Feature - The Top 20 Albums of 2005

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The Top 20 Albums of 2005

2005 turned out to be a pretty good year for music - very few major disappointments, some stellar debuts, and (on a more personal note) nearly every one of my favourite artists released a new album! Some even released two albums!

It was a tough task figuring out my favourite twenty, as my initial list of contenders was around three times that length. As is always the case with this sort of thing, there were some really great albums that didn't manage to make the list. I was sorry to see them miss out, but their absence is indicitive of the very high quality of those twenty which are listed below.

So here it is - the very best albums that 2005 had to offer (at least in regards to everything that I managed to hear...). I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I've enjoyed putting it together. Feel free to leave any opinions or feedback on the guestbook. You can even post your own "Best of 2005" list there if you want - I'm always interested in reading them.

And the winners are...

	#20 Dalek - Absence Dalek's politically charged second album was one of the most interesting things to come out of the hip-hop scene this year. The combination of confrontational lyrics, agressive vocal work and dense, industrial backing made for one of the genre's most scorchingly abrasive releases. Even when rapping without musical accompaniament, as on the album's opener "Distorted Prose," Dalek sounds discomfortingly coarse. However, when backed with the heavy, metallic drone and thunderous percussion which characterises most of the album, he truly delivers the goods. Absence takes you right out of your comfort zone, and pins you to the wall with a crushing assault on the senses unlike anything else that's come out this year. It's exhilarating, unnerving and very original hip-hop, with enough crossover appeal that even those who aren't fans of the genre are encouraged to check it out.
	#19 Okkervil River - Black Sheep Boy Okkervil River's Will Sheff has a strained, intense vocal delivery, which has resulted in a barrage of comparisons to similarly "unpolished" vocalists like Jeff Mangum, Carey Mercer and Conor Oberst. Personally I think that last one is a particularly accurate reference point, as Black Sheep Boy has a raw, folky atmosphere that feels similar to Oberst's earlier Bright Eyes work. There's a lot to like about this album - with its heartfelt lyrics and modest-yet-effective lo-fi production . There's roughly an even split between quiet, acoustic numbers such as "Black Sheep Boy" and "Glow," and rousing guitar-rockers like "For Real" and "A Stone," with a bit of both in the excellent eight minute epic "So Come Back, I'm Waiting." Black Sheep Boy is an emotionally potent release, as likely to please old fans as it is to win over new ones.
	#18 Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings - Naturally With the ever increasing number of classic-genre-revival groups, "authenticity" is a concept that gets plenty of attention. Having a group sound less like a homage and more like they actually just walked out of the seventies is going to be more important to some than others, but on Naturally it's impossible to ignore. Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings play funk and soul music, which is certainly one of your less hyped (and saturated) revival territories, and they do it extremely well. Jones herself is a delight, sounding every bit the 100% legit superdiva, while the awesome, full-size backing band is just as spot-on, delivering plenty of groovy dancefloor shakers and sexy slow numbers. Naturally sounds fresh yet undeniably classic, and is easily one of the year's best party albums, as well as one of its best releases in general.
	#17 Devin Davis - Lonely People of the World, Unite! Lonely People of the World, Unite!, the debut album by Devin Davis, was apparently a true labour of love - Davis himself played every instrument, self-recorded and self-produced the album over the course of two years. It's essentially a country-rock album at its core, with hints of singer/songwriter, 60s and 70s pop/rock and a few other odds and ends thrown in. At first listen there's a streak of goofy playfulness running through the album (which can initially be a little off-putting), but Davis' overwhelming enthusiasm shines through, and it's clear in every single track that this is a man who really loves his craft. The first half-dozen or so tracks are all brilliant, particularly "When I Turn Ninety-Nine" and "Turtle and the Flightless Bird," and while the second half of the album stalls ever so slightly, the closer "Deserted Eyeland" brings things home with a great finish.
