ם Top Five Albums of 2006
 1. The Mountain Goats — Get Lonely:John Darnielle remains one of the few people that can successfully pull off an exquisite concept album. Absolutely fantastic piece of work. And the album cover reminds me of the cover of Led Zeppelin IV. |
 2. Regina Spektor — Begin to Hope:I’ve always had a soft-spot for Regina. This album is a nice follow-up to Soviet Kitsch, with cleaner production but just as many academic references (think “pop-culture references”, but regarding 16th century literature or Biblical judges instead of Nicole Richie). Anti-folk for the academic. |
 3. Girl Talk — Night Ripper:If you’re not familiar with Girl Talk, please read the first paragraph of this as a bit of a primer. Then go ahead and read the list of samples in each of the songs and just try to not want to immediately listen to this album. Night Ripper ends up being a 42-minute dance party, and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. Nothing wrong with that at all. |
 4. Bob Dylan — Modern Times:
“I paid my time / And now I’m as good as new.” Amen, Bob-o. |
 5. Band of Horses — Everything All The Time:Not a particularly original sound, and they’re not really exploring unchartered territories, but they certainly know how to make a solid indie rock album. I just really dig it. |
Honorable Mentions:
- Belle & Sebastian — The Life Pursuit: Some gems, some duds. A strong album, but just not quite top five.
- Approximately one third of the brand new Brand New, The Devil and God are Raging Inside Me. Those other two thirds let me down.
- CSS — Cansei de Ser Sexy: Super fun Brazilian dance rock, full of broken English lyrics.
- The Decemberists — The Crane Wife: The best history rock in town, as sung by Homestar Runner (c’mon, how am I the only one that thinks that?)
- The Hold Steady — Boys and Girls in America: As much fun as this band is to just listen to, I absolutely recommend trying to see them live. They put on quite a show.
- Quiet Company — Shine Honesty: Endearing music from Texas.
What’s your top five? Leave it in the comments. Chris, Mark, J.J., Indra… I’m looking at you. Anyone else is also welcomed to share.
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January 2nd, 2007 at 1:43 am
dude, i feel like i’m the only one that thinks that reginas new album is horrible. i can’t stand to listen to it. heres my list:
Man Man: Six Demon Bag
Islands: Return to Sea
Tapes N Tapes: The Loon
TV on the Radio: return to cookie mountain
The flaming lips: at war with the mystics
January 2nd, 2007 at 2:35 pm
(I’ve changed my list slightly, ao give me a break!)
5: The Roots-Game Theory (Dark, disturbing commentary on today’s society, why can’t all current hip-hop be this good??)
4: Beck-The Information (Mix of Guero-like beats with Odelay-like awesomeness, can’t match up to the latter, but it is a STRONG follow-up to the somewhat disappointing former)
3: Bob Dylan-Modern Times (Bob’s strangest album in years, but undoubtedly his best out of the so-far trilogy since Time Out of Mind)
2. The Raconteurs-Broken Boy Soldiers (Who knew Brendan Benson wasn’t THAT lame, and what is Jack White’s other band and why have they not broken up?)
1. Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins (Great solo-debut, Neko Case-like, but with a softer and more direct lyrical style..didn’t leave my CD player all year)
January 2nd, 2007 at 2:37 pm
1. The Hold Steady- Boys and Girls Do America
2. Band of Horses- Everything All The Time (Tie)
2. Bob Dylan- Modern Times (Tie)
4. Brand New- The Devil and God are Raging Inside of Me
5. Belle and Sebastian- The Life Pursuit
Earning Honorable Mention:
The Roots- Game Theory
John Mayer- Continuum
Destroyer- Destroyer’s Rubies
Ghostface Killah- Fishscale
Thom Yorke- Eraser
Sunset Rubdown- Shut Up I Am Dreaming
January 2nd, 2007 at 6:57 pm
I’ve changed mine slightly since our previous talks, as I have had time to sober up and actually think about them.
5. Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins - Rabbit Fur Coat: She kicks ass in Rilo Kiley, and she proved that she can kick just as much ass by going solo and playing country tinged love songs.
4. The Hold Steady - Boys and Girls in America: killer rock record, and I hate you for seeing them live.
3. Brand New - The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me: I did an article on it for St. Joe’s paper, so I figured I would just post the link — Brand New’s brand new album a change of pace
2. Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not: Amazing debut filled with biting lyricism and unstoppable energy. Reminds me of why I listen to rock n’ roll.
1. Band of Horses - Everything All The Time: I probably played this record more than any other this year. As TJ said, they’re not exactly reinventing the wheel, but they did write some amazing songs.
PS: I think a group of us are getting together to play our favorite albums from 2006 on Friday night. Hopefully you guys can come out.
January 4th, 2007 at 2:33 am
here are my two cents..
1. john mayer - continuum - I just cant stop listening to this cd. its blues guitar at its finest and john mayer has a ridiculous skill for melody
2. Arctic Monkeys-Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not- this reminded me of the beatles because of where theyre from and the fact that i love nearly every song on the album
3. Brand New- The Devil and God are Raging Inside of Me- they do some great things conceptually here. their complete change of style annoys me but at the same time i cant argue with lacey’s lyrics. the cd is overall solid.noice.
4. angels and airwaves - we don’t need to whisper- dont make fun of me, but im a sucker for blink182. i saw angels live and it made me like this album a lot more
5. decemberists - crane wife- this is another album thats full of crafted melody. it also helps that the colbert vs decemberists green screen battle is awesome
January 4th, 2007 at 11:49 am
Stop the presses! I hadn’t listened to Neko Case’s “Fox Confessor Brings the Flood” yet (Shame on me) and I can honestly say that it is beginning to make me re-think my Top 5. On a different front (Mark this is for you), The Brightblack Morning Light album is exciting for about three songs and then it just gets repetitive and lame, anybody else feel one way or another about either?