It's that time of year, everyone is publishing endless lists of what their favourite this or that was this year... well, here at Socialism Towers we aren't any different - we got a load of people who've worked for the rag over the last issue or two to scribble down their favourite records of 2006 (and, in a few cases, their least favourite). So here then, are the Socialism Records Of The Year - good to see there is so much disagreement among our contributors. Also, good to see CSS featuring so many times - in no way did our bullying tactics influence opinion...
James Oldham
Singles:
1. Grinderman “No Pussy Blues” (well, it’s on myspace already)
2. The View “Wasted Little DJ’s”
3. These New Puritans “Pluvial” EP
Albums:
1. Yeah Yeah Yeah’s “Show Your Bones”
2. Cat Power “The Greatest”
3. Jenny Lewis “Rabbit Fur Coat”
4. Midlake “The Trails Of Van Occupather”
Nicky Wire
Best Singles:
Take That "Patience"
My Chemical Romance "The Black Parade"
Kasabian "Empire"
Albums:
Various Artists “CD86”
Mogwai “Mr Beast”
And the worst…
Bob Dylan “Modern Times
The Raconteurs “Broken Toy Soldiers”
Arctic Monkeys “When I Am Cleaning Windows (ee by gum)”
Jon Savage
Singles:
The Raconteurs “Steady As She Goes”
Gnarls Barkley “Crazy”
Albums:
Kompakt “Total 7” compilation
Six Organs Of Admittance “Sun Awakens”
Trentemoller “The Last Resort”
Arctic Monkeys “Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not”
Brightblack Morning Light “Brightblack Morning Light”
albums:
1. Hot Chip "The Warning"
2. Midlake "The Trials Of Van Occupanther"
3. Joanna Newsom "Ys"
4. Sibylle Baier "Colour Green"
5. Studio"West Coast"
songs (in no order and most of them are not singles):
Dr Dog "Ain't It Strange"
Tilly And The Wall "Lost Girls"
Midlake "Van Occupanther"
Loney Dear "The City, The Airport"
Yo La Tengo "Mr Tough"
Sibylle Baier "Tonight"
Hot Chip "Look After Me"
Albert Hammond Jr "Scared"
CFTPA "Scattered Pearls"
Andy Capper
Albums:
1. Clipse “Hell Hath No Fury”
2. Fucked Up “Hidden World”
3. The La’s “Live At The BBC”
Marc Jones
Singles:
Gruff Rhys “Candylion”
Peter, Bjorn & John “Young Folks”
Primal Scream “Country Girl”
Muse “Supermassive Black Hole”
The Raconteurs “Steady As She Goes”
Albums:
Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan “Ballad Of The Broken Seas”
Nicky Wire “I Killed The Zeitgeist”
Kasabian “Empire”
Yeah Yeah Yeahs “Show Your Bones”
Ted Kessler
Singles:
Gnarls Barkley “Crazy”
Yeah Yeah Yeahs “Gold Lion”
Lupe Fiasco “Kick, Push”
Albums:
Burial “Burial”
TV On The Radio “Return To Cookie Mountain”
Ghostface “Fishscale (dead heat with Midlake “The Trials Of Van Occupanther”)
Robin Turner
Albums (no particular order)
CSS “CSS”
Richard James “The Seven Sleepers Den”
The Vines “Vision Valley” (most underrated album of the year!!!)
Nicky Wire “I Killed the Zeitgeist”
Juana Molina “Son”
Singles:
CSS “Alaha”
Robyn “Cobrastyle”
The Good, The Bad & The Queen “Herculean” (took the best part of 20 years but finally I like a record that Damon Albarn has made)
Spank Rock “Bump”
Delia Gonzalez “Relevee (Carl Craig mix)”
anything by The Meatboys
Andres Lokko
Albums:
1. Studio “West Coast”
2. Ghostface Killah “Fishscale”
3. Scritti Politti “White Bread Black Beer”
4. Jaheim “Ghetto Classics”
5. Josef K “Entomology”
Singles:
1. LCD Soundsystem “45:33”
2. CSS “Let’s Make Love And Listen To Death From Above”
3. Ne-Yo “So Sick”
4. Shakira & Wyclef “Hip’s Don’t Lie”
Paul Moody
Best records…
The Streets with Pete Doherty “Prangin’ Out” & Keane “Is It Any Wonder” (both proof positive that the drugs DO work)
Muse “Supermassive Black Hole”
Wolfmother “Earth’s Rotation Around The Sun”
CSS “Let’s Make Love And Listen To Death From Above”
Midlake “Roscoe”
The Good The Bad & The Queen “Herculean”
Towers Of London “Air Guitar”
…and the worst:
Gnarls Berkley “Crazy” (music for the closet Moby fan)
Amy Winebar “Rehab” (“I say No No No”)
Anything by Hot Chip (public school boys making dance music – nein danke!)
Biddy Maroney (www.fantazmagloria.com)
Albums
1. Okkervill River “Overboard and Down”
2. James Dean Bradfield “The Great Western”
3. Belles Will Ring “The Coldest Heart”
4. Youth Group “Casino Twilight Dogs”
5. Bloody Meridian “Kick Up The Dust”
Andy Kelly
Albums
1. Jarvis “Jarvis”
2. Billy Thorpe and the Aztecs - Live At Sunbury (Reissue) (Obviously)
3. The Vines - Vision Valley
Singles
1. Jarvis “Cunts Are Still Running The World” (Not really a single, but seriously, come on!)
2. You Am I “It Ain't Funny How We Don't Talk Any More”
3. Gob Bluth and Franklin “It Ain't Easy Being White”
Nick Dewey
Albums:
M Ward “Post-War”
Cat Power "The Greatest"
The Vines “Vision Valley”
CSS "CSS"
Singles:
Midlake "Roscoe"
El Perro Del Mar "God Knows (You've Gotta Give To Get)”
Muse {"Knights Of Cydonia"
