Top 10 Albums 2006
The choices in these lists are in no particular order.


Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not
Arctic Monkeys
Believe the hype.

Suburban Songbook
Bob Evans
Joyous, optimistic and so uncool that it is impossibly brilliant.

Convicts
You Am I
The greatest band in the land deliver their best work in years.

Gravity Won’t Get You High
The Grates
What an incredible debut, fun and feisty, can't wait to hear what comes next.

Pocket Revolution
dEUS
Belgium’s finest never cease to amaze me.

Return To Cookie Mountain
TV On The Radio pictured
Wow!

How Does It End
Tim Steward
A long time coming but definitely worth the wait, grossly underrated.

The Lemonheads
Not their best work but still good enough to make the top 10.

What The Sea Wants The Sea Will Have
Sarah Blasko
Fearless and brilliant sophomore release from Newtown's favorite daughter.

An Eye For A Brow A Tooth For A Pick
Ground Components
This is punk rock!
Graham Ashton
Dew Process Recordings


Return To Cookie Mountain
TV On The Radio
A brilliantly executed art-rock album with near-infinite listenability. Superbly layered vocals, tuneful experimentation and intelligent lyrics make it hard to beat.

The Warning
Hot Chip
Casio geek pop never sounded so good. Inspired, funny, and occasionally quite emotional, it’s not just some cutesy novelty record.

The Life Pursuit
Belle & Sebastian
A polished and commercially catchy effort by the sentimental favourites. The sheer pop energy of the record, and memories of their joyous live show, ensure this makes the ten.

Granddance
Dappled Cities Fly
From out of leftfield comes the most satisfying Australian art-pop record of the year. It’s what the Sleepy Jackson record could have been if Luke Steele hadn’t expended all his creative juices on sound rather than songs.

Skeleton
Figurines
A tightly constructed and criminally overlooked indie rock masterpiece from Denmark. Breakneck pacing and guitar hooks galore make Skeleton essential. It’s the sound of Modest Mouse riding a bullet train.

At The Controls
James Holden
The most well-modulated and constructed DJ mix album of the year. When Holden takes you on a ‘musical journey’, he really does. From ambient through leftfield electronica, via indie and melodic minimal electro, this double CD makes electronic music seem relevant again, in a year with little else other than a few good singles to be proud of.

Awoo
The Hidden Cameras
Joel Gibb has a talent for writing pop melody that seems borrowed from a higher power (proving that God does not hate gay songwriters). And he’s a formidable lyricist to match, lacing his singalong ditties with subversive social comments. Always brilliant.

Pieces Of People We Know
The Rapture
Everyone’s favourite post-punk disco team return with a smoother, sexier album, and it suits them. This is what ‘indie dance’ is meant to be in 2006, not the flipping Klaxons.

Someone To Drive You Home
The Long Blondes
Sass, smarts, and songs in spades. Not since Kenickie has a British pop band nailed the indie zeitgeist with such panache. If you’re under 25 and not singing and dancing to this in your bedroom, you’re missing out.

I Am Not Afraid Of You And I Will Beat Your Ass
Yo La Tengo
Where would the world be without Yo La Tengo? Probably still a mess, but at least it’s made more bearable when they put out a genre-hopping work of genius like this. They really do just get better with age.
Chris Harms
Rave Magazine


Return To Cookie Mountain
TV On The Radio
When you have a band that mixes so many disparate styles of music together so successfully, you have to give them props for creating something original. TV On The Radio is such a band. These lads represent the finest that the New York avant-garde has to offer.

Destroyer’s Rubies
Destroyer
Daniel Bejar is one of the new breed of Canadian rockers. Their incestuous attitude towards being in as many bands as possible and excelling in all of them is unique to that country’s music scene. Destroyer is his main band and to my mind, his most interesting.

The Crane Wife
The Decemberists
The state of Oregon in the United States was the first state in that conservative nation to decriminalize marijuana. After the mass exodus of hippies moved there in the seventies, a Bohemian scene was sure to follow. Bands like The Decemberists are a natural product of that scene.

