2005 Records: 30 - 15
(Universal)
The Mars Volta is a band that divides opinion more than the eternal debate
of Spiderman vs. Wolverine. Personally I find the between-song noise and atmospheric
sounds to be irritating and detracting from the music, but there are fans who
insist that the band wish their records to play seamlessly, with no skipping
or silence between songs. Leafing through the lyric booklet is almost like
a voyage inside an acid trip. However, when these guys rock out, they don't
hold up. Bizarre lyrics aside, The Mars Volta are very proficient at what they
do.(Matt)
(Magic Bullet)
I bought this album on a whim; I had previously purchased
music from the label and had heard good things about this band. Boy am I
glad I did as I
was Born at Night is an excellent album that combines distinct
Dischord influences and straightforward indie rock with catchy hooks. Meneguar
is one of the best new artists I discovered last year; I look forward to
hearing more from them in 2006. (Michael)
(Hydra Head)
The Massachusetts juggernaut came roaring back in 2005
with a brand new full-length in the form of Perfect Pitch Black. These
songs carefully mix the frenzied metal days with the more recent indie/space-rock
leanings, sometimes in the same song. But if you're still not convinced
Cave In are back - not like they ever really left - I suggest you locate
the two songs from the band's recent demo recordings ("Dead Already" and "Shapeshifter"). (Michael)
(5 Rue Christine)
Wolfgang Tillman once remarked in an interview that "â?¦for
a person to communicate this basic fragility and insecurity- to me, as I
do to him or her- is the foundation of most of my pictures. I can really
say that nothing bores me more in people than the assumption of security
and certainty". Tillman really should meet Jamie Stewart. While 2005
saw an endless number of instantly forgettable singer songwriters, Xiu Xiu
delivered another slice of emotionally wrought and utterly distinctive music
in the form of La Forét. Just like one of Tillman's photographs,
La Forét can be unnerving, confrontational and an awkward experience,
but all of this goes together to make it simultaneously a very rewarding
one. (Neil)
(Mute)
Anthony Gonzalez's first solitary effort plays like a sci-fi movie - with
action, melodrama, and dream sequences aplenty. "In the Cold I'm
Standing" and "Farewell/Goodbye" are appropriately beautiful
soundscapes, but Anthony finds ways to kick it up a notch with songs like "Car
Chase Terror!" and "Don't Save us From the Flames." It's
still not as good as Blade Runner, but that's because nothing's
as good as Blade Runner. (Giles)
(Atlantic)
Death Cab for Cutie wrote the catchiest single of the year in "Soul
Meets Body," despite what this site's, or any other for that matter, "best
of" list states. Around this single the band crafted an album of infectious
indie and pop music that allowed them to shed the tag of "that band from
The OC." (Michael)
(Southern Lord)
This is an album of stark and desolate beauty that is likened to a soundtrack
to a spaghetti western of which even Morricone would be proud. If Hex doesn't
make the almost two century leap at transporting the listener to the violent,
survivalist old west, nothing will. The album is massive stylistic shift
that produces an amazing addition to Earth's vaunted body of work. (Bob)
(Geffen)
Sigur Ros continues to put challenging albums of ephemeral beauty and this
one is just one more shining example of their ability. Takk... is
waves upon waves of soothing instrumentation and fairy (as in the mythic sprites
that enchant humans) sounding vocals that evokes an astonishing emotional response.
It brings out an uncanny feeling of hope that is almost guaranteed to lift
people's spirits. (Bob)
(Daptone)
I could go on forever telling you how amazing songs like "How Long Do I Have
To Wait For You?," "Your Thing Is a Drag," and "You're Gonna Get It" are but
honestly, you just have to hear this record to know just what I am talking
about. The art of true soul, funk, and R&B have been lost over the years
and Jones knows just that. Jones and the Dap-Kings are going to give a whole
new generation of kids and adults alike a history lesson on how it used to
be, and why it used to be so good. (Shane)
(Constellation)
There is a distinctly warm feeling that you seem to
get from old jazz records played on record players that have seen better
days. Indian Summer would know what I'm talking about, hence why Bessie
Smith bubbled away in the background of their songs. Horses in the Sky emits
a very similar feeling. Not only due to the way it was recorded and produced,
but it manages to bleed the personal into the political in the same way that
Billie Holiday did with â??Strange Fruit'. Though it may come across
as outwardly negative ("They put angels in the electric chair â?¦ And
no-one knew or no-one cared, but burning stars lit up their hair, and crawled
to heaven on golden stairs"), it is simply the perfect soundtrack for "these
violent times". This is one for the ages. (Neil)
(Young God)
This is something that absolutely cannot be skipped over. As a matter of fact,
it's the best album to be released this year and is Gira's best discovery yet.
Yes, it honestly blows Devendra Banhart right out of the water. Akron/Family
has found a balance between being complicated while being simple that any band
would kill to have. Months from now you'll find little things you never noticed
before popping up. If any of the material they recorded while recording this
disc is just as good, expect this to be a band that is in everyone's mouths
for years.(Shane)
19.
