Best of 2005

THE D MAN'S BEST OF 2005

A Refresher If You Have Just Come On Board

It has been another great year in music, if you know where to look.  What goes for rock on the radio now starts with Nickelback and ends with, well, Nickelback.  Scary.  It almost makes you wish for the days of Creed or Seven Mary Three.  And then there are the endless, formulaic songs that keep coming out of Nashville—well, I can’t be too critical here, since CMT has managed to snag my undivided attention more than once.  Call it comfort television.   

Fortunately, the availability of great music has never been more at our individual fingertips—just click and play.  The entire musical universe digitally (magically?) appears, floating over the wires ready for a listen.  From indie rock to alternative country, from choir-folk to psychadelia, my list represents this expansion of sound, rather than the narrowing trends you hear on your radio.  (Assuming you even listen to the radio anymore).

Unlike years past, where a few records carved their way into my constant hums and thoughts, only one album this year gave me chills and took my breath away—the incomparable Illinois, Sufjan Steven’s landmark musical statement to God and country.  (Two states down, only 48 more to go).  However, the other albums that follow are excellent artistic achievements in their own right.  Many of them will certainly remain vital listening for years to come.  Enjoy!

*As always, I include the following disclaimer: Due to limited funds, I was unable to purchase several albums that would likely have been somewhere on this list.  The albums on this list are all ones I actually own and have listened to repeatedly.

1.  Illinois, Sufjan Stevens

A sprawling, majestic, and altogether intimate American masterpiece.  This record is beautiful on so many levels, from the lyrical, lush songwriting to the perfectly arranged melodies.  The compositions are complex and stunning.  From alien landings and serial killers, to zombies and teenage lovers with cancer, Sufjan weaves a narrative filled with wonder and loss.  His gospel-choir-psychadelic-folk tapestries move through every corner of the State, and one can’t help but nod your head in agreement: “Stephen A. Douglas was the Great Debater, but Abraham Lincoln was the Great Emancipator.”

2.  Z, My Morning Jacket

With Z, My Morning Jacket have entered elite company with their swirling walls of voice and sound—they now defy any reference to their influences, inhabiting a musical realm all of their own.  Although this album retains some of their southern, psychedelic jam-rock, MMJ moves into spacey new territory, taking us on an aural journey filled with darker shades and hues.  This album was made for the vinyl age, when the purest way to listen was to throw on your head phones and drift away.

3.  Face The Truth, Stephen Malkmus

Another excellent addition to the ex-Pavement frontman’s already formidable canon.  This is a diverse batch of oddball anthems and soliloquies, pulling apart in various directions. Malkmus continues to grow and experiment as an artist, this time messing with keyboards and vocal production to great effect.  But as always, it is Malkmus’ adventurous guitar-doodling and English-major drop-out lyrics that provide the giggles and smiles.

4.  Cold Roses, Ryan Adams & The Cardinals

The first of three releases in 2005 by the prolific singer-songwriter, Cold Roses is an ambitious double-album filled with throw-back country-rock tunes, reminiscent of early Dead or Graham Parsons.  Now backed by his excellent band, Adams continues to keep the music organic and ragged, changing his feelings and voice like the weather.  Some criticize Adams and his overzealous output, arguing that less would be more.  But that doesn’t change the fact that this is the best country-rock album of the year.

5.  Nashville, Josh Rouse

Lush and shimmering, this collection of perfect pop finds Rouse paying homage to his late hometown of Nashville.  Similar to something you would have heard on AM radio in the 70’s, the smooth songwriting will result in repeated listens for anyone who appreciates intelligent hooks and subtle craftsmanship—something the other Nashville music scene rarely gives us.  “Winter in the Hamptons” might be the best pop song of the year.

6.  Black Sheep Boy, Okkervil River

This Austin collection sounds a little bit ragged and tired, as if they just came in from driving all night from El Paso.  And their music reflects this southwestern trek, replete with border trumpets and picked-over strings.  Will Sheff’s songwriting is some fierce prose, moving in and out of anger and despondency.  The lyrics thematically hang together, like strange fairy-tales hatched in some night-time desert field, or in the back of a lonely cantina.  

7.  Tiny Cities, Sun Kil Moon

Mark Kozelak, formerly of the Red House Painters and now Sun Kil Moon, devotes an entire album to covering Modest Mouse songs.  Need I say more?  Not really, but I will.  This effort doesn’t compare to Sun Kil Moon’s first triumph Ghosts of the Great Highway (one of the best albums of the last five years), but it still slowly shimmers its way into the back of your throat.  Listen to the beautiful rendition of “Neverending Math Equation,” or the solemn “Trucker’s Atlas.”  The album is caught between two worlds—the frenetic death wishes of MM, and the stately elegies of SKM—both posing the unanswerable.

8.  Plans, Death Cab For Cutie

A lot was riding on Plans, Death Cab’s major label debut and its first real attempt to garner the wide mainstream audience the band easily accommodates and deserves.  And for the most part Plans delivers.  This album offers more of the same melodocism and off-kilter open-heartedness that has long made Death Cab indie darlings, but it also ventures into some new territory with the likes of “Soul Meets Body” and “I’ll Follow You Into the Dark.”  But the best tracks are the bubbling “Marching Bands of Manhattan” and the wistful “Brothers in A Hotel Bed.”

9.  Guero, Beck

Donde esta el biblioteca?

