As usual, a friendly reminder to everyone that your list is your list and I do not expect a certain length or type of music. Just list what you liked and feel free to make comments and inquiries regarding other customer lists. This is meant to act as a forum for discussion and certainly not criticism. Here we go:

1. Appleseed Cast: Sagarmatha

In a class by itself, this album has remained on top since it was released.

2. Silversun Pickups: Swoon

A fine second album that rewards with repeated listens for great number of subtleties and nuances.

3. Bark Psychosis: Hex (1994)

Not a new album, but new to me. Early Post-Rock.

4. Neko Case: Middle Cyclone

It took me a some time to finally get around to listening to  Neko and now I understand why everyone loves her voice.

5. Jon Jenkins and David Helpling: Beyond Words (Live)

Live album from their Treasure tour. Why did I find out about these guys so late?

6. Brendan Perry: “Utopia” (song)

Very DCD! The new album, Ark, doesn’t release till February but this song has been on his MySpace all year… taunting fans all the way.

7. Mark Dwane: Other Worlds

The newest in a line of successive albums that combine Midi Guitar and Electro-Acoustic. More floatiness for the brain.

8. Russian Circles: Geneva

Third album from Post-Rock greats that are as amazing on album as they are live.

9. MGR: Wavering On The Cresting Heft

Isis guitarist’s floaty album that brings in more noise that builds and evolves from Nova Lux’s more spare piano and guitar arrangements. A nice companion release.

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Favorite Local CD release:

A Digital Lie: A Digital Lie CD EP

I know, I know, why 12 when the usual is 10? Why not? There was a lot of good music out there this year to get excited about and sometimes I just want to act outside of the box. My request with this list is to ask each of you reading it to send me back your list of Top CDs of the year, be it as many or as few as you would like. I want you to contact me or each other and talk about why you liked the music you did. 

This is not a challenge. but I know that Mike is currently working on a Top 40 list and that has got to be hard to pair down considering the multitudes of CDs that he buys each year.
I look forward to your lists.

Top Twelve for 2006:

1. Mew- And The Glass Handed Kites – When a band challenges me to listen to music differently (as A Perfect Circle’s Mer de Noms did in 2000), it’s always a more engaging experience then the usual faire of rock music that is released every year. You know the usual album construct?: It’s 10-12 songs; 1^st song kicks off like a rock being dropped into water; the 3^rd, 7^th, and 9^th songs are the hooks that reel you back in; with the last song being the overtly sappy ballad.

   What is most striking about Mew, a Danish quartet, is that they approach their sound with a series of contrasts instead. The primary contrast is the arcing of falsetto vocals over the grounding riffs. It defines the bands’ sound, but it’s just one of many pleasing contrasts that let you know that they are up to something better: an album unlike the ones built before, or as often. For clarification, by “album” I also do not mean a collection of songs that can be played at random, but rather a collection of songs that bleed into one another so profusely that the songs sometimes defy beginning and ending; that they must be listened to in order as the band has intended.

   With this as the blueprint, that the album starts off with the non-lyrical (not non-vocal) “Circuitry of the Wolf”, a piece that traps the listener who is still pondering the title’s meaning, while the music gives shape to the inevitable rise of the falsetto chorale from the deep in the mix?  It may sound ominous, but it’s actually quite lovely as the music crescendos and transitions into the first of many song-blocks. From there, the album guides you through several movements that are epitomized by the sequence of “Fox Cub”, “Apocalypso”, “Special”, and “The Zookeeper’s Boy”. “Special” is especially appealing with a guitar hook so infectious that it could have been track 3, 7 or 9 on a typical10 track album, as opposed to track 6 in a sequence of 14. There are also moments of guile when the drums change tempo so subtly that it approximates an audio vertigo.  It is moments like this, that allow the listener to become more in tune with the work, where subtlety and nuance are key.

   Through many of the album’s movements, I strained to understand what Jonas Bjerre is singing about, but arrived at the notion that because his voice is so instrument-like (as with Dead Can Dance’s Lisa Gerrard) that it sometimes ceases to be about the lyric rather than being just lyrical. This is not to detract from the actual lyrics though, which are sung in English, and can be found in the booklet with its intentionally difficult font, because voices are as much about the quality as much as the words themselves.

   Ultimately, amidst the contrasts, Mew has orchestrated quite a few moments of joy within their epic first American release. I still don’t know what else to call them, these moments of joy, I can only revel in them as I listen to And The Glass Handed Kites over and over—another rarity for me.

2. Appleseed Cast- Peregrine – Epic song building from another band that likes using birds as a point of reference.
3. Joseph Arthur- Nuclear Daydream – This is the first release on Joe’s own label, Lonely Astronaut, which finds him charting new territory as a singer/songwriter.
4. Michael Brook- An Inconvenient Truth (Soundtrack) – Michael’s album here works as a solo effort as much as an accompanying score for one the most important films of our times.
5. Michael Brook- RockPaperScissors – A proper solo album that stretches beyond the use of the Infinite Guitar sound of Michael’s prior solo releases and hosts many guests in support– both alive and passed on.
6. Foo Fighters- In Your Honour – One loud…one not so loud. The later is the more interesting from the Foo’s and was so well translated on last summer’s acoustic tour.
7. Mellowdrone- Box – A few remakes of songs off of the two earlier EP’s pepper their first full-length. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
8. Now It’s Overhead- Dark Light Daybreak -Dream-pop that defies the era in which it was made.
9. Gregory Page- Love Made Me Drunk – Listen while thinking of a French café in the 30’s…and you are there.
10. Scanners- Violence is Golden – Raw and snappy from a younger PJ Harvey sound-alike.
11. Transit-Transit – I just discovered these guys in the past few months and need to hear more from this indie rock quartet that focuses on lyric as much as music.
12. V.A.S.T.- April – Jon has constructed his most understated and straightforward release simply because it lacks much of the studio filigree of prior releases.

