What I've Been Reading/Listening to Lately

And but so, all ratings are out of 100, and if the text changes colour, it's cuz I've added a few entries to a particular month, allowing you to more easily keep track of all the new influences on my life. Heh. Meh. Feh.

On the Turntable ('06 edition)

The Best of 2006

10. Love is All -- Nine Times that Same Song

Reminscent of last year's Go! Team, Love is All is a clattering, bashing and clanging triumph of enthusiasm over musicianship. Which is not to say that the players lack skill, but rather that the mix is so muddy, it almost doesn't matter. A helluva lotta fun.

9. Peter, Bjorn and John -- Writer's Block

8.Regina Spektor -- Equal parts Fiona Apple, Kate Bush, Tori Amos and the Dresden Dolls, Spektor is sexy, smart, talented and Russian to boot. What's not to like?

7. Johnny Cash -- American V: A Hundred Highways

6. Lily Allen --Alright, Still

The face of a child and the mouth of a sailor,

Allen's debut is sassy, cheeky, silly and more fun than a barrel full of monkeyshine. Giddy-up and go, girl.

5. Gnarls Barkley -- St. Elsewhere

4. Bob Dylan -- Modern Times

3. The Hold Steady -- Boys and Girls in America. The critics were praising this group long before I found myself getting behind their particular brand of muscular New England Catholicism. I found parts of Separation Sunday strained and so was not particularly eager to hear their latest, which might help explain why I ended up liking it so much. The earnestness of SS seems to have given way to a more accessible sense of humour and joyousness. The biggest surprise of 2007.

2. Tom Waits -- Orphans

1. Bruce Springsteen -- We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions. The time is right for a return to the roots-based protest music that defined Springsteen's formative years, and The Boss delivers an album of such grace and power, of such personal and political conviction, that it would take a true curmudgeon not to be won over by it. His best album since Nebraska.

Honorable Mentions go to the 2006 releases of the following artists:

Hell's bells! I can't believe that I forgot to mention the Yeah Yeah Yeah's sophomore effort here. Many apologies.

Arctic Monkeys
Sufjan Stevens
The Beatles
Hello Saferide
Destroyer
Neko Case
Thom Yorke
Paul Simon
Pearl jam
Sunset Rubdown
Ben Kweller
The Exploding Hearts
The Golden Dogs
The Weepies
Outkast
The Decembrists
Of Montreal
Islands
Dresden Dolls
Neil Young
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
The Cloud Room
Cat Power
We are Scientists
Graham Coxon
Hard Fi
Prince


01/06

First Impressions of Earth by The Strokes (61/100)
Black Mountain by Black Mountain (70/100)

02/06

Hurricane Bar by Mando Diao (76/100)
Rabbit Fur Coat by Jenny Lewis (73/100)
Whatever People Say That's What I'm Not by Arctic Monkeys (77/100)
From a Compound Eye by Robert Pollard (63/100)
The Sunlandic Twins by Of Montreal (75/100)
The Cloud Room by The Cloud Room (78/100)
Let it Die by Feist (64/100)
Threesome by Michelle Shocked (74/100)
Amber by Clearlake (66/100)
With Love and Squalor by We Are Scientists (82/100)
Arular by M.I.A. (I know, I know. Better late than never) (84/100)
Idols of Exile by Jason Collett (67/100)
Detrola by His Name is Alive (62/100)
Lost and Safe by The Books (56/100)
Down in Albion by Babyshambles (57/100)
The Greatest by Cat Power (78/100)
Other People's Lives by Ray Davies (66/100)

03/06 & 04/06

Fox Confessor Brings the Flood by Neko Case (79/100)

With a Cape and Cane by The Joggers

Everything all the Time by Band of Horses (66/100)

Stars of CCTV by Hard-Fi (76/100)

Love Travels at Illegal Speeds by Graham Coxon (83/100)

3121 by Prince

Chemical City by Sam Roberts (68/100)

Open Season by British Seas Power

Vessel States by Wilderness

05/06

We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions by Bruce Springsteen (86/100)
Yes, Virginia by the Dresden Dolls (76/100)
Living with War by Neil Young (84/100)
How We Operate by Gomez (73/100)
Return to the Sea byIslands (80/100)
Nine Times That Same Song by Love is All (85/100)
In the Aeroplane over the Sea by Neutral Milk Hotel (78/100)
At War with the Mystics by Flaming Lips (70/100)
Show Your Bones by Yeah Yeah Yeahs (81/100)

06-7/06

Really digging the latest releases by:

Johnny Cash

Sufjan Stevens

Gnarles Barkley

Regina Spektor

Roseanne Cash (late, I know)

Enjoying latest by:

Corinee Bailey Rae

Danielson

Asobi Seksu

Built to Spill

Destroyer

Dixie Chicks

Gomez

Guster

Thom Yorke

Paul Simon

Pearl Jam

Sarah Harmer

Sunset Rubdown

Twilight Singers

Xavier Rudd

And these releases are all right Sorta:

Beirut

Broadcast

Common

Devics

Grandaddy

Goldfarp

His Name is Alive

Howe Gelb

Holopaw

The Clientele

08/06

REALLY digging the latest releases by the following:

