"Honeycomb" by Frank Black
"The Skin of My Yellow Country Teeth" by Clap Your Hands Say Yeah

Don't get too pissed, but yesterday I was listening to Wire's Pink Flag and the Undertones' The Undertones and Hypnotised. The 50 songs I could choose from those three albums would probably take up 90% of my top 20 songs this year if they were allowed.

I'm serious. Those albums are more influential now than ever, but the Undertones' originality grows more mind-boggling each year.

quote:

Originally posted by mark f:
"Honeycomb" by Frank Black
"The Skin of My Yellow Country Teeth" by Clap Your Hands Say Yeah

Don't get too pissed, but yesterday I was listening to Wire's Pink Flag and the Undertones' The Undertones and Hypnotised. The 50 songs I could choose from those three albums would probably take up 90% of my top 20 songs this year if they were allowed.

I'm serious. Those albums are more influential now than ever, but the Undertones' originality grows more mind-boggling each year.

It's funny that you posted that, mark, because I just made a copy of The Undertones for a friend of mine and I listened to it while I did. It is one of the very few albums out there that makes me smile the entire way through. It really is close to the perfect record in my opinion.

Definitely Joanna Newsom's epic 15-minute suite, currently only available in live recordings.
As for album tracks, "The Fox" by Sleater-Kinney with "Hombre" by M.I.A., "Sunnyroad" by Emiliana Torrini and "Sunset" by Kate Bush tying for second.

"Zoom!" by the Super Furry Animals is my choice for the best song of the year, single or otherwise.

What a magnificent achievement.

A King and A Queen - Okkervil River
Mornings Eleven - The Magic Numbers
The Man Of Metropolis Steals Our Hearts - Sufjan Stevens

Its hard, but for me its between, M.I.A. "Bucky Done Gun", and Anthony and the Johnsons "Hope There's Someone"

"Rollercoaster" Sleater-Kinney and "Black Cab" Jens Lekman

This is a list I put together for a poll on another board. Since it was a poll and there are far too many album tracks out there to have decent results, everything that got voted for had to be a single. If I could have voted for any song "I'll Believe In Anything by Wolf Parade would have been #1. Anywho:

1. Doves - Black & White Town
2. Ladytron - Destroy Everything You Touch
3. The National - Abel
4. Kelly Clarkson - Since U Been Gone
5. Three 6 Mafia - Stay Fly
6. Stars - Ageless Beauty
7. Wolf Parade - EP
8. My Morning Jacket - Off the Record
9. Architecture in Helsinki - Do the Whirlwind
10. M.I.A. - Bucky Done Gun
11. Embrace - Ashes
12. Love as Laughter - Dirty Lives
13. Arcade Fire - Wake Up
14. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - In This Home On Ice
15. Jamie Lidell - Multiply
16. Elbow - Forget Myself
17. Broken Social Scene - Ibi Dreams of Pavements
18. Stereophonics - Dakota
19. Amerie - 1 Thing
20. Russian Futurists - Paul Simon
21. The Cloud Room - Hey Now Now
22. Imogen Heap - Hide & Seek
23. Jens Lekman - The Opposite of Hallelujah
24. Maximo Park - Apply Some Pressure
25. Ciara f/ Ludacris - Oh
26. New Pornograpers - Twin Cinema
27. Spoon - I Turn My Camera On
28. Futureheads - Hounds of love
29. The Coral - Something Inside of Me
30. Regina Spektor - Us
31. Kanye West - Gold Digger
32. Art Brut - Emily Kane
33. Fall Out Boy - Sugar We're Going Down
34. Arcade Fire - Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)
35. Faders - No Sleep Tonight
36. Okkervil River - For Real
37. Ivy - Thinking About You
38. Clor - Love + Pain
39. LCD Soundsystem - Daft Punk Is Playing At My House
40. Ambulance Ltd - Primitive (The Way I Treat You)
41. Ying Yang Twins - Wait (The Whisper Song)
42. Stephen Malkmus - It Kills
43. Editors - Blood
44. Sufjan Stevens - Chicago
45. Gorillaz - Feel Good Inc.
46. KT Tunstall - Suddenly I See
47. We Are Scientists - Nobody Move, Nobody Get Hurt
48. Blues Explosion - Mars Arizona (DFA Remix)
49. Arcade Fire - Rebellion (Lies)
50. The Decemberists - 16 Military Wives
51. The Magic Numbers - Forever Lost
52. Mario - Here I Go Again
53. Rogue Wave - 10:1
54. Laura Cantrell - 14th Street
55. Super Furry Animals - Lazer Beam
56. Kings of Leon - Four Kicks
57. Supergrass - St. Petersburg
58. Goldfrapp - Ooh La La
59. Girls Aloud - Biology
60. Cassidy - I'm a Hustla
61. Hard-Fi - Living For the Weekend
62. Royksopp - What Else is There? (Thin White Duke Remix)
63. Silver Jews - How Can I Love You (If You Won't Lie Down)
64. White Stripes - Blue Orchid
65. Damien Marley - Welcome To Jamrock

1.Broken Social Scene-It's All Gonna Break

by quite a distance. When I first heard this, it was so appropriate considering the way I was feeling. Huge. To be honest, choosing a single track on this album was very difficult indeed.

