| The Top 30 Albums of 2005
Oftentimes, lists are most accurate when they're fresh. But, I'll be honest: 2006 is just now hitting its stride. There are some great bands that are releasing hyped albums in March and April (Built to Spill, Mogwai, Secret Machines), but the only 2006 albums I've bought thus far are Sonic Youth's SYR6, Robert Pollard's From a Compound Eye, and Destroyer's Destroyer's Rubies. Those are all good records, but I'm still very much dwelling on last year's flurry of great ones.
First of all, making your year-end list before Christmas is dumb, and I'll never make the mistake again. I bought at least ten more albums that were released last year with my Christmas money, and several of them blow my mind. My obsession with 2005 wages on, and I'm compelled to finalize my favorites. Here are my 30 favorite of 2005, the most consistently excellent year of music I can remember.
 #30: Black Dice - Broken Ear Record
CHECK: "Snarly Yow" / "Smiling Off" / "Street Dude"
Are Black Dice musicians? Their dense cycles of crude electronic eruptions are rarely listenable, and they tour with bands that play EVEN LOUDER than they do. Perhaps they're musical criminals, but their anti-formula is astonishing and worth checking out. Chances are pretty good that, unless you listen to Wolf Eyes or SYR records, you will dislike Black Dice's studio albums. But, their soundscapes can be engaging, and their live setup is absolutely bad ass. In fact, they're probably the most ethereal live act I've ever seen. I'll admit that a few tracks on Broken Ear Record are flat out ridiculous in every way, but Black Dice has a mysterious aura of abstraction that can never be equaled.
 #29: The Warlocks - Surgery
CHECK: "Come Save Us" / "It's Just Like Surgery" / "Angels in Heaven, Angels in Hell"
I'll say it now: it ain't no Phoenix Album, but its first four tracks kick ass. With heavier drums and more production, Surgery sounds closer to a radio-friendly record, but the Warlocks are still the Warlocks. They still bathe themselves in basic psychedelia, sticking to their strengths and not doing anything stupid like releasing acoustic bluegrass wannabe albums (yeah, I'm talking to you, B.R.M.C.).
 #28: Wilco - Kicking Television: Live in Chicago
CHECK: "Misunderstood" / "Via Chicago" / "Poor Places" / "Spiders (Kidsmoke)"
A Ghost Is Born is produced in such a way that the listener often asks: "What if they did something different?" or "What if they rocked out more?" Indeed, there is an intense restraint in the musical execution of most moments on Ghost. Tweedy is somber, and the pianos and drones hum in quiet anger while the fluid guitar playing keeps things beautiful. Whatever your impression of Ghost may be, the album's songs definitely fit best on stage, where intensity is maximized and possibilities are endless. Predictably, the greatest songs of Wilco's Chicago set are the most intense. "Spiders" appears in magnanimous form at the end of the set, and it is preceded by a more sonic version of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot's "Poor Places." The Ghost songs are all considerably more captivating, as Wilco plays with more fiery emotion and angst-ridden noise. Great sound quality is always accepted, too. More gold stars for one of the best bands on tour.
 #27: Lightning Bolt - Hypermagic Mountain
CHECK: "Mega Ghost" / "Dead Cowboy" / "Mohawk Windmill"
The fourth album from the pioneers of bass noise, Hypermagic Mountain is an even more vicious display of bass guitar noise and rabid drumming than its predecessors. It's lengthier, less organized, and more disgusting. Please refrain from drug use while listening to Lightning Bolt. You might DIE.
 #26: Isol`ee - We Are Monster
CHECK: "Schrapnell" / "Madchen mit Hase" / "Pillowtalk"
Isol`ee is a trippy electronic group from Germany. Their songs dilate the brain and churn the ecstacy, making for great rave music. It's all instrumental, so the focus is on the cerebellum, making warping cycles of sonic brilliance.
