The Best Albums of 2005
Introduction
Written Whilst in a Reverie
Album of the Year:
Opeth - Ghost Reveries
And so we come back to the beginning. After twenty years of year-end listmaking, I’m back to my first musical obsession. Not that metal has been completely absent from my previous lists; my Albums of the Year in 1998 and 1999 were of the heavy variety, and in recent years, more metal titles began to show up on my big lists. This year, though, metal music really came to the rescue, especially after a dismal period where I had just about enough of indie rock, injecting some life into a year where most of the other genres seemed to peak early in the year. The fact that 2005 was an outstanding year for metal is reflected by the huge number of excellent releases, representing a surprisingly diverse collection of styles. It was the eighth album by Swedish progressive masters Opeth, though, that not only stood head and shoulders above the metal pack, but towered over every other album I heard the entire year.
Many consider Opeth’s Still Life (1999) and Blackwater Park (2001) to be their finest work, but the more I delved into the long, convoluted tracks of their new album, the more I came to realise Ghost Reveries is truly their finest record to date. After more than a decade of honing their unique sound, they’ve finally achieved their own nonpareil, a masterpiece that is as powerful as it is beautiful. While other death metal bands tend to embrace more of a free-form (some might say sloppy) songwriting style, Opeth take the more brutal sounds of the genre, and place them within a very controlled song structure, a style befitting progressive rock bands more than metal acts. As a result, you get moments of astounding power, but all executed with note-perfect precision and discipline. 2003's Damnation had the band exploring the more melodic side of their sound, but two years later, they returned to the epic, progressive death metal, with astonishing results. An exhilarating marriage of the haunted and the haunting, stately yet aggressive riffs commingle with gorgeous melodies so seamlessly, the countless stylistic shifts sound natural, not arbitrary; with several songs in the ten-plus minute range, Ghost Reveries meanders languorously, but for all the tempo changes and acoustic interludes, the meticulousness of the arrangements and the intense, confident performance of the band holds our interest throughout. Whereas previous lengthy compositions tended to shift from harsh sounds to intimate tones rather jarringly, there’s a very strong sense of control this time around, proven by the album’s four epic tracks. “Ghost of Perdition” kicks the album off in forceful fashion, but smoothly shifts into sumptuous melodies, while the phenomenal “The Baying of the Hounds” and “Reverie/Harlequin Forest” veer off on so many tangents, it’s hard to remember how they started, but the compositions always come full circle at the end. The band’s mastery of their sound is most apparent on the triumphant “The Grand Conjuration”, a song deceiving in its simplicity. It meanders, but deliberately so, built around a catchy, gloomy primary riff that gets stuck inside your head.
The addition of keyboardist Per Wiberg adds even more depth to the band's rich sound (he especially proves his worth on “The Baying of the Hounds”), but singer/guitarist Mikael Åkerfeldt remains Opeth's focal point. He is in fine form, vocally, displaying tremendous range from beastly growls to emotional crooning, the intimate production putting more emphasis on his versatile voice, allowing the melodies to sound more fully fleshed out, especially on more introspective tracks like “Atonement” and “Isolation Years”. Lyrically, his imagery and themes of loss and regret evince a Poe-like elegance, something rarely seen in metal music (“In time the hissing of her sanity/Faded out her voice and soiled her name/And like marked pages in a diary/Everything seemed clean that is unstained”). The year's single most essential metal release, it's a dark, ghostly masterpiece that's more beautiful than skeptics of the genre can ever fathom. It’s dark music for the masses, and is absolutely essential for anyone who craves some darkness in their record collection.
2. The Hold Steady - Separation Sunday
One of my favourite albums is Husker Du’s 1987 masterpiece Warehouse: Songs and Stories, an ambitious record that, while many called it a concept album, was essentially a collection of snapshots of people living their lives in an fictional urban bohemia, full of tales of emotional distress, the mundane task of living one’s life, and ultimately, redemption. While the extraordinary second album by The Hold Steady is not quite as sprawling, it has that same kind of feel, as we’re plunged into the lives of a handful of colourful characters who haunt the streets of Minneapolis/St. Paul, each song offering tragicomic, and often poignant scenarios, these little hoodrats conjuring religious imagery while raising hell at the same time.
Musically, The Hold Steady are basic to the point of being patently uncool, especially for a highly praised indie rock band; instead of going for either the stylish post punk thing or the fey twee thing, the Twin Cities sextet rock out with refreshing abandon, sounding like the twisted offspring of Guided By Voices and the E Street Band, blaring music more suited to The Stone Pony than some trendy place in Williamsburg, as piano, organ, horns, and slicing guitars commingle in fine, mid-70s style. The arrangements are just the tip of the iceberg with this band, however, as once you give a close listen to lead singer Craig Finn, it quickly becomes apparent where the true strength of this band lies. In a year where we went without the storytelling skill of the Drive-By Truckers and Steve Earle, I soon learned that Finn is certainly no slouch, as he feverishly spins yarns laced with beautiful gutter poetry, channeling the hilariously honest verses of Bukowski with the beatific, starry-eyed wonder of Kerouac. Single lines devastate you with their simplicity and beauty, as Finn, in a voice that sounds like a highly inebriated Randy Newman, hollers away passionately.
“Hornets! Hornets!” has the protagonist smitten with a young skater girl who’s into the Bones Brigade and Kate Bush (“She mouthed the words along to "Running Up That Hill"/That song got scratched into her soul/He's never heard the song before/But still he gets the metaphor”), while the girl in the ridiculously catchy “Your Little Hoodrat Friend” is obsessed with homemade religious tattoos (“I can't stand all the things that she sticks into her skin/Like sharpened ballpoint pens/And steel guitar strings/She says it hurts, but it's worth it”). “Don’t Let Me Explode” hints at darkness lurking in America’s heartland (“There's fields of speed where there's fields of grain”), and both “Charlemagne in Sweatpants” and “Chicago Seemed Tired Last Night” go for a more surreal (dare I say, Dylanesque?) feel, with various fictional characters and religious figures making cameos. The majestic “Stevie Nix” steals the show, as Finn paints a compassionate portrait of a “weak and effete” young woman trapped in a life of alcohol and abusive men, and how her empty life flies by without her knowing, brilliantly illustrated by Finn, who leaps from the age of seventeen to thirty-three in three lines. As the rousing “How a Resurrection Really Feels” comes to its climax, Finn’s characters come out of it, as he puts it, “strong but experienced,” and we ourselves come away empathizing with them.
3. Wolf Parade - Apologies to the Queen Mary
The hype surrounding Montreal’s Wolf Parade started mere weeks after the Arcade Fire broke in September of 2004. As people were starting to catch on to Funeral, the scenesters were already busy talking about four scruffy guys who used to live in Victoria who called themselves Wolf Parade. MP3s were swapped, CBC live sessions were namechecked, the band signed to the venerable Sub Pop label, and before we knew it, Isaac Brock from Modest Mouse had been named as producer of their debut album. When I got their teaser EP late in the summer, I quickly started to realise why so many people were so darn excited over Wolf Parade, and I must have played “Shine a Light” 30 times in a row. Over the next couple months, I’d be fascinated with the leaked version of the album, playing “This Heart’s on Fire” non-stop, harassing bewildered record store clerks who didn’t know what a wolf parade was, scouring the city for the album, and finally locating it the day before I would see them enthrall and confuse a packed audience while opening for the Arcade Fire. Today, the CD is a lock for the best Canadian album of the year.
Unlike their friends in the Arcade Fire, who sashay into the room in their black suits and majestic post punk/orch pop, when Apologies to the Queen Mary kicks off with the lurching “You Are a Runner and I am My Father’s Ghost” (even the title is sloppy), Wolf Parade come off like a bunch of drunks staggering into a room to escape the cold outside. You’re left wondering if they know what they’re doing, as keyboardist Spencer Krug wails away, sounding like a cross between Mr. Brock and (fellow Victoria native) Carey Mercer from Frog Eyes, while the song awkwardly enchants you in its slanted way. Then guitarist Dan Boeckner’s singing about how he doesn’t like the modern world in a sombre acoustic tune, Krug delivers amazing lyrics over an oddly syncopated indie pop arrangement on “Grounds For Divorce” (“You said you hate the way they scrape their brakes all over town/I said pretend it's whales/Keeping their voices down”), and disco beats pepper “We Built Another World”.
