Canard’s Picks for Awesome Records in 2006!
In no real order
Wilderness- Vessel States www.jagjaguwar.com
These dudes make anthems for aliens. Their lead singer sounds like he’s undergoing a metamorphosis or some kind of rebirth. I like them. They’re pretty atmospheric, all guitar arpeggios and wide open space. It just sounds strangely majestic and tiny at the same time. I recommend! It’s an aquired taste and a lot of people prefer their first record, but this one is my fave.
Comets on Fire- Avatar www.subpop.com
Noone is making the freak out music like these guys. Great sounds of psychedelic passion with withering guitar and spazzed out drumming.
Mastodon- Blood Mountain www.mastodonrocks.com
Best current metal band. These guys did not compromise wih their signing to a major. i know some indie fuckheads will disagree, but they can go listen to their “hard to find albums pressed on Norwegian black Metal ham sandwiches”. Heavy, prog-ish in parts. It’s on relapse/reprise! Did Sinatra’s ghost sign these guys?
Band of Horses- Everything All the Time www.subpop.com
Never has a band that on first listen sounded so derivative had such a lasting impact on me. This record is beautiful and the singer/guitarist has a pretty great voice and “awwww, shucks I’m on ecstacy” stage presence and banter. We saw them at Pitchfork Fest in Chicago. Our friends hated them and compared them to Journey. That should tell you about the sound mix out there and by the way, the guy that MC’s that festival was a cheeseball. These guys get compared to My Morning Jacket a lot because of the reverb activity. I agree they share some aesthetics in their sound.
Espers- II www.dragcity.com
This folk-rock band expanded its line up to include a drummer and some more instruments. They’re kind of on the Pentangle tip, but at the end of one of their freeze dried, trance inducing drone sessions, they remind me of the end of “Epitaph” off of King Crimson’s first lp. That is a huge compliment coming from me as I worship Robert Fripp’s delay module and vintage mellotron. Great musicianship all around. This is a bliss out type of jam. “Dead King” and “Moon Occults the Sun” are my favorite.
Oneida- Happy New Year www.jagjaguwar.com
These guys from New York aren’t afraid to get down on the prog tip. They change stylistically from album to album.”Up with People” is a stilted funk-pop-a-roll jam about 8 minutes long. The title cut is pretty great too with its meandering synth. Jagjaguwar seems to be putting out my favorite stuff right now.
Decemberists-The Crane Wife www.decemberists.com
This is literate rock for nerds. There’s nothing wrong with this. Let your nerd-o flag fly. Pretty pop music that doesn’t insult your intelligence unless you’re stupid, in which you will not be able to comprehend its beauty. Try listening to Fall Out Boy instead you jerk-off.
Bright Black Morning Light- self titled www.thebrightblackmorninglight.com
This is some mellow shit. If I was a pot damaged goober, I’d love this. I’m not, but I still love it. Good late night or Sunday morning music. Drones for the drones.
Built to Spill- You in Reverse www.builttospill.com
The delay pedals! The haunting voice!
I haven’t really cared too much about these guys since ‘There’s Nothing Wrong with Love’, but I really liked this one a lot. You can shoot me now, but I didn’t say I disliked ‘Perfect..’ or ‘Keep it…’. Those records just didn’t move me as much.
Mew- And the Glass Handed Kites www.mewsite.com
Scandinavian dudes kick up some MBV-type noise on this album. I liked it quite a bit. Atmospheric rock with a guest vocal from that grey haired wizard J Mascis. The guitars sound hyper compressed and with weirdo twang on them. Nice vocals and some pretty interesting drumming/time changes. A little prog-ish.
Viva Voce- Get YR Blood Sucked Out www.vivavoce.com
Husband and wife team make some great rock and roll. Great songwriting, interesting structures and hot ass guitar playing. A home produced gem of a record.
