2006 New Releases Listened To (by release week)

Submitted by greenmind on Tue, 02/21/2006 - 02:22
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  1. 1/3 - The Strokes : "First Impressions Of Earth" (3/10) - Last impression of The Strokes. After two great albums, this is the dud.
  2. 1/10 - We Are Scientists : "With Love And Squalor" (8.5/10) - Typical New York hipster music but done so well.
  3. 1/17 - Robert Pollard : "From A Compound Eye" (6.5/10) - Pollard does his best Bob Mould imitation to great effect.
  4. 1/17 - The Gossip: "Standing In The Way Of Control" (2.5/10) - Depends too much on everything old and gives nothing new.
  5. 1/17 - Audio Bullys : "Generation" (4/10)
  6. 1/24 - Film School : "Film School" (8/10)
  7. 1/31 - She Wants Revenge : "She Wants Revenge" (7/10) - This is how goth rock should be.
  8. 1/31 - East River Pipe : "What Are You On?" (5/10)
  9. 1/31 - Elbow : "Leader Of The Free World" (6.5/10)
  10. 2/7 - Oceansize : "Everyone Into Position" (5.5/10)
  11. 2/7 - K.T. Tunstall : "Eye To The Telescope" (6/10)
  12. 2/7 - Belle & Sebastian : "The Life Pursuit" (6.5/10) - Surprisingly rocking for the kings of cutesy mope.
  13. 2/7 - Himsa: "Hail Horror" (3/10)
  14. 2/7 - Bigwig : "Reclamation" (6.5/10) - Pop punk from a time long gone. 10 years ago these guys would have been huge.
  15. 2/14 - The Subways: "Young For Eternity" (7/10)
  16. 2/14 - Swearing At Motorists: "Last Night Becomes This Morning" (5/10)
  17. 2/21 - Arctic Monkeys : "Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not" (4.5/10) - There is nothing special to justify all the hype.
  18. 2/21 - Midstates: "Boxing Twilight" (6.5/10)
  19. 2/21 - The Lashes : "Get It" (5.5/10) - Sickingly hip and proud of it.
  20. 2/21 - October Fall : "Season In Hell" (6/10) - May as well be a Something Corporate cover band. Take that as you will.
  21. 2/21 - Folly : "Resist Convention" (3.5/10) - Melodic hardcore political ska bands are pretty rare and there's a good reason for that.
  22. 2/28 - Hawthorne Heights : "If Only You Were Lonely" (4.5/10)
  23. 2/28 - The Hazey Janes : "Hotel Radio" (6/10) - Low-key jangle pop with some great tracks in-between the usual.
  24. 2/28 - Nine Black Alps : "Everything Is" (6/10)
  25. 3/7 - Mogwai : "Mr. Beast" (7.5/10) - I usually don't go for instrumental but this is intense.
  26. 3/7 - I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness : "Fear Is On Our Side" (5.5/10) - Pretty but average dark pop.
  27. 3/7 - Matisyahu : "Youth" (8/10) - Overwhelmingly powerful dub reggae and worth all the hype.
  28. 3/7 - Downtown Singapore : "Don't Let Your Guard Down" (5/10) - Finally a mallcore band that's not offensively snotty.
  29. 3/14 - Hard-Fi : "Stars Of CCTV" (7/10) - They feel like being in London in the way The Clash does.
  30. 3/14 - DMC : "Checks, Thugs, & Rock And Roll" (6/10) - The grooves are good but the rhymes aren't.
  31. 3/14 - Scars Of Tomorrow : "The Beginning Of..." (4/10) - Metalcore needs a new hope and quickly or it will die.
  32. 3/21 - Anti-Flag : "For Blood And Empire" (6/10) - No outright punk rock anthems but the agit-prop's still there.
  33. 3/21 - Cannibal Corpse : "Kill" (4.5/10) - Wish it was a little more experimental but it does shred.
  34. 3/21 - Richard Ashcroft : "Keys To The World" (6.5/10) - Sounds too much like The Stones at points.
  35. 3/21 - The Sounds : "Dying To Say This To You" (6/10) - Harmless poppy 80s soundtrack imitation with moments of brilliance.
  36. 3/21 - MC Lars : "The Graduate" (5.5/10) - The lesser second coming of the Bloodhound Gang for the current college generation.
  37. 3/21 - Appleseed Cast : "Peregrine" (6/10) - Great musicianship but nothing catchy.
  38. 3/21 - From First To Last : "Heroine" (4.5/10) - When did Epitaph start putting out bands that sound like Linkin Park?
  39. 3/28 - Rammstein : "Rosenrot" (5/10) - More experimental than usual (including a song 1/2 in English) but nothing sticks out.
  40. 3/28 - Rob Zombie : "Educated Horses" (3.5/10) - Rob Zombie in White Zombie would beat this new lame Rob Zombie up.
  41. 4/4 - Morrissey : "Ringleader Of The Tormentors" (6/10) - Just too hard not to compare it to Moz's better work due to simularity.
  42. 4/4 - The Flaming Lips : "At War With The Mystics" (5.5/10) - Takes a lot of patience but rewarding if you stick it out.
  43. 4/4 - 46 Short : "Truth Denied" (4.5/10) - Three chords without much dream.
