Playlist: Top 100+ Albums of 2006
1. TV On the Radio - Return to Cookie MountainI think this is first major label album I've had at the top of one of my year-end lists ever. Interscope seemed like a strange partner, but you can't argue with the end product. Still wildly artistic and defiant of popular music's norms, Return to Cookie Mountain may have saved indie rock by leaving it behind.
(Album review 9/12/06, live review 10/05/06)
2. The Hold Steady - Boys and Girls in AmericaCraig Finn & Co. do it again... Springsteen-infused lyrics combined with AC/DC (or Thin Lizzy) riffs hit both the gut and the brain with equal force.
(Album review 10/03/06, live review 10/23/06)
3. Scott Walker - The DriftWhy would I rate an album so highly that gives me nightmares every time I listen to it? Art that hits a nerve like this is so rare, it's a dark murky gift that makes going down those dimly-lit, horror-movie stairs so tempting (and inevitable.)
(Album review 06/06/06)
4. Ghostface Killah - FishscaleHip-hop album of the year. I'd say hands-down, but Clipse came in made it close... regardless, Fishscale held off the similarly Coke-themed challenger. Haven't grown tired of this album yet, and don't imagine I will. So many nooks and crannies throughout that reveal more and more.
(Album review 03/27/06)
5. Destroyer - Destroyer's RubiesTo quote myself from back in February: Poetic couplets are tossed off with such swagger and confidence, it's hard not to fall in-step behind his every stacatto'd syllable.
(album review 02/21/2006)
6. Joanna Newsom - Ys
This one scores highest for degree of difficulty. The combination of Newsom's impish voice and harp with Steve Albini's bare bones engineering is a marriage of curiousity. Throw in Van Dyke Parks' arrangements and it's a full circle of oddity and beauty.
7. Scritti Politti - White Bread Black Beer
Pure pop bliss from someone we thought the 90's had swallowed whole. Green Gartside's "middle-age symphonies to the cat in the windowsill" are both a joy and a marvel to behold. (Review 07/25/06)
8. Clipse - Hell Hath No Fury
More cocaine rap... between Ghostface, Young Jeezy and this Virgina Beach duo, it's like Christmas day on the slopes of Sun Valley. The Neptunes ridiculously sinister production makes this more then that, though. (Review 10/28/2006)
9. Grizzly Bear - Yellow House
Part of this year's best tour (w/ TV on the Radio,) they weren't much to look at, but sounded positively amazing (much like the album.)
(Live review 10/05/06)
10. The Knife - Silent Shout
I've never spent as much time with an electronica album as I did with this one this past fall/winter. Twisted and amazing.
11. Liars - Drums Not Dead
12. Howe Gelb - 'Sno Angel Like You
13. Califone - Roots and Crowns
14. Islands - Return to the Sea
15. M. Ward - Post-War
16. Mission of Burma - The Obliterati
17. The Decemberists - The Crane Wife
18. Hot Chip - The Warning
19. Lily Allen - Alright, Still
20. Junior Boys - So This is Goodbye
21. Bob Dylan - Modern Times
22. Neko Case - Fox Confessor Brings the Flood
