Nobody knows you and nobody gives a damn

The end of the year is ripe for music recaps. Everyone talking about the best of 2006. What I'm really missing this year is Pitchfork's Worst Of . But, despite my compulsive checking, that most humorous of lists from last year has not made a reapearance, and so I am left to my own devices. The only radio I really listen to is NPR, as mentioned in a previous post I rely mostly on friends, and sometimes the internet, to find new music. Since my friends who make it their business to have good taste in music generally don't post things on the internet, I can't point you their way. But here are a couple of other people, who I unfortunately don't know personally, who listen to good music:
Jeph Jacques of Questionable Content, in addition to writing the most kickass webcomic I've encountered, he has an awesome list of music under the RL tab at the top of the page.
Heather Armstrong aka Dooce. She doesn't do a lot with music anymore, but she also lists some quality stuff periodically (close observers will note that both Jeph and Heather mention Wolf Parade's "I'll Believe Anything").

And so, without further ado, my 2006 Music List. Compiled based on what I listened to obsessively this year, cause that's what's fun.

Stars: Set Yourself on Fire

I listened to this album compulsively after seeing it mentioned in an acquaintance's blog. It was something I had heard in the radio station and copied for further examination... but as with most things discovered during my last semester of college, it pretty much was forgotten until I had an excuse to look back at it. I went to their concert in Boulder in February, which was quite good. I don't know how the album will hold up over time, I find that I'm not able to listen to it all the way through any more. The stellar tracks, to my mind, are "Your Ex-Lover is Dead" and "One More Night" (I notice that on wikipedia this song is given the subtitle "your ex lover remains dead" I find this intriguing, but have never seen it listed as such before). I saw this concert with my friend Richard, who was my first boyfriend and my first ex lover.

Wilco: Yankee Hotel Foxtrot

It's classic. There are some things for which I am behind the curve. Wilco is unfortunately one of them. This album makes me think of one of my favorite people, of miscommunication, lost love, beauty, and irony. I don't have a whole lot else to say about it. I can't really listen to it all of the way through anymore, but I love all of the different pieces. I can listen to "I am Trying to Break Your Heart", "Jesus Etc." and "Poor Places" over and over. And some days I do.

Spoon:Kill the Moonlight

My friend Tim was preparing for a play when I went back and visited Guilford for the first, and so far only, time since graduating. At some point he asked my friend Leise to put this album on because it made him think about the play. I didn't see the play, and I don't remember which one it was anyway. However I really liked what I heard, and thanks to the infamous Aaron, I already had basically everything Brit Daniel ever looked at with creative intention, on my ipod. And so it may be hard to pick favorites, "The Way We Get By" sucked me in, "Stay Don't Go" hooked me, "Paper Tiger" snuck up on me.

I subsequently discovered Gimme Fiction.

It is also quite awesome. Harder to pick individual tracks. In April I saw a free Spoon show. While it is generally not something I am very happy thinking about (not the stuff of a music blog, not tonight... check back later though...), I went with Lynn, who hangs out with Maris the Great and once introduced me to him (though he probably doesn't remember it). It was awesome.

Tarkio:Omnibus


I started looking for this before I could even find rumors of it. I saw The Decemberists at the Paramount Theatre in Denver in October of 2005, and at one point during the show Colin Meloy came out and played "Save Yourself" alone. I scribbled the lyrics into my journal , and when I got home I searched for them. I was uber disappointed to learn that it was not from a forthcoming album, but in fact from Colin Meloy's first band. At that point it was one of those things where they were maybe sorta gonna re release the music, but no one really knew. And from my years of trying to get ahold of My So Called Life, I knew that while it might eventually happen, it could take awhile. So imagine my thrill when I discovered, on reading Pitchfork one day, that omnibus was set for release in late January. Review's aside, it's nice to know that even succesful geek rockers had their awkward college years.


The Dresden Dolls: Yes Virginia

Similarly to Spoon, the Dresden Dolls have some... unfortunate associations in my mind. Mostly that is with the first album, which, thankfully, I didn't listen to quite as compulsively as "Yes Virginia" I also met Meg at the Dresden Dolls show... which was magic (here was where I was going to link to my friend Amitai and how he and I saw Blood Diamond and he says he is going to start using "magic" to mean awesome the way Leonardo DiCaprio does in the flick... but he locked the post so you wouldn't be able to see it anyway). Anyway, I went to the show with very little knowledge of the band, and left the show in love with them. My love only grew after seeing their "F*ck the Back Row" burlesque and short film tour in July. I have since seen them in Wasington DC, and love them more each time. They are more than a musical artsists, they are true performers.

Sufjan Stevens: The Avalanche

I already have an entire post about this album, so I'm not going to say much more about it. Other than that there's a term, Viral Video, which refers to those short movies that people make and put on the internet, you know, the ones with dancing hamsters or squirrels or Harry Potters or kids lip- synching into their webcams on a loop that you can't help but watch over and over an over... "Bobby Got a Shadfly Stuck in His Hair" is a viral song for me.

TV on the Radio: Return to Cookie Mountain

Ah, the most anticipated, leaked, lauded album of the year. I was a sucker for "Desperate Youth, Bloodthirsty Babes", I have "Young Liars", "Ok Calculator" and "New Health Rock". I checked TVoTR's website compulsively from February to September waitng... by the way, I have never seen a website that takes 3 months to launch. But TV on the Radio are just that cool. Everyone has already said everything there is to say about this album. I didn't acquire as early as *some* people, but I did acquire it before it was readily available in the US. Not to worry, I paid my dues and bought it legally as soon as I was able. Cause I'ma sucker like that.

The Decemberists: The Crane Wife

Do you ever listen to an album at the same time as you're reading a book, and from that point on the two are inextricably linked in your mind? So it is for me with The Crane Wife and Isabelle Allende's Zorro. I listened to almost nothing but this album for about two weeks straight. As promised, it is closer to The Tain than Picaresque, but I love them both. Actually, I pretty much love everything the Decemberists do. Take that, Colbert.

The Mountain Goats: Get Lonely

As with The Avalanche, I already have an entire post devoted to this album so I'm not going to go into any sort of deep thoughts about it. It is quality and I liked it, but as one friend said "It's no Sunset Tree".

This was also the year I made a couple of awesome mixes:
Pleasant and Demure, I can See Your Undies
Unbirthday
Art May Imitate Life, but Life Imitates TV
26,000 Tons or More

And also received a couple of awesome mixes, to be uploaded soon.