Your top five albums of 2006!

Tonamel · Post by **Tonamel** » Tue Dec 12, 2006 12:40 am

Because threads where we list things are always classy.

1) Elbow - Leaders of the Free World
Not much to say here, it's just an amazing rock album, that you should go listen to right now. Standout tracks are "Mexican Standoff" and "Station Approach."

2) Muse - Black Holes and Revelations
Seriously awesome album, and, assuming you people have any taste, will no doubt be a repeat title in this thread. The whole thing is just so over the top, you can't help but love it.

3) Sufjan Stevens - The Avalanche, Islands - Return to the Sea
Avalanche is a collection of rejects from Illinois that manages to be more awesome than most other musicians' full releases. Very cool.

Tied with it is Islands, which was down in Honorable Mentions, because I hadn't listened to it in a few months, but after a quick re-listen, I had to move it up here. Such a good album, by a band that used to be The Unicorns. As The Unicorns, they were a bit too lo-fi for me (and I like lo-fi), but this is just perfect. A total mishmash of styles, some songs sound like Radiohead's "Climbing up the Walls", others sound like Polyphonic Spree's "Hold Me Now", some hip-hop is thrown in for good measure, and it all just works.

4) Joanna Newsom - Ys
Newsom's one of those artists where either you love her or you don't. Her voice, with its somewhat Bjorkish caterwauling, definitely takes some getting used to, but if you can get that far, you'll find that the music on this album is lush, beautiful, and absolutely worth listening to.

5) Final Fantasy - He Poos Clouds
I'm sure this wouldn't make many other people's Top 5, even if they had heard of it before. But this kind of violin-pop just agrees with me for some reason. It's a lot more graceful than the word 'poo' would have you think.

Honorable Mention

Akron/Family - Meek Warrior
"Gone Beyond" is reason enough to get this album. Freakfolk ahoy.

Albums I know are good, but I don't own them, so couldn't rightly include them in this list.

Beck - The Information
Gnarls Barkley - St. Elsewhere
The Mountain Goats - Get Lonely
Cat Power - The Greatest
Bob Dylan - Modern Times
Tom Waits - Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers, and Bastards

WeaselSlayer · Post by **WeaselSlayer** » Tue Dec 12, 2006 2:20 am

Number one is Yo La Tengo's I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass. Other good ones were:
Xiu Xiu - The Air Force
Jack and Jeffrey Lewis - City and Eastern Songs
Eugene Mirman - En Garde, Society!
and
Scott Walker - The Drift.

Actually, come to think of it, The Drift might be tied with Yo La Tengo. What a great fucking album.

j$ · Post by j$ » Tue Dec 12, 2006 7:21 am

Tonamel wrote:5) Final Fantasy - He Poos Clouds
I'm sure this wouldn't make many other people's Top 5, even if they had heard of it before.

Hey Tonamel, in an act of shameless self-plugging - not only did I see Final Fantasy play the entireity of He Poos Clouds back in october, I wrote a blog entry cum review about it. You're right though; pretty as it was and as he is, HPC would not make my top 5. Maybe scrape in at no.23...

j$

Niveous · Post by **Niveous** » Tue Dec 12, 2006 7:22 am

Tonamel wrote:4) Joanna Newsom - Ys
Newsom's one of those artists where either you love her or you don't. Her voice, with its somewhat Bjorkish caterwauling, definitely takes some getting used to, but if you can get that far, you'll find that the music on this album is lush, beautiful, and absolutely worth listening to.

I concur. Ys is exceptional.

deshead · Post by **deshead** » Tue Dec 12, 2006 9:55 am

tonamel wrote:Seriously awesome album, and, assuming you people have any taste, will no doubt be a repeat title in this thread.

Agreed.

I'll go with these 5, in order:

The Hold Steady - Boys And Girls In America
The Dears - Gang of Losers
Muse - Black Holes
The Decemberists - The Crane Wife
Sam Roberts - Chemical City

And an extra CanCon nod to The Tragically Hip - World Container.

