Top Albums of 2006 & 2007

Now that we have reached the final month of 2012, I have turned my focus toward my annual and, unfortunately, ever expanding need to share my favorite music of each year.  I've started making notes and am preparing to write about each release that moved me this year, and I am finding it difficult.  Not only is writing about music difficult and counter-intuitive, it can be frustrating.  It's frustrating, because I am not sure what my motivation is.  I am not particularly good at it, nor do I have any aspirations to be, but I do love the music and I have a strange need to both organize and document everything that I've purchased throughout the year.  Mainly though, I want to share the excitement and deep feelings that I experience from these songs.  I want to do my small part in spreading the word, despite my lack of eloquence and an audience. 

That takes care of the motivation part, but not the pain of actually squeezing coherent words out of me about this music.  Surprisingly, while at a crossroads the other day about whether or not to bother with the list this year, I ran across some old file that had two years worth of lists on it.  I think these were each posted originally on Myspace.  What really struck me is that it's clear that my dilemma is one that I battle each year.  2007's list is purely a list with zero descriptives about why I like those records, while 2006 is filled with them.  Strangely, it was this fact, along with some simple loose paragraphs describing my favorites of 2006 that kind of re-energized me.  I thought I'd share them here, as I go back to work on what was great about 2012.  All of these albums are still worth checking out, by the way!

Top albums of 2006


Overall, 2006 has been a crappy year for me. Sure some of my best friends went out and had some kids this year, but I also lost someone very dear to me. In addition, I quit my job and gave up any idea that I might one day feel healthy again. Even the Portland Timbers played like pansies. Normally, during times such as these, music becomes a powerful resource of inspiration and reflection for me, but this year has generally been a terrible year for music. I don't know if it's because I'm getting older and less impressionable, or if I'm simply missing the boat on things, but I haven't bought this few albums in a year since I turned 14 (ever since I was old enough to whore myself out to some job in order to earn money to buy music). Don't get me wrong, I am certain that there are thousands of really cool things I would enjoy if I had exposure to them, but I am not discovering them as easily as I used to and I'm getting lazier. Be that as it may, there are always exceptions. Recently, I have been impressed by the Teddybears, the Silversun Pickups, the fun cover songs by Nouvelle Vague, along with all of the impressive b-sides from the singles (which I finally tracked down) off of the Editors first album from last year. Also, I can't forget my re-discovery of Containe's great 1996 LP Only Cowards Walk Like Cowards and the Cure reissues. Meanwhile, I look forward to tracking down new releases by the Rifles, Dina D'Alessandro, Emma Pollack, Springhouse, the Drakes Hotel, the Black Watch, along with a new one by Charlotte Hatherley – among many others. I have been doing this clichéd list of favorite albums for 20 years now and I'm not sure why. Somehow I get wrapped up in all of the end of year hype, and the needless categorization of an art form. My only criteria for ranking these are a subjective memory of what was most listened to. Because of this list, however, I am provided with a mini time capsule into what my life was like from year to year. I am also always curious what everyone else is listening to, so please feel free to share your favorites, comments or questions below or privately. I am always hungry to learn about what I'm missing. Thanks, and please, have a fun 2007.

1. The Lawrence Arms. Oh! Calcutta! (Fat Wreck Chords)

I may be getting older, but that does not mean that I'm ready to surrender myself exclusively to the draw of mellow adult-tailored acoustic/country folk subtleties as sponsored by NPR. I'm still really pissed off a lot of the time and I like to have music that relates to those moments. Unfortunately, I am not able to relate to the whiney, uninspired, derivative emo-fashion piss that passes for punk rock these days ($40 ironic t-shirts and $80 pre-torn jeans from Urban Outfitters do not make one edgy). Luckily, the Lawrence Arms returned in 2006 with their 5th full length album (they also have 2 split LP's and a singles compilation) along with a couple of trips through Portland. This trio shred it up in short bursts of addictive rock-n-roll crammed full of energy, passion, intelligence, and, most importantly, humor. They share the Midwestern sensibilities of the young and drunken working class Replacements, filtered through the ragged intensity of Unfun-era Jawbreaker. They have the drunken wisdom of experience that allows them to stumble upon poignancy effortlessly. None of this matters, however. All that matters to me are that the songs rock and cut through the bullshit. They inspire me to get my ancient, broken bones off my ass and go do something. I cannot get enough of 'em.
(www.thelawrencearms.net or www.fatwreck.com)

