Driver2165

On mondays, salmon recipe I saw on chow.com, and, the whole point of this post is that it was by a great margin the best fish I've ever eaten. Which it should be, if you think about it; it's pretty much the best three ingredients - butter, wine, and pepper.

Next week, starting December 11, is 'List Week' here at Driver 2165 Intl. We'll have a new list up each day of the week, culminating in the best 65 albums of the year on the 15th. In the meantime, the interns will be busy relistening to everything. A best-of mix will follow.

It's normally easy for me to dismiss news items of this style, but this shirt from her, long before Eliot was born. It really was one of the highlights of our entire trip. The world is now a little shittier, and we're all deeply saddened.

Right now, she's asleep and I'm having a midnight snack of cheese crackers and wine (no comma - we keep it prole here at Dr2165 Industries). It took us about a week to figure it out because, at first, her only symptoms were red cheeks and waking up at 4am (normally, she sleeps straight through the night for ten or eleven hours, a habit she picked up during her first month; one might not be mistaken if the conclusion taken here is that sloth is genetic). But once she filled a diaper, her pants, her blanket, and, hyperbolically, her room roughly an ankle deep with a cute self all day long. No fever, no pain, just red cheeks, intermittent sleep (Many parents are used to this. However, we've been spoiled rotten and I'm starting to feel like Ed Norton at the beginning of Fight Club), and toxic sludge. Look out.

We're going to start off List Week with something of a teaser. I can't say that I've heard a definitive amount of local albums [Side note: for the unaware, we're talking Minneapolis, St. Paul, and sometimes Duluth, but the Hold Steady are disqualified for one, not being Lifter Puller, and two, not actually being located here. Does this album make Sufjan Stevens an Illinois native?] but I've heard enough to make a short list of recommendations. Let's say, well, we'll do six, for the route I drive most frequently.

1. Seawhores - Forest
2. A Whisper In the Noise - As The Bluebird Sings
3. STNNNG - Fake Fake
4. The Plastic Constellations - Crusades
5. Zebulon Pike - Zebulon Pike II: The Deafening Twilight
6. Haley Bonar - Lure The Fox

As always, dissenting comments are cherished here.

Day two of List Week brings us ten finalists for the Derek Jeter Award, for albums that have been grossly overrated and unexplainably idolized by the media. As in, these records can't field their position (shortstop) and are no more valuable offensively than Mark Loretta or Jason Bartlett. Ahem.

The high rating used here is from Metacritic, a site that averages ratings given by multiple media sources. The low rating is obviously mine. Both ratings use a ten-point scale. I'm sorry to go all "math" on you, I'll try to not do it often.

1. Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not, 8.3, 3.0
2. Serena Maneesh - Serena Meneesh, 8.4, 4.0
3. Clipse - Hell Hath No Fury, 9.1, 4.8
4. Neko Case - Fox Confessor Brings the Flood, 8.4, 3.4
5. The Decemberists - The Crane Wife, 8.5, 4.6
6. Junior Boys - So This Is Goodbye, 7.9, 4.0
7. The Roots - Game Theory, 8.3, 4.8
8. Bob Dylan - Modern Times, 8.9, 6.0
9. Belle & Sebastian - The Life Pursuit, 7.8, 5.0
10. Beck - The Information, 7.3, 4.8

[Edited 13 Dec 06 due to faulty math, Neko Case was really only about as overrated as The Decemberists.]

This is one of the more diverting lists to make because we don't normally include compilations, EPs, or singles in any of the lists here. There are always great nuggets, though, and we've got seven tracks from EPs, one from a 7", and two from compilations this year. Piling on the riotous fun is that we get to showcase great songs from otherwise mediocre records [six of the remaining thirty tracks won't be anywhere near the big list on Friday]. You'll remember many of these tracks if you've been following the TToTM mixes, but in some cases, there are other songs from albums featured on the list that may have aged better. Also, I disqualified extremely long songs; don't be fooled by the metal, this is a mix of pop music.

Interstate, pt. 1

1. Gobstopper - Jay Dee
2. The Incidents Surrounding My Three Deaths - STNNNG
3. Dumb Hummer - Why?
4. Cold Beer And Cigarettes (The Devil Is Beating His Wife) - David Bazan
5. Bomberman 2-Wiggy - The Advantage
6. Shut Up I Am Dreaming of Places Where Lovers Have Wings - Sunset Rubdown
7. Return Of The Vein - Subtle
8. c7 - moHa!
9. Bring What You Want - The Plastic Constellations
10. Savage Composition - Don Caballero
11. GPS - The Black Heart Procession
12. Please Come Back - Catfish Haven
13. Our Swords - Band Of Horses
14. Herr Bar - Clark
15. The Story Of A Boy On A Ladder - Tenebre
16. I'm Slow But I'm Happy - Danielson
17. Butterfly, Wings of Steel - Seawhores
18. Mothers, Sisters, Daughters & Wives - Voxtrot
19. Citizens Of Tomorrow - Tokyo Police Club
20. Crazy - Gnarls Barkley

Parkway, pt. 2

1. Monkey Suite - Madvillian
2. I Was the Dancer - Parenthetical Girls
3. Beds - Black Moth Super Rainbow + The Octopus Project
4. In the Heart of Titans - Junius
5. 1983 - Flying Lotus
6. Static Grate - B. Fleischmann
7. Fall Short Of Certainty - Because Of Ghosts
8. Our Hell - Emily Haines & The Soft Skeleton
9. Bird of Cuzco - Nina Nastasia
10. Hoarse - Cepia
11. Been Here Before - Jeremy Enigk
12. Displacer Beast - The Dead Science
13. Springtime Can Kill You - Jolie Holland
14. Den Her Sang Hander Om At F� Det Bedste Ud Af Det - Under Byen
15. The Greatest - Cat Power
16. I Had No Intentions - Damien Jurado
17. Midnight On The Nile - Spider
18. A Cradle Song - The Speakers
19. The Great Leap Forward� - Red Sparowes
20. Citrus - The Hold Steady

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Here we celebrate the albums that represent a possible turning point in an artists career. Just a single pothole or has the artist turned into a pumpkin?

