THESE FORUMS NOW CLOSED (read only)
Fun Stuff => BAND => Topic started by: JLM on 11 Nov 2005, 17:05
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Barring something truly spectacular on the horizon (i.e. Portishead finally releases a third album), The musical year is mostly over. So here's my top 5 of the year, in order (and no, it's not a mistake that Broken Social Scene isn't in the top 5):
1. Boom Bip - Blue Eyed in the Red Room
2. DangerDoom - The Mouse & The Mask
3. Boards of Canada - The Campfire Headphase
4. American Analog Set - Set Free
5. Amon Tobin - Chaos Theory:Splinter Cell 3 Soundtrack
That's my top 5 as of today, November 11, 2005. This list is subject to change before December 31, 2005. Also, that's not to say that there aren't other albums that I really enjoyed this year...but these are the five that I feel truly stood out as the best of everything that I've heard.
So what's your Top 5?
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Haven't heard everything that has come out this year that I've wanted to, but:
1: Eels - Blinking Lights And Other Revelations
Seriously, 33 new Eels songs, mad terrific instrumentals (something rarely heard before), guest appearances by Tom Waits and other awesome folk like that dude from the Lovin' Spoonful, kick ass lyrics, most awesome accompanying live show ever, and so much goddam more!
2: The Sugarplastic - Will
Seriously, this album is the Beatles fucking reborn.
3: General Patton Vs. The X-ecutioners - Joint Special Operations Task Force
A sonic barrage of pure incredible! The hip-hop stylings of the X-men (not to mention their un-surpassed turntable radness) combines almost too well with good ol' Patton's mad vocals (or squeeks, or blips, or clicks, etc.) and vast musical vocabulary. As is stated in the last EPIC track, "This is the journey... into sound". Fantomas meets Dalek. Super great.
4: The Bad Plus - Suspicious Activity?
I am actually not too impressed with this album, but that is solely because I've seen them live twice now, and there is NOTHING that can match, let alone be better than a fucking Bad Plus gig. If you have not heard them, check out this album first, as it is a bridge into their music not supplied by their previous two releases. Then just go see them live. Seriously, they destroy all that is destroyable! Rock that is free jazz, free jazz that jams, jams that mother fucking rock.!
5: Spoon - Gimme Fiction
The year isn't over yet, so this might get booted, as it is not nearly as impressive as "Kill The Moonlight" or "Girls Can Tell", their previous two releases. All in all though, solid songwriting, decent lyrics, and great live vibe. Recommended to anyone who wants to listen to something and just say "Yes, this is the kind of CD that I can enjoy anytime, anywhere."
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Yeah, for everything good I've heard there's like ten things good I know I haven't heard. My list therefore is kinda crappy.
1. The Hold Steady, Separation Sunday
Led Zep ripoffs or not, the lyrics are better than practically anything since Springsteen. And the riffs are heavy and sweaty.
2. Spoon, Gimme Fiction
For some reason I thought Spoon was supposed to be getting less and less interesting, not more and more. My mistake I guess. That and guest appearance by John Vanderslice.
3. Milemarker, Ominosity
Frigid Forms Sell was amazing but unfocused; Ominosity is focused. How great does this album have to be?
4. Beck, Guero
Yeah, maybe not. I'm just a huge sucker for Beck. I honestly thought it was far more mature than Odelay and thus not so much just a stale rehash of the same.
5. Broken Social Scene, Broken Social Scene
I downloaded their first two a long time ago but never got into them, and probably never would have if this board hadn't been tittering about them nonstop. I like the new album even better than You Forgot It In People and I'm not ashamed to say it.
And a few I should've listened to but didn't:
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, s/t
Boards of Canada, The Campfire Headphase
that Wolf Parade one
the new Eels (which I didn't even know had come out)
Lightning Bolt, Hypermagic Mountain - Actually I listened to this once and it sounds fucking incredible, but I really need to listen to it like eighty more times.
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I probably need to check out more new albums. The only new albums I can think of I've heard from this year that would make my list are:
1: Ewigkeit - Conspiritus
Mr. Fog's toned down some of the eclecticism and experimenting since Radio Ixtlan (you aren't going to here Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy Samples over glitch techno this time round). However, this is in some ways a positive thing, as it creates a more focused record. Whilst this does mean there are a few meh tracks around the early middle of the album, it makes for a more cohesive whole, focusing on an eclectic dance metal sound with a more chilled vibe. Still, I think Mr. Fog needs to start taking acid again.
2: Scum - Gospels For the Sick
Totally evil punk rock with members of Amen, Emperor, Turbonegro and Zyklon. A barrage of in-your-face brutality from a motley crew of junkies, arsonists, murderers and rock musicians.
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1. Equilibrium - Turis Fratyr
This is probably one of my favorite albums this year. Good folk viking metal
2. Wintersun - Wintersun
Ensiferum's vocalist's new band. it's real good, if you like viking metal.
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1. Oasis - Don't Believe The Truth.
For the first time in ten years they just write a great pop album. Their most relaxed collection yet, and Meaning Of Soul notwithstanding, pretty much all great.
2. Lucky Nine - True Crown Foundation Songs
British metal supergroup make fucking IMMENSE album. Easily my favourite heavy album of the last year, no question.
3. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Howl
This is my album of the year. Swapping the rock 'n' roll for gospel God-bothering didn't sound wise - but it's a fucking BRILLIANT album, not a slack moment on it. The scant electric moments are awesome, and the acoustic ballads are beautiful.
4. Nine Inch Nails - With Teeth
Angsty disco-pop with a heart as black as coal. Not as good as The Fragile, but definitely a stellar album. A fitting comeback for ol' Trent.
5. The Mad Capsule Markets - 1997-2004/020120
Put these together - their best of and their live album. Both of them are utter, utter genius. Gave them both five stars when I reviewed them.
Honourable mention: The Pariahs - The Pariahs
Old school punk rock. Their last album was called 'Mouthful of Headache'. 'Nuff said.
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Hmm, I think that:
Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks - Face the Truth
Sigur Ros - Takk...
Deerhoof - The Runners Four
and
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - s/t
Would be on my list.
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1. The Residents - Animal Lover - Totally the best record I've heard all year. Seriously. It's actually really morbid and depressing at times.
2.Eels - Blinking Lights and Other Revelations - GO EELS
3. General Patton Vs. The X-Ecutioners - Joint Special Operations Task Force - God, stop stealing all of my choices Creamy boy.
4. Between the Buried and Me - Alaska. It really is very good.
5. The Mars Volta - Frances The Mute. This was released this year, right?
Also, some group that Buckethead's collaborating with released something new which I still have to check out. But yeah, that's about all the new albums I bought.
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random order:
maximo park - a certain trigger
kaiser chiefs - employment
subways - young for eternity
franz ferdinand - you could have it so much better
zZz (Dutch Band) - sound of zZz (sounds the way the Doors would sound today)
Not a great year I guess..
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Birchville Cat Motel-Chi Vampires
Skullflower-Orange Canyon Mind
Major Stars-IV
Growing-Live
Avarus-Ruskeatimanti
Stuff I'd like to get hold of but haven't yet:
Sunn 0))-Black I
Lightning Bolt-Hypermagic Mountain
The Fall-Fall Heads Roll
Gang Wizard-Why is There a God?
Growing-His Return
V/A-Invisble Pyramind Elegy Box
-Tons of other stuff on the insanely prolific Last Visible Dog lable.
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1) Sufjan Stesvens - Illinoise
2) Ted Leo - Shake the Sheets
3) Feist - Let It Die
4) The Decemberists - Picaresque
5) Fiery Furnaces - Rehearsing My Choir
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Also, some group that Buckethead's collaborating with released something new
Viggo Mortensen(the guy who plays Aragorn in LOTR) has made several records with him. I thought that was a bit funny...
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My best of 2005 (that i've heard) would run like this:
Sleater-Kinney - The Woods
65 Days of Static - One Time For All Time
The New Pornographers - Twin Cinema
Saul Williams - Saul Williams
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Really? I simply must check them out, if anything but for ironic purposes.
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Avarus-Ruskeatimanti
What, there's a band with that name? I use that as a nickname on some forums. What kinda music do they make?
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1) Sufjan Stesvens - Illinoise
2) Ted Leo - Shake the Sheets
3) Feist - Let It Die
4) The Decemberists - Picaresque
5) Fiery Furnaces - Rehearsing My Choir
Shake the Sheets came out last year.
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this list will probably be subject to change when I hear the new albums from Jomi Massage, Kå and others.
But at the moment:
Bonnie 'prince' Billy & Matt Sweeney - Superwolf
Feist - Let It Die
Andersens Drømme(a gathering of danish artists singing songs inspired by Hans Christian Andersen's dreams)
Stars - Set Yourself On Fire(it came out in Denmark this year)
The Decemberists - Picaresque
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Avarus are a free-folk (whatever that is) band from Finland. I'm not quite sure how well I could describe their music myself maybe a krautrock band gone folk . Here's the lable that put out the album trying to describe them:
http://www.tumult.net/catalog/avarus.html
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Animal Collective - Feels (!)
Minus Story - No Rest for Ghosts
Constantines - Tournament of Hearts
Those are the only albums that haven't been mentioned that I can think of. I was terribly disappointed by the new Broken Social Scene which makes me want to cry :(
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1) Coldplay - X&Y
2) Lifehouse - (self-titled)
3) Kanye West - Late Registration
There hasn't been as much awesome mainstream music this year as there was in 2004. I didn't realize that until now. Also, Modest Mouse and Franz Ferdinand would probably be on that list if I'd gotten either of their albums at this point.
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I was terribly disappointed by the new Broken Social Scene which makes me want to cry :(
So was I, but it's possible that I just haven't gotten into it yet. I had to be stranded on an island with no electricity off the coast of Maine to begin enjoying "You Forgot It In People." :)
Andrew Bird - The Mysterious Production of Eggs
The Mountain Goats - The Sunset Tree
Sufjan Stevens - Illinoise
Apparently the new Supergrass album is good too, but I haven't picked it up yet.
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I'd like to add Ris Paul Ric - Purple Blaze (Ex-member of Q and not U) to my list. It was surprisingly awesome.
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Avarus are a free-folk (whatever that is) band from Finland. I'm not quite sure how well I could describe their music myself maybe a krautrock band gone folk . Here's the lable that put out the album trying to describe them:
http://www.tumult.net/catalog/avarus.html
That description makes them sound really good. I downloaded some apparently live sessions, and it just sounded like a load of atmosphereless, random bashing of out of tune instruments. One got into a sort of cool bit that sounded like acoustic power electronics, but that was kind of it. I just can't get into music like that.
I'll stick to 'Visor Om Slutet' and 'Tales From the Thousand Lakes' for my realisations of Finland, thanks-a-bunch.
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Snowblood - Being And Becoming
Lightning Bolt - Hypermagic Mountain
Sleater-Kinney - The Woods
Guapo - Black Oni
Men In Search of The Perfect Weapon - s/t
Mind you Red Right Hand, Like A Kind of Matador and Narcosis all have albums due soon, and I still haven't picked up a copy of the Red Stars Parade CD. Any of those could easily knock someone out of the top five.
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Back up-- do you mean the metal band Red Right Hand? There's a New Hampshire metal band called Red Right Hand and their bass player is our guitarist.
That would be fucked up, but I don't think you mean them. They're really not that good.
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Sorry about that Khar. Free folk=free jazz but with folk instead of jazz esp in the case of Avarus.
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2: Scum - Gospels For the Sick
Totally evil punk rock with members of Amen, Emperor, Turbonegro and Zyklon. A barrage of in-your-face brutality from a motley crew of junkies, arsonists, murderers and rock musicians.
I think I need to hear that. Sounds like my kind of thing.
Ummmm 2005 albums...
1.With Teeth-NIN
2....
Holy crap, With Teeth is the only album made this year that I've brought... I've gotten a whole bunch of old albums but nothing new... wack yo.
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As Of Nov 12
1.My American Heart - The Meaning In Makeup
yes its an emo band and yes its a bunch of..... filipino guys. In a genre where its usually a white guy in a youth small shirt and girl pants its good to see that the other reaces aren't dumbasses when it comes to music. This is that album that is your most played on your itunes. It's was very well done and the music is exactly what you need after a day that just sucked.
2. Deerhoof - The Runners Four
As Jeph said GO PICK THIS DAMM ALBUM UP! I love deerhoof because its weird surrealness mixed in with awesome guitar rifts. This album only adds on to the fun!
3. Clap Your Hands And Say Yeah - Clap Your Hands And Say Yeah
An accordian, simple lyrics and more fun than a Questionable Content flash movie *Hint Hint* clap your hands and say yeah make you wanna do just that . If you don't have it and your reading QC your just a loser.
4. Death Cab For Cutie - Plans
Although they never stray from the formula, they allways seen to amaze us. They know exactly how to grab a fan base and keep them there with thheir fun soul southing lyrics.
5.Paramore - All We Know Is Falling
haha i love me emo lots. Its a 16 year old feamle singer with 18 year old drummer and guiarists......I wonder what happens alot? Neways its an awesome album just because they show that expierence isn't the most critical factor in good album making.
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Ummmm 2005 albums...
1.With Teeth-NIN
2....
Holy crap, With Teeth is the only album made this year that I've brought... I've gotten a whole bunch of old albums but nothing new... wack yo.
actually ditto .... I've gotten heaps of albumns but none that were actually released this year :( anyways With Teeth was 10 different kinds of awesome so it's all good i guess .... now if only Tool would release that god damn new albumn weve been promised already
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some favorites this year
Aoki Takamasa + Tujiko Nuriko: 28
Hauschka: The Prepared Piano
August Born: August Born
Antony and the Johnsons: I am a Bird Now
Six Organs of Admittance: School of the Flower
Songs of Green Pheasant: Songs of Green Pheasant
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1. Broken Social Scene - s/t
2. The Decemberists - Picaresque
3. Wolf Parade - Apologies To The Queen Mary
4. The Mars Volta - Frances The Mute (yes it was released this year)
5. Sigur Ros - Takk...
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In no particular order:
Decemberists - Picaresque
Stereophonics - Language. Sex. Violence. Other?