2.Dungen-Festival/Du E For Fin For Mig

and I never thought I'd hear anything better this year than these two giants...can't choose between them, so they're joint number 2.

3.Sigur Ros-Andvari

the outro just kills me...

4.Hood-The Negatives/The Lost You

see Dungen, I can't choose between these two either.

5.Okkervil River-For Real/A Glow

heh...see Hood...the first blew me away, the second...what a coda...

6.Akron/Family & Angels of Light-Moment

gigantic.

7.Wolf Parade-I'll Believe in Anything/Shine a Light

see Okkervil River...anthems.

8.Animal Collective-Grass

pop at it's very best.

9.Deerhoof-Green Cosmos

love that percussion...

10.Vitalic-La Rock 01

!!!! TACHNO!

Man, best song of the year is a tough one. I know two of my top 10 would be "Black" by Okkervil River and "Skin of my Yellow Country Teeth" by CYHSY.

Going along with headinsand, I think "7/4 (Shorelines)" by Broken Social Scene is one of the best damn singles to be released in the past five years -- totally amazing controlled chaos sound. Brilliant!

The New Pornographers - "The Bleeding Heart Show"

Okkervil River - "Black"

The Mountain Goats - "This Year"

Animal Collective - "The Purple Bottle"

Iron & Wine - "Jezebel"

Sufjan Stevens - "The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades is Out to Get Us"

Wolf Parade - "I'll Believe in Anything"

Caribou - "Brahminy Kite"

Iron & Wine/Calexico - "History of Lovers"

Xiu Xiu - "Muppet Face"

Shining - "Gortex Weather Report"

My Morning Jacket - "Anytime"

The Fiery Furnaces - "Here Comes the Summer"

Final Vote

1. Three way tie
For Real - Okkervil River
Jumpers - Sleater-Kinney
16 Military Wives - Decemberists

Favorites after that, in no particular order...

Understanding Salesmen, If You See Natalie, Things the Grandchildren should Know - Eels
No Wow - Kills
All These Things that I've Done - Killers
This Heart's on Fire - Wolf Parade
Let the Cool Goddess Rust Away - CYHSY
You Can See - Deerhoof
Sigliour(SP?) - Sigur Ros
Wordless Chorus, Gideon - My Morning Jacket
Station Approach, Mexican Standoff - Elbow
As Ugly as I Seem, Take Take Take - White Stripes
Black - Okkervil River
Casamir Pulaski Day, Chicago - Sufjan Stevens
This Year, Hast Thou Considered the Tetrapod - Mountain Goats
Daft Punk, Losing My Edge - LCD Soundsystem
Streets of Fire, Bleeding Heart Show - New Pornographers
On the Bus Mall - Decemberists
Love Me Like You - Magic Numbers
Home - Engineers
This - Brian Eno
Charlemagne in Sweatpants - The Hold Steady
Monkey - Low
Tables and Chairs - Andrew Bird
Lua - Bright Eyes
It's all Gonna Break - Broken Social Scene (NO Fan of the album though)
Your Ex-Lover is Dead - Stars
Fistful of Love - Antony and the Johnsons
Wilderness, What's Mine is Yours, Modern Girl, Entertain, Rollercoaster, Night Light - Sleater-Kinney

quote:

Originally posted by nathanielkt:
The New Pornographers - "The Bleeding Heart Show"

Okkervil River - "Black"

The Mountain Goats - "This Year"

Animal Collective - "The Purple Bottle"

Iron & Wine - "Jezebel"

Sufjan Stevens - "The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades is Out to Get Us"

Wolf Parade - "I'll Believe in Anything"

Caribou - "Brahminy Kite"

Iron & Wine/Calexico - "History of Lovers"

Xiu Xiu - "Muppet Face"

Shining - "Gortex Weather Report"

My Morning Jacket - "Anytime"

The Fiery Furnaces - "Here Comes the Summer"

Nice list. Good to see Jamie Stewart get some love. Xiu Xiu is amazing.

