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Shiv's picks | Mike's picks | Joe's picks

Post War is another amazing release from M Ward. From the Daniel Johnston cover To Go Home, to the storytelling of Chinese Translation, Matt manages to best most of the rest of his back catalouge.

You have to love it when a band has an anthemic song like The Funeral, which of course was high on my favorite songs of the year list. But you have to love it even more when they can follow it up with such stellar music around it. Band of Horses took all the right cues from My Morning Jacket, although they are no clones.

Silversun Pickups have the type of sound that could easily jump outside the indie fences and into mainstream rock. Carnavas has track after track of catchy, upbeat guitar driven songs that leave you wanting more.

Im not in the pack that suddenly love Ms Newsom and couldnt stand the first album, Milk Eyed Mender. I was quite fond of that album and this one is a natural progression for her. But wow, talk about a progression. I think she may have skipped some grades to achieve this gem.

The major label signing by Colin Meloy and his band got major attention and many feared the product would suffer as a result. Well, not only were they wrong, but The Decemberists manages to churn out one of their best records to date.

John Darnielle doesnt need to go out of his way to impress me, Im a big fan of his songwriting and music in general. Yet, he manages to make another amazing album full of rich lyrics and heartfelt tunes. The definitive break up album for 2006.

Easily the strongest start to any album on the list. The first three tracks from these kids blow away alot of other debuts with those 3 songs alone. This album was probably the biggest surprise for me, and the rest of it has grown on me as well with repeated listens.

Its hard for me to imagine a better straight up pop album than this one from 2006. Aloha manges to take all the sugary sweetness you can muster and squeeze it into this record. I still have an addiction to tracks like Brace Your Face.

The boys from Brooklyn actually managed to live up to the over-hyped album that is Return to Cookie Mountain. Everything you would expect from TVOTR, but with some icing on top, like Bowies vocals on Province.

Austin, TX spawned lots of great bands and albums this year, and these guys may be my favorite. The album is dark and brooding with lots of the rock the kids are always talking about. Passover addressed Vietnam issues in a ironically relevant way this year.

The follow up to Stairs and Elevators was much anticipated and turned out to be a solid maturation for these Cincinnati favorites. And its pretty clear to me that the best is yet to come for this trio.

Its not that Rilo Kiley pales in comparision, but this album shines a little brighter than any RK releases that I can recall.

Probably a "rookie of the year" candidate as well, this 8 piece from Indianapolis was a grower for me. Three live viewings didnt hurt either. Cant wait to see whats next for these guys.

Chan Marshall may have actually outdone herself with this album. And thats saying alot after how stellar I thought You Are Free was. An early in the year release from January that is not to be forgotten.

Ive never been a big Viva Voce fan, but this album won me over, its consistent throughout and is the best effort from the husband and wife duo to date. A live show helped push me over the edge also.

Dont just stop at Crazy and make a judgement call on this album, its way better than just that. The mixture of soul, funk, hip-hop and electronica brings tons of quality to the album as a whole.

Dylan can still hang, at least in the studio. It sure helps when you manage to put together an unreal backing band as well. But the songwriting wit and punch are still there also.

The strongest Belle and Sebastian album in years in my opinon. So many good tracks on this that I had a hard time skipping any. It may not be the best Belle album ever, but its certainly a high point for Stuart.

I thought that at first, this was a band with one mega hit, (We Share Our Mothers Health) and no substance behind the album, but I was wrong. With some rinse and repeat action I managed to get much more out of Silent Shout than I expected. And its really not just in the sound, which is amazing, but the lyrical quality and depth is not to be ignored.

Yes, Sound Team. The hate spewed online towards this band was almost all I needed to put them in this list. Bill Baird and the boys form Austin make great rock music and Movie Monster is a album Ill stand behind. Lots of music here that Ill be playing for years to come.