 #25: Bonnie "Prince" Billy and Matt Sweeney - Superwolf
When you combine Bonnie "Prince" Billy's songwriting with Matt Sweeney's instrumentation, you get nothing less than an exceptional album. It's a perfect soundtrack for dirt roads and country creeks abroad.
 #24: Galaxie 500 - Peel Sessions
CHECK: "Flowers" / "Blue Thunder" / "Don't Let Our Youth Go to Waste"
Supposedly the final posthumous Galaxie 500 release, Peel Sessions is quite simply a well-produced live set with John Peel. In fact, it's so well-produced that the original versions of these tracks will sound lame for a while. But when all is said and done, "Flowers" and "Don't Let Our Youth Go to Waste" are the only two songs on Peel Sessions that truly outdo their respective album versions. The set would be even better if Galaxie had played 3 of their own songs instead of their covers of "Submission," "Final Day," and "Moonshot." But, the five Galaxie originals (counting "Don't Let Our Youth Go to Waste" as a Galaxie original) are amazing enough that Peel Sessions fits right in with every wonderful Galaxie 500 document.
 #23: The Crooked Fingers - Dignity and Shame
CHECK: "Call to Love" / "Andalucia"
My favorite Crooked Fingers release is their 2001 self-titled album, where the band mingles beautifully with depression and possessed passion with sparse instrumentation. The moods are still present in 2005, but the record sounds bigger and more dramatic than early Crooked Fingers. It's hard to determine if the band is refining its sound or stepping backward into brighter light. Indeed, there is less darkness and more inspiration on Dignity and Shame. But, it's still very much a classic Crooked Fingers record, and a fine addition to the great Merge catalog.
 #22: Caribou - The Milk of Human Kindness
CHECK: "Yeti" / "Bees" / "Brahminy Kite"
Dan Snaith works better with form rather than disorder. Manitoba is an incredibly interesting outfit of electronic buzzing, but Caribou packs an awesome sonic attack with standout percussion and effective repetition.
 #21: The Kingsbury Manx - The Fast Rise and Fall of the South
CHECK: "What a Shame" / "Zero G" / "Ol' Mountainsides"
Maybe I'm a little bit biased since I know Ryan, the drummer of Kingsbury Manx, as a fellow local record store employee. However, The Fast Rise and Fall of the South is suitable for any Pavement or Wilco fan out there. Not that Kingsbury sounds much like either of those bands, but they blend southern atmospheres with intellectual songwriting as well as anyone, and the epic closer, "Ol' Mountainsides," is a top nominee for one of the year's most intense and best songs.
 #20: Silver Jews - Tanglewood Numbers
CHECK: "Punks in the Beerlight" / "The Farmer's Hotel" / "There Is a Place"
Frontman D.C. Berman underwent extensive stress in his life before composing Tanglewood Numbers. Struggling through suicide attempts and dangerous drugs, Berman eventually overcame his illness and returned with a fantastic mini-epic. Steve Malkmus's presence is felt less on Tanglewood Numbers, allowing the Jews to find their own unique sound. American Water is still the band's best album, but it sounded almost too much like Pavement, especially when Malkmus sang. Tanglewood Numbers features Berman singing almost every line, and cranking up the volume, reverb, and rock action.
 #19: Smog - A River Ain't Too Much to Love
CHECK: "Say Valley Maker" / "The Well" / "Rock Bottom Riser"
Sarcastic, weary, isolated - Bill Callahan sings like a tired poet on his umpteenth Smog record. His lyrical genius never wanes: "With the grace of a corpse in a riptide, I let go and I slide slide slide down river with an empty case by my side."
