1. TV on the Radio Return to Cookie Mountain

2. The Hold Steady Boys And Girls In America

3. Dixie Chicks Taking the Long Way

4. The Secret Machines Ten Silver Drops

5. Shearwater Palo Santo

6. Rosanne Cash Black Cadillac

7. Bruce Springsteen We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions

8. The Raconteurs Broken Boy Soldiers

9. Neil Young Living With War

10. Gnarls Barkley St. Elsewhere

11. Alejandro Escovedo Boxing Mirror

01. Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I Am,That's What I'm Not
02. Muse - Black Holes and Revelations
03. Dirty Pretty Things – Waterloo To Anywhere
04. The Strokes - First Impressions Of Earth
05. Yo La Tengo -I Am Not Afraid Of You And I Will Beat Your Ass
06. Grandaddy – Just Like The Fambly Cat
07. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Show Your Bones
08. Thom Yorke – The Eraser
09. Graham Coxon - Love Travels At Illegal Speeds
10. The Longcut – A Call and Response

11. Isobell Campbell & Mark Lanegan - Ballad of Broken Seas
12. The Long Blondes – Someone To Drive You Home
13. The Raconteurs - Broken Boy Soldiers
14. Morrissey - Ringleader of the Tormentors
15. The Flaming Lips – At War With The Mystics
16. Midlake - The Trials Of Van Occupanther
17. The Rapture - Pieces Of The People We Love
18. Tapes 'n Tapes - The Loon
19. Belle n Sebastian - The Life Pursuit
20. TV On The Radio - Return To Cookie Mountain

1. J Dilla- Donuts
2. Tom Waits- Orphans
3. Joanna Newsom- Ys
4. Califone- Roots and Crowns
5. Nellie Mckay- Pretty Little Head
6. Mission of Burma- The Obliterati
7. TV on the Radio- Return to Cookie Mountain
8. Liars- Drum's Not Dead
9. The Hold Steady- Boys and Girls in America
10. Peter Bjorn and John- Writer's Block
11. Neko Case- Fox Confessor Brings the Flood
12. The Thermals- The Body, The Blood, The Machine
13. Comets on Fire- Avatar
14. Clipse- Hell Hath No Fury
15. GhostFace Killah- Fischscale
16. OOIOO- Taiga
17. Beck- The Information
18. M. Ward- Post-War
19. Bonnie "Prince" Billy- The Letting Go
20. Yo La Tengo- I am Not Afraid of You...

1. Joanna Newsom - Ys
2. Belle & Sebastian - The Life Pursuit
3. Thom Yorke - The Eraser
4. Bob Dylan - Modern Times
5. The Decemberists - The Crane Wife
6. Lupe Fiasco - Food & Liquor
7. God Is An Astronaut - All Is Violent, All Is Bright
8. Built To Spill - You In Reverse
9. Yo La Tengo - I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass
10. Arctic Moneys - Whatever People Say I am, That's What I'm Not

11. Tapes 'N Tapes - The Loon
12. The National - Alligator
13. The Album Leaf - Into The Blue Again
14. Mute Math - Mute Math
15. The Radio Dept - Pet Grief
16. Sufjan Stevens - The Avalanche
17. TV On The Radio - Return to Cookie Mountain
18. Crystal Skulls - Outgoing Behavior
19. Tropicália - A Brazilian Revolution In Sound
20. The Hold Steady - Boys And Girls In America

quote:

Originally posted by sk:
04. The Strokes - First Impressions Of Earth

I think this is the first time I have seen this on anybody's list, let alone this high. I like this choice, I really enjoyed this album and I feel like it is so underrated.

Here's my final list for 2006 :

1. The Pipettes - "We are the Pipettes"
2. Midlake - "The trials of Van Occupanther"
3. Camera Obscura - "Let's get out of this country"
4. Belle and Sebastian - "The life pursuit"
5. Ed Harcourt - "The beautiful lie"
6. The Sleepy Jackson - "Personality - One was a spider, one was a bird"
7. Jim Noir - "Tower of love"
8. El Perro Del Mar - "El Perro Del Mar"
9. Scissor Sisters - "Ta-dah"
10.Hot Chip - "The warning"
11.Joseph Arthur - "Nuclear daydream"
12.Guillemots - "Through the windowpane"
13.David Mead - "Tangerine"
14.Barth - "Under the trampoline"
15.Mojave 3 - "Puzzles like you"
16.Phoenix - "It's never been like that"
17.Peter Von Poehl - "Going where the tea trees are"
18.Spearmint - "Paris in a bottle"
19.Peter Bjorn & John - "Writer's block"
20.Nigel Clark - "21th century man"