Spoon - gimme fiction
Coldplay - X&Y
kaiser chiefs - employment
I really wanted to include KT tunstall too, but only 5 :(
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2: Scum - Gospels For the Sick
Totally evil punk rock with members of Amen, Emperor, Turbonegro and Zyklon. A barrage of in-your-face brutality from a motley crew of junkies, arsonists, murderers and rock musicians.
Eh. it was okay, for punk, but you know... it's still junk punk.
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Sorry about that Khar. Free folk=free jazz but with folk instead of jazz esp in the case of Avarus.
It was really the thin-ness of it that put me off, maybe that was just the live stuff though. There was a bit to the end of a track called 'Encore' that, as a I said, sounded a bit like acoustic Whitehouse, and was kind of cool.
I'd debate it being music though really, but I won't get into that here.
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Back up-- do you mean the metal band Red Right Hand? There's a New Hampshire metal band called Red Right Hand and their bass player is our guitarist.
That would be fucked up, but I don't think you mean them. They're really not that good.
No, the Red Right Hand I mean are slow, heavy, unpleasant doom with members of Narcosis and Like A Kind of Matador.
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opeth - ghost reveries
1349 - hellfire
nile - annihilation of the wicked
bloodbath - nightmares made flesh
darkest hour - undoing ruin
i was very.. very.. disappointed with the agony scene's new album.
after their impressive debut, i had high expectations.
forshame.
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Nile and Bloodbath were both this year?
Ah right,
1. Ewigkeit - Conspiritus
2. Bloodbath - Nightmares Made Flesh
3. Scum - Gospels For the Sick
4. Nile - Annihilation of the Wicked
Did Behemoth have something out this year as well? Or is that my imagination.
I've heard the new Dimmu Borgir re-recording of Stormblast is actually quite good, same with the Opeth, but I've heard neither. I'm probably just being retarded and already have something else I love released this year that I'm forgetting.
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I'm probably just being retarded and already have something else I love released this year that I'm forgetting.
ditto, chap.
:/
also, behemoths latest release was demigod in 2004
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i was very.. very.. disappointed with the agony scene's new album.
after their impressive debut, i had high expectations.
forshame.
You were disappointed too? The first album was quite a few kinds of awesome though.
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i sure was.
when their debut came out i was all "omgomg new favourite band omg" or whatever.
i almost cried when the emo whining hit in.
>_>
i'm seeing them live in a few weeks supporting LoG.
so we'll see what it sounds like live i guess.
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I'm not too sure at this point, but I'll pick 3 I haven't seen here yet:
Akron/Family - Akron/Family
Laura Veirs - Year of Meteors
Mount Eerie - No Flashlight
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1. Mind.In.A.Box - Dreamweb
2. VNV Nation - Matter And Form
3. Syrian - Kosmonauta
4. M83 - Before The Dawn Heals Us
5. The Decemberists - Picaresque
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No order
- The Decemberists - Picaresque
- Broken Social Scene - BlahBlah
- Wolf Parade - Apologies to the Queen Mary
- Sigur Ros - Takk
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I guess mine would be something like this:
Bright Eyes - I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning
Phoenix Foundation - Pegasus
The Mountain Goats - The Sunset Tree
Bloc Party - Silent Alarm
Sigur Ros - Takk…
With an honourable mention to Sleater-Kinney - The Woods
Albums I haven't heard (enough) yet that I should've: The new Deerhoof, New Pornographers, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah!
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01. The Aquabats!- CHARGE!!- extremely solid and the single most consistently enjoyable album i've heard all year.
02. Mike Park- North Hangook Falling- basically, Mike Park kicks ass.
03. The Suicide Machines- War Profiteering is Killing Us All- a bit heavy-handed, i'll admit, but it's about time they released an album that lives up to their debut in terms of sheer musical awesomeness.
04. Against Me!- Searching for a Former Clarity- shut up, i liked this album.
05. The Bruce Lee Band- Beautiful World EP- more Mike Park-related awesomeness.
honorable mentions:
The Most Serene Republic- Underwater Cinematographer
DangerDoom- The Mouse & The Mask (which i have heard, but do not yet own. dammit.)
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Oh! I brought three albums this year!
NIN as I've already said.
AND
The best kiwi band there ever did was; The Mercy Cage.
www.mercycage.co.nr
And
The Chemical Brothers-Push The Button
I rather like it despite what people say.
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Alright, I got my list fit to 10 (nobody cares probably, but here it is):
Bright Eyes - Digital Ash/I'm Wide Awake
Broken Social Scene - S/t
Deerhoof - The Runners Four
Sigur Ros - Takk...
Ris Paul Ric - Purple Blaze
Manu Chao - Siberie M'etait Conte
My Morning Jacket - Z
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - s/t
Lightning Bolt - Hypermagic Mountain
Stephen Malkmus - Face the Truth
Close: Angels of Light/Akron Family split, Daedalus - Exquisite Corpse
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edited list
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Bright Eyes - Digital Ash/I'm Wide Awake
I would have counted that as two, but that might just be because I'm struggling to come up with five. They are completely different albums though.
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I like counting them as one, dispite the difference in the album. It feels like a double disc to me, one is daytime songs and the other is nightime songs. I may be cheating a little bit, but I say it's valid.
Which do you like better? If I had to pick one I would say Digital Ash (I've been looking for a Digital Ash live set forever, but I don't know if he ever played any).
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According to the list I keep on my desk:
The Decemberists: Picaresque
The Fiery Furnaces: Rehearsing My Choir - A damned good album which, for some reason, lots of people hung crap on
Architecture in Helsinki: In Case We Die
Sujan Stevens: Illinois
Broken Social Scene: Broken Social Scene
I don't buy many albums, though, so it's limited.
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I'm not actually sure, it depends on my mood really. I think you're on to something with the day/night idea though. I'm Wide Awake in the day, Digital Ash it night.
Actually, I'd probably pick Digital Ash, if only for the number of times the lyrics sound like me thinking.
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1. Opeth - Ghost Reveries
2. ... Right now I seriously can't think!!! Opeth was the only album I can remember! ARRRRRR!!!!
Before it came out, I was hoping to put Dream Theater's Octavarium on this list, but I was very disapointed with the epics and some of the other songs, so it doesn't get my vote. It was almost like 6 degrees in many aspects, but fell short somewhere...
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But I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning can't really be a day record. In comparison, it definitely feels more like one than Digital Ash but the fact that the disc is pretty much a journey through the night doesn't lend itself well to your idea. Especially with closer "Road to Joy", where they finally come to the title line.
I do see how they could be considered a double disc. They just represent such opposite styles that they seemed to both be part of a singular, calculating effort, which would signify a double disc to me.
But, anyways, here's a prototype of what my list may look like when 2005 comes to a close.
1. Sufjan Stevens - Illinois
2. Marianne Faithful - Before the Poison
A great vocalist, and PJ Harvey's involvement makes this one of my favorites.
3. Socalled - The Socalled Seder
Irresistble jewish hip-hop. Infectious.
4.The New Pornographers - Twin cinema
5. Bright Eyes - I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning
6. Sleater-Kinney - The Woods
7. Eels - Blinking Lights and Other Revelations
8. Wolf Parade - Apologies to Queen Mary
9. Novillero - Aim Right For the Hole in Their Lives
Anything off Mint Records is always a safe bet, especially this mix of Winnipegers, featuring the old vocalist from the original Canadian bass-and-drums duo, Duotang.
10. M.I.A. - Arular
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But I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning can't really be a day record. In comparison, it definitely feels more like one than Digital Ash but the fact that the disc is pretty much a journey through the night doesn't lend itself well to your idea. Especially with closer "Road to Joy", where they finally come to the title line.
Well, I don't think it's really a fact, more an opinion of yours. (Ah, sorry if that sounds snappy, I tried several ways to make it not seem so, but there it is. I don't mean to be). Songs like Another Travellin' Song and Land Lock Blues (And Road to Joy) seem to me to be like day light songs. Lua does in deed talk about the night, but I think it's contrasting it by what things are in the day time. Me discussing this in depth gives the lie to the idea that I am a little too serious about it being a day/night thing. It's really more of just how it feels to me rather than what I think they/he were/was trying to do.
I do see how they could be considered a double disc. They just represent such opposite styles that they seemed to both be part of a singular, calculating effort, which would signify a double disc to me.
Yeah, you've hit the nail on the head of why I feel that way. Better than I could have said it, I'm all jumbly at the moment.
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I'm not even NEAR ready to make a list. But anyway.
The Fiery Furnaces: Rehearsing My Choir - A damned good album which, for some reason, lots of people hung crap on
I haven't heard it, to be honest. But the guy who reviewed it instead of me for our college paper (at the last minute I realized I couldn't write a review and three papers for classes) LOVED it. To the extent that he wrote, "I can't help but imagine that this joyous, artful album is exactly the sort of music John Lennon would have made today, had he lived to a grandfatherly age." (Okay, so he tends toward hyperbole. But that's still pretty glowing.)
I think people were hoping for EP 2, not Blueberry Boat Plus. I get the impression this new record is dense, but not typical literary-dense...more like playful-dense. Which is a combination people don't know how to deal with. They like their playful music light (see: Architecture in Helsinki fans) and their dense music serious (see: Mars Volta fans).
That's my impression anyway.
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1: New Pornographers - Twin Cinema (After listening to this album once, I knew it would be my number one for the year. It's just that good.)
2: Raveonettes - Pretty In Black (The Raveonettes are just so underrated anyway, and then they release an album just as good as Chain Gang Of Love)
3: Teenage Fanclub - Man-Made (They have never released a bad album.)
4: Okkervil River - Black Sheep Boy (Black for song of the year.)
5: Handsomeboy Technique - Adelie Land (Fuck I love Said the Gramophone for introducing me to these guys.)
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4: Okkervil River - Black Sheep Boy (Black for song of the year.)
Saw them in Brooklyn Saturday. Got there late so I got shut out of Man Man and Charles from the Wrens, but even with just Okkervil River it was a great show. I wonder whether the Black Sheep Boy Appendix (out today) is worth picking up.
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I like counting them as one, dispite the difference in the album. It feels like a double disc to me, one is daytime songs and the other is nightime songs. I may be cheating a little bit, but I say it's valid.
Which do you like better? If I had to pick one I would say Digital Ash (I've been looking for a Digital Ash live set forever, but I don't know if he ever played any).
He's not toured it yet. He's touring Wide Awake first and then Ash later.
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Propagandhi- Potempkin City Limits
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I thought he'd already done world tours for both albums?
Is he doing another?
Well I could easily be wrong, I just took a guess, since he said he'd not found any Ash live shows.
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Nine Inch Nails - With Teeth
Metric - Live it Out
Beck - Guero
Modest Mouse - Good News For People Who Love Bad News
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1. (Smog) - A river Ain't too much to love
Nobody ever listens to Bill Callahan. It's sad.
2. Spacehorse - Self-titled EP
Yeah, not a full album, but it's the best face-melting 15 minutes of your life
3. Wir Sind Helden - Von Hier an Blind
Awesome German Indie Rock
4. Ghosty - Grow Up or Sleep In
New Lawrence, Kansas band. I live in Kansas (no I don't have buckteeth and watch Wizard of Oz on a loop with Pink Floyd playing in the background). Great album. Nuff said.
5. Editors - The Back Room
Interpol but actually good?! Yes, the trite underactive neo-goth look (and sound) from Interpol is gone; herein lies the savior of those who thought Anitcs was good.
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Modest Mouse - Good News For People Who Love Bad News
Eh?
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Modest Mouse - Good News For People Who Love Bad News
Eh?
what?
Modest Mouse
Good News For People Who Love Bad News (DualDisc)
Release Date: October 11, 2005
Track listing for Dual Disc Album
(097711)
CD Audio
1 Horn Intro
2 The World At Large
3 Float On
4 Ocean Breathes Salty
5 Dig Your Grave
6 Bury Me With It
7 I've Got It All (Most)
8 Dance Hall
9 Bukowski
10 This Devil's Workday
11 The View
12 Satin In A Coffin
13 Interlude (Milo)
14 Blame It On The Tetons
15 Black Cadillacs
16 One Chance
17 The Good Times Are Killing Me
2 Channel Stereo Version
1 Horn Intro (2 Channel Stereo Version)
2 The World At Large (2 Channel Stereo Version)
3 Float On (2 Channel Stereo Version)
4 Ocean Breathes Salty (2 Channel Stereo Version)
5 Dig Your Grave (2 Channel Stereo Version)
6 Bury Me With It (2 Channel Stereo Version)
7 I've Got It All (Most) (2 Channel Stereo Version)
8 Dance Hall (2 Channel Stereo Version)
9 Bukowski (2 Channel Stereo Version)
10 This Devil's Workday (2 Channel Stereo Version)
11 The View (2 Channel Stereo Version)
12 Satin In A Coffin (2 Channel Stereo Version)
13 Interlude (Milo) (2 Channel Stereo Version)
14 Blame It On The Tetons (2 Channel Stereo Version)
15 Black Cadillacs (2 Channel Stereo Version)
16 One Chance (2 Channel Stereo Version)
17 The Good Times Are Killing Me (2 Channel Stereo Version)
DVD Video
1 Float On (Video)
2 Ocean Breathes Salty (Video)
3 Interview (Video)
4 Stiff Animal Fantasy (Video)
5 Website Blip Animation (Video)
6 Album artwork production (Video) [/i]
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So YOU'RE counting re-issues/updatednewfangley+morecds, eh?