Midway through the plodding “Same Ghost Every Night”, a small miracle happens, as the six-minute song builds to a majestic climax, this big mess of guitar, synths, drums, and some guy named Hadji twiddling around on a laptop, actually starting to gel. While Boeckner's rock star hollering about shining lights or his heartburn is the most immediately gratifying (onstage, the ciggy-sportin’ Boeckner appears as weirdly out of place as Steve Rogers did with Mark Weiner's band in Welcome to the Dollhouse), it's the maladroit vulnerability of Krug's phrasing that grows on us the most, best exemplified by his performances on the surprisingly majestic “Dinner Bells” and the album's best track, "I'll Believe in Anything". The Arcade Fire's puppydog-eyed Funeral won our collective hearts a year ago, but Wolf Parade's own mangy mutt, once you get used to its company, is every bit as endearing.
4. Clutch - Robot Hive/Exodus
Clutch’s fantastic 2004 album Blast Tyrant won me over with its unique blend of stoner rock with Southern rock. As I delved into the band’s back catalogue, I found that while that Southern rock element had always lurked underneath the surface of the band’s sound, the way it started to rise to the surface on Blast Tyrant was what impressed me the most about that record. Clutch always had the riffs and beats, not to mention one heckuva demented lead howler in Neil Fallon, and their music has always had that unmistakable swagger from day one, but Blast Tyrant had all the pieces coming together for the first time in the band’s fourteen year career. Still, it was a somewhat uneven album, as weighty riffs gave way to more jam band-oriented fare in the latter half, and it wasn’t until early 2005 when it all really started to click for me. Just in time, too, as Clutch quickly released a follow-up that was even better.
Their eighth album might not be the most innovative album of the year, but one thing’s certain: it’s easily one of the most enormously satisfying albums of this past year, one that is so enjoyable, I could not stop playing all year long. After recording and touring doggedly for such a long time, they finally got it right, and Robot Hive/Exodus is the album of their career. After hinting at Southern rock for so long, it comes fully into focus on an album that has more of a relaxed feel than any of its predecessors. Continuing where Blast Tyrant’s album-ending jam “WYSIWYG” left off, the quintet turn down the riffs, and turn up the grooves, creating a stoner/jam band hybrid worthy of the title “Bonnarroo Metal”. The album’s first half is loaded with some of the best songs the band has recorded to date, and Fallon is in fine form, his vocals toned down just enough to sound accessible for non-metal fans, and his lyrics hitting new heights in psychedelic poetry. He proselytizes and sermonizes like a mad preacher, carrying on about going on the run and diggin’ arena rock in a beat-up Camaro (“The Incomparable Mr. Flannery”), locust plagues and alien invasions (“Burning Beard”), exploding octopi (“Land of Pleasant Living”), and spewing choruses of binary code (“10001110101”).
A big reason for the band’s quantum leap is new organist Mick Schauer, who brings a new dimension to the band, his Hammond B3 punctuating each song, adding much-needed depth to the trademark Clutch sound. Schauer’s organ accents drive the album’s second half, which is firmly ensconced in Groove Country, as instrumentals and vocal tracks segue smoothly into one another for a good half hour. If that weren’t enough, Clutch toss in a couple inspired blues covers; among them, a rip-roarin’ rendition of Mississippi Fred McDowell’s “Gravel Road”, which switches from faithful homage to triumphant Southern rock explosion in the blink of an eye. Don’t let the fact that Robot Hive/Exodus is stocked in the metal section scare you; it’s the most fun you’ll have all year.
5. Okkervil River - Black Sheep Boy
Until this past April, I had no idea who Okkervil River were, but after reading a couple of very well-written reviews by a couple of my peers, I thought what the heck, and went out and bought the album without having heard a note. It turned out to be one of the best CD buying decisions I made all year. At the time, I was torn between getting The Decemberists’ Picaresque and this one, and in the end I’m glad I went with the band from Austin instead of the one from Portland. Both bands are similar in that both singers write dense, wordy lyrics that are as clever as they are lofty, but while Colin Meloy’s lyrics tend to strike many as being overly precious, but Will Sheff’s themes are often very dark, overflowing with self-loathing, which you hear in his aching voice, which draws you into his murky, forlorn tales.
Fascinatingly, Sheff takes the Tim Hardin song “Black Sheep Boy” and constructs an entire album inspired by the subject and the themes of that single composition, but while some might like to view the record as a concept album, I don’t think it works nearly as well as when you view every song separately. It would be easy to call the music Americana, but Black Sheep Boy sounds more like a traditional folk album at heart, as Sheff and his band delve into the great tradition of balladry. “For Real” is the one track that gets our collective attention immediately, a harrowing tale of obsessive passion, the bipolar quality of the lyrics matched perfectly by the music, which shifts abruptly from quiet, muted acoustic guitar strumming to jarring bursts of electric guitar, Sheff cries disturbingly, “Sometimes the blood from real cuts feels so nice when it’s really mine.” “Black”, on the other hand, goes for a more upbeat, Wilco style, but the theme remains grim, as violent images again dominate the tale of Sheff’s protagonist coming between a woman he craves and the man she’s with (“If I could tear his throat, spill his blood between my jaws, and erase his name for good, don’t you know that I would?”).
It’s the quiet songs that eventually win us over, though, as the lovely duet “Get Big”, the devastating “A Stone”, the simultaneously cozy and claustrophobic “In a Radio Song”, and the melancholy denouement “So Come Back, I Am Waiting” slowly reveal themselves the more we give the songs close attention. while the absolutely gorgeous waltz of “A King and a Queen” climaxes with the most heartbreaking verse of the year, as Sheff bares his soul through his Black Sheep Boy character, “Though it can never be, I’d be pleased to fall at your knees, to name all your streets and to sit down and weep when you’re carried back through them and set down to sleep, and to lie by your side for sublime centuries (until we crumble to dust when we’re crushed by a single sunbeam).” What else can be said? This album is a beauty.
6. LCD Soundsystem - LCD Soundsystem
Talk about building expectations. After several years of releasing single after brilliant single on the great dance punk label DFA, each new song breaking new ground, from the savage satire of music elitists on “Losing My Edge”, or creating a euphoric dancefloor epic like “Yeah”, every time LCD Soundsystem put out a new song, the internet buzz seemed to grow exponentially. A year ago, as “Yeah” topped many people’s year-end singles lists (including yours truly), word came out that an official full-length debut was in the works, and when it leaked in December 2004, the geeks online went crazy over it, some chastising the band for their seemingly abrupt shift in direction, while others (including yours truly again), were floored by how good, not to mention unexpected, the album turned out to be. Plus, the fact that twelve months have gone by since I first heard the record and I am still not tired of hearing it, speaks volumes.
Variety is the key with this album, as leader James Murphy continues to push dance punk forward, veering off in an electro direction one minute, to flat-out rock the next. It's not like the guy doesn't know what he's doing, either; clocking in at a surprisingly economical 47 minutes, LCD Soundsystem remains faithful to LCD's signature sound, mining the best characteristics of early 1980s post punk/No Wave music, but dares to approach the rock crowd, and say, “You know, dance music is not all bad.” The simple, three note riff that opens the uproarious "Daft Punk is Playing at My House" encapsulates the pure fun of the entire album, Murphy delivering his distinctive half-spoken, half-sung vocals, spewing cheeky lines about a hipster's dream party, before erupting in one of his trademark cowbell solos. "Disco Infiltrator" continues in the same organic dance vein later on, driven by a minimalist synth bassline, some good old, reliable handclaps, and a very cool vocal hook swiped from either P-Funk or Talking Heads, while the languid "Tribulations" is arguably the loveliest track on the record. The CD's two biggest surprises provide the most fun: the Beatle-esque "Never as Tired as When I'm Waking Up" is a poker-faced imitation of White Album-era Beatles, and the majestic "Great Release" mines the ethereal soundscapes of Brian Eno, providing a nice come-down after all the party music.
