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Email a friend» Home » The best albums of 2006
The best albums of 2006
This year proved that reports of the demise of the album are premature, with great long players aplenty. Here's TuneTribe's guide to the best albums to download from 2006...
1
£7.99
Skewed New York art pop helmed by frontman Alec Ounsworth's distinctive drawl. Jangly, noisy, melancholy and immediate. We clapped our hands and said "f**k yeah!"
3
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Melancholy electronic pop from the fast-rising Canadian duo which impressed bloggers and club kids alike. We were mightily taken with their live show too.
4
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Combining folk, soul and country, the debut album from New Yorker Joan Wasser delivered one spine-tinglingly beautiful moment after another.
5
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Raw, tuneful and unhinged... 2006 was all the better for the arrival of the second album from this underrated London threesome.
6
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Americana-infused classic rock which had us slightly paranoid we had been transported back to early '70s California. Wistful yet meaty, and as damn near perfect as any album can be.
7
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Equally informed by the pastoral heart of Olde England and Wiccan folklore, Tunng's world is one where horses are able to talk and your significant other can morph into a hare at any moment.
8
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The supreme talent that is Chan Marshall channelled the spirit of Memphis soul on her third studio album proper. Just the right side of slick and all the right sides of soulful.
9
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This US ensemble proved that a decent viral marketing campaign and a Pixies fascination needn't indicate a lack of creative substance. Killer art rock from across the pond.
11
£8.99
Hailing from Ashby-de-la-Zouch and looking like a trio of middle managers, The Young Knives offered up spiky pop which put most of the current crop of post-punk pretenders to shame.
13
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The groundbreaking Brooklyn art-punks returned with their superb second effort, a record which seemed to mine the exact midpoint between Prince and Television, and featured a cameo from none other than David Bowie.
15
£7.11
This Mercury-nominated serving of bleep-driven melancholy saw the Radiohead frontman demonstrate that leaving him alone with his laptop isn't necessarily a bad thing.
16
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Jack White and Brendan Benson joined forces to deliver an accomplished, immediate collection of '70s-influenced rock.
17
It's Good To Get High With The Wife
£8.90
Groove Armada's Tom Findlay and Tim Hutton blended disco, funk, house, R&B and just about everything else on their genre-mashing debut. Our booties did shake.
19
Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not
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Mercury-winning debut from the year's first bona fide sensations. Failing to pull, getting a kebab and bunking a cab had never been imbued with such romance and poignancy.
20
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The Paris-based trio displayed more of their Argentinean tango roots on this, their second effort, delighting all and sundry in the process.
22
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Last year our favourite hip-hop album was by Dangerdoom - this year, it is by the talented Swede otherwise known as Red Astaire.
24
£8.99
Accomplished Bacharach-inspired songwriting from the ex-pat Aussie. An album which took an eternity to complete but was well worth the wait.
25
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This collection of avant-garde classical reworkings of White Stripes songs proved the versatility of Jack White's songwriting. A truly compelling listen.
26
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This brilliant debut set from the lightning-fast Haringey rapper provided British hip-hop with some much-needed humour and self-parody.
28
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Ex-Beta Band leader Steve Mason showed he's lost none of his songwriting form with this arresting collection of politicised psychedelia with beats.
30
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The gravel-voiced hermit made a return in 2006 with an impressive collection which had the sycophants climbing the walls and the rest of the world nodding in hearty appreciation.
32
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Ex-plumber Kurt Wagner's alt.country collective returned in 2006 with an album full of personal songs which documented Wagner's ups and downs. Plumbing's loss continued to be music's gain.
33
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An accomplished return to musical climes for the Jackson-baiting ex-Pulp leader. 'Jarvis' was a confident, literate collection which reminded many of the scope of Cocker's maverick talent.
34
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The Stockholm duo laid down another a sweet Caribbean-tinged medley of 21st Century jazz and calypso vibes.
35
Mr Scruff's Big Chill Classics
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Featuring jazz rarities from Fela Kuti, Grady Tate and Johnny Hammond, this compilation from the Manc DJ perfectly evoked Big Chill Sunday afternoons.
36
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Deliciously intimate toy box pop from an Anglo-German duo brimming with mischievous invention. Catchy as hell too.
37
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This collection of sexy electro from the acclaimed Montreal producer had us frugging away at the all-night disco centre until the early hours.
