Albums: 2006

The best thing about December is the year-end top whatever lists. Pitchfork's Top Fifty Albums of 2006 list makes me realize that the time has come to stop complaining about the site and just recognize that Pitchfork and I have very different tastes and musical priorities. It's gotten to the point (as with Scanners) where I can sometimes tell I'll like a band just by reading Pitchfork slam them. At any rate, I hesitate to make transcendent aesthetic claims about music since tastes differ and so forth, but my ten favorite albums of an "indie rock" nature in 2006 were, in no particular order:

• The Pipettes, "We Are The Pipettes"
• The Decemberists, "The Crane Wife"
• Belle and Sebastian, "The Life Pursuit"
• Pretty Girls Make Graves, "Elan Vital"
• Yeah Yeah Yeahs, "Show Your Bones"
• Rainer Maria, "Catastrophe Keeps Us Together"
• The Futureheads, "News and Tributes"
• Arctic Monkeys, "Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not"
• The Shins, "Wincing the Night Away"

One noteworthy trend in my listing habits is, as Tom Lee notes, the relative decline of Canada. Our neighbors to the north dominated in 2005 with releases by Broken Social Scene, The New Pornographers, Metric, Feist, and Wolf Parade. For '06 I'm Canada-free with Malajube, Emily Haines, and Pony Up! all releasing albums I liked but didn't top-ten like. We can also see that I'm getting old and set in my ways as only two of the albums I listen for '06 are from new bands. Last, I'm becoming increasingly un-cool, since as best I can tell the most widely-praised album of the sort of music I like was The Hold Steady's Boys and Girls in America which I found okay, but not incredibly impressive.

Comments

I listened to more music this year than I ever have before (probably ten times more actually), but I wasn't blown away by any of it. Every year from 1999 to 2005, I had at least one (if not five like last year) album that genuinely blew my mind.

The one suggestion I have for you is Voxtrot. They have three EPs out. Get them all, but get "Mothers, Sisters, Daughters, and Wives" first.

Posted by Cole | December 20, 2006 10:30 AM

In ten years you will be astounded at how old you have become. What is interesting is that you will be able to go to the archives and perhaps notice the actual days where the most serrious aging happened. It is a brave new world.

Posted by theCoach | December 20, 2006 10:33 AM

Matt-

Two thing:

1) Wincing the Night Away doesn't come out until next year, so I don't think it belongs on the list.

2) What, no Thermals? That album would seem perfect for you.

Posted by Alec | December 20, 2006 10:50 AM

god, the shins? really? I'm willing to accept that you like the decemberists. I don't like the shtick, but I can see how you might go for it. But the Shins just suck. And as to 2005, while Dooce and the mommy blogs may have liked Wolf Parade (don't ask me how I know that), they were maybe just a little tiny bit overwrought.

Posted by Ian D-B | December 20, 2006 10:56 AM

top ten lists should generally contain 10 entries.....

Posted by erin | December 20, 2006 10:57 AM

add the sufjan stevens christmas album! everybody loves christmas

Posted by Ian D-B | December 20, 2006 11:00 AM

Okay, that's only nine albums. Also Alec says the Shins album isn't really released yet. So let's give it to the Thermals and Sunset Rubdown.

Posted by Matthew Yglesias | December 20, 2006 11:01 AM

RE: the Hold Steady. It's a Minnesota thing, you wouldn't understand.

Posted by Stu | December 20, 2006 11:06 AM

Agree with Cole re the Voxtrot EP -- very, very good. Of this year's indie-style music, I also enjoyed the Guillemots EP, Tokyo Police Club and Rock Kills Kid, and have been digging the Klaxons' Xan Valleys EP lately, although none of them blew me away.

As far as Hold Steady goes, that Chips Ahoy song is really, really annoying.

Posted by Al | December 20, 2006 11:24 AM

Dude, you have at least one Pitchfork writer who reads your blog every day!

You'd probably really enjoy the Phoenix album, actually.

Posted by marc h. | December 20, 2006 11:32 AM

Funny. I've found the Hold Steady's BAGIA to be the best album I've heard in several years.

Posted by Hank Porter | December 20, 2006 11:39 AM

Rockist, rockist, rockist!

Posted by Cthomas | December 20, 2006 11:55 AM

What about me?