Lemonheads- Lemonheads www.vagrant.com
Essentially, if you did not already know, Evan Dando is the Lemonheads. After a good, but overlooked solo album he has teamed up with the rhythm section of the Descendents and put together a solid album of pilled out sounding punk pop. The guy (Dando) has always been somewhat of a burn out, but I’m not sure he’s put out a really stinky album. ‘Come on Feel the Lemonheads’ was the closest due to his smoking crack rocks all through the sessions. Strangely it produced their slickest record! Bill Stevenson helps out with some songwriting and Dando benefits from his tight ass power drumming. It breaks no new ground and will be largely forgotten, but it is a worthwhile, humble effort. Stay off the needle.
Silkworm- Chokes www.silkworm.net
Anybody who knows me is aware of how much I love Silkworm. Most of them cannot understand it. They don’t dislike them, they just don’t see why they tower over a lot of bands in my opinion. I feel it is their lyrical complexity and maturity mixed with a powerful drummer and some great guitar/bass interplay. A band like Silkworm is so adept at using dynamics and space in their songs that it’s almost ridiculous. A lot of bands should stop playing all the fucking time and learn some restraint. Silkworm will rock the house down when they want to and if the song needs it. Unfortunately, Michael Dahlquist-drummer genius, was killed along with some other good folks when an asshole, waste of space plowed into their car in a failed suicide attempt. She survived while all three of them perished. Tim and Andy of Silkworm have carried on in Bottomless Pit and will hopefully relese something soon. They have some tracks streaming on their site ( www.bottomlesspit.us ) and they sound really great. The ‘Chokes’ ep is the last stuff Silkworm recorded and its awesome. Interestingly enough , there is no bass on the cd, Tim plays the “twanker” which is some kind of bass/baritone guitar type-o-thing. Don’t take my word for it though. You can order the ep direct through a link on the Silkworm site.
REISSUES
I generally send too much time and money on music I already own or have owned. Where’s the new shit that doesn’t suck?!?!?
here are some reissues from 2006 that I found to be…worthwhile.
Chavez- Better Days Will Haunt You www.matadorrecords.com
The complete recordings of Chavez, a great guitar based rock band that were active in the mid to late 90’s. Billy Corgan should be licking their balls.
Pavement- Wowee Zowee Sordid Sentinels edition www.matadorrecords.com
Pavement’s “difficult” album. This is the one where they dig hard on the prog tip. Great stuff. Lots of bonus shit on the extra disc. Would have liked more liner notes about the actual sessions.
Boobs: Junkshop Glam Discoteque
Brent gave me a copy of this glam collection of obscure 70’s rockers. Looks like Kim Fowley had his greasy fingers on most of these songs. “Motorboat” is a standout and they all sound like they were recorded in Marc Bolan’s gold lame trousers. Great fun for anybody that digs T. Rex, Sweet and Gary Glitter (prior to his child molesting exploits, of course!). Although this actually came out in 2005, I am making an exception for its greatness! Thanks Mr. Brence.
Okay, so, I think you’ve finally tipped me into trying the Decemberists. A lot of the rest of this sounds good too (though I’m one of those cranky Lemonheads “purists” who bought out after “Lick”). Here’s a couple from me:
Yo La Tengo, “I Am Not Afraid of You, and I Will Beat Your Ass”. Best thing they’ve done since the 94 zenith “Electr-O-Pura”, in fact, I’d pretty much written them off. A glorious genre crawl, with lots of slashing guitar, Vince Guaraldi (sp?) piano, harmonies, ballads, wife-friendly shuffles. Been stuck on this since it came out. Sally loves it too.
Dead Moon, “Echoes of the Past.” Wonderful, primitive rock and roll, which I learned about from Tara Key of Antietam. I can’t describe the album any better than Allmusic can, so check out http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:5b4tk6dxukrk.
Honorable mention: the Hold Steady, “Boys and Girls in America” (some good songs, weak ending, a love or hate band in the first place), Glass Eye, “Every Woman’s Fantasy” (in the can since 91 but finally out, much darker and scarier than I expected).
