So you think you've stumble upon the work of some mad lunatic? You might be right. The Others dub Mad Lunatics Like Me freaks. I'm the music- and chart-kind of freak. I have a passion for music, and apart from listening and singing along to music, working in a record store, writing music myself, ie, being surrounded by music during most of my waking hours, the passion somehow also manifestates itself in sorting and putting the songs and records in an order of some kind, mostly in order of quality, ie: making charts. What I do not posses, contrary to what you might think, scrolling up and down this page, is too much time on my hands. The truth couldn't be more different; I've actually got very little time, but what I do posses is this old-fashioned fetish for making charts. I do so on a weekly base; every week I dedicate about two hours to making a Top 50 Singles and some additional charts. These weekly charts are the material I use to build these year-end charts, a summary of the year. In years to come, these year-end charts will work as a diary for 2006. Of course, diaries are highly personal, and taste is as well, so I do realize these charts won't be of much interest to anyone who's not me. But, I happen to like reading other people's charts, especially charts of the people I know. Hopefully, you know me or think you know me (wait until you see this chart, ha!) so you will find some enjoyment, ploughing through the following (slightly overlong, I know) charts. The 100 best officially on CD or 7" released singles of 2006 001 BE YOUR OWN PET Adventure 002 PLACEBO Meds 003 THE KOOKS Naïve 004 THE STROKES You Only Live Once 005 THE KILLERS When You Were Young 006 THOM YORKE Harrowdown Hill 007 PET SHOP BOYS I'm With Stupid 008 PLACEBO Song To Say Goodbye 009 THE LONG BLONDES Once And Never Again 010 PLACEBO Because I Want You 011 THE KNIFE Silent Shout 012 THE STROKES Heart In A Cage 013 RAZORLIGHT In The Morning 014 THE BOYFRIENDS Once Upon A Time 015 THE RIFLES She's Got Standards 016 LADYTRON International Dateline 017 ARCTIC MONKEYS When The Sun Goes Down 018 FRANZ FERDINAND Eleanor Put Your Boots On 019 DELAYS Valentine 020 MEW Apocalypso 021 THE LONG BLONDES Weekend Without Makeup 022 THE KILLERS Bones 023 THE ORGAN Brother 024 MORRISSEY The Youngest Was The Most Loved 025 DIRTY PRETTY THINGS Deadwood 026 STARSAILOR This Time 027 SIGUR RÓS Sæglópur 028 DEAD DISCO Automatic 029 MIDLAKE Head Home 030 THE RIFLES Peace And Quiet 031 FRANZ FERDINAND L. Wells/The Fallen 032 WHITE ROSE MOVEMENT Testcard Girl/London's Mine 033 STARSAILOR Keep Us Together 034 DIRTY PRETTY THINGS Wondering 035 JOSEPH ARTHUR Even Tho 036 NIGHTMARE OF YOU The Days Go By Oh So Slow 037 JAMES DEAN BRADFIELD That's No Way To Tell A Lie 038 BATTLE Tendency 039 DIRTY PRETTY THINGS Bang Bang You're Dead 040 THE KOOKS She Moves In Her Own Way 041 PETER BJORN & JOHN Young Folks 042 MIDLAKE Roscoe 043 HEAVENS Patent Pending 044 NEW YOUNG PONY CLUB Ice Cream 045 TO MY BOY The Grid 046 KEANE Crystal Ball 047 RAZORLIGHT Before I Fall To Pieces 048 PLACEBO Infra-red 049 LITTLE MAN TATE What? What You Got 050 HARRISONS Blue Note 051 THE KOOKS You Don't Love Me 052 THE KOOKS Ooh La 053 VOXTROT Mothers, Sisters, Daughters & Wives 054 MORRISSEY You Have Killed Me 055 THE MACCABEES Latchmere 056 TAPES 'N TAPES Insistor 057 DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE I Will Follow You Into The Dark 058 RIPCHORD Lock Up Your Daughters (And Throw Away The Key) 059 THE RIFLES Repeated Offender 060 PERFORMANCE Surrender 061 BELLE AND SEBASTIAN Funny Little Frog 062 BOY KILL BOY Suzie 063 SUPERGRASS Fin 064 THE LONG BLONDES Seperated By Motorways 065 WIR SIND HELDEN Wenn Es Passiert 066 RICHARD ASHCROFT Break The Night With Colour 067 CHARLOTTE GAINSBOURG The Songs That We Sing 068 MORNING RUNNER Burning Benches 069 CAMERA