Top fifty of 2006 part five (10-01) the top ten

Well, this about wraps it up. Here are my top ten albums of 2006 and I’d like your opinions. Really. Obviously my list isn’t as “indie” as many of the other lists I’ve seen, but (hey) neither am I. I haven’t heard a single note of the newest Cat Power album. I can’t really get into the Joanna Newsom record. The Midlake record is only ok in my book. You get the picture. I have my own opinions which you can read below…

Halving The Compass

Eingya is a dreamy affair in which each track slowly builds as layers of instrumentation ebb and flow forth from the minimalist droning soundscapes beneath. Like the aural equivalent of your faded scrapbook photos and tattered picture albums, it is emotionally engaging and has a certain resonance that makes it so much more than just a collection of Eno-esqe synths and fractured beats.

Are You There Margaret…

“[The band] blends East Bay punk with an intelligent and introspective Midwest sound and adds a heap of bad television, some leftist literature, and exactly three cases of the cheapest most watery piss-beer you can muster…” Imagine Blake Schwartzenbach and Aaron Cometbus drinking Schlitz in a bowling alley. The Lawrence arms are keeping Chicago’s great punk rock tradition alive and well.

Covered Up In Mines

Fort Recovery sounds as Americana as apple pie and shines with that golden twilight glow. It is an album that is instantly familiar, but isn’t a retread or contrived. Will Johnson’s rough-edged and raspy voice holds together what I’m calling emo-twang. There might be a little Replacements, Neil Young, or (perhaps) Joe Pernice hiding in there as well. Great songs that make for a great listen every time.

This Is Absolution

Hear me out on this one. Overshadowed by Mastodon, KSE deserves way more credit than they get. The band revolutionized metalcore and proved that brutally heavy could also be melodic. Daylight… is a refinement of that sound. The breakdowns are huge. The melodies are infectious. If you took the sexy pick and have Mastodon’s Blood Mountain on your year-end list, do yourself a favor and pick up a copy of Daylight… You won’t be disappointed.

The Great Salt Lake

Cast aside all the My Morning Jacket comparisons. This is a great record. The songs are just wonderful guitar-driven tunes that have hooks without being in-your-face catchy. There are hints of southern rock without being overtly so. The vocals (just like MMJ’s and hinting at both Wayne Coyne and Neil Young) are drenched in reverb/echo and seem to give the songs a spacey and ethereal quality.

New Buildings

This album is full of indie-punk tracks that are smothered with copious amounts of distortion and shrieking feeback noise. Lo-fi pop songs with killer melodies and sucker-punch hooks heard through a gloriously dirty wall of noise. Despite the Husker Du/Bob Mould comparisons the band makes a Boredoms-esqe racket with the melodic edge of a Rogue Wave. Your ears might need a break after this one.

I Can Get Us Out Of Here Tonight

Lu-fuckin-cero makes me wanna drink a lot and kiss my wife. Call it southern-alt-country-redneck-punk-n-roll or whatever you will. Rebels… finds the band’s gritty and melodic sound nicely augmented by piano, organ, and keys. Additionally, I have yet to see a Lucero show without a fight breaking out. My sister and my wife almost got in on the action the last time Lucero was in town. I love this band.

Set Fire To The Face On Fire

On Young Machetes The Blood Bros. sound dangerous. Not like they are going to mug you at gunpoint dangerous, but (rather) dangerous with smirks on their faces as they wait for their next prank to unfold right on cue. It’s the shotgun wedding of Barry Gibb’s Bee Gees disco classics with the grinding spasms of Converge. Maybe it’s like a Black Flag sucker-punch to the face of Charles Mingus. In other words, its dance music.

Sans Revival

Offshore is crushingly beautiful, gorgeously textured, virtually seamless from start to finish. It sucked me into the vast lonesome alternate reality where there is nothing for miles but grey skies and abandoned wheat fields. The music isn’t heavy, but it is weighty. It is awash is shifting atmospheric tones that never allow the droning ambience of the music to lose focus.

Massive Nights

The songs on boys And Girls In America just keep calling me back for listen after listen. The lyrics are sad, poetic, sarcastic, and paint a familiar and true-to-life picture of the sad realities of wayward Midwestern youth. But (even so) this is music that is meant to be played loud. This is a record that simply explodes out of your speakers.