Alright, Alright, Alright

I think I'm going to start with the year-end thing. My memories from this year are pretty hazy due to a number of factors, so I don't think I'm going to do a full-fledged year in review type thing like I did last year and after the summer. But I'll share some of the highlights from the fall:

• Me and Woytko go toe-to-toe.
• The Set-Up: The Daily Collegian's beautiful news staff has a hayride in early November. We tote two kegs full of Koch's Golden Anniversary Beer along with us, and the stage is set for me and Woytko to have our long-awaited drinking showdown.
• The Main Event: Both of us were a bit tipsy going into the hayride, so the terrible beer went down easily. After about a dozen (~8-10 oz.) cups, we decided to call a truce. I'd go into more detail of the hayride, but my recollection's a bit spotty from there on.
• The Aftermath: We ended up having a mini-party after the hayride, but I didn't stick around too long. I met up with the usual suspects, as Jake and K-Pat were visiting for the weekend. I had a few more drinks and then dared myself to get my head shaved. I passed the dare.
• The After-Aftermath: It was a really cold couple of weeks, but my hair's growing in pretty nicely nowadays. The kegs were demolished a couple weeks later when a bunch of the Collegian guys made it a personal mission to drink as many B-Dawgs as possible.
• I bring sexy back--YEH.
  
• The Set-Up: After a busy summer of previewing wagon train reunions and interviewing Death Cab For Cutie bassist Nick Harmer, I became the relatively unknown senior music reporter for the Collegian.
• The Main Event: Not to toot my own horn, but this semester I wrote some of the best stuff I've ever written. I think the J-Tim review kind of put me on the map and I won story of the week for it--which, admittedly, I still feel guilty about. All I did was listen to a good pop album and make fun of Justin Timberlake for 15 inches. Some actual reporters did some actual reporting and I beat them.
• The Aftermath: This was the first of many big things to happen to me as a reporter this semester. I got a ton of hate mail for concert and album reviews--both positive and negative--and got a lot of feedback in general for my stuff. It was fun as hell.
• The After-Aftermath: I somehow was nominated for news reporter of the semester, which is kind of ridiculous considering I don't have to do very much actual reporting. Eh, I'm not complaining. I got arts reporter of the semester and I made a lot of really close friends, which is all I care about anyway.

I could put some more stuff in here, but nothing else (that I can write about on the Internet) would be very suitable. I had a very good fall, though.

Now, onto what I really wanted to write about: my albums of the year shit. As usual, Venues was really small in the last week of the semester, so our staff picks featuring our favorites from 2006 got cut. L@m3.

So anywho, on with the list! Drumroll, please.

Honorable Mentions:

The Hold Steady - Boys and Girls in America

I gave this album to my dad to listen to because it's right up his alley. It's old school, it's lively, it's a good rocking album, it's bitter, it's sarcastic, it's drunk, it's pretty much my life expressed through the majesty of Craig Finn's songs. And if it helps, I gave it to my dad because it reminds me of Bruce Springsteen, and old people love Bruce Springsteen. The Hold Steady is a young person's version of Bruce Springsteen.




Sunset Rubdown - Shut Up I Am Dreaming

Spencer Krug should probably take a break once in a while. Not that I don't like him, but he's going to burn himself out. Wolf Parade, Frog Eyes, Sunset Rubdown, Swan Lake. Sunset Rubdown is like the artsy second cousin of Wolf Parade, but not as good. But it's still interesting enough to warrant listing. Krug's got some energy in him and the songs on this album do arguably a better job of showing that than his stuff with Wolf Parade.



10. The Decemberists - The Crane Wife

A few things about this one--first, it's getting better reviews than it deserves, in my opinion. Second, it's the most accessible The Decemberists have sounded, which isn't necessarily a good thing or a bad thing. Third, it's a very good album, but it's nowhere near their best. All that said, it's a very fun listen. It took me a while to get into the Decemberists, which has to do at least partially with Colin Meloy's over-enunciated vocals. But he is truly a great songwriter, and this album is a very good showcase of his style. On top of all that, I'm a sucker for a good concept album, and this is a good concept album.


9. Clipse - Hell Hath No Fury

This is the new darling of hip-hop critics. The Neptunes really do a fantastic job with the production, and the rap duo's flow is great. But lyrically, I don't think it's strong enough. I enjoy the album a lot, but it's not going to hook me the way some of the other albums on this list do. It got great reviews, I think because hip-hop had a really down year and it was refreshing to hear something...well, fresh. Good stuff, not great stuff, but it's one of the best rap albums of the year.




8. Yo La Tengo - I Am Not Afraid Of You And I Will Beat Your Ass

First of all, fantastic title. I can't think of an album title I like more. For Yo La Tengo, this album was pretty interesting. They're a great band, but this one shows their versatility. They go from noise pop guitar jams to poppy singalongs like it's nothing. It's a really fun listen if you've got the attention span for it.





7. Neko Case - Fox Confessor Brings the Flood

What can I say? Apparently I'm a real sucker for redheads. But I'm especially a sucker for redheads named Neko Case who have amazing voices. This album is stunning. She's a great songwriter, a great singer, and she's gorgeous. She's the total package. A modern day Joni Mitchell. I think I'm in love.




6. The Roots - Game Theory
I friggin' love these guys. Black Thought's at his best and the band just flat out rocks on this album. I find it difficult to go a day without listening to "Here I Come." That's my hip-hop jam of the year, or it's at least in the top two. So freaking cool.








5. Joanna Newsom - Ys
She plays a mean harp. Seriously, though, these songs are great. There's only five of them and and the shortest one is 7 minutes long, but they're all fantastic. Her vocals have been compared to Lisa Simpson, but if you don't mind that, you're in luck. I like them, personally. This is not an album to be taken lightly.






4. Final Fantasy - He Poos Clouds
Terrible band name, terrible album name. Amazing album. Owen Pallett became widely known when he played violin for Arcade Fire, but he's not too shabby a songwriter, either. This album is beautiful and brilliant. It sounds more "classical" than any pop album I've ever heard, but it works so well. I can't wait to hear more from him (which, by the way, is something I've been dying to say for this whole countdown, but I think it's more true of Final Fantasy than anyone else). I seriously think that anyone who gives this an honest listen would love it.



3. Islands - Return to the Sea
Pure pop gems on this one. From the ashes of the Unicorns came a phoenix called Islands. "Rough Gem" is fantastic, as are a ton of other songs on this album. It doesn't blow you away, but it's a very gratifying listen.







2. Ghostface Killah - Fishscale
Man, thank god I started listening to more hip-hop this year, mostly thank god I started listening to Wu-Tang this year. The Iron Man is gold on this one. I love "The Champ" and I feel the need to give props to its apt paraphrasing of quotations from the Rocky series. I now regularly steal those quotations, randomly saying "He's a bulldozer with a wrecking ball attached!" a la Mick. And unlike most skits on rap albums, this one's got some humor in them.




1. TV On the Radio - Return to Cookie Mountain
I've written so much about this album, I almost don't want to anymore. But god damn, this album is so good, I can't help but fawn over it for another paragraph. The band is so tight, so smooth, so powerful. I wish the album cover didn't suck; it doesn't do any justice. It kicks fucking ass and I will still be listening to it in 30 years wondering where my life has gone. But during "Wolf Like Me," I'm going to forget about all my problems and just listen to the music. That probably sounds really fucking cheesy, but I don't care. It's so good. And that's what I'm leaving you with, because nothing I can write after this will top this album. Go listen to it, and if you don't like it then fuck you. Happy 2006.