Category: Music

Keeping up my young but enthusiastic tradition of an annual compilation of what I’ve been listening to over the last year, I hereby present Radio Sunpig 2006. As usual, not all of the tracks were released this year, but 2006 was when I heard them first.

My main goal in putting together the compilation was to create a CD-sized mix that would sound great in a particular order, so the tracks here aren’t necessarily my favourite songs from any given album. There are even some artists that don’t feature at all because I couldn’t find the right space for them. I’ll try to make sure they’re represented when I do my favourite albums of the year in the next day or two. (Update: now available at 2006 in review: music.)

(Also, I’m not nearly as happy with the CD cover I made this year. What you see below is the third iteration, after I decided to fall back on some design elements that have worked out well enough on the site already.)

1. Black Star – 8th Light (Astronomy)
   
   Black Star was a collaboration between Mos Def and Talib Kweli on the mic, and DJ Hi-Tek. Just like with Ash’s “Orpheus” last year, I knew this was going to be the first track of Radio Sunpig this year. The cool beats and smooth grooves set the tone for a compilation that is (relatively) laid back.
2. Gomez – See The World
   A gorgeous song about seizing the day, and loving life. It never (well, rarely) fails to lift me out of a grumpy mood.
3. The New Pornographers – These Are The Fables
   I tend to fall in love with the voice of one female vocalist each year, and this time round it’s Neko Case. This is perhaps not my favourite song of hers, but it’s a deliciously intriguing track nevertheless.
4. Barenaked Ladies – Take It Back
   The Barenaked Ladies were back on top form this year with their album Barenaked Ladies Are Me. This track shows them blending politics with a sweet sing-along melody. Think of all the lives saved by plastic knives, indeed.
5. L.E.O – Ya Had Me Goin’
   L.E.O. is a project by Bleu, and is a kind of tribute to the musical influences of Jeff Lynne and E.L.O. The rest of the album (Alpacas Orgling) is so-so, but this track is right up there with the best Jeff Lynne ever made.
6. Belle And Sebastian – For The Price of a Cup Of Tea
   For me, this song will forever be associated with cleaning our bathroom. Don’t ask.
7. Boysetsfire – Requiem
   This is Alex’s favourite song right now. He loves the superb rock drum opening. So do I. This is one of the more mainstream tracks from the album The Misery Index: Notes From The Plague Years, and although I love their more hard-core offerings, this is probably going to see more long-term play in the years to come.
8. Jay-Z and Linkin Park – Encore/Numb
   Heard this for the first time on the soundtrack of Miami Vice, and loved it straight away. They’ve taken the best bits of both original tracks and mashed them together with a subtle and slightly menacing keyboard line.
9. The White Stripes – As Ugly As I Seem
   Guitar. Bongos. Jack White’s vocals. Don’t understand what the song is about, but it’s great to listen to anyway.
10. Frou Frou – Hear Me Out
    Frou Frou was a collaboration between Imogen Heap and producer Guy Sigsworth. This is a fine example of the sweet electronic pop they made together.
11. Tragically Hip – Nautical Disaster
    Alan dosed me up on the Hip this year, but not soon enough for me to catch them on their UK tour. Bastard.
12. Supergrass – Coffee In the Pot
    Hey!
13. The Flaming Lips – The W.A.N.D
    I love it when the Flaming Lips go totally over the top with a track, but still manage to keep it all together: tumbling drum loops, burning guitars, vocal distortions and nonsensical mystic-rock lyrics. Awesome.
14. Ghostface Killah (feat. Ne-Yo) – Back Like That
    I’m highly ambivalent about this track. One the one hand, it’s one of the most beautiful pieces of music I’ve heard this year, with stunningly vivid, evocative, and emotional lyrics. On the other hand, those lyrics are written from the perspective of Ghostface’s gangsta persona, and are profoundly violent and misogynistic. I have a hard time loving the song while disapproving of its actual content.
15. Muse – Map Of The Problematique
    I like it when Muse rock hard. This is one of the overlooked tracks on their album Black Holes and Revelations, but one of my favourites.
16. Fischerspooner – Get Confused
    I almost overlooked this one because it’s from one of the first albums I listened to this year. Still love it, though.
17. The New Pornographers – Use It
    I came by the New Pornographers relatively late in the year–just a week before putting together this compilation, in fact–and the fact that this is the second song of theirs on here says volumes about how much I love their album Twin Cinemas. However, after further listening, there are several other tracks that I now prefer to this one. Still, it’s a terrific power-pop stomping tune, though, and I’m not disappointed at all with its place in the mix here.
18. Barenaked Ladies – Another Spin
    I don’t normally like Kevin Hearn‘s vocals on BNL songs, but they are much stronger than normal here–to the point where this has become one of my favourite tracks of the album. (It’s only on the “deluxe” extended edition though.)