OBSCURA Lloyd, I'm Ready To Be Heartbroken 070 MAXÏMO PARK I Want You To Stay 071 MORRISSEY In The Future When All's Well 072 DEPECHE MODE John The Revelator/Lilian 073 BADLY DRAWN BOY Nothing's Going To Change Your Mind 074 WHITE ROSE MOVEMENT Girls In The Back 075 GNARLS BARKLEY Crazy 076 EDITORS All Sparks 077 PETER BJORN AND JOHN Let's Call It Off 078 MYSTERY JETS You Can't Fool Me Dennis 079 NELLY FURTADO Maneater 080 BOY KILL BOY Civil Sin 081 JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE SexyBack 082 THE PIPETTES Your Kisses Are Wasted On Me 083 MILBURN Creshire Cat Smile 084 SOLO Come Back To Me 085 GUILLEMOTS Made Up Love Song #43 086 LARRIKIN LOVE Downing Street Kindling 087 JENNY WILSON Let My Shoes Lead Me Forward 088 YEAH YEAH YEAHS Cheated Hearts 089 PATRICK WOLF Accident & Emergency 090 THE KNIFE We Share Our Mothers' Health 091 ROBOTS IN DISGUISE Turn It Up 092 SPARKS Waterproof/Dick Around 093 JENNY WILSON Summertime - The Roughest Time 094 THE CHARLATANS Blackened Blue Eyes 095 PANIC! AT THE DISCO I Write Sins, Not Tragedies 096 DEPECHE MODE Suffer Well 097 GOOD SHOES We Are Not The Same 098 KLAXONS Atlantis To Interzone 099 CUT COPY Going Nowhere 100 THE TELEVISION PERSONALITIES All The Young Children On Crack What else to do than to agree with what the BBC wrote some days ago; "Unless something goes badly awry with the upward curve in the general quality of pop music that began in 2002 and banked sharply skywards in 2006, then 2007 ought to be the greatest year for singles since records and records began." - Ironically, in the age of the disappearing singles market, the quality of the singles themselves have hardly ever been in a healthier state. The 100 best officially on CD or 12" released albums in 2006 001 JOANNA NEWSOM Ys In 2004, her debut made it to #3 on my Top 100 Albums for that year, one of her songs topped the Unreleased Singles chart and her nothing less than enchanting concert at the Crossing Border festival in The Hague topped my Concerts chart. At that time, virtually nobody had heard of Joanna Newsom. Now, we have a completely different situation. Only two months have passed since Ys came out, but it's already made her known to more people than I had ever imagined she would. And deservedly. Ys lurges you (or at least me) beyond your imagination, into a parallel universe where the laws of nature are different, where time does not exist or exists in a way we can't quite grasp and which history bewilders. Listening to Ys with eyes closed, or whilst walking in a forest with the most amazing views and artworks, could be a life-changing experience, and if not life-changing, then at least life-affirming. Ys - both the music and the lyrics - is otherwordly, uncomparable to anything, and rich with detail in every way. It's no wonder that, after finishing Ys, Newsom was afraid she was going to die because she realized she had made the perfect record. I could go on and on about the way this record enchanted me and continues to enchant me, but there are 99 more records waiting to get some attention. But I'm sorry, 99 Other Records Of The Year, 2006 would have been a very good year if Ys had been the year's sole release. And, er, when a record is as perfectly well-thought out, would it be a too far-stretched thought to think miss Newsom also made it easy for reviewers to rhyme Ys with 'masterpiece'? 002 THE KOOKS Inside In/Inside Out They might not have broken any sonical boundaries, but they perfected the "British indie rock" idiom; bar one, every song on this 14-track blockbuster is a spot-on, übercatchy poptastic HIT. One of the soundtracks of my life this year. "Do you want to see the world?" Oh yes, please! And I did. 003 THE STROKES First Impressions Of Earth Nobody cares about The Strokes anymore since everyone merely pretended to like them because they were cool. Everyone moved on, but that's everyone's loss. Julian and co duly served a third album with songs at least as strong as on their first. Their sound expanded, the melodies remained irresistible. Only the fact First Impressions Of Earth includes three lesser songs versus only one on The Kooks' debut means they lost out to their "rivals" from Brighton. 