For the third and final time.
I post my completed top 10 list for 2005.
New Pornographers - Twin Cinema (Matador)This got bagged by Vice, but a lot of things get bagged by Vice. I am a sucker for a well written hook and melody. This has both in spades.
The Clientele - Strange Geometry (Merge)Supreme sad bastard music, right up my alley. Nothing else out there sounds quite like this. It's like this record came out of the Way Back Machine coated in a thick goo of reverb.
A Band of Bees - Free The Bees (Astralwerks)Shhhh, don't tell. I double-dipped on this one by putting the British version on my top 10 last year. Here's another present day record that has a distinctive retro feel to it, only without annoying slickness or irony. These guys probably have lots of cool records and I want to be friends with them.
Of Montreal - The Sunlandic Twine (Polyvinyl)I always really wanted to like Of Montreal, but could never find my way in. Sure, a couple songs of this EP or that CD were good, but this is the first album from them that I've heard that I really enjoyed from start to finish. It's got catchier songs and a couple of tracks that are just begging to be put on at that dance party this weekend.
Six Feet Under (HBO)This one has it all. Love, death, love, death. You know, real uplifting stuff.
Fiery Furnaces - EP (Rough Trade)At first I didn't get this band, so I went to see their live show. Everything they played off of this EP was incredible and electrifying. Their songs here have a certain degree of poppiness without being too simple or predictable. I once was lost, but now I'm found.
Dungen - Ta Det Lungt (Kemado)I lack the words to describe how much I liked this one. It's from Sweden, with love. Heavy, neo-psychedellic love.
Smart: Dave Eggers, Sarah Vowell, Daniel Handler (Lemony Snicket), Mike Doughty, and the Transatlantic Orchestra in a Benefit for 826 Seattle (Live show at Bumbershoot 2005)If a blimp crashed into the theatre during this very special performance, NPR would surely collapse from lack of public support, many university financial aid departments would go bankrupt from so many unpaid student loans, and some children would never learn the art of writing a short story full of simple wit and dry humor.
The Go! Team - Thunder, Lightning Strike (Columbia)This record is an instant party. Pure sonic jubilence.
TiVo!Finally. I can finally occupy myself with so many TV shows that I never had the time to watch before! My social life has certainly suffered a little because of this. If I haven't returned your text messages or answered my phone when you know I'm not busy, it's because I'm at home in my pjs catching up on "Trading Spouses," "Everybody Hates Chris," "Lost," "Aqua Teen Hunger Force," "I Shouldn't Be Alive," and episode after delightful episode of "Good Eats." If only I could program my TiVo to make coffee and walk a small dog...I may never leave my house.
