top 9 records for 2006

music

As I’ve done for many years now, I present you my top records for 2006. Since my days of buying massive amount of vinyl and other recorded music are gone, my lists tend toward “records that were important to me in the year gone by”, instead of trying to list the best music released that year. Most years there have been 10 on the list, this year there are only 9.

Therefore, most of the records in my list were not released in 2006, but instead this list is about what mattered to me this year. I hope you enjoy it.

Sara Groves – Add to the Beauty
This is probably the record I listened to the absolute most in 2006. I got a preview of it at the Sara Groves performance I attended in the summer of 2005, and for whatever reason didn’t pick it up when it was released in October 2005. I finally got a copy via LaLa, and it was pretty much a permanent resident in my CD player from that point on.

Procussions – 5 sparrows for 2 cents
“5 sparrows…” has its ups and downs, but when it’s up, it’s fantastic. The opener, “Shabach”, is probably my favorite hip-hop track of the year, seeing all 3 Procussions emcees trading verses off over a ridiculously good beat. Mr. J hits hard as always on the closer, “American Fado”.

Deadbeat – New World Observer and Wild Life Documentaries
Wild Life Documentaries was on my top 10 list the year it came out, and I returned to that material in a big way this year. I finally got New World Observer, and am also really enjoying that, though at this point I think Wild Life Documentaries is still my favorite of the Deadbeat full-lengths.

David Crowder*Band – A Collision [or, 3+4=7]
I got this in the last few days of 2005, so it got the vast majority of its play in 2006. It’s really all over the map stylistically, which I like, and has some great songs.

Sleeping at Last – Ghosts
I got to see Sleeping at Last live in the summer of 2005 and finally got “Ghosts” this year. It reminds me a lot of Hum, whose “You’d Prefer an Astronaut” record wowed me back when I first heard it. That’s not to slight Sleeping at Last, just to say that the influence runs strong. “Currents”, the second song from “Ghosts”, is phenomenal.

Denison Witmer – Philadelphia Songs
Such sad, sweet music. This record took a while to grow on me, but I went through a phase where I listened to it a ton over a few weeks in 2006, and have come back to it several time since.

Fognode – Porch Music EP
A free download offered by Fognode, this set of gorgeous ambient guitar pieces was a definite influence on my own “6 strings for a winter’s day” that I released at the end of January 06. I had these tracks going a lot during studying or reading this year.

Paul Simon – Surprise
A new Paul Simon record? With tons of help from Brian Eno? Sounds interesting, and it is. It seemed like Paul Simon jammed a few too many ideas into one song during the first half of the record, but the production is great, and there are some wonderful lyrical bits in there, too.

Andy Grove on health care, education, and more

personal

I heard an interview today that mentioned what Andy Grove, former CEO of Intel, is attempting to do about the state of health care in the United States. I haven’t gotten a chance to read too much about his plans, but my understaning is that they involve using readily available technology to update the system and radically increasing the availability of health care. Sounds pretty good so far.

After I heard that interview, which was on NPR’s “Money Matters” show, I searched around a little and came across this interview with Grove, which mentions more about his thoughts about the world. It’s an interesting read:

http://msnbci.businessweek.com/technology/content/nov2006/tc20061103_994417.htm?chan=technology_technology+index+page_more+of+today’s+top+stories

A couple of pieces stood out for me:

“Grove: This is an ancient belief of mine: You get what you measure. None of them (Congress) measure contributions to the practical solution of a handful of problems.

Interviewer: How would you measure something like that?

Grove: We know how to measure it. You can measure the number of uninsured. Let’s say it’s a number like 46 million the year you go to Congress, and say you want to tackle it. At the end of the second year of Congress, it should be down to 40 (million), then down to 30 (million).”

Also, this:

“Interviewer: You’ve mentioned declining tech graduates and the need to reform education many times in the past. Anything there that needs changing today?

Andy Grove: The state of vocational education in this country is abysmal. Vocational education, job training, and retraining doesn’t exist. A well-organized federal program would lubricate the Schumpeterian engine. ”

As someone who’s spent the last 14 months working toward the chance to get involved in technology education in the public schools, it’s good to see someone in Grove’s position acknowledge this issue, and speak out about its importance.

It’s snowing in Ypsilanti

personal, Ypsilanti

It’s snowing in Ypsilanti…and I am overjoyed. Happy beyond all reason. I get like a little kid every time the first real snow of the season falls (just ask my wife or former co-workers). It’s snowing steadily right now, only two days past Halloween, and that familiar blanket of white is back again – steadily, slowly descending on us.