But wait, it gets even better. In an unprecedented move, Murphy appended the album with a second disc that compiles the best of the band’s past singles and b-sides, including the aforementioned “Losing My Edge” and “Yeah” (both the “crass” and “pretentious” versions), along with standouts like “Beat Connection” and “Yr City’s a Sucker”. Rarely does such a heavily-hyped debut manage to live up to expectations, but to do so and give the people their money's worth by throwing in an extra CD of equal or better material is something special. As a certain dude named Walken once said, we always need more cowbell, and LCD Soundsystem has given us that and a whole lot more.
7. Rachel Stevens - Come and Get It
I’ve always been enamoured of British pop singles (just look at the singles list to the left!), but rarely have I felt the same about full pop albums, and when I have caught on to a first-rate pop record, it’s always been a year or so after it came out (the best examples being Kylie’s Fever and Sugababes’ Angels With Dirty Faces). Normally, I’ve been perfectly happy downloading singles by the best UK pop has to offer, like the aforementioned Sugababes, Girls Aloud, and especially former S Club 7 member Rachel Stevens. So why UK pop, and not American pop? Well, R & B seems to permeate US pop music too much for my liking, while the Brits, on the other hand, led by such producers as Richard X and Xenomania, and songwriters like Cathy Dennis and Rob Davis, always emphasize the hook, instead of showing off the vocal range of the singer. Most of all, it’s more fun, plain and simple.
After leaving that tacky TV show of hers, Rachel Stevens first got my attention with “2003’s “Sweet Dreams My L.A. Ex” and 2004’s brilliant, Richard X-produced glamfest “Some Girls”, but this year, she took everything to an entirely new level. “Negotiate With Love” went for a cool, sleek variation on new wave early in 2005, while summer single “So Good” was a simpler, more strident dance track, bolstered by a relentlessly catchy chorus. When Come and Get It came out in autumn, though, I was amazed at how much of an absolute embarrassment of riches it turned out to be.
The album is crammed with either previous hit singles, future hit singles, or potential hit singles, as nearly every track is a knockout. Lead-off single “I Said Never Again (But Here We Are)” ranks as one of Stevens’ best yet, replacing the "Hot Love" swing of 2004's "Some Girls" with an audacious Antmusic (by way of Gary Glitter) stomp, right down to the (WHOA OH!) shout-out backing vocals (HEY HEY!). Unlike Alison Goldfrapp, whose glam-dance hybrid is delivered with the sultry cool of a woman in her late-30s, Rachel's version is much more immediate, and it suits her style perfectly. “Crazy Boys”, Richard X’s other contribution to the album, is the album’s finest track, boasting the usual huge, shuffling beats, airy synths in the background, and a darker tinge to Steven’s vocals than we’re usually used to hearing. “Nothing Good About This Goodbye” is a gorgeously languid dance track featuring her most emotive vocal performance, “It’s All About Me” is cleverly constructed around a sample from The Cure’s “Lullaby”, and the pulsating “Funny How” is a club anthem in the making. On this second album, Stevens shows she’s no empty-headed pop tart, allowing her own charisma to show through the music, making for a CD that’s saucy, sassy, and sultry. No, it’s not a groundbreaking album, and no, Stevens doesn’t have a huge Pop Idol voice, but personality goes a long way, and this fresh-sounding, near-perfect album positively radiates it.
8. System of a Down - Mezmerize/Hypnotize
Of all the releases I expected in 2005, I was most excited about the new double album by System of a Down. It had been nearly four years since the brilliant, albeit inconsistent Toxicity, and knowing the warped genius of the band, not to mention the promise that several tracks on the Steal This Album! compilation showed, we had no reason whatsoever to expect anything less than amazing. Mezmerize and Hypnotize were released as separate discs, the first in May, the second in November, and while it was easy to decry this stunt as a way to squeeze double the cash from the band’s ultra-loyal fanbase (ironic, seeing as System of a Down are outspoken in their criticism of consumer culture), it turned out to be a marketing masterstroke. Not only did this weirdest of mainstream bands have two Number One albums in America (!), but it was a much better idea to let the public hear a eleven or twelve new SOAD songs at a time, instead an overwhelming 23 songs in one shot. As far as Official Critics’ Polls go, since both CDs came out on different dates, they’re being considered separate albums, but since this is my little blog, I’m bending the rules to include both.
So did both discs live up to the hype? For the most part, yes. What the first disc of this ambitious double album may lack in focus, it makes up in fervor. The more sober Hypnotize might be the more musically consistent CD, but the madness of Mezmerize provides the most thrills, whether it's the blastbeat-driven polit-metal of "B.Y.O.B.", the brooding "Lost in Hollywood", the staggering one-two punch of "Question!" and "Sad Statue", or the ferocious stomper "Cigaro". Like Toxicity, it has its share of absurd, Zappa-goes-aggro interludes, but for all the caterwauling about gorgonzola, Nabisco, and Tony Danza, they seem to gel far better than the band's earlier, more sophomoric tracks ever did. The topic of much discussion among fans, guitarist Daron Malakian shares lead vocal duties with lead singer Serj Tankian, and for all the criticism of Malakian's nasal whine, when juxtaposed with Tankian's more authoritative baritone, the pair offset each other surprisingly well.
Hypnotize is more of an oddity, as it turns out. It has the band on a much more even keel, which I like, because when this foursome is focused, they are unstoppable, and no question, the first eight tracks are sensational. The ferocious “Attack” and “Dreaming” have the band sounding their tightest, while “Hypnotize” and “Tentative”, like “Question!”, manage to sound introspective without compromising any of the band’s power. “Holy Mountains” is the best song on either CD, the impassioned remembrance of Armenian genocide in the early 20th century packing a massive emotional wallop. However, if it weren’t for the dumb “She’s Like Heroin” and the abysmal “Lonely Day”, two embarrassing compositions by Malakian, Mezmerize/Hypnotize would have been a monstrous achievement. Despite that last-minute sputter, though, it’s still an excellent piece of work by one of the finest hard rock bands around.
9. Between the Buried and Me - Alaska
American indie rock may be perilously close to dead, but American metal, on the other hand, has really flourished in recent years. System of a Down and Slipknot have successfully transcended the dull nu-metal sound; Lamb of God, Darkest Hour, and God Forbid are at the forefront of the exploding metalcore scene; The Dillinger Escape Plan are as mind-blowingly original as ever; Converge continue to blur the lines between metal and hardcore punk; Isis, Pelican, Minsk, and Sunn O))) are taking the genre into new, expansive territory; Nile, Hate Eternal, and Immolation breathe life into suffocating death metal; and Mastodon continue to sound like gods. For pure thrills, though, nobody can match Between the Buried and Me, whose second album tuned out to be a stroke of demented genius. After hearing the disastrous solo side project by the band's singer Tommy Rogers this past spring (the least said about that CD, the better, believe me), I had zero expectations, so when I heard Alaska for the first time, "stunned" was an understatement.
The most wildly inventive American metal release of the year, Alaska is possessed with such blind, gonzo ambition, it makes most of their peers look like rank amateurs. It's one thing for a metal band to cop a style from one or two different metal subgenres, but in Between the Buried and Me's case, they employ every metal style they can think of, sometimes in a single track: progressive metal coexists with metalcore, Swedish death metal sits side by side with goth, math metal and grindcore mesh with black metal. It's completely nuts, but the album has the band balancing pure technical flash and economy so well, it trounces the Mars Volta's scatterbrained opus Frances the Mute. The opening moments of "All Bodies" is a perfect microcosm of the entire record, as we're treated to touches of chugging death metal riffs, goth melodies, and power metal guitar harmonies in two minutes, before exploding into a jaw-dropping, ornate yet beastly black metal breakdown; it might sound like pure insanity, but there's a sense of control to the music, as it never strays too far away from its starting point. The Opeth-like "Selkies: the Endless Obsession" and the sprawling "Backwards Marathon" not only showcase this band's highly impressive musicianship, but also the vocal range of Rogers, who is just as proficient at delivering multi-octave melodies as he is at powerful, death-style growls and ee-vil black metal screeches.
With so many surprises lurking around every corner, Alaska seems to unveil something new with each listen. Like the Dillinger Escape Plan, Between the Buried and Me find a way to make the progressive sound accessible, right down to the pair of startling interludes in the form of the astonishingly lovely Dead Can Dance-goes-metal "Medicine Wheel" and the bossa nova stylings (that's right) of the ironically titled "Laser Speed". At one point, Rogers audaciously declares, "2005, welcome to perfection," and sure enough, Alaska, in all its psychotic glory, comes awfully, awfully close.
