YEAR IN REVUE?

Inevitable end of year round up. 2006 did not go by quickly, it was stuffed plain full of shit: some of it the good shit, some of it the bad. Thinking back about the things that went on at the beginning of the year, and all that has occurred since, seems like it was ages ago. It was the best of times, it was the blurst of times, y'know how we roll.

MUSIC: the turtles year end mix

Amongst the music nerd circles which I rotate around in internet world, much dissatisfaction was expressed with the state of music world, by which they meant music made in North American and European places. Me, I thought there was precisely 12 fuckloads of great music put out this year, and let me assure you 12 fuckloads is a lot. And that's not even to get into all the excellent music not put out this year, of which there are too many fuckloads to count.

Particularly a good year for albums I thought, a solid helping of very strong artist albums from the techno/house lot, something they generally fail at miserably. In fact, a solid year on the house/techno front in general. Electronic music with a four/four beat continues to be my number one love and passion when it comes to music, and damn if there weren't just a constant stream of shit hot house put out this year. If you (my few, few readers) have been following along, you know what's good.


K, that's house, let's do this rundown genre-dimensional:

Pop: Timbaland's year, hands down. Produced Nelly Furtado and Justin Timberlake albums? Oh my. Well done Tim, well done. Dance pop and R&B sounding lovely. Distinct lack of Kelly Clarkson-rock tho :( And Paris's album is still dope!

Hip-hop: T.I. & Clipse, Gnarls Barkley sounds like trip-hop, mid 90's gangsta rap is excellent, erik b & rakim surprisingly underwhelming. I think I might like the new K-OS tho I really want to punch him in the face whenever I seem him. Dilemma!

Grime: totally fell off the radar, unfortunately. Grime-sessions at Shine shut down. I barely listened to Wiley's new album, nor any of the various mixtapes floating about. I haven't even got a hold of Ruff Sqwad's new mixtape yet, and I think Ruff Sqwad are better than the Rolling Stones, Nirvana and God all rolled into one. Kinda mystified as to why I lost touch with this stuff...

Krautrock: continues to be a gold mine of gold. Really loving all the Tangerine Dream-ish synthy stuff, but also the drummadness of Can and Neu! and holee shit is Manuel Gottsching's E2-E4 amazing.

Folk rock: big big dive into this stuff this year, capped off by the stunning Joanna Newsom album. Not sure why, guess I need some moping guitar music, but just couldn't hack the current tousled-hair-cut indie. Dylan, Joni Mitchell, The Byrds, Woodie Guthrie, Gene Clark, Sandy Denny. I'm seriously thinking about making my mom a mix of this stuff, which is quite the commentary.

Dubstep: distinct increase in dubstep love over grime love. A couple of my favourite records of the year were dubstep. Shackleton's "blood on my hands," kode9's "9 samurais," dmz's "anti-war dub," plus some heavyweights (bass-literaly) from last year: loefah's "horror show" (got my bro his first noise complaint!) and skream's anthemic "midnight request line." Yet actually not that much time spent listening to dubstep overall.

Garage: I totally balled up on ever finishing my post about UK Garage 'n' all that, but still loving all the garage variants out there. Garage house to UK Garage to current nu-skool 4x4 stuff, just gotta dance.

Regae & Dancehall: not so much dancehall, but the occasional dips into reggae. The congo's fisherman style compilation was just lovely.

Jazz: despite reading up, not much movement here. Still stuck on Sun Ra, but damnit space IS the place!

Disco: slowly gaining ground here. Italo disco is awesome, as is that Tom Moulton mix, and an old Larry Levan mix I downloaded

'Ardcore Rave: I downloaded "the greatest single thing I have ever downloaded from the internet" (quoting myself there), aka 4.6 GB of someone's old 'ardcore rave record collection, all ripped to 320 kbps mp3s. I'm still trying to get all the way through it, but MAN ALIVE there are some great tracks in there. Also finally downloaded DB's History of Our World Part 1 mix, and it is, indeed, a testament to the brilliance of early rave culture.


Hmmm, that about covers the majority of my music listening over this past year I guess, but you do realize that this was just the overview. What comes next is the lists! yipee! And yes, lovingly, I've zipped up 12 of my favorite tracks of the year (tracklist is at the bottom of this post) in case you feel like listening to them is what you should be doing, which is at least something i'd suggest. It fits nicely on a cd too, for those so inclined.

Anyway, ordering of the below is somewhat haphazard, except for between tiers.


ALBUMS:

TOP TIER:


Joanna Newsom - Ys: Just keeps getting better and better. Super strong from start to finish. Lovely



Hot Chip - The Warning: Dancy, up beat, a bit strange, a bit heartfelt--very poppy. I don't know anyone who's really disliked hot chip yet...



The Knife - Silent Shout: Both Hot Chip and The Knife add vocals and something of a pop sensibility to otherwise obtuse electronic music and end up with two very different, though no less interesting albums. I wish albums like these were the norm rather than rock music.

SECOND TIER:


Tim Hecker - Harmony in Ultraviolet: Didn't expect too much out of this, but i'm just loving it. Warm, enveloping, with an undercurrent of menace. A good combination emotions :)



Burial - Burial: Heavy and dusted with the detritus of late night city streets. love it.



LCD Soundsystem - 45:33: I've snuck this into the multi-cd changer at our house in my quest to slowly inflict more and more of my music upon my poor roommates. I think they actually like it! Goddamn brilliant, in my book.


