No compilations allowed! 
My nominees are Return to the Sea by The Islands and Now You Are One of Us by The Paper Chase.
Any other nominees?
For anyone who likes metal, Evil Army’s self-titled LP is a great thrash record–very classic, raw sound, reminiscent of early Slayer, DRI, even the first Metallica record.
Also, The Marked Men’s Fix My Brain is a great melodic punk record; simple, great pop hooks, former members of The Reds and The High Tension Wires.
Ghostface Killah’s Fishscale is my favorite hip-hop record in years.
I like Last Man Standing by Jerry Lee Lewis. But then, I’m a square.
This old fuddy-duddy votes for Modern Times.
That’s Bob Dylan, BTW.
Peace,
mangeorge
These are mine that are floating around; I’ll figure some stuff out by the end of the year.
Arthur Russell - “Springfield” - a continuation of Audika releasing stuff from Russell’s home recording vaults. The title track is outstanding - pushing ten minutes, and reportedly edited down from hours of tapes. Homebrew mid-eighties electro-disco with melancholy Kermit vocals and distorted cello.
the Mountain Goats - “Get Lonely” - Truly setting a new bar for “the ultimate breakup record.” John Darnielle has indulged his mellow and depressing side like this on all previous records, but never before has he completely given in, and to such effect. When the most uptempo song is the bleakly resigned “Half Dead,” you’ve got a hell of a bummer on your hands.
Sparks - “Hello, Young Lovers” - The band is inarguably doing their best work, now in their third (?) decade. “Dick Around” and “Baby, can I invade your country?” are as hilarious as they are epic and rocking.
the Gothic Archies - “The Tragic Treasury” - Stephin Merritt’s strongest songwriting since the Magnetic Fields’ “69 Love Songs,” and the sonics are a much-appreciated return to the dinky synthesizers and lo-fi drum machines of the earlier days.
Be your own pet - s/t. - The bratty, priviledged children of Nashville music industry veterans write some of the most scorching punk-pop songs of the year. Who cares if their trust fund paid for it?
Excepter - “Alternation” - After several albums of boring, noisy dicking around, these Brookyln hipsters finally wrapped their mumbles and somnambulant thumps around dubby, distorted grooves, accidentally creating the pop moment of the year, “Rock Stepper” .
the Pipettes - “We are the pipettes” - my personal shoe-in for album of the year, three cute, snotty british chicks (and the shadowy boys behind them, who actually write the songs and play the music) deliver their debut set of the finest pop songs and the most enormous hooks I’ve heard in years. “Pull Shapes,” "It hurts to see you dance so well, “Judy,” - every track is just an enormous tidal wave of pure sugary pop goodness. Outstanding.
Nomo - “new tones” - Affluent white grad students play afrobeat that’s so astonishingly and disturbingly great that I’d rather listen to it than either Kuti any day. The songwriting and construction is great and accessible, while amplified thumb piano and synthesizer squawks take things to the cosmic level. Warren Defever of His Name is Alive recorded the record and guests on it.
His Name Is Alive - “Detrola” - easily the band’s best record in about a decade, “Detrola” acts as a sort of summation of everything that the band has emphasized thus far (sixties girl group songwriting, primitive blues and ancient R&B, fun production tricks, a focus on melancholy songs and dark female vocals) while adding trashy electro beats and skronky guitar.
Yo la Tengo - “I am not afraid of you and I will beat your ass” - The absolute epitome of a “return to form” and arguably the band’s finest album to date. While the past few albums saw YLT sticking to particular aesthetic and sonic commitments, “beat your ass” is a much-needed return to the “grab bag mixtape” style that’s marked their best moments. Sure, there are 10-minute guitar freakouts (opener “pass the hatchet”), but the band doesn’t hesitate in immediately following it with pussyboy falsetto disco-funk (“Mr. Tough”), achingly melancholy Big Star-ish ballads (“I feel like going home”), distorto rockabilly, and any number of other tricks.
Xiu Xiu - “The Air Force” - frontboi Jamie Stewart continually claimed that this was the band’s “pop” album and told tales of listening exclusively to Weezer while working on it - and it shows. That isn’t to say that this is anyone’s idea of a traditional pop record; it’s a noisy, scary, weird mess of threatening sounds and fractured beats wrapped around the band’s best songs to date.
