If anyone cares, I suppose these are my "best of 2006" music selections. I say "suppose" because I've never really thought of which is better or worse, but I certainly have ones that I've played more than others. These are the ones I've played more than others. I've sort of vaguely put them in order from best to worse, but don't hold me to specific rankings.
"The Fox Confessor Brings the Flood" by Neko Case (March, 2006)
"The Crane Wife" by The Decemberists (October, 2006)
"Boys and Girls in America" by The Hold Steady (October, 2006)
"The Fall of Ideals" by All That Remains (July, 2006)
"Begin to Hope" by Regina Spektor (June, 2006)
"Game Theory" by The Roots (August, 2006)
"As Daylight Dies" by Killswitch Engage (November, 2006)
"Kezia" by Protest the Hero (April, 2006)
"Night Ripper" by Girl Talk (May 2006)
"Blood Mountain" by Mastodon (September, 2006)
"Fishscale" by Ghostface Killah (March, 2006)
Further down on the list, but worthy of mention, is Tool ("10,000"), Iron Maiden ("A Matter of Life and Death"), Drive by Truckers ("A Blessing and a Curse"; not their best, but still better than most everybody else), and CSS ("Cansei de Ser Sexy").
There was also a bunch of crap out this year, but we don't have to talk about that. Posted by baltar at December 5, 2006 01:36 PM | TrackBack | Posted to Blogorama | Music
The Flaming Lips, for all their vaunted live performances, did not release one of the best CDs this year. This is particularly true when one compares "At War With The Mystics" to previous Flaming Lips releases.
You may not appreciate this, but open your mind. The truth will set you free.
Posted by: baltar at December 5, 2006 10:31 PM | PERMALINKNo, I know. As an album I don't really like it. And I HATE some of the songs. But I had to. It was expected of me.
Posted by: binky at December 5, 2006 10:51 PM | PERMALINKI don't know any of these people (except for Tool and Iron Maiden, obviously). Clearly I need to get out more or something.
Posted by: jacflash at December 7, 2006 01:02 PM | PERMALINKThere was, honestly, some really good music put out this year. Most of this stuff never made it anywhere near a radio station (well, maybe a college radio station).
Posted by: baltar at December 7, 2006 06:02 PM | PERMALINKi'll chime in that i really don't get the decemberists. just. don't. get it. i bought one album -- probably not the new one but the one before -- on the strength of a borderline fellating write-up in the Times, and it just did nothing for me. erudite? sure. clever? it sounded that way before i started losing my ability to stay with the lyrics. but just not to my taste at all. and it's not the lyrical density that put me off -- plenty of the stuff i really love is terribly inventive lyrically . . . . i just found them to be offputting somehow.
i had the same experience with whatever her name is -- the 20-year-old shrill post-folky san franciscan everyone was all breathless about a couple of years ago. to be fair, i could barely stand her for two or three songs, whereas i've given my decemberists album at least two listens.
maybe i'm just getting old?
at least i can comfort myself that i know who ghostface killah is. :-)
Posted by: moon at December 8, 2006 12:05 AM | PERMALINKI had a similar reaction the first time I listened to the Crane Wife, and thought "this is really good, but I don't like it." The more I hear it, the more it grows on me, and the more listenable it becomes.
Posted by: binky at December 8, 2006 02:47 PM | PERMALINK