I do hope that you listen to some of these albums, because many of them seem quite good and music is nice. But this is probably the last time I do this. You either like stuff or you don’t. List is just another word for nothin’ else to do.
25. Kaiser Chiefs – Employment
24. Dead Meadow – Feathers
23. Broken Social Scene – Broken Social Scene
22. Vitalic – OK Cowboy
21. Doves – Some Cities
20. The Raveonettes – Pretty in Black
19. Deerhoof – The Runners Four
18. Franz Ferdinand – You Could have It So Much Better…
17. Kanye West – Late Registration
16. The Magic Numbers – The Magic Numbers
15. Stephen Malkmus – Face the Truth
14. Ladytron – Witching Hour
13. M83 – Before the Dawn Heals Us
12. Maximo Park – A Certain Trigger
11. Art Brut – Bang Bang Rock n Roll
10. Spoon – Gimme Fiction
For the second year running, a band I thought I disliked releases a 360-degree-turner. Last year it was Modest Mouse. Now it’s Spoon’s turn. After hearing “Me and the Bean” from their 2001 Girls Can Tell album, it seemed clear that Britt Daniels’s raspy voice and earnest self-importance were the stuff yawns are made of. Then came Gimme Fiction. First of all, the band has loosened the hell up. “I Turn My Camera On” and “Was It You?” are funky. Funky. (The latter also sounds exactly like a Brian Eno song, circa 1977.) It’s an eclectic, entertaining effort from a band that no longer takes itself too seriously. Hey, with music it’s nice to be proved wrong about this kind of thing… ‘cause the final result is one more band you get to like. Everybody wins.
Standouts: “I Turn My Camera On,” “I Summon You”
9. Sufjan Stevens – Illinois
A full album about each of the 50 states is one hell of an ambitious undertaking. It also runs the risk of being really goddamn precious and boring. Plus the songwriter likes to reference his own Christianity. And, frankly, after the first few times I heard some of these songs… well it all seemed a little Polyphonic Spree. Look, anyone who knows me can tell you that “heartfelt religious songs about Geography” does not appear in the “Interests” section of my Friendster profile. So, even though it’s about my home state, I’m still more than a little surprised by how good the overall album is. Like Arcade Fire’s Funeral, Illinois is a serious grower… but at 24 songs and almost 90 minutes in length, it takes considerably more growing time. The bottom line is this: Stevens is a scary genius and he just might have 50 states’ worth of songs in him.
Standouts: “Come On! Feel the Illinoise!” “Casimir Pulaski Day”
8. Stars – Set Yourself On Fire
Set Yourself on Fire made a lot of best-of lists last year, but that’s only because music nerds are so willing to buy stuff on import. Penny-pinchers who insisted on the domestic release had to wait until this March to sample yet another Great Canadian Album. (What’s up with the Great White North all of a sudden? Is it the Moosehead beer? Is it because Celine Dion moved to Las Vegas? That would explain the corresponding drop in the quality of American music.) Whatever… the point is that this is some seriously high-quality twee-rock. Fantastic girl-boy vocals, lots of strings (mostly synthesized), and great lyrics (“This scar is a fleck on my porcelain skin;” “Twenty years of sleep before we sleep forever”) add up to the album equivalent of the well-read, librarian-glasses-wearing indie-cutie who would never condescend to date you.
Standouts: “Your Ex-Lover Is Dead,” “What I’m Trying to Say”
7. Annie – Anniemal
I already used the “Kylie it’s okay to like” line, and it’s left me with precious little material. Anniemal is an unabashed party album, dripping with Northern-European cuteness and fantastic hooks. That the opening track is called “Chewing Gum” speaks volumes about its tooth-rotting appeal; borrowing equally from Tom Tom Club, Madonna, the Norwegian indie-rock scene, and traditional Continental house music, Annie has created the ideal soundtrack for “Cocktail Party: Martini #4.”
