The Music of Passing Days
The year 2006 is 3/4 gone and I must say that it has been qutie a good year for music so far. With that having been said, I just wanted to take some time and pause at some of the music that’s made me pause so far this year. So, here are some of my favorite albums of the year so far (in no particular order). It will be interesting to see how many of these end up on my actual year-end list. I’d love to hear your favorites of the year so far as well.
So, without further ado, my favorite albums of 2006 (so far):
This album was released in 2005, but I didn’t come across it until some time this year. Since that time, it has become one of my favorite finds of the year. The group is composed of two brothers, various instruments and electronics. They fall somewhere in that hard-to-define vein of electronic acts that are often labeled as “folk-tronica” or “electro-acoustic.” They use acoustic instruments with some electronic elements for often mellow soundscapes. Primarily an instrumental album using elements of Reich’s repetition to create the base of many tracks, this is incredibly emotional music but not in a draining sort of way. Carries a melancholy sweetness to it. Very beautiful stuff.
Manyfingers is the alias of one-man-band for the new millennium, Chris Cole. Cole plays more instruments than any human should be allowed to. From cello to laptop and just about everything in between. This album mines much of the same emotional territory as does the Reigns album yet without sounding derivative. Plucked strings abound as do the soft xylophone reverberations. Again, very beautiful stuff. I can’t get enough of this album lately. Quite laid back and relaxing and largely an instrumental album.
The musical collaboration of Keiron Phelan and David Sheppard, best known for their instrumental work together as
- Purchase “Harps Old Master”
Bob Dylan continues a string of three solid albums, proving why he’s a living legend. Yes, some find his voice difficult to get past, but others see it as an integral part of the myth. For those willing, this is a masterpiece of an album. Agan produced by Jack Frost (Dylan), the album continues the Lanois-esque approach yet brings in a much looser feeling band, almost as if we were listening to some good friends just playing music they loved, which I gather we just might be. Though he’s had some less than stellar albums, this one is sure to be remembered near the top of the list.
Though this one probably first saw the light of day in 2005, there’s enough confusion here surrounding their record deals and whatnot that we’ll go ahead and call this a 2006 release. Either way, it’s a solid release, finding the band perhaps toning down the experimentation, yet finding a firm foothold on a consistent sound. And what a good sound it is, impassioned lyrics over big guitars and electronics yet without sounding like a Radiohead rip-off.
I was just looking over this post and realized that I had forgotten to include another one of my favorite albums of this year:
Clogs are most often characterized as a neo- or post-classical outfit. Not quite what you’d call a traditional band, they rely on many classical and minimalistic elements, incorportating string elements with the continued presence of bassoon, something you don’t often encounter. The music is sometimes admittedly difficult for some, but when they focus less on experimentation and more on melody as they do on this album, the results are absolutely beautiful. Highly recommended.
[...] So it’s about time I begin commonplacing. Music: this post over at the Colossians Three Sixteen blog proffers some of the musical highlights thus far in 2006. Literature: I wait with eager anticipation the arrival of the next issue (20:3) of the Oxford University Press journal Literature and Theology, in which Simon Marsden authored an article entitled “‘Vain are the thousand creeds’: Wuthering Heights, the Bible and Liberal Protestantism.” He abstracts the article: This essay reconsiders Emily Brontë’s place within the theological history of the early nineteenth century. I argue that there is a complex system of biblical hermeneutics embedded within the narrative of Wuthering Heights. In the first part of the essay, I locate Brontë within the key theological and denominational contexts of her family life. In the second part, I offer a comparative reading of Wuthering Heights and Friedrich Schleiermacher’s The Christian Faith and argue that Brontë’s use of the Bible is founded upon a liberal hermeneutic that privileges personal, intuitive experience of the divine over traditional canonical authority. Art: September 30 is “Museum Day”, when museums across the United States will open their doors to the public, free of charge. To find free museums in your area, go to the Smithsonian Magazine page here. [...]
Well, the Mutmath CD is one of my favorites this year. Great music!
Here are some other favorites of mine from this year:
Map - San Francisco in the 90’s
A great disc. http://www.myspace.com/thebandmap
Ester Drang - Rocinate
In their new disc they leave their space-rock suits in the hanger… well, sorta. http://www.myspace.com/drang
Bernard - A View Beyond The Cave
up and coming band… expect great things from them down the road! http://www.myspace.com/bernard
and of course no list would be complete without a Starflyer 59 disc:
Starflyer 59 - I Win ep http://www.myspace.com/starflyer59
Yes, but what are your wife’s favorites of the year?
My wife likes Anathallo…other than that, no, these probably are not her favorites. God blessed me with a loving and tolerant wife. God is good (all the time).
Yeah, I’m pretty great arent’ I!!!!!! :)
And humble too!
The Anathallo release is wonderful. While I do enjoy the Mute Math album, I found it to be a tad of a letdown after the promise of their Reset EP.
A few other good 2006 releases:
Sleeping at Last - Keep No Score
http://www.sleepingatlast.com
This is definitely my favorite album of the year thus far (and likely for the enitre year), with stunningly beautiful string arrangments and really, really well written lyrics.
Lakes - Photographs EP
http://www.myspace.com/lakes
I’ve always moderately enjoyed Seth Roberts’ (Watashi Wa) music, but I love this new EP. Expecting big things…
Jars of Clay - Good Monsters
Some new and some of the old and surprisingly a really good album from an old standby. I never been really excited about a Jars of Clay release, but this one definitely deserves notice.
And not a 2006 release at all, but new to me (Thanks to Brent!):
Eluvium - An Accidental Memory in the Case of Death
This is exactly the kind of piano music I’ve been looking for for a long time. Thanks again Brent! Love it!