THIRD TIER:


Ricardo Villalobos - Achso
The Congo's - Fisherman Style
V/A - Big Apple Rapping
Gregor Treshor - Neon: Works in the Mix: okay, so i just downloaded this on Sunday, and my love may fade somewhat, but what the hell these lists are stupid bishy-bashy business in the first place anyway


V/A - Total 7: I think this is the prettiest variation of the coloured dots theme yet, wouldn't you say so?
Junior Boys - So This is Goodbye
Keith Fullerton Whitman - Lisbon
Justin Timberlake - FuterSex/LoveSounds
Nelly Furtado - Loose
Ali Farka Toure - Savane


Luciano - Sci.Fi.Hi.Fi Vol 2.
Tom Moulton - A Tom Moulton Mix


MPFREE mixes:
booka shade essential mix
sven vath - sexy techno at cocoon
dj peepin tom - nu skool sessions vol 1
ricardo villalobos - live at fabric birthday party 10-21-06 (esp part 2! swoon)
soundslike - How do you say 1981 in german?
woebot - kosmische show


TRACKS:

TOP TIER:


rice twins - for penny and alexis: Probably my most listened-to track of the year. Just so unbelievably fluffy and bright and uplifting.


isolee - cite grande terre (luciano's luck of lucien edit): Peaceful, zen-techno. Held in stasis in moonlit garden, or something like that...


shackleton - blood on my hands: Mournful dubstep crypto-eulegy for 9/11. The bass is pure bottomless depth, especially when cranked to max on my speakers at home. Unfortunately don't have a proper mp3 rip of this, just the actual vinyl. Shit is hard to find on zee internetz, yo.


SECOND TIER:

robag wruhme ft. a whole bunch of funny germans - katze geil
alex smoke - never want to see you again (ada mix)
tim hecker - chimeras
gui boratto - like you (supermayer mix)
gregor tresher - on
mask - hottie
the knife - like a pen (stephan bodzin mix)
the knife - we share our mothers health (radioslave mix)
pan pot - black window
justin timberlake ft. ti - my love
hot chip - boy from school
booka shade v brandy - branderine girl
Joanna Newsom - Sawdust and Diamonds
kode9 - 9 samuris
dmz - anti-war dub
Rhythm & Sound w Paul St. Hilaire - Free For All (Soundstream Remix)
the knife - silent shout
agoria - les violon ivres



THIRD TIER:

cassie - me & u
rihanna - sos
t.i. - what u know
oxia - domino
jojo - too little to late
kissogram - my friend is a seahorse (radioslave mix)
booka shade - in white rooms
Joanna Newsom - Emily
the knife - neverland
the knife - like a pen
ricardo villalobos - ichso
ricardo villalobos - siezo
ricardo villalobos - zieheuer fizheuer
justin timberlake ft. timbaland & 3-6 mafia - chop me up
justin timberlake - what goes around.../...comes around interlude
nelly furtado - promiscious
nelly furtado - maneater
nelly furtado - wait for you
d1 - give it back
gregor tresher - full range madness
cassius - toop toop (oliver koletski mix)
nathan fake - grandfathered
answering service - call me mr. telephone (lindstrom & prins thomas remix)
paris hilton - jealousy
pussy cat dolls - i don't need a man
heartthrob - baby kate
keshia chante - 2U
clipse - mr. me too



best music message board thread:
"German DJs and their living rooms" pictures of these peoples' living rooms are strangely informative about their music. Also the video of DJ Koze dancing around in his living room linked to at the bottom of the thread is just good old fashioned fun.



DJ TURTLES IN DA MIX '06
Well, okay, the tracks aren't actually mixed, but they are uh, compiled, i guess. The following are many of my favourite tracks from this passed year, zipped up all nice for your hearing pleasure. Hopefully will give peeps an overview of where my head was at, musically, this year, though it's by no means exhaustive. No dubstep, for instance, cuz the uppity bastards don't like making mp3's available because it messes with their "pure" bass tones. But the rest is pure gold! Enjoy.

01 Gregor Treshor - On: unfortunatly taken from out of a mix, but man! what energy and life in this thing.
02 Gui Boratto - Like You (Supermayer Mix): wonderfully produced, big fun minimal/house. I love the bell-percusion breakdown in the middle, and the rising bassline throughout.
03 Justin Timberlake ft. T.I. - My Love: best pop track of the year? hard battle between this and "me & u" but I think Timberlake & Timbaland get the call in the end, cuz there's more synthesizers :)
04 The Rice Twins - For Penny and Alexis: i think i've said i love this track a few too many times already
05 Mask - Hottie: blast i just relised this is actually '05, but fuckit. This is uk garage at it's upbeat, danceable finest.
06 Agoria - Les Violons Ivres: more classically constructed that most current minimal techno, two things make this track: the bleepy arpeggio, and OH! the strings. Classic, classic techno.
07 Hot Chip - Boy From School Jacking house beat with fey, heartfelt vocals briliantly put together into one.
08 Rhythm & Sound w/ Paul St. Hilaire - Free For All (Soundstream Remix): Soundstream takes R&S's dubbed out bliss and turns it into deep house bliss. Thank you jesus!
09 Cassie - Me & U: it's been commented upon before, but what's so remarkable about this track is the SPACE. Every element of this song sounds so far away from every other element, there just so litte there. But that's what makes it so good.
10 The Knife - Like A Pen (Stephan Bodzin Mix): big giant evil minimal track of the year. though it was a tough battle between this and radio slave's remix of "we share our mother's health," bodzin won out cuz his synths are just that much bigger and cacophonous.
11 Tim Hecker - Chimeras: standout track from his new album. i listened to this on headphones late at night in the cold as the snow was falling on the street. that's what it sounds like.
12 Isolee - Cite Grande Terre (Luciono's Luck of Lucien Edit): as discussed above, awesome!






OKAY THAT'S ALL FOR NOW FOLKS PEACE OUT