The best albums of 2005 are...

[Galactus]

rocdoc said:

I just got back from doing my chores going to Home Depot...with a sidetrip to one of my libraries, and grabbed Mehldau's 'Art Of The Trio 4: Back At The Vanguard', done at the Village Vanguard in 1999...so here we go, a live date.

Though I think I've had this one before...Larry Grenadier on bass and Jorge Rossy on drums...

Live In Tokyo is just solo piano. It's just beautiful. He does Radiohead and Gershwin...it almost has more of a classical feel then jazz feel to it. Really worth checking out, I think, even if you don't like his other stuff.

[pattentank24]

#30-#26


#30
Oasis-Don't Believe The Truth

I waited nearly 10 yrs for another ACE Oasis album
DBTT was worth the wait
New Ideals?
Come on this is Oasis were talking about.
Liam's voice sounds it's best since he snarled on about helicopters/tissues/alka-seltzer.
Noel is a prizefighter arrogance is insecurity
He's worried they don't matter
Coldplay/Franz Ferdinand/and his hatered of Bloc Party
made them pull only the best they could offer
Liam songwritting improves(I can't believe I just typed that after "Little James")
Andy Bell writes 2 of the best Oasis songs of all time("Turn Up The Sun"/"Keep The Dream Alive"
Rolling Stones/Velvet Underground/AND YES Beatles all make appearances in terms of sound and influence
The swagger returned/the belief in what Oasis is was back.
Without all the unecessary drug use.

Standout-"Keep The Dream Alive" this is the mission statement from now on,it reaffirmed why I use to play the first 2 albums at nausiem


#29
Metric- Live It Out

Fun Poltical/Rock Records are at a small quanity this year.
Overbearing I'm Right-Your Wrong statements a plenty in 2005.
Metric got it right this year
"Shake The Hand/It's Empty"("Empty")
"I fought the war/but the war won"(Monster Hospital")
Emily Haines speaks to you like a street-wise hustler who doesn't buy what both sides are selling.
There's a flame of disgust but a hint of hope
Something's gonna happen or were going nowhere
But were not ready to grab our coats and leave the party just yet.
The bar's fully stocked and she's got stories to tell.
The excitement is the background noise, to the energy she's projecting.
"Keep 1 eye on the door/keep one eye on the bed/never expect to be sure who your working for("Police+The Private")
Well outside of Broken Social Scene she sure know how throw down a challenge
It's infectious/exuberant and best of all lively
I've found a pulse for those slow days stuck in traffic

Standout-Empty It's em's "Lose Yourself" for a rock band if you don't like this stop the album after and play it again till you do


#28
The White Stripes- Get Behind Me Satan

GBMS is my least favorite White Stripes Album
There I said it.
It's still great and I feel Jack/Meg are on a Tribe Called Quest like run of never making bad albums
How Dare they tease us with "Blue Orchid"
as a single which the orginal backlash orginated from.
But after further review how did I not see this coming
-The Loretta Lynn album Jack produced
-The Eerie conclusion of Elephant
-The Cold Mountain sdk
You get the point, an album compsied of the absurb and the virus of a song stuck in your head when you can't think of anything else.
Where does Jack come up with this?
His wordplay is on another language plane near the blonde bomber from 8 mile.
You have to keep paying attention to what's conveyed
ghosts/celebrity/abstence and just being depressed
This is not my ideal of a good time with the White Stripes(That's Jack's producing an Electric Six Dance Album next time, they want to throw the change-up)
But it's an album that had to be made to evolve


Standout- I'm Lonely But I Ain't That Lonely Yet" a proper send off for the strangest album of their career


#27
Bruce Springsteen-Devils/Dust

So it's not the best Springsteen album to be released this year.
That's the re-issue of Born To Run obviously.
This is not the easy listen of The Rising
nor the common-place storytelling of criminals and grey-shaded characters who have to survive in Nebraska
Devils/Dust is the literature that begs to be told and absorbed.
Desperation is nothing new on the quiet despair themed albums
But Bruce takes the detail to a 12th grade teacher's red pen when pointing out their mistakes.
You want this to at one point provide that moment where all of life connects back to the artist's hope
That something of value will be gained.
It Doesn't instead it chooses to wax poetic about Mother Mary as a sense of hope.
A man dying to see his loved one only to drown in sorrow.
Tom Waits makes these albums not Bruce Springsteen
The power of The River flows through this not
the starved for excess side, but the post modern fairytale that failed

