December 19th, 2006
Steve Hyden
1. Jenny Lewis With The Watson Twins, Rabbit Fur Coat (Team Love)
2. Todd Snider, The Devil You Know (New Door)
Todd Snider might seem like just another stoner folksinger who hates George W. Bush, but The Devil You Know proves otherwise—no record this year was funnier, smarter, or angrier about the tough spot our country is in. The album's centerpiece, "You Got Away With It (A Tale Of Two Fraternity Brothers)," is such a sly takedown of the prez that even W. might find reason to chuckle.
3. Sam Roberts Band, Chemical City (Universal)
4. Secret Machines, Ten Silver Drops (Reprise)
Secret Machines replaced fashionable influences (Can, Led Zeppelin) with unfashionable influences (Unforgettable Fire-era U2, David Gilmour-led Pink Floyd) on Ten Silver Drops, the less-heralded but more emotionally resonant sequel to 2004's Now Here Is Nowhere. Head music isn't usually so down-to-earth; "Alone, Jealous, And Stoned" explores the outer limits of a poor schlub's sanity as he waits for his girl to call.
5. Ghostface Killah, Fishscale (Def Jam)
6. Justin Timberlake, FutureSex/LoveSounds (Jive)
With Justified, Justin Timberlake proved to all the older brothers out there that he didn't suck. With FutureSex/LoveSounds, he proved he could make a record not suitable for little sisters. But with "My Love"—the single of the year now that we're all sick of "Crazy"—keeping the little girls away was damn near impossible.
7. Mew, And The Glass Handed Kites (Columbia)
8. The Hold Steady, Boys And Girls In America (Vagrant)
9. My Morning Jacket, Okonokos (Ato)
Radiohead comparisons aside, My Morning Jacket has always been a classic rock band, which is why releasing a career-spanning double live album makes perfect sense. As Alive! was for Kiss, Okonokos is the definitive My Morning Jacket album; capturing the group's live energy on record clarifies and beefs up its sometimes-sleepy guitar jams.
10. Belle & Sebastian, The Life Pursuit (Matador/Rough Trade)
11. Cat Power, The Greatest (Matador)
Chan Marshall is a beautiful woman, but nobody considered her sexy before The Greatest, a soulful late-night confessional recorded with Al Green's backing band. Now, Marshall has guaranteed a cameo in countless baby-making sessions.
12. The Championship, Dance Casador! (Bear Rifle)
13. The Life And Times, The Magician (Stiff Slack)
14. Great Lakes, Diamond Times (Emperor Norton)
15. The Raconteurs, Broken Boy Soldiers (V2)
A lot of people gave up on Broken Boy Soldiers before it had a chance to grow on them. The initial consensus was that the album was "just" an unassuming collection of catchy, old-school rock songs, which was a letdown after all the "supergroup" hype, but ended up being a saving grace six months later.
15 Great Songs From Albums Not In The Top 15
Built To Spill, "Goin' Against Your Mind"
Camera Obscura, "Lloyd, I'm Ready To Be Heartbroken"
Cheap Trick, "If It Takes A Lifetime"
Cursive, "Big Bang"
Bob Dylan, "When The Deal Goes Down"
Eagles Of Death Metal, "I Like To Move In The Night"
Film School, "Deep Lake"
Govt. Mule, "So Weak, So Strong"
Mylo, "In My Arms"
Jim Noir, "How To Be So Real"
Robert Pollard, "Serious Birdwoman (You Turn Me On)"
The Rapture, "Get Myself Into It"
Tapes N' Tapes, "Just Drums"
Pete Yorn, "The Man"
Video Of The Year
Many critics missed the humor behind the excessive bombast of Muse and its deliriously fun 2006 album Black Holes And Revelations. Like Queen, the band's obvious antecedent, Muse never takes itself too seriously, yet it oh-so-carefully avoids novelty status. The video for "Knights Of Cydonia," the ridiculous climactic cut from Black Holes And Revelations, is a brilliant visual aid illustrating Muse's spirit of silliness—it's a spaghetti Western set in space and starring a mustachioed martial-arts master. Yeah, Quentin Tarantino so wishes he thought of that first.
Worst Album Of The Year
…And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead, So Divided (Interscope)
What the hell happened to these guys? Worlds Apart, Trail Of Dead's 2005 major-label debut, was a disappointment coming after 2002's monumental Source Tags & Codes. But while Worlds Apart was an overly ambitious epic salvaged by some memorable songs, So Divided marks an unwitting decline into self-parody. The most egregious offender is the wrong-headed cover of Guided By Voices' "The Goldheart Mountaintop Queen Directory," which turns a sparsely arranged classic into an overblown joke. Sadly, the same can now be said of Trail Of Dead.
What To Watch For In 2007: The N-Word
It will be interesting to see how rappers respond (if at all) to demands from black leaders that the word "nigger" be banned from the entertainment industry. Given how ingrained the word is in hip-hop culture, banning it will require an awful lot of rewriting. But comedian Paul Mooney, a writer for Richard Pryor and frequent guest on Chappelle's Show, has already agreed to the gag order post-Michael Richards. "He's my Dr. Phil," Mooney said of Richards. "He's cured me."
Josh Modell
1. Midlake, The Trials Of Van Occupanther (World's Fair/Bella Union)
2. Band Of Horses, Everything All The Time (Sub Pop)
3. Eric Bachmann, To The Races (Saddle Creek)
4. The Dears, Gang Of Losers (Arts & Crafts)
5. Cat Power, The Greatest (Matador)
6. Maritime, We, The Vehicles (Flameshovel)
7. Pernice Brothers, Live A Little (Ashmont)
8. Arab Strap, The Last Romance (Transdreamer)
They're done, but at least they went out on a high. Scotland's dourest drunkards amped up the pop (not much, but noticeably) for their last disc, though it still begins with the line "Burn these sheets that we just fucked in."
9. Eef Barzelay, Bitter Honey (Spinart)
The Clem Snide frontman stepped away from his one-man band (huh?) for this solo set, which strips his beautiful, sometimes cynical love songs down to their bare bones. If the world isn't listening to "Escape Artist" now, it will be in 25 years. Hopefully.
10. Snow Patrol, Eyes Open (A&M)
The bombastic radio-rock band it's okay to like, Snow Patrol somehow marries indie-rock sensibilities with huge choruses and even a lyrical shout-out to Sufjan Stevens. Who cares that "Chasing Cars" is on a hundred TV shows? Next U2, anyone?
11. Editors, The Back Room (Fader)
Yes, it sounds too much like Interpol, but that doesn't detract from a slate of excellent, moody songs.
12. The Rakes, Capture/Release (V2)
13. The Kingdom, K1 (Arena Rock)
14. The Walkmen, A Hundred Miles Off (Record Collection)
15. We Are Scientists, With Love & Squalor (Island)
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