and the winner is... (music edition, part 2)

25     Thermals - The Body, The Blood, and the Machine
24     Danielson - Ships
23     M. Ward - Post-War
22     Elvis Costello & Allen Toussaint -The River in Reverse
21     Camera Obscura - Let's Get Out of this Country

It's no secret that most 'Christian rock' somehow manages to do a disservice to both Christianity and rockmusic, but Danielson is an exception. The latest outing from this relatively prolific collective is idiosyncratic and catchy, a combination that generally wins me over. Check out esp. the ridiculously fun "Did I Step on Your Trumpet." M. Ward's newest album, like his last one, sets a highwater mark for 'indie folk,' esp. the relentlessly singable "Chinese Translation," which may have the best video of the year. Costello and Toussaint have produced the most professional, if not the most profound, testament/indictment of Katrina and its aftermath. It's serious stuff, but it can swing. Check the reworking of Toussaint's staple "Who's Gonna Help A Brother." The voice of Camera Obscura's Traceyanne Campbell puts me in mind of sixties girlgroups, think Lesley Gore and Skeeter Davis, but her songs are much more irritable.

20     Grizzly Bear -Yellow House
19     Black Angels - Passover
18     Centro-Matic - Fort Recovery
17     Sunset Rubdown - Shut Up I Am Dreaming
16     Beyonce - B'Day

I've already mentioned in this space my affection for the greasy prog sound of Austin's Black Angels. But it's another Austin (well, Denton) band that is number one in my heart: after the disbanding of Guided By Voices, a.k.a The Greatest Rock Band Ever, Centro-Matic moved up as my favorite rock act. And while "Fort Recovery" isn't as strong top to bottom as their previous "Love You Just the Same," it is a closesecond, a terrific, ambling rock and roll record. Will Johnson, whether playing with C-M, South San Gabriel, the Undertow Orchestra, or solo, has the lyrical dexterity, and productivity, of any musician from Dylan to Pollard. Sunset Rubdown is the side band of Wolf Parade member Spencer Krug. One reviewer described the album as "reminiscent of David Bowie/Brian Eno’s post-apocalypse fixation, circa Station to Station." What's not to like about that?

As for Beyonce...I never thought I'd be adding her album on any 'best of' list, but she has managed to make, for the most part, a funky soul album in the classic Atlantic Records mold. I don't feel out of line thinking of "B'Day" as an update on Aretha Franklin's mighty mighty "Young, Gifted, and Black" album from 1971 (if you don't have it, get it). The contrived and graceless insertion of inamorato Jay-Z is a hiccup easily forgotten, esp. once Beyonce, at times cocksure, e.g., "Suga Mama," at times ragged, e.g. "Ring the Alarm" does her thing. Then the album hums. But don't take my word for it; here's the best album review of last year.

15     Cat Power - The Greatest
14     Cadence Weapon - Breaking Kayfabe
13      Tapes n Tapes - The Loon
12     Destroyer - Destroyer's Rubies
11     Shearwater - Palo Santo

Now that Liz Phair has gone decidedly ProTools (a decision I don't begrudge her), Cat Power, nee Chan Marshall, is the indie rock empress, even though she's the new face of Chanel (a decision I don't begrudge her). Anyway, her album isn't the greatest, but it is plenty great, esp. the smoky "Lived in Bars." Plus, backed by journey sessionmen from Memphis and Muscle Shoals, Marshall's voice--so husky, pulls a bobsled--is given lots of room to play. Canada's Cadence Weapon is probably the tightest hiphop artist of the year, an Aesop Rock for the great white north. For that party mixtape, check out leadoff track "Oliver Square." Full of his signature labyrinthine lyrics and self-referential ritornelles, Dan Bejar's (also of New Pornographers fame) newest Destroyer album is maybe his best effort to date: the kind of album that can only be listened to en toto. Another Pitchfork Festival highpoint for me. Shearwater, another Austin band (most of the members are also in Okkervil River), has put out a record that, while fuzzy and sparse, is deceptively complex, and may, at times, even be pretty. 

10    Neko Case - Fox Confessor Brings the Flood
9     Jenny Lewis & the Watson Twins - Rabbit Fur Coat
8      TV on the Radio - Return to Cookie Mountain
7     Band of Horses - Everything All the Time
6     Tom Waits - Orphans

Case's album cracks the top ten on the herculean strength of one song: "Star Witness" may be the year's best single. (Who are we kidding? That honor probably has to go to Gnarls Barkley's ubiquitous earworm "Crazy.") But, as good as it is (painfully good), there's more to commend this album than just the one track. Jenny Lewis's debut solo is worth every scrap of press it got. A smart effort full of appropriate amounts loathing, both against the self and others. The track "Rise Up with Fists!" should make both Chrissy Hyde and Loretta Lynn proud. (And the Hee Haw parody is nicely done.) Band of Horses, like fellow newcomers Tapes n Tapes, above, is powerpop-rock that does what it should do, rock, a rarer commodity these days than one might assume. Tapes n Tapes's "Insistor" and Band of Horses's "The Funeral" are on opposing ends of the metronome, but, overall, the Horse's album gets the nod because it is a denser record, more exploratory and emotional, than its counterparts.

