BIG thanks to Crystal who helped me produce this list.
50 - Minus Story – “No Rest For Ghosts” – Drawn out songs are featured on this album from Oklahomans, the Minus Story. Ghosts is patient and calm with haunting vocals.
Track to try: “Hold On”
49 - Youth Group –
Skeleton Jar - There is a lot of buzz from indie recording artists like Ben Gibbard over Skeleton Jar. At times the hype is justified, but overall this record lacks the consistency required to call is a great album. Certainly worthy of a listen, but hopefully the glimpses of brilliance are signs of things to come and we can expect some solid work from these guys in the future.
Track to Try: “Shadowland”
48 - Tullycraft -
Disenchanted Hearts Unite -
Disenchanted Hearts Unite is fun, fast paced, instantly catchy pop music from the UK.
Track to try: “Every Little Thing”
47 - Sigur Ros –
Takk - More of the same from the Icelandic band. If you like them a whole lot, you’re probably going to like this a whole lot. If you think they’re kinda boring you’ll probably think the same here. If you’re like me and like them, but not as much as everyone else likes them, well you get the picture.
Track to try: “Glosoli”
46 - Doves –
Some Cities - The Doves mix samples and rock music on this their third full length studio recording. Fans of Coldplay might like this if they are looking for something a little less boring.
Track to try: “Walk in Fire”
45 - Black Mountain -
Black Mountain - A mix of classic and modern rock, Black Mountain uses big scaled sound and a good blend of fast and slow to fill their debut album.
Track to try: “Don't Run Our Hearts Around”
44 - The Fiery Furnaces -
EP - Though
Rehearsing My Choir disappointed many fans, EP was released in early 2005 filled with more of what has made the Fiery Furnaces a success up to this point. And at over 40 minutes it’s longer than most LP’s.
Track to try: “Single Again”
43 - Wolf Parade –
Apologies to Queen Mary - One of the most hyped albums of the past year. Although this is a good album, with talk of it being the album of the year this could just have easily been called Apologies to Those Who Bought the Hype.
Track to try: “Modern World”
42 – Of Montreal -
The Sunlandic Twins - Weird as always, Of Montreal play psychedelic Beatles-esque pop music. So if you’re into that sort of thing you’ll probably like this album.
Track to try: “Wraith Pinned to the Mist”
41 - Radar Brothers -
The Fallen Leaf Pages - The Radar Brothers are a poor mans Grandaddy, complete with electronic accompaniments with acoustic rhythms.
Track to try: “Papillion”
40 - 13 & God -
13 & God - A collaboration between indie rock band the Notwist and hip hop artists Themselves. 13 & God blend both genres together to make an album fans of either can enjoy.
Track to try: “Ghostwork”
39 – Cocorosie -
Open Season - Female freak folk sisters enlist the help of Devandra Banhart and Antony of Antony and the Johnsons to make this their second album. Noah’s arc is filled with the sisters’ eerie vocals and more than a few oddly selected samples.
Track to try: “South 2Nd”
38 – Angels of Light –
Sings Other People - One of two releases this year for Michael Gira’s post-Swans band, the Angels of Light. Gira’s Johnny Cash like voice is enough to warrant a listen to this.
Track to try: “Lena’s Song”
37 - Electrelane –
Axes - Some of the songs on
Axes feature vocals by their female lead singer, while most are purely instrumentals. I prefer the instrumental tracks, while the singing, and the girls voice I cold do without.
Track to try: “Two For Joy”
36 - Stars -
Set Yourself on Fire - This has been a good year for this Canadian pop band. They’ve gained popularity in both indie and mainstream media outlets with this solid release.
Track to try: “Your Ex-Lover is Dead”
35 - New Pornographers -
Twin Cinema - A.C. Newman follows up his 2004 solo album with another record from the New Pornographers. Most of the stuff on here sounds just like the stuff on his solo album, but that’s not at all a bad thing.
Track to try: “Use It”
34 - Broken Social Scene –
Broken Social Scene - In the past I’ve been somewhat critical of BSS, but I find this album to be very original and entertaining. I still can’t say I enjoy their live show though.
Track to try: “Ibi Dreams of Pavement (A Better Day)”
33 - Head of Femur -
Hysterical Stars - Chicago based Head of Femur use guitars, strings, and horns to make their brand of cut and paste music, though not necessarily in that order.
Track to try: “Manhattan”
32 – British Sea Power –
Open Season - On
The Decline Of, British Sea Powers debut album, I thought they did a good job of borrowing the Pixies sound and putting their own spin on it. On
Open Season they’ve changed gears to a calmer more retro brand of indie rock.
