Albums released in 2006.

[SpikeFayeJettEdBebop 0]

Damn, really?? I'm certainly looking forward to the new TOOL album. It's been too long since they've released something, and I'm really, really excited about anything new.

[Special K 0]

After hearing the new Yeah Yeah Yeah's album, it is good. Karen O is definitely taking the Siouxsie branch, like I always thought she would, not that that's a bad thing. I like this album quite a bit. I, again, think they have staying power.

[5_moves_of_doom 0]

The new Man Man album is almost as great as the first.

[Giuseppe Zangara 0]

I didn't like Six Demon Bag the one time I listened to it, but I acknowledge that it could be a grower. This thing I'm listening to right now, Fear is on Our Side, by I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness (what an awful name!), sounds like Interpol. Which is disappointing, because the label that released it, Secretly Canadian, is usually solid.

[World's Worst Man 0]

In Flames - Come Clarity is pretty good. Definitely my favourite album of theirs since Colony (and quite frankly, I didn't like any of their albums from Clayman to Soundtrack To Your Escape at all).

 

Lacuna Coil - Karmacode I did not like. Lacuna Coil has some weird quality to their music and I just can't get into them. Some of their songs are decent, but not enough to where I want to listen to them again. This album is more or less the same way.

[Gary Floyd 0]

The new Ghostface Killah album is awesome. Anybody who says they love Hip Hop should get it.

[HurriShane 0]

Morrissey- Ringleader of the Tormentors

[Lord of The Curry 0]

The new Ghostface Killah album is awesome. Anybody who says they love Hip Hop should get it.

 

100% agreed.

 

"The Champ" is an early standout.

[Si82 0]

Despite the mixed reviews it has recieved I'm quite liking "The Hardest Way to Make an Easy Living" by The Streets. I think it's slightly better and far easier to get into than "A Grand Don't Come for Free". However, if you don't like The Streets this isn't going to chance your opinion.

[Giuseppe Zangara 0]

I'm in two songs into Built to Spill's You in Reverse and I really like it. Still, I'm thinking it won't be long before the quality drops off. I hope I'm wrong.

 

fake edit: I have a couple of 2006 albums to add to this thread. Remind me to do it later.

[Spaceman Spiff 0]

Hey Inc - add those albums later.

[Gary Floyd 0]

I downloaded Mono's You Are Here last night. It's great stuff if you're into the post rock genre. Fortunately, I am, so good for me, I guess.

[Giuseppe Zangara 0]

I'm in two songs into Built to Spill's You in Reverse and I really like it. Still, I'm thinking it won't be long before the quality drops off.

And so it does at track four.

[Edwin MacPhisto 0]

Wonderful new album: Islands, Return to the Sea. I had no idea until yesterday that it was from two members of the now-dismantled Unicorns. It's like that album, except...better, I think. Baroque, tropical, weird. I dig it.

[Giuseppe Zangara 0]

I updated the list. B&S is still #1; Neko Case is #2.

[Skywarp! 0]

You guys just don't understand rocking. The new Strokes album is pretty solid and is really only hampered by some schlocky production and one or two poorly chosen guitar parts on a few songs. It's more than half good.

 

I'll second this. I think the reason they've taken so much punishment for this album is because their delayed backlash didn't occur when it should have (Room on Fire was definitely not a sophmore slumper) and since there are three or four clunkers on this one, the critics finally got their chance to jump all over them and sink their teeth in like famished hyenas. That, plus I realized why they always sent Casablancas in the middle of the final mix with phone receiver effects for the last two albums--being mixed up front, loud and clear doesn't do their songs any favors. Listening to the guitar lines was always what made this band worthwhile; vocal melody is an afterthought. Also, it doesn't help that Casablancas drops some dud lines this time around.

 

But truth be told, the good far, far outweighs the bad on this one, and they've locked me in for their fourth release date.

[Mecha Mummy 0]

For me You in Reverse started losing steam right after "Goin' Against Your Mind" ended. I dug that song so much that nothing else could really compare until I gave "Conventional Wisdom" another listen a week later.

[Adam 0]

I'm excited for Stadium Arcadium, but also nervous that the Chili Peppers are going to puss out like they did somewhat for By The Way. I couldn't get used to that album when I first bought it. I like it now, but at first I wanted it to be faster.

[FroGG_NeaL 0]

The new Ghosface is nice as hell.

 

T.I.'s new album is good.

 

DJ Quick - Trauma, while not living up to my expectations, is some damn good Westcoast G-Funk. And Quick continues to grow as a lyricist.

 

Joe Budden - Mood Musik II, while a mixtape, is better than most albums of the last few years.