  44. 4/4 - Babyshambles : "Down In Albion" (6/10) - Surprisingly not annoying as I expect a Pete Doherty band to be.
  45. 4/4 - Queensryche : "Operation : Mindcrime II" (4.5/10) - Seems to be coming from a different place than OM : 1.
  46. 4/11 - Built To Spill : "You In Reverse" (6.5/10) - Classic BTS with a lot of guitar masturbation and a couple of hooky songs.
  47. 4/11 - Eagles Of Death Metal : "Death By Sexy" (4/10) - If the cover of the CD annoys you, the CD will too.
  48. 4/11 - Saves The Day : "Sound The Alarm" (6/10) - Only a couple of emo whine songs as the band continues to transcend genre.
  49. 4/11 - Moneen : "Red Tree" (4.5/10) - Like a lot of other Vagrant Records bands but not as good.
  50. 4/18 - The Wonder Stuff : "Suspended By Stars" (6/10) - Early 90s Brit Poppers that seem to have matured along with their fans.
  51. 4/18 - Matthew Sweet & Susana Hoffs : "Under The Covers, Vol. 1" (5/10) - The songs with Susana on lead are keepers.
  52. 4/18 - NOFX : "Wolves In Wolves' Clothing" (5.5/10) - Funny like NOFX is supposed to be but soundalike like they always are.
  53. 4/18 - Vernon Reid : "Other True Self" (5/10) - It's jazz and I don't like jazz but I guess it's good - I wouldn't know if it wasn't.
  54. 4/18 - Rye Coalition : "Curses" (4.5/10) - It's "ow" rock thing so if that's your thing go for it.
  55. 4/18 - Dresden Dolls : "Yes, Virginia" (6.5/10) - Through all the kitsch, the songs are really good.
  56. 4/18 - The Church : "Uninvited, Like The Clouds" (6/10) - Still around and still making haunted music at high levels.
  57. 4/25 - The Streets : "The Hardest Way To Make An Easy Living" (3.5/10) - All over the place and not as funny as before.
  58. 4/25 - Bruce Springsteen : "We Shall Overcome" (4.5/10) - It's wrong to call this effort a poor man's Billy Bragg, but it's true.
  59. 4/25 - Eleventh Dream Day : "Zeros And Ones" (6/10) - The mellowest power pop album ever.
  60. 5/2 - Thursday : "A City By The Light Divided" (7/10) - Not as poetic as the past but still punch in the gut intense.
  61. 5/2 - Ministry : "Rio Grande Blood" (4.5/10) - Getting tired of just hating G.W.B., Ministry now wants to overthrow him (angrier).
  62. 5/2 - The Charlatans UK : "Simpatico" (6/10) - "When The Lights Go Out In London" is one of the year's best. The rest is solid.
  63. 5/2 - Gomez : "How We Operate" (7/10) - If this is the new brand of stupid hippie music, sign me up to be a stupid hippie.
  64. 5/2 - World Party : "Dumbing Up" (6/10) - Some imitations were amazing but it was all imitations.
  65. 5/2 - Jewel : "Goodbye Alice In Wonderland" (5/10) - Does Jewel write this stuff just to get on rom com movie soundtracks?
  66. 5/9 - Snow Patrol : "Eyes Open" (7.5/10) - Not an album so much as a work of the pouring of soul on a page.
  67. 5/9 - Against All Authority : "The Restoration Of Chaos And Order" (6/10) - Anti-Flag meant to record this album.
  68. 5/9 - Neil Young : "Living With War" (5.5/10) - Somehow it just feels awkward to hear a Canadian sing these anti-Bush songs.
  69. 5/9 - Buzzcocks : "Flat Pack Philosophy" (6/10) - It's melodic enough but feels dated (though the world needs this band around).
  70. 5/9 - The Like Young : "Last Secrets" (6/10) - I'm a sucker for the male and female lead singer bands, what can I say?
  71. 5/16 - The Twilight Singers : "Powder Burns" (6/10) - The closest TS album yet to recapturing the magic of Afghan Whigs.
  72. 5/16 - Radio 4 : "Enemies Like This" (5.5/10) - Where is the dancy dance music they do so well?
  73. 5/16 - The Raconteurs : "Broken Boy Soldiers" (5/10) - White brought over his lack of lyrical prowess but the drummer is better.
  74. 5/16 - Rock Kills Kid : "Are You Nervous?" (6.5/10) - Synth driven diverse beauty that drives the full range of tempos.
  75. 5/16 - Sam Roberts : "Chemical City" (6.5/10) - Good songwriting is so hard to find - this is it.
  76. 5/16 - Las Ketchup : "Un Blodymary" (5/10) - Silly pop that would probably be worse if it was in English.
  77. 5/23 - Less Than Jake : "In With The Out Crowd" (5.5/10) - The second half when they remember their identity is better.
  78. 5/23 - Live : "Songs From Black Mountain" (3.5/10) - Live's music has morphed into the crap the bands who imitate them make.
  79. 5/23 - The Walkmen : "A Hundred Miles Off" (5.5/10) - The voice is so jarring and yet so haunting.
