2006 never seemed like that great a year for albums as it was moving along, but when it came time for me to pick apart and reassemble a list of favorites, I had trouble keeping it to a manageable number. What follows is a list of 21 albums, in descending order of urgency, that you should make an effort to hear (after you put down your craptastical Joanna Newsom and Destroyer records, that is).
Sonic Youth – Rather Ripped
All killer, no filler. For those of you who follow the band regularly, you know filler is Sonic Youth’s chief currency these days, and that only makes the greatness of Rather Ripped even more of a total surprise.
Lo-Fi-Fnk – Boylife
On paper, Boylife is a disaster. In actuality, Boylife is a raging success. Combining all the least cloying facets of the Postal Service with all the fun and party attitude of Junior Senior, Lo-Fi-Fnk almost accidentally made one of thecoolest records of the year.
Archie Bronson Outfit – Derdang Derdang
These three guys know where the dark places are and have assumed the role of tourguides. Derdang Derdang is very rough around the edges, molten steel in the middle and groove-oriented throughout. If The Constantines drank all day and then again all night, they’d sound a little like this.
Jarvis Cocker – Jarvis
Jarvis really sounds a lot like the last two Pulp albums, but there’s something else going on with this material. Jarvis Cocker as the leader of a band was kind of a cardboard cut-out figure. Jarvis Cocker as a solo performer is entirely human and deserving of the spotlight.
Jenny Lewis with the Watson Twins – Rabbit Fur Coat
Jenny Lewis has stepped out from fronting a middling band (Rilo Kiley) and proven that sort of collaboration was holding her back. Her charming twist on storytelling and Americana was a staple in my listening diet for the first half of the year. Revisiting it recently, I found it has definite staying power.
Ladyfuzz – Kerfuffle
Not to take away at all what Ladyfuzz are doing as a band, but this is kind of how I wished this year’s Yeah Yeah Yeahs album would’ve turned out. Manic vocalizations, jerky instrumentation and absurd lyricism all covered in as much sweat as it is glitter.
The Needles – In Search of the Needles
Taking more cues from late ’70s artists like Elvis Costello & The Attractions or Graham Parker than from The Clash or any other punk or post-punk band, The Needles carve out a niche all for themselves with their debut album. Want proof? “Dianne” is probably the best straight-up rock single of the year.
Carla Bozulich – Evangelista
Evangelista is the album Carla Bozulich has always had inside her, trying over the years to claw its way to the surface. It’s heavy, it’s dark and much of it is even disturbing. Don’t diminish its strengths by listening to it on a sunny day, please.
Skatebard – Midnight Magic
Norwegian knob-twiddler Skatebard’s first full-length is brimming with great Italodisco-inspired sessions and would be the perfect soundtrack for a John Carpenter movie never made. Escape From Oslo anyone?
Henri Faberge & the Adorables – Henri Faberge & the Adorables
What happens when a whole troupe of Canadians get together, write upbeat and innocent-sounding songs and then narrate them with their dirty little potty mouths? Henri Faberge calls it “adorable” and so do I.
Deloris – Ten Lives
It was a weak year for gimmick-free indie rock. With The Shins busy writing, Okkervil River busy touring and The National busy just resting, Deloris produced an impeccable collection of songs in the same spirit as those bands. No weird singer, no cheap toy instruments–just tight songs with deep hooks.
Katerine – Robots Apres Tout
Philippe Katerine is excessively French in every way possible, and his album is better for it. A strange mix of cut-up electronics, live disco-driven instruments and an amateur choir providing the backing vocals on about 70% of the album’s songs, it’s not like anything else I heard this year (or any previous year either).
Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Show Your Bones
As I mentioned above with regard to Ladyfuzz, Show Your Bones isn’t exactly the sophomore album I’d expected from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. It’s more spacious, more acoustic, more melancholy and more grown up. Grown up? Hey, that shouldn’t always have a negative connotation.
