From: owner-idealcopy-digest@smoe.org (idealcopy-digest) To: idealcopy-digest@smoe.org Subject: idealcopy-digest V9 #312 Reply-To: idealcopy@smoe.org Sender: owner-idealcopy-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-idealcopy-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk idealcopy-digest Sunday, December 31 2006 Volume 09 : Number 312 Today's Subjects: ----------------- [idealcopy] Best of 2006 ["Keith Knight" ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 30 Dec 2006 18:37:28 -0000 From: "Keith Knight" Subject: [idealcopy] Best of 2006 Here's my votes: Albums 1 The Trials of Van Occupanther - Midlake I didn't know I needed an album steeped in the mysteries of the wide-open spaces of the US, performed in the style of The Eagles, but I apparently did big time. Strangely creepy and reassuring at the same time this is a work that sustains repeated revisiting. It helps that opening track Roscoe is the best song I've heard all year and oddly a song that you either think is the best thing you've heard all year or one which you can't distinguish from the others on the album. 2 Songs for Christmas - Sufjan Stevens Probably 'nuff said on this recently. Revealing itself to be the best Christmas work in my collection since the irresistible Ze Christmas Album. 3 Let me Introduce My Friends - I'm From Barcelona Dozens of Swedes gathered together singing ridiculously catchy pop songs about (to take the subject matter of the first four songs on the album) oversleeping, stamp collecting, being from Barcelona and building a tree house. Which sounds like it could be horribly twee but it just isn't, although you probably need the right genes to appreciate this. Mind you, I like Polyphonic Spree. 4 Espers II - Espers Acoustic folk music performed at such volume that it brings Zeppelin to mind. And a great collections of songs too. 5 Ys - Joanna Newsom A fabulous confection of long, complex songs which flow like rivers. Hugely ambitious and fortunately she's tuned down the most annoying vocal mannerisms that marred the first album. 6 The Life Pursuit - Belle and Sebastian As I think I've said before I blow hot and cold with this lot but this is a fine collections of songs which I suspect is a career high. 7 Derdang Derdang - The Archie Bronson Outfit Electric guitars at last! 8 Whatever they say I am, that's what I'm not - Arctic Monkeys Difficult to see past the hype, but this is a collection of cleverly written songs 9 The Drift - Scott Walker Not one I've been back to on a regular basis but an impressively 'out there' piece of work, if a little silly in places. 10 Cansei der ser Sexy The sunny sound of hip Brazilians manufacturing enjoyable pop. From previous years Into the Woods - Malcolm Middleton At this time - Burt Bacharach In the Aeroplane, Over the Sea - Neutral Milk Hotel - I spent a month just playing this and nothing else. One of the greatest records I have ever heard. Singles This really doesn't mean anything any more does it? I have virtually no outlets in which a 'single' may enter my life beyond adverts and the occasional thing played on Jonathan Ross. But I did enjoy 'Over and Over' by Hot Chip which appears to have been a single. Live 1 Jeffrey Lewis - Brixton Windmill 23 Feb An hour and three quarters in the corner of a pub with Jeff, brother Jack and their drummer mate. More thrashy than some of his gigs (a mosh pit briefly formed) and with enough time to do the full range of his repertoire justice. Joyous. 2 The Earlies - Camden Barfly 16 May Superb collection of new songs, which frustratingly still haven't seen the light of day. 3 James Yorkston - Green Man festival 19 Aug One of those festival moments when everything comes right - the crowd are up for it and the performer rises to the occasion. Yorkston's albums still seem underpowered to me but on this night he was a megastar. 4 Malcolm Middleton - Green Man festival On his own, in the corner of a stableyard, with just an acoustic guitar, Middleton held the crowd spellbound for an hour with a collection of incredibly depressing songs. The demise of Arab Strap is a sad thing, but tempered by the thought that Middleton has these songs in him. 5 The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band - Newcastle City Hall 12 Nov Of all the unlikely reformations in recent years, this is perhaps the most unlikely. A bunch of sixty year olds (and in the case of Vernon Dudley Bohay-Nowell, a 75 year old) get together for the first time in 35 years and act as if they've never been away, or indeed grown up. A frantic melee of costumes, gadgets, electronics, thunderflashes and guest appearances (Phill Jupitus and Ade Edmondson taking on some of the Viv Stanshall parts) it was impossible not to give in especially when the set list is as strong as this. Really wild, General. 6 KaitO - ICA 5 Jan A set of excellent new songs which sadly never saw release. 7 The Archie Bronson Outfit - Green Man festival 19 Aug Kick-ass performance. 8 Plague songs - Margate Winter Gardens 30 Sep An Artangel curated day, centered around the torching of Antony Gormley's huge 'Burning Man', ended with this fascinating performance of specially written songs by the likes of Scott Walker, Eno and King Creosote on the theme of plague, performed by local Margate inhabitants. Often nothing like the subsequently released versions - e.g. the thrash-metal version of a Stephen Merritt song - and sometimes better, especially the gripping finale of Scott Walker's song performed by a deep-voiced man in a long coat and a group of stern-faced women. 9 Charlottefield - Newhaven Fort 12 Aug The highlight of an excellent afternoon - a loud, post-Mogwai bunch of youths from Brighton. 10 65 Days of Static - Camden underworld 20 April The best thing at Camden Crawl- a loud, post-Mogwai bunch of youths from Sheffield. FILMS Moolade United 93 Brokeback Mountain The Proposition The Squid and the Whale (parts of ) The New World TV Planet Earth (how will the BBC ever top this?) 24 Prison Break (overcoming a plot of immense stupidity with sheer verve) Life on Mars BOOKS Rubicon - Tom Holland - riveting narrative history of the Roman Republic In Cold Blood - Truman Capote - brilliantly written and easily stands the test of time Counting Heads - David Marusek - stunningly realised, dense SF future thriller. Another the Keith ------------------------------ End of idealcopy-digest V9 #312 *******************************