no. 29

2006' best albums: 29. various production - the world is gone

not a compilation album, various production combines beautiful pencil-sharp sleeve and website design with a sound that perhaps can best be descriped as apocalyptic grime-folk. after releasing a handful of radically different ep's - including robo-funk versions of missy and brandy hits, but also cough-syrup-crunked retro soul tracks and gloomy folk tunes - various released their debut album: a style-compilation unified by a creeping sense of dread worthy of a british lynch. sir, though it has up-to-date, slightly too commercial-shiny beats, at least gives a good sense of this album's mysterious attractions.

2006' best songs: 29. pink nasty & will oldham - don't ever change

this austin songwriter sounds nothing like her name suggests. after dropping several great covers into the blogosphere - moody versions of elo and usher - pink nasty's raucous duet with will oldham shocked fans of bonnie 'prince' billy around the world; the man can really belt! the down-to-earthy lyrics (which feature deodorant stains, a subject rarely referenced in love-songs), combined with the singers' 'say you love me six times' battle just before the drawn out coda makes this the sweetest lovesong i've heard all year.
http://uploadhut.com/view.php/233543.mp3

no. 30

so, i made this list of the best music of the year. actually, it's two lists: one for best albums, another for best songs not found on those albums, both are top 30s. i know that might seem like a lot but it barely fits. the songs discussed today are the last on the lists. they are perhaps replaceable, or overseeable, perhaps not all that relevant to music history or my own. still, they end the lists, serving as gatekeepers, good gatekeepers, worthy even, but not as good as the 29 ahead of them.

2006' best albums: 30. ms. john soda - notes and the like

somewhat of a dusseldorfer supergroup, this duo, made up of members of couch and the notwist, make like a sunnier ladytron. their 'no p or d' was my favorite album of 2002, and this has the same warm glitchy qualities, combining glittering electronic crunches with droney, but never downer strings. with beautiful german-accented vocals and rewound, stuttering instrumentation, hands is a lovely introduction to my apparently least favorite favorite album of 2006.

2006' best songs: 30. the field - thought vs. action

released on 12" as the b-side to 'love vs distance,' this quite astonishing 10-minute piece may start out as almost generic microhouse, chopped akufen-ic vocals slowly moving to a brisk, techno step, but four minutes in very familiar flute tones start to sound. you realize it's an intro, but the song never breaks. instead, gurgly kompakt beats drive the short snippet of the four tops' 'reach out i'll be there' to subdued, but powerful filtered heights.