	#16 Lightning Bolt - Hypermagic Mountain Hypermagic Mountain seems like an unexpected breakthrough, where two guys with nothing but a guitar, a drumkit and some basic recording equipment suddenly figured out how to make thrashy, hard edged music, which shares more than a few characteristics with power metal, which indie-kids like myself would somehow find invigorating rather than grating. It's almost inexplicable, as on the surface there's little going on here beyond rapidly building, scathingly loud guitar loops and incredibly noisy drumming, which periodically bursts into even more massive crescendos. Songs build into full blown guitar-warfare, and it's very exciting, energising stuff to hear. Everything is meticulously crafted yet utterly DIY, and many tracks overflow with the infectious energy of a great live performance. With Hypermagic Mountain, Lightning Bolt have managed to create an absolutely manic work of noise art.
	#15 Smog - A River Ain't Too Much to Love On his twelfth (is it twelfth? I've lost count!) studio album as Smog, Bill Callahan makes the transition into folk/country, and does so with such ease and perfection that you'd expect he'd never sung anything else. A River Ain't Too Much to Love has a wonderful authentic feeling, with its pleasant southern twang being drenched in mellow strings, piano and playful harmonica. Highlight songs like "Palpimsest," "The Well," "In the Pines" and (most of all) "Let Me See the Colts" are just beautiful pieces of music, filled with the same relaxed contentment that characterises the best work of folksters like Iron and Wine. The assorted guest musicians are a treat too, with Joanna Newsom's piano backing on "Rock Bottom Riser" in particular being a real treat to hear. An essential album for Smog fans and folk/country fans alike. Read the Full Review
	#14 The White Stripes - Get Behind Me Satan This was The White Stripes self-conciously difficult, "change of direction" album. It's superior to 2003's excellent critical-favourite Elephant, and is the best album the Stripes have made since De Stijl. There's an awful lot to like about Get Behind Me Satan, from the unusual choices of instrumentation to the generous number of genres covered. There's some particularly excellent highlights, and "My Doorbell" in particular is probably the best single the group has released yet. The most satisfying thing, though, is that this album marks the first time Jack and Meg White have traversed the whole way to being genuinely enigmatic, larger-than-life rock stars, the likes of which haven't been abundantly present in popular music for quite a few years. Read the Full Review
	#13 Mt Eerie - No Flashlight No Flashlight is Phil Elverum's first album since leaving The Microphones moniker behind, and it's also the first to drop the majority of his trademark "how did he do that?" analogue production wizardry, leaving his strained, vastly-imperfect voice to be the album's focus. It certainly makes for a very sparse, intimate affair, and there's little doubt that this is Elverum's most personal album yet - a fact backed up by the incredibly detailed, ridiculously large liner notes (they fold out to 6' x 4' total size). For those who can handle the immediacy of his broken, wavering vocals, which sit front and centre in the production, No Flashlight is guaranteed to be an extremely rewarding listen, which reveals plenty of spine tingling moments, brilliant lyrics, subtle production touches and other burried treasure with every subsequent listen.
	#12 Laura Veirs - Year of Meteors Year of Meteors was my introduction to the world of Seattle singer/songwriter Laura Veirs, and I very much liked what I heard. The album if fairly typical singer/songwriter fare, filled with snappy lyrics and a variety of acoustic backing. The thing that makes Veirs stand out from the pack of like-minded musicians is her excellent knack with memorable melodies, her movingly earnest vocals and the album's top-rate production. Throughout the album, Veirs is accompanied perfectly by a dense (but never obtrusive) selection of strings, keys and additional instruments, which always complement the feel of her songs, but never threaten to overpower them or detract from their sincerity. Highlight tracks like "Fire Snakes," "Parisian Dream" and "Spelunking" confirm Year of Meteors status as a genuine standout release.
