All Hail The Conquering Heroes

And here, the suspense shall kill you no longer, we press on!

10. The New Pornographers, Twin Cinema
Man, there are hooks and melodies on this album for days and numerous moments of joy to be discovered on this, the Vancouver collective's third album. I'm not gonna sit here and try and compare Twin Cinema with any of their earlier records, because I haven't heard them, but based on the strength of this album, I most likely will be tracking them down in the not too distant future. I dig the jangly pop of "Twin Cinema," the emotion laden "The Bleeding Heart Show," and the back to back rockers of "Jessica, Dressed In Cobras" and "The Jessica Numbers"-- hell, I dig it all. Like alot of the albums on this list, this is a record I wouldn't have gone anywhere near two or three years ago and would have simply rejected out of hand--this year, it sits at #10 on my best of list. Does this mean that I'm simply getting old and mellowing out, or rather that my musical tastes are maturing (admittedly, it's not that hard to mature away from Pantera and Slayer-- there's really nowhere else to go but up, short of descending into death metal. But I digress....)?
9. New Order, Waiting For The Sirens Call
You can count the number of bands that have had the kind of long lasting impact that New Order have on one hand. I mean, think about it-- Movement was birthed into the world in 1981 (coincidentally, the same year as yours truly), and here they are, twenty-four years later, still putting out quality product (whether I'm doing the same is debateable). I know alot of old school New Order fans hated 2001's Get Ready, but it was my first real introduction to New Order (short of being the reference to "Hey, they're that band... the band that that awful Orgy band covered, right?"), and I loved it. Siren's Call is more of the same-- every song on the album bumps in that perfect marriage of driving rock merged with twisting electronica that New Order have done so well, even before the assinine term "electronica" ever existed. If you just excuse the awful title, "Guilt Is A Useless Emotion" is probably one of my favorite songs of the year (and probably should have found a spot somewhere on my 2005 mixtape). But like I said, the whole album bumps, and any band that has been around for longer than I've been alive (when you throw in the fact that New Order arouse out of the ashes of Joy Division) and still makes interesting, relevant music gets serious props in my book.
8. Ladytron, The Witching Hour
New Order provides an apt segue for Ladytron, because at least indirectly this band had to have been influenced by them, judging from the way they merge electronica with rock elements. But whereas New Order often times lean more on rock guitars, Ladytron lean far more to the electronic elements of the mix, and whereas New Order make light, airy, and upbeat songs, 'Tron gravitate towards a darker, brooding sort of sonic hodgepodge. I've already sung the praises of "Destroy Everything You Touch," but the haunting "Beauty #2" also got a lot of burn as well. This album may take a few spins to sink in, but if you give it a chance, it will reward you in spades.
7. Sufjan Stevens, Illinois
Everyone and their mom is throwing Sufjan props, and with good reason. Anyone who has enough ambition (audacity?) to declare that they are gonna write a concept album about all 50 states obviously has some major cajones. Anyone who turns in an album as ambitious as this one... well, they've got some serious talent to burn. Throw in the fact that Sufjan is able to write beautiful, dazzling songs about such horrific subjects as infamous serial killer John Wayne Gacy...well, that's quite an achievement, my friend. Hell, even NPR jumped on the bandwagon earlier this year-- and you know what that means kids! That's right, all you hipsters, this Christmas, you AND your parents can BOTH rock out to Illinois !
6. Slug and Murs, Felt 2: A Tribute to Lisa Bonet / Atmosphere, You Can't Imagine How Much Fun We're Having
Anyone that knows me (or has spent some time reading this blog) knows how much I dig Slug and Atmosphere. In a pinch, I'd probably throw God Loves Ugly up on my list of Top 25 Hip Hop albums, if that's any indication. Atmosphere's charm is a two-pronged attack: first, you've got the consistently boomin' production from Ant (who, for example, was doing the whole chop up and slow down old soul records thing that Kanye has turned into multi millions back when young 'Ye was still trying to dress like Ma$e and "couldn't even afford a 4-track recorder"), joined together with the verbal gymnastics of one Sean Daley, a/k/a/ Slug. What I've always loved about Slug is that he comes off as a far less insane and far nerdier version of Eminem (and one who has yet to completely fall the fuck off)-- a battle MC who could lyrically sever your head with punchline after punchline, while at the same time possessing the ability to turn around and spin a dense, emotion packed story on the very next track. And this year, instead of giving each side of his personality equal play on one LP, he dropped two-- he brought Living Legend Murs along for the battle MC'ing and witty wordplay of Felt 2, and then followed that up with the emotional bombast of Fun (and even debuted a much talked about mohawk!). One gives you heat rocks like "Gangster Ass Anthony," the other drops the ponderous thoughts of "Little Man" and the horrific story of "That Night"-- and they're both dope as fuck.
