Life Goes Off

What a year for music. Just about everything else sucked, but at least we had some tunes, man.

01. Architecture in Helsinki - In Case We Die
Their first record was content to relax under the umbrella of Belle & Sebastian. Their second wants nothing less than to reinvent indie pop, and the results only make you love them more, bringing on mental visual metaphors of a Nabokov blue butterfly emerging from the chrysalis. If you don't like this album, you don't like being happy.

Representative song: "Wishbone"


02. Sufjan Stevens - Illinois
Sprawling, towering, heavy, undeniably brilliant. Stevens finally overtook the indie music radar and proved that his 50 States Project is nothing to sneeze at. If they all turn out as overwhelmingly beautiful as his first two, then we are witnessing the beginning of one of the greatest creations in rock music. There's nothing else to say about him: he's the real deal, be a witness.

Representative song: "Chicago"


03. The Go! Team - Thunder, Lightning, Strike
Eligible because the U.S. version, released in 2005, contains new samples resulting from clearance issues in the U.K. version. A delicious mix of hip-hop, 80s action themes and Saturday morning cartoons, this album makes even the dreariest of days seem bright. It is hard to describe this album because there is almost nothing else like it out there. Treat yourself to some sunshine: buy a ghetto blaster and put this shit in it.

Representative track: "Get it Together"


04. The Hold Steady - Separation Sunday
While it may not be the best album of the year, The Hold Steady's sophomore LP certainly rocks the hardest. A zesty trail mix of a 1975 Springsteen band with a post-punk singer, Separation Sunday may not be for everyone, but those who find that it is for them will have a hard time finding much else to listen to.

Representative Song: "Banging Camp"




05. Okkervil River - Black Sheep Boy
Finally! A band to fill the void left by Jeff Mangum's retreat from music. A melancholy hangover of an album, Black Sheep Boy invites you to feel Okkervil River's pain. And you do. There is no way around it. No moment is without heavy emotion. Like the name of the song says, these guys are "For Real".

Representative Song: "For Real".




06. Sleater-Kinney - The Woods
Like Separation Sunday, this album cannot be played loud enough. There is no maximum setting. Sleater-Kinney follow the marvelous One Beat with an album that is even more expressive and awe-inspiring. Producer Dave Fridmann teams with S-K for the first time and remixes their sound to glorious results: fuzzed-out guitars, chest-thumping drums and in-your-face vocals.

Representative song: "Rollercoaster"



07. Deerhoof - The Runners Four
Deerhoof's last record, Milk Man, was an attempt at traditional song structure, and, while it wasn't a failure, it certainly didn't take them where they wanted to go. This time out, Deerhoof forges the best marriage of their ADD noise rock and pop song structure, making The Runners Four one of their greatest.

Representative Song: "Running Thoughts"




08. Sigur Ros - Takk...
The Icelandic power group branches out a bit, incorporating more strings and horns, and the result is just as rapturous as their last two albums. Some may dismiss it as Sigur Ros trying to be "accessible". I don't see it that way - after all, the songs are still in Icelandic and long, but even if it is the case, I see nothing wrong with it. When the music is this good, you can call it whatever you want.

Representative song: "Glosoli"



09. Stephen Malkmus - Face the Truth
Easily the best of his post-Pavement career, Malkmus' latest shows an artist eager to try new things, and we are all surprised and pleased by the results. From the spectacular falsetto on "Pencil Rot" to the breezy melodies of "Loud Cloud Crowd" to the earth-shaking riffs of "Baby C'mon", Face the Truth doesn't know when to quit, and that's a good thing.

Representative Song: "Pencil Rot"



10. The Decemberists - Picaresque
While The Decemberists didn't exactly break any new ground on this record, it's just as solid and indespensible as their previous two LPs. Maybe we're getting tired of songs about mariners and 19th-century orphans, but Colin Meloy is one of the best songwriters rock has to offer, so even if this album is a little bit more-of-the-same, we're not complaining.

Representative song: "The Bagman's Gambit"


Honorable Mentions (in alphabetical order):

Bloc Party - Silent Alarm
The first band to be inundated with a tidal wave of hype in 2005 (I even called them Gang of Four's heir apparent), and they turned out to be deserving of most of it.

What kept it out of the Top 10 - Doesn't hold up so well on repeated listens, some unevenness in the album's second half.

Representative track: "Banquet"



Vashti Bunyan - Lookaftering
Cult folk sensation Bunyan released her sophomore LP 34 years after the incredible Just Another Diamond Day. Her comeback received a great boost from the reissue of her first LP and newcomers like Devendra Banhart touting her to anyone who would listen. That all being said, this record has all the weight and intimacy of the original.

What kept it out of the Top 10: You know, reasons and stuff.

Representative track: "Here Before"

David Byrne - Grown Backwards
Byrne builds his music around his voice, sounding more like a tenor than a Talking Head, making for an album that goes well with a California Pinot and a Barnes & Noble gift card.

What kept it out of the Top 10: It makes you a little sleepy.

Representative Track: "Glass Concrete and Stone"



Clap Your Hands Say Yeah! - s/t
The second band to be inundated with hype in 2005 may also be the most fun band of the year. Their swirling harmonies and song cycle structure more than make up for having both the worst band name and album cover ever.