Dreamt For Light Years In The Belly Of A Mountain
Sparklehorse
The album title sheds light on the music within, for trying to find a literal translation for the music of Mark Linkous and the revolving line-up of artists that make up the band Sparklehorse is a lesson in futility. Listening to this music is a surrealist trip worth taking.

Mr. Beast
Mogwai
A times grandiose and at other times quietly personal, the music of Mogwai is a post-rocket ship ride trough a galaxy of black holes and big bangs. The scope of their sound is vast.

You In Reverse
Built To Spill
Built To Spill’s leader Doug Martsch has the uncanny ability to write new material that has a wonderful sense of familiarity but in reality has never been heard before. On You In Reverse, he is in great form and for those that love guitar pop, look no further.

Blood Mountain
Mastodon
Is it prog-rock or is it metal? Who cares when the music these four lads from Atlanta Georgia produce help to define what can be done at the heavy end of the musical spectrum. Their music pops out of your speakers with a fresh fire regardless of the volume. 

Avatar
Comets On Fire
From their debut album on Jello Biafra’s label Alternative Tentacles in 1999 to their 2006 release Avatar, Comets On Fire have remained dedicated to pushing the boundaries of the art form known as rock music. With the new release they have also added an almost subdued sound to their lexicon of guitar army marches.

Songs From The Year Of Our Demise
Jon Auer
Jon Auer takes some time off from his nine-to-five job (co-leading the reformed Posies) to deliver a solo album that is rich with angelic harmonies and strong song writing. His voice has never sounded better and his song arrangement skills keep this wonderful instrument at the forefront.

Roots & Crowns
Califone
What started out as a solo project for Tim Rutili after the demise of his former band Red Red Meat has turned into an established band albeit one with an ever evolving line-up. This band of multi-instrumentalists make music that has to be heard to be believed.
Rob Hudson
modmove.com & The Independent


Fingertips And Mountaintops
Darren Hanlon
Hanlon is a genuine homegrown Aussie genius. Some of the ways he uses words on this disc put Booker award winners to shame. This one has everything. Hanlon deserves to be known worldwide, but will his humility ever allow that? Standouts: Elbows, Don't Bogart My Heart and The Ostracism Of Vinny Lalor

Show Your Bones
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Never considered myself a YYY fan until that set at Splendour. I think I spun this disc for a solid month or more afterwards.
Standouts: Dudley, Cheated Hearts and Phenomena

The Black Parade
My Chemical Romance
If you'd told me a year ago that an emo record would be in my top three of this year, I'd have told you to fuck off and cut your wrists. But I'll say it proud – this is one of the most entertaining records I've ever heard.
Standouts: Teenagers, Welcome To the Black Parade and I Don't Love You

Sam's Town
The Killers
Brandon Flowers' skills as a lyricist continue to rise – 'The stars are blazing like rebel diamonds cut out of the sun', fucking beautiful. This record conjures up images of a dusty desert shithole that you can't wait to breeze out of, but I don't mind spending time in The Killers' world.
Standouts: Read My Mind, When You Were Young and Bones

The Hard Road
Hilltop Hoods
And Australia agrees with me on this one, given the number of awards the Hoods got this year. Their star is rising, and I can't wait to see what they come up with next. Electrifying stuff.
Standouts: Circuit Breaker, What A Great Night and Stopping All Stations

Wolves
My Latest Novel
Wonderfully quirky, fiendishly inventive, this Glaswegian five-piece is a band I connected with deeply this year. Their songs are anything but ordinary. It's great to discover something a little bit different.
Standouts: The Reputation Of Ross Francis, The Job Mr Kurtz Done and Pretty In
A Panic
Howling Bells
I said Juanita Stein's voice was like a jar of honey flecked with shards of broken glass, and every time I listen to this record, I feel that ever more keenly. Standouts: Low Happening and Broken Bones

