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Hopefully it hasn’t escaped your attention that this year DiS has elected not to end the year with a simple, wholly critic-determined best-of-2006 albums list – by clicking here YOU can vote for your favourite album of 2006, from a shortlist of 25 (well, we had to narrow the playing field somewhat, or else all hell would break loose).
Seeing as the albums of 2006 are being taken care of by you, DiS’s valued readership, us writer types have focused our attentions instead upon the finest tracks of the year; on the songs that, be they from albums perfect or poor, have truly mattered over the past twelve months. So below we present to you a collection of ‘mix tapes’ – each DiS contributor was invited to assemble an imaginary mix of ten songs they’ve enjoyed – nay, loved – this year, regardless of whether or not they were readily available in your local HMV. The results are, to say the least, incredibly varied.
Although we haven’t actually made the mixes below, do feel free to programme your favourites into your iTunes (other similar programmes are available… aren’t they?) and list your own ‘mix tape’ of ten tracks in the comments section. Do please take a few words to summarise your ten, as our team has done below.
Read, digest, listen, enjoy, and fall hopelessly in love with: it’s what we do each and every day, and we feel that the below is a perfect indication of the wealth and breadth of music DiS consumes on a daily basis.
Sean Adams (DiS head-honcho)
(profile)
Howling Bells
‘Setting Sun’
(from Howling Bells album; MySpace; review)
Muse
‘Supermassive Black Hole’
(from Black Holes And Revelations album; MySpace; review)
Metric
‘Monster Hospital’
(from Live It Out album; MySpace)
Feist
‘Mushaboom’ (Postal Service remix)
(from a blog, somewhere; find it here)
Cat Power
‘Love and Communication’
(from The Greatest album; MySpace; review)
Arab Strap
‘The Shy Retirer’
(from Ten Years Of Tears album; website)
Regina Spektor
‘Edit’
(from Begin to Hope album; website; review)
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
‘Cheated Hearts’
(from Show Your Bones album; website; review)
CSS
‘Alala’
(from Cansei de Ser Sexy album; MySpace; review)
The Shins
‘Split Needles’
(from Wincing the Night Away album, released in January; website)
I am so predictable, but I love every single one of these songs and have repeatedly listened to them – more than 20 times in a row - walking along the canal to work. It has truly been a great year for music, especially for albums from inspiring and powerful female characters (and I didn't even manage to put Pretty Girls Make Graves, Emmy The Great, Bat For Lashes, Sonic Youth or Joanna Newsom in this list!). There's also notably been a lot of music crossing the guitar/electronica divide, with the forthcoming Shins album showing that even the indiest are taking influences from outside the traditional songbooks. Releasing Jeniferever’s Choose A Bright Morning album (I couldn't pick one track, so it slipped through the cracks) and being a factor in the rise of Metric have been my personal highlights of the year.
Christopher Alcxxk (writer, London)
(profile)
TV On The Radio
‘Wolf Like Me’
(from Return To Cookie Mountain album; website; review)
Gay Against You
‘Gay Unicorn’
(listen here)
Jeremy Warmsley
‘Modern Children’
(from The Art Of Fiction album; website; review)
Justice
‘Waters of Nazareth’
(from Waters of Nazareth; MySpace)
Dr Filth
‘Peter The Great’
(listen on MySpace)
The Futureheads
‘Burnt’
(from News & Tributes album; website; review)
Tim Ten Yen
‘Sea Anemone’
(listen on MySpace)
Count Cacolac
‘Umbrellahead’
(listen on MySpace)
Moneytree
‘Plain Forgot’
(listen on MySpace)
Love of Everything
‘Proud by Looking Round’
(from Association of Utopian Hologram Swallowers EP; website)
It's been a hell of a year for live music. Half of these have tracks I've obsessed over in my bedroom before being reduced to tears by them live; the other half are ones that have stunned me and sent me scrabbling off to MySpace, hoping to recapture the thrills.
Thomas Blatchford (writer, Brighton)
(profile)
Feedle
‘Song For Dogs’
(from Leave Now For Adventure album; MySpace; review)
The Broken Family Band
‘I’m Thirsty’
(from Balls album; MySpace; review)
Yaporigami
‘Yamato’
(from Adaadat compilation Trade & Distribution Almanac Volume III; MySpace)
Now
‘The Incase’
(from Frisbee Hot Pot album; MySpace; review)
Bearsuit
‘Shhh Get Out’
(from ‘Stephen Fucking Spielberg’ single; MySpace; review)
Listen With Sarah
‘Another Nice Mix’
(from ‘Another Nice Mix’ single; MySpace; review)
Easy Star All Stars featuring Morgan Heritage
‘Electioneering’
(from Radiodread album; MySpace)
The Hot Puppies
‘The Girl Who Was Too Beautiful’
(from Under The Crooked Moon album; MySpace; review)
Misty’s Big Adventure
‘Fashion Parade’
(from ‘Fashion Parade’ single; MySpace; review)
Regina Spektor
‘Summer In The City’
(from Begin To Hope album; MySpace; review)
This mix tape isn't, I must admit, my definitive top ten favourite tracks of 2006, seeing as there is one glaring omission. For better or for worse, We Are The Pipettes has taken over my world this year - picking just the one track from it proved too difficult. I expect you’ve heard them already, anyway. As for what is here, I hope it provides a reasonable cross section of what’s taken my ears hostage in 2006, be it Feedle’s skewed missing link between Four Tet and 65daysofstatic, Now’s twitchy dance clatter, Radiohead in a reggae style or Regina’s plain loveliness.
