Mid Year Music Roundup

Long time readers of this blog know that at the end of each year I publish my top 10 records of the year (and add a couple more because its always hard to pick just ten).

In that past couple years, I have taken to maintaining a running list of the top records of the year so it’s easier to do the top 10 selection at year end.  It’s time to put that list in place.

2006 has been a great year in music so far.

From the smoking licks of the Chili Peppers’ Stadium Arcadium, hearing Jack White in a real band, and the witty lyrics and blazing  guitar of the Arctic Monkeys, it’s been a guitar rock year for me.

We’ve also seen old favorites like Neil Young, Mark Knopfler, and Bruce Springsteen release wonderful records that I cannot stop listening to.

I tried something new this year. I went back and looked at my weekly listening habits over the past 5+ months on last.fm and noted which records had gotten the most airtime. There isn’t an easy graphical interface to do that and what fun a slick one would be, but it worked fine.

I started off the year with Belle and Sebastian and The Minus Five, got obsessed with the Arctic Monkeys (which has yet to abate), gave the Flaming Lips some serious airtime, and then got Neil Young, Raconteurs, and Bruce in my system. From mid May until now, it’s been all about the Chili Peppers and Mark Knopfler and Emmylou Harris.

And so here are my top ten records (eleven actually) of 2006 so far, in no particular order.

I’ve added this list to the left sidebar in the music section and I will add and subtract from it as the year goes on.

Thanks to Gilfer for the wonderful image I took from his Flickr account to decorate this post.