Music

Do you agree? tell us your top 20 albums of 2006 here

1 Spank Rock
YoYoYoYoYo
Potty-mouthed Baltimore duo say they’re the sound of ‘US hip hop trying to copy European electronica trying to copy US hip hop’. We just think it sounds great.

2 Kode9 And The Spaceape
Memories Of The Future
Dubstep wunderkind Kode9, whose label were also behind this year’s excellent Burial album, leads this Jamaican-accented aural tour through London. Feature continues

3 Arctic Monkeys
Whatever People Say I Am That’s What I’m Not
The all-conquering, chart-topping, Mercury-winning masterpiece still sounds damn good.

4 Ghostface Killah
Fishscale
Ghost borrows from the Kanye West template to make the best Wu-Tang album yet.

5 The Young Knives
Voices Of Animals And Men
The Ashby de la Zouch trio tackle herky-jerky post-punk and come up with an oddball masterpiece.

6 The Rapture
Pieces Of The People We Love
New York punk-funk dons return and breathe new life into indie-dance. They’re putting on great live shows, too.

7 Joanna Newsom
Ys
Proggy orchestral suite, led by squeaky voiced Jim Henson-friendly harpist, that is baffling, beautiful, annoying, charming and compelling in equal measure.

8 The Raconteurs
Broken Boy Soldiers
Jack White’s side-project surprisingly manages to overshadow the day job.

9 Vetiver
To Find Me Gone
Andy Cabic swaps creaky folk for ’70s soft rock and laid-back country to fine and surprisingly diverse effect.

10 Zoe Rahman
Melting Pot
Spectacular London pianist breathes life and worldly wisdom into British jazz.