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 wasn't 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 I've 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: It's 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 Light's Freeze
The Decemberists- Picaresque
Devendra Banhart- Cripple Crow