Over the last few weeks of 05 we will be
posting our writers' picks for the best of 2005.
Each day we posted a new Top 5 list from
one of our writers. Now at the conclusion we are please to present the
master list comprised of the top picks from all of our writer submissions.
Jordan Rodgers's Top 5 of 05.
5. Andrew Bird - Andrew Bird and
the Mysterious Production of Eggs:
Andrew Bird is quickly establishing himself as a great innovator in pop
and folk music (not to mention lyricism), and this might be his best album.
A strong album from beginning to end, and Fake Palindromes is a masterpiece.
(samples
/ buy cd)
4. Bonnie Prince Billy/Matt
Sweeney - Superwolf: I really wasnt much of a Will Oldham fan until
this release, but it easily converted me. Subtle, affecting, vaguely
frightening, but utterly brilliant.
(samples
/ buy cd)
3. Okkervil River - Black Sheep Boy:
A bit uneven, but contains some of the best songs of the year by any band.
In a Radio Song, For Real, and especially A Stone are all candidates
for best song of the year.
(samples
/ buy cd)
2. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah! -
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah!: The best debut of the year, and the
most pure fun Ive had listening to an album in all of 2005. I know
the hype machine casts a little doubt, but these guys are actually deserving
of it.
(samples
/ buy cd)
1. Sufjan Stevens - Illinois:
Its been months since I first heard this disc, and despite many challengers
it remains the best album of the year, on a different level than anything
else released in 2005. The emotional impact that is sustained throughout
the whole album is only approached by other bands in single songs, and
even then very rarely.
(samples
/ buy cd)
Honorable Mention:
Sigur Ros- Takk
Bloc Party- Silent Alarm
Colleen- The Golden Morning Breaks
Eels- Blinking Lights and Other Revelations
The Mountain Goats- The Sunset Tree
Page France- Hello, Dear Wind
Six Organs of Admittance- School of the Flower
Disappointments of the Year:
Broken Social Scene- Broken Social Scene
Castanets- First Lights Freeze
The Decemberists- Picaresque
Devendra Banhart- Cripple Crow
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