Jez Burrows (writer, Brighton)
(profile)
Neko Case
‘John Saw That Number’
(from Fox Confessor Brings The Flood album;website; MySpace)
The Long Winters
‘Teaspoon’
(from Putting The Days To Bed; website; MySpace)
Destroyer
‘Painter In Your Pocket’
(from Destroyer's Rubies album; website; review)
My Brightest Diamond
‘Something Of An End’
(from Bring Me The Workhorse album; website; MySpace)
Final Fantasy
‘Many Lines -> 49mp’
(from He Poos Clouds album; Tomlab website; review)
+/-
‘Fadeout’
(from Let's Build A Fire album; website; review)
Sunset Rubdown
‘Swimming’
(from Shut Up I Am Dreaming album; label website; band website)
Andrew Bird
‘Scythian Empire’
(from Fingerlings 3 album; MySpace; review)
Of Montreal
‘The Past Is A Grotesque Animal’
(from Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer? album, out January 2007; review)
The Decemberists
‘Sons & Daughters’
(from The Crane Wife album; website; user review)
Hiding under a tree in a field attempting to take some cover from the rain, I have taken The Crane Wife for a walk. Just when 'Sons & Daughters' begins, the heavens open completely, there's a blanket of mist covering the ground and the sky is perhaps the most ominous grey I've ever witnessed. And yet this song, with its five-strong vocal round, does something tangible and wonderful to me; it makes me swell up and fall apart, tells me to run and phone friends, to phone her, to walk cold, wet and beaming and start something. Every one of these songs has given me that exact same feeling, that revelatory spark of inspiration or joy, and I suggest you let them do the same for you too.
Rachel Cawley (writer, London)
(profile)
Optimist Club
‘Hitchcock Blonde’
(from Ripped And Psyched: How To Be A Winner album; MySpace)
Cold War Kids
‘Quiet, Please!’
(from Mulberry Street EP; MySpace)
Born Ruffians
'This Sentence Will Ruin/Save Your Life'
(from Born Ruffians EP; MySpace)
Eberg
‘I'm Moving To Wales’
(from Voff Voff album; MySpace)
Joanna Newsom
‘Emily’
(from Ys album; website; review)
The Sequins
‘Patients’
(from ‘Patients’ single; MySpace)
Vetiver
‘Maureen’
(from To Find Me Gone album; MySpace)
Youthmovies
‘If You'd Seen A Battlefield’
(unreleased; MySpace)
Beirut
‘Postcards From Italy’
(from Gulag Orkestar album; MySpace; review)
Guillemots
‘We’re Here’
(from Through the Windowpane album; MySpace; review)
2006 was a whirlwind of a year, and its early months are completely hazy in my mind. I saw more gigs than ever before, acquired more albums than ever before, and fell in love with more bands than I thought possible. I think I overrated my eclecticism, because when it came to picking ten tracks that made this year special, it turned out I was just a sucker for a beautiful melody. I love my electronic albums and heavy gigs, but when it comes to tracks, I just want a perfect tune - and I was spoilt for choice.
Jamie Crossan (writer, Glasgow)
(profile)
The Acute
‘A Moment’s Brightness’
(listen on MySpace)
The View
‘Wasted Little DJs’
(from Hats Off To The Buskers album, out January 2007; website)
The Royal We
‘All The Rage’
(listen on MySpace)
Klaxons
‘Atlantis To Interzone’
(from ‘Atlantis To Interzone’ single; MySpace; review)
Shitdisco
‘I Know Kung Fu’
(from ‘Disco Blood’ / ‘I Know Kung Fu’ single; MySpace)
St. Jude’s Infirmary
‘The Church Of John Coltrane’
(from Happy Healthy Lucky Month album; website)
The Fratellis
‘Chelsea Dagger’
(from Costello Music album; website)
Frightened Rabbit
‘Be Less Rude’
(from Sings The Grey album; MySpace)
Hot Chip
‘Over And Over’
(from The Warning album; website; review)
Dananananaykroyd
‘Song One Puzzle’
(listen on MySpace)
These are the songs that have summed up my year. Some have been more influential than others. Take The Acute for instance: they are currently my favourite band in Scotland, and ‘A Moment’s Brightness’ is possibly the best song to come out of the country for years. Well, that is until I remember about The Royal We – this, folks, is how to make pop music. ‘All The Rage’ makes you want to put clogs on your feet and dance in the rain. I have also put Dananananaykroyd in my list; they have two drummers, mind-numbingly great songs and you can hum the Batman tune to their name. What else could you want?
Will Dean (writer, Wales)
(profile)
Los Campesinos!
‘Death to Los Campesinos!’
(as-yet unreleased; MySpace)
Subtle
‘The Mercury Craze’
(from For Hero: For Fool album; website; review)
Belle and Sebastian
‘Mornington Crescent’
(from The Life Pursuit album; website; review)
Midlake
‘Roscoe’
(from The Trials Of Van Occupanther album; website; review)
The Flaming Lips
‘The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song’
(from At War With The Mystics album; website; review)
The Pipettes
‘Pull Shapes’
(from We Are The Pipettes album; website; review)
My Latest Novel
‘The Hope Edition’
(from Wolves album; website)
Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band
‘She’s The One’
(from Hammersmith Odeon London, 1975 album; website)
Gomez
‘See The World’
(from How We Operate album; website)
Guillemots
‘Trains To Brazil’
(from Through The Windowpane album; website; review)
The Flaming Lips don’t do boring and set the fun of the summer off with the glorious ’Yeah Yeah Yeah Song’; Wednesday nights bouncing around Clwb Ifor Bach will never be so much fun. Ditto Los Campesinos!, who’ve made living in Cardiff approximately 57 per cent more exciting. Next year’s Sheffield – you read it here first. My Latest Novel will always have a special place in my heart for hiding an album of severe Scottish beauty underneath a ghastly grey record sleeve. The fools. Gomez used to be good, then they went rubbish. Now they’re good again, but no-one cares. Shame.
