WFMU year-end list

according to...

Dave the Spazz
Jason Forrest
Brian Turner
Bob Weyersberg
Billy Jam
Webhamster Henry
Lou Ziegler
Stefan
Joe Belock
Rich Hazelton
R. Lim
Bob Brainen
Trouble
Doug Schulkind
The Dirty Duck
Bill Zurat

Fabio
Dan Bodah
Mark Allen
Bill Kelly
Noah
Rex
Rix
Bethany
Liz Berg
Rob Weisberg
Hatch
Diane Kamikaze
Jason Elbogen
Mr. C.
Monica
Mike Lupica

DAVE THE SPAZZ

Top 10 Live Shows of 2005

* Knights of the New Crusade at Southpaw
* DEVO at Hammerstein Ballroom
* Beach Boys at Hampton Casino, NH
* Reigning Sound, Church Keys & A-Bones at Magnetic Field
* Knights of the Mau Mau Ponderosa Stomp at the Rock-N-Bowl, NOLA
* Allen Toussaint at Tower Records, NOLA
* The Plungers at Maxwells
* King Coleman at the FMU Record Fair
* New Bomb Turks at Union Pool
* James Brown at BB Kings

JASON FORREST (AKA DONNA SUMMER)

Top 10 of 2005 (1-13)

1. Nathan Michel- The Beast . Sonig
2. The Books- Lost and Safe- Tomlab
3. Drumcorps- Rmx or Die- Kriss
4. Jamie Lydell- Multiply- Warp
5. Food For Animals . Scavengers- Muckamuck Produce
6. Electric Kettle- Drunk and Disorderly- Combine records
7. Spunk- En Aldeles Forferdelig Skydom- Rune Grammofon
8. Warst- King Of the Street . Maddest Chick.Ndom Records (www.hardcoreosaka.com)
9. Panicstepper 12. Ambush
10. She.s a Shranzy 12. Dj Killed The Video Star
11. 1 Speed Bike . Kootzak Keizer- Broklyn Beats
12. End . The Sick Generation- Mirex
13. Living in Berlin

BRIAN TURNER

* MUSIC 2005 (in no order)
Reeks and the Wrecks - Knife Hits (tUMULt)
Country Teasers - Live (In the Red)
Air Conditioning - Bachelor Party 7" (White Tapes)
Whitehorse - West of the Sun (Whitehorse)
Endless Boogie - Vol. 2 (Mound Duel)
Tsehaytu Beraki - Selam (Terp)
Jonathan Kane - February (Table of the Elements)
Shapeshifter - Reticulum Flux (Schematic)
Nurse With Wound - Shipwreck Radio Vol. 2 (ICP/United Dairies)
Pissed Jeans - Shallow (Parts Unknown)
Various - Congotronics 2: Buzz N' Rumble In the Urb'n Jungle (Crammed Disc)
Rova:Orkestrova - Electric Ascension (Atavistic)
Sublime Frequencies-o-rama

* REISSUES 2005
Gary Higgins - Red Hash (Drag City)
Various - Can You Jack: Chicago Acid and Experimental House 1985-95 (Soul Jazz)
The Fall - Peel Sessions Box (Castle)
Laja Aijala - Passions of Laija Aijala (Bad Vugum)
Disembowelment - Disembowelment (Relapse)
Conrad Schnitzler - Conrad & Sohn (Creel Pone)
Various - Jazz In Paris: St Germain de Pres 1946-56 (Universal France/Gitanes)
Various - Wahrnehmungen 1980/81 (Vinyl On Demand)
Icky Boyfriends - A Love Obscene (Menlo Park)
Various - Time Machine: Vertigo Retrospective 3CD (Vertigo/Universal)

* LIVE GIGS 2005
Circle/Khanate/Psychic Paramount/Coptic Light/Mouthus - The Hook - Brooklyn
Gary Higgins/Six Organs at Tonic - NYC
Islaja/Pekko Kappi/Kuupuu/Lau Nau/Tomutonttu - Tommy's Tavern - Greenpoint
Keiji Haino solo - The Stone - NYC. Speaking of Haino, saw extremely Aihiyo-ish electric guitar performance by some guy doing a bizarro freeform cover of "Welcome Back Kotter" - Astor Place 6 Train platform.
Chain Gang - CBGB - NYC
Lightning Bolt/Afrirampo - Tonic - NYC
Magik Markers/Watersports - Tonic - NYC (and everytime the Markers played. Hustle Elisa on stage late after a private party for 200 drunken, vomiting, groping Santas, tell her she has 10 minutes, and watch what happens)
Sir Richard Bishop - Glasshouse - Brooklyn
Arthurfest in LA, especially Six Organs/Residual Echoes/T-Model Ford/Comets/Merzbow/Circle/Jack Rose.
The pleasure of hosting studio guests: Hank IV, Original Sins, Endless Boogie, Magik Markers, Nautical Almanac, Aquarius Records, Circle, New Pornographers, Islaja, Lau Nau, Tomutonttu, Hertta Lussu Assa, Kuupuu, Taikuri Tali, Gary Higgins & Band, Six Organs of Admittance, Comets On Fire, Afrirampo, Deerhoof, Rick Bishop, Steven O'Malley.
I am extremely disappointed to have missed ZZ Top at the Beacon and Om at the Knit.

* VISUAL
Berlin Super 80 (DVD)
Peep Show - Seasons 1 & 2 (TV, UK)
Burden of Dreams deluxe (DVD, Les Blank/Maureen Gosling)
Niger: Magic & Ecstasy in the Sahel (DVD, Hisham Mayet)
Jan Svankmajer - Collected Shorts (DVD)
Intervention (TV, US)
Sixteen Years of Alcohol (Richard Jobson)
Palindromes (Todd Solondz)
Rize (David LaChapelle)
Nathan Barley (TV, UK)
Most Outrageous Live TV Moments (TV, US)
Nighty Night (TV, UK)
Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story (Michael Winterbottom)
Voivod - DVOD (DVD)

BOB WEYERSBERG

Year-End top ten

* everything that Messer Chups put out this year
* Serengeti "Noodle-Arm Whimsy"
* David Axelrod "The Edge" reissue
* "You Might Want to Hear My Organ" compilation (wfmu)
* "To Sir with Love" compilation (wfmu)
* Wayne Butane "Imbalanced"
* Relay "Pre (ep)"
* I (heart) Huckabees (film)
* The Men Who Stare at Goats (book)
* the Rangers home opener (because the Habs won!)/return of NHL hockey

BILLY JAM

Top 10 Fave 2005 releases

1. Fuse-One "irregulari" (Epitome of Fresh)
2. DangerDoom "The Mouse and the Mask"
3. DJ Megatron "UK/US Grime Connection" mix-CDR
4. V/A "Chicago Acid & Experimental House 1985-1995" (Soul Jazz)
5. Blackalicious "The Craft"
6. V/A "Urban Intelligence presents: Homemade Bombs" (mix CD)
7. Cage "Hell's Winter" (Epitaph)
8. Z-Trip "Shifting Gears"
9. V/A "Camping 2" (B-Pitch Control)
10. Dawgisht "2005 Theenz" (Snare of tha Dawg Muzix)

