2) State of Ohio - s/t (self released)remember when "indie rock" used to actually ROCK (early ‘90s for those that don’t remember), well that’s what State of Ohio does: sounds a bit like this recipe: first take four guys living in Cleveland add some instruments, then toss in bits of archers of loaf, pavement, dinosaur jr, sebadoh, and superchunk and then a tiny pinch of braid & a dash of bear vs. shark into a blender and mix ... And the production is stellar too: sounds like a good analog recording that was produced around 1992 (which is a very very good thing!!)

3) Fifth Hour Hero - Not Revenge, Just a vicious crush (no idea)pop punk in the same vein musically as tsunami bomb and alkaline trio

4) Ghost Buffalo - s/t (suburban home records)amazingly mellow and beautiful rock with a sort of country edge to it

5) Sonic Youth - Rather Ripped (Geffen)come on: it’s sonic youth, do I need to say more?

6) the Lawrence Arms - Oh Calcutta! (Fat Wreck)this album captures a bit more of their "live show" feeling: another great release

7) Haram - s/t (Lovitt)imagine a touch of drive like jehu rockin’with jawbreaker... great stuff, I guess kind of like Pitchfork(the band)

8) This Moment in Black History - It Takes a Nation of Assholes to hold us back (Cold Sweat)garage, punk, rock, funk, it’s all here: this moment ... is just insane, recorded by Steve Albini who captured the intensity of what they sound like live, not to be missed

9) Don Caballero - world class listening problem (relapse)great indie post hardcore punk instrumental math rock .. Imagine a band like Rush if they played music I actually enjoy listening to, umm...yeah, (that was terrible, but you get the idea, right), a bit of a new sound, since the only surviving member of the Don Caballero of old is the drummer, but it’s still good, and what a drummer!

10) Mission of Burma - the Obliterati (Matador)oh boy... mission of burma have put out their best album yet, and that’s amazing for a group that broke up for almost 20 years before reuniting, and the sound and content is as fresh and relevant as anything out there today, there aren’t too many bands out there that sound like this, they mix classic rock, early punk, and post punk and take it to a level that few have achieved.

11) pink razors - waiting to wash up (robotic empire)imagine a punk rock Superchunk (Lance from J Church wrote something like that about these guys once, and I have to agree)

12) Just a Fire - Spanish Time (Sickroom Records)great album, if you like bands like drive like jehu and hoover, with a touch of "dub" (seriously) thrown in; check this out

13) Rise Against - the sufferer and the witness (geffen)a return to form, in my opinion, great songs, great production. Much more like RPM then their previous release: fast, intelligent, skate style punk rock

14) This is my Fist - A history of Rats (no idea)dirty, gravelly, punk rock. Sounds a bit like the distillers (NOT in a bad way!!)

15) the evens - get evens (dischord)I would say this album is even better than their first release !!

16) converge - no heroes (epitaph)hardcore, metal, whatever you call it, this is massive and might possibly melt your face off !! Some really, really good song writing here!! Yeah, it’s loud, fast and heavy, but it’s more dynamic and interesting than most bands that try this style, and to still be this creative when they’ve been around forever is even more impressive.

17) Cat Power - the Greatest (matador)Chan has evoked the old school memphis rock sound on this album, so good and relaxing, but kinda spooky at times if you really pay attention

18) Yo La Tengo - I’m not afraid of you and I will beat your ass (matador)such a mix of sounds, from ambient drones to cute 50"s-ish songs, pop, rock, quiet, fast, loud, Just about anything Yo La Tengo has done during their career is shown on this album in one shape or form, quite a mix, but it’s a nice mix for these "old timers" proving like Sonic Youth that they’ve still got "it" with their own quirky brand of rock music

19) murder by death - in bocco al lupo (east/west)nothing else I heard this year sounds quite like this. Beautiful yet haunting. Imagine sort of a Johnny Cash meets Tom Waits with lyrics built around the theme of Dante’s Inferno, mixed with some crazy music often channeling the sounds of old (including pirate, folk, and rock) add in a cello and have j.robbins record it all, brilliant !

20) TIE: Tom Waits (Orphans (Anti)) & Robert Pollard (Normal Happiness/From a Compound Eye (merge)) Orphans is a phenomenal collection of outakes, covers, and other unreleased oddities from throughout Tom Waits’ career. Many of the songs have been pulled out of the "vault" or basement or broom closet and re-recorded just for this album. As a whole: this collection is quite amazing, but from a personal standpoint, even though it’s nice to finally hear all these songs, and most of them are very good; they’re just not as good as his many albums, I guess that’s why they were unreleased/outtakes, I’ll still listen to this, but I’d prefer to pick out one of his other full lengths to listen to. Next: Robert Pollard is one of the most prolific and consistent songwriters ever (Tom Waits might be catching up ?). Two albums with enough to fit on three albums released this year, and both filled with some of the best pop songs I’ve heard. As good or better than many of the GBV releases! (I couldn’t really leave off either of these so it’s a tie this year.)

2006 Honorable Mentions(on some days any of these could move to the top 20, depends on my mood, I enjoyed all of these): strike anywhere, the Falcon, built to spill, the gossip, heavens, the steinways, whysall lane, the hold steady, none more black, the loved ones, the cardinal sin, pretty girls make graves, the lillingtons

I attempt to keep the top 20 as "new full length" releases;so here are my choices for TOP 5 "other" Awesome releases of 2006:

Roue - totally fucking totally (10" LP) (self released)

antilles/the juniper wait - split CD (Arclight Communications)

the Hollywood Blondes - 15 Minutes of Lame (EP) (self released)

Red Animal War - seven year war (end sounds)

Goodbye Ohio/Plasma for Guns - Split 7"

most ? (most bands that get a lot of hype, I can sort of rationalize why, this band ? I guess they’re just not my thing, good artwork/interesting lyrics: anyone want their new CD, cheap?): TV on the Radio (Personal taste: I suppose if you took a random person off the street: there’s a good chance they’d probably not like 19 out of 20 on my list and that the 1 left over would be "umm this one’s ok....")

2006 releases I didn’t get a chance to listen to in their entirety, but would like to: Erase Errata, Bob Dylan, Blood Brothers, Latterman, the Hot Snakes (the Australian live radio recording)

most anticipated 2007 releases: Ted Leo, Dillinger 4, J Church, the juniper wait

BEST MOMENTS of 2006: Playing, writing, and recording music with SeaTac 67, and also getting up on stage to perform 15 shows over the past year, it may not seem like a lot, but I didn’t think I’d get a chance to do all that ever again, it was a lot of fun, and I met a lot of cool folks, hopefully we’ll get back at it and do even more this coming year!

Later

Jim