10. M.I.A. - Arular
M.I.A.’s 2004 release “Galang” was a sensational single that defied categorization: it was as minimal and harsh as grime but it was far from that gritty style, it had elements of bhangra but was too electro to call it such, the slang-infused vocal delivery had elements of dancehall, but only traces. What started as an underground twelve-inch single, morphed into an internet curiosity, to a full-fledged hit among hipsters, to a jingle in a car commercial. At the beginning of the year, she was playing a tiny show in a hotel in Toronto in front of adoring scenesters; by November, she was playing arenas in Western Canada while her album faced a backlash from those same “cool” kids. So goes this crazy little world.
Maya Arulpragasam’s background story is just as fascinating as her music. The daughter of a prominent member of the rebel Tamil faction in Sri Lanka, she and her family fled to London during the country’s violent Tamil-Sinhala conflict in the mid-eighties. In the UK, she attended art school, and attracted some attention for her distinctive visual pieces, which juxtaposed Western pop culture influences with jarring images of war. After designing record sleeves for Elastica, at the urging of Canadian artist Peaches, she decided to try her hand at songwriting, and armed with a simple, bare-bones groovebox, well, the rest is history, which leads us eventually to Arular, a strange, politically charged yet ambiguous, highly personal yet jubilant record that sounds minimalist and lush at the same time.
With the additional help of Richard X and turntable maestro Diplo, Arular is as vibrant and attention-grabbing as Maya’s art. The thunderous “Bucky Done Gun” is built around a trumpet fanfare sample and a decidedly simple beat, as Maya serves up commentary about worldwide gun culture, while “Amazon” features the riches production on the album, Maya fantasizing about her own abduction. The relentlessly catchy “10 $” features her strongest, most charismatic vocal performance on the album, whereas the steamy “Hombre” is decidedly blunt in its lustful come-ons. While her own political views have been the source of great discussion on the internet, politics play a large part, but never overwhelm the music on the album, which is key. If there’s one song that draws the most from her past, it’s the harsh “Fire Fire”, which has Maya describing her life in Sri Lanka ("Grown up, brewin up/Guerilla getting trained up") before switching abruptly from the battleground to contemporary Western hip hop in a brilliant moment of wordplay: "Click suits and booted in the timberland/Freakin out to a Missy on a Timbaland." It's an accessible album, but one containing challenging contrasts that are impossible to simply brush off. In the end, what's most impressive is how M.I.A. powerfully weaves a consistent theme of rootlessness throughout Arular, drawing on her experiences in both the third world and modern London, from civil war to Western urban culture, and her own, highly unique, bastardized form of pop music is the extraordinary end result.
11. Ladytron - Witching Hour
I became a fan of Liverpool quartet Ladytron in 2002, when their single “Seventeen” came out. At the time, I really dug the whole electro trend, but although Ladytron were as indebted to Gary Numan as the rest of them, there was something entrancing about their synth arrangements and the oddly cold vocal stylings of Helen Marnie. I delved into their earlier albums, from the ambitious 604 to the much slicker, icy Light and Magic, and by the time their Softcore Jukebox mix CD came out two years ago, a change in the band’s aesthetic was very noticeable, as the new tracks showed the band heading in a more rock-oriented direction. I was ready to be surprised when their new CD Witching Hour came out, and true to form, they didn’t disappoint, delivering a richly textured, musically diverse record that abandoned the impersonal feel of the previous album in favour of some actual nuance and feeling. “Sugar” is a fun blast of garage/shoegazer, “Weekend” has a krautrock feel, “Beauty #2” is indebted to Depeche Mode, and “Destroy Everything You Touch” is a fascinating excursion into the darker side of dance music. Marnie, who previously shared lead vocal duties with Mira Aroyo, takes centre stage here, singing on all but three tracks, and makes the most of it, her voice displaying very impressive range and emotion, especially on the “International Dateline” and the tender “All the Way”. As lofty as Ladytron can be, it’s nice to know that some humanity lurks in their wonderful music.
12. Broken Social Scene - Broken Social Scene
Broken Social Scene might be Kevin Drew’s and Brendan Canning’s baby, with some eighteen other band members popping in and out, but when you open their hugely anticipated eponymous album, the only name you see is that of producer David Newfeld. It’s a perfect indication as to what kind of album this is, as Broken Social Scene’s quietest member has culled tracks from some two dozen musicians, cramming the mix so that each song is nearly bursting at the seams, making for a cluttered yet controlled, expansive yet suffocating listening experience. It’s a fabulous disaster, a colossal mess that flies in the opposite direction of the much cleaner-sounding You Forgot it in People; none of the individual tracks match the immediacy of “Stars and Sons” or “Almost Crimes”, but then again, that’s not the new album’s intention. It has its ambitious moments, highlighted by the odd rave-up “Windsurfing Nation” and the disco-punk inspired “Hotel”. Metric’s Emily Haines turns in another quality performance on “Swimmers”, as does Leslie Feist on “7/4 (Shoreline)”, while “Ibi Dreams of Pavement” nicely mimics the sound of the band they namecheck and both versions “Major Label Debut” work well in completely opposite ways. The CD’s second half really takes off, with “Bandwitch”, “Superconnected”, and the spectacular, ten-minute blowout “It’s All Gonna Break” bringing things to a sweeping climax. An underrated album when it first came out, I think, like Pavement’s equally disorderly Wowee Zowee ten years ago, it will grow in stature as the years pass.
13. Dungen - Ta Det Lugnt
Technically, I’m not exactly “cheating” by putting this album in my 2005 list, but I’m cutting it awfully close. I first heard of the obscure Ta Det Lugnt exactly a year ago, when it appeared in the PopMatters Best of 2004 poll, which had me wondering why I had no clue who this Swedish band was. Conveniently, a loophole presented itself when Ta Det Lugnt was released domestically in North America this past August, so as late as I am to the party, this album’s so good, I couldn’t exclude it this year. Dungen bring the kind of enthusiasm to guitar rock that most American bands lack, and while their music is decidedly retro-inspired, it’s performed with pure enthusiasm and sincere love for psychedelic rock. Gustav Ejstes is the ringleader of the project, handling the songwriting and vocals and multiple instruments (his production on the CD is incredible), but despite the fact that it’s largely a one-man band, save for a handful of guests, the album still exudes an organic, band-like authenticity. Switching from swirling hard rock, introspective folk, cool jazz interludes, and spaced-out mellow moments, it’s a vibrant piece of work, highlighted by Reine Fisk’s fuzzed-out lead guitar fills on “Panda” and “Bortglömd”, and the lengthier, more progressive songs like “Gjort Bort Sig” and the title track. It may be sung entirely in Swedish (the title means “take it easy”), but when the music is this engaging, there’s no language barrier whatsoever.
14. Gorillaz - Demon Days
It took a long time before I got around to hearing the second album by Gorillaz, but when I eventually did, wow, as the mild thrills of the first album paled in comparison to the musically adventurous, sonically rich Demon Days. Or perhaps it should it be Damon Days, for not only does Mr. Albarn take over as the sole leader of the project, but it’s the best thing he’s done since Blur’s The Great Escape ten years ago. With DJ Danger Mouse taking over for Dan the Automator, it’s a deceptively moody piece of work; while the ingenious “Feel Good Inc.” and the brilliant “Dare” (with Happy Mondays’ Shaun Ryder in a memorable cameo) are decidedly upbeat, the sense of foreboding permeates every track, even the lighter ones. “O Green World” features a great little guitar riff that sounds hijacked from Blur, while strings, a kids’ choir, and rapper Bootie Brown compete for our attention on “Dirty Harry”, and Dennis Hopper pops in for a reading on the surreal “Fire Coming Out of the Monkey’s Head?”. In the electrifying “All Alone”, Roots Manuva delivers a great grime performance one minute, only to be supplanted by the honey-voiced Martina Topley-Bird in a startling coda midway through. One review I read nailed it perfectly, saying Albarn is at his best when he’s writing in character, and by working from behind the personae of this cartoon quartet, he’s created his best music in ages.
