Best of 2006

ALBUMS

1. Cat Power, The Greatest
2. Joanna Newsom, Ys
3. Arctic Monkeys, Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not
4. Gnarls Barkley, St. Elsewhere
5. Ali Farka Touré, Savane
6. Camille, Le Fil
7. Beyoncé, B’Day
8. Regina Spektor, Begin to Hope
9. Grizzly Bear, Yellow House
10. TV on the Radio, Return to Cookie Mountain

THE NEXT 10

Johnny Cash, Personal File
Ghostface Killah, Fishscale
Brand New, The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me
Tom Zé, Estudando o Pagode
Ornette Coleman, Sound Grammar
M. Ward, Post-War
Psychic Ills, Early Violence
Clipse, Hell Hath No Fury
Smokey Robinson, Timeless Love
Wolf Eyes, Human Animal

ALSO RECOMMENDED

The Hold Steady, Boys and Girls in America
The Grates, Gravity Won’t Get You High
Beirut, Gulag Orkestar
Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan, Ballad of the Broken Seas
Karen Dalton, In My Own Time
Nellie McKay, Pretty Little Head
Liars, Drum’s Not Dead
Howe Gelb, ’Sno Angel Like You
Josh Ritter, The Animal Years
Man Man, Six Demon Bag
Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Show Your Bones
Comets on Fire, Avatar
Camera Obscura, Let’s Get Out of This Country
Toumani Diabaté’s Symmetric Orchestra, Boulevard de l’Indépendance
Jolie Holland, Springtime Can Kill You
Beth Orton, Comfort of Strangers
Band of Horses, Everything All the Time
Little Willies, s/t
Elvis Costello and Allen Toussaint, The River in Reverse
Juana Molina, Son
Corinne Bailey Rae, s/t
Faun Fables, The Transit Rider
Sonic Youth, Rather Ripped
Oxford Collapse, Remember the Night Parties
Susana Baca, Travesias
Bob Dylan, Modern Times
Bert Jansch, The Black Swan
Television Personalities, My Dark Places
Bound Stems, Appreciation Night
Hot Chip, The Warning
Maritime, We, the Vehicles
Candi Staton, His Hands
Jenny Lewis, Rabbit Fur Coat
Mono, You Are There
Tool, 10,000 Days
Destroyer, Destroyer’s Rubies
Oakley Hall, Gypsum Strings

CONFLICT OF INTEREST

Watts Passage, The Magnetic Demonstration

SONGS/SINGLES

Gnarls Barkley, “Crazy”
Nelly Furtado, “Promiscuous”
Rihanna, “SOS”
Beyoncé, “Irreplaceable”
Justin Timberlake, “My Love”
AFI, “Miss Murder”
Smokey Robinson, “I Love Your Face”
M. Ward, “Requiem”
Cat Power, “The Greatest”
Hot Chip, “And I Was a Boy From School”
Oxford Collapse, “Loser City”
Gwen Stefani, “Wind It Up”
Yeah Yeah Yeahs, “Way Out”
Raconteurs, “Steady, As She Goes”
Corinne Bailey Rae, “Put Your Records On”

YES BUT 2005

Art Brut
Boris
Death Vessel
Dengue Fever
José González
Panic! at the Disco

YES BUT NO LP, ONLY EPs

Voxtrot

BEST LIVE ACT

Joanna Newsom

KIND OF DULL RECORD BUT GREAT LIVE

Figurines

MISUNDERESTIMATED

Ray LaMontagne
Keane

DISAPPOINTMENTS/MERELY OK

Sunn 0)))
Thom Yorke
Neko Case
Ray Davies
Grandaddy
John Legend

DON’T CARE

Christina Aguilera
Brazilian Girls
Scissor Sisters
Drive-By Truckers
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Umphrey’s McGee
CSS

WORST ALBUM OF 2006

Sergio Mendes, Timeless