The Pitchfork Top 50 Albums of 2006 is outright laughable. Seriously. The Knife (Silent Shout) as #1 Album of 2006? Really? Has someone sliced their collective medulla oblongata? No offense, but the best thing on that album sounds like the intro music to Coast to Coast AM with George Noory. I’m no aficionado, but anyone with ears can tell you that there’s something genuinely wrong with those Pitchfork people.

To counteract their foul list, I feel obliged to share my top 10 favorite albums of 2006.

But before the actual list, I should site two albums that are wild cards: two I've just recently started listening to, both of which are mesmerizing:

Joanna Newsom
Ys

TV on the Radio
Return to Cookie Mountain

NOW THEN...


number TEN

Gnarls Barkley
St. Elsewhere

number NINE

Margot & the Nuclear So and So's
The Dust of Retreat

number EIGHT

Jolie Holland
Springtime Can Kill You

number SEVEN

Juana Molina
Son

number SIX

The Mountain Goats
Get Lonely

number FIVE

Islands
Return to the Sea

number FOUR

Jenny Lewis with The Watson Twins
Rabbit Fur Coat

number THREE

Band of Horses
Everything All the Time

number TWO

Grizzly Bear
Yellow House

number ONE

Beirut
The Gulag Orkestar