Mid-Year Best Discs

June 30 marked the 1/2 year mark for 2006. What are your favorite discs released this year?

1. Howling Bells s/t
2. Priestess "Hello Master" – at the Black Cat on July 13
3. Arctic Monkeys "Whatever People Say…"
4. Isobell Campbell & Mark Lanegan
5. Rye Coalition "Curses"
6. Semifinalists s/t
7. Paul Simon "Surprise"
8. Wolfmother
9. Espers II
10. Twilight Singers "Powder Burns:

Others I've liked but not enough to (yet) make the list:
Built to Spill, Gnarls Barkley, Ghostface Killah, Streets

Disappointments:
Tool, Pearl Jam, Morrissey, Raconteurs

since i am sitting at the airport….i'll do it too.

best of the year so far…


10. Metal Hearts - "Socialize"
9. Wolfmother - "Wolfmother"
8. Mudhoney - "Under A Billion Suns"
7. Streets, the - "Hardest Way to make an Easy Living"
6. Radio 4 - "Enemies Like This"
5. Muse - Black Holes & Revelations"
4. Blue Sky Black Death - "Heap of Broken Images
3. Hot Chip - "The Warning"
2. People In Planes - "As Far as the eye Can See"
1. Ray Davies - "Other People's Lives"


(i realize that Muse hasnt really come out yet, but i have had it for a bit)

I was wondering when this thread would get started!

Top 10
1) Camera Obscura - "Let's Get Out of This Country"
2) The Essex Green - "Cannibal Sea"
3) Destroyer - "Destroyer's Rubies"
4) Islands - "Return to the Sea"
5) J Dilla - "Donuts"
6) Neko Case - "Fox Confessor Brings the Flood"
7) Artic Monkeys - "Whatever People Say …"
8) Belle & Sebastian - "The Life Pursuit"
9) Drive-By Truckers - "A Blessing and a Curse"
10) Voxtrot - "Mothers, Sisters, Daughters & Wives" [EP]

Honorable Mention:
Ambulance LTD - "New English" [EP]
Cat Power - "The Greatest"
Centro-Matic - "Fort Recovery"
Film School - "Film School"
Grandaddy - "Just Like the Fambly Cat"

Dissapointments:
Pearl Jam - "Pearl Jam"
The Raconteurs - "Broken Boy Soldier"
Flaming Lips - "At War With the Mystics"
Futureheads - "News and Tributes"
** these are all decent albums, i just expected more from all of them

Albums I Have, But Haven't Listened to Yet
Cities - "Cities"
Ghostface Killah - "Fishscale"
Gnarls Barkley - "St. Elsewhere"
Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan - "Ballad of the Broken Seas"
Madlib - "Beat Konducta, Vol. 1-2"
Mogwai - "Mr. Beast"
Murs & 9th Wonder - "Murray's Revenge"
People Under the Stairs - "Stepfather"
Phoenix - "It's Never Been Like That"
The Streets - "The Hardest Way to Make an Easy Living"
Tool - "10,000 Days"
Wolfmother - "Wolfmother"

Originally posted by HoyaSaxa08:
Film School - "Film School"

if the lead singer's voice were just a BIT better, this would be high up on my top 10 … the music is awesome, but the guy's voice is just crappy

Haven't put a list together yet, but I don't see Jenny Lewis with the Watson Twins on anybody's list and that's a crime.

Originally posted by vansmack:
Haven't put a list together yet, but I don't see Jenny Lewis with the Watson Twins on anybody's list and that's a crime.

my list wasn't a "best of", just my favorites … i haven't gotten my hands on the jenny lewis CD yet

The Elected - Sun, Sun, Sun is likely in my top 10 as well.

I've only bought three albums this whole year, SY's Rather Ripped, Paul Simon's Surprise, and Ghostface's Fishscale, and they're all pretty good.

Neko Case - Fox Confessor
Jenny Lewis/Watson Twins - Rabbit Fur Coat
Belle and Sebastian - The Life Pursuit
Josh Ritter - The Animal Years
Drive-By Truckers - A Blessing and a Curse
Gnarls Barkley - St. Elsewhere
Rosanne Cash - Black Cadillac
Cat Power - The Greatest
Beth Orton - Comfort of Strangers

Disappointed - Josh Rouse, Subtitulo - Not horrible, but not as good as previous two CD's.

Originally posted by HoyaSaxa08:
i haven't gotten my hands on the jenny lewis CD yet

If you like Camera Obscura, I'm pretty sure you'll like Jenny Lewis with The Watson Twins. Very similar, yet different. JL is a little more country, but they're of the same vein.

I prefer the JL album, but I put the O in country so what do could you expect?

The new ones from Neko Case, Buzzcocks, and Sonic Youth have all been great. I also picked up Be Your Own Pet at the Sonic Youth show and that was pretty good too. I didn't like Pretty Girls Make Graves-Elan Vital at first but I'm really getting around to it. Like a lot of people, I thought Tool was a let down.

I'll play…

10. Tied: Racontuers - Broken Boy Soliders AND Jens Lekman - Oh You're So Silent, Jens
09. Danielson - Ships
08. Cold War Kids - Up In Rags (ep)
07. Flaming Lips - At War with the Mystics
06. The Black Keys - Chulahoma (ep)
05. Gnarls Barkley - St. Elsewhere
04. Eagles of Death Metal - Death By Sexy
03. B&S - The Life Pursuit
02. Art Brut - Bang Bang Rock n' Roll
01. Tapes 'n Tapes - The Loon

Originally posted by JohnnyBaconbitz:
10. Jens Lekman - Oh You're So Silent, Jens
02. Art Brut - Bang Bang Rock n' Roll
01. Tapes 'n Tapes - The Loon

not to pick nits, but weren't these all 2005? i would have put Jens at #2, and Art Brut probably around #9 if they were '06 releases

i don't have a top 10 list, but the albums that come to mind are cursive's "happy and hollow," belle & sebastian's "the life persuit," gnarls barkley's "st. elsewhere" and the new johnny cash record that comes out tomorrow is absolutely gorgeous.

No particular order:

Rabbit Fur Coat - Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins
Cold War Kids EP
Mothers Sisters Daughters and Wives - Voxtrot
The Life Pursuit - Belle and Sebastian
Ships - Danielson
Gulag Orkestar - Beirut
Return to Cookie Mountain - TV on the Radio

I know that last one hasn't come out yet, but good god, once it does, it will jump to the top of my list. The leak sounds amazing.
Don't know if these are the "best" per se, but certainly the ones I've listened to over and over.

Disappointments:
The Raconteurs
The Strokes . . I so badly wanted that album not to suck. For some reason I keep breaking it out and trying to like it.

woops. i almost forgot the new johnny cash. i listened to it earlier today. great record.

Originally posted by HoyaSaxa08:
Art Brut probably around #9 if they were '06 releases

It's an '06 release in the States, but I would have included it if I didn't own in in '05 as well (thank you, emusic).

Tool might have been a little dissapointing, but it by far has the best packaging for a CD I think I've ever seen.

Pearl Jam was not dissapointing, IMO. Not by a longshot.

1. Sunset Rubdown - Shut Up I Am Dreaming
2. Islands - Return to the Sea
3. Man Man - Six Demon Bag
4. Destroyer - Destroyer's Rubies

anybody hear the new tom verlaine records? how are they?