Aquarius Records : Customer Favorites 2006

Now that it's already freakin', um, AUGUST of 2007, we are FINALLY presenting...ta dah... the compiled AQ customer "bests of 2006" lists! Yay! Sorry this took so long. Here they are, in a sort-of-alphabetical order, presented pretty much just as they were emailed to us (we didn't do much spellchecking is what we're saying). Complete, in some cases, with commentary from the list-makers, which we always like. (And we apologize if anyone's list has been accidentally garbled in translation from email to html...) Actually, we're finding that it's been kinda cool to look these over now that we're seven months on from the end of 2006, to be reminded of all this awesome stuff from not all that long ago, since ordinarily we're focused on the onslaught of newer new (and reissued) music that keeps on coming. Thanks again to all who sent in their lists! (see also the AQ staff favorites of 2006)

DAVE FROM 20 BUCK SPIN Two gift certificate winners from Europe? Why does Aquarius Records hate America? The $20 Spin Zone is putting Aquarius Records and their beloved pinko liberal San Francisco on NOTICE!! Seriously though, besides 20 Buck Spin releases, personal favorites this year were: Hank III - Straight To Hell Blind Guardian - A Twist In The Myth Neko Case - Fox Confessor Brings The Flood Gorgoroth - Ad Majorem Sathanas Gloriam Comets On Fire - Avatar Howlin Rain - Howlin Rain Melechesh - Emissaries Deicide - The Stench of Redemption Ludicra - Fex Urbis, Lex Orbis Victims - Divide & Conquer Kylesa - Time Will Fuse Its Worth Goslings - Grandeur Of Hair Circle - Miljard Current 93 - Black Ships At The Sky (Marc Almond in particular) Reissues: El Dopa - Complete Recordings Noothgrush - Erode The Person Live: Diamanda Galas Destroyer 666 Witchcraft El Dopa Eyehategod AARON Okay! 1::About - Bongo 2::The Hold Steady - Boys And Girls In America 3::Delays - You See Colours 4::Anamanaguchi - Power Supply 5::His Name Is Alive - Detrola 6::Robbie Williams - Rudebox 7::Bob Hillman - If You Lived Here, You'd Be Home 8::Bit Shifter - The Information Chase 9::Subtitle - Terrain To Roam X::Xiu Xiu - The Air Force AARON TURNER IN NO PARTICULAR order: this heat - "out of cold storage" box set "the road" - cormac mccarthy spektr - "near death experience" tim hecker - "harmony in ultraviolet" craft - "fuck the universe" converge - "no heroes" "only revolutions" - mark z. danielwski ktl - debut melvins/big business - live yeah yeah yeahs - "show your bones" radical. JENNIFER and ADAM MELINN, FEDORA CORPSE RECORDINGS Yeah, List Time! Boris - Vein (the whole debacle is an amazing art achievement in itself) Yellow Swans - Psychic Secession Shogun Kunitoki - Tasankokaiku Envenomist - Abyssal Siege Zoroaster - s/t Pharaoh Overlord - 4 Black Boned Angel - Bliss and Void Inseparable Nortt - Ligfaerd Damion Romero - Negative Melvins - (a) senile animal Thanks for a year of excellent lists and introductions to amazing music! ADAM DOWNEY My favorites of 2006 - I included reissues 1. Yo La Tengo - I am not afraid... 2. Necks - Chemist 3. Howlin' Rain - s/t 4. Wooden Shjips - Shinking Moon For You& Dance California 5. OOIOO - Taiga 6. Boris with Michio Kurihara - Rainbow 7. Starving Weirdos - Father Guru (thanks to you guys) 8. Avarus - Vesikansi 9. Circle - Miljard 10. The Heads - Under the Stress of a Headlong Dive 11. No Neck Blues Band and Embryo - EmbroNNCK 12. Tropicalia - A Brazilian Revolution in Sound (Soul Jazz comp) 13. Medeski, Martin, Scofield, and Wood - Out Louder 14. Wolf Eyes - Human Animal 15. Boards of Canada - Trans Canada Highway (I hadto) ALEX F. BUCZYNSKI: "The Devil was here, he stood right in this spot and it still smells of sulphur." - HC 2006.666 Year In Review 1) ANTAEUS - BLOOD LIBELS 2) CELTIC FROST - MONOTHEIST 3) GATES OF SLUMBER - SUFFER NO GUILT 4) GOATWHORE - A HAUNTING CURSE 5) SODOM - SODOM 6) SLAYER - CHRIST ILLUSION 7) THORON - RETURN TO DUST 8) DEICIDE - THE STENCH OF REDEMPTION 9) CANNIBAL CORPSE - KILL 10) MASTADON - BLOOD MOUNTAIN 11) IHSAHN - ADVERSARY 12) ZYKLON - DISINTEGRATE 13) I - BETWEEN TWO WORLDS 14) SATYRICON - NOW DIABOLICAL 15) ORNE - THE CONJURATION BY FIRE 16) THE WIZAR'D - FOLLOW THE WIZARD 17) DARKTHRONE - THE CULT IS ALIVE 18) GORGOROTH - AD MAJOREM SATHANAS GLORIAM 19) CARPATHIAN FOREST - FUCK YOU ALL!!!! 20) URGEHAL - GOATCRAFT TORMENT 21) DISSECTION - REINKAOS 22) CURRENT 93 - BLACK SHIPS ATE THE SKY 23) COMETS ON FIRE - AVATAR 24) DREAM/AKTION UNIT - BLOOD SHADOW RAMPAGE 25) SEVEN THAT SPELLS - IT CAME FROM THE PLANET OF LOVE 26) KUWABARA YUKIKO - KUWABARA YUKIKO TO ANATA 27) KAWABATA MAKOTO - AT LAST YOU ARE MINE 28) SOLAR ANUS - SKULLALCOHOLIC: THE COMPLETE SOLAR ANUS 29) OAKEN THRONE # 4 30) F.T.Y.N.P. # 5 HAIL DEATH: Incantation, Suffocation, Dim Mak, The Dying Light, Krisiun, Gorod, Skinless, Belphegor, Birds of Prey, Cattle Decapitation, Electro Quarterstaff, Arsis, God Dethroned, Vader, and Amon Amarth. HAIL DOOM: Asunder, Turambar, Paranaut, Witch, Sahg, Burning Saviours, Witchcraft, Antonius Rex, Ungl'unl'rrlh'chchch, Trollmann av Ildtroppberg, Zoraster, Cavalar, Stumm, Wreck of Hesperius, Noothgrush, Village of Dead Roads, Negative Reaction, Great Coven, Dragonauta, Coffins, Rigor Sardonicus, Graves at Sea, Monarch, Elysium, Moho, Indian, Catacombs, Darsombra, Cain, Celestiial, Ataraxie, Worship, Indesinence, Archaic, Golgotha, Loss, Rote Mare and The River. HAIL DARKNESS: Xasthur, Ildjarn, Anaal Nathrakh, Sterbend, Ludicra, Krieg, Striborg, Sigrblot, Horn of Dagoth, Ondskapt, Wolves in the Throne Room, Glorior Belli, Heresi, Negative Plane, Mord, Rimfrost, Hidden, Wigrid, Lugubrum, Kampfar, Hekel, Contra Ignem Fatuum, Circule of Ouroborus, Rehtaf Ruo, Horna, Sargeist, Negura Bunget, Nihilistic Ascension and Spiritual Death, Bloodluv, Endless Dismal Moan, Woods of Infinity, Ibex Throne, Dead Reptile Shrine, MGLA, Nasheim, Nightbringer, I Shalt Become, Temple of Not, Spestask, Inferni, Absolutus, Black Witchery, Book of the Black Earth, Bloodcult, Craft, Sapthuran, V.E.G.A., Stormcrow, and Dom Dracul. HAIL UNDERGROUND FRENCH BLACK METAL: The Black Letgions, Eternal Majesty, Merrimack, Malucidant, Haemoth, Nortt, S.V.E.S.T., Malign, Blut Aus Nord, Nehemah, Spektr, and Entrails To The Dirt. Cutting my flesh and worshipping Satan whilst listening to the sounds of Anti-Human, Anti-Life, True Norwegian Black Metal, as well as Anti-Cosmic Music of Death during the year of 2006 wouldn't have been possible without the dedication and help of the fine folks at Aquarius Records, Inc. Special thanks to Xtine, K-Ten, The Elves, and the Lords of aQ: A&A. Other worthy enablers include but are not limited to: Beta-lactam Ring, Eclipse, Forced Exposure, Hellride, The Old Goat and Emperor Palatine. Some or indeed all of this list has been redacted, edited, and otherwise set aflame according to the rituals set forth in The Great Tjolgtjarian Mass. This list is sponsered by the Spare the Goat Foundation who remind you: "More Goats lead to less Bush, vote Goat in 2008." ALEX S. Checked out the store for the first time a couple of weeks ago after looking forward to it for months, and I was definitely not disappointed! Great job guys, I'll definitely be back. Here's my top ten of 2006 list: 01) Sonic Youth - Rather Ripped 02) Wooden Wand And The Sky High Band - Second Attention 03) Barbara Morgenstern - The Grass Is Always Greener 04) Six Organs Of Admittance - The Sun Awakens 05) Yo La Tengo - I Am Not Afraid Of You And I Will Beat Your Ass 06) Chihei Hatakeyama - Minima Moralia 07) Jakob Olausson - Moonlight Farm 08) Keith Fullerton Whitman - Lisbon 09) The Knife - Silent Shout 10) Witch - S/T ALEXANDER SMITH Hello, aQ! Here is my top tenlist for 2006. Wormphlegm - Tomb of the Ancient King Dolorian - Voidwards Madder Mortem - Desiderata Katatonia - The Great Cold Distance Novembre - Materia Agalloch - Ashes Against the Grain Muse - Black Holes and Revelations Nightbringer/Serpentinam - split 10" Mirrorthrone - Carriers of Dust Nortt - Ligfaerd Also... Boris - PINK ChthoniC - Seediq Bale Dir en grey - Withering to death. Daylight Dies - Dismantling Devotion Tool - 10,000 Days Indesinence - Neptunian Catacombs - In the Depths of R'lyeh Ihsahn - The Adversary Negura Bunget - Om sunn O))) & Boris - ALTAR Velvet Cacoon - Dextronaut Wolves in the Throne Room - Diadem of 12 Stars And rereleases... Funeral - Tragedies/Tristesse Opeth - [Ghost Reveries [special edition] Porcupine Tree - Stupid Dream [reissue/5.1 release] ANDREW BEDOW Albums: Convextion - "Untitled 2xLP" (Down Low) Andrew Chalk - "Goldfall" / Vikki Jackman - "Of Beauty Reminiscing" (both Faraway Press) Af Ursin - "Aura Legato" (La Scie Dore) MV/EE and the Bummer Road - "Mother of Thousands" (Time-Lag) J Dilla - "Donuts" (Stones Throw) Burial - "s/t" (Hyperdub) Glass Organ - "The Two Tapes LP" (Tone Filth/Twonicorn) Grizzly Bear - "Yellow House" (Warp) Zaimph - "Mirage of the Other" (Gipsy Sphynx) Dialing In - "Cows In Lye" (Pseudoarcana) Singles: Villalobos - 'Fizheuer Zieheuer' (Playhouse) / Depeche Mode - 'The Sinner In Me [Ricardo Villalobos remix] (White label) Shackleton - 'Blood On My Hands' (Skull Disco) Larry Heard presents Mr White - 'The Sun Can't Compare' (Alleviated) Soundstream - 'Love Jam' / 'Makin' Love' (Soundstream) / Rhythm and Sound - 'Free For All [Soundstream Remix] ' (Burial Mix) Luciano + Thomas Melchior - 'Father' (Cadenza) / Melchior Productions - Different Places (Perlon) Omar S - 'Foe Show' (FXHE) Audio Werner - 'Trust' (Hartchef Disco) Marc Houle - 'Bay Of Figs' (M_nus) Gabriel Ananda - 'Doppelwhipper' (Platzhirsch) Martin Buttrich - 'Full Clip' (Planet E) Oracy - 'Family Day' (Mojuba) Toasty - 'Cold Blooded' (Clandestine Cultivations) Pinch - 'Qawwali' (Planet Mu) Loefah - 'Rufage' / Mala - 'Left Leg Out' (DMZ) Blackdown - 'Crackle Blues [Burial Remix]' (Keysound) Leonel Castillo - 'Y El Viento Blanco' (Sushitech) Loco Dice - 'A Chico A Rythmico' (Cadenza) Audion - 'Mouth to Mouth' (Spectral Sound) Anja Schneider - 'Lily of the Valley' (Mobilee) Shed - 'Selection One' (Soloaction) aaand the return of the Chain Reaction crew: T++ - Space Pong (Erosion) / Marcel Dettmann - 'A Req [T++ Remix]' (MDR) / Substance + Vainqueur - 'Immersion' (Scion Versions). Reissues: Sibylle Baier - "Colour Green" (Iota) Emmanuelle Parrenin - "Maison Rose" (Lion Productions) Marconi Notaro - "No Sub Reino Dos Metazorios" (Time-Lag) White Mice - both compendiums (Basic Replay) Move D - "Kunstsoff" (CCO) This Heat - "Out Of Cold Storage" (ReR) Monoton - "Blau" (Oral) Maurizio Bianchi - MB Archives (Vinyl on Demand) Richard Youngs - "Sapphie" on vinyl, "Advent" back on vinyl (Jagjaguwar) "A Tom Moulton Mix" (Soul Jazz) / "Tropicalia" (Soul Jazz) Goslings - "Between the Dead" (Conspiracy) ANDREW SCHERER Top 60 Favorite Albums of 2006 Shora - Malval Ahab - Call of the wretched sea Ruins of Beverast - Rain upon the impure Lifelover - Pulver Woods of Infinity - Ljuset Drawn and Quartered - Hail infernal darkness Amesoeurs - Ruines Humaines Negative Plane - Et in saecula saeculorum Krieg - Blue Miasma Hidden - Alexisstar Morphalite Caina - Some people fall Hjarnidaudi - Pain.Noise.March Dimhymn/Hypothermia - Sjuklig Intervention Uvall - October turns...ruined Across Tundras - Dark song of the prairie Svarte Greiner - Knife Negura Bunget - Om S.V.E.S.T. - Urfaust Rosetta - The galilean satellites Smohalla - Smolensk Combustion Agalloch - Ashes against the grain Leviathan/Saphuran - split Sombre Chemin - notre heritage ancestral Urfaust/Circle of Ouroborus - Auerauge Raa Verduistering Blut Aus Nord - Mort Wolves in the throne room - diadem of 12 stars Atavist - s/t Mouth of the architec - the ties that bind Antaeus - Blood libels Woburn House - Message to ourselves outside the dreaming machine Grails - black tar prophecies 1 2 & 3 Nachtmystium - Instinct:Decay Katharsis - world without end No Neck Blues Band/Embyro Catacombs - In the dephs of R'lyeh Kilamanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble - s/t Unexpect - In the flesh aquarium Burial - s/t Enslaved - Ruun Spektr - The near death experience Light Shall Prevail - Goatcrush SunnO))/Boris - Altar Spaceboy - Getting warm on the trail of heat Xasthur - Subliminal Genocide The Angelic Process - Coma Waering Drudkh - Blood in our wells Agathothodion - Traum von gott Marblebog - Csendhajnal Circle of Ouroborus - Shores Current 93 - black ships ate the sky Nadja - Trembled Black Funeral - Ordog Contra Ignem Fatuum - Detritus Wolfe - s/t Mono - You are there Animus - Poems for the aching, songs for the infuriated Nortt - Ligfaerd Giant Squid - Metridium field Kayo Dot - Dowsing anemone with copper tongue Brightblack morning light - s/t Unearthly Trance - The Trident ANDY LOPEZ OF LARDEO, TX My top releases of the year were the following: Xiu Xiu - The Air Force Max Richter - Songs From Before Wooden Wand & The Sky High Band - Second Attention Mono - You Are There William Basinski - The Garden of Brokenness Goslings - Grandeur of Hair Helios - Eingya Akron/Family - Meek Warrior Electric President - s/t Xiu Xiu vs. Grouper - Creepshow Grizzly Bear - Yellow House Wolf Eyes - Human Animal Sunset Rubdown - Shut Up I Am Dreaming William Basinski - Variations for Piano & Tape Tarentel - Ghetto Beats on the Surface of the Sun 1, 2, 3, & 4 Band of Horses - Everything All the Time Slomo - The Creep Grails - Black Tar Prophecies 1, 2, & 3 Boris - Vein (v.1 & v.2) Clint Mansell w/ The Kronos Quartet and Mogwai - The Fountain Keith Fullerton Whitman - Lisbon Adem - Love and Other Planets Belong - Octorber Language Mountains - Sewn Gregor Samsa - 55:12 Matinee Orchestra - s/t Growing - Color Wheel Pan American - For Waiting, For Chasing KTL - Kindertotenlieder Aethenor - Deep in the Ocean Sunk the Lamp of Light Library Tapes - Feelings for Something Lost Anoice - Remmings Johann Johannsson - A User's Manual The Hafler Trio with Jnsi Birgisson - Exactly As I Am Jason Molina - Let Me Go Let Me Go Let Me Go Bonnie Prince Billy - The Letting Go Boris - The Thing Which Solomon Overlooked 2+3 7 Year Rabbit Cycle - Ache Horns Earth - Live Hex; In a Large City on the North American Continent Genghis Tron - Dead Mountain Mouth Kayo Dot - Dowsing Anemone with Copper Tongue Sunn o))) - La Mort Noir dans Esch/Alzette Souvenir's Young America - s/t Casiotone for the Painfully Alone - Etiquette Birds of Maya - Vol. 1 Black Cobra - Bestial Benoit Pioulard - Precis Tim Hecker - Harmony in Ultraviolet White Rainbow - Box Set Loscil - Plume Damion Romero - Negative Dialing In - Ketalysergicmetha Mother MGR - Nova Lux Gentleman Losers - s/t Russian Circles - Enter Natural Snow Buildings - The Dance of the Moon and the Sun Sickoakes - Seawards Sweek - The Unbelievable Cinematic Crash Sparrows Swarm + Sing - O Shenandoah Mighty Death Will Find Me Converge - No Heroes Weird Weeds - Weird Feelings The Boats - Tomorrow Time Xiu Xiu - Tu Mi Piaci Cyann and Ben - Sweet Beliefs Rivulets - You Are My Home Aloe Blacc - Shine Through Oh No - Exodus Into Unheard Rhythms Boris with Michio Kurihara - Rainbow Seaworthy - Map In Hand Lullatone - Plays Pajama Pop pour vous Pretty good year I'd say. ANGEL GARCIA this is my list of favourites of 2006: WALKER, SCOTT The Drift (4AD) AMY WHINEHOUSE back to black (Island) FOVEA HEX Neither Speak Nor Remain Silent : Two / Huge (Die Stadt / Janet) GREGOR SAMSA 55:12 (The Kora Records) MULLEN, GEOFF thrtysxtrllnmnfstns (Entschuldigen) BURIAL s/t (Hyperdub / Cargo) THE VEILS Nux Vomica (Rough Trade) CAT POWER The Greatest (Matador) NINE HORSES Snow Borne Sorrow (Samadhisound) STARVING WEIRDOS Father Guru (Azul Discografica) STARVING WEIRDOS s/t (Root Strata) STARVING WEIRDOS Self-Hypnosis (Jyrk) STARVING WEIRDOS Seance At Luffenhulz (Sound & Fury) CONRAD, TONY WITH FAUST "Outside The Dream Syndicate Alive" (Table Of The Elements) BLACKSHAW, JAMES O True Believers (Important) BHATTACHARYA, DEBASHISH Calcutta Slide-Guitar (Riverboat) SHOGUN KUNITOKI Tasankokaiku (Fonal) AHMED, ILYAS Yahan Aur Wahan (Self Released) GELB, HOWE 'Sno Angel Like You (Thrill Jockey) AMLEE, ERIK Sitar (Mandragora) AMLEE, ERIK Sitar Vol. 2 (Mandragora) MOOLAH Woe Ye Demons Possessed (EM Records) REIGNS We Lowered A Microphone Into The Ground (Jonson Family Records) AHMED, ILYAS Speaking Of Shadows (self released) ESPERS II (Drag City) 14.98 YOUNG, ROLAND P. Isophonic Boogie Woogie (EM Records) SALA-ARHIMO s/t (Last Visible Dog) EDDIE MARCON Shining On Graveposts (Preservation) MAGYAR POSSE Random Avenger (Verdura) BOZULICH, CARLA Evangelista (Constellation) STAPLES, STUART A. Leaving Songs (Beggars Banquet) ADAMSON, BARRY "Stranger On The Sofa" (Central Control International) SIX ORGANS OF ADMITTANCE The Sun Awakens (Drag City) SONIC YOUTH Rather Ripped (Geffen) MV & EE WITH THE BUMMER ROAD (MATT VALENTINE & ERIKA ELDER) Mother Of Thousands (Time-Lag) GERMANO, LISA In the Maybe World (Young God) DEAD C, THE Vain, Erudite And Stupid - Selected Works: 1987-2005 (Ba Da Bing!) NECKS, THE Chemist (Recommended) PELT Heraldic Beats (Eclipse) SEBADOH III (Domino) COMETS ON FIRE Avatar (Sub Pop) ROSE, JACK Untitled (Tequila Sunrise) BAILIFF, JESSICA "Feels Like Home" (Kranky) SHILO, J. P. As Happy As Sad Is Blue (Smells Like) ROSE, JACK s/t (aRCHIVE) ORAZBAEVA, RAUSHAN Akku (Dunya) BAIRD, MEG / HELENA ESPVALL / SHARRON KRAUS Leaves From Off The Tree (Bo'Weavil) INABA, SHUJI Yoenzanga (Last Visible Dog) ASTRAL TRAVELLING UNITY Studio And Live (aRCHIVE) PLANTS Double Infinity (Paradigms) ASTRO CAN CARAVAN Questral Places ( BV2 Productions) CHRISTINE 23 ONNA Acid Eater (MIDI Creative) a little bit big, i'm sorry Have a nice day ANDREW CANT ....a list of my faves of '06, listed below, in no particular order... new in '06: FLIN FLON Dixie (CD version) THE SHITTY LISTENER Fruitless Accomplishment ERIC CHENAUX Dull Lights NOMO Newtones STEVEN R. SMITH The Anchorite VARGE! Must Lunge CARLA BOZULICH Evangelista re-issued in '06: ALASTAIR GALBRAITH Talisman IKE YARD 1980-82 Collected THE CURE The Top (had the most interesting extras of this year's batch of re-issues) THIS HEAT Out of Cold Storage purchased in '06: RICHARD YOUNGS & SIMON WICKHAM-SMITH Ceaucescu POPOL VUH Affenstunde (an original pressing in great shape) VOIVOD Nothingface (finally replaced my long lost tape of this masterpiece!!) witnessed in '06: TOUCH AND GO's 25th Anniversary Weekend in Chicago (I finally got to see SCRATCH ACID and a brief set by TARA JANE O'NEIL...sadly, no DIE KREUZEN) FLIN FLON live at the Casa del Popolo in Montreal VARGE! at the Montgomery Legion at home in Ottawa WINDY CHIEN Ten Favorite 2006 Songs DJ Shadow "Turf Dancing" Midlake "Head Home" The Knife "We Share Our Mother's Health" Sean Smith "The Augur of Deviation" Ghostface Killah "The Champ" Clipse "Mr. Me Too" Cloudland Canyon "Coastal Breathe" James Blackshaw "River of Heaven" Shogun Kunitoki "Montezuma" Gnarls Barkley "Crazy" Ten Favorite Songs First Heard in 2006 Yes "Leave It" (A CAPELLA VERSION! damn!) (1984) Picchio dal Pozzo "Merta" (1976) Syreeta "She's Leaving Home" (1974) Karen Dalton "Something On Your Mind" (1971) Truck "Broken