My New Years Resolution Is To Talk About 2006 A Lot.

I resisited composing a best-of list for 2006 for a few reasons, the most obvious being that I no longer run a music website. Additionally, I just hate writing lots of paragraphs of mini-reviews backing up my picks. It's impossible to avoid thinking about, however, and as I started putting my list together, I noticed a lot of similarities between the best records in my player this year. For me, 2006 was all about punk rock actually getting good again beyond the biannual efforts from Bad Religion and Green Day.

The Riverboat Gamblers - To The Confusion Of Our Enemies

The Loved Ones - Keep Your Heart

No Trigger - Canyoneer

The Lawrence Arms - Oh! Calcutta

Ryan's Hope - Apocalpyse In Increments

Rise Against - The Sufferer And The Witness

Good Riddance - My Republic

Ignite - Our Darkest Days

Latterman - We Are Still Alive

The Falcon - Unicornography

I'd love to see someone do a study on the inverse relationship between the quality of punk rock and the president's approval rating. While bands like The Riverboat Gamblers don't necessarily have a sharp political bent, all of these records are inspired and thrilling efforts that should make any fan of fast music smile.

The second grouping of great records in 2006 is basically just a list of the Vagrant 2006 roster (not counting Senses Fail and Saves The Day... please). After a few years of pedestrian releases and label-building, Vagrant strung together a number of great releases, all from bands offering their Vagrant debut.

Protest The Hero - Kezia

The Hold Steady - Boys And Girls In America

The Lemonheads - The Lemonheads

Moneen - The Red Tree

Alexisonfire - Crisis

I lied - Moneen's on their second record for Vagrant but, honestly, who really noticed? As a bit of a corollary, Alexisonfire's side project Cancer Bats dropped easily the best hardcore record of the year (speaking of... it was a rough year for that genre).

The final cluster of releases that contributed to my car stereo's untimely death over the summer were the guilty pleasure records. These might not have been the most groundbreaking or intellectually challenging records, which means pitchfork writers and their related devotees will mock my ignorance for enjoying these, but someone once told me that you can't argue with taste... so, more or less, fuck you.

Set Your Goals - Mutiny

Saosin - Saosin

Gnarles Barkley - St. Elsewhere

The Sounds - Dying To Say This To You

DJ Shadow - The Outsider

Dragonforce - Inhuman Rampage

Maxeen - Hello Echo

The only record I left out of these three categories because it managed to stick out completely on its own to battle with the Gamblers for my record of the year is one I wrote about a couple months ago. The Long Winters' Putting The Days To Bed is the one record that you should buy this year, regardless of your tastes.

And for the worst record of the year, I'll throw it over to this interview with Mike Patton. Dead on.