The Sigla Blog

Is anyone else completely sick of end of year lists? I know I am, but then there’s something compulsive about reading them and you always hope to find an unknown recommendation that may have slipped through your net. So in the spirit of perhaps pointing you towards an album you’d forgotten or a band you’ve never heard of, here are 25 albums (in roughly the right order) that I really liked this year. Apologies for the shameful tardiness in posting this - I mean ‘Best of’ lists are soooo early December - as this post was started nearly three weeks ago but was put on hold thanks to no time and an RSI-addled wrist. Anyone with an acute eye for observation will notice there are no Irish albums included. Not because there were none (there were a few) but as mentioned in a somewhat cryptic and vague way in the comments here, I have to leave talking about them until the new year. If you’re curious about homegrown stuff, Niall recently compiled an comprehensive poll. The Sigla Blog doesn’t upload music, so I’ve referred to myspace or band websites where you can hear some tracks and if I’ve reviewed any of them myself, there’s a link. Honourable mentions are at the end…

Depending on how the sore wrist holds out, this might be my last pre-Christmas post. If it is, have a great one and thanks to everyone for stopping by this year.

25. Final Fantasy . He Poos Clouds
Owen Pallett has grabbed many column inches this year thanks to this album and a Whelan’s gig dubbed as one of the year’s bests.
Highlight: ‘Arctic Circle’
Final Fantasy website

24. Oneida . Happy New Year (JagJaguwar)
If superior stoner rock and walls of guitar psychedelia is your bag, this is the band for you.
Highlight: ‘The Adversary’
Irish Times Review
Oneida on myspace

23. Frida Hyvonen . Until Death Comes (Secretly Canadian)
Potentially Finland’s version of a modern-day Joni Mitchell. Melodic and quirky.
Highlight: ‘Djuna’
Website

22. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Show Your Bones (Polydor)
Proving that they aren’t one trick ponies, the YYY’s answered the style over substance critics with their second album and provided one of the best sets at this year’s Electric Picnic.
Highlight: ‘Phenomena’
Irish Times Review
Yeah Yeah Yeahs on myspace

21. Camille - Le Fil (EMI)
Gorgeous vocals from French chanteuse who has an unusual approach to percussion (listen to ‘Jolie Bruine’) - does ‘Ta Douleur’ remind anyone of Prince?
Highlight: ‘Jolie Bruine’
Camille on myspace

20. Adem . Love and Other Catastrophes (Domino)
The former Fridge member is often under-rated, but not based on this collection. This brooding commentary on the vastness of the universe and the redemptive power of love is one of his finest works to date.
Highlight: ‘Something’s Going to Come’
Irish Times Review
Adem on myspace

19. Viva Voce . Gonna Get Yr Blood Sucked Out (Full Time Hobby)
Label mates of Tunng, this husband and wife duo dabble in rocky alt country and trippy folk resulting in a very fine album many may have missed this year.
Highlight: ‘Faster Than a Dead Horse’
Irish Times Review
Viva Voce on myspace

18. Cansei De Ser Sexy . CSS (Sub Pop)
The ultimate art rockers and all round dirty girls, this Brazilian outfit have been one of most talked of acts of the year.
Highlight: ‘Let’s Make Love and Listen to Death from Above’
CSS on myspace

17. Sparklehorse . Dreamt for Light Years in the Belly of a Mountain (EMI)
Lo-fi Americana, odd vocals, bucolic narratives - it can only be Mark Linkous and what might shade it as his best album. Guest appearances/production from Gnarl’s Barkley’s Dangermouse, Stephen Drodz of The Flaming Lips and Tom Waits (who plays piano on ‘Morning Hollow’).
Highlight: ‘Don’t Take My Sunshine Away’
Irish Times Review
Sparklehorse on myspace

16. Spankrock .YoYoYoYoYo (Big Dada)
Dark, dirty, funny, funky hip hop that’s occasionally not for the faint-hearted but it’s stomping stuff.
Highlight: ‘Rick Rubin’
Spankrock on myspace

15. Jarvis . Jarvis (Rough Trade)
Even though there’s a couple of ex-Pulp members on the album, it’s a stand-alone, idiosynchratically Jarvis affair. Cheeky, melancholic, epic.
Highlight: ‘Black Magic’
Irish Times Review
Jarvis on myspace

14. Eglantine Gouzy . Boamaster (Osaka Recordings)
Skewed pop with a electro tinge from this French singer on Irish label Osaka. Has (deservedly) been receiving heavy rotation on John Kelly’s new JK Ensemble show.
Highlight: ‘Sante’
Eglantine Gouzy on myspace

13. The Raconteurs . Broken Boy Soldiers (XL)
Thanks to Jack White’s new supergroup, it could be the 1970s all over again, but more Deep Purple than Led Zep. Check out ‘Level’ . who says Thin Lizzy and Teenage Fanclub have the monopoly on using guitar fifths?
Highlight: ‘Level’
The Raconteurs on myspace

12. Max Richter . Songs From Before (Fat Cat)
A stunning compositional piece of work, part classical soundtrack, part sonic experimentation.
Highlight: ‘Autumn Music I’
Max Richter on myspace

