previously:
Favorite Albums of 2006 #6-10
Favorite Albums of 2006 #11-15
Favorite Albums of 2006 #16-30

#1 Vitaminsforyou – The Legend of Bird’s Hill

Vitaminsforyou is Bryce Kushnier, a fixture in Canada’s experimental electronic and indie-rock scenes. This album mixes together a vast amount of ingredients to create a musical stew that is unlike anything else I’ve heard this year. This has been my most listened to album for the past half-year and has severly limited my desire to seek out and listen to any other new music.

The mellow nature of the album – especially the relaxed electro/acoustic beats – appeals to the same part of me that enjoys The Album Leaf and all those Morr label bands like The Notwist, Lali Puna and Ms. John Soda. The precise and meticulous editing of samples and the effects-laden production reminds me of Four Tet or The Books while the delicate balance of acoustic and electronic instruments is similar to that exhibited by groups like Zero 7 and Air. The hushed vocals and geocentric titles like “Welcome To Echo Valley, Saskatchewan” harkens back to my favorite recording of 2005, Sufjan Stevens’ “Illinois”. In addition, the well thought-out structure of the 73 minute album – with tracks ranging from 20 seconds to 8 minutes – makes this a rewarding listen, much like the aforementioned Sufjan Stevens or another 2005 favorite, Cloud Cult’s “Advice From The Happy Hippopotamus”. Most importantly, I thoroughly enjoy all of the individual sounds on this album. Every sample, instrument and vocal part has a pleasant and unique timbre and when they are combined, they provide an overall sound that ties together the whole album perfectly.

I found that the album is especially good for listening to while commuting on the subway. The variety and length ensures you won’t get bored or run out of music and in the busy, stress-filled city of New York, “The Legend of Bird’s Hill” never failed to transport me to a calmer place. Plus if you’re lucky enough to have a train rush into the station just as the beat drops during “So Long Pleasant Bay” I can almost guarantee you will get chills.

You can listen to a few tracks from the album at the Vitaminsforyou myspace page and you can purchase the album direct from the artist here.

#2 The Most Serene Republic – Phages

I don’t usually give EPs the same sort of critical attention that full-length albums typically demand, but this is an exceptional record and was a serious contender for the top spot on my list. At 33 minutes long, these 8 tracks make the most cohesive piece of musical art that I’ve listened to this year (my #7 album, by the way, has six more tracks and is only 2 minutes longer). The opening track would not have worked well anywhere else on the album and “Stay Ups” makes the perfect closer. Maybe an anxious, driving album isn’t for everyone, but I never got tired of listening to this album and it never stopped revealing new secrets to me.

From the opening piano melody – a C melodic minor scale – it is obvious that this is a band that can compose interesting and complex music. Many of the songs are in 5/4 or 7/4 time and the drumming that holds it all together feels like it’s about to implode at any second. There is more musical information – more notes, more chord changes, more snare hits and more instruments – in a single track than in the whole of many full-length albums. For as complicated as the music is, the form of the songs always triumphs over the content. The Most Serene Republic knows exactly when to move from section to section, when to bring in that blistering horn section and just when everything is about to get too dense they’ll drop the drums just long enough for you to catch your breath.

Of course, complex does not always equal emotive. But as The Most Serene Republic started singing “this town is dead from too much living/let’s make our ending from new beginnings” as I’m fighting my way through tourists and taxicabs in midtown Manhattan after returning from a relaxing trip to the Pacific Northwest… it was one of those magical musical moments that I’ll never forget.

Just as “The Legend of Bird’s Hill” became my subway commuting companion, I found that Phages was the absolute perfect album for the rare times I found myself behind the wheel of a car. Sure, it makes me want to drive at 90 miles per hour, but it was a lot of fun to try and make the 30 mile trip between my parent’s house and my brooklyn apartment before the album ended.

The album was originally a tour-only EP which explains why so many people have overlooked it. Then it became available though the Arts and Crafts website and now you can pick it up for only $6 at the iTunes store so there is no excuse to miss out on this mind-blowing album.

