Top 10 Albums of 2006

[Zetterberg is God 0]

Didn't really listen to a lot of new stuff this year, but Blood Mountain is easily the best.

[Annabelle 0]

based on rock music alone, i'd be damned if i could name 5 albums that stuck out to me. not to say that rap/dance had a better year, just that that is where my ear has been.

[Edwin MacPhisto 0]

I drew mine from probably around 30-35 albums total, so it's fairly self-selecting. Usually right around this time of year is when I play catch-up, and then keep playing catch-up through all of January. This year I might just spend that time listening to the Brian Eno and Destroyer back catalogues, though.

[Guest Legalise Drugs and Murder]

Not sure I bought ten new ones this year. I'll give my top three to Mastodon, TVOTR, and Peeping Tom.

[cbacon 0]

This year was garbage compared to last year. I think 2007 could be amazing though. Anyways:

 

1. The Decemberists – The Crane Wife

2. Cat Power – The Greatest

3. Jenny Lewis with the Watson Twins - Rabbit Fur Coat

4. Lupe Fiasco – Food and Liquor

5. Destroyer – Destroyer’s Rubies

6. The Appleseed Cast – Peregrine

7. The Dears – Gang of Losers

8. Joanna Newsome- Ys

9. Sunset Rubdown – Shut Up I Am Dreaming

10. Thom Yorke – The Eraser

11. Casiotone for the Painfully Alone - Etiquette

12. Final Fantasy – He Poos Clouds

13. The Pipettes – We Are The Pipettes

14. Swan Lake – Beast Moans

15. k-os – Atlantis

16. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Show Your Bones

17. Daneilson - Ships

18. Lady Sovereign – Public Warning

19. Nelly Furtado – Loose

20. Sloan – Never Hear the End of It

21. Snow Patrol – Hands Open

22. Islands - Return to Sea

23. Justin Timberlake – FutureSex/LoveSounds

24. Gnarls Barkley – St. Elsewhere

25. Phoenix – It’s Never Been Like That

26. Guillemots – Through the Windowpane

27. The Format – Dog Problems

28. Belle and Sebastian – The Life Pursuit

29. Yo La Tengo – I am Not Afraid And I’ll Beat Your Ass

30. Hawksley Workman – Treeful of Starling

 

 

Everything below the top 5 will probably change in the coming months.

[Gary Floyd 0]

Well, it looks like I'm going to have to add Gnarls Barkley in Honerable Mentions. I guess the reason I forgot to is, while "Crazy" is a great song, I got tired of hearing it all the time.

 

On second thought, it's taking the spot Boris had.

 

Also, good to see Peeping Tom is getting some love here.

[Guest "Go, Mordecai!"]

I can't do this list because I haven't heard enough new music, and I couldn't do it until hearing Orphans, which I'm getting for Christmas. I felt like John Mayer's Continuum should get more respect, since for a John Mayer album, it's pretty good, but at the end of the day, isn't it just a lot of Clapton-aping? at any rate, I think "Vultures" and "Slow Dancing in a Burning Room" are good songs.

[vivalaultra 0]

I haven't heard all of the new John Mayer (my sister says it's really good), but from what I have heard, it's definitely not bad, better quality than alot of persons of that ilk. I really enjoyed the last John Mayer album, with the John Mayer trio, which was essentially him doing a Stevie Ray Vaughn impression.

[Ginger Snaps 0]

18. Lady Sovereign – Public Warning

 

Eeww. She's awful.

[Guest "Go, Mordecai!"]

I haven't heard all of the new John Mayer (my sister says it's really good), but from what I have heard, it's definitely not bad, better quality than alot of persons of that ilk. I really enjoyed the last John Mayer album, with the John Mayer trio, which was essentially him doing a Stevie Ray Vaughn impression.

Yeah, Try! is pretty cool, if you forgive some of John's groanworthy vocal affectations that pop up from time to time. Musically, it's good stuff; a far cry from that awful Room for Squares tripe.

[cbacon 0]

18. Lady Sovereign – Public Warning

 

Eeww. She's awful.

 

Negs.

 

Album is awesome.

[Red Baron 0]

I like the John Mayer solo stuff, not the crappy pop crap, but the actual blues-rock stuff he's got going on.

 

Two albums I bought were Iron Maiden and Mastodon from this year. Neither are all that impressive.

[Annabelle 0]

i am listening to kelis is here right now. which is treating me very nicely. i didn't really know what to expect. but she's carrying over the futuristic, spacey neptunes influenced sound that made the clipse album so enjoyable. of course, there are still the standard r & b tracks. but she has stepped outside of the normal mould, and the album didn't sell shit.

[Guest "Go, Mordecai!"]

18. Lady Sovereign – Public Warning

 

Eeww. She's awful.

 

Negs.

 

Album is awesome.

Isn't she like some chav that raps or something? That sounds like the most odious recording that England could ever produce. What redeeming qualities could there be for a rapping female chav?

[Gary Floyd 0]

I can't stand Lady Sovereign.

 

Anyways, a friend recommended Agalloch's Ashes Against The Grain and Xela's Dead Sea to me.

[Carnival 0]

carnival,

 

was the new jedi mind tricks that good? i haven't heard it but i felt like they fell off huge after visions of gandhi.

