Year in consumables: 2006 music

Empire by KasabianI know that most people like to read year in review stuff at the end of December or early January, but I’m a procrastinator, so mine comes out in February.

This list focuses on the discs released in 2006 that I consumed, but I’ll also post on flicks and games later in the week. Those are nice, short ones that can be done on a school night.

So, my main justification behind waiting a bit is because sometimes, not often, but sometimes a disc comes out at the end of the year and it needs to get its due before you make up a list. I could stick it on the next year’s list, but then that doesn’t feel right, even if I didn’t pick it up until that year. So, I’m going to follow the tradition of ranking them for the year they came out.

Yeah, that’s right… even though the title talks about 2006 consumption, I’m only counting the discs released in 2006, you know… just to confuse you. I consumed 121 discs in 2006. All legally too. Just about half of those were new releases.

For sure I have a full list of ten (and change) that dropped in 2006. Trimming down the list to 10 is tough for me. I had to leave off four or five that were on the cusp. Anyway, the reason I’m telling you all this is because the disc I have at ten I just picked up a couple weeks ago and it rocks my socks off so much, that I am glad I waited.

So, without further ado, the list is thusly:

  1. Kasabian: Empire
  2. Pete Yorn: Nightcrawler
  3. Gnarls Barkley: St. Elsewhere
  4. Muse: Black Holes and Revelations
  5. AFI: decemberunderground
  6. Elefant: The Black Magic Show
  7. Editors: The Back Room
  8. Silversun Pickups: Carnavas
  9. Jet: Shine On
  10. Dear Leader: The Alarmist

I have already written about five of those discs in Consumed Summer, which was my Summer wrap-up. You’ll notice that rankings have changed, but that’s to be expected, yeah?

As for the others, here are a few quick blurbs:

  • Empire: I thought their debut disc was amazing and that surely they’d be due for a sophomore slump, especially since they were dropping it a year later. Well, I was wrong. They sound a little different here than on their self-titled debut, but one has to believe that they are well on their way to building an empire. If “Stuntman” doesn’t get you going, then nothing does.
  • The Back Room: This was a disc that grew on me slowly throughout the year. The one radio single that I know of, “Munich,” is a great tune and one that Peter Gammons has in his workout playlist. That’s bit of trivia, but the rest of the disc is good too and I’m not sure why none of the other tracks ever because singles, especially “Lights” or “Blood.”
  • Carnavas: I don’t know, this disc is just so damn catchy to me. I keep listening to it over and over. “Lazy Eye” is the single, but the rest is just as good. I know they are from Cali and the sound of the lead singer sometimes reminds me of early Billy Corgan from the Pumpkins.
  • Shine On: The sophomore effort from a band better known for backing an iPod commercial — “Are You Gonna Be My Girl” from their first disc — than anything else. To me, just a good old fashioned rock band and this album is easily as good as their first.
  • The Alarmist: Ah, the latecomer to the list. Well, I wouldn’t feel comfortable without having a local band on my list, so it is good to be late. Dear Leader is one of the bands that formed following the break-up of local favorite, The Sheila Devine. The two singles so far, “Radar” and “Nightmare Alleys,” are both awesome. In fact, the second was what finally broke me down into picking this up. Ten bucks well spent and probably a call to spend more on the earlier discs. I have also always regretted owning only one TSD disc too, so maybe pick some of that up too…

I can list five more that just missed the cut:

  • Damone :: Out Here All Night: Another local band done good
  • Audioslave :: Revelations: Probably their best (and last) disc
  • Arctic Monkeys :: Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not: Already dropping a new disc this year
  • G.Love :: Lemonade: Faded on me after the Summer, but still a good one
  • Shiny Toy Guns :: We Are Pilots: Just picked this one up too and it is right good, just not good enough to make the list

And just because I want to rub it in, here are five that sucked real hard this year:

  • Red Hot Chili Peppers :: Stadium Arcadium: Nominated for awards, so that tells the story, right?
  • Live :: Songs from Black Mountain: Never again
  • Guster :: Ganging Up on the Sun: Someone should gang up on them and beat it into them that they aren’t the fun sounding band we all loved
  • BNL :: Barenaked Ladies Are Me: Ditto. Another disc — Barenaked Ladies Are Men (so, part 2?) — dropped this week and did not get my cash this time around. This disc sucked enough to push Thom Yorke off my list.
  • Less Than Jake :: In With the Out Crowd: I don’t think I have outgrown Ska, but I think these guys aren’t being true to themselves anymore. Probably need that record money, which is stupid because they should clean-up just playing shows.

No, I’m not putting Sam’s Town by The Killers on either list. It was disappointing, but it certainly didn’t suck. I guess that just goes to show how good Hot Fuss was/is.

I went ahead and put up a permanent page under Audio with the Top Ten list and it has links to iTunes. If I weren’t so lazy, I’d post some links for last.fm too. You can always go to my charts page and click on the bands to find some free listening.

Anyway, that’s about it. This year is already looking better than last year, so you’ll probably see more posts about music this year. No promises though.

Finally, what did you like or not like last year? Got any recommendations for me to check out?