Best Of 2006:

This is a list of the music that moved me this year. The top 10 was originally listed on absolutepunk.net. Also take a look at my predictions for most promising AZ bands in 2007 on Brendan’s New Times Blog.

Top Albums of 2006:


1) The Hold Steady - Boys And Girls in America
website - myspace

In Boys and Girls in America The Hold Steady have crafted the best album I have heard all year. No single CD has spent more time in my car, in my stereo or playing on my Ipod. This is the rare album that can be unique and new at the same time as it is timeless and classic. Craig Fins lyrics are vivid and descriptive in a way that few songwriters are today. He constructs stories that are strikingly specific while still being easily relatable to anyone listening.



2) TV On The Radio - Return To My Cookie Mountain
website - myspace



3) Calexico - Garden Ruin
website - myspace



4) Bruce Springsteen - We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions
website - myspace



5) Flaming Lips – At War With The Mystics
website - myspace



6) The New Amsterdams - Story Like a Scar
website - myspace



7) Rocky Votolato: Makers
website - myspace



8) The Velvet Teen - Cum Laude
website - myspace



9) Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not
website - myspace



10) Blackpool Lights - This Town's Disaster
website - myspace


Attritional Albums Worthy of Praise:

Sparta - Threes
Drag the River - ... It's Crazy
These Arms Are Snakes – Easter
Cold War Kids – Robbers & Cowards
The Decemberists – The Crain Wife
Planes Mistaken For Stars – Mercy


Honorable Mentions (non-albums or bands I work with):

Refused - Refused Are Fucking Dead DVD
Against Me! - Americans Abroad!!! Against Me!!! Live in London!!!
The Stiletto Formal – This Is My Boomstick EP
DeSole – A Story To Tell
Eels - With Strings: Live at Town Hall