For what it's worth, my top album this year will very-likely be Midlake's "The Trials Of Van Occupanter" followed closely by Guillemots "Through The Window Pane". Both of these albums are stunning and Guillemots were robbed at The Mercury Awards in the UK this year. Then there's a huge pile-on for the rest, which I was going to type out, but the list got too long...

Scott Walker, "The Drift". Definitely not for everybody, but it's made my year a bleaker and better place.

Runner-up: The Liars, "Drum's Not Dead". Nicely haunting.

There was new music this year?

Mudhoney's Under A Billion Suns and Danielson's Ships are definitely in my top few favorite albums of the year. There's been a lot of good stuff, though... the year-end favorites list should be easy to do this year.

jon: yeah, the Dictators jammed on a cover of 'Johnny B. Good' during a rehearsal.

Ah, cool. I'm a big Divine Comedy fan and Neil Hannon (who is The Divine Comedy) worships Scott Walker. I might have to check it out.

jonmc: I have an iTunes playlist that pulls in anything with a release date of 2006. So far there's 1741 tracks in it.
/(I have a problem with buying too many CDs)

I actually really liked "All The RoadRunning" by Emmy Lou Harris and Mark Knopfler. I love his voice, and the two of them together are excellant.

jon: yeah, the Dictators jammed on a cover of 'Johnny B. Good' during a rehearsal.

Heh. I know there's new music but there hasn't been new my-kind-of-music that hasn't sounded kind of ersatz since say, the Dirtbombs or the Bell Rays. (and there's an 'e' at the end of 'Johnny B. Goode.')

*is led off to glue factory*

Glad for this thread: I think the only new album I bought this year was The Howling Hex's Nightclub Version of the Eternal. I'm a wee bit out of touch.

There was loads of great music this year. My favourites:

Curse Your Little Heart / Devotchka
Bring Me The Workhorse / My Brightest Diamond
Gulag Orkestar / Beirut
Dreaming Through Noise / Vienna Teng

Ah, the Beirut album. It was okay (IMHO), not really my kind of thing - I think I got suckered in by Pitchfork. Vienna Teng has appeared in my Amazon recommendations for a while now, so I've just taken the plunge and ordered it. That and the latest Cat Power, Neal Casal and the He Poos Clouds albums. Also currently on order: The Decemberists's "The Crane Wife" (on import as I got fed up of their UK label delaying the release 3 times in 3 weeks), "I Trust You To Kill Me" by Rocco Deluca & The Burden and "The Magnificent Defeat" by Jay (ex-Wilco) Bennett.

Other ones likely to be among my favorites of the year:

Mogwai Mr. Beast
The Knife Silent Shout
The Cardigans Super Extra Gravity
Tilly and the Wall Bottoms of Barrels
Placebo Meds
Lambchop Damaged
The Eels Blinking Lights and Other Revelations

The Cardigans wasn't bad, although I think they'll be hard pushed to ever beat Long Gone Before Daylight. I know it put the brakes on their career as it wasn't what anyone was expecting, but LGBD is an absolutely, stunningly elegiac album. The Placebo album was also, to my relief, great, and the Mogwai was excellent, although not quite as good as Happy Songs... The Eels, though, came out in 2005 (in the UK at least). They did release Live At Town Hall in 2006. Not heard of Tilly And The Wall - time to investigate, me-thinks.

I'm going to stop interrupting this thread now as I've got red wine to drink. Happy Saturday night to y'all :)

My top three in no particular order:

The Futureheads - News And Tributes

VETO - There's A Beat In All Machines

A Whisper In The Noise - As The Bluebird Sings

My favourite of the year so far is "A Blessing and a Curse" by the Drive-By Truckers. Great band.

I'm looking foward to hear Tom Wait's set comming next month, in ways it could be reissue I guess, but it a bunch of songs from different projects collected togeather. There might be a new Low album by the end of the year, it's all recorded, and mostly ready exept for art and packaging (more, exciting, news about the art part in a few weeks)

Kinda liked
Allen Sparhawk - Solo Guitar
T-Bone Burnett - True False Identity
Barry Admson - Stranger on The Sofa

then there is a bunch of stuff I like but wouldn't put it on a best of list.