1. The Robot Ate Me - Good World [The understated charm and elegance of his last three records are nowhere to be found on this collection of ill-advised semi-finished mini tracks. It plays like a collection of sound effects.]
2. The Decemberists - The Crane Wife [It wasn't good when it was called One of These Nights by the Eagles, and it's not good now. They had a schtick that worked, and it wasn't prog. If the Robot Ate Me album wasn't so ridiculously stupid, this would be a cinch for the most disappointing album.]
3. Geoff Farina - Already Told You [Alright, it's only an EP, but the songwriting was so tepid that it has me worried for the guy responsible for so many great Karate records and one incredible Usonian Dream Sequence.]
4. Roots - Game Theory [Each album has been noticably worse than the previous one. The Tipping Point wasn't great either, but at least it had Guns are Drawn.]
5. Mason Jennings - Boneclouds [More like Suckclouds.]
6. Isobel Campbell - Milk White Sheets [I had written off the awfulness of Ballad of the Broken Seas as due to the presence of Mark Lanegan, but this isn't any better.]
7. Xela - The Dead Sea [What used to be subtle, delicate calm is now just insipid and dull.]
8. Belle & Sebastian - The Life Pursuit [Hmmm� you know, someone else on this list hasn't been making much interesting music since she left the group, either.]
9. Beck - The Information [OK, Guero was also terrible, but the two before that were fine. I think he's washed up now.]
10. Flaming Lips - At War with the Mystics [Really, not all that bad, just not up to snuff. It's a big snuff.]

Tomorrow: The big kahuna

2006 was a very slow year. Normally we have a hard time making a decision for a top spot, but Joanna Newsom really ran away with the title; there was nothing that even put up a fight. Which, to tell you the truth, is disappointing not only because the lack of competition killed any sort of mid-December drama, but because it was the weakest year-killer in a decade. Now, that's not to say it's not a great album, and it will be a record that has great lasting power. It's just no Elephant Eyelash or Milk-Eyed Mender. Here's the year, enjoy.

1. Joanna Newsom - Ys
2. Jolie Holland - Springtime Can Kill You
3. Red Sparowes - Every Red Heart Shines Towards The Sun
4. Don Caballero - World Class Listening Problem
5. Damien Jurado - And Now That I'm in Your Shadow
6. B. Fleischmann - The Humbucking Coil
7. Angel Eyes - Something To Do With Death
8. Under Byen - Samme Stof Som Stof
9. Sunset Rubdown - Shut Up I Am Dreaming
10. The Advantage - Elf-Titled
11. Kayo Dot - Dowsing Anemone With Copper Tongue
12. Rf - Views of Distant Towns
13. Mono - You Are There
14. The Black Heart Procession - The Spell
15. Zaar - Zaar
16. Tenebre - In Everything Give Thanks
17. Calexico - Garden Ruin
18. Because Of Ghosts - The Tomorrow We Were Promised Yesterday
19. Ahleuchatistas - What You Will
20. Nina Nastasia - On Leaving
21. Seawhores - Forest
22. Jason Molina - Let Me Go Let Me Go Let Me Go
23. Noxagt - Noxagt
24. Mogwai - Mr Beast
25. Gregor Samsa - 55:12
26. Helios - Eingya
27. Condre SCR - Jar Marsen
28. A Whisper In The Noise - As The Bluebird Sings
29. STNNNG - Fake Fake
30. Flying Lotus - 1983
31. Black Moth Super Rainbow + The Octopus Project - The House Of Apples & Eyeballs
32. The Plastic Constellations - Crusades
33. Magnolia Electric Co. - Fading Trails
34. Lone Wolf And Cub - Wonder
35. Sibylle Baier - Colour Green
36. Zebulon Pike - Zebulon Pike II: The Deafening Twilight
37. Parenthetical Girls - Safe As Houses
38. Band Of Horses - Everything All The Time
39. Danielson - Ships
40. Haley Bonar - Lure the Fox
41. Tone - Solidarity
42. Talkdemonic - Beat Romantic
43. The Seven Mile Journey - The Journey Studies
44. The Mountain Goats - Get Lonely
45. Half-Handed Cloud - Halos & Lassos
46. Converge - No Heroes
47. Jeremy Enigk - World Waits
48. I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness - Fear Is On Our Side
49. Chihei Hatakeyama - Minima Moralia
50. Bonnie 'Prince' Billy - The Letting Go
51. Spider - The Way To Bitter Lake
52. Casey Dienel - Wind-Up Canary
53. I Am Robot and Proud - The Electricity In Your House Wants to Sing
54. Subtle - For Hero: For Fool
55. Vetiver - To Find Me Gone
56. Horse Feathers - Words Are Dead
57. Swan Lake - Beast Moans
58. Mastodon - Call of Mastodon
59. Spitfire - Self-Help
60. Gnarls Barkley - St. Elsewhere
61. Thunderbear - Thunderbear
62. Cat Power - The Greatest
63. Dosh - The Lost Take
64. Mammatus - Mammatus
65. Emily Haines & The Soft Skeleton - Knives Don't Have Your Back

How to read the list: This is a top 21 and a top 65 list rolled into one [Get it? 2165?] Start with number 1, check the top 10, then number 21, 11-20, dig 65, and finally glance through 22-64.

Previously: Best Albums of 2005, 1994-2004