So far, not bad

I was talking to a (particularly cynical) friend the other day who said, "NO good records have come out this year. None, except the new King Khan". I don't think it's THAT good, but it made me wonder about what I think the best records of 2006 are...so far. It's true that I have yet to find an LCD Soundsystem or an MIA to freak out about, but what I have below are some records I simply can't stop listening to. I usually would break this out per genre, but I don't feel like it. Here's 5 records that completely slay...a single, a DJ mix, a couple full records...whatever, jes'deal.

In no order, the best records of 2006 so far ARE:

Spank Rock: Yo Yo Yo Yo
I heart Baltimore. This is the best shit outta the northeast since Cex. There's something about the unabashed nerdyness mixed with totaly pervo lyrics that appeal to me; there's nothing more rad than the line, "behind my game boy/I got game, girl". I recently read an interview with MC Spank Rock himself, and he was telling stories about booty shake contests they used to hold in the YMCA to jams he and XXXchange would kick off their laptops. I imagine that this is the music they did it to. hot hot hotter.




Part Chimp: I Am Come
Technically this came out in the UK in 2005, but it's been released domestically on the label that can do no wrong, Monitor Records. Without repeating every fucking music journalist on earth, this really does sound like Mogwai (a member of which produced this bitchin' slice of wax) and Lightning Bolt hitting the bong with David Yow of Jesus Lizard. It's thick and mean and loud as fuck. I love it. War Machine might be the song of the year. Maybe. Listen, opine. Please.




Justice : Waters of Nazareth pt.2
Holy living crap. Justice continues to completely fucking destroy all that is holy and awesome in the world of glitched out techno and house. There's something...foreign, I think, to the French about people like DJ Funk, which is why they included him on this 12". "B-b-bbbb-bbbounce dat aa-aaa-aaassss" is something that just isn't in the average Parisian club vocabulary. Don't believe me? Watch the crowd react to his bomb being dropped. They just don't get it.




Booka Shade : Movements
Records like this make me nervous. It makes me think that everything I know about a genre is about to collapse around me, making me feel like a total noob when I talk to people. I'll be like, "man, that new Booka Shade is sick", and people will say, "dude, that's SO 2005." This is an exciting departure from pretty much EVERYTHING that's coming out right now - and proof positive that dance music is finally moving past its revisionism and post-disco obessions. I'll say right now that I'm harly a fan of trance, but I am LOVING the tendency of NEW dancefloor techno to embrace the driving, throbbing "raver-posi whoop whoop" of the genre, and that people like Tiga, Richie Hawtin & now, Booka Shade are pushing that sound to the edge. As MC Paul Barman would say, they push the envelope so hard it says "excuse me!".




Four Tet : DJ Kicks
If you know me, or listen to my radio show, you should know that I have a mild obsession with Mr. Kieran Hebden. He is seriously MIDAS, and his latest contribution to the DJ Kicks series is no exception whatsoever. Three insane highlights of this record: ANIMAL COLLECTIVE? what the fuck. So Solid Crew mashed into Akufen's Psychometry?!? Insane. His new track "Pockets" makes it's debut on here, in all its 4/4 glory, a definite departure from his normal broken-beat sound. There is his usual free jazz bits and glitchy bits and world-beat bits (The Shona People of Rhodesia make a contribution)...all packaged into a beautiful, chaotic bit of DJ brilliance. DJ Kicks has made the first 15 minutes of the mix available here, including the ridiculously fat bass of Syclops. Dig it!