Making Flippy Floppy

Making Flippy Floppy presents: The Best Albums of 2006 01 The Knife – Silent Shout No other record this year spent as much time in my Winamp player as this seductively Scandinavian album. Silent Shout creates its own mini-universe made of surreal and dramatic synthpop and gorgeous purple ice. Sexy little goblins inhabit the shadows, and David Lynch-esque surprises lurk in corners. A dark and delightfully original masterwork. 02 Thom Yorke – The Eraser More than just a batch of Radiohead demos, The Eraser fills the air with skittering beats and gorgeous, longing melodies that barely hang together. Yorke experiments and leaves the happy accidents in. The mood is pleasingly bleak and barren - an emotional ice-scape that never really melts, just turns to slush. 03 Hot Chip – The Warning Comforting like a warm British pudding of some type, The Warning sounds like a record that was as fun to make as it is to hear. "Over and Over" was the New-Order-ish club hit, but the album explores a range of classic post-punk and synth-pop motifs. Heavily listenable. 04 TV On The Radio – Return to Cookie Mountain This really was such an odd album - a little overwhelming the first few listens, a little hard on the brain. So much is going on here - the arty dissonance of the guitar, the industrial clamor of the electronics, the doo-wop yelp of the vocals, the impenetrability of the words. When it finally clicks, it's a rush - breathtaking in its sonic originality. 05 Beck – The Information You can always count on Beck. The Information wasn't a huge creative breakthrough for the floppy-haired musical genius, but it was a work of 21st century psychedelia which hit high note after high note for sheer seratonin points. With it's fun set of stickers, insane bonus DVD, otherworldly alien vibe, and wild synaesthesia, The Information was truly a sublime hallucinatory trip. 06 Placebo - Meds Hated by some, under-rated by many, Placebo still stand as one of the most impressive live acts I've seen. Meds is a bit of a return to that live kind of urgency - it's a rock-solid batch of tunes and sees the boys dipping into electronic textures and expanding their sonic pallette. Brian Molko always manages to entertain with his simultaneously dour and witty lyrics. 07 Belle & Sebastian – The Life Pursuit Belle covers a bit of new territory by venturing a bit into glam rock here and there on the Life Pursuit, drifting yet another step away from their roots in twee further into the world of punchy horns and crunchy guitars. The result is their catchiest, most memorable record to date. This was the album I listened to this year to wipe away foul moods and smile instead. 08 Lily Allen – Alright, Still Nothing too deep here. There's just something irresistible about Lily - her adorable Britishness, her classy retro look, her delicious cattiness. This is a great fun pop album with a unique electro-hiphop-ska sound, and great songs full of attitude and wit. Unlike certain lesser pop divas, Ms. Allen does not require a team of big name songwriters and bling-wielding producers. Her sincerity and simplicity trumps them all. 09 Serena Maneesh – Serena-Maneesh I'm a sucker for miasmic, swirling wall-of-noise guitars, droned vocals, and atmospheric electronic layers, and Serena Maneesh do it and do it well. The overused and obvious reference point is Loveless by My Bloody Valentine, and that's fair enough, but Serena-Maneesh have a certain harsh sensibility not present on that comparatively mellow album. SM turns the noise and the brightness all the way up to 11. 10 Peaches - Impeach My Bush Ms. Peach takes things up a notch on her 3rd LP, swearing and stomping like the electro-rock goddess she is. The formula is approximately the same as 2003's Fatherfucker: absurdl potty-mouth lyrics over either pumping 1981 Prince-style electro funk, or revved-up glam rock. It's a naughty, clever sweet Peachy treat that I never tire of indulging in. 11 Sonic Youth - Rather Ripped 12 The Gossip – Standing In The Way Of Control 13 Emily Haines & the Soft Skeleton – Knives Don’t Have Your Back 14 Morrissey – Ringleader Of The Tormentors 15 The Rapture – Pieces of the People We Love 16 Xiu Xiu – The Air Force 17 Dresden Dolls – Yes, Virginia 18 Arctic Monkeys – Whatever People Say I Am… 19 Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Show Your Bones 20 Whitey – The Light At The End Of The Tunnel Is A Train Also I liked:

Aloha – Some Echoes Asobi Seksu - Citrus Beach House – Beach House The Beatles - Love Beirut – Gulag Orchestar Camera Obscura – Let’s Get Out of This Country Cat Power – The Greatest CSS – Tired of Being Sexy Deftones – Saturday Night Wrist Bob Dylan - Modern Times Brian Eno - 77 Million Flaming Lips – At War With The Mystics Ghostland Observatory – Paparazzi Lightning Grizzly Bear – Yellow House Guillemots – Through the Window Pane Hidden Cameras - Awoo I’m From Barcelona – Let Me Introduce My Friends Joanna Newsom – Ys Muse – Black Holes And Revelations Nouvelle Vague - Bande a Parte Roger O’Donnell – the Truth In Me Planningtorock – Have It All Pretty Girls Make Graves – Elan Vital Raconteurs – Broken Boy Soldiers She Wants Revenge – She Wants Revenge Silversun Pickups - Carnavas Spank Rock - Yoyoyoyoyo Regina Spektor - Begin to Hope Scott Walker – The Drift Most Dissapointing: Scissor Sisters- Ta-Dah Basement Jaxx- Crazy Itch Radio Pet Shop Boys - Fundamental