Animal Collective - Feels
(Fat Cat)
It's always refreshing as hell to hear a band actually
get better with each subsequent record. Sung Tongs was
undoubtedly a great album: wide-eyes and child-like, yet artistic and mature,
completely out there, and yet infectious and occasionally surprisingly accessible.
I don't doubt that a lot of people (myself included) were skeptical on the
prospect of the band ever topping or even matching that album's brilliance.
Well, to be honest, Feels blows it clear out of the water.
Imagine Sung Tongs, but larger, warmer, more ambitious,
and worlds more accessible; what you get is one of the best and most unique
records of the year, Feels. (Pat)
(Saddle Creek)
This is a countrified folked out album of Americana. Oberst lays down his
best album to date filled to the brim with memorable songs that touch the human
soul. He adds a real salt of the earth feel to his enigmatic brand of pop,
and it is as infectious as it is poignant. I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning is
powerful in its genteel restraint and will have you humming along from the
opening chords. (Bob)
(Suicide Squeeze)
Early in their career, Minus the Bear established that they could write technical
songs without sacrificing any melodic consciousness. This album appropriately
takes their sound and adds a bit of satisfying spice. They've outdone themselves
again, and made one of the best albums I'll hear this year. But I guess they're
entitled to that. (Giles)
(Fat Wreck Chords)
It was recently revealed that Against Me! had signed
to major label Sire Records. Despite all the controversy and hullabaloo surrounding
that news, it doesn't overshadow the fact that Against Me! released one of
the best, honest to god, punk rock records that have been released in far,
FAR too long. The idea of Searching For A Former Clarity is
a loose concept of the rise and fall of a mid-level band who signs to a major
label. Boy, talk about foreshadowing, huh? Against Me! has done nothing but
become better with each record they release. Many listeners didn't think
the band could top the energy of As The Eternal Cowboy,
but with the release of Searching For A Former Clarity,
the bands songwriting skills shine through, in a big way. (Josh)
(Equal Vision)
As daunting a task as following up the epic masterpiece Give Blood must
have been, Bane pulled it off beautifully with The Note.
More introspective and melodic than any of their previous outings, The
Note is the sound of seasoned hardcore veterans realizing that everything
they love about their scene is slowly unwinding and falling apart. Purportedly,
this is the band's final album, giving new meaning to lines like "keep
right on dancing while that curtain is closing." (Pat)
2005 Records: 14 - 1
(Kill
Rock Stars)
With Picaresque, the Decemberists finally fulfill the potential
they've always displayed on previous records that were pretty good at
best and deathly boring at worst. The result is their most eclectic, memorable,
and best album to date. Oh, and "The Engine Driver?" Best song
of 2005. (Pat)
(Load)
Greek Mythology taught me a valuable lesson: Zeus is a bad ass motherfucker.
The dude is essentially the old school version of the Spiderman villain Electro.
I'm not physicist, but if you could convert the inertia and shock of these
epic giants you would equate Lightning Bolt: drum and bass to the maximus.
With Hypermagic Mountain, they took their formula to new
thundering heights. Each bass string strum feels like your intestines tightened
and throttled. Drums shake like a stampede of centipede feet in stilleto heels.
I can't help but feel that this is what video game music would sound like if
the Nintendo soundtrack innovators had heard the Boredoms. (Zed)
(Southern Lord)
An album full of frightening intensity, Black One assaults
the senses with thunderous sub-bass sonics, droning guitars, shrieking feedback,
and howling vocals all while being awash in white noise. Sunn0))) crafts a
superbly cohesive piece with the help of their revolving guest conspirators.
Just like the best horror movies, it will thrill the listener and hold you
in its thrall until the very end. (Bob)
(Fat Wreck Chords/G7)
Raging, furious and exciting still, in a genre that's quickly becoming stagnant.
Propagandhi's stunning return to form illustrated the bile and intellect that's
made them one of the strongholds of the political punk scene in recent years. Potemkin
City Limits is a lesson in how to be angry in a smart way. Take note, NOFX,
Anti-Flag, and maybe even Green Day. Maybe. (Matt)
(Level Plane)
'Screamo 'assumptions are immediately frozen on The Moon is a Dead Place as
we hear eight songs of near nonstop mind-wandering rock. If talent doesn't
scare you away and listening to dense instrumentation that doesn't wander
down a tech metal path excites you, Gospel will flood your brain like an alarm
clock. Basically, if "alternative" rock all sounds the same
and punk is beginning to all sound the same, my god, Gospel will slip into
that ear hole perfectly. I swear. (Zed)
(Roc-A-Fella)
If I had been in Kanye West's position this year, I would have relaxed.