20. Boris - Pink
19. Swan Lake - Beast Moans
18. Ellen Allien & Apparrat - Orcechestra of Bubbles
17. The Thermals - The Body, The Blood, The Machine
16. Girl Talk - Night Ripper
15. Love is All - Nine Times That Same Song
14. Scott Walker - The Drift
13. Six Organs of Admittance - Sun Awakens
12. Ali Toure Farka - Savane
11. Neko Case - Fox Confessor Brings the Flood
10. Johnny Cash - Personal File
9. The Roots Game Theory
8. The Beatles - Love
7. Band of Horses - Everything All The Time
6. M. Ward - Post-War
5. Pavement - Wowee Zowee: Sordid Sentinels Edition
4. Daft Punk - Musique Vol. 1 1993-2005
3. Mission of Burma - The Obliterati
2. Oh No - Exodus Into Unheard Rhythms

AND For my fav of 2006.. i think

1. Destroyer - Destroyer's Rubies

quote:

Originally posted by crazed:

quote:

Originally posted by static bandit:
seriously, how many of these albums will you truly care to listen to in the years to come much less in 2007.

All of the the several hundred I bought from this year. Wouldn't keep them otherwise.

Amen, brother crazed. I like the 'this year sucks' talk. It's so sensible. There was plenty of good stuff this year. I think some people just like to be curmudgeonly to show how cool and credible they are. Their loss. It's people like that who sell good stuff back to cool stores and I pick them up on the cheapity-cheap, so I'm glad they exist.

It is funny how many one-time posters show up this time of year...I count eleven in the last two pages alone! Nothing wrong with new members joining up, but I wonder how many will stick around for the discussion...

You gotta give points for effort to that SK guy, who filled up most of the indie rock forum just to make sure he had his 30.

I dunno, other years have had music that I absolutely loved. 2006 has a lot of music I like, but only a little bit that I've really loved.

quote:

Originally posted by Chamberk:
I dunno, other years have had music that I absolutely loved. 2006 has a lot of music I like, but only a little bit that I've really loved.

I also think you can't really fairly judge a musical year until some time AFTER it's over, for several reasons:

1. Some stuff needs time to sink in. Records that came out in October or November may not hit you until the next year.

2. Sometimes you don't get important 2006 releases until the year is up.

3. Sometimes, retrospection makes you realize things are less good (or more good) than you thought. I realize this can happen any time, but I think it's not really fair to judge a musical year until some time has passed. A few years, maybe.

quote:

Originally posted by m.leland:
2006 has been my favorite year in quite some time. Since 2002 maybe.

I think this year and last year are a toss-up, but I wouldn't have said that until sometime between mid-year and mid-November 2006. The eventual 2005 vs. 2006 thread will be fascinating.

I think part of the reason some people say it's a bad year for music is that some highly-anticipated releases were (a) disappointing, e.g., The Strokes, Swan Lake, The Rapture, The Killers, while others were (b) postponed until 2007, e.g., Modest Mouse, The Shins, G n' R. But I think it's been a very good year to be pleasantly surprised by new things. Few would have imagined that Grizzly Bear, Midlake, Beach House, Flying Canyon, and others would release such solid records this year. Also, it's been a very good year for experimental music (e.g., The Knife, Liars, Scott Walker, and TV On The Radio).

1. The Hold Steady - Boys and Girls in America
2. TV On the Radio - Return to Cookie Mountain
3. The Decemberists - The Crane Wife
4. Islands - Return to the Sea
5. Bob Dylan - Modern Times
6. Belle & Sebastian - The Life Pursuit
7. Sunset Rubdown - Shut Up I am Dreaming
8. Joanna Newsom - Ys
9. Danielson - Ships
10. The Futureheads - News and Tributes

i haven't been a member long enough so i guess i'm not going to post my top 10, but i am suprised a few albums haven't been mentioned yet such as...

Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin - Broom (great lo-fi album. these guys aren't doing anything new but they do make some great pop songs.)

Cunninlynguists - A Piece of Strange (one of the best, if not THE best hip-hop album of the year imo. great production by Kno, good MCing, and cohesive 'concept' album). perhaps it's being overlooked because it was released so early in the year, or because most of you guys are more rock orientated.

i know they're not albums but all 3 of the Voxtrot EPs were really good.

and not too many lists with post-rock/hardcore/hip-hop but i guess i can understand considering the demographic at metacritic.

i think the Blood Brothers' 'Young Machetes' was my favorite album this year with TVOTR trailing closely behind. i've seen it on a few people's lists which is good. definitely an acquired taste though so it's understandable if you hated it.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: steveotron,

quote:

Originally posted by Mr.Natural:
Sorry I just discovered this forum.

Would I recognize you if you were a "Psychedelic Flashback"?

