Time for a trip on the wayback machine.

Go back to the Best of 2005 list and find your best of '05 list (top 10, 20, whatevs) and reflect on it as its aged 11-12 months. Anything make you feel totally stupid or like a musicological visionary? Post it here. Also post the old list, too.

This is gonna be fuuun...

My '05 list:

1. Antony & The Johnsons - I Am a Bird Now
2. Spoon - Gimme Fiction
3. David Thomas Broughton - Complete Guide to Insufficiency
4. The Hold Steady - Separation Sunday
5. Eels - Blinking Lights and Other Revelations
6. Super Furry Animals - Love Kraft
7. Micah P. Hinson & The Gospel of Progress - Micah P. Hinson & The Gospel of Progress
8. Sleater-Kinney - The Woods
9. Amadou and Mariam - Dimanche à Bamako
10. Matt Sweeney & Bonnie "Prince" Billy - Superwolf
11. Thelonious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane - Live at Carnegie Hall
12. The White Stripes - Get Behind Me Satan
13. Iron & Wine/Calexico - In the Reins
14. Okkervil River - Black Sheep Boy
15. Wolf Parade - Apologies to the Queen Mary

Nothing makes me feel "totally stupid" or "like a musicological visionary." I'd move Antony somewhere between #6 and #10, Eels somewhere below #10, The Hold Steady back to #1 (where it was a few weeks before making the list), and The Woods up a spot or two after that brilliant and extremely sweaty sayonara show at The Starlight Ballroom a few months ago.

I haven't listened to Okkervil River much at all this year, and Wolf Parade I've always contended as a one-shot.

Looking at this makes me want to listen to Love Kraft again.

Good topic.

Well, here's my old list:

1 - Thee More Shallows – More Deep Cuts
2 - Sufjan Stevens – Illinois
3 - Okkervil River – Black Sheep Boy
4 - Fiery Furnaces – EP
5 - Out Hud – Let Us Never Speak of It Again
6 – Jose Gonzalez – Veneer
7 - Spoon – Gimme Fiction
8 – Season – Avatar
9 - David Francey – The Waking Hour
10 - Mountain Goats – The Sunset Tree
11 – Okkervil River - Black Sheep Boy Appendix
12 - Caribou – The Milk of Human Kindness
13 – Espers – The Weed Tree
14 - Hotel Alexis – The Shining Example Is Lying On the Floor
15 – Magnolia Electric Co. – What Comes After the Blues
16 - Sleater-Kinney – The Woods
17 – Shearwater – Thieves EP
18 - Explosions in the Sky – The Rescue
19 - Andrew Bird – The Mysterious Production of Eggs
20 – Detwiije - Would You Rather Be Followed By Forty Ducks For the Rest of Your Life?


And here's my new list:

1 - Thee More Shallows – More Deep Cuts
2 – Elephant Micah – And the Agrarian Malaise
3 - J Tillman – I Will Return
4 - Sufjan Stevens – Illinois
5 - National – Alligator
6 – Season – Avatar
7 - Spoon – Gimme Fiction
8 – Jose Gonzalez – Veneer
9 – Devin Davis – Lonely People of the World Unite!
10 - Caribou – The Milk of Human Kindness
11 – Page France – Hello, Dear Wind
12 – Winterpills – Winterpills
13 - Fiery Furnaces – EP
14 - Okkervil River – Black Sheep Boy/Appendix
15 - Hotel Alexis – The Shining Example Is Lying On the Floor
16 - Sleater-Kinney – The Woods
17 - Out Hud – Let Us Never Speak of It Again
18 – Sun Kil Moon – Tiny Cities
19 – Snowglobe – Doing the Distance
20 - Hello Saferide – Introducing...
21 – Magnolia Electric Co. – What Comes After the Blues
22 – Snow Machine – Snow Machine
23 - David Francey – The Waking Hour
24 - Mountain Goats – The Sunset Tree
25 – Espers – The Weed Tree
26 - Andrew Bird – The Mysterious Production of Eggs
27 - Unbunny – Typist EP
28 - Explosions in the Sky – The Rescue EP
29 – Shearwater – Thieves EP
30 - Kelpe – Sunburnt Eyelids EP


Kind of weird that 3 of my top 5 and 6 of my top 12 I hadn't heard until 2006. Okkervil River has fallen a lot because about half the songs on the album (the slow ones) just bore me now. Fiery Furnaces and Out Hud fell quite a bit, but I still love them both. Anyways, just an amazing year for music all around.

quote:

Yay!'s '05 list:

