Sábado 3 Sep 2005, 21:51

Best:

A+:

Ryan Adams - Cold Roses
Most mature album Ryan has released yet. Best album of the year. There's nothing to fault with this one.

Ryan Adams - Jacksonville Nights. First off, this is the most country album Ryan has released since his Whiskeytown days. I can't stand most country music. It's a testiment to him, that I actually love this album despite the deep country sounds to all the songs. The song writing continues to amaze! Ryan and the Cardinals do a good job of stealing country music back from the mainstream. Repeated listens will reward you as the lyrics and meaning to the songs begin to sink in.

Bloc Party - Silent Alarm
These guys are the best new band of the year.

Death Cab For Cutie - Plans
Lots of well written songs.

The Decemberists - Picaresque
This has been one of the best years for strong song writing ever.

The Editors - The Back Room
If you like Interpol, you'll love these guys

LCD Soundsystem
This guy is phenomenal! Tied for the best electronic album

Röyksopp - The Understanding
Superb album. Tied for the best electronic album

Gorillaz - Demon Days
It takes more than a few listens to appreciate, but the production on this album is top-notch.

Help: A Day In The Life Of.
About half of all the great bands this year from England pitch in to make this a great album. My favorite track has to be Gorillaz's Hong Kong. Beautiful. Could have been either a Blur or Gorillaz track.

Franz Ferdinand - You Could Have It So Much Better
I was ready to dismiss this album before I even heard it completely. It doesn't have a "Take Me Out" song on it and perhaps in the end that's precisely what saved the album and the band. What you get is an album full of great but not overwhelming songs. Songs like "take me out" would have made it sound like they were just resting on their laurels and made them look precisely like what a lot critics are trying to peg them as–a bunch of trendy pop stars.

Mylo - Destroy Rock and Roll:
Maybe there is a third tie for best electronic album of the year? I really like this album. Very smooth and upbeat.

Thievery Corporation - The Cosmic Game
A hidden gem. Very good album.

B:

GOAL! Soundtrack: Would be on the "A" list if there were more new songs. But some are just remixes or from last year. But a great soundtrack! The new Oasis, the dirty vegas, and the Happy Mondays tracks stand out.

The Doves - Some Cities
Not quite as good as the first two albums. They really faded away this year.

Beck - Guero
Good album with some catchy tunes. I prefer sea change however.

Laura Veirs - Years of Meteors
Solid album with some awesome tracks like "Fire Snakes," "Lake Swimming," and "Where Gravy is Dead."

The Caesars - Paper Tigers
A very catchy album. But dulls a bit after a few months.

Kaiser Cheifs - Employment
Has some very good songs on this album, but also some equally bad songs. Not quite on the level with Blur.

The New Pornographers - Twin Cinema
It goes well with the other songs on your iPod. By itself, it doesn't hold your interest much.

Oasis - Don't believe the truth
The truth is this is the first Oasis album without an anthem song on it. Overall a good album, but lacks a steller track on it. Will work well mixed in with other songs on your iPod, not so much by itself.

The White Stipes - Get Behind Me Satan
A good album. Shows they've still got a lot to give musically.

Billy Corgan - The Future Embrace
Not a bad album at all. Songs blend in well with other songs on your iPod.

Babyshambles - Down In Albion: Not quite as good as the Libertines were. 'Fuck Forever' is the song of the year however.

Sufjan Stevens - Illinoise
Not bad, but not as good as the other songwriters already mentioned.

Deerhoof - The Runners four
I have to bump them to the B group after spending more time on their album. "Running thoughts" is almost worth the price of admission alone. Then you add the cute "spy on you" and other decent songs like "lightning rod, run" and "scream team" and you have yourself an album worth listening to and owning.

My Morning Jacket -Z
Hometown band. Some decent songs. Glad to see them doing well. People freak out over
Unfortunately the copy protection drops it to the "C" catagory. Not their faught, it's Sony's. Just download it and go to their concert or make a donation to them or something. People seem to like "off the record," but for me, the distinguishing song from them is "wordless chorus."

Depeche Mode - Playing the Angel
Good album, but it's not going to create any new fans and doesn't have the magic of early DM albums. I loved the first single, "Precious" however.

C:

Maximo Park - A Certain Trigger
It's a good album, but overhyped.

The Chemical Brothers - Push the Button
A rather weak effort. Not nearly as bad as Fatboy Slim's bomb though.

Antony and the Johnsons - I am a bird now
It's not a bad album, but I can't listen to more than one song per day.

The GO! Team - Gets tiring after a few listens. "Ladyflash" and "Huddle Formation" are awesome however.

Art Brut
Just a bit too silly isn't it?

The Cribs - A few good songs. A lot of dull songs.

Arctic Monkeys

Clor - annoying after more than one song. The sound is similar to the Arcade Fire, but these guys are no where as good.

…And you will know us by the trial of dead - Worlds Apart: Some very good songs. It's very hard to get into the full album though. More power to anyone that can make it through the whole album.

Wolf Parade - Apologies To The Queen Mary: Well, I like one song on this album anyway. The obvious comparison is with Modest Mouse. These guys aren't anywhere near as good yet. But it took Modest Mouse a while to make a couple of albums I like too.

Devendra Banhart - Cripple Crow
Pleasant but mostly forgetable and a bit boring. It'd be a good album to play in the background of a coffee shop or something. I don't hate it, but it doesn't do much for me personally. It's too self-indulgent or something for my tastes.

The Magic Numbers - The Magic Numbers
I like some of the songs, but I don't like them well enough to really recommend them to anybody.

Bob Mould - Body of Song
"Circles" is first class, but the rest of the album leaves a bit to be disired. I'd just buy the single and skip the rest of the album.

And now for the WORST ALBUMS OF THE YEAR:

Coldplay - X&Y
Absolutely dreadful. What happened???

Bright Eyes - Both albums
I just never got the hype. And neither did anyone else I guess as Bright Eyes have largely vanished off the face of the earth already.

The Bravery - What happen to these guys? There were supposed to be one of the top new bands this year.
They are too much like the Killers for me–and that's a bad thing.

Mars Volta - Frances the Mute
"A homogeneous shitheap of stream-of-consciousness turgidity."

Coheed & Cambria - Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV:
I am so sick of people having this band at the top of their "Top Artist" list. They are so shitty, it demeans this list for them to even be mentioned here. But I felt so pissed that I had to mention them. STOP LISTENING TO THIS SHIT, PEOPLE!!! They are much worse than any of the aforementioned artists.

Madonna - Confessions on the dance floor
What would a worst list be without Madonna? The album has a good cover of the ABBA song Gimme, Gimme, Gimme as well maybe 2 other groovable tracks. But this album sucks and ABBA and Donna Summers were better than the blatant ripoffs found here.

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I need to listen to Animal Collective, Rogue Wave, Calla, and Hard-Fi. . . .