This year the “upcoming releases” list at my local record shop felt more often than not like a stack of unopened Christmas presents. And most of the time those plastic-wrapped jewel cases had just what I wanted inside. Old horses returned to form or found a new level, and there were plenty of pleasant surprises to reward branching out. After over-thinking the question, I really can’t pin the bumper crop to any phenomena. I have my pet theories, but I’ll resist listing them because I don’t want to give anyone excuses for next year.
The best albums from 2005 came from all over the map, making this year particularly satisfying. No one sound ruled the roost. In what was called a down year for rap in these very pages, we still had standout records that you’ll see in more “best of 2005” lists than this one. There are also albums you could call punk, indie, new wave, classic rock, roots, folk and dance music. That’s eight categories for a list of ten (plus some). Hell, I’ve got two albums from cartoons. Not too shabby.
Today every seven days is dubbed the “best week ever” but in the annals of great years for music, it’s hard to remember a year that was great in this many ways.
I hope you had as much fun as I did this year, and if you haven’t found these records yet you still have time to say you were there — if you hurry. Happy 2006.
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1. Sleater Kinney – The Woods
“You’re looking at an early candidate for album of the year. Get this album. Run. 10 out of 10”
That classic fan boy line to cap my late-May review probably cost me some street cred with the InisdePulse powers that be and a few readers, but I stand by the directive. Maybe three albums a decade take over my airspace they way this album did and I feel no guilt in making it personal. It’s that kind of album. Visceral, smart, bold and energizing. Take it to the bank.
Sleater Kinney spent most of its career being the kind of band I would introduce slowly and usually with only a few choice tracks, because it’s a polarizing band. A small audience loves them and most wouldn’t miss them. With this album, the band blew past its former expectations, tested its limits and found a sound that recalls The Velvet Underground and Nico, Led Zeppelin II, and Daydream Nation. It’s a big album. It’s Sleater Kinney’s turn.
2. Wilco – Kicking Television: Live In Chicago
It’s the second year in a row a live album made my top ten. I own a substantial number of live albums but rarely think of them in a top-ten context. In both cases (The Name of This Band is Talking Heads was last year’s entry) the album marked a stage in the band’s progress that wasn’t captured in the studio and cast the songs in a very different light.
This album is heavy on songs from Summerteeth, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, and A Ghost Is Born and despite the fact that they’re all good albums, the first suffered from a Brian Wilson fixation, the second from iffy production and the third from a stifling lack of air (not to mention a few deliberate stabs at alienating the listener). A couple of exceptions noted, most of the songs are better here than on the studio version, some significantly so. This is the sound of a band coming out of the storm, clinging to the tunes that saw them through.
3. Little Brother – The Minstrel Show
This album has been creeping up the list every time I come back for another look. On the surface it’s a very good rap album with honest story telling, several great tracks and beginning-to-end quality beats. Just below the surface, it’s an achievement. It’s still fun to listen to when the fact sinks in, but The Minstrel Show is much more than a good listen — it’s a breakthrough in every sense of the word. The key is in the Sgt. Pepper-like construct of UBN’s “Minstrel Show” — a TV variety show designed to sell “black” to the mass (read: white) market in a form that fits into the way white people already think of black people.
At first, it feels like simple commentary, but on repeated listening it becomes evident that it’s a way for the group to acknowledge their increasing popularity, let it go and be themselves without fearing the creeping sense that they might be selling out. And being themselves turns out to be a pretty good thing. There’s the tension between feeling like a part of the local North Carolina scene and going “worldwide,” romantic entanglements, a track about waking up in the morning and — not to be forgotten — a goof on seventies soul that deals with finding a strange number on your girl’s cell phone. It’s real life made into great album. It’s no sell out, but it is universal.
4. The White Stripes – Get Behind Me Satan
I’ve been struck by cover art lately. Maybe I’m starting to feel like a dinosaur because my music still comes with a mini poster in a jewel case. Rarely has a cover been less appropriate for an album as it is here. In the flesh, Jack (and to a lesser extent, Meg) is a silent movie devil, all whiteface and black hat, carrying something that may be a symbolic representation of his penis. In audio, he’s as smooth as sweet tea on a hot day. If you bought Get Behind Me Satan half-fearing the performance art baroque chamber piece signaled by the cover, “The Nurse” and far too many reviews by people who should know better, you were likely relieved to find white boy funk, mountain music, jangly pop, country crooning and guitar god missiles.
My question is how long the duo will get away with this formula. The answer seems to be forever. The White Stripes tend not to evolve but mature, in keeping with the path set by their blues and country heroes. What’s most striking is how much room there is in the formula. It doesn’t always work (this release’s designated bad mistake is “White Moon”) but when it does, it shines, and it shines far more often than not.
5. Spoon – Gimme Fiction
The truth can be told. Spoon’s previous album Kill the Moonlight was just a half step from its predecessor, Girls Can Tell. Given the critical reaction they received for the earlier effort, it’s easy to forgive them trying to catch lightning in that bottle twice. A third time, however, might have been the end. Gimme Fiction is a more significant departure from those efforts, with the band starting to fill in the spaces and details they left open in their “Tell the Moonlight” phase. If the earlier sound was a study in using only what you need to make your point, this album is a study in using only what you need to make it powerfully.
The best bits are the moody pieces that evoke film noir, but there’s nothing wrong with the single “I Turn My Camera On” or other more playful moments. The lone semi-clunker is “Sister Jack,” an attempt at pure pop that falls well off the mark — but trying new directions is the point, and it’s a welcome development from a band that could have decided they had found “their sound” to the detriment of their career.
