The 2006 Macaca Music Poll: The Results Are In!

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YES YES YÂ’ALL, and you donÂ’t stop! ItÂ’s the moment youÂ’ve been waiting for. I am happy to bring you the results of the 2006 Inaugural Sepia Mutiny Macaca Music Poll. It took me some time to compile the results, a task made both necessary and pleasant by the high quality and fabulous diversity of your submissions. The best part of all, for me, was that you forced me to listen to a whole lot of music IÂ’d never heard of, or not gotten around to hear. Dhanyawad, bahut dhanyawad, for expanding my ears.

After weeding out submissions of music that came out earlier than 2006, and disregarding entries of a trollish or spamlike nature, we were left with 56 valid ballots. They seem to divide evenly among men and women, confirming that music geekery is a democratic and universal condition. Regulars and lurkers are evenly represented as well. The full list of voters is at the end of this post.

And now…drumroll please…the results:
PEOPLE’S CHOICE


Your favorite music of 2006 came from Gnarls Barkley, the dynamic duo project of Atlanta hip-hop mavericks Cee-Lo and Danger Mouse. Their song “Crazy” was a ubiquitous hit of 2006, the year’s best song according to Rolling Stone, and the album, “St. Elsewhere” made numerous critic’s lists. It seems like the Sepia crowd agrees.

Tied for second place were Ali Farka Touré, for his beautiful final album “Savane,” and – and this one surprised me – the Russian-raised, New York-based “antifolk” singer Regina Spektor, for her album “Begin to Hope” and the song “Fidelity.”


Fourth place went to the “Omkara” soundtrack featuring the song “Beedi.” This was the highest ranked desi entry, rounding out a very cool top foursome of alt-hip-hop, African, alt-folk, and filmi.

The cluster of acts tied for fifth place only underscore the diversity: Arctic Monkeys, Decemberists, Ghostface Killah, the “Guru” soundtrack, Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins, John Legend, Kailash Kher, Lily Allen, Nelly Furtado, The Roots, and TV on the Radio.

DESI-FROM-DESH DIVISION

Lots of music direct from the desh. The filmi mavens loved the music from “Omkara,” “Guru,” and “Rang de Basanti.” Several other Hindi and Tamil films earned isolated mentions.


The top individual artist from desh was Kailash Kher for his album “Kailasa” as well as specific song contributions to films. Jai Singh, Msichana and Sonia Kaur all enthusiastically recommended this brother, and I’m thrilled they did. I didn’t know of him, and I love what I’ve now heard.

Again a whole bunch of individual artists earned single mentions, and you can be sure weÂ’ll be tracking their work and writing posts about them when the time is right!

“WHO YOU CALLIN’ MACACA???” DIVISION

Your fellow macacas diasporic desis were all up in this piece. Among the four favorites were two who do desi-infused music, Karsh Kale and Susheela Raman, one in a folk band, Nicky Mehta of the Wailin’ Jennys and one who leads a good olÂ’ rock and roll band, Ramesh Srivastava and his band Voxtrot.


Also getting their propers were, among others, MC Kabir, Prasanna, and our own SriramÂ’s Duology Band. From across the water, Red Snapper tips us to Britons Vijay Kishore and the band Bat for Lashes, featuring Natasha Khan.

BEST OF THE REST

Acts earning multiple mentions that I havenÂ’t listed yet included DeVotchKa, Hot Chip, Justin Timberlake (donÂ’t hate!), Lady Sovereign, Lupe Fiasco, Osvaldo Golijov, Strokes, Tom Waits, The Weepies, and Yo La Tengo.

In all, you recommended 161 different artists, groups or soundtracks, from genres including rock, hip-hop, R&B, electronica, jazz, opera, folk, filmi, African, Latin, Sufi and more.

BEST COMMENT

Some of you took the time to write comments alongside your submissions. ThereÂ’s some really good music criticism out there in Sepia-land. But the comment that really struck me the most wasnÂ’t to do with a specific song or artist. It was about the way people experience music in real life: spontaneous, disorganized, and free of the curatorial biases of critics, labels, genres, tastemakers, and year-end lists. From the real world of Virginia where she does the LordÂ’s work edumaca(ca)tinÂ’ the youth, Coach Diesel reports:

My kids are mixing Punjabi MC/ Bhangra mixes with live snare samba rhythms on the playing field. The bandleader sets up turntables, a DVD player/burner and then they mix it up with the marching band. So we got samba (Brazilian), Bhangra (Indian) and Southern American Hip-Hop when the Bandleader starts rhyming along with the steppers, who add percussion.