1. Grizzly Bear - Yellow House
2. Neko Case - Fox Confessor Brings The Flood
3. The Knife - Silent Shout
4. Sufjan Stevens - The Avalanche
5. Ellen Allien & Apparat - Orchestra of Bubbles
6. The Hold Steady - Boys & Girls in America
7. Joanna Newsom - Ys
8. TV On The Radio - Return to Cookie Mountain
9. Junior Boys - So This Is Goodbye
10. Band of Horses - Everything All The Time
11. Yo La Tengo - I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass
12. Cat Power - The Greatest
13. Asobi Seksu - Citrus
14. Booka Shade - Movements
15. The Futureheads - News & Tributes
16. Mew - ...And The Glass-Handed Kites
17. Sonic Youth - Rather Ripped
18. Belle and Sebastian - The Life Pursuit
19. The Decemberists - The Crane Wife
20. The Roots - Game Theory

20 – indian jewelry – invasive exotics (monitor)
19 – grizzly bear – yellow house (warp)
18 - girl talk - night ripper (illegal art)
17 – om – conference of the birds (holy mountain)
16 - the no-neck blues band and embryo - embryonnck (staubgold)
15 - ladyhawk - s/t (jagjaguwar)
14 - drones - gala mill (ATP)
13 - wooden wand and the vanishing voice - gipsy freedom (5RC)
12 - clogs - lantern (brassland)
11 - beach house - s/t (carpark)
10 - comets on fire - avatar (sub pop)
09 - destroyer - destroyer's rubies (merge)
08 - parts and labor - stay afraid (jagjaguwar)
07 - band of horses - everything all the time (sub pop)
06 - boris - pink (southern lord)
05 - neko case - fox confessor brings the flood (anti)
04 - bonnie 'prince' billy - the letting go (drag city)
03 - wooden wand and the sky high band - second attention (kill rock stars)
02 - liars - drum's not dead (mute)
01 - the hold steady - boys and girls in american (vagrant)

Okay, after much dithering and revision, here's the list:

1. Bob Dylan, "Modern Times"
(Wasn't sure if this would make #1, 2, or 3 on my list, but after seeing him live in November, it's a no-brainer. Durable songwriting that stands up to as many listens as I have time to enjoy.)

2. Destroyer, "Rubies"
(Surely the lyrics are pure nonsense! But perhaps the greatest sing-along record I own.)

3. Neko Case, "Fox Confessor Brings the Flood"
(Neko is my hero. Plus, with #2, more proof that the New Pornographers contains more talent in one band than the rest of the world's bands combined.)

4. The Decemberists, "The Crane Wife"
(A knockout from the first listen. Great hooks, terrific storytelling ('The Island'), and a lovely closer ('Sons & Daughters').)

5. TV on the Radio, "Return to Cookie Mountain"
(See everyone else on this board.)

6. Joanna Newson, "Ys"
(Points for willful weirdness that gets deep under the skin.)

7. Josh Ritter, "The Animal Years"
("Thin Blue Flame" and "Girl in the War" might be the two most important songs released this year.)

8. Gomez, "How We Operate"
(Underrated, under-heard, and solid through and through.)

9. Jenny Lewis with the Watson Twins, "Rabbit Fur Coat"
(It's the voice. And the hair. Could she and Neko make an album together, please?)

10. Midlake, "The Trials of Van Occupanther"
(One listen was enough to nab a spot in the top ten.)

11. Beirut, "Gulag Orkestar"
(We have no idea what he's saying, but people shut up when I put this on.)

12. Califone, "Roots and Crowns"
(Someone perfectly described this as "country concrete" ('Concrete' as in 'Musique Concrete').)

13. The Figgs, "Follow Jean Through the Sea"
(I found one you haven't heard yet. Your loss.)

14. Sufjan Stevens, "The Avalanche"
(It's one 'Chicago's too many, but these outtakes prove that the well runs deep and clear.)

15. Muse, "Black Holes and Revelations"
(The hell with subtlety.)

16. Nellie McKay, "Pretty Little Head"
(Stop rapping, cut a few tracks, and it would have made the top 10.)

17. M. Ward, "Post-War"
(How does a guy in his thirties sound like a grandpa?)

18. Donald Fagen, "Morph the Cat"
(For the lyrics.)

19. Hem, "Funnel Cloud"
(For the voice.)

20. Cat Power, "The Greatest"
(Modestly overrated, but still her most listenable album by a long shot.)

I'm still waiting to hear Los Lobos, "The Town and the City," but this will have to do for now. I'll revise before 1/15 if that one makes the list. I'm surprised that more haven't listed Josh Ritter's excellent but perplexing "The Animal Years," which Stephen King recently named his favorite album of the year. I rank by a pretty simple metric of how long a CD stayed in my 6-disc car changer. By that measure, Dylan & Destroyer ran neck and neck this year. How fitting! I think of "Rubies" as the long-lost, demented cousing of "Blonde on Blonde." I give the edge to Dylan only because I think the lyrics (good as Bejar's are) just run deeper and truer on "Modern Times."