38
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Literate, lyrical and noisier than a sack full of chainsaws, this Sheffield trio showed that razor-sharp storytelling abilities and a fully functional distortion pedal is a formidable combination indeed.
39
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Devendra Banhart's mate Andy Cabic put together a sumptuous collection of swampy, bluesy folk which massaged us in all the right places.
41
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Toronto's finest stepped up with this self-titled collection which was sumptuous, uncategorisable and unhinged in equal parts. A memorable addition to the North American indie rock canon.
42
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This is what most Britpop should have sounded like. Kitchen sink drama, small town dissatisfaction, a healthy dose of Smithsian ennui and - in Kate Jackson - one of the most swoonsome frontwomen of recent years.
44
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A quirky hip-hop/soul extravaganza which was probably the strangest album the duo have made to date.
45
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Dan Arborise is the heir the English folk throne previously shared by Nick Drake and John Martyn, a fact which was emphatically proven by his debut album.
46
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The Strokes guitarist stepped into the limelight in 2006 with this solo debut which featured contributions from Sean Lennon, Ben Kweller and Hammond's fellow Stroke Julian Casablancas.
47
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Sassy, eccentric electro pop with enough diverting bleeps and equine references to satiate even the most unconventional of appetites.
48
£8.99
Rhymingly-titled offering from the US rock behemoths, replete with stadium-shattering choruses and the obligatory single about their home state ('Dani California').
50
DJ Spooky Presents Riddim Come Forward
£9.99
A wonderfully crazy and stoned journey through dub, roots and the Trojan catalogue. 72 tracks all in.
51
£8.90
Incisive, penetrating stuff from the veteran songwriter. Young hadn't sounded this passionate for a long time.
52
£7.99
The Mancunian quartet stepped up with this well-rounded, richly produced debut which drew upon a wide array of folk, indie, dance and dub influences.
53
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Never was a return so welcomed as that of Green Gartside, and this long-awaited collection proved he's lost none of his originality and panache.
54
£7.99
Natasha Khan's compelling inaugural full-length offered whispered melodies and a compelling intimacy which hinted at alternate universes. We'd heard nothing quite like this before.
55
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Felix and Simon returned with another hefty dose of their unique feelgood tech-funk pop.
56
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The New York garage rockers came back with a harder edge.
57
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Urgent punk funk sounds from a Leeds-based four piece with a bright, bright future who won't remain underground for much longer. See what we did there?
58
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From intimate beauty to squalling noise and back again, 'Beautiful Seizure' was a truly captivating album from one of the most innovative US guitar bands of the moment.
59
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The musically itinerant Frenchman returned this year with an amalgam of tracks from his French release 'Sessions' and his soundtrack to the film 'Narco'. Sublime stuff.
60
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The enigmatic Berlin techno/dub duo offered this collection of remixes, which features reworkings from Carl Craig and Francois K among others.
62
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This beautifully orchestrated collection blurred the boundaries between ambient, electronic and classical music and featured a spoken word cameo from Robert Wyatt.
63
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Jazzanova dug through the best of the Focus catalogue in order to bring us some truly spellbinding modern European jazz.
64
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Screaming eccentricity, a myriad influences and post-hardcore aesthetics combined on a release which admirably scouted the narrow territory just between "emotive" and "bonkers".
65
I Am Not Afraid Of You And I Will Beat Your Ass
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A dazzling, delirious indie rock jumble from the masters of the genre. It might be album number 347 but Yo La Tengo's creativity remains undimmed.
68
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This excellent New Mexican duo offered a heady, intense blend of gypsy, folk and circus musics. The office, and indeed the world in general, was a far better place for it.
69
£7.99
There really aren't enough 45-piece jazz orchestras around these days. Fortunately, this stunning collection of cinematic compositions went some way towards redressing that balance.
70
£4.99
Musician/producer Ben Lamdin's Nostalgia 77 Octet delivered this live album captured at London's Jazz Cafe. A collection of uplifting, spiritual jazz grooves, the album also featured the sublime 19-minute 'Hope Suite' trilogy.
72
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Twisted freeform punk jazz from the UK inventors. Think Shellac and Charlie Parker holding down Hendrix and forcing him to learn the entire Sun Ra back catalogue. Yes, that good.
73
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Joseph Christie aka Braintax delivered his second collection this year - a confident, sussed-out rhyme compendium which put many of his stateside contemporaries to shame.
74
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Mancunian producer Andy Turner aka Aim demonstrated an ever-evolving sound on this collection of lush, languid atmospheres.