2006 Top Finds: Number One

Finally I'm there. I really need to up my post-rate huh?

From the first time I listened to this album (and then immediately listened again) this competition became a one-horse race. The Eraser by Thom Yorke is simply the most remarkable record I have had the pleasure of discovering in a long, long time. It is 10 slices of mesmerising music delivered by an artist that is right at the top of his game. Seriously.

He's taken the increasingly experimental approach of Radiohead to its natural and awe-inspiring conclusion. I can only hope that this is not Thom's plateau.

The music is very sample driven; a densely layered electronica, much like the Aphex Twin at his best. The production is breath-taking. This is what the Beatles thought music would be like in 2006 when they wrote 'Tomorrow Never Knows'. I'm sure of it.

And beneath all of the wizardry are some of the best crafted songs I have heard all year. They could have been recorded with just a piano and voice and they would still be incredible. (His performance of 'Analyze' at the Brits is testament to that).

The theme of the album is Global Warming (the album cover shows a shadowy king trying to hold back the flood as it engulfs London; the website has more cool imagery) and the general malaise of western politics, but he's not let himself be constrained by this and there is room for some slightly broader meanderings. The lyrics are intelligent (if slightly obscure), and Thom is as at home writing about global catastrophe as he is about his personal battles with depression. The imagery of the lyrics and the production of the songs mesh together to create a kind of immersive experience, nowhere better than on 'It Rained All Night'.

Highlights are the chiming housey pianos on opener, 'The Eraser'; the haunting, beautiful 'Analyze' and 'Atoms for Peace'; and the funky, disturbing requiem to Dr David Kelly 'Harrowdown Hill':



Buy this record. Tell your friends about this record. Love this record. I do.