15. The Magic Numbers - The Magic Numbers
Of all the surprise success stories in 2005, The Magic Numbers was my favourite. Granted, the UK band have yet to bust out in North America the same way they did in their home country early in the year, but with music this accessible, this lovely, you have to think it’s just a matter of time before everyone else catches on. They’re the unlikeliest of pop stars, with two sets of siblings (childhood next-door neighbours, as it turns out) forming a modest little band, writing and performing breezy rock music reminiscent of West Coast pop music from the late-60s/early-70s, the only polish on their earthy, unpretentious debut being the shimmering vocal harmonies the quartet employ. Guitarist Romeo Stodart croons away in his Cat Stevens voice, while his sister, bassist Michele, and keyboardist Angela Gannon provide the most beguiling backing vocals you’ll ever hear, Angela’s brother Sean holding the fort with his economic percussion. Alternately buoyant (“Forever Lost”, “Love Me Like You”), self-loathing (“The Mule”), soulful (“Don’t Give Up the Fight”)and absolutely gutwrenching (“I See You, You See Me”), the harmonies offset Romeo’s heart-on-the-sleeve lyrics wonderfully. If the Arcade Fire album last year perfected the coda, The Magic Numbers has a real knack for jaw-dropping bridges, as nearly every track breaks into a middle section that gives you goosebumps (the best examples being “Forever Lost” and “Love Me Like You”). If you haven’t heard this yet, you’re missing out on a real treasure.
16. Sunn O))) - Black One
"The sound of pure evil." That description never, ever leaves my head when I listen to Sunn O)))'s most recent doom-ridden concoction of subsonic drone metal. A couple years ago, I likened Fantomas's Delirium Cordia to an audio journey through the depths of hell; Black One, on the other hand, is the aural equivalent of being buried alive. Whether you're witnessing the duo of Stephen O'Malley and Greg Anderson churn out this heaviest of music in person at an excruciating volume, or sitting in your room late at night with the volume turned down, it's impossible not to be affected by this piece of work. It's harrowing, as extremely low-level rumbles and roars coarse through your speakers; initially, you think it's too abstract to have any structure, but you soon realise on tracks like "It Took the Night to Believe" and the shocking, unrecognizable cover of Immortal's black metal classic "Cursed Realms (Of the Winterdemons)", that there's some real structure to the music. The album comes to an astounding climax on the epic "Báthory Erzsébet", which, after seven full minutes of tolling bells and hypnotic thrums, erupts with distorted chords and the horrifying screams of guest vocalist Malefic, recorded from inside a sealed casket. It may sound like a cheesy metal gimmick, but his beastly wails sound like they're coming from the very depths of hell. A devastating, highly unsettling conclusion to one of the most unique and unforgettable albums I have ever heard.
17. Doves - Some Cities
The third album by Manchester’s Doves leaked in January, and just hung around all year; as the months went by, and my attention was drawn to whatever new releases were out, it never left my peripheral gaze, and even if I went weeks without giving it a listen, it always hanging around. By the time I had to compile my year-end list, I found myself even more smitten with the thing than ten months prior. Some Cities isn’t like their great debut Lost Souls, nor does it match the ambitious The Last Broadcast from 2002, as it’s much more stripped down, as the trio put more emphasis on the pure rock element of their sound instead of dabbling in shoegazer drones and Madchester-inspired dance beats. That’s not to say they haven’t completely abandoned those key elements to the Doves sound, as “Snowden” is punctuated by a very cool drone melody and “Walk in Fire” has a subtle dance beat that appears, but “restraint” appears to be the operative word here. Bassist Jimi Goodwin’s voice (the band’s ace card) is in top form, especially on the uplifting “Sky Starts Falling”, the moody “One of These Days”, and the wonderful “Black and White Town”, the latter of which bolstered by a fabulous 2/4 beat and the brilliant use of soulful piano stabs. This CD might not reach the heights of Doves’ previous work, but that doesn’t mean Some Cities itself does not soar.
18. Goldfrapp - Supernature
Last year, Alison Goldfrapp finally found herself on the cusp of major stardom in the UK and Europe, thanks in large part to her single “Strict Machine”, which became a sleeper hot over there that summer. It should be no surprise that Goldfrapp and her partner in crime Will Gregory stick to a somewhat similar formula to that of 2003’s Black Cherry, but while it’s not quite as great as that album, nor 2000’s sensational Felt Mountain, to be disappointed in Supernature is to be completely oblivious to its many charms. As they did on “Train” and “Strict Machine”, there’s a strong, 70s glam rock influence on standout tracks “Ooh La La” and “Satin Chic”, but true to form, the duo ingeniously combine contagious pop hooks with textured, slyly diverse arrangements, with Alison capping it all off with her simultaneously icy and lustful vocals. “Ride a White Horse” has Alison switching from a husky voice to Kate Bush-style vocal acrobatics, a strong Gary Numan vibe dominates the sultry “Koko”, while the disjointed “You Never Know” and the minimalist “Let it Take You” offer respites from the dance beats. It’s the simple electro arrangement of closer “Number One” that eventually steals the show, achieving the perfect blend of hooks and attitude, as Alison intones, “You’re my favourite moment/you’re my Saturday,” over a sumptuous synth melody. For all their pop moments, to their credit, Goldfrapp never lose their sense of adventure.
19. Caribou - The Milk of Human Kindness
After putting out an album so great, I had to declare it my 2003 Album of the Year, the pressure was on laptop maestro extraordinaire Dan Snaith to successfully follow it up, and this year, he proved once and for all that Up in Flames was no fluke. After resurfacing as Caribou, Snaith’s music had also gone through an intriguing transformation. While the previous record was a euphoric blend of psychedelia and audio collage, The Milk of Human Kindness is considerably more levelheaded, but while it may sound stripped-down at first, we find Snaith drawing from a much wider variety of genres this time around. We get cool hints of Krautrock mixed with dreampop (“A Final Warning”), hip hop (“Lord Leopard”), folk (“Hello Hammerheads”), and 60s garage rock meshed with more Krautrock (“Bees”), while songs like the cymbal crash-driven “Brahminy Kite” and the surreal strings loops of “Drumheller” get more experimental. The clipped trip hop of “Pelican Narrows” provides the album’s loveliest moment, but it’s the final track, “Barnowl” that serves as a reminder of Snaith’s mad genius, as he revisits the blissed-out feeling of Up in Flames, but despite the proliferance of myriad samples and noises, it’s a much more controlled sonic environment, as he gradually builds up to a lovely, understated climax. Like a birthday sparkler following up a fireworks display, this CD doesn’t have the flash, but exudes a subtle beauty of its own.
20. Metric - Live It Out
Much to my own consternation, Metric seemed to take it on the chin from many critics when their long-awaited new album came out. While I enjoyed it thoroughly, others were complaining about how the band was wrong for placing more emphasis on guitars instead of the more electro-oriented sounds of the previous disc, and how the songs lacked the bouncy pop element of such songs as “Combat Baby” and “Dead Disco”. Yes, Jimmy Shaw’s guitars are more prevalent than ever, and the bubblegum element seems to have been cast aside, but to dismiss this album is unfair. Live It Out is a grower, one that you need to spend some time with, to absorb its darker themes of paranoia, lust, and anxiety, ultimately proving to be a much more sophisticated record than the rest of the post-punk pretenders out there. There’s a definite edge this time around: “Handshakes” is interrupted by cacophonous choruses, “Monster Hospital” is especially tetchy, as Emily Haines declares cryptically, “I fought the war, and the war won,” while “The Police and the Private” has Haines examining the sadness of urban North America’s growing distrust of outsiders. Most memorable are “Too Little Too Late” and “Poster of a Girl”, which delve into the seamier side of peoples’ private lives, perfectly offset by gentle melodies, the sly hooks and subversive lyrics further proof at how accomplished Metric are at their craft.
My Honourable Mentions of 2005:
(The best of the rest, in alphabetical order)
Behemoth - Demigod
A stunning exercise in meshing death metal and black metal, this impeccably produced album is, most surprisingly, as accessible as it is bludgeoning, as the Polish band combine melodic riffs with insane blastbeats and vocals that sound like a blast furnace.
Essential tracks: “Conquer All”, “Slaves Shall Serve”, “The Reign ov Shemsu-Hor”
Bloc Party - Silent Alarm
There’s a bit of a backlash going on against the London post punks these days, but their debut CD is still an undeniably good one, as the band, led by versatile singer Kele Okereke, inject some passion into what some consider an emotionally cold sound.
