411 Music’s Year In Review 01.06.06: 2005, Part 05

Posted by Michael Melchor on 01.06.2006

We wrap it up with Part 2 of the 411 Music Staff’s individual picks for the year’s best albums!

Now we get down to the nitty-gritty. The last part of it.

We wrap up our look back at the year that was with the second part of our Top 10 lists of the year. For those of you that missed out on yesterday, we do separate lists because, with the diverse tastes here, this would have been a disaster trying to put together a staff-wide, agreed-upon, according-to-Hoyle, set-in-stone Top 10 list...so we didn't bother.

Instead, many of the staff gave their own choices. So many, in fact, that this portion was cut in half. One part yesterday, the final portion today. (As well as resident tyrant Evocator Manes' own take on the year that was 2005, but that's another story.)

So, sit back and see what moved, motivated, and thrilled us during the last calendar year. Should you find disagreements, remember that these are opinions – and everyone has one. Just like everyone has an...well, you know...

And thank you once again for making 411 Music a part of your entertainment during the last year. On a personal note, I have to say that, after a few stumbles, we now have arguably the best staff this site – and this Zone in particular – has ever seen. We're glad that we could make you argue, think, reminisce, or whatever it was we did with our words and musings. We're looking forward to doing more of the same in 2006.

- Michael Melchor, 411 Music Editor



First up is "Radio Free" Brian Berry – complete with his own introduction:

For a complete list of my top albums of the year check my column, Radio Free Berry, which runs every Wednesday in the music zone. I'm noticing that as I'm getting older, my music taste leans toward the more melodic and lyrically astute, rather than the aggressive, angst-ridden tunage of my youth. With that said, Brian Berry's picks for the top 10 albums of 2005. Shoot me an e-mail at [e-mail] with any comments.




10. Lucero - Nobody's Darlings

Memphis' Lucero is the second coming of Minneapolis legends, The Replacements. On their seventh album of punk infused alt-country, Ben Nichols delivers well written, hoarsely sung songs, befitting your favorite rough and tumble dive bar. Their rough, passionate sound translates well in their live performances, which I highly recommend you check out when they come to town. Album produced by Jim Dickinson (The Replacements, Big Star).




9. Ween - Shinola Volume 1

Released on their own Chocodog label, Shinola Volume 1 is the first in a series of never released rarities and outtakes from Pennsylvania's eclectic kings of weirdness. Somehow, this collection manages to stand up with their best work (i.e. 1992's Pure Guava, 1994's Chocolate and Cheese, and 1997's The Mollusk). If you didn't like Ween before this album will not convert you. The album is heavy in genre-crossing as with most of their albums (12 Golden Country Greats being the exception). On this one, you'll find tripped out space jams ("How High Can You Fly"), unusually gentle love songs ("Someday"), a lampoon of the Village People & Michael MacDonald ("Boys Club"), and the just plain weird ("Tastes Good On the Bun"), amongst a handful of other odd ball classics.




8. Spoon - Gimme Fiction

For their fifth studio album (the first since 2002's Kill the Moonlight), Spoon takes a darker approach to their brand of carefully orchestrated guitar rock. With the addition of synthesizers and a string section, courtesy of Tosca Strings, their sound becomes fuller than ever before. Songwriter/frontman Britt Daniel continues to write some of the best songs in rock music today, shining brightest on the mysterious character tale of "The Two Sides of Monsieur Valentine" and the Beatle-esque "Sister Jack."




7. Six Organs of Admittance - School of the Flower

Influenced by finger picking guitarist John Fahey and psych-folk band Tyrannosaurus Rex, Six Organs of Admittance is the brainchild of Northern California nomad Ben Chasny (also guitarist of the very heavy psych-rock band Comets on Fire). Chasny is an extremely talented guitarist/songwriter whose seventh album of acoustic folk, free jazz, and Japanese experimentalism is a candidate for the most beautifully created album of 2005. While he often draws comparisons to freak-folk musician Devendra Banhart, Chasny takes a more experimental approach to his music and with a more engaging voice (his voice recalls Nick Drake). Songs range from the very short, extremely moving ballad "Words For Two," to the more progressive and chaotic thirteen-minute title track.




