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Top 10 Albums of 2006
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The Life Pursuit
::Belle and Sebastian |
| Only a few bands have managed to successfully
reinvent themselves a half-dozen or so albums into their careers. Granted,
Murdoch's is a very different group today than the one that caught the
ears and hearts of pop-music zealots a decade ago, with different members
and a newly unrestrained sound. "Make a new cult every day," Murdoch
once sang, but of course, Heaven's Gate and Waco compounds aren't for everyone.
The Life Pursuit is a baroque pop cathedral, welcoming the faithful and
newly converted alike. -pf
| song highlights |
:: white collar boy
:: sukie in the graveyard
:: another sunny day |
|
| [matador, Feb 7]
| whit: ***** | amg ****
| pf 8.5
| mc 78
|
| 2 |
|
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You in Reverse
::Built to Spill |
| Best of all is the amazing "Goin'
Against Your Mind," an almost nine-minute guitar explosion that kicks
off the album in breathtaking style. By the time it's through playing,
you'll be hard-pressed to imagine a way the rest of the album could stand
up to its intensity and drama. That the record does manage to acquit itself
superbly is quite an accomplishment. Though there are no great surprises
on You in Reverse, it is one of Built to Spill's strongest efforts, and
anyone who has followed their career knows that this is high praise indeed.
-amg
| song highlights |
:: goin' against your mind
:: liar
:: conventional wisdom |
|
| [warner, Apr 11]
| whit: ***** | amg ****'
| pf 6.8
| mc 82
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| 3 |
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Let's Get Out of This Country
::Camera Obscura |
| Camera Obscura has always been
lovely but they've made the jump to truly enchanting with their
third album... Head Camera Tracyanne Campbell writes amazingly
intimate and tender ballads that can break your heart with the
slightest lyrical twist, swell of strings, or vocal harmony...
Whether rocking out in a Motown manner or lying back with some
mellow country-rock, the combination of music, lyrics, melodies,
and vocals is, well, enchanting. Picking out highlights is like
picking your favorite among your children. -amg
| song highlights |
:: let's get out of this country
:: lloyd, i'm ready to be heartbroken
:: dory previn |
|
| [merge, Jun 6]
| whit: ****' | amg ****'
| pf 7.8
| mc 77
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| 4 |
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The Crane Wife
::The Decemberists |
| Meloy's taletelling will always define
the Decemberists, but The Crane Wife puts as much weight on the music
as on the lyrics, and here the band gels into a tight, intuitive unit.
The musicians give each song a particular spark and character, not just
reinforcing the lyrics but actively telling a story. They create a breezy
eddy of guitar strums and piano chords to enhance a windborne melody
and an undercurrent of peril on "Summersong", and the tragedy
of "O Valencia". - pf
| song highlights |
:: o valencia!