AND FINALLY… THE IST AWARD

You KNOW folks were late submitting their ballots, and you KNOW they played the IST card to excuse their procrastination. But the IST prize goes to Terence, whose entry arrived this morning. Sorry, man, IÂ’m done with my spreadsheet. But your choices matched up nicely with the final list!

A ROUND OF APPLAUSE FOR THE VOTERS

Maximum respect to: Abhi, AC, Ali, Amelie-Freak, Ankur, Arti, Arun, Ashvin, AT, Brimful, Camille, Cicatrix, Coach Diesel, Daniel, Deepa, Deepak, DesiDancer, Dhaavak, DJ Drrrty Poonjabi, Drac, DTK, Hemant, Hemu, Himali, Jai Singh, Jeet, Kenyandesi, Kurma, Milind, Msichana, Neal S., Neale, Neha, Nik, Nikhil, PG, Pied Piper, Pooja, Rano, Red Snapper, Rekha, Saheli, Sarosh, Shireen, Shodan, Shree, Shruti, Sonia Kaur, Sriram, Suneer, Talia, Tamasha, Tapti, Taz, Tony, Ylrsings.

If anyone would like to help make this post more interactive, please suggest links or web pages for the various artists in the comment thread.

Peace to James Brown! WeÂ’ll play again next year!

89 thoughts on “The 2006 Macaca Music Poll: The Results Are In!”

  1. Brilliant! Another evening planned for youtube music surfing. Thanks for doing this Siddhartha.

  3. and this one surprised me – the Russian-raised, New York-based “antifolk” singer Regina Spektor, for her album “Begin to Hope” and the song “Fidelity.”

    Wow! I’m surprised too. I thought my lesbian friends and I were the only ones who had ever heard of her 🙂

    Thanks for pulling all this together, Siddhartha!

  5. Lawwwd!

    I feel honored. Truly.

    Thanks Siddhartha, for the props, the posts and the peeps.

    Besos, Coach

  6. You KNOW folks were late submitting their ballots, and you KNOW they played the IST card to excuse their procrastination.

    crap! i was just about to email my picks in…;-) i was surprised there was no mention of cat power’s “the greatest”.

    regardless, thanks for all the work it took to put this together, siddhartha.

  7. i was surprised there was no mention of cat power’s “the greatest”.

    She received just one mention, that’s why I didn’t list her name. This thread is the place to dissect the results and lobby for your under-appreciated faves! And – thanks for the props y’all. This is fun!

  9. Solid selections…The Godfather and Gerry Ford pass just days apart: I dedicate ‘You Can Have Watergate, Just Gimme Some Bucks & I’ll Be Straight’ to both as I pour my Kingfisher to the ground!

  12. Great selection! Since there is no mention of any Tamil songs I thought I would add 4 songs from A.R.Rahman’s Sillunnu Oru Kadhal in the order I like them. Enjoy the clips below from youtube.

    Movie: Sillunu Oru Kaadhal – 2006 Music: A.R.Rahman

    Munbe Vaa Singers: Shreya Ghoshal and Naresh Iyer

    NewYork Nagaram Singer: A.R.Rahman

    Machakaari Singers: Vasundhara Das, Shankar Mahadevan

    Maja Maja Singers: Shreya Ghoshal, SPB.Charan

    and 5 more

    Movie: Vettaiyadu Villaiyaadu – 2006 Music: Harris Jeyaraj

    Uyirile Singers: Mahalakshmi, Srinivas

    Paartha Mudhal Singers: Bombay Jayasri, Unni Menon

    Manjal Veiyil Singers: Hariharan, Nakul, Vijay

    Karka Karka Singers: Andrea, Devan, Nakul, Tippu

    Loosu Penne Movie: Vallavan – 2006 Music: Yuvan Shankar Raja Singer: Simbu

  15. Rockin’ post, Siddhartha. Though, I’m a bit miffed because the post reveals my inherent lack of coolness. Lady Sov’s album was the only one on my list that received any mention, :(. Still, there’s some great music on the lists and it’s going to be fun checking it all out.