[Giuseppe Zangara 0]

For me You in Reverse started losing steam right after "Goin' Against Your Mind" ended. I dug that song so much that nothing else could really compare until I gave "Conventional Wisdom" another listen a week later.

"Goin' Against Your Mind" is classic BtS; "Conventional Wisdom" is fine, but about three minutes too long. There's a couple of other decent songs, but that's it. It's not that the rest of the album is bad, it's just boring; Doug sleepwalked his way through most of this. And really, considering five years passed between this and the release of the underrated-but-still-nothing-spectacular Ancient Melodies of the Future, maybe Built to Spill should hang it up.

 

In other news, that Destroyer album is really growing on me.

[Edwin MacPhisto 0]

2006 thoughts to date:

 

Belle & Sebastian, The Life Pursuit - My first B&S album, and it's a winner. This is just great all over. Only had it for about a month, and I've still managed to have 5-6 different favorite songs off of it.

 

Ghostface Killah, Fishscale - Just as good as everyone's saying. This is just about everything good from the rest of his albums without any of the bad stuff. Fast becoming my favorite album of his.

 

Band of Horses, Everything All The Time - What Incandenza said, except that I really like the Arcade Fire. This, however, is totally forgettable. Like the Shins if the Shins were boring instead of fun.

 

Islands, Return to the Sea - Already said how much I like this, but worth saying again. Anyone interested in this should d/l "Rough Gem" and the awesome opener, "Swans (Life After Death)." Only the goofy half-rap track in the middle falls flat.

 

Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan, Ballad of the Broken Seas - My new nighttime album. So apparently this here lady used to be in B&S, and she sounds wonderful here. Most of her vocals are quashed under the mix, so they just sound like soothing, sweet noise, and then Lanegan breaks it up by sounding like a human dust bowl. I love that guy on most things he does (esp. with The Twilight Singers), and I really like the combination of these two.

 

Hypatia Lake, ...And We Shall Call Him Joseph - More fun noise. This is trippy shoegazing stuff. Like if Ride and Trail of Dead did a split EP or something. Thumbs up.

 

The Knife, Silent Scream - I don't think anything on here is as good or as fun as "Heartbeats," but it's decent. Gotta listen to it more, probably with headphones.

 

On deck for consumption soon: T.I., all of the Lovely Feathers' album (KRAKOW POLAND), Morrissey, and Destroyer. And I downloaded Neko Case, but was then reminded of the fact that I just don't really like her or the New Pornographers that much. We'll see how Destroyer fares in that respect.

[Mecha Mummy 0]

"Conventional Wisdom" is fine, but about three minutes too long.

 

Yeah, gotta agree with you there. There's a certain point when it's just long for the sake of being long, but the first three or four minutes are good enough to make up for the latter half, in my opinion.

 

I've been meaning to get into BtS, really, as they're mostly just one of those bands I hear and like but never really feel inspired enough to actively seek out when I'm at the record store. What should I pick up?

[Ravenbomb 0]

isn't there supposed to be another Lovage album coming out this year?

[Giuseppe Zangara 0]

"Conventional Wisdom" is fine, but about three minutes too long.

I've been meaning to get into BtS, really, as they're mostly just one of those bands I hear and like but never really feel inspired enough to actively seek out when I'm at the record store. What should I pick up?

 

In the following order:

 

Perfect from Now On

Keep It Like a Secret

Ultimate Alternative Wavers

There's Nothing Wrong With Love

 

For what it's worth, a lot of BtS fans rank TNWWL near or at the top of BtS albums. I'm not one of them, but that doesn't mean I don't like it.

[Giuseppe Zangara 0]

"Your Blood," from Destroyer's Rubies, is my new favorite song of 2006. I'm interested in what Edwin will think of the album; liking the New Pornographers isn't required in order to like Destroyer. Dan Bejar's NP stuff, aside a song or two, is generally that band's weaker moments; he tends to play it straight when playing with those guys, which is a shame, because he's so much better acting like the art school fop in Destroyer.

[Edwin MacPhisto 0]

It'll be my first Destroyer, short of a few songs here and there. And I'm listening to it right now. I'm looking to play major catch-up with the back catalogues of all these seminal indie artists eventually.

[Giuseppe Zangara 0]

I'm listening to it right now, too. <3

[Edwin MacPhisto 0]

7 minutes in and I already like this better than most New Pornographers songs. Don't know what it is about them. This is good stuff here, though.

[Edwin MacPhisto 0]

Yeah, this is very good. "3000 Flowers"? Listen to them guitars! I'll need to listen to it a lot more to even catch everything he says. Very rewarding just on sound, and very amusing too.

[Giuseppe Zangara 0]

The fuzz guitar solo on "3000 Flowers" is second only to the entirety of "Your Blood" as my favorite moment on the album.