:: the perfect crime no. 2
:: summersong |
|
| [capitol, Oct 3]
| whit: ****' | amg ***'
| pf 8.4
| mc 85
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| 5 |
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Begin to Hope
::Regina Spektor |
| Spektor is much too freewheeling
and quirky a talent to stick to the straight and narrow for the
entirety. Show tunes, classic soul, the Bible, and the backs of
cereal boxes are all inspirations for the album. And whether she
quotes the melody from Doris Payne's "Just One Look" and
pairs it with lyrics about orca whales on "Hotel Song," or
begins the lovely, confessional closing track, "Summer in
the City," with the line "summer in the city means cleavage," Spektor
uses them in unexpected ways.. - amg
| song highlights |
:: fidelity
:: better
:: on the radio |
|
| [sire, Jun 13]
| whit: ****' | amg ****
| pf
7.5
| mc 80
|
| 6 |
|
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The Animal Years
::Josh Ritter |
| Josh Ritter fearlessly treads
where giants have traveled before him. His agrarian common-man
ballads and story songs invite comparison to certain artists that
no relative neophyte should feel comfortable alongside. The Animal
Years is not a work of one who's studied the great folk-rock icons;
it's an album born of honest and God-given craft and heart. Maybe
a lesser artist will come along and study Josh Ritter in the near
future. - prefix mag
| song highlights |
:: girl in the war
:: wolves
:: in the dark |
|
| [V2, Mar 20]
| whit: ****' | amg ****
| mc 80
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| 7 |
|
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Show Your Bones
::Yeah Yeah Yeahs |
| The way the Gold Lion builds
while still remaining remarkably simple in structure is quite reminiscent
of the Pixies, a group whose influence is felt throughout Show
Your Bones. One of the Pixies’ great achievements was to
harness the power and sonic authority of punk to an extremely controlled,
almost mechanized discipline. The way Nick Zinner’s electric
guitar explodes in controlled bursts throughout the album, inserting
power and force at just the necessary moments but being careful
never to overextend its welcome or overwhelm the melody, illustrates
a great deal of the difference between the Yeah Yeah Yeahs then
and now. - popmatters
| song highlights |
:: gold lion
:: phenomena
:: cheated hearts |
|
| [interscope, Mar 28]
| whit: ****' | amg ***
| pf 6.8
| mc 79
|
| 8 |
|
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Eyes Open
::Snow Patrol |
| The band's fourth album, Eyes
Open, doesn't fall short from where they left off; in fact, Snow
Patrol's hungry rock sound only gets bigger and better this time
around. All guitar hooks and singalong choruses are firmly in place.
Gary Lightbody is an underrated frontman. On Eyes Open, he once
again writes songs that are from the heart and true to self-reflection
without getting too sappy and too overjoyed. From the playful name-dropping
of Sufjan Stevens on "Hands Open" to their passionate
delivery on "It's Beginning to Get to Me" and "Shut
Your Eyes," Snow Patrol's approach is epic. They are the kind
of band that embrace simplicity as beautiful and human flaws as
art.
This 11-song set is a masterpiece, so keep your ears and eyes open
for Snow Patrol. They're onto something big. - amg
| song highlights |
:: hands open
:: chasing cars
:: you could be happy |
|
| [a&m, May 9]
| whit: ****' | amg ****
| pf 6.6
| mc 65
|
| 9 |
|
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Young Gravity
::Peter Walker |
| These are bright, tightly coiled
songs that only partially mask a deep-seated gloominess. They're
melodic but morose. But it's hardly an unlikable combination --
just ask the Eels, whom Walker also sometimes
calls to mind. "39 Stars," the best song on the disc,
is a tribute to a friend who died young; the title track, meanwhile,
lands listeners alone in a stark and sterile hospital room. By
the time "By a Thread," another excellently ruminative
and dark-edged track, rolls around, there can be no mistaking Walker's
proclivity for songs that speak loudest to Paxil takers. It's a
measure of his considerable talent, then, that even the sunniest
of indie rock enthusiasts will add Young Gravity to their keeper
stacks. Blinks of Jayhawk-ian smoothness seal Walker's sound; through
all his troubles, his guitar occasionally soars, and so do his
pleasingly reedy pipes. - amg
| song highlights |
:: 39 stars
:: flagship
:: talk to you |
|
| [dangerbird, apr 11]
| whit: ****' | amg ***'
|
| 10 |
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So This is Goodbye
::Junior Boys |
| There are special songs, and
there are special memories, but if you're one of those nostalgia-bitten
people for whom neither seem quite vivid enough on their own, nothing
matches what happens when the two dovetail. The beauty of these
moments is they refuse to be architected-- we can't force them
any more than we can explain them. And while the Junior Boys aren't
magicians, they speak the language of that magic as well as anyone
making music today. - pf
| song highlights |
:: in the morning
:: the equalizer
:: so this is goodbye |
|
| [domino, sep 12]
| whit: ****' | amg ****
| pf 9.0
| mc 79
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| all
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