Top Ten Albums of 2006: Recap (+ Bonus Round!)

Whew! That was really hard!

As I mentioned in the kickoff four and a half weeks ago, 2006 was the most difficult year for picking a top ten that I can remember. So many great releases and so difficult to settle on an order! To recap:

Top Ten Albums for 2006

1. Sound Mirrors – Coldcut
2. The Eraser – Thom Yorke
3. So This Is Goodbye – Junior Boys
4. Burial – Burial
5. 24 Hours – The Kleptones
6. Harmony In Ultraviolet – Tim Hecker
7. Body Riddle – Clark
8. Days To Come – Bonobo
9. The Information – Beck
10. Hello Everything – Squarepusher

Honorable Mentions:

• St. Elsewhere – Gnarls Barkley
  
• Mr. Beast – Mogwai
  
• Amputechture – The Mars Volta
  
• Beat Konducta, Vol. 1-2 – Madlib
  
• Hideout – Dub Tractor
  

I think I'll start earlier next time, and pledge to have my next Top Ten done by the end of January 2007. :-)

And now as a bonus for all those of you who waited patiently for the main event, here's the rest of the notable musical releases from 2006 IMHO:

Song of the Year

• "Live With Me" – Collected - Massive Attack

Best Live Album of 2006

• Live Session (iTunes Exclusive) – Iron & Wine

Best DJ Mix of 2006

• DJ-Kicks – Four Tet

Best Album of 2005 That I Didn’t Discover Until 2006

• Speak For Yourself – Imogen Heap

Biggest Disappointment of 2006

• Riot City Blues – Primal Scream

Agree? Disagree? Just feel like commenting? Let me know what you think!

Top Ten Albums of 2006: #3 - "So This Is Goodbye" by Junior Boys

Junior Boys really made a huge leap forward last year with So This Is Goodbye. Without selling out even the tiniest bit of indietronica cred they earned to date, on this latest release they've jumped headlong into the art of the pop song. Sounding comfortable and effortless, they've mastered the form without falling back on clichés, and given their long-time fans a lot to chew on regarding what it means to be 'pop'.

Alternating between bouncy, sexy tunes like "Double Shadow", "The Equalizer"* and the perfect pop treasure "In The Morning" and more introspective, mellow tracks like "FM" and "When No One Cares" (a Sinatra cover), the album shows both range and maturity while holding onto an ephemeral youthfulness that's key to its success. And while the songs are thoroughly modern, the album as a whole seems to pay respects (sonically, at least) to John Foxx, Fad Gadget, Thomas Leer and other synth-pop pioneers from a generation back.

Junior Boys have created something essentially of-the-moment by looking back to their arguably unhip influences while planting their flag firmly in the pop present. If there's any justice, So This Is Goodbye will get them the mainstream attention they rightfully deserve.

*Man, is the Morgan Geist Graphic Mix of this on the In The Morning awesome!

Tops of My Pops for 10/1/06

A weekly look at what I'm listening to, from my Last.fm user stats:

Top Artists for the week ending Oct. 1, 2006
1. TV On The Radio
2. Fila Brazillia
3. Junior Boys
4. Ze Frank
5. Justin Timberlake
6. Scissorkick
7. Meat Beat Manifesto
8. Massive Attack
8. Primal Scream
8. The Meters

Last week's stats were lost to the iTunes 7/iScrobbler incompatibility, but Damaged did come through with a fix as predicted, so TOMP is back now!
,
Got a chance to give a first listen to TV On The Radio's latest, Return To Cookie Mountain. "Wolf Like Me" is the immediate grabber, which underscores its choice as the lead single. Fun video for that one too. (You can catch it right here – thanks cliptip!)

Also got to dig into the Junior Boys latest full-length, So This Is Goodbye, which is simply fantastic at bringing the sexy back to electronica. Not a misstep to be heard here, with a smooth as glass sound on every track that's retro and future all at once. I'm certain I'll be listening to this over and over again.

Speaking of "SexyBack".... Yes, that really is Justin Timberlake in my top ten. The Timbaland production is the star of the show though IMHO. There are about four tracks on FutureSex/LoveSounds that are so musically tight they can't be denied. As far as I know this is the first time Tim's done a full-fledged mainstream pop record; either way he definitely brought so much game I find myself having to defend listening to JT.

Last but not least, I finally nabbed both discs (from la la of course) of The Meters' fine, fine Funkify Your Life anthology. Timeless music for good times – I don't know why I waited so many years to pick this up.

See also:
The 'Tops of My Pops' archives

Tops of My Pops for 9/17/06

A weekly look at what I'm listening to, from my Last.fm user stats:

Top Artists for the week ending Sept. 17, 2006
1. Mogwai
2. Ze Frank
3. Laraaji
3. Junior Boys
5. Speedy J
5. The The
5. Kanye West
5. Thom Yorke
9. DJ Krush
9. Massive Attack

My stats accuracy is in question this week, as Apple's iTunes 7 release seems to have broken iScrobbler's ability to report to Last.fm. I'm sure Damaged will have an update out soon to fix the issues, but in the meantime Tops of My Pops is gonna be kinda hosed. Inconvenience aside, I really like the enhancements that Apple's made to iTunes this time around -- particularly it's addition and enhancement of CoverFlow, the Little Indie App That Could.

Things that stand out for me in this week's list are the discovery of a (stale) Mogwai podcast from around the time of their full-length before last, Happy Songs For Happy People. Several live performances were included in it, as well as a few early rarities. Wish they were still updating it. Likewise, I caught up on the Thom Yorke video podcast eminating from XL Recordings. Had some interesting and suitably abstract stuff to tease the fans leading up to his excellent solo release.

Last and by no means least, I spent some quality time with the Junior Boys new In The Morning EP, showcasing their mighty musical leap forward coming up on their new album. Loved all the tracks here and can't wait to dive into the full-length.

See also:
The 'Tops of My Pops' archives