WEBHAMSTER HENRY

Top 10 Imaginary Recordings of 2005

1. Noch Ein Bier, Bitte (Kinky Boots, 2005/1962) For Beatle completists only, this is about ten minutes of tape from the famous Hamburg "Star-Club" recordings, but only the sounds of the crowd and what sounds like John and Ringo trying to order a beer.
2. Water on the Ear: Mahicanuk (Briny Records, 2004) One of a series of audio renditions of important American bodies of water. A simple fishing bob is tracked with a laser pointer and home- made detector for eight hours, and the resulting data sped up to audio rates.
3. PsyOp Report CH-5046A/nc (Milspec Records, 1967) This audio supplement to an Army Psychological Operations report during the Cold War documents the speech patterns and unique ideolect of the coldest cold warriors: soldiers confined to missile silos and monitoring stations in Greenland, Alaska and Canada. One group of these men had no entertainment available to them save a few Army educational films on re-enlistment, hygiene and so on, and as their stints wore on, all their vocabularies were reduced to phrases found in these four films. Original audio snippets from the films are followed with conversations between the soldiers, showing their exact mimicking of the film's pitch, emphasis and rhythm.
4. DJ Softee, Vol. II (I Scream Records, 2005) In this sophomore tribute compilation, 8-bit Gameboy composers take on the Mr. Softee Theme. Right up there with Vol. I!
5. Return To Sender (Mail Ops, 2005 Experimental sound artist Holga Becker modded up her Mp3 recorder to run extra slowly, stuck it in a package and mailed it to her self. Hear the sounds of travel, other packages (what's that ticking noise?), sorting machines, mutterings of the postal employees and lots of bumps.
6. Hurricane Watch Roundup (Major Media News, 2005) The record number of Atlantic Tropical storms this year kept extreme weather fans on their toes all season! Here is an audio montage of weather reports of all 26 named storms of the 2005 season.
7. DONDI! the Musical tryouts ( 7" open reel 1957/2004) Cleaning out my great uncle's file cabinets turned up this reel, a musical treatment of heartstring tugging adventures of the comic strip's plucky Italian orphan boy and GI's who take care of him. Some of these songs turned up in the 1961 film made of the same material.
8. 990-1111 (*69 Records, 2005) It's the battle of the ring-tones, as a room full of mobile telephones and similar devices are called or paged in a carefully scored, almost lyrical piece, with automated phone messages mixed in as lyrics. Recorded in exquisite binaural stereo, it MUST be listened to with headphones, although there is a number you can call to hear lo-fi excerpts over the phone!
9. Sue Doe Q (Jason Code 2005) Algorithmic composition in just intonation based on the popular Sudoku puzzles.
10. even the oven breaks tuesdays (overpoets 2005)
"ponies, in their rustled braids, felicitate and pontificate from their lax plinths and trickle dross vinegar hyphens from the uneasy wheeze of pestilent offal. hinder! hinder! hinder the cracking of poppyseed cakes, lush with lemon, filleted with creme fraiche and currants! i bend the tines of the oncoming wheelbarrow, splashing the guano, the anthrax smoothie. this one is the one to pull!"
Enthusiastic and logorrheic poetry by Silvia M., upstate NY poetry fixture.

LOU ZIEGLER

Top 14 Things I Heard In 2005

1. Th' Faith Healers - Peel Sessions (Ba Da Bing!)
2. Busdriver - Fear Of A Black Tangent (Mush)
3. Afrirampo - Kore Ga Mayaku Da (Tzadik)
4. Audion - Suckfish (Spectral Sound)
5. Konono No. 1 - Congotronics (Crammed Discs)
6. Nagisa Ni Te - Dream Sounds (Jagjaguwar)
7. Jesu - S/T (Hydra Head)
8. AFX - The Analord Series - (Rephlex)
9. Radio Phnom Penh - (Sublime Frequencies)
10. Art Brut - Bang Bang Rock & Roll (Fierce Panda)
11. Edan - Beauty & The Beat (Lewis Recordings)
12. Pugh Rogefeldt - Pughish (Metronome)
13. Paul Nice - Do You Pick Your Feet In Poughkeepsie? (Mix CD)
14. The Hototogisu - Floating Japanese Oof! Gardens Of The 21st Century (De Stijl)

STEFAN

* Maja Ratkje & Jaap Blonk - Post-Human Identities (Wonderfully crazy noises. This is number one of my otherwise un-numbered top 10 list)
* The Hazzards - The Hazzards (EP) (Refreshinglyh silly stuff from Brooklyn. Watch their videos online. UkesOfHazzard.com, ukes standing for ukuleles)
* Om - Variations on a Theme (The guys from Sleep who aren't in High on Fire are Om, making nice long meditative drones.)
* Klaus Nomi (The Nomi Song movie was in theaters this year, but what's really on my top 10 list is Klaus Nomi's music from the 80's which I didn't know about before.)
* Behold... The Arctopus - Nano Nucleonic Cyborg Summoning (Definitely my favorite title, and awesome tight metal.)
* Antibalas - Government Magic (Anything by these followers of Fela Kuti makes me happy)
* Hopewell - ... And the Birds of Appetite (And you thought I didn't like sweet indie-rock.)
* Earth - Legacy of Dissolution (Cool remix album of this sludgy guitar drone band, that makes a good listen straight through, despite being a remix album.)
* Dandi Wind - Concrete Igloo (Sexy neo-80's) Adult - Gimmie Trouble (Sexy neo-80's)
* Gar Alperovitz - "Hiroshima: New Facts & Old Myths" (Lots of stuff I didn't know here, evidence indicating Hiroshima was bombed to assert US power in post-WWWII negotiations, not to stop the war, etc.)

JOE BELOCK

Top 10 albums

1. High School Sweethearts - Heels n Wheels (Get Hip)
2. Paul McCartney - Chaos and Creation in the Backyard (Capitol)
3. Outrageous Cherry - Our Love Will Change the World (Rainbow Quartz)
4. Ribeye Brothers - Bar Ballads and Cautionary Tales (Times Beach)
5. The Flakes - Back to School (Dollar)
6. Crack Pipes - Beauty School (Emperor Jones)
7. Royal Purple - Instant Analysis (Umbrella)
8. Subsonics - Die Bobby Die (Slovenly)
9. Downbeat 5 - Victory Motel (Hi-N-Dry)
10. Gentleman Callers - Don't Say What It Is (Wee Rock)

