John Walker's Electronic House

As I started to think about my top 10 albums of this year it occurred to me that 2006 hasn’t been a music year at all. 2006 has been a TV year. I haven’t had a TV year in a while, and as ever I’m not even sure if the television in our front room is plugged into an aerial. Yet, despite this, via (entirely legal, obviously) magic, lots of television has reached me, and it’s been awfully good.

Music’s still played a big part, but then when I try to think further about why I’ve consumed so little, I realise it’s radio. Again, I don’t even own a radio with a dial on it any more (that’s not strictly true – I own about five, but I couldn’t tell you exactly where any of them are right now). Radio is made of internet juice now, each station kindly parceling up anything I might wish to hear and letting me tune in when it’s appropriate. There’s the radio in our magic kitchen of course, only capable of producing the Archers or Any Answers (I went into the kitchen yesterday at what I’d have sworn oaths was about 8.30pm, and heard the stinking farming nonsense, and emerged to find it was now 7.12pm), and if Radio 4 were to ever make a decent comedy programme again, I’d listen to it. But it’s archives that have consumed my year. Perhaps I’m slightly demented in my obsession, but when discovering something I like, I voraciously consume it. When that something I like has years’ worth of archives containing thousands of episodes, I’m in trouble. So 2006 has been a Loveline year. (It’s good to know I’m taking a healthy break at the moment, having discovered limited archives of Nick Abbot from the late 90s, and that he’s back on the radio after a four year break and doing a weekly show).

I don’t feel in a position to make a top 10/12/453 albums list this year. It turns out the majority of what I’ve been listening to most is from The Past (from last year’s Separation Sunday by The Hold Steady to the 1960’s Best of Blood Sweat & Tears). However, there’s plenty to say about TV, a little bit to say about film (I’m not sure if I’ve been to the cinema five times in the last year), and every now and then I’ve played the odd computer game.