1. U2- THE JOSHUA TREE

     This is especially my favorite when all B-sides are combined with it to flesh out the set– that’s eight more songs!– almost the equivalent to what was supposed to be a proposed dual album set. Even as it is, it is as near as perfect an album as they have ever made before or since. If you ever get to hear the MFSL master of the original tapes, you’ll chuck that original CD version right out to the window. 

2. DEAD CAN DANCE- WITHIN THE REALM OF A DYING SUN

     My first introduction to them was with this album and it changed the course of my interest in music in that they awakened me to the fact that there was something beyond what gets fed to us on the radio. Some call it Goth, but I just call it music. I especially came to appreciate the vocal contrast of Brendan and Lisa, who are certainly rooted firmly to earth and reaching to the heavens respectively.

3. STING- THE SOUL CAGES

     Sting’s finest moment and most appropriate metaphor for the death of his father with the trilogy of songs that span the album. Acoustically, they are even more epic. Great packaging too. I do love it when an artist lavishes his audience with the same attention and care in the packaging as with the music contained therein.

4. PJ HARVEY-TO BRING YOU MY LOVE

     The passionate rawness of Polly Jean’s voice made me understand that there is beauty beyond the open lyric. This set must be combined as well with the other 8 of 10 available B-sides to make this a complete listen. I saw this tour four times and hearing those B-sides live was certainly more enjoyable. Now how about a live album of all songs from these sessions.

5. JOSEPH ARTHUR- BIG CITY SECRETS

     Quite by coincidence, two mediums converged and I was hooked: The first, an article/journal that Joe wrote in MUSICIAN magazine and the second, the listening to a demo version of “Daddy’s on Prozac” from a REALWORLD sampler I had just gotten. Both were as honest and vulnerable as I had ever experienced and I made it my duty to share with others this one-man-band’s art.

6. VAST- VISUAL AUDIO SENSORY THEATER

     When Jon combines all of my favorite elements into one cohesive whole/vision, the total is truly greater than the sum of the parts. This 1st album is still my favorite and re-establishes the fact that for those who are independently talented in many artistic areas not only deserve my respect but my jealousy too.

7. FOO FIGHTERS- THE COLOUR AND THE SHAPE

     “Everlong”. It stands as a complete idea and review here, but I will give a few more details: Driving from Reno to Roswell in 1997…solo…12:30am…first listen….quiet/loud dynamic…perfect moment kept me driving till 3:30 the next afternoon on my way to what was to be my first Foos concert…only to find out show had been cancelled by the time I arrived…still a perfect moment.

8. HALLS OF THE MACHINE- ATMOSPHERES FOR LOVERS AND DREAMERS

     I am a big fan of the two Mikes from Course of Empire and now of Van Eric M. The intuition and minimalism at work here creates the perfect floaty, but I implore do not try use it as sleep therepy. If you do you will never get to hear all of the nuances on this album that make it so juicy. Ok, maybe not juicy.

9. ENYA- WATERMARK

Good production is not just the usage of studio’s magic button, but rather the thoughtful intention to make music sound as it was intended by the artist. Enya may be on the other end of the vocal/musical spectrum from PJ, but I cannot deny her warm voice on a brisk Autumn day.

10. HENRYK GORECKI- SYMPHONY #3: THE SYMPHONY OF SORROWFULL SONG

     By the end of the slow swell of the first two minutes, the listener is pulled to and fro by a wave of strings. And when the siren’s call makes you crash into the rocky shore, you won’t mind having been taken over. I have never heard a more mournful piece sound so beautiful.

11. PETER GABRIEL- PASSION

What Pete does with a soundtrack is not just a score but a complete stand-alone work. This is true for me since I owned it years before I saw the film. Still stands true. I especially enjoy the trilogy “Of These Hope”; “Lazarus Raised”; “Of These Hope-REPRISE”. If these pieces were the whole album, that would be enough.

12. MICHAEL BROOK- LIVE AT THE AQUARIUM

What Michael does emotionally with a guitar goes almost unmatched. For the fact that these versions are re-works of songs from his solo album COBLAT BLUE, they not only stand on their own, but they, as a collection, work better than the originals. And I was a big fan of the originals.

13. COURSE OF EMPIRE- INITIATION

Initiation is one of the most intricate, imaginitive and ingenius albums to date themetically and because of the fact that there are three hidden tracks on the disc and only one of them is in the usual place. Ask me in person to demonstrate the uniqueness of this album.

14. HALLS OF THE MACHINE- ATMOSPHERES FOR LOVERS AND SLEEPERS

Mike Graff from CoE has crafted an ambient guitar masterpiece with Michael Jerome (also from CoE) on drums/percussion and Van Eric Martin on keyboards/piano. I cannot wait for the follow up to see how this band evolves. Though it is recommended to sleep/dream to this music, I would at least become familiar with it for it’s subtleties and nuances before sleeping to it.