Essential tracks: “Like Eating Glass”, “Helicopter”, “So Here We Are”
Broadcast - Tender Buttons
Reduced to a duo, the UK electro-pop stalwarts streamline their sound, but the simplicity of the songs is deceiving. Amid all the chilly synths, minimalist arrangements, and dissonant moments lies the lovely voice of Trish Keenen, which ultimately wins you over.
Essential tracks: “America’s Boy”, “Tears in the Typing Pool”, “Michael A Grammar”
Fischerspooner - Odyssey
One of the year’s nicest surprises, Fischerspooner not only shed the “electroclash” tag, but actually take the style of their 2003 debut and build on it, crafting some fully fleshed-out pop tunes that, to the surprise of many, sounded closer to rock than electro.
Essential tracks: “Just Let Go”, “Never Win”, “A Kick in the Teeth”
Franz Ferdinand - You Could Have it So Much Better
An excellent follow-up to their explosive debut, this CD sticks to the formula that worked before, but to the band’s credit, shows the kind of growth one would expect from a successful sophomore album. This was the last cut from my Top 20 list.
Essential tracks: “Do You Want To”, “The Fallen”, “I’m Your Villain”
Richard Hawley - Coles Corner
On his fourth solo album, Hawley eases up on the lush, guitar-oriented arrangements in favour of a more orchestral direction, resulting in an absolutely gorgeous CD, Hawley resembling a 50s crooner, his baritone voice hypnotic. There’s no better UK singer-songwriter right now.
Essential tracks: “Coles Corner”, “The Ocean”, “Hotel Room”
High on Fire - Blessed Black Wings
Recorded by Steve Albini, this is one of the best-sounding metal albums of the year, the maniacal Matt Pike shredding away on guitar and hollering like Lemmy, while the muscular rhythm section sounds thunderous. And the songs are catchy, too. Truly devil-horn worthy.
Essential tracks: “Devilution”, “The Face of Oblivion”, “Cometh Down Hessian”
The Juan Maclean - Less Than Human
This hotly anticipated album surprised many by its rather sober approach, not to mention its economical running time, but after repeated listens, it turns into a very good little record that, like labelmates LCD Soundsystem, dares to do take dance music to unique new realms.
Essential tracks: “Give Me Every Little Thing”, “Tito’s Way”, “Dance With Me”
The Ladies and Gentlemen - Small Sins
The best Canadian band nobody knows about, the debut album by the Toronto band was one of my most-anticipated discs of the year, and it did not disappoint, a cozy blend of synth pop and indie rock, imbued with a strong pop sensibility.
Essential tracks: “Won’t Make it Easier”, “Stay”, “At Least You Feel Something”
Maximo Park - A Certain Trigger
It’s easy to compare Maximo Park to the Futureheads, but their tendency to focus more on keyboards and the charismatic persona of singer Paul Smith sets them apart. Like the Futureheads CD, though, this one just kept getting better as the year went on.
Essential tracks: “Apply Some Pressure”, “Graffiti”, “Acrobat”
The New Pornographers - Twin Cinema
The indie rock version of comfort food are in top form on their third CD. Carl Newman pens his usual eccentric, extremely catchy pop songs, Dan Bejar’s contributions are, as always, better than his Destroyer songs, and the underused Neko Case gives her best vocal performances to date.
Essential tracks: “Use It”, “Sing Me Spanish Techno”, “Star Bodies”
Nile - Annihilation of the Wicked
Death metal of the most brutal kind, Nile returned with a stunner of an album, the band’s astonishing technical skill enhanced by Neil Kernon’s crystalline production. Displaying an obsession with Egyptian history and mythology, this is dizzyingly epic stuff that’ll have you hanging on for dear life.
Essential tracks: “Cast Down the Heretic”, “Sacrifice Unto Sebek”, “Lashed to the Slave Stick”
North Mississippi Allstars - Electric Blue Watermelon
One of my favourite bands, the ever-reliable NM Allstars return to the country blues after the more pop-oriented Polaris, delivering yet another consistently good album that combines the energy of their early work with the adventurousness of their recent stuff. Great fun.
Essential tracks: “Mississippi Bollweevil”, “Teasin’ Brown”, “Horseshoe”
Sigur Ros - Takk…
The release of Takk… sees the Icelandic band embracing life, sounding more optimistic than on (), following more conventional song structures, while retaining the eccentricity that makes them so fascinating. The end result is sublime, as always, but most importantly, refreshingly uplifting, too.
Essential tracks: “Glosoli”, “Hoppipolla”, “Saeglopur”
Various Artists - Run the Road
An introduction to the exploding grime scene in London, Run the Road has become a stellar album on its own, a riveting sampler of the best UK urban music right now. Dizzee, Wiley, and Kano might get the attention, but female artists Lady Sovereign and No Lay steal the show.
Essential tracks: “P’s and Q’s”, “Cha Ching”, “Unorthadox Daughter”
The Best Ineligible Releases of 2005:
(albums containing previously released material, like live albums, reissues, compilations, and concert DVDs)
1. Bob Dylan - No Direction Home DVD/No Direction Home: The Soundtrack/ Live at the Gaslight 1962
Wow, what a time to be a Dylan fan, as a massive load of goodies were dumped our way, and as has been the case since 1991, Dylan continues to set the standard as far as career retrospectives go. At the top of the list, the Martin Scorsese-directed documentary No Direction Home, an enthralling look at the great artist during his teens in Hibbing and Minneapolis, during his formative years in Greenwich Village, and his peak years of 1965-66, when he was one of the biggest musicians on the planet. By combining rare live performances with interviews with both Dylan and various folk musicians from the same period, Scorsese paints a vivid portrait of the folk scene at the time, through they eyes of Dylan and his peers. However, as revealing as the film is, the biggest thrills come in seeing such footage as Dylan's highly contentious electric set at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival; seeing him defiantly shout the words to "Maggie's Farm" amid boos and catcalls from the big crowd is spine-tingling.
The soundtrack, which is actually Volume Seven of the esteemed Bootleg Series, contains several tracks from the film, including the aforementioned "Maggie's Farm", as well as early home recordings from Dylan's teens. The real fun, though, is to be had on the second disc, which boasts some incredible studio out-takes, most notably a completely re-worked "Stuck Inside of Mobile" and a gorgeous run-though of "Visions of Johanna" with The Band backing him up. It's not as great as, say, Volumes 1-3, but it comes awfully close.
Many a feather was ruffled when it was revealed that Live at the Gaslight 1962 was being sold exclusively at Starbucks (one major Canadian chain went as far as yanking every Dylan title off their shelves in protest), but those who continue to bellyache about corporate tie-ins and how Starbucks are, like, so evil, are missing out on one of the year's musical treasures. Recorded in the cozy basement confines of famed Greenwich Village coffeehouse the Gaslight in October 1962, we're offered a rare glimpse of a 21 year-old Dylan mere months before his meteoric rise, on the heels of his modest self-titled debut and right before his legendary 1963 album Freewheelin' Bob Dylan. His interpretations of such well-known folk standards like "The Cuckoo" and "Barbara Allen", and his confident readings of "Moonshiner" and "West Texas" are examples of his mastery of folk music at such a young age, but the two biggest revelations are his stunning performances of "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall" and then-work-in-progress "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right". All the while, you hear the odd creak of a chair, a clink of a glass, or someone singing along, which only re-emphasizes the intimacy of the venue and enhances the mood of this fine little CD. It's the best thing Starbucks has sold since those little cinnamon mints.
All that, and an amazing, ingeniously designed, interactive coffee table book, too! Really, if you’re a music fan with about 100 bucks (Canadian) burning a hole in your pocket, there’s no better way to spend that cash.
