The Irrefutable List of Things That I Liked in 2006:

Albums:

Herbert - Scale
TV on the Radio - Return to Cookie Mountain
Francois K - Frequencies
Josh Wink - Profound Sounds 3
John Digweed - Transitions
Lupe Fiasco - Food and Liquor
Mylo - Destroy Rock and Roll
Beck - The Information

Singles (Pop):

Timbaland featuring Justin Timberlake - Sexy Back/My Love
Timbaland featuring Nelly Furtado - Maneater/Say it Right/Promiscuous
Lupe Fiasco - Kick Push
The Rapture - Get Myself Into It
The Gossip - Standing in the Way of Control
TV on the Radio - Wolf Like Me
Hot Chip - Over and Over
Gnarls Barkley - Crazy
Fergie - Fergalicious
Jay Z - Lost One
Beyonce - Check On It
Thom Yorke - Harrowdown Hill

Singles (House and Techno):

Paul Woolford - Erotic Discourse
Mr. G - ECG'Ed (Rekid Remix)
Ame - Engoli
Rocco - Roots 4 Acid
Every - Feelin'
Hardfloor - T2DAC (Claro Intelcto remix)
Nathan Fake - The Sky Was Pink (Holden remix)

Trends That Need To Frackin' Stop in 2007:
-The popularity of boring, growly post-grunge junk (Nickelback, Hinder, that guy that didn't win American Idol)
-Southern hip-hop (with very, very few exceptions)
-The comeback of Weird Al Yankovich (he not teh funny)
-The continued shutting down of New York's nightclubs

The Village Voice has a pretty darn tootin' hilarious play by play review of last night's Grammy awards. I tuned in 3 minutes late, and just caught Madonna's performance. I then spent the next 3 and a half hours waiting to see the Gorillaz' performance, only to find out at the end of the show that I had missed them by tuning in three minutes late. Oh well, that's what the internet is for, I suppose.

Their Pazz and Jop poll of the year's top albums and singles is out as well. I generally hold this list in higher regard than the other year end lists that come flooding around come mid-December, but I'm a bit disappointed by how indie leaning the albums list is. I'm just not all that convinced that anybody is going to care about Spoon in five years.

So, in the spirit of useless lists, and since I caught so much flack for last year's country club unfriendly list, here's what got the most airtime on my iPod this year.

Albums:
Kanye West:Late Registration - Anyone who can make a half blazing, half touching album, and then publicly speak out against homophobia in hip-hop gets two thumbs up in my book.
Madonna:Confessions of a Dancefloor - Amazingly enough, some of the best dance music I heard this year. Props to her for getting a filter breakdown on MTV.
Gorillaz:Demon Days - Music this eclectic and leftfield isn't supposed to be this popular.
Common:Be - Finally, a Common album that doesn't put you to sleep.
The Arcade Fire:Funeral - Yeah, I'm a year late.
Herbert:Bodily Functions - Yeah, I'm five years late.
Richie Hawtin:DE9 Transitions - Minimal seems to be the only thing preventing clubland from becoming an electro dumping ground. Electro must die a bloody death in '06 (please!).
M.I.A.:Arular - Like crack and red bull, great in small doses.
Depeche Mode:Playing the Angel - Is it safe to add Exciter to my used-CD-store-trade-in-pile now?

Singles:
Madonna-Hung Up
Gwen Stefani-Hollaback Girl
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah-The Skin of my Country Yellow Teeth
Ciara-1, 2 Step
Cam'ron feat. Kanye West and Syleena Johnston-Down and Out
Amerie-1 Thing
The Killers-Mr. Brightside (Thin White Duke Mix)
The Game-Hate It Or Love It
Jennifer Lopez-Get Right
Sizequeen-Tribal Madness
Lindstrom-I Feel Space
Gorillaz-Feel Good Inc.

Popmatters has their Top 100 Albums of the Year list out. Kanye's #1, and it looks like he'll hold the top spot on a bunch of other year list and be the big winner at the Grammys too. I just picked up his album last week (after holding off forever), and it's worth the hype.

So now, is there really a need to list 100 top records of the year? I mean, when all is said and done, it's a pretty amazing if 10 years down the road you have a whopping 15 CDs that you thoroughly enjoy from a particular year. These kids today.

And my favorites of the year (since you're just dying to know) in no particular order:

Kanye West-The College Dropout
Interpol-Antics
De La Soul-The Grind Date
Air-Walkie Talkie
DJ Vibe-The Underground Sound of Lisbon (Mixed CD)
Danny Tenaglia presents Kult of Krameria-Esperanca/Voodoo Doll (12")
Victor Calderone-Resonate (DJ Vibe Mix) (12")
Notorious B.I.G.-Ready to Die (Reissue)
Nas-Illmatic (Reissue)
Blaze-Found Love (12")
Jill Scott-Beautifully Human
Alicia Keys-The Diary of Alicia Keys

That is all.