It’s almost June, and you know what that means: time for a
mid-year top-10 albums list.
Last year started off with a bang, with most of my favorite
albums of the year (Andrew Bird, Okkervil River, The National)
coming out early. This year has been more about consistency than
exceptional quality so far, with at least a few dozen albums
I’ve enjoyed enough to listen to more than once.
There are only a few discs that would have seriously competed
for a top position last year, but I’ve already reserved those
spots for Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke’s solo debut and the
Sufjan Stevens “Illinois” outtakes album anyway.
Without any further ado, here are my picks for the first half of
2006.
1. Destroyer, “Destroyer’s Rubies” ““ Far
and away my favorite of the year, “Rubies” merges Dan
Bejar’s theatrical wordplay with the best band he’s
ever played with. Destroyer may still sound like David Bowie, but
Bowie never dreamed of sounding like this.
2. The Fiery Furnaces, “Bitter Tea” ““ Is it
difficult? Indulgent? Full of backward singing? Yes, yes and yes,
and that’s what makes it great. Well, that and “Benton
Harbor Blues,” the most enchanting pop song in recent memory.
Matthew Friedberger knows how to write ’em, and when
he’s not goofing around, the songs deliver on all his
potential.
3. The Pipettes, “We Are the Pipettes” ““ This
isn’t even out yet, and even then you’ll only be able
to get it as a U.K. import. Which doesn’t make it any less
brilliant. The Pipettes are, essentially, the female Art Brut, as
snarky as they are sincere. “We Are the Pipettes”
blends girl-group singing (think The Supremes) with cheerleader
enthusiasm and a killer indie-pop backing band. Music blogs have
been all over this group, so head online to find some MP3s ““
and good luck prying “Pull Shapes” out of your head for
the rest of the summer.
4. Maritime, “We, the Vehicles” ““ Every year,
albums come out in foreign countries or on tiny labels and get
ignored by list-makers, who then disqualify the album from the next
year’s list when it actually gets a larger or domestic
release based on a technicality. Unfortunately, this happened to
Chad VanGaalen and New Buffalo (but not, strangely, to rapper
Cam’ron ““ nice work, Pitchfork Media) and neither
really got the praise they deserved at the end of 2005.
Maritime’s sophomore album is finally out in the U.S. now, so
rules aside, it’s one of the strongest discs of the year.
With a former member of The Dismemberment Plan and two from The
Promise Ring, the band plays punk-influenced indie with melodies
echoing The Cure and The Smiths.
5. Rose Melberg, “Cast Away the Clouds” ““
Melberg, a former member of sad jangle-pop duo The Softies, has
outdone herself with the quiet, mature folk of “Cast Away the
Clouds.” My weaknesses are major-seventh chords and
harmonies, and Melberg uses both generously.
6. Sondre Lerche and the Faces Down Quartet, “Duper
Sessions” ““ Lerche sounds a lot more comfortable
singing with a jazz group, as he does here, than on his previous
chamber pop efforts. The songs swing and groove, whether
they’re Elvis Costello covers or Lerche originals such as the
stunning “I Wanna Call it Love.”
7. Centro-matic, “Fort Recovery” ““
Centro-matic celebrates its 10th anniversary this year. Meanwhile,
I had no idea the band existed until I heard this record, which is
among the band’s best, with its devotion to the faded glory
of American rock and singer Will Johnson’s quaking voice.
8. Ghostface Killah, “Fishscale” ““ With a
little less filler, this album would be as invincible as
Ghostface’s alter ego, Iron Man. Either way, “The
Champ,” “Shakey Dog” and “Underwater”
blow away any hip-hop songs from the past couple years by people
not named Roland Pemberton.
9. Gnarls Barkley, “St. Elsewhere” ““
It’s weird, but it works. Cee-Lo and Danger Mouse combine
electro, gospel, hip-hop, rock and more into a surreal fun house
where necrophilia is awesome. Plus, they’re great live.
10. Band of Horses, “Everything All the Time”
““ Believe the hype. Anything that comes out on Sub Pop
Records is typically great, but when these guys are on their game
(as in, every song with electric guitars), they’re
glorious.
Beyond Yorke and Stevens’ upcoming summer releases, the
rest of the year has a lot of potential, with new records due from
The Shins, OutKast, and if we’re lucky, Ryan Adams and Wilco.
If not, though, there’s always Destroyer, and that’s
good enough for me.