    Artists use frauds to make human beings seem more wonderful than they really are. Dancers show us human beings who move much more gracefully than human beings really move. Films and books and plays show us people talking much more entertainingly than people really talk, make paltry human enterprises seem important. Singers and musicians show us human beings making sounds far more lovely than human beings really make. Architects give us temples in which something marvelous is obviously going on. Actually, practically nothing is going on.

    –Kurt Vonnegut

  18. This thread is the place to dissect the results and lobby for your under-appreciated faves!

    I urge everyone to check out Sangam by Charles Lloyd. There’s some great interplay between Ustad Zakir Hussein and Eric Harland. It’s the best interaction between eastern and western percussion I’ve ever heard. Also, show some love for The Roots’ album, Game Theory. I don’t listen to much hip hop, but this could be the best hip hop record I’ve ever heard (by contrast, Lady Sov was on my list as a guilty pleasure).

  19. Great stuff, Siddhartha 🙂

    John Legend ! I can’t believe I forgot to vote for that supersmooth guy. As a hardcore soul afficionado in my younger days, Mr Legend gets two thumbs-up from me too.

    RIP James Brown. What a great influence he was on Prince in particular — especially his on-stage dancing with his microphone.

  21. Artists use frauds to make human beings seem more wonderful than they really are. Dancers show us human beings who move much more gracefully than human beings really move. Films and books and plays show us people talking much more entertainingly than people really talk, make paltry human enterprises seem important. Singers and musicians show us human beings making sounds far more lovely than human beings really make. Architects give us temples in which something marvelous is obviously going on. Actually, practically nothing is going on. –Kurt Vonnegut

    Reality is ugly, Art is fancy, And Kurt is ballsy.

  23. Youtube music surfing takes you to great places. Here is one of the wonders I alighted on. A blind jazz musician who plays TWO SAXOPHONES AT THE SAME TIME! Yes you read that right, he plays TWO saxophones at the same time. And he plays a version of Aretha Franklin’s ‘Say a Little Prayer’

    Rashaan Roland Kirk

    Please post any similar mind-blowing and horizon-expanding musical clips from the treasure trove that is youtube here if you know of them — don’t be selfish, share the love. I have hours to waste.

  24. 13

    No, Thank YOU Siddhartha for a great thread and the opportunity to share. A couple of the songs in #12 are set in New York. So hope you get to see New York through Tamil Film Music.

  27. Also, show some love for The Roots’ album, Game Theory. I don’t listen to much hip hop, but this could be the best hip hop record I’ve ever heard

    It’s not the best hip hop record ever made, but it’s HELLA good, and it made my top 5 for 2006. I debated whether to put Hip Hop is Dead by Nas on my list, as I had heard the album only a few days before I sent in my list. It probably won’t mean much to you if you’re not already a head, but it’s a SOLID album fo sho. And I can’t believe Pick A Bigger Weapon by The Coup didn’t get any honorable mentions! How can you resist once you’ve seen the cover? And it’s totally danceable, even if you don’t dig the lyrics.

  28. Teeri Deewani by Kher was my #5 pick (I realized to late I sent in 4 entries, not 5 ;P

    Fantastic job on this…I can’t wait to find/listen to this amazing collection of music 🙂

  30. damn sid…why you got to call out my IST like that? well, i’ll take solace in the fact that 3/5 of my pics made the cut.

    shruti – i had the same thoughts about nas. verdict still out, but the use of incredible bongo band’s “apache” on hip hop is dead is AWESOME.

    one of mine that didn’t make the list, and i think is worth people checking out (even if you don’t listen to hip hop) is j dilla’s donuts. one of hip hop’s most influential producers (he passed away this year and did stuff for tribe, common, the roots, de la soul, janet jackson, busta, erkyah badu, d’angelo, etc) put out a great instrumental-type album. definitely worth a listen

    and yeah, thanks sid…this was a great idea. i’ve got plenty of new music to listen to now

    finally…RIP james brown…the godfather of soul…and what i’ll call the grandfather of hip hop (check out this section of the-breaks.com, scroll down to james brown, and see how MANY hip hop songs sampled james brown…incredible!!)

