I said it earlier this summer, I’ll say it again. This year, 2006, was not groundbreaking in music. No new precedents were set, nothing huge and earth-shattering happened, nothing twisted my caps back and made me run screaming naked onto the silent freeway. The same held true for many of you out there, it seems, as I’ve glanced at similar comments from other music writers whose opinions I respect. Not every year is going to be a golden year. It just doesn’t work like that, unfortunately, but a few sparkling moments always manage to surface.

There’s no new forward trend in music; everything is retro everything at this point and nothing revolutionary appears to be on the horizon. We’re at a period in music where everyone is still appreciating the wealth of music that is already out there and, so it seems, there are more converts to the roots of the music we’re hearing today. People are studying influences and legacy artists remain vital. The largest percentage of music buyers on the planet are still “baby boomers”, and they’re still buying the music of their generation more than any other.

So, what’s a young artist to do in this haze? I’m not 100% sure myself, but a change will come sooner than we all think. Just when hope for revolutionary advances in music seem lost, they always come around.

Here’s some hopeful contenders, some old dogs with newer tricks, but every album here contains at least three songs so moving I just can’t ignore the way it’s shaped my year. I can’t wait for 2007, and the records I’ve heard coming out are already giving me hope for that championship season in music to return soon.

Note: The MP3’s associated with these albums (one per album) will be taken down when I return from holiday, January 3, 2006. Get them while you can.

Loudersoft’s Most Listened To Records Of 2006:

(*)01) The Knife – Silent Shout
(*)02) Ghostface Killa – Fishscale
03) Spank Rock – YoYoYoYoYo
(*)04) Belle & Sebastian – The Life Pursuit
(*)05) Beach House – Beach House
06) Destroyer – Destroyer’s Rubies
(*)07) Lucero – Rebels, Rogues, and Sworn Brothers
08) Mission of Burma – The Obliterati
09) J Dilla Jay Dee – Donuts
10) Oh No! Oh My! – Oh No! Oh My!
11) Gnarls Barkley – St. Elsewhere
(*)12) Brightblack Morning Light – Brightblack Morning Light
(*)13) Guster – Ganging Up On The Sun
(*)14) American Princes – Less And Less
(*)15) Midlake – The Trials of Van Occupanther
16) Yo La Tengo I Am Not Afraid Of You And I Will Beat Your Ass
(*)17) Beck – The Information
(*)18) Black Devil Disco Club – 28 After
(*)19) Stanton Warriors – Fabriclive.30
(*)20) Clipse – Hell Hath No Fury
(*)21) Zero 7 – The Garden
22) Sonic Youth – Rather Ripped
(*)23) Soul Position – Things Go Better With R.J. & Al
(*)24) Camera Obscura – Let’s Get Out Of This Country
(*)25) ¡Forward, Russia! – Give Me A Wall
(*)26) Sound Team – Movie Monster
27) M. Ward – Post War
28) Juana Molina – Son
29) Morrissey – Ringleader of the Tormentors
(*)30) Rose Melberg – Cast Away The Clouds

Sickest Mixtapes I Heard In 2006:

(*)1) Spank Rock – Couche-Tard
2) DJ A-Trak – Welcome To Kanye’s Soul Mix Show
3) SA-RA Creative Partners – Dark Matters & Pornography Mixtape Vol. 30
4) DJ Drama & Lil Wayne – Dedication 2

Shit Other People Loved/Biggest Disappointments:

Note: I seriously did not understand the fascination with any of these records and, tried as I might, I could never get why people got goofy as shit over any of this stuff. These pancakes were not Bisquick to me, perhaps they were to you. If so, try me again in about ten years and see if I got it by then.

1) Tapes ‘N Tapes – The Loon
— seriously, what the fuck….

2) Red Hot Chili Peppers – Stadium Arcadium
— again, seriously, what the fuck….

3) Snow Patrol – Eyes Open
— a craptacular follow-up to a very good record.

4) Jay-Z – Kingdom Come
— note to Jay, all respect due: keep fuckin’ Beyonce and running empires, hang up the mic for the rhymes you committed.

5) Hot Chip – The Warning
— I tried so hard to like this record but it just annoyed the living piss out of me and made me go back and listen to New Order instead.

6) The Killers – Sams Town
— reinventing yourself is one thing. reassembling yourself is quite another. this record should have come with a “some disassembly required” sticker because, clearly, the sum was nowhere near as great as a few of the parts.

7) Razorlight – Razorlight
— give me Up All Night or give me silence, just don’t give me this.

Trail of Dead – So Divided
— Conrad, Jason…you know I love you guys but…this record should, maybe, be called So Mediocre From Such A Good Band? hey, i wanted to like it so don’t take it personally, i can’t wait for the next one and, no, this has nothing to do with you missing brunch at the 101 back in june.

9) The Rapture – Pieces Of The People We Love
— come on. come back. come better.

10) Dr. Octagon – The Return Of Dr. Octagon/Kool Keith – Nogtaco Rd.
— two totally unsatisfying releases from one man in one year is one too many.