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Sure. Why not!
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1) Bruce Springsteen, Born to Run reissue with 2 DVDs
Which is precisely why I wouldn't count reissues; it's not fair to make anything compete with Born to Run.
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Alright, I got my list fit to 10 (nobody cares probably, but here it is):
Bright Eyes - Digital Ash/I'm Wide Awake
Broken Social Scene - S/t
Deerhoof - The Runners Four
Sigur Ros - Takk...
Ris Paul Ric - Purple Blaze
Manu Chao - Siberie M'etait Conte
My Morning Jacket - Z
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - s/t
Lightning Bolt - Hypermagic Mountain
Stephen Malkmus - Face the Truth
Probably the best list yet.
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I would say Octavarium by Dream Theater, but I'd probably be banished for lack of indie cred.
Ah screw it, I'm saying it anyway.
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John Vanderslice - Pixel Revolt
The Mountain Goats - The Sunset Tree
Super Furry Animals - Love Kraft
Dream Theater - Octavarium
Wolf Parade - Apologies to the Queen Mary
The Hold Steady - Seperation Sunday
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I would say Octavarium by Dream Theater, but I'd probably be banished for lack of indie cred.
Ah screw it, I'm saying it anyway.
Good choice. Indie cred is for people who don't like John Pretrucci guitar wanking and rocking out.
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Yeah, Oberst has toured Ash with the Faint. They even had a tour diary of some of the Europe dates published in Magnet Magazine. Now, he's on to touring with all his material.
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Indie cred is for people who don't like John Pretrucci guitar wanking and rocking out.
Not to mention mindblowing Portnoy drum solos. And they wrote a song about 9/11 that doesn't suck. Seriously.
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Indie cred is for wankers.
Indie is great.
So's Dream Theater. Well, they just need to kill the singer for good. And then they'll be chill in my book.
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I think LaBrie gets too much flak. Sure, his voice can get a little grating, but at least he's in key, which puts him ahead of a LOT of vocalists. And he mostly keeps the singing below the window-shattering range on their new album.
EDIT: I actually had the greatest idea ever the other day, and forgot to mention it here. Hypothetically, let's say LaBrie left Dream Theater to work on his solo career. So then Russell Allen from Symphony X comes in to sing, and brings along Michael Romeo as a second guitarist. Prog metal supergroup times a billion!
Seriously. Petrucci/Romeo guitar duels. Think of the possibilities.
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Except Russell Allen is one of the worst metal vocalists EVER.
Michael Romeo is GOD!
Any non-beleivers: shove it. (http://s65.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=34GYH9ASCQLLJ2AM11PVF411GR)
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I think you are underestimating the capacity of metal to have terrible singers.
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I would say Octavarium by Dream Theater, but I'd probably be banished for lack of indie cred.
I've already listed Coldplay. I wouldn't worry.
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I'm too busy catching up on the good shit from yesteryear to buy up-to-date albums. In fact, the only album from 2005 that I purchased in 2005 was..
1. MC Frontalot - Nerdcore Rising
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You wanna hear indie-cred type stuff on Octavarium?? Man!!!!!
I read a few of the forums on www.taborama.com if I see anything on the frontpage 'top posts' list that grabs my attention. The review of Octavarium was one of them I decided to read. Seriously, the people on that site were praising this album for, in my opinion, the same reasons how Kai here basically said how Indie people hate Petrucci solos and stuff. The people on that forum were totally saying how its good there's no super quick Petrucci sweep solos, how the keyboards do more, how they've gone for a more 'song' structure rather than just 'jam session' type stuff. Man, some if this is also indie-cred type stuff or just jeaous musicians.............. needless to say I pissed myself laughing!!!
Im a huge DT fan, have been for years, and I didn't particulary like this album all that much, but not because there aren't shredding solos and what not. It just didn't really..... mmmmm....... I think some people might know what I mean. maybe.
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I have more indie cred in my thumbnail, than all you wankers have... /combined/!!
Why?
Because I'm so indie... SO INDIE... that I haven't even HEARD of all these indie bands. That's how indie I am... I'm completely independant of the independant music scene.
HAH!
Chew on that one for awhile!
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Probably Sigur Ros' "Takk". Specifically, "Hoppipolla" was the most brilliant thing I've heard since... well, damn, probably the stuff on "Agaetis Byrjun". I can't get over their badassery.
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Sufjan - Illinois
Decemberists - Picaresque
New Pornographers - Twin Cinema
Go! Team - Thunder Lightning Strike
Eels - Blinking Lights and Other Revelations
Broken Social Scene - s/t
Spoon - Gimme Fiction
Andrew Bird - Mysterious Production of Eggs
Death Cab for Cutie - Plans
Doves - Some Cities
that's the list for now.
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13. Wir Sind Helden - Von Hier an Blind
Awesome German Indie Rock
Okay. You live in Kansas, but you know Wir Sind Helden? How did you find out about them?
I figured that nobody outside of Germany had ever heard of them.
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SpacemanSpiff, I heard about them when I was still living in California. We had German foreign exchange students over and one of them was like, "Hey, listen to this," to one of my friends, and now he's hooked.
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Bear vs Shark - Terrorhawk
The Ponys - Celebration Castle
The Dears - No Cities Left
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - S/T
The Mountain Goats - The Sunset Tree
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No order here:
Common - Be
Little Brother - The Minstrel Show
Fall Out Boy - From Under the Cork Tree
Spitalfield - Stop Doing Bad Things
Bloc Party - Silent Alarm
Wintersleep - Untitled
Mae - The Everglow
The Game - The Documentary
The Bled - Found in the Flood
Kanye West - Late Registration
Burdocks - What We Do Is Secret
Copeland - In Motion
etc...
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The Dears' No Cities Left was actually released in 2003 in Canada. The international release was in late 2004.
Just saying. Great, great record though.
Also, it's great to see that a few other people have been enjoying Andrew Bird out there.
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Probably Sigur Ros' "Takk". Specifically, "Hoppipolla" was the most brilliant thing I've heard since... well, damn, probably the stuff on "Agaetis Byrjun". I can't get over their badassery.
I preferred the song Saegloipur or however you spell it on that record. The massive piano chords in it just move me nearly to tears, especially if it's a cold morning.
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My top five in no particular order,
EElS - Blinking Lights and Other Revelations
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
Gorillaz - Demon Days
Oasis - Don't Believe The Truth
And last but not least, destroying any indie cred I had moreso than any other previous poster:
Disturbed - Ten Thousand Fists
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Agreed@Dynamite. Something about "Hoppipolla" makes European winter so much more bearable for me though. And considering I have S.A.D., that's saying somethng. ;)
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Pretty damn good were:
The Holy Shroud - Ghost Repeaters
The Mars Volta - Frances the Mute
Into The Moat - The Design
Aereogramme - Seclusion
The Flying Luttenbachers - The Void
Good enough:
Coheed & Cambria - Dear Apollo, I'm Burning Star: Jesus Christ Help Me, That Damn Title Is So Fucking Long: IV
Sigur Rós - Takk
Honorary mentions for rocking my butt off and best Black Sabbath cover ever:
Electric Eel Shock - Beat Me
I expect the following releases to be awesome, but I have yet to listen to them:
The Locust - Safety Second, Body Last
Lightning Bolt - Hypermagic Mountain
31 Knots - Talk Like Blood
Minus The Bear - Menos El Oso
Ion Dissonance - Solace
Horse the Band - Themechanicalhand
...damn, I really need to buy a lot of albums.
Pelican's new album as well as the split with Mono (who are awesome) might also end up on my list, I have yet to listen to that though and I don't know the band enough to be sure that the album is going to be something I like.
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Ion Dissonance - Solace
What? I thought Ion Dissonance split years ago! I'm very pleased to find out I was mistaken.
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Nope, they released a new album very recently. The reviews I've read so far were pretty good too.
In case you are, among other things, referring to the fact that their website is dead: That's because their domain got stolen. Try id357.com (http://www.id357.com).
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1. Chiodos -Alls Well That Ends Well
WeEE more guys in girl voices and girl pants WEEE
2.Aiden -Knightmare Anatomy
1 song made my year. Knife Blood Nightmare
3.Circa Survive - Juthura...i think this came out this year
Old singer for Saosin Combines with awesoem guitars
4.Clap your Hands And Say Yeah - s/t
Same As Before ; p
5.Monroe - Ep
Yup local band.
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1. Decemberists, Picaresque
2.Clap Your Hands Say Yeah- s/t
3.Ringside -s/t
4.The Atomic Car - underage
5.The Wallflowers - Rebel, Sweetheart
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So far, it looks like this, in no particular order:
Bright Eyes - I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning
Pelican - The Fire In Our Throats Beckons The Thaw
Wolf Parade - Apologies To The Queen Mary
Buck 65 - Secret House Against The World
The A-Frames - Black Forest
Wilco - Kicking Television
Sylvie - An Electric Trace
Spoon - Gimme Fiction
Sufjan Stevens - Illinois
Sleater-Kinney - The Woods
I'm having a hard time, though. I want to include a lot more on this list, like the new ...Trail Of Dead, Dangerdoom, Kanye, Broken Social Scene, and a lot more, but they're having a hard time kicking out anyone on this list.
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I have a number five.
1. Ewigkeit - Conspiritus
2. Bloodbath - Nightmares Made Flesh
3. Scum - Gospels For the Sick
4. Nile - Annihilation of the Wicked
5. Cryptic Wintermoon - Shadows...And the Dark Things You Fear
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My top ten, in no particular order, looks something like:
Sufjan Stevens-Illinois
Vitalic-OK Cowboy
Gorillaz-Demon Days
System Of A Down-Mezmerize/Hypnotize
Fiona Apple-Extraordinary Machine
My Morning Jacket-Z
The New Pornographers-Twin Cinema
Kanye West-Late Registration
Decemberists-Picaresque
Spoon-Gimme Fiction
Actually, I'm pretty sure the top two are in order, but the rest is totally uncertain.
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I like the way you think - also, you apparently like the way Jon Brion thinks.
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Takk..- Sigur Ros
Demon Days - Gorillaz
I'm Wide Awake It's Morning - Bright Eyes
Guero - Beck
Hypnotize - System Of A Down
Wow... I don't have any obscure albums from 2005
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In no particular order, this is mine (based on what I've listened to new from this year):
Twin Cinema - The New Pornographers
Apologies to the Queen Mary - Wolf Parade
The Runners Four - Deerhoof
A Certain Trigger - Maxïmo Park
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
Devils and Dust - Bruce Springsteen
Guero - Beck
Recording a Tape the Colour of The Light - Bell Orchestre
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A Certain Trigger is stellar, but man, you need to gets ahold of some Spoon.
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I liked these'uns:
Sufjan Stevens - Illinois
The New Pornographers - Twin Cinema
Mountain Goats - The Sunset Tree
Christine Fellows - Paper Anniversary
Ben Folds - Songs for Silverman
CocoRosie - Noah's Ark
Though it should be noted that I have yet to hear the new Sigur Ros or BSS (which apparently are pretty popular, judging from peoples' lists...)
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there's so much shit i still need to listen to, this is my "dugout" list of shit that i either haven't heard or haven't spent enough time with.
Diane Cluck: Oh Vanille
The Drift: Noumena
Eels: Blinking Lights
Enon: Lost Marbles
Hala Strana: Fielding
Marissa Nadler: The Saga of Mayflower May
The Joggers: With a Cape and a Cane
Tujiko Noriko: Blurred in my Mirror
Sawao Yamanaka: My Room Is Delicious
Vashti Bunyan: Lookaftering
Espers: The Weed Tree
Xiu Xiu: La Fôret
Eluvium: Talk Amongst The Trees
Silver Jews, The: Tanglewood Numbers
A&L + Akron/Family: s/t
Zeljko McMullen: Disorder
Acid Mothers Temple: Just Another Band...
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Shite. There's new Sol Invictus and Sigh albums as well. I'm pretty much gauranteed to love both.
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A Certain Trigger is stellar, but man, you need to gets ahold of some Spoon.
Indeed, I plan on looking into their new album. Right now all I have is A Series of Sneaks.
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I like the way you think - also, you apparently like the way Jon Brion thinks.
My exact reaction the first time I heard Late Registration:
"HOLY SHIT Jon Brion has no idea how to be a hip-hop producer! IT'S AWESOME!"
Seriously, Gold Digger is probably the best single I've heard this year.
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My top 10 so far:
01. Okkervil River // Black Sheep Boy
02. Sleater-Kinney // The Woods
03. Animal Collective // Feels
04. Super Furry Animals // Love Kraft
05. Lightning Bolt // Hypermagic Mountain
06. Wolf Parade // Apologies To The Queen Mary
07. Gorillaz // Demon Days
08. The New Pornographers // Twin Cinema
09. Bearsuit // Team Ping Pong
10. Ladytron // Witching Hour
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Franz Ferdinand - You Could Have it So Much Better
Bloc Party - Silent Alarm
NIN - With Teeth
Kanye West - Late Registration
White Stripes - Get Behind Me Satan
I'm horribly unindie. I do like Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Wolf Parade, Deerhoof, and Animal Collective.
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Some others I'd like to add:
Prurient-The Black Vase
Kemialliset Ystavat-Latvasta Laho
V/A-The Tone of the Universe=The Tone of the Earth
Birchville Cat Motel W/Lee Ranaldo-12/30/04
Lau Nau-Kuutarha
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Kaizers Orchestra - Maestro.
We - Smugglers.
Moneybrother - To Die Alone.
Aaand... I want to say Queens of the Stone Age - Lullabies to Paralyze, but that's just the fanboy in me. A decent album, but it's nowhere near as good as their previous releases.
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Ok...It's pretty much December. This is my top 10 list for the end of the year, again, in order. Some slight changes from the list that started this whole thing.