Chair" (1974) John Cale "Child's Christmas in Wales" (1973) Graham Nash "Simple Man" (1971) Donny Hathaway "A Song For You" (1970?) Clara Ward and the Clara Ward Singers "When the Saints Go Marching In" Incredible String Band "Lover Man" (1967) Best Video: Vitalic "Poney" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NgvUALlH4z4 CURTIS SOMMERLATTE Top 10: 1) Harvey Milk - Special Wishes 2) Weird Weeds - Weird Feelings 3) A - A 4) Liars - Drum's Not Dead 5) Rope - Heresy, And Then Nothing But Tears 6) Coughs - Secret Passage 7) Man Man - Six Demon Bag 8) Sonic Youth - Rather Ripped 9) James Blackshaw - O True Believers 10) Grails - Black Tar Prophecies Reissues/Other: The Dead C - Vain, Erudite, and Stupid Tortoise - A Lazarus Taxon This Heat - Out of Cold Storage Top shows in 2006: Seeing Man Man live twice in the same day at SXSW. Seeing Jack Rose, Grey Daturas, Marissa Nadler, Cul de Sac, Circle, and Om play back-to-back at SXSW. volcano! at SXSW Late 2005 Release that deserves mentioning: volcano! - Beautiful Seizure ASSAF VESTIN My 2006 topalbums list: Deluge Grander - August in the Urals Zaar - Zaar Unexpect - In a Flesh Aquarium Nemo - Si partie I Kayo Dot - Dowsing Anemone with Copper Tongue Yugen - Labirinto d'Acqua Hammers of Misfortune - The Locust Years Estradasphere - Palace of Mirrors Disen Gage - Libertage Gargamel - Watch for the Umbles La Machera Di Cera - Lux Ade Astrid Proll - Astrid Proll NeBeLNeST - ZePTO Isis - In The Absense Of Truth Callisto - Noir Ahleuchatistas - What You Will Pure Reason Revolution - The Dark Third Axamenta - Ever-Arch-I-Tech-Ture Canvas Solaris - Penumbra Diffuse The Flying Luttenbachers - Cataclysm French TV - This is what we do Karda Estra - The Age Of Science And Enlightenment Little Tragedies - New Faust Mono - You are there Novembre - Materia October Equus - October Equus A Triggering Myth - The Remedy of Abstraction Trespass - Morning Lights Twisted into Form - Then Comes Affliction To Awaken The Dreamer Those are the albums I can remember for now. BARRIE JAMES SUTCLIFFE, EDMONTON, ALBERTA, CANADA Hi guys and gals! Here is my best-of list for last year, for your pleasure and perusal. It took me a long time to make this one. I hope you enjoy it... Top 25 Favourite Albums from 2006 Criteria: A tricky balance between recognizing artistic importance and recognizing the importance the album holds for me emotionally. As such, a varied list. Of course there are probably dozens of albums I missed this year... 1. Tim Hecker - Harmony in Ultraviolet 2. Supersilent - 7 3. Scott Walker - The Drift 4. Volcano The Bear - Classic Erasmus Fusion 5. Current 93 - Black Ships Ate the Sky 6. Thom Yorke - The Eraser 7. A (Aa) - s/t 8. Liars - Drum's Not Dead 9. Marsen Jules - Les Fleurs 10. James Blackshaw - O True Believers 11. Grails - Black Tar Prophecies 12. Johann Johannsson - IBM 1401, A User's Manual 13. ISIS - In the Absence of Truth 14. Andrew Liles - The Dying / Dead Submariner 15. Ali Farka Toure - Shvane 16. Peter Wright - Red Lion 17. Shogun Kunitoki - Tasankokaiku 18. Skullflower - Tribulation 19. Keiji Haino & Sitaar Tah! - Animamima 20. Jonathan Coleclough & Murmer - Husk 21. Grizzly Bear - Yellow House 22. M. Ward - Post-War 23. Tool - 10,000 Days 24. Growing - Colour Wheel 25. Mogwai - Mr. Beast Best New Artist: A (Aa) Artist of the Year (Biggest Achievement): Current 93 Top Ten Single Tracks: 1. Scott Walker - Clara 2. Tim Hecker - Dungeoneering 3. Volcano the Bear - See me Now 4. Supersilent - 7.3 5. Nachtmystium - A Seed for Suffering 6. Sickoakes - Oceans on Hold 7. TV on the Radio - Wolf Like Me 8. Liars - The Other Side of Mt. Heart Attack 9. Thom Yorke - Harrowdown Hill 10. Marsen Jules - Oeillet en Delta Awesome Re-issues and Compilations: 1. This Heat - Out of Cold Storage 2. Coil - The Remote Viewer 3. VA - Touch 25 4. White Rainbow - Box 5. Toroidh - European Trilogy 6. Harvey Milk - Courtesy and Good Will Towards Men 7. Striborg - Embittered Darkness / Isle de Morts 8. Lubomyr Melnyk CD Re-issues 9. Sol Invictus - Sol Veritas Lux 10. AFX - Chosen Lords 2006 Honourable Mentions (standouts first, then alphabetical, sort of): Joanna Newsom - Ys, Belong - October Language, The Decemberists - The Crane Wife, Comets on Fire - Avatar, Andrew Chalk - Blue Eyes of the March, Birchville Cat Motel - Curved Surface Destroyer, Black Boned Angel - Bliss and Void Inseperable, TV On the Radio - Return to Cookie Mountain, Glissandro 70 - 70, Keith Fullerton Whitman - Lisbon, Om - Conference of the Birds, Orthodox - Gran Poder, Phill Niblock - Touch Three, Sickoakes - Seawards, Hafler Trio - Exactly as I am, Built to Spill - You in Reverse, Califone - Roots & Crowns, Spektr - The Near Death Experience, Oneida - Happy New Year, Wolves In The Throne Room - Diadem of 12 Stars, Aidan Baker - Oneiromancer, Khlyst - Chaos is my Name, Beirut - Gulag Orkestar, Jesu - Silver, Richard Chartier and Taylor Deupree - Specification.Fifteen, Steven Stapleton, Sigtryggur Berg Sigmarsson, Jim Haynes, R.K. Faulhaber And M.S. Waldron - The Sleeping Moustache, Xasthur - Subliminal Genocide, Burial - ST, Kode9 & The Spaceape - Memories of the Future, Geoff Mullen - Thrtysxtrllnmnfstns, Colin Potter & The Hafler Trio - A Pressed-on Sandwich, Adem - Love and Other Planets, thenor - Deep in Ocean Sunk the Lamp of Light, Alexander Neilson & Richard Youngs - Road is Open Life, Axolotl - Way Blank, Blut aus Nord - Mort, Bonnie "Prince" Billy - The Letting Go, Boxhead Ensemble - Nocturnes, Carla Bozulich - Evangelista, Chad VanGaalen - Skelliconnection, Charalambides - A Vintage Burden, Chris Herbert - Mezzotint, Chris Watson & Bj Nilsen - Storm, Conrad Schnitzler - Trigger Trilogy, Cult of Luna - Somewhere Along the Highway, Dlek - Streets all Amped, Drudkh - Blood in our Wells, Disappearer - ST EP, Dialing In - Cows in Lye, Early Day Miners - Offshore, Envy - Insomniac Doze, Eyes and Arms of Smoke - A Religion of Broken Bones, Fourcolor - Letter of Sounds, Final Fantasy - He Poos Clouds, Grouper - He Knows, Guapo - Twisted Stems, Harvey Milk - Special Wishes, Nachtmystium - Instinct/Decay, Hush Arbors - ST, Hwyl Nofio -, Hounded By Fury, Ignatz - Addiction for Slumber, Islands - Return to the Sea, Jack Rose - ST, Jandek - Glasgow Monday, Jazzfinger - Winter's Shadow Between Two Worlds, John Zorn - Astronome (Patton, Dunn, Baron), Junior Boys - So This Is Goodbye, KTL - ST, Leviathan and Sapthuran - Split, Leafcutter John - The Forest And The Sea, Machinefabriek - Marijn, Man Man - Six Demon Bag, Svarte Greiner - Knive, Magyar Posse - Random Avenger, Matmos - The Rose Has Teeth in the Mouth of a Beast, Max Richter - Songs from Before, Melvins - A Senile Animal, Moly - Hello Shut Up, Mountains - Sewn, Mt. Eerie - Eleven Old Songs Of Mount Eerie, Negur Bunget - Om, Nmperign and Jason Lescalleet - Love Me Two Times, Organum - Amen, Part Timer - ST, Paul Wirkus - Deformation Professionnelle, Psychic Ills - Dins, Red Sparowes - Every Red Heart Shines Towards the Sun, Robert Henke - Layering Buddha, Rapoon - From Shadows Sleep, Seaworthy - The Ride, Sleeping Babies - Arrow in the Earth, Starving Weirdos - Eastern Light, Subtle - For Hero, For Fool, SUNN O))) and Boris - Altar, The Necks - Chemist, Tod Dockstader - Aerial 3, White Magic - Dat Rosa Mel Apibus, Wolf Eyes - Human Animal, Xiu Xiu - The Air Force, Fear Falls Burning - The Amplifier Drone, Silversun Pickups - Carnavas, Sparks - Hello Young Lovers, Sunset Rubdown - Shut Up I Am Dreaming, The Dresden Dolls - Yes, Virginia, The Roots - Game Theory Albums from 2005 that I missed Much of my favourite music discovered in 2006 actually came from the year previous.... 1. Rosetta - The Galilean Satellites 2. David Thomas Broughton - The Complete Guide to Insufficiency 3. Minsk - Out Of A Center Which Is Neither Dead Nor Alive 4. Nadja - Bodycage 5. Grouper - Way Their Crept 6. Anthony Burr & Skli Sverrisson - A Thousand Incidents Arise 7. The Ocean - Aeolian 8. Nine Horses - Snow Borne Sorrow 9. Nada Surf - The Weight is a Gift 10. The Golden Oaks - We Enter These White Woods Also worth mentioning from 2005: Adam Pacione - Sisyphus, Astrobrite - Pinkshinyultrablast, Irepress - Samus Octology, Kill the Client - Escalation of Hostility, Keith Berry - The Ear That Was Sold To A Fish, Jasper TX - I'll Be Long Gone Before My Light Reaches You, Jack Rose - Kensington Blues, No Birds - Flowers, Patrick Wolf - Wind in the Wires, Shadow Huntaz - Valley of the Shadow BARRY SARANCHUK Hello, Did you say "Tops Lists"? Well we all have lists,....and here I am sticking mine out at ya! NEW RELEASES of note..... 1....THE STORY----Tale Spin 2....SKYGREEN LEOPARDS----Disciples of California 3....CHRIS KNOX & THE NOTHING 4....BLACK HAPPY DAY----In The Garden Of Ghostflowers 5....BERT JANSCH----The Black Swan 6....THE SAFFRON SECT----Phosphorus Flash 7....MOTORHEAD----Kiss Of Death 8....THE SWORD----Age of Winters 9....PHIL KEAGGY----Dream Again 10...ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE----Myth of The Love Electrique NOW LOCAL PA MUSIC FAVES(I know too many of these bands personally to have 'em in the main top 10)>>>>>>> 1....MARSHMALLOW STAIRCASE---Planet Express 2....LEWIS & CLARKE---Live at WPRB 3....SWIMS----Ride of The Blueberry Winter 4....OKAY PADDY----The Cactus Has A Point 5....KID ICARUS----Live from the belly of(DVD) 6....DOSES---Summersteps Handmade EP 7....GREEN CHAIR----Occupied Estate 8....TIGERS JAW----Belong To The Dead 9....Walter Prez----Midsummer Lady 10...Crap-o-Phonic----Neverwurst RE-ISSUES>>>>> 1....CONRAD SCHNITZLER----CON Box (Capt.Trip,Japan) 2....GILBERTO GIL----"1969" album 3....GRAVITY ADJUSTERS EXPANSION BAND----One 4....ALAN SORRENTI----Aria 5....SMALL FACES----Ogden's Nut Gone Flake(3 CD version) 6....FUNKADELIC----"Free Your Mind..." 7....FATHER YOD & THE SPIRIT OF '76----Contraction 8....LOREN CONNORS----Night Through(singles boxed set) 9....PAVEMENT---Wowee Zowee(2 CD version) 10...MOTT THE HOOPLE----Mott DVDs I really liked >>>>> 1....INVASION OF THUNDERBOLT PAGODA by Ira Cohen 2....PHIL KEAGGY---Live at College Church,Wheaton,IL 3....THE DEVIL AND DANIEL JOHNSTON 4....BUSBY BERKELEY Boxed set 5....GLASS HARP---Circa '72 6....PINK FLOYD----Pulse(re-issue) 7....THE COMMITTEE---directed by Peter Sykes 8....WE JAM ECONO---story of the Minutemen 9....SCRANTON CITY LIMITS---various local bands live 10...FUSHITSUSHA----live PSF DVD There ya go......I'm not so sure when the COMMITTEE movie was re-issued,but it was a favorite arty thinking viewer's movie of mine. Also these are in no particular order....... BEN, LONDON, UK here is a straight-up and unadorned 2006 Top Ten from me. Mordant Music:: Dead Air (Mordant Music) Current 93:: Black Ships Ate The Sky (Durto Jnana) Ollo:: The If If (Groovescooter) Scott Walker:: "The Drift" (4AD) Paul The Girl:: "Little Miss Weird" (Inconvenient) ROC:: "Night fold around me" (12 Apostles) Burial:: Burial (Hyperdub) Circle :: "Miljard" (Ektro) Girl Talk :: "The Night Ripper" (Illegal Art) Streaky Jake :: "What's wrong? Nothing." (Metal Postcard) BJARTE EDVARDSEN #1 Helios - Eingya #2 Huntsville - For the Middle Class #3 Jesu - Silver #4 Jedi Mind Tricks - Servants in Heaven, Kings in Hell #5 Nostalgia 77 Octet - Seven's and Eight's: Live at the Jazz Caf #6 Dalek - Streets All Amped #7 Nostalgia 77 Octet - The Impossible Equation #8 Sickoakes - Seawards #9 Liars - Drum's Not Dead #10 Joanna Newsom - Ys BOB DIEFENBACHER, SUDBURY, MASSACHUSETTS Here are my Top 10 for 2006: Boris - Pink Yo La Tengo - I am Not Afraid of You And I Will Beat Your Ass The Roots - Game Theory TV on the Radio - Return to Cookie Mountain El Perro Del Mar - El Perror Del Mar Man Man - 6 Demon Bag Fiery Furnaces - Bitter Tea The Dears - Gang of Losers Pernice Brothers - Live a Little Sunn O))) & Boris - Alter Also Mentions: Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Show Your Bones Belle & Sebastien - The Life Pursuit Mission of Burma - Obliterati Jesu - Silver Pink Mountaintops - Axis of Evil Neko Case - Fox Confessor Brings the Flood Radio Birdman - Zero Beach Top10 Reissues: Pavement - Wowee Zowee Harvey Milk - Courtesy and Good Will Toward Men Various Artists - Tropicalia Boyracer - Punker than You Since '92 REM - ....And I Feel Fine Chavez - Better Days Will Haunt You Tortoise - A Lazurus Taxon Johnny Cash - Personal Files The Cure - Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me The Delgados - The Complete BBC Sessions NATHAN / RIVULETS Odessa Chen: Ballad of Paper Ships Elephant Micah: Embarassment of Riches Billie Holiday: the Ultimate Collection Johann Johannsson: Englabarn the Kinks: Something Else by the Kinks Morrissey: Ringleader of the Tormentors Pantaleimon: Cloudburst EP Ocean: Here Where Nothing Grows Xiu Xiu: the Air Force the Zombies: Start Here BOWDENS my list: (in order) Casiotone For The Painfully Alone - Etiquette Kimya Dawson - Remeber That I Love You Parenthetical Girls - Safe As Houses The Blow - Paper Television Final Fantasy - He Poos Clouds Grizzly Bear - Yellow House The Robot Ate Me - Good World Mates Of State - Bring It All Back TV On The Radio - Return To Cookie Mountain Xiu Xiu - The Air Force Man Man - Six Demon Bag The Most Serene Republic - Phages Lullatone - Plays Pajama Pop Pour Vous Boat - Songs That You Might Not Like Black Bear - The Cinnamon Phase Wooden Wand & The Sky High Band - Second Attention Asobi Seksu - Citris Islands - Return To The Sea Antsy Pants - Antsy Pants Terje Isungset - Igloo no black metal. sorry. BRIAN TURNER / WFMU I saw on the list you were looking for customer lists again.... Wouldn't be much of one if not informed by AQ! Thanks! 2006 faves Getatchew Mekuria/The Ex and Guests - Moa Anbessa (Terp) Golding Institute - The Final Relaxation (Ipecac) Pappo's Blues - Vol 1-4 reissues (Leader Music) Ayat - Al Nabi Moujrem Moughtaseb Dajjal (Sardonic Wrath) Scott Walker - The Drift (4AD) Angel Face - A Wild Odyssey (Seidr) Kelley Stoltz - Heaven Up Here CDR (No Label) Manierisme - Manierisme (Nekrokult + Nihilism) Clipse - Hell Hath No Fury (Re-Up) This Heat - Out of Cold Storage box (ReR) Salah Ragab and the Cairo Jazz Band - Egyptian Jazz (Art Yard) Gravity Adjusters Expansion Band - One (Paradigm) Plasticman - Forward Live at Plastic People Vol. 2 (Tempa) Prima Materia - The Tail of the Tiger (Die Schachtel) Mazen Kerbaj - Starry Night (Blog post/MP3) Humcrush - Hornswoggle (Rune Grammofon) Menstruation Sisters - Ma (Fata) Sete Star Sept/Watch Me Burn/Dot(.) - Yaminabe Holocaust (Shifty) Country Teasers - The Empire Strikes Back (In the Red) Citay - Citay (Important) Various - Burr Xyolophones: Lobi Country (Ocora) Carla Bozulich - Evangelista (Constellation) Ravi Padmanabha/Ed Chang - Elephant Calls (Utech) (Blog post/review here) Live action 2006: Feast with Steve Mackay/Hans Keller/Charalambides/Shawn David McMillen - Bottom of the Hill, SF Blues Control/Comets on Fire - Knitting Factory, NYC Pissed Jeans/Flipper - North Six, Brooklyn The Ex/DJ Rupture - Maxwells Rhys Chatham's big band, January at Tonic Shorty Long and the Jersey Horns, Joe Belock and Cynthia's wedding, Elks Lodge, Hoboken Magik Markers/Country Teasers/Lambsbread - Syrup Room, Brooklyn Celtic Frost/1349 - BB King's, Times Square Hank IV - Elbow Room, SF + Knit, NYC Grouper - Arthur Nights in LA An Albatross - Cafe Metro, Wilkes-Barre, PA Diamanda Galas - performing Defixiones at Pace University NYC BENNY my list for 2006- Top 5 Noise Tapes Nobody Heard In 2006 Emaciator- Failed, Monorail Trespassing Proiekt Hat- Make Sense, Segerhuva Robert Inhuman- Putrid Sacrifice, Truculent Prurient- Pleasure Ground, Hospital (now re-released) Climax Denial- Basement Bruises, Hospital BRUNO PARISSE (RURALFAUNE LABEL) here is my top ten list : 1. Heavy Winged "Taking the Veil" (self-released) 2. The Clear Spots "Mansion in the sky" (Deep Water) 3. L'Acaphale "Mort und Totsclag" (Skullfucking Tapes) 4. Robert Horton "Moving along one line to vastness" (Sloow Tapes) 5. Larkin Grimm / The Beautiful Babes in Springtime Brainwave band featuring Earl Monster "After you men explode the world..." (Sloow Tapes) 6. Robedoor "Oak Cult" (X Die en Route Y) 7. Joanna Newsom "Ys" (Drag City) 8. Fursaxa "Myriad of Satyrids" (self-released) 9. Tanakh "Ardent Fevers" (Alien 8) 10.Anahita "Arcana en Cantos" (Deserted Village) ROB HALDY Here are my favorites of 2006! New Stuff Of '06 1. FALCON - S/T 2. ELOPE - 3WD 3. THE ATOMIC BITCHWAX - 3 4. EARTHRIDE - VAMPIRE CIRCUS 5. JAKE E LEE - RETRACED 6. FIREBIRD-HOT WINGS 7. THE ATOMIC BITCHWAX - BOXRIFF 8. LUCIFER WAS - IN ANANDI'S BOWER 9. GOV'T MULE - HIGH AND MIGHTY 10. DAVID GILMOUR - ON AN ISLAND 11. PLACE OF SKULLS - THE BLACK IS NEVER FAR Reissues of 06: 1. PENTAGRAM - FIRST DAYS HERE TOO 2. PRIMEVIL - SMOKIN' BATS AT CAMPTONS 3. ZZ TOP - TRES HOMBRES 4. ZZ TOP - FANDANGO 5. TYGERS OF PAN TANG - CRAZY NIGHTS 6. BUDGIE - IF I WERE BRITANNIA I'D WAIVE THE RULES 7. CHEAP TRICK - ALL SHOOK UP 8. CHEAP TRICK - DREAM POLICE 9. ELO - A NEW WORLD RECORD 10. ELO - FACE THE MUSIC 11. DAVID GILMOUR - S/T 12. QUARTZ- STAND UP AND FIGHT 13. QUARTZ - S/T 14. WINTERHAWK - REVIVAL 15. THE POWER OF ZEUS - THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ZEUS 16. CZAR - S/T 17. TYGERS OF PAN TANG - WILD CAT 18. ANGEL WITCH - ANIVERSARY EDITION (S/T) 19. TOTTY - S/T 20. AL STEWART - YEAR OF THE CAT Well, that's it I think. I hope I didn't miss anything!!! NEIL CHEYNEY 2006= a good year: Meursault - "Nothing Changed This Week" and "By Lamplight" are my joint albums of the year, "Poor Blood" is also exceptional; Birchville Cat Motel - "Our Love Will Destroy The World, "Curved Surface Destroyer", the 3 "Chaos Steel Skeletons" compilations, "Small Christian Victories"; Black Boned Angel - "Eternal Hunger" and "Bliss And Void Inseparable"; Mogwai - "Mr Beast" and"Zidane" - also an amazing show at the Royal Albert Hall; Envy - "Insomniac Doze"; Mono - "You Are There" and the "Palmless Prayer/Mass Murder Refrain" collaboration with World's End Girlfriend; Susan Matthews - "Bruiser", "Tiny Grief" and the one-off album she made for me; Wolf Eyes - "Human Animal" (I'm way behind with these guys); Slomo - "The Creep"; Jesu - "Silver", and Final - "3"; Melvins - "A Senile Animal"; Dream/Aktion Unit - "Blood Shadow Rampage", and Heather Leigh - "Pot Baby"; the entire Bower/Bassett axis of activity - Hototogisu (plus collaborators), Skullflower, Mirag, GHQ, Zaimph, Zaika, Spectre Zaimph, "Crippled Rosebud Binding"; The Skaters and Dreams, Purple Gongs, Pan als Allgott Saturnia, andVodka Soap; the Low Point label - Bologna Pony, Stuckometer, the Gareth Hardwick/Last Of The Real Hardmen split 8" single; the Dead Sea Liner label - Textured Bird Transmission, Another Enough Chairs, Cel; At War With False Noise - Tetsuo, Nackt Insecten -"Sick Animal Eyes", Not - "Music For Womb"; Alistair Crosbie and Lefthand Pressings - "Musicfordrowning", "Light", "White Closed Eyes" and "My Shadows Are At War"; the Curor label - Madame P, Venison Whirled, Raised By Wolves, Richard Kamerman, Deepkiss720; Unlabel's series52 (a one-off limited edition album every week for the whole