The Decade List: Albums/Singles (2005)

Keeping with the new structure of 2004's Music post, I've organized 2005 in the same fashion. First, there's the albums; this year there's 10. Then the stand-out jams, of which there are 20 this time around, followed by 55 additional tracks. After releasing what would be my second favorite album of '04, Sufjan Stevens said goodbye to the overtly Christian themes of Seven Swans on Illinois, a phenomenal listen from beginning to end and the second in his planned series of albums about the fifty states. It would also be the second time my favorite album of the year alligned with Pitchfork's choice (which will likely happen at least one other time as we go along).

The rest of the album list consists of an English group whose members widdled down to two in 2005, a Japanese experimental metal trio, a transgendered Brit with an angelic voice, a Parisian based pair of American sisters, a Canadian supergroup making their last (so far) recording, a hip hop-stress of Sri Lankan descent, a French electronic shoegaze-r, a group of post-rockers from Iceland and a Norweigan electro-duo, respectively. They are in descending order.

Sufjan Stevens - Illinois
Broadcast - Tender Buttons
Boris - Pink
Antony and the Johnsons - I Am a Bird Now
CocoRosie - Noah's Ark
Broken Social Scene - Broken Social Scene
M.I.A. - Arular
M83 - Before the Dawn Heals Us
Sigur Rós - Takk...
Röyksopp - The Understanding

Assorted Jams from the Year 2005

The task of preferentially ordered year lists is laborous enough by itself, but when you make the split between albums and songs, the inevitable problem of "Do I claim the best album and song are by the same artist within a given year?" arises. I guess in film terms, the best analogy would be at an award ceremony where one must decide if the best film of a given year was also the best directed. I don't think when the top spots are from different artists that it means the same thing as when the Academy Awards split the Best Picture and Director... but who knows. As tough a decision it was to decide, I had to go with Sufjan Stevens' painfully gorgeous anthem to the rapist and serial killer in clown make-up.

While there are only a few "blast down the freeway" jams in the top section, most of the songs generally fall into two categories: slow and wistful or bomastic and ornate. A few move from one category to the other (like "Hope There's Someone," "Glósóli," "In the Cold I'm Standing," "Will You Smile Again?"), and others sit near the middle ("In This Home on Ice," "Shake It Off"). As usual, they are in vague order of preference.

The Top 20

Sufjan Stevens - "John Wayne Gacy, Jr." [from Illinois]
Antony and the Johnsons - "Hope There's Someone" [from I Am a Bird Now]
Boris - "Farewell" [from Pink]
Sigur Rós - "Glósóli" [from Takk...]
Broken Social Scene - "All My Friends" [from EP To Be You and Me]
Broadcast - "Black Cat" [from Tender Buttons]
Röyksopp featuring Karin Dreijer Andersson - "What Else Is There?" [from The Understanding]
CocoRosie - "South 2nd" [from Noah's Ark]
M.I.A. - "Galang" [from Arular]
M83 - "In the Cold I'm Standing" [from Before the Dawn Heals Us]
Animal Collective - "Grass" [from Feels]
Broken Social Scene - "7/4 Shoreline" [from Broken Social Scene]
Moonbabies - "Ghost of Love" [from the War on Sound EP] (it's a shame I can't find this anywhere)
Gorillaz - "DARE" [from Demon Days]
Mariah Carey - "Shake It Off" [from The Emancipation of Mimi] (not kidding, at all)
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - "In This Home on Ice" [from Clap Your Hands Say Yeah]
Cansei de Ser Sexy - "Art Bitch" [from CSS]
...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead - "Will You Smile Again?" [from Worlds Apart]
The Radio Dept. - "I Don't Like It Like This" [from This Past Week EP]
Goldfrapp - "Ooh La La" [from Supernature]

