The final part of my four-part series. The list to end all lists. I present to you the best new albums in 2006.

1. mewithoutYou – Brother, Sister
2. This Will Destroy You – Young Mountain
3. Mew – And The Glass Handed Kites
4. Jeremy Enigk – World Waits
5. Joshua Radin – We Were Here
6. Malajube – Trompe-L’Oeil (US Release)
7. Band Of Horses – Everything All The Time
8. John Mayer – Continuum
9. P.O.S. – Audition
10. Norma Jean – Redeemer
11. Thom Yorke – The Eraser
12. Neko Case – Fox Confessor Brings The Flood
13. Sufjan Stevens – The Avalanche
14. The Decemberists – The Crane Wife
15. The Appleseed Cast – Peregrine
16. Damien Rice – 9
17. The Knife – Silent Shout
18. Underoath – Define The Great Line
19. Angels & Airwaves – We Don’t Need To Whisper
20. Muse – Black Holes And Revelations

Well, that’s all folks. I had fun making these lists and you probably hated reading them. Or maybe you found something new to love. If that’s the case, my goal has been met.

Have a merry Christmas and a happy new year. Keep on discovering.

Part three of four. Of all the music I listened to that was released this year, these are the ones that mattered most.

1. This Will Destroy You – Quiet
2. Jeremy Enigk – Been Here Before
3. mewithoutYou – O, Porcupine
4. This Will Destroy You – The World Is Our ____
5. Mew – An Envoy To The Open Fields
6. mewithoutYou – In A Sweater Poorly Knit
7. Joshua Radin – Sundrenched World
8. mewithoutYou – C-Minor
9. Band Of Horses – The Funeral
10. Sufjan Stevens – Chicago (Acoustic Version)
11. Mew – The Zookeeper’s Boy
12. Thom Yorke – Harrowdown Hill
13. P.O.S. – Half-Cocked Concepts
14. Norma Jean – The End Of All Things Will Be Televised
15. Malajube – Montréal-40ºC
16. Mew – Special
17. The Mars Volta – Viscera Eyes
18. Malajube – Casse-cou
19. P.O.S. – P.O.S. Is Ruining My Life
20. Angels and Airwaves – The Adventure
21. Sufjan Stevens – The Avalanche
22. The Knife – Silent Shout
23. Jay-Z – Show Me What You Got
24. Angels and Airwaves – Valkyrie Missile
25. John Mayer – Bold As Love
26. Underoath – A Moment Suspended In Time
27. Joshua Radin – Star Mile

And, if by some random chance you happen to have Rhapsody, you can listen to this playlist there.

Part two of four of my evil list-making scheme.

1. Sufjan Stevens
2. Explosions in the Sky
3. mewithoutYou
4. Radiohead
5. The Appleseed Cast
6. Nickel Creek
7. The Dillinger Escape Plan
8. Godspeed You! Black Emperor
9. The Mars Volta
10. A Perfect Circle
11. Andrew Bird
12. MxPx
13. AFI
14. Alison Krauss
15. Project 86
16. Tom Waits
17. Sigur Rós
18. The Faint
19. Chris Thile
20. This Will Destroy You
21. Mew
22. Iron & Wine
23. Coldplay
24. Cloud Cult
25. John Mayer
26. Opeth
27. Joshua Radin
28. Killswitch Engage
29. Incubus
30. Ryan Adams
31. Norma Jean
32. Robert Johnson
33. The Black Keys

Once again, thanks to Last.fm for making this list possible.

Part one of four in my 2006-list-making extravaganza.

1. This Will Destroy You – Young Mountain
2. Cloud Cult – Advice from the Happy Hippopotamus
3. Mew – And The Glass Handed Kites
4. Joshua Radin – We Were Here
5. mewithoutYou – Catch for Us the Foxes
6. Ryan Adams – Love Is Hell
7. Explosions in the Sky – The Earth Is Not a Cold Dead Place
8. The Three Sounds – Live at the Lighthouse
9. Explosions in the Sky – Those Who Tell the Truth Shall Die, Those Who Tell the Truth Shall Live
10. Jay-Z – The Black Album
11. Band of Horses – Everything All the Time
12. Nickel Creek – Nickel Creek
13. Chasing Victory – I Call This Abandonment
14. Nickel Creek – Why Should the Fire Die?
15. Thom Yorke – The Eraser

Thanks to Last.fm for making this list possible.

What would a music blog be without the obligatory “best of” lists to finish out the year? We all know how they go: pick a random number between five and five hundred and start counting down. And make sure to justify the list with a nice little explanation for each pick, even though 90% of the people reading your blog are going to leave comments of “you forgot so-and-so” and “<band name> doesn’t deserve to be number seven, number twelve is obviously much better.”