23. Belle and Sebastian - The Life Pursuit
24. Loney, Dear - Sologne
25. The Coup - Pick a Bigger Weapon
26. The Black Angels - Passover
27. Band Of Horses - Everything All the Time
28. Danielson - Ships
29. Sunset Rubdown - Shut Up I Am Dreaming
30. Justin Timberlake - Futuresex/Lovesounds
31. Cat Power - The Greatest
32. Annuals - Be He Me
33. Pernice Brothers - Live a Little
34. Lambchop - Damaged
35. Yo La Tengo - I Am Not Afraid of YOu and I Will Beat Your Ass
36. New Radiant Storm King - The Steady Hand
37. Gnarls Barkley - St. Elsewhere
38. Viva Voce - Get Yr Blood Sucked Out
39. Robert Pollard - From a Compound Eye
40. Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan - Ballad of the Broken Sea
41. Lupe Fiasco - Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquor
42. Phoenix - It's Never Been Like That
43. Van Hunt - On the Jungle Floor
44. Comets On Fire - Avatar
45. Charalambides - A Vintage Burden
46. The Raconteurs - Broken Boy Soldiers
47. Sonic Youth - Rather Ripped
48. Thom Yorke - The Eraser
49. Sam Roberts - Chemical City
50. Beirut - Gulag Orkestar
51. Ali Farka Toure - Savane
52. Rodrigo Y Gabriela - Rodrigo Y Gabriela
53. Joseph Arthur - Nuclear Daydream
54. Lindsey Buckingham - Under The Skin
55. Centro-Matic - Fort Recovery
56. Swan Lake - Beast Moans
57. Robyn Hitchcock - Ole! Tarantula
58. Isobel Campbell - Milk White Sheets
59. Asobi Seksu - Citrus
60. Beck - The Information
61. The Pink Mountaintops - Axis of Evol
62. Bruce Springsteen - We Shall Overcome
63. The Mountain Goats - Get Lonely
64. Mastodon - Blood Mountain
65. Drive-By Truckers - A Blessing and a Curse
66. Espers - II
67. The Gossip - Standing In The Way Of Control
68. Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins - Rabbit Fur Coat
69. The Blood Brothers - Young Machetes
70. The Minus 5 - The Minus 5
71. Neil Young - Living With War
72. Wolfmother - Wolfmother
73. Spankrock - Yoyoyoyoyo
74. Built To Spill - You In Reverse
75. Mojave 3 - Puzzles Like You
76. Silversun Pickups - Carnavas
77. Shoplifting - Body Stories
78. Gito Gito Hustler - Love & Roll
79. Rocky Votolato - Makers
80. Vetiver - To Find Me Gone
81. The Rapture - Pieces of the People We Love
82. Johnny Cash - American V: A Hundred Highways
83. Robert Pollard - Normal Happiness
84. Wolf Eyes - Human Animal
85. Chin Up Chin Up - This Harness Can't Ride Anything
86. Oneida - Happy New Year
87. Adem - Love and Other Planets
88. The Fiery Furnaces - Bitter Tea
89. Nicolai Dunger - Here's My Song...
90. Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not
91. Murs - Murray's Revenge
92. El Perro Del Mar - El Perro Del Mar
93. Black Keys - Magic Potion
94. J Dilla - Donuts
95. Head Like A Kite - Random Portraits of the Home Movie
96. Gotan Project - Lunatico
97. Cut Chemist - The Audience's Listening
98. Calexico - Garden Ruin
99. Fujiya & Miyagi - Transparent Things
100. The Thermals - The Body, the Blood, the Machine
And there's even another 50 or so albums that I just can't seem to eliminate from a best of the year list.
