December 25, 2005
7 albums for 2005
Last year's list, revisited:
After letting some other albums sink in in January of 2005, 3 of my top seven of last year would have easily been replaced.
What we had then:
1) Arcade Fire - "Funeral"
2) b. Fleischmann and Herbert Weixelbaum present Duo 505 - "Late"
3) The Beastie Boys - "To The 5 Boroughs"
4) The Futureheads - "The Futureheads"
5) Handsome Boy Modeling School - "White People"
6) The Hidden Cameras - "Mississauga Goddamn"
7) Modest Mouse - "Good News For People Who Love Bad News"
What it would look like now:
1) Arcade Fire - "Funeral"
2) Subtle - "A New White"
3) b. Fleischmann and Herbert Weixelbaum present Duo 505 - "Late"
4) The Go! Team - "Thunder, Lightning, Strike"
5) The Futureheads - "The Futureheads"
6) MF Doom - "MM Food"
7) Modest Mouse - "Good News For People Who Love Bad News"
Subtle I didn't find until January, the Go! Team took until March for me to fully process (and it was finally released domestically this year, so I *could* technically put it on the '05 list), and MF Doom wasn't released until late December so it was hard to really get into in time for a list that was released before it came out.
But that was last year...
7 Albums For 2005
1) The National - "Alligator"
From the first time I listened to this album I knew it would top my favourites list... There's a dangerousness to, a catchy poppyness which juxtaposes against dark tendencies. Anger and frustration seem to be underlying themes, and yet there's beauty in that. It's both calming and agitating at once. Each song is a gem, with depths you can sink into over and over again. This is an immediate classic of the '00s
sample:The Geese Of Beverly Road
2) DangerDoom - "The Mouse and the Mask"
I had earlier in the year come to understand the majesty that is MF Doom, the underground/indie rap god who fashions himself in a metal mask reminiscent of Fantastic Four foe Dr. Doom, rapping frequently about food and pop culture. And just as I was getting familiar with Doom's style and flow, I caught word that he was pairing up with Danger Mouse, whose collaberation with Jemini two years ago really struck a chord with this hip hop fan who'd gotten a little dissuaded with the status of the genre. And then I found out that they were collaborating on an album which was incorporating the core Adult Swim line of cartoons (Sealab, Space Ghost, Brak, Harvey Birdman and Aqua Teen Hunger Force) which I've been pretty much obsessed with since before it was actually called "Adult Swim". There was no way this album could go wrong, and with the exception of the Meatwad rap (the Brak rap is awesome), I was totally right.
sample:Old School
3) Wolf Parade - "Apologies to Queen Mary"
This year I picked up two eps before the release of Wolf Parade's album proper, having waited for pressed sounds since hearing them on CBC radio in mid-2004. Though there was some repeated material between all three (although in different production iterations) I didn't feel at all disappointed, the songs hold up over and over and over again. Somewhat impenetrable but curious and infectious lyrics over some challenging and complex instrumentation that feels in part psychedelic, poppy, rocked out and electrofunky. Each song is its own but works as a fitting companion to the whole.
sample:This Heart's On Fire
4) Novillero - "Aim Right for the Holes in their Lives"
While I liked the New Pornographers' "Twin Cinema" well enough, it was Mint Records labelmates Novillero that put out the more attractive pop offering. Raucous to a degree but restrained in its delivery, this is one unified band. Each element, from drums, keys, tamborine, guitars, bass, vox, backup vox and even trumpet all merge together to form blood boiling power pop tunes the likes we havn't seen since Sloan got bored. If anything, it would almost seem like the band was too tight, keeping the listener out, but the occasional chord shift or change up is like a hand waving to invite us in.
sample:Dean
5) Gorillaz - "Demon Days"
And they're back. The faux band made of of cartoon characters that blew up large, real large in 2000 took their time, but have finally returned. I have to admit that as much as I loved the first album by Damon Albarn and Dan The Automator, I got a little tired of it after repeated listening and radio overdosage. I was a little sad to find that Automator hadn't returned for this second outing, but DJ Danger Mouse is a pretty damn fine successor, and he proves it by offering more complicated sampling, less obvious but no less pleasing beats, and the overall production value is stepped up a notch to make for perhaps a less immediately enjoyable album, but one which will surely hold out a lot better long term and repeatedly.
sample:Fire Coming Out Of The Monkey's Head
6) The Diskettes - "Weeknights at Islandview Beach"
The dark horse of this list, and the least likely to make anyone else's list, but let me say this list is all about what pleases and impresses me, and everyone else can stick with their one genres, I'm trying to spread my attention around a little. Which brings the Diskettes in. I hated this album upon first listen. It was so... old fashioned. Him-her sing-song melodies, with calypso style beach blanket ukelele and shakers I couldn't care less about. And yet, as the individual songs crept into the shuffle on my iPod, I found myself completely entranced, especially once the weather too a turn away from summer. You can taste the pineapple and smell the coconut when listening to this album. It's bliss. And the damn thing comes in an old 5 1/4 floppy. How neat is that?
