Now that we're 1/2 of the way through the year, list all the 2006 releases worth listening to so far:

Albums:
Thom Yorke - The Eraser
Ricardo Villalobos - Achso
Hot Chip - The Warning
Bruce Springsteen - We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions
The Futureheads - News and Tributes
Booka Shade - Movements
Delays - You See Colours
Destroyer - Destroyer's Rubies
Neko Case - Fox Confessor Brings the Flood
Alex Smoke - Paradolia
Love is All - 9 times that same song
Junior Boys - So this is Goodbye

Singles/EPs:
Tiga - Far from Home (DFA Remix)
Delia & Gavin - Revelee (Carl Craig Remix)
Gnarls Barkley - Crazy
Minilogue - The Girl from Botany Bay
The Orb / The Rice Twins - Speicher 33
Booka Shade - Night Falls EP
The Streets - When You Wasn't Famous
Shit Robot - Wrong Galaxy / Triumph
Matthew Herbert - Something Isn't Right
Beyonce - Deja Vu
Nadiya - Tous Ces Mots

it's been a real rubbishy 6 months so far.

off the top of my head

definitely not rubbishy

Sonic Youth - Rather Ripped
Liars - Drum's Not Dead
Flaming Lips - At War With THe Mystics

is that as good as i can do?? it really has been a bad year for new music! same as 1996 i suppose.

Plus loads of reissues and comps:
Mark Fosson - The Lost Takoma Sessions (Drag City)
Fingletoad, Strange & Siho - Mazzola (Shadoks)
Harry Taussig - Fate Is Only Once (Tompkins Square)
Robin Scott - The Woman From The Warm Grass (Sunbeam)
Roger Rodier - Upon Velveatur (Sunbeam)
Ruthann Friedman - Constant Companion (Water)
Lio - Premier Album (Ze)
Solar Anus - Skull Alcoholic (tUMULt)
V/A - An Apple A Day: More Pop Psych Sounds From The Apple Era 1968-1970 (RPM)
Henson Cargill - A Very Well Travelled Man (Omni)
Paulo Bagunça E A Tropa Maldita -S/T (Discos Mariposa)
Rubinho E Mauro Assumpção - Perfeitamente, Justamente Quando Cheguei (Discos Mariposa)
Alceu Valença & Geraldo Azevedo - S/T (Discos Mariposa)

of course!!

but will it make it through a tough Texas winter?

Single: Delia & Gav - Revelee (equally for the DFA and the Carl Craig remixes)

Ordered the Ryoji Ikeda a couple days ago, will check out Phill Niblock, Bardo Pond, BoC, deJohnette/Goldings/Scofield, Open Music Ensemble, maybe Michael Stuart. Eagerly awaiting Oneida.

lps

af ursin - aura legato
j dilla - donuts
andrew chalk - goldfall
the bummer road - mother of thousands
burial
idea fire company - stranded
jakob olausson - moonlight farm
drift yellow swans
espers - ii
soylent green - la forza del destino

singles

loco dice - seeing through shadows
audio werner - trust
shackleton - blood on my hands
luciano/melchior - solomon's prayer
tres demented - shez satan
antonelli - esplanade
black quarter - sodomy esp
grouper - he knows
axolotl - illiaster
matt john - hologramm
raudive - turn it off

rebound

this heat - out of cold storage
mb archives 5lp

liars: drum's not dead
futureheads: news and tributes
the divine comedy: victory for the comic muse
pet shop boys: fundamental
graham coxon: love travels at illegal speeds
mogwai: mr beast

of these, liars are still some way out in front.

it's not been a legendary year for music, has it? i'm still to hear TVotR ... and i've just finished ripping a stash of stuff i got today, including "you are there" by mono, for which i have high hopes indeed.

possibly more albums but I can't think of any!

singles, few too many to mention, also I hate isolating dance singles cos they all sort of live in co-operation IMO, but I have got very DJ minded the last year.