RICH HAZELTON

Inflatable Squirrel Carcass Top 10 for 2005

1. Life with Tamar - Yep, I didn't win the lottery again this year so the status quo is maintained.
2. Playtime - Jacques Tati's 1967 film started the year off right. Showing at Walter Reade on January 1, 2005, with a brand new print, I was unprepared for how great this movie is. Never having seen a Tati film before this, I loved the way he treated the visual and sound elements of this film. I walked out of Playtime hearing crowds differently and anything that agreeably alters my perception deserves a place in the Top 10.
3. Lula Cortes e Ze Ramalho Pauriba - This is a cd reissue of a Brazilian record from the early 70s; in fact, I believe the CD reissue is several years old but generally became available this year. I watched in amazement on ebay one week when the original album went from an initial bid of $9.99 to its winning bid of $1,199. If you are in the proper mood, as I was when hearing this, it is one of the finest psychedelic records of all time.
4. Animal Collective Feels - My favorite release of this year as this band continues to provide the soundtrack for breathing bricks and screaming carpets.
5. David B. Epileptic - David B.'s autobiographic novel of his relationship with his brother, who suffers from epilepsy, and his family. Sad, disturbing, humorous, with beautiful art, you should do yourself a favor and read this.
6. Mike Ladd Negrophilia - Matthew Shipp's Blue Series bears its finest fruit so far and joins Anti-Pop Consortium and Rammellzee as the hip hop records I want to hear blasting out into the neighborhood. (Mr. Shipp, may I put in my request for a Rammellzee/Peter Brotzmann/William Parker meeting?)
7. Domestic availability of Fonal Records - Finally, you can find and afford all the great music put out by this label: Islaja, Kemialliset Ystavat, Es, Kiila, Paavoharju.
8. Spiral Bound - Aaron Renier writes and draws a graphic novel that you can give your nieces and nephews (after you enjoy it yourself). This is for kids that you'd like to know (and not for those insufferable brats that you see in the subway or laundromat who cannot be controlled by their parents).
9. Alexander Tucker Old Fog - Of all the terrific psych folk that came out this year, I am fondest of this one since his vocals seems to channel Brian Eno from the mid-70's.
10. Three great live shows: Willem Breuker Kollektief at Joe's Pub; A Hawk and A Hacksaw/Tall Dwarfs/Olivia Tremor Control at Bowery Ballroom; Konono No. 1 at SOB's

Just missed:

11. Ad Hoc - Like MIO last year, Ad Hoc reissued a bunch of great records that were difficult to find (Het - Let's Het; Catherine Jauniaux/Tim Hodgkinson - Fluvial; MCCB - Things From The Past; Woof 7"). The only reason they fell out of the Top 10: no Furious Pig.
12. Mirrormask: Could have been in the Top 10 based on the visuals; story okay, not bad enough to drag it out of the Top 10 but that soft jazz/fusiony soundtrack should be destroyed, possibly the most inappropriate soundtrack since Shrek (except for the fact that the circus music is well done, thereby surpassing a film marketed to children with a sad ogre pining away while Leonard Cohen's Communion plays). See it with the sound turned down. (Other movies I liked this year: The Talent Given Us; Good Night And Good Luck; Howl's Moving Castle [disappointing after Spirited Away]; 2046 [disappointing after In The Mood For Love])
13. The Necks Mosquito/See Through - This was tough. If it was just Mosquito it would be in the Top 10; Mosquito brings together elements that would seem not to work; in fact while listening to it you get the sensation that it is not working which is overridden by the discovery that it is. See Through, though, is disappointing; too quiet.
14. Fursaxa Lepidoptera - After listening to this I had one thought: John Cale must produce her.
15. Manu Larcenet Ordinary Victories - A very good graphic novel that explores the emotions of the main character without resorting to the blank faced paranoia/depression/masturbatory insanity of many things that are currently being worshipped. (Other comics I liked this year Frank Espinosa Rocketo; Grant Morrison Seven Soldiers, All Star Superman; Fantagraphics' continuing publication of Krazy Kat; Charles Burns Black Hole [would have been Top 10 but I've been reading this in serialized form for 12 years]; Igort Baobab; Project Superior)
16. Books - I very rarely read new books; they go on sale in a year or two. This year though I read several titles from various years that I really enjoyed after a few years of shoulder shrugging: Richard Flanagan Gould's Book of Fish; Geoff Ryman Was; David Toop Haunted Weather; Orhan Pamuk My Name is Red; Enrique Vila-Matas Bartleby & Co.; Geoffrey O'Brien Sonata For Jukebox; M. John Harrison Viriconium.
17. St. Peter's Cream Stout
18. Jean Claude Vannier L'Enfant Assassin Des Mouches - This is just a fun, insane record.
19. Mort Garson Wozzard of Iz - This is "the" fun, insane record and I was finally able to score a copy on ebay.

All in all, a pretty damn good year.

R. LIM

Nine good things in 2005 (cos ten would mean it's over):

* Alinea restaurant
* Amadou et Mariam
* Caol Ila whiskey
* Crate Denim
* Erik Edman's goal against Liverpool
* nyspurs.com
* Roll Deep - In at the Deep End
* Yura Yura Teikoku live in New York
* All of the musicians gracious enough to stop by the station to play and/or chat

BOB BRAINEN

Favorites of '05

In Alphabetical Order:
-> Terry Adams and Marshall Allen - 10x2 (Edi-sun)
-> Antony and The Johnsons - I am a bird now (Secretly Canadian)
-> Aqua Velvet - Volume One: Hey everybody, Let's fall in love (self-released)
-> Beau Brummels -Magic Hollow (Rhino Handmade)
-> Bootcut - Hammond vs. Drums (Gadfly)
-> Vashti Bunyan - Lookaftering (Dicristina)
-> Cameo Parkway 1957-1967 (Abkco)
-> Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker - Town Hall, New York City, June 22, 1945 (Uptown)
-> Eddie Hinton - Beautiful Dream Sessions, Vol. 3 (Zane - U.K.)
-> Chiaki Kato - Noisy Calendar (Mona - Japan)
-> Kami Lyle - Ten Songs (self-released)
-> Thelonious Monk Quartet featuring John Coltrane - At Carnegie Hall (Thelonious/ Blue Note)
-> Pernice Bros - Discover a lovelier you (Ashmont)
-> P.J. O'Connell - Careful (Edi-sun)

Other favorites:

-> Live show: dBs Reunion at Maxwells in Sept.

-> DVD: Bob Dylan - No Direction Home (Documentary)

-> Most totally ruined "new improved' product: TV Guide

TROUBLE

seu jorge: love him live, love the music, all of it. and loved him in the aqautic life of steve zissou

Lau Nau live in brooklyn: very gnomes in the tranquil wood

The Women of Sun records box set: 5 cd's that i can not put down. so much unheralded talent in one gorgeous box with lovely booklet

animal collective with Vashti Bunyan: Prospect Hummer. truly beautiful mix of the two delirious talents. her voice, their magic, great combo.

bettye lavette in re-issue or "I've got my own hell to raise", she is amazing.

Las Grecas: te stoy amando locamente 7" found in the Madrid flea market: Franco didn't know what he was missing

devendra banhart, Crippled Crow. If only for the anti-war songs alone i'd love it, but it's so much more.

the biography of marie antoinette (by antonia fraser): she was robbed!

RIP Lyn Collins...the divine voice of funk will be sorely missed...

DOUG SCHULKIND

In no particular order, here are some of my favorite releases of 2005:

* Mary Gauthier "Mercy Now" (Lost Highway)
* Black Merda "The Folk's From Mother's Mixer" (Funky Delicacies)
* Geraldo Pino "Heavy Heavy Heavy" (RetroAfric)
* Grachan Moncur "Mosaic Select" (Mosaic)
* Fanfare Savale "Speed Brass of the Gypsies" (Sub Rosa)
* Arsenio Rodriguez "Quindembo/Afro Magic" (Epic Japan)
* Lavender Diamond "The Cavalry of Light" (Lavender Diamond)
* Eddie Hinton "Beautiful Dream" (Zane)
* William Parker "Sound Unity" (Aum Fidelity)
* Fela Ransome-Kuti & His Koola Lobitos "Highlife-Jazz and Afro-Soul (P-Vine)
* Karl Blau "Kelp! Monthly music subscription" (Kelp! Monthly)
* Quantic Soul Orchestra "Pushin'On" (Tru Thoughts)
* Various "Dark Holler: Old Love Songs and Ballads" (Smithsonian/Folkways)