6. Stars - Set Yourself On Fire

You know that eventual feeling after a relationship ends when you realize that everything's going to be okay, that you can live without that person being as close as they once were, and the mere glow of the sun becomes the most inviting, optimism inducing presence you can fathom? Set Yourself On Fire is the quintessential album to accompany those feelings. With beautifully arranged horns, strings, and piano, Stars made the break-up album of the year, doubling as the best chamber pop record of 2005. The tone isn't bitter enough to be juvenile, and not cynical enough to be about an older couple, which makes this a landmark for twenty-somethings getting over a rough spot in their love life. Highlights include the opening track "Your Ex-Lover Is Dead," "Celebration Guns," and my favorite song of 2005 (which is also the most rocking song on the album), "Ageless Beauty."




5. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Clap Your Hands Say Yeah

I'll be the first to admit I was skeptical about the much hyped New York band, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah for one very stupid reason: their name is horrible. Once I got over this pretense, I was greeted by a great record of spastic pop-rock, by a band sounding like a gleeful Arcade Fire, as sung by David Byrne (and I'm a huge Talking Heads fan!). 2006 will be the year that CYHSY breaks in a big way, with alternative rock radio play and sold-out medium venue tours in their near future. I'm listening to it now, drinking ale, dancing like a convulsing horse, with absolutely no sense of rhythm…and I've never felt better in my life.




4. Animal Collective – Feels

Feels is the album the Keebler elves would make (this may be a lost reference to younger readers) if they spent more time playing with wild animals in the forest rather than slaving away on the factory line, making bland cookies. For the entire album, there's a textural dichotomy of childlike naivity and creepy nature music. If Feels were chosen as the soundtrack to a movie version of Where the Wild Things Are, it wouldn't come as a shock. AC sounds like they were having such a good time recording the album that they probably weren't concerned this became one of the most critically acclaimed albums of the year.





3. The Mountain Goats - The Sunset Tree

The Mountain Goats fourteenth album in only ten years just might be their best. The Sunset Tree is an autobiographical album about the physical and emotional abuse singer-songwriter John Darnielle experienced by his alcoholic step-father. Following a chronological order, the album is best experienced from beginning to end. In the course of forty minutes, the songwriter is abused with gritty detail, runs away from home with a girlfriend, abuses alcohol himself, travels, avoids his passed out step-dad, discovers that his step-father dies of a heart attack, and puts closure on the incident through forgiveness. This album has a thick coating of intellectual honesty that isn't found in most other singer-songwriters works. If you can listen past his nasally voice (I find it endearing) you'll discover some of the best lyricism of our time.




2. Wolf Parade - Apologies to the Queen Mary

Like a dark new wave band as channeled through Modest Mouse (Mouse frontman Isaac Brock produced and delivered the band to Sub Pop records), while replacing Mouse's country/western influence for Eno/Bowie/Roxy Music of the 70s, Montreal's Wolf Parade were one of the many Canadian bands to find success in 2005). Their debut full-length took me several listens to enjoy, but once Apologies clicked, I couldn't stop playing it. Vocal duties are traded off by Dan Boeckner, who sounds strikingly similar to Beck, and Spencer Krug, whose vocals remind me of Interpol's Paul Davis. My favorites on this album were both Boeckner songs, and were also the last songs on each side of the vinyl: "Shine A Light" and "This Heart's On Fire."




1. The New Pornographers - Twin Cinema

Fact: Of the thirty-nine songs on their first three albums, Vancouver's New Pornographers have yet to write a less than excellent song. The eight-piece, supergroup released a near perfect third album of power-pop melodies this year, aided by the best harmonies in music today, as sung by Carl Newman (aka AC Newman), alt-country chanteuse Neko Case, and Dan Bejar (of Destroyer). Despite having ten of thirteen songs on Twin Cinema written by Newman, The New Pornographers feel more like a collective than an individual's work. This lack of showiness from any single member translates extremely well into their happy go lucky, cryptically worded, bubblegum rock. We can only hope for a fourth album in the near future. Highlights include "Use It," "These Are the Fables," and "Jackie, Dressed In Cobras."



Up now is Ari Berenstein who, while making some excellent headway with his Column of Honor over in the Wrestling Zone, is still very much a part of the 411 Music family:




10. Fountains of Wayne - Out of State Plates

A very solid two disc compilation of new material, B-Sides, covers and other such sundry matters. All told, it probably holds up jussssst a little bit beneath their A-Side full length LPS, but that's a huge compliment to the strength of their regular releases. "Maureen" is addictive power pop; "Karpet King" has the hypnotic malaise notable in their self titled debut; "California Sex Lawyer" is just too damned funny. There's also a live version of "She's Got a Problem", which is a perennial favorite of mine; and of course their cover of "hit Me Baby (One More Time)" which was "discovered" by Howard Stern. There are good times to be had by listening to this album.




