Charlie's Favorite Austin-related albums of 2006

Even though I broadcast a lot of unreleased and archival material, you can get a pretty good idea of the scope of the music I play on Around the Town Sounds by perusing this list of my favorite Austin-related recordings that were put out in 2006. I fully expect to update this list from time to time. Several highly regarded albums have yet to cross my desk, and the passage of time and repeat listenings may change my mind about others.

With these caveats in mind, here are the 2006 albums with an Austin connection which tickled my ear or gave me the greatest pleasure in each of several categories, with most commentary borrowed from my playlists for January 11 and January 18, 2007 in which I played selections from this list. Many albums could fit into more than one category, but for brevity I did not repeat any titles, and generally the listings within category are in no particular order.

WORLD, ETHNIC
Charanga Cakewalk Chicano Zen
I'm blown away by the techno-and-accordion explorations of Michael Ramos synthesizing the most modern with the most traditionally Mexican.
The Stingers and [Houston's] I-Gents Rude Roots
Combo Mahalo Flight of the Blue Manu
lilting traditional Hawaiian music from the last century, and originals in the same style
RokkaTone In This Life
Maneja Beto Accidentes de longitud y latitud
Del Castillo Brotherhood

EXPERIMENTAL
Brent Fariss and Bill Thompson August - September
Shawn McMillen Catfish
Originally released in 2005 in limited edition vinyl, this CD version on the Tompkins Square label contains 20 more minutes of music.

CLASSICAL OR CLASSICAL HYBRIDS
Conspirare Requiem
These 20th and 21st Century hymns of mourning include memorials for the victims of the U.T. tower sniper (by U.T.'s Donald Grantham) and the Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004 (by Austin's Eliza Gilkyson). I felt a surge of civic pride when the album was nominated for two Grammy Awards, best-engineered classical album and best choral performance. Grammy winners will be announced in February.
Mundi The Book and the Flower
original instrumentals and interpretations of centuries-old music from Europe and Turkey
Austin Children's Choir Concert at the 2006 TMEA Clinic/Conference (unreleased CD-R)

JAZZ
Paris 49 Paris '49
steeped in the early to mid-20th Century nostalgia of French cabarets, a tip-of-the-hat to Django Reinhardt's gypsy jazz
David Chenu Quintet Two
Of equal interest in this category is a quintet helmed by a member of Paris 49, David Chenu, who's reflective, mainstream chamber jazz returns in their second album.
Elias Haslanger Dream Story
his first release in years

ALTERNATIVE POP/ROCK
AM Syndicate Empire
The original, intricate arrangements of rock and string instruments is a highlight of their work, which features as one of its two main songwriters a non-songwriting member of the well-respected Rhythm of Black Lines which still occasionally performs.
Tacks, the Boy Disaster Oh, Beatrice
Shearwater Palo Santo
Hamell on Trial Songs for Parents Who Enjoy Drugs
Brothers and Sisters Brothers and Sisters
Voxtrot Voxtrot (#004 on the Cult Hero label)
Cat Scientist Cicada
The Argives Nothing Better Beginning
The Lovely Sparrows Pulling up Floors, Pouring on (New) Paint
Many Birthdays Days of Beat / Days of Hollow
Darling New Neighbors Every Day Is a Saturday Night
Masonic Without Warning
Tank Engine Pursuit of Leisure

PUNK, GARAGE
The Applicators My Weapon
Nervous Exits Get Out
Danny Fast Fingers iDanny
This is hard to classify, but with its innocent jabs of organ cutting clean through, this '60s-style unadorned pop rock - somewhat reminiscent of '60s garage music - is a contemporary reflection of those brief, shining moments in the sun for bands like ? & the Mysterians ("96 Tears") and John Fred & His Playboy Band ("Judy in Disguise").

