Treble Album of the Week Mix 2006, Vol. 2
by Treble StaffAs we inch ever closer to the year’s halfway point, the quality of 2006′s output continues to increase. Looking back at our most recent batch of Albums of the Week, there have been some truly awesome ones, and one can only assume that, with seven months to go, it can still get even better. This AOW proves to be a particularly epic one, with five songs surpassing the five-minute mark and four just under it. Cigarette lighter not included.
Treble AOW Mix 2006, Vol. 2
1. Neko Case “Star Witness”
from Fox Confessor Brings the Flood
“Nowhere is the meeting place between grief and bliss so close together as it is on `Star Witness,’ a strange update of `Leader of the Pack’ for the reverb and Telecaster set.”
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2. Goldfrapp “Ride a White Horse”
from Supernature
“The song, meanwhile, is a throbbing, pulsating, dance floor smash, Goldfrapp singing `I’ll be dancing at the disco/when you buy your Winnebago’ like an android Marlene Deitrich.”
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3. Duke Spirit “Love is an Unfamiliar Name”
from Cuts Across the Land
“Moss truly shines in `Love is an Unfamiliar Name’ as she talks / sings her way through the verses with a thick and sexy accent before the vocal effects kick in as the volume increases.”
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4. Jimmy Edgar “I Wanna Be Your STD”
from Colorstrip
“‘I Wanna Be Your STD,’ a sinister hybrid of early NERD and Global Goon, shines in places the listener probably doesn’t want to go.”
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5. Liars “The Other Side of Mt. Heart Attack”
from Drum’s Not Dead
“The beauty of conflict culminates itself here with the nature of Drum shining through in harmonies of `ooohs’ and `ahhs’ while Mt. Heart Attack assures us that if we need him to stay, he will stay by our side.”
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6. Band of Horses “The Funeral”
from Everything All of the Time
“‘The Funeral,’ arguably the album’s best song, starts off quietly with a gently sliding guitar riff, somber and ethereal, but fleeting. A minute or so in and the entire band kicks in, drums pounding, guitars chugging, still moving relatively slowly, but with a fierce intensity that starkly contrasts Bidwell’s melancholy lyrics: `on every occasion/I’m ready for the funeral.’”
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7. Loose Fur “The Ruling Class”
from Born Again in the USA
“`The Ruling Class’ is the song most Tweedledees have been waiting for as he has previewed it on his solo tour.”
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8. Quasi “When the Going Gets Dark”
from When the Going Gets Dark
“Weiss’ backing vocals, which appear intermittently throughout When the Going Gets Dark but are most effective on the title track, float on top of the instrumentals, only serving to accentuating the song’s ethereal, yet still intense, mood.”
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9. The Rogers Sisters “Your Littlest World”
from The Invisible Deck
“…seven-minute epic `Your Littlest World’ is kept afloat to the tone of a placid psychedelic sashay.”
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10. The Flaming Lips “The Wizard Turns On”
from At War With the Mystics
“This instrumental space rock jam is another Floyd like journey, but with stops at the Portishead station along the way.”
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11. Built to Spill “Traces”
from You in Reverse
“The minor key `Traces,’ meanwhile, spaces out in atmospheric pop that, though limitless in scope, remains one of the shortest songs on the album”
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12. Voxtrot “Mothers, Sisters, Daughters and Wives”
from Mothers, Sisters, Daughters and Wives
“…though Voxtrot are certainly no strangers to the verse-chorus-verse song structure, they find verses within choruses, codas within bridges, and every four minute song becomes epic without sacrificing the brevity of a pop song.”
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13. The Black Angels “The Sniper At the Gates of Heaven”
from Passover
“`The Sniper at the Gates of Heaven’ features Maas shouting and grunting between verses like either Jim Morrison in `The End’ or Bono in `Bullet the Blue Sky.’”
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14. The Fiery Furnaces “Benton Harbor Blues”
from Bitter Tea
“‘Benton Harbor Blues’ could be the best thing on the entire album…”
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15. Parts & Labor “Repair”
from Stay Afraid
“The bombastic synergy that these three guys exhibit is exceptional and puts the `power’ in the term `power trio.’”
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16. The Fever “Crying Wolf”
from In the City of Sleep
“…the baroque ’50s rock in `Crying Wolf’ just begs for an accompanying faux-Werewolf movie video.”
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Bonus Track
17. Voxtrot “Wrecking Force”
from Raised by Wolves
Because, really, their two EPs make one hell of a full-length
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