My Top 10 Albums of 2005
December 29th, 2005
Maybe it’s because everyone else is doing it, maybe it’s because I’m fighting a cold and have Thera-Flu buzz, but I thought I would post my top 10 albums of 2005. I decided to grade them on how much I enjoyed listening to them, play rotation, and what they meant to me personally. I don’t care much for their value to their “genre” or their importance to anything but my satisfaction. So this is a purely subjective list. Here goes…
- Of Montreal • The Sunlandic Twins
I’ve been a fan of Of Montreal, but never a big fan, not until this album. By far the most cohesive and interesting album to date. - Bloc Party • Silent Alarm
If all of the bands representing the so-called New Age Revival sounded like this, I might have more respect for the New Age Revival. - The National • Alligator
Sometimes a band creates harmonies within their songs that give you goose bumps. - The New Pornographers • Twin Cinema
Neko shines on this album. - The Clientele • Strange Geometry
Flowing, graceful melodies without being soft. I downloaded this album on a whim and it stayed in my rotation for two weeks straight. - Clap Your Hands Say Yeah • Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
The production isn’t so hot, the singer sounds like David Byrne’s and Wayne Coyne’s lovechild, and yet this was the most exciting album I heard all year. This band will be around for a long time. - Okkervil River • Black Sheep Boy
A very loose concept album about loss and heartache, with some of the best songwriting I’ve heard in a while. The band, like the lyrics, always seem about to fall apart, creating a driving, jangly momentum. Great album. - The Decemberists • Picaresque
All hail the Decemberists. Their best album to date and that’s saying a lot. - Spoon • Gimme Fiction
What the Rolling Stones wish they still were. - Sufjan Stevens • Illinoise
Okay, so the album is great. But it was also the soundtrack to Beth’s and my Katrina evacuation and exile. We drove over half the southern United States a few times listening to this album the entire way. We have quite a few memories of Katrina, and this album seems to be playing in the background of all of them. Good thing we weren’t listening to Abba