  31. Thanks Siddarth for putting the list together. Two questions: 1.I have never bought music form iTunes and suchlike. With all the fantastic suggestions here I am going to take the plunge. How does having music on your laptop/iPOD compare to owning the actual CDs? 2.What is the best site to buy the desi albums? Or the Tamil ones?

    And, my 2006 music-makes-the-world-a-better-place moment was hearing a bunch of Spanish backpackers churning out Radiohead on their guitars at a snowed out Frankfurt Main. I am sure you guys have yours too….

  32. and this one surprised me – the Russian-raised, New York-based “antifolk” singer Regina Spektor, for her album “Begin to Hope” and the song “Fidelity.”

    Wow! I’m surprised too. I thought my lesbian friends and I were the only ones who had ever heard of her 🙂

    Shruti– I thought the exact same thing when I voted for her. Now try being a straight male explaining to his friends why he likes Ani Difranco… — Hemant

  33. one of mine that didn’t make the list, and i think is worth people checking out (even if you don’t listen to hip hop) is j dilla’s donuts

    Second! Second!

  34. Now try being a straight male explaining to his friends why he likes Ani Difranco…

    Try telling them that, while a bit full of herself at times, she actually has some talent, unlike the hacks that your friends are likely listening to.

    1.I have never bought music form iTunes and suchlike. With all the fantastic suggestions here I am going to take the plunge. How does having music on your laptop/iPOD compare to owning the actual CDs?

    In terms of sound quality, there is no difference. I was a naysayer for a long time, but I’m a convert to the “digital music revolution.” And while there will be some obscure music you can’t find on iTunes, and even some not obscure music (e.g., The Beatles), there’s plenty on there that you will like. Plus, there’s the convenience factor, which can be a bad thing of you tend to buy music impulsively (raising hand).

  35. Shruti the Coup have been the TRUTH for years and tears…when will boots get his due? NAS though…..NAS..what happened to the PRIMO collabo? ‘Hip Hop is Dead’…lyrically is on point…the music though…not feeling…NAS could never pick beats…he needs Large Pro and Pete Rock.

  36. Neale, there’s no Radiohead on iTunes either, but there’s a million other things. Kudos to them for ease of use, and depth of catalogue. Suprising depths in terms of Indian classical and carnatic stuff. Somewhat less comprehensive on the filmi tip. But what I find annoying is the format, which really works best for Apple cultists enthusiasts. AAC when the rest of the world’s on mp3? WTF? It’s a pain in the butt if you’re using an actual mp3 player instead of an iPod. I’m thinking of jumping ship and going to Napster.

    Speaking of Radiohead and Spaniards, you’re going to want to make time for this. One of the finest pieces of music journalism I’ve ever read.

  37. 1.I have never bought music form iTunes and suchlike. With all the fantastic suggestions here I am going to take the plunge. How does having music on your laptop/iPOD compare to owning the actual CDs?

    It’s great. It’s far less traumatic a changeover than that from vinyl to CDs. What you don’t get on a regular basis with MP3s is the cover and booklet info, and sometimes that’s a real lack, especially when the lyrics are interesting and printed in the booklet. But slowly but surely this stuff is getting electronic too. Album cover art is now loaded up on iTunes and surely more will follow.

    But in terms of sound quality, it’s great — unless you are a hyper-audiophile, but in that case you should really be dealing with one of those $8,000 turntables with the external motor and the layer of oil that absorbs any shocks, etc etc… For the rest of us, MP3s are terrific.

    The real advantage of course is convenience, capacity, and ease of archiving and sorting. The important thing to bear in mind is that files are large and your hard drive will get filled up pretty fast once you get the addiction. Especially if you have a laptop, you need to invest in an external hard drive ($150-200 or so) where you can store your music safely and in large quantities. It also protects you from disaster should your computer have a meltdown.