year) - Drumm Chimp, Calder, Koutaro Fukui, Eftus Spectun, Melt, Galena, Boc Scadet, Maps Of The Heart, Vinaya, Gareth Dickson, Dreams Of Tall Buildings; the Oddsmaker label - Intestines, Larvae Temple, Horse Latitudes, Giant Ice Sculpture Melts; Kovorox Sound - Werewolf Corps, Pesthole, Ocelocelot, the tremendous Vom single; Mouthus - "For The Great Slave Lakes", "The Long Salt" and "Sister Vibration"; White Rock - "The Exploder"; Bardo Pond - "Ticket Crystals" (their best in years); Hockyfrilla - "Cerebral Odyssey IV" and "Vulpes Vulpes"; Plump Whore - "Bitched", "Tight" and "Dogfish Pish"(the best free stuff I've blagged from MySpace to date!); Sarah's Charity - "On The Edge Of Black Sinus Desert", "Silence Of Octopus" and "Atonic Feedback Consumerism"; Heavy Winged - "Echoes Of Silence"; Burnt Hills - "To Your Head"; Towering Breaker - "Those Who Do Not Believe..." and "Purges"; Seaworthy - "Serrata"; Family Battle Snake - "Family Battle Snake" and "Crawling Madness"; Totally Dad - "Dad's Fucked"; Sunn O))) & Boris - "Altar", and Stephen O'Malley's KTL collaboration with Peter Rehberg; Sonic Youth - "Rather Ripped" Lords - "This Ain't A Hate Thing, It's A Love Thing", and their split EP with Todd, Part Chimp and Hey Colossus; the Hey Colossus/dot split LP; the Part Chimp/Todd split 7"; Todd - "Comes To Your House", and Shit And Shine - "Jealous Of..."; Acid Mothers Temple - 4 CDs from this year, plus a whole lot of catching up with the back catalogue; Noxagt lose the viola, but the replacement guitar is still effective; Bossk - ".1"; The Angelic Process - "Coma Waering", "And Your Blood Is Full Of Honey" and "Sigh"; the Mentalist Association label - Tea And Toast Band, Les Enfants; the Slightly Off Kilter label - Yeborobo's "I'm Magic, Gimme A Fiver" single, Paul Morgan & Adam Lygo's "Liquid Metal Flesh"; 3" CDs from Another Enough Chairs - "I Like Caves And Bats" and "Sick Through Hills"; Aidan Baker - "Oneironmancer", "Dog Fox Gone To Ground" and "The Sea Swells A Bit..."; Mika Vainio - "Tullkinta"; The Fall reissues - "The Infotainment Scan", "Middle Class Revolt" and "Cerebral Caustic"; Tortoise - "A Lazarus Taxon" box set; Colossloth - "Fly Silver Corpse! Fly!"; Aenimal - "9000000"; The Painful Leg Injuries - "Interpreting Codes Into Robust Details" 7 CD-R box set (bargain purchase of the year - $5 plus shipping from the USA!); The Wire magazine; Feral Debris fanzine and CD-R; Rock-A-Rolla magazine; Season 5 of "24"; Portsmouth FC surviving the drop. I think that's it. CHRIS NECKDEEP You can see an HTML page with reviews and images here: http://www.neckdeep.net/dec_06/bm2006/ -or- These albums may or may not have been released in 2006. Some are reissues or comps of previous demos. I do not claim to be a expert or any type of purist. Quite simply these are records I discovered this year and I felt contained the most powerful examples of what I define as black metal. In alphabetical order...not ranking. 1. Gorgoroth - Ad Majorem Sathanas Gloriam 2. Funeral Mist - Devilry 3. Heresi - Psalm II: Infusco Ignis 4. Krohm - Slayer Of Lost Martyrs / Crown of the Ancients 5. Leviathan - Verrater 6. Lurker Of Chalice - S/T 7. Spektr - Near Death Experience 8. Throne Of Katarsis - Unholy Halocaustwinds 9. Wolves In The Throne Room - Diadem Of 12 Stars 10. Xasthur - Subliminal Genocide Thanks for letting me share RICHARD ALLEN hi there, i'm really new to aquarius records (one week, two orders)and i am responding to your call for top ten lists! i submit mine yearly to rhino records in new paltz, new york; i'm not an employee but i buy so many cds that they treat me like staff! =)their picks site is called the "pooplist" (short for "pretentious and opinionated)." i have theprivilege of being the first person listed by alphabet. i was interested to note that onlyone of my top ten (belong's october language) issold by aquarius ~ conversely, the cds i just ordered from you are not available anywhere else on the continent! chalk it up to the current state of music fracture. however, i think that eight of the remaining nine (the exception being my one mainstream pick, underoath) would be appealing to your constituency. so i hope you enjoy the list, andif you are really list-inclined, feel free to roam around the rest of the site!click here: Favorite Things. or if you are virus-phobic and don't trust me yet, go to www.pooplist.blogspot.com, then click on "2006," then on "richard allen." or just type "pooplist" in your search engine and go to the top site you see.maybe aquarius and rhino can befriends! COLIN CAHILL Top 10ish from 2006 Boris - Pink Troum & Christian Renou - dissolution Leviathan - verrater lurker of chalice -s/t Acid Mothers Temple - starless and bible black sabbath sam cooke - night beat nick cave & warren ellis - the proposition pharoah overlord - #4 Ghosting - s/t Grey Daturas - blood trail Pandit Pran Nath - midnight/raga malk Mountain Goats - get lonely Thee More Shallows - monkey vs shark Wedding Present - search for paradise Suishou no Fune - where spirits are Striborg - embittered darkness sonic Youth - rather ripped Johnny Cash - American 5 OM - conference of birds v/a - cryosphere Thom Yorke - Eraser Devandra Barnhart - Cripple Crow Iron & Wine - such great heights Ghosting - cloudburst Solar Anus - skull alcoholic Boris - dronevil final comets on fire - avatar Bardo Pond - archive 24 Harvey Milk - special wishes Skullflower - tribulation v/a - walking w/ ghosts Yo La Tengo - I'm not afraid and I'll beat your ass Damien Jurado - and now that I'm in your shadow Greg Brown - evening call circle - Miljard Sunn O)) + boris - altar Bright Eyes- noise floor Bert Jansch - black swan Tom Waits - orphans v/a - pop ambient 2007 CHARLES SOUS Hello, I'm from Venezuela, many thanks for the great job! And the winners are: Top Eleven New Releases of 2006: 1. Henry Flynt & Nova'Billy - "I Was a Creep" (Locust) 2. Espers - "II" (Drag City) 3. Clogs - "Lanterns" (Brassland) 4. Fern Knight - "Music for witches and alchemists" (VHF) 5. Joanna Newsom - "Ys" (Drag City) 6. Neko Case "Fox Confessor Brings the Flood" (Anti) 7. Kelley Stoltz - "Bellow the Branches" (Sub Pop) 8. Bellmer Dolls - "The Big Cats Will Throw Themselves Over" (Hungry Eye) 9. Beirut - "The Gulag Orkestar" (Ba Da Bing!) 10. UW Owl - Thorn Elemental (Phaserprone) 11. Unagi - "It Came from Beneath the SFC" (442) Top Ten Reissues of 2006: 1. Quintal de Clorofila - "O misterio dos quintais " (Discos Mariposa) 2. Khan Jamal Creative Arts Ensemble - "Drumdance to the Motherland" (Eremite) 3. Paulo Baguna e A Tropa Maldita - "s/t" (Discos Mariposa) 4. Serge Gainsbourg - "...et Caetera - Enregistrement public au theatre Le Palace - 1979" (Universal France) 5. Mark Fry - "Dreaming with Alice" (Sunbeam) 6. Salah Ragab and the Cairo Jazz Band - "s/t" (Art Yard) 7. Terry Manning - "Home Sweet Home" (Sunbeam) 8. The Cure - "Kiss me kiss me kiss me" -Deluxe Edition- (Fiction) 9. Andre Williams - "Aphrodisiac" (Vampisoul) 10. Karen Dalton "In My Own Time" (Light in the Attic) CHASE MIDDAUGH we'll go with a top 40. but i could go on and on and on.... 1. Tom Waits- "Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards" 2. Sunn O))) & Boris- "Altar" 3. Subtle- "For Hero: For Fool" 4. Carla Bozulich- "Evangelista" 5. Orthodox- "Gran Poder" 6. Charles Lloyd- "Sangam" 7. Kayo Dot- "Dowsing Anemone With Copper Tongue" 8. Clark- "Body Riddle" 9. Scott Walker- "The Drift" 10. Moha!- "Raus Aus Stavanger" 11. Ghostface Killah- "Fishscale" 12. John Hollenbeck- "Joys & Desires" 13. KHLYST- "Chaos Is My Name" 14. Tim Hecker- "Harmony In Ultraviolet" 15. Harvey Milk- "Special Wishes" 16. Brightblack Morning Light- "Brightblack Morning Light" 17. Flaherty/Corsano- "The Beloved Music" 18. Plotkin/Wyskida- "8 Improvisations" 19. Wolf Eyes- "Human Animal" 20. Nas- "Hip-Hop Is Dead" 21. Spektr- "Death Becomes Us" 22. Liars- "Drum's Not Dead" 23. Keith Fullerton Whitman- "Lisbon" 24. Switchblade- "Switchblade" 25. Oneida- "Happy New Year" 26. Ornette Coleman- "Sound Grammar" 27. Growing- "Color Wheel" 28. Psychic Ills- "Dins" 29. Wolves In The Throne Room- "Diadem Of 12 Stars" 30. Terje Isungset- "Igloo" 31. Rashanim- "Shalosh" 32. Circle- "Miljard" 33. Vetiver- "To Find Me Gone" 34. Final- "3" 35. Om- "Conference Of The Birds" 36. Oh No- "Exodus Into Unheard Rhythms" 37. Slomo- "The Creep" 38. Legendary Pink Dots- "Your Children Placate You From Premature Graves" 39. Gorgoroth- "Ad Majorem Sathanas Gloriam" 40. Erik Friedlander- "Prowl" keep up the great work guys and gals! CHRIS OSMUNDSON, SF top ten albums 2006, alphabetically Ornette Coleman: Sound Grammar Daniel Higgs: Ancestral Songs Howlin Rain: S/T Ghostface Killah: Fishscale The Knife: Silent Shout Liars: Drum's Not Dead Joanna Newsom: Ys Om: Conference of the Birds Spank Rock: YoYoYoYoYo Tengir-Too: Music Of Central Asia Vol. 1: Mountain Music Of Kyrgyzstan CHRISTOPHER CASILLAS Here is my list of faves for 2006.....(not in any particular order) Leviathan/Sapthuran - Split (or anything Wrest was even thinking about releasing last year) Wolves In The Throne Room - Diadem Of 12 Stars Enslaved - Ruun Antaeus - Blood Libels Wrath Of The Weak - s/t Drudkh - Blood In Our Wells Ludicra - Fex Urbis Lex Orbis EP Katharsis - WorldWithoutEnd Xasthur - Subliminal Genocide ISIS - In The Absence Of Truth Heresi - Psalm II - Infusco Ignis Blut Aus Nord - Mort Mastadon - Blood Mountain Inferi - Shores Of Sorrow Mouth Of The Architect - The Ties That Bind The Sword - Age Of Winters Agalloch - Ashes Against The Grain Kampfar - Kvass CHRIS WEY 15 Favorite New Releases: Comets on Fire - Avatar [CD] Conrad, Tony - Joan of Arc [CD] Decapitated - Organic Hallucinosis [CD] Harvey Milk - Special Wishes [2xLP] Jesu - Silver [CD-EP] Mastodon - Blood Mountain [CD] Negura Bunget - OM [CD+DVD] NNCK & Embryo - EmbryoNNCK [CD] OM - Conference of the Birds [CD] Six Organs of Admittance - The Sun Awakens [CD] Waits, Tom - Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers, and Bastards [3xCD] Walker, Scott - The Drift [CD] Wolf Eyes - Human Animal [CD] Wolf Eyes & John Wiese - Equinox [CD] V/A - California [10xLP] 13 Favorite Reissues: A.R. & Machines - Echo + A.R.IV [2xCD] A.R. & Machines - Die grune Rise (The Green Journey) + Erholung [CD] The Dead C - Vain, Erudite, and Stupid (Comp.) [2xCD] diSEMBOWELMENT - diSEMBOWELMENT [3xCD] Dissection - Storm of the Light's Bane [2xCD] Harvey Milk - Courtesy and Goodwill Toward Men [2xCD] Pavement - Wowee Zowee: Sordid Sentinels Edition [2xCD] Sebadoh - III [2xCD] Solar Anus - Skull Alcoholic: The Complete Solar Anus [2xCD] This Heat - Out of Cold Storage [7xCD] Today is the Day - Temple of the Morning Star [CD] Vannier, Jean Claude - L'Enfant Assassain des Mouches [CD] V/A - What It Is!: Funky Soul and Rare Grooves - [4xCD] JOHN BEERS Much revised... Here 'tis: Album of the Year: The Darling Downs "How Can I Forget this Heart of Mine?" Rest of the Top Twenty-Five: Anaal Nathrakh "Eschaton" Arizona "Welcome Back Dear Children" Beyonce "B'Day" Brass Castle "Brass Gordy/Chris Castle" Juan Pablo Caceras "Orquesta" Earl Greyhound "Soft Targets" Faceless Werewolves "Medium Freaky" Flin Flon "Dixie" Brigitte Fontaine "Libido" The Goslings "Grandeur of Hair" Gossip "Standing in the Way of Control" I Would Set Myself on Fire for You "Believes in Patterns" Richard Leo Johnson "The Legend of Vernon McAlister" Jucifer "If Thine Enemy Hunger" Major Stars "Syntoptikon" The Mars Volta "Amputechture" Me and Him Call It Us "Loss" Motorpsycho "Black Hole/Blank Canvas" My Chemical Romance "The Black Parade" Sparks "Hello Young Lovers" Warren Steele Stylee w/ The Strung-Out Orchestra and the Crackhead Circus "Songs for Lost Soul,s" Throttlerod "Nail" Venom "Metal Black" Yo La Tengo "I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass" Top Five EPs: Casiotone for the Painfully Alone "Young Shields" Dirty Projectors "New Attitude" The Horrors "The Horrors" Michael Columbia "Stay Hard" Zoroaster "Zoroaster" Reissue of the Year: Wizzard "Wizzard Brew" CRAIG SHERLOCK Tops of 2006: *Tom Waits "Orphans" *Scissor Sisters "Ta Dah" *The Knife "Silent Shout" *Cassandra Wilson "Thunderbird" *"Bukowski: Born Into This" DVD *Built To Spill "You In Reverse" *Neko Case "Fox Confessor..." and all things Neko(!) *Calexico "Garden Ruin" *Paris Hylton "Paris" *Taylor Hicks "S/T" *Bruce Gilbert "This Way" LP(sue me...) *Flaming Lips live 9/17/06 Austin, TX *Howlin' Wolf *"Who?"-friends' response to my NOMEANSNO inquiries... CURRAN FARIS no order: Electro Quarterstaff - gretzky KEN Mode - reprisal Young Widows - settle down city SunnO))) & Boris - altar Neko Case - fox confessor brings the flood Leviathan - splits (Xasthur reissue and Sapthuraan) Craft - fuck the universe Russian Circles - enter Converge - no heroes Don Caballero - world class listening problem CURT SCHOMMER, SEAL BEACH, CA 10- Numbers - The 101 9- The Life Pursuit - Belle & Sebastian 8- Fear Is On Our Side - I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness 7- The Back Room - Editors 6- Rather Ripped - Sonic Youth 5- The Last Romance - Arab Strap 4- This Harness Can't Ride Anything - Chin Up Chin Up 3- Peregrine - The Appleseed Cast 2- Powder Burns - The Twilight Singers 1- Mr. Beast - mogwai DAN SCHAAF Favorites: 1.the tydethrees company(rough trade) 2.yo la tengo-I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass (matador) 3.black keys-Chulahoma(fat possum) 4.mudhoney-Under a Billion Suns(sub pop) 5.dj shadow-The Outsider(universal motown) > 6.mission of burma-The Obliterati(matador) 7.the sword-Age of Winters(kemado) 8.morning wood-Morningwood(capitol) 9.brightblack morning light-Brightblack Morning Light(matador) 10. silversun pickups-Carnavas(dangerbird) 11(s). lefties soul connection, artic monkeys, built to spill, mastodon, so many dynamos, the thermals, eagles of death metal, the roots, jurassic 5, mark lanegan and isabel campbell, sonic youth, the lemonheads Disappointers: the decemberist, beth orton, beck, cat power, flaming lips, grandaddy, the pernice bothers DANIEL CROKAERT Hello everybody at aQ HQ... hope I'm not too late in adding my personal touch to the "TOP TEN Lists" Here it comes thus, in no particular order CHALKDC/MYSTERY SEA's TOP 15 ASHER "The Anguish Is Not The Same" (HOMOPHONI) MP3 ANDREW CHALK & DAISUKE SUZUKI "Senshu" (FARAWAY PRESS) CD-R KEITH BERRY & IAIN STEWART "58 North" DVD PAUL BRADLEY "Pastandpresentcollide" (SHINING DAY) CD LOREN CHASSE/PHIL MOULDYCLIFF/COLIN POTTER/KEITH ROWE "Debris Field" (ICR) CD + catalog COELACANTH & KEITH EVANS "Wrack Light In Copper Ruin" (SEAL POOL) CD/DVD JONATHAN COLECLOUGH & MURMER "Husk" (ICR) 2CD DEAD LETTERS SPELL OUT DEAD WORDS "Old Ghosts, New Ghosts, All Ghosts" (IDEAL) CD FIVE ELEMENTS MUSIC "New Communications : Two" (STILL*SLEEP) CD-R IN CAMERA "S/t" (SOME FINE LEGACY) LP KANTOPA "The Temples Of Maharashtra" (HAUNTED TRAIL) CD-R PABLO RECHE & UBEBOET "Duae" (RETINASCAN) CD-R SETH NEHIL & JGRZINICH "Gyre" (CUT) CD OH, BIRDS ! "...Of Griefs And Satellites" (COOK AN EGG) 3"CD-R BRENDAN WALLS "Outposts" (DOM) LP etc... DANIEL NOAH, LOS ANGELES 1. Clark, Body Riddle 2. Final Fantasy, He Poos Clouds 3. liam singer, our secret lies beneath the creek 4. Johann Johannsson, IBM 1401 A User's Manual 5. Asobi Seksu, Citrus 6. Midlake, The Trials Of Van Occupanther 7. Sibylle Baier, Colour Green 8. Mew, And the Glass Handed Kites 9. John Adams, Dharma at Big Sur 10. Alva Noto, For DAVID MOLNAR Here's my list. They're not ranked. Dean Gray - American Edit Mogwai - Mr. Beast Mogwai - Young Team Drumcorps - Grist Mission of Burma - The Obliterati Jesu - Silver Coil - The Ape of Naples Chiodos - All's Well That Ends Well Albert Kuvezin and Yat-Kha - Re-covers Foetus - Damp DAVID THIEL Top 20, but you can take just the first 10 if you really need only 10... Albums: - Hate Forest: Sorrow - Catacombs: In the Depths of R'lyeh - Keith Rowe/Toshimaru Nakamura: Between - Xabec: Using Unused Methods - Joe Colley: Waste of Songs - Svarte Greiner: Knive - Bal-Sagoth: The Chthonic Chronicles - Nortt: Ligfaerd - Pixel: Set Your Center Between Your Parts In Order To - 15 Degrees Below Zero: Under a Morphine Sky - Sterbend: Dwelling Lifeless - Boris: Dronevil -Final- - Marblebog: Csendhajnal - Xasthur: Subliminal Genocide - Inferi: Shores of Sorrow - BJ Nilsen & Stilluppsteypa: Drykkjuvisur Ohljodanna Comps: - A Selection of Drones 1993-2000 - Travel Sickness - Cryosphere - Touch25 DAX RINER 1 Mogwai, Zidane soundtrack 2 Mogwai, Mr. Beast 3. Tim Hecker, Harmony in Ultraviolet 4. Jesu, Silver 5. Growing, Color Wheel 6. Bardo Pond, Ticket Crystals 7. Belong, October Language 8. Boris, Pink 9. Mark Kozelek, Little Drummer Boy 10. Angel Eyes, Something to do with Death DEREK FAHNESTOCK Hi, Aquarians. Here's my indie-boy Top 10. Live it. I should probably have something that sounds like "Agamemnorothicon" on here, but, hey, anything for a shot at a gift certificate. (10) Tim Hecker -- HARMONY IN ULTRAVIOLET (09) Benoit Pioulard -- PRECIS (08) Arctic Monkeys -- WHATEVER PEOPLE SAY I AM, THAT'S WHAT I'M NOT (07) Belle & Sebastian -- THE LIFE PURSUIT (06) Mystery Jets -- MAKING DENS (05) Woven Hand -- MOSAIC (04) Neko Case -- FOX CONFESSOR BRINGS THE FLOOD (03) Mastodon -- BLOOD MOUNTAIN (02) Voxtrot (3 EPs) [a little unfair to lump EPs, but taken together, they're a terrific album.] (01) Mew -- AND THE GLASS-HANDED KITES DUSTIN, DIPSOMANIAC RECORDS I wanted to send you my 2006 top 10. It was real hard to pick just 10! Here it is... In no particular order 1. Tjolgtjar "The Tjolgtjarian Mass" CD (Baphomet) 2. Hank Williams III "Straight to Hell" 2CD (Bruc) 3. Hammers of Misfortune "The Locust Years" CD (Cruz Del Sur) 4. Attacker "The Unknown" CD (Sentinel Steel) 5. Xexyz "Primeval Mountain" CDr (Illinoisan Thunder/Dipsomaniac) 6. Urgehal "Goatcraft Torment" CD (Agonia) 7. Ghoul "Splatterthrash" (Razorback) 8. Front Beast "Black Spells of the Damned" CD (Isengard) 9. Lugubrum "Trampled Brass/Midget Robes" Live CD (Old Grey Hair) 10. The Stone "Magla" CD (Folter) Oh yeah, here is my top 20 of 2006. I wasn't happy with just 10. You can leave off the reissues if you want to save space on your website. In No Particular Order.... 