Entry 35

My Favorite Records of 2006.

The Decemberists/ The Crane Wife
Jeremy Enigk/ World Waits
French Kicks/ Two Thousand
The Lemonheads/ The Lemonheads
Sean Lennon/ Friendly Fire
Midlake/ The Trails of Van Occupanther
Owen/ At Home With
Peter, Bjorn and John/ Writer's Block
The Rapture/ Pieces of the People We Love
The Stills/ Without Feathers

My 5 Runner Up Albums of 2006.

Bonnie "Prince" Billy/ The Letting Go
Camera Obscura/ Let's Get Out of This Country
Phoenix/ It's Never Been Like That
Thom Yorke/ The Eraser
The Twilight Singers/ Powder Burns

There's so many other records that I really enjoyed this year.

The Album Leaf/ Into the Blue Again
David Bazan/ Fewer Moving Parts
Beirut/ Gulag Orkestar
The Blow/ Paper Television
Grizzly Bear/ Yellow House
Hot Chip/ The Warning
Junior Boys/ So This is Goodbye
Mew/ And the Glass Handed Kites
Morrissey/ Ringleader of the Tormentors
Pete Yorn/ Nightcrawler
The Strokes/ First Impressions of Earth
Yeah Yeah Yeahs/ Show Your Bones

I think the album artwork really adds to my love of these records. When a record looks like it sounds, the creative talent has done their job. When a theme is carried out, or when a mood is conveyed, that helps as well. I believe At Home With Owen has some of my favorite artwork. I've always loved Carson Ellis' work with the Decemberists. The nominations for the 49th Annual Grammy Awards were revealed today, with Thom Yorke being nominated in the 'Best Alternative Album' category. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs were also nominated. It doesn't feel like that Strokes album came out almost a year ago on January 3rd. But they started the year off right. I remember seeing advertisements all over Japan while I was there last Christmas.