Here's
some of our favourite stuff from the year in pop that will be forever known as,
er, '2006'...Real PD: stuff we liked in 2006
Here's
some of our favourite stuff from the year in pop that will be forever known as,
er, '2006'...
Alistair
I believe in the pop single! May it live for ever. So I've gone for singles rather than album tracks in my list...
1. Accident and Emergency - Patrick Wolf
What a cracking song this is. Out of tune children's choirs pretending to be ambulances. That's what the world needs more of. He looks fantastic, and simultaneously ridiculous as well. Which always bodes very well in pop.
2. U & Me - Cassie
This is a deliciously spooky track. Liked 'Long Way to Go' very much as well.
3. I Write Sins Not Tragedies - Panic at the Disco
Who'd have thought 'pooooiiise and rationalideee' would make such a catchy hookline? Nice make-up too.
4. America - Razorlight
He pulls off that trick of writing something which seems have a universal meaning but where when you sit down to think about it, you don't literally know what he's going on about. He understands how to posit an intelligent vocal right at the heart of the song, rather than just coasting over the top of some chords. (You listening, Snow Patrol, Coldplay et al?) And, best of all, his oh-oh-ohs sound uncannily like Boy George.
5. Pink Champagne - Venus Hum
They're a genius electronic pop band and this was a great comeback song. If I wasn't already in the best electropop band in the world I would want to be in Venus Hum. Why aren't they absolutely huge?
6. Once and Never Again - The Long Blondes
Nineteen, you're only nineteen... you don't need a boyfriend. Great lyrics. And the sleeve has a painting of Dusty Springfield talking to Ian Curtis. At least I think that's what it's supposed to be.
7. A Lady of a Certain Age - The Divine Comedy
Beautiful. Neil Hannon has written some damn fine songs but this is his best ever I think. As a subject for a pop song, and a sympathetic one at that, a high society lady in the autumn of her years is an audacious choice. I defy anyone with a beating heart to get to the end of this without shedding a tear...
8. MJB Da MVP - Mary J Blige
Mary J is in the spot tonight. Hooray! Definitely one of my favourite voices. (Yes, despite that awful U2 cover she did.) And this astonishingly detailed piece of self-hagiography/ career retrospective took eleven (that's eleven!) people to write. Which is the sort of thing that makes it even more preposterously ace, in my book.
9. Don't Wait - Dashboard Confessional
This is worth getting for the introduction alone. Mr Carraba delivers his usual full-on intensity but tacks on a job lot of keening gossamer ah-ah-ah's at the start as well. Gorgeous.
10. Bones - The Killers
Being a sleeves kinda guy, I found this one a bit disturbing as it seemed to have a goat in a plastic bag on the front, which can't be right. But once you get beyond the health and safety issues, this is such an exuberant and ecstatic song that it cannot be faulted. And it's absolutely drenched in brass, which always does it for me.
Mark
Stuff I liked in 2006 by Mark Cahill of Real PD (aged 36 1/3)
True Skool - Coldcut feat. Roots Manuva
Instantly catchy but stands up to (many) repeated listens though admittedly all of them were my choice, ie it was played slightly less on the radio than James Morrison. My favourite bit (I don’t know where it is in minutes and seconds – listen to the whole thing!) is when the esteemed guest vocalist has a stab at warbling along to the bhangra sample.
Off My Rocker At The Art School Bop (Richard X version) - Luke Haines
Shut your eyes and it’s not hard to imagine this is Real PD on default electro-rock-goes-to-the-disco mode which surely is praise enough indeed. The chorus riff makes you want to grab the nearest guitar you can find too. A word of warning: the album, while good, is nothing like this and the album version without Richard X is a little bit lumpy.
Rehab/Back To Black album - Amy Winehouse
There’s little to say about Amy that hasn’t recently already been said. What is unusual these days when the talented are forced at the kind suggestion of their record company to collaborate with established hitmakers in order to make them sound duller is that she wrote it all on her own. And I laughed out loud within 5 seconds of the opening. The album is my favourite of the year too.
Standing In The Way Of Control - The Gossip
This wasn’t a hit?! The lesson here again like Amy Whitehouse is that you don’t need to necessarily break new musical ground to create a classic, you just need to do it better than anyone ever before in that genre. An enormous voice clearly helps. Better than House Of Jealous Lovers even (particularly the singing).
Consolation Prizes - Phoenix
Perfect, breezy pop like a cool version of The Housemartins. The sound of my summer.
You Came 2007 - Kim Wilde
Not a remix, actually a rerecording in the vein of er, Kelly Clarkson’s Since U Been Gone to announce her new material available to buy in the shops (in Germany). Nonetheless, this gave me as much enjoyment as anything (music-wise) all year. Her energy gives me power. I don’t know why, it just does.
Silent Shout (single/album) - The Knife
A swirling vortex of electronica sucking you into an alternate plane of existence where siblings whisper, wail and chant about sharing their mother’s health and otherness is the norm. That sort of thing.
On The Radio - The Concretes
A bit like The Carpenters meets early Cardigans on Red Bull and sleeping pills at the same time. Somewhat better at expressing nostalgia for a time we can’t remember experiencing than Sandi Thom. Probably didn’t get played on the radio very much either. Then The Concretes split up and singer Victoria Bergsman immediately popped up for a duet on…
Young Folks - Peter Bjorn And John
When you hear something so simple, yet fresh and unique as this you do feel young again. We weren’t joking in ‘I Heart Pop!justice’; when every bunch of skinny white boys clutching guitars declared the amazing new thing sound like you’ve heard it all before over the last 25 years that does make you feel old.
Dress Code - Real PD
I’m not saying this is one of the best tracks of the year, just that it’s what I enjoyed - as much at the writing and recording stage as listening to it afterwards. On the other hand that ‘I just love making music’ doesn’t wash with me – unless you’re incredibly talented or have something interesting, new and different to say then why bother? Sadly this doesn’t stop the deluded, the whores who are really more children’s entertainers than pop stars and people who must know they are shit but don’t care anyway because shit sells.
(Actually that would be a good title for a song)
Again in no particular order I loved most of Lily Allen’s album, Robyn’s Rakamonie ep, Lil’ Chris, Pet Shop Boys, Hot Chip, Hidden Cameras, a gorgeous surprise from Richard Butler, about half of Alistair’s top 10 and lots, lots more! Indeed it was a very bizarre year when Razorlight had 2 great singles, Snow Patrol 1 very good one (the one that didn’t go ‘chug-chug-chug’ – not Chasing Cars then) as did even Embrace.
My favourite films of the year were:
Children Of Men
Volver
Hidden
Disappointments (I’ll stick to music or where do you draw the line?):
Both Lorraine and The Modern failed to get an electo pop album out by not sounding enough like Keane and getting banned from the charts for multiple downloading respectively.
I-can-see-why-it’s-clever-and-can-feel-the-talent-but-it’s-just-not-enjoyable:
Music
Joanna Newsom – Ys. Why indeed. I liked the song about a sprout but this is one to get out and dust down once a year at most to see if it accidentally got easier to listen to.
Film
Brick. You just get attuned to the lingo by the time it stops and yet you strangely don’t want to watch it again immediately. Or ever actually.