The Year In Review
By CT3

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Over the last year I bought a little over 145 new and used cds. I listen to a LOT of music and this list represents some of the albums that I've enjoyed the most.

There are probably thirty more that I could add to this list, so I'm hesitant to call it a best-of list. These are some of the tunes that really impressed me in 2006.

Peeping Tom

Mike Patton's long-rumored and highly anticipated project. Amazing mix of funky beats, multi-faceted vocal performance from the vocal king himself, and a slew of guest artists like Rahzel, Bebel Gilberto, Massive Attack, Kid Koala, Norah Jones, Kool Keith, Dan the Automator and more. Great record! If you like Gnarls Barkley or the Gorillaz, you should pick this up.

Fave tracks: Kill the DJ, Five Seconds, Your Neighborhood Spaceman.

The Mars Volta - Amputechture

Imagine if Led Zeppelin took more drugs than usual, wrote longer and proggier songs and sung half of their lyrics in Spanish. Every song on here is over 6 minutes long, incredibly layered and takes a few listens to fully digest. But its well worth it. This baby practically begs to be listened to on headphones while under the influence of illicit substances.

Fave tracks: Meccamputechture, Asilos Magdalena, Viscera Eyes, Day of the Baphomets

Tool - 10,000 Days

Tool shows up every 5 years or so and drops and album that sounds only like themselves and often redefines music as only they can. The music is tight, concentric, and at times cryptic. Maynard James Keenan's vocals are buried a little lower in the mix and this forces you to listen. Is it as masterful as their last one, Lateralus? Not quite, but its almost unfair to have expectations that high. Repeated listens continue to reveal how amazing this record is.

Fave tracks: Jambi, The Pot, Rosetta Stoned

Mastodon - Blood Mountain

Expectations were high with this one... and Mastodon has delivered. Crushing riffs, proggy passages, dual roaring vocals, and tight songwriting. Takes progressive metal to dizzying new heights. Put Rush, Metallica, Iron Maiden and a dash of Southern madness in a blender and you'll get a close approximation of what these guys sound like. This record also contains some of the most amazing drumming you will ever hear. Art metal at its finest?

Fave tracks: Crystal Skull, Sleeping Giant, Circle of Sysquatch, Bladecatcher

Vernon Reid and Masque - Other True Self

Vernon Reid is the former guitarist/mastermind of Living Colour and has also played with everyone from Ronald Shannon Jackson to Robert Fripp. His amazing guitar work is on full display throughout this album of strong and diverse tunes. It's a well-crafted album, not just a platform for a series of solos. And so many styles are represented from African, reggae, rock and Brazilian. There's even a cover of Radiohead's "National Anthem" and Depeche Mode's "Enjoy the Silence."

Fave Tracks: Afrerica, Flatbush and Church Revisted

Gojira - From Mars to Sirius

This French band has created a significant buzz as of late and it is well deserved. Incredibly rhythmic, tight and crushing, but with lots of color. Incredible double-bass drumming. There are no guitar solos on the record and you likely won't even notice. Gargantuan riffs, crushing power and lyrics devoted to an ecological "save the planet" philosophy. Very impressive.

Fave tracks: Backbone, From the Sky, The Heaviest Matter of the Universe

Gnarls Barkley - St. Elsewhere

This collaboration between Danger Mouse (Gorillaz, The Grey Album) and Cee-Lo (Goodie Mob) was a surprise runaway hit, thanks mostly to the hit single, "Crazy." A pop album straight through, St. Elsewhere is as good as Danger Mouse's previous works with Gorilaz and MF Doom, but with a more mainstream sensibility. The reasons for greatness here include DM's uncommon facility for writing (or sampling) simple hooks that stick, his creation of productions that entertain but don't detract from the main action, and his ability to coax a parade of enticing vocal performances from Cee-Lo.The hit "Crazy" and the title track are perfect examples. Over detached backings, Cee-Lo, growls, scats, and generally delivers fine neo-soul vocals while Danger Mouse blankets the tracks with choruses of disembodied harmonies and a well-placed string section or crackling organ to conjure an appropriately minor chord atmosphere. Irresistibly catchy.

Fave tracks: Crazy, Who Cares?, The Last Time

Sizzla - Waterhouse Redemption

Sizzla is one of the most prolific reggae artists around. Its not uncommon for him to release 3 or 4 albums in the same year. Waterhouse Redemption bounces between revolution numbers and lover's dancehall effortlessly, utilizing some classic riddims from King Jammy's studio along the way. Longtime reggae lovers should start with "Someone Loves You," an instantly infectious, swaggering tune that uses the classic "Sleng Teng" riddim. Sweeter still is the update of Ken Boothe's "Without Love," here redone as "Let Me Love You," which brings the vigorous singer down to a cooler Anthony B.level. The hope-filled "Commandment" is the album's great call to Jah while "Stay Above" and "Play Me Some Music" - which ingeniously works a duck call into its hook - supply the eye-level views of the streets and struggles of Jamaica. A better flow to the album would make this one his best, but this release sees Sizzla is an exciting return to form.

Fave Tracks: One Love Play Me Some Music, Thanks and Praise

Mono - You Are There

Japanese instrumental group that specializes in long compositions that stress atmosphere, dynamics, slow-building crescendo and release. Delicate and utterly beautiful while at times wielding amazing power. For those with a taste for the instrumental and the avante garde.

Fave Tracks: The Flames Beyond the Cold Mountain, Yearning, Are You There?

Isis - In the Absence of Truth

I tried to write about this album and it was hard to convey all the textures and sounds on this baby. The music is very strongly influenced by Neurosis and The Cure (and parts even bring to mind Tool) and the songs are layered, long and elegiac. Rhythmic drumming, circular and almost concentric, vocals alternating between gruff and clean, this one is hard to pin down.

I'm gonna cheat and include a review on allmusic.com.

Fave Tracks: Holy Tears, Dulcinea, Not In Rivers, But In Drops

Katatonia - The Great Cold Distance

These guys deserve to be huge. Huge. Refined, melodic, depressing, Swedish alternative rock with a notable Cure influence. Catchy tunes, and tasteful playing that still manages to maintain a dark heaviness. These guys should be on the radio.

Fave Tracks: My Twin, Leaders, Soil's Song

Yakuza - Samsara

Chicago based band Yakuza roar back with their second album. Samsara again showcases the band's unique take on hardcore and metal, blended with other sounds and styles running the gamut from Tuvan throat singing to free jazz saxophones and clarinets to sprawling instrumental post-rock. One of my fave albums of the year!

Fave Tracks: Monkeytail, 20 Bucks, Glory Hole

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