Mike Diver (content editor, resident long-hair)
(profile)
Midlake
‘Young Bride’
(from The Trials Of Van Occupanther album; MySpace; review)
Bat For Lashes
‘Trophy’
(from Fur & Gold album; MySpace; review)
Mates Of State
‘Running Out’
(from Bring It Back album; MySpace)
Blood Brothers
‘Set Fire To The Face On Fire’
(single out January 15; MySpace)
Rolo Tomassi
‘Curby’
(from Rolo Tomassi EP; MySpace; review)
Mastodon
‘Crystal Skull’
(from Blood Mountain album; MySpace; review)
Cortney Tidwell
‘I Do Not Notice’
(from Don’t Let Stars Keep Us Tangled Up; MySpace)
They Don’t Sleep
‘Face To The Floor’
(from The Drawing Game EP; MySpace; review)
Subtle
‘The Mercury Craze’
(from For Hero: For Fool album; MySpace; review)
Jeniferever
‘From Across The Sea’
(from Choose A Bright Morning album; MySpace)
Every mix tape I’ve ever made has been a snapshot of songs in rotation at that minute, of mainstays on the personal CD player for a week or two. Therefore, some of these are fairly recent releases, issued in the final third of 2006: Mastodon and Blood Brothers, for example. Quality, though, shines throughout the months, however faded from memory so much other content is come December. Cortney Tidwell and Bat For Lashes have released amazing solo records – both similar to but superior to Cat Power’s celebrated return – and Jeniferever craft music for eternal winters. Mates Of State’s ‘Running Out’, meanwhile, is included for its references to moving on: as I type I’m in the process of packing for a flat move. Makes sense, snapshot wise.
LJ Donnachie (writer, Scotland)
(profile)
The Strokes
'Ize of the World'
(from First Impressions of Earth album; website; review)
Giant Drag
'Kevin Is Gay'
(from Hearts and Unicorns; website; review)
Hot Chip
'Over and Over'
(from The Warning album; website; review)
This track has been DELETED ‘cause it’s from 2004/05!
Midlake
'Young Bride'
(from The Trials of Van Occupanther album; website; review)
Howie Beck
'Reptilia'
(listen on MySpace)
Guillemots
'Made-Up Lovesong #43'
(from Through the Windowpane; website; review)
Regina Spektor
'Fidelity'
(from Begin to Hope album; website; review)
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
'Cheated Hearts'
(from Show Your Bones album; website; review)
We are Scientists
'The Great Escape'
(from With Love And Squalor album; website; user reviews)
With bands like Hot Chip and Giant Drag surfacing as the next generation of new music, it's hard not to get carried away. The old hands are giving them a run for their money with exciting and fresh new material to burn. 'Young Bride' is an album track from Midlake's lastest long player, and a beautifully understated epic at that. Get online and listen to Howie Beck's download-only acoustic cover of The Strokes' 'Reptilia': never has quiet sounded so good. These tracks prove that 2006 was a great year for music, even if Paris Hilton managed to punt an album.
Claire Dupree (writer, Newcastle)
(profile)
Muse
‘Knights of Cydonia’
(from Black Holes And Revelations album; website; review)
Battle
‘Beautiful Dynasty’
(from Back To Earth EP; website; review)
Field Music
‘Closer At Hand’
(from Tones of Town album, out January 2007; website)
Guillemots
‘Trains To Brazil’
(from Through The Window Pane album; MySpace; review)
I’m From Barcelona
‘The Saddest Lullaby’
(from Let Me Introduce My Friends album; website; review)
Make Good Your Escape
‘Waiting’
(from Never Look Back Here Again album; website)
Minotaurs
‘Good Care’
(from Anyone Who Had A Heart EP; MySpace)
My Chemical Romance
‘Mama’
(from The Black Parade album; website)
Sparklehorse
‘Some Sweet Day’
(from Dreamt For Light Years In The Belly of A Mountain album; website)
The Spinto Band
‘Brown Boxes’
(from Nice And Nicely Done album; website)
The new Field Music album, out in January on Memphis Industries, is an absolute corker, every song is superb but ’Closer At Hand’ is my favourite. I can’t get enough of Minotaurs, another North East band, who released their debut EP in December on Grand Transmission. They’re truly stunning and my tip for the top next year. I discovered Sparklehorse for the first time this year and wished I’d found them earlier – they’re astoundingly good. And if there’s any justice in the world, Battle and Make Good Your Escape will be massive next year!