sample:As It Happens
7) Spoon - "Gimme Fiction"
I have a love-hate relationship with the album. It's just too good and too aplenty with the perfect pop tune. Almost every track is one touch shy of being that pre-fab top-forty style of song which raises my hackles and wants to make me wretch. But that one hair also is the difference between one man's brilliance for crafting such tunes and a room full of engineers trying to emulate that very same sound. Spoon's Britt Daniel sits down behind his piano and out comes something that makes Neil Diamond seethe with jealousy. This album came with a four track ep which had three stripped down versions of songs off the album and one non-album track, and these pared back songs are actually even more enjoyable and catchy than the originals.
sample:The Delicate Place
not quite there
New Pornographers: "Twin Cinema"
Yes, they topped my list two years ago. Yes this album is technically better than the last two, but it's also less interesting. The upbeat peppiness has been eschewed for an almost carnival feel, and a forced sense of doing something different. It's all good, and interesting, really, but it's not more enjoyable than the top seven.
Ninja High School: "Young Adults Against Suicide"
I understand all the hubub over the band, why some people hate them and why others just don't get it. But I do get it, but I also get that listening to all 14 tracks in a row exposes the bands weaknesses. They're a definite ep or singles band. In fact, if I didn't think it was cheating I would have included their two-song 7" (By Purpose Not By Plan/It's Alright To Fight) in my top 7.
The Life And Hard Times Of Guy Terrifico soundtrack: "Bring It Back Home"
The copyright on the album says 2004, but I think it was sat on until this year when "Guy Terrifico" hit the Toronto International Film Festival (winning "Best Canadian Feature"). I've been a big fan of Matt Murphy across his Superfriendz and Flashing Lights (and back) days, so I was really intrigued to both see the film and him as an actor, and hear what he would do with some country tunes. I was pleasantly surprised. And not just surprised, these songs are country with that alt pop edge which Murphy excels at. In serving the needs of the film Murphy, with director Michael Mabbot, have created a fascinating and genuine country album that isn't just kitschy mocumentary music. If it sinked in a little faster it would have made top 7.
DJ Format: "If You Can't Join 'Em... Beat 'Em"
Oh, yes. This is what's been missing. I love where hip hop is getting taken by Doom and Danger Mouse and the like, but it's nice to have a solid album of classic rhymin over beats and Format has the years best conventional hip hop.
Bell Orchestre: "Recording A Tape The Colour Of The Light"
Oh, it's good, but it doesn't quite capture the power of the live sound. But it is good, and the great thing is with their affiliation with the Arcade Fire, they're exposing orchestral chamber music to a whole different kind of crowd. And it's good.
>>>>>>>Meh<<<<<<<
Sufjan Stevens: "Illinois"
You know, really, whatever. Since every music blog has been all gaga over Sufjan this year, I've managed to download practically every song off the album and not a one has grabbed me as anything interesting or special. It's not that it's bad, but it's not nearly as good as everyone's made it out to be. Perhaps it works better as an album than as individual songs, but I just don't care enough to find out. Sufjan is the Kanye of indie rock.
Caribou: "The Milk of Human Kindness"
This was an early favourite in 2005. I liked it a tremendous amount from the get-go, but as the months wared on, so too did this album, and what I once found fascinating soon became tedious or dull. Caribou just doesn't hold up that well to repeated listening. The Marino dvd/ep however is fantastic for both it's highlights of Manitoba/Caribou past and present, and the new songs on the ep have progressed to Aphex Twin-like realms which sound great.
Final Fantasy: "Has A Good Home"
Part Andrew Bird, part Stephin Merritt, Owen Pallett hits all the right inspirations, but "Has A Good Home" hit's too many highs and lows within each song to really inspire me. It's at times clever, at times peppy, at times inventive, but it's also at times redundant, at times tedious, and often a little painful when Pallett strains his vocals beyond their natural reach. I hear the live show is amazing though.
Edan: "Beauty and the Beat"
Oh, I bought into it too. Beatheads love love love this album because Edan, perhaps for the first time, takes hip-hop into the psychedelic age. I won't deny that it's an interesting album, but it's not really something you want to play for background sounds, or when you're out on a stroll, or if you working out, or really any other situation. It's one of those critical favourites nobody actually wants to listen to.
Blackalicious: "The Craft"
I'm a big, big fan of the Quannum crew, Blackalicious especially, however this new album fails big time because of one horrendous miscalculation by the name of "Powers" in which the Gift Of Gab thinks he's Huey Lewis or something. Ouch. On the other hand, the Craft also has six or seven tracks which are their best ever... the awfulness of "Powers" overshadows it all... except for "Egosonic War Drums" which may be my favourite song of 2005.
Black Mountain: "Black Mountain"
I don't really like psychedelia, and revival psychedelia impresses me even lest. I tried, really, I tried.
muse-sick