Guilty pleasure: John Mayer - Continuum. (Say what you will about the guy's music, Continuum is audio engineering at its peak.)

Biggest disappointment for me, based on the hype, was Bonnie 'Prince' Billy - The Letting Go .. I just don't get it.

mkilly · Post by **mkilly** » Tue Dec 12, 2006 10:24 am

built to spill - you in reverse
the decemberists - the crane wife
belle and sebastian - the life pursuit
bob dylan - modern times
destroyer - destroyer's rubies

good year for Bs. and Ds.

WeaselSlayer · Post by **WeaselSlayer** » Tue Dec 12, 2006 10:24 am

I'll admit I didn't get into The Letting Go as much as some of Will's other stuff (I See a Darkness and Days in the Wake are pretty hard to top), but I still really like it. He does seem to be sleeping through some of it, though, unfortunately.

Niveous · Post by **Niveous** » Tue Dec 12, 2006 10:50 am

Despite my general disdain for albums (over singles), there were some albums that I enjoyed this year.

1. "Coward" by Made Out Of Babies
2. "Ys" by Joanna Newsom
3. "Decemberunderground" by AFI
4. "Elan Vital" by Pretty Girls Make Graves
5. "Show Your Bones" by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Honorable mention to Johnny Cashpoint's "F.U.U.L" and Be Your Own PET's s/t album.

fodroy · Post by **fodroy** » Tue Dec 12, 2006 11:11 am

Eef Barzelay - Bitter Honey
Destroyer - Destroyer's Rubies
M. Ward - Post War
Bonnie "Prince" Billy- The Letting Go
Decemberists - The Crane Wife

Billy's Little Trip · Tue Dec 12, 2006 11:44 am

2) Muse - Black Holes and Revelations
Seriously awesome album, and, assuming you people have any taste, will no doubt be a repeat title in this thread. The whole thing is just so over the top, you can't help but love it.

Well, I don't have any taste, but I have to agree with this pick. I'm not the type to like any band with too much electronica, but Muse is obviously pro guitar, so they got my attention right away. When I first heard the song "hysteria" a couple years ago, I thought "Space hog" had a new CD coming out. But after looking into it, I found a new band that I liked. I couldn't tell you how they are on stage, but in an ideal listening environment like my car or living room, they ROCK my systems to the core. "nights of cyndonia" has such a fun and familiar use of guitar and melody that is pulled from so many greats that it could stand easily next to "a night at the opera"

starfinger · Post by **starfinger** » Tue Dec 12, 2006 11:45 am

I didn't realize how far out of the loop I was. the only album listed here that I've heard anything at all from is the final fantasy one. which is a "high ok"

I can't even think about anything else that came out this year... oh yeah AFX. that was pretty good. beck was ok too.

-craig

furrypedro · Post by **furrypedro** » Tue Dec 12, 2006 12:23 pm

1) Joanna Newsom - Ys
2) TV on the Radio - Return to Cookie Mountain
3) Unwed Sailor - The White Ox
4) The Appleseed Cast - Peregrine
5) Susumu Yokota - Wonder Waltz

A couple of these probably wouldn't have made the list had I listened to the Yo La Tengo and Mountain Goats albums properly.

Honourable mentions:
Voo - Dates, Facts and Figures
Hot Club De Paris - Drop It 'til It Pops
Mates of State - Bring It Back

Caravan Ray · Post by **Caravan Ray** » Tue Dec 12, 2006 1:05 pm

I didn't buy many records this year.

2 that did impress me though

1. Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not - The Arctic Monkeys
2 Feeding the Wolves - Josh Pyke

The Arctc Monkeys "You Look Good On The Dancefloor" was easily my favourite single of the year, followed by "Young Folks" by Peter, Bjorn and John

j$ · Post by j$ » Tue Dec 12, 2006 5:26 pm

I'd like to say two things (well actually, three - but two will be covered by one point for the sake of efficiency)

1. When I posted Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor (video link) in glowing terms here, shortly after it was released as a UK single, the general response was *meh* - i think it was basically an anti-british thing - or rather an anti-british-telling-it-like-they-think-it-is thing (cf. the dreaded nme), much like Caravan Ray and his tiresome Ashes monologue (hey no-one over here included expected anything. Certainly I don't give a sh*t about cricket. Sorry. Let's talk football. And let's talk smugness.)