2. Motorhead - Overkill/Ace of Spades/Iron Fist/BBC Live & In-Session
Over the course of the entire year, everything seemed to come back to Motorhead. I got the Stone Deaf Forever box set for Christmas of last year. I saw Motorhead of the best concerts of my life. And late in the year (really late, arriving literally at the very last second), I got the brand new reissues of the band's three great albums, Overkill, Ace of Spades, and Iron Fist, along with the new compilation BBC Live & In-Session. As Lemmy said at the show this past spring, they've mad a happy man very old, as all three albums come with separate discs loaded with extras. 1979's Overkill, the band's third record and the first truly important one, is sensational, highlighted by the title track, "Stay Clean", "Damage Case", "No Class", and the brilliant B-side "Too Late Too Late". If Overkill was almost Motorhead's masterpiece, Ace of Spades most certainly is, as it's brimming with classics, from "Shoot You in the Back", "Love Me Like a Reptile", "Jailbait", "We Are the Roadcrew", the phenomenal "The Chase is Better Than the Catch" (my all-time fave), and of course, the immortal title track. 1982's Iron Fist is the least consistent album of the three, but the stupendous bonus disc makes up for it, highlighted by a full live set from Toronto in 1982. The BBC set is comprised of most of the bonus tracks on the three previous reissues, as well as some from the box set, but it's nice to have them all in one tidy package. In all, hours of extremely loud fun are to be had on these discs, an apt tribute to one of the greatest bands in history. They are Motorhead, and they play rock 'n' roll.
3. Can - Future Days/Soon Over Babaluma/Landed/Unlimited Edition
I first read about Can while reading the Spin Alternative Record Guide ten years ago, but didn't seek out their music until early 2002, when everyone was comparing Clinic to the Krautrock legends. The only CD I could get at the local library, though, was the two-disc Can Anthology, so that pretty much was the extent of my Can knowledge. Then the first set of Hybrid SACD reissues came out late last year, and I finally got a chance to explore the twisted sounds of Tago Mago and Ege Bamyasi. The music sounded so fresh, the remasters so full of life, I couldn't believe it. So when the new set of four Can remasters were released this past summer, I knew I had to hear those, too, and they provided just as many thrills. Many have listed 1973's Future Days as one of the band's great albums, but I have to agree with what Simon Reynolds wrote in the Spin guide, in that 1974's Soon Over Babaluma tops it. With the departure of enigmatic lead singer Damo Suzuki, the remaining four members seem to gel on Babaluma, each track a wildly different sonic experiment, climaxing with the mind-blowing "Chain Reaction" and "Quantum Physics". 1975's Landed and the 1976 odds-and-sods compilation Unlimited Edition are slightly less consistent, but still enthralling throughout. Although the 73-76 period marked the band's last golden era, I still look forward to hearing the next set of reissues next year.
4. Director's Label Series Boxed Set Vol. 2: The Work of Directors Anton Corbijn, Jonathan Glazer, Mark Romanek, Stephane Sednaoui
Two years ago, my wish for DVD anthologies of the best music video directors was granted with the superb DVD collections by Spike Jonze, Michel Gondry, and Chris Cunningham. In 2005, the latest installment inducts four more craftsmen into this unofficial music video pantheon, all four of whom have brought their own distinct style to the art form, providing us with some of the most indelible pop culture images from the last two decades. The videos by the witty and imaginative Jonathan Glazer are unforgettable, highlighted by the harrowing "Rabbit in Your Headlights", by U.N.K.L.E., and the award-winning, highly surreal clip for Jamiroquai's "Virtual Insanity". Anton Corbijn combines a keen photographer's eye with a strong surrealist influence on such videos as Nirvana's "Heart-Shaped Box" and U2's "One", while Stephane Sednaoui also uses his photographic skills, but brings out the pure, raw energy of such cuts as the Red Hot Chili Peppers' "Give it Away" and Bjork's "Big Time Sensuality". Mark Romanek's DVD is the most mainstream of the bunch, but no less influential, proven by such unforgettable videos as Nine Inch Nails' "Closer" and his masterwork, Johnny Cash's "Hurt". Avant-garde, enthralling, and packed to the gills with extra features, this set is a must for anyone who appreciates the music video as a legitimate art form, and not just a shallow promotional tool.
5. Marc Bolan & T. Rex - Born to Boogie DVD
I'd been long familiar with the singles of Marc Bolan and T. Rex for many years, and years later, when I eventually gave Electric Warrior a listen, I was struck by how solid an album it still sounded. What I did not know, however, was how good T. Rex were in concert, my only glimpses of the band in a "live" setting being those old, mimed TV performances from thirty years ago. The DVD release of the obscure T. Rex film Born to Boogie had me curious, but quite frankly, I had no idea what I was in for. Capturing two concerts in one day at London's Wembley Arena in the spring of 1972, this exhaustive double-disc set was an eye-opener, as I sat there stunned, watching Bolan whip a huge crowd full of girls (and some guys) into a frenzy, strutting about the stage, mugging every chance he got, crooning nonsense about spaceball ricochets, and most surprisingly, letting loose some electrifying licks on lead guitar. The Ringo Starr-directed movie is decent attempt at surrealist humour, but both live performances, presented here in their entirety with stunning surround sound, are the real draw. It might look dated today, but it's a much deserved look at a moment in time when "T. Rextasy" supplanted "Beatlemania".
6. The Fall - Hex Enduction Hour: Expanded Deluxe Edition
I haven’t exactly heard every album The Fall ever recorded (and yikes, there are a lot of them), but I remain convinced that Hex Enduction Hour is their best. A misanthropic masterpiece, it’s one of the band’s most confrontational records, the inimitable Mark E. Smith spewing acid-tongued epithets, his six-member backing band matching his fierce energy every step of the way, the album anchored by the seething “Hip Priest” and the wickedly sarcastic “The Classical”, the latter of which propelled by a spectacular performance by the two drummers. You get sporadic hints of optimism (“Just Step S’ways”), only to have the mood completely shattered by songs like the venomous “Who Makes the Nazis?” and the lurching epic “And This Day”. This re-release comes with a second disc crammed with extras, including one of the band’s many Peel Sessions, B-sides, and live tracks, highlighted by the hilarious rarity, “I’m Into C.B.”. A well-assembled reissue of an essential record.
7. Drive-By Truckers - Gangstabilly/Pizza Deliverance
What would a year-end list be without an appearance by the Best Band in America? What a treat it was to finally get my hands on the band's beloved first two albums, which were long out of print. 1998's exuberant, sloppy Gangstabilly is a low-budget debut that, while being the least consistent disc in the band's esteemed catalogue, contains many classics, including "18 Wheels of Love", "Buttholeville", "Steve McQueen", and the elegiac "The Living Bubba". It's 1999's Pizza Deliverance, though, that has the DBT coming into their own, Patterson Hood perfecting his storytelling skills ("Nine Bullets", "The Company I Keep", "Tales Facing Up"), and Mike Cooley emerging as a major songwriting talent of his own ("Uncle Frank", "One of These Days"). Boasting raw production that seems to enhance the music instead of muddle things, both discs are a fascinating glimpse at a hard-working band on the cusp of greatness.
8. Dinosaur Jr. - Dinosaur/You're Living All Over Me/Bug
On the heels of the hugely successful Pixies reunion, Gen Xers (like myself) were thrilled to learn that along with the reunion of the original trio of Mascis/Barlow/Murph, Dinosaur Jr.'s highly influential, out of print first three albums were getting the reissue treatment. While most people remembered the band for their early 90s material, their late-80s output was the stuff of legend, and the reissues by Merge do the albums justice. The 1985 debut had the band feeling their away around, songs like "Repulsion", "Severed Lips", and the incredible "Forget the Swan" showing signs of things to come. The dense 1987 noisefest You're Living All Over Me is widely regarded as their masterpiece, but for me, 1988's Bug is even better, a much more streamlined album, the cleaner production bolstering such songs as "No Bones", "Pond Song", and the all-time classic "Freak Scene". Nicely remastered, these three punchy discs are college rock classics, truly ahead of their time.
9. Rush - R30
It's strange that Rush would release another concert DVD a mere two years after 2003's spectacular Rush in Rio, but while R30 doesn't quite top that seminal live document, it was still assembled with as much attention to detail as the Rio DVD was. The Frankfurt, 2004 concert is oddly abridged (eight songs were cut), but what's there is a scintillating, two hour set that spans the band's career (highlighted by a rousing medley of six early songs), presented in anamorphic widescreen, something the previous DVD lacked. Disc two, on the other hand, boasts a bevy of extras, featuring interviews and live performances from various stages of the band's long career. If that weren't enough, the deluxe edition comes with some fan-pleasing doo-dads, including a nifty two-CD version of the concert, as well as a couple of guitar picks and a backstage pass. This DVD is another reminder that I'll always be a Rush fanboy at heart.