but if I must (knowing I am bound to be forgetting tons, there are about 10 very good singles every week these days)

anja schneider-lily of the valley
the field-sun and ice
gui boratto-sozinho
duoteque-daki theta (mfa mix)
duoteque-amyra
steadycam-knock kneed
shyza minelli-shyza all night long
matt john-fundamental
tensnake-around the house

more "electro", not so many of these but the good ones are pretty great.
tiga-move my body (boys noize mix)
digitalism-jupiter room
hug-the platform
tekel-smet

Sonic Youth, Rather Ripped
Lansing-Dreiden, The Dividing Island
Archie Bronson Outfit, Derdang Derdang
Anoice, Remmings
Lo-Fi-Fnk, Boylife
YYYs, Show Your Bones

2006 albums victory brothers/ leanne kingwell /huck johns /axe bahia /ronnie milsap/carter falco/damone/korpiklaani/crash kelly/dale watson /voivod/*aquamarine* /toby keith/pentagram/tyr/redhill EP/carrie underwood/electric boogie dawgz/stefy/blaine larsen/dixie chicks/penny dale/jamey johnson/ /riverside /shannon brown /lucas mccain /flyleaf /hank davison band /oddysey band/mardo /shawn camp /jesus h christ and the four hornsmen of the apocalypse/falkenbach / shooter jennings johanna stahley/*the rough guide to bhangra dance* /atomic bitch EP/cabruera /irma thomas/ hard-fi /the tiptons /uncle billy's smokehouse / nacao zumbi /jessica lurie /southwind /*rollerball* /crucified barabara/ red swan/marit larsen

2006 singles carrie underwood = before he cheats lily allan "ldn" aly & aj "rush" nikki cleary - summertime guys (shooter jennings - hair of the dog) penny dale - gypsy cowgirl samantha joe - time for summer huck johns - oh yeah redhill - all night long (2004) redhill - rooftop (2004) jo and the muthaf!@#$%^ers - give me a break!/stefy - orange county/ nelly furtado and timbaland - promiscuous/stefy - chelsea/ veronicas - 4- ever/the gathering - shortest day flyleaf - i'm so sick voivod - the x-stream amy diamond - what's in it for me pitbull featuring ying yang twins elephant man and george kranz - shake (remix) field mob featuring ciara so what three six maffia - poppin' my collar b-star "bootleg dreams" wir sind helden "von hier an blind" juvenile get ya hustle on mahsar "vase chi" tinchy snyder f wiley "uptown girl" hot apple pie - easy does itpersephone's bees - nice day e-40 -? (no lay - unorthodox chick) kidz bop kidz - axel f (the frog song) (shooter jennings - little white lines) remy ma - concieted (there's something about remy) chris cagle - wal-mart parking lot kt tunstall - black horse and the cherry tree (2004) ne-yo - so sick dierks bentley - settle for a slowdown /dixie chicks - not ready to back down/lucas prata & reina - love of my life/ fan_3 broken home/ dem franchize boyz - lean wit it, rock wit it

some lonely bike messenger is going to tattoo a tear running down their right calf tonight.

you remind me of sawyer who don't believe he is LOST the way you put that.

really surprised that hadn't been mentioned yet.

1. Sofia Gubaidulina: The Deceitful Face of Hope and of Despair / The Seven Last Words (GSO, Bezaly, Miki, Thedéen, cond. Venzago)
2. Elliott Carter: Dialogues / Boston Concerto / Cello Concerto / ASKO Concerto (LS, BBC SO, ASKO E, Hodges, Sherry, cond. Knussen)
3. György Kurtág: Kafka Fragments (Juliane Banse & András Keller)
4. Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 4 / Alban Berg: Seven Early Songs (BPO, Fleming, cond. Abbado)
5. Brian Ferneyhough: Shadowtime (NE, NVSS, Hodges, Scheidegger, cond. Hempel)

Otherwise:

01. Erik Friedlander: Prowl
02. Thom Yorke: The Eraser
03. Chihei Hatakeyama: Minima Moralia
04. Espers: Espers II
05. Howe Gelb: 'Sno Angel Like You
06. Anders Dahl: Hundloka, Flockblomstriga 1
07. Destroyer: Rubies
08. Giuseppe Ielasi: S/T
09. Scott Walker: The Drift
10. Jesu: Silver EP

I hear so little new stuff, all you "not a good year" people make me sad. Listen to these!

