Records I Liked in 2006

For me, 2006 marked a sea change in the way I listened to music in that it was the first full year in which I had an iPod and used it as my primary mechanism for listening. When I was a kid, the first way I listened to music was on 45s using a stand-alone turntable with a built-in speaker. I later graduated to LPs which I later dubbed onto cassettes for use in my Walkman and eventually in the car. It wasn't until college that I got a CD player which again altered how I got to 'know' an album, I could program the CD player to play the songs in a preferred order or just let it play in the intended order. This year, while there were times when I'd get a CD and listen to it right away on CD, more often that not, I'd rip it and put it into iTunes and hear it for the first time on my iPod. In some ways, it made listening a more objective process; I'd hear a song and listen to it on it's own merits before I knew what it was. If I liked it, I'd look at the iPod display to tell me what I was hearing, if I disliked it, I'd delete it. As a result, instead of popping a CD into the car CD deck, knowing what I would be hearing, I was totally blind, I only knew it was something I had put into iTunes. This system helped me determine what songs I put onto my annual Best of CD and also what albums were my favorites. For this post, I will list my Top 10 Albums (really, really good records) and another ten or so that are also worth further exploration will follow next week.

1) Editors - The Back Room - A fair share of critics wrote this record off as a Joy Division soundalike, much the same way Interpol was similarly maligned, yet somehow Interpol became critics darlings and Editors languish in near-obscurity. Sure, Editors played Lolla but in the 2PM slot, not exactly a vote of drawing power. This was a record that came out earlt in the year but held my interest all year long. I'll be very curious to hear their next album.

2) The Hold Steady - Boys and Girls In America - Gideon, Charlamagne and Holly are  back; the running characters that populate the songs of The Hold Steady which always invites comparisons to Bruce, who's used the same songwriting device (as have countless others) quite famously. This is the Hold Steady's third record in as many years and at this clip may be the best 1-2-3 punch by a band in 36 months as Cheap Trick's first three records. Frontman Craig Finn admitted they were making a conscious effort to be more accessable and it worked.

3) The Damnwells - Air Stereo - Betcha thought this was going to be #1. It was the record I listened to most in 2006 and I enjoy (or adore) every song on it and really would love to see it pop up on someone's Top 10 other than mine. What does a band have to do to get reviewed by a mass-circulation magazine? RS? Spin? AP? Blender? Mojo? Q? NME? Nobody. Only Billboard reviewed it on a national level and how many college students do you know that read Billboard?

4) TV on the Radio - Return to Cookie Mountain - It's too bad that TVOTR left the Touch & Go label before this album came out because to have followed up the label's 25th Anniversary Celebration with this critical darling would've been a nice cherry on top. Though you have to wonder if it would've been as widely regarded and reviewed if it had come out on T&G? This is the most interesting major-label release I heard this year. Pick out any song from this and play it discreetly for someone who's never heard it and they will demand to know who it is, guaranteed.

5) Twilight Singers - Powder Burns - I'll admit I'm a big Greg Dulli fan but don't automatically like everything he does and his last two albums are evidence of that. This record harkens back to Blackberry Bellle in it's cohesiveness.

6) Cheap Trick - Rockford - Another case of a band releasing a superb record that was barely covered in mainstream circles. A few mags (Rolling Stone & Entertainment Weekly) gave it postive reviews but this was the type of record that could've been a great comeback story but wasn't.

7) Sonic Youth - Rather Ripped - After a few tangents of late, this record pulled in the reins  a bit and ended up being an exemplary Kim Gordon vocal showcase. Possibly their best since Dirty.

8) Cat Power - The Greatest - This is the sound of closing time in an after-hours roadhouse in an alternate universe.

9) Bob Dylan - Modern Times - Let's hope that his next album sucks just a little bit so we can be reminded that Zimmy is human, his last three records have been outstanding.  If you had pitched the Dylan iPod commercial to a focus group it would've never been allowed to be aired but it worked.

10) Secret Machines - Ten Silver Drops - The sonic qualities of this record beg for it to be listened to as a complete linear album, shuffle play not recommended. I heard great things about their "In-the-Round" shows but missed their sole 2006 Chicago appearance. This album will someday be heralded as a masterpiece by some critic(s), just not yet.

The rest of the best of next week.

Comments

[Kent]

I'm into the Arctic Monkeys. Did that come out this year? I'm not cool any more so I don't know.

Check out El Lele de Los Van Van's amazing cover of Radiohead's High and Dry. Beautiful.