11. Hot Chip . The Warning (EMI)
An album that seems to have been overlooked in some end of year polls, possibly due to being released in the first half of the year. A happy marriage of electronic pop and darker rhythms that is as adept at floor-fillers like ‘Over and Over’ and ‘Boy From School’ as more downbeat numbers.
Highlight: ‘Over and Over’
Irish Times Review
Hot Chip on myspace

10. Peter, Bjorn and John - Writer’s Block (Wichita)
Single ‘Young Folks’ became one of the most ubiquitous tracks of the year, thanks to that Budweiser ad, but the album is full of wistful pop tracks and vocals shared by all three.
Highlight: ‘Amsterdam’
Irish Times Review
Peter, Bjorn and John myspace

9. Annuals . Be He Me (Ace Fu)
A band consistently championed by countless American music bloggers and one of my favourite finds of 2006. Layered, multi-instrument rock that might remind some of Arcade Fire.
Highlight: ‘Brother’
Annuals on myspace

8. Dosh . Delab (Anticon)
Recommended by a friend, this is one of the best electronic, melodic, experimental albums of the year from Martin Dosh.
Highlight: ‘Um Circles and Squares’
Dosh on myspace

7. Tunng - Comments of the Inner Chorus (Full Time Hobby)
Folk has returned in a big way, with added modern tics and these folksters embellish simple folk melodies with guitars, samples and glitchy percussion.
Highlight: ‘Woodcat’
Tunng on myspace

6. Grizzly Bear - Yellow House (Warp)
This Brooklyn four-piece create open-ended understated melodies fuelled by layering, muted production and a touch of asymmetry. Lo fi, in a lovely, messy way. Hopefully they’ll reschedule their recent Dublin date (after $30,000 worth of equipment and $7,000 in cash was pilfered from their van while touring the Continenent)
Highlight: ‘Lullaby’
Grizzly Bear on myspace

5. Cat Power - The Greatest (Matador)
Chan Marshall is an uncompromising performer, and in a year when there were similar releases by Regina Spektor and Lisa Germano, The Greatest lives up to its title, towering over its contemporaries. Haunting tales of bad love and lost moments.
Highlight: ‘Where Is My Love?’
Cat Power on myspace

4. Cougar . Law (Layered)
It’s about a year since I got an advance copy of Law, which was released way back in January. The Wisconsin non-chalantly wandered into my head and blew me away. Mixed by John McEntire, it has echoes of his band Tortoise, as weel as Fourtet, State River Widening and Mice Parade. Turns out me and Maximo Park think alike on this one.
Highlight: ‘Atlatl’
Cougar on myspace

3. Juana Molina - Son
Here’s how I finished of a review a few months ago: “Son is a completely unique piece of work, but it’s also like imagining Astrid ‘Girl From Ipanema’ Gilberto tinkering about with keyboards and samplers. It’s an unusual collection, summed up by ‘La Verdad’ - a gorgeous, musing piece that blends her soft vocals, dusty old synths, birdsong and percussion.â€?
Highlight: ‘La Verdad’
Full Review
Juana Molina on myspace

2. Kelley Stoltz - Below the Branches
Tinkling around on an old upright piano and adding in minimal guitars and song-writing that punches above its weight, Kelley Stoltz seems in a field of his own given the amount of overlap in music this year. Even when his Crawdaddy gig was under-attended and his set was plagued by technical problems, he told stories, covered Link Wray and Iggy Pop’s ‘Nightclubbing’ (getting the crowd to sing the backing vocals) and belted out fantastic versions of ‘The Memory Collector’ and ‘Wave Goodbye’.
Highlight: ‘Birdies Singing’
Irish Times Review
Kelley Stoltz on myspace

1. Beirut - The Gulag Orkestar
Well it had to be near the top didn’t it? An album I’ve consistently listened to and loved even more each time I played it. Zach Condon may be just a 20-year-old from Albuquerque, but here he sounds like a finely tuned Klezmer band or a mini-Balkan orchestra drafted in to provide music for an Emir Kusturica film. Stunning, brilliant, buy it.
Highlight: ‘Postcards from Italy’
Beirut on myspace

Honourable mentions: Joanna Newsome’s Ys, Return to Cookie Mountain by TV on the Radio, Dreams by The Whitest Boy Alive, The Eraser by Thom Yorke, Fujiya & Miyaki’s Transparent Things, Serena Maneesh by Serena Maneesh, Through the Windowpane by The Guillemots, Nice and Nicely Done by The Spinto Band (live review here), Smile by Lily Allen, the re-issue of First Thought Best Thought by the late Arthur Russell, Skream! By Skream, We Are The The Pipettes by The Pipettes, Amy Winehouse’s Back to Black, Someone to Drive You Home by The Long Blondes and Ringleader of the Tormentors by Morrissey.

Footnote:

You think it’s hard to compile a list of 25 great albums from just this year? Nerdlitter has asked various music bloggers to select their Top 3 albums from the 2000’s. Phew, where to start there?