While pop stars rely more on gossip columns and realty shows to promote music instead of true talent, I had to dig a little deeper to find those to be honored with this year's superlatives.
The best song of the year is Joshua Klipp's Life. Here, the San Francisco artist makes sure the message of self-worth and self-love lives on, although his friend who taught him this has passed away. Using keyboard chords to carry the tune, Life is catchier than most material from Klipp's mainstream counterparts. Out now on iTunes and cdbaby, Klipp's debut, Won't Stop Now, also features the Sweet Inferno remix of Life.
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Pictured: Chaka Khan and Jinx Titanic
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Amy Cook's The Sky Observer's Guide has the stars properly aligned so it could be deemed the album of the year. The opener, Coming Home ( The Eclipse ) , sets the pace for the album with hints of country, folk and dreamy pop melodies. Over guitar riffs, Cook temptingly beckons the listener to head west by singing 'those California waves can set you free' on The Reveler's Goodbye. But it is the slower-paced Where Do We Go and the closing numbers, Pearl and Feathers to a Crown, that help this stellar set shine brightly.
The video for Kirsten Price's Magic Tree rises above all others as the hottest clip of the year. Here, the British multi-instrumentalist soulfully sings as she sails through the sky and stirs restlessly in her bedroom in between footage of The L Word. Magic Tree must be in full bloom, as it appears on L Tunes: Music from the L Word, the queer compilation Revolutions: Music with a Twist and on Price's full-length debut, Guts and Garbage.
Band of Horses also deserves an honorable mention for its video for Is There a Ghost. The storyline consists of a woman going from house to house stealing pillows, looking for the perfect fit. As the guitars kick into a frenzy, the protagonist tries every pillow to no satisfaction. Finally, a pillow fight breaks out and the woman is caught trying to lift one last pillow.
When tackling a remake, the artist mustn't try to duplicate the original. The Cliks brilliantly personalizes Justin Timberlake's Cry Me a River on the breakthrough album Snakehouse. Favoring a rock sound over JT's R&B style, Cry Me a River's theme perfectly suits the Canadian outfit's release alongside the singles Oh Yeah and Complicated.
Chicago's own Jinx Titanic remakes Mahalia Jackson's Trouble of the World. This is a mismatch made in heaven, pairing the Windy City's premier queer punk rocker with the legendary gospel singer. But it works and the song seems ever appropriate considering today's headlines. Sped up and coming across as manic, Trouble of the World is the closing track on Titanic's solo bow Stuporstardom!
The best live DVD of the year belongs to the Pet Shop Boys. Filmed in Mexico, Cubism in Concert embodies the feel-good vibe of the duo's live show. The concert keeps rolling, as the British electronic act delivers hits including West End Girls, Opportunities ( Let's Make Lots of Money ) , Always on My Mind and Go West. The Scissor Sisters, Mika, the Bangles and Heart also released remarkable concert DVDs this year.
My favorite concert of the year is Sinead O'Connor's. After her disappointing 2005 reggae tour, the Irish songbird returned in fine form, performing a variety of material from her 20-year career including Nothing Compares 2 U, The Last Day of Our Acquaintance and You Made Me the Thief of Your Heart. Throughout her performance, she even candidly joked with the audience and dedicated The Rivers of Babylon to the troubled Britney Spears. This year's True Colors Tour and concerts by The Cliks and Annie Lennox also were also among my favorites.
It is great seeing Everything but the Girl's Tracey Thorn, Kylie Minogue and Lennox back in the spotlight, but it is Chaka Khan who has the most sizable comeback this year. Her latest album, Funk This, is produced by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis and debuted in the Top 20. The white-hot remix of Disrespectful, her duet with Mary J. Blige, sat pretty on top of the club charts for two weeks, and now the funky diva is about to make her Broadway debut in The Color Purple as Sofia.
After the first listen, I found myself helplessly addicted to Roisin Murphy's Cry Baby, an album track from her second solo outing Overpowered. Moloko's former front woman makes me succumb to her vocal looping, break beats and the irresistible cowbell on Cry Baby, the year's hottest dance number. One spin and you will be wondering why DJs are not playing this infectious track.
Billie Ray Martin's Undisco Me is this year's best-kept secret. Released on iTunes this summer, Undisco Me finally is making an impact on dance floors. Combining witty lyrics with rhythms lifted from Donna Summer's classic I Feel Love and Martin's soulful voice, Undisco Me finds the German born-singer pleading for better music from her fellow artists and DJs. With this cut, she gets her wish.
Beautiful Liar, the duet between Beyonce and Shakira, is the year's ultimate guilty pleasure. Whether it is the version from the deluxe edition of Beyonce's B'day, the phenomenal remix by the Freemasons or the steamy video, Beautiful Liar is one pop song I could not get enough of this year. Boy George's protégé Amanda Ghost co-wrote this smash single, adding it to her harem of well-received tunes; she also penned alongside You're Beautiful by James Blunt and Tattoo by Jordin Sparks.
No other hit song this year is worse than Sean Kingston's Beautiful Girls. With help from Kingston's flat delivery, the dreadful refrain and the uninspired Ben E. King sample, I fail to find anything redeeming about this one. Hopefully it won't age well, so it can remain in a time capsule like the once-unavoidable Hey Ya! by OutKast.
