Top Albums of 2006

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#30) Be Your Own PET Be Your Own PET (album review)

As much as music blogs were deemed unnecessary and deluded by mainstream media due to their quick-to-act hype of certain bands, so too can music fans classify those major media outlets for their sometimes unreasonable hype. Outlets along the lines of Rolling Stone or the disheveled SPIN among others were questioned for deeming bands such as Be Your Own PET “the next big thing,” but just as groups such as the Bound Stems and Annuals proved bloggers to be right some of the time, sometimes – where there’s smoke, there’s fire.

#29) Viva Voce Get Yr Blood Sucked Out

Get Yr Blood Sucked Out presents itself best through the first three songs, “Believer,” “When Planets Collide” and “From the Devil Himself.” The duo’s ability to displace the listener’s mind through acoustically distanced fuzz and reverb helped create one of the finest mood altering albums of the year.

#28) Deftones Saturday Night Wrist (album review)

In 1995 when the band released the ear-crushing album Adrenaline the band served as somewhat of an unknown entity within the metal world. The band offered a sound harder and more complete than many of its contemporaries, one which allowed it to find popularity amongst a non-typical fan base. Hard to believe that over a decade later the band still survives, still controlling its sound, still leaving its listener uniquely intrigued.

#27) The Tiny Starring Someone Like You (album review)

It can often be discomforting when attempting to listen to a piece of unclassifiable music. Occasionally however, a side effect of your journey into the unknown can help expand your understanding of not only the beauty of music but the vastness of the world we live in. Starring: Someone Like You is one such piece of music.

#26) Tom Petty Highway Companion

Some things in life are relative. Some may not perceive Picasso an artist when compared to his contemporaries, however when comparing his works to those of modern artist Banksy those same critics might just change their tune. If Picasso were alive today he might well adopt certain styles of a younger generation, proving both himself and new artists worthy of merit. Not to say compare Petty to Picasso, but his fresh album should quiet any of his critics and relative to a few of his prior works and those of his contemporaries, Highway Companion shows a slow adaptation to the tastes of a younger generation.

#25) Rodrigo y Gabriela Rodrigo y Gabriela

Listening to Ali Farka Toure’s Savane, Metacritic’s highest ranked album of 2006, invigorates its listener with a ripe willingness to reopen their willingness to explore world music. However its inaccessibility prevents its listener from truly exploring that world. Rodrigo y Gabriela are the commercial ying to Farka’s yang. Both provide beautiful insight to music less traveled by the average listener, but it is Rodrigo y Gabriela that honestly allow the listener to go further with the music, providing a sincere need to explore the world (or at least its music).

#24) Kaki King Until We Felt Red (album review)

Infatuation can blind even the most critical of listener. At the time of the release of Until We Felt Red my ears (and maybe eyes) had turned on me, unintentionally blinding me from some of the album’s inadequacies. However there are few to be found in King’s gentle voice and guitar, the album’s finest example being “Yellowcake.”

#23) Bob Dylan Modern Times (live performance review)

In response to a post I wrote asking which classic musician still carries the most weight a reply read “Dylan: he’s still The American Songwriter.” After considering the man’s entire body of work and that Modern Times was his first release to reach the plateau on the album charts in some thirty years I have to agree; Dylan is still The American Songwriter.

#22) Ghostface Killah Fishscale

Ghostface’s More Fish is as good a record as any and deserves its place on this list aside Fishscale. However, it and Clipes’ Hell Hath No Fury find themselves following Fishscale as the leader in one of hop hop’s most unexpectedly invigorating years. Utilizing the late J Dilla and MF Doom as producers in addition to the excellent use of classic soul on the album helped this decade long Wu-Tang fan remember that despite Nas’ words, hip hop is not dead.

#21) Mastodon Blood Mountain (album review)

Metal fans were given a few curveballs this year, one being the development of Mastodon being quickly hyped as the genre’s savior. Not simply that but it represented metal in 2006 to indie fans the way that Clipse represented hip hop. Fortunately it served as a genuine look at the some of the best music of the year, let alone the year’s best metal.

#20) The Decemberists The Crane Wife (live performance review)

In 2005 it was almost shameful to do anything but love Picaresque, but the overall feeling regarding The Crane Wife seems to have lessened since the album’s release a mere two months ago. While the album has its lulls it still fails to disappoint, offering, as expected, one of the year’s literary gems.

#19) The Fever In The City of Sleep (album review)

Before the band’s unlikely split in September The Fever played a show just as surprising in Minneapolis with faux-new wavers Rock Kills Kid and the adult-contemporary version of electro-punk, Electric Six which I was able to see. While the other bands played their electro-fused sets The Fever delivered powerfully soulful music that channeled equal parts of both The Rolling Stones and New Order. In the City of Sleep conveys this perfectly.

#18) LCD Soundsystem 45:33 (album review)

Though The Crystal Method were the first to contribute to Nike’s Original Run series James Murphy has probably produced a piece as close to perfect as the series will see.

#17) Teddybears Soft Machine (album review)

Originally a guilty pleasure, Teddybears’ Soft Machine slowly grew into an album that one can only be proud to listen to. In reference to the album’s “Yours to Keep” Idolator recently wrote “How often do you hear a song about ‘(driving) around with the top down’ that actually sounds good while driving around with the top down?” I couldn’t agree more.

