Coupled with Leviathan, I think Blood Mountain finally means that the mantle of best metal band on the planet has been passed (or rather taken) from Tool. Mastodon are the new kings of heavy music.

01.

Pure Reason Revolution
The Dark Third

And so, we close with a masterpiece…

I had not even heard of Pure Reason Revolution a year ago, but this album has been present for most of 2006, and has grown into my favourite album released since Amplifier’s debut. Pure Reason Revolution make prog-rock. Not in the dirty meaning of that term, born out in the realms of avant garde 70s self-indulgence.

Prog is not a four letter word.

Instead, this is the construction of wonderful soundscapes, which ebb and flow and twist and change. This is an astonishingly complex and accomplished debut, from a band willing to turn its hand to any sound. It is at times ethereal in its outlook, whilst at other times a more rocky slant takes over (often there are great shifts of this kind numerous times in the same track). Yet Pure Reason Revolution never stray too far away from the importance of the tune, nor the importance of their audience. So much progressive rock comes from bands that make music purely for themselves, and to hell with the world (however good it is, this year’s Tool album is a prime example). Not so Pure Reason Revolution. They make music to be loved. There are hooks to bring you in on first listen present in virtually every track, yet there are so many levels of sound here that there is always something else to explore.

It helps that they have a number of people who can truly sing. At first Chloe Apler’s voice is the most appealing, but in actuality, Jon Courtney’s understated voice complements Apler’s style perfectly, and is, in its way, even more impressive. The layered vocals, and the use of the voice as an instrument (not just to overlay a song with words) generally, is one of the most important aspects of Pure Reason Revolution’s sound. No less important, though, is the synth and sampler effects that lace everything with a dreamlike quality, or their penchant for occasionally belting out a thunderous riff apparently from nowhere. There is also an impressive understanding of how to use space in music: so, while at times there is an awful lot going on, at others, you are given time to breathe and digest, just in time for it to built up on you again (a really sophisticated example of the traditional ‘quiet/loud/quiet/loud’ dynamic). Perhaps the best example of just what Pure Reason Revolution can do is ‘The Bright Ambassadors of Morning’. This 12 minute beast redefines itself so many times, and crams so much in, that I am often struck by the thought that it might be a bit short. Every track here is wonderful, though. Indeed, every single note is.

To attempt to define Pure Reason Revolution is in itself somewhat disrespectful. They don’t really sound that much like any other band I can think of. They certainly have a firm grasp of the (good side of) 70s prog, but equally, this is an album that feels modern and vital and now. Also, in amongst all of the progression and layering, there is an unashamed pop underbelly, which makes the whole thing work. There is a recognition that you need a hook on which to hang all this finery, as it were. Their website offers the suggestion that they produce ‘Beach Boys harmonies laced with speed-metal slam downs, pure pop melodies and spaced rock explorations.’ Or, more ambiguously, but no less intriguingly, it describes them as ‘astral folk’. In fact, I think these descriptions are as useless as they are entertaining. Pure Reason Revolution is a band that can’t really be described.

Utterly astounding, this album should ultimately be viewed in retrospect as our generation’s equivalent to something like Wish You Were Here. Here’s hoping they get the credit and longevity they deserve.

Incidentally, nearly as astonishing as The Dark Third itself, is the fact that the band hail from Reading (!!!!????). Since I have moved back here they haven’t played the town again (though I only just missed their last appearance) but hopefully they’ll be back again soon. Something for the town to be truly proud of. I bet most people here have never even heard of them…

The Near Misses

Jucifer
Mine Enemy Hunger

I was quite sad this didn’t make it into the top twenty, because I really love it. This eclectic two piece offer up a plate of delicacies diverse enough to tempt any palate. They can do punk with ease (see the album highlight ‘Pontius of Palia’), and then shift effortlessly to dreamy-sexy stargazing (‘My Benefactor’), only to then revert to fall-bollocks metal (‘Luchamos’). Brilliant stuff. What lets it down, and ultimately stopped it getting the top 15 finish it otherwise deserved, was the fact that the first two tracks are utter rubbish. Why on earth they recorded them, let alone placed them both on, and indeed at the start of, the album, I have no idea. Shame, because with an eighth of the album of the scrap heap, I simply couldn’t justify bumping albums that didn’t have any shit tracks on them out of the top twenty. Still, 13 brilliant songs out of 15 ain’t bad…

The Longcut
A Call and Response

A great album of Sonic Youth-esque experimental lo-fi. The Longcut suffer from not having a decent singer (something that was clearly apparent when I saw them live), but otherwise this is a superb album full of invention and understatement. There are elements of …And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead here, as well as the Pixies, but there is also a dance element that sets them apart, and evokes mid-era Chemical Brothers or something of that ilk. Not quite there yet, and a new singer would be a good move, but album number two could be really special.

Red Hot Chili Peppers
Stadium Arcadium

The Chilis have got a lot of stick for this album, and in some respects I can see why. There is nothing to jump out at you over the whole two discs. It is not an exciting album in the way that Blood Sugar Sex Magic or Californication were. As such, it was never going to get in my top twenty. Having said all that, I do really like it, and the detractors, for my money, go too far. Yes, Stadium Arcadium represents the path of least resistance for a band who could do better. Yet, there is not a single duff track over two entire albums worth of music. I like every single song, and have listened to it loads. There is a level of songwriting and musicianship here that is scrupulously maintained in a consistently good (and huge) album. The problem, of course, is that consistency isn’t enough. There is nothing here to challenge either the Chilis or me. I like every track. I don’t love any of them.