2. Sophia. Technology Won't Save Us (Flower Shop/City Slang)

This 4th LP of Sophia's (along with a unique live one) is their best. It is a slick, smooth, and huge sounding record! Beautiful orchestrations surge and swell atop layers of guitars, sharp thudding drum work and some sub-sonic bass lines. Robin Proper-Sheppard's songwriting has achieved a perfect balance between his straightforward brooding grooves of the two 90's LPs and his mildly Goth flavored epics since. He could've easily overdone these songs, but instead they are powerful, catchy and to the point – like a Year After Year-era Idaho as performed by the so-called shoegaze days of Moose (please ignore my band marriage comparisons). "Pace," "Lost (She Believed in Angels…)," and "P.1/P.2 (Cherry Trees and Debt Collectors)" would all be massive world wide hit singles if I were in charge. Of course, I'm not, but hopefully they will make it huge anyway.
(www.sophiamusic.net or www.cityslang.com)

3. Whysall Lane. Whysall Lane (Blackball)

Whysall Lane is the first project I've heard from guitarist/singer Richard Baluyut since Versus disappeared a few years back (I recommend starting with 1998's Two Cents Plus Tax for more on that great band). That's not all, however, the drums are handled by former Jawbreaker drummer (and hero) Adam Pfahler, and newcomer (to me anyway), bassist Mikel Delgado. The songs are constructed with simple sounding building blocks, allowing them to smolder like incense filling the air with intensity (sorry). This intensity evokes a noir atmosphere. The drama from each tune is palpable before the words are sung, but not immediately revealing. Because of this, the album took a couple of listens before flowering into something special, but once it did, this LP didn't leave the player very often.
(www.whysall-lane.com or www.blackballrecords.com)

4. Camera Obscura. Let's Get Out of This Country (Elefant/Merge)

On the third Camera Obscura album, this Scottish group changes things up a bit by recording in Sweden. What they gain is an early 60's Phil Spector-ish "Wall of Sound" added to their style. As usual, these tracks are decorated with strings, organs, and trumpets filling out their sound, but then everything is pushed into the red during recording (a la the Concretes' "Say Something New" from a couple years ago). This technique adds a boost of electricity to the songs. Tracyanne Campbell's voice crackles with her typical dry wit and bratty ruminations on the downfalls of love. The best tunes here are the upbeat ones, but the quiet ballad, "Country Mile," managed to break my heart. Overall, it's a fun record that managed to garner me a surprising conversation with the cute record store girl, who complimented my choice, when I purchased it. Nice!
(www.camera-obscura.net or www.elefant.com or www.mergerecords.com)

5. The Long Blondes. Someone to Drive You Home (Rough Trade)

This one is a late addition to the list. I bought this one in Seattle on 12/29 and listened to it over and over during the three hour drive home. In fact, I have carried it around with me ever since! The Long Blondes provide endlessly catchy and mildly new wave(y) songs fronted by the detached cool seductions of the rich voiced Kate Jackson. I get the sense from these songs of a been there done that maturity (in attitude, anyway) played out in an overly dramatic fashion of early twenty-something's involved in fractured relationships. I never get tired of this stuff. I suppose touchstones would date way back to early Blondie through to today's Metric. I just enjoy the ride and hope they can continue to produce such effectively memorable melodies for a long time.
(www.thelongblondes.co.uk or www.roughtraderecords.com)