1. Tjolgtjar "The Tjolgtjarian Mass" CD (Baphomet) 2. Hank Williams III "Straight to Hell" 2CD (Bruc) 3. Hammers of Misfortune "The Locust Years" CD (Cruz Del Sur) 4. Attacker "The Unknown" CD (Sentinel Steel) 5. Xexyz "Primeval Mountain" CDr (Illinoisan Thunder/Dipsomaniac) 6. Urgehal "Goatcraft Torment" CD (Agonia) 7. Ghoul "Splatterthrash" (Razorback) 8. Front Beast "Black Spells of the Damned" CD (Isengard) 9. Lugubrum "Trampled Brass/Midget Robes" Live CD (Old Grey Hair) 10. The Stone "Magla" CD (Folter) 11. Shooter Jennings "Electric Rodeo" CD (Universal South) 12. The Tyrant of Manchester "Rough Musick/Bad Blood" CDr (Illinoisan Thunder/Dipsomaniac) 13. Gwar "Beyond Hell" CD+DVD (DRT) 14. North "Na Polach Bitew" CD (Pagan) 15. Alice Cooper "Live in Montreux 2005" CD+DVD (Eagle Eye) 16. Gama Bomb "Survival of the Fastest" CD (Witches Brew) 17. Motorhead "Kiss of Death" CD (Steamhammer) 18. Old Goat "Slaves of War" CD+DVD (Pagan Flames) 19. The Wizar'd "Follow the Wizard" CD (Rusty Axe) 20. Katharsis "VVorldVVithoutEnd" CD (Norma Evangelium Diaboli) Reissues/Collections 1. The Doors "Perception" 6CD/6DVD Box Set (Elektra/Rhino) 2. Solar Anus "Skull Alcoholic: The Complete Solar Anus" 2CD (tUMULt) 3. Helloween "Walls of Jericho: Expanded Edition" 2CD (Sanctuary) 4. Johnny Paycheck "11 Months and 29 Days/Slide Off Your Satin Sheets" CD (Raven) 5. Tygers of Pan Tang "Spellbound" CD (Metal Nation) 6. Merle Haggard "Strangers/Swinging Doors and the Bottle Let Me Down" CD (Capitol) 7. Gorgon (Japan) "Out of the Best (Heavy Metal Superstars)" CD (Arsenal of Glory) 8. Hallows Eve "History of Terror" 3CD+DVD Box Set (Metal Blade) 9. Raven Dark "Verdandi / Berustet av Kriegsdronnet" CD (Grievantee) 10. Trouble "Psalm 9" CD+DVD (Escapi) ELLEN SIMMONS Hi guys & gals, Here's my top 10: No particular order.... 1.) BORIS - Pink CD 2.) LAMP OF THE UNIVERSE- From the Mystic Rays of Astrological LightCD 3.) EXPO '70- Exquisite Lust CDR 4.) SHIT & SHINE- Jealous of Shit & Shine CD 5.) BARDO POND- Ticket Crystals CD 6.) CLOUDLAND CANYON- Requiems Der Natur 2002-2004 CD 7.) ACROSS TUNDRAS- Dark Songs of the Prairie CD 8.) SIX ORGANS OF ADMITTANCE- The Sun Awakens CD 9.) TIM HECKER- Harmony in Ultraviolet CD 10.)THE ANGELIC PROCESS- Coma Waering CD EMMANUEL BOUDOL Here is my small top ten list for the past year :-) 1- Harvey Milk - Special Wishes 2- Asi Mina - wszystko mam! tylko gdzie? / have all! but where? 3- Pendro - Nocturne Convolute 4- Brightblack Morning Light - Brightblack Morning Light 5- Yo La Tengo - I'm not afraid of you and I will beat your ass 6- Califone - Roots and crown 7- The Whitest Boy Alive - Dreams 8- Current 93 - Black ships ate the sky 9- Blut aus Nord - MoRT 10- Pharaoh Overlord - 4 THE reissue of the year: Karen Dalton: In my own time Live gig of the year: Shit & Shine + Earth +Sunn O))) at the Volksbahne, Berlin ERIC TOP 30 RECORDS OF 2006: 1) J. Dilla -- Donuts 2) Beach House - s/t 3) Daniel Higgs - Ancestral Songs 4) Six Organs of Admittance -- The Sun Awakens 5) Tim Hecker -- Harmony in Ultraviolet 6) Drudkh -- Songs of Grief and Solitude - and - Drudkh -- Blood in Our Wells 7) 3/4 Had Been Eliminated -- Year of the Aural Guage Operation 8) Thank You -- s/t CD-R [Baltimore-based This Heat-esque stuff ] 9) Agalloch -- Ashes Against the Grain 10) The Coup -- Pick a Bigger Weapon 11) OOIOO -- Taiga 12) Ecstatic Sunshine -- Freckle Wars 13) Scott Walker -- The Drift 14) Gojira -- From Mars to Sirius 15) WZT Hearts -- Heat Chief 16) Madlib -- Mind Fusion v. 4 17) Om -- Conference of the Birds 18) Belong -- October Language 19) Cam'ron -- Killa Season [mostly because of "I.B.S."] 20) Lo MOdA -- Gospel Store Front 21) Ahab -- Call of the Wretched Sea 22) Ghostface -- Fishcscale 23) Brightblack Morning Light -- s/t 24) Necks -- Chemist 25) Sonic Youth -- Rather Ripped 26) Ponytail -- Kamehameha 27) Boris and Sunn O))) -- Altar 28) Melvins -- A Senile Animal 29) Genghis Tron -- Dead Mountain Mouth 30) Hawk and a Hacksaw -- Way the Wind Blows EVAN LEVINE 10. Reigns - We Lowered A Microphone Into the Ground 09. Larsen - SeieS - 08. Brightblack Morning Light - Brightblack Morning Light 07. STNNNG - Fake Fake 06. Zelienople - Stone Academy 05. Jasper, TX - I'll Be Long Gone Before My Light Reaches You 04. Sheriff - Sail, Sail Away 03. Colour Haze - Tempel 02. Psychic Ills - Dins 01. Boris - Pink EVAN @ THRILL JOCKEY 1) James Blackshaw - O True Believers 2) Birchville Cat Motel - Our Love Will Destroy the World 3) Sir Richard Bishop "Elektronika Demonika"LP and "Plays SCG" 7" 4) Shogun Kunitoki - Tasankokaiku 5) 51717 - 544 cd 6) Marc Leclair - Musique Pour 3 Femmes Enceintes 7) Om - Conference of the Birds 8) Tim Hecker - Harmony in Ultraviolet 9) Uusitalo - Tulenkantaja 10) Conrad Schnitzler - Blau (boot?) (Captain Trip) GERARDO JESUS LLAMAS ZAS Jay there amerikanische kiddies!!!!! The following were the biggest names up in lights, the brighttest stars of 2006 in chez Llamas!!! Trollmann Av Ildtoppberg - Arcane runes adorn the ice-Wrought monoliths of the ancient tabern of stars. (WORTH A FLUTTER!!!) Skullflower - Tribulation (NO RHYME. NO REASON. POSSIBLY A FUTURE CLASSIC) Xexyz - Primeval Mountain (NO SOCIAL ESTIGMA COULD DETRACT FROM ITS PRECISION LOVELINESS) Various - DrumMachineGun (NIIIIIIIIIICE) The Rotters - Japanese Punk (TIDY WORK, LADS. MONUMENTAL) Hekel - De Dodenvaart (NOT NEW. NOT OLD. JUST TIMELESS) Svarte Greiner - Knive (TIME WILL SHOW ITS TRUE, EPIC WORTH) Various - Walking with ghosts (CLEVER, OBVIOUSLY) Urfaust/Circle of the Ouroborus - Auerauege Raa Verduistering (TRULY HERE ARE TWO BANDS YOU COULD BELIEVE IN) The Dead C - Vain, Erudite and Stupid (ACE, BY ANY CALCULATION) Striborg - Embittered darkness (A MAGNIFICENT, LIFE-AFFIRMING OPUS) Blut Aus Nord - MoRT (THE NAME WAS OBSCURE, THE GENIUS CLEAR) Harvey Milk - Courtesy and good will toward men (UNIMPEACHABLE BEAUTY, MADDENINGLY GREAT) Toroidh - European trilogy (REMARKABLE) Whitehouse - Aesceticists2006 (THIS IS A SLOW-MOTION CHARMER WITH ELEGANTLY BEAUTIFUL DEPTHS) UnglUnlrrlhchchch - (... UMM... GROW MEN GULPED OPENLY AT ITS MELANCHOLYC BEAUTY) Necrofrost - Bloodstorms voktes over Hytrunghas dunkle Nekrotroner (ALL CLASS. NO ACT) Bromheads Jacket - Dits from the commuter belt (SUBLIME) Meads of Asphodel - Damascus steel (PILL MONKEY COME UP SAYING BLING BLING!!) That was what it was, my friends, nothing but cold shadows from the charnel house of the former year... See you soon, meanwhile... CHAOSTITY AND ZOOTOXINS FOR EVERYBODY GLENN SIMPSON, SAN FRANCISO Here's my list of the best records of 2006. Thanks for helping me keep up with so much of the good music that people are making. Record Of The Year: Band Of Horses "Everything All The Time" Runners Up: Agalloch "Ashes Against The Grain" Bible Of The Devil "The Diabolic Procession" Neko Case "Fox Confessor Brings The Flood" Dissection "Reinkaos" Liz Durrett "The Mezzanine" Fred Eaglesmith "Milly's Cafe" Ethereal Woods "In The Forest Of Arden" Gates Of Slumber "Suffer No Guilt" Low Red Land "Weight Of Nations" Metal Inquisitor "Doomsday For The Heretic" Nachtmystium "Instinct: Decay" Northwinds "Chimeres" The Sword "Age Of Winters" Bobby Taylor "Motown Anthology" Various Artists "Atlantic Unearthed: Soul Brothers" Various Artists "Eccentric Soul: The Deep City Label" Various Artists "Mama's Got A Bag Of Her Own" GARY CUTLER My top 30 albums of 2006 (in no particular order) Daniel Menche- Jugularis (Important) *my absolute favorite of '06* Supersilent- 7 (Rune Grammofon) James Blackshaw- O True Believers (Important) J Dilla- Donuts (Stones Throw) The Knife- Silent Shout (Mute) Shogun Kunitoki- Tasankokaiku (Fonal) Ghostface Killah- Fishscale (Def Jam) Paul Flaherty/Chris Corsano- The Beloved Music (Family Vineyard) Ruins of Beverast- Unlock the Shrine (Battle Kommand) Keith Fullerton Whitman- Recorded in Lisbon (Kranky) Gnarls Barkley- St. Elsewhere (Downtown) Kidd Jordan/Hamid Drake/William Parker- Palm of Soul (Aum Fidelity) Burial- s/t (Hyperdub) Bardo Pond- Ticket Crystals (ATP Recordings) Leviathan/Sapthuran- split s/t (Southern Lord/Battle Kommand) Birchville Cat Motel- Curved Surface Destroyer (Last Visible Dog) Soriah- Chao Organica in A Minor (Beta-Lactam Ring) Agalloch- Ashes Against the Grain (The End) Crime in Choir- Trumpery Metier (Gold Standard Laboratories) Xasthur-Subliminal Genocide (Hydrahead) TV on the Radio- Return to Cookie Mountain (Interscope) Kultur Shock- We've Come to Take Your Jobs Away (Kool Arrow) Circle- Miljard (Ektro) Clipse- Hell Hath No Fury (Re-Up Gang/Zomba) Skream- Skream! (Tempa) Tim Hecker- Harmony in Ultraviolet (Kranky) Benot Pioulard- Pracis (Kranky) Yellow Swans- Psychic Secession (Load) Converge- No Heroes (Epitaph) Shit & Shine- Jealous of Shit & Shine (Riot Season) Favorite reissues Franco Battiato- Fetus (Water) Franco Battiato- Pollution (Water) Lucio Battisti- Amore e Non Amore (Water) Lucio Battisti- Umanamente Uomo: Il Sogno (Water) The Khan Jamal Creative Arts Ensemble- Drumdance to the Motherland (Eremite) Emmanuelle Parrenin- Maison Rose (Lion) Selda- s/t (B-Music) Favorite compilations VA- Science Faction: Dubstep (BBS/Milkcrate) VA- Dubstep All Stars Vol. 4: Mixed by Youngsta & Hatcha (Tempa) VA- What It Is! Funky Soul & Rare Grooves (Rhino) VA- Congotronics 2 Tom Waits- Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards (Anti) HANK DREW In no order: Black Boned Angel "Bliss & Void Inseparable" Joanna Newsom "Ys" Boris "Pink" Mrtyu "Blood Tantra" Charalambides "A Vintage Burden" Tim Hecker "Harmony in Ultraviolet" Ignatz "II" Grails "Black Tar Prophecies, Vols. 1, 2 & 3" Sibylle Baier "Colour Green" Aethenor "Deep In Ocean Sunk the Lamp of Light" Also, you guys need one of these for the store. Mine is named Doomy. http://www.nabaztag.com/en/index.html JACK HANKIN, PACIFICA Dozen Faves of '06 (alphabetically): air latenight tales bonobo days to come califone roots & crowns foundry field recordings prompts/miscues grizzly bear yellow house howie gelb sno angel like you hylozoists la din de monde instruments cast a half shadow talkdemonic beat romantic tanakh ardent fevers tungg comments of the inner chorus tv on the radio return to cookie mountain ROBERT KILPATRICK 2006 Favorites Keith Rowe/Toshimaru Nakamura - between (Erstwhile) Ann Heymann - Cruit go nr Harp of Gold (self released) Filament - Dark Room Filled with Light(Uplink) David Tudor/Gordon Mumma (New World) (N:Q) - November Quebec (Esquilo) Toshimaru Nakamura/Klaus Filip - aluk (IMJ) Anthony Burr/Charlies Curtis - Alvin Lucier (Antioptic) Mark Wastell/David Lacey/Paul Vogel - Live at the i+e festival (Confront) Traw with Rhodri Davies - Cwymp Y Dwr Ar Ganol Dydd (Confront) Taku Sugimoto/Taku Unami - Tengu Et Kitsune (Slub) Eddie Prevost - Entelechy (Matchless) J.S. Bach- Goldberg Variations, 14 Canons (Richard Egarr Harpsichord) (Harmonia Mundi) Keith Rowe/Tomas Korber/Gunter Muller - fibre (For4Ears) Manfred Werder - 2006^1 (Skiti) Burkhard Stangl / Taku Unami - I was (Hibari) Fergus Kelly/David Lacey - Bevel (Room Temperature) Nmperign/Jason Lescalleet - Love Me Two Times (Intransitive) Jeph Jerman/Albert Casais/Greg Davis - 620 (Winds Measure) Joe Foster - Knock Nevis (For Wilson Zorn and J.P. Jenkins) (homophoni) Ami Yoshida/Christof Kurzmann - a s o (Erstwhile) Essential Reissues John Cage - Sonatas and Interludes for Prepared Piano (John TIlbury, Piano) (Explore) Earl Brown - Selected Works 1952-1965 (New World) Morton Feldman - The Viola in My Life (New World) Other Things I liked GOD - Each One Confinement Force (self released) Joe Panzner - Polished Rocks (gmby) Masahiko Okura/Ami Yoshida/Gunter Muller - tanker (For4Ears) Will Guthrie - Body and Limbs Still Look to Light (Cathnor) Morton Feldman - Complete Violin/Viola and Piano Works (OgreOgress) Joe Foster- Ethics (Self Released) thanks as always for the good work! CLAYTON SUEN Top 10 of '06 Procer Veneficus - Ghostvoices Xasthur - Subliminal Genocide Wolves In The Throne Room - Diadem Of The 12 Stars Current 93 - Black Ships Ate The Sky M87 - Noctilucent Threnody Drear/Great American Desert - split Negura Bunget - OM Om - Conference Of Birds Blind Guardian - A Twist In The Myth Donald Fagen - Morph The Cat Favorites recommended from AQ = Solar Anus, Circle, & Trollmann Av Ildtoppberg MICHAEL REISINGER, DENVER Thanks for sharing your lists, and more importantly, for providing me with a slew of records that helped get me through this last year. I appreciate your reviews, recommendations, and friendly and efficient staff. Mailorder can often be a nightmare but you guys make it worth it every time. So...here's my list. Thanks again. Twenty + records that made 2006 a better place: Keiji Haino & Sitar Tah - "Animamima" CD Bonus - "On Earth"CD Harvey Milk - "Special Wishes" 2XLP Kites- "Peace Trials" LP(last month of '05 I think but stuck with me through '06) LP Witch Doctor - "Said Rocker" CDR Sebadoh "III" reissue 2XCD J DIlla "Donuts"CD Prurient "Pleasure Ground" CD Expo '70 "Exquisite Lust" CDR Chavez "Better Days Will Haunt You" 2XCD This Heat s/t reissue CD Liars - "Drum's Not Dead" CD/DVD Jana Hunter - "Blank Unstairing Heirs Of Doom +Bonus Tracks" cassette Ginnungagap - "Remeindre" LP Daniel Higgs - "Anscestral Songs" LP Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - "House Arrest" LP Sonic Youth - "Rather Ripped" LP Jesu - "Silver" CD Extra Golden - "Ok-Oyot System" LP Oxbow - "A Love That's Last" CD/DVD Knit Witch - "Witchy Craft" cassette Minutemen - "We Jam Econo" DVD INGRID JOSSIEAUX Hello... a friend of mine told me i should send my top albums from 2006 to you, so here it is... very ambient/electronica oriented :) 1) HELIOS - Eingya (type records) 2) SVARTE GREINER - Knive (type records) 3) JULY SKIES - Where the days go (Make Mine Music) 4) BELLE AND SEBASTIAN - The life pursuit (Rough Trade) 5) MARSEN JULES - Les fleurs (City Centre Offices) 6) -SCALDIS- - For starters (U-Cover CDR Limited) 7) MAPS AND DIAGRAMS - Onamatopea (Unlabel) 8) GULTSKRA ARTIKLER - Pofigista (Lampse) 9) SEAWORTHY - Map in hand (12K) 10) OBFUSC - Internal countryside (Boltfish Recordings) TIM BARTHOLOMEW 1. Striborg: Embittered Darkness 2. Daniel Higgs: Ancestral Songs 3. Xasthur: Subliminal Genocide 4, Woven Hand: Mosaic 5: Harvey Milk: Special Wishes 6:Pelt: Heraldic Beasts 7:Zelienpeople:Stone Academy 8:Leviathan/Crebain:Split LP 9:Bone Awl: casette 10:Tim Hecker: Harmony In Ultraviolet JESSE HAWTHORNE Ficks's Picks of 2007 It was a year of oldies making goodies with a few younglings making funthings. 1. Joanna Newsom - Ys (@ Great American) 2. Sonic Youth - Rather Ripped (@ Lollapalooza & The Fillmore) 3. Cat Power - The Greatest (@ Great American) 4. Built To Spill - You In Reverse (@ Slim's) 5. Matisyahu - Youth (@ Lollapalooza) 6. The Knife - Silent Shout 7. Dr. Octagon - The Return of Dr. Octagon 8. Bonnie "Prince" Billy - The Letting Go 9. Peeping Tom - Self Titled (@ Great American & Lollapalooza) 10. Deerhoof's live soundtrack to Harry Smith's films @ The Castro 11. Man Man - Six Demon Bag (@ Pitchfork Music Festival) JAMES MCARDLE, SOUTHERN RECORDS OK guys (and gals), you asked for it. Prob more mainstream than a lot of lists you'll get (including your own)but here ya go. I revised this so many times and sent it to a bunch of places already, but you get (what I think will be is) the -final- version. So many great records this year, and yet when sending this,all I can think about is all the great records I -missed-!! Should be noted that almost all of the new releases listed here (except three) were available on vinyl -somewhere-.Huzzah to that. LPs/CDs top two: Om - Conference of the Birds -- Holy Mountain The Piper at the Gates of Doom. Live show was like standing next to a floor-mounted rocket being test-fired, repeatedly, and lost the subtlety of this LP. But I've listened to this more than any other release this year. Truly psychedelic, disciplined, and devotional. the Black Angels - Passover -- Light In the Attic Another truly psychedelic release. Their live show made me appreciate how well balanced and mixed this record is, as the color palette was much more smeared when they played here. It's like the best Brian Jonestown ever without the drugs and drama, and the anti-war politics don't sound cloying or forced, but are integral to the sound and tone of the entire LP. This spent more time in my stereo than anything else except the Om, and my upstairs neighbor still thanks me for turning her onto it by CRANKING it up there. Which doesn't annoy me in the least. the rest: Gnarls Barkley - St.Elsewhere -- Downtown/Atlantic Hey, why shouldn't I have a pop sweet-tooth like everyone else? This record is SO much fun, and face it, "Crazy" was the "Hey Ya!" of 2006. If you didn't turn it up when it came on the radio, you're either asnob or a crank. C'mon, it's nothing to be ashamed of. Cee-Lo can really sing, and a couple of the cuts on here are pretty damn deep for pop. And a Violent Femmes cover!The one record on this list that my kids and I dig equally. the Evens - Get Evens -- Dischord I think the opening cut is the single best thingIan has done in a number of years,andI play and sing along to this record constantly.Another one I've turned (grateful) friends and neighbors on to.Their live shows were the highlight of the fall and his agnostic populism is a conscience to us all. I like the way Amy has sanded some of his rough edges, and the two of them harmonize together beautifully. Boris - Pink -- Southern Lord Side four is the best Sonic Youth freakout since "Mote", and way heavier, natch. This one makes my amp/receiver WORK. And the blotter insert is total genius. Psychic Ills - Dins -- the Social Registry Secret weapon is the bass. Total motorik propulsion. the Drones - Gala Mill -- All Tomorrow's Parties Sparser than the prior "Wait By The River...." but no less intense. Like Aussie Cormac McCarthy stories; possibly the most literate band in rock. And live? Everything you ever loved about the Gun Club, Scientists, or Eleventh Dream Day. Massive Fender overkill, with attendant v-o-l-u-m-e. Radio Birdman - Zeno Beach -- Citadel/Yep Roc About 87% there. Live, almost as good as when I saw them in Sydney a few years back. They've come -so- far to be here today. Yeah hup! Wolfmother - Wolfmother -- Interscope The final third of the trio of Aussie records on this list. This thing makes me feel like I'm seventeen again. All I wanna do when I hear it is drive really really fast and get dirty with my girlfriend. And head-bang. And smoke stuff. And sing along at the top of my lungs (which I do -all the above!) Extra Golden - Ok-Oyot System -- Thrill Jockey Dazzling, both live and on record. Three from Kenya (AMAZING drummer) and the two guitar players from the band Golden. They were so good live (at a free show!) that I bought a t-shirt and told them to keep the change. Find the limited edition "homemade" DVD that came with retail direct copies of this release. Todd Snider - the Devil You Know -- New Door (CD only) Two of the best songs of the year are on here - the title cut, and "You Got Away With It (a Tale of Two Fraternity Brothers)" which, by Todd's own admission, paints Dubya as the bully he is. His live set at the Chicago History Museum was challenging, hilarious, and completely entertaining. I met my girlfriend at a Todd Snider show; we've driven non-stop to Nashville to see him and I'd do it again this afternoon. Carey Wallace - Waltzes & Lullabyes -- self released CD-R I wish I could keep her as my personal secret, but this record is so great I'd feel guilty if I didn't share it. Parlor piano, lovely singing, her brother on guitar, and great lovelorn, yet affirming songs (3/3 waltzes, and lullabyes - just like the title says) that I would comfortably mixtape somewhere between Gillian Welch and Carole King. I've heard she's left Ypsilanti for hipster Brooklyn (uh-oh). I hope it'll suit her and her wonderful art. Carey - please send me more. River City Tanlines - I'm Your Negative -- Dirtnap Alicja Trout is the single most exciting thing in rock n'roll these days, and RCTL played the single best set of straight-up punk I've heard in ages. And they were totally pro, moving up their gear, setting up, and checking monitors in a mere seven minutes, and kicking it all out in under a half hour. Her solos stun, and the rhythm section swings. This LP, while not quite (but almost) as great as the singles that preceded it, still has me walking around the house humming half the tracks, esp the title cut. And their cover of Fred McDowell's "You Got To Move" (they are from -Memphis- after all) did nothing but confuse the kids who came to hear the sludgy boy rock they shared the bill with. Amen to that. ft(the Shadow Government) - the Guns of August -- Scenester Credentials Unknowns from Iowa could make Julian Cope cream his crusty leather trousers. Live, space-rock of the highest order, with a twin drummer underpinning that obviously listens to a -lot- of hip-hop, and a live-freepolitical sensibility that borders on libertarian. Calling it tribal would be an (bong) insult. This shit is a GROOVE. William Elliott Whitmore - Song of the Blackbird -- Southern This guy is my hero. I can't believe I get to work with him. If this record were released by someone else, I'd try to work for -that- label. This album, the third of a trilogy, has been (like the prior two) the solace to many a late night. Thank you, brother. Daniel (Arcus Incus Ululat) Higgs - Ancestral Songs -- Holy Mountain (and - Plays the Mirror of the Apocalypse and Other Songs - cassette) Wow. Who -knew- he could shred on guitar? And live, when he sings "the skull at the foot of the cross is my own!", you better believe it's his. Not much like Lungfish, and only occasionally like the Pupils. Ragas, noise, sing-song poetry; he's a shaman, a conjurer, and mad as a hatter. Red Sparrowes - Every Red Heart Shines Towards The Red Sun -- Neurot As sad and moving and heavy as the story it tells. Not at all your typical "post/math rock", and the slide guitar is a super nice touch. A late-in-the-year favorite, easier to listen to as the days stayed darker longer. the Epsilons - s/t - Retard Disco (vinyl on Young Cubs) Real punk rock made by real teenagers, one of whom is/was still in high school, thus nixing any tour possibilities. Songs about evil robots, cutegirls, and finishes with a killer guitar closer called 'the Epsilon'. New record thisspring, I can't wait. the Functional Blackouts - the Severed Tongue Speaks For Everyone -- Criminal IQ (released on LP only) This thing just confounds me, but I love it. It sounds like electricinsect buzz. Reminds me of early Flesheaters, in the best way. And the "artwork" is total brain-fry, like a bad PCP trip. The best thing thisband has ever done, and therelease that would've separated them from the rest in the "drunk-punk" gutter. So of course they broke up ten minutes after it was released. In 2004, Criminal IQ had the Vee Dee record; 2005 was M.O.T.O. "Raw Power". 2006 was the Functional Blackouts. 2007? Watch this space next year......... Shit And Shine - Jealous Of Shit And Shine - Riot Season (2xCD only - so far....) A half an hour of distorted pounding drum puh called 'Practising To Be A Doctor' is the highlight of this, though the rest of the (occasionally)rhythmic head-scratchery is pretty damn fine, too. The bonus disc is a re-issue of a ltd.ed. vinyl LPthat sounds like what you hear and feel like after a week of total sleepdeprivation. They also did a Latitudes session for Southern that's my fave release in thatseries so far (though the Richard Bishop and Will Whitmore Latitudes were tops, too). 7"/singles Brain Handle - s/t 2nd release -- Fashionable Idiots Like the Germs on an ibogaine binge. The guitar player goes by the moniker "$100 Toilet". What more do you need to know to steal this on sight? Keep an eye on this label; new release by the Retainers is an arse-kicker, too. Reissues: Too many to name, really. But if I had to pick three: the Damned - the Black Album - 2xCD - Chiswick One of my all-time top ten rock n'roll records ever, and the bestrecord they ever did. The songs, the flow, Paul Gray's bass, this has the sonic expansion of prime-eraWho, with alternately biting and moody lyrics. The bonus material isnice, but themeat of it is sides 1, 2, and 3 of the original double LP presented inultra high fidelity on one disc. By the time I discovered this record in 1985, their best years werealready behind them. But this one from 1980 stands the test of time,and I've never gotten tired of it. Sandy Bull - Still Valentine's Day - Water A live release from a show in which he played on the same bill as John Fahey (a set which was previously released on Water, though this says 1969, the other states it was in 1968 [?]) As I had only been aware of his earlierfolk records, this blew me away. Proto-Loren Connors abstracted blues, and improvisationson the oud. The version of 'No Deposit, No Return Blues' is utterly astounding. Healso plays along with a tape recording of himself and drummer Billy Higginson a version of Chuck Berry's Memphis in which Bull seems to deconstruct and reassemble it from the ground up.An eye-opener, and one that has me searching for more. JAMES SADLER, U.K. top ten albums not in any order 1. wolves in the throne room-diadem of 12 stars 2. lupe fiascos- food and liquor 3. goslings- grandeur of hair 4. MV & EE with the bummer road-mother of thousands 5. comets on fire-avatar 6. joanna newsom- Ys 7. chromatics- nite 8. wolf eyes-river slaughter 9. the bronx-s/t 10. harvey milk-special wishes lots more but these just come to mind best gigs of 2006 1. sunn/earth at the custard factory birmingham U.K 2. supersonic festival at the custard factory birmingham u.k 3. baroness/torche at the custard factory birmingham u.k 4. yo la tengo at the forum london U.K 5. boris at the custard factory birmingham u.k 6. cave in/pelican at the carling academy birmingham u.k 7. neurosis at the forum london u.k JAN-ARNE SOHNS, STUTTGART, GERMANY Hi there, friendly Aquarius folks! As requested, these are ... ... Jan's chosen few for 2006. Joanna is #1, the rest in no particular order: Joanna Newsom: Ys (Drag City) Xela: The Dead Sea (Type) Svarte Greiner: Knive (Type) Helios: Eingya (Type - ehm, I'm not working or recording for them) Nortt: Ligefaerd (THR) Various Production:The WorldIs Gone(XL) Burial: s/t (Hyperdub) Machinefabriek: Marijn (Lampse) The Gentleman Losers: s/t (Bro) Battles: ep c/b ep (Warp - I guess the eps were originally released in 2005 though, right?) Grails: Black Tar Prophecies Vol.s I, II & III (Important) Gossip: Standing in the Way of Control (BackYard) v/a: Grim FM (Werk) Last of the Real Hardmen: 10,000 Miles (Birdwar) smaller formats: Xela: Halloween / Suspiria 7"(Type) Paavoharju: Uskallan 7" (Type) Shoreline: From Eden, Now and Inbetween 10" (Yesternow) Armour / Hijak: Iron Man / Nightmarez 10" (Tectonic) JAPANESE BUSINESSMAN A BUNCH OF MY FAV RECORDS AND DVDS OF 2006 AND SOME FROM LATE 2005 (INCLUDES REISSUES AND ALL THAT OTHER SHIT) IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER: Harvey Milk "Special Wishes" Harvey Milk "Courtesy And Goodwill Toward Men" Harvey Milk "Anthem" cd/dvd Silentist "Chariot Swing" Silentist "House On The Hill" The Advantage "Elf-Titled" "The Music Library: Graphic Art & Sound" cd/book V/A "Walking With Ghosts" The Psychic Paramount "Origins And Primitives Vol. 1 & 2" Massacre "Killing Time" This Heat "Out Of Cold Storage" Henry Cow "Limited Edition Boxset" Zebulon Pike "II: The Deafening Twilight" Hammers Of Misfortune "The Locust Years" V/A "Radio Thailand: Transmissions From The Tropical Kingdom" V/A "Radio Algeria" Estradasphere "Palace Of Mirrors" Andrew Douglas Rothbard "Abandoned Meander" Porest "Tourrorists!" Selda "s/t" Tsegue-Maryam Guebrou "Ethiopiques Vol. 21" V/A "Trap Door" Pendro "Nocturne Convolute" Everlovely Lightningheart "Cusp" Bad Brains "Live at CBGB 1982" dvd Koenjihyakkei "Viva Koenji!!" Koenjihyakkei "Live at Doors" dvd Wonder Showzen "Seasons 1 & 2" dvds oh and everything the Starving Weirdos released!!! SHOWS: 8/4 Tom Waits @The Orpheum in Memphis 9/3 Don Caballero/Zombi @Vino's in Little Rock 9/4 Japanese New Music Festival @Eyedrum in Atlanta 9/5 Boris @Bottletree in Birmingham 11/27 The Psychic Paramount @Hi-Tone in Memphis SKLF i'll give it a whirl... ten for 2006 beach house, "beach house" belong, "october language" ghostface killah, "fishscale" tim hecker, "harmony in ultraviolet" j. dilla, "donuts" lcd soundsystem, "45:33" madlib, "mind fusion vol. 4" psychic ills, "dins" the skygreen leopards, "disciples of california" ricardo villalobos, "fizheuer zieheuer" thanks for sharing all your staff's picks (got a few ideas) - looking forward to 2007... JEFFERSON W. PETREY HERE ARE MY TOP ALBUMS OF 2006 IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER: FM3 "Buddha Machine" (Staalplaat) Tim Hecker "Harmony in Ultraviolet" (Kranky) Alog "Catch that Totem" (Melektronik) Mountains "Sewn" (Apestaartje) Modern Institute "Excellent Swimmer" (Expanding) Alva Noto / Sakamoto "Insen Live" DVD (Raster-Noton) Triosk "Headlight Serenade" (Leaf) Sickoakes "Seawards" (Type) Mono "Palmless Prayer/Mass Murder Refrain" (Temporary Residence) Francisco Lopez "Untitled 2005" (Aneoma) Gruppo Di Improvisazione Nuova Consonanza "Azioni" -Reissue (Die Schachtel) Sunn O))) / Boris "Altar" (Southern Lord) Machinefabriek "Marijin" (Lampse) V/A "OHM - Early Gurus of Electronic Music Box-Set" - Reissue (Ellipsis) 3/4HadBeenEliminated "Year of the Aural Gauge Operation" (Hapna) Chihei Hatakeyama "Minima Moralia" (Kranky) Toru Takemitsu "Complete Edition - Vol. 3-4 - Music for Movies Box-Set" (Shogakukan) ... and heck, here's the films too while I'm at it: HERE ARE MY TOP FILMS OF 2006 IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER: Lucile Hadzihalilovic "Innocence" (France) Hou Hsiao-Hsien "Three Times" (China/Taiwan) Cristi Puiu "Death of Mr. Lazarescu" (Romania) Jean-Pierre Melville "Army of Shadows" (France) (Rereleased classic noir from '69 with new print/subtitles and given the Criterion treatment) Yoji Yamada "Hidden Blade" (Japan) Nuri Bilge Ceylan "Climates" (Turkey) Mikio Naruse "Flowing"/"When A Woman Ascends the Stairs"/ "Repast"/"Sound of the Mountain" (Japan) (Late 50's/Early 60's tokyo dramas - first time in the west subtitled and given the Masters of Cinema treatment) Bong Joon-ho "The Host" (South Korea) (Saw crappy bootleg w/ unintelligible subtitles and it was still the best monster movie in decades!) Pen-Ek Ratanaruang "Invisible Waves" (Thailand) Michel Gondry "Science of Sleep" (France) (Surprise! Gondry does it again - really enjoyed it.) Vctor Erice "Spirit of the Beehive" (Spain) (Another rerelease, this rarely seen Spanish film from the 70's gets the new print and Criterion treatment as well) Pedro Almodovar "Volver" (Spain) Andrea Arnold "Red Road" (UK) (Even though the closing scenes confounded my mind) JENNIFER HOR Because I got so many black metal records last year, I'm sending two lists: a black metal list and an everything else list of all good CDs I heard for the first time in 2006. Although I live in Sydney, Australia, I'm sure I count as an AQ customer cos I use the fortnightly lists to make orders and harass Metropolis in Melbourne. Black Metal CD List: Akitsa "Aube de la misanthropie" (2cd set) Animus "Poems for the Aching, Swords for the Infuriated" Circle of Ouroborus "Shores" Contra Ignem Fatuum "Detritus" (EP) Elysian Blaze "Levitating the Carnal" Epheles "Souviens-Toi" Furze "Necromanzee Cogent" (reissue) Ildjarn "Ildjarn is Dead" Negura Bunget " 'N Crugu Bradului" Old Wainds "Withers of the Wainds" rehtaF ruO "Boiled in Goat Blood" Rigor Sardonicous "Principia Sardonica" S.V.E.S.T. "Urfaust" All other CDs: 3/4HadBeenEliminated "A Year of the Aural Gauge Operation" 6majik9 "A polka lips now" A Hawk and a Hacksaw "The Way the Wind Blows" Rodd Keith "Saucers in the Sky" Salvatore Martirano "L's ga / ballad / octe" Orthodox "Gran Poder" Suishou no Fune "Where the Spirits are" Six Organs of Admittance "The Sun Awakens" Taj Mahal Travellers "August 1974" The Dead C "Trapdoor Fucking Exit" The Dead C "Vain, Erudite and Stupid / Selected Works: 1987 - 2005" The Khan Jamal Creative Arts Ensemble "Drumdance to the Motherland" This Heat "This is 1" V/A "Congotronics 2: Buzz'n'Rumble from the Urb'n'Jungle" V/A "Greek Electronic Music - 1" V/A "Tibetan and Bhutanese Instrumental and Folk Music: Volume 2" JEREMY GAYNOR My Favorite Releases of 2006 : Andrew Chalk : Blue Eyes of The March COH : Patherns EP Debris Fields : Ambient Wash Fovea Hex : Huge The Knife : Silent Shout Luomo : Paper Tigers Part Timer : S/T Sleeparchive : Radio Transmissions EP Steve Roach & Loren Nerell : Terraform Terje Isungset : Igloo Thomas Schumacher : Home Various : Congotronics 2 (Buzz N Rumble...) Various : Pop Ambient 2007 Favorite Re-releases of 2006: Harmonia : Musik Von Harmonia Loren Connors : Night Through Mark Fosson : The Lost Takoma Sessions Nurse With Wound : An Awkward Pause This Heat : Out of Cold Storage Zadik Zecharia : Kurdish Melodies on Zorna Favorite Web Discoveries of 2006: (Russian Minimal Techno) : http://deepmix.ru/ (Funniest site on the Web) : http://ytmnd.com/ JOHN NIFFENEGGER Top 12 Songs for 2006 [from albums released in 2006, and in no particular order] Woven Hand - 'Dirty Blue' from 'Mosaic' Clearlake - 'No Kind of Life' from 'Amber' Death Breath - 'Death Breath' from 'Death Breath' Thom Yorke - 'Analyze' from 'The Eraser' Katatonia - 'Soil Song' from 'The Great Cold Distance' Negative Plane - 'The Chaos Before the Light' from 'Et In Saecula Saeculorum' Katharsis - 'Eden Below' from 'VVorld VVithout End' Calexico - 'Cruel' from 'Garden Ruin' Om - 'At Giza' from 'Conference of Birds' Anathema - 'A Simple Mistake' from '2006 Demo' Darkthrone - 'High on Cold War' from 'Too Old, Too Cold Thralldom - 'Quantum Frost' from 'A Shaman Steering the Vessel of Vastness' JOEL MINOR Here are the 2006 musical highlights for me, according to the months they were released: January CAT POWER - THE GREATEST February DESTROYER - DESTROYER'S RUBIES March BAND OF HORSES - EVERYTHING ALL THE TIME April THE BLACK ANGELS - PASSOVER May ESPERS - ESPERS II SHEARWATER - PALO ALTO June TAPES 'N TAPES - THE LOON METALLIC FALCONS - DESERT DOUGHNUTS July OHSEES - THE COOL DEATH OF ISLAND RAIDERS TV ON THE RADIO - RETURN TO COOKIE MOUNTAIN August WOVEN HAND - MOSAIC September BONNIE 'PRINCE' BILLY - THE LETTING GO YO LA TENGO - I AM NOT AFRAID OF YOU AND I WILL BEAT YOUR ASS October CALIFONE - ROOTS & CROWNS November JOANNA NEWSOM - YS December TOM WAITS - ORPHANS Thanks! I look forward to reading the staff's and other customers' favorites. JOHN ADAMS Man I don't know really I guess.... 1. Sonic Youth - Rather Ripped 2. Wolf Eyes - Human Animal 3. Jandek - Glasgow Monday 4. Six Organs of Admittance - The Sun Awakens 5. Comets on Fire - Avatar 6. Benot Pioulard - Prcis 7. Jessica Baliff - Feels like Home 8. Boris - Vein 9. The Mars Volta - Amputechture 10. Tim Hecker - Harmony in Ultraviolent Top 10 things 1. Atlanta Braves baseball team 2. That episode of Seinfeld where George quits his job then has second thoughts and goes into work on monday like nothing happened but his boss calls him out on it, right? Anyway George's boss like apologized even though George isnt' too good at what he does. Anyway George puts a ruffie in his drink. 3. oh man definately nectarines 4. makin' love 5. makin' brownies 6. Google talk IM client 7. Theolonius Monk my man! 8. Promotions into another tax bracket 9. Whimsy 10. Cornflakes JOHN HUMBLET Hello there at Aquarius Records, Here is my top 10/single top 5/re-issue top 10of 2006. All the best for you in 2007! TOP 10 of 2006 Beausoleil, Bobby "Lucifer Rising Sessions" picture disc LP (Qbico) Boots/C.C./Snake & Remus "Box" 3xLP (HP Cycle) Flaherty, Paul & Corsano, Chris "The Beloved Music" CD (Family Vineyard) Hammer, Joseph "Joe & Joe" LP (LAFMS) Kuupuu "Ykehr" LP (Dekoder) Labrecque, Paul & Webb, Valerie "Trees, Chants, and Hollers" LP (Eclipse) Lubelski, Samara "Quartet" one-sided cassette (Sloow Tapes) MV & EE with the Bummer Road "Mother of Thousands" 2xCD (Time-Lag) Padden, Daniel "The Isaac Storm" LP (Ultra Eczema) Vodka Soap "Un Chand Pyramdelier" cassette (New Age Cassettes) SINGLE TOP 5 of 2006 16 Bitch Pile-Up "Untitled" square one-sided lathe-cut 7-inch (AA Records) Nov Svet "A Mort" CDS (Neko) OM/Current 93 "Inerrant Rays of Infallible Sun" MCD (Jnana) Organum "Die Hennen Zhne" MCD (Die Stadt) Volcano The Bear "The Birth of Streissand" 7-inch (NO-FI) RE-ISSUE TOP 10 of 2006 Berrocal, Jacques "Catalogue" CD (Alga Marghen) Eloy, Jean-Claude "Shanti" 2xCD-R (Creel Pone) Hoffman, Kay "Floret Silva" CD (Robot Records) Kalma, Ariel "Osmose" CD (Beta-Lactam Ring Records) Karg, Jargen "Elektronische Mythen" CD-R (Creel Pone) Moolah "Woe Ye Demons Possessed" CD (EM Records) The Pyramids "Birth / Speed / Merging" CD (EM Records) The Tree People "s/t" CD (Tiliqua Records) This Heat "s/t" CD (RR) Virgin Insanity "Illusions of the Maintenance Man" CD (P-Vine Records) JOHN LEE, CHICAGO 1. This Heat - Out of Cold Storage (This Is) 2. Boris - Pink (Southern Lord) 3. Om - Conference of the Birds (Holy Mountain) 4. Girl Talk - Night Ripper (Illegal Art) 5. Shogun Kunitoki - Tasankokaiku (Fonal) 6. Karen Dalton - In My Own Time (Light in the Attic) 7. Clipse - Hell Hath No Fury (Re-Up Gang/Zomba) 8. Ghostface Killah - Fishscale (Def Jam) 9. Cat Power - The Greatest (Matador) 10. Major Stars - Syntoptikon (Twisted Village) 11. A.R. & Machines - Die Grune Reise-The Green Journey/Erholung (Melting Point Music Company) 12. Bonnie "Prince" Billy - The Letting Go (Drag City) 13. Bardo Pond - Ticket Crystals (ATP Recordings) 14. Josephine Foster - A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing (Locust) 15. Warhammer 48K - An Ethereal Oracle (Papa Slag) 16. Six Organs of Admittance - The Sun Awakens (Drag City) 17. The Coup - Pick a Bigger Weapon (Epitaph) 18. Razor X Productions - Killing Sound (Rephlex) 19. Oneida - Happy New Year (Jagjaguwar) 20. Parts & Labor - Stay Afraid (Jagjaguwar/Brah) 21. Neko Case - Fox Confessor Brings the Flood (Anti) 22. Part Timer - S/T (Moteer) 23. Califone - Roots & Crowns (Thrill Jockey) 24. Drumcorps - Grist (Cock Rock Disco) 25. Wolf Eyes - Human Animal (Sub Pop) Honorable Mention: Cast King - Saw Mill Man (Locust) Charalambides - A Vintage Burden (Kranky) Citay - S/T (Important) Erase Errata - Nightlife (Kill Rock Stars) Foundry Field Recordings - Prompts/Miscues (Emergency Umbrella) Nogaxt - S/T (Load) Spank Rock - Yoyoyoyo (Big Dada) Scott Walker - The Drift (4AD) V/A - Big Apple Rappin' (Soul Jazz) JOHN P., DUBLIN, IRELAND I feel somewhat sheepish sending this list in, as I've been anything but a great customer this year, primarily due to the time/financial pressures of fatherhood, but also to a new, way busier job. Nonetheless I did manage to hear some great music this year, so without ado: Recorded: The Necks - Chemist A Hawk and a Hacksaw - The Way the Wind Blows Beirut - Gulag Orkestar Sir Richard Bishop - Fingering the Devil CD & Plays Sun City Girls 7" James Blackshaw - O True Believers & Waking Into Sleep Captain Moonlight - Dirty Cunts 7" & Agroculture Part 1: Live from the Farmshed CD Neko Case - Fox Confessor Brings the Flood Andrew Chalk - Goldfall & Blue Eyes of the March Vikki Jackman - Of Beauty Reminiscing Loscil - Stases the Mountain Goats - Get Lonely & Babylon Springs Dolly Parton - Acoustic Collection 3CD Ernst Reijseger - Requiem for a Dying Planet Jack Rose - untitled cd & untitled 7" Scott Solter - One River This Heat - Out Of Cold Storage James Yorkston - Year of the Leopard Live: Debashish Bhattacharya Bonnie Prince Billy w/Harem Scarem Boredoms Neko Case Circle Eva Quartet Fallout Boy Moscow Art Trio Jack Rose Domestic: Fatherhood BRYAN SZYMECKI Zombi "Surface To Air" Starflyer 59 "My Island" Venetian Snares "Cavalcade of Glee And Dadaist Happy Hardcore Pom Poms" Woven Hand "Mosaic" Krieg "Blue Miasma" Satyricon "Now, Diabolical" Bloodbound "Nosferatu" I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness "Fear Is On Our Side" Mono "You Are There" Russian Circles "Enter" CUSTOMER KEITH SWEET picks of 06 (in no particular order) First off; AQUARIUS RULES! They have the BEST selection, the best reviews, the best service and they're really nice people! When you buy music from AQ you're buying from people with a DEEP love of and appreciation for SOUND! Here's to another killer year of weirdo amphibian sounds, drones, Black Metal, Vegan sun worshiping folk and just about anything out there! 