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Mixing it up

Thank you to Chris - in a riposte to a copy of the borborygmus 2006 CD, he sent me one in return.

It includes a couple of live recordings from this year's Cambridge Folk Festival - one being Emmylou Harris singing Boulder to Birmingham. For that alone, it's a treasure.

When I foist these CDs into the hands of oft-bemused friends, I have no high hopes that through such evangelism they will fine tune their quite varied musical tastes to my, somewhat superior, ones. But it would be gratifying if they discovered somebody new and went out and bought a record on the back of it. On that basis, I have ordered Roddy Woomble's CD from Amazon.

I still cannot get into critics' darling Joanna Newsom, whose Ys is being raved about. Harp and wailing nu-folk. Igor Stravinsky's Too many pieces of music finish too long after the end is apt.

Music: borborygmus 2006

This is the annual (2004, 2005) borborygmus track list. As before, tracks are chosen from releases in 2006, or releases from 2005 which did not hit my radar until 2006.

1. Hummalong
The Drams from Jubilee Dive
2. Star Witness
Neko Case from Fox Confessor Brings the Flood
3. A Woman Like You
Bert Jansch from The Black Swan
4. I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor
Arctic Monkeys from Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not
5. Change
KT Tunstall from KT Tunstall's Acoustic Extravaganza
6. Cruel
Calexico from Garden Ruin
7. Head Home
Midlake from The Trials Of Van Occupanther
8. I Will Not Wear The Willow
Karen Matheson from Downriver
9. Easy on Yourself
Drive-By Truckers from A Blessing and a Curse
10. Like the 309
Johnny Cash from American V - A Hundred Highways
11. Massive Night
The Hold Steady from Boys And Girls In America
12. Jersey Clowns
Josh Rouse from Subtitulo
13. Delirious Love (Wilson)
Neil Diamond (with Brian Wilson) from 12 Songs
14. January Man
Rachel Unthank & The Winterset from Cruel Sister
15. Steady As She Goes
The Raconteurs from Broken Boy Soldiers
16. Black Cadillac
Rosanne Cash from Black Cadillac
17. King and Country
Seth Lakeman from Freedom Fields
18. I Should Get Up
Teddy Thompson from Separate Ways
19. Drop Me Down
Tres Chicas from Bloom, Red & the Ordinary Girl
20. Do It Again
Nada Surf from The Weight Is a Gift

A really enjoyable year, musically. The highlight for me must be finally seeing Emmylou Harris at the Cambridge Folk Festival, although that was not the only marvellous thing about the weekend. The borborygmus tracks of the year are influenced from that experience, as well as other gigs.

The Drams (ex-Slobberbone people with a rep) were fantastic at a recent Railway gig, and rounded off a year of sweaty US crunching guitar bands at various venues (e.g. Bottle Rockets, Cracker). Neko Case's album was probably the year's favorite overall - wonderful voice, great songs and evocative production. In the first of a series of incestuous cross fertilisations in this list, members of Calexico feature on the record, amongst others. Swooned at one of her London gigs as well. Bert Jansch just keeps doing the same guitar thing in a superior way, but is fortunate to have been caught up in the general folk revival. The title track was also very good, but too long to fit on my compilation CD.

The Arctic Monkeys made a best-selling, ubiquitous record with a repulsive sleeve - but it was still a damn fine album. One of the many where I struggled to decide on the representative track, so you get the big hit. KT Tunstall made what seems like an interim record between huge chart hits, recorded in a few days in a remote Scottish sitting room - accoustic and cute. Calexico go from mariachi to pop sensibilities.

Midlake took a bit of getting into. I should have immediately loved it, as it was billed as a CS&N-style blend of Laurel Canyon influences - but I also found it a bit prog. It worked eventually. Karen Matheson is the singer with Capercaillie, seen at the Cambridge Folk Festival. Her solo record is sung almost completely in Gaelic. The Drive-By Truckers are, simply, the best rock band in America today. I think this latest record to be a tad weaker than The Dirty South, but then that was a masterpiece. Another fantastic live gig this year.

Johnny Cash - a poignant tune from his last(?) record, said to be the last song he ever wrote. The year's ultimate issue of Uncut magazine gave The Hold Steady's release five stars. I had to agree after just one listen, in spite of, or maybe because of, the heavy sprinkles of early Springsteen throughout. Josh Rouse gave us the lead-off track last year, but I was less impressed with his album this year. However, this track just popped up on my mp3 player in the last few days, and I had to reassess the whole Subtitulo.

Neil Diamond, like Johnny Cash, produced by Rick Rubin - could Rubin effect the same sort of resurgence as he did for Cash? Probably not, but I have always liked Diamond's voice and he was a magnificent songwriter. This version of the song features Beach Boy Brian as a guest. In a quite small but heaving tent in Cambridge, we saw Rachel Unthank & The Winterset give a charming set of really quite traditional northern English folk music. The Raconteurs are this year's supergroup, featuring Jack White of The White Stripes.

You can hear Johnny calling to his daughter Rosanne Cash at the beginning of this powerful song. She sings: It was a black cadillac drove you away... one of us gets to go to heaven, one of us has to stay here in hell. Seth Lakeman must be my discovery of the year - in contrast to Rachel, contemporary folk music from south west England, brimming with local historical references. His set at Cambridge featured the happiest percussionist I have ever witnessed. Also saw Teddy Thompson at the Folk Festival, who has a better voice than his father, Richard - but judging by the latter's stunning set in the same tent that same weekend, has some catching up to do in the guitar department. Still, a excellent album.

Americana from Tres Chicas, one of whom is Caitlin Cary (formerly of Whiskeytown and also in last year's list in a different guise). Finally, had to sneak in Nada Surf, which was really released last year, but I only found just recently. Do It Again. OK!

Liked but did not make the list: Love (the Beatles mash-up), Centro-Matic, Cracker, Dixie Chicks.

Not sure about: Bottle Rockets, Damien Rice, Cat Power, Howe Gelb.

Completely barmy: Joanna Newsom!