Top 5 Albums of the Year : Keser

A late submission for the top 5 Albums of the Year, and it comes from Edinburgh post-rockers, Keser. The band's mainman, Kevan, provides and interesting read, especially those Scottish words which I have decided to leave in. Here is what he thought was the best 0f 2006. He also finds time to mention the recently departed, James Brown, too.
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5. Various Artisits - "CHEM087CD + DVD" (Chemikal Underground Records)

When I first saw this, I felt like Principal Skinner from The Simpsons uncovering Ralph Wiggum's Star Wars toy collection in their original unopened packaged condition: "Han, Luke, Chewie - they're all here!". This compilation CD has everything, all the bands who have worked with Chemikalover the years (Arab Strap, De Rosa, Interpol, Malcolm Middleton, Magoo,Suckle, Mother & the Addicts, Aereogramme, Bis, the Delgados, Mogwai, Radar Bros and more). To top it off, it comes with a DVD of videos from some of the Chemikal bands. Perfect.


4. Thom Yorke - "The Eraser" (XL)

Thom Yorke once said "I'm not afraid of computers taking over the world,they're just sitting there. I can hit them with a two by four." Radiohead proved they were the masters of the machines since "Kid A" and Thom Yorke continues this route into minimalist electronica mixed with some guitars,keyboards and great vocals. My favourite song on the album is 'Black Swan' where he sings "I'm your black swan, black swan, but I made it tothe top, made it to the top. This is fucked up, fucked up!". The wee genius has done it again! Fantastic album.


3. Boards of Canada - "Trans Canada Highway"/ Múm - "The Peel Session"

I'll roll these two EP's into one 'album' entry. The Boards of Canada EP includes Dayvan Cowboy from "The Campfire Headphase" album and 5 other tracks. Brilliant laid back electronica as always. I haven't had a chance to see Múm live yet but this Peel session (recorded in 2002, released Dec06) is as close as I'll get for now. The songs are slightly different to the album versions and feel even warmer sounding. The tracks stand out from all other melodic electronica even now but this was originally done 4 years ago which tell us something!


2. Arab Strap - "10 Years of Tears" - (Chemikal Underground Records)

Arab Strap's final album gathers together live tracks, re-mixes and otherrare and unreleased songs in a fitting cross-sectioned tribute to their 10 year career. "(Afternoon) soaps" is outstanding as is "The Clearing (Version2)". The original 1995 demo Islands is on here as well as a recording oftheir first ever King Tuts show. It's a bit of a Seamus that they are finished now but Aiden and Malcolm's solo releases are unsurprisingly breathtaking and will ensure they are here to stay for good. Farewell dudes, it's been emotional!


1. Mogwai - "Mr Beast" (Rock Action)

On their 5th studio LP release, these so called 'Mogwai' definitely went for the chips & cheese well after midnight to unleash a monster of analbum straight from the Castle of Doom. They tend to enjoy playing thefaster, heavier songs live and set out to make a record of that kind. My favourite tracks are "Auto Rock", "Glasgow Mega Snake", "Travel is Dangerous" and "Emergency Trap". The latter being a perfect song where they somehowmanage to evoke a hundred emotions at once. It also comes with aninteresting DVD of the making of the album at their own studio. The hardworking Young Team even donned their away kit and recorded "Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait" movie soundtrack to round off a hugely successful 2006 for the guys. It's a more subtle and beautiful album and re-affirms their musical standing as the Godfathers of James Brown. Or something like that.

