Best Albums of 2005

shout to the top in case anyone else wants to chime in….

I find the list http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/browse/-/15879951/ref=m_best_1_2/104-5976407-2069554

compiled by Amazon editors to me much more interesting than Pitchdork or (only indie)Popmatters. Looking forward to the Village Voice Pazz and Jop poll.

Originally posted by Charlie Nakatestes, Japanese Golfer:
I find the list http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/browse/-/15879951/ref=m_best_1_2/104-5976407-2069554

compiled by Amazon editors to me much more interesting than Pitchdork or (only indie)Popmatters.

Because you are such a big fan of Bollywood soundtracks, Afro-rock, and World music?

Do you buy most of your music at Whole Foods?

At least popmatters is honest. Pitchfork's lip service to top 40 hip hop is tiring.

If you took metacritic's 50 top-rated albums today (admittedly skewed, and I'm lazy, so I'm not transcribing album titles), it'd look like this:

EDIT - alas, I jsut copied the list of artists currently up there, sorted by rating. Metacritic already did a top 30 of the year:

———–
1 Illinois by Sufjan Stevens 2005 90
2 Z by My Morning Jacket 2005 89
3 Wearemonster by Isolée 2005 89
4 Hypermagic Mountain by Lightning Bolt 2005 88
5 I Am A Bird Now by Antony And The Johnsons 2005 88
6 The Woods by Sleater-Kinney 2005 87
7 Arular by M.I.A. 2005 87
8 Clap Your Hands Say Yeah by Clap Your Hands Say Yeah 2005 86
9 Minimum-Maximum [Live] by Kraftwerk 2005 85
10 Thunder, Lightning, Strike by The Go! Team 2005 85
11 The Mysterious Production Of Eggs by Andrew Bird 2005 85
12 Black Sheep Boy by Okkervil River 2005 85
13 LCD Soundsystem by LCD Soundsystem 2005 85
14 Chavez Ravine by Ry Cooder 2005 85
15 Lookaftering by Vashti Bunyan 2005 85
16 I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning by Bright Eyes 2005 85
17 Blinking Lights And Other Revelations by Eels 2005 84
18 Extraordinary Machine by Fiona Apple 2005 84
19 Mezmerize by System Of A Down 2005 84
20 Beauty And The Beat by Edan 2005 84
21 Twin Cinema by The New Pornographers 2005 84
22 Oceans Apart by The Go-Betweens 2005 84
23 Late Registration by Kanye West 2005 84
24 Separation Sunday by The Hold Steady 2005 84
25 Kicking Television: Live In Chicago by Wilco 2005 84
26 Oh You're So Silent Jens by Jens Lekman 2005 84
27 This Right Here Is Buck 65 by Buck 65 2005 84
28 These Were The Earlies by The Earlies 2005 84
29 Takk… by Sigur Rós 2005 83
30 Lost And Safe by The Books 2005 83
———–
Link

hey, that amadou & mariam album is actually pretty damn good.

did paste do a top 50 list? because i feel like the amazon list looks like what a paste list would look like.

I do foresee my musical taste growing more in that direction moreso than for what the indie rock community is serving up. The Amazon list strikes a nice inclusive balance between genres, rather than separating them ala popmatters.

Originally posted by ggwâ?¢:

Originally posted by Charlie Nakatestes, Japanese Golfer:
I find the list http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/browse/-/15879951/ref=m_best_1_2/104-5976407-2069554

compiled by Amazon editors to me much more interesting than Pitchdork or (only indie)Popmatters.

Because you are such a big fan of Bollywood soundtracks, Afro-rock, and World music?

Do you buy most of your music at Whole Foods?

And the Kronos Quartet's Bollywood record does sound interesting.

One album the Amazon list turned me onto was Ry Cooder's Chavez Ravine. Good stuff. Will have to pick that one up.

Originally posted by dfmcpete:
At least popmatters is honest. Pitchfork's lip service to top 40 hip hop is tiring.

I concur wholeheartedly.

I'd rather listen to strictly indie then listen to 90% of the shit Rhett does.

Wow. I think the new album is good, but I don't know if I would give it that good of a rating.

Originally posted by dfmcpete:
88 Lightning Bolt

What exactly is "the shit that Rhett listens to"? No doubt you don't have a clue what I listen to.

Earlier this year, I compiled a list of my 40 favorite albums from 1/2002-9/2005. I'll bet you can't name ten of the albums on this list, and I'll give you all day and as many guesses as you wish.

Originally posted by Julian, Red Wing AFICIONADO:

Originally posted by dfmcpete:
At least popmatters is honest. Pitchfork's lip service to top 40 hip hop is tiring.

I concur wholeheartedly.

I'd rather listen to strictly indie then listen to 90% of the shit Rhett does.