1. The Skygreen Leopards: Disciples of California 2. Sunno))) & Boris: Altar 3. Earthling Society: Plastic Jesus and the Third Eye Blind 4. Marisa Monte: Universo Ao Meu Redor 5. Indian Jewelry: Invasive Exotics 6. Titan: s/t 7. Willie Nelson: You Don't Know Me 8. Leviathan: Verrater 9. Lamp of the Universe: From the Mystic Rays of Astrological Light 10. Shogun Kunitoki: Tasankokaiku Runner Ups: 1. Buzz or Howl: Worship the Sun as the Destroyer of Dreams 2. High Mountain Tempel: Pacific Sky Burial Okay, those last two are A): My friends and B): My group but they are both damn good discs!!!!! KEITH BRYNER Top 10 of 2006 CIRCLE 'Miljard' (Ektro Records) MAGNOLIA ELECTRIC CO. 'Fading Trails' (Secretly Canadian) GIRL TALK 'Night Ripper' (Illegal Art) GHOSTFACE KILLAH 'Fishscale' (Island/Def Jam) FLAHERTY/CORSANO/YEH 'A Rock in the Snow' & 'Snow Blind Avalanche' (Important Records) SUNN O))) & BORIS 'Altar' (Southern Lord) GREY DATURAS 'Path of Niners' (Heathen Skulls) TUSK LORD 'Familiar Trails' (New American Folk Hero) ALOHA 'Some Echoes' (Polyvinyl Records) EYES AND ARMS OF SMOKE 'In Three Houses' (Rampart Tapes) Top 5 Reissues of 2006 ANIMAL COLLECTIVE 'Hollinnagain' (Paw Tracks) THE DEAD C 'Vain, Erudite and Stupid: Selected Works 1987-2005' (Ba Da Bing! Records) DEEP WOUND 'Almost Complete' (Baked Goods) KOOL KEITH 'Sex Style' (Funky Ass Records/Threshold Recordings) MAN IS THE BASTARD 'D.I.Y.C.D.' (Deep Six Records) Thanks for reading! KEITH RANKIN Well.... top 25 25. Spawn of Posession - Noctambulant 24. Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not 23. Josephine Foster - A Wolf In Sheep's Clothing 22. The Roots - Game Theory 21. Red Sparrows - Every Red Heart Shines Towards the Red Sun 20. Muse - Black Holes and Revelations 19. Liars - Drums Not Dead 18. Russian Circles - Enter 17. Zazen Boys - Zazen Boys III 16. Irr. App. (Ext.) - Perekluchenie 15. The Curtains - Calamity 14. Max Richter - Songs from Before 13. Shogun Kunitoki - Tasankokaiku 12. Carla Bozulich - Evangelista 11. Evan Parker - Time Lapse 10. SunnO))) & Boris - Altar 09. Bizzart - Bloodshot Mama 08. Catacombs - In the Depths of Rlyeh 07. OOIOO - Taiga 06. Ornette Coleman - Sound Grammar 05. Joanna Newsom - Ys 04. Hjarnidaudi - Paine:Noise:March 03. Johann Johannsson - IBM 1401 Users Manual 02. Mono & World's End Girlfriend - Palmless Prayer 01. The Advantage - Elf-Titled KEN BOONE Favorite music from 2006 01> Surgeon - Glade Festival 07.14.06 (mp3 mix) 02> Birchville Cat Motel - Our Love Will Destroy The World 03> Sinking Infinities - Thousand Year Reich 04> Kode 9 ft the Spaceape - Dubstep Allstars 3 05> Burial (CD + Kode9 Breezeblock mix) 06> The Goslings - Grandeur of Hair 07> Keith Fullerton Whitman - Lisbon 08> Grievous Angel - Dubstep Sufferah (mp3 mix) 09> Axolotl - Object Phantom 10> Of - The Awful Cloud 11> Drift Yellow Swans Favorite board/card games new to me in 2006 (see http://www.boardgamegeek.com) 01> Factory Fun (like an old PC puzzle game) Deduce or Die (http://www.thegamesjournal.com/rules/DeduceOrDie.shtml) Indonesia Die Macher Tahuantinsuyu Hermagor Space Dealer Kaivai Gheos Blue Moon City KEVIN COULTAS 2006Lucky 13 + 2 box-sets Goslings - Grandeur Of Hair (Archive) This CD affected me unlike anything I've heard in years. Such brutally beautiful patience. Matt Elliott - Failing Songs (Acuarela) Elliott has become quite the singing troubadour of late. I think of M. Gira's "Tied to the mast on the g-ddamned slave ship of FAILURE". M Ward - Post War (Merge) A perfect pop record. Tom Verlaine - Around + Songs and Other Things (Thrill Jockey) Not one, but 2 excellent records by one of New York's premier art-rock guitarist. Neko Case - Fox Confessor Brings The Flood (Anti) With that voice and those lyrics she could have Green Day backing her and it would be good. Susanna and the Magical Orchestra - Melody Mountain (Rune Grammofon) Best covers record, maybe ever - they totally stole those songs from their owners. Bob Dylan - Modern Times (Columbia) Cantankerous and excellent. Joanna Newsom - YS (Drag City) Wow, what is this music??? Popular??? Wolf Eyes - Human Animal (Sub Pop) W.E.'s are one of the only scary bands left - like the Germs or the Stooges, they have nothing to loose. In The Country - Losing Stones, Collecting Bones (Rune Grammofon) Best use of the least. Marc Ribot doesn't hurt either. Calexico - Garden Ruin (Quarterstick) Calexico has become one of the best bands on the planet. They can pull those heart-strings too. Lisa Germano - In The Maybe World (Young God) Not much talk about this one, but I found it to be her best release to date - stripped down in proper measure, to perfection. Quite the emotional affair too. Juana Molina - Son (Domino) I don't understand a word, but it somehow makes sense to me. Like an updated version of Caetano Veloso's Joia. Tom Waits - Orphans (Anti) It's hard to believe some of this stuff was considered throw-away. He covers a lot of ground between the brawlers, bawlers and bastards. This Heat - Out Of Cold Storage (Rer) With this box-set This Heat's mountainous importance is felt. KIERAN KELLEY Once again, as their were tons of great and essential albums this year, I've only put down the "above and beyond" selections, taking into consideration not only musical quality, but also art, packaging, and even personal experience... the sick picks of two thousand six: *Pick and Lighters "TVA/Starvation" LP (SarahLakali) *Makoto Kawabata, Anla Courtis, Rokugenkin "Kokura" LP (Riot Season) *Wooden Shjips "Shrinking Moon For You" 10" (mailorder only?) *Haare "Sacred Mushroom Clouds" 7" (Kult of Nihilow?) *Boris "Thing Which Solomon Overlooked" Vol.s 2&3 LPs (Conspiracy) *Bone Awl "Not For Our Feet" Boxed Lp (Private?) *Acid Mothers Temple & the Pink Ladies Blues "Featuring sun love..." Lp (Fractal) *Fungal Hex DLP (Aurora Borealis) *Execration Mass "Black Mass Sacrifice" demo *Aluk Todolo 7" (Implied Sounds) **Negative Plane's album was not included due to the delay of the vinyl release. Let's get it out already!! Also, noteworthy trends and albums: the continuing yet evolving wave of psych rock: Major Stars "Synoptikon", Residual Echoes "California", Witch "s/t", Circle "Sunshine" and "Arkades", Gris Gris "For the Season", Psychic Ills "Dins" and many more... all fantastic and worthy lps. the new wave of totally weird scandinavian metal: Urfaust "II" lp, Circle of Ouroboros "Shores" lp, also the CoB 7" and the Urfaust/CoB split lp, Lifelover "Pulver" lp, Dead Reptile Shrine/ Torturium split lp... I don't know what bizarre brew of benighted has infected these groups, but keep it up! finally, almost everything on Nuclear War Now! productions: Root Boxset, Reencarnacion, Impurity, Witchfinder General, Cult of Daath, Inquisition... all essential! KRAIG Top 10 1. Bardo Pond "Ticket Crystals" 2. Kayo Dot "Dowsing Anemone with Copper Tongue" 3. Black Cobra "Bestial" 4. Battle of Mice "A Day of Nights" 5. Dysrhythmia "Barriers and Passages" 6. Genghis Tron "Dead Mountain Mouth" 7. Totimoshi "Ladron" 8. Akimbo "Forging Steel and Laying Stone" 9. An Albatross "Blessphemy" 10. Wolves in the Throne Room "Diadem of 12 Stars" Many Honorable Mentions this year include: Warhammer 48K, Om, Enablers, Souvenirs Young America, Ferveur Noire, Lye be Mistake, and Kylesa. Top 5 Cleveland shows in 2006 1. Venom/Goatwhore 2. Celtic Frost/1349 3. Bardo Pond 4. Boredoms 5. Jucifer And an even greater amount of Honorable Mentions go to all of the great bands that played around this year, including: Totimoshi, Psychic Paramount, Brown Angel/Microwaves, Akimbo/Genghis Tron, Phoenix Bodies/Ed Gein/La Quiete, Silentist/Child Abuse, Black Cobra/Acid King, An Albatross, Red Sparowes/Daughters, Konono #1, Dysrhythmia/Clan of the Cave Bear, Villa Valley/Knife City/Roxanne Jean Polise, Deadboy and the Elephantmen, Facedowninshit/Unearthly Trance/Fuck the Facts, Phobia/Strong Intention/Disfear, Magrudergrind, Toxic Holocaust, Nactmystium/Zoroaster, Ultra Dolphins/Brainworms, and Blue Cheer! What a great year! Thanks! \ 2006 faves ethnic minority music of northeast cambodia scorces & tom carter - beats for the beast v.a. - art of field recording(dust to digital) algarnas tradgard - "framtiden ar ett svavande skepp, forankrat i forntiden" eric amlee - afternoon dream aidan baker - sea swells a bit... eugene carchesio & leighton craig - leaves christina carter - electrice & lace heart charalambides - a vintage burden jozef van wissem - objects in mirror are closer than they appear tree people, the - s/t ov - the moon is down nina nastasia - on leaving wooden wand, hush arbors & satya sai - tour souvenier cd, spring 2006 ruhr hunter's moss & memory collection jazzfinger - slowed by the grace of water terje isungset - igloo daniel(a.i.u.)higgs - ancestral songs flying canyon - s/t karen dalton - in my own time circle - miljard LLOYD FRANGIS To everyone there, and thanks for helping to keep people like me in touch with all the music out there that really matters... Here are a few of my favourite things from 2006, alphabetically.... Band Of Horses - Everything All The Time Boston - s/t, Don't Look Back reissues Calexico - Garden Ruin Charlatans - Simpatico Dennis Coffey - Big City Funk Cornelius - Sensuous Crime In Choir - Trumpery Metier Dinosaur Jr. - Green Mind reissue Entrance - Prayer Of Death The Evens - Get Evens FAIDS - Raising Awareness Flaming Lips - At War With The Mystics Harvey Birdman - Season 2 (DVD) I Am Spoonbender - Buy Hidden Persuaders? I'm Alan Partridge - Series 1 (DVD) ichinchilla - Death Punk Electro/The Ball Of Confusion Iron Maiden - A Matter Of Life And Death Joe Lally - There To Here Roger Joseph Manning Jr. - The Land Of Pure Imagination Morrissey - Ringleader Of The Tormentors Primal Scream - Riot City Blues Refused Are Fucking Dead (DVD) Residents - Tweedles! Sonic's Rendezvous Band - Box Set (!!!!!) Sparks - Hello Young Lovers, plus first two album reissues This Heat - Out Of Cold Storage. LOUIS DEBIASIO Top 12 of 2006 Marijn - Machinefabriek Grandeur of Hair - The Goslings Pain:Noise:March - Hjarnidaudi Burial - Burial I'll Be Long Gone Before My Light Reaches You - Jasper TX Diadem of 12 Stars - Wolves in the Throne Room Miljard - Circle Harmony in Ultraviolet - Tim Hecker Slumber Tides - Greg Haines Telesma - Axolotl Wide - Grouper Goldfall - Andrew Chalk Top Reissues Coma Waering - Angelic Process Courtesty and Good Will Towards Men - Harvey Milk Bodycage - Nadja Whirlpool - Chapterhouse LUKE MOSLING Aw yeah!!! Another great year for music!!! Top 10 new releases. No particular order. 1. Danielson Family "Ships" 2. Shapes and Sizes "S/T" 3. Starlight Mints "S/T" 4. The Number Twelve Looks Just Like You "Put On Your Rosy Red Glasses" 5. White Magic "Dat Rosa Mel Apibus" 6. Joanna Newsom "Ys" 7. Brightblack Morning Light 8. Drumcorps "Grist" 9. Weird Weeds "Weird Feelings" and a five way tie for tenth... 10. Machinefabriek "Marijin" 11. Spider "The Way to Bitterlake" 12. Flying Canyon "S/T" 13. Ilyas Ahmed "Naqi" 14. Jorma Tapio and Terje Isungset "Aihki" Top 10 re-issues 1. Selda "S/T" 2. Karen Dalton "In My Own Time" 3. Harvey Milk "Special Wishes" 4. Khan Jamal "Dance to the Motherland" 5. The Pyramids "Birth, Speed, merging" 6. Andrew Hill "Pax" 7. John Jacob Niles "The Tradition Years: I Wonder As I Wander" 8. Robbie Basho "Venus in Cancer" 9. Achim Reichel and Machines "Echo/ A.R. IV" 10. Moolah "Woe Ye Demons Possessed" The best "Thing" to come with a recording 1. Cool rainbow glasses - Brightblack Morning Light 2. Rabbit Foot - Raccoo-oo-oon / Woods "Pre-American Lands" 3. Packet of seeds and a packet of kohl - Steven R. Smith "kohl" 4. Tube of water with air bubble in it - Terje Isungest "Igloo" The best "Hardest to pronounce" band name and album name 1. Gultskra Artikler "Pofigista" The best "Sounds like the guy drank a gallon of moon-shine followed by a bottle of cough syrup" 1. The Legendary Stardust Cowboy MARC WEIDENBAUM Hi there. Happy new year. Here's the short version of my "best of 2006." The long (way long) version appears at disquiet.com/new2006.html. If you could link through to Disquiet.com (2006 was its 10th year online), that'd be super-cool. 1. Boxhead Ensemble Nocturnes (Atavistic) 2. Drumcorps Grist (Ad Noiseam/Cock Rock Disco) 3. Tim Hecker Harmony in Ultraviolet (Kranky) 4. Jan Jelinek Tierbeobachtunger (~scape) 5. Matmos The Rose Has Teeth in the Mouth of the Beast (Matador) 6. Mountains Sewn (Apestaartje) 7. Max Richter Songs from Before (FatCat 130701) 8. SunnO))) and Boris Altar (Southern Lord) 9. Underworld and Gabriel Yared Breaking and Entering: Music from the Film (V2) 10. various artists Jukebox Buddha (Staubgold) MARIO DELL The titles Psalm II: Infusco Ignis, Servum Pecus, Ligfaerd, Works Will Come Undone, and The Near Death Experience. MARK SIMS Hey guys & gals, I really wanted to drop you all a note this year to commend you on the quality of your business and love of your music. Your reviews are beautifully written and normally right on the money and the quality of music you stock is simply amazing. I am a massive music nut myself, sourcing my tunes both locally (Melbourne) and many other parts of the globe, and can easily say you guys are by far the greatest! Wishing you all every success in 2007 and keep bring'n on the great tunes! My Top 20 list for 2006; 01 Tim Hecker Harmony In Ultraviolet Kranky 02 - Andrew Chalk Goldfall - Faraway Press 03 GHQ - Heavy Elements - 3 Lobed 04 - Greg Malcolm Hung CPSIP 05 Isis - In The Absence Of Truth Ipecac 06 - Sir Richard Bishop - Fingering The Devil Latitudes 07 - Peter Wright - Pariahs Sing Om - Last Visible Dog 08 Espers II - Drag City 09 - Dialing In - Cows In Lye - Pseudo Arcana 10 - Hisato Higuchi Dialogue - Family Vineyard 11 Burial Self Titled Hyperdub 12 - MV & EE w/ The Bummer Road - Mother Of Thousands - Time Lag 13 - Sun City Girls - Djinn Funnel - Nashazphone 14 Xela The Dead Sea Type 15 Alastair Galbraith/Matt De Gennaro - From The Dark (South Island) Table Of The Elements 16 - Califone - Roots & Crowns - Thrill Jockey 17 Tool - 10,000 Days Volcano 18 - Built To Spill You In Reverse - Warner 19 - Flash Lights Eckords - Students Of Decay 20 Machinefabriek Marjin - Lampse Quality Reissues well worth a mention; Achim & Machines Reichel - Echo / A.R. IV - New Amos Records Moolah - Woe Ye Demons Possessed- EM Records Marconi Notaro - No Sub Reino Dos Metazoarios - Time Lag Edip Akbayram Self Titled Shadoks Harmonia - Musik Von Harmonia Lilith MARTIN LAROUCHE (in alphabetical order) CAT POWER - The Greatest CULT OF LUNA - Somewhere Along The Highway THE GATHERING - Home ISIS - In The Absence Of Truth JESU - Silver MALAJUBE - Trompe-l'oeil MOGWAI - Mr. Beast MONO - You Are There RED SPAROWES - Every Red Heart Shines Towards the Sun TOOL - 10,000 Days MATTHEW ADLER My top ten of 2006: note: some of these might have come out before 2006, but I at least discovered all of these in 2006: 10. Deaf Center: pale revine 9. Cut Copy: bright like neon love 8. Whitest Boy Alive: dreams 7.Joanna Newsom: Ys 6. Zombi: surface to air 5. Jan Jelinek: kosmicher pitch 4. Paavoharju: yha hamaraa 3. Grizzly Bear: Yellow House 2. Daedelus: denies the days demise 1. Magyar Posse: random avenger MEATBREAK WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD I really enjoyed reading your top lists of '06. Thanks for sending them round. This was the first year I have come across your store and with no degree of sycophancy I can say it is probably been the biggest event in my year. Thank you for taking the time and effort to do what you do, for stocking the obscure and essential and for writing about them in such enthusiastic and enlightening ways. I agree totally with your obsession with Trollman av Ildtoppberg, though I never heard them in time to include them anywhere in my top 50. Yes, 50. I love lists and this year went a bit crazy and wrote my top 50 albums. I have attached it as a word file for you, presumptiously. i hope it's a good read for you, or an interesting flick through. [here's the link to said top 50 file, on meatbreak's myspace blog: http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=14187283&blogID=206992052&Mytoken=3E9119C0-AF8E-4B18-A924ECE1EA09BA173034981] Hope your 2007 is going well. best wishes for the year. MICHAEL ANDERSON, BERKELEY, CA A Baker's Dozen 1. TIM HECKER - Harmony in Ultraviolet 2. BONNIE PRINCE BILLY - The Letting Go 3. EDDIE MARCON - Shining On Gravepost 4. SHEDDING - What God Doesn't Bless, You Wont Love: What You Dont Love, The Child Wont Know 5. OM - Conference Of The Birds 6. UFOMAMMUT - Lucifer's Song 7. CIRCLE - Miljard 8. ANDREW DOUGLAS ROTHBARD - Abandoned Meander 9. GROWING - Color Wheel 10. ANGELIC PROCESS - Coma Waering 11. ORB - Okie Dokie It's The Orb On Kompact 12. THE NECKS - Chemist 13. CALIFONE - Roots and Crowns Noticeably Missing: Any Hip Hop albums - We miss you creative,inspiring,thought provoking hip hop. COME BACK!!! MICHAEL DWILOW As requested, my personal top 10 releases of the year: TONY ALLEN - Lagos No Shaking (Honest Jon's) SHOGUN KUNITOKI - Tasankokaiku (Fonal) ED MOTTA - Aystelum (RRM) KEITH FULLTERON WHITMAN - Lisbon (Kranky) REIKO KUDO - Kusa (Hyotan) MAGIC AUM GIGI - MMMM: My Metal Machine Music (Sparkling Spare Wheel) SUN CITY GIRLS - Djinn Funnel (Nashazphone) COLLEEN ET LES BOITES - S/T (Leaf) LUBOMYR MELNYK - Wave-Lox (Bandura) AXOLOTL - Telesma (Spooky Action) MICHAEL GIORDANO 15 discs that spent a lot of time w/ a needle running in its grooves or a laser reading its bits 