Top Ten Albums of 2006

Wassup rockers!
OK, kiddos, here is my Top Ten Albums of 2006. A quick recap of my last few Number Ones:
1996: Pulp - Different Class
1997: Radiohead - OK Computer
1998: Belle and Sebastian - The Boy With The Arab Strap
1999: Magnetic Fields - 69 Love Songs
2000: Sleater-Kinney - All Hands on the Bad One
2001: The White Stripes - White Blood Cells
2002: Bright Eyes - Lifted, or The Story is in The Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground
2003: Death Cab for Cutie - Transatlanticism
2004: Rilo Kiley - More Adventurous
2005: Bright Eyes - I'm Wide Awake It's Morning
So, as you can see, I come from a strictly hip-hop/ drum n bass background.
The first two picks were fairly evident this year, after that it was kind of a scramble. So, a few honourable mentions (fuck you, I like spelling it that way):
Insistor - Tapes N Tapes, At War With the Mystics - The Flaming Lips, You In Reverse - Built to Spill, Get Lonely - The Mountain Goats, The Seeger Sessions - Bruce Springsteen.
Now let's get this fucker started!
10. Fox Confessor Brings the Flood - Neko Case. One of those albums that I never really told people about, or thought about how great it was, but I still listen to it consistently after almost a year. Some really good, spooky shit on here. Best song: "Hold On, Hold On"
9. The Life Pursuit - Belle and Sebastian. Another underdog story - I can't think of a band I've currently loved for as long as Belle and Sebastian, even if they haven't made a consistently great record this millennium. This one is their most uptempo yet, which is good news for Timmy - I likes when these boys and girls get a groove on. Best song: "Another Sunny Day"
8. Wolfmother - Wolfmother. There's nothing I can write about this album that hasn't been written about elsewhere - Led Zep, Sabbath, etc. But this is what I put on when I play video games and get in touch with my inner 15 year old. I dunno, it just fucking rocks. Best song: "Joker and the Thief".
7. The Believer - Rhett Miller. As much as I loved Old 97's, I couldn't believe Rhett Miller's first solo album only had one good song (granted, it was a fucking awesome song - "Our Love"). His second effort ups the ante with a vengeance and shit. Bonus points for a duet with Rachael Yamagata where he keeps comparing her to his mother, and she gets pissed off. Best song: "Delicate".
6. The Greatest - Cat Power. My girlfriend Chan Marshall finally got her shit together and made her first top-to-bottom great record. I'm fairly certain at least four of these songs are about me. Best song (tie): "Lived in Bars", "The Greatest".
5. Rabbit Fur Coat - Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins. I gotta admit, this one took a while to grow on me. The cover of "Handle With Care" with Jenny (my other girlfriend), Conor Oberst and Ben Gibbard playing the Traveling Wilburys is obviously awesome x 1000, and it kept me coming back to this somewhat understated effort, and I'm a better person for it. Liz Phair should be making records like this now. Unfortunately, I don't think any of these songs are about me. Maybe "Born Secular". Best song: "Rise Up With Fists!!!"
4. Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not - Arctic Monkeys. Absurdly hyped young British bands with dumb names almost universally suck (see: Boy, Badly Drawn; Streets, The; and almost every band in the two years after Oasis broke), but this one announces its intent to kick yr ass and leave with yr girlfriend (Chan, Jenny, no!) from the get-go. Plus, this dude's voice is awesome, perfect for singing about being young, drunk, and stupid. Best song: "When the Sun Goes Down"
3. Show Your Bones - the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. This yr's winner of the 11th Annual Radiohead Award for a band that makes a big splash with their debut, then releases a second album that's miles better but gets mostly ignored. I have a feeling their next one will be a fucking classic. Best song: "Phenomena"
2. The Crane Wife - The Decemberists. People have derided this album as music for English majors. Well, I was an English major, so you can bite mine ass, Horatio. That doesn't mean it isn't entertaining on a number of levels, with a song ("O Valencia!") that would be a radio hit in a better world. Best song: "The Crane Wife 1 & 2"
1. Boys and Girls in America - The Hold Steady. They had me from "Sal Paradise was right". Any album that begins with a quote from On the Road, I'm probably going to digging. But then to follow that up with little mini-rock epics with loud guitars, tinkly piano, and lyrics about getting high and hooking up with girls from Bowdoin, not to mention a Dave fucking Pirner cameo, with not a wasted song in the bunch, ladies and jellyspoons, that has to be my favorite album of 2006. Best song (3 way tie): "Chips Ahoy", "Stuck Between Stations", or "Chill Out Tent"