DIRTY DUCK

1. R Kelly "The Closet"
2. R Kelly "The Closet"
3. R Kelly "The Closet"
4. R Kelly "The Closet"
5. R Kelly "The Closet"
6. R Kelly "The Closet"
7. R Kelly "The Closet"
8. R Kelly "The Closet"
9. R Kelly "The Closet"
10. R Kelly "The Closet" (all parts performed solo on MTV 05 Awards Show)

BILL ZURAT

top 10 / no order

Minamo - Shining
Tobias Lilja - Ex-Leper
TBA - Annule
Eric Malmberg - Den Gatfulla Manniskan
Meadow House - Tongue Under a Ton of Nine Volters
Ex-Cocaine - Keep America Mellow
Hans Grusel's Krankenkabinet - Ein Haunted Sommerplatz
Porest - Mood Noose
Meatus Murder - More Songs About Balling and Food
Las Malas Amistades - Jardin Interior

FABIO

Best of 2005 list

FILM:
(in no particular order)

The Wong Kar-Wai Collection. Box set of 5 DVDs of Kar-Wai's earlier films including: Chung King Express; Days of Being Wild; Fallen Angels; As Tears Go By; Happy Together. Kino Video. Brilliant!

"Head On" Directed by Fatih Akin (Germany).

"Downfall" directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel. Starring the great Bruno Ganz as Hitler in his last days in the bunker.

"Masculine-Feminine" directed by Jean-Luc Godard. Re-released in February '05.

"2046" directed by Wong Kar-Wai. If "masterpiece" can be applied to anything in the year 2005, then this has to be at the top of the list.

"16 years of Alcohol" directed by Richard Jobson.

"Corridor" by Standish Lawder w/ Soundtrack by Terry Riley. 1968/70. "... an extraordinary exercise in visual polyphony ..." -- Sheldon Nodelman. A revelation.

"It's All Gone Pete Tong" directed by Michael Dowse. Deaf dj changes his ways; funny and poignant.

"Palindromes" directed by Todd Solondz

Film cooking performance and lecture by Tony Conrad at Anthology Film Archives, May '05 (part of the Eye and Ear Control series). A sublime presentation as only Tony could pull together with wit, knowledge and a riveting delivery. GREAT!

"Eye Ear Control" series at Anthology Film Archives, NYC (MayJune), featuring rare screeings of films by Phil Niblock, Mauricio Kagel, Tony Conrad, Michael Snow and many others.

"Grizzly Man" directed by Werner Herzog. Documentary.

"Good Night and Good Luck" by George Clooney (There is still some shred of hope for Hollywood filmmaking)

"Oldboy" and "Sympathy for Mr. Vengence" both directed by Park Chan-Wook (both released in US this year). Like a cold bite of raw octopus, it squirms and is tough to deal with, but what a pleasure once you get it worked out!

"A History of Violence" directed by David Cronenberg

"Cronicas" directred by Sebastin Cordero (starring John Leguizamo)

"Capote" directed by Bennett Miller

Classe Tous Risques Directed by Claude Sautet (starring the great Lino Ventura and a very young Jean-Paul Belmondo). 1960, Re-released Nov. 2005. A hard-boiled french gangster flick with elements of Neo-realism, early French New Wave and a flavor of despair and all it's own.

MUSIC:
(in no particular order)

Eruption - S/T, Qbico lp 2005. Live recording by Conrad Schnitzler, Wolfgang Seidel, and Klaus Freudigmann, Berlin 1970. Somewhere between creating the original Tangerine Dream and the original Kluster, Conrad Schnitzler found the time, energy and inspiration to do this as well. Simply mind-blowing. previously unreleased.

Irr. App. (ext.) - Perekluchenie lp (Beta-Lactam Ring records, 2005) Another amazing recording...

Wahrnehmungen 1980-1981: 25th Anniversary 3lp box set. Various recordings originally limited to cassette only releases on the German Selektion label.

Roots of Madness - The Girl in the Chair, LP (DESTIJL records) Reissue of 1971 free blues/psych/punk/jazz freakfest. Great.

John Holt - "Get Ready" pts. 1&2. PRINCE BUSTER 7" 1972 A stone killer by one of the greatest voices in Reggae.

Sven-Ake Johansson + El Gordo + Axel Dorner: Live at Kule, Berlin, 2005. Private CDr, unreleased. Words can not begin to describe the madness in this recording.

BURNING STAR CORE: The Very Heart of the World LP (THIN WRIST, 2005)

LULA CORTES E ZE RAMALHO: Pabir, (Released in Brazil in 1975, SHADOKS MUSIC cd, German reissue)

INSIEMEMUSICADIVERSA: CD (Privately pressed in 1977, DIE SCHACHTEL reissue)

Moondog: The Viking of Sixth Avenue. Honest Jon's double lp collection of the Some of Moondog's great recordings.

One Umbrella: Solve CD. (Tell-All rec.) 2005

DESMOND LESLIE: Music of the Future (TRUNK CD, 2005)

Richard Youngs & Alexander Neilson - Beatings Stars (HP Cycle lp, 2005)

OTHER STUFF:
(in no particular order)

The Robot returns! at 24 fps!

Making "The Sacred Log" video directed by Dr. Kink in the Enchanted Forrest with all participants wearing seersucker suits; at The Funny Farm, Meaford, Ontario, Canada (summer)

The Ocean - Montauk, Long Island

Kandy Korn.

"Captured: A Film and Video History of the Lower East Side" By Clayton Patterson (7 Stories Press)

Large Format 3-D photography (the Sputnik!)

Werner Panton Design Show at AXA Gallery, NYC (Summer).

Werner Panton: The Collected Works (Vitra Design Museum books)

The Stanley Kubrick Archives (Taschen books) A massive, comprehensive overview of Kubrick's films. Stunning.

Gunther von Hagens' BODY WORLDS: The Anatomical Exhibition of Real Human Bodies from October 7, 2005 through April 23, 2006 at The Franklin Institute Science Museum, Philadelphia PA.

R.I.P. 2005
Gone, but NOT forgotten:

Martin Denny
Bob Moog
Luc Ferrari
Akos Rzmann
Link Wray

DAN BODAH

* Konono No. 1 -- everything (also the new Congotronics comp on Crammed Disc)
* Amadou & Mariam -- Dimanche a Bamako
* V/A: Everything Comes & Goes (Black Sabbath tribute)
* Jonathan Kane -- February
* Thievery Corporation -- The Cosmic Game
* August Born self-titled album
* James Blood Ulmer -- Birthright
* Charlie Schmidt -- Xanthe Terra
* Devendra Banhart -- Cripple Crow
* Cocorosie -- Noah's Ark
* Earth -- Hex: or Printing in the Infernal Method
* V/A: Dark Holler -- Smithsonian comp of a cappella Appalachian Mt. hollers

MARK ALLEN

"The Top 10 Things I Accidentally Ate In 2005"

1. Guinness Extra Stout Ice Cream Float. Use vanilla ice cream, and any variety of Guinness' dark beer (I find Extra Stout works best). Make sure the beer is chilled. Unexpectedly fantastic! I find a dash of cinnamon on top is nice as well. I have also tried this experiment with coffee ice cream (did not work)... and I "accidentally" tried it with mint chocolate chip ice cream and, although the results were debatable, it wasn't awful!

