2006 in Review

So it's finally here, fashionably late as usual...Rob's Favorite Albums of 2006 post!! In retrospect, 2006 was a damn great year for music all-around. In fact, there was so much quality material released this year that I extended the list to 30 this year and included download for each album that made the list. The top 20 albums of this year I would classify as "must owns" and the top 3 of this year are classics in my oh so humble opinion. Personally, this year could be considered "The Year DJ, Dance, and World Music Broke for Rob," so you can look forward to more posts in that vein in the near future, along with more hip-hop, as that made a STRONG comeback into my cd players/playlists/nightlife in 2006. No worries though, the noisy rock and roll will continue to be well represented. So here's to a great 2006, and the prospect of a great 2007 with albums expected from The Shins, !!!, SPIRITUALIZED, Deerhoof, Explosions in the Sky, Jesu, Of Montreal, Radiohead, etc... Without further ado I present:

Rob's "Super-subjective-and-surely-incomplete-Best-Albums-of-2006-List!":

1. TV on the Radio - Return to Cookie Mountain

I struggle to think of an album in recent memory that has been so great and yet subject to so much critical nitpicking. The hype around Return to Cookie Mountain was crushing, the album lived up to all the hype, and you still heard complaints! It's tough being on top I suppose. Anyways, file this under "modern classic" as noise has never had so much soul before this album. One of my close friends put it best when he said, "Dude, looking back...I dunno if these dudes have even made a bad SONG..."

Download - "Playhouses"

2. Girl Talk - Girl Talk's Night Ripper I almost feel like this album was cheating at the whole music game. I mean the formula is so simple, cram as many songs that music geeks love into 2 minutes as possible and make sure they can dance to it at the same time! Genius! Of course (I think) there's more to it than that, but really why bother thinking much harder about it? You should be too busy dancing. Most fun album of 2006.

Download - "Bounce That"

3. Clipse - Hell Hath No Fury

I've been riding these dudes' collective jock for about 2 years now, but I'll admit that when a release date was (FINALLY) set for Hell Hath No Fury I was a bit nervous? Could they shrug off a 3 year hiatus and live up to all the hype? Hell yeah. All they did was drop the dopest (don't call it crack) rap album in years, 1 song short of an instant classic in fact. In the liner notes to the album something to the effect of "Ya'll think this was hot?? I'm only at 60%!!" was written. I'm afraid for us all.

Download - "Momma I'm So Sorry"

4. Psychic Ills - Dins

My favorite album for the first half of 2006 hung around tough, and deservedly so. Far and away my favorite "new band" of the year. As far as newer bands go, no one is doing the whole noise/drone/psych/tribal drums experience better than Psychic Ills...

Download - "January Rain"

5. Liars - Drum's Not Dead

...well, almost no one. It's really a toss up between Liars and Psychic Ills for the crown. With Drum's Not Dead, Liars pretty much sealed up their status as "dopest band that does whatever the fuck they want album-to-album." They create such a noisy, stark, paranoid work that by the time "The Other Side of Mt. Heart Attack" comes around, you actually feel like you survived something. I never got why people haven't always loved this band. It's about time they got the respect they deserve.

Download - "A Visit From Drum"

6. Camera Obscura - Let's Get Out of This Country

Lying somewhere between pop, 50s/60s girl-groups, and blue-eyed soul Let's Get Out of This Country is one of those amazingly crafted pop albums where there's no purpose for the skip forward button on your cd player/ipod.

Download - "If Looks Could Kill"

7. Ghostface Killah - More Fish

2006's Man of the Year!! I mean, if you drop two albums in the same year, and they both make year end "best of" lists, you kind of win by default right? More Fish is more of a posse album, but it gets the slight nod over Fishscale as it's a bit more of a focused, grittier affair and More Fish doesn't have the (often lame) skits that are typically found on Ghostface albums.

Download - "Street Opera"

8. Jesu - Silver

The only other album I can think of off the top of my head that was crafted to be so crushingly loud and beautiful at the same time is (possible hyperbole warning) My Bloody Valentine's Loveless.