01. Erin McKeown - We Will Become Like Birds
02. Kraftwerk - Minimum-Maximum
03. My Morning Jacket - Z
04. The National - Alligator
05. Sufjan Stevens - Come On, Feel the Illinoise!
06. System of a Down - Mezmerize
07. Dalek - Absence
08. Spoon - Gimmie Fiction
09. Mira - There I Go, Daydreamer
10. Little Brother - The Minstrel Show
11. Crooked Fingers - Dignity and Shame
12. Common - Be
13. Supersystem - Always Never Again
14. Kanye West - Late Registration
15. The Hold Steady - Seperation Sunday
16. M.I.A. - Arular
17. Iron and Wine - Woman King EP
18. Wilco - Kicking Television
19. Low - The Great Destroyer
20. Emiliana Torrini - Fisherman's Woman

I did this list last-minute, so there's a lot of regret here, actually. Working my way from bottom to top:

-Wilco's live album should have been much higher.

-Hold Steady should have made top three, but it didn't start really growing on me until halfway into '06. If I were into this record earlier, this could've been my number one.

-I should've put "Great Destroyer" a tad higher.

-Supersystem's record I thought was unfairly ignored, so I put it higher than maybe it deserved. Still, its a great record.

-I went out of my way to at least put on three rap or rap music-like records on here. It turned out I wanted four. I don't know if you can even CALL Dalek rap music, though -- I think I placed them all pretty fairly. I could've stood to flip Common and LB's ratings, though.

-"Dignity and Shame" I revisited recently and did not feel nearly as emphatic about it as I did. I still think its extremely well-done, I'm just not as big of a fan of it as I was last year. That tends to happen with beginning-of-the-year releases. They always get shafted in end of the year lists, almost without exception.

-I put Mira on as a Tallahassee local thing. It was their last record ever and it had the added advantage of being their best ever, too. They're a shoegaze band and you should REALLY check them out on myspace or something.

-Not putting "Gimmie Fiction" in my top three or five is probably my biggest regret.

-"Mezmerize" could have been in my top five. It was so close. Too bad "Hypnotize" wasn't very good.

-I don't even know why I put "Illinois" on here to be honest, I only liked the first half, really, and... whatever. I blame peer pressure! That was it!

-I placed The National perfectly. Thanks, me.

-MMJ's record wasn't quite worthy of top 3, but definitely top 5. At the time, I was convinced that it was the best work they'll ever do. After seeing them live, I've realized they can do SO much more.

-I don't know what to think about putting Kraftwerk's live record up there. I should've done what Jonathan Cohen from Billboard did and placed them both in a top 10 spot tied, because both of them were the best live albums of the year-- hands down.

-Spoon and the Hold Steady be damned, I stand by Erin McKeown as my number one.

My edited list looks something like this:

01. Erin McKeown - We Will Become Like Birds
02. The Hold Steady - Seperation Sunday
03. Spoon - Gimmie Fiction
04. The National - Alligator
05. My Morning Jacket - Z
06. System of a Down - Mezmerize
07. Dalek - Absence
08. Wilco - Kicking Television
08. Kraftwerk - Minimum-Maximum
10. Mira - There I Go, Daydreamer
11. Common - Be
12. Little Brother - The Minstrel Show
13. Supersystem - Always Never Again
14. Kanye West - Late Registration
15. Low - The Great Destroyer
16. Iron and Wine - Woman King EP
17. M.I.A. - Arular
18. Crooked Fingers - Dignity and Shame
19. Sufjan Stevens - Illinois
20. Emiliana Torrini - Fisherman's Woman

quote:

01. Erin McKeown - We Will Become Like Birds

Where does Sing You Sinners rank in '06?

Leland's on the ball!

To be honest, I haven't been able to go buy it yet! I've been way more motivated to well in school and make money at work this year than to keep up with all these great new releases. I've still found some gems, though.

I feel like an inadequate Erin McKeown fan.

I imagine "Sing, You Sinners" will rate relatively high, though.

1. eels blinking lights and other revelations
2. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club Howl
3. Sleater-Kinney The Woods
4. My Morning Jacket Z
5. Andrew Bird and the Mysterious Production of Eggs
6. The Go-Betweens Oceans Apart
7. Wolf Parade With Apologies to Queen Mary
8. Paul Kelly and the Stormwater Boys Foggy Highway
9. Spoon Gimme Fiction
10. Wilco Kickng Television
11. The White Stripes Get Behind Me Satan
12. Stephen Malkmus Face the Truth
13. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
14. Frank Black Honeycomb
15. Beck Guero
16. Nickel Creek Why Should the Fire Die?
17. The Coral The Invisible Invasion
18. The Raveonettes Pretty in Black
19. Nada Surf The Weight is a Gift
20. Harvey Danger Little By Little

It certainly looks reasonable to me!! RL, I rhought that you currently loved BRMC's Howl? What happened to that?