Top 5 Albums of the Year : A Night In Saint-Cloud

You may remember this post, from a couple of weeks ago. A Night In Saint-Cloud is from Southeast London and makes music that is influenced by his surroundings. I said a particular track, "Coldstream", "would have been the soundtrack to Bladerunner, has it been set in London 2006, instead of Los Angeles 2025." His music is has a desolate feel to it, yet it is highly emotive, influences from Yellow6, Epic45, July Skies and Labradford can be heard in his compositions. He also runs this Epic45 fansite. So it is no surprise to see who claimed his number 1 spot of 2006.
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5. Mogwai - "Mr Beast" (Rock Action)

"Well, they are still doing it! The 'gwai change with every album but always keep us coming back for more! The drive,passion and refusal to conform are all here and if you any confirmation of Mogwai's brilliance, then listen to the song "Travel Is Dangerous" and take a hard look at the bands tredding similar water and realize that the good ship Mogwai just cannot be touched. "


4. Televise - "Songs to Sing in a and e Minor "

"Jangly guitars, swathes of effects and guitars that just lift you up and suspend you in a volley of emotion! Not suprising that this band contains ex-members of Slowdive but Televise are so different to them. Louder waves of distortion and delay pummel your ears until the volume control refuses to go any higher! An album for Summer holidays and Winter warming. "




3. The Rifles - "No Love Lost" (Universal Publishing)

"City Life, the bright lights, NME hating, Violence, The Clash, The Jam and a masive slice of originality! The Rifles swagger rythmically with confidence and melodies that will have you craving more releases from this great band! Great lyrics paint a picture of city life and the harsh realism of it - the music has that city swing and swagger, oh just go and buy it! "



2. Love Is All - "Nine Times That Same Song " (What's Your Rupture?)

"Getting ready to go out, have a hangover? Well, this one will do the trick! If you need something to perk you up or just need something to "remind you of the night before" then this album is a gem! Imagine Lilliput and X Ray Spex drinking 300 hundred cans of Red Bull and running to the studio to record this album - Wonderful! "





1. Epic45 - "Slides"[Re-issue + Bonus Tracks] (Make Mine Music)

"You know how sometimes, you are sitting on a train? You have music filling your eyes and you think, Hmm, this music fits the journey and scenery flying past? Well, this is album is full of such gems. Looking out at the city or countryside while travelling with this album on will totally immerse you in your suroundings and leave you yearning for my time spent in the particular moment"

Top 5 Albums of The Year : Our Sleepless Forest

I first came across London-based 3-piece, Our Sleepless Forest, back in the Summer just when I started this blog. They were the first band to show a real interest and even donated an mp3. Fast forward 6 months and this incredibly young band have been signed to the always impressive, Type Records (home of Helios, Xela, Sickoakes and Khonnor). They are currently their debut album, which has a tentative Spring release date. I have heard some of the early recordings and can tell you that it mixes their influences of Psychedelia, ambient music and their love of leftfield electronica, into something that is their own. "Aircastles" is expected to be on the album and can be streamed here. Band member, Sam, takes time out to tell us what has been on his stereo this year.
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5. Helios - "Eingya" (Type)

"Just a plain beautiful and serene album.... Soundtracked quite a lot of my summer. Also really beautifully recorded, his music always seems really carefully arranged and he doesn't seem to throw in parts for the sake of it."






4. Burial - "Burial" (Hyperdub)

"I love pretty much everything about this album. The production is spot on, I really like the combo of dubstep and ambient. This album is separate from pretty much all other dubstep except for maybe kode 9, he makes his own samples and I think that gives it a greater authenticity than all other dubstep I've heard. Also he's meant to be from Putney, which is we're from and that adds to it for me. Forgive is my favourite song of the year..."


3. TV On The Radio - "Return to Cookie Mountain" (4AD)

"For an album third on my list I've not actually listened to it a great deal. But some of the moments on this are great... Especially tonight and I was a lover. Really sound like they're doing something different. Saw them live at Koko and was kinda underwhelmed, but I think I was sat far too back to gain full impact"




2.Skream -"Skream!" (Tempa)

"This probably isn't my second favourite album of the year, but he's there because of all the great songs he's put out this year. And is my favourite discovery of the year by a mile, he's really young and his tunes are just really great. I've been totally swept away by dubstep and everything Skream's put out. I've probably listened to stuff by skream on a daily basis without fail since discovering him."