Standout-"Devils/Dust" The truth hurts but the aim is true


#26
Sleater-Kinney-The Woods

Uncompromising holding up a guitar pick with your middle finger pointing back at the consumer
Could have been the album cover
This is music made by difficult women
Who love their medium of expression
The politics of One Beat have been replaced by a Pete Townsend obsession to play till you bleed.
The wizard behind the curtain of Flaming Lips(Dave Friedman)
Turns Up The Reverb???
Perhaps this is the album indie-rock has demanded where other artists realize to make something special you can't half-ass the distance you've traveled with a few cute tricks
-Slow Song
-Dance Song
-Your 1 Rock/Pop attempt at Airplay
YOU MUST COMMIT TO THE WHOLE IDENITY and ALBUM
Did You lose a Speaker during the intro to The Fox or just your hearing
A true were not fucking around open if I have ever heard one.
The bulls-eye they painted on the entire scene is evident
in Entertain
Modern Girl is the shortest song on the album little over 3 min, but it's chorus has an impact
While the guitars are being tuned up for the rest of the album
which culminates in Pulverizing wrecking ball of "Let's Call It Love"
and in the end the message to the listner/SK longtime fan as in Life is
YOU don't like Something,You CAN always Change It

Standout- "Entertain" There's a scene in Resident Evil 4 when you play where zombies are in the roadway and a truck strapped with TNT is flying out of control down the same road an all you can do is stand your ground and shoot the barrels as everything on screen errupts in flames... That's this song

[rockysigman]

pattentank22 said:

(That's Jack's producing an Electric Six Dance Album next time, they want to throw the change-up)



Standout- I'm Lonely But I Ain't That Lonely Yet" a proper send off for the strangest album of their career

Yeah, its a very strange album. Part of what makes it great though.

Is producing the Electric Six really that big of a departure? I mean, he did sing vocals on their biggest hit a couple years back, so its not like it's coming out of nowhere.

[skvorisdeadsorta]

I personally think that Jack White is just a genius. I thought it was a great record and you can tell that they're stretching themselves further and further ( in a good way) on each release. "My Doorbell" is definitely in my list for singles of the year. I love the drums and piano in the song and the lyrics are fun. The video was pretty stunning as well, but then, The White Stripes have always had great videos.

[pattentank24]

rockysigman said:

pattentank22 said:

(That's Jack's producing an Electric Six Dance Album next time, they want to throw the change-up)



Standout- I'm Lonely But I Ain't That Lonely Yet" a proper send off for the strangest album of their career

Yeah, its a very strange album. Part of what makes it great though.

Is producing the Electric Six really that big of a departure? I mean, he did sing vocals on their biggest hit a couple years back, so its not like it's coming out of nowhere.

That's the point
a White Stripes Dance Album!!!(ex Beck-Midnite Vultures)

I really like the album I'm not putting it down
just still prefer De Stijl as the best OMP

[JesusLooksLikeMe]

ndy said:

01. Bloc Party - Silent Alarm
02. Broken Social Scene - s/t
03. The Rakes - Capture/Release
04. The Clientele - Strange Geometry
05. Clor - s/t
06. Edan - Beauty and the Beat
07. Sigur Ros - Takk
08. Hood - Outside Closer
09. Books - Lost and Safe
10. Jamie Lidell - Multiply
11. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - s/t
12. Broadcast - Tender Buttons
13. Bell Orchestre - Recording a Tape the Colour of the Light
14. The Joggers - With a Cape and Cane
15. Stephen Malkmus - Face the Truth
16. The Rosebuds - Birds Make Good Neighbors
17. Franz Ferdinand - You Could Have it So Much Better
18. Depeche Mode - Playing the Angel
19. Ladytron - The Witching Hour
20. Why? - Elephant Eyelash
21. Out Hud - Let Us Never Speak of it Again
22. LCD Soundsystem - s/t
23. Architecture in Helsinki - In Case We Die
24. The Kills - No Wow
25. Sufjan Stevens - Illinois

Holla.

Impeccable taste as always. That Bloc Party album deserves so much praise. Shame all you hear over here right now is Kaiser Kaiser bloody Kaiser...

[Galactus]

I'm afraid I can't respect any list that can't find room for Z somewhere in their top 25...other then that, fantastic list.

[NdY]

Thanks JLLM. That album's been my fave since I first got the leaked copy back in early Jan. I love pretty much every track on it, along with their single "Two More Years". Let's hope they can follow it up properly.