004 THE KILLERS Sam's Town Stadium rock done properly. They reached for the sky and they conquered it. If only they release "This river is wild" as a single, this album will be as succesful as Hot Fuss, which is nothing more than it deserves. 005 RAZORLIGHT Razorlight FM-rock, yes. But what's wrong with songs aiming to be Pop Classics everyone remembers decades later? OK, so "America" is a tad overblown and silly, but "I can't stop this feeling I've got" results in proper goosebumps everytime. And no I can't stop that feeling, indeed. 006 THE LONG BLONDES Someone To Drive You Home The best lyrics since Jarvis Cocker moved to Paris, combined with some of the best melodies of the year, makes for a deadly combination. Shame not all the songs on the album are as ace as the singles were, but let's say that leaves room for improvement. 007 PLACEBO Meds Placebo has never showed any intention of changing anything, but why change a winning formula? Meds includes some of their best songs yet - and they were the perfect soundtrack to the first months of my life in 2006. 008 DIRTY PRETTY THINGS Waterloo To Anywhere The Libertines split - so what? It seems everyone (there's Everyone again) disagrees but Waterloo To Anywhere is better than the two Libertines records combined. From the moment go ("Deadwood") to the last song ("B.U.R.M.A"), mister Barat knows exactly what it takes to write melodies which hook you and make you wonder why nobody else thought of them before. And with the Babyshambles album being much better than Everyone seemed to think, we should be glad The Libertines have gone seperate ways. Twice the amount of songs! Songs which are twice as good, well, at least as good, additionally! Do the maths. 009 WHITE ROSE MOVEMENT Kick They might be so überhip they're verging on the ridiculous, but that didn't stop them from creating an album sounding like the perfect blend of Depeche Mode, a dark Human League and The Strokes. 010 THE KNIFE Silent Shout Other-wordly in different way than Joanna, though there are similarities. Not least the fact The Knife are also geniuses. Minimal electronica with maximal effect - take note boring "minimal" scenesters! 011 THE RIFLES No Love Lost An album almost as good as Inside In/Inside Out - but they haven't quite got The Looks. So they remain a bit of an incrowd favourite. Let's hope the incrowd is big enough to support them towards a second album. 012 MORRISSEY Ringleader Of The Tormentors 013 BELLE AND SEBASTIAN The Life Pursuit 014 THOM YORKE The Eraser 015 THE VEILS Nux Vomica 016 DELAYS You See Colours 017 MEW And The Glass Handed Kites 018 MIDLAKE The Trials Of Van Occupanther 019 PET SHOP BOYS Fundamental 020 CASIOTONE FOR THE PAINFULLY ALONE Etiquette 021 BADLY DRAWN BOY Born In The U.K. 022 JAMES DEAN BRADFIELD The Great Western ...on which James Dean proves the Manics were actually all him 023 SUFJAN STEVENS The Avalanche 024 ARCTIC MONKEYS Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not 025 LOVE IS ALL Nine Times That Same Song 026 CSS Cansei De Ser Sexy 027 BOY KILL BOY Civilian 028 EL PERRO DEL MAR El Perro Del Mar 029 ELEFANT The Black Magic Show Terribly underrated, just like their debut. A good enough substitute for Interpol in Interpol-lacking years. 030 THE BOYFRIENDS The Boyfriends A handful of great singles, musically almòst worthy of The Smiths stamp of approval. Shame about the non-descript filler tracks. 