Favorite Albums of 2005

Christmas is coming, I’m starting to pack my bags to move home, and the Christmas mix CDs are shipping out this week, so what what better time to follow the herd and post my favorite albums of 2005?

In four parts, I’ll count down my top 20 albums of 2005 and give you info on where to purchase them. No mp3s until Friday, though!

20 Doves: Some Cities
Not many people think that this is Doves’ best work, but as far as solid rock albums go, I can’t expect much more. Brit-rock is never going to be as emotionally available and purposefully coarse as American rock music, so complaining about a certain tenseness throughout the album isn’t a criticism I can sympathize with. How many bands do you know that can amass bar room vocals, a string section and manicured riffs so pleasantly?

19 Supergrass: Road to Rouen
Supergrass have definitely slowed down their sound on this album, but never before have I been so impressed with Gaz Coombes as a vocalist and composer. Don’t buy the sadly punned Road to Rouen if you want instant gratification, but stick around if a 35 minute full-length with its own moods and roundabouts interests you. My favorite track is the George Harrison-ish “Low C”.

18 We Are Scientists: With Love and Squalor
They probably won’t be able to escape Hot Hot Heat and maybe even a Les Savy Fav reference here and there, but Scientists maintain a truly likeable union between indie rock and pop. “Textbook” sounds like Interpol married The Cure, while “Cash Cow” raises the stakes with a familiar and almost Bloc Party-ish rythym section, but the results are anything but “like” something else.

17 Stephen Malkmus: Face the Truth
It took three albums for Stephen Malkmus to present a body of music that can stand alongside Pavement and Silver Jews albums proudly, but it’s finally here. Give it a few listens to grow on you, and let its wrecklessness repeat itself as a representation of Malkmus’ own inner dialogue.

16 Caribou: The Milk of Human Kindness
Four Tet-ish and Soft Machine invoking tunes by Dan Snaith. How to explain the synthesized, warm and loopy album is beyond me, I’ll be honest. It’s definitely quirky, but not in an obnoxius way, and it’s cute but not sweet, and it’s charming without being slick. Enjoy it, there’s not a lot out there like it.

15 The Magic Numbers: The Magic Numbers
The Magic Numbers sound like what I imagine hip hair stylists of the 60’s would listen to in their basements, smoking pot and combing each other’s mop tops. Folk at its least folky and pop in its most well-rounded state, the music is best described as what Marc Hogan calls “Polyphonic Spree for Normals”.

Honorable Mention:
Gorillaz: Demon Days
Almost makes me want to really like hip hop.

“Polyphonic Spree for Normals”

That’s the most accurate description I’ve heard for them yet. I really need to put the effort into listening to that album, it’s been sitting around on my harddrive since it came out.

Will Sufjan Stevens’ “Illinois” be #1, #2, #3 or all of the above? A nation holds its breath in anticipation…

Haha. You know, I won’t give too much away (though you could probably guess the top 5, at least), but you can bet your booty Devendra and Sufjan aren’t going to be found anywhere in here.

However, a Top 5 Most Annoying Acts of 2005 might be hilarious…

After reading your list, i’ll have to go back and give the Doves and Supergrass albums another try. I remember wanting to like them, but they never really clicked for me.

Great site btw, i’m enjoying reading it.

Gotta love that Wordpress template as well! My site looks very similar.