2. I was ready to do this listy thing, today, but like CR, I could off the top of my head think of only 2 albums. However I think, differently from CR, it's because I bought so many albums, and loved so many, that I couldn't narrow it down, or rather, I couldn't see the 5 trees for the wood.

No diss for mr caravan, who despite his rather agressive posting style, makes me laugh and makes reasonably good music, but it's interesting that for all the snobbery towards lists, how hard it is to make one of yr own

j$ · Post by j$ » Tue Dec 12, 2006 5:31 pm

Niveous wrote:Honorable mention to Johnny Cashpoint's "F.U.U.L"....

Oh, man, thanks! I think maybe it drags towards the end of the first half, but as always, you end up making me very happy

I intend to be east coast-bound some time next year let's hire a recording studio and lay down some tracks!

glennny · Post by **glennny** » Tue Dec 12, 2006 6:14 pm

Not one of the better years for music, lots of good stuff, nothing fantastic except my #1 (IMHO):

1. Mogwai- Mr. Beast
2. Islands- Return to the Sea
3. The Futureheads- News & Tributes
4. Joan of Arc- Everything All at Once
5. The Flaming Lips- At War with the Mystics

Niveous · Post by **Niveous** » Tue Dec 12, 2006 9:40 pm

j$ wrote:
Niveous wrote:Honorable mention to Johnny Cashpoint's "F.U.U.L"....
Oh, man, thanks! I think maybe it drags towards the end of the first half, but as always, you end up making me very happy I intend to be east coast-bound some time next year let's hire a recording studio and lay down some tracks!

You're gonna be on the East Coast next year?! Definitely, let's plan.

Caravan Ray · Post by **Caravan Ray** » Wed Dec 13, 2006 1:35 am

j$ wrote:I'd like to say two things (well actually, three - but two will be covered by one point for the sake of efficiency)

1. When I posted Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor (video link) in glowing terms here, shortly after it was released as a UK single, the general response was *meh* - i think it was basically an anti-british thing - or rather an anti-british-telling-it-like-they-think-it-is thing (cf. the dreaded nme), much like Caravan Ray and his tiresome Ashes monologue (hey no-one over here included expected anything. Certainly I don't give a sh*t about cricket. Sorry. Let's talk football. And let's talk smugness.)

My apologies for not gushing about the Monkeys at the appropriate time Mr Cashpoint - but I rarely read the "Currently Digging" thread - because my record collection tends to be a year or so behind everyone else, and I usually have never heard of what people are talking about. I have trouble remaining hip and current I'm afraid.

I only got the Arctic Monkeys record a few months ago off a bloke at work - I love it!

(Don't fancy the Poms chances in Perth, BTW)

j$ wrote:ut it's interesting that for all the snobbery towards lists, how hard it is to make one of yr own

I think I could make a list of "The One Most Petulant Songfighter of 2006"

WeaselSlayer · Post by **WeaselSlayer** » Wed Dec 13, 2006 1:40 am

Oh fuck me, I forgot about Liars' Drums Not Dead! I love anything this band puts out.

j$ · Post by j$ » Wed Dec 13, 2006 6:56 am

caravan ray wrote:I think I could make a list of "The One Most Petulant Songfighter of 2006"

Heh. No, that crown's mine, honey, and i won't give it up as readily as we do the ashes

furrypedro · Post by **furrypedro** » Wed Dec 13, 2006 11:17 am

I forgot...

Me, Myself & Rye by Russian Futurists and 1 Million by National Forest

Post by jb » Wed Dec 13, 2006 12:51 pm

deshead wrote:The Hold Steady - Boys And Girls In America

These guys were really good at the bar down the street from my house a few months ago.

J

Your top five albums of 2006!

Your top five albums of 2006!

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Re: Your top five albums of 2006!