I succumb finally to the vanity of writing my “best” of 2005 in music list. No ordering is implied in the following list, nor are any claims made as to the actual quality of the music.
- Illinoise by Sufjan Stevens - Best music introducing the general populace to a consistently amazing artist with albums spanning the Electronica, Folk, and Christian genres.
- Clap Your Hands Say Yeah by Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Best album starting with a circus-announcer “singing” the name of the album (and band). Also nominated for best album featuring a singer with a whiny voice that still manages to be captivating.
- Thunder, Lightning, Strike by The Go! Team - Best album by a band with an ! in its name that features horns and more than 10 people playing/singing at once that reminds you of old school shows that used to play on TV before you were born.
- Late Registration by Kanye West - Best rap album for those who are new to rap and need an excuse to become cool. Also tied for best rap album for those who are old to rap and only listen to indie hip hop because the rest of rap sucks except for this new popular album which is surprisingly good.
- Takk… by Sigur Ros - Best album by a group which sings in a made up language while playing an electric guitar with a cello bow and gives amazing concerts in plush old-school halls with no standing areas while still commanding a 10 minute standing ovation at the end.
- The Milk of Human Kindness by Caribou - Best album by a mathematics PhD student who performs concerts with 2 drum sets, lots of random percussion, a guitar, and an animated synchronized video playing throughout the entire show while the main guy looks like he’s suffering from bright-flashing-lights-induced-epilepsy
- Frances The Mute by The Mars Volta - Best album loved by stoners and non-stoners alike (and consistently (but comedically) panned by Pitchfork) featuring 10+ minute songs sung in both English and Spanish.
- Akron/Family by Akron/Family - Best album by an actual family which features southern-baptist-revival-speaking-in-tongues style singing at concerts, while one guy quietly is possessed by the devil in the background and starts yelling incoherently and then suddenly all music stops and the four start singing in a barbershop quartet style, asking the audience to hold hands and join in with clapping and singing until screeching guitars and electronic feedback again assails the crowd
- The Mouse and the Mask by DangerDoom - Best album featuring my favorite Adult Swim characters rapping and being generally retarded (aka themselves) on top of cool beats and good rhymes. Also nominated for best song title “Bada Bing”
- Silent Alarm by Bloc Party - Best album released in 2005 which had its own remix album also released in 2005 (also good).
- No Wow by The Kills - Best boyfriend/girlfriend band frequently mistaken for The Killers and frequently compared to White Stripes despite being much better than the first and much more heartfelt than the second, and also having a stronger sophomore release than their opener Keep On Your Mean Side.
- The Perceptionists by The Perceptionists - Best self-titled album by a rap duo (+ DJ) consisting of a giant, scary looking, yet surprisingly intellectual in his lyrics dude and a skinny, intellectual-looking, yet surprisingly strong and scary delivery of equally telling lyrics, both of whom command more energy from an already amped audience than physically possible.
- Angel Milk by Telepopmusik and The Understanding by Royksopp - Tied for best sophomore albums by bands with underrated debuts which somehow manage to sound similar to the old albums but slightly different, and kinda worse maybe, but I still wanna listen to them on repeat forever and ever until oh yeah, you know what, maybe these are actually better than the originals
- With Teeth by Nine Inch Nails - Best NIN album for those who never got into NIN earlier and are late to the NIN scene but somehow wonder why NIN was considered to be super hardcore because it sounds like pop music (but damn good pop at that), failing to realize that the older stuff was more hardcore for the time it was released in.
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