031 CHARLOTTE GAINSBOURG 5.55 If Air wouldn't have the unsuppressable inclination to sing on their records themselves (without the aid of a vocoder) they'd be one of my favourite groups. Especially if they'd get singers with surnames like Charlotte to sing songs with lyrics written by a lyricist whose initials read J.C. (ie, Jarvis! Cocker!) 032 NIGHTMARE OF YOU Nightmare Of You A couple of very strong songs but unfortunately also a handful of dead boring, standard American FM emorock ones. 033 YEAH YEAH YEAHS Show Your Bones 034 THE TELEVISION PERSONALITIES My Dark Places 035 THE SUNSHINE UNDERGROUND Raise The Alarm 036 JENNY WILSON Love And Youth 037 MORNING RUNNER Wilderness Is Paradise Now 038 PETER BJORN AND JOHN Peter Bjorn And John 039 SPARKS Hello Young Lovers 040 LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM Under The Skin 041 PONY UP! Make Love To The Judges With Your Eyes 042 TAPES 'N TAPES The Loon 043 JARVIS The Jarvis Cocker Record 044 THE AUTOMATIC Not Accepted Anywhere 045 GUILLEMOTS Through The Windowpane 046 BAND OF HORSES Everything All The Time 047 CURRENT 93 Black Ships Ate The Sky 048 MILBURN Well Well Well 049 SHEARWATER Palo Santo 050 THE DEARS Gang Of Losers 051 HOWLING BELLS Howling Bells 052 KEANE Under The Iron Sea 053 SNOW PATROL Eyes Open 054 LO-FI-FNK Boylife 055 GEM Escapades 056 MY LATEST NOVEL Wolves 057 DUELS The Bright Lights And What I Should Have Learned 058 CAMERA OBSCURA Let's Get Out Of This Country 059 ALBERT HAMMOND, JR. Yours To Keep 060 TIGA Sexor 061 BLACK SUN PRODUCTIONS Operett Amorale 062 PANIC! AT THE DISCO A Fever You Can't Sweat Out 063 SOL SEPPY The Bells Of 1 2 064 INFADELS We Are Not The Infadels 065 NELLY FURTADO Loose 066 XIU XIU The Air Force 067 BONNIE "PRINCE" BILLY The Letting Go 068 THE DRESDEN DOLLS Yes, Virginia... 069 BAT FOR LASHES Fur And Gold 070 MYSTERY JETS Making Dens 071 RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS Stadium Arcadium 072 LARRIKIN LOVE The Freedom Spark 073 PAJO 1968 074 MATES OF STATES Bring It Back 075 THE FIERY FURNACES Bitter Tea 076 SONIC YOUTH Rather Ripped 077 GRANT-LEE PHILLIPS Nineteeneighties 078 BE YOUR OWN PET Be Your Own Pet 079 PHOENIX It's Never Been Like That 080 THE RACONTEURS Broken Boy Soldiers 081 WE ARE SCIENTISTS With Love And Squalor 082 JOAN AS POLICE WOMAN Real Life 083 TORTOISE & BONNIE "PRINCE" BILLY The Brave And The Bold 084 PRETTY GIRLS MAKE GRAVES Elan Vital 085 JOHAN Thx Jhn 086 BUILT TO SPILL You In Reverse 087 PONI HOAX Poni Hoax 088 BASEMENT JAXX Crazy Itch Radio 089 ¡FORWARD RUSSIA! Give Me A Wall 090 THE CHARLATANS Simpatico 091 AMY WINEHOUSE Back To Black 092 ROBOTS IN DISGUISE Get Rid! 093 THE HIDDEN CAMERAS Awoo 094 CLEARLAKE Amber 095 RADIO 4 Enemies Like This 096 ROBBIE WILLIAMS Rudebox 097 BURIAL Burial 098 THE BLOOD ARM Lie Lover Lie 099 THE FUTUREHEADS News And Tributes 100 METALLIC FALCONS Desert Doughnuts A great year for British- or British-sounding indie rock, not such a good year for other genres in my opinion. Joanna apart, the folk scene which seemed to explode so marvellously last year didn't really deliver a lot to write home (or rather, rave reviews) about this year. Then again, the main characters are expected to release new material in 2007 so let's say they (hopefully) enjoyed a deserved year off. As has been the case the past years, dance has disappointed yet again. Or no, it hasn't, because my expectations have dropped to pre-greenhouse effect level. Burial and Trentemøller delivered albums chockfull of very intrigueing soundscapes and the vague hint of a song, but there were too few records such as the work of genius The Knife came up with to claim electronica (or whatever your chosen nom-de-plume is) is in a healthy state. But! I've witnessed lots of bright spots of hope. Mainly found in the field of rock-electronica-pop cross-over. Every since electroclash it has threatened to happen