1. Benoit Pioulard - "Precis" (Kranky)

"I love this one, a lot! He writes songs I've always wanted to make, and makes them sound so simple. Also the production is really great on this one, with all the field recordings in the background, it's all really well arranged. And has a lovely warm feel to the whole album all the way through. Corpus chant is a lovely lovely song"

Top 5 Albums of the Year : Vic Spanner

Vic Spanner will be familiat to most regular reader's to this site, having recorded the genre-defying, "Sympathy For The Hermit", which is a crazy album mixing the best of electronica with folk, rock, hip-hop and just as everything else. I called it "warped, chaotic and downright sinister..". His other project, Bonehill, is an orchestra of real-life objects which are used to make some "wonderfully out-there" sounds.

So, as you can imagine, this list is going to be extremely eclectic and most definitely wonderful. His next album, "Microtheft" is due in Spring 2007. But for now he is recording his annual Christmas project, "Buffalo Bill's Big Bag Of Baad Jazz" (Part 5). I urge everyone to join his mad world
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First, though, a quick message from Vic himself.....

"My only complaints about 2006 are that there's not enough time and money in the world to listen to everything I want to, but that won't stop me trying. Also, where the hell was MF Doom this year? By his usual rate we should have had two albums from him, so I can only conclude that Dangermouse somehow destroyed his creativity after the Dangerdoom album".


5. Various Artists - "Gold Leaf Branches" (Digitalis )

"If there was one record label I obsessed over this year, it was Brad Rose's Digitalis label. This 3 cd, 59 track compilation was ridiculously well priced, and has so much on it that I'm still working through it now. The immediate highlights were all new tracks from James Blackshaw, Six Organs Of Admittance, The Gray Field Recordings, and Agitated Radio Pilot, to name a few. Worth owning just for Timothy, Revelator's incredible version of "Friday Morning", which features probably the loveliest banjo playing I've ever heard."


4. Wooden Wand & The Vanishing Voice - "Gypsy Freedom" (5RC)

"There's the forest, the backwoods, and somewhere way beyond that, there's this lot. On one album they manage to sound like music from the Clangers, a Pagan ritual, scratchy Blues improv, Led Zeppelin, Twin Peaks and that feeling where you wake up from an odd dream but have no memory of what it actually was. My personal favourite is the lovely, dreamy folk of "Dread Effigy"



3. A Hawk And A Hacksaw - "The Way The Wind Blows" (Leaf)

"I wasn't sure Jeremy Barnes could top the last AHAAH album, but by teaming up with Balkan speedfolk demons Fanfare Ciocarlia, the lucky listener gets an album that is both haunting and fun and had me dancing around the room. Catch them live too, if only to see how many instruments one man can play at the same time"




2. Yndi Halda - "Enjoy Eternal Bliss" (Big Scary Monsters/ Burnt Toast Vinyl)

"Three tracks, 45 minutes. Local heroes Yndi Halda's epic E.P. arrived in the form of a personalised hardback copy of "Danger In Deep Space" (a Tom Corbett Space Cadet Adventure), with nature shots inserted by the band, and a note apologising for the delay in sending it (they like to hand make their cds). The music ?: Epic, beautiful, spine chilling, sad and incredible, the world needs some new adjectives for this music. There's a moment exactly ten minutes into "We Flood Empty Lakes" that sounds like a million superheroes flying through the stormy skies at once. Finally, a band worth giving a shit about"


1. James Blackshaw - "Sunshrine" (Digitalis)

"An album ? An E.P.? .Who knows ?. Either way, the first of the two tracks is 26 gorgeous minutes of slowly building 6 and 12 string guitar, bells, glockenspiel and the like, which occasionally wanders into the same strange, exotic land as The Doors' "The End" ,minus the weird poetry. Perfect for staring into the flames of a summer campfire at 2am. Blackshaw barely took a breath before releasing the four track album "O True Believers" (Important Records), proving once more that one man and a guitar needn't mean tedious singer-songwriters."

