Top Ten Albums Of 2005
I suppose I should do this post too. I made a really concerted effort this year to try and listen to a lot of current release albums and new bands, which you wouldn’t know from this list since 6 of the 10 are old favorites. Feel free to view my Listology ranking of 2005 release albums for the full rundown.
- The Go! Team - Thunder, Lightning, Strike
- Low - The Great Destroyer
- Sigur Ros - Takk
- Sleater-Kinney - The Woods
- The New Pornographers - Twin Cinema
- …And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead - Worlds Apart
- The A-Frames - Black Forest
- Wolf Parade - Apologies To The Queen Mary
- The Wedding Present - Take Fountain
- Spoon - Gimme Fiction
Note that although The Go! Team album came out in England last year it didn’t come out in the US until this year so I’m counting it. That album is such a blast, I have had so much fun cranking it for the past year or so. I don’t know why more people aren’t getting into it, although I can see how a description like “Sonic Youth playing on Dance Party USA” could turn someone off.
In the rest of the list, not a lot of commentary. The Great Destroyer is Low’s best album in a long time. Sleater-Kinney knocking the shit out of the park with The Woods, a great effort after a string of what I consider pretty blah records since Dig Me Out. Wolf Parade was easily the best of the new-to-me bands for 2005, that album is growing on me like fungus.
It was a good year for shows. Top of the pack was a pair of completely unreal performances by The Arcade Fire, a band I had spent all last year poo-pooing. After seeing them play they basically took over my life, and unless something drastic happens Funeral is a shoo-in for a top 5 of the decade slot. Very very close behind was Sigur Ros at The Paramount, just stunning, well beyond my already high expectations. Then very very close behind that was the mind-boggling return of Gang Of Four, who tore it up like they were 20 again. Jesus Christ that show just fucking kicked. It is amazing to me that in a year when Gang Of Four returned I still placed two shows in front of them. The Go! Team dominated the competition in terms of raw ass-shaking joy. New Pornographers were fun but they had the bad luck of falling in the same week I saw Sigur Ros AND The Arcade Fire. Put into that context they were just another rock band. Sorry guys, bad timing.
I didn’t spend a lot of time getting into older stuff this year, but the one past album that really knocked me out was Wrong by NoMeansNo. I don’t know what took me so long since those guys have been around for-ever and everyone I know likes them.
Hunker Down Y’All!
related articles
- Top 10 Albums of 2007 (January 21st, 2008)
- You Took My Heart And You Hocked It (October 23rd, 2006)
- YouTube Synergy (October 23rd, 2006)
- Fuck The Hold Steady (October 19th, 2006)
- John Brion on Sound Opinions (October 16th, 2006)
January 19th, 2006 at 8:47 am
NoMeansNo kicks it. They were the first punk rock show I went to, back when Why Do They Call Me Mr. Happy? was released, at the Capitol Theatre backstage in Olympia. We all stood around outside waiting while my brother started randomly singing their songs with a couple other friends. Suddenly everyone started singing them together. DO YOU KNOW THE MEANING OF THIS IS LOVE THIS IS LOVE over and over again.
Anyway. 2005 was a disappointment to me, and my list of most-hated albums would be massively longer than most-liked. The A-Frames’ album had so much potential but the vocals aren’t doing it for me. The only one that I can even begin to give a slight nod to is The Sunset Tree by Mountain Goats, and only because “This Year” is such a gut-wrenchingly great song.
January 19th, 2006 at 8:53 am
Oh, actually, there was one really great album released. Do The Bambi, by Stereo Total. Which appropriately enough has one of the best songs on it, Cinemania, which was used as the title song for the movie of the same name. It was seeing the movie at SIFF that I first heard them. Several years later in 2005 they released it on album and toured, with a totally awesome set featuring none other than The Gossip opening.
January 19th, 2006 at 11:21 am
Roya…I’d really like to see your most-hated albums list if you find the time to post it somewhere. I understand your dislike of the A Frames vocals. I don’t mind the monotone robot voice thing so much. Anyway, see them live and I think you might be won over.
There’s nothing I’m wildly enthusiastic about from 2005 except maybe the A Frames. I also admire all the work that went into the Illinois record by Sufjan Stevens. He obviously did a lot of research and wrote some interesting songs (even if I don’t appreciate the way some of those songs sound). His song about John Wayne Gacy is pretty fucking chilling. I think a better list for me would be favorite songs of 2005. There were a lot of records that had one or two great songs hidden in the mediocrity.