6. Jens Lekman – Oh You’re So Silent Jens
This sucker-punch of an album came out as I was putting this list together and took a spot from a far more established name. This album is made for word of mouth promotion: the sound is influenced by bands that people are very passionate about and the lyrics are on that personal/universal level too many emo bands reach for while forgetting the personal part. On top of that, the production is intimate (read: cheap) enough that you could believe Jens is your surprisingly-talented drinking buddy that happens to have an eight-track recorder and a few connections. That and the fact that you can’t get the choruses out of your head, forcing you to explain to people your sudden need to croon “Black Cab,” “I’ll come running with a heart on fire” or worse, let out a random “bum ba, bum ba, bum ba, bum ba, bum ba, bum ba, bum ba!”
This album collects singles, EPs and other tracks in one statement that hangs together because Lekman — while wildly varying the tempos, instrumentation and subject matter — maintains his perspective and sense of humor/wonder throughout. There are reasons to fear Jens Lekman will become the next Belle & Sebastian-like sensitive hipster touchstone, so you’ll want to get in and experience this disk before it’s co-opted by any such movement. Make it your own.
7. Beck – Guero
I had the same problem with U2 last year. If this album came from anyone but Beck, I’d call foul because it sounds so much like Odelay. We’ve already given Beck credit for a big chunk of what’s right with Guero, so how much do you need this disk if you’ve already internalized the previous work? Think of it this way: if two versions of Odelay came out and one cost twice as much, but included all of the tracks on Guero, you’d have to be an idiot to get the just-Odelay version.
Maybe if he’d stuck with this sound from the start, we’d call it a natural progression and it’s only his return to the base sound that won him millions of fans that makes this feel a bit like a grab for the glory days. The thing is, he does return to glory. From the familiar, Beck has once again found a rhythm that lasts and hooks that stick. There are several great tracks and quality all the way through. Besides, there is a very different tone to this album. “Where It’s At” might sound out of place with these songs, for example. If you are skipping it because you feel like you’ve heard it before, go right ahead. It’s fine, but unfortunate because you’re missing one of the best albums of the year (skip Guerolito without fear).
8. Kanye West – Late Registration
At the time I swore people wouldn’t be putting this on their year end top tens, so what happened? You see, in feeling that I had to give the disk a fair shot in the face of so much praise, I put it through several listens and found that there were a few very solid tracks. Sure, I skip more songs on this album that I would on the rest of the top ten combined (not including the god awful skits) but the ones that stuck with me wouldn’t quit catching me by surprise.
Songs that I dismissed, like “Hey Mama” and “Gone” kept popping in my head and repeated listens deepened the message on tracks like “Touch the Sky” and “We Major” while the tracks I initially liked failed to get old. So, go out in buy this disk. I’m sorry I was luke warm earlier. I’m still not calling it a classic, but it’s a more than good disk and a pop landmark for 2005.
9. Gorillaz – Demon Days
Like the first single? Buy this album and “Feel Good” longer. The second single, the Shaun Ryder fueled “Dare,” is a hint at the variety and consistency you’ll find on Demon Days and every direction Damon Albarn turns finds something worthwhile. Now, usually I hate personal pet projects filled with guest vocals and nearly as many songwriting credits as songs, but this album builds common threads that bind all of these tracks despite the wide array of styles. One is the genius of Danger Mouse (who appears below in another joint incarnation) and the other is a unity of perception. Despite all of the guests, the serious assist from Danger Mouse, and the cartoon façade, it’s clear that this is the work of one wildly talented and forceful musician.
Still this is another disk that will take a couple listens; especially if you took the title “Feel Good, Inc.” too seriously. Demon Days is far more telling of the tone. Every track has a dark edge and song titles like “Kids with Guns,” “Every Planet We Reach Is Dead,” and “Last Living Souls” hint at the overall sense of hopelessness. But it’s still a cartoon. The mood may be dark, but it’s surface level. There’s no digging deep to explore the demons – and the fact that we live in bleak times fraught with danger is no excuse to stop having parties.
10. Here’s where I’m cheating to get more names on the leader board. After giving credit to those that rose above, I’m going to call a ten-way tie for tenth (in alphabetical order) for those that gave plenty, but just short of enough to warrant all-out adoration. Here’s hoping that 2006 will produce this many winners.
The Other 10 (in 10 Words):
DangerDoom – The Mask and the Mouse
The beginning and end: genius. The middle, not so much.
The Earlies – These Were the Earlies
Texas meets England, virtually. Dreamy roots electronica that rocks.
The Fiery Furnaces – EP
An art pop ten-song EP? That’s so New York!
Franz Ferdinand – You Could Have it So Much Better
Debut could have been this much better. Still not there.
The Go! Team – Thunder, Lightning, Strike
Hip British dance pop from 2004. Booming, flashy, striking, cool.
The Information – Mistakes We Knew We Were Making
Pixies + suspicion + self-loathing + disappointment + bitterness + Cars = a breakup (breakout).
Aimee Mann – Forgotten Arm
What you’d expect. “Video,” “Clean Up For Christmas” are magic.
Stephen Malkmus – Face the Truth
That truth: Pig Lib wasn’t much. He’s back on track.
Oasis – Don’t Believe the Truth
Still feels very familiar, but I care less than before.
Rolling Stones – A Bigger Bang
Best Stones since Tattoo? Since Exile? I own those, so…
Sufjan Stevens – Illinois
Beck, Belle and Sebastian party at the Neutral Milk Hotel.
