records that didn't suck in '06

12. Ghostface Killah - Fishscale

settin' off this year's Dirty Dozen is a Wu-Tang banger. remember when you first heard 36 Chambers? yeah, well, he set that one off too. a little skit heavy with plenty of guest spots, but none of that manages to overshadow Ghost. i can appreciate the carefully scripted Shawn Carter retirement and pseudo-comeback, but this guy never left. he's a bulldozer with a wrecking ball attatched!!! he'll leave a ring around your eye and treadmarks on your back. he's an animal!!! he's hungry!!! listen to "Shakey Dog" and tell me you don't wanna see the movie you know he can write.



11. The Drive-By Truckers - A Blessing and a Curse

man, this record is a laser. some straight-ahead rock and roll from these guys this time around, without a lot of the meandering that's found its way [quite endearingly] on past records. is this the record that breaks them through to the masses? hope so. they deserve it. Hood, Cooley, and Isbell make a strong case for the Triumvirate of rock bands ALL TIME!!! aw, don't look at me like that. and don't even say the Beatles, ok? don't even say it. George Harrison's songs sucked and Ringo's were mostly kid songs. plus, the Truckers could out drink them AND beat them all in a fight. lousy Canadians.



10. G. Love - Lemonade, Ben Harper - Both Sides of the Gun [tie]

frankly, i don't understand all that tie bullshit, myself. if you got a race with four people, one crosses the finish line first, and then two cross at the same time, and one crosses a minute later, the one who crossed last is in third place by my estimation, not fourth. you can't go first, second, fourth. i mean, what the fuck happened to third? huh? where did it go, smartguy? damm...what was my point again? where am i? oh yeah, Ben Harper puts out a double CD that could have easily fit on one disc. why? well...i don't know, but the split is logical and it feels like to halves to a whole. more like an album, i suppose, because i have to walk to the stereo to "flip" the disc. a great record and much improved from his last. G Love drops a lovely one again. his shit is aging like fine wine. i dig the retro and all, ya know, but if he would have dropped the early 90's rap verses from Blackalicious [over-rated backpack rap from the Bay] on "Banger" and the guest [c]rap verse from Jasper [who the fuck is this dude? a friend?] from "Thanks and Praise," the album wouldn't have dragged so bad in the middle. in spite of that, another cool summer breeze from one of Philly's finest.



9. The Twilight Singers - Powder Burns

yes it does, doesn't it? the story goes that Greg Dulli recorded some of these tracks in a New Orleans studio, post-Katrina, using a power generator and some candlelight. more guitar based, more like a Whigs record, but perhaps even greasier than usual. sounds like the aftermath of a feast of smoke and sex and drugs and drink and lies. does "Bonnie Brae" know "Annie Mae?" what's gonna get bought for "Forty Dollars?" and when's the last time you heard a song use "who ride?" shit man...i bet it's been at least since Ice Cube started acting in Disney family movies.



8. Lucero - Rebels, Rogues, and Sworn Brothers

alright...you know that part of a song just before the beat kicks in, when you can hear what's about to happen? when, in that brief moment, you can feel the hope, the longing, the tension, the anticipation, the joy? you know what it feels like to catch a beer bottle upside the head? like a more punk rock Truckers, or a younger Springsteen and the E Street Band [minus dumb sax player], or a post-Burton Metallica with way less suck, less wank, less cheese and four fewer moustaches [now just wait a minute...without all that, what kind of Metallica do you have?]. this is poetry from a beer bottle. the good kind. seriously.



7. Clipse - Hell Hath No Fury

look, i know that coke-rap is all the rage nowadays, but these guys are something else than just that on this record. the music is ominous, like vintage Bomb Squad productions instead of the pop backing tracks that accompany so much of what passes for rap music. nervous and paranoid and cool and calculating. this record - much like the new Roots record - seems to hold a mirror up to us all. so as it sings its praises, it also damns as well. like what was said on last years' mixtape, they really are like Avon in the first season of The Wire.



6. The Roots - Game Theory

the legendary Roots crew is back once again. hyped as a return to form a la "Things Fall Apart," this record delivers like that for sure. not as wild as "Phrenology" nor as straight as "The Tipping Point," they manage to shake your mind and your ass while creating a cohesive album, a lost art in rock let alone hip-hop. ?uestlove remains the world's best drummer and the rest of the band sounds as tight as ever. how can you not love a band who references Public Enemy's "Don't Believe the Hype" and Radiohead's "You and Whose Army" on the same record. prescient too: "America's lost somewhere inside of Littleton / Eleven million children are on Ritalin."



5. TV on the Radio - Return to Cookie Mountain

i saw the video for "Wolf Like Me" on MTV the other day. the video. on MTV. didn't know that still happened, and i suppose it's some sort of testament to how far this band has worked it's way into our skulls [that tune is St. Clair's single of the year, by the way, and quite possibly the best punk rock song of the last ten years]. now, when the record plays, i can finally hear it - the blues from down here, the dirtywhirl, the wicked rapture, the howling forever.



4. Citizen Cope - Every Waking Moment

people, listen: you still can't fuck with Clarence's groove. remove that funeral-plod of the title track and the awkward "Friendly Fire," which is hands-down the worst song i've ever heard from him, and you've got a stone cold groove, man. on first listen, i was shocked by how much "Brother Lee" resembles "Son's Gonna Rise," both in its lyrical bent and the structure of the song. and then i realized that the new jawn takes the old one to a new level. he's building up quite a catalog. and yeah, i know that two songs bleed into each other just like two did on the last record [a technique he picked up from his Basehead days], but when he drops lines like "the city and the country they divided / they pointing their fingers / they callin' each other liars / and it's a shame / tradin' on Jesus' name" you understand that it really is a shame no one's listening. change that.



3. Gomez - How We Operate

what happened to the Truckers seemed to happen to Gomez. whereas the Truckers records all more or less mine the same territory, Gomez has a sound that changes from record to record. on this one, the went all pop...but not pop like Top40UrbanRadioAlternativeHotTopic pop, but breezy, 70's-style California sunsetting pop, with a little bite every once in a while. lovely. and who hasn't chased ghosts with alcohol. one of the most played records this year, and each time it reveals something new. killer live show to boot, even if they didn't play "Get Miles." hard to blame them...they've got such a bag to pull the tunes from, and those on this record will surely be welcomed live for some time to come.



2. Catfish Haven - Tell Me

like Creedence Clearwater Revival. like Otis sittin' on the dock of the bay. like shakin' with old Proud Mary. like the grapevine. like grape wine. like punk rock. like Motown. like doin' the Alligator. like the bayous of Louisiana. like acoustic guitars. like love. like nights by the fire. like mornings on the road. like baitin' your hook with chicken livers. like your front porch. like summertime. like easy. like hearts on sleeves. like quiet snow. like that funky shit. like joy. like revelation. get this...like, yesterday.



1. State Radio - Us Against the Crown

Chad from Dispatch managed to put together a band that shows more promise that his old one, no easy task when you consider that they had in excess of 100,000 people in attendance at it's farewell gig. this record liked to sit in my radio this past year. you know i'll always be a wordman, and the stories within these tunes never fail to move or engage, oftentimes proving that the personal is the most political. an elderly man begs for a job at a nursing home to be near his aging wife; a wheelchair bound Red Sox fan; an imprisoned soldier; a waitress. more than anyone else this year, this band was able to consistently take a song and turn it into a plea, a promise, or a permit to rock the fuck out. Radio Clash, meet State Radio.