	#11 Serena Maneesh - Serena Maneesh Serena Maneesh came out of nowhere to deliver one of 2005's most impressive and exciting debuts. The Norwegian shoegazers play wall-of-noise pop/rock, in the spirit of My Bloody Valentine, Sonic Youth and a handful of other noisemakers, and then combine it with addictive, riff-heavy psychedelia. While not quite worthy to be placed in the company of noise-rock royaly such as Loveless, it certainly comes close, and the album's best tracks are truly exceptional pieces of work. Serena Maneesh is a fantastic first album, varied in content yet consistent in quality, and always making for an exciting listening experience. This is definitely a group everyone should be keeping an eye on. Expect big things from them. Read the Full Review
	#10 The Books - Lost and Safe The Books turned their attention inward for Lost and Safe, choosing to muse on all manner of existensialist philosophy and theories of human nature. Having opted to craft their songs with samples and full lyrics, rather than just the samples alone, they created an album simultaneously more focused and more challenging than The Lemon of Pink. Although not quite in the same level of abundance, the celebratory feel of that last album is still present, only this time elevated by a greater sense of purpose. Even if that purpose is occasionally obfuscated behind the intertwined weird vocals and weirder found sounds, it's certainly an important step forward for The Books, and they introduce their new aesthetic in very impressive fashion. Lost and Safe is a teriffic addition to The Books' already stellar catalogue. Read the Full Review
	#9 Spoon - Gimme Fiction Spoon's last album, Kill the Moonlight, was very well received, and their earlier release, Girls Can Tell, is already regarded by many as an indie-rock cornerstone of sorts. For whatever reason, Spoon's music never really did anything for me in the past, but I've enjoyed their latest release, Gimme Fiction, so much that I'm thinking of revisiting those older albums to see what I must have missed the first time around. Gimme Fiction is utterly packed with creativity, with the group's addictive melodies being channeled through snappy guitar and sinister-yet-jaunty piano. "The Beast and Dragon, Adored" is one of the year's absolute best opening tracks, too. Now if you'll excuse me, I have some catching up on their back catalogue to do. Move along.
	#8 Deerhoof - The Runners Four The Runners Four is a 20 track album of sprawling, manic experimental rock, loaded with Deerhoof's trademark thumpy guitar and East-meets-West, hyperactive pop music. How this beheamoth manages to end up being the group's most focused effort to date is anyone's guess, but through all the oddball song structures, insane time signatures, funky all-over-the-shop guitar chaos and Satomi's sugary sweet vocals, everything comes together perfectly. The Runners Four is brilliantly strange, catchy and immensely enjoyable, and you're highly unlikely to hear anything else like it. Quite simply, no one making music today sounds anything like Deerhoof - they're talented, creative and remarkably consistent, and this is one of their best albums yet.
	#7 Wolf Parade - Apologies to the Queen Mary There's been a lot of attention paid to the fact that Isaac Brock (of Modest Mouse) produced Wolf Parade's debut, and there's a very distinct Modest Mouse influence running through the album. This leads me to a fairly perplexing realisation, though - I've enjoyed Apologies to the Queen Mary much more than anything Modest Mouse have ever done. These guys were definitely the hype machine's biggest victims this year, and at first I wasn't really sure what all the fuss was about, as they seemed to be just another emotional indie-rock group. Give it time, because Apologies to the Queen Mary really grows on you over multiple listens. The songs are excellently written, and their catchy riffs and moody, passionate vocals have a way of getting under your skin and stuck in your head. There's a consitent, emotive power running through the album makes for a very engaging listen. Definitely a group to watch out for in the future.
	#6 Devendra Banhart - Cripple Crow At 22 tracks and over 70 minutes I was concerned that Cripple Crow would end up suffering from desperate need of an editor, but it only took one listen to realise that the album's generous length is simply a huge bonus. The songs here are so wonderfully joyous and beautifully strange, that you'll never want them to end. There is quite simply not even the tiniest moment of filler on Cripple Crow, and the fact that Banhart released it less than a year after 2004's dual effort of Rejoicing in the Hands and Nino Rojo just goes to show what a prolific and skilled songwriter he is. It was already clear in 2004, but Cripple Crow reinforces that Devendra Banhart is utterly deserving of his reputation as the freak-folk scene's central member, as well as its most creative voice.