[Kent]

found a link to High and Dry

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6515328

[Marc]

Ken;

Good list, most of those are some of my faves of the past year as well, except The Hold Steady. I'm still not feeling that band, I know I'm probably the only one in indie rock but it just doesn't do it for me.

And Editors opening up for Stellastarr this year at Metro was pure brilliance, and I'm a fan of their album lots of anthems on it.

I don't do Best of Lists... so we will leave it at that.

[scotty]

I have The Hold Steady, TV on the Radio and Sonic Youth on my ten best that is still in the process of being done. I agree that Rather Ripped is the best Sonic Youth has had for some time. My favorite album is Fox Confessor Brings the Flood by Neko Case.

[jeff w.]

I'm afraid I don't have much to offer here. I found a few new albums that I liked this year, but nothing outstanding just run of the mill new filler music. I always like this post though because I usually track down a few of Ken's listings plus a few from everyone's followups.

[mattbarr]

hey ken, i've been reading a lot of "best of" lists from several of the internets, and i was dismayed at how many did NOT include the Secret Machines. that album is pretty great - glad to see it on your list. i missed their "round" concert too, but saw them at loplooza and thought they rocked.

to be fair, i haven't heard most of the albums on your list, but, i thought this years best album was the new Yo La Tengo.

[dj]

I too am digging on the new Yo La Tengo, and it also has one of the best album titles of the year: "I am not afraid of you and I will beat your ass"

Some other goodies from this year that haven't been mentioned yet:
Beirut - Gulag Orkestar
Joanna Newsom - Ys
Destroyer - Destroyer's Rubies

They're also all available on eMusic.

[ken]

As promised I will post another batch of great albums (maybe next week) that didn't make the Top 10, of which the YLT album was certainly one, a nice return to form for them. Keep the comments coming, I need to know what I missed.

[TWM]

Albums that I liked, alphabetically:

Amy Allison / Everything and Nothing Too
Neko Case / Fox Confessor Brings the Flood
The Church / Uninvited Like the Clouds
Bob Dylan / Modern Times
Alejandro Escovedo / The Boxing Mirror
Thea Gilmore / Harpo’s Ghost
Robyn Hitchcock / Ole Tarantula
Mark Knopfler and Emmylou Harris / All the Roadrunning
Jenny Lewis with The Watson Twins / Rabbit Fur Coat
Tom Petty / Highway Companion
Bruce Robison / Eleven Stories
Bruce Springsteen / We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions
Sufjan Stevens / The Avalanche
Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoffs / Under the Covers, Vol. 1
Tres Chicas / Bloom Red & the Ordinary Girl
The Who / Endless Wire
World Party / Dumbing Up
Neil Young / Living With War

[mattbarr]

Ken, since you asked, here's the others in my top 15 of 2006:
1. YLT
2. Secret Machines
3. Mew - "and the glass handed kites"
4. Flaming Lips – “At War With the Mystics”
5. Belle and Sebastian – “The Life Pursuit”
6. Mastodon – “Blood Mountain”
7. Loose Fur – “Born Again in the USA”
8. Futureheads – “News and Tributes”
9. Sloan – “Never Hear the End of It”
10.Don Caballero – “World Class Listening Problem”
11.Kooks – “Inside In/Inside Out”
12.Frank Black – “Fast Man Raider Man”
13.Killers – “Sam’s Town”
14.Slayer – “Christ Illusion”
15.Thom Yorke – “Eraser”

here's some other albums in no order:

Strokes – “First Impressions of Earth”
TV On The Radio – Return to Cookie Mountain
Keane – “Under the Iron Sea”
Built to Spill – “You In Reverse”
Robert Pollard – From a Compound Eye
Planes Mistaken For Stars - Mercy
Whitest Boy Alive - Dreams
French Kicks – 2000
Iron Maiden – “A Matter of Life and Death”
Dragonforce – “Inhuman Rampage”
Grandaddy – “Just Like the Fambly Cat”
Portastatic – “Be Still Please”
Early Day Miners – “Offshore”
Tapes N Tapes – “The Loon”

all in all, i did NOT think '06 was a great year for music since a lot of these bands have put out better albums in the past. there's still a lot of '06 albums i havent heard though...

[jim]

Check out this fine Drag City album...

Imitation Electric Piano - Blow it up, Burn it Down, Kick it 'til it Bleeds

[scotty]

A couple records I didn't see on a list that I liked are Passover by The Black Angels and Magic Potion by The Black Keys. This one came out last year but it fits the theme, Sincerly, Black Lipstick by Black Lipstick.