The Top 20 Albums Of 2005
Kind of hard to top that last post, so I won’t even try. I’m writing this from Manhattan’s Upper East Side. My fiancee (she has not changed her mind yet) in napping next to me. The sun is setting and everything is pink and gold outside my window on the 26th floor. We’re staying at my good friend Veronica’s place here in New York. Unfortunately, Veronica is not here — still sunning on one of the Caribbean islands. St. Barts, I think. Hopefully she gets back before Bliss and I fly back to Shanghai on the 6th.
We drove here in a rented Ford Taurus, through the Poconos along Interstate 380, where the roadside woods were either covered with snow or encased in ice. Trees, some leaning in from the weight, sparkled in the sunlight — they looked like they had tiny leaves carved out of crystal. The scene felt rather fragile, like one strong breeze could come in and shatter the entire forest and make it fall onto the soft bed of white waiting below.
During the ride we listened to Chad VanGaalen’s beautifully eery album Infiniheart, and that reminded me — although it appeared on Shanghaiist, I never posted my top albums of 2005 on this site. (And, no, not one reader has emailed to complain.)
For various reasons, I have failed to give this site the attention it deserves for the past half a year or so. I hope to change that soon. But my 2005 music list will have far fewer bells and whistles than my 2004 list. In fact, all you get are some snazzy italics. Anyway, for what it’s worth, here are my top 20 albums of 2005:
- Chad VanGaalen - Infiniheart
- Wolf Parade - Apologies To The Queen Mary
- Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
- Okkervil River - Black Sheep Boy
- John Vanderslice - Pixel Revolt
- My Morning Jacket - Z
- Bright Eyes - I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning
- Andrew Bird - The Mysterious Production Of Eggs
- Spoon - Gimme Fiction
- Rogue Wave - Descended Like Vultures
- Sufjan Stevens - Illinois
- of Montreal - The Sunlandic Twins
- Brakes - Give Blood
- Iron & Wine - Woman King EP/In the Reins EP (with Calexico)
- Superwolf - Superwolf
- Stephen Malkmus - Face The Truth
- The Decemberists - Picaresque
- M. Ward - Transistor Radio
- The Mountain Goats - The Sunset Tree
- The Capitol Years - Let Them Drink
Some images, links and mp3s can be found over at Shanghaiist or at my mid-2005 picks page. I may add albums beyond No. 20 as I think of them. As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts and suggestions. If you are really quick, maybe I can be listening to some of your music picks on my long, long flight back to China.
Related:
The Top 25 Albums Of 2004
This is when I force my taste in music on you
On Shanghaiist:
Shanghaiist presents The Best Albums of 2005
25 after 7: The Best Music of 2005 (so far)
2 Comments
Guess Death Cab’s “Plans” didn’t make it, eh? Understandable, I suppose… it wasn’t as together as Transatlanticism.
Guess Death Cab’s “Plans” didn’t make it, eh?