Turkey Corner

Oh dear…


Razorlight
Razorlight

I just don’t know where I stand on Razorlight anymore. I hated them to start with. Then someone copied me Up All Night. It turned out to be brilliant. I was wrong, they were great. So I rushed out and bought this, and…it’s rubbish. Well, no, that’s unfair, it has some songs that are ok (‘I Can’t Stop this Feeling I’ve Got’ for example), but it is just so…bloody…limp. Why on earth everyone raves about plodding turkey ‘America’ is beyond me. This sounds throughout like a band who have already made it. It’s lazy, rushed and arrogant. It’s inoffensive stuff, but basically, after I’ve listened to it, I forget that it even happened. Kinda like X & Y from last year, but worse. I won’t buy album number 3.

00100
Taiga

The turkey to end all turkeys, Taiga presumably was attempting to set a new standard for shiteness in music. Certainly, it is both the worst album I have ever bought and the worst album I own (out of nearly 600). A dreadful mistake, I bought the album based upon a number of strong reviews alone, having not heard any of their stuff (though I also did that with Queens of the Stone Age, so it’s not a bad practice per se). The numerous reviewers who recommended it need their heads examined. It is virtually unlistenable discordant noise, delivered under the guise of some kind of ‘alternative’ indie rock. I still have not been able to listen to more than three tracks in one go. I have listened to every track here, but it has had to be in sections, cause I can’t stand it otherwise. There is no attempt here to write songs, no musical skill whatsoever, indeed, aside from the album’s lovely cover art and packaging, there is not a single redeeming feature to this album. One reviewer, I think from The Guardian, said that this album ‘should be awful, but in fact it is brilliant.’ He got it half right. It should be awful. And it is. An album to make all others look good. Fucking dreadful. Avoid like the plague.

The Ineligibles

The Beatles
St. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band

This album is really here to represent The Beatles generally. I’ve never been too keen on them really. They had my respect, of course, and there have always been a few songs I loved, but I always saw them as far more culturally important than musically entertaining. Somewhere along the line, then, my taste must have changed, cause a chance re-listening to St. Pepper’s left me speechless. Most of the tracks I knew, of course, but they, for some reason, hit home in a way that they never had before (‘With a Little Help from my Friends’ for example, turns out to be beautiful. I had always found it annoying before…). I have been listening to loads of The Beatles stuff since, and to a greater or lesser extent, it is all brilliant. How it passed me by before, I have no idea. Whether it was a change in my taste, a change in my stubborn practice of treating with distrust anything which everyone else agrees is exceptional, or what, I don’t know, but I had an epiphany this year, and The Beatles turned out to be very, very good indeed. Who would have thought?

Test Icicles
For Screening Purposes Only

Shit name, even shitter live show, but the Test Icicles album (the first album of any kind I bought in 2006) is a wonderfully off-beat punk trip. This is spiky music, in terms of both attitude and sound. The mixture of penetrating guitar and discordant electronica is not wholly new, but it is dilevered here with a unique slant. I always enjoy this album, and hear all kinds of things (Hole, Bloc Party, Death from Above 1979 etc etc). ‘What’s Your Damage’ has become my driving game track of choice (especially during GTA chases). My only doubt is whether another album of the same will hold my attention. I have a feeling this is a one trick pony, and whilst it is a super trick, I’m not sure it is good enough to carry another record, at least, not unless they change something.

Orange Goblin
Coup de Grace

As with St. Pepper’s, this is just here to represent the whole Goblin back catalogue. 2006 has, in many ways, been the year of the Goblin. I have bought all five of their albums this year, and I closed the year by seeing them live (they ruled!!!). The Goblin do simple stoner rock. They have changed from a more psychedelic slant on the genre to become more straight-head rockers. I have to say, I tend to prefer their newer stuff, but it’s all great. Orange Goblin have, to a degree, put me back in touch with my musical roots. Their deference to Sabbath, coupled with their willingness to reinvent both the classics and themselves, has had much the same effect on me as the Wolfmother album. Pure, brilliant, unashamed ROCK! Grrrr…

To Cut a Long Story Short…

Here’s a quick rundown of the top twenty in reverse order.

20. Be Your Own Pet - Be Your Own Pet

19. Incubus - Light Grenades

18. Broken Social Scene - Broken Social Scene

17. Ben Kweller - Ben Kweller

16. Gomez - How We Operate

15. Rocco Deluca and The Burden - I Trust You to Kill Me

14. Therapy? - One Cure Fits All

13. The Fratellis - Costello Music

12. Secret Machines - Ten Silver Drops

11. Dirty Pretty Things - Waterloo to Anywhere

10. Muse - Black Holes and Revelations

09. The Killers - Sam’s Town

08. Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly - The Chronicles of a Bohemian Teenager

07. Wolfmother - Wolfmother

06. Artic Monkeys- Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not

05. Amplifier - Insider

04. Tool - 10,000 Days

03. The Blood Arm - Lie Lover Lie

02. Mastodon - Blood Mountain

01. Pure Reason Revolution - The Dark Third

See You Next Year

Well, that’s your lot. All twenty albums set out in detail, plus a few of the other usual other titbits for you to peruse. I hope this was fun to read rather than a chore. I’m sure not one of you agreed with my choice for number 1. I wonder if anyone who reads this will agree with more than three of my choices. Post a comment and let me know either way.

In any event, I enjoyed it – as every year – but then I am a sad man. Some cracking music this year. To quote Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly:

‘You can call them chronicles. You can call them songs. It’s an aural rhetoric for the year that’s gone…’

Take care,

not_2day_galvatron