6. Metric. Live it Out (Last Gang) - 2005

Here is the opposite story to the Long Blondes. I picked up this LP early last fall, and much like 2003's Old World Underground, Where Are You Now?, it took me forever to enjoy it. I cannot explain why. Once I get over my initial indifference, I fall head over heels. Emily Haines' biting words are front and center throughout, but I found Jimmy Shaw's guitars to be a revealing highlight here. This album is less overtly new wave derivative of their last and it is all the better for it. This band has a lot to say and do and I think the best is yet to come. This is still a fine place to be.
(www.ilovemetric.com or www.lastgangrecords.com)

7. Charlotte Hatherley. Grey Will Fade (Double Dragon) - 2004

Charlotte recorded this album, while her now former band, Ash, recorded their 2004 LP, since she played guitar for them, but rarely got a chance to provide her songs to the records. This is her chance to show off. It took me a long time to get this one from '04, but the wait was worth it. Her playing is extraordinary and these songs are heartfelt and fun and full of busy energy. Her words are endearing and personable, like a close friend telling you a story over drinks. This is a perfect album for sunshine activities (as long as it isn't burning hot). She has a new LP out soon, so quickly grab this one and then we can discover what she has in store for us next.
(www.charlottehatherley.com or www.doubledragonmusic.com)

8. The High Violets. To Where You Are (Reverb)

Every year I need a band that can provide me with a so-called “shoegaze” flavored soundscape with pretty female vocals to soothe my weakening mind. They cannot make music that's too fluffy, or too intent on creating extended vistas lacking any hooks or direction. Portland's own High Violets filled this year's opening very capably. Their songs are just right. The guitar work buzzes and churns forward with an easy momentum and even though I don't know many of the lyrics, Kaitlyn Ni Donovan's vocal melodies make these songs memorable and downright catchy. Thanks!
(www.thehighviolets.com or www.reverbrecords.net)

9. The Delgados. The Complete BBC Peel Sessions (Chemikal Underground)

The Delgados released their fifth and final album in 2004. They will be sadly missed, not only because of the strength of their songs, but because in the live setting they were unspeakably remarkable. This 2 CD collection of radio sessions is cheap and, for some reason, easier to find than all of their actual albums. This collection acts as a good retrospective of their history for the unfamiliar, while including a variety of covers and alternate takes adding value to the collector. Before this band came along, I never thought I would get excited and overwhelmed by indie rock backed by complex string arrangements and flute playing, but here you go. They will be missed.
(www.chemikal.co.uk)

10. Mojave 3. Puzzles Like You (4AD)

Wow. Mojave 3 hasn't dropped their folk-based moodiness completely, but this new LP rocks! The songs are short, upbeat rockers. In fact, the few slower numbers sound out of place on this collection. Kudos to them for trying something different and pulling it off so well. As always, my only complaint is that there aren't enough of Rachel Goswell's beautiful vocals here (get well!).
(www.mojave3online.com or www.4ad.com)

11. Lambchop. Damaged (Merge)

I heard that this is the last Lambchop album. If so, they will be missed. Their quiet and unusual brand of country music is always an interesting alternative my normal tastes. Kurt Wagner's brilliance reveals itself in subtle washes that paint a realistic portrait of Americana that defies so many perceptions and generalizations. Besides, if they throw in the towel, that could put the 7,000 band members out of work.
(www.lambchop.net or www.mergerecords.com)
12. Decoration. Flippant (13 B Sides)

These guys remind me of a less frenetic Wedding Present during the days of the C-86 scene in the UK, or even the underrated power of Adorable. They have a knack for creating scenarios loaded with regret and remorse for relationship opportunities now passed (a personal past-time). This is nothing new, but these songs are like mini stories, whose impact are buoyed by tumultuous arrangements. This album collects b sides from their early singles and it's very strong. Still, I recommend their debut from last year Don't Disappoint Me Now, ahead of this one.
(www.decorationmusic.co.uk or www.13bsides.co.uk)

Top Albums of 2007


Here we go again. New Year's Day. Another year older. Another Best Of list. These are my favorite albums of 2007 as determined by some imaginary perception of most listened to. None of it makes sense and it could be different any other day. Why, you may ask, is my opinion important? It isn't. That is why I won't prattle on and on about why I like these particular albums.

