Jan

Top Ten Albums of 2006

Must Own Monday

Compiling a list of Best Albums is actually a lot easier that deciding on the Best Songs. So much comes in to play with individually released tracks because they are essentially short-form advertisements for artists. A single has to create a lot of buzz before it has any serious impact. There’s also the One Hit Wonder effect. A song may perfectly represent a given year even when it comes from an artist or band with no real staying power (remember Soul Asylum? Yeah, neither does anybody else).

Full albums, on the other hand, are a much better representation of an artist’s actual talent. Critics can conveniently ignore the One Hit Wonders and concentrate on the albums that actually made you stop and listen. More importantly, those of us who are hopelessly addicted to music actually prefer listening to full albums. Rather than playlists with a lot of great singles, we throw whole albums onto our iPods.

By the end of the year, you generate a pretty clear idea of which albums made the biggest impact. Typically, it’s the albums that you could listen to without skipping a single track. In Must Own Monday tradition, the ten albums below the fold provide the best and most complete albums of 2006.

Yo La Tengo - I'm Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass

#10 Yo La Tengo

I Am Not Afraid Of You And I Will Beat Your Ass

Hands down, the best album title of the year.

Yo La Tengo doesn’t get nearly enough credit for making music this good. …Beat Your Ass is easily their best release (which is saying a lot) and is easily one of the most listenable albums released in 2006. I’ve described Yo La Tengo as “easy listening for punk rockers” and I think that’s a mostly accurate description of this album, though I’m not sure how many punk rockers actually pick up this record or ever listen to anything “easy.”

More than anything, this album is sweet. Not “sweet” like that car your uncle just bought, “sweet” like that picture of your grandpa laughing at something your grandma said. It makes the perfect soundtrack to a great day.

(This video isn’t actually from their new album. They haven’t made one yet. When they do, I’ll replace it.)

#9 Ghostface Killah

Fishscale

Fishscale is the most completely uncompromising and deliberately, ruthlessly ghetto hip hop release in years. Maybe ever. Killah has permanently established himself as rap’s best story teller.

It’s notable that the album is a reference to Ghost’s most profitable (and purest) form of cocaine. More than not holding a thing back, Killah accomplishes something that most of gansta rap’s greatest artists never could: his stories are actually true. It’s what makes Fishscale so aggressively… um… charming. No, “charming” isn’t quite right… I need a thesaurus… … Ahhh… “Appealing.” Not quite, but that’s closer. The problem is that this is probably the most offensive album released by a major label this year. But unlike the “offensive” we’ve all grown so accustomed to from artists like Eminem, Marilyn Manson, or GG Allin, Ghost isn’t really trying to be offensive. He just happens to live a lifestyle that the rest of us find offensive and writes about it.

#8 Mastodon

Blood Mountain

It would be a crime to leave this album out of the Top Ten of 2006. Blood Mountain is the best metal album released in years. In fact, this album is easily in the top ten best metal albums of all time. Personally, I’d place it at number #3 on metal’s all-time list (I’ll give you a dollar if you can guess #1 & #2). To describe this album as “hard” is a disappointing understatement. It’s not hard, it’s brutal.

Like some of the greatest metal acts in history, Mastodon manages to avoid almost all of the pretentiousness so prevalent in the heavy metal scene. There’s no make-up, no $550 skin-tight leather pants, no mention of the devil, and absolutely nothing sparkles. Yes, there’s a healthy dose of references to elemental gods, but at least they don’t have invented names like Gorormg, Mrathogg, or Vijüthsonfaexitouvoth. No, it’s just Brann, Brent, Bill, and Troy. And they will kick your ass.

Blood Mountainis best-of-genre and near-perfect. Every single track delivers.

#7 Junior Boys

So This Is Goodbye

There’s not much more to say after my previous post. This album is delicately brilliant.

Junior Boys exists in a newly popularized electronic genre inhabited by the likes of The Postal Service and The Knife. I’m not sure the genre has a name yet, so I’m going to coin it right now: Indie-lectric. Wait, that’s stupid. How about… ‘Puter Rock. Yeah, that’s awesome. ‘Puter Rock is probably the safest new genre that scenesters have approved for mass release, and that’s just fine. Bring more, I say. I can’t get enough.

#6 Band of Horses

Everything All The Time

As debut albums go, you can’t do much better than Everything All The Time. Band of Horses play like they know what they’re doing.

