Diamonds In The Shite: The Ten Best Albums of 2006

Let's face it: most of the music made in 2006 sucked mightily. Between old bands creating stale retreads of their previous work and new bands creating stale retreads of someone else's previous work, there really wasn't much to pick from this year. Hip hop reached both its commercial and artistic nadir this year (I mean, society let K-Fed record an album. Come on, people!), and rock is continuing to fall down the slippery slope of unoriginality. However, all is not lost; as always, some artists had the good sense to not release total crap this year. Then ten I am about to mention are albums that I thought were so good that I actually went to a store and bought the damn things. They are works I respect too much to download off of a file-sharing service. (Arctic Monkeys, on the other hand...)

10. Neko Case-Fox Confessor Brings The Flood
Some classify this as a country album, but I refuse to on account of it's too good for that label. It almost justifies her decision to not tour with the New Pornographers, thus making them suck live this year. A wonderfully understated album, it showcases Case's continuing growth as a songwriter (Especially on "Star Witness" and "The Needle Has Landed"), and-as always-she demonstrates why she's one of the best female vocalists in music today.

9. Nas-Hip-Hop Is Dead
Somebody had to say it; it might as well be the one man in hip-hop who's good at saying anything anymore. In a year when Akon and T.I. became the country's most popular rap stars and when Jay-Z released a comeback album that sorely disappointed, Nas didn't let us down. Sonically, this isn't much different from his previous albums, but the words make all the difference. Jay came back just to say that he was back; Nas came back because he could show hip-hop where it went wrong.

8. Espers-Espers II
Okay, I know acid-folk sounds like the worst premise for a genre ever, but hear me out on this one. It has a dark, disturbed center that wasn't present in their first record. It's still damn near impenetrable; if you're looking for some NPR-friendly, easy listening folkies, stay away from this. The rest of us can bask in the sonic inventiveness and overall brilliance of the three people who crafted this. (Oh, and as far as pretentious art-folk goes, this beats the crap out of Newsom.)

7. Thom Yorke-The Eraser
When this album debuted at #2 on Billboard, my faith in the American pop music audience was somewhat restored. True, these songs aren't quite as brilliant as they would have been with contributions from the other members of Radiohead (or at least Jonny Greenwood), but Yorke has managed to distill all of his fears and insecurities of the world into a song suite that easily trumps Amnesiac. The electronic elements of the songs (which are more prevalent here than in what Kid A was wrongfully accused to have) aren't quite as foreboding that the previously mentioned album; the tension and paranoia is mostly carried by Yorke's vocals and lyrics, and this record easily contains his greatest achievements as both a lyricist and a singer. If you're still complaining about those Radiohead tickets you lost in an eBay auction, shut up and get this instead.

6. The Lemonheads-The Lemonheads
Musically challenging? No. A startling reinvention of a band's original sound? Not really. This is a half-hour of great, catchy guitar pop, something that has been lacking in popular music today. With their fellow British pop acts either defunct (Pulp), stoned (Blur), or constantly devolving into self-parody (Oasis), the reconvened Lemonheads (essentially singer/guitarist Evan Dando and the rhythm section from The Descendents) have reminded us why we cared about anyone with a guitar and a British accent by recording the kind of album we'd expect from them. It's uncomplicated and straightforward, and I should also mention that the songs are the best he's written since It's A Shame About Ray. Hands down, the one fake reunion worth paying attention to.

5. Sonic Youth-Rather Ripped
So they fired Jim O'Rourke and found those stolen, specially-tuned guitars from their EVOL days. Time to turn up the amps and let the feedback commence, right? Of course not! This is Sonic fucking Youth we're talking about. They make records that shock us because they're not what we expect at all (Well, except Sonic Nurse.) So what do they do? They go and make the sort of indie-pop record that would've made them bigger than Nirvana in 1992. Kim Gordon just keeps getting better and better as a songwriter, and with "Incinerate", the band has easily recorded their best single since "Teen Age Riot." It's yet another album that has you wondering how the hell these guys can keep doing it after twenty years.

4. Belle & Sebastian-The Life Pursuit
Holy crap, it's a loud Belle & Sebastian record! Now, that doesn't mean that they've decided to crank up the amps to 12 and blast out some thrash metal; this is still Belle & Sebastian, the masters of pop subtlety. Their songs still mean delightfully little; any attempt to find a life lesson from "Funny Little Frog" will probably be fruitless. However, the songs no longer attempt to be as quiet as possible. It's the clearest, most direct B&S release to date, and it's just the change in direction that fans had been clamoring for since The Boy With The Arab Strap. Just like The Lemonheads record, it's a direct, completely meaningless pop record with enough hooks to last you a lifetime.

3. Ghostface Killah-Fishscale
Ghostface has always been on the outskirts of hip-hop; his singles never bombard the radio like Jay-Z's or Game's, nor do his albums go platinum in two weeks. Yes, he's part of the Wu-Tang Clan, but their commercial and critical clout has dissipated. I have a feeling that the lack of attention is what is allowing him to put out releases as brilliant as Fishscale. Ghostface continues to show up Kanye West by re-affirming his status as a master sampler of soul and funk records that nobody's ever heard of. It's not a complete re-invention of his sound; rather, it's a summation of everything that makes him great.

2. TV On The Radio-Return To Cookie Mountain
Hype makes it easy to hate these guys, as does the fact that Desperate Youth, Bloodthirsty Babes didn't impress me that much. But this year, the indie press went and surprised me by hyping up an album that actually deserved it. On top of that, this was probably the only thing I listened to for about two months. It's as challenging as can be expected from great art-rock, yet it's as addictive as a great pop album should be. How these guys pulled that off is beyond me, but I can only think of one other album this year to do that:

1. Yo La Tengo-I Am Not Afraid Of You And I Will Beat Your Ass
First, let me say that this is the best album title ever. That being said, no artist could have ever released such a sprawling, yet consistently brillant work such as this. Like Fishscale, it's a summation of everything we love about this group, except it also takes the time to sample from various stages in the band's career. It veers from drawn-out guitar freakouts ("Pass The Hatchet, I Think I'm Goodkind") to Sixties Pop ("Beanbag Chair", "Mr. Tough") and ambient music ("Daphina"). Add in the best song the band has recorded in the longest time ("Black Flowers"), and we are left with the best album of 2006, as well as an album unjustly unheralded in the end-of-year frenzy. It's as poppy as Arctic Monkeys without being as disposable, and, unlike Ys, it can be arty without consuming itself in pretentiousness. It's challenging, it's accessible, it's brilliant, so why don't you own it yet?