Considering that each year roughly 31,000 albums are released (no joke), there is no way I can hear them all. And some that I want (LA Symphony) remain unpurcashed/unstolen. But of the ones that I did listen to in 2005, these are the tops:
Album of the Year: Neil Diamond 12 Songs
The best of the rest, in alphabetical order:
Bright Eyes I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning
John Davis John Davis
Depeche Mode Playing the Angel
Ben Folds Songs For Silverman
The Go! Team Thunder, Lightning, Strike
Jack Johnson In Between Dreams
Korn See You on the Other Side
LCD Soundsystem LCD Soundsystem
Anya Marina Miss Halfway
Nine Inch Nails With Teeth
Ohmega Watts The Find
Rev Run Distortion
Sigur Ros Takk
System of a Down Mesmerize/Hypnotize
Kanye West Late Registration
Best singles: Kanye West - "Gold Digger", Hot Hot Heat - "Goodnight Goodnight"
Best comeback: Neil Diamond, getting his largest first week sales in years
Shame on you: Sony, for secretly putting dangerous software on Diamond's disc (among others) and having to pull it from stores a week after it was released, killing its momentum
Best duo: Kanye West and Jon Brion (how the hell did they get together?)
Best videos: Nine Inch Nails - "Only", Bright Eyes - "First Day of My Life", Jack Johnson - "Sitting, Waiting, Wishing"
Best non-2005 finds and rediscoveries: Warren Zevon, Rilo Kiley, Erasure, the Magnetic Fields, Evanescence
Disappointments: Weezer - Make Believe, Moby - Hotel, Z-Trip - Shifting Gears, Pigeon John - ...Sings the Blues
For your listening pleasure, here are some MP3s and AACs of some of my favorite songs of '05:
Anya Marina - "Lovesick"
Bright Eyes - "Lua"
Jack Johnson - "Good People"
Ben Folds - "Jesusland"
John Davis - "Jesus Gonna Build Me a Home"
Kanye West - "Gone"
LCD Soundsystem - "Tribulations"
Neil Diamond - "Hell Yeah"
Enjoy!
10 comments:
I have...absolutely none of those albums. I guess I've fallen off the cool wagon. I did get the Johnny Cash 1950s boxed set.
You are supposing that you ever were on the Cool Wagon to begin with. :)
Hey, I saw Sideways in the theater.
Oh SNAP! That was cold blooded, Micah!
Thx for teh free isht!
Hey, you're the only one that ever takes me up on the "free music" stuff. I should've just e-mailed them to you. :)
korn? nine inch nails? depeche mode? neil diamond?
are you kidding?
this is the guy who recommended 'brian wilson presents smile', right?
kanye and brion both know american pop music. same with ?uestlove.
what the... SYSTEM OF A DOWN?
spydrz, you don't wanna be on this guy's cool wagon.
ps., thanks for the heads-up on pj there.
I am itching to get Jack Johnson. I heard him again on the radio, and he sounds like a vacation.
jasdye - I stand by all of my picks. SMiLE was last year's best. After two mediocre-to-bad albums, Depeche Mode's latest is a strong return to form. Kind of the same with NIN (didn't really care much for The Fragile). And Neil Diamond? Destroy everything you thought about him.
I meant to add Common's Be and Sufjan Stevens' Illinois to my list of albums that I really want to hear, but haven't yet.
And I am completely on ?uestlove's jock. If I was to assemble a supergroup, he'd be the drummer hands down (ahead of Keith Moon and John Bonham). I have high hopes for the Roots' disc this year.
Speaking of high hopes, PJ's disc did not meet expectations. He also has one coming out this year, so we'll see.
KtG - That's an apt description. When he first came onto the scene, I dubbed him "our generation's Buffett" (only less cheesy). Maybe I'll throw a disc together for you or something.
I loved the NIN album. and that Jack Johnson video. I don't think I've heard any of the others.
by the way, I had to move my blog (so far, so good) to the following address:
http://occasionalmelancholia.blogspot.com
ignore the boring template. I'm in the process of changing it. hope to see you there :)
i don't have Be yet. neil diamond, maybe. maybe not.
i'm glad i got Smile. it's one of my favorites.
sufjan's though, is my favorite from last year, period.
and you're right, ?uestlove is the stuff, and then some.
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