Top 3 Albums of 2006
Gnarls Barkley
St. Elsewhere
The highly anticipated debut album from the pairing of super-producer DJ Danger Mouse and rapper-singer Cee-Lo has had music lovers reeling since the album was released over six months ago, May 9. On St. Elsewhere, hip-hop is big and amorphous enough to include everything from a lively revamp of a new-wave classic to spookiness to trippy songs about necrophilia and feng shui. On most hip-hop albums, a cover of The Violent Femmes’ “Gone Daddy Gone” would sound out of place, but no on this record. Gnarls Barkley has obviously stepped outside of the usual hip-hop box and created a record that shares a love of all spectrums of music on St. Elsewhere.
St. Elsewhere balances solid songcraft with free-floating weirdness. “Crazy,” and infectious, danceable exploration of mental illness built around a killer baseline, ghostly background vocals and disco-symphonic flourishes. Insanity seems to be a recurring lyrical theme on the album, “Just a Thought” is another example, but it isn’t all infectious songs about madness, death and “sexy suicide.” St. Elsewhere isn’t entirely without filler, but a brisk run time helps keep the disc from becoming overly self-indulgent. PopMatters describes the album as “The collaboration between sound technician Danger Mouse and astral soul brother #1 Cee-Lo Green is scattered and compulsive, a collective of voices in varying degrees of twitchy, restless (in)sanity competing for one mind. The New York Times says, “A manic, twisted soul album that’s part nostalgia and part dementia.” However you feel about the album, it is obvious that Danger Mouse and Cee-Lo took a chance and created an album for every fan of music.
http://www.gnarlsbarkely.com/ - Official Website
http://www.myspace.com/gnarlsbarkely/ - For tour dates, band information, etc.
http://www.amazon.com – To purchase St. Elsewhere
Cat Power
The Greatest
Despite the misleading title, The Greatest, released on January 24 on Matador Records, is not a best-of collection, but it is Chan Marshall’s first album of original songs in three years, and well worth the wait. The last album, 2003’s You Are Free, hit rock bottom and simultaneously reached an artistic apex. From there, there is no where else to go but up. For Marshall’s sophomore album, recorded in Tennessee, she enlisted players from Al Green’s old Memphis soul band. However, fans do not have to worry about great change on this album; The Greatest doesn’t compromise a beloved vision to fit an unlikely sound. Marshall’s heartsickness and passion is still very apparent in every note. Green’s old companions serve the songs with perfect restraint, adding color and textures that Marshall never would’ve found with indie-rock musicians, but that never cheapen the impact. Those who are looking for a sad song may be jolted by the refrain in “After It All,” when the piano kicks in and the sweetly whistled refrain, but this is just a happier case for a sorrowful song. The album continues this way, taking deep lyrics with a contrasting sunny background. “Empty Shell” could have been another entry in Cat Power’s deeply dark catalog but with the hoedown violins and smart backing vocals, it sound like classic country. The Greatest is obviously the result of Chan Marshall challenging herself to explore familiar themes with remarkable new dressing. Rolling Stone declare, “What’s remarkable about The Greatest is how much Marshall accomplishes without ever straining.” Spin says, “After only a few spins, The Greatest sounds like another masterpiece.”
http://www.catpowerthegreatest.com/ - Official Website
http://www.myspace.com/catpower - For tour dates, band information, etc.
http://www.amazon.com – To purchase The Greatest
Arctic Monkeys
Whatever People Say I am, That’s What I’m Not
Sheffield England’s pride and joy, Arctic Monkeys, was not only the most-hyped band of early 2006, their album Whatever People Say I am, That’s What I’m Not released on Domino Records on February 21, managed to accomplish what the likes of Franz Ferdinand and The Libertines couldn’t do before them: set the UK record for fastest-selling debut album of all time. However, don’t let the hype skew your point of view, it is a catchy record. “I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor,” three minutes of nightcrawler frenzy that captures what it’s like to be young, hip, and on the make and everything that rock n’ roll is supposed to be. The song starts off in chaos and gradually stabilizes as frontman Alex Turner puts on his best Ziggy Stardust voice and sings about lust and hope. It is music to go nuts to. Song after song, “From the Ritz to the Rubble,” “A Certain Romance,” all return to the same nightclubs for the same set of cocky put downs and faintly misogynist come-ons, while the band creates a sound that seems to have been assembled from pieces of retro-minded rock acts like The Strokes and Franz Ferdinand. There is obviously a lot of hype behind this record based on the many times “Dancefloor” was downloaded off the band’s MySpace page, and no wonder it went straight to number one on the UK charts when it got an “official” release date in October, but even without the hype Whatever People Say I am, That’s What I’m Not is a good record. New Musical Express says, “Even if you’ve been fortunate enough to live with these tracks over the last year or so, they still sound more vital, more likely to make you form your own band than anything else out there.”
http://www.arcticmonkeys.com/ - Official Website
http://www.myspace.com/arcticmonkeys - For tour dates, band information, etc.
http://www.amazon.com – To purchase Whatever People Say I am, That’s What I’m Not
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