My recommendations 2006:So This Is Goodbye by Junior Boys

Junior Boys: So This Is Goodbye
Domino 9/12/2006

Junior Boys' debut, Last Exit, was declared by many to be the one of the greatest albums of the 21st century so far. I liked it, but I didn't fully appreciate how amazing they were until I saw them live last year. I had gone to the show primarily to see Caribou, but I was completely taken aback when I saw Junior Boys. I was astonished at how just two musicians could create such a sublime sound. From that day forward, Junior Boys became one of my favorite new acts. It was hard to imagine how they could top Last Exit, especially considering the departure of Johnny Dark, who had been responsible for much of their sound. Somehow, with So This Is Goodbye, they did it. So This Is Goodbye is much tighter than Last Exit, much of whose appeal came from the sensation that it might fall like a soufflé if one did not take care to tread lightly in its vicinity. You could throw So This Is Goodbye against a wall without fear that it might crack. Junior Boys' sophmore album is much less blue-eyed soul and significantly more 1989 Ibiza house-inflected New Order than its predecessor. It seems that Jeremy Greenspan found an even more suitable collaborator with Matthew Didemus to expand upon Junior Boys' unique sound.