It's About Time!

Now that we’re approaching April, it seems like a good time to present my Top 33 albums of 2006. Why 33? Because if I stopped at 32, I would have left Cat Power off the list, and I just couldn't do that―I do love her so.
(For our amusement, I have included Pitchfork’s rating for each album.)

33. Cat Power—The Greatest (Pitchfork: 7.9). The songwriting here is considerably less noteworthy compared to “You Are Free.” Although the music is more diverse―helped by the Memphis studio musicians acting as her backing band―and her voice can still turn laughing gas into tear gas, ultimately this is a mediocre album.

32. Beirut—The Gulag Orkestar (Pitchfork: 7.7). A shameless Neutral Milk Hotel ripoff, and not nearly as good, but still worth hearing.

31. Thom Yorke—The Eraser (Pitchfork: 6.6). Sounds a lot like Radiohead-minus-Jonny Greenwood (in other words, sounds a lot like “Kid A”—oh, Jonny was on that album?). That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but if Christopher Walken were here, he—like me—would probably say, “More guitar!”

30. Emily Haines & the Soft Skeleton—Knives Don’t Have Your Back (Pitchfork: 7.3). Haines channels “You Are Free”-era Cat Power. Those who know me are aware of my affinity for female vocalists—their voices, I mean. (Well, sometimes the vocalists themselves, but that’s not what I’m talking about here.) Haines is one of my favorite singers at the moment, and her voice is the star of this album. I wish the songwriting was a little more diverse; I like a good piano ballad, but an entire album of them tends to sound awfully homogenous.

29. The Melvins—A Senile Animal (Pitchfork: 7.3). I was a Melvins virgin until I picked this up, even though they’ve put out about 300 albums. I expected this to be slower and sludgier, and I wonder if this more straightforward hard rock sound might offend the ears of longtime Melvins fans. Some of it is pretty heavy, though.

28. Peter Bjorn and John—Writers Block (Pitchfork: 8.5). I think these Swedish dudes are trying to revolutionize whistling in rock. “Young Folks”—which, by the way, is one of the singles of the year—has some of the best use of whistling I’ve ever heard in a rock song, and there’s whistling on other songs, too. You don’t hear much whistling in rock, really—there’s “Sitting on the Dock of the Bay,” if you want to call that rock; and of course the classic “Focus,” by Hocus Pocus. And, um . . . “Patience,” by GnR. . . . Anyway, if you like to hear whistling, this is your Album of the Year.

27. Mylo—Destroy Rock & Roll (Pitchfork: 8.4). One of the few noteworthy releases in a disappointing year for electronic/dance music. This is a decent Daft Punk imitation that continues to grow on me. Nothing mind-blowing, though.

26. Ghostface Killah—Fishscales (Pitchfork: 9.0). The production is stellar, and I can’t believe it doesn’t have the RZA’s prints all over it. Worth getting just to hear Ol’ Dirty (I mean, Dirt McGirt) return from the grave on “9 Milli Bros”.

25. The Decemberists—The Crane Wife (Pitchfork: 8.4).. I thought this would have been higher, but these guys just aren’t doing it for me like they used to, although I love the epic, “The Crane Wife, Pts. 1 & 2.”

24. Film School—(eponymous) (Pitchfork: 6.9). Solid album that harkens back to late-80s college rock, but at the same time doesn’t sound at all dated.

23. Slouch—Viva (Pitchfork: N/A). Ambient beats and samples. Music to take a nap to, and I mean that as a compliment. Also probably good after consuming illicit substances, but I wouldn’t know about that.

22. …And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead—So Divided (Pitchfork: 5.5). Their spiral into a more mainstreamy sound continues, but the songwriting is still strong. One of a few bands on this list that I worry have already peaked and are now sliding down the backside of the mountain.

21. Dirty on Purpose—Hallelujah Sirens (Pitchfork: 7.7). Somewhat schizophrenic, but ultimately a theme emerges: this band listens to a lot of Yo La Tengo. A very agreeable record.

20. Tokyo Police Club—A Lesson in Crime (Pitchfork: 7.9). Intriguing Canadian (!) blogosphere darlings. Catchy, unique, really quite endearing . . . if this had more than 16 minutes of meat, I’d probably have to bump them up a spot or five.

19. The Long Winters—Putting the Days to Bed (Pitchfork: 7.7). Sometimes I wonder if these quirky popsters are a reincarnation of one of my favorite 90s bands, Lotion. But I looked it up on Allmusic, and it doesn’t mention anything about that, so I guess not. . . .

18. The Kooks—Inside In/Inside Out (Pitchfork: 5.9). Those Brits sure can write a pop song, can’t they?

17. Gnarls Barkley—St. Elsewhere (Pitchfork: 7.7). The problem with a single that blows up like “Crazy” is that it creates such huge expectations that the rest of the album inevitably disappoints. This record is no different, but that’s not to say it’s horrible; it’s actually pretty solid. There’s nothing that even lives in the same neighborhood as “Crazy,” but the songs are consistently catchy, and Cee-Lo’s creeping-around-in-the-bushes voice begs attention from start to finish. Also, they wear funny outfits when they play live.