10. Anthrax - Anthrology: No Hit Wonders (1985-1991)
Best-of compilations are generally reviled by purists, and for good reason, as they can unfairly focus on certain tracks over others, but sometimes you get an anthology that gets it right. I've been a fan of Anthrax for a good 20 years now, but as much as I love the band, I'll be the first to admit their back catalogue is replete with inconsistencies; while Spreading the Disease and Among the Living were just short of perfect, State of Euphoria was a mess, and Persistence of Time took itself far too seriously. Thanks to this nifty two-disc set, all the duds from the 85-91 era have been weeded out, and what's left is an enornously enjoyable compilation that aptly encapsulates how influential Anthrax were back in the day. Yeah, the whole thing is a cash grab coinciding with the reunion, but this compilation is such a blast, I couldn’t care less. Aw, caught in a mosh…
Introduction
This year's list of the best albums of the year is a particularly momentous one for yours truly; not only is it the fifth one I've done for this blog, but it's the twentieth year in a row I've obsessively scribbled down a list of the best music I’ve heard over the previous twelve months. And this year, without giving anything away, after two decades of growth as a music fan, my musical taste becoming more eclectic with every passing year, things seem to have come full circle.
2005 was an interesting year, in that it started off very strongly, highlighted by excellent albums by M.I.A., LCD Soundsystem, Doves, Fischerspooner, Caribou, and Okkervil River, before plunging into what was one dull period of summer releases. It soon became very apparent, in my opinion anyway, that American indie rock, the most dominant genre on any blogger's best-of list, was experiencing a serious decline in quality. Aside from very, very good albums by The Hold Steady and the aformentioned Okkervil River, nothing from Stateside was impressing me at all, not the decent but overrated new disc by the beloved Sleater-Kinney, not the hipsters' darlings Clap Your Hands Say Yeah!, not Animal Collective, not Antony & the Johnsons, not Andrew Bird, not Out Hud. If it weren't for all the Canadian bands propping American indie labels up (Arcade Fire, Wolf Parade, Constantines, The New Pornographers) the whole scene would be in an even sorrier state.
As far as concerts go, that's another story, as I attended show after brilliant show, mostly in the spring and the fall. I saw Steve Earle do a marathon set with his always-great band and his future wife Allison Moorer alongside him. The Futureheads were kind enough to grace my little city with their presence, and they proceeded to blow away the headliner, Hot Hot Heat. Death From Above 1979 continued their rapid ascent, playing an amazing sold-out show. I went to the Stars/Apostle of Hustle show a curious listener, and left a devoted fan of both bands. Caribou, Junior Boys, and Russian Futurists delivered the triple bill of the year. Strapping Young Lad tore my face off at Amigos, and three months later, had me laughing hard at Sounds of the Underground. At the same marathon show, I got to see Clutch, Opeth, Lamb of God, and High on Fire for the first time ever. In October, Feist battled a room full of yapping hipsters and was both sublime and edgy, while Metric looked like conquering heroes on their first headlinging tour of Canada. Cryptopsy had me flabbergasted, Vader had me headbanging, and most inexplicably, I saw Gwar for the third time in twelve months.
Four shows were especially unforgettable: Broken Social Scene played a wonderful, intimate set in front of 250 adoring fans crammed into a cozy club. Arcade Fire and Wolf Parade played a spectacular, passionate set that won't soon be forgotten in this city. After waiting 21 years, I finally got to see Judas Priest live (with Anthrax opening, to boot), and it was glorious. However, the best concert of them all was Motorhead at the awful Ryly's in Saskatoon: it was poorly organized, it was full of angry drunks, it was overcrowded, the sightlines were abysmal; it was an exhausting, six or seven hour night that seemed to teeter toward disaster the later it got. Weirdly enough, thanks to a big brawl that erupted right beside me a third into Motorhead's set, I found myself shoved into the front, and had an incredible, unobstructed spot not twenty feet from the stage, and what could have been a hugely frustrating night turned into one of the best concerts I've ever seen.
Back to the year’s albums, as we limped into autumn, tons of artists, namely British and Canadian, not to mention a few metal bands, managed to make it an extraordinarily good last four months, making up for the lack of quality from south of the border. Aside from my Album of the Year, which was a lock three months ago, it's been nothing but a huge glut of excellent titles in the seven-eight-nine out of ten range, and trying to figure out what were the best twenty was unbelievably difficult. So deep is the pool of contenders, that I've decided to add an extra five titles to my runners-up list, making for 35 stellar albums. So while you might be surprised at what's not in my big list of twenty, I have to stress that every single album I mention is one that deserves your attention. It's a rather wide variety of musical styles, so just read and listen with an open mind, try some titles for yourself, and you might be surprised at what you'll come away enjoying.
Be sure to watch for my top 20 singles countdown in the left margin, which will commence at the same time as my album countdown…there will be MP3 links posted for each track, so please, go nuts with the downloading! And let me tell you, it was a banner year for singles. So anyway, thanks for stopping by, and I hope you have as much fun reading this stuff as I do writing it. If I can turn you on to some music you might have otherwise missed out on, then that's even better. Enjoy!
Before I get going with this year's bigger-than-ever list of great albums, as always, I have to bravely fess up, and mention some albums from 2004 that I was stupid enough not to fully appreciate until this year:
Apostle Of Hustle - Folkloric Feel
Fronted by Broken Social Scene guitarist Andew Whiteman, Apostle of Hustle blend indie rock with elements of folk and Cuban music on this album, and while it sounds like a rather daring experiment, it works beautifully, a blissed-out, laid back, lightly festive record. With warm, intimate production by Dave Newfeld, it begins where "Looks Just Like the Sun" left off on You Forgot it in People, and tops that song, the CD highlighted by "Sleepwalking Ballad". This should have been in my 2004 top ten.
Nick Cave - Abbatoir Blues/The Lyre of Orpheus
I was quite upset with myself when I finally heard this spectacular double album last Christmas...how could I have overlooked something so great? Mr. Cave is on fire here, as the driving Abbatoir Blues storms out of the gates, while the more brooding The Lyre of Orpheus goes back to the kind of moody balladry Cave is known best for. All the while, he weaves a hypnotic spell with his inimitable storytelling skill. This would have been a lock for my top five.
Carina Round - The Disconnection
PJ Harvey's Uh Huh Her left me slightly disappointed last year, but in February, I was amazed at a) how similar Carina Round's album followed Polly Jean's lead, and b) how much better The Disconnection really was. Drenched in murky blues rock, yet willing to venture in other directions from R & B to cabaret, cramming the record with confessional lyrics, and boasting a sultry voice, Round struts confidently on this edgy disc, the singer-songwriter façade masking an extraordinarily imaginitive talent.
My top ten albums of 2004:
1. Arcade Fire - Funeral
2. Junior Boys - Last Exit
3. Madvillain - Madvillainy
4. Drive-By Truckers - The Dirty South
5. The Dillinger Escape Plan - Miss Machine
6. Franz Ferdinand - Franz Ferdinand
7. The Streets - A Grand Don't Come For Free
8. Jens Lekman - When I Said I Wanted to Be Your Dog
9. The Fall - The Real New Fall LP
10. Mastodon - Leviathan
Past albums of the year (uh, please bear in mind I was sixteen when I started this):
1986: Iron Maiden - Somewhere In Time
1987: Def Leppard - Hysteria
1988: Queensryche - Operation: Mindcrime
1989: Voivod - Nothingface
1990: Megadeth - Rust In Peace, Led Zeppelin Box Set (tie)
1991: Soundgarden - Badmotorfinger
1992: R.E.M. - Automatic For The People
1993: Nirvana - In Utero
1994: Pavement - Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain
1995: Elastica - Elastica
1996: Pulp - Different Class
1997: Bob Dylan - Time Out Of Mind
1998: Monster Magnet - Powertrip
1999: Metallica - S & M
2000: Yo La Tengo - ...And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out
2001: Bob Dylan - Love And Theft, The Langley Schools Music Project - Innocence & Despair (tie)
2002: The Streets - Original Pirate Material
2003: Manitoba - Up in Flames
2004: Arcade Fire - Funeral
