My recommendations 2006:Serena-Maneesh by Serena-Maneesh

Serena-Maneesh: Serena-Maneesh
Playlouderecordings 5/9/2006

Available at Emusic

A lot of people are needlessly hung up on the supposed virtues of originality, many to the point of giving glowing reviews to unlistenable albums that happen to be weird and giving bad reviews to gorgeous ones that tread familiar territory. On occasion, an album like Serena-Maneesh comes along that does little more than rehash a done-to-death genre, i.e., shoegaze, but does it so well that critics are tripping over themselves trying to explain why they love it, all the while making excuses for its familiarity. Frankly, all I care about is whether it's enjoyable - and in this regard, Serena-Maneesh is a superb album. After all, shoegaze is really hard to fuck up - one part reverb, one part feedback, two parts soft male/female vocals buried in the mix - and in competent hands, it can still be stunning. Despite a few rough edges, Serena-Maneesh have shown that they are at worst great imitators, and at best potential innovators.