1. Editors "An End Has A Start"

2. Dina D'Alessandro "Is It Safe?" 2005

3. The Jealous Girlfriends "The Jealous Girlfriends"

4. Great Northern "Trading Twilight For Daylight"

5. Drakes Hotel "Tell Me Everything"

6. Fields "Everything Last Winter"

7. Emma Pollock "Watch The Fireworks"

8. Maximo Park "Our Earthly Pleasures"

9. The Long Blondes "Someone To Drive You Home" 2006

10. The Rifles "No Love Lost" 2006

11. Stars "In Our Bedroom After The War"

12. Young Galaxy "Young Galaxy"

13. The Pipettes "We Are The Pipettes" 2006

14. Dulcesky "Lands" 2006

15. Foundry Field Recordings "Prompts/Miscues" 2006

16. The Lodger "Grown-Ups"

17. Star "Devastator"

18. Trembling Blue Stars "The Last Holy Writer"

19. Various Artists "Love Goes On: A Tribute To Grant McLennan"

20. At Swim Two Birds "Returning To The Scene Of The Crime"

This Is Our Emergency

“When you've finally thrown up your hands
Poured your heart out, yet nothing stands
It seems our efforts are wasted
But yet it hasn't been in vain”


1991 was a terrible year. It started out with a three week intensive college course named “The Holocaust,” which was worse than it sounds. Then I had to drop out of school, because my mom’s horrific medical issues meant I was needed at home to help. Unfortunately, instead I spent nearly two months in the hospital after a surgery went poorly. The bulk of the year was spent working part time and driving my mom to and from her dialysis treatments out of town. It was all too late to help her though, because by September, she was gone. My friend, Wil, wasn’t having a great time of it either. He had been hospitalized for extended stretches and when home, found that he was so heavily medicated that about all he could do was sleep. Yet, out of all this darkness, something sparked between the two of us and we found a way to create something that helped inspire us and brought us closer together as friends. It was a little over 20 years ago we began a small ‘zine named This Wreckage. A project, which in many ways, got me through that terrible time and the reason why I still make half-hearted attempts at writing today via this site.

For those unfamiliar with ‘zines, they were in some sense a precursor to so many of the millions of blogs out there on the web now, but instead we used paper, typewriters, scissors, paste and photocopiers to get our message to an audience. The term ‘zine, which we hated with a passion, came from “fanzine.” Fanzines were homemade, self-published tomes, generally about one particular subject. We named our ‘zine after the 1980 Gary Numan song and produced seven issues over about a two year span. Along the way, we destroyed Mike’s photocopier (Mike, the owner of Driftwood Mac, Lincoln City’s record store, in a sense, was our benefactor), gave L.M. Tomiself a place to seemingly incite fury in anyone who read his writings, we wrote about the L.A riots, religion, and music, and Wil’s demented cartoons always adorned several pages. At one point, a naïve culture paper named Perpetua, published in Seal Rock, gave us a page in their much bigger paper (they had ads and a staff!) for a couple of months. We bit that hand by publishing a rant about the hypocrisy of hippies at a Kenny Loggins environmental rally, featured a questionable cartoon about Somalia and wrote negative reviews of all the promo CDs Perpetua wanted us to write about. That relationship ended after we were chased down by security at the Galleria for leaving Perpetua all over the mall without permission. It all ended in the fall of 1993 with an issue printed on newsprint instead of a photocopier (the pinnacle of ‘zinedom!). Unfortunately, by this point, we had become discouraged by the lack of real response from anyone, besides a few of our friends who submitted art and writing along the way. Plus the expense of printing it entirely out of our pockets became frivolous, because we now had rent and food to cover. The ultimate slap in the face came months after we printed that final issue, when another ‘zine that reviewed ‘zines gave us a glowing review for content, but in the end gave us poor marks, because there was no price included on our cover (it was always free), so the writer assumed that it would be too expensive to recommend to his readers.