9. Aimee Mann - The Forgotten Arm

A concept album that maybe was a bit too much concept than album, but can really be appreciated for the now well understood Mann sound: well composed, blue in mood yet effortlessly rhythmic and captivating. "Going Through the Motions" is ironically up-tempo given its title and subject matter; "She Really Wants You" and "Video" are a great one-two punch combination; "That's How I Knew This Story Would Break My Heart" is a literally a heartbreaker of a ballad (actually most of the songs are heart achingly heartbreaking). This is an album for reflection and contemplation, for bleeding out your own heartaches through the songs.




8. Better Than Ezra - Before The Robots

An album that really just got unfairly overlooked anywhere and everywhere. This is really good material that with more exposure could have really taken off. From my review earlier in the year: Sometimes Better Than Ezra has the tendency for their music to become a bit over-dramatic and almost compulsory, but when they get the balance between emotion and explosion right, the band comes into its own. Better Than Ezra definitely rebounded creatively from their last album with this one.




7. The White Stripes - Get Behind Me, Satan

So I really thought The White Stripes were tremendously overrated until I listened to this album, and then I changed my mind. I liked what I heard on this album; a mixture of garage and country twang. I walked away impressed by this album, enough for it to land in the number seven spot. "My Doorbell" remains a constant spin on my ITunes player. "The Denial Twist" is a fun little number that also stays in my head a ton. An album to help get you motivated or to keep going during the day.




6. Ben Folds - Songs for Silverman

I still don't care much for "Jesusland" or "Prison Food", but the rest of the album is still as good as Folds' previous material (and in the case of "Bastard", "Late" and "Time, maybe BETTER). The piano work, the harmonies with his new band members (and Weird Al Yankovic of all people), the smart lyrics like "the more you know you know you don't know shit"; these songs are built well and hold up well after repeated listening.




5. Our Lady Peace - Healthy In Paranoid Times

Well, spyware inserts aside, this is still a damned good album that has a different but nonetheless powerful approach to the OLP sound. The front half of the album, especially "Angels / Losing / Sleep" and "Wipe That Smile Off Your Face" is very politically charged and intense, which was exactly what I needed to hear given my current embittered and cynical state of mind about America. The back half of the album, with "Boy" and "World on a String" is more upbeat and personal, and dare I say, positive? For some OLP fans, that may be a dangerous word, but I'm of the opinion that this balance actually worked out in favor of the album's overall sound and feel.




4. Common - Be

Yes I'm a geeky white boy and I don't own that many rap albums (I can probably count with both hands and still have some extra fingers left over), but I do know when I should buy a really damned good one. This album would "be" it, so to speak. "Corner" and "The Food" remain my favorites, but it's ALL good. This is not just one of the most solid rap albums from start to finish, but its one of the most solid albums of the year from start to finish. Good words, great beats…Yeah, I heard something about that Kayne West guy, (fake southern accent, ON) heeeee's purty good, too.




3. Fiona Apple - Extraordinary Machine

Long delayed, long awaited, twice recorded, and worth every cent paid for it. While the original version of the album is favored by some Fiona fans because it's more raw and cracks with more energy, this version is still good enough to break my top 3. And in a year where female albums just weren't up to par (Tori Amos, Sheryl Crow and Liz Phair all delivered albums below expectations of quality and Alanis is seemingly fine with re-releasing material in many iterations), Apple's album stood out even more as the best choice of female songwriting. Fiona is not afraid to remain defiantly angry and vengeful woman in her song writing, but she has allowed more blues and jazz to take over the songs and create some beautiful sound scapes (although they do run into and muddle each other a bit if you're listening straight through from beginning to end). While "Window" and "A Better Version of Me" are my two faves on the album, the disc is filled with great material.




2. The New Pornographers - Twin Cinema

Last year for the "noteworthy" albums feature that supplements the Top 10 list, I noted A.C. Newmann's solo effort, The Slow Wonder. This is Newmann's regular unit, alongside known indie cohort Neko Case. This album got a just a bit of attention from the mainstream thanks to the video for "Use It", but nowhere close to the proliferation of hype and newsprint Modest Mouse received for last year's Good News For People Who Love Bad News. It's a shame, because TNP look to be just as oddball as Double M (HAHAHAHAHA the coincidence) and no less addictive in sound and experience. I have to admit as much as I like to style of Newmann's cadence in such songs as the bouncy, must be on uppers to have created it title track "Twin Cinema", "Sing Me Spanish Techno" and "Star Bodies", it's the songs that are fronted by Case which are my favorites—"Jackie, Dressed In Cobras" and "These Are The Fables". And oddly, it doesn't hurt that these songs are Abba-esque in sound. They should be too cornball, but somehow, someway they worm into the consciousness and you like it anyway.—shhh, don't tell anyone, oh Internet public, okay?