Holy crap, I AM OLD. I've heard of about three of these groups.

I also mostly listen to crappy pop, good older music, comedy, or country and bluegrass. But yeah, this thread makes me feel OLD.

And out of the stuff I've gotten this year I can't come up with a list of "the best" because uh I'm not sure anything I've purchased qualifies.

I wouldn't presume to make a Best Of list, because I didn't really listen to that much new music this year, but my top three favorite 2006 releases would be

The Eraser - Thom Yorke
Show Your Bones - Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Bitter Tea - Fiery Furnaces

At least, those are the three albums that are still getting played. Typical, eh?

I think the only new record I got this year that I listen to with any regularity is Oneida's "Happy New Year," and I don't think it counts.

Even though this song has made its way into, like, half the playlists I've made since I got the CD.

omigod! Can i get a Hell Yeah for any of the following, kidlets?:

Stadium Arcadium - Red Hot Chili Peppers
Okonokos - DOUBLE LIVE disc from My Morning Jacket
Living with War - Neil Young
Sera Cahoone - Sera Cahoone
Pearl Jam - Pearl Jam

Sure, most of these are highly visible artists, but they also fucking kick massive ass.

I have spoken.

I don't mean to sound like an elitist prick or anything, but the songs that I've heard from that new Chili Peppers record are some of the worst songs I've ever heard from them, and that's saying a lot when you're talking about the band that recorded "Under The Bridge."

I meant to mention Living With War and The Eraser, too... both are excellent.

I'm sure I'm forgetting something that I'm madly in love with, but here are a few things I've enjoyed.

Mixtapes, etc:
DJ Benzi's Clipse mixtape, We Got the Remix
Highlight: Nick Catchdubs mixes 'Re-Up Anthem' with the 'Impeach the President' break and Eric Clapton's 'Cocaine.' Also, the line 'I keep movin 'em jumbos while I watch for Columbos,' and the various The Wire references.
DJ Platurn and DJ Enki - Blendapella
Highlight: Hmm. It's almost all bangers, really. Outkast's 'So Fresh So Clean' acappella, sounding like it's slowed down slightly, over Biz Markie's 'Just a Friend' beat, is especially nice, though.
DJ Monkone and DJ Oneman - the two 1988-vs-1991 hip-hop sets from Jay Smooth's Underground Railroad
Highlight: After two shows, 1988 and 1991 are only separated by one vote. They decide to play one record apiece to represent 1988 and 1991. Monkone, representing 1988, picks Big Daddy Kane's 'Ain't No Half Steppin'.' Oneman, repping 1991, plays the Pete Rock remix of Public Enemy's 'Shut 'Em Down.'

New material:
Cut Chemist - The Audience's Listening
Georgia Anne Muldrow - Fragments of an Earth
Ghostface - Fishscale
Highlights: Probably the Wu-Tang track, '9 Milli Bros.,' just for nostalgia's sake.
Nomo - New Tones
Highlight: The sort-of title track, Nu Tones. Opens with djimbe (especially nice after the Congotronics albums), then adds instruments one by one like an Africa-via-Ann-Arbor version of one of those recipe-for-soul songs.
Nightmares on Wax - In a Space Outta Sound
NoW albums are always good.
William Parker - Long Hidden: The Olmec Series
Really mellow for Parker, but very nice.
Matisyahu - Youth Dub
I don't like Matisyahu, but it's still a Bill Laswell dub album.
Five Deez - Kommunicator Instrumentals
I don't like the Five Deez MCs nearly as much as I do Fat Jon's downtempo-ish production. Luckily, they've released instrumental versions of all their albums.
DJ Shadow - The Outsider
This isn't transcendent, but I don't dislike it nearly as much as those stereotypical Endtroducing heads.

