Porcupine Tree - The Incident

The Incident is a solid, very proggy and very long album. A little less metal than the band has been recently, and fairly ambitious, spanning two discs. The first disc lasts about an hour and is a single song cycle appropriately called "The Incident", broken into 14 tracks that do overlap quite a bit. There are only about six tracks that last long enough to develop their own identity, with the others bridging the gaps, developing some sounds and ideas, and providing breathers. Riffs and entire verses can pop up repeatedly in various places, and there's a real cohesive feel to the whole thing without it seeming like one long song usually.

The second disc is fairly divorced from the first, being about EP length and tacking on four more songs to the whole thing's running time. Honestly, I thought it would have been better served as its own separate release. The whole thing lasts roughly 80 minutes with both discs, and I kind of lose interest by the time the first part is over. I could just listen to them separately on my own, but I'm kind of a stickler about listening to entire albums when I play music, and the second disc just drags. It's not bad, it's just too much. Still, it's hard to dislike anything on this record. I won't bring up individual songs because there's not much point - if you've listened to them you know what to expect, and if you don't then I won't do a good job of explaining them anyway. I prefer this band when they make more traditional albums instead of this longer-winded, more conceptual stuff, but it's still all right.

Porcupine Tree - Fear of a Blank Planet

Fear of a Blank Planet is shorter than the last couple Porcupine Tree albums, and a bit more proggy in its leanings. It has only six tracks, although one is over seventeen minutes long. They've always been a progressive band, but generally a little catchier, with some more accessible songs. There are a couple moments like this on Blank Planet, but it generally doesn't stray far from its standard sound. The album's a bit heavy-handed with the message. It's about how today's youth are basically brainwashed by the media and prescription drugs, which is maybe topical but not really that edgy a thing to say, so it comes off a bit lame. There's also a bit of dullness to some of the lyrics that try to relate to the message. It's not bad, it just doesn't take the band to new places and is a bit of a disappointment.

"Fear of a Blank Planet" sticks closely to the theme as you might expect of a title track, and is a reasonably good song. It flows right into "My Ashes" which has a shift in perspective and a softer tone. It's pleasant, but not terribly interesting musically. "Anesthetize" is the long focal point of the album, with several different movements, varying between louder and quieter parts. "Sentimental" is another quiet song. Porcupine Tree just doesn't rock as hard as they have previously. The chorus of "Way Out of Here" goes a long way to make up for some of the record's other shortcomings. By itself, it's really not too amazing, it just grabs your attention and makes it seem like the album isn't quite so boring. "Sleep Together" has a string section and other such elements that add to the attempted grandiosity that comes with this sort of music, but it's too little too late. If you're a fan of the band you'll find some stuff to like, but I would recommend In Absentia or Deadwing to a new listener first.

Porcupine Tree - In Absentia

I liked Porcupine Tree's Deadwing a lot, so when more than one person told me In Absentia was better it definitely piqued my interest. Overall, I'd say it is the superior album, although not by a whole lot. From what I can tell, Steven Wilson is the real driving creative force behind the band, and he knows how to use all of his assets. He has a very nice, calming singing voice, and he uses it a lot to create light and catchy choruses that can still have an edge. His voice along with some of their lighter tracks contrast sharply with their ability to really dig deep and bring some really good hard moments. As I've said before, it's not prog metal, just prog, but there are a lot of metal elements. I find Wilson has a tendency to use a lot of voice effects where it seems applicable. Usually it's distorted in some way like it's coming through a megaphone, and it lends a strangeness that fits the tone of the song really well. The band's musicianship is quite strong, they are capable of both very strong melodies and enjoyable breakdowns with good solo work. If you have the time, it's the kind of album that benefits from a real listen all the way through.