That right there is one reason why I’ll always love Michigan: I love the change of the seasons too much, as summer fades into autumn and then winter quietly wraps the mitten in its embrace. When spring comes, I’ll be ready for it…but right now, I’m watching the snow fall.

Oh, and I’m also listening to Christmas music, getting in the mood to record a Van Loo family Christmas record in the next weeks leading up to Christmas. Can’t wait!

Kristine Mucher for Ypsi District Library Board!

Ypsilanti

Apologies for the blatant politicking here, but I had to drop a link to my former neighbor, Kristine Mucher, who’s running for a spot on the Ypsilanti District Library board. Kristine has a great blog going that clearly communicates her stance and ideas, and it’s excellent to see a candidate using this blogging medium to not only communicate but also solicit ideas. I think she’ll be a great asset to the YDL, one of my favorite community gathering places in Ypsilanti.

At the summer’s end

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I’ve been meaning to post to my blog for quite a while now (which you can see by looking at the date on the last post – April?!?), and so tonight I thought I finally would post.

This was a great summer for me, if extremely busy. I took 2 classes in the spring term, and another 2 classes in the summer term, so I was still quite busy with school. Along with that, I also participated in the Thinkbox: Archive show, stood up in a friend’s wedding in Iowa City, went camping a few times, and turned 30 years old.

The wedding of my dear friends Shawn Johnson and Laura Schlapkohl was certainly a highlight of the summer. I went to Michigan Tech with Shawn, and later worked with him at sigma6/AppNet/Commerce One. He began a series of world travels shortly after leaving Commerce One, hitting northern Minnesota, Alaska, Mongolia, Venice, Montenegro, and other places besides. Along the way, he met his future wife, Laura, and they planned a summer wedding, which took place Saturday, August 12. I have very fond memories of the weekend, from listening to the frontman for their rehearsal dinner band play the Irish bagpipes, to getting dressed in the groomsman’s suits we all wore, to seeing many friends I hadn’t seen in a long time slowly trickle into the church, to watching Shawn and Laura waltz under the canopy at her parents’ farm. It was a magical time, and I felt blessed to be a part of it. You can see pictures of Shawn & Laura’s wedding at the Van Loo family flickr site.

My son Aidan turned 4 this summer, too, and my daughter Hannah turned 2, so we had some low-key family birthday celebrations. For my part, I turned 30 and celebrated with some close friends and family, which felt like the right way to usher in the next part of my life.

Now, as Labor Day weekend has passed and my son Collin has started second grade today, the summer is ended and autumn is upon us. My classes at Eastern Michigan University started back up again today, and I’ll be busy with schoolwork in no time, as I finish the last of my classes in anticipation of student teaching in the winter of 2007. I also have a new record that I’m releasing on my label, chromedecay, and a bunch of other music and art-related projects in the works.

I hope your summer was as good as mine, and here’s to more frequent posts in the fall.

Liz Janes with Create(!) and Half-Handed Cloud show review + top 8 Asthmatic Kitty songs

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I saw Liz Janes with Create(!) and Half-Handed Cloud last Saturday night at the Halfway Inn in Ann Arbor, and it was an excellent show. After locals The Actual Birds finished their set, Liz Janes took the stage, with the improv group Create(!) as her backing band.

Their set was intense, hushed, breathtaking, and joyous, in turns. My personal favorite moment was a very pregnant Liz moving in front of the stage by herself and playing an acoustic version of “poison and snakes”, accompanied only by her own ukelele. Gave me shivers.

Half-Handed Cloud was also great fun, in a different way. If you’ve ever heard any of the HHC records, you know how quickly his short songs twist and turn, and how much different instrumentation there is. HHC’s John Ringhofer was joined by a friend of his, and between the two of them, they banged out loose, “is it going to fall apart?” versions of a bunch of his songs. John Ringhofer played acoustic guitar, trombone, Omnichord, and maybe a few other instruments. His friend handled bass guitar, orchestra bells, melodica, drums, and probably something else I’ve forgotten. Fun stuff!