Tom Edwards (writer, London)
(profile)
Blood Red Shoes
‘Stitch Me Back’
(from ’Stitch Me Back’ single; MySpace; review)
Clone Quartet
‘Carousel’
(listen on MySpace)
CSS
‘Let's Make Love And Listen Death From Above’
(from Cansei de Ser Sexy album; MySpace; review)
Distophia
‘Princeton T Porpoise’
(from Beat Dyslexia, as-yet-unreleased album; MySpace)
The Lemonheads
‘Pittsburgh’
(from The Lemonheads album; website; review)
Look Look (Dancing Boys)
‘Hell Yeh Old Time’
(from Rob Da bank session; MySpace)
Mystery Meat
‘Stain Goddess’
(from ‘Chewing Gum’ single; MySpace)
Operation Wolf
‘Kim Deal Or No Deal’
(listen on MySpace)
Spitalfield
‘Tell Me, Clarice’
(from Better Than Knowing Where You Are album; MySpace; review)
Untitled Musical Project
‘A Popular Musical Composition’
(demo; MySpace)
This year, the UK’s underground punk scene took the time to wipe the spit off its face and come up with some brilliant, original songs to rival any major-label fare. Many of these bands are new and unsigned – the Brainiac pop-fizz of Northern Ireland’s Clone Quartet, defunct Riot Grrrl duo Operation Wolf and the bratty twosome Look Look (Dancing Boys) included – and would be ignored on the usual album countdown. The US saw the revival of the much-loved Lemonheads who made my list with an album highlight, ‘Pittsburgh’, alongside post-emo trio Spitalfield’s creepy ode to stalkers.
Jon Fisher (writer, Gwent)
(profile)
Muse
‘Take A Bow’
(from Black Holes And Revelations album; MySpace; review)
Foals
‘Try This On Your Piano’
(from ‘Try This On Your Piano’ seven-inch; MySpace; review)
Sunset Rubdown
‘Stadiums And Shrines II’
(from Shut Up I Am Dreaming album; fan-run MySpace)
Blood Brothers
‘Set Fire To The Face On Fire’
(from Young Machetes album; website; review)
Beirut
‘Brandenburg’
(from Gulag Orkestar album; MySpace; review)
Tiger Force
‘Kill The Wonder Boy’
(from split with Silent Front; MySpace; review)
Rihanna
‘SOS’
(from A Girl Like Me album; MySpace)
The Plastic Constellations
‘Sancho Panza’
(from Crusades album; website; review)
Joanna Newsom
‘Monkey And Bear’
(from Ys album; website; review)
Youthmovies
‘The Naughtiest Girl Is A Monitor’
(from Homeless Musics Vol. 3; MySpace)
I've recently tried to prohibit myself from thinking of bands or individual tracks in terms of 'Favourite EVER', but it's a total chore. These songs have been the ones to move me the most this year - from the sky-diving synths of 'Take A Bow' to the feedback-laden, optimistic demise of 'The Naughtiest Girl Is A Monitor', each every one of these tracks conjures a specific emotion or memory that'll live on well past 2006. (PS: thanks iTunes and last.fm for rescuing my terrible memory.)
Alex Hegazy (writer, London)
(profile)
The Gossip
Standing In The Way Of Control
(from Standing In The Way Of Control album; MySpace; review)
Tiga
‘You Gonna Want Me’ (Isolee In My Bee Remix)
(‘Sexor’ track turned electro–tech by German wizard Isolee; website)
The Victorian English Gentlemens Club
‘Amateur Man’
(from self-titled debut album; website; review)
Peaches
‘Downtown’
(from Impeach My Bush album; website; review)
The Mentalists
‘Don’t Know What To Do With You’
(from debut single; website; MySpace)
Robots In Disguise
‘DJs Got A Gun’
(website)
The Dears
‘You And I Are A Gang of Losers’
(from Gang Of Losers album; website)
I’m From Barcelona
‘Treehouse’
(from Let Me Introduce My Friends album; MySpace; review)
Headland
‘Monster In A Shirt’
(from as-yet-unreleased album, due early January; MySpace)
The Humanity
‘Sharks Don't Sleep’ (Guided by Spiders Remix)
(currently unsigned; MySpace)
I like new music. I like creative innovative new music. So I have chosen a good slice of inspired art-rock with The VEGC and poignant post punk from The Mentalists. But new music wouldn’t be going anywhere without new technology, hence my favourite remix of the year from Isolee and a new mysterious mystic mixer on the block Guided By Spiders, giving UNKLE a run for their money. And don’t forget Peaches, who fornicated away with her new third album, with a stunningly cheeky almost R’n’B single standing out from the rest. Speaking of R’n’B, the stars of 2006 have to be The Gossip. Who would have thought?
Mat Hocking (writer, Shropshire)
(profile)
Lovvers
‘A Good Book’
(from An Impossible Object EP; MySpace)
Rose Kemp
‘Violence’
(from Violence EP; MySpace; review)
Hemstad
'Kaserntorgets Charkdisco'
(from Hemstad EP; MySpace)
This track has been DELETED ‘cause it’s from 2004!
Converge
'No Heroes'
(from No Heroes album; MySpace; review)
The Pipettes
'Your Kisses Are Wasted On Me'
(from We Are The Pipettes album; MySpace; review)
Death is Not Glamorous
'Close Knit'
(from self-titled EP; MySpace)
Jel
'All Around'
(from Soft Money album; MySpace)
Sonic Boom Six
'All In'
(from Ruff Guide to Sonic Terrorism album; MySpace)
Peeping Tom
'Sucker'
(from Peeping Tom album; MySpace; review)
For me, these ten tracks stood head, shoulders - and maybe other things - above anything else released this year. All deserve to be discovered but Lovvers - featuring members of Kamikaze - were the stand-out band by a long way; this song fuses the barbed recklessness of Jesus Lizard with pained, flailing vocals that slither across their jagged riffs with an effortless nihilistic cool rarely ever seen in our decrepit punk scene. Similarly jaw-dropping was Sweden's Hemstad who specialise in the kind of cheeky, fun-pop instrumentation that puts a spring in your step, a smile to your face and an endlessly hummable tune in your head.
