Top 5 Albums of 2006 .. and 6-10

It's like a homework assignment, naming the best albums of 2006. So here we go...

If there was a theme to this year, is that a lot of established artists put out good to somewhat great albums, but they weren't as good as their previous efforts. Jay-Z's Kingdom Come was good... not as good as The Black Album. Beck's The Information was good ... not as good as Guero. Keane's Under the Iron Sea was good ... not as good as Hopes and Fears. Bob Dylan's Modern Times was good ... not as good as Love and Theft. The Flaming Lips' At War With the Mystics was good ... not as good as Yoshimi. The Yeah Yeah Yeah's Show Your Bones was good ... not as good as Fever to Tell. The Killer's Sam's Town was not good at all. You get the point...

5. Regina Spektor, Begin to Hope: Female singer-songwriters ruled in 2006. You have superb albums from Neko Case, Jenny Lewis, Isobel Campbell and Chan Marshall. Regina produced an album that one could relate to, even though the lyrics are quite dense. Furthermore, she managed to make the often awkward leap to the major labels with a sound that's more eccentric, eclectic and electric than Soviet Kitsch. "Better" is a song you wished she wrote for you. Besides her expert piano playing, she drops in some guitars and makes a full on pop album. Spektor will make you say, "Tori who?"

4. Tilly and the Wall, Bottoms Of Barrels: I remember listening to this album for the first time and saying, "I fucking love this album." They took what they established on 2004's Wild Like Children and expanded a lot of their musical ideals. Yes, the tap dancing is still there ... and it's kind of their gimmick, but now you'll find some programmed beats, some Latin flavor and more traditional folkiness. "Bad Education" comes off as the anthem for the angry, broken hearted people. I've always felt like the band has a unique style and sound, very poetic, emotional, playful and theatrical.

3. Guillemots, Through the Windowpane: If there any justice, Through the Windowpane will be widely available in America in 2007. This import from my Best New Artist of 2006 is to England, as Arcade Fire's Funeral was to Canada. It brings back musicianship to modern music. I guess the genre is called avant-garde, because it's hard to pinpoint the styles. Guillemots are not beholden to one inspiration, and on this album, they've packed a lot atmosphere from beginning to end. Even though it's the most bombastic album of the year, it has moment of quietness. I guess quiet can be the new loud.

2. Jenny Lewis with the Watson Twins, Rabbit Fur Coat: It's the best written album of the year. While Rilo Kiley showcased Lewis's masterful hold of pop music, her debut solo project is the best use of her maturing voice and songwriting. Often, I listen to an album for what it's not. This year, there was a butt-load of attention to the Dixie Chicks album, who have seemed to be complacent in producing utterly dull country music. Lewis not only made the best "alt-country" album in years, she made the best country album of year. You're just not going to hear it on country radio because she doesn't conform to their commercial ways. She takes cues from Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton and Tammy Wynette and pays tribute to them by making a personal, spiritual album, just like they use to.

1. The Hold Steady, Boys and Girls in America: Let me give you a little peak into my music listening life:

• Step One: Look at cover of band
• Step Two: Roll eyes at cover of indie rock boys who need haircuts, a good face wash and better choices in t-shirts
• Step Three: Listen to first song, get confused whether I'm listening to the same album I heard the last time
• Step Four: Debate whether to continue listening to music ever again.

This brings me to The Hold Steady. Sometimes, it's not about rocking harder, it's about rocking smarter. Of course, Craig Finn is a disciple of Springsteen. Bruce is gospel and you should follow him too. To make another S.A.T. analogy, what The Roots are to hip-hop, The Hold Steady are to rock. They are students of the genre and they want to teach their audience of the possibilities of rock music. Each song is a short story onto itself. You can imagine that "Chips Ahoy" would find itself onto the pages of McSweeny's or Reader's Digest. In today's rock music scene, with douche bag boys with emo haircuts and dippy posers with skinny ties rule the roost, it's revolutionary that the best album of the year can kick their asses to the ground. Fuck the garage/basement band, long live the bar band.

I'm well aware that Bitchfork gave this album like a 9 something, I don't read their reviews or care for their opinion. Yup, that's my snobbery stand.

Anyway, by blogger law I must fill out 6-10.

6. The Decemberists, The Crane Wife. Last year, I put Picaresque as No. 5 on my Top 5 of 2005. This album is just as good as that one, but I find myself thinking more about Picaresque than I do Crane Wife. That's not to say that The Crane Wife is a step down. It's a different beast upon itself. More epic sounding then Picaresque, but still present is Colin Meloy's literary sense of songwriting. It even finds the band dabbling into prog rock territory.

7. Love is All, Nine Times the Same Song: No. 2 of my Best New Artists, this massively catchy power pop album clocks in at a little over 30 minutes, but the enjoyment lasts beyond that. "Talk Talk Talk Talk" and "Busy Doing Nothing" sticks in your head. Like I said before, it's both 60s mod and 80s new wave.

8. Belle & Sebastian, The Life Pursuit: For those of us who collect B&S EPs and singles like Indiana Jones finds lost treasures, this album seems to be their happiest, but really they've been happy all along. It's just their sad little boy songs meant more to people. The album takes inspiration from mid-60s British pop. You can picture each song performed on some BBC variety show with a picture of the Queen in the background and the band all on risers. "Suki in the Graveyard" is one the finest, sunniest songs about graveyards in years.

9. DJ Shadow, The Outsider: DJ Shadow didn't sell out by making a straight up hip-hop album. He didn't abandon his cut-and-paste ethos. He just does what he always does, do something different from his last work. The beats shut down anything put out by Pharrell or Timbaland. Even if you miss his older album, he throws in a few bones to remind he can still make 2 + 2 = 5. Sure, it's a little schizophrenic, but isn't life like that?

10. Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan, Ballad of the Broken Seas: She's the one from Belle & Sebastian, he's from Queens of the Stone Age. Two different sounding bands, which makes it more of a reason to have them together. The "Ramblinman" cover probably ranks No. 1 on my most played on my ITunes list. It's also the coolest, lost-laid back album of the year. Who needs cigarettes? You feel like you're smoking a pack already when you listen to this complete album.

Comments

[Loop]

interesting list.

I think Josh Ritter's The Animal Years was the Best Album of 2006.