Someone should post a topic on this forum for the 10 or 20 most OVERRATED albums of 2006. I have plenty. For shits and giggles, here they are!

The Rabbi's 10 Most Overrated Albums of 2006 (from least to most overrated; but they're all overrated). Apologies aforehand for massacring any sacred cows, which inevitably I shall:

10. Beck, "The Information" ("Strange Apparation" and a few others are fun, but the rest feels like filler.)

9. The Raconteurs, "Broken Boy Soldiers." (I saw them open for Dylan in November and their over-loud set just showed how masterful Dylan and his band are.)

8. Thom Yorke, "The Eraser." (An album I can appreciate and even admire, but just not *enjoy.* I find it detached and soulless.)

7. The Flaming Lips, "At War With the Mystics." (Less 'overrated' than it is simply disappointing, especially after the sublime "Yoshimi.")

6. Swan Lake, "Beast Moans." (I couldn't even make it past the 30-second clips on eMusic, and this is from someone who put Destroyer's Rubies at #2 for the year.)

5. Belle & Sebastian, "The Life Pursuit." (Some fun, energized material here, but overlong and songs start to sound alike after a while.)

4. Calexico, "Garden Ruin." (Another one that's more disspointing that 'overrated' per se. Yawn. And I like Calexico, which is why it hurts me to write this.)

3. Golden Smog, "Another Fine Day." (After waiting 8 years since "Weird Tales," I had hoped for so much more.)

2. Tom Waits, "Orphans etc." (I will never understand the allure and acclaim that seems to accompany Old Gravel Larynx, even after seeing him live last year.)

1. Arctic Monkeys, "Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not" (Am I missing something? Immature and derivative. Don't believe the hype!)

quote:

Originally posted by advancemelee:
20. Boris - Pink
19. Swan Lake - Beast Moans
18. Ellen Allien & Apparrat - Orcechestra of Bubbles
17. The Thermals - The Body, The Blood, The Machine
16. Girl Talk - Night Ripper
15. Love is All - Nine Times That Same Song
14. Scott Walker - The Drift
13. Six Organs of Admittance - Sun Awakens
12. Ali Toure Farka - Savane
11. Neko Case - Fox Confessor Brings the Flood
10. Johnny Cash - Personal File
9. The Roots Game Theory
8. The Beatles - Love
7. Band of Horses - Everything All The Time
6. M. Ward - Post-War
5. Pavement - Wowee Zowee: Sordid Sentinels Edition
4. Daft Punk - Musique Vol. 1 1993-2005
3. Mission of Burma - The Obliterati
2. Oh No - Exodus Into Unheard Rhythms

AND For my fav of 2006.. i think

1. Destroyer - Destroyer's Rubies

that's four bo/reissues in yr top ten, brah. somebody blow the whistle!

quote:

Originally posted by philosopherEric:

I also think you can't really fairly judge a musical year until some time AFTER it's over, for several reasons:

1. Some stuff needs time to sink in. Records that came out in October or November may not hit you until the next year.

2. Sometimes you don't get important 2006 releases until the year is up.

3. Sometimes, retrospection makes you realize things are less good (or more good) than you thought. I realize this can happen any time, but I think it's not really fair to judge a musical year until some time has passed. A few years, maybe.

All great points pE. I was one of those people that first thought 2006 was a poor year for music. But after a lot of new discoveries, and some re-discoveries, I now feel that it was a pretty good year.

You are right though that many of us won't get to some of the good stuff until after the year ends. Myself personally am hoping for at least eleven albums that came out this year for Christmas. Also there is the talk of music that just doesn't age well. I thing that Funeral doesn't age well at all, but two years ago it was a solid number 2 for me--behind SMiLE of course. I think that if you really love music and are constantly searching for new and amazing things--which describes about 99% of us regular posters--you will stop at nothing to find good music. That is exactly what I did and now I am happy to say that I have my top 20 albums--all that I really like and a few that I simply adore--now the hard part is putting them in order, which is everything but easy.

quote:

Originally posted by PinkFlag:
15 - ladyhawk - s/t (jagjaguwar)
14 - drones - gala mill (ATP)
08 - parts and labor - stay afraid (jagjaguwar)

First mention I've seen of these three albums. Parts and Labor is in my top 20. They are Brooklyn three piece with maybe the loudest album of the year. You have to listen to it at a high volume to fully appreciate it. Lots of squelches and squeals over roaring guitar and maniacal drumming, but with almost Celtic sounding melodies. Great.

The Drones are a great, very Australian band. Great storytellers. Wonderful album. Improves on their great album from last year.