 #18: The Mountain Goats - The Sunset Tree
CHECK: "This Year" / "Dilaudid" / "Lion's Teeth" / "Love Love Love"
John Darnielle is a flatout amazing storyteller. He sustains a high level of emotional intensity atop his lo-fi grooves, conveying his angst in beautiful fashion. Darnielle's "new sound" is polished and produced, unlike the early boom box-recorded Mountain Goats material. And he has a number of musical helpers to add a more earthy feel to his honest subject matter. Darnielle combines pop sensibilities with intense storytelling, pouring onto his lyrics pages uncontrollable bursts of emotion and whatever fragments of brilliance pop into his prolific imagination. The Sunset Tree is a masterpiece of drunken romanticism. The Mountain Goats are one of the most unusual bands to find shelter under the ever-expanding umbrella term of indie rock.
 #17: My Morning Jacket - Z
CHECK: "Wordless Chorus" / "Gideon" / "Lay Low"
Just how "classic" does My Morning Jacket sound? It Still Moves rocked out for over 70 minutes, as the band showed great guitar chemistry, every guitar lick massive and convincing. Z begins unpredictably with an almost cute keyboard melody on "Wordless Chorus." The next two tracks sprawl out, focusing more on atmospherics than guitar punch. Z as a whole is more hushed, more in space than former My Morning Jacket. But, some songs like "Lay Low" still rock very hard. The band is still a vintage rock ensemble, and they've done almost everything right.
 #16: Spoon - Gimme Fiction
CHECK: "The Two Sides of Monsieur" / "My Mathematical Mind" / "Sister Jack"
Spoon's most straightforward album to date, Gimme Fiction lacks the inverted pop brilliance of 2002's killer, Kill the Moonlight. But, there are some wonderful tracks that stand out well enough to make more than a convincing case for Gimme Fiction. "The Beast and Dragon, Adored" and "My Mathematical Mind" have the band rocking unlike ever before. And, the radio hits, "I Turn My Camera On" and "Sister Jack," are perfect examples of Britt Daniel's songwriting talent. One of Merge's finest groups still maintains their LP consistency.
 #15: Animal Collective - Feels
CHECK: "Flesh Canoe" / "The Purple Bottle" / "Turn Into Something"
I never bought into Animal Collective before hearing Feels. Their past efforts do little for me, as I hear nothing but silly chants and campfire doodling on Sung Tongs. Here Comes the Indian is worth checking out, but it's often to shrill and random to please the ear. I respected the band for their originality, but found them only interesting at best. There seemed to be a missing element in those early records, something to tie the fragmented mayhem together. Feels incorporates form with Animal Collective's sonic rubble, allowing the fleshy ambience to glide and progress rather than linger in nothingness.
 #14: Stephen Malkmus - Face the Truth
CHECK: "Pencil Rot" / "It Kills" / "No More Shoes"
Malkmus may be the "Bob Dylan" of his generation, at least in the underground. After Pavement called it quits in 1999, he immediately rebounded with solid solo material on his self-titled record. Pig Lib followed in 2003, when Malkmus was in a more ironic mood than usual. That record bled with oddities, abstract yet true to Malkmus's songwriting. His 2005 release acts similarly to its predecessor, but with even more crazy keyboards and a more enlightened sense of humor. He proclaims on the opener, "Pencil Rot": "You were crawling and dancing to the top of the human shit pile! SHIT PILE!" "It Kills" follows with one of Malkmus's best vocal choruses: "It kills, it iiit iiiit ki-ills sometimes!" Face the Truth is Malkmus's best post-Pavement effort.
 #13: Ladytron - The Witching Hour
CHECK: "High Rise" / "Destroy Everything You Touch" / "Soft Power"
I won't lie, The Witching Hour makes me wanna have sex. A LOT. Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating, but the album is a sweet mix between hazy noise rock and electronic dance music. It's almost built for dark rooms with flashing white lights and fog machines.
