This year we will take advantage of the polls that appear on the site, and automatically nominate the top 3 releases reviewed on the site, as already rated by the readers. At the time of THE LIST, there is a tie for the third slot at 9.35 out of 12, so it will actually be the top 4. Those four releases are Jack Rose - Kensington Blues, Mike Tamburo - Beating of the Rewound Sun, Vibracathedral Orchestra - Tuning to the Rooster, and Six Organs of Admittance - School of the Flower. Now on to the writer's nominations...
ROUND 1
Andy Beckerman
Animal Collective - Feels (Paw Tracks)
I heard a lot of clamor over how song-oriented Feels was as opposed to their earlier efforts. This, I think, is the bogus claim of a mass (indie) media trying to justify some or other desire to reduce Animal Collective to a point attractor. The new album continues along the same path of experimentation with the pop medium that made me love Animal Collective in the first place, and like each of my other choices does this through the combination of many different factors in such a way as to create a flux.
Adam Strohm
Matthew Welch - Dream Tigers (Tzadik)
This guy is far too unfamiliar to people interested in contemporary American composition. Welch is best known for his utilization and integration of bagpipes in the contexts of the more conventional "classical" line-ups, as well as his injection of Gamelan influences into the same. This disc offers a great look at three different sides of the composer's work, and the string quartet that opens the disc is its jewel, a piece of great lyricism and beauty. Great stuff, all around.
Dick Baldwin
Feathers - s/t (Feathers Family)
This third spot was very hard to fill. There were so many other records that felt like they could be in this spot. Six Organs of Admittance, Devendra Banhart, one of the many Wooden Wand and the Vanishing Voice, Davenport, Skaters or Ben Reynolds records from this year, The Decemberists, Animal Collective, Eyes and Arms of Smoke, Matt Valentine, Marissa Nadler, Hush Arbors, Drona Parva, Jason Anderson... the list goes on. The reason I chose the Feathers album over the rest is because while it isn't terribly similar to the rest, there's a thread tying most of these together that simply isn't there for my other picks. I could hardly claim there's a single scene that could claim both the newly major-label-signed Decemberists and The Skaters, but I also don't need to go on about the swelling of folk-based music (flirting to varying degrees with the avant garde), as it's been obvious for the past couple years. Feathers' personality is entirely unique and engaging. Captivated by their gentle harmonies they pull you into the woods, rather than evoking a landscape.
Jim Steed
Wooden Wand and the Vanishing Voice - Buck Dharma (5RC/Time Lag)
This nomination goes out to Davenport, The Skaters, Double Leopards, Ben Reynolds, and every other fucked up folkie and primitive pot banger that released ten times as many records as I could realistically keep track of. Leave it to me to take the asshole accessible pick. Man, actual songs! But, fuck, the lazy handed acid guitar on this album took me by surprise, and when combined with the spiritual vocals and collective ommm that makes up the Vanishing Voice, it's my pick from that pack. Could just as easily throw in The Hands of Worman Heaven, Silver Songs, or A Hole is Through instead, but I could only pick one.
Steve Rybicki
V/A - The Invisible Pyramid Elegy Box (Last Visible Dog)
In the year of the monster compilation (aside from this behemoth, you've got Psuedoarcana's The Tone of the Universe..., Music Your Mind Will Love You's Sound Surrounds Us series, and Digitalis' Gold Leaf Branches and the Wailing Bones series), I had to nominate at least one. And if you're going to pick one, this is it. Nearly eight hours of music spanning the spectrum from clatter to hum, impeccably sequenced, featuring old and new favorite artists, and with an underlying theme of wistful remembrance. This is one stop shopping for the sound of the present honoring the passed while becoming the future.
ROUND 2
Andy Beckerman
Eyes and Arms of Smoke - A Religion of Broken Bones (Cenotaph)
Forget trying to place this within some neo-folk trend... I’m not saying you can’t but this is so far beyond the standard conception, like Bablicon’s position to indie rock being above and beyond, with their incorporation of jazz and modern composition... Eyes and Arms of Smoke has those same elements, but the desire to try new things never reduces the songs to mere experiments.
Adam Strohm
Hair Police - Constantly Terrified (Troubleman)
The boys do it again. The bar's been raised with this hair-raising creep-fest, as Hair Police continue to fall into a dark chasm that threatens to swallow them whole. Seeing this material performed live was a highlight of my musical year, and, luckily, this disc didn't disappoint. Here's hoping that those listeners turned off by the group's more spastic early material will finally give them another listen and see what they're missing.
