Best Albums of 2006

[Yablonowitz]

We had something like this up in the old board and I think Brad was going to make a metalist from all of our individual rankings...did that ever happen? I never saw the results if it did.

My top five were:

1. The Hold Steady - Boys and Girls in America
2. The Coup - Pick a Bigger Weapon
3. The Decemberists - The Crane Wife
4. Tapes 'n Tapes - The Loon
5. Gnarls Barkley - St. Elsewhere

Here's more if you're interested. Put yours down in this thread if you haven't already.

[MarkO]

- Band Of Horses
- Tool
- Arctic Monkeys
- The Raconteurs

[AEversW]

1. The Decemberists - The Crane Wife
2. TV on the Radio - Return to Cookies Mountain
3. Thom Yorke - The Eraser
4. Mogwai - Mr. Beast
5. The Dears - Gang of Losers
6..Silversun Pickups - Carnavas
7. Sufjan Stevens - The Avalanche
8. Final Fantasy - He Poos Clouds
9. The Kooks - Inside In - Inside Out
10. Asobi Seksu - Citrus

[arbouler]

beach house - beach house
final fantasy - he poos clouds
gnarls barkley - st. elsewhere
hot chip - the warning
midlake - trials of van occupanther
starflyer 59 - my island
starlight mints - drowaton
talkdemonic - beat romantic
the dears - gang of losers
the hidden cameras - awoo
the knife - silent shout
the rapture - piece of the people we love
mstrkrft - the looks
yeah yeah yeahs - show your bones

[idrive1life]

Best Albums of '06

1. Muse - Black Holes & Revelations -

a simmering symphonic rock tapestry that expands their sound into darker territory. It's also more electronic in nature, but the core of the band still lies in their magnificent, haunting rock 'n' roll and classical arrangements.

Take A Bow - AllMusic described it perfectly in it's review,

"Take A Bow" sets the scene immediately; a mesmerizing, full orchestrated rock sound, layered in waves of synthesizers and percussion, build up to vocalist/guitarist Matthew Bellamy's aching performance of a world torn apart by it's own instability.

Starlight


Supermassive Blackhole Video


Map of The Problematique


Soldier's Poem


Invincible


Assassin


Exo-Politics


City of Delusion


Hoodoo


Knight of Cydonia


2. Silversun Pickups - Carnavas
3. The Decemberists - The Crane Wife
4. Yo La Tengo - - I Am Not Afraid of You And I Will Beat Your Ass
5. Margot & The Nuclear So and So's - Dust of Retreat
6. Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not
7. Graham Coxon - Love Travels At Illegal Speeds
8. Figurines - Skeleton
9. Delays - You See Colors
10. The Knife - Silent Shout

[Boourns]

Current:
10. The Decemberists - The Crane Wife
9. The Knife - Silent Shout
8. Thom Yorke - The Eraser
7. Charlotte Gainsbourg - 5:55
6. Pulp - The Peel Sessions
5. Asobi Seksu - Citrus
4. The Dresden Dolls - Yes, Virginia
3. Emily Haines - Knives Don't Have Your Back
2. Islands - Return to the Sea
1. Jarvis Cocker - Jarvis

Albums I could not delete fast enough:
Joanna Newsom - Ys
Pretty Girls Make Graves - Elan Vital
DJ Shadow - The Outsider
The Flaming Lips - At War With the Mystics
The Strokes - First Impressions of Earth
Sufjan Stevens - The Avalanche
Liars - Drums Not Dead
The Rapture - Pieces of the People We Love
Morningwood - Morningwood
She Wants Revenge - She Wants Revenge
The Stills - Without Feathers

[bmack86]

1.Joanna Newsom-Ys
2.TV on the Radio-Return to Cookie Mountain
3.The Knife-Silent Shout
4.THe Hold Steady-Boy and Girls in America
5.The Decemberists-The Crane Wife

[nothingman00]

1) That Band of Horses CD was the my favorite album of 2006. So, so good. "Funeral" was probably in my top 5 songs of 2006, but this entire album was fantastic.
2) The Dears- Gang of Losers especially with the Bonus acoustic tracks at the end. Doesn't have the peaks of "No cities Left" (w/ "Lost in the Plot" and "We can Have it"), but overall just a good piece of alternative, catchy, easily accessible music.
3) Destroyer-Destroyer's Rubies-my favorite Destroyer album since "Streethawk" Honestly, I loved this album.
4) The Thermals-"The Body, the Blood, the Machine"-just loved this album. The opening 2 songs really set a frenetic pace.
5) Neko Case- "Fox Confessor"--by far, Neko's best solo stuff. I'd rank it up there with her best New Pornographer stuff, also.

Honorable mention: Jarvis, Midlake, Peter Bjorn and John, Sonic Youth
EDIT: Almost forgot Mountain Goats-Get Lonely. Seemed like that album came out so long ago... "Woke Up New" was played approximately 20,000 times during my afternoon commute to bus. school classes.

[full on idle]

5. The Decemberists - The Crane Wife
4. Neko Case - Fox Confessor Brings the Flood
3. Kimya Dawson - Remember That I Love You
2. The Coup - Pick a Bigger Weapon
1. The Mountain Goats - Get Lonely

this is what I think right now.

ps Yabs you should link to gregorian awards b/c it's good stuff

[braundiggity]

5 stood out for me:

1. The Hold Steady - Boys and Girls in America
2. The Decemberists - The Crane Wife
3. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Show Your Bones
4. Gnarls Barkley - St. Elsewhere
5. Ghostface Killah - Fischscale

and the 10 best of the rest, alphabetically:

Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not
John Legend - Once Again
Lily Allen - Alright, Still
Lupe Fiasco - Food & Liquor
Phoenix - It's Never Been Like That
The Raconteurs - Broken Boy Soldiers
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Stadium Arcadium
Regina Spektor - Begin to Hope
Thom Yorke - The Eraser
TV on the Radio - Return to Cookie Mountain

[xxxxxxxxxx]

1. Yo La Tengo - I Am Not Afraid of You And I Will Beat Your Ass
2. Sonic Youth - Rather Ripped
3. TV On The Radio - Return To Cookie Mountain

[TomAz]

[york707]

Yeah, Brad totally Rued out on that.

