From January: "Vision Of Division", "Juicebox" The Strokes, First Impressions Of Earth. This was the first album I bought in 2006, and at first, I was a little disappointed. The stylistic departures didn't sound right, and the album was unnecessarily long(a symptom of bands wanting to make their first "good" album). After a few listens though, the first half of the album really began to grow on me. "Juicebox", the first single, is a heart pumping track. Plus, the video features a hilarious cameo by David Cross:
"Vision Of Division" is a great example of the "clean Strokes" sound that sets apart everything on First Impressions Of Earth from the two previous Strokes albums. Julian Casablanca's vocals can be heard clearly at last, and although that's not a good thing all the time, here it works rather well. This particular passage really spoke to me, describing some of my previous(re: bad) relationships:
All that I do, Is wait for you
All that I do, is wait for you
I can't get along, with all your friends
Dont know how to act, that's all there is
Where do I accept all the things you say
You know what to change,
But not in what way
From February: "I'll Bet You Look Good On The Dance Floor", "Red Lights Indicate Doors Are Secure" The Arctic Monkeys, Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not. It seems all I did in early 2006 was obsessively listen to one album a month, as these two tracks were far and away the most played between the Superbowl(fuck the Steelers) and the 28th. Insanely catchy guitar hooks paired with lyrics that are so wet with wit you can imagine yourself Alex Turner turning tricks at dive English clubs are a recipe for repeated listens. Not only did I believe the hype, I was a big part of it.
From March: "Dick Around", "Metaphor" Sparks, Hello Young Lovers and "A Dangerous Woman Up To A Point" Destroyer, Destroyer's Rubies. The first two songs were actually tied, so I put them together. I heard "Metaphor" on a Stylus podcast and downloaded the album from emusic immediately. The entire album is an exercise in the absurd, but "Metaphor" and the Bohemian Rhapsody-like "Dick Around" are it's crowning achievements. Silly and fun, this is pure Sparks.
The Destroyer tune is the best track off of Rubies, showcasing some of the best songwriting of 2006. Destroyer has been labeled "European Blues" by, well, Daniel Bejar himself. If that's what this is, I like it - but - unlike other artists playing blues-like music, Bejar so strongly inhabits his songs that the label almost seems like an insult. "European Oils" was my favorite track off the album, however, for the part when Bejar sings "Her father...the fucking MANIAC!" at the end.
From April: "Poor Doggie" The Eagles Of Death Metal, Death By Sexy and "Phenomena" Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Show Your Bones. After their recent tagging by Axl Rose as the "Eagles Of Shit Metal", there has been a lot of hate directed at this band. The music has been called juvenile, stupid, and a waste of Josh Homme's time. I agree with the first assertion(it's what makes the band good), but not the last two. Listen: not everything has to be Radiohead, The Decemberists, or whatever other band people listen to and pretend to appreciate on a level usually left to Mozart and other dead Europeans. Sometimes, rock music just has to rock. This band is pure attitude, KISS without the makeup, and I love them in all their crude glory.
As for "Phenomena", that is my favorite track of Show Your Bones, a good sophomore effort from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. I don't have much else to say about it, I just like the pacing and Karen O's vocals.
From May: "Have Mercy On Me" The Black Keys, Chulahoma and "Despair In The Departure Lounge" The Arctic Monkeys, Who The Fuck Are The Arctic Monkeys? EP. Obviously, I was not over the Arctic Monkey hype. I purchased this EP off of iTunes(yeah, I'm a sucker who buys music online). It was a nice little addendum to the first album, the music equivalent of deleted scenes. "No Buses" is actually my favorite track from it, but "Despair In The Departure Lounge" is good as well.
"Have Mercy On Me" is from the Key's EP tribute to the late bluesman Junior Kimbrough. Arguably better than their full-length album Magic Potion released later in the year(which has no songs in this top 24, though they were close), this track is nice grooving blues tune whose intensity is turned up a couple notches by the Keys. This track also features a nice cool organ in the background, meaning it has something Magic Potion did not: growth.
From June: "Head (Of State)", "My Favorite Mutiny" The Coup, Pick A Bigger Weapon. This was my favorite album of the year. From your boss to the President, Boots Riley cuts fiercely and eloquently on everybody. "Head (Of State)" features maybe the best chorus line of all time: Bush and Hussein together in bed/giving H E A D head/ya'll motherfuckers heard what we said/billions made and millions dead/. Ball-grabbing, isn't it? "My Favorite Mutiny" just absolutely kills. An anthem of irreverence, social uprising, it's the soundtrack to revolution.