  80. 5/23 - Phoenix : "It's Never Been Like That" (6/10) - The first lazy summertime album of 2006.
  81. 5/23 - Def Leppard : "Yeah!" (5/10) - Don't do enough to really make the songs their own.
  82. 5/30 - Les Claypool : "Of Whales And Woe" (4/10) - Has some serious "I forgot to rock out because I'm a stupid hippie" issues.
  83. 5/30 - The Forecast : "In The Shadow Of Two Gunmen" (5.5/10) - Emo + girl = better emo.
  84. 5/30 - Don Caballero : "World Class Listening Problem" (6/10) - Instrumental yumminess.
  85. 5/30 - Peeping Tom : "Peeping Tom" (4/10) - Experimental to the point where the album doesn't flow.
  86. 6/6 - Bouncing Souls : "The Gold Record" (6/10) - These guys have matured from snot punks to singing sad songs about soldiers.
  87. 6/6 - A.F.I. : "Decemberunderground" (5/10) - The more albums they put out the more they defame their hardcore past.
  88. 6/6 - Oakenfold : "A Lively Mind" (5.5/10) - I fail to see how anyone can listen to this as more than good background.
  89. 6/6 - The Hush Sound : "Like Vines" (6.5/10) - If only one or two songs stood out, this could be a contender for 2006's best.
  90. 6/13 - The Futureheads : "News And Tributes" (4.5/10) - One amazing song per album and the rest is fun but hollow filler.
  91. 6/13 - Regina Spektor : "Begin To Hope" (6/10) - Worships at the altar of Tori Amos but misses the red one's lyrical prowess.
  92. 6/13 - Pet Shop Boys : "Fundamental" (6/10) - A more subdued and emotional (though still cheeky) PSB.
  93. 6/20 - Keane : "Under The Iron Sea" (6.5/10) - Is Keane only out to make people cry? It didn't make me cry. O.K. it did.
  94. 6/20 - Frank Black : "Fast Man Raider Man" (5.5/10) - I could not recognize this as a Frank Black album once in 25+ songs.
  95. 6/27 - Billy Talent : "Billy Talent II" (6/10) - Found myself bopping around to this pretty paint-by-numbers punk.
  96. 6/27 - Good Riddance : "My Republic" (5.5/10) - Solid punk songs as always but doesn't catch the urgency of their early albums.
  97. 6/27 - Dashboard Confessional : "Dusk And Summer" (5/10) - Believe it or not, it's less whiny.
  98. 7/4 - TV On The Radio : "Return To Cookie Mountain" (4/10) - Eight minute songs should be the domain of good songwriters.
  99. 7/4 - Rise Against : "The Sufferer & The Witness" (6/10) - Pathetic in the good way.
  100. 7/4 - Johnny Cash : "American 5: A Hundred Highways" (7/10) - I feel guilty jumping the Cash hype train, but this album deserves it.
  101. 7/11 - Soul Asylum : "The Silver Lining" (6/10) - Actually improving in their time away, this album is S.A.'s career silver lining.
  102. 7/11 - Muse : "Black Holes And Revelations" (5/10) - If Radiohead released their worst album ever, it would be this.
  103. 7/11 - Peaches : "Impeach My Bush" (3.5/10) - Just plain sick with absolutely no good beats to save it.
  104. 7/11 - Bury Your Dead : "Beauty And The Breakdown" (5/10) - For metalcore, it's not very jarring and pretty ignorable.
  105. 7/11 - The Format : "Dog Problems" (6/10) - Summer bouncy fluff that won't survive the winter.
  106. 7/18 - Helmet : "Monochrome" (5.5/10) - For a band that survives on edge, Helmets lost a little but they'll still kick your teeth in.
  107. 7/18 - The Adored : "A New Language" (6/10) - The first band to capitalize on the success of The Futureheads.
  108. 7/18 - French Kicks : "Two Thousand" (5/10) - One of the most generic indie rock albums of the year.
  109. 7/18 - The Bronx : "The Bronx" (5.5/10) - Just enough Fugazi influence to make it worthwhile.
  110. 7/18 - Tom Petty : "Highway Companion" (5/10) - It seems strangely familiar since Petty no longer takes any risks.
  111. 7/25 - New York Dolls - "One Day It Will Pleasure Us To Remember Even This" (4.5/10) - Devolved into less anarchic.
  112. 7/25 - Say Hi To Your Mom - "Impeccable Blahs" (6/10) - Keyboardy lo-fi happiness about dark subjects.
  113. 7/25 - Gaelic Storm - "Bring Yer Wellies" (6.5/10) - More fun than a bar fight with monkeys.
  114. 7/25 - Boy Kill Boy - "Civilian" (6/10) - The dance indie derby's got a new star.
  115. 7/25 - Silvesun Pickups - "Carnavas" (6/10) - Missing the best part of the Pumpkins - the fuzz guitar work.
  116. 8/1 - Kill Hannah - "Until There's Nothing Left Of Us" (5.5/10) - Better as a Smashing Pumpkins ripoff than trying glam punk.
  117. 8/1 - DMX - "Year Of The Dog...Again" (6.5/10) - Gone from Tupac's follower to a pretty funny violent clown prince of rap.