10.  Some Cities, Doves

There are some fine songs on this latest effort from the Manchester trio.  (Singer Jez Williams and drummer Andy Williams are brothers).  Two of these songs went Top 10 inEngland, which just goes to show you the Brits have better taste in music than we do.  Doves will likely never break it big here on the other side of the pond.  But no matter.  This set of autumnal rock and spaced-out grooves will delight their growing legion of fans.  

11.  Blinking Lights and Other Revelations, Eels

The ugly-duckling singer/musician for the Eels, only known as E, still drowns in his own melancholy, but at least this time he seems to notice some light at the edges of his pool. Many songs on Blinking Lights are wistful, even humorous, and bely a growing sense of possibility.  Well-crafted and understated lo-fi indie rock, this album might be higher on the list were it not for its own ambition.  A double-album of thirty-three songs, there are just a few too many breaks in what is otherwise a fuzzy collection of compelling songs.

12.  Get Behind Me Satan, The White Stripes

This album was my biggest disappointment of the year, and yet, it is still so good that it makes my list.  That just tells you how good The White Stripes are.  Their last effort, the virtuosic Elephant, was my number one album of 2003, so obviously the only place The Stripes could go was down.  This album finds Jack and Meg at a crossroads, experimenting with some new sounds (marimba’s anyone?), some to good effect, others not so much.  But they still produced 5 or 6 songs that stand with any of their best.  When your lead single, “Blue Orchid,” tells Lucifer off, you can’t help but give them some respect.

13.  Set Yourself On Fire, Stars

This loose Canadian collective hails from the exploding Montreal music scene (see: The Arcade Fire, Broken Social Scene, Wolf Parade), with several of its members moonlighting from other outfits.  But the results are gorgeous, orchestral pop songs and overwrought romance, which is only enhanced by the shared lead vocal duties of Amy Millan and Torquil Campbell.  The priceless gem on this album is “Ageless Beauty,” a lovely affair of dreamy guitars.

14.  Jacksonville City Nights, Ryan Adams & The Cardinals

More broken-hearted and twisted country blues from the former Whiskeytown frontman.  (There are rumours they are getting back together!)  This album is more downbeat than Cold Roses, and has a couple of throwaway tracks, but it still shines on such backwoods shakers like “The Hardest Part” and “Silver Bullets.”  And if you’re interested, there is even a duet with Norah Jones—of course, only for the ears of your significant others.

15. Who’s Your New Professor?, Sam Prekop

Let’s say you lived in Chicago, had fantastic taste in music, and you came home to your urban loft with a group of intelligent friends for the after-party—what would you listen to? Most likely Sam Prekop’s smooth, funky, bossa-nova cool.  Frontman for the Sea and the Cake, Prekop’s second solo album is quiet and reflective, yet still manages to swagger with subtle flourishes of jazz and funk, making it far more than engaging background music.  Intelligent stuff indeed.

These latecomers round out the Top 20—all of them possibly fitting in somewhere between 4-15!

The Mysterious Production of Eggs, Andrew Bird

I’m still fuming that I missed him when he came to campus—alas, I couldn’t afford even the reasonable ticket prices.  Damn you student loans!  I likely missed the following: a world-class whistler (yes, he does include some solos), a multi-instrumentalist (he played in the Squirrel Nut Zippers), and a singer-songwriter who orchestrates angular and fuzzy odes devoted to medicine, palindromes, and measuring cups.

Several Arrows Later, Matt Pond PA

This Pennsylvania group (hence PA) produces rich, velvety pop songs, and in a better world they would receive wide-airplay and possess a massive audience.  Pond’s layered vocals are lush, the songs are catchy, and the band can turn it up or let it burn.  I’ve decided the rock band I never formed would have sounded something like this.

You’re So Silent Jens, Jens Lekman

Someone hasn’t told this delightful Scandinavian that the 70’s are over, and the days of making quaint, perfect little pop gems ended with that decade.  They haven’t told him that using soft, sunlight strings, melodic piano chords, and even bouncy horns and percussions are too pretty, perhaps a bit too sentimental.  Thankfully, Jens isn’t listening.  His second album is certain to put a warm smile on your face, and will make you want to curl up and sip a cup of tea, or grab your argyle sweater and walk down to the public library on a crisp afternoon.

Infiniheart, Chad VanGaalen

I suppose if you hail from Calgary, everyone expects that your music will be icy, spare, and insular.  While this may be an apt description for some of VanGaalen’s tracks, his first Sub Pop release surprisingly reveals an array of sounds.  From jittery ballads to expansive, prismatic guitar-work, this album is both glacial and intimate, soft and surreal.  The song-structures hang together by a common thread of sci-fi themes, futuristic pondering, and finding a sort of spiritual significance in the mundane.

     

Woman King / In the Reins, Iron & Wine

Sam Beam.  Community-college film teacher.  Woozy, soft-spoken southern romantic.  Poetic lyricist.  And growing indie-folk legend.  These two EPs are as good as anything he’s done—and that is saying something.  Woman King adds more instruments than usual, even some electric guitar flourishes, circling up and down like strange hymns.  In the Reinshas more of a southwestern vibe, kicking up dusty paths and forgotten-town grooves.  Reins is a tag-team effort with Calexico, a very fine band in their own right.

Honorable Mention

Sigur Ros, Takk

Nada Surf, The Weight is A Gift

Ivy, In the Clear

Brendan Benson, Alternative to Love

Athlete, Tourist

Caribou, The Milk of Human Kindness

Songs

Song of the Year: “The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades Is Out To Get Us!”—Sufjan Stevens, Illinois

Single of the Year: “Blue Orchid”—The White Stripes, Get Behind Me Satan