Best of 2006, 25-21

OK, so here I am again with my Year-End List of 2006. Overall 2006 didn't have as many albums that I lovedlovedloved like 2005, but it actually had more very good albums that would compete for the 25-10 spots. So take that for what you will. In fact, I will just list the next 5 that I cut from my list here, in no particular order. What would be 26-30:
TV on the Radio-Return to Cookie Mountain
Destroyer-Destroyer's Rubies
Lupe Fiasco-Food and Liquor
Wizardzz-Hidden City of Taurmond
Ratatat-Classics
Some of these might be surprising in how low they are, considering some of them are popular top 5 choices for the year, but that's how it goes. All of these were very good as well. Anyway, for the REAL list, I will be posting 5 a day, every day this week. Starting with the bottom, of course. Then, sometime next week or the week after, I will be posting my top singles, which will be much more difficult. Because of my newfound love of electro-house and indie rave, this year has very much been the year of the single for me. I also posted some links to some songs from some albums, in mp3 form, from zshare; enjoy. Anyway, on to the albums:

25. Beirut-Gulag Orkestar

I first heard this album back whenever it first came out, but it didn’t really stick with me. Sure, the eastern European rhythms were enchanting, and Zach Condon has a beautiful voice that sounds more than a little like my boy Jens Lekman, but somehow a 19 year old American making these songs didn’t make sense to me. Maybe I was just jealous that someone younger than me could be so immediately successful in the indie music scene. Anyway, as the fall semester wore on, I found myself listening to Gulag Orkestar more and more; the melodies were haunting, and the eastern European tinge made each song sound different from everything else I was listening to (mostly dance music). It might also have something to do with the fact that a standout rack on the album, “Prenzlauer Berg,” is named after the neighborhood I lived in while in Berlin earlier this year. In fact, while visiting a friend from Berlin in Minneapolis, I went to see a Beirut show, and was happily surprised. It was a great show, and combined with my company and my drunkenness, I almost felt like I was back in Europe for a little while. Check out: Postcards from Italy

24. Jack and Jeffrey Lewis-City and Eastern Songs

This is one of the few albums on my list that I expect will not be on almost any other year-end list. In fact, it wouldn’t be on mine if I hadn’t decided one day to open this album at the radio station. It just looked like some low-end folk album, but it was on Rough Trade, so I gave it a whirl; man am I glad I did. It was full of touching anti-folk ditties (note: not freak folk) that contain sweet melodies and some of the most honest, open, and heartbreaking lyrics I have heard this year. This isn’t poetic Elliott Smith schtick by any means; Jeffrey Lewis sounds more like a nice but depressed aging hipster, sad-drunk and telling you about all the concerns he is having in his relationship, his career, his life. Everyone needs to check out “Williamsburg Will Oldham Horror” for an entertaining and sad story song about Jeffrey Lewis’s career and a possible Bonnie Prince Billy sighting.

23. Junior Boys-So This is Goodbye

A couple years ago I was really in love with Junior Boys’ first album, Last Exit, so it would make sense that I was excited for this one. What doesn’t make sense is just how different this album sounds, and how I like it just the same. Gone are the crazy glitchy rhythms and complex song structures; this album is all about simple, straightforward electro-soul songs. This is probably because drummer, one of the Junior Boys himself, is now no longer a Junior Boy. I'm all about these neo-electro soul ballads, though. I might have been a little hesitant, but the first leaked song and possible single-of –the year-contender “In the Morning” let me know right away what a great album this was going to be.

22. Ghostface-Fishscale

Ghostface is my favorite member of the Wu Tang Clan. These days he seems to be everyone’s. For me his angry and high voice combines perfectly with his violent, angular flow to making some of the best verses in all of rap music. Now that he is working with Doom and the pitchfork staff loses it every time he is featured on a song, indie kids everywhere have made the switch from GZA or Meth or whoever to Ghostface. I like that, and I like that so many people made such a big deal about this album. It deserves it. Fishscale was one of the few albums that I actively sought from Berlin; in most cases I had given up listening to every new album until I returned to the states, but I demanded that someone download and burn me a copy of this one (I didn’t have access to the internet at home). I was glad I did, and enjoyed Tony Starks’s anger and wisdom throughout the spring semester. As I will mention later in this list, I was pretty consistently disappointed with hip-hop (and most anticipated music in general) in 2006; I am glad that Ghostface didn’t let me down.

21. Liars-Drum’s not Dead

This album is one of those that I feel requires an essay to fully review/describe, and I don’t have the time or energy for that; I still have 50 or so pages to write this week. So instead, I will describe my response to this album in anecdote form. The day I got to Berlin in early March, I immediately began looking for concerts in the area. Much to my joy, I found out that Liars and Wilderness were playing that weekend, some 3 days away. I quickly found out where the venue was, only a few blocks from my house, and on Friday night, still knowing no one in the city, I walked over by myself. Liars recorded this mind-fuck of an album in Berlin, so they had quite a few friends/fans there, and everyone was totally into the music (as I would discover later, this is very unusual for Berlin concert-goers). Wilderness were inspired, but Liars were captivating and, well, scary. The club was dark and sweaty, looking kind of like that underground club in that late Smashing Pumpkins video (I forget which one). Anyway, I was sober (the last time I made this Berlin concert mistake) and just in awe of the music, the venue, the city. In short, this album, this band, as intelligent and as deep as they may be, they are the perfect atmospheric group, providing the perfect soundtrack to anything dark, heavy, and cool. I listened to this album over and over, just letting it kind of drone in my head while walking around, reading, whatever. I suggest you do the same.