MUSIC TO MOI EARS

Barry Schwabsky sends out his annual music list with "best CDs of 2006" below:

1. TV on the Radio: Return to Cookie Mountain
2. Cat Power: The Greatest
3. I'm from Barcelona: I'm from Barcelona
4. Arctic Monkeys: Whatever People Say That I Am, That's What I'm Not
5. The Mountain Goats: Get Lonely
6. Gnarls Barkley: St. Elsewhere
7. Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan: Ballad of the Broken Seas
8. Neko Case: Fox Confessor Brings the Flood
9. Clap Your hands Say Yeah: Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
10. Howlin Rain: Howlin Rain
11. CSS: Cansei de Ser Sexy
12. Yo La Tengo: I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass
13. Juana Molina: Son

Though I post the list as much to remind myself to get them, this year, I was struck by a parenthetical in Barry's email, to wit:

"(with apologies to all the good music I probably never got a chance to hear)"

Barry's admission that there are other good music out there besides what he judges as "top" is refreshing...and makes more credible his opinion as to what may well be best.