Les autres

M.I.A. - "10 Dollar" [from Arular]
The Legends - "He Knows the Sun" [from Public Radio]
Dengue Fever - "Tip My Canoe" [from Escape from Dragon House]
Bloc Party - "Banquet" [from Silent Alarm]
Lou Barlow - "Home" [from Emoh] (Couldn't find it)
Kanye West featuring Jamie Foxx - "Gold Digger" [from Late Registration]
Sufjan Stevens - "Casimir Pulaski Day" [from Illinois]
Antony & the Johnsons featuring Rufus Wainwright - "What Can I Do?" [from I Am a Bird Now]
The Game featuring 50 Cent - "Hate It Or Love It" [from The Documentary]
Wolf Parade - "Modern World" [from Apologies to the Queen Mary]
Lil' Kim - "Shut Up Bitch" [from The Naked Truth]

Ladytron - "Sugar" [from Witching Hour]
Roísín Murphy - "Ruby Blue" [from Ruby Blue]
Doves - "Black and White Town" [from Some Cities]
Piano Magic - "Deleted Scenes" [from Disaffected]
Colder - "To the Music" [from Heat]
Missy Elliott featuring Ciara and Fat Man Scoop - "Lose Control" [from The Cookbook]
Broadcast - "I Found the F" [from Tender Buttons]
Tiefschwarz fearturing Tracey Thorn - "Damage" [from Eat Books] (All I could find were remixes)
Arcade Fire - "Cold Wind" [from Cold Wind / Brazil EP]
Madonna - "Get Together" [from Confessions on a Dance Floor]
Queens of the Stone Age - "Little Sister" [from Lullabies to Paralyze]

Spleen - "Lost" [from She Was a Girl] (I could only find a live version)
Jenny Wilson - "Let My Shoes Lead Me Forward" [from Love and Youth]
Coldplay - "Fix You" [from X&Y]
CocoRosie - "K-Hole" [from Noah's Ark]
LCD Soundsystem - "Tribulations" [from LCD Soundsystem]
Wolfmother - "Woman" [from Wolfmother]
!!! - "Take Ecstasy with Me" [from Take Ecstasy with Me EP] (all the versions of this Magnetic Fields cover I found were of terrible quality)
Junior Senior - "Can I Get Get Get" [from Hey Hey My My Yo Yo]
Sufjan Stevens - "Chicago" [from Illinois]
Broken Social Scene - "Hotel" [from Broken Social Scene]
Sean Paul - "Give It Up to Me" [from The Trinity]

Piano Magic - "Disaffected" [from Disaffected]
Antony and the Johnsons featuring Lou Reed - "Fistful of Love" [from I Am a Bird Now]
Boris - "Just Abandoned My-Self" [from Pink]
Fiona Apple - "Not About Love" [from Extraordinary Machine]
M83 - "Teen Angst" [from Before the Dawn Heals Us]
Fischerspooner - "Never Win" [from Odyssey]
The National - "Secret Meeting" [from Alligator]
The Pussycat Dolls featuring will.i.am - "Beep" [from PCD]
Röyksopp - "Triumphant" [from The Understanding]
Jamie Lidell - "Multiply" [from Multiply]
Goldfrapp - "Ride a White Horse" [from Supernature]

Doves - "Snowden" [from Some Cities]
Efterklang - "Kloy Gyn" [from Springer] (No dice)
Cansei de Ser Sexy - "Let's Make Love and Listen to Death from Above" [from CSS]
Boris - "My Machine" [from Pink]
Broken Social Scene - "Canada vs. America" [from EP To Be You and Me]
Gorillaz - "Dirty Harry" [from Demon Days]
Sambassadeur - "Ice & Snow" [from Sambassadeur]
M83 - "I Guess I'm Floating" [from Before the Dawn Heals Us]
Sufjan Stevens - "Decatur, Or, Round of Applause for Your Stepmother!" [from Illinois]
Gorillaz - "Demon Days" [from Demon Days]
Mariah Carey - "We Belong Together" [from The Emancipation of Mimi]