Lucero – Rebels, Rogues & Sworn Brothers [website | myspace]
TV On The Radio – Return To Cookie Mountain [website | myspace]
M. Ward – Post-War [website | myspace]
Hot Chip – The Warning [website | myspace]
James Hunter – People Gonna Talk [website | myspace]
Beach House – Beach House [website | myspace] (mp3)
Junior Boys – So This Is Goodbye [website | myspace]
Sunset Rubdown – Shut Up, I Am Dreaming [website | myspace] (mp3)
John Weinland – Demersville [website | myspace]
Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan – Ballad Of Broken Seas [website | myspace]
William Elliott Whitmore – Song Of The Blackbird [website | myspace]
Horse Feathers – Words Are Dead [website | myspace]
Belle & Sebastain – The Life Pursuit [website | myspace] (mp3)
The Knife – Silent Shout [website | myspace]
The Raconteurs – Broken Boy Soldiers [website | myspace]
The Thermals – The Body, The Blood, The Machine [website | myspace] (mp3)
Bob Dylan – Modern Times [website | myspace]
Cat Power – The Greatest [website | myspace] (mp3)
Sean Hayes – Big Black Hole & The Little Baby Star [website | myspace]
Califone – Roots & Crowns [website | myspace] (mp3 | mp3)

2006 seems so far away, and it’s only been gone for 22 days. I listened to a lot of albums last year which is good and bad. Growing up I never had the problem of having too much music to listen to, there was always something I was looking forward to checking out or saving my money to buy. It seems like each passing year brings me less time to spend with one album because as soon as I start digging it I already feel compelled to listen to whatever is arriving in my mailbox, at the local record store, blogs, etc.

I didn’t want to hastily put together a list of albums like I did last year, because, looking back, I think I probably have listened to only two of them since 2005 came to a close. Thus, I see less and less reason for me to spend time thinking about my favorite albums from year to year because only time will tell how much I really love a particular album. Nonetheless out of need, pressure, boredom, or preservation purposes the albums below represent the ones that I played the most, enjoyed the most, and will probably turn to again someday in the future.

Lucero’s got played the most; TV On The Radio won my heart early, but faded fast. M. Ward and Cat Power put out albums that I still listen to quite a bit these days. I found myself listening to more electronic influenced music (The Knife/Hot Chip/Junior Boys), which provided a much needed distraction to my usual listening habits.

As you probably know, I dig the alt-country genre (if that label still exists) quite a bit, and urge you to check out some of the lesser known acts like John Weinland, Horse Feathers, and William Elliott Whitmore. They all put out some groundbreaking (at least to me) records that I think were undeservingly underappreciated.

James Hunter won’t win over many indie rock fans or music bloggers, but I enjoyed his disc so incredibly much and it goes just perfect with a nice bottle of red. The Raconteurs album took some time for me to get into, but I think it’s really a solid effort with some great musicians. I think seeing them at ACL this year really made me fall in love with that record quite a bit.

The last three months of 2006 were pretty heavily influenced by Califone and Belle & Sebastian. Who knows if I would have grown sick of them had I gotten into them earlier like I kind of did with the TVOTR disc.

You won’t find any hip-hop albums on this list. I listened to a lot – Ghostface, Clipse, Lupe Fiasco, Spank Rock – and enjoyed the latter the most, none of them grabbed my attention in a big way. Hate on haters.

All-in-all you’ve got a list of my favorites, in no concrete order, but if I had to tell people some albums that I think are worthy of their price tag, these would be those albums.

Buy