Honestly I don't understand all the fawning over most of what is topping these lists, they are quite frankly uncompelling listens to me. M.I.A., The Go Team, CYHSY, etc. And the lists contain the obvious, records from artists and labels that can afford to send out mass quanities for review and have publistists, etc. At least the Entertainment Weekly critic in the past had the balls to include the Stew records on his end of year lists when everyone was ignoring him.

kosmo - I agree there's few surprises, and those few examples smack of showmanship ("this'll stick in their craw!") or forced inclusiveness ("we love The Game"). The metacritic list reduces that cuz rogue reviewers can't influence it much, but it does show off a herd mentality.

It's a tough call. Most people don't listen to a really wide variety of music (myself included; my top ten doesn't include anything that hasn't already been mentioned). Music critics are paid to listen widely, but still largely favor the same stuff.

Are year-end lists supposed to dredge up unheralded albums? Take into account "important" or albums few enjoy listening to (I'm looking at you, Lightning Bolt)?

I dunno, I just likes what I likes. Also, I'm bored.

Hummm…basically based only on play counts through iTunes this is what I have since I can't comment on albums I don't own. Not sure about the addition of compilations, but included some anyway for merit.

1. Bebel Gilberto Remixed - Bebel Gilberto
2. Brazilian Girls - Brazilian Girls
3. '64-'95 - Lemon Jelly
4. Frances the Mute - The Mars Volta
5. Guero - Beck
6. Coco Do Mundo - Electro Coco
7. Demon Days - Gorillaz
8. Help: A Day In The Life Of - Various Artists
9. Late Registration - Kaye West
10. Plans - Death Cab For Cutie
11. Quiet Letters - Bliss
12. Silent Alarm - Block Party
13. Stand Up - DMB
14. The Antidote - Morcheeba (or what's left of them)
15. The Cosmic Game - Thievery Corporation
16. The Craft - Blackalicious
17. Witching Hour - Ladytron
18. X&Y - Coldplay
19. Verve Remix 3 - Various Artists
20. Songs - Willie Nelson

i keep forgetting about the Brazilian Girls and it should actually replace the Thievery Corporation CD on my list as they out did TC at their own game…

Stew…you mean the big fat black dude? I have one of him albums I bought for a dollar. You can have it next time I see you.

Originally posted by kosmo vinyl:
Honestly I don't understand all the fawning over most of what is topping these lists, they are quite frankly uncompelling listens to me. M.I.A., The Go Team, CYHSY, etc. And the lists contain the obvious, records from artists and labels that can afford to send out mass quanities for review and have publistists, etc. At least the Entertainment Weekly critic in the past had the balls to include the Stew records on his end of year lists when everyone was ignoring him.

Originally posted by kosmo vinyl:
Honestly I don't understand all the fawning over most of what is topping these lists, they are quite frankly uncompelling listens to me. M.I.A., The Go Team, CYHSY, etc. And the lists contain the obvious, records from artists and labels that can afford to send out mass quanities for review and have publistists, etc. At least the Entertainment Weekly critic in the past had the balls to include the Stew records on his end of year lists when everyone was ignoring him.

I like CYHSY, and Go Team is OK, but not deserving of being on a top __ of 2005 list. M.I.A., though, is really overrated crap, second most overrated of 2005 behind Kanye West.

Originally posted by Charlie Nakatestes, Japanese Golfer:
Stew…you mean the big fat black dude? I have one of him albums I bought for a dollar. You can have it next time I see you.

Originally posted by kosmo vinyl:
Honestly I don't understand all the fawning over most of what is topping these lists, they are quite frankly uncompelling listens to me. M.I.A., The Go Team, CYHSY, etc. And the lists contain the obvious, records from artists and labels that can afford to send out mass quanities for review and have publistists, etc. At least the Entertainment Weekly critic in the past had the balls to include the Stew records on his end of year lists when everyone was ignoring him.

no pass along to someone else who has good taste in music and isn't hung up on the race and/or weight of the artist.

I don't think I know anybody that would like the terrible album that I have. My wife knew nothing of his race or weight, and she absolutely hated it when I played it for her.

Originally posted by kosmo vinyl:

Originally posted by Charlie Nakatestes, Japanese Golfer:
Stew…you mean the big fat black dude? I have one of him albums I bought for a dollar. You can have it next time I see you.

Originally posted by kosmo vinyl:
Honestly I don't understand all the fawning over most of what is topping these lists, they are quite frankly uncompelling listens to me. M.I.A., The Go Team, CYHSY, etc. And the lists contain the obvious, records from artists and labels that can afford to send out mass quanities for review and have publistists, etc. At least the Entertainment Weekly critic in the past had the balls to include the Stew records on his end of year lists when everyone was ignoring him.

no pass along to someone else who has good taste in music and isn't hung up on the race and/or weight of the artist.