"Blackest Eyes" starts with a little picked, distorted intro before the explosive guitars come in, leading to the typical contrasting refrain. "Trains" follows with a great example of how different the band can be song to song. It's more acoustic and rhythmic. "Gravity Eyelids" starts as a really soft, minimal song before breaking down with a very hard and entertaining instrumental section. "Wedding Nails" is entirely instrumental, and features some really great guitar sequences. "Prodigal" has a good effect-pedaled melody before the chorus with strummed background. ".3" is another mostly instrumental, strongly atmospheric track with nice bass. "Strip the Soul" is another really good hard song with plenty of jamming to digest before the finale, "Collapse the Light Into Earth", ends it with a softer song with piano. Despite a variety of sounds it all fits together well as an album, and is really just crafted nicely.

Best Albums of 2006

2006 was a pretty good year for music, in my opinion. I managed to listen to a decent amount of new stuff and got into some good older stuff. The bad thing about music is that there's too much stuff from the past I need to hear, but they keeping coming out with new stuff too fast as well. Muse and Incubus both had pretty good new albums in Black Holes and Revelations and Light Grenades, and I got introduced to Sonic Youth with Rather Ripped, which definitely has me interesting in checking out their older stuff.

Best of 2006

6. Cursive - Happy Hollow


Happy Hollow doesn't come close to replicating the absolute brilliance of their previous release, The Ugly Organ, but it really isn't too fair to compare anything to one of my favorite albums ever. In between records, Cursive lost a cellist and added horns to their sound, and while they still sound distinctive, it just isn't as darkly interesting. They can still do good songs they're just missing an edge musically.

Not that that edge isn't as present as ever in the lyrics. The entire album is a brutal condemnation of the hypocrisies and evils of modern Christianity, and sometimes it sounds like Tim Kasher is being controversial for its own sake. He makes good points though, and this is overall pretty good indie rock.

5. Red Hot Chili Peppers - Stadium Arcadium


A bit of a letdown, to be honest. The Chili Peppers pumped out two great albums in a row with Californication and By the Way, and we've been anticipating something new for four years, and then we learn it's a double album, and it ends up being a good two hours of music, but it's lacking that something that makes it great. It's possible it's just a fault with the multi-album format, it's harder to maintain a high level of quality for something that lasts that long. There are plenty of great songs to be found, but because of the sheer number, a lot of them blend together into solid, but unremarkable funky-pop-rock-whatever. None of it's bad, it's just stretched a little thin. Flea can still play bass like no one's business, and John Frusciante continues to hone his craft as one of the best guitarists in the world, and Anthony Keidis can actually sing these days. What they need to do next is go back to focusing on a smaller, more focused project. Not that they have to, with the mountains of money they must be swimming in.

4. Gnarls Barkley - St. Elsewhere


Cee-lo, who I don't know much about, and Danger Mouse, who did the intriguing Grey Album, combine to form a band that isn't really hip-hop, but takes a lot of its best elements, adds in a distinctive, good voice and great, um... producing, and ends up making one of the best songs ever. No, really, "Crazy" is up there. It's just a good song. It's not the only one either, as every single track is at least catchy, and most are unique, well constructed, and truly interesting. I can see why it wouldn't be for everyone, but I enjoy the hell out of it.

I'll take the time now to explain how all the hip-hop-type stuff I listen too is weirdly related. Gnarls Barkley is comprised of Cee-Lo and Danger Mouse. Dangerdoom is comprised of Danger Mouse and MF Doom, and their album features Cee-Lo and Ghostface Killah. Demon Days by Gorillaz was produced by Danger Mouse and features MF Doom. I've been thinking about listening to some more rap lately and the first album to get that comes to find is the acclaimed Fishscale - by Ghostface Killah. Whatever.

3. ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead - So Divided


Trail of Dead fell out of the cushy position they had as a critical darling with Worlds Apart, which I thought was completely great (and introduced me to the band), and I couldn't really figure out why. I can see why someone would prefer Source Tags and Codes, but to say it's great and Worlds is bad... I just don't understand it. They're the same band. A little different, with less focus on songwriting and more on loudness and a bit of oddness, but still the same. So Divided was received a little better, though they still are far from where they were publically in 2002. I just hear a really good rock album, but I guess that's just me.

