Top Ten Addendum, Pt. 1 (2006-2008)
If you haven’t followed my various incarnations on the Internet these past half-dozen years, as you certainly haven’t, you might not know that I’ve been posting and/or publishing lists of my top ten albums of the year in a quasi-official capacity since 2006. It’s a futile endeavor, always, but I take it seriously. There’s too much that matters, you might say, and list every album that meant anything. But, on the flipside, too much matters, honestly, so it’s a conscious choice to determine what really matters. I take the top ten so seriously, in fact, I’m now under the delusion that I can, if not rewrite history, at least stave off the messiness of hindsight by posting yet another top ten, this one containing a few albums per year that either passed me by and hooked me in a later year, or spent past December demonstrating their worthiness, or just didn’t make the cut in a strong year. These albums have accumulated in my brain, one by one (I noticed how they’d added up when I submitted a ballot for the People’s List a few months ago), and now it’s time to purge. So, consider this an official addendum to my original top tens (2006 2007 2008), and enjoy my explanations for each album’s earlier omission, below. I’ll post part two, in which I slowly start to emerge from a rap-less fugue state, in a few weeks, before failing to decide what matters in 2012. The yearly list will be a snapshot of living in the moment; here’s a long exposure of a reformed man.
Pernice Brothers – Live A Little
I heard it just before the end of 2006, but it took a few bus rides between the two states that border North Dakota before I was able to use it as a map for living.
El Perro Del Mar – El Perro Del Mar
Her minimalism leaves nothing to be desired, but it took the addition of two subsequent albums for me to fully appreciate that, to double back from discography to equally formed components.
The Knife – Silent Shout
I started listening Christmas 2006, and then got stuck on the first two beautiful tracks before venturing into the pitch beyond.
Jay Reatard – Blood Visions
I started following him after his 2008 singles collection, and have only been able to hear his masterpiece as vitality fully reclaimed via technology.
Sloan – Never Hear The End Of It
I spent too long playing name your favorite song before marveling in the density. And then returning to name your favorite song.
The Mary Onettes – The Mary Onettes
I heard it a year too late, alas, but recognized it immediately as maybe the best set of pop songs released in the appropriate years of my youth.
Rogue Wave – Asleep At Heaven’s Gate
It seemed a bit unwieldy at first, but it has to be, because prolonged, willful vitality is the only triumph possible after tragedy.
Deerhunter – Microcastle
A new favorite band is no light matter. Distrust love at first sight. I let this one take its time and grow out of sincere curiosity and confusion.
For Against – Shade Side Sunny Side
I found out about their magnificent return in summer 2009, and concluded they were still new the last time such black, melodic post-punk was committed to tape.
Frida Hyvönen – Silence Is Wild
I’d heard the great “London,” only to find out later that its best qualities extend backward and forward into a haunted, unrhyming, story-dense album.
