Connoisseur Tom’s Top 3 Albums of 2006

2006 was, by all accounts, a weak year for music. We’ve been on kind of a run of bad music inundating the airwaves for the past decade, but before I start ragging on you damn kids and your music, let me say this: Each and every year I tell myself something’s got to break and the floodgates will release a tidal wave of amazing music, which I know is out there, will leap up from the underground and wash the land clean! And each time, Justin Timberlake releases another album…

With that grim forecast of things to come, here are my top three albums of 2006 in no particular order.

AFI – Decemberunderground

I’ll be honest; when I first heard Decemberunderground I was uncertain what to think of it. I have been a fan of AFI’s angst-riddled and emotionally-charged punk rock since the mid-1990s, and to be concise, Decemberunderground is a stark departure from their usual musical styling. Vocalist Davey Havok’s voice is in prime form throughout this album, although I had a hard time buying his “warm cozy safe place” tripe he posted on the band’s website when asked what the album was all about. Many of the songs rely on more electronic melodies and synthesized loops than the typical screaming guitar and thrash-mosh drumming. The songs on this album range from deliberate driving rock to balladic electro fuzz-punk to jumping punk rock anthems. I finally realized this albums full scope after seeing AFI in concert at the Avalon in Boston, a damn fine concert I assure you. It’s like Javier would say: “Every once in a while a band will release an album that was meant to be heard live, and it won’t make sense until you hear it live.”

The Decemberists - The Crane Wife

This was an experience unlike any music I’ve heard in the past 3 years.  Portland Oregon’s The Decemberists have put out a much-needed blast of originality to the increasingly atrophying rock scene.  The backbone of The Crane Wife is the same thing that has kept The Decemberists enjoying a strong independent following for the past few years, a signature folksy-rock sound saturated in a dark New England maritime lilt. At times spooky, at times inspiring, with nods to the American folk music tradition and even some of the rock sounds of the mid and late 1970’s along the lines of Wings or Jethro Tull with some songs the listener can picture being performed by Peter, Paul, and Mary only calloused and downtrodden by the cruel hands of time and tide. Some of the songs tread the waters of modern funk with some brilliant bass work and organ jamming, “The Perfect Crime” being the prime example of this style. Overall The Decemberists show great range and originality in their first widely released album.

Greg Graffin – Cold as the Clay

This record came out of nowhere, I was just surfing around the internet one day checking out some punk music website and I saw mention of this album’s upcoming release. Greg Graffin is the lead singer of one of my all-time favorite bands; Bad Religion. He has a great voice that is very different from most punk singers, anomalous in both its baritone and ability to convey strong emotion while still carrying a tune.  This album is a collection of depression-era American folk songs (Half being traditional American roots music, half being original works in that style written by Graffin), sung without irony, just telling the stories of our forefathers that time has opted to forget. The song’s run from grim tales of murder and revenge, to moralistic lessons of life and love, to stark tales of loss and pain. This is Graffin’s second foray into non-punk music (although oddly enough many of the messages remain constant between the genres); in 1997 he released American Lesion, an awkward and heavy-handed attempt, reflecting much of Graffin’s own personal turmoil at the time, and much too reminiscent reading a pissed-off teenager’s diary.