The Long Blondes – Someone to Drive You Home
The Long Blondes could just as easily have existed in 1981 as in 2006. No, really. Someone to Drive You Home is one of the few albums that sounds incredibly modern and different by truly sounding like it comes from another era.
Milkymee – Songs For Herr Nicke
Emilie Hanak (aka Milkymee) writes great songs that deserve to be fleshed out further, but performs most of them with only an electric guitar as her accompaniment. The couple tracks with a full band here really stand out above the rest, so hopefully her next album will move her in that direction.
Sinner DC – Mount Age
I wonder if I’d like this in the daytime. I don’t have any idea, because I’ve only ever listened to it in the wee hours after midnight. Swirling strings on top of rigid beats and totally left-field sonic flourishes make the moon move from one end of the sky to the other. It might just make the sun sleepy, though.
American Watercolor Movement – It Takes Fifteen to Tango in My Book…
American Watercolor Movement is a band that goes great lengths to make rock music something bigger, something different. Picked apart song by song, the album loses a lot. It’s when you listen to the whole thing, every art-damaged second of it, that its full impact is felt. Completely genreless.
Imaad Wasif – Imaad Wasif
He may be the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ touring-only fourth member now, but don’t think he’s bringing that world to meet this one. Wasif solo is more akin to the sounds of Elliott Smith and Nick Drake than it is the NYC new-rock scene. Quiet as a mouse and as beautiful as a painting.
Jody Wildgoose – Afterlife
It seems all the best albums this year (or my favorite ones, at least) go a long way to defy classification. Jody Wildgoose’s Afterlife is no different in that regard. At heart, he’s a pop songwriter, but he does it in about 1,000 disparate ways–sounding like Beck one moment and Robert Pollard the next.
Viva Voce – Get Yr Blood Sucked Out
I’ve never found any of Viva Voce’s albums to be all that good before now. Sludgy but sparkly, determined but carefree, these songs are genuinely exciting in a way that most other NW bands once made them (but sadly no longer do).
Super 700 – Super 700
Another giant troupe of people making music (like Henri Faberge & the Adorables), except this time they’re led by three sisters from Berlin. Largely guitar-based songs with occasional electronic embellishments and vocals that sometimes bring pre-MILF Gwen Stefani to mind.
Nine more deserving of honorable mention (rounding it out to 30):
Belle & Sebastian – The Life Pursuit; Lansing-Dreiden – The Dividing Island; The Classic Brown – Down With Fun; Nathan Fake – Drowning in a Sea of Love; The Gossip – Standing in the Way of Control; Lupen Crook – Accidents Occur Whilst Sleeping; Peter Bjorn and John – Writer’s Block; Cat Power – The Greatest; Junior Boys – So This is Goodbye
Want singles? Sure you do. Who doesn’t?! I’m limiting these picks to 20 songs that were actually commercially released as singles. Without those parameters, trying to compile a list of individual songs would be madness:
Robbie Williams – “Rudebox”
Nelly Furtado – “Maneater”
The Long Blondes – “Weekend Without Makeup”
Art Brut – “Nag Nag Nag Nag”
Depeche Mode – “Martyr”
The Killers – “When You Were Young”
Justice vs Simian – “We Are Your Friends”
Chromatics – “Nite”
The Needles – “Dianne”
Ladyfuzz – “Kerfuffle (Single Version)”
I Love You But I’ve Chosen Darkness – “According to Plan”
Joakim – “I Wish You Were Gone”
Peter Bjorn and John – “Young Folks”
Nelly Furtado feat. Timbaland – “Promiscuous”
Justin Timberlake – “Sexyback”
The Knife – “We Share Our Mother’s Health”
Sol Seppy – “Slo Buzz”
Cat Power – “The Greatest”
Belle & Sebastian – “White Collar Boy”
Poni Hoax – “Budapest”
The best two (out of two) long-form singles of the year (in no order):
LCD Soundsystem – “45:33 Nike+ Original Run”
Ricardo Villalobos – “Fizheuer Zieheuer”
And last, but not least… ARTIST OF THE YEAR!
Gerard