1-Silver Screen - The Greatest Story Never Told (seriously. If you haven't heard this/don't own this yet you're missing out)
2-Boom Bip - Blue Eyed In The Red Room
3-DangerDoom - The Mouse and the Mask
4-Boards of Canada - The Campfire Headphase
5-Depeche Mode - Playing the Angel
6-The American Analog Set - Set Free
7-Isolee - We Are Monster
8-Marc Hellner - Marriages
9-The Orb - Okie Dokie It's The Orb On Kompakt
10-Of Montreal - The Sunlandic Twins
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Mark Lanegan's Bubblegum was released in 2004.
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I just brought Comeback Kid's album; Wake The Dead.
That's my favourite album this year.
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Mark Lanegan's Bubblegum was released in 2004.
It was?
I have the world's worst memory.
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It was released in November or December, so I don't blame you. It's a great, great album. Josh Homme, PJ Harvey, and the amazing Mark Lanegan on one disk. Too cool.
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It was released in November or December, so I don't blame you. It's a great, great album. Josh Homme, PJ Harvey, and the amazing Mark Lanegan on one disk. Too cool.
I'm having enough trouble trying to remember early-year releases. Like Stars, and Trail of Dead, and Mars Volta. Although I predict only one of those will make my list.
Speaking of remembering, remember this thread (http://forums.questionablecontent.net/viewtopic.php?t=7172)?
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sorry, bit off topic here, but:
Indie cred is for wankers.
Indie is great.
So's Dream Theater. Well, they just need to kill the singer for good. And then they'll be chill in my book.
Isn't Liquid Tension Experiment basically just Dream Theater without LaBrie? Personally, I think LaBrie was always just being so way over the top just to keep up with Petrucci and Portnoy in sheer theatricality, lol. His voice doesn't bother me so much as the fact that the lyrics are more than occasonally cheesy as hell.
Anyway, my list:
1)Opeth - Ghost Reveries
2)Broken Social Scene - Self Titled
3)Iron and Wine - Woman King
4)Esem - Scateren
5)Aphex Twin - Analord Series
6)The Mars Volta - Frances the Mute
Bleh... scraping the list and I still can't come up with ten albums I've bought from 2005, lol. Mostly been buying older stuff this year... exploring the back catalogs of my favorite artists.
Still waiting to hear BOC's Campfire Headphase... mum snagged it right out of my hand to give it to me later as a christmas present, lol.
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1. Vashti Bunyan - Lookaftering
2. Spires That in the Sunset Rise - Four Winds the Walker
3. Thelonious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane - Live at Carnegie Hall
4. Animal Collective - Feels
5. Sleater-Kinney - The Trees
6. Paul Motian Trio - I Have the Room Above Her
7. Bob Drake - The Shunned Country
8. Super Furry Animals - Love Kraft
9. Black Dice - Broken Ear Record
10. Baikonour - For the Lonely Hearts of the Cosmos
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The Fall Of Troy - Doppelganger
municipal waste - hazardous mutation
fantomas - suspended animation
kayo dot - dowsing anemone with copper tounge(I think it comes out in january but they sold it on tour)
cave in - perfect pitch black
red sparrows - at the soundless dawn
transistor/transistor - erase all names and likenesses
I'm sure there are many more I'm forgetting
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K'naan - The Dusty Foot Philosopher
Corb Lund - Hair in My Eyes Like a Highland Steer
Sigh- Gallows Gallery
Arcturus - Sideshow SYmphonies
Opeth - Ghost Reveries
Solefald - Red for Fire: An Icelandic Odyssey Part 1
Nevermore - This Godless Endeavour
Dangerdoom - The Mouse and the Mask
Sigur Ros - Takk
Hypocris - Virus
I could actually go on for quite a while, '05 has been such a great year for music all over the place, but I forcibly cut myself off at ten :D
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I don't buy a whole lot of new music, but what I've acquired and liked a lot this year has been:
The Fiery Furnaces - EP
The Fiery Furnaces - Rehearsing My Choir
The Mars Volta - Frances The Mute
Antony and the Johnsons - I am a Bird Now
The White Stripes - Get Behind Me Satan
Iron and Wine - Woman King
Honorable mentions for music that seems promising even though I haven't really gotten into it that much yet:
Wolf Parade - Apologies To The Queen Mary
Sigur Ros - Takk...
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Bear Vs Shark - Terrorhawk
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MIA - Arular
Dean Grey - American Edit (American Idiot Remix Album)
Clap Your Hand and Say Yeah - CYHASY
Clinton Sparks and Clipse - We Got it For Cheap Vol 1 & 2
Sia - Colour The Small One
The White Stripes - Get Behind Me Satan
Annie - DJ Kicks
Nouvelle Vague - Nouvelle Vague
I'm sure I'm missing something I listen to on a regular basis but.....
Both Born to Run and Kicking Television should be on there too but I'm already pushing it with a remix album so I leave Live albums and Reissues to a later date ---
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OK My turn!
1.) Hold Steady - Seperation Sunday
2.) Bright Eyes - Wide Awake It's Morning
rest in no particualr order, it will be yet just lazy.
Sufjan Stevens - Illinois
Wolf Parade - Apolgies...
Boy Least Likely To - Best Party Ever
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - ST
Wilco - Kicking Television
Sigur Ros - Takk
Go Team -Thunder Lighting Strike (came out in the us/canada in 05 so ha)
Kanye West - Late Registration
Honourable Mention Goes to ... Black Mountain, Bright Eyes - Motion Sickness, Iron Wine/Calexico, Okkerville River, Broken Social Scene, New Pornographers, LCD Soundsystem and Bonnie "Prince" Billy and Matt Sweeny - Superwolf.
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American Analog Set - Set Free
Bright Eyes - I'm Wide Awake...
BSC - s/t
Against Me!- Searching for a Former Clarity
65 Days Of Static - One Time For All Time
Sigur Ros - Takk…
and
My friends bands first release of the year which was awesome.
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sorry this is huge but i spent forever on it for another forum where we do this every year so i wanted to post it around!
(http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c219/gamaradio/feathers.jpg) #30: Feathers Feathers
The first like 20 seconds of this album almost make you think it's going to be some stupid Renaissance Faire crap but it's actually a pretty enchanting folk album. It is very nature-inspired, I'll say that. As 'freak-folk' goes this is pretty high on the totem pole. If they can get away with a song title like "Silverleaves in the Air of Starseedlings" then they can hippie it up all they like I guess. That's actually the best song on the album.
(http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c219/gamaradio/organs.jpg) #29: Six Organs of Admittance School of the Flower
This might be the earliest selection for me. I heard it around the time it was released here, in January. It was pretty much my introduction to all that psych-folk/raga/drone business, which led to getting into more noisy stuff in general, so it has sentimental value. A very nice album, nostalgia aside. I love the 13-minute monster-jam title track.
(http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c219/gamaradio/vanderslice.jpg) #28: John Vanderslice Pixel Revolt
John Vanderslice gives me the impression he's always the underdog, for some reason. Maybe it's because he's kind of ugly. Well, this album is cool. It's kind of unassuming indie pop/rock/songwriter stuff, and he sounds like the dude from Cake, but most of it is very magnetic. "Exodus Damage" and "Dear Sarah Shu" are really catchy.
(http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c219/gamaradio/aprils.jpg) #27: The Aprils Space Dream Bathroom
I kind of needed one ridiculously fucking stupidly happy album this year, so between this and Katamari Damacy songs I was set. It's only 25 minutes, but it's 25 minutes of these cannon blasts of unbelievably smiley pop. Of course they're Japanese. I don't think we English-speaking nations are able to produce pure sustained joy like this. It's nice to have music that's just there to make you smile, although you could absolutely sell tons of soap if you put this in a commercial. "Time after Time" is just too great.
(http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c219/gamaradio/zeljko.jpg) #26: Zeljko McMullen Disorder
I got the impression from clips and reviews of this one that it was purely a noise album, but I found it was actually a kind of blend of noise and dense, layered ambient stuff. It's like the guy was trying to make a noise album and then Christian Fennesz came into the studio and slapped him in the face, but not that hard. It's really mesmerizing.
(http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c219/gamaradio/aoki.jpg) #25: Aoki Takamasa + Tujiko Noriko 28
This album can feel really dense and also really destabilizing. It must be what styrofoam feels like when thrown through the air. Tujiko's vocals have a certain longing that goes with Aoki's light glitchy style that make the whole thing a bit techno-spooky. It's Tujiko's melodies that carry the album, especially on "Alien" and "Fly-Variation."
(http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c219/gamaradio/decemberists.jpg) #24: The Decemberists Picaresque
This album reminds me of that saying about 'sell a man a book and you sell him a whole new life.' Each song is its own living, vibrant fantasy. Spies, male prostitutes, train drivers, whale-swallowed sailors, soccer players, love-struck child laborers...and there's stellar music to match. This is my favorite of their albums so far.
(http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c219/gamaradio/hanne.jpg) #23: Hanne Hukkelberg Little Things
I figured out what this album keeps reminds me of, and it's because of the music as well as the cover, and that's a root beer float. I listened to this several times throughout the year but it took a while to click as a whole. I guess I probably wasn't listening to "Balloon" very hard. Well, it's very light, airy and sweet. But there's actually a lot to it once you find its center of gravity. So it really is like getting melted iceberg from a soft-serve machine.
(http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c219/gamaradio/brighteyes.jpg) #22: Bright Eyes I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning
Another one from early in the year. I'd forgotten about it until seeing it on other lists, and I have to give it credit for being full of extremely well-written songs, even despite the stigma on the guy.
(http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c219/gamaradio/akron.jpg) #21: Akron/Family & Angels of Light Akron/Family & Angels of Light Split
A pretty late entry, but this split LP is already a favorite. Might be higher on my list when I've spent more time with it. It's got the somber Americana-folk thing covered, and also these great loud moments of great big noisy riffs or a bunch of people hollering along. Great energy throughout.
(http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c219/gamaradio/hauschka.jpg) #20: Hauschka The Prepared Piano
Hauschka is actually just the one guy, Volker Bertelmann, and this album is mostly him playing the piano. It's prepared piano, so he's gone in and jimmied up the strings and coaxed all kinds of springs and pops and percussive sounds out of them. It makes the whole thing very vivid. Lots going in every song, even the softer ones. It helps that the guy is an amazing composer. His songs make my head go somewhere with rainy cobblestone streets with a bunch of ducks walking around.
(http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c219/gamaradio/pheasant.jpg) #19: Songs of Green Pheasant Songs of Green Pheasant
Duncan Sumpner's solo folk project, which seems to have risen from a fog-covered lake, soaked in reverb and layered vocals, pining for the sun. Sounds like Simon & Garfunkel trying to make a nature album. The best tracks are the slightly darker ones, they're kind of mysterious and churning.
(http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c219/gamaradio/goldmund.jpg) #18: Goldmund Corduroy Road
I'm not well-versed in contemporary piano, but Corduroy Road stood out to me as a solo statement. It's quite minimal, but weighted with this really heavy sorrow, like it was composed for the walking wounded.
(http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c219/gamaradio/ratn.jpg) #17: Riow Arai + Tujiko Noriko J
Of the two Tujiko Noriko collaborations this year, this is the more beat-heavy, song-oriented one. These songs are haunting and very sexy, and I think Riow Arai really tapped into a musical vein that gives tangible life to Tujiko's songs. There are even a few recurrences of fragments and song ideas from the Aoki Takamasa collab., such as "Mou Ichido Alien," a take on 28's "Alien," but Arai throws a driving trip-hop instrumental under her. Both are fantastic versions, but "Mou Ichido Alien" has more gravity and intensity to it, and that's often true for the rest of this album. I haven't actually heard Tujiko's own solo album this year but I wonder if it's this good.
(http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c219/gamaradio/broadcast.jpg) #16: Broadcast Tender Buttons
More fuzzy warm pop stuff. I realize nowadays anybody can do fuzzy warm pop stuff, so to get solid attention you have to be like Broadcast, because they also just write really good songs with good lyrics. They certainly have a sound culled from several different decades. I think I'd like this album even more if I found the perfect place to listen to it, not at home or in a car. Maybe a hovercraft.
(http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c219/gamaradio/animal.jpg) #15: Animal Collective Feels
Sung Tongs wasn't adequate preparation for the mind-boggling energy and vitality of Feels. Openers "Did You See The Words" and "Grass" are the best one-two punch ever, exploding with cymbals and screams and spastic, stair-climbing vocals. There's still a few traditional AC tunes, slow and sunny and drenched in reverb, as well as "Loch Raven," which is completely eerie but probably my favorite track. You have to be in the mood for this album, which I guess means your eyes need to be bulging out of your head in sheer joy, but it's totally worth it.
(http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c219/gamaradio/xiuxiu.jpg) #14: Xiu Xiu La Fôret
A big progression to a slightly more beat-oriented take on the passive-aggressive Xiu Xiu sound. No instantly impressive songs like Fabulous Muscles, but this is the more consistent album. The instrumentation, especially, has become a lot more interesting and detailed. "Bog People" and "Muppet Face" are irresistable, and I love the woodwinds on "Ale."
(http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c219/gamaradio/jens.jpg) #13: Jens Lekman Oh You're So Silent Jens
This album opens with the tragic tale of an unbought record called "At the Department of Forgotten Songs," in which an abandoned 45" takes the shape of an orphaned girl. Jens Lekman actually pulls that stunt off really well, because he's a great songwriter and he has this wonderfully rainy mood in every song. He makes other singer/songwriters look stupid, even when he's singing something ridiculous like "it's like someone spilled a beer all over the atmosphere!" Somehow I can even forgive him for having his cat do backing vocals on "F-Word," because he makes it work. I don't really know how, but he does!
