My Favorite Albums of 2006

Apologies for my tardiness in making this list (at least to the two people who have been emailing me, and apparently care). Not intentionally being "late to the party," I have been looking at my music, combing through itunes lists, and trying to decide what album was, in fact, my favorite of the year.

I don't know if I have one album that stands out as clearly as others have in the past. It could easily be argued that all I listened to in 2004 was Pinback. Though I was introduced to Pinback through their 2004 release, Summer in Abaddon, I liked Blue Screen Life better (at least at the time)-- and dubbed it my "favorite album of 2004"-- even though it had been released in 2001.

There was no debate regarding my "favorite album of 2005." Illinois. End of story. Skeptical?

2006 has proved to be a bit trickier, and people might be surprised/disappointed with my choices.

Let me preface my list further by saying that I'm nothing close to an expert. A critic without question. But my qualifications as a critic are dubious. If you want the "experts" to tell you what the "best" albums were, may I suggest the following:

Rolling Stone: The Top 50 Albums of 2006
Metacritic: Best Albums of 2006
Pitchfork: Top 50 Albums of 2006
Amazon: Top 100 Editor's Picks of 2006
Minnesota Public Radio ("The Current"): Top 89 of 2006
Steve K Mccoy Dot Com Himself: Top 21 Albums of 2006

If...for some odd reason, you give a flip about my opinion...then by all means read on...

MY FAVORITE THIRTY ALBUMS OF 2006:

30.

The Elected, Sun, Sun, Sun

A list has to start someplace and this is the bottom of mine. I like this album...sometimes. Like-able though thoroughly un-original.

29.

Danielson, Ships

My first introduction to Sufjan came through friends that were big Danielson fans. Would that we would see more creative Christians making imaginative and good music! This is an album that generates a good deal of thought and a great deal of laughter. I love Bro. Danielson and am dying to see Danielson: A Family Movie. Watch the trailer here.

28.

Eels, With Strings: Live at Town Hall

I love "E's" voice. I find the stories haunting, engaging, and humorous. I enjoyed the arrangements. Many have told me that if I had seen Mark Everett live, I would feel differently about this album. Seeing as I haven't seen him live, here he is on my year end list. I find myself listening to this album often late at night. The orchestra is a nice addition.

27.

Matchbook Romance, Voices

I wish I were better with genres...Is this an emo album? Punk-emo? Post-emo? Whatever. I love tracks like "My Mannequin Can Dance." This is an album I picked up quite early in 2006 and this no doubt accounts for it getting pushed back on my list. I remember reading a review of this album that described the packaging of Voices as "Big, black, and chunky, and rendered with half-gothic, half-cartoony artwork that’s both terribly cool and terribly cheesy"-- which I would say is an apt summary of the music inside.

26.

Joanna Newsom, Ys

Katie does not like this album in the least. I certainly can't listen to it while I read. But there is something beautiful & astonishing about this album that has made me return to it several times. For some reason, Ys evokes memories of those books I "read" as a kid that had the record with them...you know, the one that made a chime when you were supposed to turn the page...Undoubtedly, it should be higher in my list, but the numbering is quite arbitrary anyway...

25.

Built To Spill, You in Reverse

The more I think about this, the higher it should be on the list...Keep It Like a Secret was phenomenal when they released it, and I think I like You in Reverse better

24.

Tom Petty, Highway Companion

I love Tom Petty. Well...loved. I hadn't bought one of his albums since that fiasco called She's The One...This album reclaimed my faith in Petty...and rekindled my passion to be able to talk like him in interviews, wear a top-hat, and weigh 200 lbs less than I do...

23.

Grizzly Bear, Yellow House

I know at least one person that will email me and tell me this should be higher on my list. I can only say that if I had listened to it more, it might have been...It is amazing for sure...

22.

Arctic Monkeys, Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not

This album is fantastic! Way too hard to study to-- and would no doubt receive more play if I drove a car more than once a week. For me, the album peaks from tracks 6-9...

21.

Yo La Tengo, I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your A..

With a title like that, how can you not be awesome?If you want a nice intro to YLT, check out Prisoners of Love: A Smattering of Scintillating Senescent Songs 1985-2003 [3 disc]

20.

The Beatles, Love

I have heard that "true" and "hard core" fans don't like this album. I am neither and I LOVE it.

19.

Garrison Starr, The Sound of You and Me

Patty Griffin-ish...mellow...music to clean my study to...

18.

Zero 7, The Garden

Gotta love Jose's nice work on this album. "Left Behind" is fantastic..."This Fine Social Science"...Futures (youtube video/sceensaver/thing)

17.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Show Your Bones

"Gold Lion" is a fantastic song to wake up to in the morning. How did this not make my top 15?

16.

Thom Yorke, The Eraser

Were it not for the 26 trillion people that had songs from this album on their myspace pages, I might have liked it even more...not a radiohead record...but nice nonetheless...I suspect this made lots of year end lists

15.

Calexico, Garden Ruin

If you don't own Calexico albums, start putting those gift certificates you got for Christmas to good use. This album would be a great place to start...or get The Black Light, then Convict Pool (hats off to Bottle Rocket soundtrack), then Feast of Wire...make sure you get In the Reins as well, though not technically a pure Calexico album

14.

Josh Ritter, Animal Years

Poor guy gets compared to so many people...Springsteen...Dylan...and several people were quite critical of this album. However, I love the narratives and the arrangements.

13.

Sufjan, The Avalanche: Outtakes & Extras from the Illinois Album

Fantastic.

12.

