∑ilage

Look, we should all just admit it. I know Clipse, J.T., Joanna Newsom, Tom Waits and others have put out good albums that made them critic darlings, but that doesn't change the depressing fact that 2006 was just a weak year overall for new music.

Like a lot of you, I am also tired of synth driven "rock" like Postal Service. That doesn't mean it's not good though, and i certainly don't agree that it's "lethargic." It's just really worn out and has lost some of its innovative appeal. Unless you just want to say that it's all just gussied up 80s music. Which i guess would be fair. Huey Lewis and the News anyone?

Anyways, not much new stuff this year that i liked a lot. Decemberists new album was nice, and even beautiful, but it's still part of a now familiar formula from those guys. Acclaimed albums like Destroyer's Rubies were really just obnoxious and hard to follow, and had me itching to pitch my plastic frames into the trash. Shit, when the title song for snakes on a plane gets top 40 time, you know we're desperate.

So here's my recommendation: Arctic Monkeys: Whatever people say i am, tha'ts what i'm not"

This album rocks.

Pros:

1) It's british so all the lyrics sound cool even when they're not
2) It includes guitars
3) Not afraid to occasionally sacrifice pretty harmony (overrated) for kick-ass chord crunching, downright shouting, and drum bashing.
4) Catchy on the first listen, but later tracks reward continued attention.
5) Hates on San Fransisco hipsters
6) Sounds exhilirating in the car at high volume whilst driving

Cons:

1) I think i heard "fake tales of san fransisco" (track 2 or 3) playing from the Gap in the local shopping mall while i was christmas shopping. Probably included on some maxim 06 mix or a Hollister complimentary CD. Can't count that against the album too much though, considering that the same Gap audience simply could not handle ugly later tracks like "from the ritz to rubble" or "perphas vamppires is a bit strong." Unless of course your one of those emo, skater, or hispster dicks that won't listen to music just because you didn't hear it in your garage or someone bought the rights to it. If so, go survey the average lifestyle of a musician with no commercial love and tell me what you think. Then go blow a rhino and choke on the darkened fluid that comes out. Seriously, what the fuck is wrong with people like that?

2) Only 13 tracks long.

3) Not the Arcade Fire.

happy listening