Top Albums of 2006

As is now an annual tradition, here are my top albums released in the year 2006. It was a good year for music, featuring in spite of new albums by Beyoncé, Justin, Tenacious D, and MC Hammer. So here are my picks (along with my random comments as a free bonus).

1. "Dusk and Summer" (Dashboard Confessional)
   I know. Classify it under commercialized guilty pleasure, but iTunes tells me I've listened to it more than any other album on this list. I can't help it. I like it.
2. “Modern Times” (Bob Dylan)
   Vintage Dylan for the new millennium. Who would've thought that the babies of the boomers would dig it?
3. "The Greatest" (Cat Power)
   The title track sets the tone for the rest of the album. Simultaneously grandiose and hauntingly intimate.
4. "Write Your Own History" (Field Music)
   "...it's more honest to allow some of the complexity of a situation to show through" (from the album cover)
5. "Film School" (Film School)
   Really big, beautiful guitars.
6. "Ganging Up on the Sun" (Guster)
   Clearly departing from their acoustic frat-rock days, this album is my favorite Guster album.
7. "Fear Is on Our Side" (I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness)
   With a name that fabulous, your album had better be good. It is.
8. “Time Without Consequence” (Alexi Murdoch)
   A good, chill, electric, folksy album.
9. "Blue on Blue" (Leigh Nash)
   I loved Sixpence None the Richer (forgiving their "Kiss Me" overkill), but I just like Leigh Nash on her own. This is a great pop-rock album, if you're in the mood for that kind of thing.
10. "Broken Boy Soldiers" (The Raconteurs)
    Jack White's new band. A good album, but doesn't quite grab me like the White Stripes albums.
11. "Inland Sea" (Rin')
    This Japanese power-pop trio blends traditional Japanese sounds with modern pop in a cool ambient cohesion. Oh yeah, it features Lisa Loeb and Leigh Nash.
12. "Ta-Dah" (Scissor Sisters)
    Fabulously over-the-top British dance music. Think Elton John on E.
13. "U218 Singles" (U2)
    Would any list be complete without some U2? If you want to get all the stadium anthems on one disc, here you go. Also features the haunting non-punk cover of "The Saints Are Coming" punk classic with Green Day.
14. "I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass" (Yo La Tengo)
    Yo La Tengo has never met me, but they are right.
15. "Nightcrawler" (Pete Yorn)
    Every home recording enthusiast would be thrilled to make an album that sounded this good. Still, it's no musicforthemorningafter.
16. "Songs From The Voice, Vol. 1: Please Don't Make Us Sing This Song" (Various)
    Don Chaffer (of Waterdeep) recorded and produced this album based on Psalms. A new twist on a good old folksy hymnfest.
17. "Songs From the Voice, Vol. 2: Son of the Most High (Songs from the Voice)" (Various)
    The second album is based on Handel's Messiah. Updated for the Sufjan generation.