1. Audioslave - Out of Exile
The best album of the year for me is an album I listened to in just about every context—on the go, at home—and enjoyed the hell out of it every time. More consistent and captivating than even their debut album; its like a can of Pringles, once you pop the album, in you can't stop until its over. No skipping tracks for me, just straight through—and for me, that's what makes this album rise above and beyond all the rest on the list. It was the one album this year for which I could make that claim.



Ian Wright and Dancing About Architecture have been a staple of 411 for quite some time. Now it's his turn to recap the best of 2005...




10. Rufus Wainwright – Want 2

I've got an odd relationship with Rufus Wainwright's music. Every single one of his albums that I'd bought before this one (for the record, the only one I don't own is his debut) I've hated on first listen and shelved it for 6 months until, in a fit of boredom, I pull it off the shelf and give it another go to discover that my subconscious has managed to find the magic in what Wainwright does and I find myself in awe of his talents. This one was slightly different in that it only took 3 months for that to happen. Years from now when then history of music in this decade is written Rufus Wainwright may well be recognised as a genius and the most gifted musician of his generation. I'm not so sure of that fact now so for the time being I'll just declare his talent as one to be treasured.




9. Martha Wainwright – Martha Wainwright

And then Rufus's little sister came out with a debut album that was nowhere near as complex but managed to be better than his. A straight singer-songwriter album compared to the orchestration of Want 2 but in no way should it be dismissed because of it. I value honesty in lyrics very highly and that's one thing Martha has got in spades.




8. Final Fantasy – Final Fantasy Has a Good Home

Arcade Fire's sometimes violinist Owen Pallett is an unusual musician. Love and death are common subjects for songwriters but videogames as well? One of the more unique albums of the year mainly featuring Pallett singing and playing looped violin with only a drummer for accompaniment. This album was recorded in a rush to take advantage of some studio time that became available to Pallett so God only knows what he'll produce on the next one when he'll have time to really spend some time working on the songs.




7. Bell X1 – Flock

I'll make no bones about the next 2 albums on the list. When I first heard them they were massive disappointments because I felt that as recorded they didn't do justice to the songs that were on them. In the case of Bell X1's third album I didn't like how it was mastered and thought that the levels on the guitars were too low. It is however a testament to the brilliance of the band's songwriting that despite this "Flock" has made it to the top ten.




6. Wolf Parade – Apologies To Queen Mary

If it was the mixing and mastering that let down Flock it's the arrangements and way that the songs were played in the studio that hold back this album. The raw intensity of the some of the songs as performed live and on the band's earlier EPs is missing here but nonetheless there are enough moments of brilliance on the record to still make this is one of the year's best albums.




5. Common – Be

I'm not a hip-hop fan but I know what I hate. And I hate Kanye West as an MC, I find his voice incredibly grating and despite his "smarter than that average rapper" subject matter just can't get into him. But he is one HELL of a producer and the combination of him and actual-good rapper Common resulted in one of my all time favourite rap albums.




4. Antony and The Johnsons – I am a Bird Now

And so we get to the cream, the top 4 and if I'm honest the only 4 truly brilliant new albums that I've heard this year. Antony Hegarty is one of the most unique talents in music and the possessor of one of the most beautiful voices that it's ever been my pleasure to hear. Even though he sings about a subject matter that I can't possibly relate to I adore this album and think that it's one everyone should hear at least once. It's not for everyone but those that it is for will be hugely moved by it.




3. Sufjan Stevens – Illinois

The second stop on Stevens' 50 states project has brought him the attention and acclaim that he should have been getting a couple of years ago when the even better Michigan was released. Going at his present rate he'll be approaching 80 by the time he finishes this album cycle but if he never manages it it won't matter that much, he's produced a brilliantly lush and affecting album that should be cherished.




2. The National – Alligator

Remember when I said that I valued honesty in songwriting and said that Martha Wainwright has that in spades? Well enter Matt Berringer of The National to trump her. "Alligator" is an album full of sadness and loss but despite that there is something in it that is strangely uplifting. There is beauty to be found in even the saddest parts of life and in "Alligator" The National have tapped into that.




