So we reviewed 2005, now let's look ahead to 2006. I imagine the best music will be stuff I never saw coming (as usual), but for now I'll be looking ahead to this:

1. Jesse Keeler stays busy.
If I were to name my "band of 2005" it would come down to Bloc Party and DFA79. Silent Alarm speaks for itself, but DFA79's You're a Woman, I'm a Machine had a shocking amount of staying power after I first heard it in late 2004. Along with Turn on the Bright Lights and Silent Alarm it was my go-to album for 2005. Just ask Brian, he heard more than enough whenever I'd pick him up to play tennis (a way too preppy situation for DFA to soundtrack, but oh well). Bassist Jesse Keeler and drummer/vocalist Sebastien Grainger also dropped their remix album which had a couple good b-sides as well as the requisite remixes.



For months now Jesse and DFA producer Al-P have been letting fresh remixes of other bands' stuff trickle out under their MSTRKRFT moniker, with a full length album of original material due this year. I won't even link to that Panthers' remix anymore, because I've already done so about a million times, and it's still on the right. Expect the LP to sound something along the lines of a cleaner, more accessible Daft Punk, and expect me to buy it. Hopefully DFA79 might be able to turn something out this year as well, but I won't hold my breath.

Bloc Party / "Two More Years (MSTRKRFT Remix)"
Metric / "Monster Hospital (MSTRKRFT Remix)" (from Mocking Music)
Buck 65 / "Kennedy Killed the Hat (MSTRKRFT Dance Remix)" (from To Here Knows When)

2. Islands get a website.
So there used to be a band of Canadian kids called the Unicorns that made weird indie pop music. I never really got into them, but it was tough not to respect a band that named their only album Who Will Cut Our Hair When We're Gone?. After they broke up last year Nick Diamonds and J'aime Tambeur started a new band called Islands, the details of which are still somewhat (intentionally) sketchy, and they still don't even have a real website.

But songs have been leaking for a while and they've almost all been pretty damn good. They're all a little off-beat, like the sonic equivalents of Wes Anderson movies or something. "Catchy nerd rock" may be the best description of it. In any case, check out the epic (read: 9:25 long) "Swans" below and see for yourself. They've got a dinky little flute (or possibly recorder?) part on there which will blow your mind. No Frontin' has another pretty good one.

Islands / "Swans (Life After Death)" (from Fluxblog)

3. Some old favorites make curtain calls.

The fall of 2003 was when I first started going to a lot of shows, and what started it all was actually a Sleepy Jackson/My Morning Jacket show at Paradise. The Sleepies' Loversremains a favorite, and Luke Steele and whoever he's playing with these days will be releasing a new LP this year. Yay. Also returning with an updated lineup will be the Stills, who have moved drummer Dave Hamelin from behind the drums to co-frontman. He always cowrote songs, but only sang "Yesterday Never Tomorrows"...well, now they got a new drummer, their guitarist left, and Hamelin is singing more. We'll see how that works out. Elefant and Ambulance Ltd. should also be returning with new material.


The Stills' drummer steps out from behind the kit

Another band I'm hoping for a great sophomore album from is Ratatat--who I first saw opening for the Stills (at the show where I snapped the above pic). They posted in October that they're in the studio working.

But my most anticipated album will be the Rapture's. Luke, Mattie, Gabe and Vito pretty much fell off the face of the earth for a while there but they played some shows last fall and are due to release their follow-up LP to 2003's Echoes. If I could pick only one album not to disappoint me this year, it's this one.

If I had to guess: the Sleepies and Ratatat will come back strong, the rest will disappoint. Hopefully I'm wrong about the latter.

The Rapture / "Sister Savior" (one of my favorite songs ever)

4. Cut Copy breaks out.

I just don't know how this band can continue to be ignored. Hopefully they tour the states more this year, because their abbreviated set opening for Franz last fall was not enough for me.

5. Return of the old reliables
New Radiohead downloads supposedly will be available by summer, and a tour around the same time. We'll see. And the Flaming Lips are apparently releasing At War with the Mystics in April. I'm not expecting something as good as Yoshimi unfortunately.