[thinnerair]

i had made a best of 2006 list at the end of the year and over the last two months have discovered a few records that dropped last year that I hadn't listened to that probably would've made my list.
anywho, here goes (in no particular order)

1. Jeremy Enigk - World Waits
2. Mogwai - Mr Beast/Zidane
3. Ghostface Killah - Fishscale
4. Nas - Hip Hop is Dead
5. Deftones - Saturday Night Wrist
6. Film School - 'self-titled'
7. I Love You But Ive Chosen Darkness - Fear is On Our Side
8. David Gilmour - On an Island

[york707]

I would have put Midlake in my top 10 (or 8) if I had actually listened to it before 2006 was over.

[thinnerair]

i remember liking the Midlake album.
I also liked Cities' self titled record.

[Hannahrain]

I barely bought anything last year. but off the top of my head, both the decemberists' crane wife and tom waits' orphans: brawlers, bawlers and bastards were amazing.

[Courtney]

Yo La Tengo - I Am Not Afraid Of You And I Will Beat Your Ass
Figurines - Skeleton
Peter Bjorn and John - Writer's Block
Cat Power - The Greatest
TV on the Radio - Return To Cookie Mountain

[hawkingvsreeve]

1. The Decemberists - The Crane Wife
2. Mogwai - Mr. Beast
3. Jenny Lewis With The Watson Twins - Rabbit Fur Coat
4. The Pipettes - We Are The Pipettes
5. Cursive - Happy Hollow
6. Mojave 3 - Puzzles Like You
7. Neko Case - Fox Confessor Brings The Flood
8. Calexico - Gardon Ruin
9. Cat Power - The Greatest
10. Thom Yorke - The Eraser

[TomAz]

1. Sonic Youth - Rather Ripped
2. the Hold Steady - BAGIA
3. Thom Yorke - the Eraser
4. the Decemberists - the Crane Wife
5. Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I Am...

hon mention: Neko Case, TVOTR, the Raconteurs

hailed elsewhere but I was underwhelmed: Beck, Springsteen, Cat Power, Elvis Costello

for the life of me I don't understand why people (whose taste I otherwise respect) like these artists: Lily Allen, Muse

Old faves but haven't heard 2006's yet: Tom Waits, B&S, Yo La Tengo

Areas for future investigation: Regina Spektor, Band of Horses

[thinnerair]

"for the life of me I don't understand why people (whose taste I otherwise respect) like these artists: Lily Allen, Muse"

are you referring to the latest Muse release or just Muse in general?
I was totally disappointed with their new one, but I really think that "Origin of Symmetry" and "Absolution" are excellent records.

I also think the new DJ Shadow record is total poo.

[nothingman00]

tom, you should "investigate" sooner rather than later on both of those albums. Oh, and I'm with you on Lily Allen.

[TomAz]

"for the life of me I don't understand why people (whose taste I otherwise respect) like these artists: Lily Allen, Muse"

are you referring to the latest Muse release or just Muse in general?
I was totally disappointed with their new one, but I really think that "Origin of Symmetry" and "Absolution" are excellent records.

I also think the new DJ Shadow record is total poo.

I'm talking specifically about Black Holes and Revelations. And to be fair it's really not all that bad at all. But whenever I hear that album I can't help but think "these guys could not try any harder to sound like Radiohead". In particular the singer's style seems to be such a knockoff of Thom Yorke's that it cannot just be attributed to "influence".

[thinnerair]

Its weird. I know alot of people do the comparison to Thom Yorke and while I do find similarities in their voices, I dont think its really a rip off. Essentially, they are both ripping off Jeff Buckley...at least Thom Yorke was ripping off Buckley on The Bends. I definitely Matt Bellamy being more theatric on that Freddie Mercury tip than Thom Yorke, not saying he's as good as Freddie Mercury...

musically, I dont hear the Radiohead comparison.

[TomAz]

Freddy Mercury? srsly? he had a completely different style.

[menikmati]

YYY's - Show Your Bones
Muse - Black Holes and Revelations
Tool - 10,000 Days
Thom Yorke - Eraser
and more im forgetting and too lazy to list

[thinnerair]

Freddy Mercury? srsly? he had a completely different style.

I can totally hear Freddy Mercury's influence in a lot of their stuff. Freddie Mercury was so versatile and maybe its more his dramatic delivery that I see in Matt Bellamy. There are some points where Matt Bellamy will belt out a big note with lots of vibrato and it reminds me of Queen in a way...Maybe not everything, but it certainly is present in some of their more dramatic material. I dunno. Just my two cents. I def. hear the Buckley thing way more.

One thing I will say about Matt Bellamy is that the dude is an incredible player and performer. He can play the shit out of his guitar...maybe a bit showy for some, but I definitely think he s a great performer and frontman.

[SometimesNJ]

why does everyone like black holes and revelations so much? i thought it was sub-par compared to origin of symmetry.

[thinnerair]

why does everyone like black holes and revelations so much? i thought it was sub-par compared to origin of symmetry.

it was sub-par compared to K-Fed's album.

[amyzzz]

why does everyone like black holes and revelations so much? i thought it was sub-par compared to origin of symmetry.

I agree. I don't really listen to black holes and whatever-the-fuck it's called. A couple tracks are nice.