Once again it’s time to look back over the past year and try – and fail – to think of a clever or original way to introduce a best-of list.<\/p>\n
Hmm…<\/p>\n
Presenting Indie Round-up<\/a>‘s Best of 2006.<\/b><\/p>\n The Artist of the Year<\/b> for 2006 is Mofro<\/a>, who, conveniently for my critical credibility, was just signed to the prestigious blues label Alligator Records<\/a>. Lead vocalist JJ Grey and his band evoke all at once the gritty funk of James Brown (RIP), the blue-eyed soul of Beck and Leon Russell, the bayou twinkle of Dr. John, and the shamanistic stage presence of Jim Morrison. The latest CD is a good one<\/a>, but in-concert<\/a> is the only way to fully appreciate the spell woven by Grey, guitarist Daryl Hance, and whoever else happens to be on their stage at the moment.<\/p>\n Album of the Year<\/b> goes to Gregg Swann<\/a>‘s sparkling Everybody’s Got To Be Somewhere<\/i><\/a>, a spot-on power-pop set without an ounce of filler. The artist himself seems to be somewhat reclusive – the gigs page<\/a> at his minimalist website is empty as of this writing, and his Myspace page<\/a> – where you can hear three full tracks (go there now) – has been little visited. Swann emailed me a thank-you note when I published my review<\/a>, so, fortunately for fans of exceptional songwriting, it appears that he does exist.<\/p>\n International Album of the Year<\/b> goes to Kobotown<\/a>‘s Independence.<\/i> Look for this Toronto-based, Caribbean-rooted band-with-a-message on festival stages in 2007.<\/p>\n Two releases share Instrumental Album of the Year<\/b> honors: guitar wiz Vicki Genfan’s Up Close<\/i> disc from her two-CD set Up Close and Personal<\/i> (reviewed here<\/a>), and the newly honored Grand Master of the shakuhachi Elizabeth Reian Bennett’s Song of the True Hand,<\/i> which I covered here<\/a>. In very different ways, these two releases exemplify the way a single individual with a musical instrument can wordlessly conjure the human spirit out of thin air.<\/p>\n Acoustic Song of the Year<\/b>: Melissa Ivey<\/a>, “No Ties to Break” And that’s it. If you didn’t win this year, better luck next time. By the way, I like dark<\/i> chocolate.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Once again it’s time to look back over the past year and try – and fail – to think of a clever or original way to introduce a best-of list. Hmm… Presenting Indie Round-up‘s Best of 2006. The Artist of the Year for 2006 is Mofro, who, conveniently for my critical credibility, was just signed … Continue reading “Music Review: Indie Round-Up for Dec. 28 2006 – Best of 2006”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-182","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonsobel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonsobel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonsobel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonsobel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonsobel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=182"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/jonsobel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonsobel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonsobel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonsobel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nMainstream Pop or Country Song of the Year<\/b>: Laura Vecchione<\/a>, “Fool’s Gold”
\nGuitar\/Hard Rock song of the Year<\/b>: Burden Brothers<\/a>, “Still”
\nCover Song of the Year<\/b>: Joe Rohan<\/a>, “Ring of Fire”
\nBest Song Featuring a Tuba<\/b>: The Animators<\/a>, “The Senator Goes to Hell”
\nStupidest Band Name<\/b>: Hinder (what is that, a butt? a verb? either way, lame, lame, lame.)<\/p>\n