2006 - Slee's Favorite Albums
I'll take a momentary break from my emo-tastic whining to present my list of favorite albums o' 2006. Although there are still several critical faves that I haven't had time to adequately absorb (Joanna Newsom, +/-, Califone, Robyn Hitchcock, Pernice Brothers...), I wanted to get get something on the record to prove that I'm not just Pitchfork's whore. I've provided some commentary on the top three, but would be happy to share my thoughts and recommendations regarding any of the others.
1. The Hold Steady, Boys and Girls of America
The best art is usually divisive, right? Is Craig Finn a brilliant chronicler of drug-soaked, disaffected youth or a creepy old guy singing about girls and cars way past the point of appropriateness? Are the Hold Steady the saviors of epic, non-ironic rock-and-roll or an overrated bar band with an E-Street fetish? At the end of the day, all I really know is that this is the one album this year that I wanted other people to hear. I popped it into the CD player on an hour-long car trip with my wife ostensibly to solicit her advice about which song I should include on a year-end mix CD, but the real reason was that I wanted to share the experience of this album with her. I wanted to point out my favorite moments of lyrical brilliance (“She was a really cool kisser and she wasn't all that strict of a Christian/She was a damn good dancer but she wasn't all that great of a girlfriend”) and discuss the amazing sense of character and place imbued by Finn’s unique Midwestern sensibility. It had become a part of my life, and I wanted it to become a part of hers, as well. A raucous, lilting, bittersweet masterpiece.
2. Mission of Burma, The Obliterati
This album was exactly the tonic needed in a year during which Indie Rock had largely become unbearably whiny, derivative, and castrated. It shook off any residual rust from their excellent comeback album, ONOffON, and proved that these godfathers of post-punk still had much to say and much to teach.
3. Yo La Tengo, I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass
Completing my trifecta of oldsters making awesome music in the aught-six is YLT’s sprawling masterpiece. Not digging the guitar rave-ups that bookend the album? Well, stick around for the downright funky “Mr. Tough” or the gorgeous piano ballad, “Black Flowers”. This is a Whitman’s Sampler of Indie Rock with something for everyone and nary an orange cream in the box.
4. Neko Case, Fox Confessor Brings the Flood
5. TV on the Radio, Return to Cookie Mountain
6. Asobi Seksu, Citrus
7. Beach House, s/t
8. Lupe Fiasco, Food & Liquor
9. Cat Power, The Greatest
10. Beirut, Gulag Orkestar
11. The Knife, Silent Shout
12. Final Fantasy, He Poos Clouds
13. Ghostface Killah, Fishscale
14. Sufjan Stevens, The Avalanche
15. Gnarls Barkley, St. Elsewhere
16. Girl Talk, Night Ripper
17. Espers, II
18. Liars, Drums Not Dead
19. M. Ward, Post-War
20. Herbert, Scale
21. Aloha, Some Echoes
22. Belle & Sebastian, The Life's Pursuit
23. Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin, Broom
24. Howe Gelb, 'Sno Angel
25. The Pipettes, We Are the Pipettes
1. The Hold Steady, Boys and Girls of America
The best art is usually divisive, right? Is Craig Finn a brilliant chronicler of drug-soaked, disaffected youth or a creepy old guy singing about girls and cars way past the point of appropriateness? Are the Hold Steady the saviors of epic, non-ironic rock-and-roll or an overrated bar band with an E-Street fetish? At the end of the day, all I really know is that this is the one album this year that I wanted other people to hear. I popped it into the CD player on an hour-long car trip with my wife ostensibly to solicit her advice about which song I should include on a year-end mix CD, but the real reason was that I wanted to share the experience of this album with her. I wanted to point out my favorite moments of lyrical brilliance (“She was a really cool kisser and she wasn't all that strict of a Christian/She was a damn good dancer but she wasn't all that great of a girlfriend”) and discuss the amazing sense of character and place imbued by Finn’s unique Midwestern sensibility. It had become a part of my life, and I wanted it to become a part of hers, as well. A raucous, lilting, bittersweet masterpiece.
2. Mission of Burma, The Obliterati
This album was exactly the tonic needed in a year during which Indie Rock had largely become unbearably whiny, derivative, and castrated. It shook off any residual rust from their excellent comeback album, ONOffON, and proved that these godfathers of post-punk still had much to say and much to teach.
3. Yo La Tengo, I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass
Completing my trifecta of oldsters making awesome music in the aught-six is YLT’s sprawling masterpiece. Not digging the guitar rave-ups that bookend the album? Well, stick around for the downright funky “Mr. Tough” or the gorgeous piano ballad, “Black Flowers”. This is a Whitman’s Sampler of Indie Rock with something for everyone and nary an orange cream in the box.
4. Neko Case, Fox Confessor Brings the Flood
5. TV on the Radio, Return to Cookie Mountain
6. Asobi Seksu, Citrus
7. Beach House, s/t
8. Lupe Fiasco, Food & Liquor
9. Cat Power, The Greatest
10. Beirut, Gulag Orkestar
11. The Knife, Silent Shout
12. Final Fantasy, He Poos Clouds
13. Ghostface Killah, Fishscale
14. Sufjan Stevens, The Avalanche
15. Gnarls Barkley, St. Elsewhere
16. Girl Talk, Night Ripper
17. Espers, II
18. Liars, Drums Not Dead
19. M. Ward, Post-War
20. Herbert, Scale
21. Aloha, Some Echoes
22. Belle & Sebastian, The Life's Pursuit
23. Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin, Broom
24. Howe Gelb, 'Sno Angel
25. The Pipettes, We Are the Pipettes