Lily Allen

Enjoying these:

Old 97s

Herbert

Tom Petty

TV on the Radio

Camera Obscura

The Pipettes

Scissor Sisters

Nelly Furtado

Lillix

Guillemots

09/06

Really digging:

Bob Dylan

Enjoying:

Lillix

Phoenix

Primal Scream

Ratatatat

'sall right:

Muse

11-12/06

Really digging the latest releases of:

Hello Saferide
The Hold Steady
Tom Waits
Peter Bjorn and John
The Beatles

Enjoying

A Hawk and a Hacksaw
Athlete
Ben Kweller
Brand New
Deftones
Frou Frou
Jem
Joanna Newsom
The Decembrists
The Exploding Hearts (okay, late again. Sorry, that was terrible)
The Golden Dogs
The Long Blondes
The Weepies
Lupe Fiasco
Outkast
Primal Scream

'Sall Right:

Animal Collective

Joseph Arthur

Joshua Radin

Ray Lamontagne

On the Bedside Table ('06 edition)

01/06
Film Biographies by Stan Brakhage (77/100)

02/06
Girl with the Curious Hair by David Foster Wallace (2nd reading) (82/100)

03/06 & 04/06
Into the Wild by Jon Krackauer (79/100)
Fellini on Fellini by F. Fellini (76/100)
The daVinci Code by Dan Brown (51/100)
Why Orwell Matters by Christopher Hitchens (83/100)
Castaways of the Image Planet by Geoffrey O'Brien (81/100)

05/06
Baseball Prospectus 2006 ed. by Baseball Prospectus crew (85/100)
Baseball by the Numbers ed. by Baseball Prospectus crew (80/100)

06-7/06
The Stand by Stephen King (2nd time 'round)

08/06
Collected Stories by Carol Shields
Haunted by Chuck Palahniuk
Well of Lost Plots by Jasper Fforde
The Wire: Truth Be Told by Rafael Alvarez
The Secret Voyage of Sir Francis Drake by Sam Bawlf

09/06
Sexual Politics and Narrative Film: Hollywood and Beyond by Robin Wood
Cuba by The Lonely Planet

10-12/06
Hollywood from Vietnam to Reagan by Robin Wood
Sexual Politics and Narrative Films by Robin Wood
Transcendental Style in Film by Paul Schrader
A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson
Chaplin and Agee by Wranovics
Castaways on an Image Planet by O'Brien
The Wire: Truth Be Told by Alvarez
Inherit the Wind by Lawrence and Lee
The Hobbit by Tolkien
All Quiet on the Western Front by Remarque
Catcher in the rye by Salinger
Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, King Lear and Twelfth Night by Shakespeare
Waiting on the Weather: Making Movies with Akira Kurosawa by Teruyo Nogami
See the Child by David Berger
Fall on Your Knees by Anne-Marie MacDonald
There is a Season by Patrick Lane

The Best of 2005

Top Ten

Illinois by Sujfan Stevens (88/100)
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah by Clap Your Hands Say Yeah (86/100)
Late Registration by Kanye West (86/100)
Set Yourself on Fire by Stars (85/100)
Thunder, Lightning, Strike by The Go! Team (85/100)
Apologies to Queen Mary by Wolf Parade (85/100)
Free the Bees by the Bees (84/100)
All Songs Written by: Human Television by Human Television (83/100)
Get Behind me Satan by The White Stripes (83/100)
Oh No by Ok Go (83/100)

Honorable Mention


Extraordinary Machine by Fiona Apple
Let it Shine by Jeremy Fisher
Blinking Lights and Other Revelations by The Eels
Carousel Waltz by The Robot Ate Me
Live it Out by Metric
Recording a Tape the Colour of Light by Bell Orchestra
In Case We Die by Architecture in Helskinki
Twin Cinema by The New Pornographers
You Could Have it So Much Better by Franz Ferdinand
The You and the Now by Jorane
Devils and Dust by Bruce Springsteen
Gods and Monsters by I Am Kloot
You could have it So Much Better by Franz Ferdinand
Prairie Wind by Neil Young
Separation Sunday by The Hold Steady
Wilderness by Wilderness
Oh, You're So Silent, Jens by Jens Lekman
Porcella by The Deadly Snakes
Spelled in Bones by Fruit Bats
Celebration Castle by The Ponys
The Futureheads by The Futureheads
Howl by Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
Bright Ideas by Portastatic
Leaders of the Free World by Elbow
Z by My Morning Jacket
Broken Social Scene by Broken Social Scene
Are You Thinking What I'm Thinking? by The Like


And but so, all ratings are out of 100, and if the text changes colour, it's cuz I've added a few entries to a particular month, allowing you to more easily keep track of all the new influences on my life. Heh. Meh. Feh.

