Once you've started keeping a yearly top 15 list [1] of your favorite albums, it's impossible to stop. I haven't been a proper music critic since 1999 and yet I dutifully compile a top 15 every year, and will probably do so until the end of the music industry itself – which, by my estimates, should happen any minute now. When society falls down, the ice caps melt and bands no longer release "albums" purchasable in "record stores," I imagine I'll adapt with the times: a list of the top 15 downloadable album-like units in a given year, or perhaps a list of the top 15 most interesting lists from preceding years.
But that's tomorrow. Today we have albums which you can find at Easy Street Records [1] and Sonic Boom [1], where they wait patiently for you to bring your own savage judgment upon them.
1. Neko Case - "Fox Confessor Brings the Flood" [2]
All the things that make Neko Case a one-of-a-kind talent - her heartfelt and yearning lyrics, her gift for producing classic country harmonies, her positively smoldering vocals - are sharpened to a point on "Fox Confessor." This is the sound of a giant taking her first really big step.
2. Scritti Politti - "White Bread, Black Beer" [3]
If ever you've wondered what pure pop music tastes like, put this record in your iPod and savor the flavor. The 1980s pop group returns with a sound that's at once vintage and contemporary – a cocktail of shimmering vocal harmonies and terrifically catchy instrumental hooks.
3. Kid Koala - "Your Mom's Favorite DJ" [4]
Believe the hype. Kid Koala is one of the best DJs in the world, and this album – comprised of two 15-minute-plus mixes that run the gamut from rump-shaking hip-hop to fist-pumping rock – is the party record of 2006.
4. TV on the Radio - "Return to Cookie Mountain" [5]
The band lives up to its name – there's a veritable wealth of visual information to be gleaned from these layered, complex audio tracks. Many of the sounds on Cookie Mountain don't seem to have originated on this planet.
5. The Gossip - "Standing in the Way of Control" [6]
It's said that when fate closes a door, it opens a can of whoop-ass. OK, I tweaked the expression a bit, but dig this: Just as Sleater-Kinney packs it in, The Gossip steps up with its most aggressive, most intelligent and flat-out best damn music yet. This is divine intervention, my friends, and we must acknowledge it.
6. Drive-By Truckers - "A Blessing and a Curse" [7]
Remember that great feeling you had when you first heard Wilco's "Being There"? Get ready to feel that way again, as this Athens, Ga. band forgoes making a great Americana record to simply make a great record, period.
7. Joanna Newsom - "Ys" [8]
The harpist and helium-voiced folksinger goes with longer tracks and more lush production on her sophomore release – and for a change, more actually equals more.
8. Gnarls Barkley - "St. Elsewhere" [9]
Sure, it's been overplayed. Sure, that cover of the Violent Femmes' "Gone Daddy Gone" is kinda stupid. It doesn't change the fact that this collaboration between angelic singer Cee-Lo and mad genius DJ Danger Mouse is an inspired meeting, one that will hopefully be repeated.
9. Twilight Singers - "Powder Burns" [10]
Greg Dulli formed Twilight Singers to keep himself occupied between making records with the Afghan Whigs. Judging from the potency of this record, he appears to be rethinking his priorities –this dark, twisted rock masterwork is the equal of any record the Whigs ever made.
10. Ruby Dee & The Snakehandlers - "North of Bakersfield" [11]
The debut full-length record by Seattle's premier honky-tonk outfit delivers the goods. Working with veteran local producer Conrad Uno, the band has made a record you can take on the road – a perfect soundtrack to driving country highways, kicking back in smoky bars and admiring the night sky over the high desert.
11. Various Artists - "Rogue's Gallery" [12]
Producer Hal Willner, best known for his all-star tribute records honoring Thelonious Monk and Walt Disney (among many others), somehow coaxes the likes of Bryan Ferry, Rufus Wainwright, Baby Gramps, Lucinda Williams and Bono into singing ... sea chanteys. It's as beautiful and weird as the idea sounds.
12.Thom Yorke - "The Eraser" [13]
No, it's not a new Radiohead record – it's better. Yorke's largely-electronic solo record is full of surprises and secrets, traps and escapes. It's the aural equivalent of a carnival funhouse, in which every mirror returns a distorted but nonetheless familiar image.
13. Pet Shop Boys - "Fundamental" [14]
You've got to hand it to these guys – their hooks stick. Tracks like "Minimal" and "The Sodom and Gomorrah Show" are the reason dance clubs exist, while "I'm With Stupid" and "Integral" deliver a blast of politics with the percussion.
14. Hybrid - "I Choose Noise" [15]
Breakbeats don't come any more potent than this. Of particular note is "Just For Today" – a swirling, propulsive techno symphony that was partially recorded in Bastyr University's Chapel. You'll become a believer before it's through.
15. Sufjan Stevens - "Songs for Christmas" [16]
Usually I can't stand Christmas music, but Stevens – on a short break from creating music for these United States – has a way with the season that defies reason. His versions of "Joy to the World" and "Holy, Holy, Holy" make the carols ring anew.
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Copyright © 2008 The Seattle Times Company