 #12: Devendra Banhart - Cripple Crow
CHECK: "Now That I Know" / "Santa Maria de Feira" / "I Feel Just Like a Child" / "Cripple Crow"
Banhart seemed to be peaking on his third album, Rejoicing in the Hands. But, his leap into more conventional songwriting on Cripple Crow was excellent. The record is epic, clocking in at over 74 minutes of music. Just about every track is perfect, the gentle guitars reverberating throughout Devendra's empty concert hall. He sounds like a singer singing to open space, completely comfortable in his own aura. What the record lacks, however, is Devendra's moans, sighs, and deepest depression that once made him so harshly engaging. Then again, the new approach has its own great qualities. Banhart introduces a vast arsenal of styles on Cripple Crow, a wandering towards new musical heights, away from his harsh minimalism. Banhart still aims towards pessimism and depression, yet adds jumpy moments to make his style more variable (I think I heard a wah-wah pedal somewhere in the mix!). The fact is, one of indie folk's finest musicians is still improving.
 #11: Mogwai - Government Commissions: BBC Sessions 1996-2003
This is a great display of how intense a Mogwai live set is. "Like Herod" sprawls and churns guts with walls of feedback for 18 minutes! "New Paths to Helicon Pt 1" is also long and full of noise. "Stop Coming to My House" and "Cody" are more cerebral and intense than their respective album versions. "RU Still In 2 It" drops the vocals, but improves musically with pretty harmonics. "Superheroes of BMX" is a grindy non-LP track that rides with feedback and alien effects. The only missing elements here are "2 Rights Make 1 Wrong" and "Mogwai Fear Satan," though it's still nice to hear improved versions of latter day material. Mogwai has perhaps the most compelling live sound of all time.
 #10: Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
CHECK: "Details of the War" / "The Skin of My Yellow Country Teeth" / "Upon This Tidal Wave of Young Blood"
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah gets a shitload of hype, and their band name suggests that they might be overrated. My first impressions were of a trendy catchy indie dance band. Perhaps they really are all of the above, but their record is undeniably wonderful. The tone of the bass, the simple, yet well-executed beats and guitars, the unforced vocal emotion, Clap Your Hands is humble springtime rock and roll.
 #09: M83 - Before the Dawn Heals Us
CHECK: "Moon Child" / "Don't Save Us From the Flames" / "Teen Angst" / "Lower Your Eyelids to Die With the Sun"
An electronic Pure Phase? You bet. You could travel all the way to the M83 galaxy itself and not find any space rock that is as "out there" as its respective french band. Before the Dawn Heals Us is a long refreshing tour through many different atmospheres. Anthony Gonzalez (aka M83) makes satellites out of brains with layers upon layers of keyboard drones, distant female voices, and insane highs, lows, and heavenly blows.
 #08: Blood on the Wall - Awesomer
CHECK: "Stoner Jam" / "I'd Like to Take You Out Tonight"
Given that Blood on the Wall derive directly from Sonic Youth and Pavement, given that they sound exactly like an early 90s alternative art rock band, and given that they lack lyrical talent, this sophomore album amazingly could not be more awesome. I'm all for throwing away the ever building pressures of originality and sticking to your talents. If you have as much fun making music as Blood on the Wall, your own sound will develop itself - so is the case on Awesomer. You forget their immediate influences because the music itself is great and, sometimes, even more thrilling than its ancestors.
 #07: Sleater-Kinney - The Woods
CHECK: "Jumpers" / "What's Mine Is Yours" / "Let's Call It Love"
The Woods succeeds in establishing the female power trio as an essential band. From the opening death blast of "The Fox" to the closing decomposition of the cutting-edge epic, "Let's Call It Love," Sleater-Kinney washes the ear with sprawls of shredding rock action and noise freak outs. 2002's One Beat was the band's masterpiece of alternative riff-rock, but The Woods is expansive with large effects pedal digressions. Any Daydream Nation fan would be pleased by "Let's Call It Love," which builds and builds until it self-destructs, only to miraculously come back together for maximum impact.
