2006 Listerectomy!

Like any self-respecting music blog, we here at Paper Stereo love making lists. As we celebrate the end of 2006, we’ve outdone ourselves—albums, songs, disappointments, debuts, live performances, you name it. So read on and enjoy the fine and varying taste of our writing staff. Also, be sure to check out the link at the bottom of this post to download our free end-of-the-year mp3 sampler, which includes a selection of fifteen of our favorite songs of 2006 in zip format. Regular posting will resume on January 3rd with a hip-hop mixtape so bangin’ it’ll make your head spin. As always, thanks for reading. Paper Stereo loves you.



Albums of the Year:
1. TV on the Radio – “Return to Cookie Mountain”
2. Bonnie “Prince” Billy – “The Letting Go”
3. Subtle – “For Hero: For Fool”
4. Liars – “Drum’s Not Dead”
5. Man Man – “Six Demon Bag”
6. Sunset Rubdown – “Shut Up I Am Dreaming”
7. The Velvet Teen – “Cum Laude”
8. Clipse – “Hell Hath No Fury”
9. Beach House – “Beach House”
10. Cat Power – “The Greatest”

Songs of the Year*:
1. Dr. Dog – “Ain’t It Strange”
2. Thom Yorke – “Harrowdown Hill”
3. Justin Timberlake – “My Love [Feat. T.I.]”
4. Six Organs of Admittance – “Black Wall”
5. Neko Case – “Hold On, Hold On”

Best Debut Albums of the Year:
Beach House, Brightblack Morning Light

Most Overrated Albums of the Year:
Destroyer, Joanna Newsom, The Decemberists

Best Live Performances of the Year:
1. Man Man @ the Epicentre, San Diego
2. Islands/WHY?/Cadence Weapon @ the El Rey, Los Angeles
3. TV on the Radio @ the Glass House, Pomona
4. Beirut @ the Troubadour, Los Angeles

*Does not include songs from albums of the year.




Best Live Performances of the Year:
1. Polyphonic Spree @ Henry Fonda Theatre, Los Angeles
2. Dr. Dog @ the Troubadour, Los Angeles
3. Man Man @ the Epicentre, San Diego
4. Jenny Lewis, Vista Theater, Los Angeles
5. Yeah Yeah Yeahs @ Coachella




Albums of the Year:
1. The Pipettes – “We Are The Pipettes”
2. Califone – “Roots and Crowns”
2. National Eye – “Roomful of Lions”
3. Dr. Dog – “Takers and Leavers”
4. Beirut – “The Gulag Orkestar”
6. Yo La Tengo – “I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass”
7. The Flaming Lips – “At War With the Mystics”
8. The Velvet Teen – “Cum Laude”
9. Sonic Youth – “Rather Ripped”
10. Josh Rouse – “Subtitulo”

Songs of the Year:
1. Grandaddy – “Just Like the Fambly Cat”
2. National Eye – “Juno3”
3. The Pipettes – “Pull Shapes”
4. Lupe Fiasco – “Daydreamin’ [Feat. Jill Scott]”
5. Dr. Dog – “Ain’t It Strange”

Best Debut Album of the Year
The Pipettes

Most Underappreciated Album of the Year
National Eye

Most Overrated Album of the Year:
Beck

Best Live Performances of the Year:
1. Flaming Lips @ Lollapalooza
2. Radiohead @ Bonnaroo
3. Broken Social Scene @ Lollapalooza
4. Wilco @ Lollapalooza
5. Beirut @ the Troubadour, Los Angeles




Albums of the Year:
1. TV on the Radio – “Return to Cookie Mountain”
2. The Hold Steady – “Boys and Girls in America”
3. J Dilla – “Donuts”
4. Ghostface Killah – “Fishscale”
5. Destroyer – “Destroyer's Rubies”

Songs of the Year:
1. TV on the Radio – “I Was A Lover”
2. The Hold Steady – “Party Pit”
3. The Decemberists – “Sons and Daughters”
4. Hot Chip – “The Warning”
5. Tokyo Police Club – “Citizens of Tomorrow”

Best Debut Album of the Year:
Lupe Fiasco

Most Unappreciated Album of the Year:
The Velvet Teen

Most Overrated Album of the Year:
Clipse

Best Live Performances of the Year:
1. The Hold Steady @ the Troubadour, Los Angeles
2. Radiohead @ the Greek Theatre, Los Angeles
3. Islands @ the El Rey, Los Angeles




Albums of the Year:
1. The Velvet Teen – “Cum Laude”
2. The Hold Steady – “Boys and Girls in America”
3. Mates of State – “Bring it Back”
4. Mystery Jets – “Making Dens”
5. Maritime – “We, the Vehicles”
6. Islands – “Return to the Sea”
7. Hot Chip – “The Warning”
8. The Zutons – “Tired of Hanging Around”
9. The Elected – “Sun, Sun, Sun”
10. Yo La Tengo – “I’m Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass”

Songs of the Year:
1. The Velvet Teen – “Gyzmkid”
2. Mystery Jets – “Zoo Time”
3. Muse – “Starlight”
4. Mates of State – “Running Out”
5. Radiohead – “15 Step”

Best Debut Album of the Year:
Mystery Jets

Most Unappreciated Album of the Year:
The Velvet Teen

Most Overrated Album of the Year:
The Mars Volta

“Worst Idea Ever” Award:
Disney, Fall Out Boy, She Wants Revenge, Panic! at the Disco, and Marilyn Manson for four horrendous covers of “Nightmare Before Christmas” songs.

