Everyone Else Is Doing It, So Why Can't We?: Best Of 2006

I tried to compile in my head the best albums I've heard in 2006, and the original 5 I was planning to do (yes, I could do 10 or 14 or 28, but I'm lazy) quickly ballooned. I had also originally planned to rank them but I think that would just be too stressful for me. So, what I'm going to do is to put together a list of the albums with the most play counts on my ipod and feature them over the next few days (hopefully).

So. I think one of the biggest surprises this year must have been Camera Obscura's Let's Get Out Of The Country. Despite being contemporaries, they have always been lurking behind the more popular Belle and Sebastian (The Life Pursuit just doesn't do it for me, sorry). It might have been Tracy Anne Campbell's sweet voice that just seems to make you want to sing along with her; it might have been the clever lyrics and the hooks that just stick.in.your.head. I remember there was this time where I didn't even notice I was humming "let's get out of the country" under my breath, and my friend, who was walking next to me, actually asked me where I want to go.

Puzzles Like You is a pleasant surprise to me too. Sure I liked Spoon And Rafter, but Puzzles just seems so much happier and poppier. I can almost feel the sunshine on my skin when I listen to the tracks. The thing about Mojave 3 is that they are so unpredictable. Just when you think you got them figured out—especially since they were members of Slowdive—out comes an album so confident and forward-looking, you just have to wonder what is going on inside Neil Halstead's head.

Camera Obscura - Let's Get Out Of The Country (Buy Let's Get Out Of The Country)
Mojave 3 - Puzzles Like You (Buy Puzzles Like You)