As soon as I finish listening to this Sunny Jain Collective CD I just got, I think I will add it to this thread.

Sunny Jain Collective: Avaaz

Although I would prefer if it were more Indo-jazz fusion across the board, I like this album. The more typical jazz tracks are at least well done. (Keep in mind this is just on one listen.)

Also, the ensemble includes the guitar work of Rez Abbasi, about whom Sundar (and apparently no one else here) has raved on occasion. I like his guitar on the bhangra-jazz "Sialkot." The vocals are beautiful, not anything particularly challenging (to listen to anyway--singing could be another matter), just really pretty in a way that is refreshing.

2005 releases discovered this year:
Fugu - As Found
Prima Norsk Vol.3 (The Space Disco Edition)
Aavikko - Back From The Futer

Possibly the Shakira album as well, but I need to listen to that one some more.

Jakob Ullmann: A catalogue of sounds (Ensemble Oriol): its for string trio and small string ensemble. Can be quite tough to even pull it out and think to start listening cuz its 73 minutes + unbroken on CD. But once it starts I find it as easy to stay with as anything. Basically, if you like instrumental concrete (Helmut L, etc) you'll love this. Music for strings will never sound the same again "a catalogue.." takes account of the violin and its wooden body, very sensitive, needs headphones and guaranteed to sound even fuller in the early hours.

Henri Pousseur: Paysages Planetaires. 3 CD set when you'll probably only need the one. Spliced world music whose sounds soften out the electronics and it works surprisingly well. Contrast and compare w/Golijov and how his combo of world music/classical ends up sounding flat in comparison.

Julius Eastman: Unjust Malaise. Excellent, as has been talked about.

Brian Ferneyhough: Shadowtime. Lots of mixed reaction, in some ways its good he's composed an opera as Ferneyhough is unfairly neglected and he'll get a higher 'profile' over here. The complexity is pared down on the one hand, the linguistic games serve as the trade-off but there are slabs of humour to temper it down.

Wouldn't surprise me if it was ever performed again tho'. Still to make my mind up about it all, but worth it.

To hear:

Morton Feldman's 1st str qtr (naxos) (A fiver, must check out)
Pierluigi Billone's disc on Stradivarius (again from what i've heard of him he works the instr concrete hyper-expressionism, but refuses to be so dry w/it)

bendy, tell me more about this Epsilons record. Sounds hella fun.

maybe the uusitalo lp?

and toby keith and carrie underwood suck

I know it's kinda cool and ironic to like an american idol winner

if you can't see that CSS and the Hold Steady blow massive, in your face chunks, well then chuck--I guess it's just over for you , oh wait. it is already! woops

but writing 30 word reviews for Spin and blender is still pretty cool

really innovative stuff going on there

sweet!

actually, one of those reviews said that css blow massive chunks (which doesn't mean they can't have one great track.) otherwise, though, you're right -- any best-of-the-year list that includes an american idol winner is obviously being "ironic," and any list that doesn't look like the most dime-a-dozen college radio playlist on the planet obviously isn't "innovative" enough. You're brilliant.

paris hilton, paris
justin timberlake, futuresex/lovesounds
ellen allien & apparat, orchestra of bubbles
the knife, silent shout
kiki, boogybytes vol 1
junior boys, so this is goodbye
cassie, cassie
booka shade, movements
beyoncé, b'day
v/a, illastate records presents a little darker
scott walker, the drift
kelis, kelis was here
damian lazarus, crosstown rebels vol 1
luciano, scifihifi vol 2
alex smoke, paradolia
christina aguilera, back to basics
chamillionaire, the sound of revenge
jenny wilson, love and youth
sascha funke, boogybytes vol 2
yeah yeah yeahs, show your bones

still a load i haven't heard yet! expect good things of wonder, fuckpony, immer2, amy winehouse &c.

