The Year in Music

[elfs]

So here's a list of the albums that I bought (or otherwise procured) over the past year. Not as much as past years, not by a longshot. A lot of soundtracks, I see, and my rate of consumption of JPop has gone down a bit (for one thing, they're even more expensive this year, thanks to the weakening dollar). And this was definitely the year I discovered Frank Zappa. I rounded out my Laurie Anderson collection, although I still have yet to either replace or remaster my vinyl collection of United States Live. And there's still my bubblegum pop collection highlighted by Tatu, Alizee, Aya Matsuura, and SweetS, which replaced last year's Mirai.

A couple of micro-reviews: Her Space Holiday's The Young Machines was probably the best album I bought all year, a thoughtful collection of pop-angst, with The Secret Machine's Now Here is Nowhere coming in a close second with its hard riffs playing on clever lyrics, but the album I listened to death was The Art of Noise's live album, Reconstructed For Your Pleasure. Artful, diverse, and thematic, The Art of Noise hasn't stopped improving. Rasputina is merely gimmicky, VNV is background music, and Yoko Kanno (Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex) is a god among men.

Alizee	Mes Courants Electriques
Apocalyptica	Reflections
Aya Matsuura	First Kiss
Ayumi Hamasaki	Ourselves
Beach Boys	Pet Sounds
Bjork	Medulla
Carbon Based Lifeforms
Coil	Music to play in the Dark
Every Little Thing	Every Little Thing
Frank Zappa	Joe's Garage
Frank Zappa	Ship Too Late To Save a Drowning Witch
Frank Zappa	The Mothers of Prevention
Frank Zappa	Weasels Ripped My Flesh
Frank Zappa	You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore, Vol 1-6
Gwen Stefani	Love Ange Music Baby
Her Space Holiday	The Young Machines
Ian Anderson	The Secret Language of Birds
John Zorn	Naked City
Keiko Matsui	Wildflower
Laurie Anderson	Live At Town Hall
Laurie Anderson	You're the Guy I Want to Share My Money With
Linkin Park	Underground
Maaya Sakamoto	Lucy
Melon Kinenbi	First Anniversary
Moritaka Chisato	This Summer will be More Better
Morning Musume	As For One Day
Penguin Cafe Orchestra	Penguin Cafe Orchestra
Rasputina	Cabin Fever
Soundtrack	Ghost In The Shell Innocence
Soundtrack	Ghost In The Shell Stand Alone Complex 2
Soundtrack	Ghost In The Shell Stand Alone Complex
Soundtrack	Halo 2
Soundtrack	Howls Moving Castle
Soundtrack	Mai HiME
SweetS	SweetS
Tatu	200KPH in the Wrong Lane
The Art of Noise	Reconstructed For Your Pleasure
The Secret Machines	Now Here is Nowhere
Tim Curry	I Do The Rock
Under 17	Best Of
VNV Nation	Futureperfect
Xu Ping-xin	The Art of the Chinese Dulcimer