It depends if we're talking about mainstream and/or radio, internet and/or indie singles or overall singles that were released in '05.

My personal, overall outlook is "Since U Been Gone." I'd tie the Kelly Clarkson original and Ted Leo acoustic, cover for number one.

quote:

Originally posted by Illiniq:
Tables and Chairs - Andrew Bird

Yeah. Love that track.

My list, which is NOT a list of singles, but a list of my favorite tracks, some of which are singles and others are not. Anything that might have had a 2004 release (Ed Harcourt) I include because I didn't hear it until 2005.

1. Please Stand Up: British Sea Power
2. Emily Kane: Art Brut
3. Catch My Disease: Ben Lee
4. It's the Nighttime: Josh Rouse
5. I Predict A Riot: Kaiser Chiefs
6. Clubfoot: Kasabian
7. Born in the 70's: Ed Harcourt
8. Banquet: Bloc Party
9. Sad Eyes: Josh Rouse
10. Middle of Nowhere: Hot Hot Heat
11. Feel Good Inc: Gorillaz
12. Landed: Ben Folds
13. Maria: Stephen Kellogg and the Sixers
14. Everyday I Love You Less and Less: Kaiser Chiefs
15. Thanks to the Girl: Ordinary Boys
16. The Comeback: Shout Out Louds
17. I See You, You See Me: The Magic Numbers
18. Life Will Be The Death of Me: Ordinary Boys
19. Born to a Family: Go-Betweens
20. Your Little Hoodrat Friend: The Hold Steady
21.Sister Jack: Spoon
22. Looking at the World From the Bottom of a Well: Mike Doughty
23. Hard to Beat: Hard-Fi
24. Always Love: Nada Surf
25. So Right: Orange Peels
26. Since You've Been Gone: Kelly Clarkson/Ted Leo (either version is cool with me)
27. Hey Now Now: The Cloud Room
28. Saddest Quo: Pernice Brothers
29. Cigarettes: Greg Dulli
30. Holiday From Real: Jack's Mannequin

Super list Eric. Well its very simiar to mine, so its super to me!

"Blankest Year" by Nada Surf

Sweetest harmonies doing the most-profane chorus of the year.

This is a list of my favorite songs of the year. Compiling the list reminded me again what a great year it’s been for new music. Pitchfork recently wrote that it’s been a year of mini-trends in music, with the most significant developments concerning how music is delivered and in what format, rather than concerning the songs or albums themselves. Maybe. But 2005 has seen a tremendous bubbling up of talented songwriters, bands and artists across a variety of genres. I think it’s been the best year for music of the 00s.

Here’s my list.

1. New Pornographers – Bleeding Heart Show
2. Iron & Wine – The Trapeze Swinger
3. Sufjan Stevens – Casimir Pulaski Day
4. New Pornographers – Sing Me Spanish Techno
5. Cardigans – I Need Some Fine Wine and You, You Need to be Nicer
6. Wolf Parade – I Am A Runner
7. Richard Hawley – Born Under a Bad Sign
8. My Morning Jacket – Anytime
9. Low – Silver Rider
10. M.I.A. – Freedom/Amazon
11. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah – Upon This Tidal Wave
12. Gnarles Barkley – Crazy
13. Kanye West – Gold Digger
14. Bloc Party – Helicopter
15. My Morning Jacket – Off The Record
16. Amadou & Mariam – M’Bifè
17. Jose Gonzalez – Lovestain
18. White Stripes – My Doorbell
19. Voxtrot – Missing Pieces
20. The Hold Steady – Stevie Nix
21. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah – Skin Of My Yellow Country Teeth
22. Okkervil River – Black
23. Mountain Goats – Lion’s Teeth
24. Low -- Monkey
25. Spoon – I Turn My Camera On
26. Iron & Wine + Calexico – Dead Man’s Will
27. Junip – The Ghost of Tom Joad
28. Decemberists – Engine Driver
29. Laura Cantrell – Bees
30. Low – Death of a Salesman
31. Iron & Wine + Calexico – 16, Maybe Less
32. The Knife – Heartbeats
33. Cut/Copy – Future
34. Kelly Clarkson – Since You’ve Been Gone
35. Amadou & Mariam – Politic Amagni
36. Birdmonster – All The Holes in the Walls
37. Caribou – Pelicans Narrows
38. Beck – Girl
39. Antony & The Johnsons – Fistful of Love
40. Damian Marley – Welcome to Jamrock
41. Broadcast – American Boy
42. Four Tet – Smile Around the Face