HARD ROCK, METAL
The Sword Age of Winters

MAINSTREAM POP AND ROCK
Household Names Picture in My Head
Blue October Foiled
Sound Team Movie Monster
Pocket Symphonies Echo Park
Bob Schneider The Californian
The Summer Wardrobe The Summer Wardrobe
The Alice Rose Phonographic Memory
Lemurs Lemurs

BLUES ROCK
Phil Brown Cruel Inventions - The Remix
Trent Turner and the Moontowers Bad Soul Brother

RAP, HIPHOP
Dirty Wormz The Parazite
Vehicular Vehicular or 2 mc's./DJ. Livebass
Overlord The Black Theory

FUNK, URBAN
Bruce Hughes Bluebird
This is really a hybrid album and could just as easily have been vying for Favorite Alternative Pop/Rock recording, but Bruce (best-known as a bassist in various Bob Schneider projects) often imbues his playing and singing with a funky, urban flavor that seems integral to his style, as found in many tracks on this recording.
Gnappy Unloaded
Unified Tribe FUNKtional Family

BLUES, R&B
Sue Foley New Used Car
Canadian Sue Foley became an internationally-recognized blueswoman during her tenure in Austin, and her gift for singing, songwriting, and playing guitar in the blues and r&b styles is well-represented here.
Texas Southside Kings Texas Southside Kings
Another top local recording in this category for 2006 is Dialtone Records' album of older south Texas bluesmen brought together as a band including several past and present Austinites.

GOSPEL
Various Artists The Gospel According to Austin Vol. 5
tunes from numerous Austin area acts including the recently-and-dearly-departed Don Walser (live with the Kronos String Quartet), Carolyn Wonderland, Dale Watson, W.C. Clark, Papa Mali, the Kyle Family, the Grassy Knoll Boys, and the Bells of Joy.
The Bells of Joy The Original Bells of Joy with Friends

COUNTRY
The Texas Sapphires Valley So Steep
raw Texas country suited for sweaty honkytonks, not CMT
The Derailers Soldiers of Love
consistently release strong recordings in this genre, including 2006
Dale Watson Whiskey or God
ditto

AMERICANA
Butch Hancock War and Peace
Deep and subtle ruminations on - what else - war and peace herald the return of Butch Hancock as a solo artist.
Blue Diamond Shine Shrimp Boat Town
The Rust Tones Tales from the Bar
Adam Ehrens Adam Ehrens
Paul Pearcy Come and Take It
Green Mountain Grass Both Sides of the Mountain
The Ginn Sisters Blood Oranges
Hundred Year Flood Blue Angel
Bruce Robison Eleven Stories
Mandy Mercier Run Out of Darkness
Austin Lounge Lizards The Drugs I Need
Wayne Hancock Tulsa
Blaze Foley and the Beaver Valley Boys Cold, Cold World
Ryan Bingham Dead Horses
countrified Texana in the footsteps of Willis Alan Ramsey and Robert Earl Keen

ALTERNATIVE COUNTRY, ALTERNATIVE ROOTS
Shootin' Pains Mean Old Moon
Mice and Rifles All Kites Up
Two High String Band Moonshine Boogie
The Weary Boys Jumpin' Jolie
The Gourds Heavy Ornamentals
Scott Biram Graveyard Shift
Meat Purveyors Someday Soon Things Will Be Much Worse

CATEGORIES NOT BASED ON MUSICAL STYLE

SINGER SONGWRITERS
Suzanna Choffel Shudders & Rings
enraptures with the cool, smoky allure of her voice, the power of her songs, and the tastefulness and invention in the subtle arrangements on this album of indie pop with roots
Lisa Richards Mad Mad Love
Michele Solberg Christopher House Songs
a stellar return on this thoughtful benefit album
Alejandro Escovedo The Boxing Mirror
as expected, a dependably solid performance from an Austin vet
Jon Dee Graham Full
ditto
Michael Hall The Song He Was Listening to When He Died
ditto
David Rodriguez Proud Heart
Dana Falconberry Paper Sailboat
Amy Cook The Sky Observer's Guide
Joe Strouse It Is What It Is

MOVIE SOUNDTRACK
Graham Reynolds, Golden Arm Trio, others A Scanner Darkly - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
tour de force movie sountrack composed by Austin club musician Graham Reynolds for local film maker Richard Linklater's 2006 release

STAGE MUSICALS
The Unbearables Just One Bite
This is the most ambitiously-recorded album for a stage musical that I can ever recall coming out of Austin. The production values are lush and polished for this studio version of the autumn 2006 production of the rock opera, Bitten!: A Zombie Rock Odyssey.
Adam Sultan and various artists Thrush
Salvage Vanguard Theater also put out a beautiful album for their apocalyptic musical with tunes written by Adam Sultan.
Dick Price At Home With Dick Part 2 (CD-R excerpts)
Dick recorded, but didn't release, hilarious and tear-jerking tunes from the musical he wrote and performed at his own apartment in 2006, a follow-up to his 2005 apartment musical, At Home with Dick.