2. TV on the Radio - Return to Cookie Mountain


This and Gnarls Barkley show me that I'm becoming more and more of a sucker for bands that aren't what I usually actually listen to. I'm nowhere near knowledgeable enough to describe what this band is like and why it's good, all I can tell you is that I just love listening to it. The mix of vocals is unique and interesting, the style totally works, and they're not half bad at just playing some rock. I really should be able to explain it better, but you should just listen if you don't. Also, make you sure you check out "Dry Drunk Emperor", which you should be able to find online for free. Not only is it a good song, it's a great condemnation of the presidency of George W. Bush (he's horrible).

1. Brand New - The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me


Some feared their follow-up to Deja Entendu might be too accoustic. They were wrong.

The Devil and God is hard as hell. Except for a couple tracks, every song is a balance between soft and hard, light and dark, good and evil, as the title implies. The heavy parts are made more powerful by the contrast with the downplayed strumming before it. It's not as lyrically clever as they were previously, but it's stronger musically, in my opinion. It's definitely cemented itself in the pantheon of my favorite albums, like, ever. It helps that I first listened to it under optimal conditions, in a car with a like-minded friend as the sun went down in late Autumn. Set the tone perfectly.

I don't think it's fair that Brand New still gets lumped with other emo bands it used to be closer to musically, like Taking Back Sunday. They were like that once, but that was long ago, they started shifting a few years ago, and now they've gone even further. I'm interested in seeing how they continue to develop and seperate themselves from other bands.

Delayed Entries

Audioslave - Audioslave

I'm not a huge fan of the band, but I really do think this is a great album. It's just completely full of good, hard rock songs. People say good things about Superunknown but I'd say this is the best thing anybody in this band's done that I've heard. I guess they've broken up now, though.

Clinic - Walking With Thee

Weird band, very distinctive vocals and different kind of sound that still sounds like rock, even when their aren't guitars. I'm not always in the mood for something like this, but it's a good change of pace.

Dream Theater - Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence

Their long-awaited double album, the first disk is pretty normal long, well-crafted prog metal, and the second is an epic, forty minute song (broken into several tracks) that sounds sometimes as much like the score to a musical as an album. Not really much metal there at all, but I really don't know what "normal" Dream Theater sounded like at that point, as Trains of Thought, which I got before this is supposed to be easily their hardest work. It doesn't really matter, it sounds good.

Dredg - El Cielo

I got into Dredg with 2005's Catch Without Arms, but I think I really fell in love with them with this. It has a lot of what made Catch great like the wonderful vocals and nice melodies combined with harder segments, but El Cielo is really more creative, different, and just better, I think. Just a fun listen at all times.

Gorillaz - Gorillaz

I didn't listen to Gorillaz much besides the singles until Demon Days, and that might have skewed me a bit, as a lot of people seem to prefer this, and I don't. It's still definitely very good though. It's a little less varied in sound and vocals than their follow-up, but has plenty of great hooks and sounds spread through the whole thing, and is just fun to listen to.

Longwave - There's a Fire

It's kind of hard to describe Longwave, since sometimes they're jamming in a totally dark, indie way, and sometimes it's pure pop rock. You should just listen to them and see what you think, since not many people do. They have elements of a lot of bands like U2, Interpol... I don't know, I don't really listen to bands like this a lot.

Opeth - Ghost Reveries

Between Opeth and Dream Theater, I should be able to get my fill of progressive metal for the rest of time. The guy's voice is seriously amazing, one minute he's giving you perfect death growls, and the next he's singing in a truly pleasant, normal tone. Hard, pounding metal combines with great musicianship and softer moments.

Porcupine Tree - Deadwing

They're only progressive, not metal, but since the guy produced Opeth at some point, I guess that's hardcore enough. It wasn't as well received as In Absentia, so I better check that out, since I think this is really good on its own. Some of the songs take a while but I'm never bored, it's very well crafted and plenty catchy in spots. Pretty damn good background music.

Radiohead - Kid A

I guess that since I liked this, I'll like pretty much anything Radiohead does. It's not rock music anymore, but it's still very interesting to listen to, and as electronic as it is, it still manages to seem to have a soul. I prefer their sound before the turn of the century, but it's still good now.