2. Popcorn Goober Anchovy Surprise. I do not even want to tell you what was going on the night I discovered this. Prepare to make popcorn the old-fashioned way (in a large pot with a lid and oil in the bottom, on the stove). Put good quality olive oil in the bottom of the pot. Open a tin of good anchovies packed in olive oil, squeeze all of the oil from the tin and mix it in with the olive oil in the pot that you are going to pop the popcorn with (squeeze as much oil out of the tin as you can, so as to make the anchovies as dry as possible). Take the anchovies out and dice them up into small pieces with a knife, put them aside. Pop the popcorn. Do NOT add salt! Have one or two boxes of Goobers peanut chocolate candy at the ready. When the popcorn is done and still hot, put the Goobers in the pot with the popcorn, close the lid and carefully shake it up so them mix all around and get melted. Then take the diced anchovies and put them in, shake again. Eat immediately. Note: have ChapStick at the ready.

3. The Foie Gras Big Mac. For those that don't know, foie gras is pate made from the engorged livers of ducks and geese that have been forced fed with giant hose machines at PETA-enraging, mass animal torture farms in France - where this product is considered a national pride. Many people are of course familiar with McDonald's Big Macs, and the weirdly similar American pride associated with this "hamburger sandwich." These two national pride-foods are at ultimate odds with each other on every level imaginable, but together... they are the very essence of ying and yang; the ultimate odd couple! Make sure the Big Mac is fresh and hot, and the foie gras is pre-chilled in your fridge (this warm and cold contrast, you'll find, is key). Gob the foie gras very thickly between the top layer of meat and top bun on the Big Mac. Foie gras is off-putting the first time you try it, but after you eat it you instantly start craving more because your nervous system and brain instantly connect to it's very, very high fat content. The instant gratification of the fatty Big Mac taste compliments the oddly bitter, but ecstatically fatty (and mostly mental) after-taste of the foie gras. It's like a high-brow/low-brow one-two punch! I don't know why they don't serve this brilliant, class-defying food combo at the McDonald's in Paris! Also: when buying foie gras, it's important not to gamble with poor or even average quality product - only use the best foie gras will do! Also: do not eat a foie gras Big Mac with fries and a Coke! I suggest a fine wine perhaps.

4. Real Meat Products Mixed With Vegetarian Faux-Meat Products (in the same dish). My husband Jim Krewson turned me onto this, and he is a skilled expert at it. In a sandwich, use Amy's brand tofurkey slices, alternately layered with slices of the real deal from Oscar Meyer. Make a spaghetti sauce with meatballs from Jimmy Dean sausage and meatballs made from Gimme Lean vegetarian fake sausage. Can you tell which is which? Turn dinner time into a politically-loaded, baffling ordeal!

5. Crest Peppermint, Cinnamon or Strong Mint toothpaste on a Saltine Cracker. I can't believe how good this is! These Crest flavors of toothpaste are un-real, like brushing your teeth with an ice cream sundae. I also tried this on Wheat Thins, and other whole grain crackers - but it wasn't the same. It did work well spread thinly between two slices of white bread (white flour seems to be the key), but oddly did not work spread on a plain bagel. Go figure. You know, I once read a news story about two women who were stranded on a boat off the coast of Florida, and they survived four days on nothing but a tube of toothpaste and a half bottle of flat, warm champagne. The warm champagne sounds gross to me... but I now know I could survive on toothpaste in a life-threatening situation.

6. Burned Beets. Take some olive oil (good quality) and then take beets that have been sliced relatively thin (in sticks or disc shapes) and fry them in the oil until they are burned. Like house-fire, black-as-coal burned. Then take them out, let them cool, sprinkle a little salt on them, and eat them. Something about burning the beets compounds and carmalizes their sugar content, and it ends up tasting like some kind of post-apocalyptic super candy - but still has a weird, earthy taste. Really odd, weirdly addictive, also possibly cancer-causing because of all the burned-ness.

7. Wise Brand Cheez Doodle (by themselves). One of the most perfectly realized modern food products ever concocted! These rorschach-like globs of fried dough covered in cheese powder come in a bright blue and yellow plastic bag that has a clear window from which you can experience their blinding hue: an unearthly plutonium orange that almost seems to vibrate. Their nuclear visual intensity may seer your retinas, but their taste (cathartic, visceral, mink-like, concentrated velvet cheese powder) and unique, collapsing texture (the oral equivalant of popping bubble wrap) will make the nerve endings that connect your tongue to your brain feel like they've just found a million dollars in the street, and make your tongue glow with happiness (note: you may experience bleeding gums afterwards). After eating them, you'll feel cool, smart, and sexy - like the first few months of regular heroin or crystal meth use. No I'm not kidding, they're that good. You have no idea the desperate lengths I've gone to to track these down when my local bodega was out. Price: only 99 cents for a bag conveniently designed to the size of the average human stomach. Do not confuse the Wise brand with similarly-packaged knock offs by Utz, etc., these imitations are of very poor quality (even the Cheetos brand is laughably weak in comparison... and for $3.49? Stupid!). Also: Cheez Doodles are also fantastic when spread on, and mixed with, creamy white elements: vanilla ice cream (yes!), cream cheese, etc. I have not tried them with milk poured over them in a bowl (like cereal) yet, but plan to.

8. Crushed Peanuts With La Salle Dulce De Leche Ice Cream. Two 50 cent bags of salted peanuts, crushed up with a hammer and then sprinkled/mixed in with La Salle brand Dulce De Leche flavor ice cream. La Salle is a fantastically deliscious, relatively unknown (and inexpensive!) ice cream brand for sale only in Spanish-oriented markets. Their Dulce De Leche flavor is mindblowing, and eating it with the crushed peanuts is so fantastically good, you'll feel like you're doing something illegal. Also: you must not show restraint when eating this combination, or slow down to "savor" it - it should be inhaled as quickly as your inner child wants to (the abundance of caramelized milk, chocolate and crushed peanuts seems to prevent the onset of an ice cream headache). eat this without holding back, and with no sense of decency. Think of Jackson Pollock's painting style while eating.

9. The Pasta With Pesto Sauce at Downtown Cipriani's in Manhattan. What was I doing at Cipriani's? I don't know! I've had several things on the menu there, but nothing compares to their pasta with pesto sauce (although it's hardly their specialty)! It is served on a big white plate in orb-form, swirled in a blobby sphere (softball-sized) around a fork which sticks out of the top like a caramel apple. When I saw it I thought it looked a little dissapointing, but after I unravelled it and took one bite, I immediately hunched over my plate and devoured the whole thing uncontrollably like a wild primate (which will get you noticed at a place like Cipriani's). Who knew pasta with pesto could actually taste like a plant? Well whaddya know... pesto is a plant! Of course now all other variations of pasta with pesto are forever ruined for me. When eating this, I began to get a hint of why some people only believe in the finer things in life... but the feeling didn't last, because...

10. The Aroma of Human Ass and Cigarettes. This one is not a food, but an odor: it's the smell on your finger tips after scratching your ass and also smoking cigarettes. I discovered this one steamy summer night while sitting on the couch watching television and smoking Marlboro 100s. I had just taken a shower that evening, but I guess I had a little jock itch or something... anyway, the musky smell under my fingernails from the repeated scratching, and that permanent smell of tabbaco that collects on your hands after smoking a lot... I dunno, there was something about the two combined together that was really intoxicating. When I sniffed my fingers, I couldn't believe how good it smelled! I thought; "Wow! Someone should make a cologne out of this! I'd buy it!" But it didn't stop there, right there in the flickering blue light of the TV in the darkened room, I quickly flew into a pheromone/tobacco-induced hypnotic frenzy... I kept scratching my ass more and more and smoking cigarette after cigarette... then stopping to vigorously inhale while my fingertips were practically jammed up my nostrils. I almost reverted into an animal state. What an intoxicating aroma! Then I started licking my fingers! OK I'll stop the story here...

