2006 Music

It's getting to be that time of year. No, I'm not talking about Christmas, or even winter (although I think it's pretty much here).

I'm talking about the time of year-end "Best of" lists. Specifically, music and movies. More specifically, just music. A couple of blogs have already started posting their Best 2007 Albums lists, and it is not even December. For the past two years, I have put together my own favorites lists, and I'm getting excited about this year's as well. But I've still got a lot of listening to do before my list is ready.

Here is my original list of favorite albums from 2006. I did a top 15 in order, plus a list of other notable albums that I really didn't feel differentiated themselves enough for me to order them.

1. Yo La Tengo – "I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass"
2. Secret Machines – “Ten Silver Drops”
3. Mew – “And the Glass Handed Kites” (this might be a 2005 release overseas, but I'm counting it as 2006)
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”

Since making the list, however, I've caught up on some 2006 releases that I did not know well enough to include. One of these, Phoenix's "It's Never Been Like That" would clearly have made the top 15 if I had heard it in 2006. It probably would have knocked off Thom Yorke, although now that I'm looking at the list 11 months later, there might be some re-arranging to be done...

Anywho, here are some other notable 2006 albums that I liked:

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
Robert Pollard - Normal Happiness (better than Compound Eye, IMO)
Asobi Seksu - "Citrus"
Dragonforce – “Inhuman Rampage”
Portastatic – “Be Still Please”
Early Day Miners – “Offshore”
Silversun Pickups - "Carnavas"