Lucy Johnston (photographer, London)
(profile)
Battles
‘SZ2’
(from EP C/B EP; MySpace; review)
CSS
‘CSS SUXX’
(from Cansei de Ser Sexy album; MySpace; review)
The Gossip
‘Yr Mangled Heart’
(from Standing in the Way of Control album; MySpace; review)
Cats and Cats and Cats
‘Fight Fight With Fight’
(from Sweet Drunk Everyone album; MySpace; review)
Favours for Sailors
‘Erode My Empire’
(listen at MySpace)
This track has been DELETED ‘cause it’s from 2005!
Arab Strap
‘Serenade’ (acoustic version)
(from ‘The Shy Retirer’ limited-edition single (last recordings); MySpace)
Howling Bells
‘Low Happening’
(from Howling Bells album; MySpace; review)
Enablers
‘5 o' clock Sundays’
(from Output Negative Space album; MySpace)
Jeniferever
‘Magdeleno’
(from Choose A Bright Morning album; MySpace)
Okay, blurb… erm, I don't know! I'm not too clever when it comes to this year's releases – seriously, this was well hard. I'm too stuck in the past! However, the bands I have included on here I think are fucking exceptional! This has to be said especially of the two yet-to-be-signed bands included, both of whom I've had the pleasure of seeing live quite frequently this year (Cats And Cats And Cats, Favours For Sailors). If you haven't seen them, DO IT! They're fucking amazing.
Kev Kharas (new-rave editor, braaaap!)
(profile)
Xerox Teens
‘Only You’ (live)
(listen on MySpace)
These New Puritans
‘En Papier’
(from Now Pluvial EP; MySpace; review)
Jeremy Warmsley
‘Modern Children’
(from The Art Of Fiction album; MySpace; review)
The Ghosts
‘Heartbreaker’
(listen on MySpace)
Jamie T
‘Ike & Tina’ (demo version)
(MySpace; Jamie T’s debut album, Panic Prevention, is out in January)
Crystal Castles
‘Alice Practice’
(from Alice Practice EP; MySpace; review)
Souls She Said
‘Sunken City’
(from As Templar Nites album; MySpace; review)
Klaxons
‘Atlantis to Interzone’
(from Myths Of The Near Future album, forthcoming; MySpace; review)
Bass Clef
‘Subwoofer Loveletter’
(from A Smile Is A Curve That Straightens Most Things album; MySpace)
Guillemots
‘Trains To Brazil’
(from Through The Windowpane album; MySpace; review)
The best beginning to anything I’ve seen this year was Xerox Teens’ set opener 'Only You' at Southend’s Junk Club musical in April. Staggered and staggering, each Teen came to the song in turn as it built to its pounding conclusion, carried by demands slurred dumb and 'fuck-my-guts-are-on-the-ceiling' calm. Wicked. The autistic machinery of These New Puritans’ 'En Papier' clunked and grinded with the lights off the night before, a bruising track that bled oil and green ink out into the darkness at the end of the pier. It gets lighter from here. Jeremy Warmsley's 'Modern Children' grazes the bristling hairs on your arm as it points you in the direction of The Ghosts' 'Heartbreaker', before you wake up in the white-line, motorway noise washing over 'Ike and Tina'. It's my favourite song of '06, 'cause the low-end throbs and the treble bleeps like petrol fumes through an open window. In my imagination, 'Alice Practice' is suburbia the American way - glitched up through black hooded yelps and shot with square-eyed stupor. Distilled and clarified, it's 'Sunken City'; re-using the same influences in a more day-glo, new-East End way it's Klaxons' 'Atlantis...'. Heading home on the night bus, static still bustling in those busy veins of yours, the moonlit dubstep of ‘Subwoofer Loveletter’ cases the air perfectly; caught in the chaos of sirens that go bouncing between walls and echoing down alleyways. Condensing breath and a big boy siege mentality shining out from under your hood. And then ‘Trains to Brazil’ for the morning after, if you can wait that long. Brrraaaap!
Sam Lewis (writer, London)
(profile)
Cat Power
‘The Greatest’
(from The Greatest album; MySpace; review)
Joanna Newsom
‘Emily’
(from Ys album; website; review)
Islands
‘Where There's a Will There's a Whalebone’
(from Return To The Sea album; MySpace)
The Blow
‘Parenthesis’
(from Paper Television album; MySpace; review)
Spank Rock
‘Rick Rubin’
(from YoYoYoYoYo album; MySpace)
DAT Politics
‘My Toshiba Is Alive’
(from Wow Twist album; review; some info)
Casiotone For The Painfully Alone
‘Scattered Pearls’
(from Etiquette album; MySpace; review)
Final Fantasy
‘This Lamb Sells Condos’
(from He Poos Clouds album; review)
Beirut
‘The Canals of Our City’
(from Gulag Orkestar album; MySpace; review)
Adrian Orange
‘In Your Sky Of Thoughts What The Clouds Are’
(MySpace)
Cat Power kicks it off with the single of the year. Joanna Newsom follows it with her epic tome to unbridled lyricism. Islands proved they're the indie act of 2006. The Blow/Dat Politics/Spank Rock will compete for the stereo at my New Years party. Casiotone seem ever more painfully relevant as I edge into my twenties. Owen Pallett's piano's blew me away. Beirut... how dare he be only 19. And I remain an Adrian Orange (a.k.a. Thanksgiving) fanboy, into 2007... and beyond.