And then there's Tom. God bless Tom Waits. I find it amazing that, across this three-disc, fifty-plus song, quasi-retrospective, there are very, very few, if any, outright dogs, and lots and lots of outright gems. Then again, I find that totally unamazing. Listening to songs like "Long Way Home" solidifies Waits's brilliance, because, after all, these are the tracks he didn't include on his other albums.

5     Sonic Youth - Rather Ripped
4     Howe Gelb  - 'Sno Angel Like You
3     Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs - Show Your Bones
2     Yo La Tengo - I am Not Afraid of You, and I Will Beat Your Ass
1     Hold Steady - The Boys and Girls in America

"Rather Ripped" is the best Sonic Youth album in fifteen years, running from scorching rockers like "Reena" and "Incinerate," to more freaky fare like "Do You Believe in Rapture?" Like Sonic Youth, Yo La Tengo prove that bands that have it, always have it. And like SY, YLT have gone back to the rawkous well for "Beat Your Ass." And if the pugnacious title didn't give it away, the ten-minute opener will. There's still plenty of electronic dissonance, but the guitars are loud and proud, meandering through what seems like a funhouse of rock history. There's the sockhop fingersnapper, and there's the solipsistic reverb jam. For the first time ever, Yo La Tengo may have made an album you want to listen to as you drive. Howe Gelb's latest effort contains all the vaguely arrogant, vaguely disconsolate lyricism of his other work, but this time he's paired with a full gospel choir, and the  spartan guitar and sensuous rejoicing work contrapuntally, a complimentary relationship that is as pleasing as it is surprising.

There are these moments when Karen O of the Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs does this sort of unearthly yelp on the track "Gold Lion" that almost singlehandedly make "Show Your Bones" one of the three best albums of the year. But the rest of the album is likewise fantastic. Less guttural than their debut, the added control strengthens without detracting from the rawness. Tracks like "Phenomena" and, esp., "Cheated Hearts" are prime examples. As I mentioned in part one of this list, 2006 proved a great year for female-focused rock and roll, perhaps a sign that Sleater-Kinney can rest in peace.

But the best album of 2006, for my money, is The Hold Steady's tip of the hat, wink of the eye, to American youth culture, both contemporary and nostalgic. Why? Because the album rocks. That's why. The Hold Steady are making it acceptable to dig bar bands again. Or, as culture critique Chuck Klosterman puts it, The Hold Steady are for people who "used to like AC/DC but now just read a lot." The album's received some criticism for its limited subject matter, but, come on, Springsteen's been telling the same stories for thirty years. We dig The Boss's stories not because they are epic, but because they aren't. And because he's so good at telling them. There's more than a little Springsteen, narratively speaking, in The Hold Steady. There's a pervasive sense of 'lucky to be here today, but wouldn't change yesterday if I could.' (The album's title comes for Kerouac, who knew a little something about destructive habits.) Check out their eminently singable "Chips Ahoy."

That's quite enough. Time to start on 2007...

Comments

[Ruby]

actually, the Tom Waits Peepshow happens on June 14-15 this year. it's at the Parish, so there should be plenty of room to get in, unlike in past years.

[Niku]

thanks for the word on the peep show - for any interested, there will be one April 5, right before they tour the west coast.

[Marco]

Good god man. I don't think I listened to 50 new songs this year, let alone 50 whole new albums. I feel very unhip right about now.

The Tom Waits Peep Show is a fun show. Not nearly as good as the real thing but we Tom Fans have to take what we can get.

[Niku]

you are the winner! you will be contacted shortly with prize information. of course there is a prize - big D wouldn't have it any other way, I'm sure.

[Emily]

I believe The Crane Wife is being sold at Starbucks, which I'm assuming is the unnamable coffee shop. Do I get something if I correctly guess the album AND the business?

[Niku]

now I *know* I have to go! We recently met Dot, the puppeteer for the show at the Diorama show and she told us they're doing another one soon to fundraise for their west coast trip. I'm determined to see it. I'll let you know what I find out.

I'll let you know when you guess the coffee soundtrack CD.

p.s. can I borrow Orphans?

[Eric Dieter]

I've tried to get tickets for the Tom Waits Peepshow the last two years, but have waited too long both times. But here's a taste:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puyhQhFdX_A

Which album? Maybe we should hold a contest to see who can guess. I'm going to go w/ Cat Power. Other guesses?

[Niku]

1. have you ever seen "Inside a Broken Clock" the Tom Waits Peepshow, vaudeville thing, they do here?
2. one album on your top 50 is sold at a certain coffeeshop out of seattle that shall not be named.