As my faithful readers will readily attest to, I love to talk about the music I have been listening to and enjoying. I don’t consider myself some sort of great music critic or elitist but I definitely have strong opinions that I’m not afraid to share with whoever will listen. I think this makes me more of a ‘blowhard’ than an ‘elitist.’ Oh well.

On that note, I have been taking a look at the music I have really enjoyed over the last couple of years and decided to blog about my findings in the ever-popular list format.

Specifically, a top ten list of my favorite albums released since Jan. 1, 2006.

An important caveat: This list is not meant to be read through the eyes of music criticism so much as personal opinion. I love these albums and they were my favorites for possibly completely subjective reasons,.. and I may or may not make any attempt to tell you why they should be objectively lauded.

Lastly, I would love to hear your list or alternate opinions/choices. Tell me why I’m full of it about Radiohead or why I totally missed the boat on Springsteen’s ‘Magic’ (yep, not on my list). The list will count down from number 10 with a new album each day.. Here we go!

10) Neon Bible (The Arcade Fire)

9) April (Sun Kil Moon)

Mark Kozelek is a bit of a mystery to me and possibly to himself. The guy has played with a band (Red House Painters), gone solo for a single album and then continued his solo career behind a silly moniker (Sun Kil Moon). I imagine that if all these albums had been created under the same name, he may have become more than just a fringe artist in the public’s collective consciousness. This having been said, I would take the three Sun Kil Moon albums over everything else if I was forced to choose.

Again, I find myself in a weird position with Kozelek’s work. I am not among the hushed worshippers who speak in reverent tones about his work with the Red House Painters. I am not even among those who think ‘Ghosts of the Great Highway’ is his best work,.. I’m the guy whose favorite album (until April) was the silly ‘Tiny Cities’ with its folk-driven, unrecognizable Modest Mouse covers. That all changed on April 1st, however.

Kozelek’s latest is by far his best. And if you needed any more reason to buy it, just consider that Paste Magazine gave out a very rare 5 stars while Rolling Stone only awarded 3. That alone convinces me of its brilliance. I offered a short review of the April album earlier this month and I’m going to quote myself because I can’t say what I want to say about it any better: “The songs are long, unwieldy, repetitive and incredibly perfect. This album is another one whose virtues are only experienced through patience and intentional listening. It must be allowed to wash over and soak the listener to the core.” Of all the albums on this list, THIS ONE has the most potential for being significantly higher 2 months from now.