Tapes n Tapes, The Loon

This one took me some time to get into, but in retrospect I have no idea why. I love the album from the first notes of "Just Drums"

11.

Alexi Murdoch, Time Without Consequence

Perhaps this wouldn't be so high on the list if I didn't spend so much time reading. Understated. Mellow. Melancholic. Check him out here at the NPR World Cafe

10.

Bonnie "Prince" Billy, The Letting Go

Will Oldham is much cooler than I will ever be...and this is the best album of his I own. My only guess why The Brave and the Bold didn't make this list is because I already had this album here. If you like Tortoise with Oldham, check out Millions Now Living Will Never Die-- my favorite Tortoise album

9.

Red Hot Chili Peppers, Stadium Arcadium

Not much to say...you love the Peppers or you don't...

8.

Imogen Heap, I Megaphone

Phenomenal voice...I have a small crush...and have talked with Katie about it...

7.

Tommy Guerrero, From The Soil To The Soul

I'm not sure what genre I would put this in, but I love this even more than Soul Food Taqueria, which I also picked up in 2006. I struck up a conversation with a waitress one day about DJ Shadow and she suggested I check out Tommy Guerrero...I thought I was supposed to be leaving tips! Fantastic album...not really like Shadow...and much better considering the debacle that Shadow tried to give us this year...you won't find The Outsider on many lists of any kind...

6.

Ben Harper, Both Sides of the Gun

I was surprised more people didn't like this album. I like this as much as anything he has done in the past several years

5.

Pinback, Nautical Antiques

Technically, this album isn't new. It's a collection of several EP's that I already had. But it is fantastic and now I have them all in one place. And you can too.

4.

The Decemberists, The Crane Wife

Not much to say about this one that hasn't already been said...

3.

Band of Horses, Everything All the Time

I wonder how many people wanted to put this @ #1 on their lists, but felt like it was too easy...This album is fantastic from beginning to end, and has received lots of play from me.

2.

G Love, Lemonade

I doubt this album made it to anybody else's list from 2006, let alone the #2 spot. This album got tons of play at the end of the summer for Katie's and my trips to the mountains. Some fun collaborative work with Blackalicious, Jasper, Jack Johnson...certainly more pop than blues...but an album from 2006 that will forever conjure fond memories

1.

Jose Gonzalez, Veneer

Like 2004, I guess I'm punting again...This album was released late in 2005. But it was new to me when Katie brought it home as a present in March 2006. While in Austin for a wedding, Katie made a mad dash to Waterloo Records, told a store clerk some music that I was into, and asked for her to give me something I had never heard of.

Based on sheer statistics, this album has gotten more play than any other in 2006. Again, I listen to music while I read-- and this album is quite conducive to that. I'm sure many people more hip than myself picked this album up three weeks before it was released...but its' September 2005 release date and my failure to keep my finger on the pulse of the thriving indie music scene in the U.K. lands this one where it is on my list...one year late. If you don't own it, go buy it today. Also check out the Sony Bravia Commercial and the mini-documentary describing the making of the commercial (those balls are real!)

HONORABLE MENTION:

Feel free as always to quibble with my list or suggest others that I missed.

Comments

[macht]

How about My Brightest Diamond's Bring Me the Workhorse or Neko Case's Fox Confessor Brings the Flood?

[shawn]

yeah...was a little surprised that damien rice's '9' wasn't on there....at least it got honorable mention.

didn't realize bazan put out a new cd...thx for that.

[Steve McCoy]

Nice list Kev.

[ben duininck]

hey, cool out peeps! love this action kev. I'm not at all surprised that Damien's wasn't on there. It probably should've been, maybe... dunno haven't listened. but ultimately kevin tackled as best as he could and is bound to miss a few... so comment below and add other credible ones and let's make the list longer than his above.

for me, the album of the year, although actually produced in 2005 was The National - Alligator. check it out if you haven't.

[Justin Buzzard]

Thanks for the list Kevin.
I especially agree with the Nautical Antiques choice. Pinback gets lots of play down here in Cali.

[ben duininck]

other notables:

the black keys- magic potion

the flaming lips - at war with the mystics (especially if you have 5.1 and up surround sound. these guys went to great lengths to even include instructions on how to set up your audio system for interesting surround sound effects). surprised kev left out his fellow oklahomans

TVOR - Return to cookie mountain

Johnny Cash - American V: A hundred highways

built to spill - you in reverse

snow patrol - eyes open (yeah yeah i know... nearly pop... but i still dig it)

m.ward - post - war

alright i'll stop there for fear of diluting my recommendations. these all are top 25 for me for sure

[ben duininck]

any way you can change your post to include artist names as well as album names?

[Kevin Cawley]

Thanks for the comments. I don't know why I didn't put the Lips on my list. The album is excellent-- I just didn't listen to it that much. A few quick responses:

I have Snow Patrol and I really like it.

I haven't heard TVOTR's album. I have Desperate Youth... and like it OK.

Built to Spill made the list at #25

The Black Keys made the list initially, and then was removed.

I might put up Artist's names...but I thought that you either know the names and agree/disagree, or need to do further investigation ;-)

[ben duininck]

tis a good way to force me to investigate

[Kevin Cawley]

Artist names have been appended to the list. Hope it increases your enjoyment...and caters to your laziness...

Neko is alright. I like the album but have yet to acquire it by...um...legal means...felt a bit dirty about putting an album on a list that I hadn't purchased...or at least been given...oh yeah, and I haven't picked up My Brightest Diamond yet...she's on the list.

[jamie Cain]

Great list. Would have added Midlake's "The Trials of Van Occupanther."