You know how they (by which I mean “my fellow feminazis”) say that the personal is political? Well, we (by which I mean “the writers of Superstarcastic“) believe that the musical is personal. Even though there are objective things we know we like in the music we listen to, we also know that it can be hard to pin down why what we like musically makes us so darn happy. Or fired-up. Or sad.

We are putting our list of end-of-the-year favorites out into the ether with the caveat that it’s subjective. Don’t get me wrong–each of us is, in his or her own right, a model of musical taste. However, rather than trying to come up with some arbitrary number (you know, the kind that’s divisible by five) of albums we can all agree on (it would be impossible), each of us came up with a short list of records that we really loved–some of which we share, most of which we don’t. More importantly: between us, we came up with 88 darlings–a kinder, gentler, rounder number than, say, 25, 50, or 100, and a palindrome to boot!

If you’re curious as to what we chose (and you should be!) our individual lists and comments are behind the jump, and, naturally, we want to hear yours. So, on with the show!

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Amber

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Amber says that in this photo, she’s “All lit up.” Her favorites of 2006:

• xiu xiu: the air force
• parenthetical girls: safe as houses
• mew: and the glass-handed kites
  
• squarepusher: hello everything
  
• mouse on mars: varcharz
  
• jarvis: jarvis
  
• the thermals: the body, the blood, the machine
  
• mogwai: mr. beast

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Christine

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Christine: “My friends and I believe that the best way to ring in the new year is to perform an interpretive dance based on David Bowie’s ‘Changes.’ Photo by Anne Peattie.” Christine’s faves:

1. Mates of State: Bring It Back (Barsuk)
   
2. The Twilight Singers: Powder
   Burns (One Little Indian) “This album translated into the best live show I’ve seen since moving to Boston.”
3. Evangelicals: So Gone (Misra) “They also win my award for best new act. And best use of silk flowers.”
4. Delays: You See Colours (Rough Trade)
   
5. The Evens: Get Evens (Dischord)
   
6. Silversun Pickups: Carnavas (Dangerbird)
   
7. The Essex Green: Cannibal Sea (Merge)
   
8. The Hold Steady: Boys and Girls In America (Vagrant)
   
9. Lloyd Cole: Antidepressant (One Little Indian)
   

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Dave

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Ed. note: The Commissar was out fighting capitalism and therefore not available for comment. However, he sends his regards to the proletariat.

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DJ

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DJ sez: “Best IfIHadAHiFi Moment of 2006: bassist MrAlarm throws his bass at my head, chipping my two front teeth and leaving me bloody and baffled as he storms off the stage. People thought we staged it. Nope.” DJ’s favorite albums of 2006:

• Melvins: (A) Senile Animal
• The Thermals: The Body, The Blood, The Machine “Indie-punk’s sexiest band.”
• the pAper chAse: Now You Are One of Us
• Mission of Burma: The Obliterati “Nancy Reagan’s Head” should be a finalist for Song Title of the Year.”
• Model/Actress: S/T
• Girl Talk: Night Ripper “Suddenly i understand why mash-ups are cool.”
• Peeping Tom: S/T
• The Hold Steady: Boys and Girls in America “Today’s music ain’t got the same soul…”

Other awards and honors conferred by DJ:

• DJ’s Annual “You Missed The Gravy Train, Dumbass” Award, 2006: Mclusky. “How in the holy hell did i not get around to hearing this band until this year? I blow. I seriously blow.”
• DJ’s Favorite Rediscovery of 2006: Arcwelder. “Their blistering set opening day 3 of the Touch and Go 25th Anniversary Block Party set the drizzle-soaked masses on fire.”
• DJ’s Best Live Set of 2006: (tie) KILLDOZER and Man… or Astroman? at Touch & Go 25. “Just… holy shit.”