(http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c219/gamaradio/drones.jpg) #12: The Drones Wait Long By The River...
These guys pretty much just rock super fucking hard. "Shark Fin Blues" is probably my favorite rock song of the year, and the rest of the album totally burns with fire ripped straight from the guts of blues. It's completely wrenching, and it makes me feel like 'heavy' music is a misnomer applied to metal bands which are superficially loud but carry little emotional weight. Reminds me of Comets on Fire, but like six times better.
(http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c219/gamaradio/malkmus.jpg) #11: Stephen Malkmus Face the Truth
Immensely enjoyable new solo-business! I liked this album, and then kind of forgot about it, and then came back to it later in the year and found I really loved it. Great guitar-witchery. Great non-sequitir lyrics ("I'm the leech who can preach, they call me Sinister Joe!"). Catchy. as. fuck. Malkmus called this his 'hip-hop record' in an interview once. It's true! It also rocks with the ironical ferocity of a thousand suns!
(http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c219/gamaradio/sufjan.jpg) #10: Sufjan Stevens Illinois
Second grand experiment from our shepherd and superhero, Sufjan Stevens. There are so many absolutely stellar songs on this album, from front to back, that it's easy to forgive the long running time and the occasional drag. It's more orchestral and ambitious than any of his previous work, and it's usually more vivid too, invoking history and UFO's and serial killers and bone cancer and urban expansion and the Bible. And above all his music has powerful emotional resonance. "Casimir Pulaski Day" slays me completely.
(http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c219/gamaradio/vashti.jpg) #9: Vashti Bunyan Lookaftering
An exquisite and bewitching album from our heroine, returning after decades out of the fold. Most folk albums take me someplace, evoking older, more pastoral or forested settings, so it's telling that Lookaftering doesn't have to take me anywhere. It just meets me halfway. It's also worth nothing that Max Richter produced this record impeccably, which makes up for him not releasing new material this year!
(http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c219/gamaradio/snowcave.jpg) #8: Boris & Merzbow Sun Baked Snow Cave
After spending some time with Merzbow's 1998 release 1930, I was ready for more punishment, so this collaboration was a huge surprise. It's one hour-long track, alternating between stark acoustic guitar and bright swatches of loud crackling distortion, but not of the usual ear-destroying Merzbow variety. It's got a very dense, enveloping, purifying quality about it, and the guitar parts, which I'm assuming are the work of the Boris trio, are similarly meditative for their minimalism. Vivid, powerful stuff.
(http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c219/gamaradio/bss.jpg) #7: Broken Social Scene Broken Social Scene
I liked this album before, but after seeing them live, it really shot up my list. I didn't 'get' "7/4 Shoreline" until I saw them perform it. I think I just needed a kick start. Broken Social Scene is a cacophonous orchestra of guitars and horns concentrated heavily into a great big noisy many-layered concoction of baby-making proportions. As much as I love Kevin Drew being the cool cat on some of their sexier songs, it's hearing him all loud and vulnerable and singing about painful stuff on "Superconnected" and "It's All Gonna Break" that really makes this great. This record is a bunch of huge kinky fireworks.
(http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c219/gamaradio/jews.jpg) #6: Silver Jews Tanglewood Numbers
There are many sides to the Silver Jews, and one of them is the side that makes me sit up and grin like an idiot. I didn't expect a whole album full of that side, but it really works. Yeah, when he sings 'sometimes a pony gets depressed' he's probably talking about heroin, but it's too funny! I love it. In its own way, it's as good as American Water.
(http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c219/gamaradio/bungaku.jpg) #5: Saibou-Bungaku Yoru Made Matte
Relying mostly on voice, guitar and violin, this duo plays completely haunting music that fleshes out the darkest moments of Nick Drake. Very palpable, very painful.
(http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c219/gamaradio/deerhoof.jpg) #4: Deerhoof The Runners Four
Took me a while to get used to the less-raucous sound, but here we are. Every time I think this album is about to drag, it kicks into a different gear. It's a constant barrage of ideas, melodies, statements and fragments that comes together very cohesively. I can't get enough of "Wrong Time Capsule" and "Spirit Ditties of No Tone."
(http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c219/gamaradio/bird.jpg) #3: Andrew Bird & the Mysterious Production of Eggs
The lyrical thread running through this album makes it seem like Bird is warning someone against the dangers of believing in science too much. Gotta live in the moment and not worry about global warming and toxic waste and all that. I was pretty sold on this idea by the end of it. Even the crumbling of civilization sounds kind of fun: "there will be tables and chairs, there'll be pony rides and dancing bears!"
(http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c219/gamaradio/feist.jpg) #2: Feist Let It Die
I found a word for this album: smouldering. It smoulders. It also came out last year, technically, but its US release was this year, and it was this year that I first delved into it. It's really a phenomenal debut from Ms. Leslie Feist. It's sad and sexy and smouldering. "Let it die / get out of my mind / we don't see eye to eye / or hear ear to ear." That guy is never going to recover from those lines. Ever. He'll carry them like a cross for the rest of his life.
(http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c219/gamaradio/cluck.jpg) #1: Diane Cluck Oh Vanille/Ova Nille
In the end, 2005 was kind of a quiet year, and this album quietly melted my face off. An emotional convalescent dissects the nature of her sexual relationships with jagged wit. It's just her and a guitar, but she has a rare and special spark that makes everything luminous. Diane Cluck is the bees' knees.
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nice list. impressive.
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In no order:
Blackalicious- "The Craft"
The Shout Out Louds- "Howl Howl Gaff Gaff"
BSS- s/t
Minus the Bear- "Menos el Oso"
Head of Femur- "Hysterical Stars"
And of course, the honorable mentions:
Most Serene Rebuplic- "Underwater Cinematographer"
Eisley- "Room Noises"
Umbrellas- s/t
DangerDoom- "The Mouse and the Mask" DangerDoom most definetely wins best opening line of 2005, though.
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1!: General Patton Vs. The X-ecutioners - Joint Special Operations Task Force
2!: Eels - Blinking Lights And Other Revelations
3!: The Sugarplastic - Will
4!: The Bad Plus - Suspicious Activity?
5!: The Residents - Animal Lover
6!: The Fall Of Troy - Doppleganger
7!: Spoon - Gimme Fiction
8!: Danger Doom - The Mouse And The Mask
9!: The Decembrists - Picaresque
10!: Still open...... Need to listen to Hypermagic Mountain
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10) Pelican - The Fire In Our Throats Beckons The Thaw
9) Bright Eyes - I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning
8) Wilco - Kicking Television
7) Buck 65 - Secret House Against The World
6) Architecture in Helsinki - In Case We Die
5) Spoon - Gimme Fiction
4) Sylvie - An Electric Trace
3) Sufjan Stevens - Illinois
2) Sleater-Kinney - The Woods
1) Wolf Parade - Apologies To The Queen Mary
AW, SO CLOSE:
Beck - Guero
Dangerdoom - The Mouse And The Mask
Caribou - The Milk Of Human Kindness
Bloc Party - Silent Alarm
...Trail Of Dead - Worlds Apart
And there are so many others. I have heard some seriously good tunes this year.
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The two (one) new System of a Down albums this year.
New Foo Fighters album.
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Nouvelle Vague - Nouvelle Vague
Nice to see someone mention these guys, I love 'em. If the album had come out this year (over here) it would be on my list.
I really don't see why people keep rating 'With Teeth', I didn't think it was a very good album at all. Maybe he's just got into the 'fart into a mic and it will sell' stage of his career.
These have mostly been listed already but some of my favs are-
Bright Eyes (DADU more than the other but both are good)
LCD Soundsystem
Deathcab For Cutie
Tom Vek
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Maybe he's just got into the 'fart into a mic and it will sell' stage of his career.
That's pretty much how it struck me. After waiting 5 years for him to not release anything as awful as the Fragile ever again, I actually found myself liking The Fragile in comparison. It's just boring nu-metal really. Ugh.
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My God. WHAT is wrong you? The Fragile is an awesome album, I love it. First disc more than the second but I think they both have some very, very strong songs on them.
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Barring the release of a late gem (and very little of value is released in the last two weeks of the year anyway), here is my top 29. There are 29 because I was supposed to make a top 25 for work, but I felt bad for leaving the last four off the list (even though by definition I do not enjoy them as much as the higher-ranked titles). This was an interesting year in music.
30. Busdriver - Fear of a Black Tangent
29. Sigur Ros - Takk...
28. Mommy and Daddy - Duel at Dawn
27. Edan - Beauty and the Beat
26. Caribou - The Milk Of Human Kindness
25. Broken Social Scene - S/T
24. Nine Horses - Snow Borne Sorrow
23. The Pernice Brothers - Discover a Lovelier You
22. Tujiko Noriko - Blurred in my mirror
21. Animal Collective - Feels
20. Out Hud - Let Us Never Speak of it Again
19. Lightning Bolt - Hypermagic Mountain
18. Serena Maneesh - S/T
17. Daft Punk - Human After All
16. Montag - Alone, Not Alone
(edit:ins)15. Aoki Takamasa + Tujiko Noriko - 28
(edit:ins)14. The Drift - Noumena
13. Matthew Herbert - Plat Du Jour
12. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah! - s/t
11. Hey Willpower - S/T EP
10. The Chap - Ham
9. Maximo Park - A Certain Trigger
8. The Mae Shi - Heartbeeps
7. Isolee - I Am Monster
6. PINE*am - Pull The Rabbit Ears
5. Daedelus - Exquisite Corpse
4. Mazarin - We're Already There
3. Low - The Great Destroyer
2. The Russian Futurists - Our Thickness
1. M83 - Before the Dawn Heals Us
BS: Dara, you should definitely give more of a listen to Blurred in my Mirror. It is a great direction for Tujiko. I myself just got 28 yesterday, having patiently waited for a copy to finally show up in my friendly neighborhood Amoeba, and after the first couple listens I think I may have to generate a top 30. Still looking for the Riow Arai record. Big year for Tujiko!
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65 Days of Static - One Time For All Time
Sigur Ros - Takk
I quite like the new Death Cab album...but not top 5 material as yet.
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k, so i'm new. i've decided i would like to be friends with dara. my list of things i liked this year is as follows:
the books - lost and safe.
four tet - everything ecstatic
caribou - milk of human kindness
okkervil river - black sheep boy
silver jews - tanglewood numbers
super furry animals - love kraft
animal collective - feels
the drones - wait long by the river...
decemberists - picaresque
sufjan - illinois
jackie o motherfucker - flags of the sacred harp
sleater-kinney - the woods
fall electric - 3am and s/t (eps)
and if b-sides/rarity collections are allowed, enon - lost marbles and exploded evidence was this year i'm pretty sure...
also, bearing in mind i've heard neither the new lightning bolt or espers, both of which i have high hopes for.
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Oh shit, I forgot about the Drift album!! Okay, that one'll have to go somewhere around #14 or #15. While you're at it, stick 28 in there right behind it for starters. And there's a top 31.
(edit:ins)Guess it's a top 30 cuz I had that Out Hud album listed twice. Whoops.
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Most Precious Blood - Merciless
Quite possibly the most ferocious album I have heard this year. Already having perfected the way they write songs, Most Precious Blood took and at the same time didn't take the obvious way out. Sure, they became even harder and faster than they were before, but at the same time, bringing in subtle electronic experimentation and sampling to help add texture to their material. And it works pretty much flawlessly.
With Honor - This is Our Revenge
While most bands in hardcore this year worked hard on crafting memorable yet somehow more brutal songs, With Honor were already at the point where all of their songs were memorable, and therefore did the unexpected: they went even more melodic than they already were, to the point where most songs are actually sung, rather than yelled or screamed. And surprisingly, this works very much in their favor.
As I Lay Dying - Shadows Are Security
In the past, As I Lay Dying have suffered from the problem of spreading themselves too thin stylistically, almost as if they couldn't decide on whether they wanted to be straightforward and melodic or dissonant and chaotic. However, the decision, thankfully, is a more straightforward and melodic one on 'Shadows Are Security', which allows for some well-thought-out songwriting and a strong album.
Darkest Hour - Undoing Ruin
While Darkest Hour have indeed been one of the better American bands to be influenced by Swedish melodic death metal, past albums have always suffered slightly, mostly from the band's unwillingness to end a song soon enough, or from being too rhythmical. Well, Undoing Ruin changes all that, as it is fast, urgent and full of crazy solos and relentless thrash.
Every Time I Die - Gutter Phenomenon
Every Time I Die have since their last album 'Hot Damn!" been an anomaly in hardcore. While they may have started out as your semi-random, structureless mosh outfit, later years have brought on an obvious rock and roll influence, something that has been an enormous benefit to the band's music, and 'Gutter Phenomenon' is if nothing else fucking catchy.
Modern Life is War - Witness
Though the idea of slow hardcore actually may sound somewhat bizarre to many, Modern Life is War never were your average 50-second blast hardcore band in the first place. And the album's slow tempo and jangly sound only serve to further dress up sleepy Marshalltown, Iowa into the barren nightmare landscape that is painted lyrically within.
Killing the Dream - In Place, Apart
Holding the flag high for the stylings of the now defunct American Nightmare/Give Up the Ghost, Killing the Dream have crafted an album that reeks of angst and desperation, without ever falling into somber traps of nu-metal noodling or emo whining. Raw and intense only really begin to describe this album.
Between the Buried and Me - Alaska
Possibly one of the most schizophrenic bands in recent history, Between the Buried and Me never hesitate to organically and seamlessly join together brutal metal pummelings (of any flavor you can imagine) with smooth, relaxed synth interludes, alterna-rock, emo, elevator music, merry-go-round melodies and whatever else you can imagine, which speaks essays about the proficiency and versatility of the band members. A band that is light years ahead of the "tech metal" game, rivalled perhaps only by the revered Dillinger Escape Plan.