The Bedside Table

08/05

The Autograph Man by Zadie Smith (77/100)
Created in Darkness by Troubled Americans McSweeneys humour ed. by D. Eggers et. al. (44/100)
How We Are Hungry short stories by David Eggers (75/100)
Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them by Al Franken (78/100)
Love, Sex, Death and the Meaning of Live: The Films of Woody Allen by Foster Hirsch (81/100)
The Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling (68/100)
The Life of Pi by Yann Martel (82/100)
America:TheBook by Jon Stewart et. al (61/100)
Sculpting in Time by Andrei Tarkovsky (85/100)

09/05

The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell (68/100)
The Films of Andrei Tarkovsky: A Visual Fugue by Vida T. Johnson & Graham Petrie (81/100)

10/05

Blink by Malcolm Gladwell (73/100)

The Known World by Edward P. Jones (84/100)

11/05

The Cinema of Cruelty by Andre Bazin (ed. by Francois Truffault) (81/100)

Chronicles by Bob Dylan (65/100)

12/05

Romeo and Juliet by What's his name (90/100)

All Quiet on the Western Front by E.M. Remarque (88/100)

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

Twelfth Night by that dude from Avon (91/100)

DaVinci's Code by Dan Brown (44/100)

The Turntable

o8/05

Let it Shine by Jeremy Fisher (80/100)
Illinois by Sujfan Stevens (82/100)
Twin Cinema by The New Pornographers (78/100)
The Forgotten Arm by Aimee Mann (61/100)
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah by Clap Your Hands Say Yeah (86/100)
Kasabian by Kasabian (73/100)
In Case We Die by Architecture in Helskinki (79/100)
La Foret by Xiu Xiu (67/100)
Black Sheep Boy by Okkervil River (71/100)
The World and Everything in it by The Oranges Band (75/100)
We are the Little Barrie by The Little Barrie(70/100)
Free the Bees by the Bees (84/100)
Demon Days by The Gorillaz (74/100)
Get Behind me Satan by The White Stripes (83/100)
Guero by Beck (72/100)
Extraordinary Machine by Fiona Apple (77/100)
I M Wide Awake Its Morning by Bright Eyes (66/100)
Set Yourself on Fire by Stars (85/100)
Blinking Lights and Other Revelations by The Eels (80/100)
Blame the Vain by Dwight Yoakim (69/100)
Separation Sunday by The Hold Steady (65/100)
Devils and Dust by Bruce Springsteen (76/100)
Gimme Fiction by Spoon (72/100)
Carousel Waltz by The Robot Ate Me (83/100)
We Have Sound by Tom Vek (75/100)
Spelled in Bones by Fruit Bats (78/100)
Clor by Clor (64/100)
Pretty in Black by the Raveonettes (70/100)
Invisible Invasion by The Coral (73/100)
Celebration Castle by The Ponys (78/100)
Back Room by Editors (66/100)
The You and the Now by Jorane (82/100)
The Futureheads by The Futureheads (78/100)
All Songs Written by: Human Television by Human Television (83/100) but this rating comes with a caveat: I've only heard five songs so far

09/05

Plans by Death Cab for Cutie (80/100)
Year of Meteors by Laura Veirs (71/100)
Howl by Black Rebel Motorcycle Club (82/100)
Gods and Monsters by I Am Kloot (75/100)
Oh No by Ok Go (83/100)
Bigger Bang by The Rolling Stones (63/100)
Bright Ideas by Portastatic (77/100)
Late Registration by Kanye West (86/100)

10/05

You could have it So Much Better by Franz Ferdinand (78/100)
Hot Fuss by the Killers (69/100)
Extraordinary Machine by Fiona Apple (82/100)
Year of Meteors by Laura Veirs (55/100)
Prairie Wind by Neil Young (76/100)
Magic Numbers by The Magic Numbers (67/100)
Michigan by Sufjan Stevens (80/100)
Illinois by Sufjan Stevens (revisited grade: 88/100)
Creation and Chaos in the Back Yard by Paul McCartney (62/100)
The Weight is a Gift by Nada Surf (71/100)
Apologies to Queen Mary by Wolf Parade (79/100)
Thunder, Lightning, Strike by The Go! Team (85/100)
Leaders of the Free World by Elbow (76/100)
Z by My Morning Jacket (78/100)
Broken Social Scene by Broken Social Scene (82/100)
Collisions by Calla (76/100)
Live it Out by Metric (77/100)
Birds Make Good Neighbours by The Rosebuds (71/100)
These Were the Earlies by The Earlies (79/100)
We Have Sound by Tom Vek (revisited: 65/100)
Tournament of Hearts by The Constantines (83/100)

11/05

Are You Thinking What I'm Thinking? by The Like (79/100)

Separation Sunday by The Hold Steady (revisited: 78/100)

Wilderness by Wilderness (79/100)

Recording a Tape the Colour of Light by Bell Orchestra (81/100)

Apologies to Queen Mary by Wolf Parade (revisted: 85/100)

12/05

Descended like Vultures by Rogue Wave (66/100)

Oh, You're So Silent, Jens by Jens Lekman (77/100)

Birds Make Good Neighbours by The Rosebuds (64/100)

Ruby Blue by Roisin Murphy (71/100)

Robyn by Robyn (68/100)

Porcella by The Deadly Snakes (80/100)