 #06: Dead Meadow - Feathers
CHECK: "Let's Jump In" / "At Her Open Door" / "Sleepy Silver Door"
Feathers is a sludgy rocker that sounds more focused than Dead Meadow's earlier work. They fit on the bill with Warlocks, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, and Sleater-Kinney, packing amazing guitar howls with classic rock riffs. The incredible 14-minute jam, "Sleepy Silver Door," ends the album on a perfect "I can't fucking wait to see this band live" note. They are indeed a must-see live act, built for the trippy light show and peel-your-face-off volume levels.
 #05: Serena Maneesh - Serena Maneesh
CHECK: "Selena's Melodie Fountain" / "Don't Come Down Here" / "Your Blood in Mine"
Space rock, neo-psychedelia, noise rock - whatever terms can be used to define bands that warp minds with cerebral noise and atmospheres, Serena Maneesh crystallizes all that is great about the broad styles. It is difficult for any explosive space rock group to avoid comparisons to Spacemen 3, My Bloody Valentine, and Sonic Youth. However, when records are as incredible, flowing, and gravitational as Serena Maneesh's self-titled effort, they are great regardless. The most fiery album I have heard since the Secret Machines' Now Here Is Nowhere, Serena Maneesh never loses an ounce of momentum throughout its 58 minute life span.
 #04: Wolf Parade - Apologies to the Queen Mary
CHECK: "Grounds For Divorce" / "Shine a Light" / "This Heart's On Fire"
Produced by Isaac Brock, this tight indie rock band from Montreal is a triumph over its unfair comparison to Modest Mouse and the Arcade Fire. Their vocals and lyrics are reminiscent of Bowie and Eno, if anyone, and they possess multiple songwriters, making for a more interesting musical chemistry. Supreme with backing keyboards and possessive guitar power, Wolf Parade has issued one of the most impressive debuts I can remember.
 #03: The Clientele - Strange Geometry
CHECK: "Since K Got Over Me" / "I Can't Seem to Make You Mine" / "E.M.P.T.Y."
The Clientele are all about feverish dream alienation, in a pretty and atmospheric way. Merge's latest success story preserves their alchemy of intense reverb and tremolos, but crystallizes the production to create a more focused and accessible album. "Since K Got Over Me" (needless to say one of the record's lamer tracks) even got nominated for "song of the year" by the PLUG Independent Music Awards people. For even better, more classic Clientele, listen past the poppy track 1 to find blissful melodies and flawless guitar work. For a band that relies on atmospherics to define its sound, the Clientele sound amazingly focused on their new record. Although there are no wonderful epics like the Violet Hour's “The House Always Wins,” every note and line of verse is concise, packed with intensity and meaning. Strange Geometry does a wonderful job capturing the mirage and the echo of a spooky city life.
 #02: LCD Soundsystem - LCD Soundsystem
CHECK: "Daft Punk Is Playing at My House" / "Losing My Edge" / "Beat Connection" / "Yeah (crass version)"
Though you'd need a notebook to fully document every influence mentioned on "Losing My Edge," the opening track on disc 2 of LCD Soundsystem, the album is perfection. I must admit that LCD's new post-punk attitude towards Can and Daft Punk is more captivating and fun. With this flawless 2-disc sonic dance album in my stereo, my brain is hyper focused, completely intent on beating to the cycles of electronic pleasure.
 #01: Sufjan Stevens - Illinois
CHECK: "Come On! Feel the Illinoise!" / "John Wayne Gacy, Jr." / "Chicago" / "Casimir Pulaski Day" / "They Are Night Zombies!" / "The Tallest Man, the Broadest Shoulders"
Sufjan may never travel to all 50 states, but he captures so many emotions, tells so many compelling stories, and builds so many diverse emotional crescendos that Illinois could serve as the nation's musical manifesto. At its very best, Illinois features songs that shift from piano to violin, from guitar to banjo, in uplifting fashion. Of course, the album's most dramatic moment occurs during the mellow soul-searcher "John Wayne Gacy, Jr." Few records cover so much musical ground. No other 2005 LPs are quite as essential.
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