Kanzleramt 6
The Hacker: A.N.D. N.O.W...
Audion: Fabric 27

Cobblestone Jazz: Dump Truck
Lindstrøm: Another Station
In Sync: Inner Base - Outer Space
Pom Pom 24

Reverso 68 - Tokyo Disco
Delia Gonzales & Gavin Russom: Relevee
Escort - Starlight
Guy Gerber: This Is Balagan
Shit Robot: The Wrong Galaxy
Lawrence: Along the Wire
Gui Boratto: Like You (Supermayer Remix)
Matthew Herbert: Something Isn't Right
Nelly Furtado ft. Timbaland: Promiscuous Girl
Fuckpony: Ride the Pony
Lindstrom: Breakfast in Heaven
The Pipettes: Pull Shapes
Kelis: Bossy EP
Hot Chip: Colours
Justin Timberlake ft. T.I.: My Love
Scissor Sisters: I Don't Feel Like Dancing
Beyonce ft. Jay-Z: Dèja Vu
Junior Boys: In the Morning
The Juan Maclean: Love Is in the Air
I'm From Barcelona: We're From Barcelona
Lily Allen: Smile
Cobblestone Jazz: Dumb Truck
Atjazz: For Real

Wow! I didn't know about this! This is going straight on my to-buy list.

That TV on the Radio album has a couple of really good songs and loads of crap filler.

Lazily copy & pasting from other people's lists:

Love is All - 9 times that same song
Sonic Youth - Rather Ripped
Ghostface Killah - FishScale
graham coxon: love travels at illegal speeds
YYYs, Show Your Bones
Knife - Silent Shout
Yo La Tengo - I Am Not Afraid Of You And I Will Beat Your Ass

Some more:

CSS - s/t
Slayer - Christ Illusion
Todd - Comes to your house
DJ Shadow - Outsider
Adult. - Gimmie Trouble
Gossip - Standing in the way of control
Serena Maneesh - s/t
Celtic Frost - Monotheist
Spank Rock - YoYoYoYoYo

Reissues:

Blight - The Dream is Dead
VA - Anti-State - Anarcho Punk #2
A Witness - I am John's Pancreas
Deep Wound - Discography
Disrupters - Gas the Punx
System - Is Still Murder
Major Accident - Massacred Melodies
Penetration - Moving Targets

probably some other stuff

Cassy - Panorama Bar 01
A Guy Called Gerald - Proto Acid: The Berlin Sessions

The Thermals
Roland P. Young
Takka Takka
Ornette Coleman
Jazzfinger
Beat Beat Beat
Holy Shit
Sirone Live
Kieran Hebdan & Steve Reid
Drums of Myrrh
Klimek
Nuru Kane
Major Stars
Chris Corsano
Ghislain Poirier
Kidd Jordan/Hamid Drake/William Parker
Filastine
Lily Allen
Tunng
Oneida
Brightblack Morning Light
Zu/Mats Gustaffson
Jenny Lewis
Otomo Yoshihide's New Jazz Orchestra
Pissed Jeans
Vetiver
Cibelle
Nuh Uh
Psychic Ills
Yo La Tengo
OOIOO
Eglantine Gouzy

http://www.cduniverse.com/productinfo.asp?pid=7019376&cart=414285007&BAB=E

Not that I've heard the whole thing, just a track or two. I am a little curious about it myself.)

(I wish Fusetron had given this a publicity push, it’s awesome and I didn’t know it existed til 3 months after it came out)

Good, then you can tell me more about it.

I listened to it when it came out and didn't like it, then I gave it another chance recently and it rules. Like, really fuckin' good tunes man.

Awesome tracks - "With a Bullet", "An American Draft Dodger in Thunder Bay", "Mystified, Heavy", "Bridge to Nowhere"