Posted by Sheryl Crow | December 20, 2006 12:01 PM

Belle & Sebastian? Is that some kind of Crooked Timber/Obsidian Wings merger? I didn't even know they could sing!

Posted by rea | December 20, 2006 12:38 PM

The Pipettes rule. Best experienced live, though.

Posted by Ginger Yellow | December 20, 2006 12:39 PM

Um, Matthew, I hate to say it, but your list is, well, very 2002. I'm not suggesting you're becoming ossified here, but it might be worth it to force your ears open a little wider.

Brilliant records were made this year, but most of them were substantial departures from the "rockist" mode. Joanna Newsom is to 2006 what the Ramones were to 1977.

Posted by James Gary | December 20, 2006 12:48 PM

Part of the problem w/ compiling end of the year lists at the end of the year is that most of us haven’t caught up to all the music that’s out there. I only started getting into Wolf Parade this year. This year I haven’t gotten around to listening to the latest Joanna Newsome or The Knife or Isis yet, though I suspect I’ll like them. I’ll probably have a well formed opinion on them six months from now...

The biggest musical event of the year was probably Timbaland’s comeback. ‘My Love’ is pretty damn brilliant, you’ve got to admit. And it says good things our about our culture that a song that weird can go to #1 on the charts.

A couple of albums worthy consideration that I haven’t seen listed anywhere else:

Sufjan Stevens, The Avalanche – about half of the album is filler, but the other half is really good… the arrangements are great, and the musicianship is more relaxed and loose and joyful than on Illinios.

The Stills, Without Feathers – a nice mix of indie boy vocals, classic rock, and anthemic, shoegazer influenced guitars. Springsteen and Spector are prominent influences. Nothing artistically goundbreaking, but still a good listen.

Posted by RC | December 20, 2006 1:03 PM

The north will rise again, but only when rock critics notice that other little hotbed of Canadian indie rock: Ottawa. There is some very good stuff going on there. If you want to stay on top of the Ottawa music scene (I somehow, for absolutely no reason, concluded that I should do so), I recommend Mocking Music. I know it may be annoying to have to venture outside of Montreal to get good Canadian stuff, but that's the price we pay.

Posted by jhupp | December 20, 2006 1:10 PM

I assume the people calling MY a rockist are being ironice, when he didn't even include Wolfmother or Scissorfight in his list, in fact you'd have to search that list pretty hard to find rock. Belle & Sebastian, while great, is not "rock" by any stretch of the imagination - it is pure pop. The Shins are not rock either. Rock music has to be agressive with strong sexual or violent overtones - I don't think any of MY's music meets that standard.

I am a little tired of the critics who slag the Decemberists for having "shtick" or being pretentious. To me they are a band of very solid instrumentalists who can write real songs with melodies and lyrics that are mostly interesting. Maybe that's a little old fashioned but if that counts as pretentious than the DIY ethic has really corrupted peoples' brains. Fiery Furnaces or New Pornographers - that's pretentious.

Posted by vanya_6724 | December 20, 2006 1:22 PM

I'd have to disagree with the decline of Canada statement. The year saw an incredible release by Destroyer (Vancouver), the aforementioned Sunset Rubdown (Montreal, I believe, which in all honesty I found to have the nasty overwrought nature of the Wolf Parade disk without the glorious anthemic bombast, and the at-least-noteworthy disk by Swan Lake (Vancouver AND Montreal).

No love for either TV on the Radio or the Knife? Seriously, both were potent political statements. To me, the Knife's album was a great Marxist analysis of disconnect between work and product. That might just be me, though. However, I don't think I'm alone in thinking TVOTR perfectly, sonically described how it felt to be a twenty-something left leaner in the late-Bush era.

Posted by heger | December 20, 2006 1:41 PM

If you liked "The Life Pursuit" you should check out Camera Obscura's Let's Get Out of This Country. Like the Futureheads, CO stared the sophomore slump in the face this year and dispatched it with ease.

The Hold Steady have replaced Clap Your Hands Say Yeah (who in turn replaced the Arcade Fire, who in turn replaced Bright Eyes) and as the most mystifyingly overhyped band in North America.

Oh, and as long as I'm here: Pitchfork sucks.

