2006: The Year in Music

So, in the spirit of the awesome music-delivery power of the interweb, I'm linking to samples (mostly at MySpace, much as I despise the site) of pretty much all of my favorite albums of the year. Though I published a couple pieces of music criticism, I've fallen out of the intense pasty-white-music-nerd community to some extent. However, I still managed to listen to more than 100 complete albums this year and parts of at least 200. Was this a good year for music? Well, it depends on how you look at it. I don't think there was a single truly groundbreaking, instant classic released this year, but there was an awful lot of quite listenable stuff. Every month, it seemed, there were at least a couple of albums that caught my attention and stayed at the top of my iPod rotation for at least a few days.

My taste still tracks relatively close with the mainline urban indie yuppie crowd, although I persist in adoring Cursive even after the cool kids gave them a somewhat muted response. After an initial distaste for music blogger fave The Hold Steady, I gave in and succumbed to the adoration that has gripped the rest of the indie music sphere. What can I say? Boys and Girls in America is a paean to single, urban, entry-level life—blue collar rock for middle class kids with lit degrees. And I love it.

I wasn't too impressed with the hip-hop this year, though I did surprise myself and really, really like the new Justin Timberlake record. Not every song works—the Three Six Mafia track is really awful—but there are five or six really impressive, wonderfully experimental tracks.

Of course, the usual disclaimers apply: This isn't a definitive list. It's subject to change. I'm in no way claiming these as the one-and-only actual "best" albums, just the ones I found to have the strongest combination of artistic merit, listenability, and originality. The list (arranged roughly in order with my favorites on top) spans the indiesphere—from guttural metal to disco punk to eclectic folk—so there ought to be something for everyone to enjoy.

1. Cursive – Happy Hollow
2. Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Show Your Bones
3. The Rapture – Pieces of the People We Love
4. White Flight – S/T
5. The Hold Steady – Boys and Girls in America
6. Supersystem – A Million Microphones
7. Blood Brothers – Young Machetes
8. Band of Horses – Everything All the Time
9. The Decemberists – The Crane Wife
10. Mastadon – Blood Mountain
11. Forever Changed – Chapters
12. James Figurine – Mistake Mistake Mistake Mistake
13. Bernard – A View Beyond the Cave
14. Dave Bazan – Fewer Moving Parts
15. Justin Timberlake – Futuresex/Lovesounds
16. Jeremy Enigk – World Waits
17. Matt & Kim – S/T
18. Junior Boys -- So This is Goodbye
19. Bright Eyes – Noise Floor (Rarities 98-05)*
20. Joanna Newsom – Ys
21. Professor Murder – Professor Murder Rides the Subway
22. Damien Jurado – Now that I'm in Your Shadow

*In a quick search I couldn't find any tracks from this album, but you can, of course, hear Bright Eyes here.