The Graduate
MC Lars
Who else do you know that raps Herman Melville and Edgar Allan Poe, and drops lyrics like 'monomaniac' and 'anti-transcendentalist'? Fuck, I love this guy. Lars is living proof that you don't have to be a cool kid to be… well, a cool kid. Standouts: Ahab, Space Game and The Dialogue

Make Love To The Judges With Your Eyes
Pony Up!
Nearly made the top ten on the strength of the title alone, but this debut full-length from the Canadian quartet won my heart and mind. Great set at the Valley Fiesta. Standouts: The Truth About Cats And Dogs (Is That They Die) and Possible Harm

Gravity Won't Get You High
The Grates
Everyone loves the Grates, don't they? This band has been like a bouncy, bubbly, friendly spectre looking over my shoulder all year. How could I not show them some love on this top ten? What a gig their first Tivoli date was… Standouts: Rock Boys, Science Is Golden and Sukkafish
Baz McAlister
Time Off Magazine


Don’t Let Stars Keep Us Tangled Up
Cortney Tidwell
Starburst guitars, late-night jazz and Nashville roots combine to create a truly intriguing Americana album.

The Trials Of Van Occupanther
Midlake
Texan indie mavericks conjure up the ghost of Tusk-era Fleetwood Mac and create their masterpiece.

I Am Not Afraid Of You And I Will Beat Your Ass
Yo La Tengo
Hoboken, New Jersey’s finest return with the genre-melding art rock album of the year!

Casino Twilight Dogs
Youth Group
Toby Martin’s heartfelt sigh of a voice leads these gorgeous, liquid guitar pop songs.

Espers II
Espers
Spooky, free-flowing pagan folk rock, equal parts beautiful and unsettling.

Ta Det Lugnt
Dungen
Swedish language prog/acid rock collides with Euro-folk, crisp pop and Keith Moon-esque drums. Awesome.

At War With The Mystics
The Flaming Lips
Didn’t have the seismic impact of its two predecessors, but Wayne Coyne’s space-rockers still gave us one of the year’s most gloriously trippy, atmospheric rock & roll albums.

Personality
The Sleepy Jackson
WA’s pop visionary Luke Steele creates his Pet Sounds.

Fox Confessor Brings The Flood
Neko Case
Dark, widescreen country-rock from one of the world’s great vocalists.

Everything All The Time
Band Of Horses
Beardy guitar pop at its most sweetly melancholic.
Matt Thrower
Rave Magazine & freelance journalist


Continuum
John Mayer
A bluesy record that represents authentic, heartfelt and quality pop. Touching on some political issues, but not slamming them in your face.

I’m Not Dead
Pink
A record full of anthems for strong women. It's a scrapbook of
everywhere she's been and everywhere she's going. Loads of attitude!

Loose
Nelly Furtado
This record progresses beautifully and really feels like a journey for
the listener. Say it Right is the stand out track for me, but Afraid is
great too.

Future Sex Love Sounds
Justin Timberlake
JT is the man. No two songs are the same on this album. What Goes Around will be a SMASH.

Skin And Bones
Foo Fighters
This record holds a personal connection for me as my first show at the Sydney Opera House was seeing this acoustic performance.

Shine On
Jet
Love these Aussie Rockers.

Stop The Clocks
Oasis
This represents so many different parts of my life. I grew up with this music.

How To Save A Life
The Fray
Dare I say that these boys may just be the ‘next big thing’.

Taking The Long Way
Dixie Chicks
More angsty music from strong women. These gals have moved past their
Country label and are making music that even rock fans will take note of with this album. A very sincere insight into the personal journey of the three women in the band.

Flyleaf
Love this record. I still feel like they are my own little secret. Lacy
Mosely sings with such screaming passion and I love the lyrics.
Wendy Tucker
Sony/BMG Music

Click here to check out our 2004 top ten gig lists