Posted by Uncle Kvetch | December 20, 2006 2:25 PM

RE: the Hold Steady. It's a Minnesota thing, you wouldn't understand.

Funny, I thought it was a "recycled, inferior repetition of the exact same album they made in 2004" thing. _Separation Sunday_ was brilliant, pulling the bits of extraordinary possibility spread through _Almost Killed Me_ into one cohesive, stupefying whole. By contrast _Boys and Girls In America_ feels like rustling around in the trash bin for all of the pieces of _Sep Sunday_ that didn't really work. I love The Hold Steady on principle but B&GIA really isn't that great.

Matthew should listen to The Format, Dog Problems. The best indie rock I've heard since Neutral Milk Hotel. Loved Butch Walker & The Lets-Go-Out-Tonites but maybe a bit 70's glam rock for MY's tastes judging by his list.

"Rockist" is just an epithet for "people who still listen to music that isn't self-indulgent crap."

Posted by Sam Hutcheson | December 20, 2006 3:02 PM

if mark hogan really reads this blog I no longer can.

Posted by MP | December 20, 2006 3:45 PM

I'm just saying that to really wuv, wuv, wuv the Hold Steady, it helps to have walked through the City Center and seen some guys who looked like Tusken Raiders. The fact that roughly half of all rock critics have lived or worked in Minneapolis may explain the hype, too.

And I do agree that Boys & Girls is a letdown from the previous two. The previous two, though, were just about perfect, says me.

Posted by Stu | December 20, 2006 4:02 PM

"Like the Futureheads, (Camera Obscura) stared the sophomore slump in the face this year and dispatched it with ease."

Even more amazing was that they did so on their third album.

Posted by Fresh | December 20, 2006 4:20 PM

Oops.

Pitchfork still sucks though...doesn't it?

Posted by Uncle Kvetch | December 20, 2006 4:28 PM

Yes, Pitchfork still sucks. They officially jumped the shark when they attempted to convince us that Kid A was actually a direct line tone poem dictated to Thom Yorke by G*d rather than trite, poorly assembled techno garble.

Posted by Sam Hutcheson | December 20, 2006 4:31 PM

Hey, I'll second that recommendation for The Format's Dog Problems. I'm listening to it right now. Poppier than the Shins, which, yes, comes out in 2007, Leak Grabber.

If you liked the Futureheads album, you'll probably also like Maximo Park's "A Certain Trigger."

Did someone really compare Fiery Furnaces to New Pornographers up-thread? Ridiculous.

Posted by Trevor | December 20, 2006 4:32 PM

Second the Maximo Park disc (technically 2005, but I find it impossible to keep up on a strict release-year basis, so I count my "best of 2006" anything I listened to this year -- thus HHH's _Elevator_ makes my list this year instead of last, etc.) Actually, I like _A Certain Trigger_ better than _New & Tributes_ though both are contenders.

The Whigs' _Give 'Em All A Big Fat Lip_ has been a mainstay this year. Loved _Yes, Virginia..._ by The Dresden Dolls. If you like Arctic Monkeys I'd suggest giving We Are Scientists a listen.

As for The Format, I'm simply floored by that disc, as in I won't shut with the ranting to my friends to the point where they put me in a different room with headphones. It's the best pop record I've heard in 10 years, since at least _In The Aeroplane Over The Sea_ and honestly, I think I like this one more.

In a vein similar to Futureheads and Maximo Park you might give BoyKillBoy a spin. _Civilian._

Posted by Sam Hutcheson | December 20, 2006 5:07 PM

I'm surprised not to see the Long Winters on that list, particularly if you're going to give a spot to a not-yet-released, mediocre Shins album.

Posted by Aaron S. Veenstra | December 20, 2006 5:08 PM

My favorite song of the year is "Parade," on Elan Vital, for the obvious reasons that
(a) it's good
(b) it's about service-sector labor unrest
(c) I have a ginormous crush on Andrea Zollo.

The Obliterati - Mission of Burma released that this year, yes? I love the heck out of it.

I love BAGIA, too, almost as much as Separation Sunday.