E-40 - “My ghetto report card” - In a horrifyingly weak year for both mainstream and undie rap, this was the record that I kept coming back to again and again (even in lieu of Ghostface’s schizophtenric mess, “Fishscale,” which will undoubtedly get an undeserved critical pass because so many critics are embarrassed that they slept on “The Pretty Toney Album” in '04) when I just needed enormous beats and killer rhymes. “Muscle Cars,” which brings in Keak Da Sneak (my favorite new voice in rap, though his actual skill leaves quite a bit to be desired) for some absolutely stoopid trunk rattling by way of Kraftwerk, was my summer jam of the year.
A Hundred Highways - The Man In Black
But then y’all probably knew that would be my choice, right? 
Thanks
Q
I’m still loving “We Collide” by Mesh.
My shortlist:
The Hold Steady, Boys and Girls in America. I totally expected disappointment, as they had already put out masterpieces in 2004 and 2005 (both of which I didn’t really get into until this year), but damn if they didn’t do it again. They’re polarizing, but they hit me just right.
Neko Case, Fox Confessor Brings the Flood. Her best album by a longshot. I can’t imagine a better showcase for Neko’s voice.
Belle and Sebastian, The Life Pursuit. Is this really the band Barry called “old sad bastard music”? Their best since If You’re Feeling Sinister, IMO.
The Decemberists, The Crane Wife. Instead of getting complacent after jumping to a major label (yeah, Death Cab, I’m looking at you), they just got more ambitious. They’re only getting better with each disc.
Jenny Lewis and The Watson Twins, Rabbit Fur Coat. I’ve always loved Jenny’s voice but I never really liked Rilo Kiley. The material seems to catch up to her here; maybe it’s the rest of the band I don’t like.
Honorable mentions:
The Starlight Mints, Drowaton
Girl Talk, Night Ripper
Ben Kweller, s/t
Emily Hanes, Knives Don’t Have Your Back
Yo La Tengo, I Am Not Afraid of You And I Will Beat Your Ass
And a bunch more I’m sure I’m forgetting.
NeBeLNeST: Zepto
Lisa Germano: In the Maybe World
Richard Leo Johnson: The Legend of Vernon McAlister
Frank Zappa: Trance-Fusion (album of live guitar solos compiled by Zappa shortly before his death, finally released last week.)
Released late, but Jet’s Shine On will prove to be the best album of '06.
I reserve the right to amend, but I love Seger’s Face the Promise. It’s got that classic feel that nobody can imitate.
I haven’t heard it yet, but some are saying that Robyn Hitchcock’s latest may be his best album to date.
Wow I haven’t listened to most of these albums. Thanks for the suggestions!
I would say The Raconteurs “Broken Boy Soldiers”
or The Black Keys “Magic Potion”
The Futureheads’ News and Tributes is my favorite of the year so far.
Top 5:
- Thom Yorke - The Eraser
- The Walkmen - A Hundred Miles Off
- TV On The Radio - Return to Cookie Mountain
- Neko Case - Fox Confessor Brings the Flood
- Final Fantasy - He Poos Clouds
#5) We Are The Pipettes - The Pipettes
#4) He Poos Clouds - Final Fantasy
#3) Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not - The Arctic Monkeys
#2) Destroyer’s Rubies - Destroyer
#1) Fox Confessor Brings the Flood - Neko Case (by a pretty wide margin)
If this is what it results in, I guess I forgive Dan and Neko for not touring with the Pornos this year.
Heh. I saw 'em all at the Austin City Limits Festival is September. Freaking awesome.
My top five at this point:
- Ghostface Killah - Fishscale
- Destroyer - Destroyer’s Rubies
- Band Of Horses - Everything All The Time
- Calexico - Garden Ruin
- The Roots - Game Theory
Honorable mentions go to Built To Spill, OutKast, the Twilight Singers, Sonic Youth, the Hold Steady and Camera Obscura. And I just picked up the new one from …And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead tonight, I’m sure I’ll enjoy it a whole lot.
A tie between
Feeling the Fall by The Village Green
and
A Life’s Pursuit by Belle and Sebastian
I’m going to third both:
The Life Pursuit by Belle & Sebastian
and
*
I Am Not Afraid Of You And I Will Beat Your Ass* by Yo La Tengo
Tool - 10.000 Days