And DED, brotha, I really tried to like the MMJ album. Just couldn't get into it in the end though. What can I say?

[bowiglou]

Strawman..when was the last time you've ever been called a "Kiwi negative vibe merchant".....and by the by, have you even ever seen a Kiwi in vivo?............glad I don't have a schnozzel like that!!......well Maarts, in defense of Straw his recommendations to me have been impeccable...so maybe I'll get both the new Go Betweens and his recommendation.......................

Kiwi negative vibe merchant.................indeed!!

maarts said:

Go-Betweens- lovely, lovely record (don't listen to that Kiwi negative vibe merchant ), even better than Bright Yellow Bright Orange and a Maarts 'n Scottsy highlight for 2005!

[kmc]

The pitchfork list of top 50 albums pretty much sucks balls.

[maarts]

I thought the MMJ-album was okay- I liked the more spheric bits the best but overall it sounds solid. Didn't send me shivering me timbers though.

Hopefully Straw gets the Young Ones-reference to my denomination, Bow. Hope my referrals were pretty much ok too (some Church-discs I send you recently?)

[pattentank24]

#25-#21



#25
Kanye West-Late Registration

Here We go again,
Didn't I have to say the same thing last year
It's another great album,Is it a Classic already?
It's Not Just Yet, but classics take time to reveal themselves.
Why in indie rock do we constantly hold back proclaiming this is the most important album?
But any time a Hip-hop artist(Kanye is a an artist,Not Just a MC)
He's now the voice of EVERY YOUNG BLACK MAN IN AMERICA.
WHO CARES?
The important album is Better than College Dropout
Because Kanye knew he had attempt to outreach his own grasp if he was going to reach the same level of respect from his peers/idols.
He's still not a great MC,but the production is always inventive.
Confidence is contagious every single guest brings their talent to the table with Kanye nodding his neck as they continue to allow Kanye to do what he does best.
Boast over his own beats
Kanye wants to be a legend so bad
He's like the kid in grade school who does everything he can just to be liked,
It's always show/tell and he must outdo everyone around him just so he can relax on his insecurties
Thank Goodness he's that way
otherwise it would just be empty words with nothing to back up his mouth.

Standout-"Touch The Sky"


#24
Ryan AdamsCold Roses/Jacksonville City Nights/29

3 albums all very different, but Ryan WTF no remix/live album what's wrong with you?

Cold Roses started the onslaught of new material 2 discs worth of Ryan laying off his own importance
18 songs of letting his live band The Cardnials worry about the sound
while Ryan returns to his Whiskeytown poses of You going pay for that sooner or later
In my Opinon there are 2 types of RA albums
a) the where's that case of beer oh wait I drank it already last night album(Gold,RNR,Demolition)
b) the it's 4am past last call and I need a couple more drinks before i can sleep(Heartbreaker,Love Is Hell)
Cold Roses however is a sleepy affair where you lay in bed all day and occasionally during the bridge he jumps out and an amp blows out.
The slow pacing is not overwhelming as he balances his love of Neil Young with a few Grateful Dead jams

Jacksonville City Nights is RA saying Yeah I know I've always been real good at making Old-Tyme Country Music.
And on JCN he gets his drink on the best collection of drinking songs of his career(option a).
If not for this and Lee Ann Womack's album
what could possably qualify for country music these days?
Listening to this I feel like I'm at a bar where he's playing just watching the world pass by on an off-night for me where I don't wanna do anything but think and have a few interesting conversations.
But IT MAKES ME HAPPY for that moment
The best early morning on the road album of this year.
Quite Simply an esstential Ryan Adams album.

29 welcome to option b
This is a pain-staking record of loss of hope/love/life
if Record companys were nervous about Love Is Hell
Well somebody might have died when they green-lighted this.
But at least they allow him to express that Morrissey loving side of his on the chilly waters of depression.
RA is nervous about his 30's there appears to be a theme involving each year of your 20's being siginified by a song.
I've only been lsitening to this for about a month now
so it's hard to say where it ranks
but if you enjoy option b
I would recomend it.