Reissues/Compilations:
those Monk/Coltrane Riverside discs
Sitar Beat: Indian Heavy Funk, vol. 1
Walt Dickerson - Vibes in Motion
the Oxford American 2006 music issue album

Top album so far without question: The Mountain Goats - Get Lonely

Currently Making A Push For End-Of-Year-List Consideration:
The Decemberists - The Crane Wife
Yo La Tengo - I Am Not Afraid Of You And I Will Beat Your Ass

Can't Go Without Mentioning:
Band of Horses - Everything All The Time
Belle and Sebastian - The Life Pursuit
Regina Spektor - Begin to Hope
TV on the Radio - Return to Cookie Mountain

Anticipating:
Damien Rice - 9
Isobel Campbell - Milk White Sheets
Joanna Newsom - Ys
Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin - Broom

Fuck. I swear to you, I'm not a hipster.

oh yeah! Damn near forget the Band of Horsies!

And Dersins, you're so wrong in my so humble opinion. Dani California is an awesome rock song and the video kicks complete ass.

For me (no order; some is older but I heard this year):

Sandro Perri plays Polmo Polpo
Liars' Drums Not Dead
Absolutely everything by Herman Dune + Yayahoni's ukulele covers (got everything this year) - Dune video for not on top; sample Yayahoni
Langhorne Slim's stuff
Steve Koven Trio's Resurgence (sample track)
Nina Nastasia's On Leaving
Abner Jay's One Man Band
Heartless Bastards' All This Time (and Stairs and Elevators)
Paul Burch's East to West
Girl Talk's Night Ripper
Brightblack Morning Light's self titled record
Why's Elephant Eyelash (easily the album I spun most this year)
Scott Walker's The Drift
Thee More Shallows' Monkey VS. Shark
Colleen's The Golden Morning Breaks
Animal Collective's Grass
Angels of Light's Everything is Good Here / Please Come Home (I played the hell out of Kosinski)
Pink Mountaintops Axos of Evol
Man Man's The Man in a Blue Turban with a Face
Jana Hunter's Black Unstaring Heirs of Doom
Darondo's Let My People Go
Gas' Zauberberg

I just bought the new Bonnie Billy and Decemberists but haven't really listened much yet.

Best concerts I saw this year:

Masada
Smog
The Pink Mountaintops + The Black Angels
The Bellrays

Roots and Crowns by Califone just came out this past week and it's just brilliant -- gorgeous, evocative, rustic electronic Americana. They're on tour right now, and so I will bossily order everyone who thinks they have good taste in music to go see them. (In the meantime, check out Spider's House.)

Okay, as people are posting long lists, this is my "I really enjoy these albums" (some of these are very new but are already sounding great, some came out elsewhere in 2005 but in the UK in 2006, some aren't out in the UK at all):

Afterhours - Ballads For Little Hyenas
Alexi Murdoch - Time Without Consequence
Amy Millan - Honey From The Tombs
Archie Bronson Outfit - Derdang Derdang
Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I Am...
Badly Drawn Boy - Born In The UK
Band Of Horses - Everything All The Time
Be Your Own Pet - Epon
Ben Kweller - Epon
Black Keys - Magic Potion
Bob Dylan - Modern Times
Cara Dillon - After The Morning
Chantal Kreviazuk - Ghost Stories
Cinderpop - Their Skies Are Beautiful
Clogs - Latern
The Concretes - In Colour
Cortney Tidwell - Don't Let Stars Keep Us Tangled Up
The Dears - Gang Of Losers
The Devastations - Coal
Divine Comedy - Victory For The Comic Muse
Dixie Chicks - Taking The Long Way
Duels - Bright Lights And What I Should Have Learned
Ed Harcourt - The Beautiful Lie
El Perro Del Mar - Epon
Engerica - There Are No Happy Endings
The Feeling - Twelve Stops Then Home
Fionn Regan - The End Of History
Giant Drag - Hearts And Unicorns
Glen Hansard - The Swell Season
Guillemots - Through The Window Pane
The Hazey Janes - Hotel Radio
Isobell Campbell+Mark Lanegan - Ballad Of The Broken Seas
Jeniferever - Choose A Bright Morning
Karine Polwart - Scribbbled In Chalk
The Little Willies - Epon
M Ward - Post-War
Mastodon - Blood Mountain
Matt Harding - Epon
Matthew Sweet+Susanna Hoffs - Under The Covers Vol.1
Maximilian Hecker - I'll Be A Virgin, I'll Be A Mountain
Micah P Hinson - And The Opera Circuit
Midlake - The Trials Of Van Occupanther
Mindy Smith - Long Island Shores
Mogwai - Mr Beast
My Morning Jacket - Okonokos
Neko Case - Fox Confessor Brings The Flood
Paul Simon - Surprise
Pearl Jam - Epon
Peeping Tom - Epon
Pete Yorn - Nightcrawler
Peter Bradley Adams - Gather Up
The Pipettes - We Are The Pipettes
Placebo - Meds
Scissor Sisters - Ta-Dah!
Scott Matthews - Perfect Stranger
Sean Watkins - Blinders On
Secret Machines - 10 Silver Drops
Seth Lakeman - Freedom Fields
The Silent Type - Of Writing/Of Violence
Snow Patrol - Eyes Open
Sol Seppy - The Bells Of 1 2
Sparklehorse - Dreamt For Light Years In...
Stephen Fearing - Yellow Jacket
Teitur - Stay Under The Stars
Therapy? - One Cure Fits All
Thom Yorke - Eraser
Tom Petty - Highway Companion
Tool - 10,000 Days
Two Gallants - What The Toll Tells
The Veils - Nux Vomica
Viva Voce - Get Yr Blood Sucked Out
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Show Your Bones
Youth Group - Casino Twilight Dogs

