Favourite Music Of 2006: 25-21
25. Jarvis Cocker, Jarvis
The big track: Don’t Let Him Waste Your Time
Hg’s choice: Fat Children
I wasn’t exactly expecting the nylon static crackle of vintage Pulp, but I was hoping for an album of dark jewels influenced by I Spy (the outstanding track on Different Class), Relaxed Muscle (his electro side project) and The Wyrd Sisters (the Harry Potter disco band that he fronted). Either that or the ruined elegance of some of the Leonard Cohen songs I saw him performing in October. But certainly not this downbeat collection of 60s light pop. How come Jarvis (the album) sounds so ordinary, when Jarvis (the person) remains so fabulous? I’m hoping that repeated plays will solve the riddle.
24. Ray LaMontagne, Trouble
The big track: Trouble
Hg’s choice: Forever My Friend
I first came across and dismissed this in 2005. My complaint was that after all the superlative reviews I'd read, it sounded rather derivative. However, then it was re-released with a greater marketing push in 2006 and the Mrs badgered me to buy it. She played it a lot (and is still doing so) and I have to say that I feel more charitable about it now. LaMontagne straddles the divide between chart-friendly Jack Johnson / James Morrison territory and the more left-field delights of Buckley (Sr & Jr), Will Oldham and so on. Beautifully crafted songs, which occasionally sound a little too much like text-book exercises.
23. Gossip, Standing In The Way Of Control
The big track: Standing In The Way Of Control
Hg’s choice: Yr Mangled Heart
I originally thought they were going to be another Bellrays (i.e. ferocious rock band coupled with a megaphone of a voice), but then I head the genre-defying title track (rock? disco? soul?) and realised that they were much more interesting. Sometimes they remind me of PJ Harvey in the way that they make primal, bluesy rock sound fresh and new again. Ultimately I found this album didn’t have quite as much staying power as I expected and now that lead singer Beth Ditto has been so comprehensively overexposed in the press I fear for them. I pray for a quiet regrouping and a killer second album.
22. My Chemical Romance, The Black Parade
The big track: Welcome To the Black Parade
Hg’s choice: Teenagers
This might be pompous, overblown and ridiculous, as suggested in some quarters, but what I like about it is that it has a vision and it isn't afraid to explore it and to try to articulate it. Too often the word "pretentious" is used as a lazy insult for ambitious creative projects. Equally, it might be one of the most important albums since Nevermind or American Idiot. I’m not sure I’m qualified to comment on that, though it strikes me as attention-grabbing hyperbole rather than a completely sound comparison. Either way, there’s still a lot of mileage left in this album for 2007.
21. Beirut, Gulag Orkestar
The big track: Mount Wroclai (Idle Days)
Hg’s choice: Scenic World (Version)
This was a breath of fresh air around the Balkans, so to speak. Criticised in some quarters for being “fake”, I think its strength lay in opening up Eastern European music to people like me, who vaguely like the sound of it and might have bought Le Mystere Des Voix Bulgares (also on 4AD) several years ago, but have never really known where to start. I’m quite happy for people to tell me that this is a pale copy of much better stuff, as long as they follow that up by telling me where the better stuff is kept.
Favourite Music Of 2006 permalinks:
Intro, 30-26, 25-21, 20-16, 15-11, 10-6, 5-2, No. 1
Posted by Hg on Wednesday 10 January 2007 at 22:04.
Received 8 comments so far.
re: Beirut...
Perhaps not exactly the same, but more genuine to my mittel-european ears are bands like Les Negresses Vertes, Mano Negra, even Arno to some extent. Then there's every klezmer band or gypsy orchestra that ever graced our (Dutch) screens in the 60s/70s, like Tata Mirando. Or more recently the jazzy Rosenberg Trio and the popular French/Spanish gypsy sounds of Los Reyes. To me, Beirut sounds a little bloodless in comparison.
The Beirut voice sounds like a wan indie-kid version of Rufus Wainwright - and indeed, I like the wan indie-kidness which he brings to bear on the genre. It doesn't pretend to authenticity, and that's cool.
Jarvis, I'm afraid to say, is my other Dud Of The Year. I just find it boring, flat and surprisingly tired sounding.
Funny, when I first heard Beirut I didn't know much about them and assumed that it was an older man singing (i.e. in his 50s or 60s). It's the reediness of it, maybe (a bit Jesus Blood Never Failed Me Yet).
Is Beirut's stuff klezmer music then? I thought I had a fairly definite idea in my head of what klezmer sounds like, and it's similar to this but not the same.
On Jarvis, I'm really undecided. I listened to the final Pulp album again a few times when I ripped it into iTunes a couple of months ago and found myself enjoying it more than I had when I originally bought it.
I'm probably giving his album the benefit of the doubt based on that. I think my problems with it are certainly musical rather than lyrical. Also, the production's a bit weird - it's hard to make out what he's saying at times.
I listened again last night to the three Wyrd Sisters tracks that he'd done for Harry Potter film and I have to say that I prefer them. They seem to have greater energy, which does contrast markedly with the "tired sounding" solo album.
The Jarvis album is a massive disappointment. It's just flat and monochrome - none of Pulp's light and dark. I really was so so disappointed. Utterly so. In particular, I found it significant that Don't Let Him Waste Your Time is, for me, infinitely preferable in the version he wrote for Nancy Sinatra, whereas Jarvis's version sounds like sludge.
I am having trouble (ahem) listening to the rest of Ray Lamontagne's stuff, mainly because I can't stop repeat playing Gone Away From Me from his latest CD.
I have a feeling that I should like Beirut more than I so far have. It doesn't grab me in the same way that I think it would have done, say, a couple of years ago. I shall persevere til it kills me.
As for My Chemical Romance? I only have one thing to say. They make me laugh like a drain everytime they appear on the TV. Are they a comedy band?
Comment by An Unreliable Witness on Friday 12 January 2007 at 14:23.
I only discovered over Christmas that Ray LaMontagne released a second album last year. Have been listening to it since the start of the week. It seems more personal and less derivative than the earlier album, a development of which I approve wholeheartedly.
My Chemical Romance are young and intense, which can sometimes be quite funny.
"Is Beirut's stuff klezmer music then? I thought I had a fairly definite idea in my head of what klezmer sounds like, and it's similar to this but not the same."
Klezmer sounds more... jewish.
Yeah, that's what I thought. So is there a genre label for the non-klezmer element of Beirut's stuff?
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