Official top ten of 2006 (posted on another forum):
1. Current 93 - Black Ships Ate the Sky: David Tibet has been in the apocalyptic folk scene for well over a decade now, yet his career has, arguably, not seen a more solid, poignant, brilliant album. This is a timeless release, and, at least in my mind, easily the best album of 2006. Certainly guests such as Antony of Antony and the Johnstons, Bonnie "Prince" Billy, and Marc Almond of Soft Cell fame help to ensure the exquisite perfection of this album. To be honest, placing this album on this list is degrading. This album does not belong on a "best of this year" list. It's far better than that. Far above that in every way. This is a classic that will forever stand the test of time.
2. Agalloch - Ashes Against the Grain: Agalloch doesn't disappoint with their brand of Black Metal meets Post Rock meets Neo-folk. The four year wait for this album was nearly unbearable for a large portion of Agalloch's fanbase (I certainly felt a great emptiness within this time frame), but there is no question that this album is worth the wait. Musically, this album leans fairly heavily to Post Rock, with a few moments of Neo-folk, Black Metal, and inspired Noise shining through. Yet the Black Metal vocals still bite like frost throughout, with whispy, solemn vocals cracking the frost and sinking into a deep sadness even more often than ever before.
3. Circulus - Clocks Are Like People: Psychedelic Folk. This is not your momma's Jethro Tull. And this isn't your pretentious, music-snob uncle's Comus, though it is more akin to them than Jethro Tull...except...it's happier. It doesn't have spite for Christians as much as it just wants to sing and dance around a campfire in medieval garb with all of the faeries, sprites, and dryads. You may think that they are silly, but their intention is not to be silly, and they certainly don't see their actions as such. They are honest and love their music and subject matter. They want to set the faerie folk world on fire with the Progressive Rock stylings of the synthesizer, and they want to do so with respect and sincerity and make no nods at the pretentiousness of the Psychedelic Folk bands that came before them. Without question, they have succeeded.
4. Joanna Newsom - Ys: Folk, yet again. Joanna Newsom is quite cute. This helps her chances to be high on my top ten. There are far too few cute people, and in this sense, Joanna Newsom's competition is next to zero. However, in a list full of cute people, she'd still stand a chance to make it to this position or possibly higher. Now imagine this cuteness manifested in a voice with a mature, emotional depth. If you can do this, you are inching closer to loving Joanna Newsom's album Ys. Now combine this voice with intricate, expansive, orchestral arrangements, led with a harp and folk sensibilities all with a spiritual air. Every song is an epic unfolding gracefully and splendidly without falter. The lush arrangements will send you into a meditative state that you are unable to recover from until the album ends. Be prepared for the most mesmerizing album of 2006 when you listen to Ys.
5. Melvins - (A) Senile Animal: So...do you enjoy having your ears brutally and mercilessly raped, set on fire, urinated on, stabbed five, six, or seventy-three times, raped again, jerked back and forth across a cheese grater, raped once more, then have a foot long nail hammered fully into your ear? Well then, you are going to LOVE (A) Senile Animal. I'll admit that I am using hyperbole, and bands like Sunn O))) deliver that feeling much more precisely, but the Melvins deliver it in a more pleasant manner that will have you grooving along with the now double drum attack (honestly, a triple drum attack because of the prowess of Dale Crover). If you are prepared to have your face remorselessly smashed by a moshing, stomp dancing boot, than this is the album for you.
6. Flat Earth Society - Psychoscout: Flat Earth Society is a band that is not stuck in the historical details of Big Band music. Flat Earth Society is a Big Band at its core and an experimental band at heart. For nearly half of 2006, this was my favorite release, and it goes beyond the fact that this album is a pure joy to listen to. It feels unique; it feels fresh; it feels new. It is not, technically, overtly experimental. It is, however, experimental all the way throughout, never missing a moment to throw in a jilted rhythm. This is not what I appreciate most. It's the way that the experimentation is encorporated. Normally, it takes an exposed, experienced, open ear to catch the melodies within the experimentation, but for Flat Earth Society, it's the opposite. The experimentation is just another layer in the Big Band sound, and meshes in so well, that it sounds catchy, toe tappingly irresistable. Flat Earth Society continually reinvent experimentation and Big Band music seamlessly, and Psychoscout is no exception.