EDIT- The main differences I'd change now are that I'd put the Mountain Goats' The Sunset Tree in the Top 10 and Kanye West's Late Registration in the Second 10. Kanye reminds me more of Sly Stone than other rappers. I'm posting this here (instead of at where the thread currently is) to see if anybody notices, so if you read this EDIT, please tell me, and feel free to comment.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: mark f,

quote:

6. The Go-Betweens Oceans Apart

This would be in my new fifteen.

It would really help the development of a '06 list if we could look a year into the future: Major creative force of the Go-Betweens dying, Sleater Kinney breaking up and so on. It would make our lists that much more prescient.

We need to work on giving music critics this super power immediately! Goddamn that lack of stem cell research funding!

quote:

Originally posted by mark f:
It certainly looks reasonable to me!! RL, I rhought that you currently loved BRMC's Howl? What happened to that?

I think you've got me mixed up with someone else. I've never heard that one.

quote:

Originally posted by Yay!:
It would really help the development of a '06 list if we could look a year into the future: Major creative force of the Go-Betweens dying, Sleater Kinney breaking up and so on. It would make our lists that much more prescient.

We need to work on giving music critics this super power immediately! Goddamn that lack of stem cell research funding!

Oh, man, that's exactly what we don't need. I thought Elliott Smith's last record was bad and just got good reviews because he died. Critics should judge an album by the music, and the music only.

Yeah but say you're a music critic and you've met the guy or at least interviewed him and you've seen him live. He dies. Are you REALLY going to give a bad review? It's totally tasteless to give anything less than "it's good" in an awkward situation like that. It's a condolence rating. Let the guy rest in peace.

I'm not gonna make a new list like RL, but I'll do some commentary on the old one and maybe throw in a couple "shoulda made-its". Still-loved albums are bolded.

1. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - S/T. Probably wouldn't top my list now, but I still say it's a great record. I still listen to it on occasion, and despite what leland says, I think the songs are solid. I see very little novelty here.

2. Spoon - Gimme Fiction. This would most definitely top the list now. It has aged extremely well, and I'd consider it the real classic from 2005.

3. Broken Social Scene - S/T. This came out relatively late in the year, and I threw it on the list before I had time to really digest it. I have not listened to it in a very long time. I think there's a couple songs I still like, but I'm not sure I'd make the cut.

4. Wolf Parade - Apologies to the Queen Mary. Another one I disagree with leland on. I think it's a really solid record and It would probably be in my top 5 again.

5. The National - Alligator. This may still make my list, but may not be in the top 5 or even top 10. There's a few tracks I really love, but the rest of the album is just ok.

6. M.I.A. - Arular. The novelty of MIA has worn off for me.

7. Bloc Party - Silent Alarm. See The National.

8. Nouvelle Vague - S/T. This is a total novelty album, but it was kinda cleaver and I like it. Probably not top 10 material though.

9. Bright Eyes - I'm WIde Awake It's Morning. This would probably be higher. I still think this is a great album.

10. Feist - Let it Die. I'm kind of over this album. Probably wouldn't make the cut.

11. Devendra Banhart - Cripple Crow. It's too long, but I still really love it. Probably somewhere in the top 10 now.

12. Crooked Fingers - Dignity and Shame. This hasn't really aged well for me, outside of a couple tracks. Would probably fall off the list.

13. The White Stripes - Get Behind Me Satan. This would be much higher, probably top 5. This is one of the few 2005 releases I still listen to often. It's as good as any other album in their catalog.

14. Bonnie "Prince" Billy and Matt Sweeney - Superwolf. I haven't listened to this in a long time. I'm not really sure how I feel about it anymore.

15. Okkervil River - Black Sheep Boy. Ditto Superwolf.

16. The Hold Steady - Seperation Sunday. Like the White Stripes, I still listen to this quite often. Probably top 5 now.

17. The Constantines - Tournament of Hearts. Probably off the list. My feelings toward this are similar to Crooked Fingers

18. Sleater-Kinney - The Woods. Probably a little higher, although I still don't think it's as great as some people did. Not my favorite S-K album.

19. Kanye West - Late Registration. Good album, although I haven't listened to it in awhile. May be off the list.

20. LCD Soundsystem - S/T. Probably off the list. I'm kind of over this album.

Albums that didn't make the cut that probably would now:

Andrew Bird - Mysterious Production of Eggs
My Morning Jacket - Z
Franz Ferdinand - You Could Have it So Much Better
Rogue Wave - Descended Like Vultures

quote:

Originally posted by RavingLunatic:

quote:

Originally posted by Yay!:
It would really help the development of a '06 list if we could look a year into the future: Major creative force of the Go-Betweens dying, Sleater Kinney breaking up and so on. It would make our lists that much more prescient.