Posted by Seth D. | December 20, 2006 5:08 PM

American indie has yet to produce something as witty and life-affirming-without-being-hipster-and-ironic as the Pipettes. Kudos to including that. Only the Brits can do stuff like that w/o turning it into a kinda of "look how clever I am"-type of thing.

arctic monkeys: finally a band that deserved the hype; I guess the NME can get it right sometimes (stone roses, sundays, etc).

you would probably like the Long Blondes now that it's finally out -- I don't love it but I certainly like it and admire it as well.

what about Jarvis Cocker's solo debut?

Posted by glenn | December 20, 2006 5:09 PM

Only the Brits can do stuff like that w/o turning it into a kinda of "look how clever I am"-type of thing.

I second that. To generalize wildly, American indie has, IMHO, been slipping further and further up its own clever, self-referential backside for a number of years now, while the Brits seem to have exorcised the need to be too-clever-by-half (Art Brut notwithstanding) and are content to get back to cranking out good tunes.

One more to add to the "if you like the Arctic Monkeys you should check out..." subthread: Inside Out/Inside In by the Kooks, which went triple-platinum in the UK on the strength of a clutch of great singles and only a fraction of the Monkeys' "new paradigm" hype. "Eddie's Gun" is my hands-down pick for song of the year.

Posted by Uncle Kvetch | December 20, 2006 5:26 PM

Tentative agreement on The Kooks. I haven't quite figured out why it's the best thing sinced sliced bread but I haven't spun it that much either. There are two or three great singles certainly.

Posted by Sam Hutcheson | December 20, 2006 5:31 PM

Given that we're talking Britpop, can we give the Rakes some love? I think Capture/Release came out in 2005, but I bought it this year, so we can make that count if we're going to give the Shins of the Future a top ten spot. "Retreat" is better than bacon-wrapped bacon.

Posted by Stu | December 20, 2006 5:41 PM

Oh, and whoever mentioned the Long Winters above, thank you. Woefully underappreciated. If you get the chance to talk to John Roderick after a gig, do so. Guy's as funny, smart and engaging as you could ask from a professional musician. Not that that's a high bar, but still.

Posted by Stu | December 20, 2006 5:44 PM

I haven't picked up the Rakes though it shows up on my Pandoras quite a lot.

When did The Spinto Band release? 'Cause I listen to it a lot these days too.

Posted by Sam Hutcheson | December 20, 2006 6:10 PM

Tentative agreement on The Kooks. I haven't quite figured out why it's the best thing sinced sliced bread

It's not--it's a solid debut whose high points are very high indeed. A bit overlong; probably could have benefited from being trimmed from 15 tracks to 12, and the energy flags a bit towards the end. But oh, those singles.

My enthusiasm springs from the fact that in a year in which almost all my favorite albums were were from comfy familiars (Belle & Sebastian, Robyn Hitchcock, Pernice Brothers) the Kooks' was one of the few debuts that really made me sit up and take notice. (The Fratellis seem to be working a similar terrain with equally impressive results, but I haven't heard the whole album yet.)

Posted by Uncle Kvetch | December 20, 2006 6:39 PM

The Hold Steady have almost turned me against MN, which I thought only the Vikings could accomplish. I haven't laughed at a swipe of a song-style so hard since Teh Darkness were rockin' hipster's headphones. Yes, the Hold Steady are worse than The Darkness were.

Where is Pfork's list of good homage vs. failed homage?

Posted by Chasseur | December 20, 2006 7:27 PM

I dunno, a top 10 list without Neko Case's Fox Confessor Brings the Flood seems sort of like a top 10 list without The Wire.

Posted by karlyn | December 20, 2006 7:57 PM

I dunno, a top 10 list without Neko Case's Fox Confessor Brings the Flood seems sort of like a top 10 list without The Wire.

Can you explain the pull of _Fox Confessor_? I have everything Neko has released since _The Virginian_ but FCBTF just never hit me at all. Every time I listen to something off of it I just miss _Furnace Room Lullabye._ Help me out here. What am I missing?

Posted by Sam Hutcheson | December 20, 2006 8:01 PM

"Um, Matthew, I hate to say it, but your list is, well, very 2002."

My thought as well.

------

"They officially jumped the shark when they attempted to convince us that Kid A was..."

Folks who think someone's musical aesthetics can be summed up by their opinion on Radiohead will be first up against the wall when the revolution comes.

