2006 Tunes

A random list of a few of the heavily rotated tunes I bought in 2006...

Drive-by Truckers - A Blessing and A Curse­ – Time and time again, DBT consistently deliver southern rock-n-roll with great, down on your luck lyrics. They deviate a bit with this one in sound but it still holds true to porch drinking (Coors Lite, preferably) on a warm summer evenings in Dixieland.

John Mayer - Continuum - Great songwriting, picking and white boy pipes. I had written this guy off after Heavier Things. Props to Gene for playing "Stop This Train" during his west coast tour.

Wood Brothers - Ways Not To Loose – Great Sunday morning listening with the NYTimes. Interesting combo of blues, jazz and country toped with soft lyrics.

Beirut - The Gulag Orkestar – Cool melodic Eastern European beats and arrangements. It's even sweeter knowing that it comes from a 19-year-old from Albuquerque

Gomez - How We Operate – Not a great album as a whole but the first four tracks show what these guys are capable of…gritty vocals, complex layers of folk and pop, using different instruments and the unmistakable UK sound.

Matt Pond PA - Several Arrows Later – This was released late in '05 but I love the somewhat dark, rocking pop melodies and confessional lyrics.

Damian Marley – Welcome to Jamrock – Again, late ‘05 release (last one I swear) but have to mention it. Just a right mix of tight Jamaican grooves combined with R&B and hip-hop. After this a few times, I found myself spinning Burning Spear, Marcus Garvey…”do right, do right, do right”. Solid gold mon!

Bob Dylan - Modern Times – The master was hit by some fresh wind. To me, this album sounds new and is a great listen as a result.

Brett Dennen – So Much More – Combine the best parts of John Mayer and Jack Johnson and you have Brett Dennen. Very catchy album with a lot of positive energy. I hear he is great in concert and I definitely need to check out his first disc.

I have to mention the first two tracks of Sonic Youth Rather Ripped kicks some butt and immediately brings me back to my high school days and MTV's “120 minutes”.

Because of the move, I feel it was slow on the music front this year. Send any and all suggestions my way.

What we play is life - Louis Armstrong (1900 - 1971)