No, it's nothing like visions of gandhi, but check out "Heavy Metal Kings" and "Uncommon Valor" those are pretty tight.

[PLAGIARISM! 0]

I wasn't particularly impressed by Lady Sovereign, but she's better than Lily Allen. Good God, she's the absolute worst.

[Ravenbomb 0]

If soundtracks count, I'm adding The Fountain soundtrack to my list

[Anorak 0]

Howe Gelb - Sno' Angel Like You

Nina Nastasia - On Leaving

The Handsome Family - Last Days Of Wonder

Belle and Sebastian - The Life Pursuit

The Thermals - The Body the Blood the Machine

Casiotone for the Painfully Alone - Etiquette

[Lord of The Curry 0]

In no actual order.......

 

Islands- Return to The Sea

Ghostface Killah- Fishscale

T.I- King

Young Jeezy- The Inspiration

Destroyer- Destroyers Rubies

TV On The Radio- Return to Cookie Mountain

The Game- Doctors Advocate

 

I can't even come up with a top ten. This year kinda sucked for music. 2007 looks to show some promise.

 

And holy hell does Lady Sovereign suck all kinds of ass.

[Annabelle 0]

sovereign is the worst. lily allen is close. i downloaded that abortion of an album. i kicked myself for d'ling it in lieu of porn.

[Red Baron 0]

Tool released an album this year. I completly forgot they released one this year.

[Corey_Lazarus 0]

Unless you're smart and steer way the fuck clear of rock radio, it's impossible to not know. The new album has, officially, made me hate Tool with such a tremendous passion that I never knew I could have towards any one particular band. I don't even hate Fall Out Boy or Green Day or any other emo or pop/punk act as much as I hate Tool. Maybe it's the fans. Maybe it's the praise of subpar, boring music. Maybe it's the realization that playing the same annoying noise for 3 minutes before playing anything remotely resembling a guitar riff or lick does not make you an avant garde or artistic musician but rather a pretentious bitch with the abilities of a 4th grader that listens to nothing but The Ramones and Pink Floyd and thus desperately tries to tie the two of them together in an incredibly unsuccessful manner, completely oblivious to the fact that they're two different styles of rock music that should never, EVER come into contact with one another.

 

No, I think it's just because they're fucking boring and other bands do the whole "progressive" heavy music thing a shitload better than they do (like Opeth, who I'm not even a fan of, or Mastodon; both bands blow Tool out of the water in every conceivable category save for size of their fanbases and record sales, but get nowhere near the amount of mainstream respect as that piece of shit band). I stand by my previous statements (made over a year ago, IIRC) that Green Jelly was the best band Maynard ever had his name attached to. It's gotten to the point where I can't even listen to Rage Against The Machine's "Know Your Enemy" unless it's the live version, and it's only because of Maynard's small piece towards the end of the song (right before Morello's "solo") that I can't listen to it.

 

Hmmm...Tool - pretentious progressive alternative rock whose fans are too doped up or musically ignorant to realize how bad they really are - or Zombie Apocalypse - pure thrash with minor elements of mathcore and a vicious duel-vocal assault to amplify the chaos and madness that would occur during a mass rising of the living dead...I wonder what my choice will be...

[Red Baron 0]

What really kills 10,000 Eyes is the vocals and the song length. The vocals does not seem to fit with the song, especially in The Pot and Rosetta Stoned.

 

Lateralus and Ænima are spectacular albums, and have a huge influence in a lot of nu-metal modern rock acts. Undertow has a strong first side, with a weak back catalogue, and Opiate is purely solid. I think if 10,000 Eyes went the Opiate way, and made every song about 3-4 minutes in length I would have like it much better.

[Jaxxson Mayhem 0]

carnival,

 

was the new jedi mind tricks that good? i haven't heard it but i felt like they fell off huge after visions of gandhi.

 

 

It's pretty good. You should check it out.

[Corey_Lazarus 0]

and have a huge influence in a lot of nu-metal modern rock acts.

This isn't me being a prick and attacking you personally, it's just I always hear from Tool fans how influential they are.

 

Okay...name me some bands Tool have influenced that aren't completely fucking horrible. Every band I can think of (Chevelle's a biggy, since their first album is pretty much a Tool album) is horrible.

[PLAGIARISM! 0]

Forgot Return to the Sea! And I heard a bit of the new Tool, suffice to say it sounded like a band doing an impression of Tool. Not good.

[Guest abowen33]

10. Regina Spektor - Begin to Hope

9. Chin Up Chin Up - This Harness Can't Ride Anything

8. Lo-Fi FNK - Boylife

7. The Thermals - The Body, The Blood, The Machine

6. Two Gallants - What the Toll Tells

5. Islands - Return To The Sea

4. Tilly and the Wall - Bottoms of Barrels

3. Bound Stems - Appreciation Night

2. Joanna Newsom - Ys

1. Belle and Sebastian - The Life Pursuit

[Guest "Go, Mordecai!"]

I didn't like Begin to Hope at all. Minimalism is what makes Regina Spektor so cool; why did they fuck up a good thing with drum machines and sequencers?

[Lord of The Curry 0]

Add "9" by Damien Rice and "History in The Making" by JR Writer to my list.