Propagandhi - Potemkin City Limits
In a recent interview with Punknews.org, Propagandhi admitted to be heading in a very different direction from today's punk scene, and that is true on many levels. A lot of bands are simply content to string together breakdown after breakdown, only tying them together with some last-minute lyric about some irrelevant ex-girlfriend. Propagandhi are not that kind of band, and 'Potemkin City Limits' is as a result quite possibly one of the most well-written and most thought out punk albums in recent memory, both lyrically as well as musically.
Norma Jean - O God, the Aftermath
A lot of people lambast this album for having an overt, if unintentional similarity to Botch's now classic 'We Are the Romans'. I don't think that claim is entirely true, and even if it were, where is the problem? If you're going to sound like another band, you might as well sound like one of the best bands that ever were. But even so, this record honestly stands well in its on right. Miles beyond the (in my opinion still great) chugga-chugga wee-wee songwriting of their last album, Norma Jean chose to experiment vocally, melodically, rhythmically, in almost any way you can imagine.
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Some great lists here!
My Top Ten
1. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - S/T
2. Spoon - Gimme Fiction
3. Stephen Malkmus - Face The Truth
4. The Boy Least Likely To - Best Party Ever
5. Bloc Party - Silent Alarm
6. Animal Collective - Feels
7. The Decemberists - Picaresque
8. Rogue Wave - Descended Like Vultures
9. Sigur Ros - Takk
10. Wolf Parade - Apologies to the Queen Mary
There were so many other great albums by (honorable mention to top ten with *)
*Youth Group, Xiu Xiu, White Stripes, Wilco, We Are Scientists, Thunderbirds Are Now, The Thieves, Teenage Fanclub, *The Purrs, *Super Furry Animals, Sufjan Stevens, Subways, Stereophonics, Stars, The Spinto Band, Soundtrack of Our Lives, *Sons and Daughters, Sleater Kinney, Silver Jews, The Sights, Say Hi To Your Mom, The Raveonettes, The Rakes, The Ponys, *Of Montreal, Okkervil River, OK Go, The New Pornos, Nada Surf, *My Morning Jacket, *The Mountain Goats, The Most Serene Republic, *Minus the Bear, Metric, Mercury Rev, Maximo Park, Matt Pond PA, *Magic Numbers, Low, Longwave, Kate Bush, Junior Senior, John Vanderslice, Imogen Heap, Immaculate Machine, Idlewild, Hot Hot Heat, The Hold Steady, The Go! Team, Franz Ferdinand, Flotation Toy Warning, The Features, The Engineers, Elbow, *Eels, Editors, Echo and the Bunnymen, Doves, Devendra Banhart, Deerhoof, Death From Above 1979, Death Cab, David Dondero, The Cribs, The Constantines, Common, Coldplay, The Cloud Room, Clor, Clientele, Cat Power, Caribou, *Broken Social Scene, Bright Eyes, Brenden Benson, BRMC, Bob Dylan, Ben Lee, Art Brut, Architecture In Helsinki, Apollo Sunshine, Antony and the Johnsons, *Acid House Kings, ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead.
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Between the Buried and Me - Alaska
Oh, I forgot about that album! Twas mucho gusto.
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Nice list, Dara. I had forgotten about Oh You're So Silent Jens. I'm loving that album.
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pat, painters: thanks!
nescience: that's a sexy list you have there. I haven't spent that much time with Noumena yet, I think I wore myself out listening to the sample of Invisible Cities from their website ad infinitum before it came out. I really want to check out Blurred in my Mirror also...
I think you can get the Riow Arai collab. at Amazon.co.jp, in fact there's a deal where you can get it along with 28.
btw, the Daedelus album: rockin. didn't make my top 30, but "Thanatopsis" is one of my favorite songs ever right now. it helps that I am a Hirway fan, but man, that song is so powerful. I've asked to have it played at my funeral. <_<
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My top albums are (in an order that will eventually be sorted out and elaborated upon at a later date and posted all over the interweb):
Illinois-Sufjan Stevens
Get Behind Me Satan-The White Stripes
Picaresque-The Decemberists
Twin Cinema-The New Pornographers
Extraordinary Machine (Jon Brion version)-Fiona Apple
Broken Social Scene-Broken Social Scene
I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning-Bright Eyes
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah-Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
Good songs from pretty good albums:
Plans-Death Cab for Cutie: "Marching Bands of Manhattan", "Summer Skin", "I Will Follow You Into the Dark", "Your Heart Is An Empty Room"
You Could Have It So Much Better-Franz Ferdinand: "Eleanor Put Your Boots On", "Walk Away", "The Fallen", "Do You Want To"
Descended Like Vultures-Rogue Wave: "10:1", "Bird On A Wire", "Are You On My Side"
Guero-Beck: "Earthquake Weather", "Rental Car", "Girl", "Que Onda Guero"
Albums I need a little more time with to declare true bestness: I Am A Bird Now-Antony and the Johnsons, Gimme Fiction-Spoon (I bought this the day it came out and I still can't wrap my head around it completely; maybe I'm digging too deep), Moxie Bravo-The High Strung
Most beautiful, life-assuring, and long-overdue compilation: Push Barman to Open Old Wounds-Belle and Sebastian
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My top ten in no particular order:
1. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah: Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
2. Bloc Party: Silent Alarm
3. The Boy Least Likely To: The Best Party Ever
4. Art Brut: Bang Bang Rock & Roll!
5. The Aquabats: Charge!!
6. Iron & Wine: Women King
7. Kaiser Chiefs: Employment
8. The Decemberists: Picaresque
9. Wolf Parade: Apologies to the Queen Mary
10. Maximo Park: A Certain Trigger
I think the one album that I really enjoyed that didn't get here was Low: The Great Destroyer. I thought that one was really nice.
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my top five:
wolf parade- apologies
why?- elephant eyelash
sufjan- illinois
boy least likely to- best party ever
dylan- no direction home
and i left this out cause it was actually a 2004 release, but it hit me hard this year, so it gets a mention:
destroyer- your blues
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In no order:
VNV Nation - Matter + Form
Beck - Guero
Bloc Party - Silent Alarm
Against Me! - Searching for a Former Clarity
BANE - The Note
Broken Social Scene - S/T
System of a Down - Mesmerize (I haven't heard any of Hypnotize yet)
Decemberists - Picaresque
At the Drive-In - Anthology: This Station is Non-Operational (hey, it came out this year even though everything is older. I'm still counting it.)
Death Cab for Cutie - Plans
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Looking at my previous list, i realized how many albums I was impressed by this year.
Corb Lund, K'naan, Opeth, Sigh, Arcturus, Nevermore, Nile, Strapping Young Lad, Blackalicious, Dangerdoom, Amadou et Miriam, Sigur Ros, Clutch, Solefald, Ulver, Peccatum, Ween, Bloodbath, Buck 65, Porcupine Tree, Hypocrisy, Killing Joke, Korpiklaani, Sentenced, Shpongle, Gorillaz, Sufjan Stevens...
No wonder I'm living off of perogies, instant noodles and Kraft Dinner.
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You Say Party! We Say Die! - Hit The Floor!
Shout Out Louds - Howl Howl Gaff Gaff
Broke Social Scene - Broken Social Scene
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Picaresque is just about my favourite album of the year. I'm also really enjoying the new Gogol Bordello album too.
Smoke or Fire had a pretty good album as did A Wilhelm Scream. The Propagandhi album was good but dissapointing after Today's Empires, Tommorrow's Ashes and the Against Me! album was pretty average with a few good songs.
There's probably a good few Plan-It-X records which would be up there too but I can never remember what year they're released. I think the los Gatos Negros album was this year and that was great. I'm pretty sure Madeline - Kissing and Dancing was re-issued this year with extra songs. If it was then that's a clear winner for my favourite album of the year. It's fantastic. Everyone should check it out. She's a brilliant folk singer with catchy songs and a great voice.
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01. Deerhoof - The Runners Four
One of only a handful of original, quality releases this year. Probably is only in my #1 spot because seeing them live was the equivalent of an hour and a half orgasm.
Best Tracks: Wrong Time Capsule, Spirit Ditties of No Tone, Siriustar
02. Sleater-Kinney - The Woods
People find it hard to get past the feminist connotations associated with the name, but The Woods was obviously one of the greatest albums of this decade. Corin really came into her own on this record with respect to her vocals.
Best Tracks: Wilderness, Night Light
03. The New Pornographers - Twin Cinema
A complete album with no tracks that wallow below the mediocrity line. My first introduction to the band. In the same echelon as my #1 and #2--the last of that particular tier for 2005.
Best Tracks: The Jessica Numbers, Sing Me Spanish Techno
04. The Decemberists - Picaresque
One of my favorite bands fulfills my expectations with their great (although, worst of their discography) 2005 release. Turning away from the intimacy of Castaways and Cutouts and the theatrics of Her Majesty toward a more literary slant.
Best Tracks: We Both Go Down Together, On the Bus Mall
05. Sufjan Stevens - Illinois
Complex music, neat concept, good (though, sometimes, way too pussy) vocals. Not the critically-lauded juggernaut that it has become, but a solid release.
Best Tracks: The Predatory Wasp, The Seer's Tower
06. Wolf Parade - Apologies to the Queen Mary
A quality album that the hype machine wasn't able to swallow up completely. As a fan of Frog Eyes, I was automatically a fan of this release. Some mediocre tracks, but perfect in length for what they set about to accomplish. Doesn't drag at all.
Best Tracks: We Built Another World, I'll Believe In Anything
07. The Hold Steady - Separation Sunday
Lyric-driven cock rock with unabashedly horrible vocals and music. Not the type of thing that will be most-played in my CD player, but quite enjoyable.
Best Tracks: Cattle & The Creeping Things, Stevie Nix
08. Akron/Family - Akron/Family
Mellow, somewhat dull, album used for background noise.
09. Bloc Party - Silent Alarm
Fun britpoprock that's easy to dance to.
10. Lightning Bolt - Hypermagic Mountain
Bullshit noise music that makes my head hurt. I just love the drummer, Brian Chippendale.
11. Bright Eyes - I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning
12. Spoon - Gimme Fiction
13. Animal Collective - Feels
14. Devendra Banhart - Cripple Crow
15. Stephen Malkmus - Face the Truth
Honorable Mention:
Wilco - Kicking Television: Live at Chicago
Honorable Mention because it's a live album, obviously. Nels Cline.
Five Most Laughable Attempts at Music in 2005 (#1 being the worst)
5. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
There are really only five songs on this CD and none of them have any redeeming qualities.
4. The Mars Volta - Frances the Mute
Hahahaha!
3. Broken Social Scene - Broken Social Scene
I love what people try to pass off as music nowadays.
2. Death Cab For Cutie - Plans
I really only listened to "Soul Meets Body". That song was bad enough for me to stick it here.
1. Metric - Live It Out
Seriously, what the fuck is this shit?
Thoughts on 2005:
Recycled bullshit, mostly. Really horrible year for music. I probably digested another 12-15 "important" albums from this year that were all trash. They didn't deserve to go on my list just so that I could get it up to 20. Granted, I still have a lot to listen to, but I really don't give a shit about any of the albums on my list that are below #6. I used 2005 as the year to catch up on past albums.
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As a soon-to-be-ex-music critic, I make more than one list. This was for No Depression magazine.
I forgot to include the Rudds!
While I like Illinois, I find it hard to believe that so many people could listen to it all the way through more than a couple of times ;) It's a hellaciously long album!
I listen to Smog, btw, but found this year's album a big disappointment.
Top 20 new releases
1 Okkervil River, Black Sheep Boy
2 Spoon, Gimme Fiction
3 Damien Jurado, On My Way to Absence
4 Ryan Adams & The Russians, Cold Roses (disc one)
5 Sarah Borges, Silver City
6 Magnolia Electric Co., What Comes After the Blues
7 Andrew Bird, The Mysterious Production of Eggs
8 Phosphorescent, Aw Come Aw Wry
9 the everybodyfields, The Plague of Dreams
10 The White Stripes, Get Behind Me Satan
11 Eliza Gilkyson, Paradise Hotel
12 James McMurtry, Childish Things
13 The Cloud Room, s/t
14 Michael Penn, Mr. Hollywood Jr. 1947
15 Winterpills, s/t
16 Hayes Carll, Little Rock
17 Eric Andersen, Waves
18 Sufjan Stevens, Illinois
19 Espers, The Weed Tree
20 Sleater-Kinney, The Woods
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I can't stand any Sufjan, really. It's way too boring.
Anyways - so, you guys all know how Death Cab kinda went pop with Plans, right? After the postal service album, everyone wanted plans.
Well, i've never been enamored with Death Cab's stuff to begin with, don't really like the postal service, so, consdering it went mainstream and I didn't even like it too much to begin with, I just never listened to it.
So, I was at a friends house yesturday, and out of my friends I guess i'm really the most into music. I know all the new bands, etc etc, always downloading music, always keeping up to date.
Well, one of my friends puts Plans onto his Stereo and like - everyone starts singing. One person even goes "hey! This is a song we can all sing along to"...and sure enough everyone knew it. I looked around and they ALL knew this song. And I just...didn't. They were shocked.
There fricken kids, who make fun of Pavement, Broken Social Scene, CYHSY whenever they get in my car are all singing along to an album by a band that none of them knew of a year ago, and making fun of me for never hearing it.
I love how, suddenly when Death Cab goes mainstream, i'm suddenly an outcast for not listening to it, when a year ago I would have been an outcast for listening to it (Cause it was Emo drabble before commercial radio adopted it). What crap. I hate commercial radio.
OOOOOHH! You know what else this applies to? The Arcade Fire. Funeral - an album i've been spinning for over a year now. People heard it back in '04 and went "wtf is this trash." Then, all of a sudden, it appears on Commercial radio in teh form of a couple singles and everyone's going "LAIKA! ALEXANDER! WHAT?"
