What albums surprised you in 2006, either ones that you weren't expecting to like but loved (there is a thread already for albums your were expecting to love but were disappointed by) or those that just were different to what you were expecting in either a good or bad way.

I finally decided to invest in Destroyer's Rubies by Destroyer after not being particularly wowed by any of Destroyer's previous efforts with Your Blues being a particular disappointment for reasons I can't really understand, I love Dan Bejar's voice and his songwriting within The New pornographers but his Destroyer stuff never really clicked with me

A couple of my friends had mentioned that some of the tracks on Destroyer's Rubies had a more The New Pornographers feel to them and I'm also loving what I've heard of Swan Lake's Beast Moans so far so I finally caved and brought Destroyer's Rubies and I love it.

The music on the album really defies definition for me, the lyrics don't make a whole heap of sense on at least the first five listens but it just clicks for me as a whole. I'm thinking of going back to his previous efforts now to see if anything has changed with time.

quote:

Originally posted by Jaye H.:
The music on the album really defies definition for me, the lyrics don't make a whole heap of sense on at least the first five listens but it just clicks for me as a whole. I'm thinking of going back to his previous efforts now to see if anything has changed with time.

I completely agree. It seems fresh every time I listen to it. Of course, I also like Neko Case, and AC Newman's solo stuff.

Probably the most surprising album for me was The Thermals The Body, The Blood, The Machine. I had heard their last album and liked some of the tracks, but could never really get into it. After hearing their '06 album, I was forced to change my opinion of The Thermals. Much better then I had remembered.

Another surprising album was Trail of Dead's So Divided, which I honestly expected to be worse then World's Apart. It's no Source Tags, but it's definitely a large improvement on their last album. I like it.

The biggest and best surprise for me was a little indie band from Arizona, The Format, who made a flat-out masterpiece called "Dog Problems." It's not showing up on any year-end lists that I've seen (probably because they're a smaller band and they self-released the album) but it's scope and execution are pitch perfect. It really surprised me because their first album wasn't too great, but they really knocked it out of the park with the new one.

Anyone else keen on these guys?

Did not expect to find myself enamored of Ghostface Killah

Beeswax - I'm with you all the way on Dog Problems. Definitely in my top 10 for the year. I'd never heard of them and got the album because the cover looked ridiculous (in a good way). I had no expectations, but I was rewarded with the catchiest, least pretentious, most upbeat music of the year. The lyrics though, mainly about the break up of singer Nate Ruess' relationship are actually at odds with the music and are fairly bitter and biting. I love it. It's probably the album I've listened to most this year, particularly Timebomb and The Compromise, although it's all good.

I was very surpised by Joanna Newsom, mostly because I saw her heading in a more traditional folk direction after "Milk-Eyed Mender" not towards a classical sound. I was similarly surprised by The Hold Steady, who I didn't think could evolve past being a really good bar band.

Of the less mainstream releases I really loved the Casiotone for the Painfully alone release "Etiquette", which has some great electro-folk tracks on it. Also Camera Obscura really have evolved into a force in the indie pop scene and have finally shed their Belle and Sebastian skin.

Has anyone heard Frida Hyvonen's album Until Death Comes? I just downloaded it and it is really good. A half-hour of mostly just her and a piano, melancholy and disarming. If you follow Pitchfork's infinite mixtape, you've heard "I Drive My Friend" - most of the songs are as good. Would have been on my Best of 2006 list if I hadn't already submitted it.

quote:

Originally posted by paradox:
Has anyone heard Frida Hyvonen's album Until Death Comes? I just downloaded it and it is really good. A half-hour of mostly just her and a piano, melancholy and disarming. If you follow Pitchfork's infinite mixtape, you've heard "I Drive My Friend" - most of the songs are as good. Would have been on my Best of 2006 list if I hadn't already submitted it.

Yes, I have it. It would have been on my list as well, if I hadn't gotten it 2005.

i was suprised in return to cookie mountain. in a good way.

i heard little of them before about a week before the release of this. i listened to a few tracks from ok calculator and desperate blood(whatever i could find) and liked but not loved.

one review i read said it blew those releases out of the water so on tuesday i went out and bought it expecting nothing.

before i made it home i realized i had a new favorite cd.

a good portion of the music i heard this year was from artists who i had not previously heard. hard to choose which album surprised me the most.. i was defanitely surprised to find myself listening to Fishscale for a good month straight. very happy with my sparklehorse purchase, purchased it blind with no preconceptions and it turned out to be one of the better albums of the year. Also, You are There by Mono and Tim Hecker's Harmony in Ultraviolet

Blood Mountain by Mastodon really snuck up on me. I'm not a huge fan of hardcore metal, and I actively dislike a lot of "Cookie Monster" metal. But this is actually a very good album, good enough to make my Top 10 of the year.

Orphans by Tom Waits was also a bit of a surprise -- not because I expected Waits to produce something bad, but because I did not expect anyone to maintain such a high level of quality over three full discs.

im not the biggest of brand new's fans but i do like them.

so when their latest came out i thought it would be just and average run-of-the-mill records.

but even just after the first listen to it i was suprised in its depth among other things.

this cd might break my top 25 of the year.

Isolee -- western store

was a very nice find for me.
I was getting board with repetitive electronic music but Isolee transcends the usual trappings