Happy New Year to you all. I wasn’t planning on doing a 2006 best of, but when trying to wrap up the year quickly and move on, what could be better? Onwards:
- Best Album of 2006 – This is tricky as I bought far more albums from prior years than albums actually from 2006. I will probably go for “Mcluskyisms”, the retrospective by now defunct Welsh band, Mclusky. Featuring 3 CDs (don’t go for the one disc version) of mad, great rock, you can’t pass it up. I suspect had I gotten the Yourcodenameis:milo collaboration album, “Print Is Dead, Vol. 1”, earlier then it might have stood a chance. If you ignore the awful collaboration with Lethal Bizzle, the rest seems to be gold.
- Best New Band – This is the best band I heard last year and easily goes to Kinesis. Sadly, they have split but left a masterpiece in “You Are Being Lied To”; sounding like the rock album the Smashing Pumpkins never quite managed. Got their earlier album for Christmas (thanks, Jen!) and that is also sounding pretty good, need a few more listens though. Also quite liking what little I have heard of Piano Bar Fight. Reminds me of the more thoughtful Idlewild moments, with Morrisey like vocals (as distinct from lyrics).
- Worst Split – I can’t immediately think of any bands that I wished had made at least one more album. I would say Drive Like You Stole It, but they actually split in August 2005. I’m pretty sure I didn’t notice until Spring.
- Best Use of Michael Caine – Since William Fichtner went to TV this year (only really featuring in the woeful Ultraviolet), the best usage award is for Michael Caine: everyone’s favourite Michael Caine impersonator. This year he actually did some acting! While his character in The Prestige was decent enough, he was delightful in Children of Men as a playful hippie. Really good stuff there from Alfonso Cuaron.
- Best book I read this year – The sublime Catch 22, by Joseph Heller. While it’s now one of my favourite books, it was a bit of a non-event since it was the only book I read in 2006. Yes, that is an abysmal effort, and one I’ve already taken steps to rectify this year. It’s not that I wasn’t reading at all, just that it was mostly online: thousands of articles, covering technology (of course), neuroscience, cognition, perception, religion, economics (a growing interest), and lots of other bits and pieces.
Compare and contrast with the 2005 awards to realise the world is a very samey place. I will hopefully increase my post count in 2007, after a fairly dry 2006. That’s what we always say though.