Friday, December 08, 2006

Random music awards (2006: the year in music)

This entry will serve as my 2006 year in review for music because I simply won't be able to compete with the expansive review Gazebo can offer. (I can give a pretty thorough one for movies, however.)

Following Gazebo's lead, here are 10 miscellaneous music awards for 2006:


Best discovery of an old album: Garbage, Beautiful Garbage. This album has some songs which are absolutely fantastic: "Cherry Lips", "Androgyny", "Cup of Coffee". (I might still technically be missing one or two songs from this CD, so I should possibly go buy the damn thing.)

Best "duo" about homosexuality: Pet Shop Boys and Elton John, "In Private". (The Pet Shop Boys have shared this award multiple times before.)

Best song on a new Loreena McKennitt album: "Caravanserai" from An Ancient Muse. (I only just got this album, so my opinion is subject to change.)

Best cover [English]: Celtic Woman, "Orinoco Flow" (covering Enya). (Actually, this probably wins for best new song of the year.)

Best cover [Spanish]: L-Kan, "Ama y Esclavo" (covering "Master and Servant" by Depeche Mode). (This technically came out in 2004, but I first heard it this year.)

Best band dedicated to bossa nova covers of new wave and punk songs: Nouvelle Vague. (By the way, check out the play on words in the band's name, style, and choice of material to cover.) I downloaded a bunch of their stuff and while I haven't listened to all of it yet, let me particularly recommend their covers of "Love Will Tear Us Apart" and "Heart of Glass".

Madonna Memoral Award for most ornery musician (other than Madonna): The lead singer of Echo & the Bunnymen. Don't request him to sing "People are Strange".

Best proposed misuse of a song: Me, for the proposal to play "Freebird" at all Oxford graduation ceremonies.

Best song performed live: Depeche Mode, for their stripped-down rendition of "Shake the Disease"

Most appropriate concert for Hollywood: Pet Shop Boys, on their "Fundamental" tour. (The concert was also extremely good.)

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I wanted to award a Best Cover, but I couldn't think of one I liked enough to deserve it. I'll probably find one around January. :)

Mason said...

The covers I mentioned are all fantastic.

What cover (or selection thereof) do you anticipate finding in January?

On a completely separate note, is there any chance there will be a Gazebo sighting in So Cal during the holiday season? (I still haven't found out whether I am getting funding for the conference I want to attend in Berkeley in January.)

Anonymous said...

Well, it's not that I'm anticipating something in particular; just the expectation that I'll find the Best Cover of 2006 once it's too late to put it on my list.

I'd like to make a trip to LA, but it won't be before January. I'll probably try to take the first convenient weekend, but I don't yet know which one that will be. (The first weekend in January is a candidate.)

Mason said...

For what it's worth, I'm going to vote for a different weekend, as I will be in New Orleans for a conference that weekend. (I leave on the 4th.)

Anonymous said...

Please do post on what you think of the new Loreena album when you have a fully formed opinion. I'd love to know.