My recommendations 2006:The Rose Has Teeth in the Mouth of a Beast by Matmos

Matmos: The Rose Has Teeth in the Mouth of a Beast
Matador 5/9/2006

Available at Emusic

In the film Barbarella, the matmos was a source of energy that fueled various forms of evil in the city built upon it. Ironically, very little of the activity that Jane Fonda's title character witnessed in the city in search of Duran Duran (yes, the band also got their name from this film) could really be called evil. Hedonistic, certainly. And hedonism is one aspect of gay history that is manifest on Matmos' The Rose Has Teeth in the Mouth of a Beast, a concept album about notable gay figures from history. Each track commemorates one person who has made his or her distinctive mark on the world and is played in a manner that evokes that individual's influence. For example, for Valeria Solanas, the lesbian who shot Andy Warhol, a cow uterus is played like a wind instrument over a reading of her anti-male manifesto. For William S. Burroughs, it's a typewriter. For The Germs' Darby Crash, Matmos recorded the sound of cigarettes burning human skin. And for erotic photographer James Bidgood, human semen was splashed while Antony gently cooed and chanted. This is easily among the strangest and best albums of the year.