2006: dogntank- s/t- brain donor records vincent black shadow- s/t- heart break beat black lips- let it bloom- in the red awesome color- s/t- estatic peace brain donor- drain'd boner- Invada jenny lewis and the watson twins- rabbit fur coat- team love orthodox- gran poder- Alone Records/The Stone Circle beyourownpet- s/t- estaic peace slomo- creep- Fuck Off & Di Howlin' Rain- s/t- birdman records Warmer Milks- Radish on Light- white label promo the heads-under the stress of a headlong dive- Invada ten east- extraterrestrial highway- Alone Records/The Stone Circle Wooden Shjips- Shrinking Moon for You- self released raconteurs- nottingham live 10.23.06- concertlive/XL/third man recordings i've said it before and i'll say it again, AQ is possibly the best music store in the world!!!! don't go changin'--- see u more in the future! MICHAEL WOODRING Top 10 Ether Orchestra "All Your Brave Junkie Tomorrows" CD (Was the guitar-noise band Ether on Extreme Records. Now they are in a more Bohren & Der Club of Gore style) The Hidden "Winged Wolves" CD (Excellent Boston band. Think Ramones and Misfits meet Judas Priest) Foetus "Damp" CD The Sound "The Dutch Radio Recordings" 5 CDs The Necks "Chemist" CD Andrew Liles "Dying Submariner" 2-CD version Jeffrey Luck Lucas "What We Whisper" CD Circle "Miljard" 2 CDs Sand "The Dalston Shroud" CD Triosk "The Headlight Serenade" 2-CD version Favorite Guilty Pleasure Transmission "Beyond Light" CD MICHELLE MCKENZIE, OAKLAND, CA Thanks for another year of bi-weekly lists and music and special orders and kindness toward my occasional slack in picking them up. Favorite albums of 2006: 1. Sunn o))) & Boris: Altar 2. Citay: s/t 3. Circle: Miljard 4. J Dilla: Donuts 5. Neko Case: Fox Confessor Brings the Flood 6. James Blackshaw: O True Believers 7. Mission of Burma: The Obliterati 8. Howe Gelb: 'Sno Angels Like You 9. Destroyer: Destroyer's Rubies 10. Pharaoh Overlord: #4 11. Shogun Kunitoki: Tasankokaiku 12. Opeth: Ghost Reveries (kind of counts since reissued w/dvd) Great songs on varyingly lesser-so albums: Folk Death 95, Mogwai (Mr. Beast) Dirty Blue, Woven Hand (Mosaic) Foolish King, Pajo (1968) Ash Wednesday, Elvis Perkins (Ash Wednesday) St. Augustine, Band of Horses (Everything All the Time) Dead Eyes, Jesu (Silver ep) Most improved: Joanna Newsom: Ys Best show: Mission of Burma @ Great American Music Hall, Sept. 20th. MIKE DERENIEWSKI / TQR&R Fell Out '06: Asobi Seksu Citrus Friendly Fire Recordings Cure Reissues (yes, including The Glove) Rhino Dat Politics Wow Twist Chicks-On-Speed Records Donna Parker Debutante Twisted Village Records Es A Love Cycle Fonal Records The Ettes Shake The Dust Sympathy For The Record Industry Fe-Mail And Carlos Giffoni Northern Stains Important Records Flaherty * Corsano * YehSnow Blind Avalanche Important Records His Name Is Alive Detrola Silver Mountain Menstruation Sisters Ma Fata Mirah Joyride: Remixes K Records Monarch Speak Of The Sea Throne Records Nurse With Wound Rat Tapes One United Dairies Partyline Zombie Terrorist Retard Disco Rose Melberg Cast Away The Clouds Double Agent Slumber Party Musik Kill Rock Stars Tim Hecker Harmony In Ultraviolet Kranky Viki S/T Animal Disguise Recordings White Rainbow White Rainbow Box Marriage Records Windy & Carl with Christy Romanick Akimatsuri Blue Flea Wolf Eyes Human Animal Sub Pop V/A California Box Rrrecords V/A Invisible Pyramid: Elegy Box Last Visible Dog Records V/A Mitten [State] Transmissions TQR&R V/A Patty Duke Fanzine #6 TQR&R V/A Women Take Back The Noise Ubuibi funnest show of the year: Quintron and Miss Pussycat at The Bohemian National Home, Detroit MITCHELL FELDSTEIN ok here is my top list of 2006(including things i heard for the first time this past year) no certain order 1. burial 2. chris knight "enough rope" 3. andrew hill "passing ships" 4. wolfgang muthspiel "brightside" 5. FM3 "hou guan yin" 6. califone "roots and crowns" 7. magik markers "a panggyric to the things i donot understand 8. itoken 9. the velvet underground "reconsidered"(dvd) 10. captain beefheart "trout mask replica that would be a top ten type list NATHAN BURAZER 1. J DILLA donuts 2. CLIPSE hell hath no fury 3. ENTRANCE prayer of death 4. GHOSTFACE KILLAH fishscale 5. SPANKROCK yoyoyoyoyoyo 6. BRIGHTBLACK MORNING LIGHT 7. JUSTICE - waters of Nazareth EP 8. ON NO Exodus into unheard rhythms 9. ERASE ERRATA night life 10. GIRL TALK night ripper ERIC NEUSER Hey aQuarius! You wanted the best and you got the best.LIST! Top 10 in alphabetical order: BORIS - Pink COLLEEN - Colleen et la Boites a Musique LOREN CONNORS - Night Through: Singles And Collected Works HARVEY MILK - Special Wishes HUMCRUSH - Hornswoggle KATHARSIS - VVorldVVithoutEnd (THE) MELVINS - (A) Senile Animal NOMO - New Tones SIX ORGANS OF ADMITTANCE - The Sun Awakens SVARTE GREINER - Knive Thanks for the great service. looking forward to compiling a list for next year. NORA PALMER In no particular order... 1. Wooden Wand And The Sky High Band - Second Attention 2. Josephine Foster - A Wolf In Sheep's Clothing 3. Jessica Bailiff - Feels Like Home 4. Grizzly Bear - Yellow House 5. Wolfmother - Self-Titled 6. Colleen - Mort Aux Vaches 7. Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan - Ballad Of The Broken Seas 8. Wooden Wand & The Enablers - 2006 Tour CDR 9. Bonnie 'Prince' Billy - The Letting Go 10. Sala-Arhimo - Pelko Pois ZACHARY RENO Most Enjoyed 10 Or So 2006 Ruth White - Flowers Of Evil - Creel Pone Kim Jung Mi - Now - World Psychedelia Starving Weirdos - Self Hypnosis - Jyrk Striborg - Everything - Finsternis Productions Valet - Blood Is Clean - Yarnlazer Roy Harper - Stormcock - Science Friction Jon Hassell - Dream Theory In Mayala - Editions Eg Arthur Russell - Everything - Various Labels Alice Coltrane - Everything - Various Labels Big L - Lifestylez Ov Da Poor & Dangerous - Sony Procer Veneficus - Ghost Voices - God Is Myth Dead/White - Untitled Cassette - No Label PAUL STRANDE here's my best of 2006 picks: Top 30 of 2006: 1. Comets on Fire Avatar 2. Wooden Wand & the Vanishing Voice Gypsy Freedom 3. Espers II 4. MV & EE with The Bummer Road Mother of Thousands 5. Six Organs of Admittance The Sun Awakens 6. The Necks Chemist 7. Charalambides A Vintage Burden 8. No-Neck Blues Band & Embryo EmbryoNNCK 9. Akron/Family Meek Warrior 10. Boris Dronevil Final 11. Howlin Rain s/t 12. Hush Arbors Landscape of Bone 13. Andromelos s/t 14. Shogun Kunitoki Tasankokaiku 15. Landing Gravitational IV 16. Alex Neilson & Richard Youngs Road Is Open Life 17. Kieran Hebden & Steve Reid The Exchange Sessions 18. Belong October Language 19. Sunburned Hand of the Man The Mylar Tantrum 20. Astral Social Club s/t 21. Circle Miljard 22. Sunn O))) & Boris Altar 23. Joanna Newsom Ys 24. Brightblack Morning Light s/t 25. OOIOO Taiga 26. Bardo Pond Adrop 27. White Rainbow Box 28. Bonnie Prince Billy The Letting Go 29. Destroyer Destroyers Rubies 30. Grails The Black Tar Prophecies Incredible old stuff that was new to me in 2006: Comus First Utterance Funkadelic Funkadelic / Free Your Mind / Maggot Brain Taj Mahal Travellers August 1974 Manuel Gttsching Inventions for Electric Guitar This Heat s/t Burning Star Core Lets Play Wild Like Wildcats Do Yahowha 13 Im Gonna Take You Home / Penetration: An Aquarian Symphony Boris Boris At Last - Feedbacker PHIL PLENCNER Ok, here goes: Phil's Top 10 Albums Of 2006! It's that time of year again! Sorting through the mass of music I listened to this year and highlighting the best of the best! Here is my list of albums I kept coming back to again and again dispite what else was happening. These are in no particular order, aside from being my favorite 10 albums this year. 1. An Albatross - Blessphemy (of the Peace-Beast Feastgiver and the Bear Warp Kumite) This album is a total rush. Hyperspeed brutal prog mixed with psych rock weirdness and mellow jazzy breakdowns. Each song sugues into the next, suggesting a classic concept album of sorts (There's even a song with 3 movements!). While this thing totally kicks ass, they will totally knock the wind out of you live. 2. Daughters - Hell Songs I didn't see this one coming. Taking their basis of grindcore mixed with Arab On Radar and throwing it over the deep end. The vocalist is yelping all over this instead of the standard death-grunt. Drums pummle and the guitars are twisty and nervous sounding. Plus, it's catchy as can be! Melodies re-occur making it all tie together. Plus there's a neat appearance by Kayo Dot. 3. Flying Luttenbachers - Cataclysm Blasting back with some of the complexity of Infection And Decline with the rock stamp of The Void, this is a record to be reckoned with. Completely intense and overbearing. Your only hope of salvation is the spot-on cover of the 4th movement of "L'Ascension". San Francisco has certainly not mellowed out Weasel Walter, and this is the proof. 4. Ocrilim - Anoint Mick Barr of Orthrelm creates this instrumental guitar masterpiece. Forget all the shredders you think are amazing. Mick Barr is the future. Jump on board now or be left in the dust. 5. Bob Dylan - Modern Times Even I can't escape the mastery of ol' Bob. While I don't think this reaches the heights of Time Out Of Mind (still the benchmark for Dylan's comback) this is another fine effort that blows away the competition and shuts up the naysayers. 6. Skip Heller - Mean Things Happening In This Land An unsung hero of jazz guitar. This is a album with a running theme of the corrupt Bush administration which a focus on the Katrina disaster. You can hear the frustration and sadness in the playing of all the musicians. Also includes fine covers of XTC and The Dead Milkmen. 7. The Roots - Game Theory Another big surprise after a couple lackluster releases from the Roots! They are back!!! Game Theory doesn't have a weak moment. Every track is a keeper, and is easily the catchiest thing they've ever done. Plus there's still the instrumental prowess and thought-provoking messages. 8. Ghostface Killah - Fishscale This album proves that the Wu-Tang Clan is still a viable force in hip-hip....even 13 years(!!) after the release of Enter The 36 Chambers. That's like 3 lifetimes in hip-hop years. Great productions, twisted rhymes, lots of return value. 9. Mastodon - Blood Mountain Believe the hype. Mastodon up the prog turning in another concept album. They turn up the weirdness with crazy breakdowns and wild vocal effects. And they turn up the drums in the mix! Brann Dailor is obviously one of their strengths. This band just keeps getting better and better. 10. Estradasphere - Palace Of Mirrors Dropping the goofball lyrics and satire songs Estradasphere makes an album I've been hoping to hear since It's Understood. Sounding like a movie soundtrack (their live show even had video footage that went along with the music). This is cereberal instrumental music. Think surf, death metal, Morricone, jazz, and rock n' roll. You'll be on the right track, but still unprepared for what this album has to offer. It's not a hodge-podge...it's a seamless piece of work. Honorable Mentions: Steve Vai - Real Illusions: Reflections, NoMeansNo - This Way ToAusfahrt, Intronaut - Void, Genghis Tron - Dead Mountain Mouth Re-Issues of Note 1. Robert Fripp - Exposure 2. Agoraphobic Nosebleed - PCP Torpedo/ANBRX 3. Johnny Cash - At San Quenton 4. Lake Of Dracula - Skeletal Remains 5. Frank Zappa - MOFO 4CD Edition PHILIP BUCHAN Since you guys asked for it, here are my favorites of '06. The list is a mix of reissues and new stuff. 1. Burial - s/t 2. Charalambides - A Vintage Burden 3. David Crosby - If I Could Only Remember My Name 4. Rhys Chatham - An Angels Moves Too Fast to See 5. Milton Nascimento - Milagre Dos Peixes 6. Harmonia - Musik Von Harmonia 7. Arthur Russell - Springfield 8. Franco Battiato - Pollution 9. Cluster - Sowieso 10. Andrew Hill - Time Lines PHIL ROLLINS what follows is my top 10 for 2006, in ascending order. 10. grouper - wide 9. potpie - waterline 8. ekkehard ehlers - a life without fear 7. steven r. smith - the anchorite 6. carla bozulich - evangelista 5. johann johannsson - ibm 1401, a users manual 4. scott walker - the drift 3. adrian klumpes - be still 2. tim hecker - harmony in ultraviolet 1. wooden shjips - shrinking moon for you if i start adding caveats or talking about the sisters love reissue, i'll be here all day, so i'll leave it at that. thanks for fueling my terrifying vinyl habit and being the best record store anywhere. GARY SIMMONS, MANCHESTER, CT (The State Without A Decent Record Store!) Here we go, the best of 2006: ALBUM OF THE YEAR: Snow Patrol Eyes Open Everything Else: Aesthetic Meat Front Embalmer Tapes (Dissected) Amduscia From Abuse To Apostasy / Musica De Ambientacion Demencial And One Bodypop Maurizio Bianchi The Testamentary Corridor Biosphere - Dropsonde Birch Book Fortune & Folly Paul Bradley Sketches From Dust Michael Brook An Inconvenient Truth Cesium 137 Intelligent Design Andrew Chalk Blue Eyes Of The March Andrew Chalk Vega Andrew Chalk / Daisuke Suzuki Senshu Richard Chartier / Taylor Deupree Specification.Fifteeen Loren Chasse / Phil Mouldycliff / Colin Potter / Keith Rowe Debris Field Coelacanth & Keith Evans Wrack Light In Copper Ruin Jonathan Coleclough / Murmer Husk CTRL Loaded Weapons & Darkened Days Covenant Skyshaper Current 93 Black Ships Ate The Sky Die Form Ex Human The Hafler Trio / Colin Potter A Pressed On Sandwich The Hafler Trio / Colin Potter / Andrew Liles 3 Eggs Jim Haynes Telegraphy By The Sea Ryoji Ikeda - Dataplex In Strict Confidence In Exile Isolde On Waving And Drowning Killing Joke Hosannas From The Basements Of Hell Gary Numan Jagged O Yuki Conjugate The Euphoria Of Disobedence The Retrosic Nightcrawler Hoping For A Great 2007. RAE DONALDSON It's a bit of a monster list so feel free to lop off the 'close but no cigar' titles at the end. 20 albums out of the 50 were bought from Aquarius, which is impressive when you remember that I work in a pretty good record shop to begin with. My Top 50 Albums of 2006 Volcano The Bear Classic Erasmus Fusion The Innocence Mission Birds Of My Neighbourhood Jacob Kirkegaard Four Rooms Greg Brown The Evening Call East River Pipe What Are You On? Sonic Youth Rather Ripped Magyar Posse Random Avenger Current 93 Black Ships Ate The Sky Oakley Hall Gypsum Strings Espers II Comets On Fire Avatar Hidden Cameras Awoo Juana Molina Son Fazzini Sulphur, Glue The Stars Richard Youngs and Simon Wickham-Smith 5 Years Pere Ubu Why I Hate Women Patrick Porter Die Wandaland Hot Snakes Thunder Down Under Nic Jones Game Set Match Robyn Hitchcock Ole Tarantula Sibylle Baier Colour Green Wizz Jones The Legendary Me Greg Malcolm Hung Marconi Notaro No Sub Reino Dos Metazoarios Bonnie Prince Billy The Letting Go Waterson Carthy Holy Heathens And The Old Green Man Flying Canyon S/T Coach Fingers No Flies On Frank Nick Grey Thieves Among Thorns Rita Lee Hoje e o Primeiro Dia Do Da Sua Vida James Blackshaw O True Believers Charalambides A Vintage Burden Keiji Haino and Sitaar Tah! Animamima Califone Roots And Crowns MV and EE & The Bummer Road Mother Of Thousands Edip Akbayram S/T Pernice Brothers Live A Little My Brightest Diamond Bring Me The Workhorse Feathers S/T Sean Smith S/t Selda S/T Fern Knight Music for Witches And Alchemists Inner Space The Lost Film Music Of Sven Libaek Mike Tamburo And His Orchestra Ghosts Of Marumbey Bert Jansch The Black Swan Hisato Higuchi Dialogue Sandy Bull Still Valentines Day 1969 Live At The Matrix San Francisco PJ Harvey Peel Sessions Colossal Yes Acapulco Roughs V/A International Sad Hits(4 songs each by Kan Mikami, Kazuki Tomokawa, Fikret Izilok & Kim Doo Soo) Close but no cigar: Two Dollar Guitar, Goslings, Charlotte Gainsbourg, PG Six, Harry Taussig, Mark Fosson, Lisa Germano, Reiko Kudo, Shogun Kunitoki, Sachiko Kanenobu, Hawk And A Hacksaw, Erik Amlee, Eric Matthews, Matmos, Grails, Maryrose Crook, The Necks, Neko Case, Chris Smither, Loose Fur, Alan Sparhawk, The Instruments, Susan Christie, Robbie Basho, Tanakh, Extra Golden, Brightblack Morning Light. Rediscovery of the year: Eric Clapton 461 Ocean Boulevard RANDALL HINSON TOP TEN (New stuff): Jenny Lewis with the Watson Twins: Rabbit Fur Coat Diamond Nights: Popsicle Porest: Tourrorists! Celestiial: Desolate North A Hawk and a Hacksaw: The Way the Wind Blows Born Ruffians: s/t Mazarin: We're Already There Mclusky: Mcluskyism 3cd box-set Jazkamer: Metal Music Machine Grails: Black Tar Phophecies Vol 1, 2, & 3 TOP FOUR (Old stuff, reissues, etc.): Burzum: Draugen Pentagram: First Daze Here Too Moondog: The Viking of Sixth Avenue Earth: Vinyl Reissues RANDALL PLACE Tool - 10,000 Days Nachtmystium - Instinct: Decay Asunder - Works Will Come Undone Leviathan - The Blind Wound Sunn o)))/Boris - Altar Mastodon - Blood Mountain Krieg - Blue Miasma Xasthur - Subliminal Genocide Agalloch - Ashes Against The Grain Keiji Haino & Sitaar Tah! - Animamima JON BERSON thanks for everything in 2006 . you are second to none Top Ten 2006 1. Danielson - Ships 2. Voices & Organs - Orphanage 3. Johanna Newsom - Ys 4. Decemberists - The Crane Wife 5. Loch Lomond - Lament for Children 6. Horse Feathers - Words are Dead 7. The Lovely Public - Burning Tape at the Mystery Dinner 8. P.A.F. - Fingerprints, Medicine 9. Dark Side of the Cop (Self Titled) 10. Beacon Beats 13 - Good Stuff ROBERT BRENNAN, ST. PETERS, NSW, AUSTRALIA OK here goes.... HARVEY MILK: Special Wishes BURIAL: s/t NURSE WITH WOUND: Shipwreck Radio Volume 2. SUNN O & BORIS: Altar MACHINEFABRIEK: Marjin MAPSTATION: Distance Told Me Things To Be Said BONNIE PRINCE BILLY: The Letting Go GRIZZLY BEAR: Yellow House THE NECKS: Chemist TRIOSK: Headlight Serenade. Still haven't stopped listening to Harvey Milk......been playing it to friends & watching their jaws touch the ground in amazement. ROBERTO GAZZOLI hello folks! it's not very easy to make list for me... so i hope i'm not too late... that's what i listen the most last year... have a nice weekend roberto xela - dead sea birchville cat motel - our love will destroy the world charalambides - a vintage burden sibille bayer - the colour green Loren Connors - night trough burial- s/t built to spill - you in reverse riccardo sinigallia - incontri a met strada current 93 - black ships ate the sky silicone soul - save our souls beach house - s/t karen dalton - in my own time nick castro & the young elder - come into our house edith frost - it's a game the nether dawn - outer dark james blackshaw - o true believer black boned angel - eternal hunger RON JOHNSON top ten and two more for 2006 1. MACHINEFABRIEK Marjin (Lampse) 2. NEWSOM, JOANNA Ys (Drag City) 3. HEBDEN, KIERAN & STEVE REID Exchange Sessions Vol. 1 (Domino) 4. SVARTE GREINER Knive (Type) 5. KING, CAST Saw Mill Man (Locust) 6. MURCOF Remembranza (Leaf) 7. AGF.3 & SUE.C Mini Movies (Asphodel) 8. V/A Field Guide To Table Of The Elements (Table Of The Elements) 9. ISUNGSET, TERJE Igloo (All Ice) 10. HOLY SHIT Stranded At Two Harbors (UUAR) 11. COLLEEN ET LES BOITES s/t (Leaf) 12. TAPIO, JORMA & TERJE ISUNGSET Aihki (Ektro) RUS BLACKMAR okay AQ, i''ll play: 1. Various Artists - CONGOTRONICS 