Top 50 Albums Of 2006!!

                                                50/ iLiKETRAiNS – ‘Progress/Reform’ (Fierce Panda)
They narrate tales of some of history’s tragic figures amidst a growing clamour of post-rock noise. How could anyone fail to be won over by the mesmerising sounds of iLiKETRAiNS? This, their debut mini-album, was a perfect showcase for the Leeds band’s brooding talent with every song imbued with the type of bleak gothicism that Nick Cave would be proud of. Really their first full-length release in 2007 can’t come soon enough.
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49/ Broken Social Scene – ‘Broken Social Scene’ (City Slang)
Hot on the heels of their fellow Canadians Arcade Fire the Toronto supergroup wowed us in January with this supreme collection of work. Singles ‘Fire Eye’d Boy’ and ‘7/8 Shoreline’ perfectly showcased what this album is all about as layers of ever continuing soundscapes build upon each other to create broken beat wall of sound. Its so good we can’t believe we’ll have to wait ages for the next one now the band are on an extended break.
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48/ Beirut - 'Gulag Orkestar' (4AD)
Inspired by 20 year old Zach Condon’s journeys around Eastern Europe after he’d dropped out of high school ‘Gulag Orkestar’ is as ambitious as it is mysterious. Mixing.phpects of folk and lo-fi indie the album contains nearly every instrument known to man - trumpets, tubas, accordions, balalaikas, ukuleles, fiddles and mandolins to name but a few. It has also put Condon up there with the current greats of American singer/songwriting.
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47/ Goose – 'Bring It On' (Skint)
A cult classic that deserves wider recognition and would get if Gigwise had our way. Like fellow Belgians Soulwax Goose marry perfectly guitars and dance beats while with tracks like 'Black Glove' and 'British Mode' in the armoury they're an awesome live prospect. If this is the first time you've heard their name we urge you to buy this album now!

46/ The Killers – 'Sam's Town' (Mercury)
Following the phenomenal success of their debut ‘Hot Fuss’, The Killers came back bigger, louder and full of their now trademark indie-rock pomposity. Well, Just as we’d expect really. ‘Sam’s Town’ is so direct in its musical mission, that even a person after a lobotomy couldn’t fail to be drawn in by its synth-driven onslaught. Really, the album embodies everything you either love or hate about the Las Vegas quartet.
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45/ Larrikin Love – 'The Freedom Spark' (Infectious)
Larrikin Love’s debut was a refreshing, ramshackle album, not least because in a year dominated by dispatches from the urban concrete heart of Britain (with Arctic Monkeys leading the pack). ‘The Freedom Spark’ chose the classic English countryside as the backdrop of its romanticism, the setting for much of Edward Larrikin’s tales of love and escape, all set to a delirious soundtrack that sounded like Mystery Jets re-working ‘Up The Bracket’.
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44/ The Futureheads – 'News And Tributes' (679)
Though The Futureheads ended the year on a relative low after being dropped by their label, ‘News And Tributes’ was nevertheless one of 2006’s best records. Dripping in melancholy and a sense of loss, it’d be easy to see this succinct slice of jerky, defiantly British-punk as a harbinger of what was to come. Even easier would be to simply label it “better than their brilliant debut”. They may currently be homeless, but there’ll always be room for music so instantaneous and life-affirming.
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43/ The Pipettes – ‘We Are The Pipettes’ (Memphis Industries)
The Pipettes were the year’s best throwbacks to an era when everyone wore vintage, when the world’s best music was being created in factories marked Motown and the likes of The Supremes and The Marvelettes were setting out pop blueprints that would be followed, but never surpassed. These three polka-dot clad Brighton-ians set about re-writing the rulebook, the rulebook that states that everything began with The Beatles. If this debut album had been the soundtrack to ‘Grease 2’ then it would have been the best film ever.
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42/ The Blood Brothers – 'Young Machete' (Wichita)
‘Young Machetes’ subtly twisted The Blood Brothers screamo/noise/generally apocalyptic palette into something of great importance. Still the most uncaringly camp, lurchingly sadistic, and face-meltingly vital band around, this fifteen-track masterpiece was the best thing they had ever committed to tape. Until the next one. Gigwise is literally wetting our pants at the thought of their 2007 UK tour, we’ll see you down the front.
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41/  Metric – ‘Live It Out’ (Drownedinsound)
Yet more proof that Canada now has the best music scene anywhere in the world Metric with this their second album finally started to garner the attention they so rightly deserve. It contains the best song with the word monster in it released this year (The Automatic can fuck right off!) and in front woman Emily Haines a true superstar in the making. Someone should check the water in Toronto, its gotta have something dodgy in it!
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40/ The Kooks – 'Inside In/Inside Out' (Virgin)
Anyone who witnessed the crush that greeted The Kooks’ Reading set, when seemingly half the site attempted to enter the tent to catch a glimpse of the seaside wonders, will be no doubt as to the four-piece’s impact on the music in 2006. Born in a stage school, but raised on a diet of communal choruses and effortless pop (think Supergrass or Hot Hot Heat to name just two), ‘Inside In/Inside Out’ was the indie record of 2006 that had even those too cool to listen to anything with a tune secretly humming along. Remember them this way: they’re about to get a whole lot bigger.
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39/ White Rose Movement – ‘Kick’ (Independiente)
From a commune in East Anglia to the streets of Shoreditch White Rose Movement came with a whiff of hairspray overuse and some of the skinniest jeans seen down Brick Lane. Their debut, strangely titled ‘Kick’, was lifted from the masses of other lesser scene bands by the brilliant singles ‘Love Is A Number’ and ‘Girls In the Back’ – both soaring pieces of sleazy electro-indie that crushed dance floors across the land.
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38/ Belle & Sebastian – ‘The Life Pursuit’ (Rough Trade)
Easily their best output since 1996’s ‘If You’re Feeling Sinister’, Belle and Sebastian sounded like a band rejuvenated with ‘The Life Pursuit.’ Playing to their strengths throughout, uber camp frontman Stuart Murdoch and the collective flitted between nostalgia driven pop nuggets and more emotional driven moments effortlessly. Released in the bleak mid-winter, this was a wee ray of sunshine and truly warmed the heart.
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37/ Amy Winehouse – ‘Back To Black’ (Island)
She didn’t want to go to rehab but bloody hell she might just end up there the way she’s going! ‘Back To Black’ will be the album Winehouse is remembered for and fuses Gospel, Motown and Phil Spector’s wall of sound on songs such as her Top 40 smash ‘Rehab. She may have lost the weight off of her waist but with this long player she’s added a whole lot of gravitas to her stature.
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36/ Mogwai – ‘Mr Beast’ (Pias)
Mogwai’s fifth album proper saw Scotland's finest return to basics. Gone were the lush orchestral arrangements, in were guitars and layers of guitars in a fundamentally more organic work. Crucially though, like Mogwai’s best moments, ‘Mr Beast’ struck a chord emotionally and wavered between gorgeous quiet soundscapes and a fiery apocalyptic racket. Quite simply, it’s a bit of an animal.
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