Dick Baldwin
Boris - Akuma No Uta (Southern Lord)
Sunn O)))'s sense of atmosphere and The Melvins' punishing aggression coalesced into this amazing trio from Japan's impressive discography. 2005 was a pretty good year for them, having released the fantastic At Last - Feedbacker album, their 3rd collaboration with Merzbow, and Akuma No Uta on Southern Lord. Made somewhat infamous for its cover art, which duped many by it's near perfect recreation of Nick Drake's Bryter Layter, with their guitarist Wata, trading Drake's acoustic guitar for her double neck electric guitar. The difference this implies is born out as Boris delivers intense, detuned sludge rock. This album provides a good glimpse of Boris' range. The sludge-punk "Ibitsu" and the thick, fuzzy drones of "Introduction" and parts of the title track and "Naki Kyoku" are infused with Boris' unique take on high energy, low freqency, speaker melting drone-rock.
Jim Steed
Antony and the Johnsons - I am a Bird Now (Secretly Canadian)
This spot belongs to Four Tet's endless ecstacy, which I probably listened to more than any album this year, or Konono Nr. 1, the most truly outside artists in the year of outsider folk, but I find myself unable to let THE LIST go by without including Antony and the Johnsons. Never have piano ballads been so brutal and heartbreaking. Honestly, the album is a bit uneven for me. "Hope There's Someone" is devastating and leaves me in a corner reeling every time I hear it. But, on other songs, the authenticity and honesty can't make up for the simplicity. "You Are My Sister" is little more than a greeting card, and "For Today I am a Boy" is a chorus with nothing around it. Still, if there is a face for music in 05, for me, it was Antony's, looking pensive and intense as he pounds out the instrumental part of "Hope There's Someone" on BBC's Later show.
Steve Rybicki
Alvarius B - Blood Operatives of the Barium Sunset (Abduction)
Alan Bishop digs deep into his bag of tricks and showers the unsuspecting masses with a record of exquisitely off-kilter and grimy salutes to his favorite anti-heros. No mere thugs these; each has a well-developed code that defines their morality and a fanatical compulsion to impose it on the world. The production is a few thousand notches up from Bishop's customary lo-fi grit which only works as a coercive hand around your shoulder to draw you close and hold you fast while he hisses his warnings in your ear.
ROUND 3
Andy Beckerman
New Pornographers - Twin Cinema (Matador)
At first I didn’t like this so much but not only has it grown on me, but I think it’s my favorite of their albums. The complexity of their songwriting just keeps increasing and increasing, here taking on new rhythmic dimensions (with song structure, with drumming – Jesus, the drums in "Jackie Dressed In Cobras") and in general with harmonies and subtle melodies that are woven into the song – and not one bit of this complexity comes at the expense of the song itself.
Adam Strohm
Zs - Karate Bump (Planaria)
Another band whose live performance was an undisputed high point for me in 2005, Zs, and their excellent Karate Bump, though truthfully only an ep, need to be on my list. The opening "Bump" captivates while barely rising above a whisper, a seriously intoxicating and energizing composition that shows that intensity need not only manifest itself in loud, demonstrative fashion. The only thing that would've improved this disc is had it been a full-length.
Dick Baldwin
Of Montreal - The Sunlandic Twins (Polyvinyl)
The most infectious pop album I've heard in years. Despite the mountains of music that accumulated "to be heard," I couldn't seem to pry this disc (and the bonus EP) from my CD player for a solid 7 months of the year. So many catchy and fun songs caught my attention. After several listens, I began to hear so many intricacies I'd missed before. As much as my interests have been firmly attached to more "out" music, this album reminded me of the thrilling potential of creativity and songwriting. The musicianship that the Elephant 6's reputation was built on is alive and well.
Jim Steed
Smog - A River Ain't Too Much to Love (Drag City)
There's not a note out of place. The more traditional country songs make the album a little uneven, but the strength of the rest of the album is more than enough to make it the greatest Smog album yet. This, along with the Jack Rose album already nominated, are just so perfectly cast. They reaffirm my faith in punk/indie/etc. to not just create works of great enthusiasm but also true works of art and the best songs of the year.
Steve Rybicki
The Mountain Goats - The Sunset Tree (4AD)
This is the Mountain Goats record that finally hooked me. John Darnielle tells what are probably his most personal stories without resorting to characters (or caricatures), fables, and other misdirections. Astonishingly open, beautifully recorded and played, and brilliantly conceived, it could be the album he never tops. Even after playing it to death on its release, it's the one album this year that I can still put on now and be transported right back to the joys of discovering it for the first time.