CHILDREN'S MUSIC
Aunty E and Friends A Whole Lot of Fun

CHRISTMAS MUSIC
Suzi Stern, Alex Coke, Rich Harney, Chris Maresh A Child's Christmas in Wales
Various artists Fum, Fum, Fum

LIVE ALBUMS
Will Taylor & Strings Attached with Friends White
recording from Strings Attached's concerts of the entire Beatles' "white album" (with the help of dozens of their best musical friends). There are actually at least 3 versions. There is a complete souvenir recording of each of two performances of the entire album's songs from a single night in the summer of 2006, and there is a "best of" recording taking highlights from the two concerts, which may currently be the only commercially available version.
Mo Pair and Wayne Houle Pink Floyd Happy Hour
Grupo Fantasma Live
Band of Heathens Live from Momo's
Various artists Viva! Terlingua! Nuevo! - Songs of Luckenbach Texas

TRIBUTE ALBUMS
Ian McLagan & the Bump Band Spiritual Boy - An Appreciation of Ronnie Lane
a loving tribute to former Austinite (the late, great) Ronnie Lane.
Ian has now lived in the Austin area for about 7 years, as long as Ronnie lived here, his former bandmate from the Small Faces and the Faces who left Austin for his final home in Colorado about the time Ian moved here. The album features songs that were mostly written or co-written by Ronnie.
Phil Brown The Jimi Project
Various artists Drink to Bones That Turn to Dust - A Toast to Oingo Boingo
Interpretations of Danny Elfman's compositions for Oingo Boingo from across the nation and beyond include two from Austin, the one-man band Americana virtuosity of Sick from the Asylum Street Spankers, and a Latin-flavored number sung in Spanish by Maneja Beto.
Don Byron Do the Boomerang - The Music of Junior Walker
This album features prominent contributions on vocals and guitar from former Austinite Chris Thomas King.

MULTI-ARTIST COMPILATIONS
Various artists Turn 2 (Almost There Records artists)

RE-ISSUES
Kenny Dorham Trompeta Toccata
Recorded in 1964, this straight ahead Blue Note session may have been the last recorded session as bandleader for this respected member of the New York jazz community who got his trumpet training in the public schools of Austin.
Spoon Telephono / Soft Effects
originally released in 1996 and 1997
Starcrost Starcrost
funky jazz fusion with vocals, originally released in 1976

RETROSPECTIVE
Daniel Johnston Welcome to My World - the Music of Daniel Johnston
this compilation of highlights is culled mostly from the home-made cassettes of the early years of Daniel's career

BIGGEST SURPRISE
Various artists of Cirque du Soleil Delirium
Former Austin scenester Juliana Sheffield sang in one of the largest-grossing tours of 2006, Cirque du Soleil's Delirium tour, and her contributions are showcased in the r&b-flavored lead vocals, operatic passages, and backing vocals she lends to several tracks on this CD version of the show.

RESURRECTED ACT
Glass Eye Every Woman's Fantasy
first newly-released material in years from these alternative rock/pop iconoclasts; an album of old unreleased tracks, older unreleased tracks with additional new parts, and a couple of newly-recorded songs

GUEST APPEARANCES BY AUSTIN AREA ARTISTS
Lila Downs La Cantina
Austin's Michael Ramos continues to forge modern twists on Mexican traditions along with artists like Quetzal and Lila Downs. On the latter's 2006 release, Michael contributes keyboards, accordion, music programming, and arranging.
Robin Hitchcock Ole! Tarantula
Manor's Ian McLagan contributes organ to a beautiful ballad ending this album.

Posted by Charlie Martin at January 21, 2007 01:54 PM