We need to work on giving music critics this super power immediately! Goddamn that lack of stem cell research funding!

Oh, man, that's exactly what we don't need. I thought Elliott Smith's last record was bad and just got good reviews because he died. Critics should judge an album by the music, and the music only.

You also don't get his self-titled album. I'd certainly accept the fact Basement might get knocked down a peg or two if he were alive to bear the criticism, but I actually liked it quite a bit (despite being extremely troubled by the fact somebody stuck that chirping track on there, which was not of Elliott's creation—this, among other odd production choices).

quote:

Originally posted by ericg75:

1. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - S/T. Probably wouldn't top my list now, but I still say it's a great record. I still listen to it on occasion, and despite what leland says, I think the songs are solid. I see very little novelty here.

I'm breaking up with you.

quote:

Originally posted by m.leland:

quote:

Originally posted by ericg75:

1. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - S/T. Probably wouldn't top my list now, but I still say it's a great record. I still listen to it on occasion, and despite what leland says, I think the songs are solid. I see very little novelty here.

I'm breaking up with you.

Wolf Parade and Clap Your Hands pretty much embody what I dislike about indie rock today.

However, bands like Spoon and The National embody what I like about it (i.e.: they actually, y'know, ROCK).

My top 10 from 2005 was:

1.Animal Collective - Feels
2.Lightning Bolt - Hypermagic Mountain
3.Black Dice - Broken Ear Record
4.Gospel - The Moon is a Dead World
5.Patrick Wolf - Wind in the Wires
6.Bucket Full of Teeth - IV
7.Deerhoof - Runners Four
8.Sleater-Kinney - The Woods
9.Serena Maneesh - Serena Maneesh
10.SunnO))) - Black One

Patrick Wolf and Sleater-Kinney would be off the list now even though I really like those records. I'd definitely move SunnO))) up a few places. I'll keep Animal Collective at #1, I loooove that album. Add a few things....

It might look like this now

1.Animal Collective - Feels
2.Keith Fullerton Whitman - Multiples
3.SunnO))) - Black One
4.Bucket Full of Teeth - IV
5.Lightning Bolt - Hypermagic Mountain
6.Deerhoof - Runners Four
7.Gospel - The Moon is a Dead World
8.Serena Maneesh - Serena Maneesh
9.Black Dice - Broken Ear Record
10.Wolf Parade - Apologies to the Queen Mary

My last list was something like:

1. Sufjan - Illinois
2. Decemberists - Picaresque
3. New Pornographers - Twin Cinema
4. The Go! Team - Thunder Lightning Strike
5. Broken Social Scene - s/t
6. Wilco - Kicking Television
7. Eels - Blinking Lights...
8. Spoon - Gimme Fiction
9. Andrew Bird - Mysterious Production of Eggs
10. Death Cab - Plans

I think last year my fault was really a lack of knowledge of all the good music from last year. MMJ's Z would have been on there, and Of Montreal's Sunlandic Twins probably would have been in a lower spot. I also hated Clap Your Hands until mid-2006, so they'd probably have a space up there too. Overall I think my list still isn't too bad, really. Sufjan would drop a spot or two and Twin Cinema would definitely take the top spot. Other than that, I'm pretty satisfied with it.

My top 20 from '05-

1. Get Behind Me, Satan -White Stripes
2. Woman King -Iron & Wine
3. Everything's Ok -Al Green
4. Samuari Struck -The Surf Coasters
5. Gimme Fiction -Spoon
6. Baby -Detroit Cobras
7. Apollo Sunshine -Apollo Sunshine
8. Z -My Morning Jacket
9. Cold Roses -Ryan Adams
10. Nolita -Keren Ann
11. The Magic Numbers -The Magic Numbers
12. In the Reins -Iron & Wine/Calexico
13. Hit the Floor -Breakestra
14. Superwolf -Bonnie "Prince" Billy & Matt Sweeny
15. Exploration -Sarah Lee Guthrie & Johnny Irion
16. Freaks with the Savage Beat -The Hexxers
17. Okemah & the Melody of Riot -Son Volt
18. 21st Century Séance -Green Pajamas
19. Oceans Apart -Go Betweens
20. Tie Your Noose -BBQ

quote:

Anything make you feel totally stupid or like a musicological visionary?

Nope and nope. There might be a couple '05 albums I've heard this year that would change the list but I can't recall what they are nor do I care.