  118. 8/8 Nina Gordon - "Bleeding Heart Grafitti" (5.5/10) - Belive it or not, it's better than Jewel while ripping her off.
  119. 8/8 Dirty Pretty Things - "Waterloo To Anywhere" (5.5/10) - The less talented part of The Libertines obviously.
  120. 8/8 Jim Noir - "Tower Of Love" (4/10) - Possibly the most boring album of 2006.
  121. 8/8 Lola Ray - "Liars" (6/10) - A decent Brooklyn new wave album. There are a couple tracks that might get better with repetition.
  122. 8/8 Ani DiFranco - "Reprieve" (6/10) - Someone needs to start having bad days again.
  123. 8/8 Slayer - "Christ Illusion" (5.5/10) - I wanted to give it a 6 but nothing grabbed my attention enough for the devil's number.
  124. 8/15 Tokyo Police Club - "A Lesson In Crime" (6/10) - Pretty average pop rock so the indie kids will eat this album up.
  125. 8/15 The Panic Channel - "(ONe)" (4.5/10) - Just listen to an old Soundgarden CD instead.
  126. 8/15 Street To Nowhere - "Charmingly Awkward" (5.5/10) - A more street creddy Dashboard.
  127. 8/22 Primal Scream - "Riot City Blues" (4/10) - How can a band with such musical pedigree be the least original band in history?
  128. 8/22 Starsailor - "On The Outside" (5.5/10) - Harkening to a different kind of album rock than is normally referenced.
  129. 8/22 M. Ward - "Post-War" (6/10) - Minimalist folk that is still hooky.
  130. 8/22 The Casualties - "Under Attack" (6/10) - Still one of the best street punk bands in the world even with only one song.
  131. 8/22 The Thermals - "The Body, The Blood, The Machine" (5.5/10) - Could have been an great concept CD but ends up X-ian rock.
  132. 8/29 Bob Dylan - "Modern Times" (6/10) - It's good to have the originator back but feels like a cover album of Dylan.
  133. 8/29 Pete Yorn - "Nightcrawler" (6/10) -
  134. 8/29 Alice Donut - "Fuzz" (6/10) -
  135. 8/29 The Grates - "Gravity Won't Get You High" (5.5/10)
  136. 8/29 Hatebreed - "Supremacy" (6/10) - Feels very physically comfortable and accessible for metalcore.
  137. 9/5 Iron Maiden - "A Matter Of Life And Death" (6.5/10) - Haven't really lost anything of the squaling metaltude.
  138. 9/5 Yo La Tengo - "I Am Not Afraid Of You And I Will Beat Your Ass" (5.5/10) - Indiecally inconsistent.
  139. 9/5 Madeleine Peyroux - "Half The Perfect World" (6/10) - If there were justice in the world, she'd be as big as Alicia Keys.
  140. 9/5 Audioslave - "Revelations" (5/10) - It's sad when you have to rip off RHCP.
  141. 9/12 Shawn Colvin - "These Four Walls" (6.5/10) - Reaches a sad threshhold quickly.
  142. 9/12 Bob Seger - "Face The Promise" (5/10) - Not anthemic enough to stand up to his earlier work.
  143. 9/12 Barenaked Ladies - "Barenaked Ladies Are Me" (6.5/10) - The ballads rock and the rockers make me want to bawl in suckitude.
  144. 9/12 Xiu Xiu - "The Air Force" (6/10) - Great music but really intentionally bad lyrics.
  145. 9/12 God Is An Astronaut - "All Is Violent, All Is Bright" (6.5/10) - Second best instrumental album of the year.
  146. 9/19 Kasabian - "Empire" (5.5/10) - Picks up nicely when the beat picks up.
  147. 9/19 DJ Shadow - "The Outsider" (5/10) - The non-rap stuff is really good.
  148. 9/26 Ludacris - "Release Therapy" (6/10) - Still has the sharpest, silliest tongue going.
  149. 9/26 Weird "Al" Yankovic - "Straight Outta Lynwood" (5/10) - The geek schtick's old but some of the CD's really funny.
  150. 9/26 Medeski, Scofield, Martin, And Wood - "Out Louder" (5.5/10) - It's really good but not my thing at all.
  151. 9/26 Scissor Sisters - "Ta-Dah" (5/10) - Still all schtick.
  152. 10/3 The Killers - "Sam's Town" (6/10) - Actually builds to the end songs.
  153. 10/10 Portstatic - "Be Still Please" (6/10) - Just makes me long for Superchunk.
  154. 10/10 Robert Pollard - "Normal Happiness" (5.5/10) - Two albums in one year may have stretched him thin.
  155. 10/10 Chin Up Chin Up - "This Harness Can't Ride Anything" (5/10) - I'm pretty tired of boring indie pop.
  156. 10/10 Califone - "Roots And Crowns" (4.5/10) - I'm really really tired of boring indie pop.
  157. 10/17 Me First And The Gimme Gimmes - "Love Their Country" (5.5/10) - Fun but none of the songs are owned (musically).
  158. 10/17 Jeremy Enigk - "World Waits" (6/10) - A calmer, less stone passing Enigk.
  159. 10/17 Tonya Donelly - "This Hungry Life" (5.5/10) - Just blend into the adult alternative scene now.
Author Comments: 

