Without a Yard

Sixteen days later…….& a lot has happened. My inbox has been flooded with Waub’s amazing Top Ten List series for music freaks’n'geeks.

Visited Montreal & Mount Tremblant on a week off work….travelled without any VIA hassles, delays or screw ups. That’s a g.d. holiday miracle.

Anyway, all is well & good. Won’t go into the events of the week - but I thoroughly enjoyed the much-needed down-time, pre-holiday sales & q-t with the Beau in la belle province.

Enough mush. Time to get to the most pressing matter of the year. The List. I’ve had a week to read the crew’s reviews & I was heartened to see all the references to Dylan, the Lips & The Pavement re-releases….so they are omitted in the list that I sent around - please don’t mistake it’s absence for a lack of Mr. Zimmerman love - Modern Times is NOT overrated, NOT sloppy & NOT worth NOT owning. Buy it today.

Here’s a copy of our enduring (Five Years, baby!) tradition - & if you’re on the e-list, please check your picks twice & write a lil’sumpin’sumpin’ about why this record or that EP jingled yer frosty bells throughout 2006……

I have been waiting all year for this e-mail string….& now that the time is nigh, I’m hesitating & double-guessing my picks. C’est la vie. I’m sure that this is an unevenly keeled rundown of my year’s finest – I tried to sort thoroughly, but I know some got lost in the downloading-iPod shuffling-CD-filing mess….I was psyched to see My Morning Jacket references – that live album is kickass & worth mention – as well as Dylan/Pavement/Lips kudos, too…I’ll try not to retype/repeat the last amazing lists – Here goes:

1. The Greatest – Cat Power: I have an especially soft’n’tender spot for Ms. Marshall – heightened by her live gigs – but undoubtedly, if this record floated down from outer space & had no sentimental connotations, it’d still be #1. Aching, mournful, lusting, reverential, beautiful ballads by a woman who has trudged to hell & back. From start to finish – this album is the strongest of 2006.

2. The First Acoustic Show - J. Mascis Live at CBGB’s : Let this be the first of many rule-bendings in the list. This show was recorded over ten years ago (December 1993) when kids our age worshipped Dinosaur Jr. & I’m assuming (hoping) this was a big-ass gig to have seen. The Rhino release has 10/12 tracks never previously issued. I always thought I was a Barlow kind of girl – but this CD reminds me that Mascis was more than a shredding alt-guitar Gen X god. If you want to re-live your ‘My So-Called Life’ years – pick this up.

3. S/T - Pierre Lapointe: His newest record came out in ‘06, & he won a crapload of L’ADISQ (Frenchie Junos) awards for it….but I discovered the beauty of his 2004 debut this year – so on the list it goes. & until Rufus Wainwright redeems himself for his sloppy filler-filled recent releases – Lapointe is my new cabaret-jaunty-swoony-croony-lust-inducing-man-whore-fantasy-victim. Sigh.

4. The Life Pursuit – Belle & Sebastian: Despite the shiteous Docks concert experience, the new record comes out unscathed. They are on top of their game, Stuart can dance whilst lamenting middle-class boredom and answering fan-e-mails w/ witty responses. Pick up the White Collar Boy EP for an extra dose of twee goodness on the B-Sides.

5. Let’s Get Out Of This Country – Camera Obscura: Fitting that the heirs to B&S’s Glasgow throne follow – same shtick, more polished than their last record, snarkier lyrics, buffed up to not-quite-overproduced-perfection. If you’re missing The Concretes – download some C.O.

6. Rabbit Fur Coat – Jenny Lewis & The Watson Twins: Four words on why this record is worth purchasing: Traveling Willburies cover tune (Had a thing for cover tunes this year – Jose Gonzales’ ‘Teardrop’ & The Raconteurs’ ‘Bang Bang, My Baby Shot Me Down’ & the OBG – Ruth Copeland’s ‘Gimme Shelter’ come to mind). If you liked Rilo Kiley – Lewis’ solo won’t disappoint – the Watson Twins add a haunting echo to the old-school whispery ingénue seductress vibe that Lewis effortlessly emits.

7. Fox Confessor Brings The Flood – Neko Case: Damn, y’all know that if there is indeed a rockabilly babe heaven, Patsy Cline is looking down and blessing the composing, recording & performing perfection that exists inside Le Renard, Neko Case. Case could sing the White Pages & you’d still be drinking yourself into a stupor, sleeping with extra-strange strangers & contracting mysterious diseases.

8. *TIE* - The Eraser – Thom Yorke & The Information – Beck: Different sounds, same paths – dudes that made it big with grungy slacker tunes in the early nineties & thankfully grew beyond definitions & expectations. The Information takes the irreverence of Guero to a nerdier faux-high-tech space & The Eraser guides OK Computer/Kid A vibes into a more personal/less abstract record.

9. *TIE* - Born Ruffians & D’Ubervilles: Both debut records by Ontarian lads with amazing promise & potential. Thoughtful and unexpected vocal arrangements are at forefront of both records & they’re both as catchy as hell. It’s a race to see who will end up as our Futureheads.

10. Since I cheated & had four records for the past two entries, this list is a mockery of a sham of a fraud anyway – let’s ring the Gong on this Show with a monster mash of honourable mentions: Oh Bijou; Henri Faberge & Les Adorables; Detroit Cobras; Tapes’n’Tapes (multi-genred & a bit off-putting – but don’t mistake it for being an uneven record – they deserved their opening slot w/ Modest Mouse); The Pipettes (Girl group confectionary - blissed out pop hiding lyrics as sassy as The Donnas); Lullabye Arkestra; Baby Eagle; The Hold Steady; Guillemots; Mickey Avalon (if you miss old Beasties & smart-alec dirty rap….Mickey’s yer man); Malajube; Nouvelle Vague; The Coast…………..

Peace,
Meegs