Standout- CR-"If I Was A Stranger"
JCN-The Hardest Part
29-Strawberry Wine
3 sides of a very conflicted man in his art,but damn do I appreciate his efforts each time


#23
Editors-The Back Room

"I've got a millon things left to say"("Lights")
All it took was "Bullets" i heard on a sampler
and I was hooked.
Maarts provided the album along with the bonus disc that adds to the acclaim I will share with you(Thanks Again Maarts)
It won't make stateside till Feb. I've heard
Listening to The Back Room is a Reverse in style
Usually a band from the post-punk side create the atmosphere and then begin to hold your attention with rythmn or song.
Editors grab you from the first line in each song
the music can soar then comes the atmosphere.
The key to why THEY AVOID Joy Divison/Interpol cover band status apart from the voice( more Ian than Paul)
Is the further you let Back Room dig into your pysche the better the background noise is
The tempo is vibrant,The songs explode into chorus of powder-kegs with the best power chords in post-punk land
Everytime you think you got the reason of why You like this style or that.
You'll discover there on the move again
You have to imagine these guys aren't the perfectionists that Interpol are.
Nothing feels forced slow melodic/electronic epics/pulsating guitar anthems/post punk dance music
They EXCELL at everything on the debut and bonus disc
Even as a diehard Interpol fan
I say they should be worried!!

Standout-"Bullets" NO ? my Song of the Year
Imagine The Ramones meeting Joy Divison and you keep waiting for pyro to explode from your speakers
2 trains smashing into the center of the tracks then falling onto a busy intersection and crushing everything in it's path


#22
Bright Eyes-Digital Ash In A Digital Urn/I'm Wide Awake It's Morning

Oh Conor you weren't going to be satisfied with letting Ryan Adams have all the fun this year were you?
You made the best album of your career and the most challenging as well

Digital Ash is Conor listening to the faint a little too much on past tours.
But what I really enjoy and respect is this is someone messing around outside of their comfront zone
with no real plan behind the experiments
He suceeds more than he fails and causes you to wonder what he's capable of
This is what happens when you set out on your own far from the friends/family who helped enllighten you about what life truely is.
DA is a scared young adult unsure of himself and his tools.
Mistakes will be made.

Where as Wide Awake is a mature confident album of someone who knows there on the perch of greatness
You can feel it when sings with Jim James on the opener
or duets with the legendary Emmylou Harris.
Lifted was a huge step foward from his overhyped early work.
WA is that jump you'd knew he could make what he's worked for his entire youth.
I find myself asking "What Happend to The Teenage Angst?"
Songs about lifelong love/unrest in his poltics and one way to comment yourself to everthing you believe
Most people his age could never approach these topics with such wit/experience/ and most impressive restraint
You can't discount his talent despite the media machine of the "NEXT BRUCE OR DYLAN"
He's Just Conor
Now Where's that next Depercidos album so he can rock out again.

Standout-DA-Easy/Lucky/Free
WA-Landlocked Blues



#21
Death Cab For Cutie-Plans

I know some of you are laughing
so what?
Transatlaticism is one of the best albums of this decade.
Plans is a worthy follow-up.
The truth is reguardless if you like/dislike Ben Gibberd's voice.
They DON'T MAKE BAD SONGS,They tackle emotional EPIC MUSICAL PIECES
Death Cab actually can get too deep for even some of their teenage fans.
Take "What Sarah Said" a second to pause and ask you
"love is watching someone die" while your pondering as the music slows Ben starts echoing faintly
"So Who's gonna watch you Die?"
Yeaahh that's music for adolesant crushes/break-ups
They done what few so-called "indie rock bands" have they made the jump to the major leagues without sacraficing their strengths
Plans is an fall album if there ever was and should keep you warm in the winter as well
If you got a single romantic bone in your cynical body
You'll be plesantly suprised what kind of emotional hold it can take over you.

Standout-"Summer Skin" Yep I'm the guy who gonna break your heart when it's all said and done

[skvorisdeadsorta]

It's too bad his ego is going to run him into obscurity. I like the album, but I think his unapologetic meglomania is a quality he should turn down just a few notches.

[skvorisdeadsorta]

Ah.....and then your list goes back to the tank for me. Ryan Adams?! BRIGHT EYES?? Death Cab For Cutie I sort of get, but I like the Postal Service alot more. DCFC is just kinda boring and middle of the road for me. I know, I know, shut up, Skvor, just shut up, but man...........Ryan Adams? Oook.

[RocDoc]

I thought that he was the megalomaniac you were talking about...aaaaah.

Now don't say nuthin' against his work with Whiskeytown please...tho Caitlin Carrey(sp?) ahem, carried some weight there too...and his 'New York, New York' song is fantastic...