2 (Crammed Disc) 2. Citay - s/t (Frenetic) 3. Various Artists - LOVE PEACE & POETRY: TURKISH PSYCHEDELIC MUSIC (Normal) 4. Bridget St. John - reissues (Cherry Red) 5. Six Organs Of Admittance - The Sun Awakens (Drag City) 6. Etran Finatawa - Introducing (World Music Network) 7. Danava - s/t (Kemado) 8. Various Artists - PROG IS NOT A FOUR LETTER WORD (Delay 68) 9. Los Gaiteros De San Jacinto - Un Fuego De Sangre Pura (Smithsonian Folkways) 10. Wizardzz - Hidden City of Taurmond (Load) RUSSELL BLANK These were a few of my favorite things (from 2006) Favorite New Album: Ghostface - Fishscale (He's the Raymond Chandler of Hip-hop) Favorite New Songs: Ghostface "Shakey Dog" M. Ward "Post-War" Marisa Monte "Vilarejo" Radio Citizen "Night Part II" El Lele de los Van Van "High and Dry" Favorite Reissues: Sylvia - Sylvia (This was my favorite album period -- the woman is amazing) Favorite Music Blog: Soul Sides Favorite New Movies: "Children of Men" "Brick "Night Watch" Favorite Rep Movies: "Best In Show" in Dolores Park with a dog show before the movie Favorite Art Show: The Royal Art Lodge at YBCA Favorite Comic: Y: The Last Man (I am so addicted to this story right now) Favorite Food Stuff: The spicy house hummus at the Valencia Whole Foods Favorite Podcasts: (This was the year I got hooked on Podcasts; I hardly listen to the radio anymore. It's like Tivo the NPR set.) TEDtalks Onion Radio News Zefrank Sparkletack RY WHARTON here we go.. =LPs= Bardo Pond- Ticket Crystals CD Burial- S/T CD Clipse- Hell Hath No Fury CD Clockcleaner- Nevermind CD Comets On Fire- Avatar LP Death Breath- Stinking Up The Night LP Dialing In- Ketalysergicmetha Mother CDR Harvey Milk- Special Wishes 2LP Landed- Times I Despise LP Mika Miko- CYSLABF LP Om- Conference of the Birds LP Sachiko- You Never Atone For... Six Organs of Admittance- Sun Awakens LP Skygreen Leopards- Disciples of California LP Svarte Greiner- Knive LP Urfaust/Circle of Ouroborus- Split CD/COO- Shores LP =Singles/EPs= Armour/Hijack- Tectonic 10" Circle- Earthworm cdep Cococoma/Mans split 7" Danava 12" Digital Mystikz- Misty Winter 12" Distance 12" Gravious- Wormsign 12" Luciano & Thomas Melchior- Cadenza 011 12" Negativa- s/t cdep Jack Oblivian- Black Boots 7 Jay Reatard- Hammer I Miss You 7" Sic Alps- Teenage Alps tape Substance & Vanqueur- Surface/Immersion 12" Ricardo Villalobos- Fizheuer Zieheuer 12" Wrists- Freaks of Nature 7" =Reissues/Anthologies/Archival= Bastards- Shizo Terrorist LP Bedemon- Children of Darkness 2LP The Book of AM 2LP + Book Crushed Butler- Uncrushed CD Dicks- Hog 7" Freeze- I Hate Tourists 7" Ariel Kalma- Osmose CD LSD- Discography LP The Pyramids- Birth/Speed/Merging CD Rasen Kaiden- Fushigi Na Tokoro CD Terry Reid- The River CD David Rosenboom- Brainwave Music CD (and basically all EM reissues) Klaus Schulze- Irrlicht & Cyborg Twilights- Once Upon a Twilight CD =Live= Circle/Cul de Sac @ TT the Bears, Cambridge Work/Death @ AS220, Providence (and all other performances) Landed in Providence x 2 Witchcraft/Danava @ Bottletree, Birmingham RYAN GAUL top 15 in alphabetical order 1. bonnie prince billy - little lost blues 2. boris - pink 3. caina - some people fall 4. earth - hex 5. ilyas ahmed - speaking of shadows 6. man man - six demon bag 7. pelt - untitled 8. r.a. the rugged man - die rugged man die 9. sapthuran - to the edge of land 10. starving weirdos - seance at lufenhulz 11. trippy bummer - s/t 12. twilight - s/t 13. white rainbow - zome 14. wolves in the throne room - diadem of 12 stars 15. xasthur - subliminal genocide once again you guys are rad and thanks for always giving me the heads up on new weird shit. RYAN PATRICK O'HARA my top, uh, 30ish (in a very secret, yet dubiously organized order): Xiu Xiu - The Airforce (5RC) Wolf Eyes - Human Animal (Sub Pop) Tortoise & Bonnie "Prince" Billy - The Brave and the Bold (Overcoat) Tool - 10,000 Days (Volcano) Tom Waits - Orphans (Anti-) The Sword - Age of Winters (Kemado) Sunn O)))/Boris - Altar (Southern Lord) Mogwai - Mr. Beast (Matador) The Melvins - (A) Senile Animal(Ipecac) Mastodon - Blood Mountain (Reprise) Man Man - Six Demon Bag (Ace Fu) Ludicra - Fex Urbis, Lex Orbis (Alternative Tentacles) The Littlest Viking - Norse God Creation (CD-R) Jucifer - If Thine Enemy Hunger (Relapse) Joanna Newsom - Ys (Drag City) Isis - In The Absence of Truth (Ipecac) Gnarls Barkley - St. Elsewhere (Downtown) Ghostface Killah - Fishscale (Def Jam) Danielson - Ships (Secretly Canadian) Dangerdoom - Occult Hymn (Adult Swim Download) Crime In Choir - Trumpery Metier (GSL) Converge - No Heroes (Epitaph) Comets On Fire - Avatar (Sub Pop) Choochee -5 Lil Songs(CD-R) Bonnie "Prince" Billy - The Letting Go/Little Lost Blues (Drag City) The Blood Brothers - Young Machetes (V2) Beirut - Gulag Orkestar (Ba Da Bing!) Bardo Pond - Ticket Crystals (ATP Recordings) Asunder - Works Will Come Undone (Profound Love) Agalloch - Ashes Against the Grain (The End) The Advantage - Elf-Ttled (5RC) 7 Year Rabbit Cycle - Ache Hornes (Free Porcupine Society) two records that got unjustly ignored in 2005: Doomriders - Black Thunder (Deathwish Inc.) Part Chimp - I Am Come (Monitor) best show of 2006: Boris & Doomriders @ Howie and Son's (Visalia, CA) This year found two records battling it out for record of the year statusin my, admittedly, vacant mind space. well, until i heard Works Will Come Undone, In the Absence of Truth, No Heroes, Altar...well, you get the idea. the two records in question were Ships by Danielson and the cacaphonous carnival slaughter that is Man Man's Six Demon Bag. i gotta say even though other records eventually took over my heart and stereo those were the two that i played the most and will probably stay with me the longest. who knows, though, it was a pretty stellar year and who could argue with the out and out classic status of Asunder's Works Will Come Undone or the majestically sludgy Boris and Sun O))) collaboration, Altar? not me. that's who. RYAN WALKER Aquarius- continue to stock those amazing records- thanks so much for an awesome 2006! Here's my top 15: Phoenix- It's never been like that Nachtmystium- Instinct: Decay TV on the Radio- Return to cookie mountain Wolves in the Throne Room- Diadem of 12 stars Boris- Pink Cat Power- The Greatest Converge- No Heroes The Decemberists- Crane Wife Espers- Espers II The Thermals- The Body, The Blood, the Machine Wolfmother- s/t Yo La Tengo- I Am Not Afraid Of You And I Will Beat Your Ass Xasthur- Subliminal Genocide Junior Boys- So this is Goodbye Mastodon- Blood Mountain Honorable mentions to: Ancestors - demo tape (Mark McMolar of Holy Molar, Charles Bronson, VMW, Das Oath doing amazing black metal thrash- get this now!) Woodtemple- Voices of Pagan mtns Melvins - senile animal (oh my gosh- two drummers!!!!! Best record in years) Leviathan/Sapthuran- split CD Hot Chip- the warning SARAH GORDON Sure, the longer version with different categories and with links is here: http://www.fingeronthepulse.org/bestof/bestof2006.html But if you just want top albums, they are these: Top 2006 Albums (alphabetical) Beirut - Gulag Orkestar Figurines - Skeleton Film School - s/t Shearwater - Palo Santo Sunset Rubdown - Shut Up I Am Dreaming Thee More Shallows - Monkey Vs. Shark Under Byen - Samme Stof Som Stof Young People - All At Once ANDREW MK WARREN sounds for/from 2006 list from: andrew MK warren (in no particular order) JOHN CALE - Paris 1919 (reprise/rhino UK CD) BILLY NICHOLLS - Would You Believe (immediate/sanctuary 2CD) SOM IMAGINARIO - s/t (rev-ola CD) CAT POWER - The Greatest (matador LP) CAMERA OBSCURA - Let's Get Out Of This Country (matador CD) BAND OF HORSES - Everything All The Time (sub pop CD) ROBBIE BASHO - Venus In Cancer (tompkins square CD) OM-Conference of The Birds (holy mountain LP) JAMES BLACKSHAW - Sunshrine (digitalis CD) SONIC YOUTH - Rather Ripped (goofin' LP) ALCEU VALENCA & GERARLDO AZEVEDO - s/t (discos mariposa CD) BRIDGET ST. JOHN - Ask Me No Questions (cherry red UK CD) CLUSTER - Sowiesoso (water CD) CONGREGACION - Viene (sampler CD) EDIP AKBAYRAM - s/t (shadoks CD) MOONDOG - Viking of 6th Ave (honest jon's 2LP) V/A - Eccentric Soul: the big mack label (numero group CD) V/A - Studio One Women (soul jazz 2LP) V/A - Prog is Not a Four Letter Word (delay 68 CD) V/A - zero: a martin hannett story 1977-1991(big beat UK CD) SCOTT MUNDEN Here's my Top 10 for 2006... 10. Ihsahn - The Adversary 9. Nachtmystium - Instinct: Decay 8. Krieg - Blue Miasma 7. I - Between Two Worlds 6. Sykdom - Under Krigen 5. Imago Mortis - Una Foresta Dimenticata 4. Drudkh - Blood In Our Wells 3. Horna - Aania Yossa 2. Agalloch - Ashes Against The Grain 1. Negura Bunget - Om Looking forward to some cool shit coming out in 2007! SCOTTY ROBOTTY Scotty's top 16 in no particular order HARVEY MILK "Courtesy And Good Will Toward Men" (reissue) JAY REATARD - Blood Visions CONVERGE - No Heroes BRIGHTBLACK MORNING LIGHT s/t OM-Conference of The Birds GOODNIGHT LOVING - Cemetary Trails SOUVENIRS YOUNG AMERICA - s/t BARONESS - SECOND BORIS - Pink CARBONAS - s/t COMETS ON FIRE - s/t WITCH - s/t GREGOR SAMSA - 55:12 YEAR OF NO LIGHT - Nord MONO - You Are There PLEASE INFORM THE CAPTAIN THIS IS A HIJACK - Defeat or Humiliate the USA SEAN SLEIGHT Here's my top 25 albums not in any order: a hawk and a hacksaw - the way the wind blows beirut - gulag orkestar circle - miljard crime in choir - trumpery metier danielson - ships dEUS - pocket revolution drumcorps - grist estradasphere - palace of mirrors faun fables - the transit rider fred frith - the compass, log, and lead katatonia - the great cold distance loka - fire shepherds magyar posse - random avenger man man - six demon bag matmos - the rose has teeth in the mouth of a beast mouse on mars - varcharz nels cline - new monastery otto von schirach - maxipad detention rtt & lehtisalo - ed benttonin briljantti stabilismi residents, the - the river of crime residents, the - tweedles squarepusher - hello everything starlight mints - drowaton tussle - telescope mind woven hand - mosaic SIMON ST-LAURENT, QC, CANADA Great lists! Here is my top 15 for the year 2006: 1. Celtic Frost - Monotheist 2. Agalloch - Ashes Against The Grain 3. Dissection - Reinkaos 4. Drudkh - Blood in Our Wells 5. Mastodon - Blood Mountain 6. Isis - In Absence of Truth 7. Voivod - Katorz 8. Red Sparowes - Every Red Heart Shine Towards The Red Sun 9. Nachtmystium - Instinct: Decay 10. Thralldom - A Shaman Steering the Vessels of Vastness 11. I - Between Two Worlds 12. Diablo Swing Orchestra - The Butcher's Ballroom 13. Asunder - Works that Come Undone 14. Green Carnation - Acoustic Verses 15. Deicide - The Stench of Redemption SPENCER Here's my top 10 list - 10. Extra Golden - Ok-Oyot System 9. Sean Smith, Adam Snider, Matt Baldwin - Berkeley Guitar 8. Dirty Projectors - New Attitude EP 7. His Name Is Alive - Detrola 6. The Clipse - Hell Hath No Fury 5. John Acquadro - Background Music 4. The Fiery Furnaces - Bitter Tea 3. Andrew W.K. - Close Calls with Brick Walls 2. The Roots - Game Theory 1. J Dilla - Donuts And this isn't music, but I thought you'd like to see my top three movies of the year... 3. Drawing Restraint 9 2. Dave Chappelle's Block Party 1. INLAND EMPIRE STEPHAN BAUER My personal Top 10 of 2006 (in no particular order) 1. Nina Nastasia - On Leaving (Fat Cat) 2. The Shitty Listener - Hunt to Die (Sacred Harp) 3. Ov - The Moon is Down (Jewelled Antler) 4. Camera Obscura - Lets Get Out Of This Country (Merge) 5. Midlake - The Trials Of Van Occupanther (Bella Union) 6. Burial - Burial (Hyperdub) 7. DAT Politics - Wow Twist (Chicks On Speed! Records) 8. Ekkehard Ehlers - A Life Without Fear (Staubgold) 9. Charalambides - A Vintage Burden (Kranky) 10. MV & EE With The Bummer Road - Who Do You Love (3 Lobed) CAMELIA My top 2 albums are Orphans by Tom Waits and the Flogging Molly one that I got this summer. SYLVAIN DAL, BRUXELLES Favorites 2006 Drone Records: A selection of drones past: singles 1993-2000 (tUMULt) Silvester Anfang Satanische Vrede (Kraak) Cherry Beach Project Silo 11 (Mystery Sea) Ignatz Addiction for Slumber (Imvated) COH Patherns EP (RasterNoton) Burial Burial (Hyperdub) Bonnie Prince Billie The Letting Go (Domino) David Stalling & Anthony Kelly Radios silent! (Aphasia) Ricardo Villalobos Fizheuer Zieheuer Circle Miljard (Ektro) Eric La Casa air.ratio (Sirr) Tortoise A Lazarus Taxon (Thrill Jockey) Spiracle Ananta (Mystery Sea) Vetiver To find me gone (FatCat) Wooden Wand & the Vanishing Voice Gipsy Freedom (5rc) Six Organs of Admittance The Sun Awakens (Drag City) THOMAS CHEN here's my top ten albums for 2006: J Dilla "Donuts" Beach House s/t Joanna Newsom "Ys" Boris "Pink" Cat Power "The Greatest" Tim Hecker "Harmony in Ultraviolet" Band of Horses "Everything All the Time" Grizzly Bear "Yellow House" Chihei Hatakeyama "Minima Moralia" Bonnie 'Prince' Bill "The Letting Go" TOM DE WEERDT / LOWLANDS DISTRIBUTION thanks for being there... Circle-Mijard (ektro 040) Rtto Ja Lehtisalo-Ed Benttonin Briljanti (Ektro 037) Shirley Collins-Sweet Primeroses (weavil 09) Marconi Notaro- No Subrino dos metazoarios (timelag 032) This Heat-The Box (This is box) Edmond De Deyster- Selectie 01 (VE 32) I Robots- Frau (mixes) Boysnoize Sebastian Ross Ross Ross Ed Banger EDB011 Black Devil Disco Club- 28 after (Locd/lp 58) V/A- An anthology of noise & electronic music vol.4 (Sub Rosa) Ghedalia Tazartes-Les danseurs de la pluie box (planaGTbox) Tony Conrad with Faust-Outside the dream syndicate (toecd48) Clogs- Lantern lp (Aim 10) Henry Cow- Concerts reissue MU 750 - LUC FERRARI - L'Escalier Des Aveugles Concert: Circle Trans X festival Den Haag TOM MESSMER Top 7(im lazy) The Sword -- Age of Winters Espers--II Witch -- WItch Toroidh -- FInal Testament Spektr -- The near death experience Om --Conference of the Birds Current 93-- Black Ships Ate the Sky TREVOR BROWN Favorite Album of the Year : Harvey Milk - Special Wishes Other Favorites : Boris - Pink, Sunn0)))/Boris - Altar,Lurker of Chalice - ST,UFOmammut - Lucifer's Song, Halvetia - The Clever North Wind, Warhammer 48k - An Orthereal Oracle Favorite Pop Songs - Scattered Pearls by Cassiotone for the Painfully Alone, Alisa by Ariel Pink's Haunted Grafitti, All of the songs from BornRuffians self titled ep. Favorite box set/reissue - Tortoise - A Lazarus Taxon Favorite Shows - M83, Sunn0))) and Boris, High on Fire ANGELA / TWISTED VILLAGE RECORDS Thanks much for asking: Sun City Girls-Djinn Funnel (Nashazphone) lp Dylan Nyoukis-Dadgum My Bubblegum (Hanson) cassette Hans Grusel-Happy as Pitch (CIP) cd The Andriod Sisters-Best of (EM) cd 3/3-s/t (Shadoks) lp Les Fleurs du Pavot-s/t (Underground Masters) cd Wolf Eyes/Anthony Braxton-Black Vomit (Victo) cd Gruppo Di Improvvisazione Nuova Consonanza-Azioni (Die Schachtel) 2cd/dvd Mammal-Let Me Die (Animal Disguise) lp Black Pus-1 (Diareahrama) cdr VADIM EGOROV Thanks again for your great work and general awesomeness! Also, here's my Best of 2006 list - feel free to cut it if it's too long: 1. Landing - Gravitational IV (Equation) 2. Om - Conference Of The Birds (Holy Mountain) 3. Comets On Fire - Avatar (Sub Pop) 4. Andrew Chalk - Goldfall (Faraway Press) 5. Tim Hecker - Harmony In Ultraviolet (Kranky/Conspiracy) 6. Zombi - Surface To Air (Relapse/Hypertension) 7. Mammatus - s/t (Holy Mountain/Rocket) 8. Rameses III - Matanuska (The Music Fellowship) 9. Plastic Crimewave Sound - No Wonderland (Eclipse) 10. Tarentel - Ghetto Beats On The Surface Of The Sun (The Music Fellowship) 11. Dj Olive - Sleep (Room 40) 12. Titan - Untitled (Paradigms) 13. Bardo Pond - Ticket Crystals (ATP) 14. Boris - The Thing Which Solomon Overlooked vol.2 & 3 (Conspiracy) 15. Can't - s/t (Ultraeczema) 16. Colour Haze - Tempel (Elektrohasch) 17. Oneida - Happy New Year (Jagjaguwar) 18. Expo '70 - Center Of The Earth (Kill Shaman) 19. Cloudland Canyon - Requiems Der Natur, 2002-2004 (Tee Pee) 20. Hisato Higuchi - Dialogue (Family Vineyard) 21. Fazzini - Sulphur, Glue The Star (Locust) 22. Steven R. Smith - The Anchorite (Important) 23. Axolotl - Telesma (Spooky Action) 24. Residual Echoes - California (Holy Mountain) 25. Jack Rose - s/t (Archive) 26. Loren Connors - Sails (Table of the Elements) 27. Giuseppe Ielasi - s/t (Hapna) 28. Paik - Monster of the Absolute (Strange Attractors Audio House) 29. Sunn O))) & Boris - Altar (Southern Lord/Inoxia) 30. Belong - October Language (Carpark) + reissues of: Harmonia - Musik Von Harmonia Delia Derbyshire - Electrosonic This Heat - Out Of Cold Storage box Mainliner - Solid Stick Attack White Heaven - Levitation V/A - Glastonbury Fayre Hey, come to think of it, most of them were bought through Aquarius! VINCENT WONG, BERLIN, GERMANY my top ten (not in order)... m. ward - Post war sonic youth - rather ripped joanna newsom - ys. cat power - the greatest thermals - body blood, the machine yo la tengo - i am not afraid of you... grandaddy - just like the fambly cat neko case - fox confessor mogwai - mr. beast califone - roots & crowns BILL LEEDER 1.) Ricardo Villalobos - Fizheuer Zieheuer 2.) Burial - s/t 3.) Jesu - Silver 4.) Built to Spill - You In Reverse 5.) Asobi Seksu - Citrus 6.) The La's - BBC In Session 7.) This Heat - Out of Cold Storage Box 8.) Serena Maneesh - s/t 9.) The Secret Machines - Ten Silver Drops 10.) Boris - Pink 11.) Andy Partridge - Fuzzy Warbles Collector's Box 12.) Mogwai - Mr. Beast 13.) Chatperhouse - Whirlpool 14.) Neil Young and Crazy Horse - Live at the Fillmore East Thanks for all the great service. WILSON DINSDALE Hey. Here's my list: Machinefabriek - Marijn Robret Ashley - Foreign Experiences Rosetta - The Galilean Satelites (the ambient disc) Tim Hecker - Harmony in Ultraviolet Ignatz - Ignatz Boris - The thing which solomon overlooked volume 2 Sickoakes - Seawards Ryoji Ikeda - Dataplex Circle - Arkades Gregor Samsa - 55:12 Kilimanjaro Dark Jazz Ensemble - s/t Jean-Pierre Melville - Army of Shadows Zelienople - Stone Academy Lamp of the Universe - The Cosmic union Richard Chartier - Incidence and some other stuff I can't remember JOHN AKA THURSTON HUNGER / KFJC Greetings AQ HQ, I was tempted to reset the arbitron in my head and re-pick another batch, but instead I pilfered my baker's dozen for KFJC down to ten (removing the "Solar Anus" to prevent cosmic ass kissing, but still a skull well done! I guess that operation made me akin to Fidel Castro...) Anways....2006 unsorted sordid assortment: Roy Nathanson "Sotto Voce" Fovea Hex (either, can't wait for the third) Grouper "Wide" Sound in Action Trio "Gate" (Atavistic had a bumper year!) Gerard Pape "Ascension to Purgatory" Sparks "Hello Young Lovers" Anders Hana "Flesh Dispenser" Faun Fables "The Transit Rider" Pyramids "Birth/Speed/Merging" (Em Records!!) Eccentric Soul #3 "Mighty Mike Lenaburg" Thanks for opening my eyes/ears to so much, including the above noted EM label. I hope you will consider collating the lists from fellow AQ addicts, that would be reward enough for me (plus I can have more reactions a la "Damn how did I leave Angelic Process or ________ out??!!) Now time to get back to combing over your staff lists... Aquarius Records home