5. Sleater-Kinney, The Woods
Ya know, back when I was in high school, I went through this phase for about a year when I thought that Sleater-Kinney were just about the best band I'd ever heard. The grooves and melodies that these three lovely ladies from the Pacific Northwest concocted just sounded right to me-- perhaps it had something to do with the fact that all of my friends were into pop punk bands like Pennywise and NOFX, and I thought I'd discovered the next level-- the more intellectual, the more respectable-- of punk rock. I don't know, but as I went off to college, my interest in SK gradually waned. And then I heard the thunderous, classic rock influenced grooves of The Woods... and oh man, I feel in love with Sleater-Kinney all over again. Simply put: A damn fine, down and dirty rock record.
4. Broken Social Scene, Broken Social Scene
Much like the New Pornographers, I hadn't listened to this band until this year, but man, am I happy that I did. There are few bands that I've heard that are this inventive, this bizarre, and hell, this compelling. They rock, they groove, they do it all-- again, this is yet another album that rewards repeat listens, so as to discover the nuances found in songs such as "Hotel," which has a beat which faintly reminds me of the most bizarre remix of Usher (the title of the song escapes me right now, because Usher fucking sucks) I've ever heard. And you can't help but laugh at some of the song titles-- I fucking dare you to put "Handjobs for the Holidays" on an Xmas mix CD.
3. Rogue Wave, Descended Like Vultures
This is what indie rock should sound like, to my ears: Soaring guitar, heartfelt lyrics wrapped up in deft melodies and memorable hooks, and a groove that won't quit. I couldn't stop playing the epic "Publish My Love" (yet another crap title from the New Order school of songwriting, but we'll forgive that), rocking "Love's Lost Guarantee" (Uhm, do I see a lyrical theme developing here?), or the insanely, memorably catchy "You." Hell, I couldn't get enough of the whole damn album, period (obviously, or it wouldn't be #3, now would it?).
2. Cat Power, The Greatest
Were I Pitchfork, I'd happily throw 2004's best album (Purple Haze) here and not think twice about it. However, I recognize that, even though it came out in December, it was still December, 2004.... so I went and grabbed an album that doesn't even drop until January, 2006! But hell, since the promos have been floating around since before Thanksgiving (and I've been bumping it constantly since then), not to mention the fact that this album is too good to be denied, I had to put it up here. This enthralling mix of old soul, funk, and blues just cannot be denied-- I've offered to burn copies for everyone from indie rock heads to friends who pretty much only listen to Jack Johnson and Ben Harper exclusively to even my dad, who gets his freak on to classical and the odd day long wade into country radio (like the Clipse would say, "Echk!") when he's feeling frisky-- this album is just that versatile. Hell, I might even have to throw it on next year's list too, for good measure-- this is the album that Fiona Apple should have made.
1. Bloc Party, Silent Alarm
Seriously, I think I've probably said all I need to say about this album and this band already.

However, I will just say that, after the atrocity that was the DFA 1979 remix album, Romance, Bloody Romance (4 seperate remixes of "Romantic Nights" and "Black History Month" each? I mean, what the fuck? Sure, the Dahlback remix of "Romantic Nights" bangs, in the words of old school Mobb Deep, like "100 and 0," but did we really need three more? Nevermind...), I'd say that Silent Alarm Remixed looks damn good in comparison, wouldn't you agree? I sincerely believe that it does a wonderful job of recontextualizing and adding a fresh spin on what was already a truly fantastic stand alone album.

Anywho, I pretty much knew back in March that Silent Alarm was gonna wind up my favorite album of 2005, and nothing came even remotely close to unseating it the rest of the year. I can only hope that they improve on it with the follow up, and that the dreaded second album curse doesn't strike down a tremendous band who sounds as if they are only starting to hit their stride.

I'd love to hear your comments on the whole list, and enjoy the holidays y'all.