Track to try: “Please Stand Up”
31 - Matt Pond PA -
Several Arrows Later - The PA stands for Pennsylvania in case you were wondering. I know I was. Matt Pond is beat up pretty ruthlessly by a lot of indie fans. Personally I find his brand of acoustic pop pretty entertaining.
Track to try: “Halloween”
30 - Deerhoof -
The Runners Four - Deerhoof can be a hard listen to over extended periods of time. Their arrangements are often abrasive and Satomi Matsuzaki’s vocals are less than conventional. However,
Runners Four is easily their catchiest and most accessible album to date.
Track to try: “Twin Killers”
29 - Iron & Wine and Calexico -
In the Reins EP / Iron & Wine –
Woman King EP - So Sam Beam walks into a bar and the bartender asks him, “Why the long beard?” Bad indie jokes aside these are two great EPs from Beam and together I say they’re enough to qualify for this list. Both are much more dynamic and up beat than Iron and Wine’s past endeavors.
Track to try: “16, Maybe Less”
28 - Amandine –
This is Where Our Hearts Collide - Who says that Americana music has to come from America? This Swedish band plays it to perfection on their debut.
Track to try: “For All The Marbles”
27 - Caribou -
The Milk of Human Kindness - A year after being forced to change his name due to copyright infringement, the artist formally known as Manitoba is back with what I consider to be the electronica album of the year.
Track to try: “Yeti”
26 - Konono No. 1 -
Congotronics - Originating somewhere between between Congo and Angola, Konono use homemade instruments from car parts and microphones from magnets to give us an album that ends up sounding something like modern electronic music. Probably the most unlikely album of the year.
Track to try: “Masikulu”
25 - Maximo Park -
A Certain Trigger - Sounds a lot like Franz Fernidad but maybe a little more retro and little less dancy. A very solid debut effort.
Track to try: “Apply Some Pressure”
24 - Shining -
In The Kingdom Of Kitsch You Will Be A Monster - Norwegian big band jazz,
Shining uses a surprisingly small number of instrumentals to create their huge sound. This is one of the most original albums of the year.
Track to try: “Goretex Weather Report”
23 - The Mountain Goats -
The Sunset Tree - This is my first experience with this band and I like what I hear. The Mountain Goats tell tales of broken people, violence, anger and fear. One of the most intriguing albums of 2005.
Track to try: “This Year”
22 - Fruit Bats -
Spelled in Bones - Acoustic driven pop music from Chicago natives the Fruit Bats. Be careful though, fruit bats have been known to carry the Ebola virus.
Track to try: “The Earthquake of ‘73”
21 – Art Brut -
Bang Bang Rock and Roll - It's tough to be funny in music without being labeled a parody act. Ben Folds does it, and now Art Brut does it too. I've laughed out loud at least once in every song on this album I think. I'm certainly not a big fan of this type of music but this album is just too good to ignore.
Track to try: “Good Weekend”
20 – Akron/Family –
Akron/Family - Akron/Family are my favorite new band of the year. They like to use everything they can get their hands on to make music and seem to have a lot of fun in the process.
Track to try: “On the Water”
19 - The Decemberists -
Picaresque - The Decemberists exploded into the mainstream in 2005 behind the strength of Picaresque, easily their most complete album.
Track to try: “We Both Go Down Together”
18 - The Magic Numbers –
The Magic Numbers - Four piece UK band featuring a pair of brother/sister duets. The Magic Numbers are a beautiful blend of 60’s rock, vocal harmonies, and modern pop.
Track to try: “Mornings Eleven”17 - Stephen Malkmus -
Face the Truth - Former Pavement front man and sometimes member of the Silver Jews (including guitar on Tanglewood Numbers) returns with his best solo album yet. Lots of squishy keyboards and over drive guitars. Yum(?)
Track to try: “Pencil Rot”
16 - Silver Jews -
Tanglewood Numbers - The first Silver Jews release since David Berman’s attempted suicide last year.
Tanglewood Numbers is maybe a step down for some fans who expect deep lyrics from Berman, but the music in these songs does a great job framing Berman’s voice.
Track to try: “I'm Getting Back (into Getting Back into You)”
15 - The Boy Least Likely To -
The Best Part Ever - Debut album from UK base The Boy Least Likely To is also the first released on the bands own label. In other words, it’s been a busy year for the band.
The Best Part Ever is unique and fun pop music for people who like such things.
