James' Top of '06

Okay, I know you've all been waiting for this (well, okay, you haven't, but never mind, you're go8ing to get it anyway).

Top of '06

1. To All New Arrivals - Faithless

Strong, subtle hip-hop with a social conscience, London's Faithless first made an impression on me with their single "Mass destruction" a couple of years back, and this album ups the ante. One of the group's members has clearly just become a parent, and these wise words to this and other new arrivals are by turn chilling and positive, and always catchy.

2. Warm hand - Don McGlashan

Back with more of the unnerving edgy Kiwiana which made the Mutton Birds such a delight, this album shows yet again that while Neil Finn may get the internaional plaudits and Dave Dobbyn may be more widely recognised at home, McGlashan deserves his place alongside these two in the pantheon of kiwi music.

3. Surprise - Paul Simon

Lived up to its name. The combination of Simon and Brian Eno sounded strange from the outset, but Eno's gentle guiding hand managed to coax out the best set of new songs from the old folk-poet-rocker since "Graceland".

4. The corner of Miles & Gil - Shack

Dredging their influences from British folk-rock psychedelia of the late 60s, this is another slow-grower. Emphasis on acoustic instruments, and with unexpected brass band accompaniment in places. Pleasant.

5. Last Days of Wonder - Handsome Family

Seriously warped country and western - lyrically, closer to the Flaming Lips than Dwight Yoakam (I'm very glad to say), and both catchy and bewildering. Anyone who can write a C7W song about Nikolai Tesla or about vandalising a golf course when drunk is OK by me ("Like jewels on your green dress, my lady of the golf course, running in your underwear to greet the cops who'd just driven up").

6. Gang of Losers - The Dears

Seemingly straight-ahead pop-rock from Canada with a grungy edge and some decidedly odd arrangements. A slow burner, this has grown on me over the last couple of months.

7. Isolation Loops - Bachelorette

Though not as strangely attractive as the mini-album that she put out in 2005, NZ's Bachelorette delivered a fine set of twisted electronic ditties with "Isolation Loops"

8. Flat-pack Philosophy - Buzzcocks

Sometimes, old bands refuse to die, much to their detriment and that of their fans. sometimes, though, once in a hundred albums, a band will reform and rock like they never went away. So it is with ageing punk rockers the Buzzcocks - always one of the most musically and lyrically intelligent bands of the punk rock era, here with an album which seems to defy the passage of the decades.

9. In time for spring, on came the snow - Subaudible Hum

Owing much of their inspiration to Radiohead, but also very varied in their sound, Subaudible Hum have produced an intriguing and highly listenable-to album of instrumentals and multi-layered hook-laden songs.

10. I am not afraid of you and I will beat your ass - Yo La Tengo

It's almost impossble to describe Yo La Tengo's music, other than to say that their albums tend to contain a couple of dozen songs, song fragments and half formed ideas, almost all of which are usually immensely appealing. Though American, this band could easily fit in with the Dunedin Sound of music, and there is indeed some cross
influence (David Kilgour has frequently performed with YLT over the years). Wildly eclectic and loads of fun as always, this album is definitely one of their best.

Bubbling under...

*Comfort of Strangers - Beth Orton
*Whatever people say I am, that's what I'm not - Arctic Monkeys
*Joyride:Remixes - Mirah
*Up from the catacombs (Best of) - Jane's Addiction
*Chris Knox and the Nothing - Chris Knox and the Nothing
*Sonic Youth - Rather Ripped
*Dresden Dolls - Yes, Virginia

WTF...?

Beatles Classics by Wing - Wing

No doubt an acquired taste, or at the very least frightening to those not in the know, Wing is a Hong Kong-born New Zealander who has become famous for her destruction of classic songs in much the same way as Clive James's long-time TV guest Margarita Pracatan. Here, Wing manages to machete her way through some Beatles favourites and (incomprehensibly) also Maori folk song "Hine e hine", with great
gusto but with no hint of any reliance on melody, tempo or taste, and only passing indication of any knowledge of the English language. Her version of "I want to hold your hand" has to be heard to be disbelieved.

Me First & the Gimme Gimmes Love their Country - Me First & the Gimme Gimmes

Great band name, wondrously tacky concept: MF&TGGs perform skater-punk versions of country and western and country-rock standards. You haven't lived until you've heard them ripping into "Desperado" or "Annie's song" at 150 mph.

Not yet heard, but the signs are good

Ole Tarantula - Robyn Hitchcock

I've heard several tracks off this, and I'm itching to get my hands on a copy. This is seriously good - much harder rocking than most of RH's recent works and ably backed by a powerful band.

New Who album (title unknown)

Yes, there may be only a couple of them left now, but by all accounts this is, against all odds, a major return to form.

Modern Times - Bob Dylan

The old master, according to reports received, has produced his finest set for over a decade. Sounds distinctly worth a listen.

Still listening to/growing on me from 2005

Another day on Earth - Brian Eno
Get behind me Satan - The White Stripes
Oceans Apart - Go-Betweens (RIP G.W. McLennan, one 2006's biggest musical losses)
I'm Wide Awake, it's morning/Digital Ash in a digital urn - Bright Eyes
Cherry Pie - Leila Adu
Prairie Wind - Neil Young
The Campfire Headphase - Boards of Canada
In Your Honor - Foo Fighters
Twin Cinema - New Pornographers
Witching Hour - Ladytron.

~ James