Posted by Petey | December 20, 2006 8:09 PM

I like the list! There are probably 5 albums I would put on mine too, which is pretty rad. You couldn't get me to listen to Rainer Maria if you promised to bring home the troops, though. I'll have to check out The Futureheads and Sunset Rubdown.

Comments on comments:

Nobody likes The Rapture anymore? Check my link and tell me you are not shaking your ass by the end of the song.

If you like Dog Problems get everything else by The Format, as it is much better. Even the acoustic EP with songs from Dog Problems. Do people really like Dog Problems that much? I thought it was really overproduced, and I almost never say that about anything.

This is my favorite thing I have read today: "The Hold Steady have replaced Clap Your Hands Say Yeah (who in turn replaced the Arcade Fire, who in turn replaced Bright Eyes) and as the most mystifyingly overhyped band in North America."

The Hold Steady is still pretty good though, and certainly better than the rest of those guys. I think my distaste for Bright Eyes goes beyond the musical though.

Posted by Drew Miller | December 20, 2006 8:58 PM

Folks who think someone's musical aesthetics can be summed up by their opinion on Radiohead will be first up against the wall when the revolution comes.

Bring the Revolution on then. I have plenty of walls myself, some of them in desperate need of pockmarks.

_Dog Problems_ was my introduction to The Format. I plan to build the back catalogue extensively. I don't get any "over production" off of it, personally. It's just extraordinarily layered, and while dense isn't the word (it's much to light of a sound) it carries a serious heft. Maybe I'll find it lacking when I listen to the other stuff, but so far I'm just wiped out by it every time I listen. The off-kilter instrumentation and odd little movements slay me.

Posted by Sam Hutcheson | December 20, 2006 9:10 PM

i'm going to agree with the pitchfork writer upthread. judging by your tastes, you would definitely like the phoenix album. i'm not slick enough to devise some clever portmanteau to describe their musical style, but i would say start at the beginning, track one, which is napolean says. it's the easiest to catch on to right away.

as for getting old, dude, you gotta be kidding me. it goes fast. phoenix was actually the only new band on my list. well, and lily allen.

and no worries, i downloaded the hold steady and i don't get it either. i did, however, really enjoy TV on the radio and have been listening to it a lot.

Posted by Marc | December 20, 2006 9:54 PM

American indie has yet to produce something as witty and life-affirming-without-being-hipster-and-ironic as the Pipettes.

Really? I can't imagine anything more ironic and hipster than the Pipettes. Their music is a pastiche made by fetishists for fetishists.

Posted by Wendell | December 21, 2006 2:26 AM

One word:

Congotronics 2

OK, that's a word and a number. But the disc still rocks.

Posted by boffo | December 21, 2006 7:26 AM

The Rakes' 22 Grand Job is my fave single of the past 2 years, practically. Great video too.

Not sold yet on the Kooks BUT the Fratellis is silly and insanely catchy a la the first Supergrass.

Art Brut are clever but they rock.

I watched that R.E.M. DVD with all the old clips and remembered that, for a brief moment in 1983-1984, Michael Stipe was close to being the American equivalent to Morrissey. Now at best he's our Bono.

I listen to American indie but:

1) no one has excited me the way Replacements and Husker Du did in 1985;

2) I'd *still* rather hear a weak Morrissey or Manic Street Preachers b-side than most of the so-called best American indie;

3) at the risk of sounding really obscure, any thoughts on the new Luke Haines? Probably his most consistent thing since the 2nd Black Box Recorder and/or the Auteurs' 1999 CD.

Posted by glenn | December 21, 2006 10:31 PM

okay, maybe the Pipettes is a bit too faithful and precious BUT I place it in the ballpark of Morrissey doing something like covering "Moon River" -- starts off with the raised eyebrow of "look at me doing this" and then turns sincere; manages to fully embrace what is "camp" and middlebrow and turn it into something meaningful.

American indie always ends up like Clap Your Hands Say Yeah (which I enjoy) where it's like riding in the car with They Might Be Giants doing showtunes. Badly. On purpose.

"Look how clever we are. Look how ironic we are being by intentionally not playing well. Listen to the weak production -- doesn't that remind you of old music?"

You get the point.

Posted by glenn | December 21, 2006 10:37 PM