but there are so many great acts out there who mix electronics and guitars with a lot of imagination and craft, it can't be long before the first ones come up with full length albums worth of praise. Some of them are included in my Future 50. The 150 best songs which should have been singles in 2006 001 THE KOOKS See The World 002 THE KILLERS This River Is Wild 003 NIGHTMARE OF YOU My Name Is Trouble 004 LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM Cast Away Dreams 005 THE KNIFE Marble House 006 PET SHOP BOYS The Resurrectionist 007 RAZORLIGHT I Can't Stop This Feeling I've Got 008 RUFUS WAINWRIGHT Chelsea Hotel No. 2 009 DIRTY PRETTY THINGS Doctors And Dealers 010 THE KOOKS Matchbox 011 MORRISSEY I Will See You In Far-off Places 012 PONY UP! The Truth About Cats And Dogs (Is That They Die) 013 THE KILLERS Sam's Town 014 RAZORLIGHT Back To The Start 015 DIRTY PRETTY THINGS Gin & Milk 016 SUFJAN STEVENS The Avalanche 017 RAZORLIGHT Los Angeles Waltz 018 THE KILLERS Bling (Confessions Of A King) 019 DIRTY PRETTY THINGS Last Of The Small Town Playboys 020 BADLY DRAWN BOY Promises 021 DELAYS You And Me 022 THE KOOKS Seaside 023 THE KOOKS Time Awaits 024 THE STROKES Electricityscape 025 THE RIFLES When I'm Alone 026 BELLE & SEBASTIAN To Be Myself Completely 027 VOTE SHOW PONY Love Hearts Love Hearts 028 BADLY DRAWN BOY Born In The U.K. 029 SHEARWATER Seventy-Four, Seventy-Five 030 BAND OF HORSES The Funeral 031 YO LA TENGO Black Flowers 032 FRANZ FERDINAND Jeremy Fraser 033 PET SHOP BOYS Twentieth Century 034 THOM YORKE The Eraser 035 WHITE ROSE MOVEMENT Pig Heil Jam 036 THE BOYFRIENDS The White Devil 037 MORRISSEY Life Is A Pigsty 038 THE STROKES Vision Of Division 039 HASSELHOFF Silly Jeans 040 MORRISSEY Sweetie-Pie 041 SUFJAN STEVENS The Henney Buggy Band 042 THE VEILS A Birthday Present 043 THE VEILS One Night On Earth 044 THE LONG BLONDES Swallow Tattoo 045 THE TELEVISION PERSONALITIES You Kept Me Waiting Too Long 046 AC BERKHEIMER Grand Hotel 047 JAMES DEAN BRADFIELD Bad Boys And Painkillers 048 PET SHOP BOYS Integral 049 CASIOTONE FOR THE PAINFULLY ALONE Scattered Pearls 050 MIDLAKE We Gathered In Spring 051 MATES OF STATE Think Long 052 THE TELEVISION PERSONALITIES I'm Not Your Typical Boy 053 AC BERKHEIMER Fatboy 054 THE VEILS Calliope! 055 AC BERKHEIMER Montana 056 LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM I Am Waiting 057 PONY UP! Dance For Me 058 BADLY DRAWN BOY Degrees Of Seperation 059 THE KOOKS Jackie Big Tits 060 ROBBIE WILLIAMS FEAT. PET SHOP BOYS She's Madonna 061 XIU XIU Save Me Save Me 062 THE VEILS Nux Vomica 063 AC BERKHEIMER Ordinary Days 064 THE LONG BLONDES Five Ways To End It 065 RAY GRANT Transition 066 CASIOTONE FOR THE PAINFULLY ALONE Nashville Parthenon 067 BUILT TO SPILL Goin' Against Your Mind 068 DEAD DISCO City Place 069 THE KOOKS I Want You 070 BELLE & SEBASTIAN Another Sunny Day 071 ELEFANT The Black Magic Show 072 SUFJAN STEVENS No Man's Land 073 THE DRESDEN DOLLS Sex Changes 074 BAND OF HORSES The Great Salt Lake 075 MORRISSEY On The Streets I Ran 076 MORRISSEY The Father Who Must Be Killed 077 BURNINGPILOT Can't Kid A Kidder 078 YEAH YEAH YEAHS Dudley 079 CSS Off The Hook 080 VOXTROT The Start Of Something 081 THE RIFLES One Night Stand 082 NEW RHODES You've Given Me Something That I Can't Give Back 083 SOUND TEAM Handful Of Billions 084 JARVIS Disney Time 085 MARGOT & THE NUCLEAR SO & SO'S Skeleton Key 086 THE THERMALS Returning To The Fold 087 OUT WITH MUMMY Who Stole Peter's Soul 088 LOVE IS ALL Ageing Had Never Been His Friend 089 CHARLOTTE GAINSBOURG Little Monsters 090 BADLY DRAWN BOY Welcome To The Overground 091 DELAYS This Town's Religion 092 NELLY FURTADO FEAT. ATTITUDE Afraid 093 ELEFANT Uh Oh Hello 094 CLEARLAKE I Hate It That I Got What I Wanted 095 AMY WINEHOUSE Back To Black 096 LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM Show You How 097 NO BRA Munchausen 098 ELEFANT Sirens 099 THE THERMALS A Pillar Of Salt 100 ELEFANT Lolita 101 THE VEILS Not Yet 102 THE HIDDEN CAMERAS Follow These Eyes 103 GUILLEMOTS Sao Paulo 104 ELEFANT Why 105 CSS Music Is My Hot, Hot Sex 106 ELEFANT The Clown 107 EL PERRO DEL MAR Coming Down The Hill 108 BEN KWELLER Penny On The Train Track 109 MONKEY SWALLOWS THE UNIVERSE Sheffield Shanty 110 TIGA High School 111 JOHNNY'S LANDING Right Of Way 112 NIGHTMARE OF YOU Why Am I Always Right? 