The "I still can't make my mind up" list includes The Twilight Singers, Christina Aguileria, Keane, Beth Orton, Butch Walker, Centro-Matic, The Czars, Essex Green, Iron Maiden and a few more.

The only thing I'm *really* looking forward to is the Tom Waits 3 disc box set. Hopefully that'll be as awesome as I'm gearing myself up for it to be. Oh, and the Damien Rice.

Roots and Crowns by Califone

I've bought every one of their albums, including this one, and I like them when I've bought them but I rarely return to them. It's very odd. I saw them play once years and years ago and they put on a terrific show. For the life of me I can't remember who they opened for, though, which means Califone must have mopped the stage with them.

I like them when I've bought them but I rarely return to them.

I've got some albums/bands where I feel similarly -- like 'em, but never think of listening to 'em (Sonic Youth, for example, and I just can't explain it). I find Califone practically addictive. Of all their records, I find that Roomsound is the one I can pretty much listen to on an endless loop -- it's like it achieves some mystical balance between catchy, droney, and dischordant. Over the past year, I've had to make the effort not to listen to it all the time, lest I eventually ruin it for myself (as I've done with a few other records over the years).

For the life of me I can't remember who they opened for, though, which means Califone must have mopped the stage with them.

Was it Modest Mouse? Or the Sea and Cake? They've worked (and toured) with both.

TheDonF: The Divine Comedy also had a new album out this year, titled Victory For The Comic Muse (which, I think, is a reference to his/their first album, Fanfare For The Comic Muse, which has again appeared in the official discography).

I don't listen to music as much as some other people here seem to, and most of the stuff I listen to is just old stuff I've only lately (re-)discovered. Of the new (ie 2006) albums I've listened to, I'd say that Scott Walkers The Drift (that's already been mentioned in this thread) and Belle & Sebastian's The Life Pursuit are probably the most memorable.

Cheers Daniel - I'd never heard of that first album. I've got Liberation and every album after that (apart from the best of, which I can never get cheap enough to justify getting it for the 2 new tracks). I wonder if it'll ever be available - it's not even as a download at the moment.

You know, it mighta been Modest Mouse, scody, but I don't think so, though it was the same venue I saw MM play the first time so perhaps. MM were a terrific live band (haven't seen them in years so can't speak for them currently) though. I saw The Shins open for them once, too, which was nice.

I've never seen the Sea and Cake play, though I've seen Prewitt and Prekop play separately. Always been more of a Prewitt fan than any of the bands he's played in.

Best concerts I saw this year: The Bellrays

This is agree with. They even (ever-so-slightly) beat out my beloved Dictators.