Jump to content
Please note: You can easily log in to MPN using your Facebook account!

Favorite new album of 2006


Mark Zeger

Recommended Posts

I didn't I buy that many new releases this year so this is a good opportunity to hear about things I may have missed and pick up some new music.

 

One certainly (but not surprisingly) stands out for me: "Metheny/Mehldau". It's been in or near my CD player for the past 3 months. I wish there were 1 or 2 more tracks with the quartet, or maybe enough recorded material for a second release. Please, sirs, may I have some more?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 40
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Medeski Martin Scofield & Wood, their new CD - not better than "A Go Go" but still very good

Dj Logic "Zen of Logic"

Dirty Dozen Brass Band "What's going on"

Be grateful for what you've got - a Nord, a laptop and two hands
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm sure there is some good stuff out there. I often find myself listening to what I already have. I rarely purchase anything new and to be honest most of the new stuff I listen to comes from people like us in these type of forums.

 

My girlfriend is into the mainstream music of today and I'm forced to listen to alot of it when she's driving. Very little of it even gets my attention. I can honestly say I am extremely impressed by the level of musicianship we have right here in this forum and the quality of songs being written.

Begin the day with a friendly voice A companion, unobtrusive

- Rush

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm with you guys with Metheny/Mehldau and Tiki. Also, I really liked Industrial Zen. ***** Another cd that was recorded in the '90's, but was never released until 10/2006 is Jeremy Lubbock's " Awakening". He personally sent me a copy earlier this year and I'll always treasure it and the gesture. What a gentleman and a fantastic composer. Anyway...it's with LSO and it's just beautiful.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

BT's "This Binary Universe". Not your usual House/Hip-hop electronic stuff. It's very electronic, but relies heavily on a Classical compositional style, and odd Jazz time signatures. No song on the album relies entirely on 4/4 time.

All the songs are really long, and not easy listening music. I find it inspiring to listen to just to hear what BT does with sound.

GIGO
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah, Industrial Zen by John McLaughlin - great record, I agree about the Metheney/Mehldau and Keane. Also, pianist Huw warren released a great CD of duets with bassist Peter Herbert. Steve Lawson releaseda new solo bass looping CD and though there's no keyboard again - The Red Hot Chilli Peppers' Stadium Arcadium is worth a spin (though they're better live). Sacred from Los Lonely Boys is decent too.

 

A good year, by recent standards particularly with the Weather Report Box Set and DVD!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Originally posted by Joe Tee:

I can't believe no one has mentioned Paris Hilton's debut album....pure genius :thu:

"Amazingly, that long-to-materialize album (it's hard to call it highly anticipated) turns out to be shockingly good -- and not just according to a grading curve for actors-turned-singers. After all, Paris was never an actress to begin with; she was a media creation who peddled the same image to a number of different formats, and it just so happens that her sexy, spoiled, shallow act is perfectly suited for bubblegum pop. Of course, it helps that she has a crack team of professionals supporting her on Paris, chief among them songwriter Kara DioGuardi and producer/co-writer Scott Storch" -- from the All Music Guide review.

 

I think the review is a bit optimistic, but if it's bad, it's nothing to do with her.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 5 weeks later...
Originally posted by linwood:

Another cd that was recorded in the '90's, but was never released until 10/2006 is Jeremy Lubbock's " Awakening". He personally sent me a copy earlier this year and I'll always treasure it and the gesture. What a gentleman and a fantastic composer.

Hi Linwood,

 

I was listening to the tracks on the "Songs" page of the Jeremy Lubbock site. I was wondering who did the vocal on "Love Still Grows."

 

Thanks in advance!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Didn't hear many new records from 2006. What I did hear and liked:

 

- Osvaldo Golijov/Atlanta SO: Ainadamar

- Jazz Big Band Graz: Joys and Desires: The Music of John Hollenbeck

- Dave Douglas: Meaning and Mystery

- Nels Cline: New Monastery

- The Roots: Game Theory

 

I'm still waiting to lay ears on the new Ornette Coleman, and I missed out on Donny McCaslin's two records from last year, one of which, Soar (produced by David Binney) sounded really amazing.

 

David

My Site

Nord Electro 5D, Novation Launchkey 61, Logic Pro X, Mainstage 3, lots of plugins, fingers, pencil, paper.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I agree that "Falling In Between" by Toto was superb. Just before the new year I got Johnny Lang's new CD, and it's quite good. Not what you'd expect from a blues guy. Had a lot of Gospel influence, and a very large nod to Stevie Wonder.

 

I'm surprised that no one's mentioned "Morph the Cat". That album's still in my main playlist.

"In the beginning, Adam had the blues, 'cause he was lonesome.

So God helped him and created woman.

 

Now everybody's got the blues."

 

Willie Dixon

 

 

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There's little doubt that it gets harder to force myself to buy new music each year.

 

A few years back was a banner season for breakouts that I actually enjoyed, (Norah Jones, Vanessa Carlton, Jason Mraz). And though I've been actively seeking something to get excited about for the past several months, I haven't found it yet.

 

I got "Captain and the Kid", and while it was nice to hear Elton swerve back toward his bluesology roots a bit - overall, I was disappointed with the final product. There wasn't anything on the sequel that I enjoyed half as much as "Better Off Dead" from the original.

 

I'm wondering if anyone has given KT Tunstall or Regina Spectre a listen.

 

It's kinda disappointing to try and come up with modern pop pianists and have to wonder if Five for Fighting or Daniel Powter might be the 'best' offerings around.

 

I think pop pianist history, and I come up with:

 

Fats/Chubby

Ray Charles

Stevie Wonder

Elton John/ Billy Joel

Keith Emerson

 

(long gap where disco killed everything)

 

(wave of synth pop hits with maybe Herbie Hancock emerging as a real talent - though he got expunged from the pop charts in short order)

 

Bruce Hornsby

 

(???)

 

Maybe I'm overstating the case, and I'm certain I'm forgetting some worthy pianist/keyboardists from the 90s, which I mostly skipped from a listening standpoint -- but really, in the last 10 years, has ANYONE emerged as even a default "best pop pianist"?

 

(I think I will go and pick up the Toto offering, based on the comments here, though).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The most startlingly good new release I heard in '06 (well it was released in '05)...

 

Was The Mysterious Production of Eggs by Andrew Bird.

 

A Ruinouslygood album for me, personally, 'cause it's like hearing something you always felt as your own potential realized to an extent you know yourself to be incapable of. Tough when that happens, huh?

 

Mark Zeger, check out that album. I think you'll dig it.

Check out the Sweet Clementines CD at bandcamp
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sandy, you're overlooking Joe Jackson, Randy Newman, Tom Waits, and in the last ten-fifteen years, Tori Amos and Ben Folds.

 

I've heard a little of KT Tunstall and I like what I've heard. The lead single (whatever it was called) was pretty catchy. My friends who are into Tori Amos and Kate Bush swear by Regina Spektor, whatever that says.

 

David

My Site

Nord Electro 5D, Novation Launchkey 61, Logic Pro X, Mainstage 3, lots of plugins, fingers, pencil, paper.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...