My music tastes tend to be alternative, indie, and punk/hardcore but occasionally a few rock, rap, and even musicals will sneak in.

I don't review live albums, greatest hits collection, EPs, or singles for the purposes of this list.

Label compilations and soundtracks are eligible so long as they contain a majority of new music.

If anyone has any suggestions for what I might be missing in a given week, please let me know.

I listen to these CDs using Rhapsody (the second greatest internet invention after Netflix) so a lot of the "huge" releases don't make the server for a few months (and hence will not make this list but will be counted on the list by rank as well as those minor new releases I listen to after the week).

Unless the name really fascinates me, I tend not to review CDs that are on Rhapsody without genre (unless I sludge through all of the CDs chosen at the start of the week and am looking for more music) or just listed under rock/pop.

Hightlighted CDs = recommended
Bolded CDs = record of the week (only in weeks with multiple releases listened to)
Italicized CDs = throw this crap out
* = plan to listen in current week (in the order that I will listen - if I don't listen to an album in a given week, perhaps discover it later, it doesn't count on the list)

(x/10 = rating on 10 point scale by half points)

10 = instant classic
9 = feels like an old friend on the first listen
8 = almost every track is brilliant
7 = great album
6 = better than average
5.5 = average
5 = worse than average but listenable
4 = barely listenable
3 = this CD has some serious issue
2 = why?
1 = this music is absolutely terrible

Anything 6.5 or above, I would listen to multiple times (and after the release week is over).

Kza06/07/2006

If this is the new brand of stupid hippie music, sign me up to be a stupid hippie.

Ha! That's awesome.

I'm kinda sorta coming around on it, but I still don't think it holds a candle to Split the Difference. Glad you're liking it, tho.