Best Albums of 2006

Cat Power - The Greatest
Belle & Sebastian - The Life Pursuit
Camera Obscura - Let's Get Out of this Country
Hot Chip - The Warning
Josh Ritter - The Animal Years
The Mountain Goats - Get Lonely
Pernice Brothers - Live a Little
Sonic Youth - Rather Ripped
Neko Case - Fox Confessor…
Herbert - Scale
TV on the Radio - Return to Cookie Mountain
Shearwater - Palo Santo
Tapes 'n Tapes - The Loon

Discovered in 06 but released in 05:

Jamie Lidell - Multiply

Mission of Burma - The Obliterati

Too early for this category

I bet Joe M. bought his Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving.

I got mine on Thanksgiving Day. Thank Santa for in-laws who have Christmas-tree-farm-owning parents.

Originally posted by ggwâ?¢:
I bet Joe M. bought his Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving.

I thought we alrady had this thread?

I'm bagging the "Top XX of 2006" format and going for the vintage Robert Christgau "report card" style.

This isn't everything I've gotten in 2006, but it is everything that I've listened to multiple times and feel is worthy of mention.

A
Black Angels
Comets on Fire
The Thermals
Yo La Tengo

B+
Arctic Monkeys
Beirut
Black Keys â?? Chulahoma
Clearlake
Clinic
The Hold Steady
Silversun Pickups
The Sword
Tokyo Police Club
TV on the Radio
Voxtrot

B
Band of Horses
Brakes
Built to Spill
Calexico
Bob Dylan
The Elected
Essex Green
Figurines
Film School
Love is All
M. Ward
Neko Case
Neil Young â?? Living with War
Oxford Collapse
Secret Machines

C+
Belle & Sebastian
Camera Obscura
Decemberists
Destroyer
Mission of Burma
The Sounds

C
Black Keys â?? Magic Potion
Drive-By Truckers
Human Television

No paticular Order

1. Juana Molina - Son
2. David Gilmour - On an Island
3. Imogen Heap - Speak for Yourself
4. Ned Collette - Jokes and Trials
5. Tool - 10,000 Days
6. Mono - You are There
7. Beirut - Gulag Orkestar
8. Thom Yorke - The Eraser
9. The Knife - Silent Shout
10. The Beatles - Love
11. Mogwai - Zidane (A 20th Century Portrait)
12. The Album Leaf - Into the Blue Again
13. Wolfmother - Self Titled
14. Dead Heart Bloom - Self Titled
15. Cedars - Another Season EP

Originally posted by Glass Arm Shattering:

10. The Beatles - Love

i'm officially on the 5.1 bandwagon after hearing the mix for this disc.

My god, how many different ways can they rehash the Beatles?

It certainly beats another wank-ass McCartney release.

Thanks GGW, you've just made it easier to compile my list. No one or two records stood out as a clear favorites and grading them makes it easier to organize the years releases.

I'm still hearing great stuff from the year like El Goodo, Sam Roberts Band, and The Bellrays.

I'd have to agree with the C+ given to Camera Obscura, fantastic single but the full length is lacking…

Originally posted by They call me Doctor Doom.:
My god, how many different ways can they rehash the Beatles?

Have you heard it? It's terrific.

Originally posted by SalParadise:

Originally posted by Glass Arm Shattering:

10. The Beatles - Love

i'm officially on the 5.1 bandwagon after hearing the mix for this disc.

I'll have to check this out maybe….everytime I give multi-channel music a go I always go back to good old stereo for music. Nothing like a good left and right speaker.

I've also heard that the approach taken on this disk is pretty interesting…in the way that the tracks are sequenced ans segue into one another.

Aside from the good 5.1 mix do you think it's worth a listen? The beatles are a hard group to boil down to 20-odd tracks.

I like GGW's approach, as it's more revealing about what you think of each record. But I also like the spirit of competition, and that's how I've been thinking of my list. So here it is in order.

