critically acclaimed

The HEROs: Top 10 Albums of 2005

1. Bright Eyes- I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning
It was hard to pick my number one albums of the year so i went with what i felt. The reason i chose this album for the years best is for a couple of reasons. If you look at the emotions across this album that Conor is singing it described my years. I went through break ups, stressful school schedules, and questioned my future by consuming mass quantites of liquor. So that makes my decision to but the subtle beauty of this album so perfect for 2005. Stand out tracks are Land Locked Blues and Lua both showcasing great songwriting talent and simple melodies. Conor is my hope for the future of music. He is a drunk but we all know this but he is still an amazing songwriter and my vote for the heir apparent of the future of music.

2. My Morning Jacket- Z
My reasons for this album being number two is a pure enjoyment factor. The hipster judge inside me would try to claim a lot of things about the apparent use of sonic qualities mixed with that bonafide southern rock but i am not going to go there. Z is the type of album that i can place in my car on the way home and totally enjoy to totality of it all. Even my mother, upon hearing it on our car ride home, asked what the name of this cd was because she really liked it. Jim James does an awesome job making a phenomenal cd that you can listen to all way through.


3. Sleater-Kinney- The Woods
From the very first notes of this album you know it is going to be different. The three girls from Oregon do an amazing job stripping down their chords and making this the rawest album to date. The Fox is an amazing opener and it just burns your ears to start but then again it feels so good to play it to 11 in the car. Other songs like Modern Girl are back to the sweet sounds we have all come to love on their past albums and yet it seems a little out of place at times on this album. This band has become one of my favorite and most reliable band to come out with good music. I hope for more in the coming years.

4. Sufjan Stevens- Illinois
Expansive, creative, overwhelming, beautiful. These are just some of the words that was over my brain every time i listen to this album. Some of the songs are repetitive but then again some are so unbelievably well put together in the orchestral pop fashion that i just fell in love. The two tracks that stand out for me are John Wayne Gacy Jr. which tells the story of the serial killer and The Avalanche was is a simple extra track that you can get off of iTunes. Both are just so beautiful and you wouldn't think that a song about a serial killer could be so moving. Perfect background music and so much fun to listen to at the same time as you pick out every detail Mr. Stevens pieces.

5. Bloc Party- Silent Alarm
We i first purchased this album from the British natives i liked it but it wasn't amazing. Then i started listening to it again at the end of the year. This is another one of those cds that haunt your cd collection that you didn't think was amazing the first time but when you listen again it is fabulous. My favorite is by far Like Eating Glass which starts off the album. Kele Okereke's vocals are light yet powerful as he flows through all of the tracks herein. I think that these guys rank up there right now with bands i would most like to see live. If they could even begin to capture what they have on this album i think it would be a great show.

6. Kanye West- Late Registration
Ok so i am the only one that didn't put this album at number one or even in my top 5. For those that know me, they know i am a not a hip hop guy. But there is always a hip hop album that comes out during the year that i love. This happens to be the one and i will say a lot of the same things everyone else has been saying. Kanye talks a great game but he also backs it up. Best produced album of the year undoubtedly. Golddigger can make even this white boy dance a little jig no and then. The track that really strikes my fancy is Hey Mama. The sweet shout out to his mama is touching and sweet pop gold. He should so release this around mother's day. Buy this album. It's good but you don't need me to tell you that.

7. The New Pornographers- Twin Cinema
When you get to this point in the countdown you start to reach and look for albums to place in the end. I picked this one up at the end of summer and it came at an unusual time. Why do i place it at number seven on the list might you say? Like Sufjan's album this feels expansive. The band is large and the musical experience just feels like it is full of interesting possibilities. Jackie, Dressed in Cobras is an awesome song with Nico Case using the velvety voice to sooth you through it. I like that if you listen to this album intensely you can pull a lot of things out of it but also you can just play it and not pay attention. It plays both rolls and i like that.

8. Death Cab for Cutie- Plans
So why would i put an album from one of my favorite bands low on this ridiculous list. Because it isn't as good as the last one. I don't mean to play that game but unfortunately i am going to. Transatlanticism is sooo much better but that is not saying this is bad. It is a sweet album and unbelievably perfect for those lovely sappy mixtapes i used to make for women i fancy. Some songs just loose themselves and don't reach the unbelievable expectations that i had for Plans. I still love it though and simple songs like I Will Follow You Into the Dark and the more complicated What Sarah Said light my mood all the time.

9. Franz Ferdinand- You Could Have It So Much Better
Also another album that came with high expectations from a band i just learned about before everyone got all hot and bothered about Take Me Out. Of all the albums on this list this is the one i have listened to the least. I am gettting to it but i am slow at these things sometimes. Regardless of my ineptitude i know that what i have listened to on this album is great. Nothing above and beyond the last album but for some people and some bands change is a bad thing. One of the top 5 bands that i want to party with and also the ones with the most amount of quasi-homosexual references per song known to man. Hooray.

10. The White Stripes- Get Behind Me Satan
So this is a last minute change while making this list. I was going to put a random guility pleasure or something i personally wanted here. But then i thought i need to put on this album on this list for a couple of reasons. First, i got the chance to see Jack and Meg live this year for the first time and by far one of the best shows i have ever seen. Second My Doorbell is damn catchy song. This album has it's flaws as the grusome twosome finally show that they can't do everything as fast as they do. It slows at times and mistakes are here and there. But i think that if this is there bad album out of their great and bizarre career then damn i wish i was that bad.

posted by critically acclaimed @ 12:34 PM