Best Live Performances of the Year:
1. Radiohead @ the Greek Theatre, Berkeley
2. Islands @ the El Rey, Los Angeles
3. The Hold Steady @ the Troubadour, Los Angeles
4. Ozma Reunion Show @ the Knitting Factory, Los Angeles
5. The Velvet Teen @ the El Rey, Los Angeles




Albums of the Year:
1. Mclusky – “Mcluskyism” (3 Disc Version)
2. Boris – “Pink”
3. The Pipettes – “We Are the Pipettes”
4. Liars – “Drum’s Not Dead”
5. The Blow – “Paper Television”
6. Sunset Rubdown – “Shut Up I Am Dreaming”
7. Cat Power – “The Greatest”
8. Peter and the Wolf – “Lightness”
9. The Thermals – “The Body, the Blood, the Machine”
10. Blood Brothers – “Young Machetes”

Songs of the Year:
1. Regina Spektor – “Samson”
2. The Blow – “True Affection”
3. Cat Power – Love and Communication”
4. Califone – “The Orchids”
5. Man Man – “Engrish Bwudd”

Most Unappreciated Album of the Year:
Neutral Milk Hotel’s “In the Aeroplane Over the Sea”, this year and every year until Jeff Mangum is rewarded with a golden scepter, a throne made of seal pelts and human skulls, and a key to every city in the world.

Biggest Disappointments of the Year:
1. Ah yes, Chinese Democracy. I’ll preemptively cite that one for next year’s disappointment. That is, if it comes out of course.
2. The Raconteurs: If the album was half as well put together as their live shows it would be on a very different list of mine. Come on Jack White. Seriously.
3. The Hold Steady’s “Boys and Girls in America”: From the drop dead, breathtakingly awful cover to the painfully mediocre (with the exception of the amazing “Southtown Girls”) songs, one of my favorite bands definitely let me down. What happened to the “Positive Jam” and “Killer Parties”, Hold Steady?

Best Live Performances of the Year:
1. Ryan Adams @ the Palace of the Fine Arts, San Francisco
2. Brit Daniel @ Swedish American Music Hall, San Francisco
2. Cat Power @ the Fillmore, San Francisco
4. Blood Brothers @ the Glass House, Pomona
5. TV on the Radio @ the Glass House, Pomona
6. Man Man @ the Epicentre, San Diego
7. Peaches/Eagles of Death Metal @ the Glass House, Pomonoa




Albums of the Year:
1. Cat Power – “The Greatest”
2. Margot and the Nuclear So and So’s – “The Dust of Retreat”
3. Neko Case – “Fox Confessor Brings the Flood”
4. Simon Joyner – “Beautiful Losers”
5. Stephen Merritt – “Showtunes”
6. Man Man – “Six Demon Bag”
7. Joanna Newsom – “Ys”
8. TV on the Radio – “Return to Cookie Mountain”
9. The Blow – “Paper Television”
10. Dr. Dog – “Takers and Leavers”

Songs of the Year:
1. Cat Power – “Lived in Bars”
2. TV on the Radio – “Wolf Like Me [Live]”
3. Margot and the Nuclear So and So’s – “Light on a Hill”
4. Neko Case – “John Saw That Number”
5. Simon Joyner – “Fearful Man”

Biggest Disappointments of the Year:
The Mars Volta’s “Amputectureidon’tevencareifIspellitright.Itwasawful.”
Damien Rice’s “9”

Best Live Performances of the Year:
1. Cat Power Secret Show, Hollywood
2. The Blood Brothers @ the Glass House, Pomona
3. Ryan Adams and the Cardinals @ House of Blues, Anaheim
4. TV on the Radio @ the Glass House, Pomona
5. Cat Power @ the Fillmore, San Francisco




Albums to Look Forward to in 2007:
Deerhoof, Of Montreal, The Shins, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Sondre Lerche, Apples in Stereo, Grinderman, Aesop Rock, Akron/Family, Animal Collective, the Arcade Fire, Art Brut, Andrew Bird, Feist, Gnarls Barkley, PJ Harvey, Interpol, Madvillain, MF Doom & Ghostface, Modest Mouse, the National, the New Pornographers, the Pixies, Postal Service, Queens of the Stone Age, Radiohead, Rilo Kiley, the Smashing Pumpkins, Spoon, Stereolab, Wilco, Wolf Parade

In loving memory of Velvet Teen founding drummer Logan Whitehurst, James “J Dilla” Yancey, Pink Floyd founding member Syd Barrett, and the heroic Malachi Ritscher.