Best.
1. Howling Bells â?? S/T
2. The Sword â?? Age of Winters
3. Cat Power â?? The Greatest
4. Priestess â?? Hello Master
5. Heartless Bastards â?? All This Time
6. Secret Machines â?? 10 Silver Drops
7. Comets on Fire â?? Avatar
8. TV on the Radio â?? Cookie Mountain
9. Arctic Monkeys â?? Whatever People Say
10. Radio Department â?? Pet Grief

11. Slayer â?? Christ Illusion
12. The Beatles â?? Love
13. The Knife â?? Silent Shout
14. Sleepy Jackson â?? Personalityâ?¦
15. Middle Distance Runner â?? Plane in Flames
16. Essex Green â?? Cannibal Sea
17. Phoenix â?? Itâ??s Never Been Like That
18. Radio 4 â?? Enemies Like This
19. Belle & Sebastian â?? Life Pursuit
20. Margot & the Nuclear So Sos â?? Dust of Retreat

Disappointments:
Muse â?? Black Holesâ?¦
Hold Steady â?? Boys and Girls
Mastodon â?? Blood Mountain
Futureheads â?? News and Tributes
Band of Horses â?? Everything All the Time
The Dears â?? Gang of Losers
Grandaddy â?? Just Like Fambly Cat (my opinion on this might change)
Silversun Pickups - Carnavas
T.I. - King

Based on my recollection i've heard 70+ new albums… At this moment here are what I think are the most and least essential of those. Many more need more listening time and for the most part fall in the B range.

A
Alice Smith
Girl Talk
Phoenix
Mew

B+
As Fast As
Middle Distance Runner
Skye
Voxtrot
Keene Brothers & Robert Pollard
The Loud Family
St. Etienne
The World Record
Brazilian Girls
The Sails

B
Cheap Trick
Deadboy and the Elephantmen
The Hard Tomorrows
Van Hunt
Earl Greyhound
The Tyde
Belle & Sebsteine
Gnarles Barkley
Ray Davies
Margot and the Nuclear So&So's
The Format
Don Dixon

B-
Goldfrapp
Under The Influence of Giants
Madeleine Peyroux
Sia
Primal Scream
The Czars
Beth Orton


C+
The Pipettes
Wolfmother

C
Camera Obscura
The Rakes

C-
Raconteurs
Pink Spider / Tower of London
Black Nine Alps

D
We Are Scientists
Birdmonster
Dirty Pretty Things

Still under evaluation Amp Fiddler, Roddy Frame, Beach House, Danko Jones, Jon Auer, The Cassettes, Tommy Keene, El Goodo, Sam Roberts, Bellrays, Victorian English Gentlemen's Club, Black Angels, etc

On wish list John Legend, Solomon Burke, The Dears, Isobel Campbell, Jenny Lewis

Best Reissues

Soul Sides Vol One
Panama! Latin, Calypso And Funk On The Isthmus
Thievery Corporation - Versions

Here's my two cents for what it is worth:

A
We Are Scientists
Birdmonster
Dirty Pretty Things

B+
Raconteurs
Pink Spider / Tower of London
Black Nine Alps

B
Camera Obscura
The Rakes

C+
The Pipettes
Wolfmother

C
Goldfrapp
Under The Influence of Giants
Madeleine Peyroux
Sia
Primal Scream
The Czars
Beth Orton

C-
Cheap Trick
Deadboy and the Elephantmen
The Hard Tomorrows
Van Hunt
Earl Greyhound
The Tyde
Belle & Sebsteine
Gnarles Barkley
Ray Davies
Margot and the Nuclear So&So's
The Format
Don Dixon

D
As Fast As
Middle Distance Runner
Skye
Voxtrot
Keene Brothers & Robert Pollard
The Loud Family
St. Etienne
The World Record
Brazilian Girls
The Sails

F
Alice Smith
Girl Talk
Phoenix
Mew

Enjoy!!!

and here i am looking at GGW and Relaxer's list realizing there is a bunch more I'd like to hear and some missing from my under evaluation list. got Priestess, TVOTR, Figurines, etc.

must resist urge to edit… have you even heard most of the albums your are "slamming"?

Feel free to edit. I was just having fun!