Ben Marwood (writer, Reading)
(profile)
Video Nasties
‘The 3 New Ideas’
(from the double-A side single 'I Wanna/The 3 New Ideas'; MySpace)
Metric
‘Monster Hospital’
(from Live It Out album; MySpace)
The Young Knives
‘Mystic Energy’
(from album Voices Of Animals and Men album; MySpace; review)
Fionn Regan
‘Put A Penny In The Slot’
(from The End Of History album; MySpace; review)
The Knife
‘Like A Pen’
(from Silent Shout album; MySpace; review)
Future of the Left
‘The Lord Hates A Coward’
(listen on MySpace)
Sound Team
‘Back In Town’
(from “Movie Monster”; MySpace; review)
Mew
'The Zookeeper's Boy'
(from And The Glass Handed Kites; website; review)
Snow Patrol featuring Martha Wainwright
‘Set The Fire To The Third Bar’
(from Eyes Open album; MySpace; review)
Ben Kweller
‘This Is War’
(from Ben Kweller album; MySpace; review)
What?! I only get 100-ish words to sum up what a great musical year I found 2006? How albums by Fionn Regan and Young Knives stole the show and ‘Monster Hospital’ shook the indie dancefloors? What about the immense potential of young upstarts Video Nasties, or the incredible hypnosis of The Knife’s live shows? Or how Snow Patrol’s staggeringly dull album was almost saved by the voice of Martha Wainwright? What about when Ben Kweller finally grew up, or when Mclusky’s Andy Falkous returned a tongue as sharp as ever? You want a blurb? Okay, this is it.
Raziq Rauf (features editor, likes wing)
(profile)
Gallows
‘Abandon Ship’
(from Orchestra Of Wolves album; MySpace; review)
36 Crazyfists
‘Felt Through A Phone Line’
(from Rest Inside The Flames album; MySpace; review)
Khoma
‘Stop Making Speeches’
(from The Second Wave album; MySpace; review
Abominable Iron Sloth
‘Hats Made Of Veal And The New Car Scent’
(from self-titled album; MySpace; review)
Slayer
‘Skeleton Christ’
(from Christ Illusion album; MySpace; review)
In Flames
‘Take This Life’
(from Come Clarity album; MySpace; review)
Killswitch Engage
‘My Curse’
(from As Daylight Dies album; MySpace; review)
Lamb Of God
‘Requiem’
(from Sacrament album; MySpace; review)
Winnebago Deal
‘Czechoslovakia’
(from Flight Of The Raven album; MySpace; review)
Paramore
‘My Heart’
(from All We Know Is Falling album; MySpace)
This mix tape was particularly difficult because while there are usually about five standout albums, this year there were at least five times as many. It's been a good year. It has also been a sad year as The Abominable Iron Sloth did not manage to live the dream by touring the UK and were forced to disband. Their album is utterly brutal and is a formidable legacy. One band that has been able to tour, especially around London, is Gallows. Everyone that has seen this band play has left the venue feeling utterly brutalised and their debut album is testament to that. ‘Abandon Ship’ is easily the song of the year.
Colin Roberts (editor, beardie, ADD)
(profile)
The Knife
‘We Share Our Mother's Health’
(from Silent Shout album; MySpace; review)
Klaxons
‘Atlantis To Interzone’
(from ‘Atlantis to Interzone’ single; MySpace; review)
James Holden
‘Lump’
(from The Idiots are Winning album; MySpace; review)
volcano!
‘Apple or a Gun’
(from Beautiful Seizure album; MySpace; review)
Youthmovies
‘The Naughtiest Girl is a Monitor’
(from the Truck Nine compilation; MySpace)
Arctic Monkeys
‘The View from the Afternoon’
(from Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not album; MySpace; review)
Jimmy Edgar
‘Hold It, Attach It, Connect It’
(from Color Strip album; MySpace)
Be Your Own PET
‘Adventure’
(from Be Your Own PET album; MySpace; review)
Jamie T
‘Salvador’
(from Betty and the Selfish Sons EP; MySpace; review)
Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy
‘Cursed Sleep’
(from The Letting Go album; website; review)
The most exciting thing about 2006 is the sheer diversity in what my listening palate has been provided with. One week I'll be joining the 'kids' in a bout of Arctic Monkeys-infused mania, and the next I'll be sucking in wave after wave of melodic noise with volcano! I've opened my eyes (ears?) a little more in 2006 and looked back quite a lot too.
Daniel Ross (writer, London)
(profile)
Dananananaykroyd
‘Song 1 Puzzle’
(demo from their MySpace)
Semifinalists
‘You Said’
(from Semifinalists album; MySpace; review)
Tunng
‘Woodcat’
(from Comments Of The Inner Chorus album; MySpace; review)
Finlay
‘Mary IV’
(from The Fall Of Mary album; MySpace)
My Latest Novel
‘Sister Sneaker, Sister Soul’
(from Wolves album; MySpace; review)
The Low Lows
‘St. Neil’
(from Fire On The Bright Sky; MySpace)
Daniel Striped Tiger
‘Beeves & Elthake (Born Into This)’
(from Condition; MySpace)
Fanfarlo
‘Tuesday (Come When We Call)’
(from 'Talking Backwards' single; MySpace)
Puffy AmiYumi
‘Nice Buddy’
(from Splurge album; MySpace)
Yo La Tengo
‘Pass The Hatchet I Think I'm Goodkind’
(from I Am Not Afraid Of You And I Will Beat Your Ass album; MySpace)
I would love to be able to include some horrifically destructive slabs of sludge or breathtaking epic chunks of post-rock, maybe even a little bit of confrontational spunky hip-hop in this mix. But it's been too good a year for our old friend The Pop Song. From Dananananaykroyd's pummelling fists and sliced eyeball fight pop to the gentle wooze and luxuriant jazz splendour of Fanfarlo, 2006 has seen The Pop Song's definitions and boundaries tested and expanded. In between there's always Tunng's pretty stomping around The Wicker Man's burning effigy, Finlay's attempt to melt your face off with the most smashing guitar solos, and Semifinalists' mini-symphonies for spacemen. But underneath, it's all about The Pop Song.
