Top 10 CDs of 2006:

1. Margot and the Nuclear So & So's - The Dust Of Retreat

Ok, so this is a bit of cheating - this CD was actually released in 2005, and then rereleased in 2006. I debated whether I should include it on the list, but then decided to say screw it - it was my favorite CD of the year so it stays. It was also the first CD I wrote about in the New Tuesday's section of my blog, so it has a special place in my heart. And from the sounds of the new Margot material they have been playing at concerts, their next CD will top the list in 2007!

2. Tilly and the Wall - Bottoms of Barrells

I didn't think that Tilly and the Wall would be able to follow up Wild Like Children, but they did. The CD is wonderful - a perfect follow up to their debut. Bad Education of course stands out, but the whole CD is amazing. Other stand outs are Sing Songs Along and Coughing Colors. Along with that, Jamie and Derek got married and cutie Mason joined the group. A good year for Tilly!

3. Islands - Return to the Sea

From the ashes of the Unicorns comes Canada's Islands. Founded by the Unicorns Nick and J'aime (who has since left the band) Islands delivers a diverse indie pop album without a bad song. The opening track, Swans, is one of the best openers of the year. The CD ends with the depressingly beautiful hidden track Renaud. And all of the songs in between are close to perfect. Highlights are the hilariously titled "Don't Call Me Whitney, Bobby" the hip hop flavored "Where There's A Will There's a Whalebone" and my personal favorite "Volcanoes" a prophetic apocolyptic song introduced by Oscar - a man who was killed in 1936 by his brother and is now a demon who predicts the world will end in 2007.

4. The Decemberists - The Crane Wife

The Decemberists CD is less sea-worthy than their previous endeavours, but just as good. This time around they base their CD on the Japanese tale of the Crane Wife. The tale is basically of a poor man who fines an injured crane and nurses it to health and releases it. Then a woman appears at his door and they fall in love. She offers to make beautiful clothes to sell for money, as long as he promises never to enter the room she is sewing in. The clothes make a lot of money and the richer the man gets the more he demands of his wife - her health begins deteriorating. Eventually the man look into the room and weaving the clothes is the crane, plucking out her own feathers to make the fabric. She flies away. The CD is filled with this type of stories - from the star-crossed lovers modern Romeo and Juliet of O Valencia! to the creepy lullaby of The Shankhill Butchers, based on the actual Northern Ireland serial killers. These factors all lead The Crane Wife to be the most intelligent CD of the year, and the best complete package. The CD flows from song to song perfectly and get stuck in your head.

5. Regina Spektor - Begin To Hope

Most of the year I was so enthralled with the first single, "Fidelity" that I didn't give any consideration to the rest of the CD. Only in the last few months of 2007 (ahem...2006. Thanks Kramer, ya douche) did I delve into the rest of the CD, and since then it has been the only thing I've wanted to listen to. "On the Radio" has possibly my favorite line in any song of the year:

"This is how it works - you're young until you're not, you love until you don't, you try until you can't, you laugh until you cry, you cry until you laugh, and everyone must breath until their dying breath. This is how it works - you peer into yourself, you take the things you like, then try to love the things you took, and then you take that love you made and stick it into someone else's heart, pumping someone else's blood. Then walking arm in arm, you hope it don't get harmed, but even if it does you'll just do it all again."

I love the line so much I can even overlook the glaring pronoun agreement error! Samson might be the most wonderfully bittersweet love ballad of the year and just try to listen to "That Time" without wanting a box of tangerines. It has been a great winter CD, but I feel like it would be an equally great, if not better, summer CD.

6. We Are Scientists - With Love and Squalor

How can you not love an album which features the band members holding adorable kitties? This CD is just good fun, in the vain of the Killer's "Hot Fuss." In the words of the band, they play "rock music of the thoughtful, sometimes epic, often loud, vaguely danceable, implicitly humanist variety." And the lead singer's not too shabby looking.

7. Amy Millan - Honey From the Tombs

2006 was the year for some of my favorite women to release solo albums - and Amy's was my favorite (I prefered her CD to Jenny Lewis' although I have yet to hear Emily Haines' CD). Amy sounds like a young Loretta Lynn in this beautiful album. Baby I is the clear stand out of the CD, a heart-wrenching lament to lost love and moving on, but it is far from the only good song on the album. "Come Home Loaded Roadie" makes me want to tear my soul out and I can relate to "He Brings Out the Whiskey In Me" so much it makes me want to drown my sorrows at the bottom of a glass - which is saying a lot since I don't drink. The whole CD has a great sad bastard, get drunk and mope vibe to it.

8.Damien Rice - 9

This CD has been many years in the making, and while I don't like it as much as "O" it still is a relief to finally have it! The CD starts out perfectly with 9 Crimes - and I have to give a lot of credit to Damien for starting the CD with Lisa's beautiful singing. Many of the people who found their way to my blog this year got there by googling "Rootless Tree" and that track ended up on the album as one of its most passionate and stirring - with an intense chanting of "fuck you" that really hits home. But it is my favorite track on the album, "Dogs" which was also the biggest suprise - a radio ready pop song that I wasn't expecting. Lovely!

9.The Lovely Feathers - Hind Hind Legs

It took seeing this band live to make their CD click for me, but it clicked. Quirky and weird, like the band members, and just as energetic. Now this was the perfect summer CD. This CD narrowly beat out the Arctic Monkey's CD for this slot, but they are a good pair.

10. The Frames - The Cost/The Swell Season

Glen's main act, The Frames and his other project, the Swell Season, both released CDs this year - they even shared some songs. In both cases these are songs that are best suited to be heard live - as always with Glen. That said, it is great to have them on CD finally (after having heard many of them live). And as always with Glen's music, these songs will, without a doubt, grow on me through repeated listens.