Words by Patrick Fleming//Illustration by Jared Drew Moody
Patrick Fleming’s Top Ten of 2006

1. Yo La Tengo — _I Am Not Afraid Of You And I Will
Beat Your Ass_
This is Yo La Tengo in all its glory, shifting gears all over the oldies radio spectrum, killing us with new classics that would have fit on any Stax, Motown, Apple, Columbia, or Atlantic release
from 1965-70.

2. Pavement — Wowee Zowee: Sordid Sentinels Edition
Wow, the most random record by the most random band, reissued. I love this cause I haven’t heard most of these b-sides since my high school friend Jed Zwagerman taped these then-new Pavement b-sides on cassette for me. Can you imagine driving around your small Iowa town of 3,000 people listening to “Easily
Fooled”? Just Perfect!

3. Belle and Sebastian — The Life Pursuit
Always a great day when you get a record by one of your favorite bands and it blows your mind on the first listen. I feel this album is beaming with confidence and my new favorite Belle and Sebastian songs, “Dress Up In You,” and “Mornington Crescent”

4. the Beatles — Love
Now I wish they would have thrown a few less hits on the disk, but shit how can you complain when Ringo’s beautiful voice (yes I said it) from “Octopus’s Garden” is draped over George Martin’s lush score from “Good Night”? I have heard every sound from this mish-mashed album a 500 times and this just gives me one more reason to LOVE all of them again.

5. The Decemberists — The Crane Wife
I don’t care what label is flipping the bill, as long as the band
keeps pumping out wonderful fairy tales like this.

6. Capser and the Cookies — The Optimist’s Club
Jason and the gang from Athens, Ga., have been biding their time, waiting for just the right moment to let the indie pop world know that they are here and won’t be leaving anytime soon. I came too realize this about midnight on November 2nd and they dropped every jaw in the Cake Shop during the final song of their
debut CMJ performance.

7. Destroyer — Destroyer’s Rubies
Now I have come to know Destroyer over the past few years in our tour van. IF Dan Bejar started a suicide cult Devin and
Ephraim from our band would be the first ones to go. Rubies was not even out yet when they brought it on a road trip and sang along in there best Dan B. voice to every word. Seriously, it’s a trip to see them when Destroyer’s on. Look out Karaoke bars.

8. Ryan Anderson — Trains Take Away Old Friends
This one is a little more near and dear to my heart then most of the others on this list, since it came out on our record label. The songs are very heartfelt, cinematic gems that you can see and not
just hear. Ryan is easily one of the country’s best songwriters.

9. The Band — A Musical History
OK, so I think this actually came out in 2005, but this has been the year of the BAND, everyone in the indie rock community is
showing their love for the world’s greatest backing band ever… They wrote some goodies too!

10. Bob Dylan — Modern Times
Now I know I could have filled this last spot with albums by Beck, that Joanna girl, or heck even that new Bright Eyes disk. But when it gets down to it, none of those artists would be who they are today without Mr. Zimmerman leading the way. Besides, getting engaged seeing Bob for the first time this year live even if his back was to me the whole time was definitely the Bees Knees!

The Poison Control Center
Bi-Fi Records