Top 5 Albums of the Year : Phon°noir

Matthias Grübel, aka Phon°noir, unleashed one of the most imaginative albums of 2006, in the shape of "Putting Holes Into October Sky". The album was an inventive mixture of lo-fi bedroom electronica and dark, understated pop. He also finds time to record with other projects such as Phonofix and Maibach. This is his intriguing top 5 selections for 2006.
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5. Trespassers William - "Having" (Nettwerk Music Group)

"the most pop orientated record in my top5. This is a band from seattle, produced by the guy who worked for mogwai and mercury rev... an album with a dark melancholic mood, which has subtle little cracks here and there. Feels like going on a plane, the moment you get into the clouds, and off them again... the singer is awesome, a lovely fragile voice, the band sound is precise. I like the way they always seem to work at the border to a really feedbacky sound but still seem to keep it in balance, it's something really nervously on the edge - yet at the same time everything's so calm and easy... i am also happy to have anna-lyne with her fantastic voice as a guest on my next record..."


4. Calika - "Small Talk Kills Me" (Audiobulb)

"another audiobulb release. A bit darker and even more twisted and complex in the way the tunes are being built. A lot of dirty and droning sounds on it. Really deep and in a way un-heard. I was happy to find this music! simon, the guy behind the music, is my age & this is also his debut album. We are in touch by now & even collaborated on a few occasions, helping each other on tracks for our respective forthcoming albums."


3. Ultre - "All The Darkness Has Gone To Details" (Audiobulb)

"the newest album in my top5. Even though I've only owned it for a week now, it has had an instant impact on me. Energy in every hidden corner. An incredible trickyness in the beats. beautifully detailed arrangements. Indietronics meets aphex twin. I love it. Released on audiobulb, UK. My label discovery of the year."




2. Uzi & Ari- "It Is Freezing Out" (Own Records)
"A wonderful record and one that keeps growing the longer you listen to it. At times it feels like a post-pop-indie-guitar-band-release, at times you hear traces of radiohead's "Kid A" in it. At times you just ask yourself how they came up with that beat again. An album full of lovely little ideas and beautiful songs. Everything in its right place, i'd say."


1. Thom Yorke - "The Eraser" (XL)

"Something I have been waiting for for a long time. Fullfilled my expectations. Yorke finally entered a sound cosm which I always wanted to hear his voice in. An incredible album. Guess i don't have to say anything else about this one. "

Top 5 Albums of the Year : Time. Space. Repeat

Time. Space. Repeat are a London-based quartet and fine purveyors of "optimisitc post-rock". However, there is much more going on in their sound than this general tag suggests. Influences such as Spiritualized, My Bloody Valentine and Sonic Youth can be heard in their album, "Early Transmissions of Time", which you can download free from the netlabel, Lost Children. Here frontman, Sonic James Doom, talks about his 5 favourite albums of 06.
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5. Beirut - "Gulag Orkestar" (4ad)

"I don't even know how to begin describing this. I wanted to hate it after reading all the gushing reviews, but it really is something very special indeed. It was only recently that I discovered this, given to me by a friendly Canadian, but I'm glad he pointed me in its direction. At first listen I was picking out bits of Yann Tiersen, Neutral Milk Hotel, various members of the Wainwright family and the glockenspiels. It just grows with every listen though... layers and layers of instrumentation to catch the ear. Fabulous. "


4. Sonic Youth - "Rather Ripped" (Geffen)

"Well they lost Jim O'Rourke, which was a bit of a downer, but then, it's produced by Steve Albini (allegedly depending on who you believe) so that kind of balances things out in terms of sub-cultural iconography. As much as I love it when Sonic Youth go avant-garde and obtuse, I've always felt they're at their best when they do songs, with tunes and everything, so it's something of a relief that this is another album of songs. I was particularly taken with "Reena", but then I always love a good opening track..."


3. Part Chimp - "I Am Come" (Rock Action)

"I know I know, strictly speaking it was released last year, but I only found it in the summer of 2006 in Amoeba Records in San Francisco, and good lord is it heavy. Part Chimp don't stop for breath on this album, each track is relentlessly pounding and fuzzy. the whole mix sounds like it's about to give way at any second into noise-mush, but it always just teeters on the brink. I defy anyone to hear "30,000,000,000 people" and not want to scream along and rock hard."


