Best of 2006

Here's the inevitable "best music of the year" list.  Very subjective, of course, and due to my woeful inability to fund my music habit, incomplete.

In no particular order:

Kathleen Yearwood "Great Songs to Empty Rooms"  Okay, so this was actually released at the end of 2005, but I didn't get it until January '06.   See full review elsewhere on this blog.  I recently discovered that she has a Myspace page as well.

Birch Book "Fortune and Folly"  Just got this one, so it's still sinking in, but I've heard enough to know it's on the list.  Limited edition comes with a bonus live cdr, to be shipped next month.  Even more limited edition comes with a DVD, but it cost twice as much, so I went with the cdr version.  For more, look here and here.

Celtic Frost "Monotheist"  Fine return to form after too much time away.  Look here and here.

Andrew Chalk "The River That Flows Into Sand"  See review elsewhere on this blog.  Blissful!  Look here and here

Circle "Miljard" 2cd  Yay!  Two complete cds of Circle!  Moody and piano based, which is a new direction for them.  They still manage to keep their signature sound though.  Beautiful.  For more, click here and here.

Current 93 "Black Ships Ate the Sky"  Hypnotizing.  I'm looking forward to picking up the alternate mix cd that just came out.  Click here and here.

Faun Fables "The Transit Rider"  Absolutely Brilliant, of course.  Yeah, I'm biased, but so what?  Look here and here

Eleni Karaindrou "Elegy of the Uprooting"  2cd.  Live cd of Eleni Karaindrou's soundtrack work.  Haunting and absolutely divine.  Music for staring out over a gray ocean.  For more, click here.

Tor Lundvall "Empty City" and "Yule" cds.  We're kindred spirits, aesthetically speaking.  Look here.

Nurse With Wound "Soundpooling"  I'm still upset I missed the show that this is a live recording of.  I have the cd though.  Click here.

Tenhi "Maaaet"  More beautiful music evoking an idealized version of northern woods.  Click here and here.

V/A "Not Alone" boxset.  Five cds of music benefiting Doctors Without Borders.  Sure, there are some dud tracks, but there's at least 3 cds of good music on here, and I'm on it in a small way as well.  Biased again, but what the hell...  Click here.

Scott Walker "The Drift"  Very odd and gloomy.  The force of his vision will not be denied.  Click here and here.

Joolie Wood "Tales of Colour and White" ep.  I can't wait for the full length.  Very beautiful!  Click here.

The Clan Destined "In the Big Ending"  Martin Walkyier has an affinity for bad puns and great lyrics.  This is most likely his last recorded output.  A fitting musical epitaph.  Click here.

P.C. Translate ep.  This exists as a free download here.   For some reason, Paolo Catena has divorced himself from his previous recorded output as Paul Chain.  He's another artist who continues to be full of surprises while still retaining his signature style. 

Christoph Heemann/Andreas Martin ep.  This was sold at the Brainwaves festival, which I unfortunately didn't attend.  Good thing Matt went and brought this back for me.  Beautiful guitar and drone.  Click here and here.

There are a lot of other releases this year that are worthy of mention, but I'll leave it at that for now.  I'm fortunate I'm able to hear as much as I do.  As far as live music goes, I missed some great festivals, but of the shows I did get to see I'd have to say the two Nurse With Wound shows at the Great American Music Hall and Celtic Frost at the Fillmore were my favorites this year.  Both were well attended by friends, old and new, giving them an added social dimension as well.  Here's to great friends and great music!

There's lots to look forward to in 2007!