Standouts: “Heartbeat,” “Chewing Gum,” “Me Plus One,” “The Greatest Hit”
6. Wolf Parade – Apologies to the Queen Mary
Was it Johnson & Johnson who reminded us “you never get a second chance to make a first impression?” Well it’s true. As a subway commuter, it’s often difficult for me to get past the first five songs of whatever new album I get. (This is one reason I’ve become less interested in “complete albums” as “artistic statements”… I ain’t got time for your smarty book-readin’ music.) So, it’s important (to me) that albums, you know, hit the ground running. Well Apologies to the Queen Mary hits the ground… and then punches you in the stomach with a gigantic drum-beat and a dose of major lyrical weirdness. “I’ll build a house inside of you / I’ll go in through the mouth / I’ll draw three figures on your heart: / One of them will be me as a boy / One of them will be me / One of them will be me watching you run.” Uh… riiiiight. Gotcha. **Slowly backs out the door** Needless to say, Wolf Parade are Canadian. Anyway, it’s good weird. Kinda like Arcade Fire’s odd, more aggressive nephew.
Standouts: “You Are a Runner and I Am My Father's Son,” “Grounds for Divorce,” “I’ll Believe in Anything”
5. My Morning Jacket – Z
Classic rock rules!! Um… Sorry. In all fairness, and with genuine love for the Jacket’s very real classic-rock vibe, it must be said that a number of different styles are trotted out on Z. In fact, if this were your fist MMJ album, you’d probably be mystified by all the Neil Young comparisons. Lead single “Off the Record” even sports a by-the-numbers reggae beat (although it doesn’t sound like reggae, thank Christ). The use of “concert hall” echo effects lends the vocals an eerie, alone-in-the-theater quality that belies many of the music’s arena-rock leanings, but that nice lighters-in-the-air feeling never really goes away.
Standouts: “Lay Low,” “Wordless Chorus,” “Off the Record”
4. M.I.A. – Arular
Car commercials, professional sports venues, hipster dance parties, and UK pirate radio mashups. What do they all have in common? Tracks from M.I.A.’s Arular ruled ‘em all this year. Timbaland and Kanye together couldn’t carry this album’s lunchbox in 2005. The bass-n-bongo combo in “Bucky Done Gone” alone could solve the energy crisis if we can just find a way to convert cars from “petrol” to “phat beats.” Dancehall, house, hip-hop, bhangra, UK garage… grime may have been this year’s darling subcategory, bit this album was a subcategory all its own.
Standouts: “Bucky Done Gone,” “10 Dollar,” “Galang”
3. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah – Clap Your Hands Say Yeah!
Did someone say “weird?” Actually, CYHSY! is a conventionally brilliant rock album… it’s just that Alec Ounsworth’s singing voice makes early David Byrne sound like Burl Ives. Once you get used to it (assuming you can), you can settle into a set of fantastic songs. The David Byrne comparison is apt (if deeply unoriginal), as are comparisons to Neutral Milk Hotel (a la Pitchfork) and the Feelies (a la AllMusic.com). Yet the music itself, considered apart from the lyrics, is far more expansive than that of its esteemed art-rock predecessors, and far less concerned with being “quirky.”
Standouts: “The Skin of My Yellow Country Teeth,” “Let the Cool Goddess Rust Away,” “In This Home on Ice”
2. Bloc Party – Silent Alarm
Look, if you haven’t heard this yet then you probably don’t give a shit about music anyway. Just keep listening to Top 40 radio and don’t even worry about it.
Standouts: “Banquet,” “Like Eating Glass,” “She’s Hearing Voices,” “So Here We Are”
1. LCD Soundsystem
Party album of the decade? Well, it’s up there with Stankonia and Franz Ferdinand anyway. James Murphy is a genius and the ultimate black-belt master of the cowbell.
Standouts: “Daft Punk Is Playing at My House,” “Tribulations,” “Too Much Love,” “On Repeat,” “Disco Infiltrator”… all of it, really
So there you have it. Enjoy.