	#5 Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Clap Your Hands Say Yeah Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, alongside Wolf Parade, were this year's next big thing. They suffered the obligatory anti-hype backlash that groups like The Arcade Fire know all about, but in the end all that matters is the music, and their self-titled debut is just too ridiculously catchy to ignore. There's an ongoing "the group sound like Talking Heads and the lead singer like David Byrne" discussion, but I don't really see it myself, beyond a faint similarity or two. The album's highlights, including "Let the Cool Goddess Rust Away," "The Skin of My Yellow Country Teeth," "Heavy Metal" and "Gimme Some Salt," are amongst the finest (and most addictive) pieces of pop music written this year. For anyone who likes emotive, layered indie-pop, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah is an absolutely essential release. David Bowie likes them, too, so they must be good. Read the Full Review
	#4 Bright Eyes - I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning If you've never liked Bright Eyes, then this is still an album you should check out. I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning is by far Conor Oberst's most focused effort to date, and is completely devoid of the rampant experimentalism and screamy, out-of-control vocals that characterised his previous works. Everything here can be summed up as folk/country, and there's a consistency to the album which is quite pleasing to hear after the (addmittedly very good, but somewhat exhausting) epic meanderings of 2002's Lifted. Everything here is a lot more low key, with alternately hushed and exuberant songs, which for the most part are totally lacking in anything resembling angst. That void is filled with a feeling of maturity and artistic growth, which longtime fans should find very satisfying. I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning isn't so much a change of direction as a very welcome developmental step forward, and it contains plenty of Oberst's finest songs yet. Read the Full Review
	#3 Sufjan Stevens - Illinois Even if the state of Illinois means absolutely nothing to you, there's every chance that you'll find this album utterly mesmerising. Illinois is massive in scope, with meticulously selected and flawlessly arranged instrumentation. From the album's spawling layout of alternately long and short tracks, to the huge, multi-instrumental structures of the songs themselves, everything about the album feels like an important musical event. Stevens himself plays about twenty different instruments, and that variety is highly evident in the album's dense pop-orchestrations, which are as ecclectic as they are deeply moving. This really is one of those rare albums that feels genuinely epic and valuable - a musical experience to be grateful for. If he can maintain the level of quality he's acheived on 2002's Michigan and this year's Illinois, Stevens' "50 States" project is sure to be one of modern music's most important achievements. Read the Full Review
	#2 Sleater-Kinney - The Woods At one point during "Let's Call it Love," The Woods' 11 minute psych-rock beheamoth, Corin Tucker's wailing vocals spiral out of control, and the guitar starts to bend into some sort of agonising guitar-slow-death, and it sounds a whole lot more awesome than you'd think from this description. It's this sort of thing that makes The Woods easily the most colossal, thunderous, everything-turned-up-to-eleven sounding album to emerge this year. It's laden with massive hooks, self-indulgent guitar solos, thunderous drumming and joyously noisy vocals. At times it feels a lot like a combination of 70s arena-rock and early 90s noise-rock, paying equal homage to Hendrix and Sonic Youth, and it's an amalgam that works more perfectly that you'd ever guess. Despite all these changes in the trio's aesthetic, it somehow still manages to sound just like vintage Sleater-Kinney. Listen to The Woods - it'll kick your ass. Read the Full Review
	#1 The Fiery Furnaces - Rehearsing My Choir Last year's Blueberry Boat was a massive toybox of an album, taking in ideas and influences from all directions to create something startingly complex and loveably unique. After reading a few particularly negative advance reviews which claimed the Fierys were getting too clever for their own good, my hopes for Rehearsing My Choir to live up to my expectations got smaller and smaller. How happy I was to hear my expectations being completely blown out of the water. First of all, forget all about Blueberry Boat being epic, as Rehearsing My Choir makes it sound positively simplistic by comparison. The album is based on the life and marriage of the duo's grandmother, the 83 year old Olga Sarantos, who also contributes vocals for the majority of the album (interestingly, she sounds like an androgenous cartoon character). Over the next 52 minutes we're treated to an impeccably detailed account of her life, loves and personal challenges, scattered across multiple decades and locations, all set to a backing of wildly ecclectic instrumentation including electronica, toy piano, noise rock, blues, folk, electro-pop, church organs, a capella and what can only be described as hyper-ragtime. The interplay between Olga and Elanour, who acts as something of a muse, narrator and voice of the past all at once, is spectacular, and provides easily the most entertaining, clever, funny & poignant lyrics the group have ever come up with. Many parts of the album are ingeniously self-referential, and the whole production ties together in the way that every concept album should. The rather excessive size of this synopsis only reflects just how much rewarding output there is to absord when listening to Rehearsing My Choir. "Once upon a time there were two Kevins" - "You mean two JERKS." Brilliant. Exceptional. Album of the year.