So, with that said, get ready for some lists. I’m breaking my own rule, though, and not explaining my picks. Reason being: I have no readers, so no one will be leaving the aforementioned annoying comments. Not to mention my list is right so there is no use in arguing.

Anyway, yes… I’m finishing up my lists right now and will post them soon.

I had the opportunity to see The Faint this last Saturday in Pomona at The Glass House.

The openers were The Deadly Syndrome and Passage. The Deadly Syndrome was creative, pulling in a wide variety of styles that reminded me of everything from Wolf Parade to The Decemberists to The Violent Femmes and a thousand other references I couldn’t possibly put names on. They’re apparently a pretty new band on the circuit, but I think they’ll do well. They really engaged the crowd and had a lot of positive energy. They did their best when the vocalist wasn’t playing guitar or bass, because his stage presence worked wonders.

Passage, on the other hand… Well, let’s just say that he didn’t follow a cardinal rule of opening acts: don’t perform like you’re better than your audience, or in any way make your crowd feel as though you are patronizing them. You don’t gain fans that way. Aside from that, he was a white hip hop/rap act playing for people who like 80′s synth pop, so he was going to have to work hard to make fans. During an awkward pantomime to random commercial audio clips, there were several shouts of “We don’t get it!” and “You’re not funny!” but he just kept on going. Enough about him though…

The Faint were great. As someone who doesn’t like to dance in any way, shape or form, this was probably the most fun I’ve had listening to dance-ish type music. They played a great mix of songs from Blank-Wave Arcade, Danse Macabre and Wet From Birth, as well as two or three new songs that I’m assuming will appear on their upcoming release. The new stuff was good; not anything unexpected, but a little darker at times, especially during one Depeche-esque number. They also had the entire show synced to video that went along with each song, making the experience complete in every way.

In no particular order (and excluding the new songs) here’s what I remember them playing:

• Dropkick The Punks
• Paranoiattack
• Worked Up So Sexual
• Desperate Guys
• How Could I Forget?
• In Concert
• Let The Poison Spill From Your Throat
• I Disappear
• Call Call
• Glass Danse
• Agenda Suicide
• Birth

Unfortunately, no photography was allowed at this show, so I have no Flickr goodness to share.

Occasionally it’s nice to go through my music collection and highlight the new stuff I’ve discovered that I can’t stop listening to:

• Jeremy Enigk
  Enigk is best known as the front man for Sunny Day Real Estate, but his solo releases, especially his newest, World Waits, are phenomenal. I think I’ve listened to the track Been Here Before a thousand times in the last few weeks (you can download it here).
• …And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead
  They’re not a new name to most, but their new album goes above and beyond all their previous work, in my opinion. This is probably why I’ll never work for Pitchfork, considering the somewhat negative review they gave So Divided. Check out Wasted State Of Mind on their PureVolume page.
• Dragonforce
  It’s embarrassing to admit how good these guys are, because they are definitely marketing on the irony of being serious about a long-deserted genre of wankeriffic metal rife with dual guitar solos (think The Darkness, but five years later). But those solos… they’re so good…
• Malajube
  This is one band I’m proud to admit I discovered before they were a twinkle in Pitchfork’s eye, thanks to a friend in Canada who gave me a heads-up. It’s almost syrupy sweet at times, and I can’t understand a word of French so I have no clue what they’re singing about, but they’re inexplicably irresistible.
• Mew
  They’re definitely a buzz band right now, but for good reason. Beautiful falsetto vocals with a satisfyingly complex rhythm section. And The Glass Handed Kites is one of my most-played albums of the last few months.
• Tom Waits
  I’ve just recently realized the value of his work. I picked up a copy of Nighthawks At The Diner at Amoeba Music a while back, which has been great for putting me in a happy and relaxed mood. His newest release, Orphans, is impressive, even in its excessive length.
• The Knife
  Dark, dramatic electronica with haunting vocals. I would almost say it borders on goth, but it’s not quite as pessimistic. Apparently their live show is a theatrical jaw-dropper.
• Oh, Sleeper
  I had to throw in some hardcore somewhere, right? The Armored March is a solid Norma Jean-esque metalcore release, and something about the overall sound keeps it from getting boring like so many bands in their genre.
• Ray LaMontagne
  If you like Damien Rice, LaMontagne will be your best friend. ‘Nuff said.
• Sparrows Swarm and Sing
  Mostly instrumental post rock in the vein of Godspeed You! Black Emperor. I actually just heard them for the first time today, but they’re definitely worth a mention.

And here’s a few older favorites that are still topping the charts:

• Explosions In The Sky
• This Will Destroy You
• Godspeed You! Black Emperor
• mewithoutYou
• Cloud Cult
• Sherwood
• P.O.S.
• Damien Rice

This has to be the best version of O Holy Night I’ve ever heard.