Sometimes that same feeling of discouragement overcomes me when I post entries onto this new single minded version of This Wreckage. There’s a need inside anyone who creates art of any type for an audience. When there’s little or no sign of an audience, that artist inevitably questions the point of creating in the first place. It’s only natural. Don’t get me wrong, I am not calling what I’m doing here “art,” but I do find myself wondering why I bother to share these things, because there’s no audience for it. I wonder where the motivation comes from.

“Unfulfillment is killing you
Seems like no one shares the same view

We may have never met but

It might you who pulls me through”

Music has always been my motivation. My love of music and inherent need to share the new music I love with my friends has always been a part of who I am. It is undeniable, so I just go with it. When Wil and I first started doing This Wreckage a little over 20 years ago, music was the driving force for me. It was never featured particularly (every issue ended with music reviews), but it was always there. To be frank, I was hoping to get a bunch of demos and promos for free, so I wouldn’t have to keep spending all of my money on new music. Looking back now, after all these years, what I realize is that the importance of the work we did then was not what we thought we were seeking (an audience, free music, new friends and contacts, and in our most grandiose moments, a dream of earning a living by doing cool stuff and revolution!), instead it was the work itself. Rarely have I felt so inspired and driven as I did when we put those old ‘zines together, plus I don’t think Wil and I were ever closer as friends then when we were collaborating. We had so much fun making those issues that we still talk about recreating it in some form to this day, mainly so we have an excuse to hang out with a purpose and recruit our other friends to join us.

“Don't forget that when you doubt

That anyone will care about

A thing you do and when you're lost

Someone else is always found”

This Wreckage’s final issue may have gotten screwed by a misinformed review back in the day, but its epitaph came along nearly a year after it had been distributed. A small trickle of letters started to appear in the PO Box from mostly High School and college kids who liked what they saw and wanted to let us know that our work impacted and inspired them. We received our first paid advertisement (which was reluctantly returned rather than making a new issue simply because we finally had an ad), and along the way, we met some really cool people who have become long time friends. We met people we may not have otherwise (like when I found myself asking advice from Tsunami’s Jenny Toomey over the phone!), and we did indeed receive some pretty cool demos along the way from various bands such as Versus, Tugboat Annie, and 17 Relics.

Speaking of which, my recent posting of 2011’s best music shockingly has garnered some new music from a band looking for a feature on this very blog. This is the sort of thing I daydreamed about when we started the ‘zine, and now I’m not sure what to do, so I’ll review it and continue to enjoy the process of writing and communicating, no matter who is or isn’t paying attention.

Tremor Low
Kingmaker EP
(self-released)

Here we have a 5 track EP that harkens back to the goth-tinged romance bands of the early 80s like The Cure. This Bay Area four piece has tapped into some nice energy here. An early 80s post-punk vibe is clearly a touchstone here, as the first track is named “Peter Murphy’s Dead” and musically fires on all upbeat raincoat rock cylinders. Actually, their sound reminds me of a nice matching of L.A. band The Autumns and the UK’s Ray (see their Death in Fiction from a few years back). It’s amazing how these sorts of sounds make their way back into the consciousness of each new generation, since so much of this was under heard at the time. But, if the sound is done right and with passion, it is always welcome in my book. The driving title track “Kingmaker” is the highlight here with it’s sing along “Who are you?” chorus, delicate chiming guitars and splashy drumming make for a nice listen. The other big favorite is the closing “2003,” which evokes the aforementioned Peter Murphy’s dreamy solo work. This is a very consistent and enjoyable collection of songs. If any of the touchstones I mentioned are of interest, chances are you will find something to like here.
(facebook.com/tremorlow)




lyrics and title from Pretty Girls Makes Graves