Call us old fashioned, but we like our year-end backward glances to come after we're done furiously ripping open presents and before we pop the champagne for New Year's. Rather than subject you only to what we on the DCist music staff deemed this year's best and brightest (don't worry, we'll do that too), we asked a handful of our favorite local artists what their favorite albums of 2006 were. A lot of great musicians had a lot to say on the matter, so over the next couple days we'll be letting you know what the locals that make us all twitterpated were getting excited about in '06. We're kicking things off today with Cedars, Middle Distance Runner, Deleted Scenes, The Roosevelt and DJ Zach Pleasant. Each took a slightly different approach -- some gave us a list of picks, some told us why they loved the albums they did, and some took the truly novel approach of letting each member speak up!

Cedars
Brian: Trentmoller, The Last Resort
Admittedly, one of my guiltiest pleasures is minimalist electronica - the kind of sound necessary for late night drives or cross country flights. Trentemoller's The Last Resort is an electronic record that embodies warmth, emotion, and beautiful instrumentation. Consider it the perfect soundtrack for the shores of Ibiza, or in my case, a warm, overcrowded train ride to Metro Center.

Ed: Junior Boys, So This is Goodbye
Very chill but layered record, great for dinner parties and sex. What else can you ask for?

Fico: Elbow, Leaders of the Free World
Along with Doves, Elbow is one of those bands we all look up to. Guy Garvey's voice is as honest as it gets in my opinion. I've heard them being described as a "drinking man's Coldplay," I can see some of that. Chockfull of fantastic melodies and lyrics that describe beautifully different scenarios such as the streets of Manchester, the self-doubt of meeting an ex-girlfriend's new beau, the post break-up bravado and subsequent vulnerability phase... and yes, even our idiot leader and his kin. This record has it all, a tour the force as pro-journalists like to say.

Luke: Youth Group, Casino Twilight Dogs
Pays proper homage to the notion of a "tune." Guitars, drums and vocals are rarely glossed over with walls of effects, yet the music still shimmers and soars as if it were meant for a higher calling. The music starts in the clouds and dips into the canyons of isolation and simplicity. You can listen and not apologize for being a member of the bleeding hearts club. Youth Group does what U2 and James used to do with music and wordplay.

Collective Plug: Cedars, Another Season
It's our record and we luv it. It starts with "This Century" which was the first song we wrote as a 4-piece, a total stomper. "Holiday" follows with us at our most "U2ish" moment as some have said. Our collective favorite track is "Arrivals/Departures", it's different from most of the stuff we have done, the outro has some great atmospheric stuff and when we play it live we love reaching that part of the song and just going with it and havin' it, know what I mean?

The Roosevelt
Neko Case, Fox Confessor Brings the Flood: Neko Case has a diesel-powered cathedral organ pipe for a voice, is backed by a tight band that knows the value of understated playing, and sings nostalgic songs with dark country roots that range into rock and gospel.

The French Kicks, Two Thousand: The Kicks have a dreamy, ethereal post-punk sound accomplished by excellent minimal guitar work, smart studio tweaks that really bring the album together, and a crazy fast drummer – at the 9:30 Club, his hands were a literal blur. Knee High and England Just Will Not Let You Recover are great listens.

Tapes N Tapes, The Loon: It's hard to think of anything cool and original to say about Tapes N Tapes. It seems like every year there's an indie band that puts out a record that all the cool people must buy, and well The Loon might be that record for Year 2006. But we don't care. This is just a solid, balanced, well-conceived, well-performed, and well-produced record. There are no skippable songs here. Each song is fantastic in its own way.

Thom Yorke, The Eraser : Thom Yorke's first non-Radiohead endeavor (remember, he hates the term "solo project") is a great album that manages to hold its own as a unique stand-alone record while emphasizing everything that we already knew was great about Thom Yorke and retaining a semblance of what people love about Radiohead.

Bob Dylan, Modern Times: Rather than just going on and on about Bob Dylan's genius like everyone else, we'll summarize it this way: Bob Dylan still has it. How do we know? Because Scarlett Johansson says so.

Middle Distance Runner
Erik: Ray LaMontagne, Til the Sun Turns Black
This is my favorite album of 2006. Ray LaMontagne's voice is hushed and powerful like a sensitive lumberjack. His lyrics are dark and lovely and come across sincerely. Most of the instrumentation is based around acoustic guitars with layers of subtle string parts, soulful horn arrangements and the occasional drum beat. This album sounds a little like Iron and Wine with a touch of Otis Redding. It's perfect for a night-time drive or sunday-morning sleep-in.

Jay: Ladytron, Witching Hour
Synths, reverb, hot euro girls in black. What could go wrong?

Steve: Sufjan Stevens, Songs for Christmas
This 5-disc album comes with a poster, a comic strip, several original stories, stickers, individually (and attractively) packaged CDs, and liner notes that include lyrics and chords. It cost me just under twenty dollars at Borders. For these reasons, aside from the music, this album is a sincere gesture, the likes of which you rarely see in the music industry.
As for the music, Sufjan wrote around fifteen original songs (out of a total of 42). From the traditional to the experimental, this album is full of Christmasy fun times. I've said it before and I'll say it again: nobody makes me wish I were Christian more than Sufjan Stevens.
I'm buying this for my mom for Christmas!

Allan: Death By Sexy, Big Hit
Hard rock and roll music and an album that has boobs and weapons on the cover. 90% of the songs are about oral sex (Maybe 100%) and that rules. Enough artistic statements. I want to rock. Put down your books and listen to this album and disobey... or something.

Ian: The Hard Tomorrows, Lights Out
Hands down my favorite of 2006. These guys made a fantastic recording and they pull it off live. "There's No Reason" is my favorite track on the album, although this is definitely a disc you can listen to start-to-finish. They're going to be famous if they keep it up.

Deleted Scenes
We liked 5 LPs and 2 EPs. I'll give you the LPs as our top 5, and if
you want to throw in the 2 EPs, we'd like them spotlighted too.
Whatever...

In no particular order:
Kaki King - Until We Felt Red
Mastodon - Blood Mountain
Grizley Bear - Yellow House
Young Widows - Settle Down City
Danielson - Ships
Dan Deacon - Acorn King EP
The Life and Times - The Magician EP

Rock.

Dan, Fatty, Scheffey, and Brian

Zach Pleasant
TI, King
Swagger, cohesion and massive singles sums up the best rap album of 2006.

The Clipse, Hell Hath No Fury
All rap albums should be this focused: twelve tracks, entirely produced by The Neptunes, no filler.

Trae, Restless
Overlooked Rap-A-Lot artist brings a dark, introspective demeanor to soulful, trunk-rattling beats.

Gyptian, My Name Is
New reggae singer combines lovers rock and conscious songs into a thorough one-drop album.

Busy Signal, Step Out
The new direction of dancehall: faster tempos, haunting hooks and when the smoke clears, a track or two left for the ladies.

Ian Buckwalter, Matt Sedlar, Chris Snyder, Salima Appiah-Kubi, Elizabeth Eckert, Abby Lavin, Graham Hough-Cornwell and Kyle Gustafson contributed to this piece.