2. Fovea Hex - "Bloom" (Janet Records)

"This is worth the price of an album for the track "Don't These Windows Open" alone. You can tell there's at least one Eno involved, but the whole thing is much more than that, with Clodagh Simmons voice sounding so marvellously desolate and broken against the wash of sounds that accompany her. With powerful lyrics, subtle yet experimental production and a voice laden with meaning there's no way I could leave this out".



1. Twelve - "Be Careful What You Don't Wish For" (Silber)

"Truly sublime moments from former Six By Seven frontman Chris Olley, covering a range of genres yet somehow hanging together well. It has that same feeling of of yearning and heartbreak that all the best records do, exemplified by the closing track "All the Same". Other highlights include the post-rock flavoured workout of "The Anal Gunshot", and the oddly nostalgic "Walking Drunk (with Murray Wilson)".

Top 5 Albums Of The Year : Ben Winbolt-Lewis

More top 5 albums here, this time it is with Cuckundoo Records owner, Ben-Winbolt Lewis. Ben also works with The Leaf Label so was in a great position to find out the best music of 2006.
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5. Thom Yorke – "The Eraser " (XL)

"not my most listened album of the year, but one of the most powerful. Thom Yorke has monopolised the claustrophobic paranoid feel of a record!"






4. Steve Reid Ensemble – "Spirit Walk " (Soul Jazz)

"2005 record I know, but I bought it this year so there! Amazing grooves, that far surpasses the later collaborations between Steve and Kieran (Four Tet)"





3. Broken Social Scene – s/t (Arts & Crafts)

"not as good as "You Forgot It In People", but this album takes a long while to unravel. The best show of the year for me at the Leeds Irish Centre which inspired me infinitely!"






2. Joanna Newsom – "Ys" (Drag City)

"Yes, a bit early to really say, but the arrangements, the feel, the individuality of this record are mindblowing". "







1.volcano! - "Beautiful Seizure" (Leaf)

"I can say this because I loved the album before I worked at Leaf – refreshing, challenging and blows the cobwebs away! "

Top 5 Albums of the Year : Engine7

Engine7 has been around the Glasgow electronica scene for quite some time now. There are a few ep's dotted aroun the web, such as "Hope Street" which can be downloaded here, and "Panic's First Kiss" which can be obtained here. Praise from the likes of Sigur Ros and Julien Neto was soon followed by his first ever live performance, supporting The Orb. 2007 will see the release of his his first full-length album, "Me, But Perfect". You can read about his performance at Tronic last month here, or read on to find out what music inspired him during the course of 2006.
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5. Jóhann Jóhansson - "IBM 1401, A User's Manual" (4ad)

"I've just discovered this one (through the Last Days Best of 2006 Mix), but I realised from the first listen that it's a very special record. Orchestras and computers, magic."





4.Immanu El - "Killerwhale " (Self- Released)

"I hope this band does really well, because they are fabulously talented for such young guys. This is a simple, moving little record that's just so dense with emotion. It's perfect."





3. The Album Leaf - "Into The Blue Again" (Sub Pop)

"Warm instrumental music played on Rhodes, guitar, and strings, withsome pretty good drumming too."






2. Julien Neto - "Le Fumeur De Ciel" (Type)

"This is a thick, richly textured beauty of a record. Julien and Ihave similar influences, but whenever I've asked him about how he gets those sounds, he just says "I don't really like to talk about such things." He's so mysterious."




1.Helios - "Eingya" (Type)

"The most played record in my house, this year. Confidently simple instrumental music played on piano, guitar and lovely electronics. This record just floats."

Top 5 Albums of the Year : Crippled Black Phoenix

Crippled Black Phoenix's debut album, "A Love Of Shared Disasters", is surely only weeks away from release. Had it been released in 2006 it would have been in many end of year lists, but good things come to those who wait. Instead, CBP ringleader Justin Greaves talks about the albums that inspired him this year

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5. Tenhi - "Maaaet" (Prophecy)

This i found in my dads record shop, one that i picked up on the strength of the cover, i gave it a play and the first track "Sparrow Day" is so bloody haunting, kind of like if Sigur Ros had come from the forrest and kept their integrity. From finland, they sing in their native language and take you on a journey whether you want to or not....spooky!