BILL KELLY

The Teenage Wasteland baker's dozen of top r-r-r-real rock & roll cd releases for 2005:

1. "Pussycat" by The Charms
2. "Let's Take A Trip With..." by Yesterday's Thoughts
3. "Paper Tigers" by The Caesars
4. "Don't Say What It Is" by The Gentleman Callers
5. "Senor Smoke" by The Electric Six
6. "Bring It On" by Horrorpops
7. "A Third Opinion" by The Maharajas
8. "Intellectuals" by The Hekawis
9. "Four On The Floor" by The Jukebox Zeros
10. "Laughing Suns" by The Solarflares
11. "Chinese Burn" by The Len Price 3
12. "Invisible Invasion" by The Coral
13. "Eddie Angel Meets The Beatles" by Eddie Angel & The Hi-Risers
14. The premier hot, steaming, three minute load of r-r-r-real rock & roll genius for 2005 was the song "I'm On The Outside Looking In" by The Masonics.

Party on, Garth...

NOAH

1. Rev Run - Distortion - RSMG
2. Jean Grae - Monday 12" - Smacks Records
3. Aesop Rock - Fast Cars, Danger, Fire and Knives ep - Definitive Jux
4. The Perceptionists - Black Dialogue - Definitive Jux
5. Boom Bap Project - Reprogram - Rhymesayers Entertainment
6. 2005 North American Tour Sampler - Slept On Records
7. Mathematics - The Problem - Nature Sounds
8. Subtext - Opening Salvo EP - Everyday Beats
9. Bisc 1 - The Basics EP - Embedded
10. Ladybug MEcca - Trip the Light Fantastic - Nu Paradigm

REX

Fool's Paradise Top Ten (in no particular order):

1. McGoorty: A Pool Room Hustler by Robert Byrne (Broadway Books)
The compelling "as told to" memoir of a Depression-era billiards player and hobo accurately described as being "often obscene, occasionally filthy". Many life lessons are contained within. As McGoorty himself remarked, "If you are faced with a choice between breakfast and the giggle soup and you take the giggle soup, you are a drunk."
2. Naked City 5 DVD Box Set
12 episodes of this great B&W TV crime drama filled with amazing NYC locales. The Greenwich Village beatnik coffee house that Roddy McDowell hides out in must be seen to be believed. Episodes also include original TV commercials. Rinse so light, rinse so bright!
3. Rampage LP (Atomic Passion)
Can't quite remember the last time there was a rockabilly reish LP that wasn't half-filled with barrel-bottom filler cuts. This thing cooks from start to finish with top shelf examples of the switchblade sound. All time fave instro "Shutdown" by the Gems is included for good measure.
4. Roy Head at the Ponderosa Stomp, NOLA
Roy hit the stage looking for all the world like some philandering evangelist on a three-day coke binge. This master of stage craft twirled the microphone all throughout his four song set, then did the splits, then the Gator, then left in a convertible. Seeing Bo Dudley with Freddie Roulette was also important too. Not to mention Arch Hall, Jr!
5. King/Federal Vocal Group CD series (Ace Records)
Nothing tops the raunchy jump tunes and bluesy ballads that the King/Federal stable of vocal groups cranked out during the 50s. Ace Records in the UK has reished a bunch of the stuff this last year including essential sets from the Five Royales, the Royals, and the Lamplighters.
6. Sin-A-Rama: Sleaze Sex Paperbacks of the Sixties (Feral House)
Eye-popping color reproductions for such lurid literary classics as "Sinburbia", "Any Man Will Do", "Prowling Wives" and all-time fave "Ape Rape". I think there are some essays included too... Taschen Books immense multi-volume history of Men's Magazines also found a home in the Fool's Paradise library.
7. Turkey Hash at Charlie's Sandwich Shoppe in Cambridge, MA
Charlie's diner looks pretty much the same since it opened in the 20s. While often crowded and touristy, there are still enough locals to maintain the appeal. A self-serve ice water system is observed here.
8. Hasil Adkins
The top-requested artist for over ten years on Fool's Paradise merged with the infinite this past year. On stage and off, Hasil proved to be as wildly eccentric as his recorded legacy suggests. For full effect, get Hasil's "Wild Man" CD on Norton and read the Nick Tosches piece on Hasil's hot pants.
9. Conversation with Allen Troussaint
When asked if he had any recollections about Fool's Paradise fave Chris Kenner, Troussaint replied simply and elloquently by saying, "He was a big guy. Dressed sharp. Drove a Mercury."
10. Day on the set of Trailer Park Boys
For those familiar with this warped Canadian sit-com, it should not be surprising to find out that the series is filmed next to an abandoned insane asylum outside of Halifax, Nova Scotia. Spent a day there during filming, met the cast and crew, had a walk-on role, and ate some gray shriveled meat from craft services.

BOB RIXON

Ten from 2005

1. John Carpenter: Escape from New York. (Silva America)
2. Petra Haden: The Who Sell Out. (Bar None)
3. Leos Janacek. Piano Works. Hakon Austbo, piano. (Brilliant Classics)
4. Teresa McCollough: Music for Sticks & Hammers. (Innova)
5. Olivier Messiaen: Organ Works. Jennifer Bates, organ. (Regis)
6. Monk & Coltrane: Thelonius Monk with John Coltrane at Carnegie Hall 1957. (Blue Note)
7. Nino Rota: La Strada; Il Gattopardo; Concerto Soirée. Orquesta Ciudad De Granada, Cond. by Josep Pons. (Harmonia Mundi)
8. Jenny Scheinman: 12 Songs. (Cryptogramophone)
9. Nelson Johnson: Boardwalk Empire: The Birth, High Times, and Corruption of Atlantic City. (Plexus)
10. Howard Johnson's Restaurant, Asbury Park NJ.