I want to slap them.
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OOOOOHH! You know what else this applies to? The Arcade Fire. Funeral - an album i've been spinning for over a year now. People heard it back in '04 and went "wtf is this trash." Then, all of a sudden, it appears on Commercial radio in teh form of a couple singles and everyone's going "LAIKA! ALEXANDER! WHAT?"
I want to slap them.
Funny you should say this, because while I now like the Arcade Fire I didn't get them at all last autumn-- my specific response being, "Wait, I thought this was supposed to be deep? It's not deep! It's fun dance music!"
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Oh, is someone upset because people are getting into music that you like (or in your case, liked) and you're angry because they don't know that you've been listening to them longer? Tough shit, kid.
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I can't stand any Sufjan, really. It's way too boring.
Anyways - so, you guys all know how Death Cab kinda went pop with Plans, right? After the postal service album, everyone wanted plans.
Well, i've never been enamored with Death Cab's stuff to begin with, don't really like the postal service, so, consdering it went mainstream and I didn't even like it too much to begin with, I just never listened to it.
So, I was at a friends house yesturday, and out of my friends I guess i'm really the most into music. I know all the new bands, etc etc, always downloading music, always keeping up to date.
Well, one of my friends puts Plans onto his Stereo and like - everyone starts singing. One person even goes "hey! This is a song we can all sing along to"...and sure enough everyone knew it. I looked around and they ALL knew this song. And I just...didn't. They were shocked.
There fricken kids, who make fun of Pavement, Broken Social Scene, CYHSY whenever they get in my car are all singing along to an album by a band that none of them knew of a year ago, and making fun of me for never hearing it.
I love how, suddenly when Death Cab goes mainstream, i'm suddenly an outcast for not listening to it, when a year ago I would have been an outcast for listening to it (Cause it was Emo drabble before commercial radio adopted it). What crap. I hate commercial radio.
OOOOOHH! You know what else this applies to? The Arcade Fire. Funeral - an album i've been spinning for over a year now. People heard it back in '04 and went "wtf is this trash." Then, all of a sudden, it appears on Commercial radio in teh form of a couple singles and everyone's going "LAIKA! ALEXANDER! WHAT?"
I want to slap them.
Old Death Cab is SOOOO much better than new Death Cab. I miss the days of Airplanes, We Have the Facts, and The Photo Album. If they had stuck with what they had been doing on the Stability EP, I would still like them.
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Kai - that's not what I said.
A year ago, someone asked me to burn them Funeral. So I did. They listened to it, and they didn't like it - they didn't lose any time telling me they didn't like it either.
But then, months later, after it started rotating on commercial radio, I found it on their Ipod and they would voluntarily listen to it. Now - they only found that they liked it after the radio started playing it and other people started likeing it. Sounds like crap to me.
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01. Deerhoof - The Runners Four
One of only a handful of original, quality releases this year. Probably is only in my #1 spot because seeing them live was the equivalent of an hour and a half orgasm.
Best Tracks: Wrong Time Capsule, Spirit Ditties of No Tone, Siriustar
02. Sleater-Kinney - The Woods
People find it hard to get past the feminist connotations associated with the name, but The Woods was obviously one of the greatest albums of this decade. Corin really came into her own on this record with respect to her vocals.
Best Tracks: Wilderness, Night Light
03. The New Pornographers - Twin Cinema
A complete album with no tracks that wallow below the mediocrity line. My first introduction to the band. In the same echelon as my #1 and #2--the last of that particular tier for 2005.
Best Tracks: The Jessica Numbers, Sing Me Spanish Techno
04. The Decemberists - Picaresque
One of my favorite bands fulfills my expectations with their great (although, worst of their discography) 2005 release. Turning away from the intimacy of Castaways and Cutouts and the theatrics of Her Majesty toward a more literary slant.
Best Tracks: We Both Go Down Together, On the Bus Mall
05. Sufjan Stevens - Illinois
Complex music, neat concept, good (though, sometimes, way too pussy) vocals. Not the critically-lauded juggernaut that it has become, but a solid release.
Best Tracks: The Predatory Wasp, The Seer's Tower
06. Wolf Parade - Apologies to the Queen Mary
A quality album that the hype machine wasn't able to swallow up completely. As a fan of Frog Eyes, I was automatically a fan of this release. Some mediocre tracks, but perfect in length for what they set about to accomplish. Doesn't drag at all.
Best Tracks: We Built Another World, I'll Believe In Anything
07. The Hold Steady - Separation Sunday
Lyric-driven cock rock with unabashedly horrible vocals and music. Not the type of thing that will be most-played in my CD player, but quite enjoyable.
Best Tracks: Cattle & The Creeping Things, Stevie Nix
08. Akron/Family - Akron/Family
Mellow, somewhat dull, album used for background noise.
09. Bloc Party - Silent Alarm
Fun britpoprock that's easy to dance to.
10. Lightning Bolt - Hypermagic Mountain
Bullshit noise music that makes my head hurt. I just love the drummer, Brian Chippendale.
11. Bright Eyes - I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning
12. Spoon - Gimme Fiction
13. Animal Collective - Feels
14. Devendra Banhart - Cripple Crow
15. Stephen Malkmus - Face the Truth
Honorable Mention:
Wilco - Kicking Television: Live at Chicago
Honorable Mention because it's a live album, obviously. Nels Cline.
Five Most Laughable Attempts at Music in 2005 (#1 being the worst)
5. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
There are really only five songs on this CD and none of them have any redeeming qualities.
4. The Mars Volta - Frances the Mute
Hahahaha!
3. Broken Social Scene - Broken Social Scene
I love what people try to pass off as music nowadays.
2. Death Cab For Cutie - Plans
I really only listened to "Soul Meets Body". That song was bad enough for me to stick it here.
1. Metric - Live It Out
Seriously, what the fuck is this shit?
Thoughts on 2005:
Recycled bullshit, mostly. Really horrible year for music. I probably digested another 12-15 "important" albums from this year that were all trash. They didn't deserve to go on my list just so that I could get it up to 20. Granted, I still have a lot to listen to, but I really don't give a shit about any of the albums on my list that are below #6. I used 2005 as the year to catch up on past albums.
You're not a happy person are you?
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Kai - that's not what I said.
A year ago, someone asked me to burn them Funeral. So I did. They listened to it, and they didn't like it - they didn't lose any time telling me they didn't like it either.
But then, months later, after it started rotating on commercial radio, I found it on their Ipod and they would voluntarily listen to it. Now - they only found that they liked it after the radio started playing it and other people started likeing it. Sounds like crap to me.
Sounds like somebody named Spartan Pho3nix believes in normative and ahistorical aesthetic criteria. I'll bet all the music you like now, you liked it the very first time you heard it, right? And you've never changed an opinion on music after hearing it more? And you've never heard something months later and found you had a different opinion?
I doubt this friend is only liking Arcade Fire to conform. It's more like if you played rap music for a stereotypical "old person". The old person wouldn't like it. But if you played stuff that was more and more similar to rap, and "taught" them rap, so to speak (aesthetic criteria, notable details), they would be able to apreciate and maybe even like it.
And to bring it back to 2005 music, Plans isn't a bad record. It's just that Death Cab's sound has evolved in an AAA-friendly direction.
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While I like Illinois, I find it hard to believe that so many people could listen to it all the way through more than a couple of times ;) It's a hellaciously long album!
For me, one of the reasons that the album was so good was that I could happily sit and listen to it all the way through despite the length. Most of my C.D.s go for 45 minutes or less; I'm not used to sitting still for over an hour listening to a recording - but with Illinois, for me anyway, it seems like a pleasure rather than a chore.
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NPR's picks.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5054194
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I think Sufjan is very talented but I'm still surprised they gave him best album of the year. I like Illinios and I even love a few songs on the CD but over all it gets rather repetitive. I saw him live in San Diego (during the ComicCon) and I honestly almost fell asleep during the concert. It's just a bit to mellow and it becomes very repetative after a while without anything upbeat to break it up.
I'd vote for The Decemberists: Picaresque or Spoon: Gimme Fiction as the best album of the year. Both are a bit over played but they stand apart from the pack due to their originality and because they really mix things up in order to keep the listener interested. Damn fine albums.
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Alphabetical order:
Arcade Fire - Funeral (It came out this year in Australia, so it fits in here)
Bright Eyes - Digital Ash In A Digital Urn
Boards of Canada - The Campfire Headphase
The Mountain Goats - The Sunset Tree
Sigur Ros - Takk
Album I didn't hear, but I wish I did (in the order they come to mind):
Four Tet, Sufjan Stevens, Lightning Bolt, John Vanderslice, Jens Lekman, Broken Social Scene, Feist, Kanye West, Iron + Wine/Calexico, Dangerdoom, Wolf Parade, Blackalicious, Eels, Caribou, City City City [edit] forgot Pivot
Is the John Vanderslice album even available in Australia?
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No.1 : Maximo Park - A Certain Trigger
[Pure brilliance, definately my favourite album in my collection at the moment. They deserve so much more praise than they get. Songs such as Graffiti and Going Missing show off their talent]
No.2 : Babyshambles - Down in Albion
No.3 : Bloc Party - Silent Alarm
No.4 : Franz Ferdinand - You Could Have It So Much Better
No.5 : Kaiser Chiefs - Employment
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Some random thoughts, not specific... Note that I don't generally listen to albums, so these are just some of the ones I can actually identify.
Roots Manuva - Awfully Deep
Blackalicious - The Craft
Deep Dish - George Is On (except Flashdance)
Epicure - The Goodbye Girl (ok, it was 2004, but I didn't hear it until 2005)
Wolfmother - EP
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Wolfmother - EP
seconded ..... oh man im soooo loving wolfmother atm *rocks out to Appletree*
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These are in regards to UK releases
1) Arcade fire - Funeral
2) Bright Eyes - I'm wide awake it's morning
3) Bloc Party - Silent alarm
4) LCD Soundsystem - LCD soundsystem
5) NiN - With Teeth
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[image]http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c219/gamaradio/ratn.jpg[/image] #17: Riow Arai + Tujiko Noriko J
Of the two Tujiko Noriko collaborations this year, this is the more beat-heavy, song-oriented one.
(http://www.staalplaat.com/covers/14762.gif)
THREE Tujiko Noriko collaborations this year (http://www.staalplaat.com/search/catalog/14762). Just picked this one up.
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Alright, so I'm going to update my list (I think I made a list, anyways)
In no particular order at the moment:
1.Children of Bodom - Are You Dead Yet? - Fairly different from the rest of their work. Simpler guitar riffs (Due to Alexander Kuoppala leaving?), and overall...more industrial, I guess. Still pretty bitchin'.
2. Between the Buried and Me - Alaska.
3.The Residents - Animal Lover - Easily the best record I heard all year. Dark, atmospheric, creepy, and downright weird.
4. Eels - Blinking Lights and Other Revelations
5. General Patton Vs. The Ex-ecutioners - Joint Special Operations Task Force
I still have a good 4 records of this year to listen to, and a bunch of records that I've boughten and never even OPENED, so.
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Let me preface this by saying that I live in a pretty constant state of being pulled in two completely clashing musical directions at the same time.
Somehow, I listen to equal parts Nerdy Indie Rock and Emo/Pop-Punk.
And I've honestly got just as much respect, interest, and appreciation for both.
Here are my lists:
TOP...
Ten Albums
1. Apologies To The Queen Mary - Wolf Parade
2. LCD Soundsystem - LCD Soundsystem
3. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah! - Clap Your Hands Say Yeah!
4. Commit This To Memory - Motion City Soundtrack
5. Picaresque - The Decemberists
6. Get Behind Me Satan - The White Stripes
7. Silent Alarm - Bloc Party
8. Plans - Death Cab For Cutie
9. Bayside - Bayside
10. If You Speak Any Faster - June
20 Songs Not On Albums Mentioned Above (in no specific order)
1. "The Phrase That Pays" - The Academy Is... (from Almost Here)
2. "Poor Little Rich Boy" - Regina Spektor (from Soviet Kitsch)
3. "Bob & Bonnie" - Houston Calls (from A Collection Of Short Stories)
4. "We Burn Houses" - Socratic (from Lunch For The Sky)
5. "Move Along" - The All-American Rejects (from Move Along)
6. "First Day Of My Life" - Bright Eyes (from I'm Wide Awake It's Morning)
7. "Act Appalled" - Circa Survive (from Juturna)
8. "Sofa King" - Danger Doom (from The Mouse & The Mask)
9. "Short Term" - The Express Local (from Six Hours In Jersey)
10. "Nobody Puts Baby In The Corner" - Fall Out Boy (from From Under The Cork Tree)
11. "Surprise, Surprise" - The Starting Line (from Based On A True Story)
12. "Under Pressure" - The Used & My Chemical Romance (Single)
13. "Diamonds From Sierra Leone (Remix) (feat. Jay-Z)" - Kanye West (from Late Registration)
14. "Finding Out True Love Is Blind" - Louis XIV (from The Best Little Secrets Are Kept)
15. "Middle of Nowhere" - Hot Hot Heat (from Elevator)
16. "Girl" - Beck (from Guero)
17. "Best Of You" - Foo Fighters (from In Your Honor)
18. "Feel Good, Inc." - Gorillaz (from Demon Days)
19. "Future Boys" - Electric Six (from Señor Smoke)
20. "Be Still My Heart" - The Postal Service (from We Will Become Silhouettes EP)
DQ'ed Due To Coming Out In 2004
1. "Since U Been Gone" - Kelly Clarkson (from Breakaway)
2. "Black History Month" - Death From Above 1979 (from You're A Woman, I'm A Machine)
3. "Neighborhood #2 (Laika)" - The Arcade Fire (from Funeral)
4. "Unrecorded" - M83 (from Dead Cities, Red Seas, and Lost Ghosts)
5. "Suspension" - Mae (from Destination: B-Sides) (re-issued in 2005 on The Everglow)
Five Reasons To Throw Away My Radio
1. "My Humps" - Black Eyed Peas
2. "Photograph" - Nickelback
3. "Wake Me Up When September Ends" - Green Day
4. "Hollaback Girl" - Gwen Stefani
5. "Sugar, We're Going Down" - Fall Out Boy
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between the buried and me - alaska(this album is just amazing, in all ways)
black dahlia murder - miasma
aes dana - formors(exellent folk metal)
becoming the archetype - terminate damnnation
robert plant - the mighty rearranger
the red chord - clients
the number twelve looks like you - nuclear.sad.nuclear
the mars volta - frances the mute
harvey danger - little by little(this band gets huge props for releasing their album for free)
fall of troy - doppelganger
now for-
transplants
necro - the sexorcist (exteremly vulgar, yet compelling porn rap, i love it)
blackalicious
zion i
all in all, i think 2005 was a pretty good year.
