Feature / Music
2006: A Year In Review

Quick links: Top 5 DVDs | Most Anticipated Albums of 2007 | Reasons The Fresh Prince was awesome | Top 5 Singles | Big Comebacks of 2006 | Top 5 Shows | Top 5 Things That Sucked | Top 5 Things That Ruled | Noteworthy Songs | Top Reissues | Reasons the BBC Is Killing UK Music | Top 5 Vinyl-Only Releases | Worst Cover Art | Band Tour Stories

• 108 - Creation. Sustenance. Destruction. (Equal Vision)

I never gave a 108 a chance before it was too late and they were gone. I could never get over the whole Krishna thing and wrote off anything 108 released as religious dogmatic bullshit. Boy, was I ever wrong. 108 is spiritual but angry about it. Their fists are packed full of hate not flowers and the attack you from all fronts. Orange robes and topknots aside, 108 created some the grooviest, heavy confrontational hardcore that ever existed in the 90's. The best thing is that they are back to shove it all back in your face again.

• Integrity - Those Who Fear Tomorrow: 15th Anniversary Edition. (Fractured Transmitter)

A decade and half has past us and these songs are still as brutal and menacing as ever. The Melnick brothers still have the meanest riffs. Dwid is still one of hardcore's craziest frontmen. And Chubby Fresh, well he'll make you want to keep on eye on your cashbox. Integrity is the most influential metalcore band of all time and this album proves why.

• Lifetime - Somewhere in the Swamps of Jersey (Jade Tree)

How could this not be my number one reissue of 2006? It's Lifetime and even though I own about 98% of these two discs on various formats, I still love hearing it all over again for the first time.

(Jason)

• Men's Recovery Project - The Very Best of Men's Recovery Project (5 Rue Christine)

Let's be honest, Background isn't that good of a record. Yeah, "Somewhere in the Swamps Of Jersey" rips and their version of "A New England" is flawless, but you really don't need two more copies of the first LP. Instead, spend your hard-earned/stolen cash on this gem: a career summation of the late, lamented Men's Recovery Project. This disc is a lot more representative than the vinyl discography Golden Triumph of the Naked Hostility, although you still have to track down a copy of that (now out-of-print) so you can hear "My Body is a Jerk" and other omissions. Get on the bandwagon now or pose forever. In ten years everyone will be jocking this band like they were The Velvet Underground of the mid-'90s punk wasteland. Or not. But the records will still be brain-numbing and awe-inspiring, like a radioactive statue of Thomas Jefferson. Bring a Geiger Counter.

(Jon)

• Botch - Unifying Themes Redux (Hydra Head)

Why reissue an album that's only four years old? Truthfully, I have no idea. There's nothing new. Nothing added. It's the exact same collection of rarities, 7-inches and full live set that was released on Excursion Records in 2002. The thing is, it was a great album then, and it's a great album now regardless of how redundant this re-release is. For a lot of you I know I'm preaching to the choir, but for those less familiar, get this album. Get everything from the band that you can, including the re-release of American Nervoso which will also see a re-release in the not-too-distant future, thanks to those glorious bastards at Hydra Head Records.

• Pavement - Wowee Zowee: Sordid Sentinels Edition (Matador)

There are not a lot of bands that can be considered a snapshot of a point in time. Sure, we had Nirvana's Nevermind, but if there was one other album of the 90's that encapsulated the shift in popular music toward the fringe, it's Wowee Zowee. Granted, it didn't do a quarter of the bank that their Seattle brethren's opus did. But you know how we started hearing the term "college rock" a lot back then? That's because of Pavement. They were creating the new alternative while the old alternative was selling millions in spite of itself. It's almost funny, because Stephen Malkmus' collection of non-sequiturs were always barely cohesive enough to constitute as "lyrics" and when the album was released in 1995 there were quite a few fans ready to jump ship as they didn't find it quite as toe-tapping as the group's more successful work, but therein had lain the brilliance.

Remember when Faith No More released Angel Dust? It was the first time the term "commercial suicide" had ever been used in a review and sure, sales weren't as brisk, but most can agree that it was a motherfucker of an album regardless and it more than helped weed out the "fans" that demanded an Epic Redux. Was this Malkmus' intention when writing the album? Jesus, I don't know. Who the fuck knows what's going on in that dude's head. Back in the day, Pavement's detractors dismissed them as disjointed shoe-gazer nonsense but despite helping define an entire era, they also managed to be way ahead of their time.

• Trouble - Psalm 9/The Skull (Escapi)

Yeah, yeah. We all know it started with Sabbath, but it would have ended there, if it weren't for the likes of Trouble. Trouble managed to keep doom alive throughout the 80's when Sabbath was still recovering from the interminable damage done by Tony Martin and Glenn Hughes. But here's the great thing about the band - they created some of the gloomiest dirges ever committed to acetate but they were rocking for Jesus. Now, I pussied out and included the two re-releases for this one slot but believe me, my friends - you can't have one without the other. Included with each release is a DVD of rare and previously unreleased footage that's a must fucking have. The entire band roster of Southern Lord Records owes this band and these albums their very existence.

(Kevin)