#3 ¡Forward, Russia! – Give Me A Wall

Remember when indie rock was an actual genre and not just an umbrella term for all things not on a major label? When the tastemakers weren’t drooling over the weirdest sounding band they could find (cough cough the knife cough)? When a band like …And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead could score a 10.0 on that all important music critic website?

What happened to bands with energy AND electric guitars? Sure, we’ve got interesting energetic bands like Man Man and O’Death but they’re not indie ROCK bands as far as I’m concerned. I love Sufjan Stevens as much as your average hipster, but he’s representative of the sleepy indie sound championed by the Garden State soundtrack that most people refer to as “indie rock”. These days there are more banjos and glockenspiels and melodicas and mandolins and kazoos in your average indie rock band than there are Stratocasters. Sometimes you just need to hear a loud band that rocks your fucking face off and makes you feel alive. Of course, if you’re like me, you also want your music to be inteligent and well composed. cough cough ¡Forward, Russia! cough.

One quality that can make or break an album for me is how well it can capture a band’s live energy. There are many albums I’ve stopped listening to after seeing a band perform the same material on stage. Thus, after seeing ¡Forward, Russia! for the first time I didn’t think there was any way their album would live up to their incredible live show. While very few albums are actually as much fun as seeing a live show, “Give Me A Wall” is one of those rare albums that allows me to recreate the live experience whenever I want.

The music is not easy to listen to if you can’t handle things like screaming and distortion and awesomeness, but if you can get past the fact that it’s loud you’ll discover a well-conceived album with running themes (like numbers and walls) and complex song structures that only a tight band full of talented musicians could pull off so effortlessly, both live and on record.

#4 Maritime – We, The Vehicles

The number one band on my “why didn’t I see them live before they broke up” list is the Dismemberment Plan (followed closely by Smashing Pumpkins) so I’ve been keeping tabs on what the ex-Plan members have been up to since disbanding. I’ve been especially interested what Eric Axelson has been up to as his bass playing was a major reason I fell in love with the Plan. Eric hooked up with Davey von Bohlen and Dan Didier from the The Promise Ring to form Maritime in 2003.

The first Maritime album “Glass Floor” took a long time to grow on me. It’s a good album, but it doesn’t have many hooks or stand-out tracks. However, “We, The Vehicles” became an instant favorite which would get stuck in my head for days on end. It’s the kind of album that reveals a new favorite track with every listen. The Japanese pressing of the album contains two extra tracks that fit perfectly with the rest of the album and make the whole record stronger. Before You Were Born is a short, fun song and Call Me Home makes a much better closing track than Protein and Poison.

I admit that the album may not be as interesting as other pop gems of 2006 like Peter, Bjorn and John or Belle and Sebastian, but this album strikes a chord with me. The simple four-piece band and the musical allusion to the power pop and the what-was-once-called-emo that I used to listen to (such as Pinkerton-era Weezer, early Jimmy Eat World and naturally, The Promise Ring) is a fond reminder of my formative college years and the beginning of many musical obsessions.

Eric Axelson left Maritime after recording this album, but he has since gotten together with ex-Dismemberment Plan drummer Joe Easley in the D.C.-based band Statehood which I’ll be keeping an eye and ear on.

#5 The Evening Episode – The Physicist Has Known Sin

The Evening Episode are a band from Sacramento, California who, like Vitaminsforyou, do a terrific job of combining traditional instrumentation with electronic beats and samples. But, while the Vitaminsforyou album is essentially a chilled-out and heavily produced dance record plus a few acoustic instruments, The Evening Episode’s album is more of an indie rock record with electronic beats holding the songs together. Though I also mentioned The Notwist in my Vitaminsforyou review, that comparison is much more relevent here. The layered and effects-laden female vocals also remind me quite a bit of Portishead.

Lead singer Teresa is at times sweet, at times sexy and at times a bit maniacal. Though they obviously enjoy what they are doing, they’re not the type of band that is up on stage just to lead a party. Of all the bands on this list they probably come closest in both sound and attitude to my favorite band, good ol’ Radiohead. They are both serious and sincere about their music, though a quick read though their infrequently updated website will erase the notion that they don’t know how to have fun. The two songs currently on their myspace page will give you a good idea of the album’s sound.