1. Arcade Fire – Funeral

Released in the US in 2004 but it didn't come here until this year so as far as I'm concerned it qualifies. There has been reams written about this album and this band in the past 12 months and I don't want to add too much to it beyond saying that there was never any competition here, from the moment that I heard this record in full back in January I knew I wouldn't hear a better one this year, and if I did it would probably be the best album ever. That didn't happen. Ladies and gentleman I give you the album of the year (and my current third favourite ever), big surprise huh?



And finally, where would a year-end list be without me – Michael Melchor, 411 Music Co-Editor? Well, maybe a bit better off, but that besides the point...




10 Shinedown - Us And Them

Forget about a category. This isn't Hardcore Screamo, Thrash, Doom, Black, Death, Goth, Nu, or any other type of metal. This is a straight-ahead rock-and-roll album, and one of the best I've heard in a while. Brent Smith and the gang really set out to out-do themselves from their debut, Leave A Whisper – and they succeeded in spades. Powerful vocals and a style straight from the days of classic rock dragged into the modern day.




9 Gorillaz - Demon Days

Despite having a song that has officially been played into the fucking ground ("Feel Good Inc."), Demon Days is still a great and funky exercise all over. The new single. "Dare", is another good example of that, as well as "Dirty Harry" and several others here. Danger Mouse steps in for Dan The Automator, giving the album a slightly harder – and yet groovier – edge.




8 The East Village Opera Company - The East Village Opera Company

I wasn't sure what to make of this when I first got it. Opera songs set to rock? Aye – rock they did, but the key to this being as good as it is was the fact that they didn't piss all over the original source material. The updates were handled respectfully, and the result was a great piece that you can play for mom and dad as well as your younger siblings.




7 God Forbid - IV: Constitution Of Treason

Violent. Visceral. Unrelenting. And a concept album to boot! The brothers Coyle (Doc and Dallas), along with vocalist Byron Davis, have created another brilliant and frightening album – and one that should set God Forbid apart from the rest of the pack as far as metal goes.




6 Public Enemy - New Whirl Odor

During the epic last track, Chuck D asks, "What in the hell do you know about heaven?" After hearing this, I think I know a bit about it. Chuck and Flavor bring some of the taste of the 80s that they made famous, as well as a more subdued, updated sound that, while still angry, invokes thought even more than their earlier material did (if that's possible). With Chuck's role as an elder statesman set in stone, maybe now we can talk Flavor out of those dumb-ass VH1 shows he's apparently fond of...




5 Bloodhound Gang - Hefty Fine

Who would have thought that one of the most thought-provoking, mature albums of the year would have come from these guys? Lupus Thunder called this the "angry record" – and in harnessing that anger, Jimmy Pop Ali has crafted an album that delves into relationships without the whining. The anger felt at being cast aside is here in its rawest form, as witnessed in probably one of the best lyrics of the year: "It ain't my job to fuck you on your birthday anymore."




4. 30 Seconds To Mars - A Beautiful Lie

The Leto brothers – including the one that acts on occasion – came back with a vengeance this year. Getting past the first few listens – and a change of style that almost included a lot more screaming than necessary – A Beautiful Lie delves deeper into loss while keeping the "space-rock" that 30 Seconds does so well. A raw and polished record all at the same time – and one hell of an emotional ride.




3 Coheed And Cambria - Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV, Vol. 1: From Fear Through The Eyes Of Madness

Try saying that five times fast. An album with a title like that had better be a great one – and Coheed and Cambria deliver just that. The Mars Volta have been called the new masters of progressive (and they have an arguable claim to that title), but C&C keep it in the old-school vein of pioneers like Rush while crafting a complex continuation of the story. Well done.




2 Dream Theater - Octavarium

As far as progreeeive metal goes, Dream Theater proved this year that they are still the kings. Bringing influences from Megadeth to Pink Floyd and all points in-between, Dream Theater merged old and new into a blistering exercise of ability, technique, and emotion into one of their most solid efforts to date.




1 Depeche Mode - Playing The Angel

The album debuted at #2 on the Billboard charts and then all but disappeared. It deserved a lot better, as Gahan and Gore unleashed a complex, powerful, rich and textured album that is easily one of the best of their careers. Coming from a band that's been around for 25 years, that's saying quite a bit. Today's youth culture of bubblegum pop, faux-gangsta rap and brash, hollow metal could learn several things from an record that speaks to the head, heart, and feet all at once. Brilliant.