cf. Matos and Maura and a cast of millions, my favorites of 2006’s first-half releases (or “releases,” as the case may be):
The Thermals, “A Pillar of Salt” (2:58)
Cassie, “Me & U” (3:12)
Juvenile, “Get Ya Hustle On” (3:58)
Prince, “Black Sweat” (3:11)
E-40, “Tell Me When To Go” (3:57)
Lily Allen, “LDN” (3:04)
Casiotone for the Painfully Alone, “Young Shields” (3:04)
T.I., “What You Know” (4:34)
Too $hort, “Blow the Whistle” (2:45)
Spank Rock, “Rick Rubin” (3:33)
Cansei de Ser Sexy, “Let’s Make Love and Listen to Death From Above” (3:31)
Project Pat, “Good Googly Moogly” (3:24)
5th Ward Weebie, “Fuck Katrina” (5:03)
BG ft. Mannie Fresh, “Move Around” (4:49)
Girl Talk, “Minute By Minute” (3:12)
DJ Khaled, “Holla At Me” (4:28)
Ne-Yo, “So Sick” (DJ Technics remix) (2:27)
The Knife, “Marble House” (Rex the Dog SK-1 remix) (3:09)
Khia, “Snatch the Cat Back” (4:32)
Lil’ Wayne, “Georgia Bush” (7:27)
78:26
Of note: this is heavy on summer jams and post-Katrina Southern rap, since that’s mostly what I’ve been listening to this summer, depending on my shifting mood and general disgust with the state of global affairs. “A Pillar of Salt” supposedly “[envisions] a United States governed by a fascist Christian state, and [focuses] on the need (and means) to escape”; that conceit seems a little farfetched, but tell that to the “people who died in that pool,” as Lil’ Wayne recounts with more angry, wounded confusion than DMX or Xiu Xiu or Cat Power or Fiona Apple or Stabbing Westward or whoever could ever muster. Wish it wasn’t buried at the end of an (excellent) mixtape, because we’re talking “Suicidal Thoughts”-level vulnerability in terms of that which it imparts to an already captivating and complicated character. More people ought to hear it.
“Black Sweat” feels like it might have existed in some vault for twenty years; “Good Googly Moogly” (”That thang is juicy!”) is way more fun than anything Project Pat’s ever done before, which bodes well for the future. “Young Shields” reveals itself to be absolutely sinister, eviscerating feckless indie kids - for a songwriter practically defined by his earnestness, Owen Ashworth is evidently nonplussed by his audience; “Got a letter from Mom and Dad/I swear to God they don’t get me at all,” he sneers, and they probably sing along.
“Tell Me When To Go,” “Rick Rubin,” and “Let’s Make Love and Listen to Death From Above” still sound like invitations to a party you never knew existed. “Snatch the Cat Back,” like most of Khia’s oeuvre, still sounds like it’s specifically designed to address MESSAGE BOARD HATERS (to wit: anti-Trina response track “Hit Her Up”; Khia addressing actual message board haters; Jesus Christ I love Khia). “LDN” still sounds like Lindsay Lohan should have sung it over the closing credits of “Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen.” “What You Know” still sounds like fucking God.