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Joie

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Ed. note: This photo features both Joie and Zak. The latter has had plastic surgery that have greatly altered his appearance since the photo used for his profile was taken; his favorites follow later on in this article. The former’s year-end favorites are listed here:

• augie march: moo you bloody choir
• shearwater: palo santo
• two gallants: what the toll tells
• the mountain goats: get lonely
• islands: return to the sea
• neko case: fox confessor brings the flood
• the thermals: the body, the blood, the machine
• midlake: the trials of van occupanther
• mogwai: mr. beast
• tv on the radio: return to cookie mountain
• the hold steady: boys and girls in america
• the essex green: cannibal sea
• tom waits: orphans: brawlers, bawlers, and bastards

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Linda

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Linda relates: “In March I drove almost sixteen hours straight to get to Austin for SXSW. It took six cans of Red Bull (shudders) and only a few stops for fuel and food. The music made it worth all the effort, but it takes a long, long time after you leave Denver before you get to anyplace else that doesn’t look like a likely spot for aliens to visit… These are the 2006 releases I’ve employed the repeat button on, repeatedly, this past year.”

1. Porlolo: Storm and Season. “I have certainty that I will never ever tire of hearing this album. Certainty isn’t a regular visitor to my life.”
2. Neko Case: Fox Confessor Brings the Flood. “It has grown on me. Like bindweed choking out mainstream radio crabgrass.”
3. Paul K and the Weathermen: Panopticon. “This is an ambitious three disc project, all hand made covers.”
4. The Twilight Singers: Powder Burns. “This record’s pretty good without reminiscing.”
5. Bright Channel: Self Propelled. “Might be my favorite Denver band to hear…and that’s saying a lot.”
6. Head Like A Kite: Random Portraits of the Home Movie.
7. Cowboy Curse: Nod Up and Down (To the Simulcast Singing). “…proof that pop songs can be much more elaborately crafted than their easy to listen to exterior first lets on.”
8. Tarmints: Toil Like Devils.

Apparently, music appreciation gives Linda strange dreams about the Denver music scene: “So, I fell asleep at the keyboard at this point last night and had a nightmare. It was cold and dark. I appeared to be in a cave. There were dim lights in the background. I stepped outside and it was even colder and smoky so I stepped back inside and it smelled bad and…wait, this sounds a lot like hanging out in the Larimer Lounge…”

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Rob

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This year, Rob enjoyed:

1. Boris: Pink (Southern Lord) “… the nine extra freak-ee-out-ee minutes added to “Just Abandoned My-Self” gave me–in my mind, anyway–enough justification to count this edition as a new release for this year.”
2. Nina Nastasia: On Leaving (Fat Cat)
3. Joanna Newsom: Ys (Drag City)
4. Colossal Yes: Acapulco Roughs (Ba Da Bing) “Eleven luxuriantly orchestral piano ballads served up in the noble tradition of Plush’s Liam Hayes by… well, the drummer from psychedelic cowboys Comets on Fire! Go figure.”
5. Thom Yorke: The Eraser (Xl Recordings)
6. Bob Dylan: Modern Times (Columbia)
7. Sparks: Hello Young Lovers (In the Red Records)
8. Jarvis Cocker: Jarvis (Rough Trade) “On this, his first solo record, he explores and refines his usual themes—soured middle-class relationships, sex, alienation, state-of-the-world existential angst—with a more straightforward attack that emphasizes guitars over keyboards. This approach really pays off.”
9. Tom Waits: Orphans: Bawlers, Brawlers and Bastards (Anti)
10. The Flaming Lips: At War With the Mystics (Warner Bros/Wea)
11. The Essex Green: Cannibal Sea (Merge)
12. Sir Richard Bishop: Fingerin’ the Devil
    
13. Albert Hammond, Jr.: Yours to Keep (Rough Trade)
14. Mission of Burma: The Obliterati (Matador)
15. Wooden Wand and the Sky High Band: Second Attention (Kill Rock Stars)

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Sam

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Sam writes: “… I’ve attached a photo of me standing in a freezing cold park looking at my guitar case. ‘Cause, you know, that’s an everyday activity for me.” Here are his favorites of 2006:

