Part 2

Here's some more albums I liked this year:

This Is My Fist! - A History of Rats
I really liked This Is My Fist's older EPs but hadn't been keeping up with them for quite a while. When some friends came into town in June, a TIMF show happened to coincide with their visit, so we all went, and after seeing them play I remembered how much I liked them. Overall, it's pretty much the same sincerity and passion we've come to expect from your archetypical East Bay/Drunk Midwest/No Idea-type band. Timely lyrics about the country's current paranoid political climate, and of course the same sort of stuff we've heard before about friendships, religion, life and such. Basically, the same type of stuff that all these sorts of bands write about. The thing is, TIMF pulls it off a lot better than most, putting them up there with bands like Crimpshrine, Jawbreaker and early Alkaline Trio.


Toys That Kill - Shanked!
I wrote an e-mail to Todd from Toys That Kill once telling him that I loved his band because they were totally obnoxious. I don't know if he took that as a compliment, but I think it's one of the nicest things you could say about them. Toys That Kill is THE band that I think embodies punk rock to the core: they're obnoxious, they're snotty, their songs are simple, BUT, their songs are well thought out, witty, intelligent, incisive, AND, I say this considering the fact that Shanked! was a bit of a disappointment to me after the genius of their last album Control The Sun. But, really, who am I to complain? That'd be like having to settle for copying off of Stephen Hawking's homework because Albert Einstein was absent from class.

Keyboard
I will admit to some bias in counting Keyboard's record as one of my favorites from 2006. Having been able to tour with him gave me the opportunity to see him perform day after day, busting out, improvising, and creating new hits nonstop, I came to truly understand the genius mind of Keyboard. His songs are total heartbreakers and total heart-propper-uppers cleverly disguised as innocuous, yet brilliantly composed, pop music. To compare him to Wesley Willis just because he's a dude with a keyboard doesn't do him justice. The way he manipulates the keyboard live, and the killer pop hooks he milks from it are more than Wesley Willis ever came close to. Having written all this, I'd actually have to say that Keyboard's album actually pales in comparison to the live experience, so I'm really not biased, am I? There's so many hit jams missing from the album, and so much energy and charisma that can only be witnessed from him in concert. Having said this, Keyboard's album is still undeniably sweet, inspirational, funny and touching, so you suckers best get it!!!

Best of 2006 pt. 1

I've been slowly coming to the realization that I'm extremely out of touch with the music scene, despite the fact that I love music so much and it's practically my life. It's a weird feeling. So, if this here opinion still matters to you at all, here's the first part of my best of 2006 list!


Rx Bandits - ... And the Battle Begun

I fell in love with Progress right around the time that the ska scene was really dying. The Rx Bandits seemed like they were developing alongside my tastes. When ska was really popular and I listened to quite a few sub-par ska bands, Rx Bandits were one of the worst! When ska kids started to move on to harder punk and emo, Rx Bandits introduced more passionate and technical elements to their repertoire, and they suddenly seemed like the only good ska band left. A few years later, around the time of The Resignation's release, emo and punk were having their lifeblood drained from them by soulless emo-metal mascarading as progressive and genuine music. The Resignation was soulful, honest, and desperate, and the lyrics touched on the truly menacing nature of George Bush's regime, personal convictions, and all sorts of good stuff. Everytime I saw some moron at an Rx Bandits show wearing a Finch shirt, or something along those lines, I had to wonder if they found the same redeeming qualities in RxB's music as I did, or if they just liked them because the Drive-Thru hype machine had gotten to them.

By the time ...And the Battle Begun was finally released, I had probably seen Rx Bandits in concert a dozen times, and my love for them had inexplicably waned through no fault of their own. Boy, was I stupid. I listened to the album twice and felt unimpressed. 4 months went by, bringing me up to 2 weeks ago, when I gave it another shot and suddenly realized that RxB had just made their best album. More soulful, more honest, still desperate, and also more mature too. The music remains very technical without flirting with metal as much as The Resignation's detractors would say, and incredible pop hooks can be found in every song, between the improvisation and noodling.


Nikaido Kazumi - Nikaido Kazumi no Album
I saw her perform in San Francisco about 3 years ago and wasn't too into her music. It was just her and a guitar, and her singing was off the wall, and her songs dissonant and meandering. The highlight of her set was when she sang and scatted as if her voice was a trumpet.


Fast-forward to August, 2006, and I'm in Tokyo at the Kakubarhythm office. My friend Tezuka had her new record in his hands, freshly released by Kakubarhythm, but I didn't pay any mind to it because I remembered how little I liked her live show. Fast-forward again to November, 2006, and I stumble upon some information online that Sakerock performed as her backing band on the record!!! I LOVE SAKEROCK!!! I checked out the 2 song single and the title track, "Lover's Rock", was graceful and sweet. The B-side, "Ittemo Tattemo Irarenai wa", was catchy as heck, AND it turned out to be a version of a song I'd previously heard performed by Illreme on the "Minna Daisuki Katamari Damacy" soundtrack. I don't know the exact relation between the versions, but it's definitely the same song.


Her full-length is quite a bit more ambient and less organic than the single, but Nikaido Kazumi's Bjork-like warble of a voice is very melodic and aptly accompanied by the slow-building accompaniments of her music. I wonder what I'd think of her were I to see her again...

You can watch her video for "Lover's Rock" here!!!!

More to come in the weeks/days/nanoseconds that follow. Hardy har har!!!