“Alt-country” (which is a silly and dumb name for the genre) has quietly become the favorite for the aging indie-rocker crowd. There’s something simultaneously rebellious and friendly about bands like Wilco and My Morning Jacket. Listening to it makes a statement like, “I used to be kinda punk and I still identify with a generally disobedient crowd, but I’m getting older and I just can’t handle screaming and feedback anymore.”

Band of Horses to the rescue. Almost everyone who hears this album describes it as “My Morning Jacket meets the Shins.” I did. It’s an easy cop-out and not entirely accurate, but does the job well enough. I knew this album would be on my top ten list the first time I heard it and for most of the year I was sure it would be number one. Obviously it fell slightly, but not because the album got old. There was just that much great music this year.

#5 The Decemberists

The Crane Wife

You will never get enough of this album. It is a classic.

There’s not much else to say after my previous post. Every time I listen to this album, I’m re-convinced of its greatness. Songs like The Island:, The Perfect Crime #2, and Sons and Daughters are the kind of classic songs that will be making appearances on mix tapes for years. The kind of songs that are inevitably introduced with the preface, “You gotta hear this song…”

What’s more fascinating, only a few years ago, the Decemberists’ brand of theatrical rock would have been largely ignored by mainstream media and doomed to be loved only by the kids behind the counter at your local independent record store. That they manage to sound not only accessible, but brilliant is evidence of their talent.

#4 Guillemots

Through The Windowpane

This album just didn’t get the respect it deserved here in the States. When it was released across the pond in July, it caused a fairly substantial firestrom. The critics got a copy and reviewed it, generating an extremely respectable score over at Metacritic. Through The Windowpane jumped to #17 on the UK charts and Guillemots were nominated for the Mercury Prize.

But it has yet to be released stateside, which is frustrating. I’m convinced that it is the only reason this album didn’t end up on more top ten lists. Which of course creates another problem: Once the album is released, will critics simply neglect to add it to their 2007 lists because the album is too old? Well, that sucks for an album this good.

I’m not going to make that mistake. Through The Windowpane is easily one of the best albums released this year. Above and beyond being a must own album, it’s worth the import price.

#3 Arctic Monkeys

Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not

Straight-forward rock and roll. No gimmicks, no tricks. This is what you expect from a great rock and roll album and probably what every garage band thinks they sound like. Every single track could be released as a single and that’s saying something. It only takes a single rotation to realize why this album was ranked #1 by more critics than any other album in 2006.

Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not is actually more punk than anything, but don’t look for anybody calling for yet another punk revival (What are we on… the 4th one?). No, this is just what “rock and roll” sounds like now. Punk rockers are older now and have desk jobs these days, having given in to the establishment years ago. It’s kinda sad really (maybe not as sad as the 15 year old kids wearing Black Flag, Misfits, and Dead Kennedys shirts, but still sad). In the end, (and perhaps ironically) it’s what makes this album such a critical darling.

That, and it’s great.

#2 The Hold Steady

Boys And Girls In America

This album is just so, so, so, so good. I’ll be honest, I really, really, really wanted to place this album at #1. This may have been my personal favorite album of the year. Every time I hit play, I’m in a better mood. Even when I’m in a great mood.

I’ve said several times that this is the album the Killers were trying to make. Boys and Girls in America is huge. It’s hard to believe that this sound is created by your standard five-man band. It’s harder to believe that these guys play bars, not stadiums. It takes exactly 28 seconds to love this album. By the time you actually finish the first track, Stuck Between Stations, you’ll need to finish the album. As last track ends with the beautifully honest line, “Southtown girls won’t blow you away, but you know that they’ll stay,” you’ll decide you are a Hold Steady fan.

Craig Finn’s vocals are initially hard to take, reminiscent of Elvis Costello or maybe Randy Newman, but it’s a small speed bump. Music this good just can’t be ignored.

TV On The Radio - Return to Cookie Montain

#1 TV On The Radio

Return to Cookie Mountain

Turns out I was right when I said this album “will appear in almost every Top Ten list as the year comes to a close.” In fact, it appeared on more Top Ten lists than any other album in 2006. Well, that wasn’t such a miraculous feat of prognostication. More than being so, so good, Return to Cookie Mountain is totally unique. TV On The Radio manages to appeal to everyone from the indie rocker crowd to critics from major publications.

TV On The Radio sets the bar very high. As great albums go, this one is almost impossible to beat. It has something going for it that most artists work a lifetime to accomplish: this album doesn’t get old. It sounds just as a fresh today as it did the first time I heard it. In fact, it gets more interesting with every listen. In a year that saw in inexplicable number of great releases, Return to Cookie Mountain glows like VV Cephei.