BETHANY

The Top 10 Live Shows I Missed in 2005

* An Evening of Theremin, featuring Dorit Chrysler, Armin Ra, David Simons, Anthony Ptak and Rob Schwimmer at Issue Project Room, December 2
* Iva Bittova with Bang on a Can All-Stars at Zankel Hall, April 29
* [TIED] The Dec. 3rd and 10th performances ( of Just Charles & Cello in the Romantic Chord by LaMonte Young and Marian Zazeela at the Dreamhouse. (After hearing the third performance on Dec. 17, I wish I could go back and hear the two before it; Charles Curtis gave the most astonishing live performance I've ever seen and heard.)
* Devendra Banhart . can't remember when or where (p'haps why I missed it, hmmm)
* Flux Quartet performing all five Giacinto Scelsi String Quartets at Miller Theater, November 4
* Mats Gustafsson and Joe McPhee with Paal Nilssen-love and Ingebrigt Haker Flaten at The Stone, November 29
* Christian Marclay . Screen Play at Eyebeam, November 11
* The New York Philharmonic Ensembles, playing the Stravinsky Septet, The Shostakovich Piano Trio in e minor, and others.at Merkin Hall, October 16
* Glenn Kotche and David Cossin at The Stone, November 16
* Kneebody. Part of FONT (Festival of New Trumpet Music), at Tonic, August 13

LIZ BERG

Liz Berg's Top 10 Hairdos of 2005

10. Jandek - For almost showing his hair in public

9. Liz Cho - Most improved news anchor hairdo

8. Lil' Kim - Purple hair and pasties one day, courtroom curls the next; how can anyone hate on that? Perjury smurjury, Queen Bee's got versatility

7. Boy George - Rocking the bald look. And balding the rock look.

6. Mary Lou Retton - On second thought, maybe I prefer the feathered bowl

5. Little Steven - What's under the du-rag? More hair? More forehead? An abnormal growth?

4. Whitney Houston - Taking "TMI" to a whole other level this year, with the help of Bobby

3. Mark E. Smith - Ok, so it's not just his hairdo

2. Kate Moss - Proving that your roots don't necessarily need to match your drugs

1. Phil Spector - Way to prove you're not a psycho-killer, Phil!

ROB WEISBERG

Ten cds that I wanted to play a lot - not in order of preference:

Amadou and Mariam: Dimanche á Bamako / Nonesuch

Cabruera: Proibido Cochilar / Piranha

Dengue Fever: Escape from the Dragon House / Birdman

Kiran Ahluwalia: Kiran Ahluwalia / Triloka

Lobi Traore: The Lobi Traore Group / Honest Jons

Mahala Rai Banda: Mahala Rai Banda / Crammed Discs

Motion Trio: Play-Station / Asphalt Tango

String Bands of Papua New Guinea with Bob Brozman: Songs of the Volcano / Riverboat

Thione Seck: Orientation / Sterns

Warsaw Village Band - Uprooting / Wrasse

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T.P. Orchestre Poly-Rythmo: Hwe Towe Hun / The Kings of Benin Urban Groove 1972-1980 / Soundway - fave archival anthology

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Mangal Pandey (music by A.R. Rahman) - fave Bollywood soundtrack

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Yat-Kha: Re-Covers / Yat-Kha - gimmick of the year

____________
Most memorable live performances: Amadou Mariam at Hiro; Youssou N'Dour's Egypt at Carnegie Hall; Konono No 1 at SOBs; Tinariwen outdoors @ WFC; Turkish Mehter band at Turkish Day Parade, midtown.

HATCH

10 new albums:
Antony And The Johnsons - I Am A Bird Now (Secretly Canadian)
Nils Okland - Bris (Rune Grammofon)
Tape - Rideau (Hapna)
Mountains - S/T (Apestaartje)
Broadcast - Tender Buttons (Warp)
Jack Rose - Kensingon Blues (VHF)
Skygreen Leopards - Life & Love In Sparrow's Meadow (Jagjaguwar)
Alva Noto + Ryuichi Sakamoto - Insen (Asphodel)
Richard Hawley - Coles Corner (XL)
Animal Collective - Feels + Prospect Hummer EP with Vashti Bunyan (Fat Cat)

10 reissues:
Evie Sands - Any Way That You Want Me (Rev-Ola)
John Simon - John Simon's Album (Water)
Gary Higgins - Red Hash (Drag City)
Jean-Claude Vannier - L'Enfant Assassin Des Mouches (Finders Keepers)
Milk 'N' Cookies - S/T (RPM)
Unicorn - Uphill All The Way (Breathless)
Marc Brierley - Autograph Of Time: The Complete Recordings 1966-1970 (Castle)
Link Wray - Wray's Three Track Shack (Acadia)
Classical M - Bad Guys: The Complete Collection (Lion Productions)
Pep Laguarda & Tapineria - Brossa d'Ahir (Discmedi)

1 compilation:
V/A - Yellow Pills: Prefill (Numero Group)

10 new films:
Darwin's Nightmare
Turtles Can Fly
A History Of Violence
No Direction Home: Bob Dylan
Good Morning, Night
Look At Me
The Aristocrats
Howl's Moving Castle
Good Night, And Good Luck
The White Diamond

10 DVDs, revivals, and a film series:
Winter Soldier
Donkey Skin
Prime Cut
Tout Va Bien
Burden Of Dreams
Love Streams
Le Lit De La Vierge
Over The Edge
Harlan County, U.S.A.
"Essential Westerns" at Film Forum

DIANE KAMIKAZE

RECORDS THAT KICKED ASS THIS YEAR:
Watch Them Die - Bastard Son
Naglfar-Pariah
Made Out of Babies - Trophy
Cephalic Carnage - Anomalies
Adolescents - OC Confidential
Triac - Dead House Dreaming
Red Sparrowes - At the Soundless Dawn
Municipal Waste - Hazardous Mutation
Bolt Thrower - Those Once Loyal
Phantom Limbs - Random Hymns
YOB - The Unreal Never Lived
Opeth _ Ghost Reveries
Witchcraft - Firewood
Totimoshi - Mysterioso

BANDS THAT KILLED LIVE THIS YEAR:
Made Out Of Babies
TSOL
Adolescents
Coliseum
Watch Them Die
Doomtree
Easy Action
Soilent Green
DI
Woggles
Alabama Thunderpussy
Kylesa
Zombi
Undertones
Amon Amarth
Circle Jerks
God Dethroned
Children of Bodom
Dickies
Mastodon
Cult of Luna

BANDS I WAS HUMBLED TO ENGINEER FOR:
Easy Action
Saints
Electric 6
Love Story In Blood Red
Undertones
Triac

PERSONAL HIGHLIGHTS:
Going to Rapa Nui (easter island) a 2nd time
Meeting Gaye Advert
Meeting Wreckless Eric
Meeting Mark Mothersbaugh
Trip to Fury Fest in LeMans France (3 day fest: Mastodon, Neurosis, Amon Amarth, Enslaved, Jesu, Motorhead, Slayer, Samael, Napalm Death, etc.) Trip to Oslo, Norway: Mastodon & Iron Maiden & Stave Churches

WEST COAST SHOWS:
TV Smith
Weirdos
Angry Samoans
Duane Peters Gunfight
Effigies

JASON ELBOGEN

1. American Primitive Vol. II Pre-War Revenants (1897-1939). [Revenant Records]
2. Ana Y Jaime - Es Largo El Camino (reissue)
3. World Psychedellic Classics 3 : Love's a Real Thing - The Fuzzy, Funky Sounds of West Africa [Luaka Bop]
4. HOTT MIX 7: No wave rarities 1977-1982 [ww hott mix club] (comp from Wesel Walter-run 'ww hott mix club' yahoo group)
5. Roots Manuva - Awfully Deep (Big Dada Records)
6. Various Artists - Choubi Choubi! Folk and Pop Sounds from Iraq (Sublime Frequencies)
7. Vive La Fete - Grand Prix (Surprise)
8. Various Artists - The Soul Of Samba-Rock (Black Betty)
9. Dengue Fever - Escape from the Dragon House (m80 music)
10. The Prosulas - Demo CD (California "Psychedelic-Soul-Rock" group)

MR. C.