I saw the Barenaked Ladies in concert in Edinburgh back in 2001 on their Maroon tour, just a week before Alex was born. They rocked.

Since then, they’ve been back in the UK twice, in April and November of 2004. I missed the April gigs because their management failed to send out any kind of email notification to their mailing list subscribers that they were playing. I missed them in November because their tour coincided with our trip to California that year.

So, their latest newsletter (dated 19th October, but sent out on the 21st; to be fair, the newsletters are not managed by the band themselves, so they get a bye on this one) drops into my mailbox, and what does it say?

First of all, that tickets for their UK tour went on sale last Monday. To which I say: thanks for the early warning, guys. The newsletters have been pimping their North American tour for months, with special advance booking codes for fan club members, in plenty of time before the tickets actually went up for sale. Not so for the UK. If the BNL were an immediate sell-out band there’d be holes in the ceiling just from where I exploded out of my chair. As it is, I’m just moderately pissed off.

Secondly, the UK tour dates run from Wednesday 28th March 2007 to Tuesday 10th April. With a gig at the Carling Academy in Glasgow on the 8th. Yay!

But…wait.

When were we planning our trip to California next year? (Checks calendar)

No. It can’t be. It just can’t be that I’ll miss the entire UK leg of their first UK tour in three years, can it?

COCK

While I’m on the subject of stalking, I wanted to mention a couple of beautiful songs. When it comes to music, I’m not actually much of a lyrics person. I’ll often listen to a song for weeks, sub-vocally singing along with the chorus, without having a clue what the song is actually saying. So it sometimes comes as a surprise to me when I discover that a light and happy, positively bouncy pop song turns out to be…potentially darker. Take, for example, Imogen Heap’s song Goodnight and Go, from her album Speak For Yourself (soon to be a new single):

Follow you home
You’ve got your headphones on
And your dancing
Got lucky, beautiful shot
You’re taking everything off

Watch the curtains, wide open
And you fall in the same routine
Flicking through the TV
Relaxed and reclining
And you think you’re alone…

It’s a wonderful, catchy song, but definitely treading the fine line between sexy and psycho.

Another hauntingly sweet and beautiful stalker song comes from the album Redhead by Bleu, one of my favourite CDs from 2003. (Apparently he has another album in the works–I’m looking forward to that very much.) From Watching You Sleep:

I confess I looked up your work address
It wasn’t fate that bumped into you that day
But it’s still me who holds your hand when your asleep
Cause you don’t know what to do about your life

So I’m watching you sleep – right outside your window
Inches away from sleeping with you
You don’t even know it
Watching you sleep all night.

Mmmm. Warm and fuzzy and slightly crazy.

I realized the other day that I hadn’t downloaded any new music since the beginning of November. Yikes! No wonder my days were feeling stale and uninspired. So here’s what I’ve grabbed as the first batch of new(ish) music for 2006:

• Arcade Fire – Funeral. My cousin Cameron recommended these guys. I’ve listened to the album once so far, and am not sure what to make of it. It might grow.
• Fischerspooner – Odyssey. I’d heard a couple of tracks from this last year. Smart and funky electro.
• KT Tunstall – Eye To The Telescope. The sheer weight of excellent songs from the album meant I had to get the whole thing. Smooth and sweet wrapped around a nugget of rock.
• Mos Def & Talib Kweli – Black Star. Going back to 1998 for this one. Talib Kweli showed up on a bunch of my favourite tunes from last year (collaborating with MF Doom and Kanye West), and according to my sources, Black Star was a good place to start getting some more of him. It’s rich and sumptuous hip-hop–the good stuff.
• Stevie Wonder – A Time To Love. I saw that Spence has listed this as one of his records of 2005. I haven’t listened to much of Stevie Wonder’s recent material, but if this is anything to go by, I’m going to have to dive into that back catalogue. It’s lush.
• System Of A Down – Hypnotize. The second part of their 2005 diptych. It hasn’t caught my ear as quickly as Mezmerize did, though.
• The White Stripes – Get Behind Me Satan. It’s got a lighter touch than Elephant, but offers another excellent helping of stripped-down blues rock.

Mmmm. It’s a great start to the year.

Around Christmas last year I put together a CD to represent what I’d been listening to a lot in 2004. It didn’t consist just of my absolute favourite tracks of the year–instead, I wanted a slice of them that fit together nicely as a compilation. I’ve done the same this year, and taking a leaf out of Alan’s book, here they are with a bit of commentary. (Note that not all of the tracks are actually from 2005, but they are all tracks that I heard for the first time this year.)