Download - "Wolves"

9. Man Man - Six Demon Bag

To this day I struggle to find the words that would best describe Man Man's music. While trying to avoid all the Zappa and Waits comparisions you normally hear about them the closest I've come up with is "experimental-kitchen-sink-pop." But a simple "Awesome" seems so much more appropriate. Great live show on top of all that.

Download - "Spider Cider"

10. Ghostface Killah - Fishscale

See the description for More Fish...I sometimes wonder if Ghost's consistantly amazing performances are singlehandedly keeping the Wu-Tang name from falling completely off the map...

Download - "Shakey Dog"

11. The Hold Steady - Boys and Girls in America

I think it's hilarious how the most "un-indie" sounding major band of the year was so frequently dismissed as gimmicky bar rock. If you can't relate to this album musically or lyrically, you aren't enjoying being young nearly as much as you should or you missed out on being young period.

Download - "Hot Soft Light"

12. Grizzly Bear - Yellow House

Warmest album of the year. Beautiful psych-folk.

Download - "Knife"

13. Sonic Youth - Rather Ripped

They STILL matter!

Download - "Sleepin' Around"

14. The Rapture - Pieces of the People We Love

As long as they keep making albums like this, dance punk can never be dismissed as a lost cause. Plus the album's got an old school Goodie Mob reference in it (+5 bonus pts if you know the song and the phrase used...)! Golden.

Download - "Whoo! Alright-Yeah...Uh Huh"

15. The Knife - Silent Shout

Best electronic album of the year. The fact that this is #15 on my list is more of a testament to how much great shit was released in 2006.

Download - "Silent Shout"

16. Comets on Fire - Avatar

Did everyone forget that they released an album this year? They scaled back the Stooges-like assault but still managed to rip just as hard.

Download - "Dogwood Rust"

17. T.I. - King

I was shocked at how good this album was, way more than just "What You Know."

Download - "I'm Talkin' To You"

18. Darker My Love - Darker My Love

Another criminally slept on band/album. Hopefully they don't get discouraged by the lack of attention they receive and keep making these blissed out psychedelic noise jams. My "D.A.R.E. Killer" band of 2006.

Download - "Claws & Paws"

19. Justin Timberlake - FutureSex/Lovesounds

I was a JT hater. I listened to the album. I'm no longer a JT hater. How many dancefloor gems is he going to have to drop before you give in?

Download - "FutureSex/LoveSound"

20. Pink Mountaintops - Axis of Evol

I didn't have my hopes up to be honest after listening to the self-titled EP. But Axis of Evol goes above and beyond with a great drone folk album.

Download - "Slaves"

21. The Decemberists - The Crane Wife

Download - "The Crane Wife 3"

22. Professor Murder - Professor Murder Rides the Subway EP

Download - "Free Stress Test"

23. Xiu Xiu - The Air Force

Download - "Bishop, CA"

24. I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness - Fear Is On Our Side

Download - "According to Plan"

25. Herbert - Scale

Download - "Harmonise"

26. The Game - Doctor's Advocate

Download - "Remedy"

27. Rhymefest - Blue Collar

Download - "Tell a Story"

28. Mountain Goats - Get Lonely

Download - "Woke Up New"

29. Justice - Waters of Nazareth EP

Download - "Waters of Nazareth"

30. The Black Angels - Passover

Download - "Black Grease"

Honorable Mention: The Duke Spirit - Covered in Love

It's a covers EP, so it just wouldn't have felt right to include amongst all the other 2006 releases. However, this tribute to some of the music greats that passed away in 2006 is so well done that it needed to be mentioned. Only 4 tracks but among them include a searing version of Love's "A House is Not a Motel" and a droned out version of Desmond Dekker's "007 (Shantytown)" that really showcases Leila Moss's vocals. Find the rest of it yourself, here's a freebie to start.

Download - "A Message to A Pretty (Love Cover)"

The 2006 Needed Another Month Awards (aka 2006 albums I'm really excited to hear but didn't have the chance to before publishing this post) :

Scott Walker - The Drift, Russian Circles - Enter, Peter, Bjorn, and John - Writer's Block, Indian Jewelry - Invasive Exotics, Junior Boys - So This is Goodbye, J Dilla - Donuts, Brightblack Morning Light - Brightblack Morning Light, Artic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not