2006 ill be seeing some new stuff which hopefully will be good.
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2005 was so much better than 04 on so many levels. I had enough choices that I really could have expanded my list to ten, but I prefer five, for some odd reason.
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10. Lightning Bolt - Hypermagic Mountain
Bullshit noise music that makes my head hurt. I just love the drummer, Brian Chippendale.
Five Most Laughable Attempts at Music in 2005 (#1 being the worst)
4. The Mars Volta - Frances the Mute
Hahahaha!
3. Broken Social Scene - Broken Social Scene
I love what people try to pass off as music nowadays.
So wait, you put Lightning Bolt in your top ten for being "bullshit noise music" and then turn around and rag on The Mars Volta and Broken Social Scene? Holy irrationality, batman!
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Aaand... I want to say Queens of the Stone Age - Lullabies to Paralyze, but that's just the fanboy in me. A decent album, but it's nowhere near as good as their previous releases.
Man I disagree. I think it's their BEST release. It's also my favorite album of the year (Nine Inch Nails, Dark Tranquillity, My Morning Jacket, Foo Fighters and Rammstein all put out great albums in my mind also) They take all that was right with Rated R in the atmospheric sense, and they inject it with the genre hopping capabilities of Songs for the Deaf. I like how they cut the fat of Nick Oliveri (I'm sorry, but anyone who beats his girlfriend does not deserve rock star status) and his lame "we're gutter punk trash" even though I enjoyed quick and to the pointless on Rated R. The album just keeps getting a bit darker until Someone's in the Wolf, which floored me the first time I heard it. So the bass isn't as apparent, and the drums aren't the hammer of the gods dropping by grohl, it doesn't matter when such calm and calculated controlled insanity exists in the songwriting.
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01. Sleater-Kinney – The Woods
This has a different sound than their previous albums. It’s a heavier record, and it has far less of a feminist theme. This is far from my favorite album by them, but I still love it.
02. Metric – Live it Out
This record has a different sound from their first record, and it is almost as good. “The Police and the Private” is an amazing song.
03. Gravy Train!!!! – Are You Wigglin?
I also don’t like this record as much as Hello Doctor, but it’s still a fun record.
04. Death Cab for Cutie – Plans
Nowhere near as good as Transatlantacism but still a good record.
05. The Decemberists – Picaresque
06. Bright Eyes- I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning
07. Fiona Apple - Extraordinary Machine 08. Stars – Set Yourself on Fire
09. Ani DiFranco – Knuckle Down
10. Iron and Wine – Woman King
11. Fall Out Boy – From Under the Cork Tree
My friend got my listening to more pop-punk type albums this year. This album is very catchy and is much better than any of their previous releases.
12. Sufjan Stevens – Illinois
13. Bloc Party – Silent Alarm
14. The New Pornographers – Twin Cinema
15. Broken Social Scene - Broken Social Scene
This is my least favorite album by them.
16. The Academy Is… - Almost Here
17. Jimmy Eat World – Stay on My Side Tonight
18. Motion City Soundtrack – Commit This To Memory
19. Straylight Run – Prepare to Be Wrong
20.
I didn’t make it to twenty, but my list is probably going to change in a few days anyway. I’m getting several CDs on Sunday.
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Well, now that I've listened to a bit more (though there's still tons I've missed so far this year), here's my current top 10.
1. Wolf Parade - Apologies to the Queen Mary
2. Stars - Set Yourself on Fire
3. The New Pornographers - Twin Cinema
4. Maxïmo Park - A Certain Trigger
5. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
6. Bright Eyes - I'm Wise Awake It's Morning
7. Bruce Springsteen - Devils and Dust
8. Deerhoof - The Runners Four
9. The Decemberists - Picaresque
10. LCD Soundsystem - LCD Soundsystem
Of course, I didn't actually listen t omany more albums from 2005 this year. There are certainly plenty I wish I'd listened to at this point, and plan on getting soon, such as those from Broken Social Scene, Lightning Bolt, Sufjan Stevens, The Hold Steady, Spoon, and Sleater-Kinney.
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I've heard twenty-seven albums so far from this year, and enjoyed ten of them:
10. Vashti Bunyan - Lookaftering
9. John Frusciante - Curtains
8. Six Organs Of Admittance - School Of The Flower
7. Van Der Graaf Generator - Present
6. Yourcodenameis:Milo - Ignoto
5. Dälek - Absence
4. Okkervil River - Black Sheep Boy
3. The Thelonious Monk Quartet With John Coltrane - At Carnegie Hall
2. The National - Alligator
1. Sufjan Stevens - Illinois
The top three start getting real good, and number one is the only great album I've heard from this year so far.
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10. Lightning Bolt - Hypermagic Mountain
Bullshit noise music that makes my head hurt. I just love the drummer, Brian Chippendale.
Five Most Laughable Attempts at Music in 2005 (#1 being the worst)
4. The Mars Volta - Frances the Mute
Hahahaha!
3. Broken Social Scene - Broken Social Scene
I love what people try to pass off as music nowadays.
So wait, you put Lightning Bolt in your top ten for being "bullshit noise music" and then turn around and rag on The Mars Volta and Broken Social Scene? Holy irrationality, batman!
I stuck Lightning Bolt in there because I love their drummer and nothing else. I hate every single part of BSS and TMV with the fires of hell.
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I have ten.
http://mirkgard.blogspot.com/2005/12/top-10-of-2005.html
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9. Municipal Waste - Hazardous Mutation
Holy thrashtasticness, Kharman!
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In no particular order (because it would take me until next year if I tried):
Wolf Parade - Apologies to the Queen Mary
My pick for the catchiest, most hummable album of the year.
[Favorite tracks: "We Built Another World," "Dear Sons and Daughters of Hungry Ghosts"]
Stars - Set Yourself on Fire
Electronic-tinged indie pop. Seriously underrated.
[Favorite tracks: "Your Ex-Lover Is Dead," "Calendar Girl"]
Spoon - Gimme Fiction
As others have already noted, this isn't the greatest album ever, but damn, is it ever fun. I love it.
[Favorite tracks: "I Turn My Camera On," "I Summon You"]
The Decemberists - Picaresque
These guys just get better and better with each album. Also, pirates are awesome.
[Favorite tracks: "We Both Go Down Togerther," "The Mariner's Revenge Song"]
Antony and the Johnsons - I Am Bird Now
I'll admit it took me a while to adjust to the vocals (which can be off-putting for a lot of people), but once I did... pure bliss.
[Favorite tracks: "Hope There's Someone," "You Are My Sister"]
Songs I liked that were not from the above albums:
Death Cab for Cutie - Marching Bands of Manhattan [Album: Plans]
One of the best opening tracks for an album I've ever heard. Trouble is, the rest of the album was pretty much the same.
Iron & Wine / Calexico - He Lays in the Reins [Album: In the Reins EP]
I've always felt there was something missing in Iron & Wine's music; Calexico is that missing element. I love every bit of this track, for the soft clip-clopping of horse's hooves throughout, to the Spanish opera singer that interjects halfway through.
World Leader Pretend - Bang Theory [Album: Punches]
I had never even heard of this band when I first heard this track, and I haven't heard anything else by them since. All I know is, this track fucking rocks.
Sufjan Stevens - Chicago [Album: Illinois]
I would've listed the album, but to be honest, I don't think I can listen to it all the way through. Hence, my favorite track instead.
Imogen Heap - Hide and Seek [Album: Speak for Yourself]
Vocodor-ness. Don't ask me why I like this track. I just do.
All in all, my only complaint this year is that I didn't discover any new band that (in my eyes, or rather, ears) reached the mind-blowing intensity of the Arcade Fire. Tough act to follow, I guess.
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"I Will Follow You Into The Dark" was CLEARLY the best song off of Plans.
Oh, p.s., I'm back from my tropical vacation. HAPPY NEW 2006.
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This is in no particular order. You'll have to forgive me for the abundance of pop in this list. I don't really believe in indie cred and I happen to enjoy dancing around like an idiot to overprocessed music
Stars - Set Yourself on Fire
Imogen Heap - Speak for Yourself
Death Cab for Cutie - Plans
Garbage - Bleed Like Me
Boa - Get There
Metric - Live it Out
American Analog Set - Set Free
Melanie C - Beautiful Intentions
Annie - Anniemal
Royksopp - The Understanding
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The new Royksopp is quite good, for what it is.
The American Analog Set album is just "Set Free" I believe. And Otherwise, with the exception of Melanie C I don't really see what's so "poppy" about that list.
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I guess it isn't all that poppy, really. However, I may have toned it down subconsciously for the audience, and you didn't see some of the runners-up
Oh, and I fixed the American Analog Set album title
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Primordial - The Gathering Wilderness
Acid King - III
Cathedral - The Garden Of Unearthly Delights
Clutch - Robot Hive / Exodus
Brant Bjork - Saved By Magic
Sheavy - Republic?
Pelican - The Fire In Our Throats Will Beckon The Thaw
Witchcraft - Firewood
Khanate - Caputure And Release
Gorrilaz - Demon Days
QoTSA - Lullabies To Paralyze
Opeth - Ghost Reveries
High On Fire - Blessed Black Wings
Green Carnation - The Quiet Offspring
Great year methinks.
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alright, I'm going to redo mine again, because I"ve since listened to a few more new records from this year that have taken some off the list.
1. The Residents - Animal Lover
2. Nile - Annihilation of the Wicked
3. John Petrucci - Suspended Animation
4. Demons and Wizards - Touched by the Crimson King
5. DragonForce - Inhuman Rampage
6. Between the Buried and Me - Alaska
7. The Aquabats - CHARGE!!
8. 1349 - Hellfire
9. Eels - Blinking Lights and Other Revelations
10. General Patton Vs. The Ex-ecutioners - Joints Special Operations Task Force
11. Fantomas - Suspended Animation
That's right, my list; It goes to eleven! Also, I have no idea why both Fantomas' and John Petrucci's records are both called Suspended Animation.
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My favorite albums this year were all the ones I bought, because I buy few enough CDs that I feel I should put the effort into finding what there is to love about the ones I do get.
The Fiery Furnaces - EP
The Furnaces' poppiest, but still very Furnace-y. The first side is absolutely the best 20 minutes of music I've heard on any CD this year, in my opinion. Top tracks: Single Again, Here Comes The Summer, Evergreen
The Fiery Furnaces - Rehearsing My Choir
The Furnaces' least poppy and most Furnace-y. I know, I know, everyone else hated it. I don't care. They're my new favorite band and I'm required to love everything they do. Ok, not really, but in spite of all its weird crap RMC had a prominent place in my playlist for a couple weeks, and I maintain that anyone who listens with an open mind might be able to find it pretty endearing. Maybe. Top tracks: A Candymaker's Knife In My Handbag, Seven Silver Curses, Though Let's Be Fair, although RMC is best enjoyed as an entire album
The Mars Volta - Frances The Mute
So fucking self-indulgent, deadly serious and morbid music that I still manage to find fun just because it's so over the top: fun to pick apart, fun to try to figure out the time signatures, fun to find motifs and enjoy the atmosphere that the lyrics provide while still being almost totally nonsensical. The minutes of downtime don't bother me because the music with which they're interspersed rocks so hard. The only album I've heard with a 30-minute song that I can listen to and listen to. Top tracks: L'Via L'Viaquez, although FtM is also best enjoyed as an entire album
Antony And The Johnsons - I Am A Bird Now
Like ozphactor, took me a while to warm up to his voice, but once I did, wow. Absolutely gorgeous in a way unlike anything else I listen to, earnest, emotional, genuine, stirring. Too bad the first track is the best on the album, and possibly one of the best songs ever. Top tracks: Hope There's Someone, For Today I'm A Boy, Bird Girl
Wolf Parade - Apologies to the Queen Mary
Took a while for me to warm up to this and I'm still in the process, but it's beginning to seem like it will end up living up to the hype after all. Great lyrics, melodies that paradoxically only reveal themselves to be catchy after you let them percolate a while, and hell yes the Moog. It's a shame that I like one guy's voice so much more than the other, but I'll live. Also, probably the worst liner notes ever. Top tracks: You Are A Runner and I Am My Father's Son, Grounds For Divorce, Dear Sons And Daughters Of Hungry Ghosts
Iron and Wine - Woman King
After Our Endless Numbered Days, this was pretty exciting. The faster paced tracks just hit me in my happy place, and the slower ones are certainly up to scratch as well. And Sam Beam remains one of my favorite lyricists: evocative, poetic, but never deliberately obfuscatory. Top tracks: Woman King, Jezebel, Evening on the Ground
Also,
Albums and Bands I want to hear: Surfjan, Broken Social Scene (the album), Architecture In Helsinki
Albums I Hated: None.