Albums Of 2005
Posted by Rob Ortenzi on 28-Feb-06 @ 07:41 PM|
We did the math, and we figured out that, between the five of us, AP's editors heard an average of 500 new CDs every week in 2005. That's 26,000 CDs total-or, if you're keeping tabs, approximately 2 percent of all the new releases sent out into the cold, hard world this past year. Needless to say, coming up with this list of our 10 favorites was-well, a heck of a lot easier than you might think. [JB] JONAH BAYER [AB] AARON BURGESS [SH] SCOTT HEISEL [JP] JASON PETTIGREW [LS] LESLIE SIMON |
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THE ACADEMY IS... Almost Here (FUELED BY RAMEN,2005)  It started as a casual relationship: I’d pop in Almost Here while I was working and hum along. But somewhere along the line, it became an obsession; before I knew it, I was singing “Attention” in the shower and writing fan letters to William Beckett. Thanks to the restraining order, things have settled down, but to my ears, Almost Here remains the strongest debut in recent memory. [JB]
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AGAINST ME! Searching For A Former Clarity (FAT WRECK CHORDS,2005)  You know how your hippie uncle talks about the first time he heard Bob Dylan as if it were some sort of religious experience yet to be matched by any other musician of his generation? That’s what Against Me! are to me, as hyperbolic as it sounds. Every album of theirs gets better and better, and Searching For A Former Clarity is no exception to that rule. Tom Gabel is a master of poetry and punk. [SH]
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COHEED AND CAMBRIA Good Apollo I’m Burning, Star IV: Fear Through The Eyes Of Madness (EQUAL VISION/COLUMBIA,2005)  Call me shortsighted, but I (along with, I figure, everyone who actually had a hand in making and promoting the thing) was sure Good Apollo-all Star Wars conceptual vision, classic-rock finesse and hidden Led Zeppelin cover-would be the disc that finally broke Coheed out of our record collections and into those of our parents. The jury’s still out for Mom and Dad, but maybe that’s for the best: Their taste always kind of sucked, anyway. [AB]
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FALL OUT BOY From Under The Cork Tree (ISLAND,2005)  Being the obsessively organized-cough!anal-retentivecough!-gal that I am, I actually kept track of all the times I spun FUCT in a composition book covered with Panic! At The Disco stickers. After crunching the numbers, I came up with a ballpark figure of 1,048 spins. That’s 47,160 minutes, 786 hours or approximately 32 days filled with just Fall Out Boy. Yeah, I guess you could say I like this album. [LS]
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LCD SOUNDSYSTEM LCD Soundsystem (CAPITOL,2005)  I want to set fire to the tool who coined the term “dance-punk,” because applying it to LCD Soundsystem is like calling the Sistine Chapel’s ceiling a “paint job.” LCD mainman James Murphy has an ear for minimalist funk grooves, propulsive electro-pop structures and gentle melodies that can stir the hearts of jaded no-wave, new-wave and prog-rock fans. I expect Madonna’s people will be calling him soon in an effort to get her biannual booster shot of relevance. [JP]
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THE LETTERS ORGANIZE Dead Rhythm Machine (NITRO,2005)  In a recent episode of CBS’ Two And A Half Men, a character described herself as feeling like “a bag of psychotic cats trapped in a burning meth lab” (or something like that). The second album from these Atlanta-based maniacs isn’t as deranged as that piece of dialogue implies, but it does deliver equal parts viciousness and centrifugal force that are positively captivating. Memo to the Bronx: consider the bar raised-significantly. [JP]
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THE MARS VOLTA Frances The Mute (GSL/STRUMMER/UNIVERSAL,2005)  To my ears, most conceptual ’70s prog rock feels like it belongs in a museum: It’s impressively displayed but cold to the touch-in other words, dead. On their second album, the Mars Volta grab that genre from the bloated corpses of giants and turn it into something that cries, screams, beats its chest and swings from the rafters. Suck on that, Robert Fripp. [AB]
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MAXĂMO PARK A Certain Trigger (WARP,2005)  How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. I love thee freely, for singer Paul Smith pogos more than your dad at a Ramones concert in 1978-and looks like Luke Wilson with a bad combover. I love thee purely, as I am able to celebrate the white belt and connect with my hipster within. And, I love thee with the passion usually only reserved for Bright Eyes and Fall Out Boy. Imagine that. [LS]
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MINUS THE BEAR Menos El Oso (SUICIDE SQUEEZE,2005)  When a band are described as sounding like “no one else in the world,” it typically means they play some weird avant-jazz/grind mix rarely found outside of Jason Pettigrew’s office stereo. While it’s true Minus The Bear sound like no one else in the world, Menos El Oso isn’t full of unlistenable freakouts; instead, it proves that not all records tied into this NYC “dance-punk” crapfest are regurgitated sludge. Score one for Seattle! [SH]
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WILCO Kicking Television: Live In Chicago (NONESUCH,2005)  I know it seems like a copout to pick a live album as one of the year’s best releases, but Jeff Tweedy & Co. are in such amazing form on this double-disc collection-artistically, musically and, yes, spiritually-it’s almost unfair to the rest of us. Alternately dissonant and delicate (and, on tracks like “I Am Trying To Break Your Heart,” both) Kicking Television is as essential as your extremities. [JB]
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