Track to try: “I'm Glad I Hitched My Apple Wagon to Your Star”
14 - Clap Your Hands Say Yeah -
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Pitchfork’s darlings of 2005 are indeed good, but in all honesty I have a hard time enduring this guy’s voice for extended periods of time. Still, it’s a good album and worthy of a large portion of the praise it’s received.
Track to try: “The Skin of My Yellow Country Teeth”
13 - Aqueduct -
I Sold Gold - Seattle based David Terry makes homemade songs with keyboards and a drum machine saturated with catchy melodies and clever lyrics. If your drunken college roommate made an album it might sound something like this, only good. (This blog does not condone under aged drinking)
Track to try: “Frantic”
12 - Broken Family Band -
Welcome Home Loser - It’s hard to imagine British alt-country getting any better than this. This album fits perfectly in an Arkansas trailer park, or for when you’re feeling a little less than clean.
Track to try: “Where the Hell is My Baby”
11 – Bright Eyes –
I’m Wide Awake it’s Morning - Say what you want about Oberst’s past, I’ll probably even agree with you. But
Wide Awake is his most complete album to date, and catapulted him into mainstream media play lists.
Track to try: “At The Bottom Of Everything”
10 – Spoon –
Gimmie Fiction Probably the most surprising record of the year for me, not being a fan of Spoon or their brand of guitar rock. But
Gimmie Fiction brings me back to
Being There era Wilco and attempts to restore my faith in indie rock.
Track to try: “Sister Jack”
9 – M. Ward -
Transistor Radio - There’s a soothing effect in M. Ward’s voice that blends to perfection with his finger picked guitar arrangements.
Transistor Radio is Ward’s fourth full length studio recording, and also his best yet.
Track to try: “Big Boat”
8 – Animal Collective –
Feels - Everybody’s favorite reason to hate me is back with a great new album nobody will get. Just ->_<- that much less good than Sung Tongs for those of you keeping score at home.
Track to try: “Purple Bottle”
7 – Lucksmiths -
Warmer Corners - I cast this album aside almost instantly as run of the mill indie pop college radio fodder. However, after a few listens I learned it was actually really, really, really good indie pop college radio fodder. The Lucksmiths feature a drummer who sings, and who doesn’t like a drummer who sings really?
Track to try: “The Music From Next Door”
6 - Akron/Family & Angels of Light -
Akron/Family & Angels of Light split LP - As a general rule I wouldn’t include a split album this high on an album of the year list, but the fact is that I’ve enjoyed this as much as any album this year. Akron offers a melting pot of sounds blended into a group of songs that flow almost seamlessly from one to the next, and Angels of Light do more of what they always do; write great songs and allow you to listen to Michael Gira’s voice. What more could you ask for?
Track to try: Akron: “Moment”
Track to try: Angels: “I Pity the Poor Imigrant”
5 – Dr. Dog -
Easy Beats -
Easy Beats earned Dr. Dog a contract with Rough Trade and the reasons are obvious. Hook after hook and oodles of harmonized vocals fill there tracks, and combined with it’s low-fi sound give it a classic rock feel without the bitter after taste.
Track to try: “The Pretender”
4 - Architecture in Helsinki -
In Case we Die - Fiery Furnaces style cut and paste songs with more pop and less pretense. Easily the most fun album of the year, but the short attention span does tend to annoy some people I guess. Still I like them though so there. (and OMG two Australian bands in the top ten?)
Track to try: “It's 5!”
3 - Okkervil River -
Black Sheep Boy - It appears Will Sheff’s voice is probably just put offish enough to keep them from diving into the mainstream as other indie artists have plunged in the last few years. However,
Black Sheep Boy is complete with the knock your feet from under you, have you curled up in the corner before tearing your heart out lyrics Okkervil’s dedicated fan base has come to expect from the band.
Track to try: “Black”
2- Andrew Bird –
Andrew Bird and the Mysterious Production of Eggs - The fact that this album couldn’t crack Pitchfork’s top 50 is just plain stupid. One of the most quotable albums of the year, packed with Bird’s sweet violin skills and the best whistler you may ever here. Bird does a fantastic job of leaving the concepts on this album open, allowing it’s interpretation open for unpacking months after the first listen.
Track to try: “Fake Palindrones”
1 - Sufjan Steven -
Sufjan Stevens Invites You to: Come on Feel the Illinoise! - The most obvious selection for Album of the Year since Wilco’s
YHF. In a sub par year for albums overall Stevens makes an epic track list that stands head and (broad) shoulders above everything else. File this under instant classic.
Track to try: “Come on Feel the Ilinoise!”
Sore loser?
Danielson bears fruit for his Lord
The Danileson Family wears their hearts on their sleeves
