I'm so used to using the royal "we" when I write for SFist that it feels really strange writing "I" - sort of like driving on the left side of the street. And my favorites of 2006 have left me feeling not quite myself either - I've never been a huge fan of electro-rock, but this year's list is drowning in it. In fact, each of these albums share one or more of the following attributes: English-as-a-second language lyrics, baroque instrumentation, dazzling fingerpicking, drug-free/music-induced highs, gentle goodness, unbridled electro-sensuality, so wrong it's right-ness. Regardless of the genre, each of these albums struck a chord in me by being provocative, emotional, ambitious or just fun. My top three local albums are at the very end, so don't stop reading!

Silversun Pickups Carnavas
There's something gorgeously complex about Silversun Pickups' music that makes me want to listen to it over and over again. They're a study in extremes; male and female, devastated and hopeful, quiet and loud, the song structures are tightly wound and unraveled at the same. The variety and intensity of guitar sounds might take the spotlight, but it's Brian Aubert's voice vibrating with a barely-contained frenzy that gets me every time.

Watch Silversun Pickups' video for "Well Thought Out Twinkles"
Buy

Scanners Violence Is Golden
I'm going to quote myself here: Scanners meld the grim glamour of Interpol with the shuffle and hook of the Pretenders. Sarah Daly’s raw vocals bleed vividly over dark washes of guitar, distorted keyboard buzz, and the occasional computer blips and dramatic string swells. She sings with a fluorescent energy, conjuring PJ Harvey’s fragility and fearlessness. “Raw”, one of my favorite songs of 2006, explodes as quickly and brilliantly as a fireworks display. Also one of the best live performances I saw all year.

Download Scanners' "Lowlife"
Buy

Chad VanGaalen Skelliconnection
The multi-talented songwriter's second album is as heartfelt and strange as his first. He does have a little of the Neil Young falsetto going on, but his songs are born from a creativity all his own. Chad VanGaalen lights up new synapses in my brain.

Watch the video for "Red Hot Drops" that Chad animated himself.
Buy

Mew And the Glass-Handed Kites
I've heard the complaints about Mew, that they're too prog, that singer Jonas Bjerre sounds too much like Jon Anderson from Yes. Personally, I'm a fan of changing time signatures, dramatic dynamics and singing like you mean it (and every time I enter the Townsend Street roundabout, Yes's "Roundabout" pops into my head.) Perhaps because they're Danish, their English lyrics are just off enough to ride the line between poetic and nonsensical, but who wouldn't be flattered by having someone tell them, "You're special, you're a rocket to me"?

Watch the video for "Special"
Buy

Ratatat Classics
Ratatat's instrumental concoctions take you on a journey where you need no words.

Listen to Ratatat
Buy

The Knife Silent Shout
This sibling duo is from Sweden, but they might as well be from Neptune. If you like Goldfrapp, Bjork's Homogenic, Ratatat -- then your life will be enriched by The Knife.

Watch the video for "Silent Shout"
Buy

CSS Cansei De Ser Sexy
Sensuality with a sense of humor is the best kind. With an album title that means "tired of being sexy" in Portuguese and a song about Paris Hilton, CSS walk that "fine line between clever and stupid" and always manage, cat-like, to land on their feet. Plus, singer Lovefoxxx can teach us all a little something about seduction via sheer confidence.

Watch the video for "Alala"
Buy

Lindsey Buckingham Under the Skin
Fleetwood Mac's output from 1969-1979 comprises a good bit of my all time favorite music, so it would be hard for me to not like this record. Luckily, it lived up to my expectations and more. Lindsey's fingerpicking is dazzling, and his manic whispery vocals are soothing without putting you to sleep. I was also thrilled to see "Shut Us Down" from last year's Elizabethtown soundtrack resurface on this album.

Watch "Shut Us Down"
Buy

Joanna Newsom Ys
This album is an exercise in artistic integrity. She took her time making it, surrounded herself with the best collaborators, milked Drag City for a rumored six-digit recording budget, and delivered the kind of intricacy, passion, musicianship and handcrafted lyrics we secretly hoped for. To top it off, she added a vocal squeak to her repertoire that's sure to send the Joanna-haters straight over the edge. Joanna, I salute you.

Buy (I highly recommend the double gatefold vinyl.)

PJ Harvey The Peel Sessions & Please Leave Quietly DVD
This CD and DVD have reignited my obsession with Polly Jean Harvey.

Watch the DVD trailer.
Buy the CD and DVD.

Top 3 Local Albums

The Court and Spark Hearts
When you go to purchase this record, pretend you were rummaging through some dusty vinyl in a second hand shop and you came across an out-of-print, forgotten masterpiece recorded by an unknown band in the 70's. I just want to lay in a hammock in the melting sunshine and let singer Mike Taylor croon me to sleep.

Download "Your Mother Was The Lightning"
Buy

Honeycut The Day I Turned To Glass
Just because you know someone in Honeycut or have seen the band members around town, don't sleep through this. These tracks should be on the radio between Gnarls Barkley and Scissor Sisters. As a little bonus, Bart Davenport proves it is indeed possible to get funky in an argyle sweater.

Watch Honeycut perform live on "Morning Becomes Eclectic"
Buy

V/A: Grassroots Record Co. Family Album
Based on Joanna Newsom's fantastical songs and sounds, I have an image in my head that Nevada City, California, is a remote and fantastical place where folk music, free love and handcrafted wares are still in vogue. The residents, bedecked in gingham plaid and calico cotton, are ageless and beautiful and prone to spin you a yarn on their front porch. This compilation does nothing to dispel my ridiculous dream.

Listen to the album
Buy