16. Mastodon—Blood Mountain (Pitchfork: 8.7). Remember when Metallica ruled the world? Some of this reminds me a little of those halcyon days. But only certain songs. Other songs remind me of Queens of the Stone Age, Cave-In, and King Crimson (really!). You really can’t go wrong with titles like “Capillarian Crest” and “Circle of Cysquatch.”

15. Klaxons—Xan Valleys EP (Pitchfork: 7.7). British spaz-pop. Great potential.

14. Lily Allen—Alright, Still (Pitchfork: 8.3). Stop laughing, I’m serious. No, really, I like this album a lot; in fact, I may have it ranked too low, but I’m afraid of all the mocking that might come with putting it higher.

13. Hot Chip—The Warning (Pitchfork: 8.1). Overrated by most but still has one of the best tunes of the year in “And I Was a Boy From School.” There are a few other good songs here, but some of this is just kind of boring.

12. Yeah Yeah Yeahs—Show Your Bones (Pitchfork: 6.8). No sophomore slump here. Definitely not as powerful as their bluesy, boozy debut, but the softer, more polished sound works surprisingly well. “Sweets” is the new “Maps.”

11. Beck—The Information (Pitchfork: 6.9). A return to what he does best: everything and the kitchen sink. Seriously, I think I heard a kitchen sink on one song. . . .

10. Man Man—Six Demon Bag (Pitchfork: 8.3). An acquired taste, and better live than on record, but one of the most original releases of the year, and surprisingly fun, too. Strongly recommended to Tom Waits fans.

9. Francine—Airshow (Pitchfork: N/A). Some of this rates among their best work, particularly “Beatrice,” which is simply spectacular. Most of “Airshow” is prog-ier than anything else they’ve done—listening to parts of it is like walking into a video game arcade in 1986 (think blips, bleeps, and blurps). And I’m all for that (listening to it, I mean, not walking into an arcade. Although I love arcades. Can I borrow some quarters?). Personal connections aside, their songwriting continues to be catchy, quirky, brainy—in a word, superb.

8. Built to Spill—You in Reverse (Pitchfork: 6.8). I’ve grown to accept that they’ll never again be as perfect as “Perfect from Now On,” but this is a return to that type of grandiose sound, although not as much as some reviewers I’ve read would lead us to believe. Doug Martsch remains an indie guitar god.

7. The Roots—Game Theory (Pitchfork: 7.7—what’s with all the 7.7s?). The best hip-hop band in the world (but please don’t tell the Wu I said that), with emphasis on the word “band.”

6. TV on the Radio—Return to Cookie Mountain (Pitchfork: 9.1). Am I the only person who considers them to be prog rock? Maybe it’s because I don’t regard that an insult. I don’t think they sound like anyone else, and that’s a big part of their appeal. They are the thinking man’s rock band . . .and yes, I know that sounded pretentious. What can I say, I’m a thinking man. . . .

5. The Thermals—The Body, the Blood, the Machine (Pitchfork: 8.5). A (slightly) more “mature” sound than their first two albums, but still the consistently good songwriting and indie-punk ethos we have come to expect. One of the most underrated bands in America today.

4. Be Your Own Pet—(eponymous) (Pitchfork: 8.2). If the Manson Family took a lot of speed (instead of a lot of acid) and formed a band, I think they would sound like this.

3. The Duke Spirit—Cuts Across the Land (Pitchfork: 7.4). This was actually a 2005 release in the U.K, but a 2006 release in the Land of the Free. Thus, it appears on this list. Regardless, this is seriously good bluesy rock with a female lead singer who just happens to be gorgeous, which of course doesn’t have anything to do with this ranking. But it doesn’t hurt.

2. Arctic Monkeys—Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not (Pitchfork: 7.4). What British rock is supposed to be: poppy but not pop, rough but not dumb, witty but not charming, seedy but not shabby.

1. Silversun Pickups—Carnavas (Pitchfork: 5.0). An album I like so much it’s difficult to put into words. It maintains one of the most consistent moods I’ve heard on an album in a long time, somehow managing to sound dangerous and somewhat melancholy and yet also be extremely melodic and not at all gloomy. To me, it sounds like midnight in California—simultaneously foreboding and beautiful.

Certain albums just hit some of us a certain way. I know at least one person who enjoys this album almost as much—if not completely as much—as I do, and I know others who think it’s just o.k. It’s my opinion that musical taste and physical attraction are the two most subjective tastes known to man, so I don’t expect most people to have the same reaction to this as I have. But it’s neck-in-neck with The Wrens’s “The Meadowlands” as my favorite album of the millennium.