July was interesting. Yet another 2000 release, which boggles the mind. The randomizer must’ve really wanted to get that decade out of the way or something. And 2009 no less, so recent and fresh. Oh me, oh my.

One of the things that happens when you’re me is you forget stuff. Like the 2008 Rachel Unthank and the Winterset album The Bairns, which was a huge influence on me, and one I must’ve listened to a thousand times. It’s not available on vinyl, so like many other albums its ineligible for inclusion in this project, but still. Plum forgot it. Cripes I even travelled to a folk festival on the other end of Scotland to see them, then drove two and a half hours to their first show in Canada. This is why you write it all down, kids.

Anyway, 2009 saw Phoenix’s long overdue return to the hearts of those who may have forgotten that they’ve been amazing since Alphabetical in 2004, but precisely because I loved them so much back then, the new album never quite got as stuck in my brain as much as it has for some of the recent Phoenix converts I know. I’m not cool enough to be into Animal Collective or The Flaming Lips, so for me there was only one album that really grabbed hold and didn’t let go throughout 2009, and I picked it up at Other Records, not too too far from where the band formed. Hint mode disengage.

1966 is one of those years where I again lose my indie rock cred by somehow snubbing not only The Album which has been hailed as one of the greatest of all time over the past five or six years by all the cool kids, but also those same kids number two, three and possibly even number four picks for that year. My choice might even be relegated to a distant second place release from that artist in 1966. What madness is this?

The Beach Boys Pet Sounds is an amazing record, hugely influential and recognized today as being, for some, the epitome of pop perfection. Having a copy of it hanging on my wall would result in a sage nodding from those in the know. Clearly I’m not snobbish about my favourite albums though, and so Pet Sounds is pushed aside.

Oh, so you’re going to go for the classic Revolver by the Beatles then, right? Nope. The Beatles will have one record up on my wall, a similarly unhip selection though, when compared to an obvious fan favourite that also came out that year. Some of you might be smiling and say “surely he’s seen the light and has chosen Bob Dylan’s Blonde on Blonde. I regret to inform you that I have yet to experience my Dylan ‘aha’ moment where I get past all the impediments to enjoy his music and recognize his genius.

Christ, you’re not telling me you chose the Stones’ Aftermath? Nope. I pretty much dislike the Rolling Stones wholesale. And I wish I were crazy enough to know The 13th Floor Elevators inside and out, but I don’t. Ditto for Zappa.

If you’ve worked out that my choice is a Simon & Garfunkel album, good for you. If you’ve then hoped it had the good sense to be Sounds of Silence, then I’m sorry to disappoint you. I love that record, but nothing can take the place of Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme. I practically wore out my Grandmother’s record player on that album, which was a sleeveless orphan I came across some day long ago. I certainly remember how much those tracks mean to me, and how intimate that whole record sounds, so despite all the other incredible music that came out that year, it was a simple choice for me to make.

Once upon a time I went to see the great Caribou formerly known as Manitoba play in Montréal. Opening act were some dudes named Junior Boys. Well they pretty much kicked my ass. Too cool for school nu-lectro or some shit. Didn’t have no cash so I couldn’t pick up their merch, but when I was in Edmonton later that year who was in town? Those Junior Boys. Concert was sold out, but I ended up convincing a burly bouncer to take my driver’s license so I could go in and buy a vinyl copy of Last Exit. Fantastic record, but it came out in 2004, not 2006.

After that, I was on a Junior Boys kick pretty damned hard, and would put both Last Exit and their follow-up record, So This Is Goodbye, on repeat while I was working, grooving the hours away and blurring the lines between the two albums. And even though some great shit came out in ‘06 – The Knife’s Silent Shout, Hot Chip’s The Warning, Ray LaMontagne’s Till the Sun Turns Black, even Clint Mansell’s score for the Fountain was pretty epic – the Canadian synth kids still reign supreme for me.

Once upon a time I went to see some great performers play at Ottawa’s Bluesfest. One of the best of these was the wonderfully talented Amherst, Nova Scotia native Feist, whose Let It Die was a favourite for myself and everyone I knew back in 2004. She was playing some of the great songs from that record, but the stuff she was debuting had the audiences jaws dropping. I remember wanting the then unreleased record these songs were from so hard. And The Reminder gave me those songs and a bunch more to enjoy. Then it gave Apple the song 1234 – which was one of the few tracks I didn’t really pay too much attention to. Catchy enough, but not spectacular. Anyway, the rest is a pretty well-documented, meteoric and deserved rise, which reached its zenith when Feist appeared on The Colbert Report and told its host, after being asked whether he should call her Leslie or Feist: “As long as you call me Stephen Colbert, you can call me anything you want.”

I don’t know what else to say.

…I’ve been busy. Tons of work, trips to NYC and BC, seeing dear old friends and spending time with new ones, but it’s ok. I haven’t forgotten about the little blog of projects most secret.

The great news which may startle you as much as it did me is that I haven’t neglected the Album Art project at all, but I am only behind in posting the photos. That’s all.

2006 and 2007 were easy as pie, and we got some 2009 and 1966 on throughout July without too much trouble. August was a challenging one in more ways than one with 1996 and 1993, and this month consists of the musically slim pickings of 1980 and my favourite year I wasn’t around for, 1967.

Apologies for the little tease, but I really am getting the pictures ready. In the immortal words of Sir Wilfrid Laurier, “I’ll make it up to you soon baby, I promise.”

This month, the randomizer spit out two-thousand-six  and two-thousand-seven.  Crafty little devil.  Maybe it was going easy on me this month, as I was able to buy both records brand new without much trouble.

My choice for 2006 has even arrived already. After struggling with the quite musically varied and no-clear-winner top three-or-four contenders on my list, I stumbled upon an album I hadn’t remembered even being from that year. I had probably listened to it about two hundred times, but often as a double-playlist with the album that came before it, so the years got kinda blurred.  

There’s a pretty strong connection between my ‘06 and ‘07 choices, and I’ve seen both of them live, so feel free to guess away.  I’m just as interested in knowing: what are your favourite records of 2006 and 2007?