113 BOY KILL BOY On And On 114 BATTLE Wicked Owl 115 MATSON JONES New York City Fuck Off 116 DELAYS Given Away 117 EL PERRO DEL MAR Party 118 NELLY FURTADO Glow 119 FOX N' WOLF Youth Alcoholic 120 EL PERRO DEL MAR Candy 121 PETER BJORN & JOHN Paris 2004 122 THE FRATELLIS Flathead 123 NIGHTMARE OF YOU I Want To Be Buried In Your Backyard 124 PETER BJORN & JOHN Amsterdam 125 LO-FI-FNK Change Channel 126 REX THE DOG Every Day (Could Be Our Last Day) 127 PONI HOAX She's On The Radio 128 NIGHTMARE OF YOU Dear Scene, I Wish I Was Deaf 129 MYSTERY JETS Zootime 130 BELLE & SEBASTIAN Act Of The Apostle 131 THE DEARS Hate, Then Love 132 THE TEENAGERS Sleeping Bag 133 THE OCCASION The Deserters 134 VAN SHE Sex City 135 ALBERT HAMMOND, JR. In Transit 136 PIANO MAGIC Uncurable 137 NOUVELLE VAGUE Dance With Me 138 THE DEARS Death Or Life, We Want You 139 GEM Move On 140 PATRICK WATSON Luscious Life 141 BEIRUT Scenic World 142 BASEMENT JAXX Hey You 143 TV ON THE RADIO I Was A Lover 144 SUBURBAN KIDS WITH BIBLICAL NAMES Loop Duplicate My Head 145 THE TELEVISION PERSONALITIES She Can Stop Traffic 146 DATA PANIC Cubis (I Love You) 147 KLAXONS Gravity's Rainbow 148 DE NIEUWE VROLIJKHEID I Woke Up In The Middle Of A Dream 149 RODRIGO Y GABRIELA Orion 150 THE PLIMPTONS Impulse Records (1970 - 2000) As bright eyes may have noticed, Joanna Newsom is absent from this chart. Solely due to the fact her epic songs don't quite sound like possible singles - unless she'd cut them in parts and I don't think that would be a sensible thing to do and I have a feeling she'd agree. The 20 best concerts out of the 93 I attended in 2006 01 THE KNIFE Lowlands, Biddinghuizen 02 MORRISSEY Heineken Music Hall, Amsterdam 03 MORRISSEY & KRISTEEN YOUNG Opera House, Manchester [UK] 04 THE WHITEST BOY ALIVE Melt Ferropolis [DE] 05 SPARKS Paradiso, Amsterdam 06 DIRTY PRETTY THINGS Paradiso, Amsterdam 07 DEPECHE MODE Ahoy, Rotterdam 08 THE KOOKS Paradiso (London Calling), Amsterdam 09 MAXÏMO PARK Paard van Troje (The Music In My Head), Den Haag 10 GUILLEMOTS Nighttown (Motel Mozaïque), Rotterdam 11 BABYSHAMBLES Paradiso, Amsterdam 12 PLACEBO Ancienne Belgique, Brussels [BE] 13 THE FLAMING LIPS Pinkpop, Landgraaf 14 THE LONG BLONDES Paradiso (London Calling), Amsterdam 15 RAZORLIGHT Melkweg, Amsterdam 16 PET SHOP BOYS Melt, Ferropolis 17 BROMHEADS JACKET Paradiso (London Calling), Amsterdam 18 MIDLAKE Theater aan het Spui (Crossing Border), Den Haag 19 MEW Melkweg, Amsterdam 20 THE SUNSHINE UNDERGROUND Paradiso (London Calling), Amsterdam The 15 best music videos I have seen in 2006 01 THE KOOKS Naive Not the most inventive video in any way, but boy, how this video symbolises some of 2006 for me... 02 FRANZ FERDINAND Jeremy Fraser A b-side which showcases there's plenty more life in Franz Ferdinand - more than most would expect. And what a very charming video, this is. 03 THE KNIFE Silent Shout A perfect match of music and imagery. 04 TIGA Far From Home Only someone as straight as Tiga would feature in something as gay as this. 05 THE FIELDS Song For The Fields I've always had a weak spot for stop-motion, and The Fields (or rather the creators of this video) found that weak spot effortlessly. (Hmmm maybe not effortlessly - it looks as though there was a lot of effort put into this video.) 