Though no album emerged as an irrefutable No. 1, 2006 was a fantastic year for pop music. Hip-hop did well (T.I., Lupe Fiasco, Rhymefest), as did experimental music (Grizzly Bear, Scott Walker), electronica (Drop the Lime) and good ol' fashioned indie rock (The Hold Steady, Camera Obscura), but none of these admirable efforts could crack the top 10. The Daily calls 'em as they saw 'em:
1. M. Ward, "Post-War": For the second year in a row, the Daily's favorite album is from a singer-songwriter. But whereas Sufjan Stevens won in part for his stunning ambition and dense musical palette last year, "Post-War" is a classic because of Ward's humility. There's no horn section or gimmicky theme here - there's just music: little more than a man, his guitar, his pen and his voice, and never are these not enough. Never mind the virtuosic guitar playing or beautifully tender songwriting; these are the gorgeous sounds of simplicity.
2. Ratatat, "Classics": It's hard to think that only two guys could produce such huge melodies and rocking guitar hooks. Even harder to believe is that something so indebted to arena rock would have a following of indie-snob hipsters, let alone a following under the age of 40. Perhaps hardest to believe about Ratatat's sophomore album is that, by perfecting their guitar/electronics blend, the duo have managed to get the pretentious (and pretty much everyone else) to dance to this stuff.
3. Neko Case, "Fox Confessor Brings the Flood": Recent pop music can't really claim any truly great vocal albums, but that's basically what this is. Yes, her band, comprising members of Calexico, The Sadies and The Band, as well as Howe Gelb, conjures up some of the year's most organically moody music, and yes, Case's own dense production is impressive, but ultimately, hers is one of the most remarkable voices in popular music. Rich, elegant and emotive, hearing Neko Case sing is well worth the price of admission. 4. Ghostface Killah, "Fishscale": GFK has been generally untouchable since the 2000's "Supreme Clientele," but "Fishscale" should make the emcee a legitimate legend. Among others, Just Blaze, MF Doom and the late J Dilla are sharp with the beats, and GFK doesn't waste one note, completely killing every single track with a coke rap narrative as dexterously unique as it is cogent. His application to the American music canon need only include the lyrics to opener "Shakey Dog," and his position should be secure.
5. Liars, "Drum's Not Dead": As is true with any great experimental album, the real test for Liars' third album isn't for this generation of listeners, but the next. Whether their dark, cerebral avant-rock really does foreshadow the direction music is headed won't be known for some years, but with a tribal, near-ecstatic energy as irresistible as "Drum"'s, my money's on an emphatic "YES." 6. Clipse, "Hell Hath No Fury": After years of legal finagling and label-related nonsense repeatedly delaying this release, Pusha T and Malice finally have proven that, in fact, they are as incredible as their 2002 debut. In one of the most technically refined and sonically complex gangster rap albums of the decade, the brothers Thornton spit dazzling wit, head-shaking wordplay, and disturbing confessions all in the same velvety flow, concocting street personas too vivid to be real but too menacing to be challenged. 7. Asobi Seksu, "Citrus": Though scientific studies find that the occurrence of synesthesia, a neurological condition in which the brain conflates bodily senses, is pretty rare, Brooklyn's Asobi Seksu has significantly complicated that estimate. With "Citrus"' rapturous melodies, enveloping guitar fuzz, and Yuki Chikudate's bilingual, angelic-register vocals, the newgazer quartet has released an album that sonically embodies neon orange and green.
8. TV on the Radio, "Return to Cookie Mountain": No one thought barbershop music had the potential to be a shadowy, sinister form of expression until TVOTR's 2003 "Young Liars" EP made it so. Still, few thought that the now-trio's sophomore album would be this dark. Utility man/producer David Andrew Sitek forges soundscapes foreboding enough to frighten on their own and cavernous enough for Tunde Adebimpe's singularly beautiful yelp to spread disturbing havoc throughout the mix.
9. Girl Talk, "Night Ripper": Often, being a "mash-up" artist essentially means being an amateur musician, one with a computer, a basic understanding of mixing software and not enough free time to devote to original compositions. Nonetheless, though inherently derivative, listening to Sigur Ros mixed with Twista can be an exciting listen, if only for the amusing irony. On his second full-length, Pittsburgh mash-up artist Greg Gillis transcends the amateurism and irony, offering a fluid, law-flaunting mix of popular music, feverishly cramming nearly 200 uncleared samples from Nirvana to Notorious B.I.G. to Mariah Carey to you-name-it into one high-energy encyclopedia. 10. Boris, "Pink": It's not every day you find a pummeling, sludge metal album that you want to listen to when you aren't feeling homicidal, but on their seventh full-length, Japanese doom trio Boris have done just that. Released in Japan in 2005 but a year later in the United States, "Pink" has all the head-hunting ferocity of the band's past, but the conventional structures and, perplexingly, melodies of classic rock'n'roll. The combination is both battering and head-nodding.