#16) Hank Williams III Straight To Hell (live performance review)

Though much of the album has been available through bootlegs, hearing official releases hits home with an unmatched power that refutes the merit given to country’s recent shift towards glossy, overproduction. All this from an album recorded in Williams’ home on a $400 Korg workstation. An album preaching a DIY ethic spouted from a modern day country outlaw, definitely something that should be give your attention.

#15) Mew And The Glass Handed Kites (album review)

2006 saw Denmark’s finest rock band embark on a voyage into North America and take over. While some were dissuaded by the band’s dramatic approach to prog they landed in the minority as the band invited and entertained a whole new base of fan; J. Mascis being one of them.

#14) Pearl Jam Pearl Jam

The greatest comeback of the year comes from a band that many hate and even more loathe. Subsequently Pearl Jam has been my favorite band for years, but don’t let that get in the way of the music. After the band’s extended performance debuting new material on The Late Show with David Letterman the band proved that fans were in for a treat and the album did not disappoint.

#13) Neil Young Living With War

Neil Young’s grittiest album in years peaked interest in members of both sides of the political spectrum through both its insinuations and its blatant accusations towards the Bush administration. Though I agree with much of Young’s message on its own merit and understand freestanding quotes to be somewhat tacky at this point in the game, “If we don’t believe in freedom of expression for people we despise, we don’t believe in it at all.” – Noam Chomsky

#12) NOFX Wolves in Wolves’ Clothing (album review)

A strong album from a group of (almost) forty somethings who had to reclaim some youthful energy while finding a balance with searching for relevance in terms of modern punk. As such Wolves in Wolves’ Clothing is a success.

#11) Priestess Hello Master (album review)

Though not delivering an album as heavy as The Sword or one as commercially viable as Wolfmother, Priestess deliver an amazing album that yields songs ranging from full blown metal to those that could pass on modern rock radio.

#10) Sonic Youth Rather Ripped (album review)

Reemerging as one of American rock’s great groups, Sonic Youth proved that it is in fact possible for alt-classics to reinvent themselves for a younger generation (without actually going to the extent of reinventing themselves).

#9) Wolfmother Wolfmother (album review)

Trust me when I say that calling Wolfmother the greatest band to emerge from Australia since Silverchair isn’t a bad thing…because they are…despite what Mike Patton might say.

#8) The Black Keys Magic Potion (album review)

The Black Keys are one of the purest blues rock bands to have released an album this past year and despite complaints that Magic Potion is really nothing more that a mock rehash of second rate acts from the 60s, it deserves your love.

#7) Silversun Pickups Carnavas (album review)

Silversun Pickups found a balance between indie shoegaze and mainstream rock with a sound reminiscent of the Smashing Pumpkins. Only without the faux-goth look and self-satisfying solos.

#6) Gnarls Barkley St. Elsewhere (album review)

Heading into the year St. Elsewhere was one of the most anticipated albums of the year and despite its omnipresent “Crazy” Cee-Lo and Danger Mouse did not disappoint.

#5) Midlake The Trials of Van Occupanther (album review)

Early establishing the band with the greatest single of the year, “Roscoe,” Midlake continued by providing a theme to every young-at-heart die-hard Doobie Brothers fan’s dream.

#4) TV on the Radio Return To Cookie Mountain (album review)

Though not my favorite album of the year TV on the Radio should have probably been given Pitchfork’s nod as the group broadly tested listeners without alienating them. The music is accompanied by some of the most baffling lyrics which reflect the exact same qualities as the music; unmatched, indescribable and incomparable.

#3) Ane Brun A Temporary Dive (album review)

Though I thoroughly despise the new-age singer/songwriter Ane Brun defied my outlook with her songs that playfully touch on the emotions which most other artists don’t bother experiencing; sometimes even her words fail to describe the emotion that her voice represents. What cannot be said about her music is that it is characteristic of her time, however. Her words and music are universal, and A Temporary Dive is a classic.

#2) The Majestic Twelve Schizophrenology (album review)

Schizophrenology is one of the most successful albums of the year. As far as albums that harmoniously criticize the woes of bipartisanship on the same level as it explores personal emotions such as love and fear, it is one of the most successful albums of the year.

#1) The Raconteurs Broken Boy Soldiers (album review)

Leading up to its release Broken Boy Soldiers ranked as one of the most anticipated albums of the year. As the dust settled after its release the album failed to reach Jack White-levels of commercial success and its audience dwindled. With little news since the band’s phenomenal set of shows in the summer months it’s beautiful to see them even chart in Heart on a Stick’s 2006 Music Bloggregate, but I feel that people gave up on the band nonetheless due to obsessed “overexposure.” The funny thing about overexposure is it that the term itself is like much else in the world, relative. When attending the band’s show this past August I attempted to express to a lot of my friends how excited I was to see them. A band that, despite premature online rumblings of negative feedback due to this hype, they had not even heard of. Who had they heard of? Hinder. I love the band because it has star power. Its musicians have achieved their levels of individual success based on their talent, and not simply who they date (though I’m sure it hasn’t hindered their success). I love the band because they use a combination of sound that doesn’t seem watered down to me, it just sounds good. I love the band because I can get behind the lyrics, however non-literary focussed they may be.