06 THE CONCRETES Chosen One The first of the videos Pitchforkmedia and me agreed on. :) 07 XIU XIU Boy Soprano ...and another one. 08 MORNINGWOOD Nth Degree The song is plainly annoying, the band is crap, but with sound off, there's a lot to enjoy in this video. Especially for those of us - like me - who heart cheesy videos taking the mickey out of iconic records sleeves. 09 THE STROKES Heart In A Cage The drama! The poses! In the crowd! 10 THOM YORKE Harrowdown Hill 11 BADLY DRAWN BOY Nothing's Gonna Change Your Mind In which our woollen-hat hero drives his car with his piano. 12 BASEMENT JAXX Take Me Back To Your House Another perfect music/imagery match. Crayzee! 13 THE RAPTURE Whoo! Alright Yeah... Uh Huh In which The Rapture prove they're still the coolest hipsters alive. Bar Hot Chip, that is of course. 14 THE HORRORS Sheena Is A Parasite You can always rely on Chris Cunningham. 15 KLAXONS Magick New Rave has its dark 'n' dangerous (or should I say neon green) corners... Thank God (or whoever thought of it) for YouTube. I stopped switching on the tellie since the demise of the British Top Of The Pops, and even before that I hardly ever caught a music video (other than some generic R&B- or Nickelback-like-rock video) on television. So long, MTV. It's time to fill in the redundancy forms. (Which breaks my heart - how I wish MTV would return to their roots and just show cutting-edge videos non-stop, once in a while interrupted for programs focussed on music. Time to put the M back into MTV, I'd say.) The 20 best designed* records of 2006 * Note: only based on the graphic design, not on any fancy packaging. For instance, the sleeve should still stand out printed in a magazine. 01 THE KNIFE Silent Shout 02 THE FLAMING LIPS At War With The Mystics 03 YEAH YEAH YEAHS Show Your Bones 04 SUBTLE For Hero: For Fool 05 MSTRKRFT The Looks 06 JARVIS The Jarvis Cocker Record 07 IN FLAGRANTI Wronger Than Anyone Else 08 BECK The Information 09 BELLE AND SEBASTIAN The Life Pursuit 10 THE STROKES First Impressions Of Earth 11 ORANGER New Comes And Goes 12 SONIC YOUTH Rather Ripped 13 MAGNOLIA ELECTRIC CO. Fading Trails 14 I LOVE YOU BUT I'VE CHOSEN DARKNESS Fear Is On Our Side 15 ADAM GREEN Jacket Full Of Danger 16 TOUMANI DIABATE'S SYMMETRIC ORCHESTRA Boulevard De L'Independance 17 GOOSE Bring It On 18 THOM YORKE The Eraser 19 GNARLS BARKLEY St. Elsewhere 20 HOT CHIP The Warning The 50 albums due in 2007 I look forward to most 01 PATRICK WOLF 02 THE ARK 03 BJÖRK 04 INTERPOL 05 MAXÏMO PARK 06 DEAD DISCO 07 THE SHINS 08 FIGURINES 09 ANTONY & THE JOHNSONS 10 RADIOHEAD 11 COLDPLAY 12 NEW YOUNG PONY CLUB 13 BLOC PARTY 14 VOTE SHOW PONY Kate Bush meets Madonna and they like each other. It'd be a crime against Pop if she doesn't get a deal in 2007. 15 TO MY BOY The New Rave Sparks! Exactly what I have been waiting for, if nobody else. 16 PERFORMANCE 17 DOGS DIE IN HOT CARS 18 FRANZ FERDINAND 19 BATTLE 20 ARCADE FIRE 21 KRISTEEN YOUNG Another modern Kate Bush (not that there is anything wrong with the real Kate Bush by the way) and this one has got the rare Morrissey stamp of approval. 22 VOXTROT For there will not be a new Belle & Sebastian record in 2007, we've got Voxtrot to cling to. 23 THE POSTAL SERVICE 24 THE BRAVERY Yes I am probably the only soul left who is looking forward to this one. Oh, I know there's at least one more person, but I wonder if their record company is satisfied with a sales count of two. 25 RUFUS WAINWRIGHT 26 ASH 27 THE MACCABEES 28 DEVENDRA BANHART 29 SOPHIE ELLIS-BEXTOR 30 BLACK STROBE 31 KLAXONS 32 EDITORS 33 LCD SOUNDSYSTEM (Psst by now I have heard it and I must admit I don't think it's very exciting... but perhaps it will grow on me.) 34 FOX N' WOLF 35 VAN SHE 36 DURAN DURAN 37 SMASHING PUMPKINS 38 !!! 