Here are some of Dan Bodah's (Airborne Event) faves from 2006. More DJ Best of 2006 lists here. We'll be adding more lists every day until December 31st.
Recordings (in no particular order), click on artist/comp name for a sample song in real audio:
Christina Carter -- Electrice (Kranky)
Erstwhile charalambides member coming into her own as a vocalist, with vague lyrics and guitar structures that immediate connect with the gut despite their abstraction -- it's like finding a stranger's snapshots on the street.
Gnarls Barkley -- St. Elsewhere (Downtown)
Totally original intersection of danger mouse's smart hip-hop beats and cee-lo's majestic soul vocals. and a great cover of the Violent Femmes' "Gone Daddy Gone."
Olivia Louvel -- Luna Parc Hotel (Angelika Kohlermann)
First album of inventive electronic moodiness from french singer -- online here.
Rogue's Gallery 2xCD compilation (Anti-)
Rough-hewn modern takes on classic sea chanteys and sailor songs, including: Baby Gramps' "Cape Cod Girls" (with Akron/Family backing), Nick Cave's "Fire Down Below," and Dave Thomas' drifting wreck of "What Shall We Do with the Drunken Sailor?"
Paul Flaherty -- The Whirl of Nothingness (Family Vineyard)
Flaherty combines reed-tearing wails and blues-soaked melodicism into an unbelievably delicate and powerful record of solo sax improvisations.
Jozef Van Wissem -- A Rose by Any Other Name: Anonymous Lute Solos of the
Golden Age (Bvhaast)
Van Wissem, noted for his lute palindromes and Burroughsian cut-up compositions, plays the surprisingly compelling music of renaissance Europe.
Cibelle -- The Shine of Dried Electric Leaves (Crammed Discs)
The organic sounds of guitar, toy instruments, and this Brazilian's liquid voice nestle perfectly with electronics to make truly new music.
Moondog -- Rare Material 2xCD (Roof)
Moondog -- The Viking of 6th Avenue (Honest Jons)
Two collections of masterpieces from throughout the wildly-varied 50-year career (1949-1999) of Louis Hardin, the blind viking of 6th Ave.
OOIOO -- Taiga (Thrill Jockey)
Wild drumming, chanting, guitar and electronics from Yoshimi P-Wee's post-Boredoms troupe.
Jeff Arnal & Gordon Beeferman -- Rogue States (Generate)
Two improvisers craft inticate filigree pieces with drums (Arnal) & piano (Beeferman).
Obsessions:
Sea Songs & Chanties -- Classic Maritime Music (Smithsonian Folkways), Dan Zanes & Festival Five Folk's Sea Songs (Festival Five), the old Omar Blondahl LP, Trade Winds: Saga of the Open Sea in Song (Rodeo International), the Rogue's Gallery Collection (Anti-) -- and just singing them at home.
Vocal polyphony from Georgia (Anchiskhati Choir, Rustavi Choir & Trio Kavkasia) & Sardinia (Tenores di Bitti & Tenore e Cuncordu de Orosei)
The Ohio psychedelic rock band Glass Harp's three 70s albums, finally available (for who knows how short a time) on CD from Music Mill Entertainment: the self-titled debut (1970), Synergy (1971), and It Makes Me Glad (1972).
Balkan/Gypsy music from Slavic Soul Party, Gogol Bordello, Charming Hostess, Taraf de Haidouks, Kocani Orkestar, Mostar Sevdah reunion, Black Ox Orkestar, Beirut, Zagnut Orkestar, Golem, Goran Bregovic, Balkan Beat Box, Leningrad, Kismet, Romashka, Bela Lakatos & the Gypsy Youth Project, Fanfare Ciocarlia, the soundtracks for Everything is Illuminated and Borat, and the two Electric Gyspyland compilations on the Six Degrees label.
Christina Carter is actually a current - not erstwhile - member of Charalambides; the other member is Tom Carter.
Her solo album is very nice, absolutely!
Posted by: PAWL | January 02, 2007 at 09:38 AM