MY TOP 10 OF 2006

1. Gnarls Barkley – St. Elsewhere
2. Ghostface – Fishscale
3. Clipse – Hell Hath No Fury. Maybe I'm ranking this so high because it just came out and I'm loving it at the moment, but the combination of the Neptunes' minimal beats and Pusha & Malice's hard, cold rhymes makes for one of the best, darkest rap albums since Cuban Linx.
4. Roots – Game Theory
5. Arctic Monkeys – Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not
6. Outkast – Idlewild soundtrack. I haven't seen this on many people's lists, and certainly it was a disappointment after Kast's amazing winning streak that peaked with Speakerboxxx/The Love Below. But I continue to listen to the record, from start to finish, and enjoy it more and more. Judged on its own merits, it's an excellent release.
7. Lupe Fiasco – Food & Liquor
8. Amy Winehouse – Back to Black. Another one I'm loving at the moment. This record is so accessible, your grandmother would love it (except for all the sex & drug references). The music sounds like classic Motown -- it was produced by Salaam Remi and Mark Ronson, both in top form in a retro style -- and Winehouse is hugely appealing.
9. Beck – The Information
10. Easy Star All-Stars – Radiodread

* Haven’t heard Nas' Hip-Hop Is Dead yet.

“Though she isn’t in my top 10, still she is on my chart” (Gregory Isaacs):
Bob Dylan – Modern Times
Jay-Z – Kingdome Come
Lily Allen – Alright, Still
John Legend – Once Again
Dave Chappelle’s Block Party soundtrack
Flaming Lips – At War With the Mystics
Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Show Your Bones
Cat Power – The Greatest
Prince – 3121
Dudley Perkins – Expressions (2012 AU)

One of the most exciting musical realizations I had this year was that there is a good amount of interesting retro, neo-funk/soul type shit out there, on labels like Brooklyn’s Daptone Records (home of the incomparable Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, as well as the Budos Band and others), and most of all, on SF’s long-standing Ubiquity.

This year alone, Ubiquity put out some incredible releases in this vein, including NOMO’s New Tones, Quantic’s An Announcement to Answer, and Spanky Wilson & The Quantic Soul Orchestra’s I’m Thankful. (I also enjoyed Owusu & Hannibal’s Living With... and Radio Citizen’s Berlin Serengeti.) What a year for Ubiquity! Virtually everything they put out is worth hearing. They are also home to the obscure but brilliant Darondo, who has been touted by Giles Peterson, Oliver Wang, and others; this year the label collected and rereleased his early 70s work as Let My People Go and the Legs EP.

Last but not least, speaking of Oliver Wang, his must-read Soul Sides blog hipped me to the fantastic Nicole Willis & The Soul Investigators’ Keep Reachin’ Up.

Top 5 Reissues:
1.) Aretha Franklin – Live at the Fillmore West
2.) Kashmere Stage Band – Texas Thunder Soul, 1968-1974
3.) Massive Attack – Collected
4.) Good God! A Gospel Funk Compilation
5.) Jamaica to Toronto: Soul, Funk and Reggae 1967-1974

Favorite Mixtape:
Sean J Period – The Best of the Roots. If J Period's name sounds familiar, it's probably because the Brooklynite produced some classic NYC hip-hop in the late 90's. (He even had a few joints on the Blackstar album.) These days, I'm loving the guy's mixtapes. Very creative. He also did a Best of Lauryn Hill that showcased her MC skills and reminded me how nice she used to be on the mic. No one needed to remind me of Black Thought's skills but, given Thought's shadowy demeanor and low profile (?uest is really the leader of the group), I like how J Period focuses on him rather than the band. The CD should really be called The Best of Black Thought. The first few tracks are epic: Thought spitting over Jay-Z's "PSA," which segues into a Malcolm X speech, and then into the Beatles' "Come Together"!

20 Favorite Songs:
* I tried to avoid the super-obvious here. Of course, I love “Crazy” and “Kick Push” as much as everyone else.

Meet Me in the City -- Black Keys (from Chulahoma EP)
High and Dry – Pete Kuzma feat. Bilal (from Exit Music: Songs for Radio Heads)
Just – Mark Ronson feat. Alex Greenwald (from Exit Music: Songs for Radio Heads)
These Streets – Tanya Stephens (from Rebelution)
Game Theory – Roots (from Game Theory)
A Certain Romance – Arctic Monkeys (from Whatever You Say I Am…)
Ghetto Story – Cham (from Ghetto Story)
Baby Tonight – Bitty McLean (from Reggae Gold 2006)
Youths Dem Cold -- Richie Spice (from Reggae Gold 2006)
Then and Now – Masta Killa feat. his son & nephews (from Made in Brooklyn)
Coffee Cold – Oh No feat. Fergus Macroy (from Exodus from Unheard Rhythms)
Nightmares – Clipse feat. Bilal (from Hell Hath No Fury)
Smile – Lily Allen (from Alright, Still). From the first time I heard this, I couldn’t help loving it. That cute girly British voice singing, “When you first left me, I was wanting more, but you were fucking that girl next door.” LOL.
Vein of Stars – Flaming Lips (from At War With the Mystics)
Phenomena – Yeah Yeah Yeahs (from Show Your Bones)
Monkey Suite – Madvillain (from Chrome Children)
What Now – Aloe Blacc (from Chrome Children)
Heaven – John Legend (from Once Again)
What’s Happening, Brother? – Dirty Dozen Brass Band feat. Bettye Lavette (from What’s Goin’ On)
Who Cares? -- Gnarls Barkley (from St. Elsewhere)

RIP: Billy Preston, J Dilla, Joseph Hill of the classic reggae group Culture, Arthur Lee of Love, Desmond Dekker, Syd Barrett, three (!) seminal Atlantic Records figures (Ahmet Ertegun, Arif Mardin, and Ruth Brown), Lou Rawls, Gerald LeVert, Wilson Pickett, Ali Farka Toure, Professor X of X-Clan

Happy New Year, everyone. Here's to lots more tasty biscuits next year. Thanks for reading in 06. Hope you've enjoyed.