What kept it out of the Top 10: Is that David Byrne on lead vocals?

Representative track: "The Skin of My Yellow Country Teeth"


Common - Be
Kanye West may have overshadowed everyone else in hip-hop this year, but Common's record will be the one to stand the test of time. His old school R&B reeks of truth and integrity, and there have been few hip-hop tracks as life-affirming as "It's Your World".

What kept it out of the Top 10: Overuse of the Chipmunk-esque vocal filter on tracks like "Testify" and "Faithful".

Representative Track: "Be"

Iron and Wine - Woman King EP
Sam Beam adds more instruments, plugs in, sings louder, and retains all of his intimacy, tenderness and quality. It's a bold display of how an artist can branch out and try new things without compromising the things that made him great

What kept it out of the Top 10: It's an EP. Everyone else made entire records.

Representative track: "Evening on the Ground (Lilith's Song)"


The New Pornographers - Twin Cinema
The Canadian supergroup does it again, concocting an infectious barrage of power-pop bubblegum that you never get tired of chewing.

What kept it out of the Top 10: because someone had to be #11.

Representative song: "The Bleeding Heart Show"




Sun Kil Moon - Tiny Cities
An all-acoustic Modest Mouse cover album? Are you crazy? Maybe Mark Kozelek is, but he recorded an album that is both good in its own right and a reverent tribute to its source material. Kozelek calls attention not only to his skills as a performer and musician, he also never stops showing you how incredible Modest Mouse's songs are, no matter what you do to them.

What kept it out of the Top 10: Feels a little slight at times.

Representative song: "Ocean Breathes Salty"

M. Ward - Transistor Radio
This deceptively slight, simple gem rewards the listener for meeting it halfway. An ode as much to a sound as to a period, M. Ward's latest is unclassifiable, unless you just decide to file it under Good.

What kept it out of the Top 10: It's good, just not good enough.

Representative song: "Big Boat"



Kanye West - Late Registration
There's not much I can say here that hasn't been said already elsewhere, so I won't. It's a strong follow-up to a strong debut. West proves he can live up to the hype (getting Jon Brion on your team doesn't hurt).

What kept it out of the Top 10: It's long and repetitive, it's long and repetitive, it's ... you get the idea.

Representative Song: "Touch the Sky"


The White Stripes - Get Behind Me Satan
Get Behind Me Satan shows The White Stripes challenging themselves by abandoning their tried and true (and tired) formula, and the results are generally good. Sometimes you wish Jack would just plug in and rock the shit out of things, but too much of that is ... well, their last four albums. A for effort.

What kept it out of the Top 10: a little one-note, and that "Doorbell" song makes me want to put my head through a wall.

Representative song: "The Denial Twist"

Wilco - Kicking Television: Live in Chicago
Wilco gives the people what it wants: a document of their transformation as a band, a recreation of their back catalog, a spellbinding promise of things to come.

What kept it out of the Top 10: I don't know. I don't want to be criticized for letting Wilco win at everything. Maybe I'm saying live albums aren't eligible? I don't know.

Representative track: "Kicking Television"


World Leader Pretend - Punches
WLP put out a major label record that actually gives you faith that major labels still know what good music sounds like. It's a record of possibilities and enormous promise that announces the arrival of new talent loud and clear.

What kept it out of the Top 10: the breathy vocals, the throwaway tracks and a the tracks that sound too similar.

Representative track: "Punches"

Xiu Xiu - La Foret
Here's a band I've just started getting into. They followed up their most accessible album, the stellar Fabulous Muscles, with an album almost as accessible and almost as good, only a little harder, a little weirder. Fabulous Muscles got people like me into their Ian Curtis/Trent Reznor world, and La Foret dares us to stay.

What kept it out of the Top 10: Repeated listens make you very sad and can damage your hearing.

Representative song: "Rose of Sharon"


Best Album Covers

The Silver Jews can't go wrong with a William Eggleston photo for the cover of Tanglewood Numbers, and Ryan Adams and the Cardinals find the perfect marriage of photo, text, font and design on Jacksonville City Nights.

Reissue of the Year

'Nuff said.

LGO Music Correspondent for Advanced Rock Studies Sean T also contributed a list.

Sean T's Top 10 Albums of 2005

1. Illinois by Sufjan Stevens
2. Black Sheep Boy by Okkervil River
3. Andrew Bird and the Mysterious Production of Eggs by Andrew Bird
4. Z by My Morning Jacket
5. Gimme Fiction by Spoon
6. Picaresque by the Decemberists
7. The Runners Four by Deerhoof
8. Separation Sunday by The Hold Steady
9. Twin Cinema by The New Pornographers
10. Ghosts by Mark Geary

Honorable Mention
Cold Roses & Jacksonville City Nights by Ryan Adams (and what I've heard off 29 is also good)
Get Behind Me Satan by The White Stripes
The Woods by Sleater-Kinney

Award for Best Album Package and Design: Takk by Sigur Ros
Award for Best EP: In the Reins by Calexico and Iron and Wine
Award for Best Video Game Soundtrack: Stubbs the Zombie