In celebration of that show, here are my top 8 songs of the moment from the Asthmatic Kitty catalog, most of which are either by Liz Janes or Half-Handed Cloud:

liz janes, “poison and snakes” (Poison and Snakes)
liz janes and create (!), “lonesome valley” (Liz Janes and Create (!))
half-handed cloud, “tongues that possess the earth instead” (Halos and Lassos)
half-handed cloud, “a suit of clouds to ride the skies” (Halos and Lassos)
half-handed cloud, “a picnic few want to attend” (Halos and Lassos)
half-handed cloud, “in you now, but still below” (Halos and Lassos)
half-handed cloud, “skip the rope” (Halos and Lassos)
sufjan stevens, “vito’s ordination song” (Greetings from Michigan)

new blog about Design and Technology Education

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I’ve recently started a new blog focused on resources for design and technology educators, primarily K-12. If you happen to be interested, check it out:

Bill Van Loo’s Design and Technology Education resources

My goal is to use that blog as a place to post about ideas and interesting links related to the field of design and technology education, since that’s the area I’m pursuing my teaching certificate in.

top 7 listening experiences for january-march 2006

music

Here’s a quick list of what I’ve been listening to a lot lately in the last few months:

Half-handed Cloud: halos + lassos [asthmatic kitty]
A great little poppy set of short songs. think of a one-man version of saturday looks good to me, or maybe just a really joyful john ringhofer. I’ll hopefully be going to see HHC on April 1 at the Halfway Inn in Ann Arbor…

david crowder*band: a collision (or 3+4=7)
The bredth and depth of this record is really something. I generally listen to the first half, but it’s strong all the way through.

john davis: john davis [rambler]
This has become a real favorite after receiving it for Christmas. Great pop songs with some lyrical depth and lush production. John Davis plays everything on the record, and has some gorgeous Beach Boys-like moments of melody and harmony.

various tracks from the Thinner netlabel [http://www.thinnerism.com]
Thinner has been putting out great stuff for quite a while now, all for free download. I recommend the “Crossways” and “Silent Season Dub” releases, but there’s a lot of good stuff there.

loscil: stases [one netlabel: free from http://one.dot9.ca/2/releases.php?id=027]
This is a collection of ambient drones and slow-moving soundscapes that works great on headphones. And it’s free!

LABKLIK: Quilting with Dan and Tim [deepspace5 records; available for digital download via: http://www.forthelistener.com/store_downloads.php]
All the classic LABKLIK stuff I never heard since I wasn’t listening to indie underground Christian hip-hop in the nineties. It’s kind of like a 2-man white, rural, Christian version of the Wu-Tang Clan recorded on 4-track cassettes that got mailed back and forth. Everything is super lo-fi and dirty, and you can really see the evolution of Listener through this material into his later Deepspace5 and solo work. Makes me wish I’d gotten the original cassettes that were for sale back when this material was first being put out.

Miles Davis: Kind of Blue [Sony]
Really, what could I say about this record that hasn’t been said before? Classic.

best of 2005

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As is customary for me, here are my “best of” lists for 2005. These are the records, songs and live performances that meant the most to me over the past year.

Best of 2005 – Albums

A note: not all of these albums came out in 2005; this is a list of what albums meant the most to me in 2005, not an attempt to objectively assign champions.

Sufjan Stevens – Illinois
Christopher Bissonnette – Periphery
Deepspace5 – Unique, just like everybody else
Mat Kearney – Bullet
Fennesz – Venice
Eluvium – Talk Amongst the Trees
Ohmega Watts – The Find
YSG Timothy – A Black Guy Named Tim
Listener & EQ – Ozark Empire
Sara Groves – The Other Side of Something
Buddy Miller – Universal United House of Prayer

Best of 2005 – Recent additions

These are records that I got just recently and thus haven’t had time to really hit me fully, but are records I expect to be excellent:

Daniel Lanois – Belladonna
Half-Handed Cloud – Thy is a word and feet need lamps
Half-Handed Cloud – halos & lassos
David Crowder Band – A Collision

Best of 2005 – Songs

Some individual songs that I really was struck by in 2005:

Imogen Heap – “Hide & Seek”
Kirk Franklin – “Looking for You”
Sufjan Stevens – “Come Thou Fount”
Half-Handed Cloud – “To Love Like The Father & Son Love Each Other” and “We’re Very Greatly Loved” (free mp3 downloads courtesy sounds familyre)

Best of 2005 – Live Performances

I didn’t get to see that much live music this year, but these shows stood out in what I did witness:

Sufjan Stevens live at the Majestic (Detroit, MI)
Sara Groves live at Maranatha Bible Conference (Muskegon, MI)
Terrence Parker DJ set at the Detroit Fuse:In Festival (Detroit, MI)
Ohmega Watts live at the Blind Pig (Ann Arbor, MI)