A lot more year-end lists
tags: playlist, music, best of 2006, year end list, indie rock, tv on the radio, tvotr, scott walker, hold steady, ghostface killah, destroyer, rhapsody
4 comments:
Top 100+ Albums of the year
1. TV On The Radio - Cookie Mountain ("Wolf Like Me")
2. The Hold Steady - Boys and Girls in America ("Stuck Between Stations")
3. Scott Walker - The Drift ("Jesse")
4. Ghostface - Fishscale ("Shakey Dog")
5. Destroyer - Destroyer's Rubies ("Painter in Your Pocket")
6. Joanna Newsom - Ys #
7. Scritti Politti - White Bread Black Beer ("Snow in Sun")
8. Clipse - Hell Hath No Fury ("Dirty Money")
9. Grizzly Bear - Yellow House #
10. The Knife - Silent Shout ("We Share Our Mothers' Health")
11. Liars - Drums Not Dead ("The Other Side of Mt. Heart Attack")
12. Howe Gelb - 'Sno Angel Like You ("But I Did Not")
13. Califone - Roots and Crowns ("The Eye You Lost In The Crusades")
14. Islands - Return to the Sea ("Swans [Life After Death]")
15. M. Ward - Post-War ("Chinese Translation")
16. Mission of Burma - The Obliterati ("2twice")
17. The Decemberists - The Crane Wife ("Yankee Bayonet [I Will Be Home Then]")
18. Hot Chip - The Warning ("Over And Over")
19. Lily Allen - Alright, Still ("Smile")
20. Junior Boys - So This is Goodbye ("In The Morning")
21. Bob Dylan - Modern Times ("Rollin' and Tumblin'")
22. Neko Case - FOx Confessor Brings the Flood ("That Teenage Feeling")
23. Belle and Sebastian - The Life Pursuit ("The Blues Are Still Blue")
24. Loney, Dear - Sologne
25. The Coup - Pick a Bigger Weapon ("ShoYoAss")
26. The Black Angels - Passover ("The Sniper At The Gates Of Heaven")
27. Band Of Horses - Everything All the Time ("The Funeral")
28. Danielson - Ships ("Did I Step on Your Trumpet")
29. Sunset Rubdown - Shut Up I Am Dreaming ("Stadiums And Shrines II")
30. Justin Timberlake - Futuresex/Lovesounds ("Lovestoned")
31. Cat Power - The Greatest ("The Greatest")
32. Annuals - Be He Me ("Brother")
33. Pernice Brothers - Live a Little ("PCH One")
34. Lambchop - Damaged ("Paperback Bible")
35. Yo La Tengo - I Am Not Afraid of YOu and I Will Beat Your Ass ("Beanbag Chair")
36. New Radiant Storm King - The Steady Hand ("The Winding Staircase")
37. Gnarls Barkley - St. Elsewhere ("Crazy")
38. Viva Voce - Get Yr Blood Sucked Out ("From The Devil Himself")
39. Robert Pollard - From a Compound Eye ("Love Is Stronger Than Witchcraft")
40. Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan - Ballad of the Broken Seas - ("[Do You Wanna] Come Walk With Me?")
41. Lupe Fiasco - Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquor ("Kick, Push")
42. Phoenix - It's Never Been Like That ("Long Distance Call")
43. Van Hunt - On the Jungle Floor ("If I Take You Home")
44. Comets On Fire - Avatar ("The Swallow's Eye")
45. Charalambides - A Vintage Burden ("There Is No End")
46. The Raconteurs - Broken Boy Soldiers ("Hands")
47. Sonic Youth - Rather Ripped ("Incinerate")
48. Thom Yorke - The Eraser ("Harrowdown Hill")
49. Sam Roberts - Chemical City ("Bridge To Nowhere")
50. Beirut - Gulag Orkestar ("Postcards From Italy")
51. Ali Farka Toure - Savane ("Yer Bounda Fara")
52. Rodrigo Y Gabriela - Rodrigo Y Gabriela ("Tamacun")
53. Joseph Arthur - Nuclear Daydream ("Too Much To Hide")
54. Lindsey Buckingham - Under The Skin ("Under The Skin")
55. Centro-Matic - Fort Recovery ("Calling Thermatico")
56. Swan Lake - Beast Moans ("All Fires")
57. Robyn Hitchcock - Ole! Tarantula ("Adventure Rocket Ship")
58. Isobel Campbell - Milk White Sheets ("Willow's Song")
59. Asobi Seksu - Citrus ("Thursday")
60. Beck - The Information ("Think I'm In Love")
61. The Pink Mountaintops - Axis of Evol ("Cold Criminals")
