The Best Of 2006 (continued)

Here's the other half of the mix...

Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs, "And Your Bird Can Sing." From Under The Covers, Vol. 1. Already blogged this. Their tribute to the 60's remains one of my faves of the past year, still in heavy rotation at home.

Pernice Brothers, "Automaton." From Live A Little. Like it's immediate predecessor, I found the album just fine -- pleasant, densely produced pop -- but with fewer killer standout tracks than their earlier work. Nice song, though.

Robert Pollard, "I'm A Strong Lion." From From A Compound Eye. The painfully prolific ex-GbV frontman had two solo albums last year (not counting about 74 other side projects). I preferred the more polished other one (Normal Happiness), but this is a fun, concise little track.

Neko Case, "Hold On, Hold On." From Fox Confessor Brings The Flood. Haven't listened to this one very much. She still has one of the best voices in alt.country, but a lot of her songs leave me a bit underwhelmed. But it's a nice enough tune.

Tommy Keene, "Warren In The '60's." From Crashing The Ether. Probably best remembered from his string of catchy mid-80's college radio faves, Keene is still putting out solid power pop albums every few years. Ether has its moments, probably more than many recent efforts.

Chris Brown, "Right On Time." From Now That You're Fed. There's apparently some Top 40 urban contemporary singer with the same name. This is the other guy -- part of the Not Lame stable of under-the-radar power pop. Not an outstanding album, but a hopelessly infectious track you've gotta hear.

The Tyde, "County Line." From Three's Co. Third album from this post-Beachwood Sparks outfit. Sounds a lot like the first two -- lo-fi indie pop, jangly and slightly off-kilter, with few hints of the alt.country sound of their Sparks days. A bunch of decent enough tracks, nothing earth-shattering, but nothing bad, either.

Cat Power, "Living Proof." From The Greatest. I'm not the hugest Cat Power fan; nice background music, but nothing I listen to every day. Lotsa good press for her latest, which is a bit more polished and soulful than earlier efforts.

The Minus 5, "Twilight Distillery." From The Minus 5. Still plugging away with catchy, clever indie pop.

Loose Fur, "The Ruling Class." From Born Again in the USA. 2nd album from side project of Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy and Wilco/Sonic Youth experimental producer/instrumentalist Jim O'Rourke. To tell the truth, I haven't bought it yet, but a friend supplied this track, which is awesome, and worthy of the Wilco canon.

Belle & Sebastian, "Another Sunny Day." From The Life Pursuit. I've never been a huge fan; I have a lot of their music and play it now and then, but never really caught the bug. Still, I found their latest album surprisingly upbeat and catchy, with lots of great tracks. Could have gone with any number of them, but settled on this joyous little track to end the mix.

And if that's not all, be sure to check out all the leftover 2006 tracks on The Rest Of 2006.