1. Ash – Orpheus
   
   Ever since I bought Ash’s CD Meltdown, I knew this song would make a fantastic opener for whatever compilation CD I chose to make for 2005. It’s so full of energy and sunshine that I can’t help smile every time I hear it. It puts the bounce back in my step whenever I’m feeling down.
2. Foo Fighters – No Way Back
   
   In Your Honor has so many great rock songs on it, but No Way Back meshes well with the opener by Ash: hard and bright, and full of energy.
3. Editors – Bullets
   
   Ignore the lyrics, and just feel the way every aspect of the composition pounds the song forward. The insistent drums, the looping vocals, the crashing guitars, and the battering bass–pure magic.
4. Sondre Lerche – Virtue and Wine
   
   I have no idea what this song is about, but I love its musical richness–the way that every millisecond is filled with layer upon layer of textures and mini-melodies. That, and the killer drums that start off jazzy and end up in a crazy, perpetual solo. Keith told me that Faces Down was a better album than Two-Way Monologue, and he was right.
5. Jason Falkner – Afraid Himself To Be
   
   I’m a great lover of rhythm, and there’s a particular vocal technique that gives me a great thrill: it’s when the singer lays down a clear beat with their voice that hits a subtly different rhythm than the main melody. The chorus here pushes that button for me. Have a listen for the part that starts, “One-thing-I-know-is-true…”, which is where Jason Falkner’s voice takes the lead, and everything else just follows. This is another find I owe to Keith
6. System Of A Down – Radio, Video
   
   Speed metal polka. How can you not love that? Brilliant insanity.
7. Glen Phillips – Finally Fading
   
   I love pretty much anything Glen Phillips does. This song is him in full power-pop mode, and it just sounds great.
8. Athlete – Tourist
   
   The album has its ups and downs, I liked the melancholy loneliness of this title track.
9. Imogen Heap – Hide And Seek
   
   Rarely does a song have the power to completely knock the wind out of me on a first listen, but this one did it. I vividly remember exactly where I was (just passing Dreghorn junction on the Edinburgh bypass) when I first heard it, and I practically had to pull of the road to listen to it properly. It still gives me goosebumps. It’s not a style of music I listen to much, and I was a bit wary about buying the album (Speak For Yourself) in case it was all like this, and the rest of the songs didn’t match up. The reality turns out to be a fantastic electro-pop disc that has turned into one of my favourites of the year.
10. Queens Of The Stone Age – Broken Box
    
    I liked Lullabies To Paralyze a lot, but I don’t think that I really grew to love it. Broken Box is one of the easier tracks to listen to. It has a strong backbone on which to mount its curious diversions.
11. Danger Doom – Old School
    
    I came to Danger Doom via Gorillaz–Danger Mouse co-produced their album Demon Days, and MF Doom raps on the track “November Has Come”. Danger Doom is a collaboration between Doom and Danger Mouse. There’s a lot to like on the album (The Mouse and The Mask), but this track is my favourite: fun and funky, and exactly as old school as the title suggests.
12. Gorillaz – Feel Good Inc.
    
    Didn’t like this when I first heard it. I was wrong. It’s awesome.
13. Charlotte Hatherley – Bastardo
    
    Mad props to anyone who can put the phrase “two-faced lothario” into a catchy power-pop chorus. “Bastardo” is a twisted love story about a girl, a boy, and a guitar. Charlotte Hatherley (guitarist for Ash) is the queen of the “ooh-ooh” backing vocal, and “Bastardo” shows off these talents as much as it does her songwriting skills.
14. Maximo Park – Going Missing
    From one of my favourite albums of the year (A Certain Trigger) comes an achingly beautiful post-punk anthem about longing, loneliness and desperation.
15. Snow Patrol – Spitting Games
    I love Gary Lightbody’s lazy, rounded vocals. When they’re wrapped around a fast pop-rock belter like this one, sparks fly.
16. Imogen Heap – Daylight Robbery
    Another song from Imogen Heap, this one a massive electro-pop-rock mash-up, complete with bips and bleeps, synthesizer-mangled vocals, and burning electric guitars. Love it.
17. Glen Phillips – Courage
    Glen Phillips again, this time with a gorgeous ballad full of hope and persistence.
18. Sondre Lerche – On And Off Again
    As before, even though I know the lyrics by heart, I have no idea what Sondre Lerche is singing about. But he does it with such emotion, and such a beautiful arrangement that this song regularly gives me a lump in my throat.
19. Foo Fighters – Cold Day In The Sun
    The most surprising song from In Your Honor. Light and airy, with a touch of Hammond organ in the background, it sounds like a sunny day in the summer.
20. Robert Downey, Jr – Broken
    This is the song that plays over the end credits of the film Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang. It caught my attention, and I thought it was Dave Matthews until the music credits came up. Wow. This track is from his album The Futurist, and its laid back groove provides a perfect ending for the compilation.