The Depths of 2006
by Bruce McKenzie 01.03.07

y'all probably don't need me to tell you the comets on fire record was huge.  joanna newsome.   anyway, i just wanted to recommend some discs to make you feel.  i realize now that this list is unified by a depth of feeling and experience these albums have given me.  not the quality of feeling but the depth.  and i wanted to pass that on.
        
reissues:
          born sandy devotional - the triffids      (domino)  alchemical record and one of the best of    the decade, without a doubt.  it transforms the misery and pain of  betrayal into euphoric freedom.  packaged with pages from david mccomb's notebooks that show just how well thought out this record was.  kind of heartbreaking in a way.  dark and uplifting.
       selda - selda     (finders keepers)     psychedelic turkish delight!
       misora - sachiko kanenobu    (chapter music)   you'd think it was made in laurel canyon.  one of the most touching records.   of 1972 or any year.

7" singles
          something on your mind b/w katie cruel (alternate mix) - karen dalton (light in the attic)     for my money the two best tunes on the album.
         how's your  bassoon, tourqouirs? b/w banned announcement - maher shalal hash baz    (geographic)  first heard this live in a thirty minute version at the o-nest in tokyo.  not an epic on seven inches but mighty sweet nonetheless.

live japanese records:
       live at minor 1979 - kousokuya    (psf)   mind-fucking
       1972 - les realisees denudes  (boot?)  mind-bending
       keiji haino & sitar tah - 2006 (archive)    mind-expanding

box sets:          
        richard thompson  (free reed)     five discs, all live, all unreleased.  some people think thompson's  shit don't stink.  they're almost right, but there're a disc's worth of tracks here that don't make it for me. however,  the tracks that do make it are so worthwhile that  i'd wade a mile, nose-deep, as they say. what is revelatory for anyone who hasn't had the pleasure of seeing one of his shows is the laughter and joy generated by one of the most gut-punching, i'm-going-home-now-to-slit-my-wrists, tear-inducing lyricists of all time.  the contrast is unbelievably moving.
        bee gees (reprise)   yes. seriously.  their first three lp's with bonus tracks.  the amazing thing that you must realize is that these guys crafted a vocal harmony style as identifiable and unique as the beatles while everyone else was still just trying to get the beatles down. and wrote some great psychedelic pop.  yeah, some duff tracks, but fewer than you'd think.  "let there be love" indeed.

women who sang this year:
       evangelista - carla bozulich  (constellation)    who knew her cover of the red-head stranger (the whole record) would be followed by this terrifying, beautiful purge
       in circles - tara jane oneil    (quarterstick)  a gorgeous record that rewards careful listening and casual perusal.  draws you in in spite of yourself and holds you, gentle-like and comforting.  a fine oriental rug of a disc.
       5:55 - charlotte gainsbourg    (because)  sexy pop thing that makes you want to find out where she lives, break into her house and steal her panties
       drawings -  eva hesse (yale univ. press)  dead years ago, i know, but i didn't have the heart to put her in reissues.

classical:          
         natura renovatur - giacinto scelsi   (ecm)    recorded in a church in munich, the natural  reverb on scelsi's violin cello-playing muse, frances-marie uitti, on her solo pieces, is almost unnatural.  the larger ensemble pieces thrum powerfully.  think  of penderecki's threnody for the victims of hiroshima as a man-sized muffin, and then make a room-sized pancake out of it.
        from byzantium to andalusia: medieval music and poetry - various/anonymous    (naxos)    the oni wytars ensemble has made the freak folk album of the year.  if  "the hangman's beautiful daughter" or "5000 layers of the onion"  were made in the 13th century.  stroke your beard and smoke a bowl with this one

song i wished i'd heard twen...when i was younger:
           when you walk in the room - jackie de shannon     produced by jack nitzche.  'nuff said.

used vinyl find of the year:  
           e pluribus unum - sandy bull  (vanguard)    still un-issued on c.d.   gold label.  vg+.  $7.00.  listened to it with my buddy douglas for the first time over tequilas.  don't know which was tastier but i know which lasts longer. two full side explorations.  outstanding.

can we raise a glass to (in order of passing)

wilson pickett  
memento:  "everybody needs somebody to love".  ain't it fuckin true.  ain't it fuckin true.
       gyorgy ligeti   
memento:   violin concerto (1992).   a giant.
       roger 'syd' barrett   
memento:   "see emily play".  let's remember him in his prime.  his misery has been fetishised enough.
       robert altman    
memento:  mccabe and mrs. miller
       james brown   
memento:  "santa claus go straight to the ghetto".   i first heard this in a rite aid in brooklyn (near junior's deli) maybe ten, fifteen years ago.  i could say "it's a man's world" or i could say a dozen things, but given the time of year he moved on i say "santa claus go straight to the ghetto". 

film:
        "army of shadows"  dir. jean-pierre melville
  
go see the movie "children of men" and give sam rivers' trio recordings on impulse a try. 

happy new year,

bruce