    As for iPods, everyone has their own approach. I keep an iPod Nano which I load up only with the most recent stuff that I need to listen to for professional reasons. In general I don’t like listening to music when I’m going about the city – I like the sounds of the city. But on the subway and whatnot, it’s a good use of the time.

    2.What is the best site to buy the desi albums? Or the Tamil ones?

    A great question! Ideas and recommendations out there?

  39. a convert to the “digital music revolution.”

    And what does one do with all the free time, what with reduced opportunities to re-arrange, re-box, look under the car seat, call up suspicious borrowers, linger over liner notes, and revel in the jewel box mayhem around oneself 🙂

  40. Haha, I think I am in the Sriram boat for most of this. Like Jai, I have to give big ups for John Legend – that man is amazing, and his second album is soooo sweet. I’m also The Weepies girl, which is good for those who love vocal melodies and simple folk/wuss-rock. And for anyone who watched Little Miss Sunshine and loved the score, you have to check out Devotchka. The first time I heard them was Winter 2005, and I thought they were amazing. I am a sucker for bands with cellos, though.

    Shruti, I really like the new Nas also, but hadn’t taken a good listen before the poll 🙁 I am so surprised that Three 6 Mafia didn’t get a head nod!

    Neale, I have a lot of iTunes singles, which I think are awesome (and that is what iTunes is awesome for – that and getting music that costs an arm and a leg to ship from some random group), but as a music collector I really like having my CDs for full albums, not only because I like the liner art and holding the CD in my hands, but also because I worry less about backing up my music and because the sound quality is better, which is pretty inevitable with .wav vs. .mp3 or mp4 or whatever the iTunes files are labelled.

  41. Damn!!! I pulled an allnighter Monday organizing/adding to/prioritizing my music wishlists. Some of what I have on deck meshes with the lists above. Talk about a neverending task!

    Shameless emphatic plug: Nina Simone Remixed & Reimagined; Aterciopelados Oye and Two Ton Boa Parisiticide !

    You DC folks MUST get on 9:30 Club’s waiting list…they book all genres and all acts. This is my home away from home. If it weren’t for work I’d be there at least once a week.

    Good job Siddartha, perhaps you could do a mini-version quarterly???

  42. But in terms of sound quality, it’s great — unless you are a hyper-audiophile, but in that case you should really be dealing with one of those $8,000 turntables with the external motor and the layer of oil that absorbs any shocks, etc etc… For the rest of us, MP3s are terrific.

    Haha, I just read this. So I guess disregard that element of my comment since I am apparently a “hyper-audiophile” 🙂

    Oh, but the smaller storage capability is awesome. Especially if you are still at a place in life where you are moving all the time and packing up your CDs alone causes injury 🙂

  43. What is the best site to buy the desi albums? Or the Tamil ones?

    I’m not sure about Tamil CDs, but iTunes has seemed to add a lot of desi music in the past few months. If you can’t find it there, or prefer the good old jewel case route, I’ve found indiaplaza.com to be pretty well-stocked, affordable, and they almost always have a free-shipping special.

  45. But what I find annoying is the format, which really works best for Apple cultists enthusiasts. AAC when the rest of the world’s on mp3? WTF? It’s a pain in the butt if you’re using an actual mp3 player instead of an iPod. I’m thinking of jumping ship and going to Napster.

    Kobayashi my brother, say wha??? Everything I’ve ever purchased from the iTunes store is MP3 and successor/compatible formats (currently M4P).

  46. m4p aint mp3. And that sheez don’t convert easy.

    Come out of the cult, my brother, come into the light.

  47. itunes and other downloads are good and all — in fact they are perfect. Simple and convenient. Download and then put on your Mp3 player. All that. But, I already missed vinyl, and now I’m even missing CD — about actually buying the thing over the counter, in a shop, reading the sleeve notes, when music was an object and a physical thing.

    Call me luddite, but I don’t care, there’s something missing with this new-fangled space age load-down malarkey. Now let me look through my LP collection. I have an original edition of The Smiths ‘The Queen is Dead’, you know.

  48. m4p aint mp3. And that sheez don’t convert easy. Come out of the cult, my brother, come into the light.

    What kind of ghetto MP3 player are you using? I’m going to have to have a word with Mrs Kobayashi about a birthday present for you.