39 ARCTIC MONKEYS 40 BLUR 41 BRIGHT EYES 42 THE PIGEON DETECTIVES 43 GOOD SHOES 44 BLONDE REDHEAD 45 THE TEENAGERS 46 KINGS OF LEON 47 P.J. HARVEY 48 DE NIEUWE VROLIJKHEID 49 TEGAN & SARA 50 PORTISHEAD Apart from the Usual Suspects (The Shins, Interpol, Rufus Wainwright, Radiohead finally) who are scheduled to release new albums in 2007, there's a huge amount of artists who will debut this year and I must admit I can't quite think of them all at the moment. And of those I can think of, some don't even have a record deal yet - Vote Show Pony for instance and some were on this list last year (like Battle) so there's always a fair chance their albums will not actually be released in 2007. Also, I excluded bands who have only just started and who will probably not release their debut full length before 2008 such as the mightily talented AC Berkheimer (sounding like a shoegaze version of The Organ and Ladytron, and who have better songs than anyone else currently playing in the Netherlands), Hasselhoff (The Dutch Infadels) and Johnny's Landing (sounding like The Libertines with Madeleine Peyroux on vocals). ...and, somehow I don't expect new albums by Ladytron (oooh I hope they won't follow the footsteps of The Organ and JJ72), R.E.M. or artists who have released albums in 2006 but I would be pleasantly surprised if they do. Top 10 Movies Best movies, as far as I have seen 01 THE SCIENCE OF SLEEP 02 BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN 03 DOUCHES FROIDES 04 MARIE ANTOINETTE 05 HARD CANDY 06 WALK THE LINE 07 ZWARTBOEK 08 SOMERSAULT 09 C.R.A.Z.Y. 10 SUPERMAN RETURNS As I missed some key movies this year, this chart is not even that relevant to me. Though the Top Two movies would appear in my all-time favourite movies list if I had one. PS: Most Overrated Albums (What The Fuss!?) The reviewers will get back on these ones, one day 01 BOB DYLAN Modern Times Unbelievable, it seems I stand alone in thinking Bob Dylan is way past his prime and this new album sounds very uninspired - yet everybody declares it a masterpiece. It must be so easy, when your name's Bob Dylan, to receive rave reviews. Everyone just wants the guy (whose importance in rock history I do not deny) to come up with great music. 02 KASABIAN Empire Overblown in the wrong way - no tune to be found. 03 RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS Stadium Arcadium Yes it also features in my regular Top 100, but it didn't deserve the praise it got. It's too much, too soon. But you can compile one decent album from the two released discs. Still, not a match for By The Way. 04 TOM WAITS Orphans I have probably made a whole new set of enemies with the inclusion of mister Waits, but really, who truly likes him? Not the amount of people who say they do, surely. Worst Design Worst sleeve design - the horror! 01 ALI B Petje Af 02 LEVEL 42 Retroglide 03 THERAPY? One Cure Fits All 04 PHARRELL In My Mind No matter how downright ugly this design is, his posters were among the most asked for posters in our record store this year. Which shows how little the lack of quality of the record itself, let alone the graphic design, did harm to Pharrell's status. 05 ARCTIC MONKEYS Whatever People Say I Am That's What I Am Not An ugly head smoking a cigarette. And finally... A very special award for Most Offensive Booklet Pictures goes to... Gwen Stefani, for The Sweet Escape. Another very special award, for Most Offensive Single goes to... Sandi Thom's I Wish I Was A Punk-rocker So I Could Wear Flowers In My Hear. Have you felt my CHARTbeat in 2006? ...for those of you bravecharts who have read all the way to the end - you might be interested to know you can join the mailinglist and be one of the lucky few (well there are more people on the list than you might care to believe) who receive my weekly charts every Friday night. Send me an e-mail: joinmychartbeatJUNKPART@schitterdisko.nl - and delete the anti-SPAM junk part of the e-mail address.