7. Neko Case - Fox Confessor Brings the Flood: The question remains, are Patsy Cline and Loretta Lynn as great as Neko Case? Yet another cute face has made it into this list. Joanna Newsom's only competition, yet this face isn't so clear about everything within it. If Nick Cave was just a tad more influenced by country and took a ton or two of estrogen, he would be Neko Case. Whether Neko Case is truly deeply troubled or not is moot. Her music and voice are, without question, deeply troubled. Fox Confessor Brings the Flood runs wide with darkness and gloom with few rays of light breaking through the blinds. Every twang of the guitar, every pang of the piano, every ethereal reverberation of Neko Case's somber tone and melancholic, rolling, contemplative delivery evokes a refined, aged sorrow. Even so, the music is layered and varied, replacing the sometimes excessive repetition of her earlier albums with intricate music just as pained.
8. The Legendary Pink Dots - Your Children Placate You From Premature Graves: So what do you do when a band over twenty years old releases one of its best albums? You put said album in your top ten list for the year it came out. I have done that. If you do not know who the Legendary Pink Dots are, you are not alone. Easily classified as Neo-psychedelia, yet not easily classified, it's no wonder why the Legendary Pink Dots haven't exactly become a household name. Spoken vocals in a nursery rhyme esque fashion that I can only describe through relativity. Tibet of Current 93 speaks in nursery rhyme style, and relative to him, the Legendary Pink Dots sing in nursery rhyme style, yet it isn't really singing so much as it is speaking with a large overlay of effects to distort the voice(s). Minimalist electronics make up the base, and from that, all other music spawns, from jazzlike saxophone, to tinkling piano keys, to flamenco guitar. Expect folk. Expect Neo-psychedelia. Expect the unexpected. Even within the despair, there is a flamenco guitar, space age electronics, and poppy, bouncing brass. Yet the despair never leaves, and all of the eccentricities, cuteness, and weirdness only make the creepy undertones creepier. Wear your judgments on your sleeve and just believe. If you can accept for the sake of accepting, you will love The Legendary Pink Dots most recent oddity.
9. Toumani Diabate's Symmetric Orchestra - Boulevard de l'Independance: I very recently acquired this gem. The man behind this, Toumani Diabate of course, is a master of the kora, a twenty-one string West African harp. Now, it's impressive enough to know what a kora is, but to be a master, that is another matter entirely. Toumani Diabate is known for his mood pieces, sparse, sweeping, moving works. Boulevard de l'Independance takes that reputation and meshes it with invigorated fervor. It takes Diabate's style and infuses a fierce, fiery, blazing spirit of horns and electric guitars driving and dancing in Big Band relentlessness. This album does exactly what the name of the ensemble promises. It takes the ancient African style of the kora and flawlessly melds it with modern African dance music.
10. Grizzly Bear - Yellow House: And here we are. The end. The final album. The very last of the best albums that 2006 had to offer. So what does the Yellow House offer that confirms its place among so many masterpieces? It's delicious, my friends. Absolutely, unquestionably delicious. It's elegantly paced, never outright explosive or mournful. It contemplatively glides, gently easing from one movement to the next. It lulls but never sleeps. It recalls The Beach Boys, The Velvet Underground, and The Jesus and Mary Chain but never copies. It experiments and grows. Expands and crescendos. It is modern. It is melody and sprawling symphonic folk. The vocal harmonies build on top of each other over and over. In the summer, when it is cool, but you are still sweating, and souls and spirits of love, life, and death are in a poetic tango, this is your soundtrack.