4. Band of Horses - "Everything all the Time" (Sub Pop)

"I got turned onto this from hearing the song "The Funeral", it pretty much blew me away when i first heared it, that doesn't happen to me very often, so i went and picked up the album. Didn't really know of this band before and don't know that much about them, but i reccommend giving this a turn".




3. The Black Heart Procession - "The Spell" (Touch and Go)

"One of my all time favorite bands, fell in love with them from day one, i was listening to 3-Mile Pilot for a while and the parts of that band that i really liked was taken further and made better when BHP came out with their first album, from then i was hooked. The Spell is yet another example of why i like them so much, it is criminal just how good the song "The Letter" is, it shouldn't be possible to make a song that perfect".



2. Bonnie "Prince" Billy - "The Letting Go" (Domino)

"Another guy who gets better with every release, this to me is the most accomplished work to date, i was looking forward to this album and i was not disappointed, the string work is amazing and it lifts up the already sublime song writing. "





1. Willard Grant Conspiracy - "Let it Roll" (Loose)

"I've been a long time fan of Robert Fisher and WGC and i love it when an artist i like keeps getting better, this album i think is his best so far, great dark Americana, it's miserable but strangely uplifting, amazing vocals, the gravel-tone to it is haunting as hell, and there's not one bad track on it."

Top 5 Albums Of The Year : Last Days

This is the first in a series, where I have asked , a select few musicians, what each of them think is THE release of 2006. First up, is n5md artist Last Days, who mesmerised us all with his serene "Sea" album back in September.
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5 Ass - s/t (headspin recordings)

"I spotted this oddly named artist in on the myspace friend list belonging to swedish trio 'tape' early this year. Only recently did an album appear. It turns out that Andreas Söderström the solo artist responsible often plays with tape live in their native Stockholm along with him many other projects. Witnessing a live performance sealed his fate in my top 5. His style of minimal, monotonous acoustica mixed with standard pop melodies make this an easier listening experience than tape".


4 Songs Of Green Pheasant -"Aerial Days" (fat cat)

"Duncan Sumpner's debut seemed to make it to a few end of year lists in 2005 including my own. 'Aerial Days' i fear, won't. Not because he's lost his touch, the tunes on here are stunning, easily as good as anything on the first album. The production remains the same too, just him sat in his kitchen with plenty of hiss emanating from his 4 track recorder. My problem is not with the sound, it's with the length of the album. 36 minutes to be exact including one 5 minute cover. In short, it's superb, but perhaps it should be called an e.p.?"


3 Julian Fane - "Our New Quarters" (planet mu)

"Anyone who was a bit dismayed at 'special forces' unfinished quality will be happier with 'out new quarters'. This offering is fuller and sounds more complete. Loud electronics and loud guitars sounding violent at times but the mood shifts so frequently making this album a bit of an epic. The first album of the year i got really excited about."




2 Yasushi Yoshida - "Secrect Figure" (noble)

"When i read this Japanese artist had worked with Piana, i had to investigate. Slightly too sweet at times but the rest is heartbreaking. Mainly driven by a strings and piano there's frequent abstract electronic added to the mix making this a haunting soundtrack to film yet to be made."




1 Jóhann Jóhannsson - "ibm 1401, a user's manual" (4ad)

No album this year has moved me as much as this. Spine tingles, distraction and being close to tears are the side effects of this stunning piece of work. Icelandic composer Jóhann Jóhannsson and member of Apparat Organ Quartet was inspired to record this orchestral album when he found cassette manuals of an ibm 1401 computer which his father used to operate in the 60's. The result transports you straight to the attic looking through forgotten boxes at forgotten photos. All the 5 long tracks on here are amazing but it's the final track which is certainly one of the most impressive pieces of music i've heard in recent years.