Songs of 2006
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
Rather Ripped
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"Reena" isn't necessarily my favorite song of the year, and Rather Ripped isn't my favorite album, but 2006 was my Sonic Youth year so they get the top spot. "Reena," which opens the record and was also the opening song when I saw the band back in June, is a beautiful little three-and-a-half minute pop song, full of uncharacteristically melodic and feedback-free rhythm guitars. Hearing this song now puts me back in Asheville, pressed up against the stage, regretful for the fifteen years I wasted not seeing every Sonic Youth show within a 200-mile radius.
Fox Confessor Brings the Flood
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"Fox Confessor Brings the Flood" (which is my favorite song and album of the year) is like an epic-in-miniature, two-minute, 42-second suite. It changes tempo and tonality four times but does so organically, held together by a deceptively complex melodic line and a heartbreaking lyric. But Neko makes it all sound so simple. Like Gillian Welch, she can fool you into thinking that every song she sings is a hundred years old and haunted. "Will I ever see you again? / Will there be no one above me to put my faith in? / I flooded my sleeves as I drove home again." Beautiful.
Gypsum Strings
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As I wrote back in October, Oakley Hall is the real deal, and "Lazy Susan" is everything that I love about them: loud, grinding, sloppy, and deep, deep in the groove. As great as their show was (and it was really, really great), the historic Bijou Theatre was the wrong venue for Oakley Hall. I'd like to see them again in a smaller club, standing room only, where the volume makes conversation impossible and the beer is cheap. Where everyone (even the self-conscious like me) is sweaty from dancing and the room reaks of smoke. That would be a damn good time.
The Eraser
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Amnesiac has always been my favorite Radiohead record, so the laptop-flavored noodling of Yorke's solo album went down easy for me. The lyrics of "Black Swan," not surprisingly, are maddeningly obscure and have been read as both an ode to a failed relationship and a vitriolic screed against Tony Blair. I don't particularly care one way or the other. The song is meaningful to me because it captures something of the despair I battle from time to time, particularly when I'm reminded of Hurricane Katrina, the Iraq war, or the Bush presidency, generally. I suspect that's why Richard Linklater chose it (perfectly) for the closing credits of A Scanner Darkly.
I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass
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I could have chosen any number of songs from I Am Not Afraid of You . . . , and each would give the first-time listener a completely different impression of the album. It's such a diverse and satisfying collection. I went with "The Race is On Again" simply because it's the loveliest song I heard all year. Georgia and Ira sound so good together here, and the Byrds- and Murmer-like Rickenbacker twang makes me smile everytime I hear it.
ALSO GREAT:
"All Systems Red" by Calexico
"The Avalanche" by Sufjan Stevens
"Black Star" (Radiohead cover) by Gillian Welch
"Brite Nitegown" by Donald Fagen
"Fucking Boyfriend" by The Bird and the Bee
"Lloyd, I'm Ready to be Heartbroken" by Camera Obscura
"Love and Communication" by Cat Power
"Microscopic View" by The Pernice Brothers
"Roscoe" by Midlake
"See You Tomorrow" by Bruce Cockburn
"Soldier Jane" by Beck
"Steady as She Goes" by The Raconteurs
"We're Not Supposed to be Lovers" by Dean and Britta
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