Best of 2006 - part two (electric boogaloo)

You saw the first ten, now here are the final nine.
I know ten and ten would have made more sense, but when does that matter to me?

11: "You Can Make him Like You," The Hold Steady - A little more polished than prevous albums, but damn, what a great album. Rock with a piano in the background is infectious and a great hook on the chorus.

12: "Incinerate," Sonic Youth - Thurston Moore and company make one of their finest albums in a long time, but don't hold back on their hipness. Keeping the raw sound that made them famous, they smoothe it out a little with what could be mistaken for a radio hit.

13: "Joker and the Thief," Wolmother - The band the world couldn't get enough of is for real. . A solid guitar solo intro, a rockin' '70s metal feel and a synthesiser make me excited to see what these guys can come out with next. Think grungy Sabbath and you'll know what I mean.

14: "A Certain Romance," Arctic Monkeys - England's MySpace phenoms can rock, but they can keep you interested with playing a tiny touch of dance hall upstroked guita as well.

15. " Parade," Pretty Girls Make Graves - Two ladies front this band of five and floor me with simplistic drum beats and strong vocals. Lyrics are repetitive and easily get stuck in my head ... in a good way.

16. "Fraud in the 80s," Mates of State - Fuzz box recording sounds like it was done on an old four-track with a moog synthesizer playing through a torn speaker ... but this fuzziness is good and makes me feel like dancing - or thinking about dancing.

17. "Adlai Stevenson," Sufjan Stevens - This track apparenlty wasn't good enough for his 'Illinoise' album? He's nuts. Banjo, horns, drums, strings and woodwind instruments with Sufjan's soft breathy vocals keep this peppy track in constant rotation. Second best concert of the year for me too.

18. "Let's Impeach the President," Neil Young - Plenty of people thought it, others sung about it, but in a metaphorical way. Good ol' Mr. Young gets right to the point complete with presidential fan fare horns and a recording that was done in a matter of days.

19. "Thunder on the Mountain," Bob Dylan - A late entry, but a better opening track to an album I've not heard in a long time. Dylan is getting better with each album. A nice slow drawl and some solid boogie woogie playing. Dylan wonders where Alicia Keys should be, I'm wondering why I didn't see him on this last tour.


Anyone who would like a copy of these 19 tracks, please let me know. I gave one away today without a track listing, but I swear, I'll get it done soon.

-DJr-