Daniel Saunders (writer, Sussex)
(profile)
The Sadies
‘The Times Change’
(from Tales of the Rat Fink: Original Soundtrack; MySpace)
Boduf Songs
‘27th Raven's Head (Darkness Showing Through The Head of The Raven)’
(from Lion Devours The Sun album; website)
It Hugs Back
‘Lights In The Trees’
(from ‘Lights In the Trees’ single; MySpace; review)
Joanna Newsom
‘Cosmia’
(from Ys; website; review)
Beach House
‘Master of None’
(from Beach House; MySpace)
MV & EE with the Bummer Road
‘East Mountain Joint’
(from Green Blues album; MySpace)
Bert Jansch
‘The Old Triangle’
(from The Black Swan; website)
Seu Jorge
‘Queen Bitch’
(from The Life Aquatic Studio Sessions; website)
Richard Buckner
‘The Tether And The Tie’
(from Meadow album; MySpace)
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
‘Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere’
(from Live at The Fillmore East, 1970 album; website)
I think I had a musical breakdown a month ago; I deleted every MP3 from my burgeoning PC and condemned a few CDs to a life of squalor in my garage - all that remained was anything that resembled a grief stricken folk musician playing it gleeful. Despite that, hopefully this mix isn’t just the fuck-off-world musical version of 2006 I think it is. With artists like Tigertrap’s wonderful find It Hugs Back, Joanna Newsom and The Sadies’ folk-surf-punk it should be relatively smiley-face-emoticon.
Lianne Steinberg (writer, Manchester)
(profile)
LoneLady
‘Hi Ho Bastard’
(listen on MySpace)
The Twilight Singers
‘Forty Dollars’
(from Powder Burns album; MySpace; review)
Hot Club De Paris
‘3:55AM: I Think We Should Go Home’
(from Drop It Till It Pops album; MySpace; review)
Liam Frost & The Slowdown Family
‘The Mourners of St Pauls’
(from Show Me How The Spectres Dance album; website)
Future Of The Left
‘The Lord Hates A Coward’
(MySpace)
Tom Waits
‘Lucinda’
(from Orphans album; website)
The Walkmen
‘Danny’s At The Wedding’
(from A Hundred Miles Off album; MySpace)
Robert Pollard
‘U.S. Mustard Company’
(from From A Compound Eye album; website; review)
TV On The Radio
‘I Was A Lover’
(from Return To Cookie Mountain album; website; review)
Bruce Springsteen
‘Oh Mary Don’t You Weep’
(from The Seeger Sessions album; website)
Emerging from nowhere, well, a council flat in Manchester, LoneLady found herself chosen to play this year’s SXSW festival. ‘Forty Dollars’ is Greg Dulli celebrating his nine lives. The fact that I couldn’t spend a day for an entire month without listening to Hot Club de Paris’ debut album was a huge surprise for me, particularly as the two phrases that seemed to follow them around were ‘barbershop harmonies’ and ‘The Futureheads’. Young Liam Frost released his debut single and in doing so managed to maintain all of the honest depth that had made him such hot property. Thank God Andy Falkous didn’t go underground after the demise of Mclusky as the new material from FOTL proves there are still plenty of bile-soaked riffs left in him. Hearing Tom Waits’ growling beatbox is akin to screaming at yourself in the mirror. Terrifying and yet familiar, Waits is one of the few artists in the world who can conjure up the darkened world of jail cells, bar room brawls and empty highways without having to grow a bumfluff moustache. Hamilton Leithauser’s Dylan-cracked vocals can be the divisive element in The Walkmen’s sound but for those who fall on the appreciative side of the fence, his desperation rings through on this drunken, driving epic. The end of Guided By Voices left a hole in the world but the consistent, prolific output of frontman and founder Robert Pollard has ensured that all is not lost.
George Terry (writer, London)
(profile)
Beck
‘Think I’m In Love’
(from The Information album; website; review)
Psapp
‘Hi’
(from The Only Thing I Ever Wanted album; website)
Kasabian
‘Empire’
(from Empire album; website)
The Young Knives
‘The Decision’
(from Voices Of Animals And Men album; website; review)
The Research
‘Golden Rules’
(listen on MySpace)
The Raconteurs
‘Steady As She Goes’
(from Broken Boy Soldiers album; website; review)
Hot Chip
‘Over And Over’
(from The Warning album; website; review)
CSS
‘Let’s Make Love And Listen To Death From Above’
(from Cansei de Ser Sexy album; website; review)
Maximo Park
‘I Want You To Stay’
(from A Certain Trigger album; website)
The Rakes
‘All Too Human’
(single; website; review)
Beck’s ‘Think I’m In Love’ is like a Roses’ Caramel Barrel – heard, yet fragile. It’s the outstanding track on an amazing album. Psapp’s ’Hi’ is the most astonishing opening track you’ll ever hear played with toys. As for Kasabian, sometimes it’s okay to like something unthinkingly. The Young Knives have a killer way with choruses, and ‘The Decision’ is definitely their best. The Raconteurs are pop music at its Buzzcocks best, and Hot Chip’s ’Over And Over’ is the track of 2006’s festivals. CSS’s Lovefoxxx is the Peaches you’d trust not to steal your girl or boyfriend – ace nonsense.