You know, buy an Xbox, maybe a jetpack, go to Sweden for a few months. Preparing
a follow-up to the most important hip-hop album of 2004 wouldn't have
been very high up on my list of things to do. But I am not Kanye West, and
Kanye West isn't as big of a nerd as I am. So he hooked up with Jon Brion
and got going again. What they made was something exciting, inventive, and
every bit as keen as The College Dropout. Just like that,
two great albums in a row. Effectively, this makes Kanye the Michael Jordan
of hip-hop. The Wayne Gretzky. The Jose Conseco. The Hulk Hogan, if you will. (Giles)
(Arts and Crafts)
It's all very good and fun and you really do understand why the band
have become such cult favorites especially with songs as fun as "Windsurfing
Nation," which had me squawking along to the chorus without even knowing
what the bloody hell they are singing. "Handjobs for the Holiday" is
possibly my favorite song title of 2005, made all the better by it being a
fantastic song that had me nodding my head in approval all the way through.(Peanut)
(Goodfellow)
I didn't get a full appreciation for this album until
I was driving from Redding, California to the state of Washington at three
in the morning. The sky was covered in dark and the road in rain. It was
then the dark intensity of II made sense. If you want
to turn the lights off and try jumping through the screen of your television
you're in luck. These are the songs that'll turn your shit black.(Zed)
6.
Antony & the Johnsons - I
am a Bird Now
(Secretly Canadian)
Check your masculine image at the door and be rewarded with the year's
(and one of the decade's) finest. Antony's multi-octave vibrato
effectively blurs the myriad lines between male and female while conducting
one of the most singular recordings of our time. One of the select few albums
actually deserving of the tag "breathtaking," the impossibly beautifully
executed minimalism of I Am a Bird Now dwarfs albums twelve
times its size; not since Talk Talk's Laughing Stock has
so little said so much. (Pat)
(Hydra Head)
Obviously birds were way cool in 2005, just like post-rock.
So it's not a surprise that Pelican have made their way onto numerous
year end lists with The Fire in Our Throats Will Beckon the Thaw.
With their most recent full-length the band moved away from their sludgy
beginnings and opted down the ambient path. And while they may have alienated
some fans in doing so, there is more to the music world than just metal,
especially when you write music this enjoyable. (Michael)
(Neurot)
Red Sparowes' debut effort is a stunning piece of instrumental
music. On the album the listener experiences layers upon layers of effect-laden
guitars that are accentuated by a dynamic rhythm section. The music is as
beautiful as any post-rock group, but much more complex, which is what distinguishes At
the Soundless Dawn and puts it head above shoulders. (Michael)
(Deathwish Inc.)
MLIW aren't heavy or fast, and they certainly don't bring the
mosh, so how on Earth were they able to create the best hardcore album of 2005?
Through playing by no one else's rules but their own. Witness is
impossibly huge, barely containable in its scant package just shy of 27 minutes.
The band constantly sounds just on the edge of losing control of their monstrous
compositions (see: the coda of "John and Jimmy"), packing
as much raw energy into each inspired second as humanly possible. Despite stellar
hardcore contributions from bands such as Bane, Killing the Dream, With Honor,
Go It Alone, and Allegiance this year, it's Witness that
will stick in our minds and hearts longest after the fact. (Pat)
(Asthmatic Kitty)
There's only so much I can say about this record in mere words. Once you listen
to Sufjan Stevens, you'll find yourself humming the infectious melodies, tapping
out the rhythms, and unconsciously absorbing useless pieces of information
about Illinois, quite without realizing it, and you can't say that for
The Mars Volta. This is a record you could put on for your parents and still
enjoy without feeling the guilty burn of dad-rock. Look, enough beating about
the bush. This record will improve your life. Buy this album. (Matt)
(Hydra Head)
It is an honor to declare Jesu's self-titled
effort as Scene Point Blank's album of the year for 2005. This eight-track
74 minute masterpiece is spectacular. Justin Broadrick evokes deep feelings
of uneasiness and melancholy through the aural experience making each listen
of this album truly delightful. If you somehow missed out on this album,
now is the time to play catch-up. (Michael)
Statistics
That's right, SPB is getting technical on yo' ass! This first graph just shows
how overall record placement scored, eg, 8 staffers put Pelican on their list.
This one shows how close the battle for places in the top 5 was. This year's
vote was pretty close with tied results for most positions.
Finally, this rather delicious-looking pie chart shows the proportion of the
most popular labels in our top 30.
That's right, we just wanted to show off our smooth graphing technology really.
It's that time of year again - our year end feature! It's been a long process,
but we've totalled up all of the results of our individual staff lists (see
later pages for these), to calculate an overall list for the entire staff and
site. We use this approach because it's more honest and you, the reader, get
a more realistic view of the average tastes of our staff and what we collectively
enjoyed this year. Following the main list is some interesting stats regarding
this year's list, and the individual staff lists if you just can't wait to
find out what record Zed voted his personal #1. And of course, in time-honoured
SPB tradition, we also have our usual Year
In Review feature.
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