This list may've been different if I had remembered to bring most my albums with me / had known I'd be here this long. I was in the habit of deleting albums from iTunes as soon as I got it on disc, so it didn't make it easy since I'd do that for an album I really liked as much as for a crap album. there was still one that deserved to be on here regardless of not getting a refresher on it. so, yes, take this list with a grain of salt. the top 5, I think, shall be the most accurate.
20.

Duplex - Late Night Driving [clone]
Genre: electro / techno
Sample: Fictional Frequency,
Desolate State19.

Band of Horses - Everything All The Time [sub pop]
Genre: indie rock / folk
Sample: Funeral [insound link] +
video [on sub pop / quicktime]
18.

Grizzly Bear - Yellow House [warp]
Genre: "freak folk" (I hate that term, but everyone else is saying so) / indie
Sample: lullabye,
On A Neck, On A Spit [from their site]
17.

Cortney Tidwell - Don't Let Stars Keep Us Tangled Up [Ever]
Genre: indie / pop / mixed ("The Nashville Bjork")
Sample: The Missing Link,
Society (accompanied by Lambchop's Kurt Wagner)
16.

Mountaineer - When The Air Is Bright They Shine [Type]
Genre: indie / 60s/70s-ish pop
Sample: Ambassador15.

Calexico - Garden Ruin [City Slang]
Genre: indie / alt-country / less mariachi
Sample: Cruel [insound link],
Roka14.

Bibio - Hand Cranked [Mush]
Genre: experimental / electronic / folk / similarities to boards of canada
Sample: Quantock,
Aberriw13.

Ensemble - s/t [FatCat]
Genre: electro / pop
Sample: summerstorm12.

Appleseed Cast - Peregrine [Militia Group]
Genre: indie rock
Sample: Sunlit Ascending (had been edited),
Peregrine11.

Neko Case - Fox Confessor Brings The Flood [Anti]
Genre: goth country / folk / pop
Sample: Star Witness [insound link]
(If my site goes down again, just wait! I did add some other media links, so there's something to view anyway)Tags: music, part one, top albums 2006