62. Bruce Springsteen - We Shall Overcome ("O Mary Don't You Weep")
63. The Mountain Goats - Get Lonely ("Half Dead")
64. Mastodon - Blood Mountain ("Crystal Skull")
65. Drive-By Truckers - A Blessing and a Curse ("Feb. 14")
66. Espers - II #
67. The Gossip - Standing In The Way Of Control ("Standing In The Way Of Control")
68. Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins - Rabbit Fur Coat #
69. The Blood Brothers - Young Machetes ("We Ride Skeletal Lightning")
70. The Minus 5 - The Minus 5 ("With A Gun")
71. Neil Young - Living With War ("Restless Consumer")
72. Wolfmother - Wolfmother ("Dimension")
73. Spankrock - Yoyoyoyoyo ("What It Look Like")
74. Built To Spill - You In Reverse ("Conventional Wisdom")
75. Mojave 3 - Puzzles Like You ("Breaking The Ice")
76. Silversun Pickups - Carnavas ("Lazy Eye")
77. Shoplifting - Body Stories ("Male Gynecology")
78. Gito Gito Hustler - Love & Roll ("Maybe Love")
79. Rocky Votolato - Makers ("White Daisy Passing")
80. Vetiver - To Find Me Gone ("I Know No Pardon")
81. The Rapture - Pieces of the People We Love ("Get Myself Into It")
82. Johnny Cash - American V: A Hundred Highways ("On The Evening Train")
83. Robert Pollard - Normal Happiness ("Supernatural Car Lover")
84. Wolf Eyes - Human Animal ("Human Animal")
85. Chin Up Chin Up - This Harness Can't Ride Anything ("Islands Sink")
86. Oneida - Happy New Year ("Up With People")
87. Adem - Love and Other Planets ("Launch Yourself")
88. The Fiery Furnaces - Bitter Tea ("Teach Me Sweetheart")
89. Nicolai Dunger - Here's My Song... ("My Time Is Now")
90. Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not ("I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor")
91. Murs - Murray's Revenge ("Dreamchaser")
92. El Perro Del Mar - El Perro Del Mar ("God Knows [You Gotta Give To Get]")
93. Black Keys - Magic Potion ("Your Touch")
94. J Dilla - Donuts ("Workinonit")
95. Head Like A Kite - Random Portraits of the Home Movie ("Noisy At The Circus")
96. Gotan Project - Lunatico ("Mi Confesión")
97. Cut Chemist - The Audience's Listening ("What's The Altitude")
98. Calexico - Garden Ruin ("Bisbee Blue")
99. Fujiya & Miyagi - Transparent Things ("Collarbone")
100. The Thermals - The Body, the Blood, the Machine ("An Ear for Baby")
* Two Gallants - What the Toll Tells #
* Mogwai -Mr. Beast ("Glasgow Mega-Snake")
* Barry Adamson - Stranger on the Sofa ("The Long Way Back Again")
* Kaki King - Until We Felt Red ("Yellowcake")
* Matthew Friedberger - Winter Women/Holy Ghost Language ("The Pennsylvania Rock Oil Co., Resignation Letter")
* Be Good Tanyas - Hello Love ("For the Turnstiles")
* J Dilla - The Shining ("Baby")
* Teddy Thompson - Separate Ways ("I Should Get Up")
* 120 Days - 120 Days ("Get Away")
* Shelley Short - Captain Wild Horse (Rides the Heart of Tomorrow) ("Tomorrow Night")
* The Rogers Sisters - The Invisible Deck ("Never Learn To Cry")
* Film School - Film School ("Harmed"
* Eagles Of Death Metal - Death By Sexy ("I Want You So Hard [Boys Bad News]")
* Stereolab - Fab Four Suture ("Interlock")
* Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Show Your Bones ("Gold Lion")
* Sparks - Hello Young Lovers ("[Baby, Baby] Can I Invade Your Country")
* Tres Chicas - Bloom, Red and the Ordinary Girl ("My Love")
* Simon Joyner - Skeleton Blues ("Open Window Blues")
* Hotel Lights - Hotel Lights ("I am a Train")
* Figurines - Skeleton ("Other Plans")
* The Durutti Column - Keep Breathing ("Let Me Tell You Something")
* Jules Shear - Dreams Don't Count ("Wherever")
* Micah P. Hinson - Micah P. Hinson and the Opera Circuit ("Diggin A Grave")