From July: "Chasing Cars", "You Could Be Happy" Snow Patrol Eyes Open and "Night After Night" The Sounds, Dying To Say This To You. This is where honesty could result in some harsh backlash. Snow Patrol is not the most revered band in the world, and yes, "Chasing Cars" can sound like that game from Whose Line Is It Anyway? where everyone sings a made-up song one word at a time, but it and "You Could Be Happy" are still a good listen. Plus, the band is Irish; I have to stand up for the old country.
"Night After Night" is one of my favorite songs from Dying To Say This To You, and I've already talked about it's merits before. "Night After Night" is the ballad of the album, and lets Maja Ivarsson's smokey vocals fill out the space left by a lack of instruments: just the beautiful keyboard playing of Jesper Anderberg. Ivarsson is one of my favorite rock singers, ever.
From August: "White Unicorn" Wolfmother, Wolfmother and "Jealous Girls" The Gossip, Standing In The Way Of Control. "White Unicorn" is, simply, a great rock song in the tradition of Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, and Deep Purple. Wolfmother benefits from the fact that there aren't many bands making music like that anymore, helping them standout in a sea of Coldplay and Strokes clones. I expect big things from this band.
The Gossip's Beth Ditto is the latest woman making 2006 a banner year for female rock vocalists. She really carries the trio's fifth album with her powerful performances. I like "Jealous Girls" because I'm a sucker for slick guitar licks, plus, I really like the part when Ditto sings Over, Oh-o Over over a dropping guitar riff. That part kills. The rest of the song is still good, but the title track "Standing In The Way Of Control" is really the best song off of the album.
From September: "I Gotcha" Lupe Fiasco, Food & Liquor and "Workingman's Blues #2" Bob Dylan, Modern Times. I hated "I Gotcha" the first time I heard it, and I don't have the faintest idea why. I listen to it now, and I find Pharrell's beats infectious and Fiasco's delivery smooth and flowing. I know I hated it at first though, because I wrote "I HATE THIS SONG" in my review notes. Was it all the references to smells in the beginning of the song? Did that make me a little uneasy, the smells? I have no idea, and I never will.
"Workingman's Blues #2" appeals to the blue collar worker in me, though I haven't really been blue collar for a few years. Still, music for the working men and women in America(if it's good, Sam's Town) appeals to me. This song has one part, though, that I always sing along to incorrectly. Dylan's lyrics go They say low wages are a reality/If we want compete abroad or something close to that, and I always want it to be If we want to compete overseas. I'll defer to Dylan.
From October: "First Night", "Citrus" The Hold Steady, Girls And Boys In America. I don't know what it says about me that I like two of the slower, ballad-lite songs from Girls and Boys In America instead of the straight-out rockers like "Chips Ahoy" and "You Can Make Them Like You". Wait, yes I do: it means I'm a big, big pussy. I can live with that.
That said, buy this album if you haven't already(even if I disagree with most of Craig Finn's critiques of 2006's singles in the last issue of Spin).
From November: "God Only Knows (You Gotta Give To Get)" El Perro Del Mar, El Perro Del Mar and "Shine On" Jet, Shine On. El Perro Del Mar's self-titled debut was the first album I reviewed for BigYawn, which is probably why I listened to this song so many times in November. Even if I wasn't reviewing it, though, I still would have enjoyed it. It's insanely hummable in the way that gets your head bopping.
"Shine On" is my favorite track of the Jet album of the same name. Maybe it's because I like to root for the underdog, or maybe I just like being difficult, but I like Jet(in a non-ironic way).
From December: "Hand Of Stone" Mastodon, Blood Mountain and "Tell A Story" Rhymefest, Blue Collar. In my salad days, all I listened to was metal. Mastodon brought me back to weekends playing Rifts and D&D in friend's basements while rocking out to Metallica, Megadeth, Iron Maiden, and Tool. Metal has enjoyed a resurgence in the past couple of years, and Mastodon is one of the bands leading the renaissance. "Hand Of Stone" is a new classic.
Didn't I say something earlier about liking music for the blue collar worker? Rhymefest's named his album Blue Collar for God's sake. "Tell A Story" is an ode to everyone just eeking out a normal existence, and Che Smith's flow is so charismatic I can't stop listening to it(or the rest of the album).
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