Best Albums of 2006!

I finally made my mind up about the 2006 top ten list. It has actually been really difficult to choose and define a list that represents this past year fully. I truly hated excluding some records but also at the same time felt the spectrum wasn't as broad as it has been in my record player, which is why the songs list serves as the perfect sidedish. You will also notice there's a lot of Swedish music on my list and that two 2005 albums (Ignatz & Devendra) made the final roll call but I just had to include these. Expect the same thing in 2007 btw, I have still this whole 2006 list waiting to check out.

As far as the online critics list goes, I'm truly appalled at the omission of certain albums (Current 93 being the most obvious here), plus surprised at the popularity of certain other albums (Tv on the Radio?). But I must also admit it's good to see The Knife, Joanne Newsom and Cat Power get some props. So if you'd like to check the critics, here's a few links to their lists:
Pitchfork, Tiny Mix Tapes, Dusted, Boomkat, Popmatters and Stylus.

My heart goes out to all these amazing Swedish musicians that I just couldn't fit in this year (mainly Tsukimono, Jonas Lindgren, Viktor Sjöberg & Dead Letters Spell Out Dead Words), keep your spirits high and I'm sure a beautiful future is awaiting.

Other favorites that I had to exclude and get my warmest sympathies: Tom Waits, Cat Power, Wixel, Helios, aMute, Isis, Sickoakes, Kanding Ray, Shora, Xiu Xiu, Joanne Newsom, Ghostface Killah, Spankrock, Machinefabriek, Wooden Wand & The Vanishing Voice and Gnarls Barkley.

But now on to the big list. See all you readers again next year. This is the final list that will be posted.