1. Band of Horses – Everything All the Time
2. Midlake – The Trials of Van Occupanther
3. Halou – Wholeness and Separation
4. Belle & Sebastian – The Life Pursuit
5. Elbow – Leaders of the Free World
6. Hot Chip – The Warning
7. Zero 7 – The Garden
8. The Decemberists – The Crane Wife
9. Neko Case – Fox Confessor Brings the Flood
10. The Knife – Silent Shout
11. My Brightest Diamond – Bring Me the Workhorse
12. Bitter:Sweet – The Mating Game
13. Stars of Track and Field – Centuries Before Love and War
14. Ghostland Observatory – Paparazzi Lightning
15. José González – Veneer
16. The Raconteurs – Broken Boy Soldiers
17. Alexi Murdoch – Time Without Consequence
18. Silversun Pickups – Carnavas
19. Mates of State – Bring it Back
20. Rocky Votolato – Makers

I couldn’t narrow it down to only 10 so here are my top 20 albums of 2006. Many of these were not too terribly successful or even known outside the Northwest, but to me what makes an album noteworthy is how deeply it affected my life during the year, how much it became the soundtrack of my life during that time. These are the closest to my heart this year.