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Top 20 New Rock Releases of 2006, Part Two
Part Two means that despite the numbering below, these are actually ##11-20.
Last week I said I was going to be strict about the definition of “new release,” but I’m making one sort of exception because it’s not a band’s fault if its U.S. release is delayed.
Next week, reissues and historical releases.
Brooklyn’s finest returned with another in-depth exploration of ecstasy-inducing vintage keyboard sounds (greatest two-note riff ever: the organ hook on “The Adversary”) that continued their move to greater stylistic diversity that became apparent on 2005’s brilliant The Wedding; there are seemingly more acoustic instruments heard than on the first six Oneida albums combined. But the big O still brings the noise on about half the tracks, most memorably on the massively minimal “Up with People,” forcebeat drumming and a strumming riff decorated by almost random keyboard bleeps.
Ian MacKaye (Fugazi, Minor Threat) and Amy Farina (Warmers) did it again; their second album is even better than their 2005 eponymous debut. Sure, it’s quieter than Fugazi, but no less intense. MacKaye’s fierce strumming and Farina’s pointed drumming achieve considerable momentum, and the lyrics show no mercy in lambasting our government’s brutal combination of self-interest and incompetence.
Sonic Youth’s 21st studio album is a nearly flawless, highly enjoyable collection of songs. With SY back to a quartet, the muddiness and overcrowded sound that marred Sonic Nurse at times is replaced by crystalline tone and generally leaner arrangements, mostly mid-tempo rockers enlivened by the guitar tunings, which give the riffing a ringing edge. Whether noisy (the distortion-rich “Rats”) or subdued (the low-key throbbing of Thurston Moore’s dark and brooding “Lights Out”), the tracks all have a solid spine of good songwriting, with Kim Gordon’s lyrics more truly poetic than they’ve often been. Few 21st albums are this great.
The first new studio album in 28 years by the original Australian punk band is as ferocious and hard-hitting as ever, and Rob Younger remains a great frontman. Aussie punk’s garage-rock roots remains strong here, with organ and/or piano filling out the textures. Of course, the majority of the tracks are powerful old-school punk, but keyboardist Pip Hoyle’s title tune is revved-up surf rock, while his “The Brotherhood of Al Wazah” reveals again the band’s love of Blue Oyster Cult. Fans will be delighted, but even if you missed Radio Birdman’s early work, you can start appreciating their greatness here.
With this disc, Clearlake graduates from “good little band I enjoy mildly” to “gotta hear it over and over.” Partly it’s that the songs are both catchier and well-constructed, partly that the group’s sound has filled out and darkened in tone now that frontman Jason Pegg is producing. This came out in January 2006, so I’ve had nearly a year to listen to it; its attractions have not worn thin in the slightest.
A clever, lovable disc. The musical styles are country and other acoustic roots music, amid which Rennie Sparks’s wryly witty lyrics’ settings in airports, strip malls, bowling alleys, and drive-thru windows – usually sung in Brett Sparks’s rich, deadpan, authentic tone, sometimes in Rennie’s reedier timbre – are charmingly, amusingly incongruous and yet also just right. “Tesla’s Hotel Room,” “After We Shot the Grizzly,” “Beautiful William,” and “Hunter Green” are in the style of earnest, grim ballads from a century or two ago, but full of details so utterly modern as to be wryly witty.
I can’t resist the humor of singer humorist Eddie Argos, and though Art Brut is another British band recycling punk in a more streamlined version, they do rock pretty well. And when they played at Sound Fix, they rocked a little shop with the same level of energy and enthusiasm and camaraderie as if it were a rock club. For the U.S. edition of BangBang Rock & Roll, which finally appeared in May after many fans had already bought the 2005 import, three bonus tracks were added.
Underrated for not being a Radiohead album – although funnily enough, though some people (perhaps including Capitol, Radiohead’s label, which presumably could have put this out if it wanted to?) found its electronic sound quite distant, many critics wrote that it is pretty similar to Radiohead. The truth is somewhere in the middle: Yes, the songwriting often recalls Yorke’s Radiohead material, but the arrangements are so stripped down and so electronic (even simple acoustic piano parts are looped and treated) that aside from Yorke’s immediately distinctive vocals, the sound – and isn’t sound one of the most important factors in rock? – is very different from Radiohead. I like The Eraser more than a few Radiohead albums, actually, and I hope that Yorke continues to occasionally go this route.
This Argentina-born, Sweden-based singer-songwriter’s 2003 debut finally appeared in the U.S. in 2006. About time, since he’s been taking both the indie-rock and acoustic-guitar worlds by storm. His guitar technique is spectacular, but he’s not show-offy even though he’s the only performer on all but one track. He’s also a fine singer, so I wish he didn’t double-track his vocals; he sounds so good without it on the final track, “Broken Arrows” (which includes trumpet). Among the highlights is a wonderful cover of Swedish electronica duo The Knife’s “Heartbeats,” transforming dance-pop into gorgeous folk.
The first new Lemonheads album in ten years proved to be a triumphant return. Evan Dando works with a mostly new cast; the rhythm section is usually bassist Karl Alvarez and drummer Bill Stevenson (who co-produces with Dando), both of The Descendents and All. Guests include keyboardist Garth Hudson (The Band) and guitarist/longtime Dando pal J Mascis. As usual the songs are short and catchy and quirky; Stevenson contributes two and a half, while Tom Morgan (of Godstar, which Dando occasionally played in, and Smudge) adds the highlight “No Backbone” and the disturbing “Baby’s Home.”
