Albums: 2006

1. Joanna Newsom's YS2. The Hold Steady's BOYS AND GIRLS3. Camera Obscura’s LETS GET OUT OF THIS COUNTRY4. Todd Snider's THE DEVIL YOU KNOW5. Grizzly Bear’s YELLOW HOUSE6. Bruce Springsteen’s THE SEEGER SESSIONS7. Built to Spill’s YOU IN REVERSE8. Belle & Sebastian’s THE LIFE PURSUIT9. Jenny Lewis' RABBIT FUR COAT10. Yo La Tengo's I AM NOT AFRAID ...11. Bob Dylan’s MODERN TIMES12. The Long Winters’ PUTTING THE DAYS TO BED13. Neko Case’s FOX CONFESSOR BRINGS THE FLOOD

14. M. Ward’s POST-WAR

In all honesty, 2006 proper was all about three albums: 1) Built to Spill's YOU IN REVERSE; 2) Todd Snider's THE DEVIL YOU KNOW; and 3) The Hold Steady's BOYS AND GIRLS IN AMERICA. The Hold Steady album was the one I actually listed as my AotY at the end of the year, but, again, I did a revision at some point and put the amazing YS at the top of the list.

What a long, eventful year it was. In January I started hanging out with [fellow music journalist] Sean Smith, who I went on to live with five or so months later when my previous roomate, Dave, bought his first house. My then girlfriend and I broke up after a few hard weeks and I struck up a solid relationship with with my friend Andrew Driscoll, who I went on a number of adventures with. All of the people mentioned, every last one of them, was really into music at the time and experienced all this stuff with me. Sean and I threw a big party at a bar called O'Sullivans in celebration of the new Built to Spill album. Andrew and I listened to that Jenny Lewis album all through the summer, drunk and sunburned.

By May I had quit my record store job and gone to work as the Managing Editor of the paper I'd been writing music columns and album reviews for. That job took over my life for a good while. At the same time I was adjusting to the new job, I started "working" as part of the Stage Banter team with my friends Matt Kelley (owner of One Lucky Guitar) and Sean. We had a Podcast and a website, went to shows, had parties and started a message board that has remained popular. Our podcast covered many of the albums listed and lasted through the end of the year - about six months total.

Celebrating all this music with those guys was a great time. The only album we all really agreed on was the Hold Steady record, which we all loved.

Thinking back now, this was probably one of the more important years of my life. I made some new friends, worked very hard, went on some crazy adventures and, eventually, got back together with Carly, a girl I'd dated before and am still with today. Really, looking at this list, 2006 wasn't one of the best years ever for albums. It was, however, one of the best years for celebrating music with friends. Hasn't been the same since and probably never will be again. The way people experience music has changed so much since 2006 and many of my friends are old enough now that the release of an album isn't going to derail their life.

Getting old doesn't suck, not as long as you still let records and films and books fuck up everything you know.