Ok, I’m finished with this.. This surely is not a definitive list but it has some favourite 2006 moments.

The first part is obviously the most influential and groundbreaking albums for me this year. In a way, they are the most complete and strangely addictive ones as an album and they are more musical in a sense. The other parts feature some excellent stuff as well, but they don’t have the same integrity to be at the top 5. There are some tracks that have previously been posted, so whenever that’s the case there are additional downloads.

Fahir Atakoglu Trio - Ten Eight

Ok, so I break the rule at the first step. Fahir Atakoglu Trio’s album has been released during 2005, but who gives a damn. It’s a timeless masterpiece for me, and I’ve listened to it mostly in 2006 so it’s in the list. Fahir, a Turkish classical composer, composing with a trio featuring Horacio ‘El Negro’ Hernandez on Drums and Anthony Jackson on Bass. This is not your standard technical and soulless virtuoso jazz trio music, instead Fahir’s piano work shows his impressive classical composition skills and makes this album go on top.

Gnarls Barkley - Feng Shui

Another top 5 contender is Cee-Lo and Dangermouse’s Gnarls Barkley duo. They are already hip but that doesn’t make it less worthy. In fact this is a virtually nonskippable album with all golden songs.

Senor Coconut - Yellow Magic (Tong Poo) -

What can I say about Senor Coconut that I haven’t said before. Uwe Schmidt is one of the most creative musicians on earth today, and he displays this versatility once again with his Senor Coconut project, this time creating the ultimate time machine and going back in time to revive Yellow Magic Orchestra’s beautiful songs.

Herbert - Harmonise

I don’t know why I didn’t feature Herbert’s latest album before, perhaps because I think he doesn’t need coverage anymore. He’s another electronic music composer that I regard as high as Uwe Schmidt and he constantly redefines himself and makes you think that’s easy. What we have here is a new minor genre in the vein of a musical/disco/opera fusion. Taking the Big Band to another level and mixing orchestra with disco-rooted house music, I think he’s created the disco equivalent of something like the “West Side Story”. Read a review. More songs.

Beirut - Brandenburg

One of the best albums of this year for sure, has many Eastern influences, but it’s not a simple East + West fusion regarded highly by Orientalists who jump to their feet whenever an eclectic fusion like this is made, hell I count as an Easterner and it amazed me as well. Mr. Zach Condon has internalized all these differences influences and forged this beautiful sound. You should buy this album just to hear the first 5 tracks in a row, what a feast. Read a factual interview that debunks Zach’s soul-searching Eastern voyage and shows us how nice a bloke he is. Read a review.

Final Fantasy - Arctic Circle
Final Fantasy - This Lamb sells Condos

Here’s another genrebreaker, this time it’s Owen Pallett with a a chamber orchestra playing the most eclectic, surreal and downright silly modern opera album of the times. Neodada at its best with lyrics like “She drives a little white car to the seminar on Modern Romance. Possible possible ideas for a date include… a shooting range” or “Oh seduction, his seduction to the world of construction. Now his mind will start to wander when he’s not at his computer”. Read a review.

Final Fantasy - This Lamb Sells Condos a jawdropping live version and a live Mariah Carey cover where he fucks up the ending on Youtube.