1. Saint Etienne: Tales From Turnpike House (US Version) (Savoy Jazz, Jan. 24, 2006)
2. Mew: And the Glass Handed Kites (Sony, US release: Jul. 25, 2006)
3. Elijah Wyman: Why We Never Go Swimming, and Other Short Stories (Blue Duck, Mar. 18, 2006)
4. Jandek: Glasgow Monday (Corwood Industries, Jul. 24, 2006)
5. Kasey Chambers: Carnival (EMI, Aug. 22, 2006)
6. Beth Orton: Comfort of Strangers (Astralwerks, Feb. 7, 2006)
7. The Pipettes: We Are The Pipettes (Naive, UK Release: Jul. 17, 2006)
8. The Church: Uninvited, Like the Clouds (Cooking Vinyl, Apr. 18, 2006)
9. Yo La Tengo: I Am Not Afraid of You, and I Will Beat Your Ass (Matador, Sep. 12, 2006)
10. Neko Case: Fox Confessor Brings the Flood (Anti, Mar. 7, 2006)

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Scott

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Scott reveals: “I am morbidly drawn to professional critics’ This Year’s Best lists in the same way I would draw near to the test scores hanging on the professor’s door after the big exam - I am afraid that I’m not going to like what I see (or don’t see), but I have to know. Of course, I prefer to agree with any list I read, or better yet, write my own, so thus follows my 8 best of 2006, w/ one condition: The first four are my favorite albums that came out in 2006, and the next are the four best discs I discovered this year that I somehow missed when they came out. Naturally, the latter category is the broader of the two, and I had to omit a few that will wake me up in the middle of the night and ask me why they didn’t make the nut.” Scott’s best of 2006 (in alphabetical order):

• Belle & Sebastian: The Life Pursuit “It has become less hip to like Belle and Sebastian as their albums get better and better.”
  
• Bob Dylan: Modern Times “If favorite of the year can be gauged by the number of times an album was played, this one wins hands down.
• The Hoyle Brothers: One More Draw
• Midlake: The Trials of Van Occupanther

Scott’s best of discovered in 2006:

• The Byrds: Sweetheart of the Rodeo
• Goldfrapp: Felt Mountain
• Old Crow Medicine Show: O.C.M.S.
• Tom Waits: Blood Money

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Tony

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Tony dug:

1. Candy Bars: On Cutting Ti-Gers in Half and Understanding Narravation
2. Ghostigital: In Cod We Trust
   
3. Helvetia: The Clever North Wind
   
4. The Elected: Sun, Sun, Sun
5. Yo La Tengo: I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass
6. The Hold Steady: Boys and Girls in America
7. Snowman: S/T
8. Built to Spill: You In Reverse
9. Swan Lake: Beast Moans
10. The Nice Boys: S/T
11. Sonic Youth: Rather Ripped
12. The Black Angels: Crossover
13. The Strokes: First Impressions of Earth
14. The Blood Brothers: Young Machetes
15. Bob Dylan: Modern Times

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Tyler

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Tyler liked:

• Favourite Sons: Down Beside Your Beauty
• Clearlake: Amber
• Fujiya & Miyagi: Transparent Things
• Jarvis Cocker: Jarvis
• Primal Scream: Riot City Blues
• Viva Voce: Get Yr Blood Sucked Out
• Various: CD86
• Ambulance: New English EP

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Zak

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An editorial mind-meld (they’re AWESOME, you should try it sometime) reveals that Zak says: “Rather than e-mailing my favorites, I am transmitting them telepathically. Ready? OKAY!” There are only three of them, but it’s clear that each of them occupies a special place in his heart:

• Babyshambles: Down in Albion “White-boy reggae is awesome, and Pete Doherty is gonna kick the drug habit in 2007… I just know it.”
• My Chemical Romance: Black Parade “Those little figurines are just so goshdarn CUTE! I’ve been spending much of my spare time trying to win auctions on them on eBay, but I keep getting sniped.”
• Keane: Under the Iron Sea “Tyler hates Tom so I have to keep my obsession on the down-low… oh shit… I think the telepathic transmission just picked this one up!”

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Well, that about wraps it up. As Scott writes, “Looking back on this list, 2006 was a damn fine year. Happy New Year to all, and here’s looking forward to the retrospectives from the other ssc writers that will doubtless inspire me to spend my January weekends in esoteric record stores.” We at Superstarcastic wish all of our readers a 2007 that’s glorious, dazzling, and, of course, chock-full of aural pleasure.

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