Comment by Frazer — December 29, 2006 @ 8:28 pm
The Decemberists are okay and I like their record. Bare in mind I don’t always like that kind of eanest acoustic based pop music.The Lemonheads were not really a band past ‘Lick’, although I guess they had a steady line up for a few records during their popular period. I went back and listened to ‘Creator’ and was shocked at how much it kind of aped Husker Du a little. It still has some of my favorite of his songs by them. I think their new record was a good power punk pop record. Yo La Tengo has never done it for me and lord knows I have tried. I just don’t get it. I’ve seen them live three times and have never enjoyed them for some reason. The Hold Steady record I’ve been meaning to get. I saw them live earlier in the year and they rocked it…hard. They’ve already played here again, but I had final exams or some shit and couldn’t go. On record I find them occasionally annoying, but I like Craig Finn’s attitude and he knows a lot about rock and roll which I respect. Saw Glass Eye a ton of times back in the day but never owned too many of their records. Surprised to hear they’ve released something. I finally found a replacement vinyl copy of ‘Music from elba’ by Antietam about 4 years ago. That was agood one. I’ve tried to buy ghe Dead Moon comp unsuccessfully a few times here at my local, favorite independent retailer. I did get a pet fart there though! No seriously, either I have been looking in the wrong place or maybe they were sold out. Weird they broke up like two weeks ago! It’s on my list!
Comment by admin — January 1, 2007 @ 7:52 pm
It warms my heart to hear you hold “Music from Elba” as dear as I do. (You should check out Antietam’s last one, “Victory Park”–good adult r&r, on Carrot Top records.) What a crazed folk-punk masterpiece that one was. I finally got it burned to a CD, and it still haunts my iPod. They’re on MySpace at www.myspace.com/antietamnyc.
Dead Moon shouldn’t be too hard to find–it’s on Sub Pop for God’s sake. I emailed Tara Key of Antietam (who turned me on to them via their cover of “Graveyard”) about them, and she’d just heard they broke up and was crushed. The main couple (who got married in 1967!) are still together though. It rocks like hell.
I really should have mentioned Exploding Madonna, which, honestly, I wasn’t sure I’d like. But I loved it. Crashing sheets of noise rarely sound that good.
Oh yeah, Lemonheads were total Husker imitators! The Huskers were my 80s faves (I thought the Spoons sounded like them sometime, with you playing the Grant Hart instrument and having the Bob Mould voice). The CD of “Create Your Friends” (the first two) is an old favorite.
Comment by Frazer — January 3, 2007 @ 5:22 pm
PS: Should I feel glad or apprehensive that I downloaded Methuselah’s opus before the link got removed?
Comment by Frazer — January 3, 2007 @ 5:23 pm
Cool picks, sir. I must say that The Prince was the source of the fantastic glam comp…
Comment by Brent — January 7, 2007 @ 1:54 pm
Those Lemonhead albums y’all mention - Creator, Hate Your Friends, and Lick - are real classics. I never noticed the Husker similarity at the time. I liked Favorite Spanish Dishes too, with the NKOTB cover.
Also great Boston rock from that time is Squirrel Bait. I still listen to that one occasionally.
Comment by Methusela — January 8, 2007 @ 5:58 pm
‘BOOBS’ comp props to THE PRINCE then. Since Evan Dando acted like such a twerp, the ‘heads will never again get the respect they deserve. new album is good and has been getting pretty decent reviews. Garth Hudson and J Mascis play on a few tunes.
Comment by ADMIN — January 9, 2007 @ 11:12 am
Where are the Joggers? You have the Decemberists on the list, so no claim of bias against P-town…But Damn…the Joggers sound like the honey and the bees coming through your ears at the same time…
Comment by Lee Waters — August 21, 2007 @ 4:12 pm
The Joggers record came out in 2005. Quite frankly they’re my favorite band right now. I’ve seen them 3 times and they’ve rocked it every time. They’re the best. Dead on the money Lee!
Comment by admin — August 21, 2007 @ 9:03 pm