ALBUM OF THE YEAR

Beirut - The Gulag Orkestar
Our album of the year for 2006 - Already highly praised on internet sites and blogs, lauded by Pitchfork and Drowned In Sound, 4AD proudly present Beirut's debut album. Zach Condon - aka Beirut - is a twenty year old solo artist whose d.i.y. bedroom-produced music sounds like the glorious dance of a twelve piece Balkan gypsy orchestra. Beirut's debut album 'Gulag Orkestar' swirls and sways with a procession of horns, violins, cellos, ukuleles, mandolins, glockenspiels, drums, tambourines, congas, organs, pianos, clarinets and accordions, a wonderfully brash, drunken sound which whirls around Zach's histrionic and bewitchingly plaintive vocals. And remember we had it as our album of the week way back in May 2006 on import! [tell me more]

TOP 9
gossip - standing in the way of control
finally a uk release on back yard for the third full length proper from arkansas 3 piece, the gossip. the first thing that strikes you is the rhythm, the gossip have been making punks dance since their debuted 5 years ago, but its now that they have fully realised their soulful, and jagged pop, afte...

css - cansei de ser sexy
from sao paulo, brazil comes css (5 women and one man), the first south american band sub pop has foisted upon the global marketplace. 'cansei de ser sexy', portuguese for tired of being sexy, is improbably, unbelievably and nearly eponymously their debut. it is a thick, pulsating thing full of ha...

allen, lily - alright, still
lily allen has done a 'mike skinner' and created an album full of songs that catch something ephemeral in britain and in ldn in particular. she has, as the streets man has done, been able to find a way to articulate a feeling that has yet to be articulated. the album is packed full of songs that tel...

brakes - the beatific visions
it's high time for brakes 2, so, on an invitation from seth riddle (husband of cerys matthews) they flew to nashville, tennessee to record with stuart sikes (cat power: 'the greatest', white stripes: 'red blood cells'...). after a few days catching fireflys; drinking 45 ounce margheritas; swapping g...

lewis, jenny with the watson twins - rabbit fur coat
known and loved by many as the enchanting front-woman for las critically lauded rilo kiley, jenny's vocal and songwriting gifts have continued to blossom at a rapid rate since that band's first album in 2000. 'rabbit fur coat' may be her solo debut, but there's nothing virginal about it. from t...

hot chip - the warning
finally the two year wait is over and hot chip deliever their second album. 'the warning' is an amalgamation of great songwriting and forward-thinking pop-production. it's an honest record emotionally and sonically, made by people exploring sound in the warmth of home, not studio, and it is a brit...

campbell, isobel and lanegan, mark - ballad of the broken seas
scottish chanteuse isobel campbell formally of belle and sebastian, spent the initial part of 2005 completing work on 'ballad of the broken seas', the collaborative album recorded with former screaming trees and queens of the stone age singer, mark lanegan. although much of the album was recorded wi...

the pipettes - we are the pipettes
'we are the pipettes' is without doubt the best pop album of the 21st century. the three polka-dotted princesses are expert purveyors of the pristine three minute pop song. they deal in the kind of timeless pop classicism that's destined to strike a chord with even the most world weary of cynics out...

vetiver - to find me gone limited 13 track cd with two bonus tracks to the normal cd version. 'to find me gone' is the second album by andy cabic's ever-evolving band vetiver, released two years after the debut self-titled release. andy has since toured the world, usually as a member of devendra banhart's band, and sometimes...

You can check out the rest of the list at Rough Trade's site.