* Susanna And The Magical Orchestra - Melody Mountain ("It'S A Long Way To The Top")
* Mates of State - Bring It Back ("Fraud In The 80's")
* Archie Bronson Outfit - Derdang Derdang ("Dart For My Sweetheart")
* The Futureheads - News and Tributes ("Skip To The End")
* Essex Green - Cannibal Sea ("Don't Know Why (You Stay)")
* Josh Rouse - Subtitulo ("It Looks Like Love")
* Television Personalities - My Dark Places ("She Can Stop Traffic")
* Deadboy & The Elephantmen - We Are Night Sky ("Ancient Man")
* Bound Stems - Appreciation Night ("Andover")
* Gil Mantera's Party Dream - Bloodsongs ("Shadow Grip")
* Jon Auer - Songs From the Year of Our Demise ("Bottom Of The Bottle")
* The Streets - The Hardest Way to Make An Easy Living ("When You Wasn't Famous")
* Nikki Sudden - The Truth Doesn't Matter ("The Ballad Of Johnny, and Marianne")
* Tahiti 80 - Fosbury ("Changes")
* The Game - Doctor's Advocate ("California Vacation")
* Starflyer 59 - My Island ("I Win")
* Camera Obscura - Let's Get Out Of This Country ("Lloyd, Im Ready to be Heartbroken")
* Kinky - Reina ("I Say Hey")
* Portastatic - Be Still Please ("Sour Shores")
* Starlight Mints - Drowaton ("Inside Of Me")
* Thee Emergency - Can You Dig It? ("Can You Dig It?")
* Rhymefest - Blue Collar ("Dynomite [Going Postal])"
* The Ladies - They Mean Us ("Non-threatening")
* A Hawk and a Hacksaw - The Way the Wind Blows ("In The River")
* Golden Smog - Another Fine Day ("Cure For This")
* Margot and The Nuclear So and So's - The Dust of Retreat ("Skeleton Key")
* The Purrs - The Purrs ("Get On With Your Life")
* Ben Kweller - Ben Kweller ("Penny On The Train Track")
* Calla - Collisions ("Initiate")
* Milosh - Meme ("Playing with Yen")
* Subtle - For Hero: For Fool ("Mercury Craze")
# - Not in Rhapsody
Mucho comprehensive list! I woulda figured Ray LaMontagne | Till The Sun Turns Black would have been listed. Any reason why not listed?
Band of Horses deserved a higher listing with their superduper anthemic debut.
Also, why didn't MUSE make the list??
~~~
Everything All the Time (Band of Horses) is one of those albums that fluctuated quite a bit. I think it was the fact that it was a ubiquitous album here in the Northwest and that it sounded a bit like My Morning Jacket-lite made it feel a little less special then the albums ranked ahead of it.
The other two you mention didn't stick with me at all like their previous releases, but really they could've made the big list, if for no other reason then I see that Built To Spill's latest is on there, and that one is in the same boat. I spent a long time removing albums from the list trying to get it to 100, but gave up after some time.
Hope you're having a fine new year... maybe another mix is in order? Bi-annual? ;)
Hello ! I was searching for people that could have an interest for my music with the help of the name Scott Walker (I've been compared to him) and found your blog.
My new album is now available for sell, but it's still without its first reviews. In the past, I have received incredible press from a variety of sources (All Music Guide, great composers...).
See and mostly listen by yourself some Philosophie Fantasmagorique.
http://www.critiquesdisques.com/vincent/music.htm
Thank you !
Vincent Bergeron
"In the course of a lifetime, one encounters very few major musical talents. Vincent Bergeron is one of those few, a unique composer who is at the forefront of musical thinking."
Noah Creshevsky
Composer
Professor Emeritus, Brooklyn College of the City University of New York
Director Emeritus, Center for Computer Music at Brooklyn College
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