previously:
Favorite Albums of 2006 #11-15
Favorite Albums of 2006 #16-30

#6 Casey Dienel – Wind-Up Canary

At this year’s CMJ I saw many bands and had many choices to make. Hands down, the absolute best decision I made all week was to walk out of the overrated The Knife show and head down to The Living Room to catch Casey Dienel’s set. Anyone who enjoys Regina Spektor, Ben Folds or any other pop-music playing pianist would do well to check out the quirky and catchy music of Casey Dienel. Her album, while centered around her piano and voice, employs a wide variety of instruments and musical styles. Casey writes, “I make songs, almost out of habit, about things dear to me.” This fact is instantly apparent when listening to her music which is as earnest and unpretentious as it gets.

The production on this album is rough, unpolished and works perfectly. It feels like you’ve stumbled in on a bunch of friends hanging out in rural Massachusetts with no intention on releasing the material (which is precisely what you’re hearing on this album). All the million-dollar studios and “artist development” budgets out there could learn a thing or two from this endearing album. Go listen to Doctor Monroe at her myspace page and just try to forget the chorus. It’s not possible.

#7 Oppenheimer – Oppenheimer

Oppenheimer were one of my favorite discoveries of 2006. Many people in New York became familiar with the duo from Belfast after they opened for Hot Chip at the South Street Seaport. I missed their set and though I heard that they put on a great show, I didn’t realize how up-my-alley they really were until hearing them for the first time during the CMJ festival.

You’ve probably noticed by now that I love bands who can combine traditional instruments with new technology. In the live setting Shaun plays a drumset and performs lead vocals while Rocky triggers samples and plays synthesizers and guitars. While Shaun’s vocals are soft and poppy, Rocky usually sings through a vocoder or uses lots of effects, adding to the acoustic/electric dichotomy. Listen to Saturday Looks Bad To Me on their myspace page for a great example.

Oppenheimer’s songs are catchy, fun, upbeat and in short, they know how to rock. With all the sampled percussion, they could relax and let the computers do most of the rhythmic work, but Shaun plays his drumset with a terrific energy that can be witnessed live and felt on the album. The synth sounds that Oppenheimer create are punchy, driving and crisp and their songs are perfectly crafted to make perfect use of the fat bass lines, biting leads and twinkling samples.

#8 The Submarines – Declare A New State

This album reminds me in many ways of one of my favorite albums of 2005, “Set Yourself On Fire” by Stars. The Submarines instrumentation is not as varied and the personnel are fewer in number, but the overall feel of the album and the subject matter are closely related. “Declare A New State” is an album that celebrates broken hearts.

Brighter Discontent makes no apologies for being a sappy break-up song, with lines like “all these things should make me happy to be alone again” or “a breaking heart in an empty apartment was the loudest sound I never heard”, yet the song is still full of hope and the music itself is uplifting. In one of the more interesting television/music pairings I’ve heard of, the song was used in the season finale of Nip/Tuck in which the cast spoke no dialogue but rather lip synched to the entire song – a true testament to a powerful song with well composed lyrics.

The Submarines are from Los Angeles and consist of only two members, John and Blake which makes them a sort of Mates of State meets Stars. They recently released an iTunes session and a very cool remix EP which are both available digitally.

#9 Asobi Seksu – Citrus

The only problem with this album is that tracks 3 and 4 threatened to render the rest of the record useless. I listened to “New Years” and “Thursday” so many times this year it’s a wonder I ever made it to the end of the album. Yet now, when iTunes is on random and a track from the second half of Citrus comes on it reminds me how strong the album truly is. Every song on here could be a favorite if those other two weren’t so incredible.

The My Bloody Valentine comparison surrounds shoegaze bands incessantly and is almost as lame as the Beatles comparison for a pop band or the Radiohead comparison for any band combining electronics and guitars. Many bands do in fact sound like a watered down version of MBV and I don’t think anyone will ever truly build on their sound, but Asobi Seksu doesn’t deserve to be grouped in with those hack bands. Yuki’s vocals are unique and memorable and Asobi Seksu’s sound is truly their own. The band is so close to escaping the shoegazer label and creating something new that it’s not hard to imagine some day soon any band with a lush sound and a female vocalist may be compared to Asobi Seksu.

#10 The Hold Steady – Boys and Girls in America

When my buddy and I went to see The Hold Steady at Warsaw way back in April they played a couple of songs that would be on the new album and we knew back then that it would be huge. The songs sounded great the very first time we ever heard them and this whole album reveals itself in the same way. This would probably top a “Best” Albums of 2006 list if that’s what this was. The album does a great job of capturing all of the energy of a Hold Steady show and is well produced. Out of all those highly acclaimed albums like Beirut, The Knife, TV On The Radio and Joanna Newsom – The Hold Steady album is easily my favorite and I believe it deserves all the praise that’s been heaped upon it. However…

I can’t freaking stand “Chillout Tent”. It practically ruins the album for me. I mean, that girl’s voice… if I were the dude in that story and I came to my senses only to hear that piercing noise, I’d O.D. again as soon as possible. It’s especially bad when she sings in unison with herself. And then the guy sings in harmony with himself… Good thing “Southtown Girls” is there to save the album.

I’m still a bigger fan of Separation Sunday, though it’s easy to see why the new album is so popular. In fact, it’s obvious and that’s part of the reason why I like the last album a little more. Separation Sunday took a little more effort to enjoy, but it is still a treat to listen to a year and a half later. This time around, Craig’s quotables just aren’t as creative, there aren’t a lot of awesome alliterations and the memorable lines are creeping closer and closer to cliché. The characters from Separation Sunday were unique and well-developed while the characters from Boys and Girls in America are just that, representative of Craig Finn’s vision of boys and girls in America. Or at least boys and girls in Minnesota. Who suck helium.

Still, this album is fantastic overall and The Hold Steady will go down as my second favorite live act of 2006 just behind ¡Forward, Russia!