Alright, it's almost Christmas time, so my album of the year search is in full swing. I'm about to classify some of my picks for the best albums by genre of the year 2006.

It's been a cool year for music lovers, with a new Chili Peppers album, new Snow Patrol, Jay-Z, The Flaming Lips, The Killers, Evanescence, Tool, Beck, K-os, Bob Dylan, Sonic Youth, TV on the Radio, etc., etc. and music fans were, for the most part, pleased. Some were great, some were crap, some made your ears want to split every time you heard them (yes, I'm talking to you Fergie). But no matter how bad it got, there were always the great ones to pick up the dead weight.

So lets get things started. The nominees (so far) are:

Pop Album:
John Mayer - Continuum
Emily Haines & The Soft Skeleton - Knives Don't Have Your Back
KT Tunstall - Eye To The Telescope
Yusuf Islam - An Other Cup
Final Fantasy - He Poos Clouds

Rock Album:
Bob Dylan - Modern Times
The Who - Endless Wire
The Raconteurs - Broken Boy Soldiers
Muse - Black Holes and Revelations
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Stadium Arcadium
The Subways - Young for Eternity

Hip-Hop/Rap Album
K-os - Atlantis: Hymns for Disco
The Roots - Game Theory
Outkast - Idlewild
Ghostface Killah - Fishscale
Lupe Fiasco - Food and Liquor

R&B/Soul Album
John Legend - Once Again
Ali Farka Toure - Savane
Gnarls Barkley - St. Elsewhere
Corinne Bailey Rae - Corinne Bailey Rae
Mary J. Blige - Reflections: A Retrospective

Country
Solomon Burke - Nashville
Neko Case - Fox Confessor Brings the Food
Johnny Cash - American V: A Hundred Highways
Calexico - Garden Ruin
Bruce Springsteen - We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions

Electronic/Dance
Thom Yorke - The Eraser
MSTRKRFT - The Looks
The DFA - DFA Remixes: Chapter 1
Goldfrapp - Supernature

Alternative/Indie
Sonic Youth - Rather Ripped
TV on the Radio - Return to Cookie Mountain
Silversun Pickups - Carnavas
The Flaming Lips - At War With the Mystics
The Decemberists - The Crane Wife

Metal
Mastodon - Blood Mountain
Tool - 10,000 Days
Iron Maiden - A Matter of Life and Death
Agalloch - Ashes Against The Grain

Album of the Year
TV on the Radio - Return to Cookie Mountain
Neko Case - Fox Confessor Brings the Flood
Bob Dylan - Modern Times
Sonic Youth - Rather Ripped
Tool - 10,000 Days

Single of the Year
Wolf Like Me - TV on the Radio
ELEctrik HeaT - the seekwiLL - K-os
Steady, As She Goes - The Raconteurs
Vicarious - Tool
Other Side of the World - KT Tunstall

Debut Album
The Subways - Young For Eternity
The Raconteurs - Broken Boy Soldiers
Silversun Pickups - Carnavas
Gnarls Barkley - St. Elseware
KT Tunstall - Eye to the Telescope

Artistic Achievement Award
Danger Mouse

This list is subject to change as not all the nominees have been filled. Many other respectable albums have not made this list and there will be many comments because of it, but all in all they're my selections and I believe they should be there over others mentionned. Again, the lists are subject to change overtime and, by the end of they year, they certainly will. Results will be posted soon and check out that Neko Case album. It's INCREDIBLE.