speed of dark

Continuing with my Best Songs of 2006 post (see songs 21 through 25 here):

20. the minus 5: cemetary row

buy the album | yep rock records site

The Minus 5 are a band jam packed with tremendous musicians, including Scott McCaughey and Peter Buck of R.E.M. fame, and have connections with Uncle Tupelo and Wilco, another huge favorite. Here The Minus 5 team up with Colin Meloy of The Decemberists on vocals, for a lovely tune about bars on every corner and funerals.

19. hard-fi: hard to beat

buy the album | official website | myspace

This is another album I bought (so I actually bought seven complete albums this year) and liked a lot, based on a great review in the UK's Q magazine, since Hard-Fi's Stars of CCTV was released last year in the UK. I love Britpop and Hard-Fi bring it on the whole album. I went back and forth between this song and the title track, Stars of CCTV.

18. wolfmother: dimension

buy the album | official website | myspace

I don't really know too much about Wolfmother, but I immediately fell in love with this song...from the very first scream, I was hooked. These three Australians make more noise than might seem possible, and I love it. They're playing a sold out show at the Hollywood Palladium on December 12 before taking their tour to Japan, Europe, the UK, and home to Australia in 2007.

17. now it's overhead: let the sirens rest

buy the album | official website | myspace

I posted Now It's Overhead's Wonderful Scar from their self-titled album earlier as a random track from my iPod. I have since heard more from the dreamy band from Athens, Georgia, and this track sticks in my head. The band will tour the UK and Europe in January, and I'll be waiting for them to make another appearance in L.A. soon.

16. morning runner: work

buy the album | official website | myspace

According to Wikipedia, this song was written following the layoff of lead singer Matthew Greener's father (actually it said when his father was "made redundant" but for some reason, that term sounds worse to me than being laid off). What it sounds like to me is a breakup song, with the singer saying that in order to get over the break-up, he's going to dig deeper into his career. Lovely song, excellent album, beautiful cover art.