Rob Webb (writer, Sheffield)
(profile)
Arctic Monkeys
‘The View From The Afternoon’
(from Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not album; MySpace; review)
Bat For Lashes
‘Horse And I’
(from Fur And Gold album; website; review)
Calexico
‘Letter To Bowie Knife’
(from Garden Ruin album; website)
The Guild
‘It's All Been Sacked’
(listen on MySpace)
The Long Blondes
‘You Could Have Both’
(from Someone To Drive You Home album; MySpace; review)
Patricians
‘Lethargy In The UK’
(listen on MySpace)
Regina Spektor
‘Samson’
(from Begin To Hope album; website; review)
Situationists
‘Under The Pavement’
(listen on MySpace)
The Spinto Band
‘Oh Mandy’
(from Nice And Nicely Done album; MySpace; review)
Stoney
‘Jailbird’
(from The Scene And The Unseen album; website)
Some of these will no doubt be familiar: The Spinto Band, Arctic Monkeys and Regina Spektor tracks are surely staples of any half decent 2006 indie compilation, and shouldn't need any introduction. Ditto The Long Blondes, possibly Calexico and maybe even Bat For Lashes. The rest are all tracks from Sheffield artists that I've been listening to incessantly all year long. In no particular order, we have the Muse-in-a-circus brilliance of The Guild's 'It's All Been Sacked', Situationists' surprisingly compelling take on the Bloc Party/Futureheads jerk-punk formula, Stoney's Las-meets-The-Streets jangle-pop and Patricians, a band with enough joy and tunes to raise a smile from Scrooge. Happy listening, and Merry Christmas :)
Gary Wolstenholme (photographer, Sheffield)
(profile)
Red Sparowes
‘Like The Howling Glory Of The Darkest Winds, This Voice Was Thunderous And The Words Holy, Tangling Their Way Around Our Hearts And Clutching Our Innocent Awe’
(from Every Red Heart Shines Toward The Red Sun album; MySpace; review)
Mastodon
‘Colony Of Birchmen’
(from Blood Mountain album; website; review)
ISIS
‘Dulcinea’
(from In the Abscence of Truth album; website; review)
Zyklon
‘Wrenched’
(from Disintegrate album; website; MySpace)
Zombi
‘Night Rhythms’
(from Surface To Air album; website)
Sunn O))) & Boris
‘Akuma No Kuma’
(from Altar album; Southern Lord website)
Satyricon
‘K.I.N.G.’
(from Now, Diabolical album; website; review)
Mogwai
‘Glasgow Mega Snake’
(from Mr Beast album; website; review)
Eternal Lord
‘Destiny’
(from Eternal Lord/Azriel Split EP; MySpace)
Enslaved
‘Heir to the Cosmic Seed’
(from Ruun album; website; MySpace)
Starting my mixtape with Red Sparowes seemed like the only sensible choice to me. ’Like The Howling Glory Of The Darkest Winds...’ is an epic masterpiece, which is as immense on record as it is performed live. I hadn't even heard of Zombi before I saw them supporting ISIS, but I was instantly sold on their fusion of complex beats and darkened Jean-Michel Jarre-esque electronica. In my opinion ‘Night Rhythm’ is the pinnacle of their album, Surface to Air. For the whole eighteen minutes, the track rises, falls and changes so much that you'd be forgiven for thinking you were onto a completely different composition altogether half-way through. Zyklon, Satyricon and Enslaved add a strong Norwegian black Metal flavour to the mix. ’Wrenched’ is a punishing riff-o-rama punctuated with a combination of Destructhor's growling lead vocals. ‘K.I.N.G’ is more catchy than black metal should ever be allowed to be, and ’Heir to the Cosmic Seed’ rounds of the mix perfectly with its combo of jagged rhythms and theatrical meandering guitars, vox and synth work.
Ben Yates (writer, Suffolk)
(profile)
Open Mouth
‘Castle Keep’
(listen on MySpace)
Final Fantasy
‘This Lamb Sells Condos’
(from He Poos Clouds album; MySpace; review)
Metallic Falcons
‘Nighttime And Morning’
(from Desert Doughnuts album; MySpace; review)
Joanna Newsom
‘Cosmia’
(from Ys album; review)
Tiger MCs
‘Birdy’
(from forthcoming We Go Out album; MySpace)
Camille
‘Au Port’
(from Le Fil album; website)
Battles
‘B+T’
(from EP C/B EP; website; review)
A Hawk And A Hacksaw
‘God Bless The Ottoman Empire’
(from The Way The Wind Blows album; website; review)
Eluvium
‘I Will Not Forget That I Have Forgotten’
(from When I Live By The Garden And The Sea album; website; review)
Mogwai
‘Friend Of The Night’
(from Mr Beast album; website; review)
This year has been great for me in terms of new music. Joanna Newsom needs no explaining, and nor does Mogwai. 'Bridy' by Tiger MCs is a fantastic slice of summery pop-folk, while the music of Battles is as challenging as it is exciting. Open Mouth - Miss Black America vocalist Seymour Glass' side-project - has really got my hopes up for the future; 'Castle Keep' explains why. Eluvium, for me, altered how I saw ambience, while Antony Hegarty's performance on Metallic Falcons' debut soundtracked my long summer nights. 2006 = the best year yet!
Did you make it through all of that? Do your eyes hurt? Mine do! Wasn’t 2006 grand? The above certainly suggests so. But perhaps you’ve a mix tape of your own to share with us and other DiS readers? If so, fire away below…