Top Ten Musical Moments

* Peter Guralnick: Dream Boogie, The Triumph of Sam Cooke
* Feist "Mushaboom
* Fiona Apple Extraordinary Machine
* Joyce Rio Bahia
* Kanye West "Gold Digger"
* Brazilian Girls Live at Irving Plaza
* Decemberists Live at Webster Hall
* Bill Charlap Live at Dizzy's Club Coca Cola
* Just Say Sire: The Sire Records Story
* Bob Dylan No Direction Home

MONICA

Compilations:
Dirty Laundry: The Soul Of Black Country (Trikont)
Memphis Belles: Women of Sun Records (box set) (Bear Family, 2002)
It's Hotter In Hawaii (box set) (JSP)
Night Train To Nashville Volume Two: Music City Rhythm & Blues 1945-1970 (Lost Highway)
Radio Pyongyang: Commie Funk And Agit Pop From The Hermit Kingdom (Sublime Frequencies)
World Livestock Auctioneer Parade Of Champions 1963-2004 (Livestock Marketing Association)
One Kiss Can Lead To Another: Girl Group Sounds Lost & Found (Rhino)
Funky Funky New Orleans 5 (Funky Delicacies)
Big Moe: Live From R.C.'s Place (Memphix)
Soul Fire: The Majestic Collection (Soul Fire)
Explosives: Deep Soul From The Latin Heart (Vampi Soul)

Artist compilations:
Moondog, The Viking Of Sixth Avenue (Honest Jons)
Betty Harris / The Lost Soul Queen (AIM)
Jean-Claude Vannier / L'Enfant Assassin Des Mouches (Finders Keepers)
Yamasuki / Le Monde Fabuleux Des Yamasuki (Finders Keepers)
Brother Bones & His Shadows, Globetrottin' With Bones (Acrobat)
Marty Robbins, The Essential (Legacy)
Isidro Lopez, El Indio Vols. 1 & 2 (Arhoolie)
Hasil Adkins /Moon Over Madison (Norton)

Albums:
Devendra Banhart / Cripple Crow (XL)
Papua New Guinea Stringbands With Bob Brozman / Songs Of the Volcano (Riverboat)
Astro Can Caravan / 21st Century Drifting Episode (Zerga)
P. Miles Bryson / Megalomaniac Decorator's Quarterly (Illegal Art)
The Concretes / Lay Your Battle Axe Down (Astralwerks)
Dim Dim / Bounce (Audio Dregs)
Feist / Let It Die (Interscope)

Singles:
Lavender Diamond, "You Broke My Heart", The Cavalry Of Light (LDP)
Johnny Boy, "You Are The Generation That Bought More Shoes And You Get What You Deserve"
Kanye West feat. Jamie Foxx, "Gold Digger" (Roc-A-Fella)
Rihanna, "Pon De Replay" (Def Jam)

Favorite vinyl album (Thanks, Doug Schulkind!):
Rose Murphy feat. Slam Stewart / Jazz, Joy And Happiness (United Artists Jazz)

Favorite album cut:
Tsehaytu Beraki, "Iley Li Habelmalet (Long Live The Green)," Selam (Terp)

Favorite CD received as a gift (Thanks, Listener George in Germany!):
Rod McKuen / Rod Sings His Own (Stanyan)

Favorite cover:
The Big Mess Orchestra, "Sound & Vision," Have Yourself (Big Mess)

Favorite song found in the WFMU MP3 library:
The Phi Mu Washboard Band, "Love Hurts"

Favorite strange but beautiful voice:
Floyd Tillman / The Best Of Floyd Tillman (Sony)

Favorite oldies:
Van Morrison, "The Way Young Lovers Do," Astral Weeks (Warner Bros.)
Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes "Don't Leave Me This Way (A Tom Moulton Mix)" Wake Up Everybody, Epic/Legacy
Caroline Munro, "This Sporting Life," Dream Babes Vol. 2: Reflections (RPM)
Johnny Adams, "Reconsider Me," Southern Soul Showcase: Cryin' In The Streets (Kent)

Favorite releases in the "R&B Classics" series:
Martha Davis 1946-1951
Sarah McLawler 1950-1953

MIKE LUPICA

Top 10 of 2005

1. The eight jeweled soup from New Green Bo Restaurant on Bayard Street in Chinatown. As the horror and darkness of winter settles on the greater NYC area, waking hours can be roughly divided into two categories: time spent eating the eight jeweled soup, and time spent thinking about eating the eight jeweled soup.

2. Peter Doig paintings. They've been gracing my playlist index page for a while now, and my fascination with them seems limitless. (He has a series based on stills from Friday the 13th that I'd sell one or more of my organs to see in person. You can view one of them here.)

3. DJ Screw's remix of Fat Pat's "Tops Drop". (Listen to it here.) It is alleged by the dude who hosts the Push Bin that heavy amounts of cough syrup will make it sound even better, but only he would know about such things.

4. Lunch. Never mind about dinner, you should invite a couple friends over for lunch. Very few things in life are as affirming as a weekend lunch for 3 or 4 people during which you drain about as many bottles of wine and find yourself at 6 PM smashed out of your head and seriously contemplating a repeat viewing of the Harold & Kumar movie.

5. "A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson. I became intrigued by it after I myself bravely hiked about 11 feet of the Appalachian Trail over the summer. Though it came out a while back and has a torturous anti-climax, it's still a hilarious read that you'll re-visit repeatedly.

6. The drive from Jerome, Arizona all the way to the Grand Canyon, largely made on rural highway 89 while repeatedly listening to Jeffrey Lee Pierce's incredible "Wildweed" album (click here to listen to a song from it) in a rental car with my girlfriend. It's an abandoned and featureless landscape that offers views of awe-inspiring nothingness for a hundred miles in every direction. The afternoon we made this trek, the only visible characteristic was an enormous plume of smoke on the horizon, which turned out to be a "controlled burn" in the woods surrounding the canyon. We entered the park at dusk -- the only humans around for miles, it seemed -- driving past smouldering thickets and burning trees on both sides of the road. Completely strange and effecting, and perfectly complemented by JLP's masterful solo work.

7. The Rachid Taha show at the Bowery Ballroom. Probably the best live music event I saw all year, and strangely, probably closer to a U2 concert than anything I will ever experience. Taha is a French-born Algerian who delivers harshly dissonant, middle-eastern rock/dance music and seeing him live leaves you with a palpable charge of electricity, in spite of the rock-god pretension.

8. Cooking classes. Seriously. Cooking classes are great and you should sign up for one right now. Nothing fancy, maybe a knife skills class or maybe poultry basics, but definitely take one because they're a lot of fun and you're too old to still be eating pasta all the time. No one was more surprised than me that the instructor from my first cooking class turned out to not only be a hardcore WFMU listener, but a member of the band Hypnolovewheel.

9. "Harold and Kumar go to White Castle". I already mentioned it in #4, but I'll go out on a limb now and call it one of the smartest movies about ethnicity and the future of race masquerading as a teenage titty caper in a great while. Yes, it's totally absurd and maybe you won't get it if you don't spend a lot of time in Jersey City, but I was happier than anyone to see it validated with a recent screening at BAM.

10. New songs (click to hear 'em!) by: Ruins, Macromantics, Jason Forrest, Jaga Jazzist, The Stones Throw Singers, The Fall, Githead, Ari Up, Wevie Stonder, Services, Variable Unit, Earthless, Curse Ov Dialect, Dalek, Busdriver, Celibate Rifles, The Scott Amendola Band, Comets on Fire, Oddateee (best song of the year!) and the ongoing honor of playing them all for you on the radio.